“WHEN I was a kid, I just thought it was brilliant,” enthuses Mark Kermode of his passion for Slade in Flame’s pleasingly gritty depiction of a fictitious rock band - the titular Flame, portrayed by glam stormers Slade at the peak of their 1970s fame - falling foul of the ruthlessly capitalistic machinations of the music business.
“But, you know, you can see movies when you’re a kid, you think they’re brilliant, and then you go back to them later on and you go, ‘Oh, no, they’re not brilliant - it’s just that I was a kid’.”
To be fair, as a music mad 12-year-old and Slade devotee, Kermode was squarely in the target demographic for director Richard Loncraine’s 1975 picture, which also stars Tom Conti.
An update of the typically jaunty, throwaway British ‘pop movie’ blueprint of the 1960s, Slade in Flame adds a sobering dose of early 1970s-style moodiness to the mix, along with some killer Slade songs which also appeared on the album of the same title which appeared prior to the film’s release.
Sadly, the majority of Slade fans were less enthusiastic about the film, left cold by the fictionalised version of their platform-booted heroes as endlessly bickering, easily manipulated pawns in a rock and roll game rigged by unscrupulous money men and outright thugs.
However, Kermode’s enthusiasm for the film was immediate and enduring, remaining undiminished by the passage of time - as you may already have guessed from the fact he has selected Slade in Flame for the 20th Mark Kermode Movie Night at this year’s Cinemagic Festival in Belfast, which takes place at the QFT tomorrow night.
“I remember really clearly going to see it [for the first time] at my local cinema, the Barnett Odeon in north London, and I just loved it,” recalls Kermode, who currently presents the weekly film podcast Kermode and Mayo’s Take with broadcaster Simon Mayo.
“If you loved a film at that point, there were no videos or anything, but there was a novelisation and a soundtrack album, both of which I had.”
I remember really clearly going to see Slade in Flame at my local cinema, the Barnett Odeon in north London, and I just loved it
— Mark Kermode
Having survived his own rock and roll trials and tribulations in a succession of rockabilly combos through the 1980s, Kermode then rose to prominence as one of the UK’s foremost film critics: indeed, it was his unwavering, bordering on evangelical love and praise for Slade in Flame which eventually helped the film to find a brand new audience in the DVD-era, 30 years after its initial release.
“At some point I ended up doing a bunch of talks where I would introduce a 35mm print of Slade in Flame,” he recalls.
“I’d be saying, ‘Look, I know everybody thinks it’s a joke. And I know I’m saying it’s the Citizen Kane of British pop movies, but I’m serious: It’s absolutely brilliant.
“What was really great was, at every single screening, people would turn up. I would wait around, and at the end of the screening, people would come out and go, ‘Well, that isn’t what I expected at all. It’s really, really good’.”
“It’s really because it’s a really well made film, and Richard Loncraine is a brilliant director. I think the way it’s shot is gritty and realistic. I think it’s one of the most convincing depictions of a band being signed up by a kind of marketing company and sold to the public like fish fingers.
“I think the whole thing’s got a really brilliant atmosphere to it. I mean, you can tell that it’s made by people who actually know what the music industry is like. Most films about pop music aren’t particularly good at that stuff.
Slade in Flame has got a really brilliant atmosphere to it. You can tell that it’s made by people who actually know what the music industry is like. Most films about pop music aren’t particularly good at that stuff.
— Mark Kermode
“Slade are actually really good in it, and the performance footage of them playing is excellent. And, of course, the soundtrack album is just brilliant.”
In fact, it seems that Kermode’s continued efforts to bring about a critical reappraisal of Slade in Flame even managed to persuade the band themselves that the movie wasn’t quite the mis-step they thought it was back in 1975.
He explains: “I read an interview with [Slade bass-wrangler] Jim Lea when they were getting around to doing the DVD.
“He was talking about how, at the time, the film didn’t benefit their career, and if anything it was kind of a setback - but now, years later, people were recognising that it really was great.
“Then he said, ‘I mean, I heard that Mark Kermode bloke likes it - so it can’t be all bad’.”
The esteemed film critic holds Slade in Flame in such high regard that he even incorporated a screening into his 50th birthday celebrations.
“For my birthday treat, our local cinema gave us one of their smaller screens and showed Slade in Flame for me and my friends,” Kermode tells me.
“That was my 50th birthday present - I’m 61 now and still going on about it.”
For the past 20 years, Kermode has been a regular participant at Cinemagic Belfast, the annual youth-orientated film festival. His annual Movie Night hosted by local critic Brian Henry Martin has become a firm favourite with audiences, featuring as it does either an old favourite - like Slade in Flame - or a recent release which has caught Kermode’s attention.
“I am really, really grateful to Cinemagic for having me back 20 times,” he enthuses, “because it’s one of the fixtures of my year.
“I love coming to do it and I love the QFT, we always have brilliant audiences. And Brian Henry Martin always does a really great Q and A, because he’s such a smart guy. He always manages to ask different things, even after 20 years.
I am really, really grateful to Cinemagic for having me back 20 times because it’s one of the fixtures of my year
— Mark Kermode
“We’ve also got very, very good friends in Belfast - our godchildren live there. And my band The Dodge Brothers have played in Belfast many times. It’s our favourite city to play because the audiences are so fantastic.
“So I am really, genuinely honoured to be asked back by Cinemagic again. Any opportunity to come over to Belfast is always great.”
The 20th Mark Kermode Movie Night presents Slade in Flame, Saturday October 26, QFT Belfast. Tickets via queensfilmtheatre.com. Full Cinemagic programme available at cinemagic.org.uk
