smudge

This would (obviously) explain the somewhat abrupt start and the lack of Ollie Reed's character in the film...

Would love to see the original cut.

SMUDGE

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

penfold

Ooooh, me too....

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

ChristineCB

The DVD production is done at the cheapest levels, once again ensuring that no profiteering can ever occur because they won't market it, they won't advance it and they give the public no reason to invest in their peabrainedness. It's a shame that the story's vision was polluted by those types.

Of course, this is the only film in history that's suffered, right? wink wink nudge nudge

David Brent

You would think that a film starring Suzy Kendall, Harry H. Corbett, Ian Lavender, Liz Fraser, William Rushton, Diana Dors, Irene Handl and Jon Pertwee would have something going for it.
Sadly this was not the case with 'Adventures Of A Private Eye' (1974).
A ridiculous storyline with very few laughs. Seems to have been a production made on the cheap and is a complete waste of the acting talent on show.

Surprisingly the film had an 'Adults Only' rating yet the sex and nudity scenes are very tame by todays standards.

Dave.

DB7

Mystery Junction (courtesy of Stu)

Tidy little second feature whodunit set in a snowbound railway station waiting room. Gets a tad convoluted and I'm not sure about the comedy ending. This was the first director effort by Ealing graduate Michael McCarthy - he was dead 8 years later in his early 40s. Anyone know the cause at such an early age?

The_Late_Peter_Cook

ARABASQUE (at least, that's how I think it's spelt)

A comedy-thriller, starring Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren, which was made in London with an otherwise all-British cast. Enjoyable enough, but not as good as Stanley Donen's other 'sixties movies, CHARADE, BEDAZZLED and TWO FOR THE ROAD.

DB7

Interrupted Journey
On a train from London, Richard Todd has second thoughts about running away with his lover and in a moment of panic pulls the emergency chord. This, or so it at first appears, causes a train crash in which many are killed. Todd is later cleared of causing the crash but his relief is short-lived when the police discover his lover died from a gunshot would not due to the train pile-up. Effective thriller but Todd is somewhat stiff in the lead role and it's Tom Wall's BR investigator that steals many a scene.

Stoned
Brian Jones biopic. Sadly little time is given to the Stones and instead the majority of the film focuses on the friendship between Jones and builder Frank Thorogood (who would confess on his deathbed to having murdered the musician). Sadly there's little, if any, Stones OST, so I presume the band had little input into the film.

The_Late_Peter_Cook

THE TRIUMPH OF SHERLOCK HOLMES - Very scratchy print, but I enjoyed Wotner's laid-back Holmes and it was quite a faithful version of 'The Valley Of Fear'.

JamesM

I watched Cottage To Let (1941) on Film4. The first five minutes played without sound until a shot of a seemingly frustrated George Coles is aware of the technical problem which he resolves by angrily sounding a horn and hey presto, the soundtrack is begun to be heard.

Moor Larkin

Watched Eye of the Beholder (1999)

Wowsers! What was that all about?...................

I expect that when when Ewan is old and grey it will give him more satisfaction than

One thing's for sure.... next time I see it scheduled I'm going to watch it again..

[code]http://www.flickr.com/photos/29487363@N02/sets/72157606700675506/code]

Steve Crook

The Amazing Mrs Pritchard
BBC1, 9pm Tuesdays for the next few weeks

The story follows Mrs Ros Pritchard, a successful manager of a supermarket. When a couple of politicians make a spectacle of themselves outside her shop, Ros decides to stand for election herself, just to prove that she could do better. Her story grips the nation and eight weeks later no one is more surprised than Ros herself when she wins the General Election and becomes the next Prime Minister.

With Jane Horrocks taking the title role, how can it fail?

Steve

DB7

It's terrible isn't it? I watched it a few years back and thought it was some sort of homage to Hitch's Vertigo and that in the latter stages the fog would like and the plot become coherant. Nope.

I watched No Orchids for Miss Blandish.
The New York gangster underground is recreated at Twickenham and this violently graphic film (for the time) caused a fair old broohaha back in the 40s.

The_Late_Peter_Cook

Scott Of The Antartic

Fantastic movie, very atmospheric, with an haunting ending and a first rate cast.

Steve Crook

Has anyone else been watching this reality show type of thing on Channel 4?

A bunch of about 200 teenagers from some of the most disadvantaged areas of Birmingham, who have been in all sorts of trouble at school and with the law, that are generally failing at life, are given a chance via the ballet. It's organised by Youth at Risk and the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Youth at Risk is a branch office of the American organisation that specialises in designing innovative and challenging personal development programmes that have a proven track-record for getting to the very heart of youth disaffection and empowering society's most difficult and damaged youngsters to turn away from crime, drugs and anti-social behaviour and build a better future for themselves.

Youth at Risk is running the personal development side of things and BRB are training the youngsters in some basic ballet. Of course they'll never be as good as the stars of the ballet who have had a lifetime's training, and there was initially a high drop out rate, as was to be expected. But those that are left are the ones that have been impressed and inspired by the idea and they are being trained to take part in a performance of Romeo and Juliet - very appropriate given that many of the teenagers are gang members. A few of them got name roles like Friar Lawrence and the Nurse. The rest made up the corps de ballet for things like the big fight & ballroom scenes.

It's been a culture shock for the teenagers who thought that breakdancing, hip hop & rap was the height of sophistication. They've now seen just how much work ballet dancers put into their performances, how strong they have to be, how complex the music is and how dancing in ballet can actually tell a story. As well as some private performances to demonstrate some aspects of the ballet they have been taken to see a full performance & that knocked their socks off - well, many of them anyway.

But these are disadvantaged teenagers with severe attitude problems who don't take to instruction or committment well and who often have things like court appearances to deal with as well as their regular school or work. All their ballet work is being done at evenings and weekends.

At least they aren't trying to get the TV audience to vote for their favourites!
They do make it clear that it's not a competition, there are no prizes as such, just lots of hard work and committment for everyone, especially those that get a name role. There are no auditions that people can pass or fail. Everyone on the project can finish up on stage if they want to and if they work hard enough. Those that aren't very good dancers are just put towards the back of the crowd scenes :)

See Leaps and Bounds & Ballet Changed My Life: Ballet Hoo! from channel4.com for details about the TV programmes.

They've shown it on Channel 4 for the last few weeks, showing their progress & last night they had a special to show the final performance. Christina as the nurse, 15-year-old Shireenah as Lady Capulet and Andy as Friar Lawrence all gave superb performances. But the standout was Linden Walcott Burton who did a wonderfully menacing Tybalt, including two technically very difficult sword fights and the extended death scene.

See Birmingham Royal Ballet - Ballet Hoo! for details about the BRB end of things and the performance. And see High drama at Ballet Hoo! : Express & Star for a review of the final perfomance.

But remember this the next time someone dismisses troubled youths as worthless and incapable of doing anything. Given the right opportunity, support and encouragement, anyone can be capable of suprising you. If you missed it, and they repeat it sometime, do watch. It's inspiring.

Steve

smudge

SILVER DREAM RACER - David Essex in his 1980 role as a motorcycle obsessed mechanic who dreams of winning the World Championships. Watched it as I'd been talking about it to Ollie some weeks ago and wanted to revisit it.

Very much a thing of its time ; IIRC this was around the time Barry Sheene was on top of the world and the sport was very high profile. David Essex is, well, David Essex - there are no great performances here except for Clark Peters, who puts in a reasonable turn as fellow bike nut, Cider.

Probably most notable for being one of the last appearances of Harry H. Corbett - some what in the mode of his Inspector Bung character from CARRY ON SCREAMING, and not well used at all as the works foreman.

Only for the curious....

SMUDGE

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