‘An underrated northern artist whose impact could have been greater given the right breaks. Cliff Twemlow’s story should provide encouragement to the current crop of British indie filmmakers. An essential watch’
*****
Starburst
‘Hugely entertaining documentary about a truly unique character… Jake West paints an affectionate portrait of a genuine one-off, whose work you’ll want to dive into once credits roll’
Dexerto
‘A fascinating man… Cliff absolutely deserves a place in the pantheon of low-budget, guerrilla-style filmmakers and hopefully this documentary will introduce him to an entirely new audience’
*****
Set the Tape
Following its successful festival run and ahead of its digital release in June 2024, Severin Films announces a UK theatrical tour of the acclaimed film Mancunian Man the Legendary Life of Cliff Twemlow.
Tour dates:
3 March – Nottingham Broadway + Q&a with Jake West & David Gregory
13 March – Birmingham – Mockingbird Cinema + Q&a with Jake West
23 March – Exeter – Exeter Phoenix...
*****
Starburst
‘Hugely entertaining documentary about a truly unique character… Jake West paints an affectionate portrait of a genuine one-off, whose work you’ll want to dive into once credits roll’
Dexerto
‘A fascinating man… Cliff absolutely deserves a place in the pantheon of low-budget, guerrilla-style filmmakers and hopefully this documentary will introduce him to an entirely new audience’
*****
Set the Tape
Following its successful festival run and ahead of its digital release in June 2024, Severin Films announces a UK theatrical tour of the acclaimed film Mancunian Man the Legendary Life of Cliff Twemlow.
Tour dates:
3 March – Nottingham Broadway + Q&a with Jake West & David Gregory
13 March – Birmingham – Mockingbird Cinema + Q&a with Jake West
23 March – Exeter – Exeter Phoenix...
- 3/13/2024
- by Peter 'Witchfinder' Hopkins
- Horror Asylum
Mancunian Man Photo: courtesy of Frightfest
Jake West is a man who loves films – not just making his own, but exploring and documenting the work of others. His string of documentaries on filmmakers, actors and the hidden history of British cinema led him, perhaps inevitably, to Cliff Twemlow, a man who devoted his life to trying to build a new rival to Hollywood in Manchester, and who got further than you might expect given shoestring budgets and a dependency on casting his friends. The resulting film, Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life Of Cliff Twemlow is a real delight, packed full of wild anecdotes and never-before-seen footage. It screened as part of last month’s Frightfest and is soon to feature at Fantastic Fest. I was glad to get the opportunity to sit down with Jake and learn more.
“I was making my video nasties documentary where I first kind of began to really know.
Jake West is a man who loves films – not just making his own, but exploring and documenting the work of others. His string of documentaries on filmmakers, actors and the hidden history of British cinema led him, perhaps inevitably, to Cliff Twemlow, a man who devoted his life to trying to build a new rival to Hollywood in Manchester, and who got further than you might expect given shoestring budgets and a dependency on casting his friends. The resulting film, Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life Of Cliff Twemlow is a real delight, packed full of wild anecdotes and never-before-seen footage. It screened as part of last month’s Frightfest and is soon to feature at Fantastic Fest. I was glad to get the opportunity to sit down with Jake and learn more.
“I was making my video nasties documentary where I first kind of began to really know.
- 9/20/2023
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Cliff Twemlow is, for me, something of an enigma, an urban legend, even a myth if you like. I remember reading about this self-made film star in the pages of Darkside Magazine – his films seemingly lost to the VHS era in much the same way as Lindsay Shonteff’s oeuvre. Speaking of VHS, Twemlow is probably best known for G.B.H., a British gangster movie that became notorious after it featured on the video nasties list thanks to the garish artwork – Cliff’s character covered in blood brandishing a hammer!
What I didn’t know about Twemlow is that he wrote music, and performed not only as part of a band (under the name Peter Reno) but also penned theme songs under the same name for the De Wolfe label – over 2000 pieces of music in fact, themes that went on to be featured on TV shows of the era! Twemlow was also a novelist,...
What I didn’t know about Twemlow is that he wrote music, and performed not only as part of a band (under the name Peter Reno) but also penned theme songs under the same name for the De Wolfe label – over 2000 pieces of music in fact, themes that went on to be featured on TV shows of the era! Twemlow was also a novelist,...
- 8/30/2023
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Cliff Twemlow is an obscure figure even by British B-movie standards, a handsome, no-nonsense former Manchester nightclub doorman who attempted to create a Hollywood of the north in the early ’80s and ’90s. Born in 1937, a fact he tried to cloud for many years, he was something of a renaissance man: He acted in soaps, he composed lucrative library music, he wrote a novel about a killer pike, and, after a wounding experience with a botched adaptation of his autobiographical novel Tuxedo Warrior, he decided to become a filmmaker himself.
His first production, G.B.H. (1982), was shot on video — the grainy, ugly, analog kind — and it rode on the coattails of the recent hit The Long Good Friday. Twemlow starred as a handsome, no-nonsense Manchester nightclub doorman, hired to protect a local nightclub from a protection racket after returning from a stretch in prison.
His first production, G.B.H. (1982), was shot on video — the grainy, ugly, analog kind — and it rode on the coattails of the recent hit The Long Good Friday. Twemlow starred as a handsome, no-nonsense Manchester nightclub doorman, hired to protect a local nightclub from a protection racket after returning from a stretch in prison.
- 8/28/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
For over a century now, the English speaking film business has centred on Hollywood. Though it’s no longer the most prolific producer of films overall (that credit belongs to the Hindi-language industry in Mumbai), such is the power concentrated in the Los Angeles industry, and in its handful of big studios, that other industries have struggled to compete. Where they have been successful, it has usually been by building up a few strong brands: London with its mixture of heritage films and gritty dramas, Dublin with its dark comedies and innovative horror films. So what about Manchester? This documentary tells the story of a legendary figure who was determined to challenge the biggest blockbuster hits, to make any kind of film he wanted and to do it in spectacular style: Cliff Twemlow, Mancunian man.
Think you’ve never heard of him? The chances are that you’re familiar with at least one of.
Think you’ve never heard of him? The chances are that you’re familiar with at least one of.
- 8/27/2023
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
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