Great news if you live in Europe or your computer can play Region 2 DVD’s as next week sees the release of a fully restored high definition version of The Naked Civil Servant, unquestionably one of queerguru’s  favorite classic queer movies.

From 1976, it tells the remarkable true story of Quentin Crisp, self-proclaimed England’s Stately Homo, who lived an openly homosexual lifestyle from the 1930s in London at a time when it was a criminal offence.  Following his openly flamboyant life through the haunts of Belgravia, Chelsea and Soho, it brings us into the 1970s. The TV movie starred John Hurt in a career-defining role that won him his first Best Actor BAFTA

Crisp spent the last 18 years of his life in NY’s East Village where he became quite an avant-garde celebrity holding forth on his outrageous controversial views on any and everything, and back in the UK his popularity remained high with and The Naked Civil Servant was voted fourth in BFI’s Top 100 TV programs of  the 20th Century.

He had a stack of wonderful quotes credited to him, and our favorite is still “Never keep up with the Joneses. Drag them down to you level”  

The DVD/Blu-Ray is available from http://networkonair.com/  (n.b. the clip below is from the old original un-restored dvd)