Slade in Flame (1975)

Max

1 year ago

London, 27 March 2025 – Today BFI Distribution reveals the brand-new trailer, theatrical poster, Blu-ray/DVD cover art and special features for the 50^th Anniversary re-release of SLADE IN FLAME starring Slade – Noddy Holder, Dave Hill, Jim Lea and Don Powell – and featuring Tom Conti and Alan Lake.

Described by film critic Mark Kermode as “the Citizen Kane of British pop movies” this gritty 1975 classic, showing the un-glam side of the music biz, is now newly remastered. It comes back to the big screen in cinemas around the UK and Ireland from 2 May 2025 through BFI Distribution and is then released on BFI Blu-ray/DVD (Dual Format Edition) and digital on 19 May 2025. These long-awaited re-releases will be launched with a special screening at BFI Southbank on Thursday 1 May at 6pm, followed by a Q&A with director Richard Loncraine and actor Tom Conti. The film then has a 7-day run at BFI Southbank.

The special features on the Blu-ray/DVD are:

Newly remastered by the BFI and presented in High Definition and Standard Definition
Newly recorded audio commentary with director Richard Loncraine and film critic Mark Kermode
Make Way For Noddy (2025, 9 mins): actor Tom Conti discusses the making of Slade in Flame
Noddy Holder Interview (2002, 54 mins): Noddy speaks to broadcaster Gary Crowley in the uncut, full-length version of an interview that later featured in The Making of Slade in Flame
The Making of Slade in Flame (2007, 58 mins): recorded for the film’s original DVD release and featuring interviews with all four members of Slade, director Richard Loncraine and actor Tom Conti, this documentary tells the story of Slade in Flame from its inception to its London premiere.
This Week: Men’s Fashions (1973, 10 mins): meet Tommy Nutter, the rebel tailor of Savile Row, as flamboyant fashions get thoroughly road-tested in this glam 1970s fashion short
Original theatrical trailer (1975)
Trailer (2025)
Slade in Frame – a collection of promotional images from the film’s original release
**FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet with new writing on the film by Graham Rinaldi and other essays by Jay Rathbone, Barry Forshaw and Bob Stanley

Directed by Richard Loncraine (Richard III, My One and Only), just in his late-20s at the time and working on his first feature film, Slade in Flame both confounded and delighted audiences when it was released at the height of the legendary glam-rock band’s fame, following their incredible six No.1 UK singles from 1971-1973.

A fictional tale but all based on true experiences and starring the band themselves as the members of Flame – this was a music film like no other. Charting the rise and fall of a pop group at the end of the 1960s – from bold beginnings in seedy clubs to booze-addled endings in spectacular stadiums – this darkly cynical, warts-and-all portrait of a band in freefall amidst the music-industry suits who want a piece of the pie was not what anybody was expecting.

Slade in Flame came about when the band’s manager Chas Chandler (who had previously discovered and managed Jimi Hendrix), decided that a film should be their next step after their huge chart success. The band were up for it but, despite their colourful image, were adamant they didn’t want to do a running and jumping around film in the fashion of The Beatles in A Hard Day’s Night; they wanted a film based on real life. To get a feel for what it was really like being in a band in the late 60s, director Richard Loncraine and screenwriter Andrew Birkin (The Cement Garden, Perfume: Story of a Murderer) went out on the road to America with Slade to observe all the goings on and hear their stories, both about themselves and other bands they knew at the time. Filming took place mainly on location in Sheffield and Nottingham, with the exterior pirate radio scenes shot at the Radio City pirate radio station based on the Shivering Sands Army Fort in the Thames Estuary.

Slade star as Flame band members Stoker (Noddy Holder), Barry (Dave Hill), Paul (Jim Lea) and Charlie (Don Powell). The cast also features Tom Conti (Oppenheimer, Reuben, Reuben, Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence) in his first major film role as Robert Seymour, who sees the band as a business opportunity; Alan Lake as singer Jack Daniels (who at one point was fired from the set for disorderly behaviour and only reinstated thanks to his wife Diana Dors’ persuasion), Johnny Shannon (Performance) as manager Ron Harding, Kenneth Colley as talent scout Tony Devlin and real-life DJs Emperor Rosko and Tommy Vance. The notable crew included producer Gavrik Losey (Dance Craze), cinematographer Peter Hannan (Withnail and I, Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life) and editor Michael Bradsell (The Devils, Local Hero). Writer Dave Humphries (Quadrophenia) contributed to the dialogue.

Ahead of the film’s opening, the original soundtrack album was released by Polydor in 1974, reaching No.6 in the UK album charts. That was preceded by the taster single Far Far Away, which reached No.2 in the UK singles charts. The album also featured How Does It Feel, which was the second single.

Acclaimed as a stone-cold bona-fide cult classic over subsequent decades, and boasting a razor-sharp screenplay, superb performances and the power-packed foot-stomping soundtrack, Slade in Flame has been newly remastered by the BFI from the best available 35mm materials for its cinema release and its first ever release on Blu-ray.