Watched last night

[samkydd]

Originally posted by smudge@Feb 15 2005, 09:52 PM Just finished watching an Edgar Wallace : TO HAVE AND TO HOLD. A sort of condensed Brit version of DOUBLE INDEMNITY. Although the plot relies on a very basic (and even then, well worn) device, device it's not so bad. Not as strong as some other entries in the series, but a good exercise in what you can do with a very small cast on a tight budget. Couldn't, however, fix Pat Bredin in my mind as the mischievous minx she was trying to be after recently seeing her as the innocent ingenue in DESERT MICE. THATH is still worth a viewing though ; has made me want to dig back into the EW series again... SMUDGE <div align="right">Quoted post</div>

Any idea where I can buy a copy of the DVD?

[smudge]

PM me Sam and we'll discuss a DVD for you ! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup.gif[/img]
SMUDGE

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/devil.gif[/img]

[Rob Compton]

I've acquired (through Amazon marketplace) a box set of four very early Sherlock Holmes films, "Classic Rarities of Sherlock Holmes"

The four are

A Study in Scarlet (US 1933) starring Reginald Owen as Holmes and Warburton Gamble as Watson
The Sign of Four (GB, I think, 1934) with Arthur Wontner as Holmes and Ian Hunter as Watson
The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (1935) again with Wontner but Ian Fleming as Watson
Murder at the Baskervilles(1937) again with Wontner and Fleming

I've only watched the first of these - distinctly creaky but fun and Owen plays Holmes with a fairly light touch and a twinkle in his eye. I'm looking forward to the others. The whole thing cost around £15 including carriage from the USA, which I reckon is fantastic value, as these are rare films, predating the much better known Rathbone and Bruce ones.

rgds
Rob [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[smudge]

Last night I watched various episodes of old TV

SIR FRANCIS DRAKE - in which Terence Morgan throughly enjoyed buckling his swash ! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif[/img]

CRIBB - in which William Symons' Constable Thackeray shameless stole scenes from Alan Dobie and still yet was upstaged by a cat... [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif[/img]

SMUDGE

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/devil.gif[/img]

[The_Late_Peter_Cook]

Another 'sort of' British movie, THE WRECK OF THE 'MARY DEARE'. Though it's two stars Gary Cooper and Charlton Heaston are American, (though oddily enough Cooper's parents were English and he was partly educated over here) it's partly set and filmed in London and Southampton and has a British supporting cast (Richard Harris, Michael Redgrave, Cecil Parker, even John Le Mesieur!) and has a British director.

Fun to watch, but hardly a classic.

[smudge]

CAPTAIN CLEGG (aka NIGHT CREATURES)

Hammer Films' take on the Dr. Syn story, directed by Peter Graham Scott...

Hardly a Hammer Horror as it claims to be (but that's publicity for you !) this is an entertaining little film with an unusual and interesting role for Peter Cushing - a diversion ; rather like his role in CASH ON DEMAND.

Some fine scenery chewing by Patrick Allen as the Captain of the King's Men - and (as ever) wonderful support by Michael Ripper as the eccentric rogue Mr. Mipps the coffin maker.

An effective 'Boy's Own' style swashbuckler with some neat little touches in the camera ; Ollie Reed's unmistakable scarecrow, and the effective 'phantom' suits.

All in all an enjoyable romp - complete with a quick glimpse of a VERY young Kate O'Mara in one of the inn scenes...

SMUDGE

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/devil.gif[/img]

[DB7]

Devil Doll (1964)

Namechecking an earlier ventriloquist's dummy, Hugo is the centre of the Great Vorelli's hypnotic stage act but the relationship between ventriloquist and dummy is anything but cordial. A journalist endeavors to uncover the truth behind the awe-inspiring show but into the bargain his girlfriend falls under the Great Vorelli's spell.

Slightly lurid horror without enough substance to sustain a feature-length film.

[smudge]

Originally posted by DB7@Jun 4 2005, 12:04 PM Devil Doll (1964) Namechecking an earlier ventriloquist's dummy, Hugo is the centre of the Great Vorelli's hypnotic stage act but the relationship between ventriloquist and dummy is anything but cordial. A journalist endeavors to uncover the truth behind the awe-inspiring show but into the bargain his girlfriend falls under the Great Vorelli's spell. Slightly lurid horror without enough substance to sustain a feature-length film. <div align="right">Quoted post</div>

IIRC Bryant Halliday (the star of D DOLL) was an actor who mainly got his parts via actually financing films such as this and THE PROJECTED MAN. Certainly a character !

DEVIL DOLL was some time back used for an installment of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATRE 3000...apropos of nothing. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif[/img]

SMUDGE

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/devil.gif[/img]

[DB7]

Originally posted by smudge@Jun 4 2005, 01:08 PM IIRC Bryant Halliday (the star of D DOLL) was an actor who mainly got his parts via actually financing films such as this and THE PROJECTED MAN. Certainly a character !

Think Curse of Simba was another. Also noticed on imdb that Sidney Furie was an uncredited director.

[DB7]

Island of Terror (1966)

Scientists Peter Cushing and Edward Judd fight the bone-eating silicates on a remote island.

It's cliched; they leave the emergency launch on the mainland and the island's
generator is on the blink, and the pesky siicates look like alien extras from Dr Who, but this is fun hokum from Terence Fisher during a brief sojourn from Hammer.


My Summer of Love (2004)

Set in Yorkshire, two girls both touched by tragedy, one an orphan the other from a dysfunctional family, fall in love one summer. Thrown into the mix is one of the girls brothers, a born-again Christian after a spell in prison - and who has erected a cross overlooking the valley and vowed to purge the community of evil.

This BBC production is an intelligent and picturesque English rites-of-passage story featuring strong performances from the two female leads and the typical potential menace of Paddy Considine on hand.

[Tony Pendrey]

Churchill - The Hollywood Years

British made comedy from the generally reliable Peter Richardson. The cast reads like a who's who of current British comedy stars and actors, and some from the past too. Problem is nobody gave any of them anything funny to say or do.

It defies bloody belief ! Didn't any of the dumb twats have the nerve to stick up their hand and say "excuse me me Sir, but I ain't got nuffin funny to say". Presumably that would have meant being sent out of the studio with no moola.

So the whole purpose seems to have been just to have their monickers on the blurb.

Some of the attempts at comedy are frankly embarassing. The "funniest" thing Rik Mayal did was fall off a quay into the harbour. How I laughed !!

The extras included a rib-tickling compilation of 4 examples of "corpsing". About 30 seconds worth in total.

A complete waste of 2 hours of my life.

No wonder my local video hire shop is going down the pan.

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/no.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/no.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/no.gif[/img]

[DB7]

Hardware (1990)

In an apocalyptic future, a zone trooper returns to his girlfriends flat with the remnants of what he believes to be a harmless service droid. In fact the Mark 13 is an abandoned government killing machine designed to control the population in a fascist state. The Mark 13 is currently in pieces but little do the flat dwellers realise it has the ability to self-repair and recharge its own power cells - and soon the troopers girlfriend has to confront a metallic killing machine roaming the flat.

Hardware is one of the UK's better forays into sci-fi in recent years although it borrows heavily from Bladerunner, The Terminator and the strong female figure of Alien. The film recouped its money 4x over but a sequel ran into legal trouble when the films likeness to a 2000AD comic story was uncovered.

[sitom]

Time Without Pity (1957)

A terrific Joseph Losey film with two excellent performances from Michael Redgrave and Leo McKern with the lovely Ann Todd as McKern's wife. Michael Redgrave was nominated for a BAFTA Best Actor award that year and it's easy to see why. Very effective and beautifully filmed. Highly enjoyable!

[smudge]

DULCIMA (1971)

Courtesy of OLLIE....cheers Mate ! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/clapping.gif[/img]

One of the handful of films made at Elstree during Bryan Forbes' brief tenure as Studio Manager in the early 70s. This was a film that I'd read about YEARS ago and on a number of other occasions thereafter, so I have been curious to see it for a very long time...

A strange little film with a rather morally dubious (IMHO) heroine ; the story and the film both seem fairly light in tone for the majority of its running time, but then things take a significantly more dramatic turn.

A rather slight plot and suffering somewhat from a sometimes all too intrusive score by Johnny Douglas (overscoring being a notable similarity to other films of the time, I feel.)

Reasonable performances by Sir John Mills and Carol White, but I've never taken to Stuart Wilson yet. Very much reminded me of TRIPLE ECHO eventually...

Glad to say I've seen it and wouldn't put anybody off discovering it for themselves.

Nice locations round Stroud, too ! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup.gif[/img]

SMUDGE

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/devil.gif[/img]

[Jennie_Kermode]

'Chopper Chicks in Zombie Town'.

Okay, I know it's not a British movie, but it is lots of fun. A low budget movie which really knows its stuff. It's also refreshing in its blunt and unpatronising portrayal of disabled people; Troma were always good at turning offensive stereotypes on their heads.

This afternoon, I reviewed 'Undertow', another US film. Nothing special, but interesting in some aspects, especially in its portrayal of a young boy whose primary experiences of the world come through smell and taste (so that he makes himself ill by eating all sorts of disgusting things he finds). It's unfortunate that I'm unable to take the title of this film seriously - I always think of the undertoad in John Irving's 'The World According to Garp'.

Jennie