Sheet

Date: 1970
Director: Ian Breakwell and Mike Leggett
Production Company: London Film-Makers’ Co-operative

Stars: A white linen sheet!
Location(s): London, Oxfordshire, Paris

Region(s): , ,

Storyline:

A white sheet is seen in a number of different urban and rural situations.

Additional Information:

Page compiled by Phil Wilkinson

Can you help:

If you have any information regarding this production, the locations or, even better, some comparison shots please contact us. Images submitted must be in Landscape orientation, as would be seen on the cinema screen, not Portrait.

We are aware that there are films on the site that were added when the criteria for the inclusion of locations was very different from today and, as a result, there may be scenes missing from some productions. Please do not forward additional screen captures to us but bring the detail to our attention, for we do, and are, 're-addressing' these older entries as time allows.

A sheet lies in the doorway of 29 to 31 Cowcross Street, London EC1.

Not quite the same. PW

Over a bollard on Cowcross Street in Farringdon.

The sheet and the bollard have both long disappeared. PW

Along an alley . . . facing north on Peter's Lane EC1.

Bollards and street furniture remain with an additional cabinet. PW

In the roadway. Looking east on Cowcross Street.

Double yellow lines prevent sheets from parking now. PW

The sheet cannot be seen. Facing numbers 32, 29 and 31 Cowcross Street and Faulkner's Alley.

Like so many others, it looks like Faulkner's Alley has ceased to be a right of way. PW

  • 'Now' required

Visible again and draped across the tiles of a roof, the sheet is pulled through a window.

No sheet. Facing Block N of the Whitecross Street Estate at the corner of Chequer Street and Cahill Street EC1 with Block M to the left.

Block N from street level. PW

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The sheet hangs from the window seen earlier. The BFI describes the film as ". . . of architectural, indoor and countryside locations in which a three metre square white linen sheet appears within each location as a focal point. Sometimes like a billowing sail, at other times a discarded rag or a shroud. The sheet appears in odd places, making familiar objects look strange and uncanny."

St. John Street EC1 with St. John's Lane to the top, the northern end of Peter's Lane on the left and a rather conspicuous Public Convenience in the centre.

The junction 55 years on. PW

  • 'Now' required

In a field. The Open Edition Journals website tells us that "filming took place, according to Joy L. Payne’s book Reel Rebels: The London Film-Makers’ Co-Operative 1966 to 1996, in various locations including the Paris Metro, the New Arts Lab in London, Breakwell and Leggett’s respective flats, Greenwich Park, the Goring Gap in Oxfordshire, Covent Garden, the streets of Smithfield, Bristol Arts Centre, Wantage in Somerset and in courtyards and on roof tops around the Barbican in London." (Payne 2015)

Against a wall at the entrance to flats. The Peabody Trust's Whitecross Street Estate between Whitecross Street, Dufferin Street, Cahill Street and Chequer Street in EC1 with Block G in the background, J to the left and H and K on the right.

Gardens have been added. PW

Facing Blocks L and J on the Whitecross Street Estate with Block G to the right.

A closer view, avoiding the flower beds. PW

  • 'Now' required

The sheet blows in the wind on the roof of number 1 Cahill Street in EC1.

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Riding on a travelator. This appears to be a triple moving walkway somewhere on the Paris Metro.

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Possibly the exit from a station on the Paris Metro.

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A 360 degree pan starts. Looking north-east from the roof of number 1 Cahill Street at the corner of Dufferin Avenue EC1 with Braithwaite House on Bunhill Row in the top distance.

Moving leftward. Facing northward from the roof of 1 Cahill Street with Quaker Court and Discovery House on Banner Street to the left and Chequer Street School on the right.

It wasn't possible to include elements of the background as well. PW

Block N of the Whitecross Street Estate on Chequer Street.

Without the elevation. PW

  • 'Now' required

The shot settles where the sheet can be seen behind a parapet. The roof of number 1 Cahill Street with buildings on Dufferin Street in the top right background.

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Lying next to a pillar. Looking down onto the roadway of Covent Garden in WC2 with one of the pillars at the entrance to St. Paul's church to the right.

The film was shown at the 1970 NFT Festival in London. Cowcross Street EC1 with Faulkner's Alley to the left.

It now looks older than then. PW

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On the path in the left distance. Greenwich Park in SE10 with the Queen's House to the top and the Royal Naval College beyond.

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The view from 82 Frithville Gardens W12, director Mike Leggett's address, with a Metropolitan Line train running along the railway viaduct between Shepherds Bush and Latimer Road stations and properties on Macfarlane Road in the right background.