Subtitled The Legendary Life of Cliff Twemlow, this fascinating documentary sheds light on one of the pioneers of shot-on-video filmmaking in the UK.
While mainstream film fans will be unaware of Cliff’s work, video nasty connoisseurs will definitely know his movie G.B.H., which hit rental stores in 1983 and became a cult classic. Hailing from Manchester, Twemlow had a few strings to his bow. As well as making films, he was a nightclub doorman (a bouncer), an author, and a composer. His music is part of the DeWolfe collection, a library of licensable tunes, and Cliff’s contributions ended up being used in Dawn of the Dead and as the theme to the UK TV series Crown Court. Director Jake West (Midnight Peepshow), himself a veteran of UK low-budget filmmaking, puts together a wealth of talking heads from Cliff’s life. Family members, as well as various cast and crew, make sense of his life in an affectionate but honest way. By the end of the film, you’d wish you knew Twemlow.
The doc serves fans of G.B.H. really well but also goes deep into his other, occasionally unfinished, projects and movies. Being an early adapter of home video recording, there’s plenty of contemporary footage to illustrate the various stories. Ashley Thorpe (Borley Rectory) provides some fun animated moments that invigorate stills.
In a similar fashion to Being Frank, Mancunian Man takes an underrated northern artist whose impact could have been greater given the right breaks. Cliff Twemlow’s story should provide encouragement to the current crop of British indie filmmakers. One can only imagine what wonders Cliff would have created with modern equipment. An essential watch for anyone remotely interested in indie film and the crazy days of the VHS era.
MANCUNIAN MAN: THE LEGENDARY LIFE OF CLIFF TWEMLOW is available on Tubi and digital platforms.
