Dec 29th   
Night Ferry*   
(GB 1977)
Childrens' Film Foundation/Eady-Barnes. 60m.

Multi-disguised crooks try to smuggle a stolen Egyptian mummy on the Dover night ferry.
Quite capable children's matinee support feature, nostalgic for its use of 1970s Victoria line trains, and the late, much loved Bernard Cribbins in a range of guises.

w: Michael Barnes
p: Greg Younger
d: David Eady
s: Bernard Cribbins, Graham Fletcher, Aubrey Morris, Carole Rousseau, Engin Eshref, Jayne Tottman, Jeremy Bulloch
ph: Jo Jago
m: Harry Robertson

Nov 30th  
Edie* 
(GB/Ger 2017)
Arrow Films/Cape Wrath Films. 102m. ws

An elderly widow tries to fulfil her dream of climbing Mount Suilven in Scotland while she still has the time.
Moving twilight years drama, an enjoyable variation on the recent trend, and though choppily edited and being a little unnecessarily expansive in its Scottish tourist board view of the landscape, is at its best when viewed from the perspective of its rejuvenated central character, a gentle one-woman tour de force.

Written by: Elizabeth O'Halloran.
Producers: Mark Stothart, Tim Dennison, Edward Little.
Director: Simon Hunter.
Starring: Sheila Hancock, Kevin Guthrie, Paul Brannigan, Amy Manson, Wendy Morgan.
Photography: August Jakobson.
Music: Debbie Wiseman.
Editing: Olly Stothart.

 

Aug 23rd  
The Railway Children Return* (PG)
(Olympic Studios, Barnes)

(GB 2022)
Studio Canal/Junction Films. 95m.

In 1944 three Salford children are temporarily evacuated to a village in Yorkshire, and assist an underage black deserter from the US Army.
A ghost-cum-remake of the original rather than a sequel (although including Jenny Agutter in her original role of Roberta, now a youthful and energetic grandparent), rather rose-tinted and nostalgic in spite of the supposedly darker subject matter. No classic, but the original was, so it hardly seems fair to try and put it in the same league.

Written by: Danny Brocklehurst, Jemma Rodgers.
Producer: Jemma Rodgers.
Director: Morgan Matthews.
Starring: Jenny Agutter, Sheridan Smith, Beau Gadson, Austin Haynes, John Bradley, Tom Courtenay, Hugh Quarshie.
Photography: Kit Fraser.
Music: Edward Farmer, Martin Phipps.

Jun 4th   
Everything Everywhere All at Once* (15)
(King Street Cinema, Ipswich)

(US 2021)
A24/Gozie AGBO/Leyline Entertainment/IAC. 139m. ws

A Chinese laundromat owner in Los Angeles struggles to pay her taxes, and is also propelled into various parallel universes, all of which are being threatened by her volatile teenage daughter.
Long but sustained kinetic action fantasy which quickly gets carried away with itself, akin to The Matrix but not taking itself quite so seriously.

Written and Directed by: Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert.
Producers: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, Mike Larocca, Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Jonathan Wang, Michelle Yeoh.
Starring: Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis, Stephenie Hsu, James Hong, Jenny Slate, Tallie Medel, Harry Shum Jnr.
Photography: Larkin Seiple.
Music: Son Lux.
Visual Effects: Zak Stoltz.

May 31st  
Brenda Starr         
(US 1987)                          
Investments Empire/Tribune Media. 93m.

Feisty 1940s reporter Brenda Starr breaks loose from her comic book creator in pursuit of a dangerous formula, with the occasional assistance of the dashing Basil St. John.
Well intentioned, but the tone of self-parody is misjudged in this comic book adventure, lost in distribution deals that cancelled any prospects of commercial success, and subsequently eclipsed by the later darker tones of Batman and others.

Written by: Noreen Stone, Jams D. Buchanan, Jenny Wolkind (Delia Ephron).
Producer: Myron A. Hyman. 
Director: Robert Ellis Miller.
Starring: Brooke Shields, Timothy Dalton, Diana Scarwid, Tony Peck, Jeffrey Tambor, Charles Durning, Eddie Albert, Henry Gibson.
Photography: Freddie Francis.
Music: Johnny Mandel

+ completed in 1987 but not released internationally until 1989, and not until 1992 in the US. Timothy Dalton was cast as James Bond after filming had begun (in 1986) but Brenda Starr never saw the light of day until after his last Bond film (Licence to Kill)
 

Mar 9th  
Calling Paul Temple*      
(GB 1948)     
Butcher's Film Service. 92m. bw                

Retired detective and author Paul (and Mrs) Temple solve the mystery of a blackmailer murdering various glamorous women. 
Second in a series of Temple detective yarns, with certain pleasing elements of The Thin Man and others, and probably the best in the series for its cast.

w: A.R. Rawlinson, Kathleen Butler, from the radio play by Francis Durbridge
p: Ernest G. Roy
d: Maclean Rogers
s: John Bentley, Dinah Sheridan, Margaretta Scott, Abraham Sofaer, Alan Wheatley, Jack Raine, Hugh Pryse, Wally Patch, Celia Lipton
ph: Geoffrey Faithfull
md: Percival Mackey

Preceded by:
Tom and Jerry in
A Mouse in the House**
(US 1948. 8m; d: William Hanna, Joseph Barbera; p: Freq Quimby.)

Feb 11th 
James and the Giant Peach**   

(US/GB 1996)                              
Walt Disney/Allied Filmmakers/Skellington. 78m.

An orphaned boy escapes his cruel aunts courtesy of a magically transformed giant peach which transports him and assorted insect friends to New York.
Engaging children's fantasy mixture of live action, animation and bearable songs, with the transitions from one to another quite reasonably done, and with some wild moments of imagination.

Written by: Karey Kirkpatrick, Jonathan Roberts, Steve Bloom, based on the novel by Roald Dahl.
Producers: Denise di Novi, Tim Burton.
Director: Henry Selick.
Starring: Paul Terry, Joanna Lumley, Miriam Margolyes, Pete Postlethwaite, Mike Starr; also voices of Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, Simon Callow. Jane Leeves, David Thewlis.
Photography: Pete Kozachik, Hiro Narita.
Music: Randy Newman.

 Jan 16th
The 355* (12A) 
(Odeon Colchester)                      

(US/China 2021)
Universal/FilmNation/Huayi Brothers/Genre Films/Freckle Films. 124m. ws

Rival female Government agents compete to gain hold of a powerful computer drive, but they team up in pursuit of the real villains....
...who are of course, the men. Standard spy action fare for these days, where actions speak louder than words (almost identical in plot to The Spy Who Dumped Me), compensated by strong female characterisation and performances.

Written by: Theresa Rebeck, Simon Kinberg.
Producers: Jessica Chastain, Kelly Carmichael, Simon Kinberg.
Director: Simon Kinberg.
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Penelope Cruz, Diane Kruger, Lupita Nyong'o, Sebastian Stan, Edgar Ramirez, Fan Bingbing, Jason Flemyng.
Photography: Tim Maurice-Jones.
Music: Tom Holkenborg.
Editing: John Gilbert, Lee Smith.
Production Design: Simon Elliott.

THE 355. A slightly more intelligent variation of Charlie's Angels for the #MeToo era

Dec 19th
(Century Clacton)
Wonder Woman 1984* (12A)  
aka: WW84
(US 2020)                          
Warner Bros/Atlas.Stone Quarry. 151m. ws

Diana Prince, aka. Wonder Woman, encounters a dangerous artefact that grants people wishes, at a price.
Lengthy, indulgent sequel using some of the same (but not always the best) elements from the original, as well as some suitable 1980s kitsch, and a Trump-style villain (but nicer), although the actual appearances by Wonder Woman herself - never referred to by name - are curiously scarce.

Written by: Patty Jenkins, Geoff Johns, David Callahan.
Producers: Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, Zack Snyder, Patty Jenkins, Gal Gadot, Stephen Jones.
Director: Patty Jenkins.
Starring: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Pedro Pascal, Kristen Wiig (as Barbara Minerva/The Cheetah), Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen.
Photography: Matthew Jensen.
Music: Hans Zimmer.

+ the original TV Wonder Woman herself puts in a surprise cameo

Only one comic book blockbuster had the courage to swing into action in Covid year (photo taken outside Odeon Leicester Square)

Nov 7th 
Von Richtofen and Brown**
aka: The Red Baron
(GB 1971)     
United Artists/The Corman Company. 97m.

In World War I the aristocrat Mannfred Von Richtfen flies with distinction and kills many of the enemy, but the attrition of the war soon overwhelms honour, as espoused by his Canadian adversary Roy Brown.
Semi-apocryphal war drama with well shot airborne and clearly defined airborne sequences. On the ground level things are more uncertain with some variable moral sympathies, but Corman gets his anti-war point across.

Written by: John Carrington, Joyce Carrington.
Producer: Gene Corman.
Director: Roger Corman.
Starring: John Philip Law, Don Stroud, Corin Redgrave, Barry Primus (as Goering), Hurd Hatfield, Tom Adams, Maureen Cusack, Lorraine Rainer, Karen Huston.
Photography: Michael Reed.
Music: Hugo Friedhofer.                  
Editing: Alan Collins.

Preceded by:
Dream Flight
(US 2018. 11m.; On his flight home a man ruminates about being jilted at the altar - bizarrely, the whole experience truns out to be a dream after his successful wedding.; w: Ben Solenberger, Ari Schneider; d: Ann Hearn Tobolowsky; s: Ben Solenberger. Marguerite Moreau, George Wendt, Ari Schneider, Stephen Tobolowsky; ph: Dennis Zanatta; m: Robby Elfman.)

 Aug 31st 
The Swarm  

(US 1978)                                         
Warner Bros. 152m. Panavision

A Texas community is beset by a mutated force of killer bees.
Straight-faced nonsense with risible dialogue among an impressive cast, that tries to lend pathos where it can. The central theme is handled on a misguidedly epic level 20 years after this sort of film was made for less money and more effectively as a straightforward monster movie.

Written by: Sterling Silliphant, from the novel by Arthur Herzog.
Producer/Director: Irwin Allen.
Starring: Michael Caine, Katharine Ross, Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Richard Chamberlain, Olivia De Havilland, Fred MacMurray, Ben Johnson, Jose Ferrer, Bradford Dillman, Patty Duke, Slim Pickens, Lee Grant, Christian Juttner.
Photography: Fred Konenekamp.
Music: Jerry Goldsmith.

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.

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

May 29th  
The Last Man on Earth*                       
(Ita 1963)                                 
Associated Producers Inc./Produzioni la Regina. 86m. Totalscope

A lone immune survivor of a global deadly plague roams the streets of Rome fighting off vampire-like zombies, including those of his late wife and former colleagues.
Gloomy parable with an apposite theme, the first of various versions of Richard Matheson's story "I Am Legend" (also later made as The Omega Man with Charlton Heston), made originally at a time when this sort of apocalyptic drama was in vogue after the Cuban missile crisis.

Written by: William F. Leicester, Logan Swanson (Richard Matheson, from his novel).
Producer: Robert L. Lippert.
Directors: Sidney Salkov, Ubaddo B. Ragona.
Starring: Vincent Price, Giacomo Rossi Stuart, Emma Danieli, Franca Bettoia, Umberto Rau.
Photography: Franco Delli Colli.
Music: Paul Sawtell, Bert Shefter.

Feb 29th  
Sammy's Super T-Shirt   
(GB 1978)           
CFF/Monument. 58m.

A would-be athletic boy's favourite T-shirt slips into the hands of experimental scientists giving it (and  him) super powers.
Elementary Saturday morning kids spoof of the superhero TV craze, released on the same year as Superman made up the road at Pinewood, on a much more humble basis, together with some of the supporting cast of the former Carry Ons.

w/p: Frank Godwin.
d: Jeremy Summers
s: Reggie Winch, Lawrie Mark, Julian Holloway, Richard Vernon, Patsy Rowlands, Michael Ripper
ph: Norman Jones
m: Harry Robertson

Jan 23rd
1917** (15) 
(Curzon Colchester)                                               

(GB/US 2019)
Dreamworks/Reliance/New Republic/Mogambo/Neal Street. 119m. ws

In WWI two soldiers face a perilous journey across the battlefields to warn their fellow soldiers about a planned offensive that is walking into a trap.
A 100-year old war given a 21st century perspective; capably made with some vivid scenes, and a few judicious uses of passing bushes and people to smother the effect of an attempted single take 2-hour film. The story and performances ultimately overcome the technique.

Written by: Sam Mendes, Krysty Wilson-Cairns.
Producers: Sam Mendes, Jayne-Ann Tenggren, Callum McDougall, Brian Oliver.
Director: Sam Mendes.
Starring: Dean-Charles Chapman, George McKay, Colin Firth, Andrew Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Dubocq, Andrew Scott, Richard Madden.
Photography: Roger Deakins.
Music: Thomas Newman.
Production Design: Dennis Gassner.

Dec 20th 
The Rise of Skywalker** (12A)
(Odeon Leicester Square)

(US 2019)
Walt Disney/Lucasfilm/Bad Robot. 142m. ws

The Resistance cause is hampered by the unexpected resurrection of the Emperor and the onset of the Final Order.
Reasonable hotchpotch of Star Wars' old and new: the most preposterous of the nine-part saga, with some of the original older characters crowding out the younger characterisations, but giving less discerning fans the finale they want.

Written by: J.J. Abrams, Chris Terrio, Derek Connolly, Colin Trevorrow.
Producers: Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, Michelle Rejwan.
Director: J.J. Abrams.
Starring: Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Anthony Daniels, Billy Dee Williams, Ian McDiarmid, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Richard E. Grant, Domhnall Gleeson.
Photography: Dan Mindel.
Music: John Williams (who also plays a bit part).

Dec 1st  
A Wrinkle in Time*  
(US 2018)                                   
Walt Disney/Whitaker Entertainment. 109m. ws

A physicist has discovered the means to travel through outer space by brain and will power. He disappears on his quest, and four years later his children search for him on the same trail.
Reasonably well made if camply over-indulgent fantasy for the Harry Potter and Hunger Games generation, keeping faithful to the realms of its source material and commendably sustaining the human interest, although its imagination seems a little Earthbound.

Written by: Jennifer Lee, Jeff Stockwell, based on the novel by Madeleine L'Engle.
Producers: Jim Whitaker, Jeff Stockwell.
Director: Ava Du Vernay.
Starring: Storm Reid, Levi Miller, Deric McCabe, Reese Witherspoon, Oprah Winfrey, Chris Pine, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mindy Kaling, Zach Galifanakis, David Oyelowo (voice only).
Photography: Tobias A. Schliessler.
Music: Ramin Djawadi.
Production Design: Naomi Shahan.

Nov 2nd
Way Out West***(U)
(Manifest Theatre, Manningtree)

(US 1937)
Hal Roach. 66m. bw

Stan and Ollie travel to Brushwood Gulch to present an heir with a family fortune, but her crooked guardians are intent on pilfering it.
Probably the best Laurel and Hardy feature film made, one of their most streamlined features equally mixing themes of a comedy Western and an above average plot, and two delightfully simple song and dance numbers: the "Shoe Shuffle" and "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine". One of the boys' most streamlined and sheerly pleasurable comedies, remembered with affection.

Written by: Jack Jevne, Charles Rogers, James Parrott, Felix Adler.
Producer: Stan Laurel.
Director: James Horne.
Starring: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, James Finlayson, Sharon Lyne, Rosina Lawrence, Stanley Fields, Vivien Oakland, the Avalon Boys, James C. Morton.
Photography: Art Lloyd, Walter Lundin.
Musical Direction: Marvin Hatley.

100 Favourite Films: Way Out West

Preceded by:
The Finishing Touch**
(US 1928. 20m. bw. silent; Laurel and Hardy build a dilapidated house.; w: H.M. Walker; d: James Parrott; s: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Edgar Kennedy, Dorothy Coburn, Sam Lufkin.)

Any Old Port**

Jun 21st   
Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation*
(US 1988)                               

A remarkable video emulation of the original(qv), whose dedication and enthusiasm encompassed most of its makers' teenage lives. It makes surprisingly good use of some of the film's more technically intricate special effects scenes (even prior to the subsequent crowdfunding 2014 final release version), and is exemplary proof that Spielberg's entertainment is for the outer as well as the inner 12-year old.

Producer: Chris Strompolos.
Director: Eric Zala.
Starring: Chris Strompolos, Angela Rodriguez, Eric Zala, plus others.
Photography/Editing: Jayson Lamb.
Music: John Williams (sourced).

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK: THE ADAPTATION. Angela Rodriguez and Chris Strompolos in the roles originally essayed by Karen Allen and Harrison Ford, with every detail where possible recreated by teenagers, down to the costumes too. In the era of video cameras, this was as epic a quest for the filmmakers as the quest for the Ark itself.

+ opening message: "This film is a tribute to Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan for their giving birth to what we consider to be the ultimate adventure film. It is because of their genius that a film exists with such an enduring, nostalgic, and adventurous spirit. For eight long years we have been driven by an almost obsessive inspiration. This inspiration was fueled by the collective brilliance of these three men. It is to them we give our thanks for the work they have wrought which has left a permanent impression upon the direction of our lives. It is through them that we have discovered our love for film."