smudge

From the disasters he had in the film, he'd undoubtedly mixed crossply with radials ! :

SMUDGE

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smudge

TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER - Rewatched (out of curiosity) Peter Sykes' misconceived mish-mash of this slice of Dennis Wheatley hokum ; Hammer's last gasp in horror as they tried to get in step with the prevailing trends of the 70s.

An unengaging movie and Richard Widmark is terribly mis-cast in the lead role. It is impossible to have any sympathy with any of the leading characters as they are all truly one-dimensional. Not even the usually reliable Christopher Wicking could save this script !

Add to this an abortion (literally) of a special effect - which looks as though it was later loaned out to IMSEMINOID - and one of the dullest 'confrontation' endings ever, and you cannot avoid wondering how this project even got off the ground. A sad ending of a great studio's traditional output...

SMUDGE

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penfold

You're too kind....I'm not entirely sure whether Hot Fuzz will be your cup of tea precisely...have you seen the same teams' Shaun of The Dead....it might give you some idea of its humour....mind you, you're such an anglophile you should know our weird sense of humour by now....

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

smudge

KINKY BOOTS - this is the third time in a relatively short period that I have watched this film and it still picked me up and ran away with me. I never intended to watch, I was just dubbing it across from the hard drive.

It's obviously difficult to resist this modern fairytale with its wry look at life for two outsiders struggling to survive in worlds where they don't really fit in. But it's not all fairytale (although there are some nice little 'classic' touches here and there) and it doesn't always go the way the main characters would wish.

Chiwetel Ojiofor is just stunning as Lola a sterling turn from Joel Edgerton, ably assisted in support from Nick Frost and Sarah Jane Potts make this one (for me) something different from that 'Full Monty' feelgood factor. Wonderful use of red throughout the film too. Darned good.

SMUDGE

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penfold

Sir Henry at Rawlinson End.......filling a gap in my education, I've been a fan of Viv and the Bonzos for Donkey's Years, but never got the chance to see the film....started with some trepidation with stories of opaque obscurity and lack of plot, but forget all that...it's coherently incoherent and quite, quite wonderful....perhaps it's my silent film viewing that makes it readable to me, I don't know. Loved every moment, and watched it twice straight off.
One question for the assembled gathering; if you have the film on DVD or tape, could you have a look at the sequence at the Fool and Bladder during the afternoon sports on Blazing Day....a character, a knowall called Reg according to the commentary, ("Did you know there's no proper word for the back of the knee?")......he's nowhere credited, but isn't that Dennis Potter???? Sounds odd, but one of the other drinkers is apparently Laurence Durrell....

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

Steve Crook

The IMDb says that Reg Smeeton was played by Ian McDiarmid. There are some pictures of him on his IMDb page and he does have a bit of a look of Potter about him.

I thought the back of the knee was called the eenk

Steve

penfold

Ah!! Right as ever Steve....Cheers!!

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

theuofc

Hi, Mark,
You're right! I did learn the Brits' "wierd sense of humour" when I lived in the UK. I have fond memories of spending many a weekend sitting with Brit friends viewing all their favourite comedy videos and discs. At first, I had to be nudged when to laugh. But I've caught on now!

Full report when I see Hot Fuzz.

All the best,

Barbara

bloodworm

This 1960 brit thriller has a strong cast and a simple plot. John Cummins, (Richard Todd) one of lifes failures buys a car he cannot afford to insure and needless to say it gets nicked..hence the plot....

At all costs, Cummings takes a trip into the car theft underworld and discovers the leader of the gang, Peter Sellars, to get his car back....

I was not convinced by Sellars in his first dramatic roll, i got the feeling he was trying tooo hard to be the Al Capone of London...Adam Faith should have stuck to singing and Carol White was far better in Poor Cow....Some of the most convincing stars for me were the Triumph motor bikes....

Not one of the best brit thrillers i have seen....

The one that gets away is always the biggest but not always the best !!

batman

based on a idea by ian (rebus) rankin this was an excellent way to spend 75mins. well written, directed and acted. a very rare piece of original quality drama .... in fact the only thing, apart from 'life on mars', worth watching on bbc this year!

batty

Jingle bells Batman smells ... I heard that at school Daddy.

BAT QUIZ 16 HAS JUST BEEN POSTED IN THE COMPETITION THREAD - 06/01/09

smudge

THE FALCON IN MEXICO -Tom Conway smoothes (rather than suaves as his brother did) the Falcon down Mexico way in this entertaining piece of RKO sleuthing. This struck me as almost a blueprint for the half-hour season of Patick McGoohan's DANGER MAN. Lots of cod accents and a great stooge in the little taxi driver (a la Warren Mitchell).Come to think of it, this story of a 'dead' painter who isn't is also vaguely reminiscent of the opener to MAN IN A SUITCASE too ! SMUDGE

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ChristineCB

I have no experience with THE FALCON films, nor the BULLDOG DRUMMONDs, but I've enjoyed finding BOSTON BLACKIE a bit. Fun little fluff pieces, not as good as my biased SHERLOCK-Basil Rathbone collection, but perhaps equaling Charlie Chan films.

Do you have any recommendations of which Falcon films to start with? This MEXICO one sounds interesting.

smudge

Hi Christine ! We had a couple pf FALCON films screened in 2005 : THE FALCON'S ADVENTURE and THE FALCON OUT WEST. The former got me interested, but the latter was a bit weaker, I felt.

Then over last Xmas/New Year BBC 2 showed half a dozen or so more - I am just getting round to watching them now. THE GAY FALCON, the opener of this 16 film series, is a must.

What I liked about the Falcon was that they started with George Sanders and when he tired of the role, moved on to his brother, Tom Conway taking up the mantle on the original Falcon's death. This obviously leads me to recommend THE FALCON'S BROTHER - the switchover story.

It's interesting (even in these little 'throwaway' films) to compare the performances. Sanders is (as ever) somewhat supercilious and snide, whereas Conway fits more comfortably in the smooth playboy role of the Falcon and is (IMHO) easier to watch.


I'd recommend them in order (see IMdB) if you can - I enjoyed Wendy Barrie's performance as support in the early films too.I've had an urge to revisit CHAN and MR. MOTO of late (as soon as my credit card can stand it) - particularly MOTO, as I have fond memories of late night screenings on BBC 2 when I was a lad.
As to Sherlock, have you seen the TV collection with Ronald Howard playing the great detective ? We used them as 'last thing before bedtime' screenings a while back and thoroughly enjoyed them ; again, fluffy but fun...SMUDGE

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ChristineCB

Thanks. I would not have considered Conway as a worthy successor to George, assuming he used his snide veneer as a key element of Falcon's persona. This definitely gives me something to look forward to. Thanks. (Just what we all need - more films to collect and watch...)

Of late, I've snagged quite a few of the Charlie Chan films (which is far from complete because so many of those works are available on DVD), and I've really enjoyed both Peter Lorre's MR MOTO and Karloff's MR WONG. These are really lightweight fun films.

I have not seen Howard's Sherlocks you mentioned. While I've liked many of the non-Rathbone ones, I must confess that I have never watching one of those a second time - not that they're bad or unpleasing, but when I think of Sherlock, I only think of Rathbone and Bruce's work.

Carmel

Hi Its your funeral was screened on saturday night or should i say early sunday morning and it was great first time i seen this film but i really enjoyed it How sad am i