The Forgotten Welshman

In a culture where artistic accomplishment is measured primarily in monetary gain, it is becoming increasingly difficult to remember the era when even star actors were concerned more with their craft than the glamour of the spotlight. British actors have always been less prone to such weaknesses given their struggling film industry and age-old respect for the value of live theatre. The history of British Cinema is replete with stars whose talent was nurtured in a healthy artistic environment that shunned the kind of cinematic royalty preferred by Hollywood. One such actor who excelled in this atmosphere was Sir Stanley Baker. Son of a coal miner Baker was one of the cinema's three great Welsh actors alongside his friend and contemporary, Richard Burton and later, Burton's devotee Anthony Hopkins. Baker like the other two were proud of their working class origins and pursued their vocation with a zeal that catapulted them into the top of their profession. Tragically Baker would succumb to cancer when he was 49 years old, just months after he was knighted for his contribution to a film industry he served proudly, both as actor and producer. Unfortunately his career is much undervalued in North America with most of his films unreleased on either VHS or DVD. The following DVDs represent some of the best work from this singular performer.

The Cruel Sea (1953) Baker was always proud of his villainous roles despite being morally at odds with their behaviour. It was this breathrough role as the only working class officer on a British warship in WWII, where he created what was to become a signature performance with his bullying violence and chip-on-his-shoulder resentment of class and authority. He was soon snatched up by Hollywood to be used as a stock villain for their overseas productions including Knights of the Round Table and Helen of Troy.

Hell is a City (1960) Baker had one his first heroic roles as Manchester cop tortured by his grasping middle class wife as he tries to hunt down a gang of violent criminals. The cracks are now showing in Baker's hardened portrayals with his sensitive loyalty for the underdog manifesting itself here in a caring relationship with a waitress at the local pub. One of Hammer films rare forays into a non-horror genre, this gritty noir is a prime example of the kitchen sink realism of the era.

The Criminal (1960) Baker is now on the other side of the law in this masterpiece of British crime drama. The second of four collaborations Baker was to have with expatriate American director Joseph Losey, it was also the most successful, particularly in exploiting the sheer physical threat that Baker could exhibit on screen. Flaunting Baker's stern mouth and boxer's physique, Losey gave British cinema one of its most iconic criminals, prison gang leader and violent thief, Joe Bannion. Brutal and uncompromising, the film also provided further evidence of a code of honour among Baker's characters, protecting the helpless but never hesitating to indulge in reprisals against those in authority who have harmed him.

The Guns of Navarone (1961) Not one of Baker's greatest roles but a memorable part in a colossal hit. As the dangerous assassin in a group of Allied commandos fighting the Nazis in Greece, Baker projects the usual menace reserved for one of his amoral villains without the inner conflict that drives his most interesting and satisfying characterizations. The size and success of this production began a cycle of large scale war films that resulted in his most famous and enduring hit.

Zulu (1964) It is hard not to overstate the importance of this film to both Baker and the history of British film. Baker had formed a production company with another expatriate American director Cy Endfield, with whom he had made four previous films including the nerve-wracking trucking thriller Hell Drivers (1957), in order to make his dream project about the Welsh regiment who held their own against overwhelming odds during the Zulu Wars in South Africa. Independently financed, and cast with an unerring eye for talent including Michael Caine in his first starring role, this is the quintessential example of how to make a film about war with all of its absurdities, excitements, and most of all, horrors. Baker is stalwart in the lead role, as a Welsh engineer whose soldiering skills are severely tested at the small outpost he must defend, with all of the old issues of class and authority coming into play opposite the snobbery of inexperienced officer Caine. Baker and Endfield would collaborate once more on another African stunner, the desert survival film Sands of the Kalahari (1965). Later, after one more collaboration with Losey in 1967, Baker would continue to indulge his taste for physical roles making a succession of genre films that did little to exploit his emotional range as a performer. His early death robbed audiences of a potentially interesting career playing middle-aged villains and rebels having to confront their own mortality.