Oct 31st   
The Return of Doctor X 
(US 1939)                                                       
Warner Bros. 62m. bw

A resurrected doctor hunts for victims in his blood group to keep himself alive.
Uneven Warners quickie, better in production values than might be expected, but content-wise an uncertain mixture of crime drama, romantic comedy and horror. Bogart is not so horrendous as the crook-cum-vampire as might be expected, but he would probably have been wiser to defer to Peter Lorre.

Written by: Lee Katz, based on the story "The Doctor's Secret" by William J. Makin.
Producers: Hal B. Wallis, Bryan Foy.
Director: Vincent Sherman.
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Wayne Morris, Dennis Morgan, John Litel, Rosemary Lane, Lya Lys.
Photography: Sid Hickox.
Music: Bernhard Kaun.

THE RETURN OF DOCTOR X. Humphrey Bogart as a vampire!? You'd better believe it.

Oct 29th
The Ghost and Mrs Muir**
(US 1947)         

Twentieth Century Fox. 104m. bw

A widowed young mother retreats with her daughter to a south coast cottage haunted by a sea captain who wants it put into the right hands.
Superficially plotted but glossily well made supernatural romance, with actors not ideal for their roles but investing all their best attributes into it, and they spark off each other very well.

Written by: Philip Dunne, from the novel by R.A. Dick (Josephine Leslie).
Producer: Fred Kohlmar.
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
Starring: Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison, George Sanders, Edna Best, Natalie Wood, Robert Coote, Vanessa Brown.
Photography: Charles Lang.
Music: Bernard Herrmann.

Preceded by:
Tom and Jerry in
The Cat and the Mermouse***
(US 1949. 7m.; d: William Hanna, Joseph Barbera; p: Fred Quimby.)

Oct 27th 
Silence**  
(US/Taiwan/Mexico/GB/Ita/Jap 2016)                   
Stidio Canal UK/Ai Film/Sharp Sword Films/Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films/Catch Play/IM Global. 161m. ws

In 17th century Japan two Jesuit priests travel to rescue their colleague and mentor in a land where Christianity is forbidden.
Punishing but powerful Scorsese drama about suppressed faith, strongly reminiscent of his earlier work but made more as a slow solemnity than anything too vibrant cinematically, although beautiful to look at, with performances and characterisation that fight the good fight to the end.

Written by: Jay Cocks, Martin Scorsese, from the novel by Shusaku Endo.
Producers: Barbara De Fina, Martin Scorsse, Irwin Winkler, Randall Emmett, Vittorio Cecchi Gori, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Gaston Pavlovich.
Director: Martin Scorsese.
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson, Yosuke Kubosuka, Ciaran Hinds, Tadanobu Asaro, Issey Ogata, Shinya Tsukamoto, Bela Baptiste.
Photography: Rodrigo Prieto.
Music: Kim Allen Kluge, Kathryn Kluge.
Production Design: Dante Ferretti.

+ closing message: "For the Japanese Christians and their pastors: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam [For the greater glory of God]."

Oct 24th
Official Secrets** (15)     
(Curzon Colchester)           

(GB/US 2018)
EOne/Screen Yorkshire/GS Media/Chessfield/Clear Pictures. 112m. ws

In 2003 a GCHQ worker realises the Americans and British are bullying UN nations into approving the Iraq War, and risks her own life when the story breaks to the Press.
Accessibly told present-day thriller about still relevant issues, in the manner of Defence of the Realm and All the President's Men. The star is as usual more attractive than her real-life counterpart, but looks suitably concerned and paranoid as the interweaving drama develops.

Written by: Gregory Bernstein, Sara Bernstein, Gavin Hood, based on the book "The Spy Who Tried to Stop a War".
Producers: Ged Doherty, Elizabeth Fowler, Melissa Shiyu Zuo.
Director: Gavin Hood.
Starring: Keira Knightley, Matt Smith, Ralph Fiennes, Adam Bakri, Matthew Goode, Rhys Ifans, Jeremy Northam,. Kenneth Cranham.
Photography: Florian Hoffmeister.
Music: Paul Hepker, Mark Kilian.

Oct 12th   
Nosferatu**    
(Elgar Room, Royal Albert Hall)

(Ger 1922)
Prana Films. 94m. bw. silent

A sinister vampire count arrives in a German port and spreads the plague.
Murnau's famous first film version of Dracula - cheekily changing the names of the characters, and was sued successfully by Bram Stoker's widow; most copies were therefore destroyed, except for some (including this 2006 restoration), what remains is a a stilted but highly entertaining fantasy melodrama. which admittedly shows its eccentricity with some of the added scenes (the vampire lugubriously walks along carrying his own coffin to his house and then dissolves into it!) Memorable for certain indelible images, not least its star's memorable make-up.

Written by: Henrik Galeen, based on the novel by Bram Stoker.
Producers: Enriko Dieckman, Albin Grau.
Director: F.W. Murnau.
Starring: Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schroder, Alexander Granach, Ruth Landshoff, John Gottowt.
Photography: Fritz Arno Wagner, Gunther Krampf.

Music: Dmytro Morykit (played from memory on piano.)

Oct 5th  
I Confess**   
(US 1953)                         
Warner Bros. 94m. bw

A priest hears a murderer's confession but cannot break the seal, even though he himself is chief suspect.
Somehow not always convincing (with a slightly unnecessary flashback sequence), but typically well filmed Hitchcock thriller, making good use of locations in Quebec.

Written by: George Tabori, William Archibald, from the play "Our Two Consciences" by Paul Anthelme.
Producer/Director: Alfred Hitchcock.
Starring: Montgomery Clift, Anne Baxter, Karl Malden, Brian Aherne, O.E. Hasse, Dolly Haas, Roger Dann.
Photography: Robert Burks.
Music: Dmitri Tiomkin.

Oct 3rd 
(Odeon Colchester)   
Apollo 11** (U)
(US 2019)
Universal/Dogwoof/Neon/CNN/Statement Pictures. 93m.

Remarkable, almost totally authentic compilation of NASA documentary footage from their first successful Moon landing, which also invaluably captures the important technical side of the mission, and only occasionally grates with its Americanism and sometimes distracting background music.

Producers: Todd Douglas Miller, Thomas Petersen, Evan Krauss.
Director: Todd Douglas Miller.
Archive Producer: Stephen Slater.
Photography: various.
Music: Matt Morton.

APOLLO 11. One year after 2018's First Man about Neil Arsmtrong, for the 50th anniversary NASA goes one better and features the real thing.