Jul 30th   
Jason and the Argonauts***   
(GB 1963)                                 
Columbia. 104m.

To avenge the murder of his family, Jason journeys to find the Golden Fleece with the help and hindrance of the Gods.
Probably the best of the Harryhausen mythical adventures, allowing the story to tell itself at a decent pace with brilliant and sometimes naive moments of imagination akin to The Thief of Bagdad.

Written by: Jan Read, Beverly Cross.
Producer: Charles H. Schneer.
Director: Don Chaffey.
Starring: Todd Armstrong, Honor Blackman (as Hera), Niall MacGinnis (as Zeus),  Nancy Kovack, Douglas Wilmer, GaryRaymond, Nigel Green (as Hercules), John Cairney, Laurence Naismith, Andrew Faulds, Jack Gwillum, Patrick Troughton.
Photography: Wilkie Cooper.
Music: Bernard Herrmann.
Special Effects: Ray Harryhausen.
Production Design: Geoffrey Drake.

JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS. Hercules (Nigel Green) looks on as the giant statue of Talos kneels erect, with the sort of head that you know is going to turn round. When that moment comes, it is still unnerving.

Jul 14th  
Female Agents*      
(Les Femmes de l'Ombre)
(Fra 2007)                         
TF1 Films/Renon Groupes/La Chauvre-Souris. 112m. Panavision

In 1944 a mostly female SEO commando team are parachuted into Normandy to prevent the Nazis discovering about D-Day and the artificial harbours.
Passable female variation on The Dirty Dozen, in more downbeat and slightly violent style, mainly fictionalising the adventures of the Resistance fighters although retaining its own verisimilitude.

Written by: Lauren Vachaud, Jean-Paul Salome.
Producer: Eric Neve.
Director: Jean-Paul Saleome.
Starring: Sophie Marceau, Julie Depardieu, Marie Gillain, Deborah Francois, Moritz Bleibtrau, Julien Boisselier, Maya Sanda.
Photography: Pascal Ridao.
Music: Bruno Coulais.

 

Preceded by:
Look at Life: Channel Tunnel*
(GB 1960. Rank. 10m.; Insight into some of engineering excavation underground - that developed for another 34 years before the Chunnel was finally opened.)

Jul 3rd
Tremors**
(US 1989)                 
Universal/No Frills/Pacific Western. 96m.

The remote Nevada town of Perfection is terrorised by deadly underground  worms.
Comedic monster movie patterned slightly after Jaws, quite wittily done in between the mayhem, despite some bumps in the script and characterisation.

Written by: Brent Maddock. S.S. Wilson, Ron Underwood.
Producers: Brent Maddock, S.S. Wilson.
Director: Ron Underwood.
Starring: Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross, Reba McEntire, Victor Wong, Bobby Jacoby, Ariana Richards.
Photography: AlexanderGruszynski.
Music: Ernest Troost (and Robert Folk).

Preceded by:
Isn't Life Terrible?*
(US 1925. Pathe/Hal Roach. 25m. bw. silent; Enjoyably batty Charley Chase vehicle, of interest historically for its cast and crew.; d: Leo McCarey; s: Charley Chase, Katherine Grant, Oliver Hardy, Leo Willis, Fay Wray.)