Feb 25th   
The Duke** (12A)
(Century Clacton)

(GB 2020)
Warner Bros/Pathe/Ingenious/Screen Yorkshire/Neon Films. 96m.

In 1961 a crusading Newcastle pensioner ransom's Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington to allow pensioners free TV, but is actually covering for his son who has committed the theft.
A true story is given enjoyably nostalgic treatment (although feeling more 1950s in mood than 1960s), glossing over most aspects of the robbery from the National Gallery, but refreshingly light and well paced within the familiar Ealing-style mantra, and with spot-on performances.

Written by: Richard Bean, Clive Coleman.
Producer: Nicky Bentham.
Director: Roger Michell.
Starring: Jim Broadbent, Helen Mirren, Fionn Whitehead, Matthew Goode, Anna Maxwell Martin, Aimee Kelly, James Wilby, Paul Reed.
Photography: Mike Eley.
Music: George Fenton.

+ the portrait also briefly appears in Dr. No, which is briefly alluded to in this film

 Feb 24th
The Vagabond King*
(US 1930)
Paramount. 104m. (originally Technicolor)

A rogue tavern poet leads Parisian peasants to combat the Duke of Burgundy for King Louis XI.
Stilted looking opera by today's standards, but some of the Technicolor flamboyance and the strength of the performances still remain.

Written by: Herman Mankiewicz, based on the operetta of the novel by Justin Huntly McCarthy.
Producer: Adolph Zukor.
Director: Ludwig Berger.
Starring: Dennis King, Jeanette MacDonald, Lillian Roth, O.P. Heggie, Warner Oland.
Photography: Henry W. Gerrard, Ray Rennahan.
Music/Lyrics: Rudolf Frimi, W. Franke Harling, John Leopold, Oscar Potoker.

+ the opening gala film at the Regal (later Odeon) in Colchester in 1930

Preceded by:
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves*
(Fra 1902. Pathe. 9m(tinted). silent; Another interesting early colour experiment, made not by Melies but clearly influenced by him.; p,d: Ferdinand Zecca.)

Feb 22nd

The Beatles: Get Back - The Rooftop Concert** (12A) 
(Curzon Colchester)



(GB/New Zealand/US 2022)
Apple Corps/Wingnut Films. 65m. 

A more entertaining compacted version of the Disney+ series The Beatles: Get Back, focusing less on the group's backstage break-ups and more on their rooftop lunchtime concert on top of Apple's HQ in Savile Row; coveted by Jackson who clearly assembles it from a fan's perspective (with nerdy captions helpfully stating which songs have previously appeared in Let It Be). The concert itself can be viewed now as a nostalgic record of the Fab Four enjoying one last session together, as well as being a fascinating snapshot of a Britain that was still very austere, even during the Swinging Sixties.

p: Clare Olssen, Peter Jackson, Jonathan Clyde, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Oko Lennon, Olivia Harrison
d: Peter Jackson
s: The Beatles, Michael Lindsay Hogg, Billy Preston, Mal Evans, PC Peter Craddock, PC Ray Dagg
ph: Tony Richmond
ed: Jabez Olssen

 Feb 20th   
Tiger in the Smoke*      
(GB 1956)  
Rank 94m. bw

In post war London a young woman sees a man resembling her late husband, that is the work on a secret gang seeking an inheritance of hers. 
Mystery thriller of its time and for its time, routine in resolution after an atmospheric first hour in the Smoke, with an impressive collection of names involved.

Written by: Anthony Pelissier, Margery Allingham, based on her novel.
Producer: Leslie Parkyn.
Director: Roy Ward Baker.
Starring: Donald Sinden, Muriel Pavlow, Tony Wright, Christopher Rhodes, Alec Clunes, Laurence Naismith, Bernard Miles, Charles Victor, Sam Kydd, Thomas Heathcote, Kenneth Griffith, Gerald Harper.
Photography: Geoffrey Unsworth.
Music: Malcolm Arnold.

Feb 11th 
James and the Giant Peach**   

(US/GB 1996)                              
Walt Disney/Allied Filmmakers/Skellington. 78m.

An orphaned boy escapes his cruel aunts courtesy of a magically transformed giant peach which transports him and assorted insect friends to New York.
Engaging children's fantasy mixture of live action, animation and bearable songs, with the transitions from one to another quite reasonably done, and with some wild moments of imagination.

Written by: Karey Kirkpatrick, Jonathan Roberts, Steve Bloom, based on the novel by Roald Dahl.
Producers: Denise di Novi, Tim Burton.
Director: Henry Selick.
Starring: Paul Terry, Joanna Lumley, Miriam Margolyes, Pete Postlethwaite, Mike Starr; also voices of Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, Simon Callow. Jane Leeves, David Thewlis.
Photography: Pete Kozachik, Hiro Narita.
Music: Randy Newman.

Feb 3rd  
The Exterminating Angel**    
(Mexico 1962)                    
93m. bw

Aristocrats at a dinner party abandoned by most of the servants find themselves mysteriously trapped in the house and unable to get out, until they eventually escape to a church where a similar fate awaits them.
Oddly haunting semi-surreal drama by Bunuel, with no identifiable meaning other than the self-oppression of the establishment and the church. An ensemble cast and some vivid moments hold the attention as the situation become increasingly restless and surreal.

Written by: Luis Bunuel, Luis Alcoriza.
Producer: Gustavo Alatriste.
Director: Luis Bunuel.
Starring: Enrique Rabal, Silvia Pinal, Lucy Gallardo, Cesar del Campo, Augusto Benedico, Ofelia Montesco, Xavier Masse, Claudio Brook.
Photography: Gabriel Figueroa.