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Flesh and Blood (1951) I was a bit disappointed with this episodic Anthony Kimmins film about two generations of the one family. The one uniting factor was the doctor played by André Morell but he seemed to standing at the back of the furniture all the time. The one interesting episode had Joan Greenwood molesting the staff but the story rambled into a disjointed conclusion with unconvincing doctor played by a nubile Richard Todd assisted by the thyroidal Glynis Johns.
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UNMAN, WITTERING & ZIGO has always held appeal for me. I first saw this 1971 psychological mystery thriller about the time of its release and must have seen it at least four times since. Based on a 1958 play by Anglo/Irish writer Giles Cooper it tells of a first time teacher John Ebony (David Hemmings) appointed to an isolated private boarding school to replace a recently deceased master. He discovers that the said master a Mr Pelham fell from the nearby cliffs to his death. Ebony begins to suspect murder due to the suspicious nature of several of his pupils. He takes his suspicions and a wallet belonging to the dead master to the headmaster (Douglas Hilmer) who dismisses his allegations as fanciful. One of the boys Cloistermouth (Nicholas Hoye) then confesses to the murder of Pelham and tells Ebony if he does not keep it hush hush the same fate will befall him. This is when this expertly crafted film transfers from a mild mystery to a full blown menacing one as the suspence builds to the explosive climax when the boys attempt to gang rape his wife Sylvia (Carolyn Seymour who I have to say is a spit for American actress Meg Tilly) and make plans to kill Ebony. Without spoiling the ending..a most unlikely suspect is the killer. I thoroughly recommend this excellent film. Should go down as a classic of its genre. Who feels as I do about this film?Comment
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Last week's BBC 1980 Horror Season was an American double bill: The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) - giant lizard terrorises New York! - and Night of the Lepus (1972) - giant rabbits terrorise Arizona! This week's started with The Bat (1959) - giant flittermouse terrorises Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead! -
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Legend of the Werewolf (1975). Tyburn's low budget take on the lycanthropy yarn written by John Elder and directed by Freddie Francis adds little new and it's a pretty threadbare affair with semi-deserted Pinewood backlot streets standing in for 19th century Paris. The main selling points are Peter Cushing's jaunty police pathologist with gallows humour, Ron Moody's ripe beep-beep performance as a lecherous keeper of a rundown zoo and the werewolf make-up on David Rintoul. Lynn Dalby is the girl who gets David's wolfish instincts aroused when the moon is full and bright and Marjorie Yates is very good as the weary madame of the local brothal where Lynn works. There are also roles for Hugh Griffith, Renee Houston and Roy Castle who plays a fey timid photographer as well as Michael Ripper who gets the same fate that befell him in The Curse of the Werewolf. There was an informative book about the making of this film by Edward Buscombe which the BFI published in 1976 (price 95p!!).Comment
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I enjoyed Pamela Brown in an ancient TV drama called The Woman turned to Salt (1958). It was made, I assume, in Hollywood when Pamela Brown was there for that co-starring role in that big Vincent Van Gogh movie. She plays a well-groomed lawyer assisting a shady man to get a divorce; she has lots of voice-overs over lots of stock footage for Switzerland, Ireland and London and she endows it all with a lot of class. Michael Rennie is in it too and so is Patricia Hitchcock in one scene.
.Last edited by jamal.nazreddin; 7 October 2017, 11:26 PM.Comment
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Pamela Brown had an interesting life. Pamela suffered from severe arthritis nearly all her life. It first hit her aged 16 and although often controlled by drugs it never really left her. She was primarily a stage actress and was one of the few who readily adapted to film work, realising that film work is all about the close ups rather than about projecting the voice to the back of the auditorium.
Pamela played the King’s mistress in Olivier’s Richard III (1955) and never said a word. Her performance was all in her eyes.
She also did quite a few films for Powell & Pressburger, most memorably as Catriona in I Know Where I’m Going! (1945).
She spent her last days living with Michael Powell in a secluded cottage. According to Columba Powell, they both loved it dearly but had very little money. (This was after Peeing Tom (1960) and Michael was finding it very difficult to get work).
Steve
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The Late Edwina Black (1951) This sub-du Maurier Rebecca-esque melodrama is taken a touch too seriously by all concerned. The lady of the title dies, apparently of natural causes, leaving (he hopes) her money to husband Gregory (David Farrar). Also in the house are Elizabeth Graham (Geraldine Fitzgerald), Edwina's lady companion, and Ellen the housekeeper. It is obvious that Elizabeth has not been restricting her companionship to Edwina and Ellen, who has been to the Mrs. Danvers School of Housekeeping, begins to stick her rather oversized oar into things. This results in the arrival of Inspector Martin (Roland Culver) from Scotland Yard who announces that Edwina's body contained a fatal dose of ARSENIC!!!!! He soon gets the picture by inspecting Gregory's and Elizabeth's adjacent bedrooms and noting that there are CONNECTING DOORS!!!!!! (In order to ram this point home we are treated to a grainy still of a pair of doors) Mrs. Danvers' protege continues to stir things up until the illicit lovers begin suspecting each other, especially after Elizabeth discovers that the Bible on which Gregory swore his innocence was actually a DICTIONARY!!!!! (one yearns for him to justify this on the basis that it contains all the right words, but not necessarily in the right order). It doesn't take a genius to work out what is happening here and Culver of the Yard's final exposition contains only the slightest of twists. The acting tends toward the timber merchant school and the absurdly prolific Maurice Elvey is no Hitchcock, but it only detains us for 75 minutes and at least the patrons at ABC cinemas in June 1951 had the bonus of Paul Temple's Triumph in support.Comment
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Passport to Pimlico (1949). When the residents of war-ravaged Pimlico discover that they are legally still part of Burgundy, it opens opportunities as well as floodgates for all kinds of issues, good and bad. This highly-regarded Ealing comedy from their "best" year frankly isn't quite up to the likes of Kind Hearts and Coronets or Whisky Galore! and the satirical bite on "Britishness", bureaucracy and rationing may be lost on modern audiences, but it still has a lot to commend it mainly from the fine ensemble performances (Stanley Holloway, Barbara Murray, John Slater, Philip Stainton, Raymond Huntley, Jane Hylton, Radford and Wayne, etc. plus an eccentric turn of course from Margaret Rutherford in I think her only Ealing film) and the wonderful snapshot of London four years after the war. The quick resolution of the situation is ironic today, however, given the current Brexit negotiations.Comment
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This was after Peeing Tom (1960) and Michael was finding it very difficult to get work
Though he did get funding from 20th Century Fox to make The Queens Guards, which was a much bigger budget movie....This was a critical and commercial flop on release - it was not really what audiences wanted to see at the time, except for 'elderly aunts in Cheltenham' as one critic wrote...
If this had been a success (like The Guns of Navarone) , MP's career in maintream UK films would have probably continued...Comment
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I know the title well. But it wasn’t the title that all of the killer reviews were complaining about
Steve
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I think Gerald was just having fun with your original typing error, Steve (Peeing instead of Peeping)...
But on the subject of the wonderful Pamela Brown... she only appeared once on screen with the fabulous Roger Livesey I believe? A shame, since their chemistry was electrifying and I'm surprised P&P didn't capitalise on it further. Any particular reason, or just how the casting/players/roles fell?
No doubt they did stagework together?Comment
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Oh dear - the children are out from school
Yes, they only appeared in the same film once, in "i know where i'm going" (1945) and they didn't have many scenes together.But on the subject of the wonderful Pamela Brown... she only appeared once on screen with the fabulous Roger Livesey I believe? A shame, since their chemistry was electrifying and I'm surprised P&P didn't capitalise on it further. Any particular reason, or just how the casting/players/roles fell?
No doubt they did stagework together?
BTW Emeric Pressburger was strongly agains Pamela playing Catriona. He could never see why she was so magical. But it was Micky who had the final say on casting
Steve
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