Dec 31st   
Night Train to Paris    
(GB 1964)
Twentieth Century Fox. 65m. bw

A travel agent with combat experience becomes embroiled in a spy plot to transport an important tape across the Channel on New Year's Eve.
Mundane but efficient Bond/Hitchcock take-off comedy thriller which dates itself badly, but of historical interest for its star in a 'straight' role, and for its extensive use of the Dover Night Ferry.

w: Henry Cross
p: Robert L. Lippert, Jack Parsons
d: Robert Douglas
s: Leslie Nielsen, Aliza Gur, Eric Pohlmann, Cyril Raymond, Dorinda Stevens, Hugh Latimer, Andre Maranne
ph: Arthur Lavis
m: Kenny Graham

+ see also Night Ferry(qv)

NIGHT TRAIN TO PARIS. Leslie Nielsen in his days before his goofiness came to the fore. Aliza Gur provides the decoration for this 1960s thriller of its time

Dec 29th  
Philomena**   
(GB 2013)    
Pathe/BBC/BFI. 98m.

In 2003 journalist Martin Sixsmith assists an elderly Catholic mother whose illegitimate son was taken from her at a convent laundry, and searches for his later whereabouts in America.
Consistently interesting based-on-fact drama with only an unnecessary melodramatic final reel, but otherwise moving and engaging for its mother and surrogate son relationship between two contrasting and complimentary actors.

Written by: Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope, based on "The Lost Child of Philomena Lee" by Martin Sixsmith.
Producers: Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan, Tracey Seaward.
Director: Stephen Frears.
Starring: Judi Dench, Steve Coogan, Anna Maxwell Martin, Michelle Fairley, Sophie Kennedy Clark (as young Philomena), Barbara Jefford, Sean Mahon, Peter Hermann, Mare Winningham.
Photography: Robbie Ryan.
Music: Alexandre Desplat.
Editing: Valerio Bonelli.

Dec 19th
The Razor's Edge**    
(US 1946)    
Twentieth Century Fox. 148m. bw

A young American returns from WWI but rejects prosperity and his fiancee to find spiritual meaning, until he returns many years later.
Laboured Hollywood studio adaptation of a noted novel, substituting grandness for the author's profoundness, and boringly literate with its dialogue when it could be better expressed visually; this occasionally does happen however, with some good individual scenes and performances.

Written by: Lamar Trotti, from the novel by W. Somerset Maugham.
Producer: Darryl F. Zanuck.
Director: Edmund Goulding.
Starring: Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, Clifton Webb, Herbert Marshall (as Maugham), Anne Baxter, John Payne, Lucile Watson, Frank Latimore. Fritz Kortner, Cecil Humphreys, Elsa Lanchester.
Photography: Arthur C. Miller.
Music: Alfred Newman.
Gowns: Oleg Cassini.

Dec 6th   
Maestro** (15) 
(Curzon Colchester)   
   
(US 2023)   
Netflix/Amblin/Sikelia/Lea Pictures. 129m. bw/colour   

Composer Leonard Bernstein ruefully looks back on his life with his late wife Felicia who died of cancer in 1978. 
Bernstein's love letter to Felicia, who is given a much bigger hagiography than he is (in spite of unnecessary criticisms of a Jewish prosthetic nose), in what is a meticulously observed biopic with no holds barred and a splendidly authentic flavour of the period, although showy to begin with (in black and white), and slightly omitting some of the history of Bernstein's music. 

Written by: Bradley Cooper, Josh Singer.
Producers: Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Fred Berner, Bradley Cooper, Amy Durning, Kristie Macosko Krieger.
Director: Bradley Cooper.
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, Sarah Silverman, Miriam Shor.
Photography: Matthew Libatique.
Music Supervision: Steven Giznicki (London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jannick Nezet-Seguin).
Editing: Michelle Tesoro.

MAESTRO. A meticulous emulation of Leonard Bernstein by Bradley Cooper, who rather (im)modestly gives first billing to his co-star Carey Mulligan, when his presence practically dominates the film.

Dec 5th   
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl*    
(US 2003)                        
Walt Disney/Jerry Bruckheimer. 142m. Panavision

Captain Jack Sparrow and blacksmith Will Turner rescue the nobleman's daughter who has appropriated a mysterious golden coin that unleashes a deadly curse on an undead crew. 
Highly contrived pirate adventure (based on a Disney theme park ride), tailored enough to modern sensibilities to be a big commercial success, in spite of semi-coherent plot and dialogue, and a distracting central performance.

Written by: Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Stuart Beattie, Jay Wolpert.
Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer.
Director: Gore Verbinski.
Starring: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush, Jonathan Pryce, Jack Davenport, Mackenzie Crook, Lee Arenberg, Kevin McNally, Zoe Saldana, Guy Siner.
Photography: Dariusz Wolski.
Music: Klaus Badelt.
Production Design: Brian Morris.
Visual Effects: John Knoll.

Preceded by:
Tom and Jerry in
Sufferin' Cats**
(US 1942. 8m.;d: William Hanna, Joseph Barbera; p: Fred Quimby.)