thirdlady

I agree with you there!

I found mock of the week much funnier than saxondale because when I was watching saxondale I got bored 15 minutes into the show I just muted the tv and put a dvd in the PC and watched that instead it was Withnail & I (1987)

A.S.Carroll
"Happiness isn't sold in bottles you have to achieve it in your own lifetime!"

batman

The Blue Lamp - gets better every time I watch it.

Bats.

"Boom boom a baby .... Banham Zoo .... Banana pants! Hahahaha"

Aaryk Noctivagus

'Night of the Eagle' Wow, a real nail biter... fantastic suspense before the climactic sequence... however, it seemed to lose all its bite during the climax when things were seen rather than unseen. Very good climax but the suspense vanished like a shot, and with it, the power of the movie.

Certainly a superior movie of its genre. One of the best Horror movies I've ever seen. Most thrilling scene being when sounds come at the door and that wonderful sound effect.

Fareham_Bee

Saw a great documentary on BBC4 last night. Just came across it whilst channel hopping through the rubbish and desperately waiting for the last episode of The Shield.
Winged Migration, Took three years of filming birds on all four continents. Not much in the shape of voiceovers, just the odd line and then let the fantastic photography do it's stuff to amaze.
Then the Shield of course. Why is this programme hidden away and not advertised?

ChristineCB

FB, we've been getting that, as well. The lack of narration gave me moments of asking, "Where is that? Why doesn't he talk more?" but after I got into it, I really enjoyed the almost total lack of anything more than Intro Notes. How in the WORLD did they get so many incredibly tight close-ups? I mean, they can't ALL be filmed from goose-painted hang-gliders!!

The lenses they must use are fantastic because even distant - miles and miles away backdrops - are sharp as well.

penfold

The technique used most often now is to have miniature cameras attached to radio-controlled model aircraft, rigged to look like the bird in question.....

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

Joe Fraguela

As there wasn't much on the box last night and The British Films Forever Season (War Films) isn't my cup of tea. I watched the following films:-

One of the best films Hammer made, The Devil Rides Out (1967) Christopher Lee is brilliant in this film. Very good performances also, from Charles Gray and Sarah Lawson.

Following that I watched Bitter Harvest (1963) starring Janet Munro, John Stride, Alan Badel and a whole host of other familiar brits. Janet Munro is brilliant in this film and is one of the best films she ever made.

The last film was A Nice Girl Like Me (1969) starring Barbara Ferris, Harry Andrews, James Villiers and Gladys George. It's both a funny and touching film. Some lovely film locations and a brilliant title song sung by Vikki Carr.

Steve Crook

The Queen, as shown on ITV.
Damn, that was a great film with some amazing performances.

Dame Helen was superb. That Oscar and the other plaudits were well deserved as were the awards for the film as a whole. Quite often I forgot it was Helen I was watching, she just seemed to totally inhabit the role.

Sylvia Syms as the Queen Mum made me laugh, she played it perfectly. Michael Sheen as Tony Blair had just the right mix of the nervousness of the new boy in the job and slightly smarmy confidence that he always exudes.

As for the film itself, a great job all round. The subject meant that they had to (or were able to) include a lot of real footage of the crowds and the news channels. That probably cut the costs quite a bit.

smudge

Earl Cameron as the artist at the start of the picture: then in his late 80s, now 90 and still working

The film was ITV derived, so they should have got the newcast sequences fairly cheap (if not gratis) for the most part except, of course, those from Auntie.

Must agree - excellent film and, as you say Steve, you totally forgot you were watching Mirren...

Smudge

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

Steve Crook

Probably best known to most here as "Johnny" in Pool of London (1951)
Great to see him

Steve

Wolfgang

Mirren really is brilliant in it, isn't she? I liked its depiction of Tony Blair too - it is almost surreal to think about how he has gone from being able to so brilliantly gauge public mood to being so completely out of touch. I did wonder how accurate its portrayal of private moments were: Was Blair really anti-Diana? Did Campbell really think she had been done away with? Does Cherie really regard them as freeloaders? But more than anything thanks to Helen Mirren's frequent and generous nudity we can now envisage The Queen naked!

batman

Earl was also excellent as the victim's brother in Sapphire. Good actor.

Bats.

"Boom boom a baby .... Banham Zoo .... Banana pants! Hahahaha"

Steve Crook

I'm not sure I want to envisage the Queen naked - or any other 80+ year old person. There are some things that should remain a mystery.

AIUI the portrayals were quite accurate.
Cherie was much more left wing and anti-monarchy than Tony ever was
Blair really did understand the Queen's job and thought she did it well.
Blair was never out of touch - he just thought he could get away with it
As for Campbell, sliviest of the slivy toves <shudder>
He just knew what a sneaky, conniving, backstabbing person he was and he thought everyone else was (or could be) as well

Steve

Joe Fraguela

Before, settling down to enjoy the Arena documentary on the Other Side of British Cinema (1940's & 1950's). I watched the 1961 film Flame In The Streets with John Mills, Sylvia Syms, Brenda De Banzie, Johnny Sekka, Earl Cameron, Ann Lynn & Wilfred Brambell. Some excellent performances in this film.

dremble wedge

BURKE AND HARE (1972) Directed by Vernon Sewell

A low budget, semi-comic take on the Edinburgh murderers with lots of familiar faces from 70s TV shows (Glynn Edwards, Yootha Joyce, Francoise Pascal) and a great turn from Harry Andrews as Dr Knox.

Derren Nesbitt has a variable Irish accent as Burke and to fill out proceedings there's a superfluous subplot set in a brothel!

If you can get over the truly awful theme song it's a lot of fun with a fruity script that sticks surprisingly close to the facts. I preferred it to any other version I've seen so far.