Dec 22nd  
Blonde*     
(US 2022)
Netflix/Plan B. 166m. bw/colour

The girl who grows up to become Marilyn Monroe suffers through her life from serial abuse by men.
Squalid and highly speculative faction, seemingly made to promote the #MeToo movement, capturing none of Marilyn's wit or humour, but with a hard working star performance.

Written and Dircted by: Andrew Dominik.
Producers: Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Tracey Landen, Scott Robertson.
Starring: Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Julianne Nicholson, Xavier Samuel, Evan Williams, Toby Huss/.
Photography: Chayse Irvin.
Music: Nick Cave, Warren Ellis.

BLONDE. Ana de Armas "channels" Marilyn Monroe. Nice resemblance, shame about the script.

Dec 19th  
Zero Dark Thirty**  
(US 2012)
Columbia/First Light/Annapurna. 157m.

The hunt for Osama Bin Laden, instigated by a persevering female CIA agent over the course of 8 years.
Any film connected with September 11th curiously resembles a typical fictional terrorist action thriller, and this one is no exception, with two hours of half-coherent dialogue, sadistic torture scenes and occasional striking moments of sudden violence, and as little American understanding of the environment or culture as the principal characters in the film - but the tense last hour charting the actual commando mission is worth the wait.

Written by: Mark Boal.
Producers: Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Megan Ellison.
Director: Kathryn Bigelow.
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Jennifer Ehle, Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt, Kyle Chandler, Mark Strong, Edgar Ramirez, Stephen Dillane, James Gandolfini.
Photography: Greig Fraser.
Music: Alexandra Desplat.
Editing: Dylan Tichenor, William Goldenberg.

+ the screenplay was originally written as the failed hunt for Osama Bin Laden, then completely revised once history took over

Nov 13th
The Lost King** (12A)  
(Electric Palace, Harwich)                    

(GB 2022)
Warner Bros/Pathe/BBC Films/Creative Scotland/Ingenious/Baby Cow. 108m.

Separated mother Philippa Langley is haunted by the image of King Richard III to find his burial location, which the local authorities then take the credit for.
Subjective but smoothly done comedy drama with a pretty accurate depiction of modern day Britain; denounced by academics as being an unfair portrayal, but they can't really complain as the film is reasonably even handed, and they took plenty of credit at the time anyway.

Written by: Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope.
Producers: Steve Coogan, Christine Langan, Dan Winch.
Director: Stephen Frears.
Starring: Sally Hawkins, Steve Coogan, Harry Lloyd (as Richard), Mark Addy, Lee Ingleby, James Fleet.
Photography: Zac Nicholson.
Music: Alexandre Desplat.

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

Jul 26th
The Sign of the Cross***  
(US 1932)
Paramount. 123m. bw   

A Roman prefect defies Nero and Poppea by falling in love with a Christian girl, who is condemned to the lions arena.
Classic Hollywood example of De Mille having his cake and eating it: telling a story of Christian sacrifice whilst also revelling in the debauchery of ancient Rome. In spite of some anachronistic American accents in this early Sound epic, he manages to pull out all the stops in depicting the Rome of legend, including the barbaric arena whilst the audience revels and Nero fiddles, etc.

Written by: Waldemar Young, Sidney Buchman, based on the play by Wilson Barrett.
Producer/Director: Cecil B. de Mille.
Starring: Fredric March, Elissa Landi, Charles Laughton, Claudette Colbert, Ian Keith, Arthur Hohl, Harry Beresford, Tommy Conlon, Charles Middleton.
Photography: Karl Struss.
Music: Rudolph G. Kopp.
Art Direction/Costume: Mitchell Leisen.

May 17th  
Grandma's Boy**  
(US 1922)
Pathe/Hal Roach. 61m. bw. silent

A meek, ineffectual young man learns to toughen up with some inspirational assistance from his descendants.
The Civil War flashback seems a curious afterthought, but is the highlight of a standard, engaging Lloyd vehicle, one of his first features, although slightly thin on gags.

Written by: Hal Roach, Sam Taylor, Jean Havez, H.M. Walker.
Producer: Hal Roach.
Director: Fred C. Newmeyer.
Starring: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Charles Stevenson, Anna Townsend, Dick Sutherland, Noah Young.
Photography: Walter Lundin.

Music: Neil Brand.

+ the Civil War segment was allegedly intended as a serious short film, with gags and the modern story expanding it to feature length

GRANDMA'S BOY (1922). Harold Lloyd wheels in dangerous tramp Dick Sutherland, along the same street set Hal Roach used for Laurel and Hardy

 Apr 23rd 
Operation Mincemeat* (12A)  
(Curzon Colchester)                          

(GB/Spa 2021)
Warner Bros/C Media Group/See Saw. 128m. Panaflex

A branch of British Intelligence devises a means of distracting German attention from the invasion of Sicily by planting false papers on a dead man.
A more faithful to the record version of The Man Who Never Was(qv), although slightly overstylised and taking its liberties dramatically, trying to also reference future James Bond influences.

Written by: Michelle Ashford, from the book by Ben Macintyre.
Producers: Charles S. Cohen, Iain Canning.
Director: John Madden.
Starring: Colin Firth, Matthew Macfadyen, Kelly Macdonald, Penelope Wilton, Johnny Flynn (as Ian Fleming), Jason Isaacs, Simon Russell Beale (as Churchill), Mark Gariss, Hattie Morahan, Alex Jennings, James Fleet.
Photography: Sebastian Blenkov.
Music: Thomas Newman.

 Apr 17th
The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima*
(US 1952)
Warner Bros. 102m.

In 1917 Portugal three children witness a vision of the Virgin Mary, for whom they make repeated visits and the area becomes a place of pilgrimage.
A "semi-factual" account of the miracle done in Warners' rather unsubtle style, with slightly distracting semi-comedic or cynical asides, whilst the main apparition scenes are movingly done and the central children try to keep the sincerity of the piece. It nonetheless seemed to chime the right mood with religious audiences at the time, although less effectively than The Song of Bernadette(qv).

Written by: Crane Wilbur, James O'Hanlon.
Producer: Bryan Foy.
Director: John Brahm.
Starring: Gilbert Roland, Susan Whitney, Sherry Jackson, Sammy Ogg, Frank Silvera, Richard Hale.
Narrator: J. Carroll Naish.
Photography: Edwin B. Du Par.
Music: Max Steiner.

Apr 14th  
Cleopatra  
Sub-Title: The Romance of a Woman and a Queen
(US 1912)
Helen Gardner Picture Players. 87m. bw. silent

A devoted slave to Queen Cleopatra agrees to die for her, but in the end helps her reach that fate herself after her meeting with Marc Antony.
First feature length film version of this subsequently much told historical romance; static and stilted, but no more than all the other later versions.

w, d: Charles L. Gaskill, from the play by Victorien Sardov.
p: Helen Gardner
s: Helen Gardner, Charles Sindelar, Mr Howard, Harry Knowles, Miss Robson
ph: Lucien Tainguy

Feb 25th   
The Duke** (12A)
(Century Clacton)

(GB 2020)
Warner Bros/Pathe/Ingenious/Screen Yorkshire/Neon Films. 96m.

In 1961 a crusading Newcastle pensioner ransom's Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington to allow pensioners free TV, but is actually covering for his son who has committed the theft.
A true story is given enjoyably nostalgic treatment (although feeling more 1950s in mood than 1960s), glossing over most aspects of the robbery from the National Gallery, but refreshingly light and well paced within the familiar Ealing-style mantra, and with spot-on performances.

Written by: Richard Bean, Clive Coleman.
Producer: Nicky Bentham.
Director: Roger Michell.
Starring: Jim Broadbent, Helen Mirren, Fionn Whitehead, Matthew Goode, Anna Maxwell Martin, Aimee Kelly, James Wilby, Paul Reed.
Photography: Mike Eley.
Music: George Fenton.

+ the portrait also briefly appears in Dr. No, which is briefly alluded to in this film

Jan 27th   
A Tale of Love and Darkness**       
(Israel/US 2015)                      
Icon/Voltage. 98m. ws

Childhood experiences of Amos Oz in the early founding years of Israel after his young mother has fled Jewish persecution in Europe during WWII.
Marking Holocaust Memorial Day with this thoughtful biographical drama with some pretty moments of visual style, largely dominated on-screen by a glamorous looking star who also proves to be an accomplished director. Generally rather sombre, especially if viewed from outside its Israeli perspective, with just occasional brighter moments of hope.

Written and Directed by: Natalie Portman, from the book by Amos Oz.
Producers: Ram Bergman, David Mandil.
Starring: Natalie Portman, Amir Tessler, Gilad Kahana. Alexander Peleg, Nela Riskin, Dina Doran, Yannatan Shiray.
Photography: Slawomir Idziak.
Music: Nicholas Britell.


Preceded by:
Look at Life: The Cinema Steps Out**
(GB 1960. Rank.9.; Interesting brief study of early cinema as well as a stroll through the various London cinemas of the time, including those under redevelopment.; narr: Tim Turner; featuring Leslie Phillips, Juliet Mills.)

 Dec 8th 
(Curzon Colchester)
Mank* (12A)       

(US 2020)
Netflix. 132m. bw

In late 1930s America, bed-ridden writer Herman Mankiewicz writes the first draft of Citizen Kane, based on his personal experiences with William Randolph Hearst.
Selective Hollywood history falling into the familiar trap of relegating famous figures to seemingly very minor roles. The omission of Welles for much of the narrative is a curious choice, even though the style of the film is visually influenced by him (including irritating multiple flashbacks), smothering out characterisation and performances, and the use of black-and-white on this occasion is unsuitable.

Written by: Jack Fincher.
Producers: Cean Chaffing, Eric Roth, Douglas Urbanski.
Director: David Fincher.
Starring: Gary Oldman, Lily Collins, Tuppence Middleton, Amanda Seyfried (as Marion Davies, but  looking more like Jean Harlow), Charles Dance (as Hearst), Arliss Howard, Sam Troughton, Tom Pelphrey, Tom Burke (as Welles), Joseph Cross, Jamie McShane.
Photography: Erik Messerschmidt.
Music: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross.
Editing: Kirk Baxter.


The only scenes in MANK that seemed to really ring true: between Herman Mankiewicz and his younger brother Joe (Tom Pelphrey)

Jul 14th  
Start the Revolution Without Me*   
(GB 1969)                           
Warner Bros/Norbud. 90m.

Mixed-up pairs of identical twins at birth become entangled in the French Revolution.
Lavish spoof with funny moments but many of the jokes are overworked, and the plot steadily takes second place to the stream of gags in anarchic humour typical of its time, e.g. Orson Welles narrates in modern clothes outside Louis XVI's Palace and takes next-to-no part in the rest of the film.

Written by: Fred Freeman, Lawrence J. Cohen.
Producer: Norman Lear.
Director: Bud Yorkin.
Starring: Gene Wilder, Donald Sutherland, High Griffith, Billie Whitelaw, Victor Spinetti, Jack MacGowran, Harry Fowler, Ewa Aulin, Helen Fraser, Rosalind Knight, Murray Melvin, Graham Stark.
Photography: Jean Tournier.
Music: John Addison.

Jul 4th  
The Iron Horse**    
(US 1924)       
Fox. 150m. bw. silent

Struggles of Union Pacific to build the first Transcontinental railroad linking with Central Pacific, encountering conflicts with Red Indians and landowners.
Early breakthrough Ford melodrama. long and heavy going by today's standards, but also with his growing sense of scenic composition, impish Irish humour and an eventual epic climax.

Written by: Charles Kenyon, John Russell, Charles Darnton.
Producer/Director: John Ford.
Starring: George O'Brien, Madge Bellamy, Cyril Chadwick, Francis Powers, J. Farrell MacDonald, Fred Kohler, Will Walling, Charles Edward Bull (as Abraham Lincoln), George Waggner (as Buffalo Bill), James A. Marcus.
Photography: George Schneiderman.

Music: Christopher Callendo (2007).
         

Jun 16th    
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves* 
(US 1991)
Warner Bros/Morgan Creek. 143m.

Robin of Locksley escapes imprisonment during the Crusades with the aid of a Moor, to find that things are even worse in his homeland, and turns outlaw.
Entertaining but grittier and nastier variation of the legend, for what supposedly suits 1990s audiences more than Errol Flynn (the two styles combined were spoofed in Mel Brooks' Robin Hood: Men in Tights), with a rather self-indulgent star and a sluggish, hammy finale.

Written by: Pen Densham, John Watson.
Producers: Pen Densham, Richard Barton Lewis, John Watson.
Director: Kevin Reynolds.
Starring: Kevin Costner, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Morgan Freeman, Alan Rickman, Christian Slater, Geraldine McEwan, Michael Wincott, Nick Brimble, Mike McShane, Harold Innocent, Brian Blessed, Sean Connery (as King Richard - uncredited).
Photography: Douglas Milsome.
Music: Michael Kamen.
Editing: Peter Boyle (and others).
Production Design: John Graysmark.

One of the best things about ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES: Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Maid Marian, with a rather Californian Kevin Costner in the title role

Jun 9th    
The Man Who Never Was**  
(GB 1955)
Twentieth Century Fox/Sumar. 103m. Cinemascope

The true story of how in 1943 British Naval Intelligence devised a means of distracting enemy attention from the invasion of Sicily by planting false information on a fictitious soldier 'Major William Martin'.
The subsequent espionage intrigue involving a German agent is the only fictionalisation in an otherwise interesting, slightly solemn war drama (in unison with the gravity of its subject matter), lacking a certain amount of British self-deprecation or humour, but certainly a pleasantly unusual item to have come out from a Hollywood studio only ten years after the war itself.

Written by: Nigel Balchin, based on the book by Ewen Montagu.
Producer: Andre Hakim.
Director: Ronald Neame.
Starring: Clifton Webb, Robert Flemyng, Gloria Grahame, Stephen Boyd, Josephine Griffin, Laurence Naismith, William Russell, Andre Morell, William Squire, Moultrie Kelsall, Cyril Cusack.
Photography: Oswald Morris.
Music: Alan Rawsthorne.

+ the voice of Winston Churchill is provided by an uncredited Peter Sellers

Apr 24th  
The Sound Barrier***  
(GB 1952)       
London Films/British Lion. 118m. bw

An aircraft designer risks the lives of his family and colleagues in his quest to break the sound barrier.
Well written and acted airborne character drama just on the fringes of sci-fi, just as its director was also on the tip of bigger things to come.

Written by: Terence Rattigan.
Producers: Norman Spencer, David Lean.
Director: David Lean.
Starring: Ralph Richardson, Nigel Patrick, Ann Todd, John Justin, Dinah Sheridan, Denholm Elliott, Joseph Tomelty, Ralph Michael.
Photography: Jack Hildyard, (aerial photography by John Wilcox, Jo Jago, Peter Newbrook).
Music: Malcolm Arnold.

Apr 12th  
The King of Kings***    
(US 1927)       
Pathe Exchange. 155m. bw/Technicolor sequences

The adult life of Jesus leading up to his crucifixion and resurrection.
Easter time comes round again with this quite thoughtfully crafted and only occasionally indulgent De Mille epic, one of his best at adapting the Bible (slavishly quoting chapter and verse in every caption), with intelligent performances in an increasingly sophisticated silent era, before sound was about to remove the subtlety. Lots of Griffith influence too (he allegedly directed part of the crucifixion scene), although the film shows up how inconsistent the New Testament is as a story.
   
Written by: Jeanie Macpherson.
Producer/Director: Cecil B. de Mille.
Starring: H.B. Warner, Joseph Schildkraut (as Judas), Jacqueline Lyon (as Mary Magdalene), Dorothy Cumming, Ernest Torrance, Rudolph Shildkraut, Victor Varconi, William Boyd, Ivor Montagu.
Photography: J. Peverel Morley, F.J. Westerberg.
Production Design: Anton Grot, Edward C. Jewell, Julian Harrison, Dan Sayre Groesback.

Mar 6th  
Military Wives* (12A)
(Vue Carlisle)

(GB 2019)               
Ingenious/Embankment/42/Tempo. 112m.

Wives and girlfriends at a Yorkshire barracks set up a choir to take their minds off their loved ones stationed in Afghanistan, but ultimately also to honour them.
Formulaic and easily sentimental comedy drama, contrived dramatically as an all-girls rags-to-riches story (from the director of the similar Full Monty), with a moving finale where film and history marry together successfully.

Written by: Rachel Tunnard, Rosanne Flynn.
Producers: Ben Pugh, Piers Tempest, Rory Aitken.
Director: Peter Chelson.
Starring: Kristin Scott-Thomas, Sharon Horgan, Jason Flemyng, Greg Wise, Gaby French, Emma Lowndes.
Photography: Hubert Taczanowski.
Music: Lorne Balfe.

Feb 6th  
The Irishman** (15)
aka. I Heard You Paint Houses
(Curzon Colchester)

(US 2019)
Netflix/Tribeca. 219m.

Driver-cum-hitman Frank Sheeran feels guilt after his ventures with Pennsylvania gangsters and his close friendship with Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa.
Sedate return to familiar mean and moody material for Scorsese (with minor nods to other gangster epics such as The Godfather), exhaustive as a lengthy multi-flashback narrative, spanning 60 years with clever degrees of make-up and VFX to span the decades, and well played and photographed as always - but not really worth the length to endure.

Written by: Steven Zaillian, from the book by Charles Brandt.
Producers: Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Jne Rosenthal, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Irwin Winkler, Gerald Chamales, Gaston Pavlovich, Randall Emmett, Gabrielle Israilovici.
Director: Martin Scorsese.
Starring: Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Al Pacino (as Hoffa), Harvey Keitel, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin, Stephen Graham.
Photography: Rodrigo Prieto.
Music: Robbie Robertson.
Make-up:: Nicki Ledermann, and others.