Red, White and Zero

Red, White and Zero is a 1967 British anthology film made by Woodfall Film Productions. It consists of three segments, directed by Peter Brook, Lindsay Anderson and Tony Richardson.^[1]

Red, White and Zero
DVD cover
Directed by	Peter Brook (Ride of the Valkyrie) Lindsay Anderson (The White Bus) Tony Richardson (Red and Blue)
Screenplay by	Peter Brook (Ride of the Valkyrie) Shelagh Delaney (The White Bus) Tony Richardson and Julian More (Red and Blue)
Produced by	Lindsay Anderson Oscar Lewenstein
Starring	Zero Mostel (Ride of the Valkyrie) Patricia Healey (The White Bus) Vanessa Redgrave (Red and Blue)
Cinematography	David Watkin (Ride of the Valkyrie) Miroslav Ondricek (The White Bus) Billy Williams (Red and Blue)
Edited by	Marlene Fletcher (Ride of the Valkyrie) Kevin Brownlow (The White Bus, Red and Blue)
Music by	Howard Blake (Ride of the Valkyrie) Misha Donat (The White Bus) Stanley Black and Monty Norman (Red and Blue)
Production companies	Woodfall Film Productions Holly Productions
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	1967 (1967)
Running time	98 minutes (Ride of the Valkyrie – 14 minutes, The White Bus – 46 minutes, Red and Blue – 36 minutes)
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Plot

The film is split into three sections of the following stories.

Ride of the Valkyrie

Main article: Ride of the Valkyrie (1967 film)

An opera singer, dressed in full costume and dress, must navigate through the busy city streets to get to the theater in time for his performance.

• Zero Mostel
• Julia Foster
• Frank Thornton

The White Bus

Main article: The White Bus

The main character, only referred to as 'the girl' leaves London, goes north on a train full of football fans and takes a trip in a white double-decker bus in an unnamed city she is visiting, although it is clearly based on Manchester, Delaney was born and grew up in nearby Salford. The Mayor, a local businessman, and the council's ceremonial macebearer happen also to be taking the trip while they show the city to visiting foreigners.

• Patricia Healey as the girl
• Arthur Lowe as the mayor
• John Sharp as the macebearer
• Julie Perry as the conductress
• Stephen Moore as young man
• Victor Henry as transistorite
• John Savident, Fanny Carby, Malcolm Taylor, Alan O'Keeffe as supporters
• Anthony Hopkins as Brechtian
• Jeanne Watts, Eddie King as fish shop couple
• Barry Evans as boy
• Penny Ryder as girl
• Dennis Alaba Peters as Mr. Wombe

Red and Blue

Jacky, an English cabaret singer goes to Paris for a nightclub engagement, where the romantic image of her songs is very different from the reality of her solitary life. Songs are by Serge Rezvani.

• Vanessa Redgrave as Jacky
• John Bird as man on train
• Gary Raymond as songwriter
• Michael York as acrobat
• Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. as millionaire

Production history

It was originally commissioned by producer Oscar Lewenstein, then a director of Woodfall, with sections supplied by Lindsay Anderson, Tony Richardson and Karel Reisz.^[2] When Reisz's planned segment evolved into the feature-length Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment (1966), it was replaced by Peter Brook's Ride of the Valkyrie. The two other planned sections of the film developed into what became Richardson's Red and Blue and Anderson's The White Bus (1967). Of these, only The White Bus received a theatrical release in the UK.^[3]

Release

The rediscovered film was released by the BFI on Blu-ray and DVD in 2018.^[4]