Aug 5th
Holiday Camp*     
(GB 1947)
Rank/Gainsborough. 97m. bw

Experiences of assorted guests at a British post-war holiday camp, with a secret murderer among them.
The murder element is a minor addition to a generally pleasant but unremarkable semi-documentary melodrama, with the central family of the Huggetts going on to have their own film series. Quite a hit in its day, which is where it belongs, for its evocation of holiday resorts of the time (immortalised also in the TV comedy Hi-de-Hi!)

Written by: Peter Rogers, Muriel Box, Sydney Box, Mabel Constanduros, Denis Constanduros, Ted Willis, from a story by Geoffrey Winn.
Producer: Sydney Box.
Director: Ken Annakin.
Starring: Hazel Court, Flora Robson, Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison, Dennis Price, Jimmy Hanley, Esma Cannon, Peter Hammond, Emrys Jones, Yvonne Owen, Jeanette Tregorthen, Susan Shaw, Charlie Chester, Patricia Roc, Esmond Knight.
Photography: Jack Cox.
Music: Bob Burby.
Musical Direction: Louis Levy.

+ filmed on location at the Butlin's holiday camp in Filey

Jul 26th    
Ran*** (15)   
(King Street Cinema, Ipswich)

(Jap/Fra 1985)
Nippon Herald/Greenwich Film Productions/Toho. 162m.

A 40th anniversary re-release of an 80s action thriller, but of the much more artistically crafted kind: Kurosawa's adaptation of King Lear with an aging Samurai warlord and his three feuding sons, although the women still very much have their say in a sometimes languid epic, but beautifully visual as expected of him and with some superb battle scenes to rival the best of the Shakespeare films.

Written by: Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, Masato Ide.
Producers: Katsumi Masato Hora, Serge Silberman.
Director: Akira Kurosawa.
Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryu, Mieko Harada, Yoshiko Miyazaki, Mayasuki Yui, Peter (as the Fool).
Photography: Takao Saito, Shoji Ueda, Asakazu Nakai.
Music: Toru Takemitsu.

Roger Ebert review

RAN. The perfect visual metaphor for the King and his self-destructing kingdom.

Jul 25th   
A Room with a View***    
(GB 1985)  
Curzon/Goldcrest/Film Four/Merchant-Ivory. 117m.

A chaperoned girl on holiday in Florence encounters love.
The first major success of the Merchant-Ivory team, dismissed by some as perriod-obsessed and lacking a cutting edge, and admittedly a little self-consciously stylized in its acting and presentation, but a welcome breath of fresh air in a 1980s dominated by blockbusters and violent action thrillers, with its captivating blend of operatic music and classical painting-style imagery.

Written by: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, from the novel by E.M. Forster.
Producer: Ismail Merchant.
Director: James Ivory.
Starring: Helena Bonha Carter, Julian Sands, Maggie Smith, Denholm Elliott, Daniel Day Lewis, Simon Callow, Judi Dench, Rosemary Leach, Patrick Godfrey, Fabia Drake, Joan Henley, Rupert Graves.
Photography: Tony Pierce Roberts.
Music: Richard Robbins, Puccini (solos sung by Kiri Te Kanawa).
 

Jul 22nd   
The Man Who Would Be King**    
(US 1975)     
Columbia/Allied Artists/Persky-Bright/Devon. 129m. Panavision

Two ne'er do well British soldiers in India decide to colonise their own little region beyond the North West Frontier, but egomania ultimately is their undoing.
Huston's long-cherished project originally intended for Gable and Bogart comes to fruition with Connery and Caine instead, who function well enough as friends although the period trappings don't quite suit their style, and unlike (for example) Lawrence of Arabia, the breathtaking locations largely take second place to their exploits.

Written by: John Huston, Gladys Hill, from the story by Rudyard Kipling.
Producer: John Foreman.
Director: John Huston.
Starring: Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer (as Kipling), Saeed Jaffrey, Shakira Caine, Jack May. Karroom Ben Bouih.
Photography: Oswald Morris.
Music: Maurice Jarre.
Production Design: Alexander Trauner.


Preceded by:
Tom and Jerry in  
Old Rockin' Chair Tom**
(US 1948. 7m.; Tom is replaced by a faster but roguish rival who is bad news for both him and Jerry, who therefore team up.; d: William Hanna, Joseph Barbera; p: Fred Quimby.)

Jul 14th     
Tovarich**      
(US 1937)     
Warner Bros. 98m. bw

An exiled Russian prince and duchess serve as butler and maid at a Paris household.
Lightweight from beginning to end but engaging comedy of the screwball period, with some moments of drama and two charismatic stars. 

Written by: Casey Robinson, Robert E. Sherwood, based on the play by Jacques Deval.
Producer: Robert Lord.
Director: Anatole Litvak,
Starring: Charles Boyer, Claudette Colbert, Basil Rathbone, Melville Cooper, Isabel Jeans, Anita Louise, Maurce Murphy, Montagu Love, Curt Bois.
Photography: Charles Lang.
Music: Max Steiner.

Jul 10th   
Omar Sharif: A Nomad's Life*    
(Ger TVM 2020) 

Reflective documentary (on the 10th anniversary of his death) from selective family and friends perspective about the dashing Egyptian and later wandering gambler, with an interesting final chapter during his last months during the "Arab Spring" revolution.

w, d: Jascha Hannover
featuring Tarek Sharif, Pierre Boulanger, Omar Sharif Jnr, Dominique Perron, and others
narr: Dulcie Smart
ph: Andy Lehmann
m: Martin Gerke

Preceded by:
Singapore Sue  
(US 1931. Paramount. 10m. bw; A historical item of interest as the first on-screen appearance of Archie Leach (later Cary Grant) following on from his early theatre days, in a minor, roughly directed musical one-reeler; even then, he was already playing the ladies man. w, d: Casey Robinson; with Anna Chang, Joe Wong, Millard Mitchell,)

Jul 1st   
The Collector**     
(GB/US 1965)     
Columbia. 118m.

A withdrawn young bank clerk wins the pools and uses the money to buy a remote house for his butterfly collection, and then abducts an art student for his collection too.
Unsettling psychological drama, a more sympathetic rendering of the main plot elements of Psycho, not too extended (cut from an original length of nearly 3 hours), which is claustrophobic enough for anybody.

Written by: Stanley Mann, John Kohn, based on the novel by John Fowles.
Producers: Jud Kinberg, John Kohn.
Director: William Wyler.
Starring: Terence Stamp, Samantha Eggar, Maurice Dallimore, Mona Washbourne.
Photography: Robert Krasker, Robert Surtees.
Music: Maurice Jarre.

THE COLLECTOR. Samantha Eggar and an easily recognisable profile of Kenneth More, whose role as lover/mentor was cut from release