Duffer
The sleeve notes for the DVD of a 1971 film Duffer, released in early 2011 as part of the British Film Institute's "Flipside" series, 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.
-- DVD sleeve notes by Stephen Thrower
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.
-- DVD sleeve notes by Stephen Thrower
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.
-- DVD sleeve notes (who is speaking?)
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.
-- Frank Collins on Cathode Ray Tube
Credits
- Writer: William Dumaresq
- Directors: William Dumaresq and Joseph Despins
- Music: Galt MacDermot
- Sound effects: BBC Radiophonic Workshop
Availability
- The DVD of the film can be bought from the British Film Institute's filmstore, Amazon, MovieMail and play.com
External links
- A detailed article about the film's producers and plot, though with no mention of Delia.
- The IMDb entry for Duffer
