Thread by @TripeUK

The Joy of Socks - a thread.

If you've ever had the good fortune to watch a rather remarkable film called Cast Away, you'll know that it's not a new film - it was released in 2000. Nor is its story an original one. It's about a a man who is shipwrecked on a desert island.

It's basically a reworking of the old story about Enrico Caruso. What is unusual about the film is that, whilst alone on the island, the protagonist, Chuck (played by Mr Tom Hanks) falls in love with a volleyball.

This is not the only film in which a man falls in love with an inanimate object. Several spring to mind immediately - Her, in which a lonely man falls in love with a computer operating system; Mannequin, in which an underemployed artist falls in love with a mannequin.

And, of course, any film featuring Demi Moore.

The scene in which the volleyball drifts away from the raft as Mr Hanks calls its name easily rivals the end of Casablanca for pathos, and is guaranteed to almost bring a tear to the eye of anyone who watches it.

What is even more remarkable than the man-volleyball love interest is the sheer volume of product placement in the film. There are a number of scenes within the film where chocolate bars and soft drinks are mentioned or prominently displayed.

This brings to mind the way in which Alfred Spatchcock - the forgotten pioneer of the Lancashire cinema industry - artfully managed to engineer the placement of a wide number of products in his many films.

The Spatchcock studios in Hollinwood, near Oldham made over 20,000 films over a period of almost 80 years. Most of these have been lost or destroyed - sometimes accidentally - but the few that survive show how he mastered the art of subliminal advertising.

Here are just a few:

Gold Diggers of 1937 (1938), the fourth in a series of musicals made to promote JG Gold Ltd of Chadderton and their range of earth moving equipment, tractors and utility vehicles.

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Socks But Were Afraid to Ask (1972) for which Spatchcock received £100 from the Sock Marketing Board based in Blackburn

The Spy Who Loved Meat (1977), a thriller made to promote J Grimshaw and Sons Ltd (Quality Family Butchers) of Clitheroe, which featured the notorious vegan villain, Tofu.

Were Spatchcock alive today, it is clear that Cast Away would have been a personal favourite.

It is believed that the part of Wilson in Cast Away was played by three identical balls. According to the Los Angeles Times, one was sold for $18,400 at an online auction in 2001.

A second ended up appearing in the semi-final of the ladies beach volleyball competition at the 2012 Olympic Games. Disappointingly, it wasn't chosen for the final.

The third ball auditioned for several films but could only find work as an extra in films such as All You've Got (2006). It's career went on a downward spiral and it ended up on the US version of Britain's Got Talent where it came third.

Tragically, it suffered an untimely demise when it was struck by a car in 2008 and slowly deflated. Such is the fickleness of show business.

To find out more about the films of Alfred Spatchcock (NB, Cast Away was not a Spatchcock film), please see The Lost Films of 20th Century Spatchcock by Dr Derek J Ripley (TMB Books) - available from Amazon.
amazon.co.uk/Lost-Films-20t…