Rent The Ballad of Tam Lin (1970)
3.2 of 5 from 59 ratings
1h 46min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Hollywood enchantress Ava Gardner (The Killers) casts a glamorous, beguiling spell across this eerily evocative, unjustly overlooked folk horror. Loosely based around the traditional Scottish ballad, and shot in the Borders, it would be the sole directorial credit of legendary Planet of the Apes actor, Roddy McDowall. Swinging-London photographer Tom Lynn (Ian McShane, Lovejoy), the current bedroom favourite of beautiful, wealthy widow Mrs. Cazaret (Gardner), joins his lover and a kooky coven of bright young things for decadent debauchment at a remote Scottish moorland retreat. But when Tom falls instead for Janet (Stephanie Beacham, Dracula AD 1972), daughter of the local vicar (Cyril Cusack, Fahrenheit 451), he must face the fiery fury of a woman scorned: drug-fuelled, dangerous, deadly games... - Actors:
- Ava Gardner, Ian McShane, Richard Wattis, Cyril Cusack, Stephanie Beacham, David Whitman, Fabia Drake, Sinéad Cusack, Joanna Lumley, Jenny Hanley, Madeline Smith, Bruce Robinson, Victoria Fairbrother, Rosemary Blake, Michael Bills, Virginia Tingwell, Peter Hinwood, Hayward Morse, Julian Barnes, Norman Oliver
- Directors:
- Roddy McDowall
- Producers:
- Stanley Mann, Alan Ladd Jr
- Writers:
- William Spier, Robert Burns
- Aka:
- The Devil's Widow
- Genres:
- Classics, Horror, Thrillers
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 10/10/2022
- Run Time:
- 107 minutes
- Languages:
- English LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 2.35:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Audio commentary by BFI Flipside co-founders William Fowler and Vic Pratt (2021)
- Love You and Leave You For Dead (2021,11 mins): Ian McShane on Tam Lin
- An Eerie Tale to Tell (2021,10 mins) Stephanie Beacham on Tam Lin
- Ballad of a B-Movie: Revisiting Tam Lin (2021,12 mins): interview with Roddy McDowall biographer David Del Valle
- Legendary Ladies of the Silver Screen: Ava Gardner (1998,18 mins): Roddy McDowall remembers Ava Gardner and The Ballad of Tam Lin in this adoring archive introduction Adventures Along the Way (2022, 32 mins): actress Madeline Smith looks back on being one of the coven
- Listening In (2022, 27 mins): Jacqui McShee, lead singer of the seminal British folk group Pentangle, recalls the writing and recording of the film's cult soundtrack
- Hans Zimmer on Stanley Myers (2021,20 mins, audio only): the much-loved composer discusses the work of Stanley Myers
- Red Red? Red (Jim Weiss, Chris Maudson, John Phillips, 1971,34 mins): an impressionistic study of a commune in Devon where people dress up, play instruments, make love and take part in strange revolutionary games
- Border Country (26 mins): rare short films from the BFI National Archive reveal rural lifestyles at Scotland's edge
- Theatrical trailer
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Reviews (1) of The Ballad of Tam Lin
Interesting but flawed late 60s thriller - The Ballad of Tam Lin review by Dr Waerdnotte
There are many things that are interesting about this movie, not least that it was McDowall's sole foray into directing (apart from his Planet of the Apes home movie!) McDowall does a pretty good job in creating something that falls between a 60s European art movie and a Hammer horror. McShane and Gardner bring a bit of gravitas to the proceedings but for me it is Stephanie Beecham who shines. Support from the likes of Joanna Lumley , Bruce Robinson and Sinead Cusack is rather uninspiring. God knows what Ava Gardner thought of the whole thing! Its worth the watch though for the final act that sees McShane, drugged up and being chased by the feral pack of bohemians, egged on by the devil witch that is Gardener's character. Also, the music by The Pentangle is fabulous.
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