''The Moon and the Sledgehammer'' is a British 1971 cult documentary film directed by

Philip Trevelyan Philip Erasmus Trevelyan (born 22 August 1943) is a British organic hill farmer, entrepreneur and former film and television director, most noted for the 1971 documentary film '' The Moon and the Sledgehammer''. Early life He is the son of the ar ...

and produced by Jimmy Vaughan which documents the eccentric lives of the Page family, consisting of the elderly Mr Page and his adult children Jim, Pete, Nancy and Kath, who live in a wood in Swanbrook, near

Chiddingly Chiddingly ( ) is an English village and civil parish in the Wealden District of the administrative county of East Sussex, within historic Sussex, some five miles (8 km) northwest of Hailsham. The parish is rural in character: it inc ...

, Sussex without mains gas,

mains electricity Mains electricity or utility power, power grid, domestic power, and wall power, or in some parts of Canada as hydro, is a general-purpose alternating-current (AC) electric power supply. It is the form of electrical power that is delivered to h ...

running water Tap water (also known as faucet water, running water, or municipal water) is water supplied through a tap, a water dispenser valve. In many countries, tap water usually has the quality of drinking water. Tap water is commonly used for drinkin ...

. The sons find employment by fixing mechanical things as odd jobs and maintain two

traction engine A traction engine is a steam engine, steam-powered tractor used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin ''tractus'', meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any t ...

s. The film, which is 65 minutes long, consists of

interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" ...

s with the Page family, interspersed with footage of them going about their lives in the forest. It was shot using natural light on

16mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, ed ...

colour film Color photography is photography that uses media capable of capturing and reproducing colors. By contrast, black-and-white or gray- monochrome photography records only a single channel of luminance (brightness) and uses media capable only of ...

. The

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' b ...

mono Mono may refer to: Common meanings * Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease" * Monaural, monophonic sound reproduction, often shortened to mono * Mono-, a numerical prefix representing anything single Music Performers * Mono (Japanese b ...

and there is no

voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non- diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentation ...

narration. The film was previewed at the 1971

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the fest ...

, and the first reviews were in the

West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

press. The British press subsequently picked it up resulting in short positive reviews by

John Russell Taylor John Russell Taylor (born 19 June 1935) is an English critic and author. He is the author of critical studies of British theatre; of critical biographies of such figures in film as Alfred Hitchcock, Alec Guinness, Orson Welles, Vivien Leigh, ...

David Robinson David Maurice Robinson (born August 6, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player who played for the San Antonio Spurs in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1989 to 2003, and minority owner of the Spurs. Nicknamed ...

George Melly Alan George Heywood Melly (17 August 1926 – 5 July 2007) was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer, and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973 he was a film and television critic for ''The Observer''; he also lectured on art history, with an ...

Dilys Powell Elizabeth Dilys Powell, CBE (20 July 1901 – 3 June 1995) was a British film critic and travel writer who contributed to ''The Sunday Times'' for more than 50 years. Powell was known for her receptiveness to cultural change in the cinema and ...

. After its distribution it was also positively reviewed by Philip Oakes. In 2009 the film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

for the first time. To coincide with this it had showings at various cinemas. A reunion of the director and crew and a question and answer session was held at the London showing. This forms the basis for a companion DVD, ''Behind the Moon and the Sledgehammer'', directed by Katy MacMillan—a documentary film about a documentary film. This also features film directors

Nick Broomfield Nicholas Broomfield (born 1948) is an English documentary film director. His self-reflective style has been regarded as influential to many later filmmakers. In the early 21st century, he began to use non-actors in scripted works, which he cal ...

Molly Dineen Molly Dineen (born 7 March 1959) is a television documentary director, cinematographer and producer. One of Britain's most acclaimed documentary filmmakers, Molly is known for her intimate and probing portraits of British individuals and institut ...

, Andrew Kotting and

Ben Rivers Ben Rivers (born 1972) is an artist and experimental filmmaker based in London, England. His work has been screened at film festivals and galleries around the world and have won numerous awards. Rivers' work ranges in themes, including exploring ...

and film historian

discussing the film and its influence. As part of the re-release, it also had other reviews written of it. Recording under the name Wyrdstone, Clive Murrell uses a sample of audio from the documentary as the intro to his track Pucelancyrcan, an Anglo-Saxon name for Purchase Wood in the Parish of Brightlington East Sussex. The track first appeared on the compilation album Wierdlore: Notes from the folk underground, released by Folk Police Recordings, and subsequently on Potemkin Village Fayre, a Wyrdstone album.

References

External links

* * 1971 films British documentary films 1971 documentary films Documentary films about families Simple living Films shot in 16 mm film 1970s English-language films 1970s British films {{UK-documentary-film-stub