Directing
Peter Whitehead
Born January 8, 1937 · Liverpool, England, UK
Died June 10, 2019 · aged 82
Peter Lorrimer Whitehead was an English writer, photographer and filmmaker who documented the counterculture in London and New York in the late 1960s. He is also known for his work as a director of promotional film clips (precursors to the modern music video) including a version of "Interstellar Overdrive" for Pink Floyd and several clips for The Rolling Stones.
Known For
Daddy · 1973Daddy
★ 5.61973
MovieDrama
Daddy, filmed in cooperation with movie director Peter Whitehead, discovers the connection between a father and little girl. Like the majority of Niki De Saint Phalle’s films, the flick combines autobiography with imagination, mixing erotic scenes of incest with a reverse of energy as the female character humors the daddy figure. Saint Phalle narrates the film, offering an almost psycho-analytical explanation of its content and explains the different inexplicable.
Led Zeppelin: Live at the Bath Festival · 1970Led Zeppelin: Live at the Bath Festival
1970
MovieMusicDocumentary
The band wanted to capture the show for posterity, but Whitehead was under the impression he would make a documentary. He and cameraman Ernie Vincze captured the majority of the footage shot that night. In the spring of 1970, he would go on to edit a 42 minute rough cut of the footage using temp audio recorded by the film crew, as Led Zeppelin, unhappy with their performance, refused them access to the multi-track recordings. Whitehead then planned to film Led Zeppelin at the Bath Festival. Unfortunately due to heavy traffic entering the showgrounds, he and Vincze weren't able to film the band's arrival via helicopter, but proceeded to capture moments in the audience, backstage, and at the show itself. Whitehead would produce a B&W workprint of this footage in summer 1970 and also hoped to film the members at home, but upon receiving no input from the band, the project was shelved.
Terrorism Considered as One of the Fine Arts · 2009Terrorism Considered as One of the Fine Arts
★ 7.02009
MovieDocumentary
Adapting its title and theme from Thomas De Quincey's murder text, this long-overdue return to narrative cinema by the great British filmmaker Peter Whitehead is based around a mesmerizing psycho-geographical exploration of modern day Vienna. The film incorporates a record of the subversive underbelly of the city into a poetic meditation on conspiracy theory, ecoterrorism, time and cinema, retracing the story of The Third Man. Adapted from a trilogy of Whitehead's own Nohzone novels, the objective and subjective becomes blurred as the film director merges with the fictional detective in a journey into the murky activities of covert counter-insurgency groups. Kaleidoscopic in intent, the film mixes Noh theatre, Victorian novels, Vienna after the war, opium, domain names and Jacob's ladder "pitched twixt Heaven and Charring Cross".
Charlie Is My Darling · 1966Charlie Is My Darling
★ 8.51966
MovieMusicDocumentary
Charlie Is My Darling, directed by Peter Whitehead, was the first documentary film about The Rolling Stones. The movie was shot during the band's two-day tour of Ireland on 3 and 4 September 1965, and was completed in the spring of 1966. It received only spotty release in 1966 before being withdrawn, and has seldom been seen since then.
Tonite Let's All Make Love in London · 1967Tonite Let's All Make Love in London
★ 4.51967
MovieDocumentary
Peter Whitehead’s disjointed Swinging London documentary, subtitled “A Pop Concerto,” comprises a number of different “movements,” each depicting a different theme underscored by music: A early version of Pink Floyd’s “Interstellar Overdrive” plays behind some arty nightclub scenes, while Chris Farlowe’s rendition of the Rolling Stones’ “Out of Time” accompanies a young woman’s description of London nightlife and the vacuousness of her own existence. In another segment, the Marquess of Kensington (Robert Wace) croons the nostalgic “Changing of the Guard” to shots of Buckingham Palace’s changing of the guard, and recording act Vashti are seen at work in the studio. Sandwiched between are clips of Mick Jagger (discussing revolution), Andrew Loog Oldham (discussing his future) – and Julie Christie, Michael Caine, Lee Marvin, and novelist Edna O’Brien (each discussing sex). The best part is footage of the riot that interrupted the Stones’ 1966 Royal Albert Hall concert.
A Dream Longer Than the Night · 1976A Dream Longer Than the Night
★ 6.31976
MovieFantasy
In this heady, phantasmagoric fairy tale, a young girl comes face to face with a friendly dragon and a magnanimous witch. Upon the witch granting the girl’s wish to become a young woman, this surrealist chronicle follows the precocious Camélia on a series of quests in pursuit of love.
Lilford Hall · 1969Lilford Hall
1969
Movie
In 1969, Penny Slinger and her then partner filmmaker Peter Whitehead were given permission to produce a body of work in Lilford Hall, a decaying mansion in Northamptonshire, England. Shot over the course of several weeks while living in the estate with actress Suzanka Fraey (The Other Side of the Underneath), Lilford Hall documents the fractured intimacy between the three artists.
The Fall · 1969The Fall
★ 7.21969
MovieDocumentary
"The Fall" depicts certain scenes in New York City between October 1967 and March 1968, shot by the independent filmmaker, Peter Whitehead. It is a very personal documentary, and Whitehead appears in a large number of scenes, and we hear his lengthy ruminations on the state of the United States and the war in Vietnam.
Filmography
Sort






