batman

I can't believe it m'lord, something we don't both like .... The Baron is one of my favourite ITCs.

Having pain is the worst thing in the whole world!

scholes

And Sue LLoyd .........obviously

Lord Brett

There's just someting about Steve Forrest in that show - things certainly improve when Sue Loyd turns up, as part of a general revamp of the show (John Lleweyln Moxey might have some more insight into this) which was thought not to be working.

For me, Forrest needed to get a better tailor. That boring grew suit with no handkerchief pocket saw just so not swinging London!

mariocki

I really enjoy watching The Baron. Forrest wasn't a great lead but I thought the stories were of a consistently high standard. I'd certainly watch it ahead of The Champions which suffers from weak scripts at times and the Grade financial constraints are more evident than usual.

You crazy idiots - my name's McGill!

Steve Crook

I was just taking a break from work and switched on the TV while I was having a cup of coffee and a bite to eat, and Sailor of the King was on FilmFour. That's the 1953 version with Jeffrey Hunter, Michael Rennie & Wendy Hiller.

And I came to it just as Michael Rennie & Wendy Hiller were chatting on the train to London. I'd never noticed before but there's a lovely flutter to Wendy's voice. She is playing the part of quite a shy and inexperienced young lady. It's her first ever holiday, a week in London staying with her cousin. So she's understandably nervous. But she's lived in Portsmouth all her life and is a huge admirer of the Navy so when she's in the train compartment with this handsome naval officer (Rennie) and he starts to talk to her, she's understandably nervous - but willing to be "chatted up"

Steve

Steve Crook

What I did watch last night was This is England (2006) by Shane Meadows.
Oh dear. It was nearly interesting

There were a few good performances, and a lot of dire ones.
But mainly it was a case of "nothing much happened - twice". Or even more than twice.

There were a few noble efforts at gritty realism, but they didn't quite work.
There was the totally unrealistic concept of a skinhead gang, a nice skinhead gang, adopting a 12 year old, and the boy's mother letting them adopt him!

And then most of the gang suddenly changed to being racist thugs at the suggestion of "Combo" who is recently out of prison. Gosh, I never saw that coming

At one point Combo is explaining to Milky (the black lad in the gang) that he is an original skinhead from way back and that they all used to listen to West Indian music back them so he loves them all really. OK, that turns out to be a lie, but why didn't they bother trying to justify why he became a racist?

Most of the people involved haven't done any other work in film or TV (or not much), and I can see why

Steve

dpgmel

"Never Let Go" a film I can watch time and time again, an excellent lead performance from Richard Todd and taut direction from John Guillermin. IMHO a classic

batman

Candidate for Murder from the Edgar Wallace series. Michael Gough was the lead in this and he was most unconvincing. The plot itself was interesting but it seemed to lose it's way towards the end. Not one of the better entries. Prior to that an excellent episode of Special Branch with Derren Nesbitt called 'A Date with Leonidas'. Top notch telly!

Having pain is the worst thing in the whole world!

smudge

Just saw off THE INVISIBLES on BBC1. What a silly sign off!

Poor Jenny and Warren Clarke, having to put this on their CV. I suppose they had two endings in hand (in case of success) and we got the one to draw it to what I have to say must have been a merciful end...

Taken as a whole the series was rather a waste of some very good talent (front of camera, that is.)

Smudge

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

lupinpooter

Oh dear, I thoroughly enjoyed (well, perhaps "enjoyed" is the wrong word, but ...) this film (also liked Dead Man's Shoes). I was a teenager in the early 80s myself, and I well remember characters just like those in the "nice skinhead gang". Few of the kids who were into ska music were racist, although to the untrained eye they may have looked similar. My favourite ska band at the time - The Specials - had both black and white members, as did many other ska bands. Skinhead culture (ironically) drew heavily from Caribbean culture (as the This Is England soundtrack makes plain). So, as far as I'm concerned, the "nice skinhead gang" is not an unrealistic concept at all. I never had first hand experience of the NF type of skinhead (thankfully), but I can vouch for the realism of the others

I'm not saying the film is flawless - it is rather sentimental in my opinion - but I thought the performance of the young lad (Thomas Turgoose, if I remember correctly) was incredibly touching.

Steve Crook

It wasn't that the skinhead gang was nice that was unrealistic. I knew some like that as well, especially when two-tone started. It was that they'd adopt a 12 year old and that his Mum would let them - and then he'd be staying up all night at parties, drinking and smoking and going out with a 16 year old girl.

Yes, Thomas Turgoose was very good. One of the very few that were. Even some that had lots of acting experience, like Perry Benson (Meggy), gave the worst performance I've seen them give.

Steve

lupinpooter

Ah yes, I must agree with you about the lad's relationship with the older girl: that was implausible. Thomas Turgoose only looked about eight!

Windthrop

The Curse of the Fly - an odd mixture of a film with a good idea at the centre of it. It is clearly made over here but set in Canada and George Baker's accent is very variable. Don Sharp's direction lifts it considerably and there are some shock horror moments and a decent twist at the end. The low budget does show and some of the mutant make-up is weak.

Winner of'There Is Nothing Like A Dame' Quiz revealed

Harbottle

Avoided this like the plague I simply cannot abide Warren Clarke (a northern Ray Winstone *shudder*) and he seems to be in almost everything these days More New Tricks please BBC

Another episode of the rather excellent Mr Palfrey of Westmister for me, with a nice turn by Leslie Phillips.

Third Man

Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948) Norman Foster

This could be seen as a poor mans Night and the City and is really too different in tone to qualify as pure film noir but it has it's moments especially when Robert Newton puts his mug on screen for some grueling facial contortions and rather put-on OTT cockney accent, maybe for an American audience - who knows - but onto the story...

Burt Lancaster itinerant seaman jumps ship at London (not sure if this film was done on location, it looks very studio bound) and accidentally kills a barman and falls into Joan Fontaines life, from then on we have much pouting of faces and chasing around various sleezy London nighttime locations a few nefarious characters along the way including Newton who has a few tricks up his sleeve - penicillin and black market traders get involved in the proceedings as well but Orson Welles is nowhere to be seen. If anyone gets a chance to see this it's worth the bother at least once, I've always found Lancaster a very interesting actor and he did actually take on some very brave roles throughout his career, put this down in the not bad category but don't go out of your way.

Simon