The Stranglers made the greatest concept album of all back in 1978, called … you guessed it – Black and White.
But, hey, that’s not the subject of this post. I’m talking movies (films if you’re English). I’ve just watched the hugely entertaining and utterly compelling King Rat (1965), written and directed by Bryan Forbes. A ragged bunch of British and American servicemen sit out the final hours of World War Two in a Changi internment camp. Their brutal Japanese captors keep a beguilingly low profile, preferring to let disease, in-fighting and the inhospitable habitat do their dirty work for them.
Forget gunshots and explosions, this is character study at its absolute best. All in sterling, high definition black and white. They really don’t make ’em like that anymore! Oh, and before I’m castigated by the literary set for being a complete philistine, yes, the film was based on the novel by James Clavell.
Alternatively, if you like post-apocalyptic music with lyrics that make Roger Waters sound like a children’s entertainer, check out Black and White by the above mentioned group.
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