John Smith: The Girl Chewing Gum

I was shown this years ago and have been trying to remember the name ever since. So, with continued googling for “film where a man calls stage orders to a street in London, his voice sounds like a cross between Russel Brand and Michael Palin”, my patience has been rewarded! In 1976 John Smith made this 12 minute short, the girl chewing gum does make an appearance but I won’t say when, orchestrated in what was once described as a piss-take of auteurist ego… It’s a beautiful fiction and utterly brilliant. “The man with the walking stick is going home”. “This young man has just robbed the local postoffice and is attempting to appear inconspicuous.”