Oct 18th  
Coastal Command*   
(GB 1942)   
Ministry of Information. 72m. bw

The plight of a Fleet Air Arm craft patrolling the convoy approaches from the Atlantic, encountering U-Boats and a German cruiser ship. Elementary documentary filmed drama with non-actor servicemen in the main roles, distinguished nowadays mainly for its sore (featured in honour of Vaughan-Williams' 150th birthday.)

p: Ian Dalrymple
d: J.B. Holmes
ph: Teddy Catford, Fred Gamage, Jonah Jones
m: Ralph Vaughan-Williams
ed: Michael Gordon

Oct 8th
South** (U)
sub-title: Shackleton's Glorious Epic of the Antarctic
(Electric Palace, Harwich)

aka: Endurance; In the Grip of Polar Ice

(GB 1919)
80m. bw. silent

A BFI restoration of the extraordinary well captured film record of Shackleton's epic escape from the Antarctic after his ship and crew were stranded in the ice in 1915 - where the film itself was only saved that was sufficient for the surviving explorers to travel with. Also a notable early example of the nature documentary field, with the animals frequently stealing the show.

Photography: Frank Hurley.

SOUTH (1919). Frank Hurley's camera meticulously covers every aspect of the 1914 Shackleton expedition, including Endurance's dramatic sinking - with the wreck itself remarkably rediscovered under the ice in March 2022

Sep 4th  
The Magnificent Ambersons***     
(US 1942)                                
RKO. 88m. bw

In the mid-to-late 19th century a Midwestern American family is unable to adapt to the new age of the automobile.
The second of the much vaunted films of Orson Welles, stylishly made again, where the characters resemble pieces in a melodramatic jigsaw puzzle;  abruptly brought to a halt in its later modern sections by the studio together with a happy ending not in the original. What remains is interesting and occasionally moving, although hardly exhilarating (as maybe the original version was too.)

Written, Produced and Directed by: Orson Welles, based on the novel by Booth Tarkington.
Starring: Joseph Cotten, Tim Holt, Anne Baxter, Dolores Costello, Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins, Erskine Sanford, Richard Bennett, Donald Dillaway.
Photography: Stanley Cortez.
Music: Bernard Herrmann.
Editor: Robert Wise.

THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS. After the hoopla surrounding Citizen Kane, Orson Welles chose to make another American melodrama more akin to his Mercury Theatre style productions, together with cheeky boom microphone to keep his own face discreetly out the picture for his distinctive narration.

Preceded by:
The Elephant Will Never Forget**
(GB 1953. British Transport Films. 11m. bw; Heartfelt and only occasionally insensitive covering of the last trams to run through London towards Elephant and Castle.; w, d: John Krish; p: Edgar Anstey; narr: Brewster Mason; ph: Bob Paynter.)

May 4th   
Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies**    
(US 2017)   

Amanda Ladd-Jones interviews the various people in her father's life involved in the making of some notable films of the 1970's and 80's.
Long due documentary tribute to the man largely overlooked as the studio head who got Star Wars made, and plenty of other films besides; characteristically Ladd Jnr is the least ebullient about his career, but his famous colleagues have plenty to say about him instead, and though Alan Ladd Snr is a minor figure in his son's story, that same integrity and quiet authority comes through, like father, like son.

p: Rich Buhrman, Natasha Klibansky, Amanda Ladd-Jones
d: Amanda Ladd-Jones
s: Alan Ladd Jnr, Mel Brooks, Richard Donner, Mel Gibson, George Lucas, Ben Affleck, and others
m: Chris Hajian
ed: Chip Mauro

Feb 22nd

The Beatles: Get Back - The Rooftop Concert** (12A) 
(Curzon Colchester)



(GB/New Zealand/US 2022)
Apple Corps/Wingnut Films. 65m. 

A more entertaining compacted version of the Disney+ series The Beatles: Get Back, focusing less on the group's backstage break-ups and more on their rooftop lunchtime concert on top of Apple's HQ in Savile Row; coveted by Jackson who clearly assembles it from a fan's perspective (with nerdy captions helpfully stating which songs have previously appeared in Let It Be). The concert itself can be viewed now as a nostalgic record of the Fab Four enjoying one last session together, as well as being a fascinating snapshot of a Britain that was still very austere, even during the Swinging Sixties.

p: Clare Olssen, Peter Jackson, Jonathan Clyde, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Oko Lennon, Olivia Harrison
d: Peter Jackson
s: The Beatles, Michael Lindsay Hogg, Billy Preston, Mal Evans, PC Peter Craddock, PC Ray Dagg
ph: Tony Richmond
ed: Jabez Olssen

Jan 23rd
The Bowler and the Bunnet**  
(GB TVM 1967)   
Scottish TV. 36m. bw                    

Forthright TV documentary about the struggle of the Glasgow shipbuilders Fairfield to keep its workers by trying to form an uneasy alliance with its managers. Entertainingly stylish with Connery enjoying his own visual indulgences in his first (and only) attempt at directing.

w: Clifford Hanley
p: Bryan Izzard
d/s: Sean Connery
ph: Bill Scott, Mario Ford

+ with thanks to the BFI Mediatheque

++ Connery's opening narration: "Scotland, the country of the extremes. Love of life, hatred of life. Poets and murders, rigid temperance and savage drinking. John Knox and Johnnie Walker. England can lose 8,000 people by immigration in a year, Scotland, nearly 50,000. A nation of movers or stayers. Population 5 million, most important export: human beings. Prosperity and poverty. Vast empty landscapes, and the most congested slums in Europe. Warm hearts and idiot violence. A country of sturdy democracy and savage class hatred side-by-side. Always the division, the gulf between opposites. The bosses and the workers, Them and Us. The bowler, and the bunnet."

Sep 2nd  
My Darling Clementine***  
(US 1946)                                             
Twentieth Century Fox. 104m. bw

Wyatt Earp avenges the murder of his brother by the Clanton gang by becoming marshal of Tombstone and confronting them at the O.K. Corrall.
Vintage Ford Western taking his own dramatic slant on history, beautifully scenically conveyed with a wide variety of strong performances.

Written by: Samuel G. Engel, Winston Miller, Sam Hellman, from the novel "Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal" by Stuart N. Lake.
Producer: Samuel G. Engel.
Director: John Ford.
Starring: Henry Fonda, Victor Mature (as Doc Holliday), Walter Brennan, Linda Darnell, Cathy Downs, Ward Bond, Tim Holt, Alan Mowbray, John Ireland, Jane Darwell.
Photography: Joseph MacDonald.
Music: Cyril Mockridge.

Preceded by:
London Can Take It***
(GB 1940. 9m. bw; Classic historical propaganda record of the city coping with the Blitz (on its 80th anniversary).; d: Humphrey Jennings, Harry Watt; narr: Quentin Reynolds; ed: Stewart McAllister.)

 Aug 22nd 
Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel*
(US 2011)

Documentary covering mostly Roger Corman's heavy output of cheap exploitation films, with brief recourse to his more distinguished films such as the Poe cycle. The makers play it in the spirit of a Corman cheapie themselves, but the range of famous names interviewed is impressive - which is not surprising given the number of star careers Corman helped to develop.

w, p, d: Alex Stapleton
featuring Roger Corman, Jack Nicholson, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Joe Dante, Alan Arkush, Peter Fonda, Peter Bogdanovich, Gene Corman, Julie Corman, Robert De Niro, many others
ph: Patrick Simpson
m: Air
ed: Victor Livingston, Philip Owens

Dec 16th
Score*

(US 2017)

Epicleff Media. 93m.

Similarly celebratory study (to Making Waves) of modern film music composers, starting out with some interesting insights and brief mention of the original greats from yesteryear, but boiling down to hagiography of the less subtle, more recent orchestral output.

Written and Directed by: Matt Schrader.
Producers: Robert Kraft, Trevor Thompson, Kenny Holmes, Nate Gold, Jonathan Willbanks.
Featuring Mitchell Leib, Hans Zimer, Leonard Maltin, John Debney, David Arnold, Robert Kraft, James Cameron, John Williams (in archive), Danny Elfman, Rachel Portman,Quincy Jones, and others.
Photography: Kenny Holmes, Nate Gold.
Music: Ryan Taubert.
Editing: Matt Schrader, Kenny Holmes.

Dec 7th
Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound* (12A)
(Ipswich Film Theatre)

(US 2019)

Cinetic/Dogwoof/Ain't Heard Nothing Yet Corp. 94m.

A selected history of film sound from some of its expert practitioners since 1965.
Interesting, celebratory compilation of star interviews with some occasional insights about an often overlooked aspect of cinema, and some nostalgic recants to notable films of the 70s onwards, although it also omits to mention how the advent of modern sound has rendered many big films inaudible for some.

Written by: Bobette Buster.
Producers: Bobette Buster, Midge Costin, Karen Johnson.
Director: Midge Costin.
Starring: Walter Murch, Ben Burtt, Gary Rydstrom; and also George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, John Lasseter, Robert Redford, Barbara Streisand, and others.
Music: Allyson Newman.
Photography: Sandra Chandler.

Nov 18th  
Man with a Movie Camera***    
(USSR 1929)
VUFKU. 68m. bw. silent

Experimental documentary beginning in a cinema and charting a cameraman's journey a day in the city.
Something of an ordeal for those who didn't have the freedom to choose whether to see this film, but also brilliantly surreal and thematic, as well as historical hindsight for its evocation of Moscow (and elsewhere). As a cinematic language, it tries and almost succeeds in creating a storytelling form in pure motion, but would need more artistry for that.

Directed by: Dziga Vertov.
Photography: Mikhail Kaufman (who also appears as the cameraman).
Editing: Elizaveta Svilova.

Preceded by:
Our Lady of Lourdes**
(GB/Poland 2013. Independent Films/Light + Mathematics. 17m.; A young girl and a drunken widower unwittingly rescue each other. Oddly moving drama with only partly relevant special effects scenes, and a deliberately vague sense of location.; w,d: Peter Szewecyk; s: Naomi Scott, Lech Byblik, Nick Moran.)

Oct 3rd 
(Odeon Colchester)   
Apollo 11** (U)
(US 2019)
Universal/Dogwoof/Neon/CNN/Statement Pictures. 93m.

Remarkable, almost totally authentic compilation of NASA documentary footage from their first successful Moon landing, which also invaluably captures the important technical side of the mission, and only occasionally grates with its Americanism and sometimes distracting background music.

Producers: Todd Douglas Miller, Thomas Petersen, Evan Krauss.
Director: Todd Douglas Miller.
Archive Producer: Stephen Slater.
Photography: various.
Music: Matt Morton.

APOLLO 11. One year after 2018's First Man about Neil Arsmtrong, for the 50th anniversary NASA goes one better and features the real thing.

Apr 20th  
Rogue Male**     
(GB TVM 1976)     

In pre-war Germany a British aristocrat claims to want to shoot at Hitler for the thrill of the hunt, but he soon becomes the hunted as the Nazis pursue him back to England.
Enjoyably tense thriller (previously made by Hollywood in 1941 as Man Hunt), in spite of limited 1970s BBC production values. One of its star's favourite roles, and an ideal one for him to get his teeth into.

Written by: Frederic Raphael, based on the novel by Geoffrey Household.
Producer: Mark Shivas.
Director: Clive Donner.
Starring: Peter O'Toole, Alastair Sim, John Standing, Harold Pinter, Cyd Hayman, Michael Byrne, Michael Sheard (as Hitler), Maureen Lipman.
Photography: Brian Tufano.
Music: Christopher Gunning.

Preceded by:
Time to Go**  
(GB TVM 1989. 12m.; Victims of British military occupation in Northern Ireland speak about the need for them to withdraw.; d: Ken Loach.)

Apr 18th  
Persistence of Vision*   
(Canada/GB/US 2012)                           

Documentary about the adventures in animation of Richard Williams (without his personal participation) and his efforts to make The Thief and the Cobbler(qv) over the course of three decades.
A useful and thoughtful although harshly subjectified compilation of mostly older documentaries and interviews from ex-collaborators, portraying the dedicated artist too much in love with his work to be able to finish it, but well sourced as a collection.

Produced/Directed by: Kevin Schreck.
Editing: Maureen Gosling, Kevin Schreck.

Apr 6th  
Nothing Like a Dame*  
(GB 2018)             

Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright and Maggie Smith meet on their regular homely chats about their careers on stage and screen.
80 minutes of theatrical anecdotes from four refreshingly candid veteran British actresses, quite engaging themselves even if the film only amounts to a glorified interview with just the occasional moment of old footage thrown in.

Producer: Karen Steyn.
Director: Roger Michell.
Photography: Eben Bolter.
Music Supervision: Anne Miller.
Editing: Joanna Crickman.

+ retitled in the US, perhaps more descriptively, as Tea with the Dames

Mar 27th  
Oh, Mr. Porter!***    
(GB 1937)                     

A seedy eccentric takes charge at a run-down railway station on the Irish border where the haunted line is being used as a front by gunrunners.
Vintage Hay vehicle, on of his best for integrating with his supporting players in a sleepy railway setting (with borrowings of The Ghost Train.) A beautifully paced comedy, with barely a trace of wastage, and a speedy climax even if back projection work dominates.

Written by: J.O.C. Orton, Marriott Edgar, Val Guest, from a story by Frank Launder.
Producer: Edward Black.
Director: Marcel Varnel.
Starring: Will Hay, Moore Marriott, Graham Moffatt, Dave O'Toole, Dennis Wyndham, Percy Walsh, Sebastian Smith, Agnes Lauchlan, Frederick Piper.
Photography: Arthur Crabtree.
Musical Direction: Louis Levy.

100 Favourite Films: Oh Mr Porter!

Preceded by:
What Have They Done to Our Town?*
(GB 1978. 9m.; Initially ponderous but later haunting and extensively filmed record of Colchester in transition during the 70s.; d, narr: Bernard Polley.)

Mar 7th  
Citizen Jane: Battle for the City**  
(US 2016)

Documentary about the remarkable writer and activist Jane Jacobs who campaigned against the brutalism of modern urban planning in post-WWII US cities, in particular against the well-meaning but morally flawed Robert Moses.
A little short on biographical details about its two main figures, and in between the usual expert interviews, the film evolves into a series of images of giant tower blocks for a good deal of the time, with one striking montage of these monoliths being dynamited years later, and consistently interesting as a subject.

Director: Matt Tyrnauer.
featuring voices of Marisa Tomei, Vincent D'Onofrio.
Photography: Chris Dapkins, Nick Morris, Nick Higgins.
Music: Jane Antonia Cornish.
Editing: Daniel Morfesis.

Jul 4th 

Man on Wire**                                                  

(GB/US 2007)
Discovery Films/Wall to Wall/Red Box Films. 90m.

In 1974 French tightrope artists Philippe Petit with his collaborators makes an audacious attempt to walk between the two towers of the World Trade Centre.
Atmospheric documentary which irritatingly flashes back and forth between the event itself and the meticulous preparation, missing certain details such as spells of imprisonment for the illegal stunts, but invaluably capturing some of the original footage, making the whole bonkers enterprise as breathtaking as it was in 1974, and especially nostalgic in view of the World Trade Centre's later fate (which is never mentioned).

Producer: Simon Chinn.
Director: James Marsh.
Featuring: Philippe Petit, Jean-Francois Heckel, Jean-Louis Blondeau, Annie Allix, David Forman, Alan Welner, and others.
Photography: Igot Martinovic.
Editing: Jinx Godfrey.

May 24th 

Afghan Cricket Club: Out of the Ashes** 

(GB TVM 2010)

Shabash/Bungalow Town Productions. 84m.

On-the-spot documentary following Afghanistan's fledgling cricketing nation attempting to qualify for the ICC World Cup in 2009.
Compelling to watch in its contrast between the grim war-torn country and the colourful (sometimes quaint) setting of the cricket tournaments, and reasonably objective in its viewpoint, without dwelling too much on aspects of the game or politics.

Producers: Rachel Wexler, Leslie Knott.
Directors: Tim Albone, Lucy Martens, Leslie Knott.
featuring Taj Malik Aleem, Nawruz Mangal,Hasti Gul Alad, Gulbadeen Naib, Geoffrey Boycott, and others.
Photography: Tim Albone.
Music: Andrew Phillips.

Executive Producer: Sam Mendes.

Mar 30th
Fire in Babylon*
GB 2011. E&G/Hargitay & Hargitay Pictures in Motion/Cowboy Films/Passion Pictures. 87m.

Documentary charting the rise of the West Indies cricket team to world dominance during the politically explosive 1970s and 80s.
Interview-linked narrative with several insightful contributions from most of the West Indies' greatest players combined with some evocative archive footage; as a sports film, as vibrant to watch as Senna and When We Were Kings although slightly less dramatic, and lacks an outside non-West Indian voice.

Written and Directed by: Stevan Riley.
Producers: Charles Steel, John Battrek.
With Contributions by Viv Richards, Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Gordon Greenidge, Clive Lloyd, Bunny Wailer, Frank I, Colin Croft, and others.
Photography: Stuart Bentley.
Music: Various.
Editing: Peter Haddon.