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Lockdown watch: Alex Cox on gold pyjamas and apocalyptic Alan Bennett

What I do during lockdown … is pretty much what I would do anyway. Read books, stare at screens, listen to music, play with the dogs, go for walks. My wife Tod and I are very fortunate because we live in a rural area and there’s no prohibition against walking in Oregon! The images of honest British footpath walkers being harassed by police drones are most troubling. What will the cops do with the malefactors? Send ’em to court, and jail?

Anyway, as far as films are concerned we don’t have a good TV signal or a streaming contract so we’re limited to things that we can see for free. Fortunately, there is a considerable amount of good stuff for nothing if you dig for it! We watched Dead of Night – the great British portmanteau horror film – and it is as great as it ever was. The search has also turned up some fascinating colourised films: in particular My Man Godfrey, The Outlaw, and Things to Come in lavishly colourised versions (Things to Come enjoys Russian voiceover narration, as well).

A few decades back, colourising black and white films was generally viewed as an outrage, condemned by all good cineastes. But some of these coloured-up versions look pretty good: the heroine of My Man Godfrey in her gold pyjamas and high heels was particularly memorable. (Even so I wouldn’t like to see Dead of Night in colour. Some things cannot be improved.) Archive.org has a huge raft of films and television that can be viewed for free. You can while away many hours just learning what’s available.

Frank Finlay and Albert Finney in Gumshoe, 1971
Frears revisited ... Frank Finlay and Albert Finney in Gumshoe, 1971. Photograph: Allstar/Columbia/Sportsphoto Ltd

The DVD collection is being revisited, especially for Rosi’s Many Wars Ago, Frankenheimer’s Seconds, Frears’s Gumshoe and Wicki’s The Bridge. In terms of television, when in doubt I watch random episodes of The Prisoner, and have consumed a box set of Have Gun Will Travel, an old TV series starring Richard Boone. If you’re not familiar with it, his character, Paladin, lives in a high-end San Francisco hotel and makes his living by gambling and gunfighting. Paladin’s servant is an Asian man nicknamed Hey Boy, which has potential to upset the modern viewer. However, the episode in which Hey Boy goes on his own vengeance trail was probably the best of the series – they brought in Lewis Milestone, of All Quiet on the Western Front, to direct it. And I have found a copy of Lindsay Anderson’s masterpiece The Old Crowd on a collection of Alan Bennett teleplays. It’s a work of brilliance, almost forgotten, and very pertinent given its apocalyptic tone.

For music, Salt Fare, North Sea by Chumbawamba plays continuously. Eddie Tudor-Pole and I have been exchanging CDs (his) for DVDs (mine) so I’m currently enjoying the Tenpole Tudor Vikings, while he watches Tombstone Rashomon. And I’m most moved and impressed by the 17-minute Dylan song about the Kennedy hit, Murder Most Foul, even though Ed tells me that melodically it’s a non-starter.

Dog barking. Must go!