Dec 29th   
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid**    

(US 1969)                    

Two cocky cowboy bank robbers eventually meet their demise after fleeing to Bolivia.
Not vintage but certainly very enjoyable tongue-in-cheek Western, influenced in turn by The Wild Bunch and Bonnie and Clyde, but gentler than either, with as much witty banter between the two stars as there is violent, lively action. A box office bonanza.

Written by: William Goldman.
Producers: Paul Newman, John Foreman.
Director: George Roy Hill.
Starring: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross, Strother Martin, Henry Jones, Jeff Corey, Cloris Leachman.
Photography: Conrad Hall.
Music: Burt Bacharach.

Dec 27th  
Knight Without Armour**     

(GB 1937)                        

In revolutionary Russia an Englishman agrees to go undercover among the Bolsheviks, and protects a countess that he has fallen in love with.
Sweeping romantic adventure, far better at conveying the political chaos in Russia than the later, more celebrated film of Doctor Zhivago, with a good international star teaming and lavish presentation - although it proved to be nearly the ruin of Korda's London Studios.

Written by: Lajos Biro, Arthur Wimperis, Frances Marion, from the novel by James Hilton.
Producer: Alexander Korda.
Director: Jacques Feyder.
Starring: Robert Donat, Marlene Dietrich, John Clements, Herbert Lomas, Austin Trevor, Basil Gill, David Tree, Hay Petrie, Peter Bull, Miles Malleson, Raymond Huntley.
Photography: Harry Stradling.
Music: Miklos Rosza.

KNIGHT WITHOUT ARMOUR. Relations on set between Marlene Dietrich and Robert Donat could be frosty at times, but the ice melted on camera.

Dec 25th  
Scrooge***        

(GB 1951)                                        

Spendthrift accountant Ebeneezer Scrooge is terrorized by ghosts on Christmas night and reforms himself.
Suitable Christmas fare for the 50s collection this year, a well crafted adaptation of Dickens telling the story briskly without too much window dressing, with a fine cast and the definitive screen Scrooge.

Written by: Noel Langley, from the novel by Charles Dickens.
Producers: Brian Desmond Hurst, Stanley Haynes.
Director: Brian Desmond Hurst.
Starring: Alastair Sim, Mervyn Johns, Michael Hordern, Hermione Baddeley, Kathleen Harrison, Jack Warner, George Cole (as young Ebeneezer), Brian Worth, Carol Marsh, Rona Anderson, Michael Dolan, Francis De Wolff, Ernest Thesiger, Mile Malleson.
Photography: C. Pennington Richards.
Music: Richard Addinsell.

Preceded by:
Pathe News (1956)
(The Spirit of Christmas -- Santa Claus: AlreadyI [in Edinburgh] -- Germany: Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht.)

Dec 23rd      
Bridge of Spies* (12A)      
(Vue Piccadilly)                          

(US 2015)

In 1957 an American insurance lawyer defends a Russian spy and later negotiates for his exchange with captured US pilot Gary Powers.
Slow-burner from Spielberg, a deliberately downplayed Cold War drama which suffers a little trying to expand the scope of its story, and then doesn't fill in enough details historically, but quietly compels in its absorbing scenes between Hanks and Mark Rylance.

Written by: Matt Charman, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen.
Producers: Steven Spielberg, Marc Platt, Kristie Macosko Kireger.
Director: Steven Spielberg.
Starring: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan, Austin Stowell, Scott Shepherd, Alan Alda, Will Rogers, Dakin Matthews, Sebastian Koch.
Photography: Janusz Kaminski.
Music: Thomas Newman.

Dec 18th   
Closing the Ring*    

(GB/Can/Northern Ireland 2006)

In 1991 a widow fails to grieve over husband because of the real man she loved and lost in WWII 50 years before.
As always with Attenborough, the performances are the cornerstone in what is a thoughtful but slightly contrived romantic melodrama, which sadly failed to find an audience in spite of its stars and director.

Written by: Peter Woodward.
Producers: Jo Gilbert, Richard Attenborough.
Director: Richard Attenborough.
Starring: Shirley MacLaine, Mischa Barton, Christopher Plummer, Pete Postlethwaite, Neve Campbell, Stephen Amell, Martin McCann, Gregory Smith, David Alpay, Brenda Fricker.
Photography: Roger Pratt.
Music: Jeff Danna.
Editing Lesley Walker.

Dec 14th  
La Dolce Vita**  
(The Sweet Life)      

(Ita/Fra 1960)

Episodes in the life of a society journalist with his paparazzo photographer, meeting a number of women but unable to commit to any of them.
Rambling Fellini sexual odyssey with some memorable imagery including the statue of Christ floating over Rome, and the statuesque Anita Ekberg wading through the Trevi fountain, both of which are over with by the first hour once the poster has done its job and the audience has already paid their tickets. The rest is boringly self-indulgent at times, but Fellini works his mischievous charm throughout.

Written by: Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, Brunello Rondi, Pier Paolo Pasolini.
Producers: Giuseppe Amato, Angelo Rizzoli.
Director: Federico Fellini.
Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Yvonne Furneaux, Anouk Aimee, Alain Cuny, Nadia Grey, Walter Santesso.
Photography: Otello Martelli.
Music: Nino Rota.

Dec 7th  
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang*  

(GB 1968)

An eccentric single father restores a car with supposed magical properties that enable it to rescue children from a faraway land where they are outlawed.
Lumpy semi-fantasy musical, overblown like many such of the late 60s, with holes you could fly a car through but some occasionally good tunes and a catchy theme song. Probably works better on the stage (as it later became) than on the screen.

Written by: Roald Dahl, Ken Hughes, based on the novel by Ian Fleming.
Producer: Albert R. Broccoli.
Director: Ken Hughes.
Starring: Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes, Lionel Jeffries, James Robertson Justice, Gert Frobe, Benny Hill, Robert Helpmann (as the Child Catcher), Heather Ripley, Adrian Hall, Anna Quayle, Barbara Windsor, Arthur Mullard, Desmond Llewellyn, Victor Maddern.
Photography: Christopher Challis.
Music: Irwin Kostal.
Songs: Robert B. Sherman, Richard M. Sherman.
Production Design: Ken Adam.

Preceded by:
One Man Band**
(GB 1965. Romulus. 11n. bw; A one-man band act replaces his conductor hero and briefly becomes an international success. Quirky mixture of Tatiesque silent comedy with 60s modernity, not always an easy match, from a director better known for animation.; w: Stan Hayward; d: Bob Godfrey; s: Bruce Lacey, Valentine Dyall, Joe McGrath.)

Dec 1st  
A Shot in the Dark**       

(US 1964)                              

Murder and intrigue in a French aristocrat's house. The bumbling Inspector Clouseau investigates, and even more murders result.
Professionally filmed whodunnit, turned by Blake Edwards into a Goonish farce, with some of the running jokes very funny and others rather overstretched, with Sellers settling himself into the role that would become his most famous.

Written by: Blake Edwards, William Peter Blatty, based on plays by Harry Kurnitz and Marcel Achard.
Producer/Director: Blake Edwards.
Starring: Peter Sellers, Elke Sommer, George Sanders, Herbert Lom, Graham Stark, Tracy Reed, Martin Benson, Bert Kwouk, Andre Maranne, Turk Thrust (Bryan Forbes).
Photography: Christopher Challis.
Music: Blake Edwards.
Production Design: Michael Stringer.
Titles: De Patie-Freleng.