{"id":976,"date":"2008-08-24T18:56:31","date_gmt":"2008-08-24T22:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=976"},"modified":"2022-10-14T16:42:22","modified_gmt":"2022-10-14T20:42:22","slug":"britannia-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/britannia-hospital\/","title":{"rendered":"Malcolm McDowell checks in to Lindsay Anderson’s Britannia Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Since we’ve last seen Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell) in O Lucky Man!<\/em><\/a>, he’s moved to America and rediscovered his lust for power and profiteering. Now a member of the media (with no less than Luke Skywalker – Mark Hammill – on his crew), he has returned to his homeland on a mission to expose corruption at Britannia Hospital. On the eve of a visit from Her Royal Highness the Queen, known to the efficient staff as the time-saving acronym H.R.H., the Hospital board risks all to facilitate Dr. Millar’s (Graham Crowder) insane medical experiments. His atrocities are on a par with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein<\/a>, but with special effects and camerawork straight out of Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Malcolm
Malcolm McDowell spritzes the Britannia Hospital morgue with a little Febreeze<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This vision of 1982 British society is crippled on all sides. The unions have pursued their noble aims of workers’ rights to an absurd degree to which virtually all work has come to a halt in favor of perpetual sandwich breaks. The hippies and activists are too enraged and violent to lend any credence to their causes of peace and equality. Officious red-tape-obsessed suits are barely in control, making insincere compromises just to get through the day. The media fails at their job because they’re too wasted on drugs to so much as operate their equipment. And most frustrating to all, none of the phones work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mark
Mark Hammill gets the munchies<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So the final entry in director Lindsay Anderson’s “Mick Travis” trilogy is obviously yet another satire of British society, this time with a hospital serving as its metaphorical microcosm. It sails a bit too far over the top for my tastes, especially in comparison with the excellent If…<\/em><\/a>, which is so much more effective for spending most of its running time in strict realism before spiraling off into anarchic fantasy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Must read: everything you could possibly want to know about Britannia Hospital<\/em><\/a>, from MalcolmMcDowell.net<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since we’ve last seen Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell) in O Lucky Man!, he’s moved to America and rediscovered his lust for power and profiteering. Now a member of the media (with no less than Luke Skywalker – Mark Hammill – on his crew), he has returned to his homeland on a mission to expose corruption […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,2],"tags":[2056,156,155,154,152,153],"class_list":["post-976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-3-stars","category-movies","tag-2056","tag-lindsay-anderson","tag-malcolm-mcdowell","tag-mark-hammill","tag-mick-travis","tag-satire"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/britannia-hospital-feature.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-fK","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":923,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/malcolm-mcdowell-plays-public-school-war-games-in-lindsay-andersons-if\/","url_meta":{"origin":976,"position":0},"title":"Malcolm McDowell plays public school war-games in Lindsay Anderson’s If….","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"July 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"If.... is the first in director Lindsay Anderson's trilogy of films featuring Malcolm McDowell as the Mick Travis, whose misadventures continue in O Lucky Man! and Britannia Hospital. Everything I read about the trilogy repeats the same word to descibe Travis: \"everyman.\" On the evidence, I take this instance particular\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/if-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/if-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/if-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/if-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/if-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":952,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/o-lucky-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":976,"position":1},"title":"Malcolm McDowell tries not to die like a dog in Lindsay Anderson’s O Lucky Man!","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"August 22, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the course of its truly epic length of 177 minutes, Lindsay Anderson's O Lucky Man! (1973) picks up the continuing saga of Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell) from If.... While If.... used a British public school as a metaphorical microcosm with which to satirize British class culture, O Lucky Man!\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/o-lucky-man-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/o-lucky-man-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/o-lucky-man-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/o-lucky-man-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/o-lucky-man-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":906,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/vantage-point\/","url_meta":{"origin":976,"position":2},"title":"The Rashomon effect in Pete Travis’ Vantage Point","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"July 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Vantage Point is an awesome technical achievement, and I don't mean that to damn it with faint praise. Director Pete Travis and writer Barry Levy demonstrate excellent plotting, spatial sense, editing, logistics, and continuity. As a thriller it moves forward relentlessly, and feels comprehensible, self-contained, and very satisfying. It is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Vantage Point","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/vantage-point-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/vantage-point-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/vantage-point-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/vantage-point-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/07\/vantage-point-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3397,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/scorsese-rolling-stones\/","url_meta":{"origin":976,"position":3},"title":"Champagne & Reefer: Martin Scorsese and the Rolling Stones’ Shine a Light","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"December 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Martin Scorsese's long history with musical documentaries and concert films includes working as assistant director and editor on Woodstock (1970), directing an account of The Band's final concert as The Last Waltz (1978), executive producing and designing the shots for Peter Gabriel's concert film PoV (AKA Point of View, 1987),\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/rolling-stones-shine-a-light.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/rolling-stones-shine-a-light.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/rolling-stones-shine-a-light.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/rolling-stones-shine-a-light.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/rolling-stones-shine-a-light.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1419,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/fall\/","url_meta":{"origin":976,"position":4},"title":"Cinema Immortal: Tarsem Singh’s The Fall","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"January 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Tarsem Singh's The Cell (2000) was one of the best-looking bad movies I've ever seen. It certainly wasn't helped by the routine serial killer plot possibly meant to capitalize on the success of David Fincher's Se7en (from the same studio, New Line Cinema). But it was tragically obvious that Tarsem\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Fall","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/tarsem-fall-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/tarsem-fall-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/tarsem-fall-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/tarsem-fall-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/tarsem-fall-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":670,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/margot-at-the-wedding\/","url_meta":{"origin":976,"position":5},"title":"Noah Baumbach’s Margot at the Wedding","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"March 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I very much loved writer\/director Noah Baumbach's previous film The Squid and The Whale, blessed with an excellent script and superb performances all around (especially by the versatile Jeff Daniels - heartbreaking in Pleasantville, and capable of humanizing no less an icon than George Washington in The Crossing). Margot at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Margot at the Wedding","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/margot-at-the-wedding-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/margot-at-the-wedding-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/margot-at-the-wedding-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/margot-at-the-wedding-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/margot-at-the-wedding-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=976"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6381,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/976\/revisions\/6381"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}