ChristineCB

Thanks for these reviews. And I'm glad YOU got to 'enjoy' London Suite rather than me.



Sometimes I just get lucky... I sort of feel like Saturn as it watched Shoemaker-Levy hit Jupiter. "whew - better you than me - !"

smudge

Well Christine - you had to send them somewhere.... Just next time, DON'T send them here, eh ?

Actually there was some enjoyment in it for me - the briefest location shoot in Holland Park ; one of my favourite green corners in London. If you ever get there, don't miss the tortoise sundial. (It has free roaming peacocks too - can't be bad !)

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ChristineCB

I think I remember the tortoise sundial. I certainly remember the peacocks. "Gee - what's that pie-sized white splat, Mommy?" just as Dad looks up into the tree overhead... oh well.

smudge

Pop got off lightly then ! The peacocks at Portmeirion were sold off after allegedly doing a great deal of damage to visitors bright, shiny cars.

Such a shame, as there was nothing like waking up in the village to the wonderful sound that they make. I recall opening the curtains one morning to come face-to-face with a beautiful pure ivory peacock nestled on our balcony.

It doesn't get much better than that.... :

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LEFT, RIGHT and CENTRE (1959) Launder and Gilliat's light political satire with Ian Carmichael and Patricia Bredin. Nowhere near as biting as the soon to come Boulting Brother films, LR&C is basically lifted from the reliable yet uninspired performances of the lead characters (Carmichael and Bredin) and run away with by the character actor supporting players.

These are Richard Wattis and the great Eric Barker as the respective political agents, in this film where it is shown that romance and politics should never mix. Add to this Alistair Sim (in a relatively small role as Lord Wilcot) and Gordon Harker as his chauffeur-cum-general factotum, and you can see that the two 'leads' had a pretty unenviable task, Never mind Hattie Jacques in a marvellous 'Brummie' cameo !

The basic plot - of political rivals who fall in love - is pretty inconsequential, with the best bits being the Machiavellian machinations of Barker and Wattis as the men who pull the strings.

The railway scenes were filmed in Windsor and Sim's ancestral seat is actually Ham House, in Richmond.

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DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1971) - Sean Connery returns as the pudgy 007. One can only assume that the producers were somewhat jaded after long negotiations in trying to get Connery back, as this film seems more than a little 'tired'. To put it into the context where OHMSS had just been the one-shot Bond of George Lazenby, this one doesn't grab me as the spectacular which was going to bring the masses teeming back into the cinema.

Firstly, Connery no longer looks like a smooth action hero - he is carrying a few extra pounds and these don't even seem to have been disguised by his tailoring.

Next is the plot - pretty basic as meglomanical ideas come, and not really explained until rather late into the film. The opening idea of the chain of murders is not really much to get excited about.

Wint and Kidd are too ridiculous and they seem to usher in the comedy leanings of the Roger Moore era. Why, at the end of the film, would they come chasing after Bond ? One assumes that they were merely hired killers, given the context in which they operated earlier, so what motivation would they have for avenging Blofeld's apparent death and/or the foiling of the plot ?

Lastly - and getting back to the tired air of the film - sloppy production values. The obvious one being the terrible continuity with the Mustang in the alleyway. Also, why accept a shot within the Moonbuggy chase where the wheel of said buggy rather obviously rolls past ?

Looks to me like everybody took their example from Connery and just did it for the money...

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Lord Brett

Funnily enough, Diamonds are Forever is one of my favourite Bonds, despite its flaws.

On the negative side, Connery should really have tried to get into shape and have trimmed his eyebrows, while the production is the first of the Bonds since Dr.No to reflect a budget somewhat smaller than the films ambitions. This was to have a negative effect on the next couple of Bond movies, as Diamonds was a big hit, causing United Artists to spend as little as they could get away with on the following two to maximise profits on their cash cow.

On the plus side, Connery seems really engaged with the part again after strolling through You Only Live Twice and, to a lesser extent, Thunderball. Also, the screenplay is littered with witty lines, particularly Bond and Blofeld's dialogue.

Back onto the subject of what I watched last night, I went to a screening of Sean Connery's 1968 western Shalako, part of Bradford Film Festival's Widescreen Weekend. One of the last of big-budget westerns to betray no influence of the Italian westerns, it still stands up quite well, and was followed by a talk with the film's producer, Euan Lloyd.

Amazingly, he said that he had trouble convincing studio bosses and financiers to go with Connery in the lead, as they thought he had no future after Bond.

Fellwanderer

Goodbye, Mr Chips - Robert Donat version, of course!

One of that very small number of films which give you a warm glow just thinking about it.

All the best
FELL

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ChristineCB

This film's construction and my ability to segment it is one aspect I enjoy. I can watch that whole "First days at school" segment, or the "Vacation & Returns With Wife" segment. Or his 'comeback' as war begins and he's master of the school during those years. And of course the tearjerking segment, which I hardly ever 'need' to watch.

I've never tolerated the Peter O'Toole version enough to allow such studies into it. I don't hate it but perhaps I assign too much value to O'Toole to allot him the "everyman" qualities that I give Donat's portrayal. Maybe I'm thinking those kids are foolish to pick on O'Toole - they should see him in Arab gear, darkly tanned and sanded up, with those blue eyes. And they wouldn't DARE tie his robe-arms together - after all, he likes killing. Too much.

Nick Dando

Problems with the incontinence wear again?

Nick

smudge

Very good Nick !

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Fellwanderer

Sorry - I'll get it cleared up!

All the best
FELL

A signature is no substitute for a life

smudge

A CLASS APART - The BBC's feature length drama featuring the welcome return of George Cole...

Aunty re-visits THE GUINEA PIG, exploiting every stereotype and dramatic cliche along the way. Eastenders Jessie Wallace just reprised her shouting soap character and there was very little for George Cole to actually do. It was nice, however, to see a return to our screens for Mary Tamm as well, albeit fleetingly.

The only positive thing I can say for the production is that at least it didn't tie up the loose ends in a rather obvious fairytale ending ; life did indeed go on along separate paths at the finale. The most interesting theme it explored was that of the posessive mother's having to let go if the child was to achieve anything.

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THE GIRL IN THE HEADLINES - Ian Hendry heads a very good cast in this 60s detective thriller. Backed up by Ronald Fraser (in a great teaming) he resolutely tries to resolve the cryptic killing of a young girl, which swiftly leads him to a highly organised (and original) drugs smuggling ring.

Directed by Michael Truman, the atmosphere and style of this film reminded me very much of Losey's BLIND DATE, with some very nice touches such as James Villiers' death in the 'men only' club. As I implied earlier, this ring has a very ingenious and original way of smuggling their drugs too.

Add to this some great support from actors such as Peter Arne and the young Jeremy Brett and all in all you have a very watchable little thriller. Good to see Hendry on top of his game, before the drink started to bite...

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WORK IS A FOUR LETTER WORD - I couldn't really work out what this film was trying to be - neither could the director (Sir) Peter Hall, I suspect.

As I sat down for the evening's viewing, I first thought he was setting this up to be a satire on corporations, industrialisation and automation. But after a start in this vein (David Waller's slavish enthusiasm for mechanisation, the empty promises of urbam redevelopment, etc.) in swings David Warner as the work-shy 'hero' obsessed by growing his hallucogenic mushrooms.

From here on in Warner's character dominates the plot, and the mushrooms dominate his life. The finale, with it's orgy of mushroom eating and mutterings amongst the assembled cast, very much betrays the theatrical roots of the work and is somewhat in the vein of those 'love-in' type pieces such as HAIR and so on.

Very much a period piece, and obviously jumping on the 'groovy' band wagon at the time, this is probably now most memorable for featuring a pre-nose job Cilla Black as Warner's fiancee/bride.

What a waste of cinematographer Gil Taylor's talents. IMdB says Alfred Marks walked off the production in rehearsals - good call, I think. Peter Hall should have stayed in the theatre in '68 as he had no feel whatsoever for whatever there was to be made out of this material....

Perhaps it was meant to be a satire on the fickleness of the psychedelic generation at the end, as Valentine walks off into the outside world, declaring himself to be bored with mushrooms now ?

Only for completist collectors of 60s movies, I think.

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ChristineCB

PRISONER OF ZENDA... after waiting an extraordinary 4 weeks since it's release date, I was happy to get this set containing the 1937 Ronald Colman version. (And cough cough, also the 1952 Stewart Granger version.)

I'm too much of a fan of Ronald Colman to not enjoy his version. Terrific cast with little Davey Niven (I don't think he was with The Monkees at this point, but he was definitely part of the teen-idol set), Douglas Fairbanks Jr as a most sinister bad guy, Raymond Massey adding even more foreboding, and C. Aubrey Smith with that terrific presence. Stand him up in any scene, and he's got a Margaret-Rutherford-esque command of it.

Mary Astor hadn't fallen into the spell of Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet yet, but I imagine she was willing to settle for Ronald Colman, Fairbanks and Niven as her boy toys. "All in a day's work, deary..."

Great sword fights, great tension and SO MANY wonderful vocals - Ronald (ahhh!) Colman. C Aubrey Smith. Raymond Massey. Even Davey has the etchings of his famous voice.

This is definitely a film I can "listen to" and see everything. chink chink, lunge parry, chink chink...

As for the 1952 Stewart Granger version, this film proves that even a great cast can't ensure any degree of film magic: Deborah Kerr. Louis Calhern (one of my favorite 'Big Boss Bad Guys of film noir-dom, ASPHALT JUNGLE). James Mason.

But really only James Mason has The Voice for this picture.

Maybe Deborah Kerr was the problem. After all, in five more years, she was going to Hawaii (FROM HERE TO ETERNITY), have a another shot at a king (Yul Brynner) and end up with Cary Grant (albeit wheelchair bound).

Why should she be convinced of anything Stewart Granger would whisper to her? I could see why she'd be unconvincing in this role. If I was her, I'd be wishing they'd have stolen Ronald Colman off of his HALLS OF IVY radio series.

Does the 1937 version with so many voices simply overwhelm the 1952 version with vocal quantity?

Another weakness...I thought Stewart Granger was big enough to punch out most of his assailants, and instead, he's whisking about in leotards and rope-swinging displays. Good grief, man - make a fist and punch their lights out! What are you waiting for? Dick Tracy's watch won't be available for another 200 years!! Stop dinking around with foils and ripping someone's satin sleeves - punch 'em out!

smudge

Love it ! Concise, yet so very evocative...

Well buckle my swash !



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