Jan 27th   
The Elephant Man**    
(National Film Theatre)

(GB 1980)  
EMI/Brooksfilms. 118m. bw Panavision

A horribly deformed man is taken out of a fairground freak show and looked after by a young doctor.
Unpleasant and uncomfortable to watch in phases, with the director indulging himself in the steamy Victorian atmosphere, this nonetheless richly absorbing hospital drama generally compels through its sincerity, mainly due to Hurt's moving performance under the prosthetics. The most astounding aspect of all this is that it is based quite closely on fact. 

Written by: Christopher De Vore, Eric Bergren, David Lynch.
Producer: Jonathan Sanger.
Director: David Lynch.
Starring: John Hurt, Anthony Hopkins, Freddie Jones. John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Anne Bancroft, Michael Elphick, Hannah Gordon, Dexter Fletcher, Kenny Baker.
Photography: Freddie Francis.
Music: John Morris.
Elephant Man Make-up: Christopher Tucker (taken from the original Elephant Man's skeleton).

+ screening followed by an engaging interview with Dexter Fletcher, who turned 14 years old during the making of the film

Jan 14th    
Hamnet** (12A)    
(Curzon Colchester)              

(GB/US 2025)     
Universal/Focus Features/Amblin/Hora Pictures. 126m.

The Shakespeares' youngest son dies unexpectedly of the plague, but his father writes a play to help his wife come to terms with the loss.
Visually poetic drama which consciously avoids the biopic cliche of name dropping its main figure (the name William Shakespeare is only mentioned once), essentially a powerful and rather sombre romance of a broken couple who happen to be based on real-life figures, with some visceral performances.

Written by: Chloe Zhao, Maggie O'Farrell, from her novel.
Producers: Liza Marshall, Pippa Harris, Nicholas Ganda, Steven Spielberg, Sam Mendes.
Director: Chloe Zhao.
Starring: Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Emily Watson, Joe Allwyn, Jacobi Jupe (as Hamnet Shakespeare), David Wilmot, Olivia Lynes,  Noah Jupe.
Photography: Lukasz Zal.
Music: Max Richter.
Producton Design: Fiona Crombie.

                               

Jan 3rd      
The Roaring Twenties**         
(US 1939)  
Warner Bros. 107m. bw     

The adventures of an unemployed soldier who turns bootlicker during the Prohibition years. 
Clunky inter-scene narration mars this otherwise typically forceful Warner gangster morality fable, tailored as a vehicle for tough guy Cagney as well as upcoming star Priscilla Lane, but Bogart is also an unexpected scene-stealing menace in his 'pre-likeable' days.

Written by: Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay, Robert Rossen, from a story by Mark Hellinger.
Producers: Hal B. Wallis, Samuel Bischoff.
Director: Raoul Walsh. 
Starring: James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Gladys George, Priscilla Lane, Jeffrey Lynn, Frank McHugh, Paul Kelly, Joseph Sawyer.
Photography: Ernest Haller.
Music: Ray Heindorf, Heinz Roehmheld.

+ OPENING NARRATION, which could unnervingly apply to the present decade as well:
"Today, while the Earth shakes beneath the heels of marching troops, while a great portion of the world trembles before the threats of power-mad men, we of America have little time to remember an astounding era in our own recent history. An era which will grow more and more incredible with each passing generation, until someday people will say it never could have happened at all."