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Winstanley is a film made in 1975 in the UK by Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo, based on the 1961 David Caute novel Comrade Jacob. This deals with some of the life story of the 17th Century social reformer and writer Gerrard Winstanley, who, along with a small band of followers known as the Diggers tried to establish a self-sufficient farming community on common land at St. George's Hill ("Diggers' Hill") near Cobham, Surrey. The community was one of the world's first small-scale experiments in socialism/communism, and its ideas were copied elsewhere in England during the time of the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, but was quickly suppressed and in the end left only a legacy of ideas to inspire later generations of socialist theorists. Great efforts were made to produce a film of high historical accuracy. Armour used was actual armour from the 1640s, borrowed from the Tower of London. Real-life activist Sid Rawle played a Ranter (English Revolution period anarchist-type group). The film was reissued on DVD and Blu-ray in 2009 by the British Film Institute (BFI), which funded the original project.
Original Release
01/01/1975
US Release
08/03/1979
Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Miles Halliwell | Gerrard Winstanley |
Jerome Willis | General Lord Fairfax |
Terry Higgins | Tom Haydon |
Phil Oliver | Will Everard |
David Bramley | Parson Platt |
Alison Halliwell | Mrs. Platt |
Dawson France | Capt. Gladman |
Bill Petch | Henry Bickerstaffe |
Barry Shaw | Colonel Rich |
George Hawkins | John Coulton |
Directors
Writers
Kevin Brownlow, David Caute, Andrew Mollo
Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Miles Halliwell | Gerrard Winstanley |
Jerome Willis | General Lord Fairfax |
Terry Higgins | Tom Haydon |
Phil Oliver | Will Everard |
David Bramley | Parson Platt |
Alison Halliwell | Mrs. Platt |
Dawson France | Capt. Gladman |
Bill Petch | Henry Bickerstaffe |
Barry Shaw | Colonel Rich |
George Hawkins | John Coulton |
Stanley Reed | Recorder |
Philip Stearns | Francis Drake |
Flora Skrine | Mrs. Drake |
George Barratt | |
Bill Brooke | |
Don Backhurst | |
Jeff Cornish | |
Phil Dunn | Commune Member |
Duncan Fraser | |
Muriel Higgins |
Producers
Name | Role |
---|
Mamoun Hassan | Executive Producer |
Sid Rawle | Producer |
Kevin Brownlow | Producer |
Michael McGrath | Producer |
Andrew Mollo | Producer |
Gabriel Murray | Producer |