Watched last night

[Joenoir]

Originally Posted by batman Josh's first classic Britfilm .... and what a good one to start with. Bats.

My daughter visited some time ago - she's 27 - and I was watching an old Fred & Ginger on the television. "Not my type of film", she announced, I thought she didn't like musicals, "It's in black and white"! Keep up the good work, Bats!

[Joe Fraguela]

Last night I watched a double bill first on was The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960) with Peter Finch, Yvonne Mitchell, Nigel Patrick, James Mason, John Fraser, Lionel Jeffries, Emrys Johns, Maxine Audley & Sonia Dresdel. The second film was Trottie True (1949) with Jean Kent, James Donald, Andrew Crawford & Bill Owen.

[harryfielder]

Watched my free DVD (the Mail) last night It was called Riddle...
(you can now find it in the bin with the rest of the rubbish) Total cr*p..

Aitch,

[Joenoir]

Originally Posted by Joe Fraguela Last night I watched a double bill first .....

I must say, Joe, you appear to be enjoying some interesting films. Could you give us your views on some of these please?

[dremble wedge]

Originally Posted by harryfielder Watched my free DVD (the Mail) last night It was called Riddle... (you can now find it in the bin with the rest of the rubbish) Total cr*p.. Aitch,

Yes, I was unfortunate enough to watch The Riddle too.

A pity it was so poor as the plot had a lot of mileage in it...

[Joe Fraguela]

Originally Posted by Joenoir I must say, Joe, you appear to be enjoying some interesting films. Could you give us your views on some of these please?

Well, I have quite a good and vast selection of film titles in my collection. Mostly recorded from TV. Considering, there's not much on the TV these days that I care to watch, I enjoy watching 1 or 2 films an evening, if possible. I will try to give my views on some of these films, although, I don't always analyse them. At the end of the day, i know what I like, it maybe the actor or actress, the use of real film locations, the plotline etc.

[Lord Brett]

Watched 'They Call Me Modesty' on BBC4, as Lady Brett is a big Modesty Blaise fan. Total tosh and astonishingly badly written. As soon as I saw that it was a Ted Nicolau production I knew it would have a lot to be modest about, as I used to have to watch all his rubbsh Romanian-shot vampire movies in the 90s!

Jonathan Ross's documentary about comic artist Steve Ditko beforehand was excellent, though.

[Joenoir]

A pleasant enough little thriller, but one with as many holes in it as a novice knife-thrower’s assistant! Although they both give good performances, there is no chemistry between Jean Simmons and Trevor Howard, and the relationship is not a believable one. Sonia Dresdel gives another of her over wrought performances, and Barry Jones is credible as the amiable uncle, but the character’s sea change later in the picture was more than the actor could handle. It’s always reassuring to see Maxwell Reed giving his usual one-dimensional performance and interesting to note that his hair-combing trademark predated Ed “Kookie” Byrnes by several years.
The film’s strength is its use of location work, and we are afforded a backdrop of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Liverpool and the Lake District. By no means a classic, the film provides an agreeable diversion.

[Joe Fraguela]

Last night I watched Women Without Men from 1956, a low budget quota quickie made by Exclusive Films it stars Beverley Michaels, Thora Hird, Paul Carpenter, Joan Rice, Hermione Baddeley, Avril Angers, April Olrich & Gordon Jackson. It tells the story of Beverley Michaels who is in currently in prison and prior to being jailed had met Paul Carpenter , they fall madly in love and they decide to meet up 3 months later at a pub in the country. Beverley Michaels lands herself in prison and is desperate to break out as it's nearing the 3 month date when she is due to meet Paul Carpenter. During a prison pantomine performance she breaks out along with Thora Hird and April Olrich, who has a baby which is due to be taken away from her. The film isn't too bad it does have some funny moments provided by, Avril Angers, Thora Hird and Joan Rice (a bigamist whose husbands are played by Gordon Jackson & Eugene Deckers), who on release gets friendly with the prison guard played by David Lodge. To cut a long story short, April Olrich's baby is left with some spanish friends of hers and eventually gives herself up to the Police. Thora Hird & Beverley Michaels continue to go on the run, they meet a party-drunk who has a car who thinks he's being driven home but instead, they are driving to the meeting point. The police eventually go after them as the party-drunk is throwing fireworks from the back of the open top car. They are nearing the meeting point when they stop the car and Beverley Michaels carries on by foot. She arrives at the pub only to find that the pub has been sold and is all shut up. A telephone box is outside the pub and she decides to call the police to give herself up, then she hears a car coming down the road, it's Paul Carpenter. They hug and embrace the music rolls as they both walk back to the telephone booth. The End.

[Joenoir]

Hey Joe, that is a brilliant review, you make it sound much better than I'm sure it is. However, I feel now I don't need to see the film, and anyway you've made it sound so interesting I expect the film itself might be a disappointment. I just can't get out of my head the image of Thora Hird on the run!

[smudge]

Originally Posted by Lord Brett Watched 'They Call Me Modesty' on BBC4, as Lady Brett is a big Modesty Blaise fan. Total tosh and astonishingly badly written. As soon as I saw that it was a Ted Nicolau production I knew it would have a lot to be modest about, as I used to have to watch all his rubbsh Romanian-shot vampire movies in the 90s! Jonathan Ross's documentary about comic artist Steve Ditko beforehand was excellent, though.

I totally agree with you about MODESTY - what a waste of a good subject. Sexy girl, but in a TERRIBLE film !

The Ditko documentary was fascinating if ultimately frustrating in that we never got Steve's side from the horse's mouth. I wondered if he reflected upon the co-creation argument in 'Mr. A' mode for a long time, and thought that Stan the Man had taken the dark path and so left him to it.

Recently watched :

ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE - Scorsese's study of relationships set in middle America. I enjoyed it immensely but I too would have whacked the brat with the ever open mouth...

MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND - A bit of modern Hollywood fluff. A rather overstretched gag, but funny in parts and Anna Faris is very cute...

DEAD ON COURSE (WINGS OF DANGER) - Hammer's 50s airline-based smugglers story with Robert Beatty doing a somewhat cod 'Oirish' accent. Comes over as an elongated episode of a first series Danger Man...

Smudge

[Joe Fraguela]

Originally Posted by Joenoir Hey Joe, that is a brilliant review, you make it sound much better than I'm sure it is. However, I feel now I don't need to see the film, and anyway you've made it sound so interesting I expect the film itself might be a disappointment. I just can't get out of my head the image of Thora Hird on the run!

Well, the film was a low budget quota film. But, I do love watching the UK B-movie films from the 40's through to the 60's. There's still so many I haven't seen. I wish they'd show more of them on TV. Even if they are shown in the middle of the night, better than not putting them on at all, I can always set the timer on the DVD recorder. Anyway, the plot line isn't really up too much, I personally, prefer the 1953 film The Weak & The Wicked. Still, it's watchable. The only shame is that Hermione Baddeley isn't in the film for long, she makes me laugh especially in Passport to Pimlico and Cosh Boy.

[Joenoir]

I think you're right, Joe, a lot of the supporting players make these films still watchable today. They would probably only have needed to commit to a few days filming, and the majority of their work would have been in the theatre or review.

[batman]

They Met In The Dark - an exciting and atmospheric wartime spy thriller featuring James Mason.

Calling Paul Temple - second of the Temple films, a solid low budget thriller let down by a rather bland performance by John Bentley as Temple.

The Great Sioux Massacre - a truly dreadful depiction of the events leading up to 'Custer's Last Stand'. Historically inaccurate, over reliant on stock footage from Sitting Bull and containing some awful performances, especially Philip Carey as Custer. Avoid at all costs!

Bats.

[Lord Brett]

Neither British nor a film, but I spent last night organising my DVD Rs of the TV series version of La Femme Nikita (what a thrilling nightlife I lead!) into order and into locked metal boxes, partially so that the puppy doesn't get them.

I couldn't resist watching one, as it really is a superb series which has a similar appeal to Callan for me,