mysteriesofedgarwallace

Nice one, Harby.
I keep meaning to get round to getting some of these.
Hedley, and especially Carson, are always good to watch.

Rob Compton

"The Man who Knew Too Much" (1934). Early Hitchcock - a number of Hitchcockian touches, but a little wayward in acting and construction. Seemed to have slightly "slow" feel, even bearing in mind the times in which it was made. Edna Best, particularly, had a manneristic approach to acting that seemed to have been honed in silent days. Seeing a young Nova Pilbeam was interesting, though.

Overall, some good performances: Leslie Banks is always worth watching, and Peter Lorre was perfecting his slimy character, but I was a little disappointed, even with the Hitchcock "set piece" scenes like at the Albert Hall. The pacing was wrong, somehow.

rgds
Rob

arty-dave

Today I watched Time after Time (thanks Terry - superb transfer quality) [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup.gif[/img]

Iain1962

Hi there.

For me there were two distinct cycles of science fiction filmmaking in the UK. The first was kicked off with Hammer's Quatermass Xperiment and ended (probably) with First Man into Space and Behemoth. The second began with MGM's Village of the Damned and for me ended with Alan Bridges' Invasion.

The first wave included titles like:

Satellite in Space
X the Unknown
The Gamma People
Timeslip
The Abominable Snowman
Quatermass 2
Escapement
Fiend without a Face
Man without a Body
The Strange World of Planet X
The First Man into Space
The Trollenberg Terror
Behemoth the Sea Monster

The second cycle included

The Damned/These Are the Damned
Children of the Damned
Unearthly Stranger
The Earth Dies Screaming
The Night Caller
Invasion

That last lot I've grouped together because they are thematically connected and filmed in black and white. There were other notable titles in the first half of the decade including Val Guest's wonderful The Day the Earth Caught Fire, The Day of the Triffids, The Mind Benders, Curse of the Fly and First Men in the Moon. I was going to include The Brain Machine in the first list but this appears to have even less sci-fi content than Timeslip.

Cheers.

Iain

Ascoyne D'Ascoyne

In anticipation of the broadcast on Channel4 this week I watched my copy of "The Smallest show on Earth."
One scene brought back memories of the stampede for the exit at the end of the evening with those trapped behind feeling honour-bound to stand to attention for the playing of the National Anthem. How times change!
Ironically, "The Smallest Show on Earth" really springs to life on the entrance of the old codgers, Rutherford, Sellers and Miles. What struck me on this viewing was how much Sellers' "Percy Quill" resembled Dick Emery's later creation "Lampwick." [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]

Harbottle

Another Edgar Wallace Mystery Clue of the New Pin (1960) starring Paul Daneman, Bernard Archard and James Villiers. Most entertaining it was too, well acted and a nice puzzle [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/clapping.gif[/img]

DB7

A Prize of Arms and Hell is a City. Terrific Stanley Baker double-bill.

smudge

A mixed bag....(mostly courtesy of Sippog [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/clapping.gif[/img] )

THE GREENGAGE SUMMER : Lewis Gilbert's rendering of Rumer Godden's story of innocence and betrayal, starring the beautiful young Susannah York, exquisitely photographed by Freddie Young. I hadn't seen this in a good few years and was surprised by Kenneth More's playing ; nowhere nearly so 'stolid' as usual and one of his better performances..

THE POT CARRIERS : Peter Graham Scott's straightforward prison drama, remarkable for strong performances by Ronnie Fraser as Redband and an unusually animated performance from Paul Massie. Nice support from Davy kaye, too.

THE LOOKING GLASS WAR ; What (I assume) must be a very boiled down adaptation of a John Le Carre work. Suffers terribly from miscasting of the leading man, and the slowly-evolved intrigue doesn't seem to amount to much in the end, apart from demonstrating the futility of the Cold War and letting Anthony Hopkins kick over the tea table...

ONE WAY PENDULUM : A surreal and black comedy satire on the legal system directed by Peter (BULLITT) Yates. It may have seemed funny at the time, and some of the satire is still valid now, yet it seems incredibly ponderous, meandering and pointless in the main. Terrible waste of Eric Sykes' talents. Also featuring Jonathan Miller as a proto-Mr. Bean.

SMUDGE

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

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

arty-dave

I like the way he tucks into his egg sandwich in the kitchen [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/happy.gif[/img]

Rob Compton

Not British, but a Christmas DVD from one of my daughters..... Laurel and Hardy in "Way out West" [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rotfl.gif[/img]

Just full of priceless moments:

The long running gag with Ollie finding the deepest part of the river
Trying to break into the upper floor of the saloon, and ending up with the mule upstairs and the boys still down there
Stan's "lighter" gag with his thumb
The episode on the bed with the floozy retrieving the deeds!

And...of course the soft shoe shuffle and The Trail of the Lonesome Pine [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/clapping.gif[/img]

Just wonderful
Rob

Ascoyne D'Ascoyne

But the way Dennis Price swallows a raw egg makes my gorge rise! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sick.gif[/img]

arty-dave

That's right - I did think about that whilst typing my post [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup.gif[/img]

DB7

The Asphyx

Robert Stephens and Robert Powell conduct experiments into the secret of immortality in Victorian England.

Third Man

Dear Murderer (1947), with Eric Portman, Greta Gynt and Dennis Price.

Nice little Brit noir, very enjoyable performances especially from Gynt.

mysteriesofedgarwallace

Nice one!
Don't forget Hazel Court [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif[/img]