Jan 30th
The Watcher in the Woods**
GB 1980/81. Walt Disney. 83m(revised version).

An American family renting an old house is threatened by a malevolent force in the woods of a girl who has disappeared.
Scary children's ghost story, an uncertain mixture of horror and cutesy sentiment, with the latter wisely dispensed with by the end (three of them, as on the American DVD release). A Disney curio, that if made a few years later would happily have fitted under their Miramax/Touchstone banner.

Written by: Brian Clemens, Harry Spaulding, Rosemary Anne Sisson, from the novel by Florence Engel Randall.
Producer: Ron Miller.
Director: John Hough (and Vincent McEveety).
Starring: Bette Davis, Lynn-Holly Johnson, Kyle Richards, Carroll Baker, David McCallum, Ian Bannen, Richard Pasco, Benedict Taylor, Frances Cuka.
Photography: Alan Hume.
Music: Stanley Myers.
Production Design: Eliot Scott.

Jan 27th
Anna Karenina**
US 1935. MGM. 95m. bw

A influential minister's wife embarks on a tragic love affair with a dashing count, to the cost of her marriage and her son.
Economically adapted but grandly staged version of Tolstoy, with Hollywood's idea of Russians in a wild variety of international accents.

Written by: Clemence Dane, Salka Viertel, S.N. Behrman, from the novel by Leo Tolstoy.
Producer: David O. Selznick.
Director: Clarence Brown.
Starring: Greta Garbo, Fredric March, Basil Rathbone, Freddie Bartholomew, Maureen O'Sullivan, Reginald Owen, Phoebe Foster, May Robson, Reginald Denny, Ethel Griffies.
Photography: William Daniels.
Music: Herbert Stothart.
Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Fredric Hope, Edwin B. Willis.

Jan 22nd
Of Gods and Men** (15)
Ipswich Film Theatre

In 1996 the Cistercian monks at a village in Algeria find their peaceful way of life threatened by Islamic terrorists.
The terrorist threat (with several false alarms until the final tragic hostage taking) is a pervading menace to what is elsewise a beautifully observed and deliberately laboured study of the monks' way of life and their relationship with the community, and how powerful this and their faith keeps them there in spite of the danger. It only fleetingly covers the more interesting aspect of the clash between different religions.

d: Xavier Beauvois
s: Lambert Wilson, Michel Lonsdale, Olivier Rabourdin, Philippe Laudenbach, Jacques Herlin, Loic Pichon, Xavier Maly, Jean-Marie Frin, Sabrina Ouazani, Farid Larbi.

Jan 18th
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly**
Fra/US 2007. Pathe Renn. 112m.

The editor of Elle Magazine Jean-Dominique Bauby suffers a stroke but uses his left eye as a means of communicating with the outside world.
Absorbing true story which tries as much as possible to retain the subjective camera view of its main character to emphasise the horror of his condition, whilst still managing to give him an interior monologue and some imaginative visuals, and also sharing its sympathy not only with the patient but also those closest to him.

Written by: Ronald Harwood, from the book by Jean-Dominique Bauby.
Producers: Kathleen Kennedy, Jon Kilik.
Director: Julian Schnabel.
Starring: Mathieu Amalric, Emanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josee Croze, Anne Consigny, Patrick Chesnais, Max Von Sydow, Jean-Pierre Cassel.
Photography: Janusz Kaminski.
Music: Paul Cantelon.
Editing: Juliette Welfling.

Jan 11th
Alice in Wonderland*
US 1933. Paramount. 75m. bw

Little girl Alice steps through the looking glass and encounters many bizarre characters.
Inventive but disappointingly stolid version, mechanically moving along from one scene to the next, with much of Lewis Carroll's visual wit, but little propensity for storytelling. The guest stars are mostly unrecognisable.

Written by: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, William Cameron Menzies, from the novel by Lewis Carroll.
Producer: Louis D. Lighton.
Director: Norman Z. McLeod.
Starring: CHarlotte Henry, Edward Everett Horton (Mad Hatter), Cary Grant (Mock Turtle), Edna May Oliver (Red Queen), Ned Sparks (Caterpillar), Charles Ruggles (March Hare), Jack Oakie, Roscoe Karns (Tweedledum & Tweedledee), Gary Cooper (White Knight), Mae Marsh, Patsy O'Byrne, and others.
Photography: Henry Sharp, Bert Glennon.
Music: Dmitri Tiomkin.
Make-up: Wally Westmore.

Preceded by:
Superman in
Mechanical Monsters***
(US 1941. 10m.; Superman and Lois Lane tackle a jewel thief who is using indestructible robots. One of the best of the Dave Fleischer Superman shorts.; w: Isidore Sparber, Seymour Kneitel; d: Dave Fleischer; anim: Steve Muffat, george Germanetti; voices of Bud Collyer, Joan Alexander, Julian Noa.)