Review by Mike Gerber
Nautilus Telegraph
November 2007
The film, Liverpool’s Cunard Yanks, is packed with great music, footage and interviews, and the editing is as sharp as the American attire that the Scouse seafarers came back wearing.
So too is the accompanying narrative...
As important as the Liverpool seafarers were in triggering the British rock revolution, it simplifies history to say it was all down to them. The British blues boom, an offshoot of the trad and revivalist jazz scene, was also highly significant, and this mainly originated in London following 1950s visits by American blues musicians such as Big Bill Broonzy aMuddy Waters. That is a perspective that is lacking in the film, but it is nevertheless strongly recommended - a compelling, toe-tapping and insightful hour’s viewing.
http://www.nautilusuk.org/ngen_public/default.asp?id=472
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“Documentaries are being screened with growing frequency to audiences, who find in them ideas and rich narratives rarely evident in mainstream movies. Among the most impressive were... Cunard Yanks by Liverpudlians Dave Cotterill and Mike Morris, about ocean-liner waiters from Merseyside who escaped the austerity of 1950s' Britain by whooping it up in New York.
Sukhdev Sandhu
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2003/12/27/bfindy27.xml&sSheet=/arts/2003/12/31/ixartleft.html
"The Cunard Yanks story represents one of Liverpool's most crucial hidden histories. These dapper Merchant Seaman provide a key cultural link between dour post-war Britain and the pop explosion of modern times. The Cunard Yanks were the forerunner of the information superhighway, scooping up ideas, music, fashion, language - all manner of living, evolving modern culture and importing back into the U.K through the gateway port of Liverpool. Without their influence, we'd be so much the poorer. Without their story, we'll never know it."
Kevin Sampson – writer and former manager of the Farm
“I firmly believe that this important film not only records a significant and formative part of Liverpool’s history, but also has a clear educational value. This applies not only to all levels of education within this city, but also to the wider academic community in the UK who are involved with the transatlantic studies.
Screenings have taken place at John Moores University, to members of the North West branch of the British Association for American Studies (BAAS) and also at the City University of New York. The direct feedback I have received from all these have been highly positive and supportive.”
Ian Ralston
Director American Studies Centre
“I write as a historian whose research has touched upon some of the connections made by the film, in brilliant fashion. Over the past year, I have spoken at conferences where the film has been shown: at the American University in Paris and at a Summer School for American students at the University of Liverpool. Audiences were highly enthusiastic about the range of context and vision.
The film is part of Liverpool's cultural history and should be shown at every opportunity in the years leading up to the European Capital of Culture in 2008. The celebration of the film at cultural events would play well with any European and Transatlantic dimension the city would be hoping to portray as part of the celebration and history of its own culture.”
Dr Tony Wailey,
Director of Higher Education Development
London College of Communication
University of the Arts, London.
We have to do the Beatles properly. We have to honour them as the Americans honour their great… We desperately need to revive the river and the waterfront, and we need to get the big ships back….Liverpool used to have a vivid consciousness about what was going on in New York. Stewards on the Cunard liners visited New York and would bring records back. Kids at the Liverpool Institute were playing American music long before the records were sold in this country.’
Sir Bob Scott 2003
“Just seen the "Liverpool to New York" exhibition at the Maritime Museum with your film of the "Cunard Yanks" - how brilliant. What brilliant `After Dinner Speakers` some of these people would make!
Email from a fan
For more info re Cunard Yanks go to:
http://society.guardian.co.uk/societyguardian/story/0,7843,983991,00.html |
"Cunard Yanks is quite the best source for capturing that wonderful moment when
Liverpool showed off its style, pulling away from the dull austerity and
bland provincialism of post Second World War Britain. It offers a unique
insight into Liverpool's popular culture, drawing upon influences not only
from around the Irish Sea but across the Atlantic Ocean. As Liverpool
approaches its 800th anniversary and 'year of heritage' in 2007, 'Cunard
Yanks' deserves to reach the widest audience."
Professor John Belchem
School of History
University of Liverpool |
