TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT
Directed by Dave Robinson
Certificate: PG
☆☆☆☆☆

THIS wonderful snapshot of times past is worth watching for a multitude of reasons: not only is it an entertaining tale of the band Madness, but it’s the small details in the background you’ll love.

Who cannot fail to be charmed by the cameo of Arlo and Peggy Conlon, the owners of the Dublin Castle pub, on screen chatting with members of the original Camden Town band?

Take It Or Leave It was released in 1981 and tells the story of how Madness was formed. It was made after they had hit the big time and offers an enchanting – if somewhat ropey in terms of production values – story of a bunch of teenagers from NW5 who fancy putting together a little music combo.

Madness were well versed at playing to a camera, hamming it up magnificently on stage became hamming it up magnificently for pop videos such as the iconic Night Boat To Cairo.

The band members draw on a very British sense of humour. You can see these musicians were raised on a diet of Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em, Spike Milligan and The Goon Show, and The Two Ronnies. Nothing is taken seriously.

Madness with Arlo and Peggy Conlon at The Dublin Castle in a scene from Take It Or Leave It [British Film Institute]

And yet there is a serious element flowing beneath if you look. London is rundown, drab, grey; ancient vehicles running on lead-filled petrol fill streets; houses look like they last had a lick of paint when they were put up by Victorian builders. The hairstyles of the fans are a cultural record in themselves – early New Romantics mingle with Skinhead-looking Bovver Boys. We are taken into Rock On Records in Kentish Town Road and then into the Dublin Castle.

Its low production values seem to signal the end of the 1970s before the 1980s of a Big Bang digital world came along. But that is why it is so fantastic to watch again today.

Directed by Stiff Records headman Dave Robinson, there was no script. Based on events that took the boys from Kentish Town to global fame, it also has an understandably knockout sound track too.

The film, restored by the BFI, is a must-see for fans of the band, Two Tone and Mod culture. It is also more than that: if you love our city, love social history, and want an unfiltered window into times past, Take It Or Leave It is simply wonderful.

• Details of screenings at: https://www.bfi.org.uk/bfi-film-releases/madness-take-it-or-leave-it-4k-restoration

• Take It Or Leave It will also be released on DVD/Blue Ray on October 19