Dec 23rd  
Battle of the Bulge**    
(US 1965)    
Warner Bros/Cinerama/United States Pictures. 170m. Ultra Panavision

Crack Panzer tanks make an unexpected burst for victory through the American lines in the winter of 1944.
Gripping war actioner in places, a semi-sequel to The Longest Day with some of the same talents, although horribly commercialised in a variable production (including Cinerama interludes shot in sunny Spain rather than the wintry Ardennes), and the usual unnecessary female interest.

Written by: Philip Yordan, Miltton Sperling, John Melson.
Producers: Milton Sperling, Philip Yordan.
Director: Ken Annakin.
Starring: Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw, Robert Ryan, Dana Andrews, Telly Savalas, Charles Bronson, Hans Christian Blech, Werner Peters, Ty Hardin, George Montgomery, James MacArthur, Pier Angeli, Barbara Herle.
Photography: Jack Hildyard, and others.
Music: Benjamin Frankel.

+ next to none of the participants in the actual Battle of the Bulge are mentioned by name: this was due to a rival Columbia production started ahead of the Warners' Cinerama epic, intended to be more historically accurate, but the film was never made.

Dec 16th  
Interstellar** (12A)     
(Prince Charles Cinema, London)                   

(US 2014)
Paramount/Warner Bros/Legendary Pictures/Syncopy. 169m. Panavision

Sometime in the approaching future, a former astronaut turned farmer due to the food shortage is sent a message to transport him through a wormhole near Saturn that leads the path towards possibly saving the human race. 
Scientific gobbledygook by Nolan, his more human-centric take on 2001: A Space Odyssey with a strong cast and an intriguing premise. but with melodramatics and unnecessary plot twists getting in the way, followed by the familiar climatic bout of noise, music and sound effects to smother over the cracks in the plot.

Written by: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan.
Producers: Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan, Lynda Obst.
Director: Christopher Nolan.
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, Jessica Chastain, Mackenzie Foy, Matt Damon, John Lithgow, Ellen Burstyn, Bill Irwin (voice of robots), William Devane, David Oyelowo, Casey Affleck.
Photography: Hoyte van Hoytema.
Music: Hans Zimmer.
Editing: Lee Smith.

Dec 12th   
The Halfway House**     

(GB 1943)          
Ealing. 95m. bw

In 1943 guests arrive at a ghostly inn that helps them come to terms with the state of their lives.
Oddly affecting semi-supernatural drama, a little preachy and sentimentally propagandistic in its final stages, but with some useful pointers to the later classic Dead of Night.

Written by: Angus MacPhail, Diana Morgan, Roland Pertwee, T.E.B. Clarke, based on the play "The Peaceful Inn" by Dennis Ogden.
Producer: Alberto Cavalcanti.
Director: Basil Dearden.
Starring: Esmond Knight, Mervyn Johns, Glynis Johns, Tom Walls, Francoise Rosay, Alfred Drayton, Guy Middleton, Sally Ann Howes, Valerie White, Richard Bird.
Photography: Wllkie Cooper.
Music: Lord Berners.