WITH the play-offs and European finals out of the way, it’s full-on World Cup season in the media.
The BBC has hit the ground running, with its toy-pundit trails, and is now screening the official FIFA World Cup Films – from 1930, when the refs wore suits, to the modern era when they became more famous than some of the players. See them here…
In their day, these were the best available record of the tournaments. They were filmed using state-of- the-art cinema cameras and even given theatrical releases.
Action was filmed in reasonable detail, with slow-motion, but the narration left something to be desired, and the staged stories weaved clumsily into the tapestry (young lads buying tickets, colourful characters and scenic views) gave them the corny charm of a travelogue support feature at the local Odeon.
The 1966 film, Goal! was a box-office success, providing as it did, a chance for the English public to re-live the summer’s success in living colour…
Subsequent films would become increasingly grand, with commentaries from the likes of Sean Connery, Michael Caine and Sean Bean, and technological advances meant that, in place of the record albums and Super-8 films of the past…
…they could be marketed as souvenirs. VHS gave way to DVD and Blu-ray, and the latest effort was in 3D…
For real nostalgia, however, you can’t beat contemporaneous television. Today’s elaborate opening titles are treated as filmic events in their own right, but back in the day things were very different.
In 1962 a football superimposed over a revolving globe, accompanied by brisk marching music, sufficed to announce that England were about to kick off their quarter-final against world champions Brazil…
By 1966, the globe was situated in the broader canvas of outer space, but the rest was if anything even more perfunctory…
And here, thanks to the trusty VCRs of the Great British Public, are a selection of tunes and montages that we learned by heart over three weeks and then promptly forgot.
Now, out with the castanets, maestro!…
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