The record player in the Ian Curtis biographic film Control

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The record player in the Ian Curtis biographic film Control

A new member of the Film and Furniture team has arrived! It’s a Hacker Grenadier GP45 record player which makes an appearance in Control, the 2007 biographical film about the life of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis, played by Sam Riley and directed by Anton Corbijn. 

In the scene where Ian Curtis is in lying on his bed, smoking and listening to David Bowie’s Drive in Saturday from the Aladdin Sane album, the record is playing on a Hacker Grenadier. A 1973 copy of The New Musical Express (NME) which features Neil Young on the cover and the Aladdin Sane record sleeve are seen lying next to it.

Control
Ian Curtis (Sam Riley) plays Drive In Saturday from Aladin Sane on a Hacker Grenadier GP45
Photo: Pureiro
Control bedroom
Hacker Grenadier GP45 amplifier loudspeaker to give a stereo sound in Control. Image: Pureiro.

We found this beauty on eBay.

Hacker Grenadier record player

A bit of tinkering by the brilliant hi-fi specialists Audio Gold and the sound is now magnificent! Yesterday, we reenacted the scene from Control at F&F HQ:

control-record-player-hacker-grenadier-film-furniture

 

Watch the trailer:

Read more about record players and hi-fi in film in our feature Music aficionados choose memorable audio and Hi-Fi in film to celebrate Record Store Day.

Please leave your comments and feedback in the comments box below.

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  • Author
    Paula Benson
    Film and Furniture Founder and Editor / Co-Creative Director at Form. Passionate about interiors, design, art, film, music and mind over matter.

6 responses to “The record player in the Ian Curtis biographic film Control”

  3. Hi,

    Thank you for the interesting article,

    I was wondering if the record player used in the film is the same as the one that Ian Curtis owned in real life?

  5. I have 4 of these with the add on unit. One that I bought new in march 1971 I put a connoisseur BD1 belt drive turntable in it with glass sound disc, coupled with an SME arm with fluid damper for punchy bass and Stanton 500 magnetic cartridge with an elite parabolic stylus and Shire pre-amp in the low output which makes it louder than the ceramic with awesome sound quality. My friend thought I was using 15in drive units behind the curtains, in the ceiling, in the walls, in the floor, he said that the sound was revibrating from everywhere and he’d never heard bass like it. Gold ended interconnects used throughout and gold phonos. Lots of other mods too. Built to last a life time.Speaker socket added to add on unit so other speaker’s can be used if desired

  6. Realistic headphone junction box so headphones can be used that cut the speakers out, Stax sr5 electrostatic ear phones with sr7 box too. Fantastic sound with tremendous transient attack that make listener’s turn round with their mouth wide open. I could go on.

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