Rent Black Joy (1977)
3.4 of 5 from 62 ratings
1h 38min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
There can't be many black sons in Brixton as innocent as Benjamin Ignatius Samuel Jones. He arrives in this throbbing immigrant area of London fresh from his village in Guyana, where he was brought up by his strictly religious granny. Within a few hours of his arrival, Ben (Trevor Thomas) has been humiliated by officialdom, robbed of his money by a street urchin and left desolate by his sad discovery that the only address he has in London turns out to be a demolished house. Ironically he is befriended by the very couple of amiable tricksters who robbed hip'of the few pounds left from the sale of hit granny's farm. Ben happily takes on their offer of a friendly partnership. He will earn the money and cook the food. Dave (Norman Beaton) will show him how to enjoy it He takes Ben to Soho to give him his first taste of sex and arranges a trip to the English seaside where the cold climate is compensated for by the nubile warmth of Miss Saffra (Dawn Hope), an ambitious miss determined to escape from the ghetto. Ben's final education comes when he discovers that Saffra has no real love for him and that Dave and Devon (Paul J. Medford) were the thieves who stole his money. When Dave tries to sweet-talk Ben into lending him more money, Ben refuses and lets the swindler swindle himself. Innocence wins. The country boy has had the best teachers... - Actors:
- Norman Beaton, Trevor Thomas, Dawn Hope, Floella Benjamin, Oscar James, Paul J. Medford, Shango Baku, Azad Ali, Charles Pemberton, Vivian Stanshall, Kevin O'Shea, Cynthia Powell, T-Bone Wilson, Jeillo Edwards, Jimmy Rand, Ludmilla Nova, Jason Rose, Barbara Keogh, David Ryall, Patrick Durkin
- Directors:
- Anthony Simmons
- Producers:
- Martin Campbell, Elliott Kastner, Arnon Milchan
- Writers:
- Anthony Simmons, Jamal Ali
- Studio:
- Fremantle
- Genres:
- Comedy
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 24/06/2019
- Run Time:
- 99 minutes
- Languages:
- English LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.85:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- (0) All
- Bonus:
- The BEHP Interview with Anthony Simmons (1997, 99 mins): an archival audio recording, made as part of the British Entertainment History Project, featuringthe prolific director in conversation with filmmaker Rodney Giesler
- Good Stuff (2019, 10 mins): actor Trevor Thomas fondly recalls his first major film role
- A People Story (2019, 17 mins): actor Floella Benjamin discusses one of her rare big-screen performances
- Blazing the Trail (2019, 8 mins): Oscar James relates his experiences as a black actor in the seventies
- Dark Days and Light Nights (2019, 36 mins): writer Jamal Ali explains the origins of his stage play and adapting it for the big screen
- Guerrilla Operations (2019, 9 mins): Martin Campbell on making low-budget cinema as a young producer
- Slices of Life (2019, 14 mins): director of photography Phil Meheux analyses his documentary approach to filming Black Joy
- Benjamin's Brixton (2019, 3 mins): an exploration of Black Joy's London locations
- Bow Bells (1954, 15 mins): Anthony Simmons' nostalgic short film about London's East End Original theatrical trailer
- Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
- World premiere on Blu-ray
