Anthony Simmons found films in working-class London's habits, pleasures and music. We value his warmth and sense of place, even when the storytelling lacks the care he gives to people and locations.
Fi1m perspective
In Sunday by the Sea (1953), Cockney life is set to music-hall songs: Simmons lets popular entertainment help describe a community. It is a useful introduction to a director who paid attention to how people enjoyed themselves, as well as how they got by. We value that warmth, and the conviction that working-class life deserves more than a catalogue of hardships. The limitation is his storytelling, which could be uneven enough to weaken the good work done by his locations and performers.
The move from documentaries to intermittent features did not displace that interest in ordinary lives. Four in the Morning (1965) brought several stories to the Thames, with an unevenness in the telling that remains a useful warning about his work. The Optimists of Nine Elms (1973), adapted from his own novel, draws on Peter Sellers and South London locations. Black Joy (1977) looks at Caribbean immigrant life in Brixton, accompanied by soul music. Cinematographer Walter Lassally and producer Leon Clore were among his recurring collaborators.
From the late 1970s, television became his main directing work, and Inspector Morse (1987) is the title here we recommend most confidently. We warmed to John Thaw and Kevin Whately because their quiet humour made the slow Oxford mysteries worth staying with. The cases can take too long to untangle, but the company earns the time. Simmons directed episodes; it would be wrong to credit him alone with the pleasures of a series whose appeal depends so much on its two leading actors. What we admire there is also what we value in his films: a willingness to spend time with people.
Simmons's optimism does not mean that he smooths every difficulty away; Black Joy is sympathetic without being sentimental. That matters when a director is looking at people on the margins, who are too easily reduced to whatever has gone wrong in their lives. For his particular view of London, start with The Optimists of Nine Elms and pay attention to the streets as well as Sellers.
Biography
Anthony Simmons (1922–2016) was a British writer and film director. Born in West Ham, London, he began his career with documentaries, including Sunday by the Sea (1953), which won the Grand Prix at the Venice Film Festival.
His feature films include Four in the Morning (1965), The Optimists of Nine Elms (1973) and Black Joy (1977). He also directed episodes of television series such as Play for Today (1982), The Professionals (1978–1982), Inspector Morse (1989) and A Touch of Frost (1992). For several years he worked in radio and made television commercials.
