Aug 27th  
The Fly*  
(US 1958)                      
Twentieth Century Fox. 95m. Cinemascope

A physicist devises a means of matter transmission, but tests it on himself and becomes mutated with a fly also in the transmitter.
Unintentionally risible horror, but a big success at the time for its occasional shocks and unsettling moments, which are a long time coming. The 1986 remake by David Cronenberg put this version in the shade, but the original is at least more palatable as entertainment.

Written by: James Clavell, from a story by George Langelaan.
Producer/Director: Kurt Neumann.
Starring: Patricia Owens, Al (later David) Hedison, Vincent Price, Herbert Marshall, Kathleen Freeman, Betty Lou Gerson, Charles Herbert.
Photography: Karl Struss.
Music: Paul Sawtell.
Make-up: Ben Nye.

Aug 25th   
Steaming**    
(GB 1984 - released 1985)
Columbia/World Film Services. 95m.

Patrons at a ladies' Turkish bath come together to try and fight its closure.
Chatty one-set piece, slightly of its time, carefully adapted from stage onto film, and a dignified, thoughtful last item in the careers of Joseph Losey and Diana Dors.

Written by: Patricia Losey, from the play by Nell Dunn.
Producer: Paul Mills.
Director: Joseph Losey.
Starring: Diana Dors, Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, Patti Love, Brenda Bruce, Felicity Dean.
Photography: Christopher Challis.
Music: Richard Harvey.

Aug 23rd     
Waking Life*   
(US 2001)   
Fox Searchlight/Thousand Worlds. 101m.

A young man wanders aimlessly whilst various people spout philosophies about the dream-like state that he is in.
One of its director's most experimental and indulgent of films, a plotless all-animated slacker drama (via Rotoscope), visually dizzying with occasional welcome cameos that are all too brief - but that's probably the point. As dreams go this one is also slightly boring.

Written and Directed by: Richard Linklater.
Producers: Tommy Pallotta, Jonah Smith, Anne Walker-McBay, Palmer West.
Starring: Wiley Wiggins, Bill Wise, Robert C. Solomon, Kim Krizan, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, John Christensen, Caveh Zahedi, Steven Soderbergh, Richard Linklater.
Animation: Various.
Music: Glover Gill.
Editing: Sandra Adair.

 Aug 19th 
The Courier** (12A)     
original title: Ironbark
(Curzon Colchester)

(GB/US 2020)
Lionsgate/FilmNation/42. 111m. ws

In 1960 British industrialist Greville Wynne is persuaded to help transport vital intelligence from a senior Soviet who is worried about the possible escalation into nuclear war.
Reasonably gripping and entertaining thriller, with history occasionally dropping into the narrative, and the female characters don't quite ring true, but a welcome variation from the mechanical coldness associated with the likes of John Le Carre. 

Written by: Tom O'Connor.
Producers: Adam Ackland, Ben Browning, Ben Pugh, Rory Aitken.
Director: Dominic Cooke.
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Merab Ninidze, Jessie Buckley, Rachel Brosnahan, Angus Wright, Anton Lesser.
Photography: Sean Bobbitt.
Music: Abel Korzeniowski.
Editing: Gareth C. Scales

Aug 16th  
Upstairs and Downstairs*
(GB 1959)      
Rank. 101m.

Newlyweds are beset by a series of unsuitable maids and servants at their new home.
Gently farcical comedy which slackens in its later stages, the bland leads mainly a springboard for some sprightly supporting cameos, some of whom are underused.

Written by: Frank Harvey, from the novel by Ronald Scott Thorn.
Producer: Betty E. Box.
Director: Ralph Thomas.
Starring: Michael Craig, Anne Heywood, James Robertson Justice. Sidney James. Claudia Cardinale, Mylene Demongeot, Joan Hickson, Joan Sims, Joseph Tomelty, Daniel Massey.
Photography: Ernest Steward.
Music: Philip Green.

 Aug 10th       
The Bling Ring*      
(US/Fra/Ger/GB/Japan 2013)

Vacuous Los Angeles teenagers secretly break into the homes of their equally vacuous celebrity peers to order to share some of their lifestyle - a true story given sympathetic and only occasional objective treatment by this young director, very much in her mould from other bored rich girl point-of-view accounts.

Written and Directed by: Sofia Coppla, from an article by Nancy Jo Sales.
Producers: Roman Coppola, Sofia Coppola, Youree Henley.
Starring: Emma Watson, Katie Chang, Israel Broussard, Taissa Farmiga, Claire Julien, Carlos Miranda.
Photography: Harris Savides, Christopher Blauwelt.
Music: Brian Reitzell, Daniel Lopatin.
Editing: Sarah Flack.

Preceded by:
They Also Serve**
(GB 1940. Ministry of Information. 10m.; Simple and quite moving propaganda accountof a typical British housewife - released after its director's death on active service.; d: Ruby Grierson; s: Hal Gordon.)