June 14th  
Blanche Fury** "A" (PG)  
(National Film Theatre)      

(GB 1947)         
Rank/Cineguild. 94m.

An independent minded woman moves to a family estate where she falls in love with the illegitimate rightful heir to the Fury household, with murder in mind...
Watchable Victorian melodrama, made almost as a more modest British Gone with the Wind with the heroine bedecked in various luscious dresses, and stylistically speaking somewhere between the Gainsborough melodramas and the later Hammer films. Shown in an original archived print as part of the BFI's "Film on Film" season.

Written by: Anthony Erskine Lindop, Cecil McGovern, Hugh Mills, from the novel by Marjorie Bowen.
Producer: Anthony Havelock-Allan.
Director: Marc Allegret.
Starring: Valerie Hobson, Stewart Granger, Michael Gough, Walter  Fitzgerald, Suzanne Gibbs, Maurice Denham, George Woodbridge, Amy Veness.
Photography: Guy Green, Geoffrey Unsworth.
Music: Clifton Parker.
Production Design: John Bryan.

+ the story is based on the real-life Stanfield Hall murders in Norfolk

Jun 11th   
Ballerina* (15)   
(Curzon Colchester)

(US/Hungary/Czech 2025)  
Lionsgate/Summit Entertainment/Thunder Road Films/87 Eleven Entertainment. 125m. ws

A ballet dancer tutored within a secret guild of assassins is out to avenge her father's murder, but finds herself delving into murky waters.
Practically two hours of actions speaking louder than words (such as there are in the script), a "sidequal" to Part 3 of the John Wick saga, slick and stylish within its own preposterous world, and with moments of visual wit amidst the mayhem. 

Written by: Shay Hatten.
Producers: Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee, Chad Stahelski.
Director: Len Wiseman.
Starring: Ana de Armas, Keanu Reeves, Gabriel Byrne, Anjelica Huston, Ian McShane, Norman Reedus, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Lance Reddick, Ava McCarthy, Anne Parillaud.
Photography: Romain Lacourbas.
Editing: Jason Ballantine, Julian Clarke, Nicholas Lundgren (and others).
Production Design: Philip Ivey.

Jun 10th   
Summertime**       
(GB 1955)    
United Artists/London Films. 99m.

An American spinster spends her first holiday in Venice, and falls for its charms and for an antiques dealer. 
Director and star in are holiday mood for this travelogue romance, a little repetitive and lacking some of the edge of the similar Brief Encounter and Roman Holiday, with luxurious Venetian locations softening the drama. Captures a fair impression of travelling into Venice.

Written by: David Leam, H.E. Bates, from the play "The Time of the Cuckoo" by Arthur Laurents.
Producer: Ilya Lopert.
Director: David Lean.
Starring: Katherine Hepburn, Rossano Brazzi, Isa Miranda, Darren McGavin, Mari Aldon, Jane Rose, MacDonald Parke, Gaetana Autiero, Jeremy Spenser, Andre Morell.
Photography: Jack Hildyard.
Music: Alessandra Cocognini.

Preceded by:
Train Arriving at Liverpool Street Station*
(GB 2025. Granville Films. 3m,; "Un homage" to the Lumieres' first train films made 130 years ago.; ph: Joseph Sales.)

May 27th  
The Haunted Palace*     
(US 1963)    
American International/Alta Vista. 87m. Panavision

A New England village is beset by a curse from a warlock, whose descendant is possessed many years later by the same demonic forces.
Pasted together Corman horror based on H.P. Lovecraft and Poe, with clunky plot and script, and a  prologue which removes most of the later suspense - all made up for with style and performances.

Written by: Charles Beaumont.
Producer/Director: Roger Corman.
Starring: Vincent Price, Debra Paget, Lon Chaney Jnr, Frank Maxwell, Leo Gordon, Elisha Cook Jnr, John Dierkes, Cathie Merchant, I. Stanford Jolley.
Photography: Floyd Croby.
Music: Ronald Stein.
Art Direction: Daniel Haller.

May 10th   
Riefenstahl**  (15)  
(Picturehouse Central, London)       

(Ger 2024)
Vincent/Westseutscher Redfunk/Sudwestrundfunk/Norddeutscher Redfunk/Bayerischer Redfunk. 115m.

The beautiful and influential actress and filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, through the eyes of herself in family archive footage (and some occasional outside sources), a long haul for its 2 hours but thankfully told mostly from her perspective rather than from others, unable to shake off her Nazi past, and on those occasions trying to mislead inquisitive interviewers whom. not surprisingly, were wanting to associate her with all the Nazi atrocities.

Written and Directed by: Andres Veiel.
Producer: Sandra Maischberger.
Photography: Toby Cornish.
Music: Freya Arde.
Editing: Stephan Krumbiegel, Olaf Voigtlander, Alfredo Castro.

May 6th
The Way Ahead**   
(GB 1944)      
Rank/Two Cities. 114m. bw

A Territorial survivor at Dunkirk takes on a ramshackle bunch of civilians who form themselves into a fighting attachment in North Africa.
Entertaining semi-propaganda war drama, the Army's counterpart to In Which We Serve for the Navy and The Way to the Stars for the Air Force, capturing some of the attitudes of conscripted men during the war (amidst the surfeit of 80th anniversary VE Day commemorations this week), with a good cast of enlisted actors playing their part.  

Written by: Eric Ambler, Peter Ustinov.
Producers: John Sutro, Norman Walker, Stanley Haynes.
Director: Carol Reed.
Starring: David Niven, Stanley Holloway, William Hartnell, Hugh Burden, Raymond Huntley, James Donald, Jimmy Hanley, John Laurie, Leslie Dwyer, Penelope Dudley-Ward, Rene Asherson, Jack Watling, Leo Genn, A.E. Matthews, Peter Ustinov, Trevor Howard.
Photography: Guy Green.
Music: William Alwyn.
Editing: Fergus McDonnell.


Preceded by:
Jerky Turkey**
(US 1945. MGM. 7m.; Anarchic semi-satirical vintage Avery cartoon short.; p: Fred Quimby; d: Tex Avery.)

Apr 22nd   
Nights of Cabiria**    
(Ita/Fra 1957)   
Les Films Marceau/Dino De Laurentiis. 118m. bw

A feisty prostitute is nearly drowned by her lover, find other acquaintances in her travels around Rome, then finds true love only for the first occurrence to repeat itself.  
Quintessential comedy melodrama by Fellini with lots of Italians shouting at each other and falling in and out of love, and some occasional moments of profound reflection. Later remade as the musical Sweet Charity.

Written by:Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullia Pinelli, Paolo Pasolini. 
Producer: Dino De Laurentiis.
Director: Federico Fellini.
Starring: Giuletta Masina, Franca Marzi, Amedeo Nazzari (as "Alberto Lazzari"), Francois Perier, Dorian Gray, Aldo Silvani, Franco Fabrizi,
Photography: Aldo Tonti, Otello Martelli.
Music: Nino Rota.

Preceded by:
How to Sleep**
(US 1935. MGM. 11m. bw; w, s: Robert Benchley; d: Nick Grinde.)