Nov 29th   
The Circus**       

(US 1928)

The Tramp stumbles into a struggling circus and helps the ringmaster's daughter to romance a tightrope walker, at cost to his own prospects.                
Uneven mixture of Chaplin slapstick and sentiment  - the latter powerful but confusing the story - but gagwise he is on some of his best form.

Written, Produced and Directed by: Charles Chaplin.
Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Merna Kennedy, Al Garcia, Harry Crocker, George Davis, Henry Bergman, Tiny Sandford.
Photography: Ernest Totheroh.

Music (1967): Charles Chaplin.

Preceded by:
Why Girls Love Sailors*
(US 1927. 20m. bw. silent; An entertainer gets his fiancee back from a roguish sea captain by posing as a woman and distracting the crew. An oddity from the pre-teaming Laurel and Hardy days, with elements of their later work gradually coming to the fore.; w: H.M. Walker; d: Fred Guiol; s: Stan Laurel, Malcolm Waite, Oliver Hardy, Viola Richard, Anita Garvin.)

THE CIRCUS (1928). The Tramp watches the circus leave town, Chaplin's own sly admission perhaps, that he knew that silents' days were numbered too.

Nov 27th  
A United Kingdom* (12A)      
(Cineworld Haymarket)                                      

(GB/Fra 2016)

In 1947 a London typist falls in love with an African who also happens to be the heir to his kingdom, that causes international tension.
Inspirational true story, that should be more moving than it is, perhaps because the courtship is rather rushed through and the English colonials are often comically villainous, despite the best that performances can do, which are generally quite strong.

Written by: Guy Hibbert, based on the book "Colour" Bar by Susan Williams.
Producers: Rick McCallum, David Oyelowo, Peter Heslop, Brunson Green, Judith Moore-Levy, Charlie Mason.
Director: Amma Asante.
Starring: David Oyelowo, Rosaumund Pike, Jack Davenport, Tom Felton, Laura Carmichael, Terry Pheto, Jessica Oyelowo, Nicholas Lyndhurst.
Photography: Sam McCurdy.
Music: Patrick Doyle.
Production design: Simon Bowles.

Nov 25th  
Le Week-End**               

(GB/Fra 2013)                        

An aging couple travel to Paris to rekindle their flagging marriage, and uncover a whole more home truths in the process.
Maturely scripted, and likewise exemplary in its performances, this twilight romantic comedy with an edge also captures the eternally Bohemian image of autumnal Paris (as well as Don't Look Now captured autumnal Venice), although the story and its setting still inevitably veer towards sentiment.

Written by: Hanif Kureishi.
Producer: Kevin Loader.
Director: Roger Michell.
Starring: Jim Broadbent, Lindsay Duncan, Jeff Goldblum, Judith Davis, Olly Alexander.
Photography: Nathalie Durand.
Music: Jeremy Sams.

Nov 22nd   
The Nightcomers*      

(GB 1972)              

Two children at a remote country house come under the influence of the amoral gardener who is having a sadomasochistic affair with their nanny.
Intriguing but murderously slow going and torrid prequel to Henry James's The Turn of the Screw, where instead of the implied terror of The Innocents, practically everything here is shown in lurid fashion, basically replacing suspense with sex and violence; indulgent enough in itself, were it not also for Brando's complacent performance, as the rest of the cast try to work round him as best they can.

Written by: Michael Hastings.
Producer/Director: Michael Winner.
Starring: Marlon Brando, Stephanie Beacham, Thora Hird, Verna Harvey, Christopher Ellis, Harry Andrews, Anna Palk.
Photography: Robert Paynter.
Music: Jerry Fielding.

Nov 18th - double bill!
The Great White Hope*

(US 1970)                                    

In early 20th century America a black man becomes world boxing champion, and the largely all-white establishment looks to discredit him through his relationship with a white woman and to find the white man who will win "back" the title.
Vivid if deeply troubling portrait of the era, based on the controversial Jack Johnson, here renamed Jefferson to give the story an Othello-style tint of tragedy. Uncomfortable viewing at times (with the sort of negro denigration that would not be allowed on screen nowadays), but also compelling with a central performance of undeniable power.

Written by: Howard Sackler, from his play.
Producer: Lawrence Turman.
Director: Martin Ritt.
Starring: James Earl Jones, Jane Alexander, Lou Gilbert, Chester Morris, R.G. Armstrong, Robert Webber, Hal Holbrook, Beah Richards.
Photography: Burnett Guffey.
Music Supervision: Lionel Newman.

The Ring**

(GB 1927)

A fairground boxer rises to the top, but his wife has fallen for the rival who gave him his big break.
Concluding the boxing double bill in more palatably entertaining fashion with this visually innovative boxing melodrama, with Hitchcock's enthusiasm for the occasion and some characteristic touches compensating for the uneven plot structure.

Written and Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock.
Producer: John Maxwell.
Starring: Ian Hunter, Lillian Hall-Davis, Carl Brisson, Gordon Harker, Forrester Harvey.
Photography: Jack Cox.

Nov 15th  
Sister Act**       

(US 1992)                                

A Las Vegas nightclub singer witnesses a mob murder and takes refuge and spruces up a San Francisco convent choir.
Entertaining if a little predictable comedy of opposites, playing on familiar stereotypes, with some nifty if trashy numbers, and just occasionally a hint of an edge, with performances and direction holding the attention pretty well.

Written by: Joseph Howard (Paul Rudrick, and others including Carrie Fisher, Robert Harling, Nancy Meyers).
Producers: Scott Rudin, Teri Schwartz.
Director: Emile Ardolino.
Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Maggie Smith, Harvey Keitel, Bill Nunn, Kathy Najimy, Mary Wickes, Wendy Makkena, Joseph Maher.
Photography: Adam Greenberg.
Music: Marc Shaiman.
Production Design: Jackson De Govia.

Preceded by:
Crazy Like a Fox**
(US 1926. Pathe. 24m. bw. silent(with music track).; A betrothed feigns madness so that he can get out of an arranged marriage to the girl that he actually loves.; w: H.M. Walker, Charley Chase; d: Leo McCarey; s: Charley Chase, Martha Sleeper, William Mong, William Blaisdell, Oliver Hardy.)

Nov 14th   
Government Girl         

(US 1943)                      

An aircraft manufacturer comes to Washington, and his haphazard secretary helps him to get things sorted out.
Uneasy blend of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and screwball comedy, geared more towards supporting star Miss De Havilland than the more dramatically limited leading man Sonny Tufts, with sub-plots set up and then discarded.

Written by: Dudley Nichols, Budd Schulberg, from a story by Adela Rogers St. John.
Producer/Director: Dudley Nichols.
Starring: Olivia De Havilland, Sonny Tufts, Anne Shirley, James Dunn, Paul Stewart, Agnes Moorehead, Harry Davenport, Una O'Connor.
Photography: Frank Redman.
Music: Leigh Harline.

GOVERNMENT GIRL. A bit of whimsical scheduling by the BBC, putting out an early Saturday morning political romantic comedy, in the hope of emulating newly elected Government girl Hilary Clinton. If only.

Nov 6th  
The Freshman***     

(US 1925)                          

A naive new student tries to come good in the college football team.
One of its star's very best vehicles, with his own stronger production values and extra depth of characterisation, and lots of funny moments.

Written by: John Grey, Sam Taylor, Tim Whelan, Ted Wilde.
Producer: Harold Lloyd.
Directors: Fred C. Newmayer, Sam Taylor.
Starring: Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, Brooks Benedict, Hazel Keener, James Anderson, Pat Harmon, Joseph Harrington.
Photography: Walter Lundin.

Music: Robert Israel.

+ opening caption: "Do you remember those boyhood days when going to College was greater than going to Congress - and you'd rather be Right Tackle than President?

Harold Lloyd under a pile of fellow players, yet still manages to keep his glasses on.

Nov 4th     
The Cat's Meow*   

(Ger/GB/US 2001)                        

A speculative version of the events one birthday weekend for Thomas Ince in 1924, when he mysteriously died after spending some time on the yacht of William Randolph Hearst, who suspects Marion Davies of having an affair with Charlie Chaplin.
Well set in the period, as might be expected of Bogdanovich (except ironically, the film making scenes), and interestingly if routinely moving along, with Dunst and Herrmann coming across the most sympathetically, and Eddie Izzard doing a fair emulation of Robert Downey Jnr.

Written by: Steven Peros, from his play.
Producers: Kim Bieber, Carol Lewis, Dieter Meyer, Julie Baines.
Director: Peter Bogdanovich.
Starring: Kirsten Dunst (Davies), Edward Herrmann (Hearst), Eddie Izzard (Chaplin), Cary Elwes (Thomas Ince), Joanna Lumley, Jennifer Tilly (Louella Parsons), Claudia Harrison, Victor Slezak.
Photography: Bruno Delbonnel.
Music: Ian Whitcomb, plus various 20s tunes.

Nov 2nd   
Doctor Strange**(12A)  
(Vue Thurrock)                      

(US 2016)

A neurosurgeon's hands are disfigured in a car crash, so he turns to the mystic arts to recover and to combat a breakaway fellow warrior.
Special effects and exposition-heavy but enjoyable addition to the Marvel cycle, from one of their strangest (pun intended) comic book series, carefully repackaged to be digestible for modern audiences, with a classy cast.

Written by: Scott Derrickson, C. Robert Cargill, based on the comics by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko.
Producers: Kevin Feige, David J. Grant.
Director: Scott Derrickson.
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Mads Mikkelsen, Benedict Wong, Benjamin Bratt, Chris Hemsworth.
Photography: Ben Davis.
Music: Michael Giacchino.
Special Effects: Sophie Corbould, and others.
Editing: Wyatt Smith, Sabrina Plisco.