arty-dave

And..I..wouldnt..go..near..that..house..on..the.hi iiiiiillllll...

TheLurkerKIng

Unfortunately, the only one I've seen from the initial list is "The Deadly Affair," which I highly recommend, though. If only to see James Mason, whom I have always found watchable. No matter in which film he appears.

Ascoyne D'Ascoyne

I love this film too, Arty Dave..it certainly has a real feel of the Swinging Sixties. George Melly was one of the scriptwriters.
Actually, it's Lynn Redgrave (who gives a really smashing performance) who gets corrupted. Her hit record in which she sings "Can't do a thing, but I'm young. Can't even sing, but I'm young" is part of a brilliant satire on the way performers of the most dismally amateurish kind were frequently deified as artists of genius. Things haven't changed much since then.

sanndevil

Yes, but if I remember correctly, Jimmy Mason was sporting a very dubious moustache
Ruined the film for me!

faceoff

This film was only recently viewed by me and I was surprised it had been so forgotten but my research has perhaps revealed why but that may be told another day.

But look at this film and the likes of British politicians like John Prescott - "No Love for Johnnie" indeed! "Too much love for my Johnnie" may be Prescott's wife's opinion. Every politician in Britain appearing to be positioning themselves behind various potential "leaders", the suggestion that everyone hates each other, cash for peerages allegations, backstabbing, filling their boots with cash in honourary company board positions. Eh- ladys and gentleman Members of Parliament. Any danger of running our country, between these more important activities? I very much doubt it. No wonder a lot of our MPS are held in contempt and that is WHY the Peter Finch film needs to be seen more. The only sympathetic characters in it are a dying MP and two members of the general public, played by Billie Whitelaw and Dennis Price. After viewing the Ralph Thomas film I was looking up Guy Fawkes's Email address in order to offer helping if he wanted to try again - please!

So what has changed in the nearly 50 years since Fienburgh's book was penned?

MikeA

I would agree many on the original list are mini classics. I agree The Wrong Box is shambolic and undisciplined, but the scene in which John Mills repeatedly tries to kill a completely oblivious Ralph Richardson sticks out in my memory as one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

Nice to see Jigsaw getting some good mentions. I've seen it several times and it's an old favourite. One of the more interesting features is the fact that there's no music at all throughout.

Smashing Time was also mentioned in another post. I believe Elvis Costello has gone on record saying he had this film in mind when he wrote I Don't Want To Go To Chelsea.

.....mine has gin in it.....

Dave Rattigan

I look forward particularly to seeing DVD releases of Night of the Eagle and Charlie Bubbles.

Anyone remember when Channel Four did a British '60s cinema series? Must have been about 15 years ago, on Sunday nights, I think. They showed Charlie Bubbles, Billy Liar, This Sporting Life etc. I was introduced to a lot of great stuff through that series. Forgive me if I sound like an old codger, but they don't seem to do seasons like that any more.

DB7

Can't recall 'season's' but I think when CH4 launched a handful of films were introduced by Launder and Gilliat. Must have been a minor treasure trove of British film broadcast in those early years.

Rob Compton

Plus the "Britain at War" series on C4. All thanks to Leslie Halliwell!

rgds
Rob

image45

Yes I would agree too

"Seya next time!"

steve lyden brown

In the late 80's sometime I had just seen "Brandy for the Parson" for the first time when it was shown on Channel Four. Anxious to see it again, I went into Channel Four's head office when passing and asked when might it next be transmitted . Feeling comfortable that because all the channels used to seem show the same movies time and time again, I expected an early repeat showing and said as much to the woman who came to deal with my query. "I wouldn't bank on it" she replied, and couldn't even hint at when it next might be shown. Even then, it would seem, their policy was to not necessarily repeat showings all that often. In many ways this is a good thing, of course, but not when much inferior material is transmitted and the better stuff gathers dust in the vaults.
SGLB

Steve Crook

Channel 4 has always had a different attitude to films compared to the other channels. They do tend to show a lot of different films rather than the same film over & over again. Not everything they show is a masterpiece, but they do tend to show a lot more interesting films than most other channels.

Steve

Dave Rattigan

Yes, and they've continued the tradition with FilmFour, which is now a freeview channel. They show a great mix of classics, contemporary, world cinema etc, although like most satellite channels they tend to repeat a fair bit as well. But it really is the best of the film channels.

Geoffers

I've obviously arrived very late to this thread but it was a terrific list and I could almost have written it myself.

It compelled me to look out my videos to start transferring more of these rarities to DVD. Alas, somewhere over the years many have disappeared. I certainly taped The Collector, The Deadly Affair, Four in the Morning, Hell Is a City, Jigsaw, Night Must Fall, Rattle of a Simple Man, Smokescreen, The Whisperers & The Wrong Box from TV, but all I can find now is Four in the Morning & The Wrong Box.

I would not have wiped the others so can only assume they were mislaid in a move.

Anyway, I loved Jigsaw & Smokescreen in particular - Peter Vaughan was so good as the insurance investigator, worrying about his expenses.

I do have Bitter Harvest, also taped from TV a few years ago - also recommended. I've never seen Nothing But The Best or The Pleasure Girls, but would like to. Also Live Now - Pay Later & The Wild & The Willing - which I haven't seen for years.