This England

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Film Title: This England Documentary (1977)

Description: The only contemporary documentary about Wigan Casino

To order: Check the small ads in the soul press

The documentary opens by showing desolate scenes of the North's industrial wasteland with the MVP's rattling out their Northern Anthem 'You're Turning My Heartbeat Up'. Because this film was made in 1977 it is entirely shot in black and white, which makes the drab scenes of terraced housing and run down factories all the more atmospheric.

As the attention switches to the Casino, Manager Mike Walker is checking that the floors are clean and that everything is as it should be before opening the doors. The doormen then face the unenviable task of trying to control the seething masses. We shouldn't sympathise too much because once the punters have gained entry then their lives will be significantly easier than those of the bouncers at Tiffany's. The best shots are taken across the dancefloor from the balcony above and show the Wigan faithful pulsating to Judy Street's 'What'. They also have some good footage of individual dancers.

Because this was the only film ever shot live at Wigan these clips have re-occurred with annoying regularity in just about every documentary ever made since. At the time many Casino members did not want to co-operate and it took a lot to persuade them to do so. Maybe they were right to resist, because the resulting publicity is often blamed for the eventual demise of the Club. On the other hand, had their insurrection been successful then there would have been no footage at all for today's faithful to get nostalgic to.

The documentary focus's on one male and one female member of the club who are interviewed in depth. Unfortunately the producers neglect to name either of them. The boy worked in a factory during the week and ran a record stall on Bury market at the weekend whilst the girl was employed in a hospital laundry. The boy is by far the more articulate of the two, though at times his homespun philosophies did get rather annoying. He explained that society offered so few meaningful experiences that the young were forced into building an alternative lifestyle. The girl just described how she first conned her dad in letting her go to the Casino.

The film undoubtedly has, or had, a hidden agenda as the club is used to push a political message about kids from drab working class existences, in soul destroying jobs seeing escapism in their music. Footage of Left wing activists flogging the socialist worker, interviews with Wigan pensioners reminiscing about forgotten era's, pictures of dirty children working in the factories or women sweating on production lines lay it on with a trowel. The backing music is often switched from soul to 'Lancashire Folk' with some banal song about 'What To Do With The Ugly Ones'. I only hope the unenlightened did not take this to be what the Casino's clientele travelled the length and breadth of the country to listen to.

The drugs issue was never raised probably because the programme makers wanted the soulies to be seen as victims, not villains.

It is a sad state of affairs that the only contemporary film made about the Casino was so cynically manipulated. It was stereotypical and misleading and had very little to do with Soul music at all. Unfortunately it is the only legacy which now remains.