Dave Rattigan

A pleasant little stocking-filler, this one!

Bit disappointed in the packaging - always like to see a bit of thought and imagination going into the artwork, but this was about as dull as it gets.

However, for the selection of films on offer, I can't grumble. The set contains:

The Blue Lamp
Hunted
The Sleeping Tiger
The Spanish Gardener
Victim
The Servant
Accident

The biggest draw for me was The Servant, notoriously hard to come by on DVD.

Watched Victim first, however. It was better than I remember; I had first thought it too dominated by its political and social message, but I think I appreciated the drama and its characters in their own right this time.

Watched Hunted yesterday and loved it. Hadn't heard of it before, truth be told, but it was a gem, and certainly deserves to be rescued from obscurity. It's very hard to get such a decent performance out of such a young actor (no more than seven years old), especially when he has so much to do.

Not sure which I'll watch next. The Servant and Accident are the only two I've seen before. Anyone recommend any of the others?

Edit: Oh, yeah, another point I was going to make is that we all (myself included) seem to think social realism began in the 1960s, but I have been surprised recently to see how many pre-Room at the Top movies had the kind of location filming I usually expect only of the late '50s and '60s. Hunted had some cracking location shooting of the North.

stevie boy

would like to see the Minbenders again

Harbottle

The Blue Lamp is a real classic and Dirk Bogarde is very good in it. Hope you enjoy it :)

batman

Agreed .... Hunted is a favourite of mine too.

Bats.

I'm the cutest bottom judge!

Harbottle

You have great taste

Modular

The Password is Courage (1962) would have been on my release list...

maturin

I would love to see The Password is Courage on DVD as I'd like to check my rather negative impression of the film. I found Bogarde's chipper cockney accent and the general tone of the film too jaunty. I seem to recall him blowing up trains and burning down camps with a box of Swan Vestas and a pack of Rizlas - out-MacGyvering MacGyver.
I have a similar small beef with John Gregson, one of my favourites, in the otherwise excellent Battle of the River Plate.


I do think Bogarde is great in The Victim, The Spanish Gardener, The Servant, Accident - haven't seen hunted.
Richard

Modular

Yes, his accent was a little 'suspect', wasn't it.

It's still a good film though, and based upon a true story too.

Steve Crook

Allegedly

Steve

Steve Crook

Victim is very much a film with a message and sometimes that message does get in the way of the drama. But bear in mind it was an important message and it apparently had an influence in getting the law changed.

It does show what it must have been like for some of those people (gay people in professions or positions of authority) when they could be blackmailed because they faced criminal charges and jail if they were outed. It's hard to understand nowadays when they are so accepted by mainstream society, even by my Mum

Steve

Modular

Gasp!! You're not suggesting 'artistic licence' was involved in the story, surely...?

maturin

I recently watched a good Channel 4 documentary on gay life from the 30s to 60s which was interesting on the positive impact of Victim. Have to admire Dirk for risking his career, especially his romantic star status, for what he must have known at the time was a very unpopular cause.

Richard

Dave Rattigan

Yes. It was especially brave of him as he was in the closet himself, and I think went to his grave without ever publicly admitting he was gay.

I read that other actors had turned down the role, eg James Mason.

batman

Peter Finch too.

Bats.

I'm the cutest bottom judge!

Steve Crook

No. I'm saying that they were lying when they said it was based on a true story

About the only thing in the film that seems to be true is that there was someone called Charles Coward. All the events portrayed seem to have happened to other people. And they didn't include most of the things that did happen to Charles Coward.

Steve