It is sweeter to wander with the wretched and outcasts than to sit crowned with roses at the banquets of the rich
Elisee Reclus

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

'One Plus One': Out and about in Godard's London

Despite the both ridiculous but still disturbing content of this 1968 Jean-Luc Godard film, The Ruinist seemed restless until all the London locations where Eve Democracy (Anne Wiazemsky) sprays up political slogans could be traced and visited. Over two of our leisure days, we walked and ate our way around the environs of Battersea, Putney, Chelsea and Hyde Park to bring you the almost definitive guide to these historical sites of revolutionary graffiti:

'HILTON/STALIN'





























The first spraying was hard to find as we assumed it was made inside a room of The Hilton Hotel on Park Lane. After walking around with our handy One Plus One Spotter Card, we finally figured out that this bit was filmed in what is now the Metropolitan Hotel next door in Old Park Lane, W1. Lacking the cash to book this room, we had to make do with a less than similar ground level shot of what the view now looks like.


'USA...'


























This was a tricky one but we found it! 271 New King's Rd, Hammersmith, London SW6.



'CINEMARX'



























This building is 45 Cadogan St, Kensington, London SW3 but the film was shot round the corner in Halsey St.


'FBI + CIA = TWA + PAN-AM'



























The scene of where black militants read from various radical black authors (most pointedly Eldridge Cleaver's 'Soul on Ice' section where he describes the tension between black menial supermasculinity and white omnipotent administrators) in a car breaker's yard right by Battersea Train Bridge. This has now gone and the site is a new development called Groveside Court, 4 Lombard Rd, Wandsworth, London SW11 and a Thames riverside walkway too. The initial graffiti (not put up by Eve) is later sprayed over with the 'Panthers'.


'US=Swastika'



























This little street is off King's Rd. The shot was made at the junction of Shalcomb St and Lamont Rd, Kensington, London SW10


'FREUDEMOCRACY'





























Our hero Eve and 41 one years later our Ruinist Team Player at Cheyne Walk, Kensington, London SW3 looking towards Albert Bridge


'SOVIETCONG'




























A wonderful building still to be found at 47 Hurlingham Rd, Hammersmith, London SW6.



SLOGANS THAT GOT AWAY!!





























Yes, it was impossible even with out super Ruinist brain powers to locate these sites. The car one we think is in Hyde Park and the other one we reckon was filmed around Sands End, probably sites that are now covered by the monstrous Chelsea Harbour development. There are also two more slogans in the film - one on an advert hoarding and one outside some prefabs. Any ideas yourselves?















The creepy porn store episode was shot on location at Plus Books, 224 Norwood Rd, Lambeth, London SE27.
The site of the footage of the Rolling Stones was Olympic Studios,117 Church Rd, Richmond, London SW13.



Here are some of the delightful cafes we visited in the making of this production:
















Mona Lisa, 417 King's Road London SW10. Excellent beans, egg and chips in this Italian. A bowl of Trifle was also consumed.
















The Tea Hut, Battersea Park. Two teas please! Note: The Spotter Card ready for consultation.
















Parisienne Cafe, 225 Lavender Hill, London, SW11 1JR. Top quality Veggie Breakfast and one Cheese Omelette and Chip w/Salad!



















One of the Team fell off the toilet early in the morning but despite the damage was up and willing for this most correct of adventures.

6 comments:

. said...

Very impressive - interested in the Norwood connection, especially as the only one with an SE London postcode. Was Plus Books actually a porn shop or something more generic - and what's there now. A quick google shows that there was an electrical shop at the address, but looking on google map I think it might have been demolished.

Full Unemployment Cinema said...

There is an interview with Sheila Rowbotham (if memory serves correct) in the new Iain Sinclair book about Hackney where she describes the shop as a porn shop. If you've seen the film, you will see it as a kind of kitsch English-type seedy bookstore with some T+M mags alongside "I Was Hitler's Lover-type paperbacks to read with one hand.
Sheila Rowbotham was involved in the Godard film 'British Sounds' but was around the Godard filming of ONE PLUS ONE in 1968!

THE RUINIST said...

By which I meant to type 'T+A mags', not 'T+M'?!!

Anonymous said...

With regards to the unidentified location featuring the black cab and red bus,I can report that this was filmed on York Road, Wandsworth and is looking north across Wandsworth Bridge towards Barton House(the tower block) in Fulham.

https://goo.gl/maps/qw8Pq8yRhMT2

You can see on the following photo from c1930 the black oblongs on the white roofs of the warehouses to the right of the bridge approach road match those in the movie.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5184/5597803156_4971a917d2.jpg

The side road on the left in the movie would be Jews Row, and the cement works still operates a little further down the road by the Thames.

If further proof be needed, if you look above and to the left of "Cine.." you can see several sets of three "black" oblongs, that is Wandsworth Bridge. You can see them as gaps on this photo.

http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/68c06c0e756241279873c6e242a844ed/landscape-view-of-wandsworth-bridge-on-the-river-thames-with-cement-ben66g.jpg

Anonymous said...

You have another location on thecinetourist.net that was an unknown location, the one with the billboards. This is on the King's Road, Chelsea.

This Bing Maps Bird's Eye view probably identifies it best:

http://binged.it/1RZbvFd

The Houses on the left have been demolished, but the ones in the middle still survive. There's a large new building where the billboards/car park were and the warehouse/factory buildings are still there on the right (now painted green).

RobBeer

THE RUINIST said...

Thanks all