Stanley Long
Encyclopedia
Stanley Long often known as Stanley A. Long, is a British Exploitation cinema and sexploitation
filmmaker. He is a writer, cinematographer
, editor, and eventually, producer/director of low-budget exploitation movies.
Long began his career as a photographer, before producing striptease shorts or "glamour home movies", as they were sometimes known, for the 8 mm market. Beginning in the late fifties, Long’s feature film career would span the entire history of the British sex film, and as such exemplifies its differing trends and attitudes. From coy nudist films (Nudist Memories, 1959), to moralizing documentary (The Wife Swappers
, 1969) to a more relaxed attitude to permissive material (Naughty, 1971), to out and out comedies at the end of the 1970s.
He made several sex comedy
movies in the 1970s, the most successful being - Adventures of a Taxi Driver
(1975), Zippy Roller (1976), Adventures of a Private Eye
(1977) and Adventures of a Plumber's Mate
(1978) starring a host of talented comedy performers including, Barry Evans, Diana Dors
, Irene Handl
, Harry H. Corbett
, Liz Fraser
and Fred Emney
.
Like Norman J. Warren
Long also made horror films. He made the anthology movie
Screamtime in 1983 and was due to film a Jo Gannon script entitled Plasmid, about albino mutants living in London’s Underground. While the film was never made, confusingly a tie-in novel of Plasmid was released.
Long was also the cameraman on several British horror movies of the 1960s including The Blood Beast Terror
, Repulsion
(uncredited) and The Sorcerers
. For the latter he was strapped to the top of a car to film one sequence.
Long retired from film directing in the early 1980s, however in 2006 he briefly returned to direct The Other Side of the Screen a one-off documentary about various aspects of filmmaking, hosted by Paul Martin, star of Flog It!
. The "Adventures of" comedies were released to DVD on the 2nd June 2008.
In 2009 several of his other sex films, On the Game, Sex and the Other Woman and This That and the Other were also released on DVD for the very first time.
Long was recently interviewed for the BBC's Balderdash and Piffle
programme (broadcast 25 May 2007)http://img125.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=44995_stanleylongdvdzz02gp9_122_826lo.jpg, and the British horror and comedy episodes of the British Films Forever series ("Magic, Murder and Monsters" broadcast 25 August 2007, "Sauce, Satire and Sillyness" broadcast 9 September 2007).
Simon Sheridan’s long-awaited biography of Long - X-Rated - Adventures of an Exploitation Filmmaker - was published in July 2008.
Sexploitation
Sexploitation, or "sex-exploitation", describes a class of independently produced, low-budget feature films generally associated with the 1960s and serving largely as a vehicle for the exhibition of non-explicit sexual situations and gratuitous nudity. The genre is a subgenre of exploitation films...
filmmaker. He is a writer, cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
, editor, and eventually, producer/director of low-budget exploitation movies.
Long began his career as a photographer, before producing striptease shorts or "glamour home movies", as they were sometimes known, for the 8 mm market. Beginning in the late fifties, Long’s feature film career would span the entire history of the British sex film, and as such exemplifies its differing trends and attitudes. From coy nudist films (Nudist Memories, 1959), to moralizing documentary (The Wife Swappers
The Wife Swappers
The Wife Swappers is a 1970 drama film by British sexploitation director Derek Ford. The film was directed and written by Derek Ford, and stars James Donnelly, Larry Taylor, and Valerie St...
, 1969) to a more relaxed attitude to permissive material (Naughty, 1971), to out and out comedies at the end of the 1970s.
He made several sex comedy
Sex comedy
Sex comedy is a term for comedy movies with sexual content usually referring to those made in the United Kingdom in the mid 1970s. They may range from comic pornographic films like the Confessions series to relatively innocent comedies that include jokes about sex and other sexual related humour,...
movies in the 1970s, the most successful being - Adventures of a Taxi Driver
Adventures of a Taxi Driver
Adventures of a Taxi Driver is a 1976 British sex comedy film starring Barry Evans, Judy Geeson and Adrienne Posta. There were two sequels, Adventures of a Private Eye and Adventures of a Plumber's Mate.-Cast:* Barry Evans as Joe North...
(1975), Zippy Roller (1976), Adventures of a Private Eye
Adventures of a Private Eye
The Adventures of a Private Eye is a 1977 British sex comedy film starring Christopher Neil, Suzy Kendall, Harry H. Corbett and Liz Fraser. It was the second in the trilogy of 'Adventures' films after the 1976 film Adventures of a Taxi Driver...
(1977) and Adventures of a Plumber's Mate
Adventures of a Plumber's Mate
Adventures of a Plumber's Mate is a 1978 British sex comedy film starring Christopher Neil as Sid South. Following on from Adventures of a Taxi Driver and Adventures of a Private Eye, this was the final of the trilogy which attempted to occupy the same market position as the better-known and more...
(1978) starring a host of talented comedy performers including, Barry Evans, Diana Dors
Diana Dors
Diana Dors was an English actress, born Diana Mary Fluck in Swindon, Wiltshire. Considered the English equivalent of the blonde bombshells of Hollywood, Dors described herself as: "The only sex symbol Britain has produced since Lady Godiva."-Early life:Diana Mary Fluck was born in Swindon,...
, Irene Handl
Irene Handl
-Life:Irene Handl was born in Maida Vale, London, the daughter of an Austrian banker father and French mother. She took to acting at the relatively advanced age of 36, and studied at the acting school run by the sister of Dame Sybil Thorndike...
, Harry H. Corbett
Harry H. Corbett
Harry H. Corbett OBE was an English actor.Corbett was best known for his starring role in the popular and long-running BBC Television sitcom Steptoe and Son in the 1960s and 70s...
, Liz Fraser
Liz Fraser
Liz Fraser is an English actress, mainly in comedy roles.- Life and career :Her birthdate is usually attributed as 1933, the year she gave when auditioning for her role in I'm All Right Jack, as the Boulting Brothers wanted someone younger for the part...
and Fred Emney
Fred Emney
Frederick Arthur Round "Fred" Emney was an English character actor and comedian.Emney was born in Lancashire, the son of Blanche and Fred Emney , a music hall entertainer. His uncle was the actor Arthur Williams. Emney junior grew up in London.He made his film debut in 1935, having previously...
.
Like Norman J. Warren
Norman J. Warren
Norman John Warren, born 25 June 1942 in London, is a British film director best known for such 1970s horror films as Satan’s Slave , Prey and Terror...
Long also made horror films. He made the anthology movie
Anthology film
An anthology film is a feature film consisting of several different short films, often tied together by only a single theme, premise, or brief interlocking event . Sometimes each one is directed by a different director...
Screamtime in 1983 and was due to film a Jo Gannon script entitled Plasmid, about albino mutants living in London’s Underground. While the film was never made, confusingly a tie-in novel of Plasmid was released.
Long was also the cameraman on several British horror movies of the 1960s including The Blood Beast Terror
The Blood Beast Terror
The Blood Beast Terror is a 1968 British horror film released by Tigon. It was known in the United States under the title The Vampire-Beast Craves Blood.-Story:A series of grisly murders is occurring in the English countryside...
, Repulsion
Repulsion
Repulsion is a 1965 British psychological thriller film directed by Roman Polanski, based on a scenario by Gérard Brach and Roman Polanski. It was Polanski's first English language film, and was shot in Britain, as such being his second film made outside his native Poland. The cast includes...
(uncredited) and The Sorcerers
The Sorcerers (film)
The Sorcerers is a 1967 British science fiction/horror film directed by Michael Reeves, starring Boris Karloff, Catherine Lacey, Ian Ogilvy, and Susan George...
. For the latter he was strapped to the top of a car to film one sequence.
Long retired from film directing in the early 1980s, however in 2006 he briefly returned to direct The Other Side of the Screen a one-off documentary about various aspects of filmmaking, hosted by Paul Martin, star of Flog It!
Flog It!
Flog It! is a television series broadcast on the BBC, presented by Paul Martin. The show follows a similar formula to Antiques Roadshow, with members of the public bringing their antiques to be viewed and valued by a team of experts...
. The "Adventures of" comedies were released to DVD on the 2nd June 2008.
In 2009 several of his other sex films, On the Game, Sex and the Other Woman and This That and the Other were also released on DVD for the very first time.
Long was recently interviewed for the BBC's Balderdash and Piffle
Balderdash and Piffle
Balderdash and Piffle was a British television programme made by Takeaway Media for the BBC. Presented by Victoria Coren, it was a companion to the Oxford English Dictionary's Wordhunt, in which the writers of the dictionary asked the public for help in finding the origins and first known citations...
programme (broadcast 25 May 2007)http://img125.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=44995_stanleylongdvdzz02gp9_122_826lo.jpg, and the British horror and comedy episodes of the British Films Forever series ("Magic, Murder and Monsters" broadcast 25 August 2007, "Sauce, Satire and Sillyness" broadcast 9 September 2007).
Simon Sheridan’s long-awaited biography of Long - X-Rated - Adventures of an Exploitation Filmmaker - was published in July 2008.
