The Cardinal and the Corpse - 1992 (dir. Christopher Petit) with Alan Moore, Iain Sinclair, Michael Moorcock, Chris Petit etc.

The Cardinal and the Corpse marks the beginning of Petit’s loose partnership with writer Iain Sinclair. There’s a nod towards narrative here involving a book-search launched by graphic novelist Alan Moore and a dealer (the dapper but barking Driffield), but it’s little more than an excuse to showcase a number of authors and other miscreants. Former aristo turned crime writer Robin Cook (aka Derek Raymond) sets the tone (’All life is ultimately about death. It’s what I call the general contract’) while Michael Moorcock (Moorcock schmoorcock, mutters a Charing Cross Road dealer) casts doubt on Driffield’s claim that a pulp novel, The Cardinal and the Corpse by Stephen Blakesley, is actually the work of Flann O’Brien. Petit and Sinclair’s film is a deliberately jarring, oddly engaging rogues’ gallery that even makes room for Tony Lambrianou, a former associate of the Krays (’I don’t like the word gangster: I feel embarrassed when people use that word’).