Apr 28th 

In Darkness** (15)                                
(Ipswich Film Theatre)

Ger/Pol/Can 2011. Schmidtz Katze Filmkollektiv/The Film Works/Polski Instytut Sztuki Filmowej. 145m.

In Lvov in World War II, a Polish sewer worker is paid to bring food and supplies to Jews hiding underground, and gradually becomes sympathetic to their plight.
A slightly grittier, more harrowing variation on Schindler's List, a little hard to follow in the darkness of the sewers, and a little overlong, but powerfully evoked and performed.

Written by: David F. Shamoom, from the book "In the Sewers of Lvov" by Robert Marshall.
Producers: Wohciech Danowski, Leander Carell, Patrick Knippel, Juliusz Machulski, Steffen Reuter.
Director: Agnieska Holland.
Starring: Robert Wieckiewicz, Benno Furmann, Agnieszka Grochowska, Kinga Preiss, Krzysztof Skonieczny, Maria Schrader.
Photography: Jolanta Dylewska.
Music: Antoni Lazarkiewicz.

Apr 24th

Zeppelin*                               

GB 1971. Warner Bros/Getty and Fromkess. 97m. Panavision

In 1915 a British-German aristocrat is sent into Germany as a spy where an airship is attempting a deadly raid on a Scottish castle.
Slick and superficial but well paced WWI action thriller in the James Bond style, with less intrigue than the plot at first suggests.

Written by: Arthur Rowe, Donald Churchill.
Producer: Owen Crump.
Director: Etienne Perier.
Starring: Michael York, Elke Sommer, Marius Goring, Peter Carsten, Anton Diffring, Andrew Keir, Rupert Davies, Alexandra Stewart.
Photography: Alan Hume.
Music: Roy Budd.

Apr 23rd 

Magicians*                                      

GB 2007. Universal/Intermedia/Breakout Films. 90m.

Two squabbling former members of a double act compete against each other in a magic tournament in Jersey.
Fitfully amusing parochial British comedy with comedians who engage but don't have sharply enough drawn characters. Unintentionally or otherwise, the junior of three films at that time featuring magicians, together with The Prestige and The Illusionist.

Written by: Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, from a story by themselves and David Britland, Andy Nyman, Anthony Owen, Andrew O'Connor.
Producer: Ollie Madden.
Director: Andrew O'Connor.
Starring: David Mitchell, Robert Webb, Jessica Stevenson, Darren Boyd, Andrea Riseborough, Peter Capaldi, Sarah Hadland, Miranda Hart.
Photography: James Welland.
Music: Paul Englishby.

Apr 16th
Twenty Million Miles to Earth*
US 1957. Columbia/Morningside. 82m. bw

A spaceship crashes off the coast of Italy on its return from Venus, and a specimen creature on board grows to uncontrollable size.
Predictably silly but lively monster movie, set in a quaint Hollywood version of Italy, making the most of its Rome locations at the climax.

Written by: Bob Williams, Chris Knopf.
Producer: Charles Schneer.
Director: Nathan Juran.
Starring: William Hopper, Joan Taylor, Frank Puglia, John Zaremba, Thomas B. Henry, Bart Bradley.
Photography: Irving Lippmann.
Music: Mischa Bakaleinikoff.
Special Effects: Ray Harryhausen.

Apr 10th
War Games**
US 1983. MGM-UA/Sherwood. 113m.

A teenager hacks his way into a computer which controls the US defence system and threatens itself to ignite World War III.
Exciting, ultimately lightweight thriller quite successfully capturing teenage mores and the computer software of the time with an alarmingly plausible first half, although the second half slips into the realm of cliche and becomes increasingly unlikely but enjoyable hokum.

Written by: Lawrence Lasker, Walter F. Parkes.
Producers: Leonard Goldberg, Harold Schneider.
Director: John Badham.
Starring: Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, Dabney Coleman, John Wood, Barry Corbin, Juanin Clay, Kent Williams, William Bogert, Susan Davis, James Tolkan, Michael Madsen.
Photography: William A. Fraker.
Music: Arthur B. Rubinstein.
Production Design: Angelo P. Graham.


Preceded by:
Boy and Bicycle**
(GB 1965. BFI Experimental Film Fund. 27m. bw; A boy escapes from his parents and school and roams around Hartlepool on his bicycle.; w,d: Ridley Scott; s: Tony Scott; m: John Barry, John Baker.)

BOY AND BICYCLE. Ridley Scott's first - and perhaps most personal - film, with his brother Tony cast as a slightly overage schoolboy playing truant, cycling past, amongst others, the old West Hartlepool Empire Theatre.

Apr 6th
The Shoes of the Fisherman**
US 1968. MGM. 157m. Panavision

An archbishop is released from captivity in Siberia and planted by both the Russians and the Vatican into becoming Pope, in order to prevent World War III.
Stately and grand clerical political thriller with trivial personal interest sub-plots involving a TV journalist. The political element is underdeveloped too, but the strong all-star cast holds the attention.

Written by: John Patrick, James Kennaway, from the novel by Morris West.
Producer: George Englund.
Director: Michael Anderson.
Starring: Anthony Quinn, Oskar Werner, Laurence Olivier, David Janssen, Vittorio De Sica, Leo McKern, Barbara Jefford, Rosemarie Dexter, John Gielgud, Frank Finlay, Bert Kwouk, Clive Revill, Gerald Harper.
Photography: Erwin Hillier.
Music: Alex North.
Art Direction: George W. Davis, Edward Carfagno.

TaoYue.com review

Apr 3rd
Age of Consent*
Australia 1968. Columbia/Nautilus. 103m.

A reclusive artist on the Great Barrier Reef finds his ideal model in a precocious teenage girl who is coming of age.
Leisurely Pygmalion-style drama with occasional touches of visual imagination and lewdness from a director sitting back on previous triumphs.

Written by: Peter Yeldham, from the novel by Norman Lindsay.
Producers: James Mason, Michael Powell.
Director: Michael Powell.
Starring: James Mason, Helen Mirren, Jack MacGowran, Neva Carr-Glyn, Andonia Katsaros, Slim de Grey, Frank Thring.
Photography: Hannes Staudinger, Ron Taylor.
Music: Peter Sculthorpe.