Sep 30th
The Seventh Seal*** (PG)
Norwich Playhouse

A knight returning from the Crusades to his plague-ridden homeland, is confronted by Death, and challenges him to a game of chess; a game he knows he will lose, but stalls sufficiently to save a young couple from the same fate.
Superb allegorical drama by Bergman, with lots of his own philosophies about death and life along the way. Still highly influential in its style, the images alone belie any shortcomings with the foreign language.

s: Max Von Sydow, Bengt Ekerot, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Bibi Andersson, Nils Poppe, Erick Strandmark, Inga Gil, Gunnel Lindblom, Inda Langre
d: Ingmar Bergman.

100 Favourite Films: The Seventh Seal

Sep 21st
Mesmer**
Canada/GB/Ger 1994. Mayfair Entertainment International/Levergreen/Accent Entertainment/Studio Babelsberg GmbH. 107m.

A Viennese doctor's unorthodox methods of treating hysteria are dismissed by his colleagues as the work of a charlatan.
Polished but rarely seen biopic with some Dr. Mabuse-style imagery, treading a line between sympathy for its magnetic central character, or just treating Mesmer as a skilful con man who lulled gullible aristocratic women into false senses of security.

Written by: Dennis Potter.
Producers: Wieland Schulz-Kiel, Lance W. Reynolds, Robert D. Goodale.
Director: Roger Spottiswoode.
Starring: Alan Rickman, Amanda Ooms, David Hemblen, Gillian Barge, Simon McBurney, Anna Thalbach, Martin Schwab, Peter Dvorsky, Jan Rubes.
Photography: Elemér Ragályi.
Music: Michael Nyman.

Sep 19th
The Man in the Iron Mask**
GB TVM 1976. ITC. 100m.

The secret twin brother of Louis XIV of France is involved in an intricate plot to depose him.
Quite respectable TV version of an old classic yarn, conspicuously low on swashbuckling but quite successfully adapting the complexities of the story, with a strong cast and equally capable talents behind the camera.

Written by: William Bast, from the novel by Alexandra Dumas.
Producer: Norman Rosemont.
Director: Mike Newell.
Starring: Richard Chamberlain, Jenny Agutter, Patrick McGoohan, Ralph Richardson, Louis Jourdan (as D'Artagnan), Ian Holm, Vivien Merchant, Brenda Bruce, Esmond Knight, Denis Lawson.
Photography: Frederick A. Young.
Music: Allyn Ferguson.
Production Design: John Stoll.

Preceded by:
The Tale of Sir Richard**
(GB 2006. 5m.; Amusing little ditty, expertly animated.; w, d: Peter Dodd; anim: Peter Dodd, Brian Hansen, Brian Demoskoff; narr: David Holmen.)

Sep 12th
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen*
GB/WG 1988. Columbia/Prominent Features/Laura Film. 126m.
Together with his motley band, an 18th century German aristocrat saves a Greek island from the Turks with tall tales of fantasy.
This director at his most indulgent: an elaborately filmed but badly structured fantasy comedy, with some suitably over-the-top cameos but very poor comic timing, as though Gilliam is having too much fun with his visuals to bother about that sort of thing. The end result is enjoyable and imaginative, but also rather hollow.

Written by: Charles McKeown, Terry Gilliam.
Producer: Thomas Schüly.
Director: Terry Gilliam.
Starring: John Neville, Sarah Polley, Eric Idle, Winston Dennis, Jack Purvis, Charles McKeown, Robin Williams (uncredited), Valentina Cortese, Oliver Reed (as Vulcan), Uma Thurman (as Venus), Bill Paterson, Alison Stedman, Jonathan Pryce, Peter Jeffrey, Sting.
Photography: Giuseppe Rotunno.
Music: Michael Kamen.
Production Design: Dante Ferretti.

Sep 8th
Atonement* (15)
Empire Bromley (photo)

An over-imaginative 13-year old witnesses her elder sister in an affair with the housekeeper's son, and wrongfully accuses him of much worse.
Pretentious romantic drama from the team that brought us the recent Pride and Prejudice, with much emphasis on the main stars' attractive features, and an almost laughable depiction of Dunkirk (taking place "four years" after 1935!) - a black soldier walks right across the battlefields, without any reference at all to his colour - but is this all in the "author"'s imagination? Generally rather too self-consciously stylized, but redeemed a little by the belated appearance of Vanessa Redgrave.

d: Joe Wright
s: Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Romola Garai, Brenda Blethyn, Saorise Ronan, Juno Temple, Benedict Cumberbatch, Gina McKee, Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Minghella

Sep 5thInvasion of the Body Snatchers** US 1978. United Artists. 115m.Organic alien pods descend upon the Earth, and begin to takeover San Francisco.
Pessimistic but spirited "continuation" of the Don Siegel classic, which transposes the terror of the 50s original into post-Watergate paranoia, and like so many films of the 1970s, it fails to explain fully who the characters are or what exactly is going on. After an unsettling first hour the film inevitably grinds on to its surprising conclusion.

Written by: W.D. Richter, based on the novel by Jack Finney.
Producer: Robert H. Solo.
Director: Philip Kaufman.
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy, Veronica Cartwright, Jeff Goldblum, Art Hindle, Lelia Goldoni, Kevin McCarthy (reprising his role from the original), Don Siegel, Robert Duvall (uncredited).
Photography: Michael Chapman.
Music: Denny Zeitlin.
Sound Effects: Ben Burtt.