Dec 30th
Cry of the Banshee*                

(GB 1970)

A 16th century English village with an irrational fear of witches is then beset by a real one.
Overblown but spirited follow-up to Witchfinder General, with plenty of sadism but less of a sense of style.

Written by: Tim Kelly, Christopher Wicking.
Producer: Louis M. Hayward.
Director: Gordon Hessler.
Starring: Vincent Price, Elizabeth Bergner, Patrick Mower, Hilary Dwyer, Essy Persson, Carl Rigg, Marshall Jones, Sally Geeson, Hugh Griffith.
Photography: John Coquillon.
Music: Wilfred Josephs.
Titles Animation: Terry Gilliam.

Dec 28th
The Butler** (12A)          
Cineworld Shaftesbury Avenue

(US 2013)

The son of a murdered cotton farm labourer is groomed to be a manservant and goes on to serve several Presidents of the United States from 1957 through to 1986.
Over-targeted but well-meaning historical human drama based (partly) on White House butler Eugene Allen. Its racist elements are too obviously spelt out and it lacks a general sense of direction as to whether it is focusing on the experiences with the various Presidents served (with some amusing degrees of star dissimilarity to their real life figures), or to focus on the central character's eldest son and his struggles in the Civil Rights movement. Some moments move, among a rather uneven whole.

Written by: Danny Strong, based on the book "A Butler Well Served By This Election" by Wil Haygood.
Producers: Laura Ziskin, Pamela Williams, Lee Daniels, Buddy Patrick, Cassian Elwes.
Director: Lee Daniels.
Starring: Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo, Mariah Carey, Vanessa Redgrave, Clarence Williams III, Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jnr, Robin Williams (as Eisenhower), John Cusack (as Nixon), James Marsden (as Kennedy), Liev Schreiber (as Lyndon Johnson), Jane Fonda (as Nancy Reagan), Alan Rickman (as Reagan), Lenny Kravitz, Colman Domingo, Yaya DaCosta.
Photography: Andrew Dunn.
Music: Rodrigo Leao.
Editing: Joe Klatz, Brian A. Kates.
Make-up: Debra Denson.

Dec 22nd
A Liar's Autobiography*
Sub-title: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman

(GB 2012)

A multi-animation adaptation of Graham Chapman's colourful audio book autobiography, a scatological collection of sometimes funny but often deliberately offensive jokes, with occasional flashes of wit (most of which emanate from the occasional precious moments of archive Python material), and the visual style of the various animations is not always appropriate but often arresting, harking back to Fritz the Cat for permissiveness.

Producers: Bill Jones, Ben Timlett.
Directors: Bill Jones, Jeff Simpson, Ben Timlett.
Voices of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Carol Cleveland, Cameron Diaz, Stephen Fry, and others.
Animation: Various.
Music: John Greswell, Christopher Taylor.

Dec 21st
Eric and Ernie**      

(GB TVM 2010)                        

The early years of the formation of comedy duo Morecambe and Wise.
Told mainly from Eric's perspective (and his influential mother Sadie), with one or two cliched moments for a showbiz biopic about future stars, but often movingly played, with a warm nostalgia for both time and place.

Written by: Peter Bowker, from an idea by Victoria Wood.
Producer: Timothy Bricknell.
Director: Jonny Campbell.
Starring: Daniel Rigby, Bryan Dick, Victoria Wood, Jim Moir, Reece Shearsmith, Emer Kenny, Julian Wadham.
Music: Ilan Eshken.
Photography: Tony Slater-Long.
Editing: Jamie Pearson.

+ locations filmed: Morecambe Bay, Lytham St. Anne's beach, Manchester's Victoria Baths (below), the Plaza Stockport, the Bacup Royal Court Theatre, and others. 

 

ERIC AND ERNIE. Biopics of famous stars are often notoriously dissimilar to their subjects, but Daniel Rigby and Bryan Dick were spot on. 

Dec 19th
Starcrash                    
original title: Scontri Stellari Oltre la Terza Dimensione

(Ita 1978)

A sexy smuggler and her navigator are recruited by the Emperor of the galaxy to combat the evil Count Zart Arn.
Elementary B-grade Flash Gordon with its slight variations, intended as another cash-in on Star Wars (particularly the climax), but carried along for a surprisingly long-winded 90 minutes by an arcane sense of camp style, and at least a self-belief in its own absurdities.

Written by: Lewis Coates (Luigi Cozzi), Nat Wachsberger, R.A. Dillon.
Producers: Nat Wachsberger, Patrick Wachsberger.
Director: Lewis Coates.
Starring: Caroline Munro, Marjoe Gortner, David Hasselhoff, Christopher Plummer, Joe Spinell, Robert Tessier, Judd Hamilton, Nadia Cassini.
Photography: Paul Beeson, Roberto D'Ettore.
Music: John Barry.
Production Design: Aurelia Crugnola.

+ THE EMPEROR (Christopher Plummer): "Well, it's done, it's happened. The stars...are clear, the planets...shine. We've won! Oh, some dark force, no doubt, will show its face once more. The wheel will always...turn. But for now it's calm, and for a little time, at least, we can rest."

Dec 10th
All the King's Men***            

(US 1949)

The rise to controversial fame of popular Governor Willie Stark, who sacrifices most of his original values to get to the top.
Full-blown political melodrama, resembling in some ways a grittier, more realistic Citizen Kane, ramming home its political points with a sledgehammer, but compelling as a portrait of a Julius Caesar-like figure for modern times who is too popular for his own good and is brought to heel by his peers.

Written, Produced and Directed by: Robert Rossen, from the novel by Robert Penn Warren.
Starring: Broderick Crawford, John Ireland, Joanne Dru, Mercedes McCambridge, Shepperd Strudwick, John Derek, Ralph Dumke, Anne Seymour, Raymond Greenleaf, Katherine Warren, Paul Ford.
Photography: Burnet Guffey.
Music: Louie Grunenberg.

Preceded by:
Precious Images***
(US 1986. DGA. 8m.; Classic movie snippets compilation.; d, ed: Chuck Workman.)

Dec 1st
The Slipper and the Rose**       

(GB 1976)

The Cinderella story, a lavishly staged cinema pantomime with some welcome cameos from veteran stars, and some good numbers that can smack of over-indulgence, as too is the film's unnecessary length. That such a film of that kind could be made at all in the 1970s was welcome enough - at the time however it did not lead to a revival.

Written by: Bryan Forbes, Robert Sherman, Richard Sherman.
Producer: Stuart Lyons.
Director: Bryan Forbes.
Starring: Gemma Craven, Richard Chamberlain, Kenneth More, Margaret Lockwood, Michael Hordern, Edith Evans, Annette Crosbie, Christopher Gable, Rosalind Ayres, Sherrie Hewson, Julian Orchard, Andre Morell.
Photography: Tony Imi.
Musical Direction: Angela Morley.
Songs: Richard Sherman, Robert Sherman.