Dec 31st
Lost Horizon**
US 1937. Columbia. 125m(partially restored version). bw

A British missionary and fellow passengers escape war-torn China by plane, but are delivered to Shangri-La.
Paradise on Earth seems to resemble an art deco estate, and some of the sentiments and comic relief look horribly dated now, but for the historical context of its time (just two years before World War II#) the appeal of Shangri-La is still as elusive to a troubled world as it ever was.

Written by: Robert Riskin, from the novel by James Hilton.
Producer/Director: Frank Capra .
Starring: Ronald Colman, Jane Wyatt, John Howard, Thomas Mitchell, Edward Everett Horton, Isabel Jewell, H.B. Warner, Sam Jaffe, Margo, Hugh Buckler.
Photography: Joseph Walker.
Music: Dmitri Tiomkin.
Art Direction: Stephen Goosson.

# a 1942 re-release (shortened to 108 minutes) paints the Japanese as villains during the early evacuation scenes from China

## see also "The Battle over Lost Horizon"

Dec 30th
Silk Stockings** (U)
National Film Theatre

US 1957. MGM. 117m. Cinemascope

An American film producer in Paris corrupts three Russian commissars and their beautiful senior officer who has been sent to take a famous composer back home.
Inflated musical remake of Ninotchka, replacing Lubitsch's whimsy for the Paris of yesteryear with slightly more vulgar studio-bound Hollywood spectacle, but some of the acting is commendable (in the face of Greta Garbo for competition), and some of the numbers have their charming moments too.

Written by: Leonard Gershe, Leonard Spigelgass, based on the musical by George S. Kaufman, Leueen McGrath.
Producer: Arthur Freed.
Director: Rouben Mamoulian,
Starring: Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Janis Paige, Peter Lorre, Jules Munchin, Joseph Buloff, George Tobias, Wim Sonneveld.
Photography: Robert Bronner.
Music Supervision: Andre Previn.
Choreography: Hermes Pan, Eugene Loring.
Art Direction: William A. Horning.

Dec 28th
Beyond the Sea*
Ger/GB 2004. Archer Street/Quality International/Trigger Street. 118m. ws

Stylized, self-indulgent biopic of Bobby Darin and his stormy marriage to Sandra Dee, quite accomplished technically in most departments, but lacking something of a human heart as the film is so Brechtian in its approach.

Written by: Kevin Spacey, Lewis Colick.
Producers: Arthur E. Friedman, Andy Paterson, Jan Fantl, Kevin Spacey.
Director: Kevin Spacey.
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Bob Hoskins, John Goodman, Brenda Blethyn, Greta Scacchi, Caroline Aaron, Peter Cincotti, William Ulrich.
Photography: Eduardo Serra.
Music: Christopher Slaski.

Dec 26th
Of Mice and Men***
US 1939. United Artists/Hal Roach. 107m. bw

Drifters George and Lennie go on the run from one farm labourer's job to another, hoping to build a ranch for themselves but hampered by the child-like giant Lennie who doesn't know his own strength.
Powerfully made, quintessential American tragedy which points up this element with melodramatic music and bravura camerawork, and strong in most other departments too.

Written by: Eugene Solow, from the novel by John Steinbeck.
Producer/Director: Lewis Milestone.
Starring: Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney Jnr, Betty Field, Roman Bohnen, Charles Bickford, Bob Steele, Noah Beery Jr, Oscar O'Shea.
Photography: Norbert Brodine.
Music: Aaron Copland.

Dec 24th
Whale Rider**
New Zealand/Ger 2002. South Pacific Pictures/ApolloMedia/Pandora/New Zealand Production Fund/New Zealand Film Commission. 101m.

In present-day New Zealand, the saviour of the Maori tribe turns out to be a girl.
Thoughtfully crafted and intelligent semi-mystical drama, weaving family melodrama with observation of contemporary Maori society, beautifully photographed with some fine performances.

Written and Directed by: Niki Caro, from the novel by Witi Ihimaera.
Producers: Tim Sanders, John Barnett, Frank Hübner.
Starring: Keisha-Castle Hughes, Rawiri Paratene, Cliff Curtis, Vicky Haughton, Grant Roa, Mana Taumanu.
Photography: Leon Harbey.
Music: Lisa Gerrard.

Preceded by:
Father Christmas*
(GB 1991. Blooming Productions/TVC London/Channel 4. 26m.; Annual adventures of a caustic Santa Claus grumpily sifting through the mountain of mail in between holidays. Not as funny as the original books, but with some touching moments.; w: Dianne Jackson, Michael Adams, based on "Father Christmas" and "Father Christmas Goes on Holiday" by Raymond Briggs; d: Dave Unwin; voice of Mel Smith; m: Mike Hewer.)

Dec 19th
The Gold Rush**
US 1925. United Artists. 95m. bw. silent

The Tramp goes prospecting in snowy Alaska.
One of Chaplin's most famous features, and while not entirely well held together - Chaplin himself revised it in sound form with music and narration in 1942 - as a director of set pieces he is near top form, with classic sequences like the lopsided log cabin, the chicken hallucination and the rolls dance. His original 1925 version also provides an interesting commentary on the flapper society of the time as well as his own troubled second marriage (his wife Lita Grey was originally to have co-starred.)

Written, Produced and Directed by: Charles Chaplin.
Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Mack Swain, Georgia Hale, Tom Murray, Malcolm Waite, Henry Bergman.
Photography: Roland Totheroh.
Art Direction: Charles D. Hall.

Piano Accompaniment: Neil Brand.

Dec 14th

Goodbye Mr Chips*** (U)
Headgate Theatre, Colchester (last Colchester Film Society screening there)

US 1939. MGM. 112m.

A shy schoolmaster looks back on his long life at a boys' boarding school, encompassing both triumph and tragedy.
Sentimental school drama with some comic asides and an excellent star performance (that fought off competition as stiff as Clark Gable and Laurence Olivier for the 1939 Academy Award), and also some brief but sparkling cameos.

Written by: R.C.Sherriff, Claudine West, Eric Maschwitz, from the novel by James Hilton.
Producer: Victor Saville.
Director: Sam Wood.
Starring: Robert Donat, Greer Garson, Terry Kilburn, Paul Henreid, Austin Trevor, Lyn Harding, John Mills, Jill Furse, Judith Furse, David Tree, Cyril Raymond, Frederick Leister.
Photography: Frederick A. Young.
Music: Richard Addinsell.
Art Direction: Alfred Junge.

+ Robert Donat memorial plaque in Manchester

Dec 11th
Hugo** (U)
Hackney Picture House

An orphaned boy who lives inside Paris Gare du Nord tries to reconcile an aging toymaker who turns out to be legendary filmmaker Georges Melies.
Touching, refreshingly mature family film (a little long at 2 hours) set in a stylized 1930s Paris with the occasional jarring British accent (Scorsese's tribute to Michael Powell), but making some good use of 3D and also allowing Scorsese to indulge in his love of the moving image.

d: Martin Scorsese
s: Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jude Law, Ray Winstone, Emily Mortimer, Christopher Lee, Helen McCrory, Michael Stuhlbarg, Frances de la Tour, Richard Griffiths

Preceded by:
2:20**
(GB 2011. 2m.; d: Jason Winyard.)

+ winner, Virgin Shorts 2011

Dec 6th
Beetlejuice**
US 1988. Warner Bros/Geffen. 92m.

Recently deceased newly weds have tenant problems in their home and unwisely hire a mischievous fellow ghost to evict them.
Ghoulish comedy horror not entirely certain of its focus, whether Gothic or satirical, with the director's imagination running riot over a script that, characteristic of Burton, has plenty of holes.

Written by: Michael McDowell, Warren Skaaren.
Producers: Michael Bender, Larry Wilson, Richard Hashimoto.
Director: Tim Burton.
Starring: Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Jeffrey Jones, Catherine O'Hara, Glenn Shadix, Annie McEnroe, Robert Goulet, Dick Cavett.
Photography: Thomas Ackerman.
Music: Danny Elfman.

Nov 30th
The Deep Blue Sea*** (12A)
Odeon Colchester

A judge's wife who has left her husband is also rejected by her ex-RAF lover after she has attempted suicide.
Beautifully evocative adaptation of one of Rattigan's more tragic dramas, of almost unbearably repressed British post-war austerity, and moments of Brief Encounter-like intensity.

d: Terence Davies
s: Rachel Weisz, Simon Russell-Beale, Tom Hiddleston, Ann Mitchell, Karl Johnson
ph: Florian Hoffmeister
m: Samuel Barber (Concerto for Violin & Orchestra)