Duffer

Duffer DVD cover

The sleeve notes for the DVD of a 1971 film Duffer

“An intense and bizarre study of obsession that is by turns lyrical and disconcerting, Duffer tells the deranged story of a teenage boy torn between the womanly charms of a kindly prostitute, and the relentless, sadistic attentions of an older man.”

say that Delia provided sound effects for it:

From its running voice-over to the weird, artificial background tape-loops of passing traffic, the entire Duffer soundtrack is a piece of sound art, combining MacDermot's compositions with more avant'garde interventions, such as the acrid, Ligeti-like high-string dissonances when Louis Jack is draping worms on Duffer's stomach, or the ghastly Moog synthesizer buzz that flares up when Duffer spies Your Gracie entertaining a client.

Also riding high at the time was composer Galt MacDermot, whose career in musical theatre reached its peak in 1967 with the controversial hit, Hair. MacDermot, a friend of Dumaresq's, contributes a smattering of musical interludes for piano which greatly assist the film's trajectory from downbeat weirdness to fragile charm, concluding with a mournful nocturne that almost succeeds in making the South Bank's concrete architecture (where the final scenes were shot) sing with a sweet ache of sorrow and resignation. Add to this some electronic contributions from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop's celebrated Delia Derbyshire, working off-the-record here, and you have a soundtrack that graces every beat of a complex emotional journey, rounding off a truly accomplished debut feature.

There were certain night scenes where I felt the new synthesizer machine at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop would be effective. Radiophonics supplied several effects which I laid over the appropriate sequences; they worked extremely well.

Sounds of rushing wind and electronic howls dominate the scene, part of a very experimental sound collage that includes the rantings of Louis Jack and the electronica (momentarily simulating traffic in one scene - four years before Kraftwerk would turn such sounds into a new form of pop) of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop's Delia Derbyshire.

Credits

• Writer: William Dumaresq
• Directors: William Dumaresq and Joseph Despins
• Music: Galt MacDermot
• Sound effects: BBC Radiophonic Workshop

Tracks

• Descending monkey (14:26-14:50)

"There was this monkey on a stick that Your Gracie had, and when I piled into her she'd start it. The idea was that the monkey should get to the bottom before I was finished but I never could somehow last long enough. I tried, God knows!"

• Draping worms (18:08-20:06)

Duffer's male lover covers him in worms to make a film.

• Betrayed (41:19-42:15)

Duffer sees his female lover in the arms of another man.

Availability

• Released on DVD on 17th January 2011 as part of the British Film Institute's "Flipside" series.
• The DVD of the film can be bought from the British Film Institute's filmstore, Amazon, MovieMail, Speedy Hen and play.com
• File:Duffer.torrent

External links

• A detailed article about the film's producers and plot, though with no mention of Delia.
• The IMDb entry for Duffer