DB7

Juno
Funny and heartwarming tale of teenage pregnancy with some great dry-wit lines and strong performances all round.

Joe Fraguela

Last night I watched the following:-

The Bank Raiders from 1958 starring Sydney Tafler, Peter Reynolds, Sandra Dorne, Lloyd Lamble, Arthur Mullard, Rose HIll, Tim Elison, Ann King and Robert Bruce. Peter Reynolds plays Terry Milligan who gets mixed up with crooks Bernie Shelton played by Sydney Tafler and Linders played by Arthur Mullard. Not a bad film.

Following on was The Embezzler from 1954 starring Charles Victor, Zena Marshall, Peggy Mount, Cyril Chamberlain, Michael Craig, Avice Landone, Leslie Weston, Frank Forsyth and Sam Kydd. Charles Victor plays Henry Paulson a bank cashier with a nagging wife who yearns for a peaceful life abroad without his wife.

batman

Alfred Burke in Public Eye. Marker on the trail of a blackmailer. Another superb piece of dram with excellent performances from Burke, Donald Houston and the gorgeous Petra Markham. That's the 72/73 series accounted for .. roll on the next set.

I followed that with the first episode of the cliffhanger serial Spy Smasher. Marvellous escapism.

Daddy .... the frisbee has gone in the water .... what a finger puppet drama queen I am!

CaptainWaggett

Is that the one where you think they've had abortions but they've actually had babies adopted? Or something.

I watched Daughter of Darkness which Bats will be familiar with. I'm not sure 1940s Gothic is really for me but it was nice to see Anne Crawford in a fairly sympathetic role for once.

batman

It do be the one ..... Daughter of Darkness is a fine film. Another gem from Lance Comfort.

Daddy .... the frisbee has gone in the water .... what a finger puppet drama queen I am!

stevie boy

I have never heard of Lance, I will have to take a look

dremble wedge

Just watched St Ives which was hidden away on BBC 2 under the title All for Love.

Based on a Robert Louis Stevenson story it stars the excellent Jean Marc Barr as a French POW in Scotland during the Napoleonic Wars who starts courting local beauty Anna Friel in between battling with his evil brother Jason Isaacs.

I'd never heard of it but it was great fun, with a little of the tone of Richard Lester's 70s swashbucklers.

Richard E Grant and Miranda Richardson provided marvellous comic support and I'm glad I taped it 'cos I think I may watch it again!

Freddy

Harnessing Peacocks

Fortunately paid only 50 p for this awful video. Serena Scot Thomas plays a prostitute who sends her son to Public school, she doesnt know who the father is, a masked ball (pardon the pun) in Italy and all she can remember was he smelled of a special coffee. They find each other again.


Freddy

"What I owe you Colonel Lawrence, is beyond evaluation."

A Pemberton

Satans Slaves 1976


Very graphic seventies horror with few redeeming qualities,not even
stalwart Michael Gough can save,Seventies horror can have a tongue-in-cheek
quality viewing now.(ie keep an eye out for women carrying nail files/over the top car accidents)
but its just not enough to rate the film
Watch Horror Hospital, its much better at this kind of thing.

batman

An episode from the first series of Public Eye (an extra on one of the box sets) titled 'Who Killed Santa Claus'. Marker is hired to be a bodyguard for under threat businessman Keith Baxter. The plot thickens into marital infidelity and blackmail. Great stuff, as usual. Highly recommended.

Daddy .... the frisbee has gone in the water .... what a finger puppet drama queen I am!

Joe Fraguela

Last night I watched a double bill consisting of Wide Boy from 1952, released by Anglo Amalgamated and starring Sydney Tafler, Susan Shaw, Ronald Howard, Melissa Stribling, Colin Tapley, Martin Benson, Gerald Case and Glyn Houston. Sydney Tafler plays Benny, a small time Wide Boy, going out with Molly played by Susan Shaw. Benny sees a chance to do a spot of blackmailing with devastating results.

Following on was Hidden Homicide from 1958 starring Griffith Jones, Patricia Laffan, James Kenney, Bruce Seton, Charles Farrell, Maya Koumani, Danny Green, Robert Raglan and Richard Shaw. Griffith Jones plays Michael Cornforth who has been framed for the murder of his cousin. He sets out to find the real murderer and the real motive. He is assisted in his search by Jean Gibson played by Patricia Laffan. An enjoyable mystery film.

smudge

MR. BEAN'S HOLIDAY - Another outing for Rowan Atkinson as the hapless hero, Mr. Bean. The film succeeds as there is some semblance of plot on which to hang Mr. Bean's many mishaps. This one has some marvellous set pieces - the busking and the night driving sequence to name but two. Willem Dafoe is ready to send himself (and Hollywood!) up - the film is good fun all round and only falls a little short of the mark set by the first cinema outing for Bean...

Smudge

Welcome to my house. Enter freely, and of your own will...

bertie

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT - the Daily Mail freebee.

I saw the original many years ago and wasn't expecting much of the 1979 remake but was pleasantly suprised. In all honesty I didn't know it had been remade until it appeared in the Daily Mail collection - Richard Thomas, Ernest Borgnine and a host of British actors headed by Ian Holm together with terrific location filming made this a real find.

Joe Fraguela

Last night I watched the following:-

Cosh Boy from 1952 starring James Kenney, Joan Collins, Robert Ayres, Betty Ann Davies, Hermione Baddeley, Hermione Gingold, Nancy Roberts, Laurence Naismith, Ian Whittaker, Stanley Escane, Michael McKeag, Sean Lynch, Edwards Evans, Sid James and Johnny Briggs. Filmed at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. It tells the story of Roy Walsh played by James Kenney, a juvenile delinquet who is the leader of a gang who rob and cosh old ladies. Soon Roy moves onto more serious crimes. Good use of London location filming. Some amusing performances from Hermione Baddeley and Hermione Gingold.

Following next was The Straw Man from 1953 starring Dermot Walsh, Lana Morris, Clifford Evans, Amy Dalby, Philip Saville, Josephine Stuart, Ronald Ward and Peter Williams. Link Hunter played by Philip Saville is charged with the murder of an ex-girlfriend and awaiting the death sentence. Link Hunter has a large life insurance policy in place and the insurance company are not entirely happy so they ask there chief investigator Jeff Howard played by Clifford Evans to investigate the murder. Nice entertaining crime b-thriller.

Lastly was The Flaw from 1954 starring John Bentley, Rona Anderson, Donald Houston, Tonia Bern, Vera McKechnie, J Trevor Davies and Doris Yorke. John Bentley plays Paul Oliveri a professional race car driver who marries a rich young woman Monica played by Rona Anderson, he's really after her money and plans to murder her. The film was directed by Terence Fisher.

penfold

Christina; A Mediaeval Life.... Part of BBC4's medieval season, another brilliant history documentary brought to life by Michael Wood.... on BBC iplayer for a few days yet, and utterly recommended....

Bit of a Bay Window, what??