Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Sep 28th
Britannic
GB/US TVM 1999. Flashpoint/Regent Entertainment. 90m.

In 1916, a plucky military intelligence girl (who survived the Titanic disaster) tries to find out which one on board the hospital ship Britannic is a German spy.
Clunky TV budget cash-in on Titanic, a fictionalisation mostly of the Britannic disaster based on the speculation that the ship was sabotaged for secretly carrying weapons.

Written by: Brett Thompson, Kim Smith, Denis Pratt, Brian Trenchard-Smith.
Producers: Paul Colichman, Mark R. Harris, Judith Hunt.
Director: Brian Trenchard-Smith.
Starring: Amanda Ryan, Edward Atterton, Jacqueline Bisset, John Rhys-Davies, Ben Daniels, Bruce Payne.
Photography: Ivan Strasburg.
Music: Alan Parker.
Visual Effec ts: Corbitt Design, Inc.
Production Design: Rob Harris.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Do Detectives Think? plus other shorts

Sep 25th
Manifest Theatre, Manningtree

Laurel & Hardy "Men O'War" Tent evening of films beginning and ending with the theme of vengeful crooks, and also featuring Walter "Butch/Mugsy" Long in Any Old Port.

Do Detectives Think?**

(US 1927. Pathe/Hal Roach. 20m. bw. silent; A judge hires two inept detectives to protect him from a vengeful escaped convict. The duo's first use of their trademark costumes (but with different character names.); d: Fred Guiol; s: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, James Finlayson, Noah Young, Viola Richard.)

County Hospital**
(US 1932. 20m. bw; Stan visits Ollie in hospital with a bad leg, and causes inevitable mayhem.; w: H.M. Walker; d: James Parrott; s: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Billy Gilbert.)

followed by:
Any Old Port (qv)

Going Bye Bye! (qv)

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Sep 23rd
The Browning Version**
GB 1951. GFD. 90m. bw

A retiring schoolteacher is despised by his unfaithful wife and unpopular with his pupils, but one of them gives him consolation.
A poignant and thoughtful little play set in a lost era, uneasily expanded to feature length (especially the happy ending), with a slightly over-theatrical central performance, but enough of the power of the original still comes through compellingly.

Written by: Terence Rattigan, from his play.
Producer: Teddy Baird.
Director: Anthony Asquith.
Starring: Michael Redgrave, Jean Kent, Nigel Patrick, Ronald Howard, Brian Smith, Wilfrid Hyde-White, William Travers, Peter Jones.
Photography: Desmond Dickinson.
Art Direction: Carmen Dillon.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Sep 16th
Condorman*
US 1981. Walt Disney. 90m. Panavision

A comic book artist gets the chance to re-create his hero's adventures by helping a beautiful Russian agent to defect.
Passable but lame superhero spoof from a flagging Disney studio, more James Bond than Superman.

Written by: Marc Sturdivant, Glen Caron, Mickey Rose.
Producer: Jan Williams.
Director: Charles Jarrott.
Starring: Michael Crawford, Barbara Carrera, Oliver Reed, James Hampton, Jean-Pierre Kalfon, Dana Elcar.
Photography: Charles F. Wheeler.
Music: Henry Mancini.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Sep 11th
Knight and Day**
(12A)
Electric Palace, Harwich

A woman on her way to her sister's wedding meets a rogue CIA agent who embroils her in a plot to smuggle a valuable battery into the hands of arms dealers.
Nonsensical but fun and slickly packaged comedy thriller with elements of Bird on a Wire, Romancing the Stone, True Lies, The Thin Man and To Catch a Thief. The characterisation and the star performances help to carry it off.

d: James Mangold
s: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard, Viola Davis, Jordi Molla, Paul Dano, Gal Gadot


Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Sep 7th
Poor Cow**

GB 1967. Anglo Amalgamated/Vic/Fenchurch. 101m.

A young mother has to fend for herself when her crooked husband is sent to prison, as also is his best friend with whom she has fallen in love.
This director's first foray into cinema after some acclaimed fly-on-the-wall TV dramas; the approach here is much the same despite some occasionally wooden moments, with the extra permissiveness that cinema allows for - which even for the time is shockingly down-to-earth, but entertaining in the Loach style that is now familiar.

Written by: Ken Loach, Nell Dunn, from her novel.
Producer: Joseph Janni.
Director: Ken Loach.
Starring: Carol White, Terence Stamp, John Bindon, Queenie Watts, Kate Williams.
Photography: Brian Probyn.
Music: Donovan, and others.
Editing: Roy Watts.
POOR COW (1967). Cathy Come Home's Carol White as a downtrodden version of Julie Christie.