Melody (1971 film)

The film was based on an idea of David Puttnam. He was working on film projects with Alan Parker, who he knew with from advertising. Puttnam suggested Parker write a love story involving children and said he had the rights to seven Bee Gees songs to use. Parker was inspired by a line in the song "First of May" and the title came from the song "Melody Fair".

He said the script was based on his own experiences growing up in Islington with some experiences from Puttnam. "It's a combination of Putnam's young life and my young life," said Parker.[2]

Mark Lester (Daniel Latimer) and Jack Wild (Ornshaw) had previously appeared together in the 1968 musical film adaptation of Oliver!. They were joined by the child model Tracy Hyde in the title role. Other cast members included Kate Williams and Roy Kinnear as Melody's parents, and Sheila Steafel and Keith Barron as Daniel's parents.

This was the feature film debut of then child model and commercial actress Tracy Hyde at the age of 11. Writer/Director Andrew Birkin recommended Tracy Hyde for the title role of Melody Perkins to director Waris Hussein after screening and auditioning over 100 girls.[3] Actor Jack Wild, who played Ornshaw, was actually 17 at the time of the production.

Parker says "The film was mostly financed by Edgar Bronfman. Apparently his 16-year-old son, Edgar Bronfman Jr., read the script and recommended that his father make the movie. Edgar Jr. was also a production runner on the film."[4] Ron Kass is the one who sent the script to Bronfman who provided £400,000 of the budget while Hemdale put in £200,000 (At the time Hemdale represented Mark Lester and Jack Wild).[5]

John Daly of Hemdale said, "Provided one is very businesslike and keeps a careful eye on costsnd the market, there is no reason why one can't make excellent profits from films."[6]

Waris Hussein was chosen to direct because Puttnam had admired A Time for Love.[7]

Filming started May 12 1970 and took place over ten weeks with two weeks in the studio.[8]

Shooting took place on location in Hammersmith, and Lambeth in the greater London area. Post-production was completed at the Twickenham Studios.[3] The graveyard scenes of the film were shot on location at Brompton Cemetery and Nunhead Cemetery. The seaside scenes in the latter part of the film were shot in Weymouth, Dorset.

Parker did some second-unit direction for the film, shooting the montage sequences of the school children at break-time and at the sports day.[3]

The film's musical soundtrack included songs by the Bee Gees ("In the Morning", "Melody Fair", "Give Your Best", and the hit singles "To Love Somebody" and "First of May"), and the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young hit "Teach Your Children".[9]

Although the film was a box office disappointment in both the United States and Britain, it turned out to be a hit in Japan as well as in some Latin American countries such as Mexico, Argentina and Chile,[10] and a modest hit in South Africa. Parker later recalled in 2015:

It wasn’t a big hit except, curiously, in Japan. I still get letters from fans of the film in Tokyo and Osaka. Creatively, it got us all started. Up to this point, I had no intentions of a film career, but on “Melody,” I directed a small second-unit sequence, which was used, so probably I was bitten by the film bug then. Creatively, it has had an impact on other directors, as I have had many overtures, over the years, to remake it. Wes Anderson acknowledged that his film “Moonrise Kingdom” was inspired by “Melody.”[4]

By May 1971 John Daly of Hemdale claimed the film had already made a "handsome profit".[6]

Seagram and Hemdale provided finance on Puttnam's next movie The Pied Piper (1972).

The Evening Standard said the film was "done lightly and effectively."[11]

Puttnam said "I always think of it [the film] as the Jules et Jim of the nappy set" adding "for a long time afterwards it was a cheque from Melody that kept Sandy [Lieberson his business partner] and me going."[1]