May 27th  
The Haunted Palace*     
(US 1963)    
American International/Alta Vista. 87m. Panavision

A New England village is beset by a curse from a warlock, whose descendant is possessed many years later by the same demonic forces.
Pasted together Corman horror based on H.P. Lovecraft and Poe, with clunky plot and script, and a  prologue which removes most of the later suspense - all made up for with style and performances.

Written by: Charles Beaumont.
Producer/Director: Roger Corman.
Starring: Vincent Price, Debra Paget, Lon Chaney Jnr, Frank Maxwell, Leo Gordon, Elisha Cook Jnr, John Dierkes, Cathie Merchant, I. Stanford Jolley.
Photography: Floyd Croby.
Music: Ronald Stein.
Art Direction: Daniel Haller.

May 10th   
Riefenstahl**  (15)  
(Picturehouse Central, London)       

(Ger 2024)
Vincent/Westseutscher Redfunk/Sudwestrundfunk/Norddeutscher Redfunk/Bayerischer Redfunk. 115m.

The beautiful and influential actress and filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, through the eyes of herself in family archive footage (and some occasional outside sources), a long haul for its 2 hours but thankfully told mostly from her perspective rather than from others, unable to shake off her Nazi past, and on those occasions trying to mislead inquisitive interviewers whom. not surprisingly, were wanting to associate her with all the Nazi atrocities.

Written and Directed by: Andres Veiel.
Producer: Sandra Maischberger.
Photography: Toby Cornish.
Music: Freya Arde.
Editing: Stephan Krumbiegel, Olaf Voigtlander, Alfredo Castro.

May 6th
The Way Ahead**   
(GB 1944)      
Rank/Two Cities. 114m. bw

A Territorial survivor at Dunkirk takes on a ramshackle bunch of civilians who form themselves into a fighting attachment in North Africa.
Entertaining semi-propaganda war drama, the Army's counterpart to In Which We Serve for the Navy and The Way to the Stars for the Air Force, capturing some of the attitudes of conscripted men during the war (amidst the surfeit of 80th anniversary VE Day commemorations this week), with a good cast of enlisted actors playing their part.  

Written by: Eric Ambler, Peter Ustinov.
Producers: John Sutro, Norman Walker, Stanley Haynes.
Director: Carol Reed.
Starring: David Niven, Stanley Holloway, William Hartnell, Hugh Burden, Raymond Huntley, James Donald, Jimmy Hanley, John Laurie, Leslie Dwyer, Penelope Dudley-Ward, Rene Asherson, Jack Watling, Leo Genn, A.E. Matthews, Peter Ustinov, Trevor Howard.
Photography: Guy Green.
Music: William Alwyn.
Editing: Fergus McDonnell.


Preceded by:
Jerky Turkey**
(US 1945. MGM. 7m.; Anarchic semi-satirical vintage Avery cartoon short.; p: Fred Quimby; d: Tex Avery.)