The 45th release in the BFI Flipside series of rediscovered British cinema, The Ballad of Tam Lin was the first and only film directed by the Hollywood actor Roddy McDowall (best known, perhaps, for The Planet of the Apes).
Loosely based on the traditional Scottish folk ballad, this 1971 rarity stars silver screen icon Ava Gardner (The Killers) as a mysterious and wealthy older woman who uses witchcraft to exercise control over a group of younger hippies and thrill-seekers (played by a sensational cast including Ian McShane (Deadwood), Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous) and Bruce Robinson (Withnail And I). Features music is by folk-rock legends Pentangle, and spectacular cinematography by Academy Award-winner Billy Williams (Women in Love, Gandhi).
Part folk-horror and part Blow-Up style Swinging-60s critique, this unique cult film is being made available for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK.
BFI Flipside is dedicated to rediscovering the margins of British film, reclaiming a space for forgotten movies and filmmakers who would otherwise be in danger of disappearing from our screens forever. It is a home for UK cinematic oddities, offering everything from exploitation documentaries to B-movies, countercultural curios and obscure classics, If it's weird, British and forgotten, then it's Flipside.
Extras
• Presented in High Definition • Audio commentary by BFI Flipside co-founders William Fowler and Vic Pratt (2021) • Love You and Leave You For Dead (2021, 11 mins): Ian McShane on Tam Lin • An Eerie Tale to Tell (2021, 10 mins): Stephanie Beacham on Tam Lin • Ballad of a B-Movie: Revisiting Tam Lin (2021, 12 mins): interview with Roddy McDowall biographer David Del Valle • Legendary Ladies of the Silver Screen: Ava Gardner (1998, 17 mins): Roddy McDowall remembers Ava Gardner and The Ballad of Tam Lin in this adoring archive introduction • Adventures Along the Way (2022, 32 mins): actress Madeline Smith looks back on being one of the coven • Listening In (2022, 27 mins): Jacqui McShee, lead singer of the seminal British folk group Pentangle, recalls the writing and recording of the film’s cult soundtrack • Hans Zimmer on Stanley Myers (2021, 20 mins, audio only): the much-loved composer discusses the work of Stanley Myers • Red Red? Red (Jim Weiss, Chris Maudison, John Phillips, 1971, 34 mins): an impressionistic study of a commune in Devon where people dress up, play instruments, make love and take part in strange revolutionary games • Border Country (26 mins): rare short films from the BFI National Archive reveal rural lifestyles at Scotland’s edge • Theatrical trailer
