Jan 30th
Perfect Understanding*  
(GB 1932)
United Artists/Gaumont British. 85m. bw

An American marries handsome Englishman in spite of the continued interest of his former sweetheart.
Stylish although slightly artificial vehicle for its star/producer, a romantic comedy with unnecessary serious tone adopted later, but an interesting historical item both for its stars and the era in which it was  made (between the wars Berlin briefly appears in a montage.)

Written by: Miles Malleson, Michael Powell.
Producer: Gloria Swanson.
Director: Cyril Gardner.
Starring: Gloria Swanson, Laurence Olivier, John Halliday, Nora Swinburne, Nigel Playfair, Michael Farmer, Genevieve Tobin, Charles Cullum, Miles Malleson.
Photography: Curt Courant.
Music: Henry Sullivan.

Preceded by:
Dog Factory  
(US 1904. 5m. bw. silent; Two peddlars turn sausages into dogs (and vice versa) for various prospective customer.; d: Edwin S. Porter.)

Preceded by:
Megalopolis*
(2016. Generally effective "fan trailer" for Francis Coppola's often-in-production cherished project.; d: Marine Maloy.)

PERFECT UNDERSTANDING. Gloria Swanson from the days when, like Norma Desmond, she was looking for a comeback from Silents into Sound, and Laurence Olivier from the days when he was still trying to make a name for himself on both stage and screen.

Jan 26th
One Life** (12A)  
(Electric Palace, Harwich)   

(GB 2023)    

Warner Bros/BBC Films/See-Saw/MBK/Cross City Films/FilmNation Entertainment/Lipsync. 110m.

Elderly retired stockbroker Nicholas Winton looks back on his experiences in 1938 rescuing children from pre-war Prague.
Moving variation on Schindler's List, less stylized and playing sometimes on the easily sentimental, but the main performances do just the job, with Hopkins in good form harking back to his Shadowlands days.

Written by: Lucinda Coxon, Nick Drake, from the book "If It's Not Impossible: The Life of Sir Nicholas Winton" by Barbara Winton.
Producers: Joanna Laurie, Ian Canning, Emile Sherman, Guy Heeley.
Director: James Hawes.
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Flynn, Helena Bonham-Carter, Lena Olin, Romola Garai, Alex Sharp, Jonathan Pryce, Samantha Spiro, Marthe Keller.
Photography: Zac Nicholson.
Music: Volker Bertelmann.
Editing: Lucia Zucchetti.

Jan 19th  
The Beekeeper*  (15)     
(Vue Stratford Westfield)

(US/GB 2024)  
Sky Original/Miramax/Cedar Park/Punch Palace. 105m.

A retired special agent avenges a victim of Internet hacking, on a trail that leads violently all the way to the top.
An interesting social statement underscores this forceful actioner harking back to the days of Clint Eastwood-style vigilante thrillers, where the villains are one-dimensionally nasty enough  to make the audience yearn for their comeuppance, although the characterisation, particularly its leading man, could have been developed more.

Written by: Kurt Wimmer.
Producers: Jason Statham, Bill Block, David Ayer, Chris Long, Kurt Wimmer.
Director: David Ayer.
Starring: Jason Statham, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Bobby Naderi, Josh Hutcherson, Jeremy Irons, Jemma Redgrave, Minnie Driver, David Wills, Phylicia Rashad.
Photography: Gabriel Beristain.
Music: Dave Sardy, Jared Michael Fry.
Editing: Geoffrey O'Brien.

Jan 14th  
Just Imagine       
(US 1930)   
Fox. 109m. bw

In futuristic 1980, a pilot tries to win back his girl by becoming the first man to Mars, with the assistance of a revived vaudeville comedian from 50 years before.
Imitation Metropolis framed around a standard American musical comedy, interesting for some (a very few) similarities to the actual society of 1980, punctuated by a style and song numbers that otherwise make it very much a film of its time.

w, songs: Buddy G. De Sylva, Lew Brown, Ray Henderson
p: Buddy G. De Sylva 
d: David Butler
s: John Garrick, Maureen O'Sullivan, El Brendel, Frank Albertson, Marjorie White, Kenneth Thomson, Mischa Auer, Hobart Bosworth
ph: Ernest Palmer

JUST IMAGINE. "1980", as predicted from 50 years earlier. As with most of these futuristic tales, it revealed more about the time it was made. Maureen O'Sullivan and John Garrick play out a familiar - timeless - romantic comedy formula.

Preceded by:
Annie Oakley*   
(US 1894. Edison Studio. 30 seconds. bw. silent; Historic early moving picture of the lady herself in fine shooting form.; ph: William Heise.)

Jan 3rd  
Ferrari*** (15)    
(Curzon Colchester)
     
(US 2023)         
Sky Original/STX Films/Black Bear/Moto Pictures/Forward Pass/Storyteller/and others. 130m. Panavision

In 1957 motorcar maestro Enzo Ferrari copes with bankruptcy, his crumbling marriage and remaining illegitimate son, and then triumph as well as tragedy at the Mille Miglia.   
Stylish fast cars biopic where the Italianness of it (in both the cars and the culture) breathes through every frame, in a compelling 130 minutes (short by today's standards), complete with gripping performances from actors who are better looking than their real-life counterparts, but work well to paint a convincing portrait of a once-happy marriage.

Written by: Troy Kennedy Martin, based on the book by Brock Yates.         
Producers: Michael Mann, P.J. van Sandwijk, Marie Savare, John Lesher, Thomas Hayslip, John Friedberg, Andrea Irevolino, Monoka Bacardi, Gareth West, Lars Sylvest, Thorsten Schumacher, Laura Ruster.
Director: Michael Mann.
Starring: Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, Gabriel Leone, Patrick Dempsey, Sarah Gadon (as Linda Christian), Jack O'Connell, Ben Collins (as Stirling Moss), Daniela Piperno, Giuseppe Festinese.
Photography: Erik Messerschmidt.
Music: Daniel Pemberton.
Editing: Pietro Scalia.