“Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen. I never go where the cock never crows, and of all the felt ‘ats I ever felt, I never ‘ad a felt ‘at felt like this felt ‘at felt.” Such magical words. The beautiful individuality of the English countryside circa the start of history’s greatest decade, captured forever on grainy, scratchy celluloid. Yes, you got that right- I said scratchy- as the existing transfer of this legendary, much-loved cult film, available only on DVD from its rights owner through a … [Read more...]

So what exactly is a ‘zeitgeist’? Literally translated, it means “spirit of the age” (cue a thousand Hawkwind fans bursting into song) but that hasn’t stopped it being bandied about with alarming frequency these days, especially when describing ‘lost classics’ or ‘cultural artefacts’ that the cyber-stuffalanche of the last decade has enabled us to familiarise ourselves with. “Such-and-such captures the zeitgeist of the era better than half its more well-known contemporaries” we might say, and … [Read more...]

“Great Expectations” is an intriguing study of social class, gender, and morality in Victorian times based on the novel by Charles Dickens. While many versions of the story have made it to film, none are as well made as David Lean's version, despite the fact he based it on a live theatre viewing back in 1939. A photographic memory of the story combined with the right casting, sets, and film score is what made “Great Expectations” so successful when it was released in 1946. As the central figure … [Read more...]