Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Mar 28th    
Flesh and the Devil**   

(US 1926)    

A dashing aristocratic soldier falls in love with an enigmatic Countess who threatens to tear his life apart.
Rank romantic melodrama from Metro, superlatively mounted with visual imagination despite its decades old plot (even then) and some clunky intertitles. It cemented the enigmatic beauty and mystery of Garbo onto the world stage, and most notably began her on and off screen love affair with John Gilbert.

Written by: Benjamin Glazer, from the novel "The Undying Past" by Hermann Sudermann.
Producer: Irving Thalberg.
Director: Clarence Brown.
Starring: John Gilbert, Greta Garbo, Lars Hanson, Barbara Kent, George Fawcett, Eugenie Besserer, Marc McDermott.
Photography: William Daniels.

Music Composer/Conductor: Carl Davis.

FLESH AND THE DEVIL. If ever there was a potent sight of an on-screen love affair, then it was between Greta Garbo and John Gilbert.



Monday, March 20, 2017

Mar 19th  
Murder She Said**

(GB 1961)

Miss Marple witnesses a murder on a parallel moving train and goes undercover as a maid in a nearby country house to find the culprit.
The first in a series of entertaining and successful comedy whodunits in the days before Agatha Christie thrillers became so revered as they are now; a vehicle for its eccentric star's more formidable personality traits, leaving some of the plot and the other characters falling short.

Written by: David Pursall, Jack Seddon, David Osborn, based on the novel "4.50 from Paddington" by Agatha Christie.
Producer: George H. Brown.
Director: George Pollock.
Starring: Margaret Rutherford, James Robertson Justice, Muriel Pavlow, Charles Tingwell, Arthur Kennedy, Ronnie Raymond, Thorley Walters, Joan Hickson, Richard Briers.
Photography: Geoffrey Faithfull.
Music: Ron Goodwin.

+ sequels: Murder at the Gallop (1963), Murder Most Foul (1964), Murder Ahoy (1964)

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Mar 14th   
Green Card**                             

(US/Aus/Fra 1990)

A horticulturalist enters into a marriage of convenience with a French immigrant,and they get to know each other when they have to convince the authorities that the marriage is bona fide.
Slacker than some of Weir's other work, with supporting characters that veer towards comic caricature, but a pleasant English language vehicle for Depardieu, set in sentimental scenic New York.

Written, Produced and Directed by: Peter Weir.
Starring: Gerard Depardieu, Andie MacDowell, Bebe Neuwirth, Gregg Edelman, Lois Smith, Robert Prosky.
Photography: Geoffrey Simpson.
Music: Hans Zimmer.

Preceded by:
Tom and Jerry in
Trap Happy**
(US 1946. 7m.; w William Hanna, Joseph Barbera; p: Fred Quimby.)

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Mar 11th  
Goodnight and Good Luck**    
(US 2005)                        

Edward R.Murrow takes on the oppression of Senator Joseph McCarthy at the risk to himself and the CBS Network.
Compelling and nice to look at journalistic crusade (particularly when watching now in the age of Trump), which also captures a vintage era of television with an added warning about its commercial trappings.

Written by: George Clooney, Grant Heslov.
Producer: Grant Heslov.
Director: George Clooney.
Starring: David Strathairn, George Clooney, Robert Downey Jnr, Patricia Clarkson, Jeff Daniels, Frank Langella, Ray Wise, Tate Donovan.
Photography: Robert Elswit.
Music: Jim Papoulis.


GOODNIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK. How America needs an Edward R. Murrow figure today.

Thursday, March 09, 2017

Mar 7th  
Taste the Blood of Dracula      

(GB 1969)        

Three hypocritical Victorian gentlemen are invited to invoke the spirit of Count Dracula, who comes for them when they kill his servant.
Visually diverting and distinguished but also hammy Hammer, in the manner of the penny dreadfuls, with a good cast but the star becoming disillusioned at the role now being exploited solely for commercial reasons, and flimsily at that.

Written by: John Elder (Anthony Hinds).
Producer: Aida Young.
Director: Peter Sasdy.
Starring: Christopher Lee, Geoffrey Keen, John Carson, Ralph Bates, Peter Sallis, Linda Hayden, Anthony Corlan, Gwen Watford, Isla Blair, Martin Jarvis, Roy Kinnear.
Photography: Arthur Grant.
Music: James Bernard.
Art Direction: Scott MacGregor.            

Preceded by:
Surprise*
(GB TVM 2016. 12m.; A retiring schoolteacher is bullied by her reclusive husband.; w: Rich Chilver; d: Simon J. Fritton, Tom Edwards; s: Paul T. Davies, Jenny Burke; for Deadline Communications/Essex County Council.)



Monday, March 06, 2017

Mar 2nd   
La La Land** (12A)    
(Everyman Chelmsford)

(US 2016)

A struggling actress and jazz musician fall in love but destiny doesn't quite go the way they hoped.
Pleasantly sentimental semi-musical set in present day LA and capturing some of the area's more endearing side, with one foot in the old and one in the new. Whilst maybe not the masterpiece it was being unwisely touted as, nonetheless a crying whisper for the return of the old fashioned musical.

Written and Directed by: Damien Chazelle.
Producers: Fred Berger. Jordan Horowitz, Gary Gilbert, Marc Platt.
Starring: Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, John Legend, Rosemarie DeWitt, Finn Wittrock, Tom Everett Scott, J.K. Simmons.
Photography: Linus Sandgren.
Music: Justin Hurwitz.