The latest edition of Cinema Retro magazine (Lee Marvin features on the cover) contains a piece by Tony on the forgotten history of the classic ’60s movie Billy Liar.

John Schlesinger’s movie stars Tom Courtenay and Julie Christie as arch fantasist Billy Fisher and his free-wheeling love, Liz. Yet Christie was a late replacement for Topsy Jane, an unknown actress who had to quit the film due to illness.

The story is retold in Cinema Retro, and features an exclusive image of Topsy Jane and Schlesinger on location in Yorkshire in 1962. The picture was published for the first time in Tony’s book Made in Yorkshire, published last year by Guerilla Books.

Tony’s next commission for Cinema Retro is a report on the legendary unfinished film The Story of William Tell, starring Errol Flynn. The report is based on an exclusive interview with the late Jack Cardiff, conducted at Bradford Film Festival in 2002.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 30th, 2009 at 9:50 pm.