Published: 28 January, 2014
By PAVAN AMARA

THE Primrose Hill Film Club has been launched, with one talented resident getting it off to a good start.

Playwright Alan Bennett welcomed ticket-holders to the first event, as he introduced The Madness of King George – which he originally wrote as a play in 1991, before it was adapted into a film in 1994.

The evening sold out in just over two hours, according to organisers, who welcomed around 60 people to Primrose Hill Community Library on Sharpleshall Street.

Mr Bennett, who lives in Chalcot Crescent, introduced the film with a 10-minute talk including two extracts from his diaries. 

Of the film’s namesake, he said: “George III received a bad press, especially in America. He was blamed for the American revolution, and liberals in England never liked him much. He was as close as anyone in the Royal Family got to being an intellectual.

“As a king he was a great bore, but he was an appealing man in himself. He loved his children, with the exception of his eldest son. But all Hanoverians hated their eldest son, because he was the heir to the throne. Whether the Queen has any sympathy, I don’t know.”

Pam White, who organises the film club with a group of volunteers, said tickets were only available for Primrose Hill Community Library members. 

She added: “The film club makes it possible to fund-raise for the library. We will be showing one film a month. Tonight’s event is an exception, but usually we will be showing the film on the first Tuesday of the month. Tickets will usually go on sale two Saturdays before the event, and we want to show world and classic cinema. The films will always be introduced or curated by somebody relevant. 

“I want to stress you can only buy tickets if you are a library member, but it is easy for people to become library members if they want to be.”

The next event on February 4 will show the 1938 film Bringing Up Baby which stars Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, and on March 4 film director Gurinder Chadha – who lives in Primrose Hill – will be introducing her 2001 film What’s Cooking?.