Captain Busby

Quentin Crisp's acting debut.

Based on a surreal poem by Philip O'Connor, 'Captain Busby' is truly a curate's egg. The first half of the film sees the eponymous captain (played by O'Connor) enacting the bizarre actions of the verse, chewing his beard, bouncing through a second storey open window and 'frowning at a passing ceiling'.

In the second half, a surreal interplay involving a carrot unfolds at a railway station. What does it all mean? Very little, one suspects. Instead, enjoy the pleasingly peculiar lines (the curious rhythms and phrasing are similar to the choice wordplay in 1980's 'Sir Henry At Rawlinson End'), the arresting visuals and, above all, a rare acting role for Quentin Crisp as the stationmaster. O'Connor and Crisp, two very British eccentrics, were to become close friends until the former's death in 1998. (Alex Davidson)

Trailer...