Aug 27th   
Demon Seed
(US 1977)                                       

A scientist's supercomputer gets too powerful for its own good and abducts and rapes his wife in the hope of creating a synthetic child.
Unpleasant but improbable 70s sci-fi ultimate nightmare scenario of computers taking over human beings, with the dilemma of visualising details easier to convey in novel form, but succeeding pretty well despite short cuts in the plot and poor human characterisation.

Written by: Richard Jaffe, Roger Hirson, based on the novel by Dean R. Koontz.
Producer: Herb Jaffe.
Director: Donald Cammell.
Starring: Julie Christie, Fritz Weaver, Robert Vaughn (voice only), Gerritt Graham, Dana Laurita.
Photography: Bill Butler.
Music: Jerry Fielding.
Production Design: Edward Carfagno.

Aug 19th   
The Hill**       
(GB 1965)                       

In a British army military correction camp in the African desert, the arrival of a disgraced sergeant major causes his fellow rankers to go too far in their punishment.
Brutal prison drama transposed to a British army "glasshouse" setting from a slightly jaundiced perspective, a deliberate and refreshing change for its star and the cliche of the British stiff upper lip. What begins as a powerful character study power struggle descends into over-the-top shouting matches by the end, but proof - if proof were needed - that Sean Connery can act.

Written by: Ray Rigby, from his play.
Producer: Kenneth Hyman.
Director: Sidney Lumet.
Starring: Sean Connery, Ian Hendry, Harry Andrews, Michael Redgrave,  Ian Bannen, Alfred Lynch, Ossie Davis, Roy Kinnear, Jack Watson, Norman Bird, Neil McCarthy.
Photography: Oswald Morris.
Music: none.
Editing: Thelma Connell.

Aug 7th  
Rebel Without a Cause**          
(US 1955)                       

Los Angeles teenagers get themselves into trouble in spite of their relatively wealthy upbringing.
It all seems rather phoney and artificial as melodrama now, but this vividly photographed study of affluent teenage rebelliousness caught the mood of a generation just at the tip of the Rock 'n' Roll era, daring to take the risk of depicting its adults not as disciplinarians but merely ineffective. The death of its star that same year helped to enshrine him in this role.

Written by: Stewart Stern.
Producer: David Weisbart.
Director: Nicholas Ray.
Starring: James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Jim Backus, Ann Doran, Corey Allen, Dennis Hopper, Edward Platt, Ian Wolfe, William Hopper, Rochelle Hudson.
Photography: Ernest Haller.
Music: Leonard Rosenman.