Sep 27th  
J'Accuse***

(Fra 1919)

Two rivals in love for the same woman go to fight in the trenches; when she is raped by the enemy, her brutish husband dies in action and her lover goes mad, and witnesses the dead soldiers rising from their graves to see if their sacrifice has been worth it.
Gance's great anti-war polemic, not as dated and more deeply felt than Civilization, with events that France was still recovering physically and emotionally from (including brief footage from the actual battlefields.)

Written and Directed by: Abel Gance.
Producer: Charles Pathe.
Starring: Romuald Joube, Maryse Dauvray, Severin-Mars, Maxime Desjardins, Mancini, Angele Guys.
Photography: Marc Bujard, Leonce-Henri Burel, Maurice Foster.

Sep 26th  
20,000 Days on Earth

(GB 2014)    

A semi-fantasia on a day in the life of cult musician and songwriter Nick Cave.
Self-indulgent pop promo with an interesting first half hour with a psychiatrist's sessions that are the nearest to an outside voice. The rest is safe and sometimes insightful territory for fans of Cave's music.

Written by: Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard, Nick Cave.
Producers: James Wilson, Dan Bowen.
Directors: Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard.
Starring: Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Kylie Minogue, Ray Winstone, and others.
Photography: Erik Wilson.
Music: Nick Cave, Warren Ellis.

Laurel and Hardy evening

Sep 24th  
(Manifest Theatre)

Another fun evening of classic and near-classic LandH shorts from the Men O'War Tent.


Liberty**

Hog Wild***

Busy Bodies**
(US 1933. 20m. bw; Stan and Ollie work in a sawmill, and cause veritable mayhem.; w: Stan Laurel (among others uncredited); d: Lloyd French; s: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charlie Hall, Tiny Sandford.)

The Midnight Patrol*
(US 1933. 20m. bw; Two incompetent policemen inadvertently kidnap the police chief from his own house.; d: Lloyd French; s: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Frank Brownlee, Frank Terry, Charlie Hall.)

The Chimp** 
(US 1932. 30m. bw; Two circus performers are saddled with a mischievous gorilla to take care of when the show closes down.; w: H.M. Walker; d: James Parrott; s: Stan laurel, Oliver Hardy, Billy Gilbert, James Finlayson, Tiny Sandford, Charles Gamora (in the monkey suit).)

Sep 20th      
Heat**          

(US 1995)        

A professional bank robber leads one daring last raid from a Los Angeles bank under the watch of the hardened detective following him.
Mean, moody and slick cops and robbers game of cat-and-mouse, the sort of drama now (sadly) more comfortable on television than in the cinema, with all the cliches, violent action and foul language firmly in place, and plenty of good dramatic moments among a starry supporting cast, with two leading men who easily slip in to characteristic material.

Written and Directed by: Michael Mann.
Producers: Michael Mann, Art Linson.
Starring: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Diane Venora, Tom Sizemore, Amy Brennerman, Ashley Judd, Dennis Haysbert, Wes Studi, Mykelti Williamson, Natalie Portman, Tom Noonan.
Photography: Dante Spinotti.
Music: Elliot Goldenthal.

HEAT. An epic Warner Brothers 3-hour contextualizing of the sort of gangster picture that used to take half the length, but no less rewarding here, with two of the meanest looking actors of the modern era: instead of Cagney and Bogart, we have Pacino and De Niro.

Sep 15th  
Captain Clegg**  

(GB 1962)        

An infamous smuggler is hiding incognito as a village parson on the Romney Marshes under cover of ghostly horse riders.
Hammer hokum, more dagger than cloak but entertaining for all that, with cast and crew working well withing their means in typically well crafted Hammer fashion.

Written by: John Elder (Anthony Hines), Barbara S. Harper, based on "Dr. Syn" by Russell Thorndike.
Producer: John Temple-Smith.
Director: Peter Graham Scott.                      
Starring: Peter Cushing, Patrick Allen, Yvonne Romain, Oliver Reed, Martin Benson, Michael Ripper, Derek Francis, David Lodge, Milton Reid, Jack MacGowran, Daphne Anderson.
Photography: Arthur Grant.
Music: Don Banks.
Special Effects: Les Bowie.

CAPRAIN CLEGG (aka. Night Creatures . The Marsh Phantoms!  Somewhat of a cheat cinematically, but entertaining to look at. 

Sep 12th   
The Wipers Times*     

(GB TVM 2013)                                    

Two officers discover a printing press on the Western Front and use it to write a semi-satirical magazine to keep the soldiers' spirits up in the latter stages of WWI.
Wordy true story, a kindred spirit for the creators of Private Eye, on a strained budget with a lack of action or clear drama, but with nice moments and echoes of Journey's End in its wartime camaraderie.

Written by: Ian Hislop, Nick Newman.
Producer: David Parfitt.
Director: Andy De Emmony.
Starring: Ben Chaplin, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Michael Palin, Ben Daniels, Steve Oram, Hugh Skinner, Emilia Fox.
Photography: Mark Garrett.
Music: Nick Green.
Production Design: Ashleigh Jeffers.

Preceded by:
The Bond*
(US 1918. 10m. bw. silent; Propaganda comedy fund raiser by Chaplin, a series of sketches not without subtle moments, despite the obvious but historic image of him clubbing the Kaiser with a Liberty Bonds mallet.; w, d: Charles Chaplin; s: Charlie Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Albert Austin, Syd Chaplin.)

THE BOND (1918). Charlie puts the kibosch on the Kaiser.

Sep 10th  
Hitchcock*

(US 2012)                            

Alfred Hitchcock proceeds to make his most successful suspense film, in spite of its subject matter and his own sexual jealousies with his devoted wife Alma.
Selective history of the making of Psycho which plays on long established Hitch stereotypes with some notable figures (such as Bernard Herrmann or Hitchcock's daughter) marginalised or completely missing from the film, but with some enjoyable speculative fantasy sequences (much of it Hitchcock pastiche), and stars who variably resemble their famous (or almost as famous) counterparts.

Written by: John J. McLoughlin, based on the book "Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho" by Stephen Rebello.
Producers: Ivan Reitman, Tom Pollock, Joe Medjuck, Tom Thayer, Alan Barnette.
Director: Sacha Gervasi.
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Toni Collette, Danny Huston, Scarlett Johansson (as Janet Leigh), Jessica Biel, James D'Arcy (as Anthony Perkins), Michael Stuhlbarg, Michael Wincott (as Ed Gein), Kurtwood Smith, Ralph Macchio.
Photography: Jeff Cronenweth.
Music: Danny Elfman.
Editing: Pamela Martin.

+ see also The Girl

Sep 5th
Barefoot in the Park**      

(US 1967)                                              

Manhattan newlyweds have a chaotic time trying to settle in to their shambling new apartment.
Engaging romantic comedy based on Simon's own early marriage, with sexy leads who lack the necessary comic timing, with average production, but there are plenty of pleasures elsewhere.

Written by: Neil Simon, from his play.
Producer: Hal B. Wallis.
Director: Gene Saks.
Starring: Robert Redford, Jane Fonda, Mildred Natwick, Charles Boyer, Herb Edelman, Mabel Albertson, Fritz Feld, James Stone.
Photography: Joseph La Shelle.
Music: Neil Hefti.

Preceded by:
Max Wants a Divorce*
(US 1917. Mutual. 22m. bw. silent; A newlywed tries to arrange a divorce for the sake of an inheritance.; w, d: Max Linder; s: Max Linder, Martha Mansfield, Helen Ferguson.)