Adam Ant - Puss 'n Boots (Video)

What this video is

Released in October 1983, 'Puss 'n Boots' arrived at the commercial apex of UK New Wave pop, when MTV's two-year dominance had made the music video a primary promotional and artistic vehicle. The clip extends Adam Ant's signature pantomime-fable aesthetic — drawn from British music-hall tradition and New Romantic theatricality — into a fully realized short narrative film. The song reached #5 on the UK chart in…

Why it matters

A key artifact of the early music video as theatrical narrative form. While contemporaries used the format for performance clips, this video pursues a fully pantomime story structure — complete with hero, villain, transformation, and resolution — presaging the director-driven concept video era. It…

The director

Mike Mansfield (b. 1940) is a British director and producer with deep roots in UK television pop production. He created and hosted ITV's Supersonic (1975–1977) and directed music videos for ELO, The Cure, Kim Wilde, Ozzy Osbourne, Def Leppard, and multiple…