Oct 27th   

Woman in a Dressing Gown**         
(GB 1957)

ABPC/Godwin-Willis. 92m. bw

An unkempt housewife and mother loses her husband to his young secretary, who wants him to divorce.
Uncomfortable pre-kitchen sink melodrama in down-to-earth settings, occasionally overdone in terms of direction and its leading performance, but still commendably non-judgemental and powerfully realistic.

Written by: Ted Willis, from his play.
Producers: Frank Godwin, J. Lee Thompson.
Director: J. Lee Thompson.
Starring: Yvonne Mitchell, Anthony Quayle, Sylvia Sims, Andrew Ray, Carole Lesley.
Photography: Gilbert Taylor.
Music: Louis Levy.

Oct 24th
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow**   
(GB/US/Ita 2004)

 Paramount/Brooklyn Films II/Riff Raff Blue Flower/Filmauro. 106m.

In the 1930's crack pilot Joe Sullivan (aka. "Sky Captain") and his journalist girlfriend try to prevent mysterious killer robots from destroying the Earth.
Vividly drawn fantasy within an extremely stylish and imaginative alternative history, where all the creativity and imagination stems from the director; the actors are inevitably upstaged by the backgrounds, and the performances in such a restricted (green screen) environment are as variable as could be expected, but they enter into the spirit of things, and the effects, though sometimes hollow and unconvincing, are striking indeed.

Written and Directed by: Kerry Conran.
Producers: Jon Avnet, Marsha Oglesby, Sadie Frost, Jude Law.
Starring: Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi, Omad Djlali, Bai Ling; and "Sir Laurence Oliver" (in archive footage).
Photography: Eric Adkins.
Music: Edward Shearmur.
Production Design: Kevin Conran.
Special Visual Effects Supervisor: Scott E. Anderson.

Oct 23rd 
The Man in the White Suit**     

(GB 1951)

Rank/Ealing. 82m. bw

A rogue young scientist constructs an indestructible fabric which horrifies both industry and workers alike, who unite to stop him.
Incisive, brilliantly made, almost anti-Ealing comedy (the flip side of their usual British stoicism) with doses of sci-fi and lots of excellent performances....and yet, the satire seems misguided and the comedy resolves itself in a series of farcical chases rather than any satisfying plot development. The ending is suitably memorable with echoes of Fritz Lang more than British comedy.

Written by: John Dighton, Alexander Mackendrick, Roger MacDougall, based on his play.
Producers: Michael Balcon, Sidney Cole.
Director: Alexander Mackendrick.
Starring: Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Michael Gough, Ernest Thesiger, Howard Marion Crawford, Vida Hope, Patric Doonan, Henry Mollison, Edie Martin, Mandy Miller.
Photography: Douglas Slocombe.
Music: Benjamin Frankel.

Preceded by:
The Pilgrim*
(US 1923. 40m. bw. silent; An escaped convict disguises as a priest in a small town, but prevents a fellow former inmate from stealing from a family. Variable satire only occasionally hitting the mark, but Chaplin for once keeps sentiment at bay.; w, d: Charles Chaplin; s: Charlie Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Tom Murray, Sydney Chaplin, Mack Swain.)

Oct 20th 
Hope Springs** (12A)    
(Electric Palace, Harwich)

A successfully married couple who haven't slept together for years grudgingly rekindle their relationship.
Dignified, surprisingly downbeat marital comedy drama, sentimental of course with some excessive use of music on the soundtrack, but the stars certainly don't make it predictable.

d: David Frankel
s: Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Steve Carell, Jean Smart, Elizabeth Shue, Mimi Rogers

Oct 19th 
First Daughter 
(US 2004)                     
Twentieth Century Fox/Regency/Davis Entertainment/Spirit Dance/Epsilon. 104m.

The President's daughter goes to college.
Sentimental confection, a good vehicle for a rising star rarely off-camera, done as fairy tale more than satirical teen comedy. Capra would have done it all with just a little more meaning.

Written by: Kate Kondell, Jessica Bendinger, from a story by herself and Jerry O'Connell.
Producers: John Davis, Wyck Godfrey, Mike Karz.
Director/Narrator: Forest Whitaker.
Starring: Katie Holmes, Michael Keaton, Margaret Colin, Marc Blucas, Amerie, Lela Rochan, Michael Milhoan, Dwayne Adway, Joan Rivers, Jay Leno.
Photography: Toyomichi Kurita.
Music: Michael Kamen, Blake Neely.
Editing: Richard Chew.

Oct 15th 

The Truman Show** 

(US 1998)                    
Paramount. 109m.

A man gradually realises that his entire life is being played as a TV drama.
Benevolently Orwellian in its concept, and as ever satirizing the American Dream in its style, this clever paranoia comedy-drama doesn't quite do for Jim Carrey what Dead Poets Society did for Robin Williams - Carrey is too oddball for that - but is still quite moving and powerful and existential in its study of the hero trying to come to terms with the world around him, as well as the distant but sympathetic audience watching him. As fanciful as the notion was, "reality" TV itself became a reality within 2 years.

Written by: Andrew Niccol.
Producers: Scott Rudin, Andrew Niccol, Edward S. Feldman, Adam Schroeder.
Director: Peter Weir.
Starring: Jim Carrey, Ed Harris, Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich, Natasha McElhone, Holland Taylor, Brian Delate, Paul Giamatti, Harry Shearer.
Photography: Peter Biziou.
Music: Burkhard Dallwitz, Philip Glass.
Production Design: Dennis Gassner.
Editing: William Anderson, Lee Smith.

Preceded by:
Sunnyside*
(US 1919. First National. 29m. bw. silent;  A farm labourer at a country hotel loses his girl to a visiting city gent, but it turns out to be only a dream. Experimental, uneven but sometimes interesting compression of dissonant plot elements, with Chaplin clearly working his way gradually up towards making features.; w, d, m: Charles Chaplin; s: Charlie Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Tom Wilson, Tom Terries, Albert Austin, Henry Bergman; ph: Roland Totheroh.)

Oct 11th 

Magical Mystery Tour*

(GB TVM 1967)                     

BBC/Apple. 50m.

Almost plotless musical odyssey linking some surreal sketches and music by the Beatles on board a coach tour.
Quite Goon Show style in its approach (but with less discipline or humour), with hints of the Psychadelic as well as the Monty Python eras that were to follow, this self-indulgent Beatles fantasia was certainly a curio for Christmas TV audiences of the time, erratic and sometimes amateurishly filmed, as are some of the numbers, with one or two gems that still entertain. Musically speaking some of the most inventive, experimental music they ever attempted.

Written by: The Beatles, from an idea by Mal Evans, Paul McCartney.
Producers: The Beatles, Dennis O'Dell.
Directors: The Beatles, Bernard Knowles.
Starring: Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Jessie Robins, Ivor Cutler, Derek Royle, Miranda Forbes, Victor Spinetti, George Claydon.
Photography: Ringo Starr.
Music: The Beatles, The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.
Editing: Roy Benson.

MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR (1967). The success of the Beatles had become so great that   the audience were prepared to welcome whatever they did, no matter how odd.

Oct 4th 

Bright Young Things**                      

(GB 2003)
Icon/Revolution Films/Doubting Hall/The Film Consortium/UK Film Council/Visionview. 106m. ws

Various friends in aristocratic circles spend most of their lives in the 1920's as a succession of parties.
Fry's adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Vile Bodies is a typically boldly stylised first stab at directing, with lots of glitzy style and allowing for several of his friends to appear in scene-stealing (and often over the top) character cameos, whilst the serious side to the plot seems a little mawkish when everybody is clearly otherwise just having a lot of fun. The bittersweet wartime prologue softens some of the bleakness of the original's ending.

Written and Directed by: Stephen Fry, based on the novel "Vile Bodies" by Evelyn Waugh.
Producers: Gina Carter, Miranda Davis.
Starring: Stephen Campbell Moore, Emily Mortimer, Dan Aykroyd, Jim Broadbent, Stockard Channing, James McAvoy, Michael Sheen, David Tennant, Fenella Woolgar, Peter O'Toole, Julia McKenzie, Simon Callow, Imelda Staunton, Bill Paterson, Richard E. Grant, John Mills, Harriet Walter.
Photography: Henry Braham.
Music: Anne Dudley.
Production Design: Michael Howells.
Editing: Alex Mackie.

BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS. Not the best adaptation of Evelyn Waugh, but an excellent showcase for the bright young things of British cinema.

Oct 1st 

Carnage**                                  

(Fra/Ger/Pol/Spa 2011)

SBS/Wild Bunch/Canal+/Constantin Film Produktion/SPI/Versatil Cinema/Zanagar Films/France 2 Cinema. 80m. ws

A mutual settlement between two sets of middle class New York parents over their violent sons, degenerates into war.
Black comedy of manners about seemingly civilised people becoming quite the reverse, amusing realistic as it unfolds though staying close to its theatrical origins, with no other discernible purpose or point by the end, save to allow a talented cast to act increasingly angrier.

Written by: Roman Polanski, Michael Katims, Yasmina Reza, from her play.
Producer: Said Ben Said.
Director: Roman Polanski.
Starring: Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly, Christoph Waltz.
Photography: Pawel Edelman.
Music: Alexandre Desplat.
Production Design: Dean Tavoularis.

CARNAGE. For once, a poster that is completely accurate in its depiction of what happens in the film.