Nov 24th 
Red River** 

(US 1947)                   
United Artists/Monterey. 133m. bw

Texas cattle runners squabble with each other in their struggle to get their massive load transported to Missouri.
It all looks a little cliched now, with the conventions of the Western having been turned on their head by subsequent decades, the familiarity of the later TV series Rawhide, and spoofs like Blazing Saddles, but this rollicking, rambling horse opera still has the edge above most others of its kind, with some fine measured moments of photography, editing and direction. Proof also that the history of the Wild West wasn't exclusively the domain of John Ford.

Written by: Borden Chase, Charles Schnee.
Producer: Howard Hawks.
Directors: Howard Hawks, Arthur Rosson.
Starring: John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Walter Brennan, Joanne Dru, John Ireland, Noah Beery Jnr, Harry Carey Jnr, Hank Worden, Harry Carey, Coleen Gray.
Photography: Russel Harlan.
Music: Dmitri Tiomkin.

Nov 22nd
Tokyo Story*** (U)

(Slack Space, Colchester)        

(Japan 1953) 135m. bw

Two grand parents visit their adult children in Tokyo for the first time, where they are all for various reasons too busy to attend to them for long.
Slow to start, and doggedly Japanese in its style of relentless static tableau, this nonetheless deeply moving human drama comes into its own in the later stages, playing in subtle ways upon universal human values without any gloss or weepy sentiment.

d: Yasujiro Ozu
s: Chisu Ryu, Chieko Hiyashiyama, Setsuko Hara, Soh Yamamura, Haruko Sugimura, Shiro Osaka, Ejiro Tono

Nov 19th
Born on the Fourth of July**           

(US 1989)
Universal/Ixtlan. 145m. Panavision

The active life of Ron Kovic, shot in Vietnam and paralysed, to his first public protest against the war.
Overblown, subjective and powerfully made biopic with the director pulling out all the stops, leaving little to the imagination, and making good use of his iconic star. The second of Stone's Vietnam "trilogy" of sorts, begun with Platoon.

Written by: Oliver Stone, Ron Kovic, form his book.
Producers: A. Kitman Ho, Oliver Stone.
Director: Oliver Stone.
Starring: Tom Cruise, Kyra Sedgwick, Willem Dafoe, Caroline Kava, Raymond J. Barry, Frank Whaley, Jerry Levine, Tom Berenger, Lili Taylor.
Photography: Robert Richardson.
Music: John Williams.
Production Design: Bruno Rubeo.

Oliver Stone, Tom Cruise, and the myths about Born of the Fourth of July

Nov 15th 
Caught in the Act* 

(GB 1996)                      
Film 2000/Midsummer Films. 92m.

Three friends on vacation in Norfolk are roped into performing in a local talent contest for one of them who is in love with the organiser.
Amiable, minor league British comedy which sadly failed to find an audience (outside of the video market), which is hardly surprising as the film is so pleasantly parochial with some nice cameos, and unashamedly cheerful.

Written by: Caroline Hill, Mark Greenstreet.
Producer: Christopher Millburn.
Director: Mark Greenstreet.
Starring: Sara Crowe, Annette Badland, Nadia Sawalha, Paul Shelley, Leslie Phillips, Guy Henry, Tim McMullan, Gerard Kelly, Paul Rattigan.
Photography: David Evans.
Music: Simon May.

Nov 13th 

Black Rainbow** 

(GB 1989)                                   

Goldcrest. 103m.

A travelling medium who contacts the spirits of dead relatives starts to predict deaths before they happen.
Unsettling little chiller with a slightly unsatisfactory denouement (as with most ghost stories), but consistently well put together with some good performances in gritty, grimy autumnal American locations to try and downplay - and thereby enhance - the supernatural element.

Written and Directed by: Mike Hodges.
Producers: Geoffrey Helman, John Quested.
Starring: Rosanna Arquette, Jason Robards, Tom Hulce, Mark Joy, Ron Rosenthal, John Bennes.
Photography: Gerry Fisher.
Music: John Scott.
Editing: Malcolm Cooke.

Laurel & Hardy

Nov 10th
(Manifest Theatre)

Another pleasant evening of Laurel & Hardy shorts presented by the Men O'War Tent, beginning with DVD versions of Should Married Men Go Home?, followed by a fascinating bit of rare home movie footage by George Mann, On Location with Laurel and Hardy, just recently unearthed from the archives, and four more variably amusing but all entertaining Hal Roach shorts, mostly featuring the scene-stealing Arthur Housman.

Babes in the Goods**

(US 1934. 20m. bw; Two shop assistants are accidentally locked up in the demonstration shop window overnight.; d: Gus Meins; s: Patsy Kelly, Thelma Todd, Arthur Housman, Jack Barty.)

The Live Ghost**

(US 1934. 20m. bw; Stan and Ollie help the captain of a supposedly haunted ship to shanghai crew members, and end up themselves being shanghaied; w: H.M. Walker; d: Charles Rogers; s: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Walter Long, Arthur Housman, Charlie Hall, Mae Busch.)

Scram!**

(US 1932. 20m. bw; Two drifters sentenced by the local judge befriend a drunkard who unwittingly takes them to the judge's house.; w: H.M. Walker; d: Raymond McCarey; s: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Arthur Housman, Richard Cramer, Vivien Oakland.)

Oliver the Eighth*
(US 1933. 30m. bw; Ollie is engaged to a rich widow, who happens to be mad and vengefully murders every unfortunate husband named Oliver. Fortunately it's all a dream for Ollie. Cop-out.; d: Lloyd French; s: Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel, Mae Busch, Jack Barty.)

Nov 9th 

Lifeforce 

(GB/US 1985)                             

Cannon. 116m. Panavision

An Anglo-American space exploration towards Halley's Comet encounters an organic alien ship, which unleashes a deadly plague of life-sucking aliens across London.
Spectacularly ridiculous sci-fi horror on a cheapjack production that undercuts both its setting and its plot (with Hertfordshire standing in laughably for London), but nonetheless arresting and suspenseful in its shock factor.

Written by: Dan O'Bannon, Don Jakoby, based on the novel "Space Vampires" by Colin Wilson.
Producers: Menahem Golan, Yoram Globus.
Director: Tobe Hooper.
Starring: Steve Railsbeck, Mathilda May, Peter Firth, Frank Finlay, Michael Gothard, Nicholas Ball, Patrick Stewart, Aubrey Morris.
Photography: Alan Hume.
Music: Henry Mancini.
Prosthetic Make-up Effects: Nick Maley.
Special Visual Effects: John Dykstra.

Nov 7th 

Skyfall** (12A)                                                   
(Odeon Colchester)

GB/US 2012.MGM/Columbia/Eon. 143m. ws

Bond is shot in action and returns to find a sadistic ex-colleague is terrorizing his bosses.
An atmospheric melodrama characteristic of this Oscar-winning director, allowing for some strong performances with some relatively minor Bond formula trimmings. Hardly quintessential Bond, and lacking a considerable amount of plot logic, but several points up from Quantum of Solace.

Written by: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, John Logan.
Producers: Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson.
Director: Sam Mendes.
Starring: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Berenice Marlohe, Albert Finney, Ben Whishaw.
Photography: Roger Deakins.
Music: Thomas Newman.

Nov 3rd
It Came from Outer Space*          

(US 1953)

Universal-International. 82m. bw(originally 3-D)

An alien space ship crash lands and threatens a small Arizona town before it can escape.
Staple B-Movie aliens from outer space fare, with a little more philosophy than explosive action, a good cult item.

Written by: Harry Essex, from a story by Ray Bradbury.
Producer: William Alland.
Director: Jack Arnold.
Starring: Richard Carlson, Barbara Rush, Charles Drake, Joe Sawyer, Joe Sawyer, Russell Johnson.
Photography: Clifford Stine.
Musical Direction: Joseph Gershenson.

Nov 2nd
Green Street*            

(US/GB 2004)

Universal/Odd Lot Entertainment/Baker Street/Yank Film Finance. 107m.

An expelled Harvard student visits his sister in London where he is indoctrinated into a gang of football hooligans.
Unpleasant but all too authentic violent melodrama in the spirit of A Clockwork Orange, in a setting familiar to viewers of Eastenders. The central device of the American student falling in with thugs doesn't really convince, but the other actors provide some strong characterisation, carried along in a forceful but compelling style.

Written by: Dougie Brimson, Joshua Selov, Lexi Alexander.
Producers: Deborah Del Prete, Gigi Pritzker.
Director: Lexi Alexander.
Starring: Elijah Wood, Charlie Hunnam, Marc Warren, Clare Forlani, Leo Gregory, Rafe Spall, Henry Goodman.
Photography: Alexander Buono.
Music: Christopher Franke.
Editing: Paul Trejo.

Roger Ebert review

Preceded by:
Netherland Dwarf*
(Australia 2008. Aquarius Films/Qoob. 15m.; A boy wants a rabbit from his lonely father, but they both end up with just each other.; w, d: David Michod; s: Jack Egan, Ewen Leslie, Mirrah Foulkes.)

Oct 30th 

Sabotage**                            

(GB 1936)                     
Gaumont British. 76m. bw

A cinema manager's wife discovers that her husband is a saboteur who is instructed to plant a bomb in Piccadilly Circus.
Efficient, reasonably faithful Hitchcock adaptation of Conrad's The Secret Agent (ironically retitled because of the confusion with Hitch's previous film), with his usual stylised touches, which extend to some of the acting.

Written by: Charles Bennett, Ian Hay, Helen Simpson, E.V.H. Emmett, based on the novel "The Secret Agent" by Joseph Conrad.
Producers: Michael Balcon, Ivor Montagu.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock.
Starring: Oscar Homolka, Sylvia Sidney, John Loder, Desmond Tester, Joyce Barbour, William Dewhurst, Peter Bull, Torin Thatcher, Austin Trevor.
Photography: Bernard Knowles.
Musical Direction: Louis Levy.