Sep 22nd (Vue Romford) 
The Little Stranger**   (12A)                     
(GB/Ire/Fra 2018)

In the 1940s a young doctor returns to the local manor that he once admired as a boy, which may be haunted by the angry ghost of a little girl.
Beautifully enigmatic ghost story in the manner of The Innocents, which suggests but never tells, with some occasional major frissons of fright. A clearer explanation at the end would have made it more satisfying, but would also have lost the mystery.

Written by: Lucinda Coxon, from the novel by Sarah Waters.
Producers: Gail Egan, Andrea Calderwood, Ed Guiney.
Director: Lenny Abrahamson.
Starring: Domnhall Gleeson, Ruth Wilson, Charlotte Rampling, Will Poulter, Liv Hill.
Photography: Ole Bratt Birkeland.
Music: Stephen Rennick.

Sep 20th   
Three Days of the Condor**      
(US 1975)         

A CIA clerical worker finds his unit wiped out by a rogue element, and faces a run for his life as they try to finish the job.
Slick if almost incomprehensible paranoia thriller, entertaining and tense in development, with good everyday use of New York locations, although as drama not quite matching up to the level of the starkly filmed opening massacre in the bookhouse.

Written by: Lorenzo Semple Jnr, David Rayfiel, from the novel "Six Days of the Condor" by James Grady.
Producer: Stanley Schneider.
Director: Sydney Pollack
Starring: Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson, Max Von Sydow, John Houseman, Addison Powell, Walter McGinn, Tina Chen.
Photography: Owen Roizman.
Music: Dave Grusin.

THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR. Back in 1975, this slick paranoia thriller covered the World Trade Centre, suspected conspiracies and a Maguffin involving waging war with the Middle East, which today seems a little eerie.

Sep 14th  
Biggles*   

(GB 1985)                             

A New York food executive finds himself being thrown back and forth in time to WWI wher daring pilot James Bigglesworth is combating a deadly German secret weapon.
Curious concept for a fantasy based on the famous hero of story book adventure, smacking of fashion (in the 80s Back to the Future time travel craze), and not even allowing its title character that much screen time.

Written by: John Graves, Kent Walwin, based on characters created by W.E. Johns.
Producers: Kent Walwin, Pam Oliver.
Director: John Hough.
Starring: Neil Dickson, Alex Hyde-White, Peter Cushing, Fiona Hutchison, William Hootkins, Marcus Gilbert, Michel Siberry, Francesca Gonshaw.
Photography: Ernest Vineze.
Music: Stanislas Syrewicz.
Production design: Terry Pritchard.

Sep 13th
(Ipswich Film Theatre)
The Nun* (12A)
aka: La Religieuse; Suzanne Simonin la Religieuse de Denis Diderot

(Ita/Fra 1966 - released 1967)

In the 18th century an illegitimate girl is forced to become a nun at convent where she tries and fails to fit in - but the alternatives are even worse.
Causing a stir and an initial ban on its general release, this frankly told tale of institutional oppression steers just the right side of voyeurism (barring an occasionally jarring soundtrack), detailing the horrors of two contrasting convents. A 2-hour wallow in oppressive (but not always unsympathetic) nun's life, with a courageous central performance holding things together. Not to be confused with this year's horror prequel to The Conjuring 2.

Written by: Jean Grualt, Jacques Rivette, based on the novel by Denis Diderot.
Producer: Georges de Beauregard.
Director: Jacques Rivette.
Starring: Anna Karina, Micheline Presle, Liselotte Pulver, Christiane Lenier, Jean Martin, Francisco Rabal.
Photography: Alain Levent.
Music: Jean-Claude Eloy.

Sep 12th  
Idiot's Delight*  
(US 1939) 

Returning home from the First World War, a down-on-his-luck entertainer meets up with a girl whom he later unexpectedly meets again on the Europan frontier before the start of the next war.
Oddball star vehicle made in semi-pacifist pre-war America, that hasn't aged well with its pompous eulogising that gets in the way of the romantic comedy, but has pleasures including Gable - not incapably - singing and dancing. 

Written by: Robert E. Sherwood, from his play.
Producer: Hunt Stromberg.
Director: Clarence Brown.
Starring: Clark Gable, Norma Shearer, Edward Arnold, Charles Coburn, Joseph Shildkraut, Burgess Meredith, Les Blondes, Skeets Gallagher, Fritz Feld.
Photography: William Daniels.
Music: Herbert Stothard.

Sep 4th   
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society** (12A) 
(Odeon Colchester)
 
(GB/US/Fra 2018)   

In 1946 a beautiful writer researches in Guernsey on the adventures of the islanders with still fresh memories of occupation by the Germans in WWII.
Slushy historical romance, rather obviously making its plot points, with occasional darker moments of interest when revealing the aspect of German occupation and its secrets, with generally excellent performances.

Written by: Kevin Hood, Don Roos, Tom Bezurka, from the novel by Mary Ann Shafter, Annie Barrows.
Producers: Paula Mazur, Mitchell Kaplan, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin.
Director: Mike Newell.
Starring: Lily James, Matthew Goode, Michiel Huisman, Tom Courtenay, Penelope Wilton, Jessica Brown Findlay, Glen Powell, Bronagh Gallagher, Nicolo Pasetti, Clive Merrison.
Photography: Zac Nicholson.
Music: Alexandra Harwood.