UK & Ireland Challenge (Official, September 2023)

[PUNQ]

Late to the game, but I might as well join, even if it'll only be with a small number. This marks the first time I've ever entered in all three monthly challenges.


1. The Man in the White Suit (1951, Alexander Mackendrick) [********]
--- Satire on progress versus the establishment. Loved the way everyone gets ganged-up on the little fellow when big business gets rattled by new ideas. Alec Guinness was a perfect fit for the odd one out and really made the visual composition come to life. The film is brilliantly clever and there is always a sinister feel to every reaction coming.


2-3. The Sixth Commandment (2023, Saul Dibb) [********]
--- Never trust a smooth talker...


4a. Annika - S02 - E03 (23.08.2023) [******]
4b. Annika - S02 - E04 (30.08.2023) [*******]


5a. Annika - S02 - E05 (06.08.2023) [*******]
5b. Annika - S02 - E06 (13.08.2023) [******]


6a. Day at St Christopher’s College and School (1920, London Missionary Society) [***] - 18min *Won't import to IMDB becuase the entry has no year.
6b. Little Dorrit (1920, Sidney Morgan) [****] - 18min
6c. A Race for a Bride (1922, Challis Sanderson) [***] - 15min
6d. Scrooge (1922, George Wynn) [****] - 10min

[frwnk]

30. Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) - #England
31. The Oblong Box (1969) - #England
32. The Creeping Flesh (1973) - #England
33. Island of Terror (1966) - #England
34. The Uncanny (1977) - #England
35. Tales That Witness Madness (1973) - #England
36. Legend of the Werewolf (1975) - #England
37. The Ghoul (1975) - #England
38. Vampire Circus (1972) - #England
39. The Shout (1978) - #England
40. Twins of Evil (1971) - #England
41. Quatermass 2 (1957) - #England
42. Alien: Covenant (2017) - #England/USA
43. Great Expectations (1946) - #England

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

Week 2 Summary:

19 contestants (+2; welcome to PUNQ and Tngy) have combined for 272 points in total (119 points were totalled in Week 1). frwnk leads with 43 points, closely followed by gunnar on 41 points, with pitchorneirda on 30 points in third position. jdidaco & sol are just behind in joint fourth spot on 24 points apiece.

Bonus-wise, 12/19 participants have logged a viewing from England, 6/19 for Ireland, 6/19 for Scotland, 3/19 for Wales, 3/19 for the Isle of Man, 2/19 for Northern Ireland, and peeptoad has logged the solitary point for the Channel Islands.

frwnk leads for England, Scotland and Ireland with 28, 9 and 5 points respectively, sol leads for the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland with 2 points for both, jdidaco continues to lead for Wales with 5 points, with peeptoad leading for the Channel Island on 1 point.

Thank you all for the participation, screenshots, reviews, ratings, discussion, etc.

And, please check your scores and let me know if I have made any errors!

[peeptoad]

6. A Taste of Honey (1961, Tony Richardson) #England
7. The Wonder (2022, Sebastian Lelio) #Ireland
8. I Know You Know (2008, Justin Kerrigan) #Wales
9. That Sinking Feeling (1979, Bill Forsyth) #Scotland

filmichean air am faicinn

1. The Haunted Strangler (1958, Robert Day) #England
2. First Man Into Space (1959, Robert Day) #England
3. The Dark (2005, John Fawcett) #Isle of Man
4. The Blockhouse (1973, Clive Rees) #Channel Islands
5. Cherrybomb (2009, Lisa Barros D'Sa, Glenn Leyburn) #NorthernIreland

[Silga]

9. Tulip Fever (Justin Chadwick, 2017) 6/10 - #England
10. Victor Frankenstein (Paul McGuigan, 2015) 4/10 - #England
11. Notes on a Scandal (Richard Eyre, 2006) 9/10 - #England

Spoiler

1. Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman (Adrian Shergold, 2005) 7/10 - #England
2. Quartet (Dustin Hoffman, 2012) 5/10 - #England
3. One Chance (David Frankel, 2013) 6/10 - #England
4. Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright, 2004) 7/10 (rewatch) - #England
5. The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (Will Sharpe, 2021) 7/10 - #England
6. Keeping Mum (Niall Johnson, 2005) 8/10 (rewatch) - #IsleOfMan
7. Evil Under the Sun (Guy Hamilton, 1982) 8/10 (rewatch) - #England
8. Ammonite (Francis Lee, 2020) 6/10 - #England
9. Tulip Fever (Justin Chadwick, 2017) 6/10 - #England
10. Victor Frankenstein (Paul McGuigan, 2015) 4/10 - #England
11. Notes on a Scandal (Richard Eyre, 2006) 9/10 - #England

[DudeLanez]

16. Elephant Boy (1937, Flaherty/Korda) 5,5/10 #England
17. Oliver Twist (1948, David Lean) 6,5/10 #England
18. Xtro (1982, Harry B. Davenport) 4,5/10 #England
19. The Ritual (2017, David Bruckner) 6/10 #England

England: 15 / Scotland: 3 / Ireland: 1

01. I Know Where I'm Going! (1945, Powell/Pressburger) 5,5/10 #England
02. Bleak Moments (1971, Mike Leigh) 6,5/10 #England
03. Ray & Liz (2018, Richard Billingham) 6/10 #England
04. Whisky Galore! (1949, Alexander Mackendrick) 5,5/10 #Scotland
05. The Lavender Hill Mob (1951, Charles Crichton) 6/10 #England
06. The Pumpkin Eater (1964, Jack Clayton) 7,5/10 #England
07. Darling (1965, John Schlesinger) 5/10 #England
08. Gregory's Girl (1980, Bill Forsyth) 4/10 #Scotland
09. The Crying Game (1992, Neil Jordan) 6/10 #Ireland
10. This Is England (2006, Shane Meadows) 7/10 #England
11. Comfort and Joy (1984, Bill Forsyth) 4/10 #Scotland
12. Sorry We Missed You (2019, Ken Loach) 7/10 #England
13. Henry V (1944, Laurence Olivier) 6/10 #England
14. Whistle Down the Wind (1961, Bryan Forbes) 6,5/10 #England
15. Moonraker (1979, Lewis Gilbert) 2/10 #England
16. Elephant Boy (1937, Flaherty/Korda) 5,5/10 #England
17. Oliver Twist (1948, David Lean) 6,5/10 #England
18. Xtro (1982, Harry B. Davenport) 4,5/10 #England
19. The Ritual (2017, David Bruckner) 6/10 #England

[OldAle1]

Britannia Rules (films, anyway)

1. The Green Cockatoo aka Four Dark Hours (William Cameron Menzies, 1937) #England
2. The Open Road (Claude Friese-Greene, 1926) #England
3. Sanders of the River (Zoltan Korda, 1935) #England
4. Jericho (Thornton Freeland, 1937) #England
5. The Full Monty (Peter Cattaneo, 1997) #England
6. A Taste of Honey (Tony Richrdson, 1961) #England

Hammer & Christopher Lee do High Adventure



7. The Terror of the Tongs (Anthony Bushell, 1961) #England
8. The Pirates of Blood River (John Gilling, 1962) #England
9. The Devil-Ship Pirates (Don Sharp, 1964) #England

While Hammer has become known as the House of Horror over the last half-century or so, the studio was in actual fact pretty diverse, churning out films in all the popular genres of the day, which included science fiction, fantasy, adventure, and crime/noir; it's just that horror from this period is overall a much more popular genre and, well, on the basis of what I've seen, much of the non-horror output remains deservedly a bit more obscure.

As you might guess the shot above is from the first, (and shortest and weakest) of these films. Tongs gives us an English ship captain (Geoffrey Toone) who is given secret information about the awful Red Dragon tong - only he doesn't know it, and not knowing so puts his life and his daughter's in danger. When tragedy falls, he decides to find out what's going on and take revenge on those responsible, and he does so as only a he-man English ship captain can do, nearly all alone against a powerful criminal organization, headed by Lee and mostly other white dudes in yellowface. Yeah this just feels very ordinary and rather silly - it's never at all believable that Toone could last more than 5 minutes in his war against crime. Of course that's not uncommon in such films, it just seems more stupid than usual here, and Lee seems a bit less focused than usual, and none of the rest of the cast except maybe French actress Yvonne Montaur as the half-breed who comes to the captain for protection, stands out.

The Pirates of Blood River is a little bit better, mostly for the higher amount of action, and some decent location work (Tongs is all studio-bound), even if it does star the fairly dull Kerwin Matthews as the heroic Jonathan Standing, sentenced to a penal colony over a misunderstanding, who falls in with a pirate group led by Lee when he escapes. Being a naive idiot, he leads them back to his home village of exiled Huguenots, where his ultra-religious and rigid father (Andrew Keir) holds sway. The pirates think there's treasure in the village despite Standing's protestations but it turns out there are secrets that even the religious elder's son isn't privy to. Oliver Reed is also on hand for some fun here, but he unfortunately doesn't last very long.

And The Devil-Ship Pirates is the best of the lot, and the only one I'd probably call "good", though it's not a really strong good. Still, a fair bit of fun in this rather action-packed tale of a Spanish brigand, refugee from the sunken Armada, which finds itself on the English coast near and isolated village, where the captain (Lee) has the brilliant idea to convince the villagers - whose able-bodied young men have mostly gone away to war - that the Spanish invasion was a success, thereby getting them to help him repair his ship, and also making the town easier to loot and pillage. Andrew Keir - in a much more sympathetic role than the previous film - and Suzan Farmer were the two other castmembers that were recognizable to me.

[pitchorneirda]

Spoiler

1. A Taste of Honey (1961, Tony Richardson) - 6/10
2. A Hard Day's Night (1964, Richard Lester) - 3.5/10
3. Meantime (1983, Mike Leigh) - 4.5/10
4. The Secret of Kells (2009, Tomm Moore & Nora Twomey) - 5/10
5. Withnail & I (1987, Bruce Robinson) - 4/10
6-7. TV Episodes, total runtime 183min
Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead (2009, James Strong) TV Episode, 59 min
Doctor Who: The Eleventh Hour (2010, Adam Smith) TV Episode, 65 min
Doctor Who: The Vampires of Venice (2010, Jonny Campbell) TV Episode, 49 min
8. Victim (1961, Basil Dearden) - 5/10
9. The Crying Game (1992, Neil Jordan) - 3/10
10. The 39 Steps (1935, Alfred Hitchcock) - 3/10
11. Chicken Run (2000, Nick Park & Peter Lord) - 5.5/10
12. TV Episodes, total runtime 90 min
Doctor Who: The Hungry Earth (2010, Ashley Way) TV Episode, 44 min
Doctor Who: Cold Blood (2010, Ashley Way) TV Episode, 46 min
13. Whistle Down the Wind (1961, Bryan Forbes) - 7/10
14. TV Episodes, total runtime 105 min
Doctor Who: The Lodger (2010, Catherine Morshead) TV Episode, 43 min
Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol (2010, Toby Haynes) TV Episode, 62 min
15. Dead Man's Shoes (2004, Shane Meadows) - 2/10
16. Happy-Go-Lucky (2008, Mike Leigh) - 7/10
17. Family Life (1971, Ken Loach) - 7/10
18. TV Episodes, total runtime 91 min
Doctor Who: The Impossible Astronaut (2011, Toby Haynes) TV Episode, 44 min
Doctor Who: Day of the Moon (2011, Toby Haynes) TV Episode, 47 min
19. TV Episodes, total runtime 80min
Doctor Who: The Curse of the Black Spot (2011, Jeremy Webb) TV Episode 46 min
+ 34 min
20. A Matter of Life and Death (1946, Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger) - 5/10
21. Great Expectations (1946, David Lean) - 4/10
22. Paddington (2014, Paul King) - 4/10
23. TV Episodes, total runtime 80 min
Doctor Who: The Doctor's Wife (2011, Richard Clark) TV Episode, 47 min
+ 33 min
24. 45 Years (2015, Andrew Haigh) - 7/10
25. Paddington 2 (2017, Paul King) - 4/10
26. Gosford Park (2001, Robert Altman) - 2/10
27. Bridget Jones's Diary (2001, Sharon Maguire) - 3/10
28. American Honey (2016, Andrea Arnold) - 3/10
29. Sexy Beast (2000, Jonathan Glazer) - 2/10
30. TV Episodes, total runtime 89 min
Doctor Who: The Doctor's Daughter (2008, Alice Troughton) TV Episode, 45 min
Doctor Who: The Unicorn and the Wasp (2008, Graeme Harper) TV Episode 44 min
[total minutes carried over: 23 + 10 + 25 + 11 - 34 - 33 + 9 = 11 min]

31. Benediction (2021, Terence Davies) - 3/10

32. The Whisperers (1967, Bryan Forbes) - 8/10

[gunnar]

42 - My Name is Joe (1998) - 7/10 - Ken Loach - Joe is a recovering alcoholic in Glasgow who is out of work and on the dole. He runs an amateur football team with his friends and becomes romantically involved with a health care worker named Sarah. Problems arise which center around Joe's friend Liam and his junkie girlfriend Sabine. It's a decent film, but thank goodness for subtitles.

43 - The Draughtsman's Contract (1982) - 7.5/10 - Peter Greenaway - An artist is contracted for 12 paintings of a wealthy landowner's estate in 1690s England. The wife made the contract to give the paintings to her husband as a gift when he returns from a trip. As part of the contract, the artist is able to have his way with the wife whenever he pleases. A murder mystery arises during the commission. The costumes, score, and acting are all pretty good.

44 - Small Faces (1996) - 7/10 - Gillies MacKinnon - The story centers on three brothers growing up in Glasgow in 1968. One of the brothers is in a gang which has a rival gang not too far away and another brother is an artist. There are a number of shenanigans before things take a more serious turn. The story wanders a bit, but is still good.

45 - Brassed Off (1996) - 6.5/10 - Mark Herman - A coal mine is facing closure, but at least some of the miners have their talented brass band and a national competition to take their minds off of things. I did enjoy the film, but it seemed kind of shallow,

46 - Caravaggio (1986) - 4/10 - Derek Jarman - A dying Caravaggio looks back on his life. Caravaggio lived a fairly interesting life for what time he had, but I thought the movie was pretty dull and uninteresting.

47 - Reach for the Sky (1956) - 7/10 - Lewis Gilbert - This is a decent biopic about Douglas Bader, a pilot who lost his legs in an accident in the early 1930s, but returned to flying during WWII. It starts out a bit slow at times, but gets better as it goes along.

Spoiler

1 - Monsters (2010) - 7.5/10 - Gareth Edwards
2 - The Descent (2005) - 7/10 - Neil Marshall
3 - Twins of Evil (1971) - 6.5/10 - John Hough
4 - Tales from the Crypt (1972) - 7/10 - Freddie Francis
5 - Theatre of Blood (1973) - 6/10 - Douglas Hickox
6 - Vampire Circus (1972) - 7/10 - Robert Young
7 - Asylum (1972) - 7.5/10 - Roy Ward Baker
8 - Deathdream / Dead of Night (1974) - 7/10 - Bob Clark
9 - Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) - 6.5/10 - Terence Fisher
10 - The Plague of the Zombies (1966) - 7.5/10 - John Gilling
11 - The Skull (1965) - 6/10 - Freddie Francis
12 - The Devil Rides Out (1968) - 8/10 - Terence Fisher
13 - The Open Road (1926) - 8/10 - Claude Friese-Greene
14 - Blue (1993) - 5/10 - Derek Jarman
15 - Culloden (1964) - 7/10 - Peter Watkins
16 - London (1994) - 7/10 - Patrick Keiller
17 - Robinson in Space (1997) - 7.5/10 - Patrick Keiller
18 - Oliver Twist (1948) - 8/10 - David Lean
19 - The Great White Silence (1924) - 7.5/10 - Herbert G. Ponting
20 - Underground (1928) - 8.5/10 - Anthony Asquith
21 - Zulu (1964) - 7.5/10 - Cy Endfield
22 - The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) - 7/10 - Tony Richardson
23 - Whisky Galore! (1949) - 6.5/10 - Alexander Mackendrick
24 - 24 Hour Party People (2002) - 6/10 - Michael Winterbottom
25 - Billy Liar (1963) - 7/10 - John Schlesinger
26 - This Is England (2006) - 7.5/10 - Shane Meadows
27 - Hobson's Choice (1954) - 8/10 - David Lean
28 - The Blue Lamp (1950) - 7.5/10 - Basil Dearden
29 - The Warrior (2001) - 6.5/10 - Asif Kapadia
30 - My Summer of Love (2004) - 5.5/10 - Pawel Pawlikowski
31 - Shallow Grave (1994) - 7/10 - Danny Boyle
32 - East is East (1999) - 7.5/10 - Damien O'Donnell
33 - I, Daniel Blake (2016) - 8/10 - Ken Loach
34 - Touching the Void (2003) - 7.5/10 - Kevin Macdonald
35 - The Ipcress File (1965) - 7/10 - Sidney J. Furie
36 - Carry On Up the Khyber (1968) - 5.5/10 - Gerald Thomas
37 - The Belles of St. Trinian’s (1954) - 6/10 - Frank Launder
38 - Brighton Rock (1948) - 8/10 - John Boulting
39 - The Italian Job (1969) - 6.5/10 - Peter Collinson
40 - Life is Sweet (1990) - 6/10 - Mike Leigh
41 - I'm All Right Jack (1959) - 7.5/10 - John Boulting

[AssonFire]

7. Goodnight Sweetheart: A Room with a View (1998 / Terry Kinane) 6/10
Goodnight Sweetheart: London Pride (1998 / Terry Kinane) 5/10
8. Goodnight Sweetheart: When Two Worlds Collide (1998 / Terry Kinane) 6/10
Goodnight Sweetheart: Mairzy Doats (1998 / Terry Kinane) 5/10
Goodnight Sweetheart: Pennies from Heaven (1998 / Terry Kinane) 5/10
9. Goodnight Sweetheart: We Don't Want to Lose You... (1998 / Robin Nash) 6/10
Goodnight Sweetheart: But We Think You Have to Go (1998 / Robin Nash) 5/10
Goodnight Sweetheart: Have You Ever Seen a Dream Walking (1998 / Robin Nash) 6/10
10. Goodnight Sweetheart: Love the One You're With (1998 / Robin Nash) 6/10
Goodnight Sweetheart: My Heart Belongs to Daddy (1998 / Robin Nash) 5/10
A series of the 90s sitcom about ordinary bloke Gary Sparrow, who finds a time portal to 1940s London and proceeds to lead a double life between the two time zones. I enjoyed watching it when it first aired and it's still pretty much as I remembered: not that funny, often shmaltzy, the lead character is pretty dislikeable, but I've continued through to series 5. The time travel gimmick and the fact that it traces the progress of WW2 are keep things interesting.

Hi AoF. Are these divided into at least 80-minute chunks for a point? I realise that IMDb can be off on episode length.

I used to really like Goodnight Sweetheart for the comedy in the present and the whimsical fantasy amidst the Blitz.

Hi Roger. Yes, I tallied up the runtimes cumulatively for TV episodes. So the reason that, for example, entry 7 only contains 2 episodes (totalling approx 60 mins) is because it includes leftover minutes carried forward from the previous TV entry (Alan Clark's History of the Tory Party: S1.E3). Below I've shown the first 2 TV entries with the working out included.

4. Thirty-Minute Theatre: The News-Benders (1968 / Rudolph Cartier) 7/10 - 30 minutes
Britain BC: Episode #1.1 (2003 / Timothy Copestake) 6/10 - 47 minutes (77 minutes cumulatively)
Britain BC: Episode #1.2 (2003 / Timothy Copestake) 6/10 - 47 minutes (124 minutes cumulatively, therefore 44 minutes carried forward to next TV entry)
5. Alan Clark's History of the Tory Party: S1.E1: Gentleman Players (1997 / Clara Glynn) 6/10 - 50 minutes (+ 44 minutes carried forward from previous entry = 94 minutes, therefore 14 minutes carried forward to next TV entry)

Hope that makes sense.

[sol]

Thanks for the update and weekly stats, Roger.

Spoiler

1. The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970, Basil Dearden) UK #England REVISON
2. The Breadwinner (2017, Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
3. My Old School (2022, Jono McLeod) UK #Scotland
4. The Souvenir: Part II (2021, Joanna Hogg) UK #England
5. The Secret of Kells (2009, Tomm Moore; Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
6. The Survivalist (2015, Stephen Fingleton) UK #NothernIreland
7. Ask a Policeman (1939, Marcel Varnel) UK #England REVISON
8. Only Two Can Play (1962, Sidney Gilliat) UK #Wales REVISON
9. My Father’s Dragon (2022, Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
10. Archipelago (2010, Joanna Hogg) UK #England
11. Unrelated (2007, Joanna Hogg) UK #England
12. Sleuth (1972, Joe Mankiewicz) UK #England REVISON
13. Exam (2009, Stuart Hazeldine) UK #England REVISON
14. Who? (1974, Jack Gold) UK #England REVISON
15. The Eternal Daughter (2022, Joanna Hogg) UK #Wales
16. Sweet Sixteen (2002, Ken Loach) UK #Scotland
17. Keeping Mum (2005, Niall Johnson) UK #IsleOfMan REVISON
18. Peeping Tom (1960, Michael Powell) UK #England REVISON
19. Cherrybomb (2009, Lisa Barros D'Sa; Glenn Leyburn) UK #NothernIreland
20. Chico & Rita (2010, Fernando Trueba and others) UK #IsleOfMan
21. Chicken Run (2000, Nick Park, Pete Lord) UK #England REVISON
22. Entertaining Mr Sloane (1970, Doug Hichox) UK #England REVISON
23. Soft Top Hard Shoulder (1992, Stefan Schwartz) UK #Scotland
24. Scrapper (2023, Charlotte Regan) UK #England

25. We Are the Lambeth Boys (1959) UK #England



Members of a London youth club are followed around as they hang out and debate the issues of the day in this documentary from Karel Reisz. The film showcases some neat camerawork such as point-of-view shots from a double-decker bus as the youths sing and watch everyday folks walking the streets. Some of their conversations are interesting too as they discuss whether clothes should be made to last and lengthy prison terms. The film opens with the thesis though that the club being documented is "a very good one [and] more like it are needed", which I never thought that the project actually proved.

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

7. Goodnight Sweetheart: A Room with a View (1998 / Terry Kinane) 6/10
Goodnight Sweetheart: London Pride (1998 / Terry Kinane) 5/10
8. Goodnight Sweetheart: When Two Worlds Collide (1998 / Terry Kinane) 6/10
Goodnight Sweetheart: Mairzy Doats (1998 / Terry Kinane) 5/10
Goodnight Sweetheart: Pennies from Heaven (1998 / Terry Kinane) 5/10
9. Goodnight Sweetheart: We Don't Want to Lose You... (1998 / Robin Nash) 6/10
Goodnight Sweetheart: But We Think You Have to Go (1998 / Robin Nash) 5/10
Goodnight Sweetheart: Have You Ever Seen a Dream Walking (1998 / Robin Nash) 6/10
10. Goodnight Sweetheart: Love the One You're With (1998 / Robin Nash) 6/10
Goodnight Sweetheart: My Heart Belongs to Daddy (1998 / Robin Nash) 5/10
A series of the 90s sitcom about ordinary bloke Gary Sparrow, who finds a time portal to 1940s London and proceeds to lead a double life between the two time zones. I enjoyed watching it when it first aired and it's still pretty much as I remembered: not that funny, often shmaltzy, the lead character is pretty dislikeable, but I've continued through to series 5. The time travel gimmick and the fact that it traces the progress of WW2 are keep things interesting.

Hi AoF. Are these divided into at least 80-minute chunks for a point? I realise that IMDb can be off on episode length.

I used to really like Goodnight Sweetheart for the comedy in the present and the whimsical fantasy amidst the Blitz.

Hi Roger. Yes, I tallied up the runtimes cumulatively for TV episodes. So the reason that, for example, entry 7 only contains 2 episodes (totalling approx 60 mins) is because it includes leftover minutes carried forward from the previous TV entry (Alan Clark's History of the Tory Party: S1.E3). Below I've shown the first 2 TV entries with the working out included.

4. Thirty-Minute Theatre: The News-Benders (1968 / Rudolph Cartier) 7/10 - 30 minutes
Britain BC: Episode #1.1 (2003 / Timothy Copestake) 6/10 - 47 minutes (77 minutes cumulatively)
Britain BC: Episode #1.2 (2003 / Timothy Copestake) 6/10 - 47 minutes (124 minutes cumulatively, therefore 44 minutes carried forward to next TV entry)
5. Alan Clark's History of the Tory Party: S1.E1: Gentleman Players (1997 / Clara Glynn) 6/10 - 50 minutes (+ 44 minutes carried forward from previous entry = 94 minutes, therefore 14 minutes carried forward to next TV entry)

Hope that makes sense.

Thank you for the detailed explanation, A. Yes, that makes total sense. I just though I'd ask as I remembered most episodes of GS being around 30 minutes. Hope it wasn't too annoying looking up and typing out run-times.

[OldAle1]

Britannia Rules (films, anyway)

1. The Green Cockatoo aka Four Dark Hours (William Cameron Menzies, 1937) #England
2. The Open Road (Claude Friese-Greene, 1926) #England
3. Sanders of the River (Zoltan Korda, 1935) #England
4. Jericho (Thornton Freeland, 1937) #England
5. The Full Monty (Peter Cattaneo, 1997) #England
6. A Taste of Honey (Tony Richrdson, 1961) #England
7. The Terror of the Tongs (Anthony Bushell, 1961) #England
8. The Pirates of Blood River (John Gilling, 1962) #England
9. The Devil-Ship Pirates (Don Sharp, 1964) #England

10. Some short films from great directors #England
22 + 26 + 9 + 5 = 62 minutes total

a) Mamma Don't Allow (Karel Reisz/Tony Richardson, 1956)
b) Bon Voyage (Alfred Hitchcock, 1944)
c) Storytime (Terry Gilliam, 1968)
d) Miracle of Flight (Terry Gilliam, 1975)

Mamma Don't Allow is a document of club life - unlike most of Richardson's early features, it was shot in the London area. It's basically a bunch of young people shuffling through their boring days so they can get to the night, the time when real life begins. It's a nice snapshot of an era I suppose but not much more, though I did really like the energy of the dancing, particularly the young woman in white, in the last bit.

I watched Hitch's other wartime propaganda short Aventure Malgache three years ago - not sure why I didn't watch this one as well; maybe the copy I had at the time was bad or something. At any rate like that film this is mostly in French and the cast made up mostly of French theater actors who had escaped after the occupation; the story involves two tellings of an escape by an RAF prisoner, one of them his own recounting of facts and the other by the officer questioning him. Interesting, not quite Rashomon but still a narrative strategy that was uncommon at the time. Really well done overall and fairly suspenseful.

Gilliam's Storytime is the gem of this bunch though; it's cut-out limited animation in his usual style, but with a circular narrative that reminds me of Ruiz' Colloque de chiens; it's hilarious and brilliantly conceived. Miracle of Flight is much more conventional but still amusing enough.

Brit-Noir Double Feature

11. The Lost Hours (David MacDonald, 1952) #England
12. Footsteps in the Fog (Arthur Lubin, 1955) #England

The Lost Hours isn't terribly "noir" in terms of it's look - it's a bit flat and not terribly creative, no chiaroscuro or odd angles or anything here, and not a lot of shadow or darkness either - but it's all noir when it comes to the storyline, which is a wrong man story combined with a soupçon of amnesia. American actor Mark Stevens plays a test pilot who served in the RAF during the war, and at a reunion party with comrades, he gets into a fight with one of them, and gets served a drink apparently not intended for him which... when he wakes up in a strange hotel hours later, he finds out that the man has been murdered, and he is suspected. Thus begins his short (the film is just 67 minutes) and hurried attempt to clear himself, and find out what really happened. This is fairly predictable and ordinary in many ways, but the pacing is great and Dianne Foster as the femme fatale-ish woman he meets along the way is a knockout both in looks and performance. Certainly not one of the very best of it's type but certainly worth a look for aficionados.



Footsteps in the Fog is likewise not typically noir at all in many respects - it's color, it's widescreen, and it's a period piece taking place in Edwardian London. And in this case I'm not sure I'd call it noir myself - but I would call it something special, and as with the previous film it has a lot to do with one female performance, in this case lead Jean Simmons, as a servant in the household of murderer Stephen Lowry (Stewart Granger, who was Simmons' real-life husband at the time - the sparks between them are certainly real). It's not a spoiler to mention this; we know as Lily (Simmons) knows within five minutes that her employer actually killed his late wife, poisoning her slowly while pretending to take care of her severe gastroenteritis. But Lily isn't all that much more moral than her boss, and has designs of moving up in the world, and uses this knowledge to blackmail Lowry, with ultimate results that she doesn't figure on. One of the pleasures of this film is that both bad eggs here are smart and controlled - and yet both make serious mistakes in underestimating each other - and both seem at times to be redeemable, though only one of them at the end (the one who lives) proves to be such. There's a lovely cast of secondary characters also (especially William Hartnell, the first Doctor, as another potential blackmailer, of the drunken-comical sort), another murder (in the fog-shrouded sequence that gives the film it's title), and a really terrific score that is by turns lushly romantic and harshly verging on atonal by Benjamin Frankel, a sadly long-neglected serious creator of both film and concert music, who has only come back into the small limelight of important 20th century English composers in the last couple of decades, long after his death. This definitely has some flaws - Granger was never a great actor, and even here in one of his better performances he's simply outclassed by much of the rest of the cast, and seems too much a smooth surface at times with little beneath it - but most of them vanished for me in the great ending and the great last moments that Simmons gives us. It ends up being a powerful emotional experience in which the filmmaking sort of transcends the awfulness of the characters we've been watching for an hour and a half, if that makes any sense. Anyway that's all I can come up with. This review does a better job than I can of getting at some of what's special here:

http://www.cineoutsider.com/reviews/blu ... og_br.html

I will add that the transfer on the Kit Parker/Mill Creek "Noir Archive Volume 2" set that I have is not particularly good, and I have to imagine that the color was much brighter and richer originally - the opening credits really pop, but the rest of the film does not. Still, it looks better than the poor download I had before I bought this set and I'm glad I waited. The above linked review though is of the separate Indicator BD release, which looks to be at least somewhat better in quality and which has lots of extras. I think I'll have to get it.

[sol]

Spoiler

1. The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970, Basil Dearden) UK #England REVISON
2. The Breadwinner (2017, Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
3. My Old School (2022, Jono McLeod) UK #Scotland
4. The Souvenir: Part II (2021, Joanna Hogg) UK #England
5. The Secret of Kells (2009, Tomm Moore; Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
6. The Survivalist (2015, Stephen Fingleton) UK #NothernIreland
7. Ask a Policeman (1939, Marcel Varnel) UK #England REVISON
8. Only Two Can Play (1962, Sidney Gilliat) UK #Wales REVISON
9. My Father’s Dragon (2022, Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
10. Archipelago (2010, Joanna Hogg) UK #England
11. Unrelated (2007, Joanna Hogg) UK #England
12. Sleuth (1972, Joe Mankiewicz) UK #England REVISON
13. Exam (2009, Stuart Hazeldine) UK #England REVISON
14. Who? (1974, Jack Gold) UK #England REVISON
15. The Eternal Daughter (2022, Joanna Hogg) UK #Wales
16. Sweet Sixteen (2002, Ken Loach) UK #Scotland
17. Keeping Mum (2005, Niall Johnson) UK #IsleOfMan REVISON
18. Peeping Tom (1960, Michael Powell) UK #England REVISON
19. Cherrybomb (2009, Lisa Barros D'Sa; Glenn Leyburn) UK #NothernIreland
20. Chico & Rita (2010, Fernando Trueba and others) UK #IsleOfMan
21. Chicken Run (2000, Nick Park, Pete Lord) UK #England REVISON
22. Entertaining Mr Sloane (1970, Doug Hichox) UK #England REVISON
23. Soft Top Hard Shoulder (1992, Stefan Schwartz) UK #Scotland
24. Scrapper (2023, Charlotte Regan) UK #England
25. We Are the Lambeth Boys (1959) UK #England

26. Unman, Wittering and Zigo (1971) UK #Wales REVISON



Many films features teachers trying to tame unruly students, but the teenagers here are anything but; they are polite, well-spoken and follow instructions; the only thing is, they also insist that they killed their previous teacher, something that the Hemmings character slowly comes to really believe. The film benefits from an amazing sound design, especially in the opening few minutes in which we hear (but never actually see) the predecessor teacher fall. Was he pushed? The boys start to act in increasingly sinister ways as the film progresses, all the while long talking like gentlemen. A very creepy motion picture.

[blocho]

16. All My Friends Hate Me (2021) #England
Everything in this movie is set up like a horror movie. But it isn’t, at least not in a conventional sense. It’a a social anxiety thriller, and the title says it all. The movie addresses ultimately the real life horrors, the quotidian domestic horrors of aging, of not knowing yourself or your friends or where you fit in anymore. It’s a simple movie but quite clever and effective.

17. The Dresser (1983) #England
An aged and highly regarded stage actor is set to play King Lear when he begins exhibiting some Lear-like incoherence and madness. That’s the set up for this movie, which failed to interest me even as Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay engage in some of the most flamboyant scenery-chewing I've ever seen. An old man losing his wits is a common and heartbreaking phenomenon, yet I found myself completely unengaged with this exploration of the scenario.

[RogerTheMovieManiac88]

Glad you saw and liked 'Footsteps in the Fog', OldAle.

Ooh, the immersion into the twisted, amoral mansion of the macabre still gives me chills. A film that certainly possesses an icily calculating, yet touchingly vulnerable, heart. Simmons is incredible here. The colour and details deserve the best quality transfer possible!

[OldAle1]

Britannia Rules (films, anyway)

1. The Green Cockatoo aka Four Dark Hours (William Cameron Menzies, 1937) #England
2. The Open Road (Claude Friese-Greene, 1926) #England
3. Sanders of the River (Zoltan Korda, 1935) #England
4. Jericho (Thornton Freeland, 1937) #England
5. The Full Monty (Peter Cattaneo, 1997) #England
6. A Taste of Honey (Tony Richrdson, 1961) #England
7. The Terror of the Tongs (Anthony Bushell, 1961) #England
8. The Pirates of Blood River (John Gilling, 1962) #England
9. The Devil-Ship Pirates (Don Sharp, 1964) #England
10. Some short films from great directors #England
a) Mamma Don't Allow (Karel Reisz/Tony Richardson, 1956)
b) Bon Voyage (Alfred Hitchcock, 1944)
c) Storytime (Terry Gilliam, 1968)
d) Miracle of Flight (Terry Gilliam, 1975)

11. The Lost Hours (David MacDonald, 1952) #England
12. Footsteps in the Fog (Arthur Lubin, 1955) #England

13. Carry On Up the Khyber (Gerald Thomas, 1968) #England



I've known about the Carry On films for quite a while, but never had any particular interest in seeing them; from what I gathered, they belonged to a certain species of British comedy that was somewhat akin to the later Benny Hill, cheeky and "naughty" and full of low humor and racial and gender jokes (though not of the mean-spirited variety generally). Everything I knew indicated to me that non-Brits probably wouldn't get much out of them. But this one, besides being on a couple of official lists, falls into the "British Imperial Adventure" category in a way, a little area that I have some interest in, so if I was going to watch one this was it. And... it wasn't as bad as I feared it would be, not nearly (I kind of expected something like what people describe those 70s Turkish comedies which I also haven't seen), but also really not much fun. Basically it all revolves around underwear, and the wearing or not wearing of it under kilts - you see this regiment of the British colonial forces in India is much feared by the locals because they are so brave that they run around without anything on underneath - until it turns out that maybe that's just not true. Troubles ensue. This had better production values than I expected, and nice use of color, and a few of the performances were vaguel amusing but on the whole it was pretty tedious. I might eventually watch Carry On Cowboy just because of my similar interest in westerns but I suspect that will be it.

14. Educating Rita (Lewis Gilbert, 1983) #England

Significantly better, though I think somewhat confused or erratic in it's character arcs is this comedy about a working-class 20something woman (Julie Walters in her star-making, much nominated first film performance) and her attempts to get an education from a cynical, almost nihilistic alcoholic tutor (Michael Caine). I didn't always buy into the basic story here - I think it's rather unclear as to WHY Rita (Walters) wants to lift herself out of her milieu - when she doesn't even like the great literature she's initially exposed to - or why Caine is so despairing. Perhaps that shouldn't be an issue but as this is very much a two-character story I just felt like it was a bit incomplete and thus hard to always care about. And Rita's transformation is almost too quick and "magical"; I dunno, something here just didn't work, I think perhaps I was expecting something different from what the very beginning of the film seemed to promise. Still I was won over to some extent by the end - Walters' performance has a lot to do with that, and one thing I did like was that she wasn't presented in any kind of too-obvious lower-class way; Eliza at the beginning of My Fair Lady she's definitely not. And I give it a lot of credit for never going down the easy romantic angle that I think many people (myself included) might expect - though there does seem to be a bit of sexual or romantic tension on the part of both leads at various points, it's always quite muted and never talked about (and both are in relationships at the beginning - and both are looking for things that have nothing to do with relationships). So on the whole despite some big caveats, definitely worth seeing.

[Lonewolf2003]

5. Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948, Basil Dearden): 4.2
6. Split Second (1992, Tony Maylam): 7.2

Spoiler

1. The Ipcress File (1965, Sidney J. Furie): 8.0
2. They Came to a City (1944, Basil Dearden): 7.0
3. The Captive Heart (1946, Basil Dearden): 7.0
4. We Live in Two Worlds (1937, Alberto Cavalcanti): NR
Britain at Bay (1940, Harry Watt): NR
A City Reborn (1945, John Eldridge): NR
New Town (1948, Joy Batchelor, John Halas): NR
Your Very Good Health (1948, Joy Batchelor, John Halas): NR

[OldAle1]

Glad you saw and liked 'Footsteps in the Fog', OldAle.

Ooh, the immersion into the twisted, amoral mansion of the macabre still gives me chills. A film that certainly possesses an icily calculating, yet touchingly vulnerable, heart. Simmons is incredible here. The colour and details deserve the best quality transfer possible!

Yes what really makes this special is that it somehow has that powerful emotional feeling, particularly right at the end, despite how awful both main characters are - I wouldn't say I "sympathize" with either of them, but one of them at least is a bit...pathetic, and not hard to feel for. It also reminded me strangely of the way I felt at the end of the vastly different Carol. Sometimes the connections we make between films, or films and other elements in life, are strange and dreamlike and cannot be rationalized easily.

[ororama]

1. The Quiet Girl/An Cailín Ciúin (2022, Colm Bairéad) * 95 min. #Ireland
A quiet movie in which a 9 year old is sent to live with her mother's cousin and her husband for the summer to give her mother a break while she gives birth to her sixth child. A beautiful movie in which a struggling child is able to blossom when given the love, care and attention that that are luxuries in her crowded, busy, somewhat impoverished home.

*First time viewing

[PUNQ]

7. The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023, André Øvredal) [****]
--- That's one slow and stretched-out Dracula at sea story!


8. Jeanne du Barry (2023, Maïwenn) [*****]
--- Well, they have complained about Johnny Depp's acting being over-the-top for decades. Here he barely lifts an eyebrow.


9. Haunting of the Queen Mary (2023, Gary Shore & Rebecca Harris) [**]
--- There could have been a good horror on board. They just don't seem to nail the red thread in the story and it all becomes incredibly random and not a good watch.

Spoiler

1. The Man in the White Suit (1951, Alexander Mackendrick) [********]
2-3. The Sixth Commandment (2023, Saul Dibb) [********]
4. Annika - S02 - E03 (23.08.2023) [******], Annika - S02 - E04 (30.08.2023) [*******]
5. Annika - S02 - E05 (06.08.2023) [*******], Annika - S02 - E06 (13.08.2023) [******]
6. Day at St Christopher’s College and School (1920, London Missionary Society) [***], Little Dorrit (1920, Sidney Morgan) [****] - 18min, A Race for a Bride (1922, Challis Sanderson) [***] - 15min, Scrooge (1922, George Wynn) [****] - 10min
7. The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023, André Øvredal) [****]
8. Jeanne du Barry (2023, Maïwenn) [*****]
9. Haunting of the Queen Mary (2023, Gary Shore & Rebecca Harris) [**]

[sol]

Spoiler

1. The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970, Basil Dearden) UK #England REVISON
2. The Breadwinner (2017, Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
3. My Old School (2022, Jono McLeod) UK #Scotland
4. The Souvenir: Part II (2021, Joanna Hogg) UK #England
5. The Secret of Kells (2009, Tomm Moore; Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
6. The Survivalist (2015, Stephen Fingleton) UK #NothernIreland
7. Ask a Policeman (1939, Marcel Varnel) UK #England REVISON
8. Only Two Can Play (1962, Sidney Gilliat) UK #Wales REVISON
9. My Father’s Dragon (2022, Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
10. Archipelago (2010, Joanna Hogg) UK #England
11. Unrelated (2007, Joanna Hogg) UK #England
12. Sleuth (1972, Joe Mankiewicz) UK #England REVISON
13. Exam (2009, Stuart Hazeldine) UK #England REVISON
14. Who? (1974, Jack Gold) UK #England REVISON
15. The Eternal Daughter (2022, Joanna Hogg) UK #Wales
16. Sweet Sixteen (2002, Ken Loach) UK #Scotland
17. Keeping Mum (2005, Niall Johnson) UK #IsleOfMan REVISON
18. Peeping Tom (1960, Michael Powell) UK #England REVISON
19. Cherrybomb (2009, Lisa Barros D'Sa; Glenn Leyburn) UK #NothernIreland
20. Chico & Rita (2010, Fernando Trueba and others) UK #IsleOfMan
21. Chicken Run (2000, Nick Park, Pete Lord) UK #England REVISON
22. Entertaining Mr Sloane (1970, Doug Hichox) UK #England REVISON
23. Soft Top Hard Shoulder (1992, Stefan Schwartz) UK #Scotland
24. Scrapper (2023, Charlotte Regan) UK #England
25. We Are the Lambeth Boys (1959) UK #England
26. Unman, Wittering and Zigo (1971) UK #Wales REVISON

27. The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) UK #England REVISON



Revisited after almost a decade, this was disappointing for the most part with an uneven first hour that pivots between imaginative killings and dull police procedural scenes with more time spent discussing than acting on the crimes. The film really starts to solidify in the final half-hour though as motives are revealed and the plot takes some turns prescient of the Saw movies as the final victim to-be has to confront the killer. As the phantom lookalike killer, Vincent Price is excellent lead the role too, eerily staring while "talking" through recordings, and his art deco lair full of automatons is magnificent.

[sol]

Spoiler

1. The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970, Basil Dearden) UK #England REVISON
2. The Breadwinner (2017, Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
3. My Old School (2022, Jono McLeod) UK #Scotland
4. The Souvenir: Part II (2021, Joanna Hogg) UK #England
5. The Secret of Kells (2009, Tomm Moore; Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
6. The Survivalist (2015, Stephen Fingleton) UK #NothernIreland
7. Ask a Policeman (1939, Marcel Varnel) UK #England REVISON
8. Only Two Can Play (1962, Sidney Gilliat) UK #Wales REVISON
9. My Father’s Dragon (2022, Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
10. Archipelago (2010, Joanna Hogg) UK #England
11. Unrelated (2007, Joanna Hogg) UK #England
12. Sleuth (1972, Joe Mankiewicz) UK #England REVISON
13. Exam (2009, Stuart Hazeldine) UK #England REVISON
14. Who? (1974, Jack Gold) UK #England REVISON
15. The Eternal Daughter (2022, Joanna Hogg) UK #Wales
16. Sweet Sixteen (2002, Ken Loach) UK #Scotland
17. Keeping Mum (2005, Niall Johnson) UK #IsleOfMan REVISON
18. Peeping Tom (1960, Michael Powell) UK #England REVISON
19. Cherrybomb (2009, Lisa Barros D'Sa; Glenn Leyburn) UK #NothernIreland
20. Chico & Rita (2010, Fernando Trueba and others) UK #IsleOfMan
21. Chicken Run (2000, Nick Park, Pete Lord) UK #England REVISON
22. Entertaining Mr Sloane (1970, Doug Hichox) UK #England REVISON
23. Soft Top Hard Shoulder (1992, Stefan Schwartz) UK #Scotland
24. Scrapper (2023, Charlotte Regan) UK #England
25. We Are the Lambeth Boys (1959) UK #England
26. Unman, Wittering and Zigo (1971) UK #Wales REVISON
27. The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) UK #England REVISON

28. Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972) UK #England



Released only a year after the original, this is one of those sequels that feels like more of a mere attempt to cash in on the former film's success. The plot has Phibes surviving the events of the first film through some frankly bizarre pseudoscience, and then going on a quest to resurrect his wife, killing some archaeologists in the process. The revenge motive is really lacking here since this is no longer a film about a man lashing out at those who he perceives as incompetent, while the novelty deaths feel like just that without the poetry of biblical plagues this time. Terry-Thomas is funny though (of course).

[pitchorneirda]

Spoiler

1. A Taste of Honey (1961, Tony Richardson) - 6/10
2. A Hard Day's Night (1964, Richard Lester) - 3.5/10
3. Meantime (1983, Mike Leigh) - 4.5/10
4. The Secret of Kells (2009, Tomm Moore & Nora Twomey) - 5/10
5. Withnail & I (1987, Bruce Robinson) - 4/10
6-7. TV Episodes, total runtime 183min
Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead (2009, James Strong) TV Episode, 59 min
Doctor Who: The Eleventh Hour (2010, Adam Smith) TV Episode, 65 min
Doctor Who: The Vampires of Venice (2010, Jonny Campbell) TV Episode, 49 min
8. Victim (1961, Basil Dearden) - 5/10
9. The Crying Game (1992, Neil Jordan) - 3/10
10. The 39 Steps (1935, Alfred Hitchcock) - 3/10
11. Chicken Run (2000, Nick Park & Peter Lord) - 5.5/10
12. TV Episodes, total runtime 90 min
Doctor Who: The Hungry Earth (2010, Ashley Way) TV Episode, 44 min
Doctor Who: Cold Blood (2010, Ashley Way) TV Episode, 46 min
13. Whistle Down the Wind (1961, Bryan Forbes) - 7/10
14. TV Episodes, total runtime 105 min
Doctor Who: The Lodger (2010, Catherine Morshead) TV Episode, 43 min
Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol (2010, Toby Haynes) TV Episode, 62 min
15. Dead Man's Shoes (2004, Shane Meadows) - 2/10
16. Happy-Go-Lucky (2008, Mike Leigh) - 7/10
17. Family Life (1971, Ken Loach) - 7/10
18. TV Episodes, total runtime 91 min
Doctor Who: The Impossible Astronaut (2011, Toby Haynes) TV Episode, 44 min
Doctor Who: Day of the Moon (2011, Toby Haynes) TV Episode, 47 min
19. TV Episodes, total runtime 80min
Doctor Who: The Curse of the Black Spot (2011, Jeremy Webb) TV Episode 46 min
+ 34 min
20. A Matter of Life and Death (1946, Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger) - 5/10
21. Great Expectations (1946, David Lean) - 4/10
22. Paddington (2014, Paul King) - 4/10
23. TV Episodes, total runtime 80 min
Doctor Who: The Doctor's Wife (2011, Richard Clark) TV Episode, 47 min
+ 33 min
24. 45 Years (2015, Andrew Haigh) - 7/10
25. Paddington 2 (2017, Paul King) - 4/10
26. Gosford Park (2001, Robert Altman) - 2/10
27. Bridget Jones's Diary (2001, Sharon Maguire) - 3/10
28. American Honey (2016, Andrea Arnold) - 3/10
29. Sexy Beast (2000, Jonathan Glazer) - 2/10
30. TV Episodes, total runtime 89 min
Doctor Who: The Doctor's Daughter (2008, Alice Troughton) TV Episode, 45 min
Doctor Who: The Unicorn and the Wasp (2008, Graeme Harper) TV Episode 44 min
31. Benediction (2021, Terence Davies) - 3/10
32. The Whisperers (1967, Bryan Forbes) - 8/10

33-34. TV Episodes, total runtime 184 min
Doctor Who: The Rebel Flesh (2011, Julian Simpson) 43 min
Doctor Who: The God Complex (2011, Nick Hurran) 49 min
Doctor Who: Closing Time (2011, Steve Hughes) 46 min
Doctor Who: The Wedding of River Song (2011, Jeremy Webb) 46 min


[total minutes carried over: 23 + 10 + 25 + 11 - 34 - 33 + 9 + 24 = 35 min]

[AB537]

22. Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (Sophie Hyde, 2022) 6.5/10 ... #England
23. Small Axe: Lovers Rock (Steve McQueen, 2020) 6/10 ... #England
24. Exam (Stuart Hazeldine, 2009) 5.5/10 ... #England

[gunnar]

48 - Bad Timing (1980) - 4/10 - Nicolas Roeg - A woman overdoses and is taken to the hospital. Detectives interview her 'friend' and try to piece together what happened. The relationship between the two is slowly revealed through flashbacks. The directing and soundtrack weren't bad. I couldn't get into the story at all, though.

49 - Under the Skin (1997) - 5.5/10 - Carine Adler - When their mother dies, two sisters deal with her death in different ways. Rose is pregnant and married and on the surface seems to be dealing with the death fairly well. Her younger sister, Rose (Samantha Morton), descends into a series of one night stands, drinking, and bad decisions. Morton gives a pretty good performance, but the film itself did little for me.

50 - Nuts in May (1976) - 7/10 - Mike Leigh - A couple go camping in Dorset, hoping for some peace and quiet plus day trips to various tourist sites. The husband is pretty controlling and officious, not letting his wife hold the guidebook at sites and speaking for his wife on a number of occasions. They end up having some problems with other campers who are a bit more carefree with the campsite rules.

51 - London to Brighton (2006) - 8/10 - Paul Andrew Williams - The film starts with a young girl and a prostitute on the run. The girl hides in a bathroom while the prostitute tries to get some money to put the girl on a train. The prostitute's pimp and another man are after them and we discover the reason in flashback. It's a pretty dark and violent film, but is also very good with nice performances.

52 - A Room for Romeo Brass (1999) - 6/10 - Shane Meadows - Gavin and Romeo are young boys who have been good friends all of their lives. They get into an argument/fight with two older and bigger boys and are rescued by a man about twice their age (Paddy Considine) who starts hanging around with the boys in hopes of going out with Romeo's older sister. There were a few interesting parts, but mostly the film wasn't that great.

Spoiler

1 - Monsters (2010) - 7.5/10 - Gareth Edwards
2 - The Descent (2005) - 7/10 - Neil Marshall
3 - Twins of Evil (1971) - 6.5/10 - John Hough
4 - Tales from the Crypt (1972) - 7/10 - Freddie Francis
5 - Theatre of Blood (1973) - 6/10 - Douglas Hickox
6 - Vampire Circus (1972) - 7/10 - Robert Young
7 - Asylum (1972) - 7.5/10 - Roy Ward Baker
8 - Deathdream / Dead of Night (1974) - 7/10 - Bob Clark
9 - Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) - 6.5/10 - Terence Fisher
10 - The Plague of the Zombies (1966) - 7.5/10 - John Gilling
11 - The Skull (1965) - 6/10 - Freddie Francis
12 - The Devil Rides Out (1968) - 8/10 - Terence Fisher
13 - The Open Road (1926) - 8/10 - Claude Friese-Greene
14 - Blue (1993) - 5/10 - Derek Jarman
15 - Culloden (1964) - 7/10 - Peter Watkins
16 - London (1994) - 7/10 - Patrick Keiller
17 - Robinson in Space (1997) - 7.5/10 - Patrick Keiller
18 - Oliver Twist (1948) - 8/10 - David Lean
19 - The Great White Silence (1924) - 7.5/10 - Herbert G. Ponting
20 - Underground (1928) - 8.5/10 - Anthony Asquith
21 - Zulu (1964) - 7.5/10 - Cy Endfield
22 - The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) - 7/10 - Tony Richardson
23 - Whisky Galore! (1949) - 6.5/10 - Alexander Mackendrick
24 - 24 Hour Party People (2002) - 6/10 - Michael Winterbottom
25 - Billy Liar (1963) - 7/10 - John Schlesinger
26 - This Is England (2006) - 7.5/10 - Shane Meadows
27 - Hobson's Choice (1954) - 8/10 - David Lean
28 - The Blue Lamp (1950) - 7.5/10 - Basil Dearden
29 - The Warrior (2001) - 6.5/10 - Asif Kapadia
30 - My Summer of Love (2004) - 5.5/10 - Pawel Pawlikowski
31 - Shallow Grave (1994) - 7/10 - Danny Boyle
32 - East is East (1999) - 7.5/10 - Damien O'Donnell
33 - I, Daniel Blake (2016) - 8/10 - Ken Loach
34 - Touching the Void (2003) - 7.5/10 - Kevin Macdonald
35 - The Ipcress File (1965) - 7/10 - Sidney J. Furie
36 - Carry On Up the Khyber (1968) - 5.5/10 - Gerald Thomas
37 - The Belles of St. Trinian’s (1954) - 6/10 - Frank Launder
38 - Brighton Rock (1948) - 8/10 - John Boulting
39 - The Italian Job (1969) - 6.5/10 - Peter Collinson
40 - Life is Sweet (1990) - 6/10 - Mike Leigh
41 - I'm All Right Jack (1959) - 7.5/10 - John Boulting
42 - My Name is Joe (1998) - 7/10 - Ken Loach
43 - The Draughtsman's Contract (1982) - 7.5/10 - Peter Greenaway -
44 - Small Faces (1996) - 7/10 - Gillies MacKinnon
45 - Brassed Off (1996) - 6.5/10 - Mark Herman
46 - Caravaggio (1986) - 4/10 - Derek Jarman
47 - Reach for the Sky (1956) - 7/10 - Lewis Gilbert

[blocho]

18. I Came By (2022) #England
A domestic invasion thriller that after some early surprises is mostly formulaic. Reliably entertaining but unremarkable.

19. I Went Down (1997) #Ireland
A 90s buddy/crime comedy with some of the Pulp Fiction DNA that practically every crime comedy from the late 90s has. It’s decent but not particularly interesting.

[OldAle1]

Britannia Rules (films, anyway)

1. The Green Cockatoo aka Four Dark Hours (William Cameron Menzies, 1937) #England
2. The Open Road (Claude Friese-Greene, 1926) #England
3. Sanders of the River (Zoltan Korda, 1935) #England
4. Jericho (Thornton Freeland, 1937) #England
5. The Full Monty (Peter Cattaneo, 1997) #England
6. A Taste of Honey (Tony Richrdson, 1961) #England
7. The Terror of the Tongs (Anthony Bushell, 1961) #England
8. The Pirates of Blood River (John Gilling, 1962) #England
9. The Devil-Ship Pirates (Don Sharp, 1964) #England
10. Some short films from great directors #England
a) Mamma Don't Allow (Karel Reisz/Tony Richardson, 1956)
b) Bon Voyage (Alfred Hitchcock, 1944)
c) Storytime (Terry Gilliam, 1968)
d) Miracle of Flight (Terry Gilliam, 1975)

11. The Lost Hours (David MacDonald, 1952) #England
12. Footsteps in the Fog (Arthur Lubin, 1955) #England
13. Carry On Up the Khyber (Gerald Thomas, 1968) #England
14. Educating Rita (Lewis Gilbert, 1983) #England

another noir double feature

15. Attempt to Kill (Royson Morley, 1961) #England
16. Soho Incident / Spin a Dark Web (Vernon Sewell, 1956) #England

I had a certain amount of luck last year with no-name, super-cheap British noirs; not that any of them stood out as best-of-all-time or anything, but several were fairly memorable, so I had at least some hopes that Attempt to Kill would be worth seeing. Plus it's very short (just under 60 minutes) and fit the time I had to see it in properly. Alas this is a very run-of-the-mill murder mystery flick - or rather, attempted-murder, then actual murder, with it's only novelty value being that it's set in and I guess filmed in a semi-rural/suburban area. A wealthy businessman is afraid that someone is trying to kill him on his lovely estate, and he suspects that it's an obnoxious man he's just fired - but as the film goes on we, and the police, find reasons to suspect his secretary/girlfriend, his ex-wife, an ex-business associate who hates him, and a couple of others. The ending isn't entirely predictable, I'll give it that, but I stopped caring pretty quickly. The direction and photography are flat and uninspired, and I think there are probably good reasons why none of the cast members (Derek Farr as the chief inspector in charge is probably the most familiar) became exactly A-list.

Soho Incident is much better though certainly not top-flight. Jim Bankley, a Canadian man (actual Canadian actor Lee Patterson), is spending much of his time boxing, trying to get a gig doing that or anything else, when he finds out that old friend Buddy (Robert Arden) is also in London, and through Buddy he gets a job working for gangster Rico (Martin Benson), but things go badly rather quickly when a gym friend of his is beaten up and killed, and suspicion falls on Rico and his men. Jim doesn't want to belive it but he has been drawn into the web and needs the job Rico has offered him, which is a betting scam that they can pull off due to Jim's knowledge of telephone technology. Further complications - Jim has a sort of relationship going with the dead friend's sister, but finds himself snared by RIco's sultry sister Bella (Faith Domergue). This proceeded in a fairly typical manner, but there are some good brief action setpieces along the way, and a nice deadly ending for some of the guilty. I also liked how Jim is perfectly willing to get involved in scamming and payoffs and other such crimes, but draws the line at murder. See he's a criminal but we can still root for him as a hero! Domergue is probably the biggest name in the cast and she deliver the femme fatale role pretty well, though I have to say it was distracting that she and Benson are both supposed to be Sicilian, but only Benson makes any attempt (a fairly decent one) at an accent. Such inconsistencies are rarely fatal but they certainly are noticeable.

17. Far From the Madding Crowd (John Schlesinger, 1967) #England



I don't generally look forward to these kinds of lush historical films anymore - I guess I did when I was younger, I liked being taken away to another time and place, and it was even better if the film was long and involved (this is just under 3 hours). And my memories of Thomas Hardy are dim - I know I read Jude the Obscure in college, and maybe Tess, but that's it, and I've not seen any adaptations of his work until now. I know he tends to be bleak and depressing, so I expected that, and indeed this gets off on a dark note when shepherd Gabriel Oak - what a name (Alan Bates) sees his entire flock driven off a cliff to their deaths by his new and untutored sheedog. Oak has a beautiful neighbor, Bathsheba - also, what a name! (Julie Christie) who he had proposed marriage to some time before; through an odd circumstance, he goes to work for her as her shepherd after she inherits her large family farm, and he still maintains an interest in her, though she turns out to catch the eye of both William Boldwood, an older neighboring large landowner (Peter Finch) and a gambling-addicted, rather sleazy military man, Troy (Terence Stamp). So the film is basically a love-quadrangle, with much lyrical footage of the SW English countryside, and occasional attempts at showing how hard life was for such people in the 1870s (I'm guessing the bleakness of such life is much more evident in the book). With a quartet of some of the greatest English (well, Finch was English-Australian) actors of that period one naturally focuses on the performances, and the three men all really shine, especially Bates who has a magnetism that always puts him at the center of any scene he's in. Christie doesn't fare as well I think but she's certainly not bad; it's just that so much of what she is in the film is an object of desire, and even when she asserts her strength of personality it seems we're seeing that only to look towards one of the men taming her. At least that's the way it felt.

But equally a star is the photography, by one of the greatest DPs of the 1960s, and later an interesting if not great (jury's still out for this viewer) director in his own right, Nicolas Roeg. The color - particularly the reds of fabrics, and the greens of trees and hedges - is lush throughout, and the various little tricks like the many short POV shots from horseback or wagon, or in one case from two characters dancing with each other, are inventive and help keep the film lively and feeling at least a bit less stodgy than it might otherwise have felt. And I love the way he shoots fire (and he has several opportunities for it). The score by Richard Rodney Bennett is similarly interesting, mostly yearning and post-romantic in a style reminiscent of some of his immediate predecessors like Delius and especially Bax, but with little bursts of more modernist elements that are more typical of this composer's later experimental style. All of this helps the film develop a fairly distinctive look and sound, which certainly made it fairly easy for me to stay interested over the 170 minutes. In the end even the terrific acting and technical aspects don't quite make for a great film - Schlesinger's storytelling is resolutely conventional, and the actors, good as they are, seem rather shoehorned into roles that don't feel as multidimensional as they could be, and as I'm sure they are in Hardy's novel. Still well worth seeing IMO, particularly if you're interested in this kind of rural historical epic sort of thing.

[frwnk]

44. Night of the Big Heat (1967) - #England
45. The Asphyx (1972) - #England
46. The House That Dripped Blood (1971) - #England
47. Nothing But the Night (1973) - #England
48. Men (2022) - #England/USA
49. The Medusa Touch (1978) - #England
50. The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) - #England
51. And Now the Screaming Starts! (1973) - #England
52. Doomwatch (1972) - #England
53. Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972) - #England
54. Witchfinder General (1968) - #England
55. Tales from the Crypt (1972) - #England
56. The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (2017) - #England/Hong Kong

I mostly watched horror movies from "Classic British Horror Films" youtube channel.

[peeptoad]

7. The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023, André Øvredal) [****]
--- That's one slow and stretched-out Dracula at sea story!

I take it from your stars that it was good though? It's been on my watch list since Viggo Mortensen was attached some while back. I plan on catching it next month for the horror whirlwind.

[PUNQ]

7. The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023, André Øvredal) [****]
--- That's one slow and stretched-out Dracula at sea story!

I take it from your stars that it was good though? It's been on my watch list since Viggo Mortensen was attached some while back. I plan on catching it next month for the horror whirlwind.

It's a 4... out of a 10 rating, so very average. Type of modern production that does the slow dark mood thing, forgetting to add any personality to it.


10. Portrait of Clare (1950, Lance Comfort) [*****]
--- The love life of an elegant woman. All about the fine acting making the dull drama come to life.

Spoiler

1. The Man in the White Suit (1951, Alexander Mackendrick) [********]
2-3. The Sixth Commandment (2023, Saul Dibb) [********]
4. Annika - S02 - E03 (23.08.2023) [******], Annika - S02 - E04 (30.08.2023) [*******]
5. Annika - S02 - E05 (06.08.2023) [*******], Annika - S02 - E06 (13.08.2023) [******]
6. Day at St Christopher’s College and School (1920, London Missionary Society) [***], Little Dorrit (1920, Sidney Morgan) [****] - 18min, A Race for a Bride (1922, Challis Sanderson) [***] - 15min, Scrooge (1922, George Wynn) [****] - 10min
7. The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023, André Øvredal) [****]
8. Jeanne du Barry (2023, Maïwenn) [*****]
9. Haunting of the Queen Mary (2023, Gary Shore & Rebecca Harris) [**]
10. Portrait of Clare (1950, Lance Comfort) [*****]

[sol]

Spoiler

1. The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970, Basil Dearden) UK #England REVISON
2. The Breadwinner (2017, Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
3. My Old School (2022, Jono McLeod) UK #Scotland
4. The Souvenir: Part II (2021, Joanna Hogg) UK #England
5. The Secret of Kells (2009, Tomm Moore; Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
6. The Survivalist (2015, Stephen Fingleton) UK #NothernIreland
7. Ask a Policeman (1939, Marcel Varnel) UK #England REVISON
8. Only Two Can Play (1962, Sidney Gilliat) UK #Wales REVISON
9. My Father’s Dragon (2022, Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
10. Archipelago (2010, Joanna Hogg) UK #England
11. Unrelated (2007, Joanna Hogg) UK #England
12. Sleuth (1972, Joe Mankiewicz) UK #England REVISON
13. Exam (2009, Stuart Hazeldine) UK #England REVISON
14. Who? (1974, Jack Gold) UK #England REVISON
15. The Eternal Daughter (2022, Joanna Hogg) UK #Wales
16. Sweet Sixteen (2002, Ken Loach) UK #Scotland
17. Keeping Mum (2005, Niall Johnson) UK #IsleOfMan REVISON
18. Peeping Tom (1960, Michael Powell) UK #England REVISON
19. Cherrybomb (2009, Lisa Barros D'Sa; Glenn Leyburn) UK #NothernIreland
20. Chico & Rita (2010, Fernando Trueba and others) UK #IsleOfMan
21. Chicken Run (2000, Nick Park, Pete Lord) UK #England REVISON
22. Entertaining Mr Sloane (1970, Doug Hichox) UK #England REVISON
23. Soft Top Hard Shoulder (1992, Stefan Schwartz) UK #Scotland
24. Scrapper (2023, Charlotte Regan) UK #England
25. We Are the Lambeth Boys (1959) UK #England
26. Unman, Wittering and Zigo (1971) UK #Wales REVISON
27. The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) UK #England REVISON
28. Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972) UK #England

29. The Roads Not Taken (2020) UK #England



Suffering from dementia, an ageing writer tries to navigate a stressful day full of appointments in this powerful drama from Sally Potter. While it never quite reaches the nightmarish and highly claustrophobic extremes of The Father, this is a film very much cut from the same cloth, mostly filtered through the father's point-of-view. Potter's film though is more concerned with memory with around half of the movie spent in the father experiencing flashbacks - including a telling one in which he talks about writing a book about a man who is unsure of whether his family is waiting for him after returning home.

[OldAle1]

Spoiler

1. The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970, Basil Dearden) UK #England REVISON
2. The Breadwinner (2017, Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
3. My Old School (2022, Jono McLeod) UK #Scotland
4. The Souvenir: Part II (2021, Joanna Hogg) UK #England
5. The Secret of Kells (2009, Tomm Moore; Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
6. The Survivalist (2015, Stephen Fingleton) UK #NothernIreland
7. Ask a Policeman (1939, Marcel Varnel) UK #England REVISON
8. Only Two Can Play (1962, Sidney Gilliat) UK #Wales REVISON
9. My Father’s Dragon (2022, Nora Twomey) IE #Ireland
10. Archipelago (2010, Joanna Hogg) UK #England
11. Unrelated (2007, Joanna Hogg) UK #England
12. Sleuth (1972, Joe Mankiewicz) UK #England REVISON
13. Exam (2009, Stuart Hazeldine) UK #England REVISON
14. Who? (1974, Jack Gold) UK #England REVISON
15. The Eternal Daughter (2022, Joanna Hogg) UK #Wales
16. Sweet Sixteen (2002, Ken Loach) UK #Scotland
17. Keeping Mum (2005, Niall Johnson) UK #IsleOfMan REVISON
18. Peeping Tom (1960, Michael Powell) UK #England REVISON
19. Cherrybomb (2009, Lisa Barros D'Sa; Glenn Leyburn) UK #NothernIreland
20. Chico & Rita (2010, Fernando Trueba and others) UK #IsleOfMan
21. Chicken Run (2000, Nick Park, Pete Lord) UK #England REVISON
22. Entertaining Mr Sloane (1970, Doug Hichox) UK #England REVISON
23. Soft Top Hard Shoulder (1992, Stefan Schwartz) UK #Scotland
24. Scrapper (2023, Charlotte Regan) UK #England
25. We Are the Lambeth Boys (1959) UK #England
26. Unman, Wittering and Zigo (1971) UK #Wales REVISON
27. The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) UK #England REVISON
28. Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972) UK #England

29. The Roads Not Taken (2020) UK #England



Suffering from dementia, an ageing writer tries to navigate a stressful day full of appointments in this powerful drama from Sally Potter. While it never quite reaches the nightmarish and highly claustrophobic extremes of The Father, this is a film very much cut from the same cloth, mostly filtered through the father's point-of-view. Potter's film though is more concerned with memory with around half of the movie spent in the father experiencing flashbacks - including a telling one in which he talks about writing a book about a man who is unsure of whether his family is waiting for him after returning home.

Nice to see this mentioned. You may have liked it more than I did, or at least as much. Sadly it seems to have gained no traction since it came out, and Potter remains a very obscure figure with only Orlando continuing to get any attention whatsoever.

[sol]

Nice to see this mentioned. You may have liked it more than I did, or at least as much. Sadly it seems to have gained no traction since it came out, and Potter remains a very obscure figure with only Orlando continuing to get any attention whatsoever.

I wonder if the lack of traction is due to the success of The Father overshadowing it; some Letterboxd reviews also labelled the film as confusing, but I think "disorientating" is a better term as we are intentionally placed in the shoes of a disoriented man.

I didn't think to mention it, but The Roads Not Taken is easily my favourite of the five Sally Potter films that I have seen (and yes, that includes Orlando). I am very partial to living, breathing nightmare movies, and while I don't think Potter has done anything else quite like this, I might try to watch some more of her stuff this month that I have missed - including her other film with Elle Fanning, Ginger & Rosa.

[OldAle1]

I wonder if the lack of traction is due to the success of The Father overshadowing it; some Letterboxd reviews also labelled the film as confusing, but I think "disorientating" is a better term as we are intentionally placed in the shoes of a disoriented man.

Eh, maybe, but Potter's gotten very little attention over the years regardless; even a film like The Man Who Cried which seems like it could have had some mainstream success went nowhere. Only Orlando really made it out of the arthouse ghetto at all.

I didn't think to mention it, but The Roads Not Taken is easily my favourite of the five Sally Potter films that I have seen (and yes, that includes Orlando). I am very partial to living, breathing nightmare movies, and while I don't think Potter has done anything else quite like this, I might try to watch some more of her stuff this month that I have missed - including her other film with Elle Fanning, Ginger & Rosa.

It's not mine, and I did like Orlando more, though not until a second viewing on that - when I saw it on original release I liked it but really didn't see some of what it was aiming for; I think it's one of those cases where more experience (in both films and literature) helped me see what she was doing better when I went to re-watch it a few years ago. But it's not my favorite either - my list at the moment would be 1) The Gold Diggers, 2) Thriller, 3)Orlando, 4)The Tango Lesson (also in real need of another viewing) and 5)The Roads Not Taken. All of them except the "popular" Orlando are on my 500<400 list. And that reminds me that I still have a couple to see so maybe I'll hit those this month yet.

[peeptoad]

7. The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023, André Øvredal) [****]
--- That's one slow and stretched-out Dracula at sea story!

I take it from your stars that it was good though? It's been on my watch list since Viggo Mortensen was attached some while back. I plan on catching it next month for the horror whirlwind.

It's a 4... out of a 10 rating, so very average. Type of modern production that does the slow dark mood thing, forgetting to add any personality to it.

That's actually more what I expected, tbh. I erroneously thought you had a 5 point scale there I'm still going to watch it next month tho.

[ororama]

2. Overlord (1975, Stuart Cooper) * 83 min. #England
The great documentary footage was far more interesting than the scripted drama.
3. Dreamland Express (1982, David Anderson) * 14 min. #England
Home Road Movies (2002, Robert Bradbrook) * 12 min.
Great (Isambard Kingdom Brunel) (1975, Bob Godfrey) * 24 min.
Dear Margery Boobs (1976, Bob Godfrey) * 5 min.
Dream Doll (1979, Bob Godfrey, Zlatko Grgic) * 12 min.
Dreamland Express is a surreal train trip through the unconscious mind. Home Road Movies is a fond look at dad and family road trips through Europe by station wagon. Great was an odd biography of a quirky engineer, and Bob Godfrey's sex comedies deliver a good punch line.

Spoiler

1. The Quiet Girl/An Cailín Ciúin (2022, Colm Bairéad) * 95 min. #Ireland

*First time viewing

[jdidaco]

(Screenshots from 'Times For', 'Blackbird Descending (Tense Alignment)', 'The Metamorphosis', 'Woolf Works' & 'The Red Shoes'),



25. Kieran Hickey program : The Moonmen (Kieran Hickey, 1965) 8/10 (9 min), Faithful Departed (Kieran Hickey, 1968) 8/10 (11 min), Irish Boy, the Story of Sean (Kieran Hickey, 1970/72) 7/10 (15 min), A Child's Voice (Kieran Hickey, 1978) 8/10 (29 min) (Total: 64 min) (4x#Ireland)
26. Times For (Stephen Dwoskin, 1970) 10/10 (#England)
27. Blackbird Descending (Tense Alignment) (Malcolm le Grice, 1977) 10/10 (#England)



28. Reefer and the Model (Joe Comerford, 1988) 8/10 (#Ireland)
29. Goodbye Mr. Christie (Phil Mulloy, 2011) 7.5/10 (#England)
30. The Metamorphosis (Arthur Pita & Ross MacGibbon, 2013) 10/10 (#England)



31. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Christopher Wheeldon & Ross MacGibbon & Kevin O'Hare, 2017) 9/10 (#England)
32. Woolf Works (Wayne McGregor & Ross MacGibbon, 2017) 10/10 (#England)



33. Kes Reimagined (Jonathan Watkins & Ross MacGibbon, 2019) 7.5/10 (#England)
34. Matthew Bourne's Romeo and Juliet (Matthew Bourne, 2019) 9/10 (#England)
35. Matthew Bourne's the Red Shoes (Matthew Bourne, 2020) 10/10 (#England)
36. The Dante Project (Wayne McGregor & Ross MacGibbon, 2022) 7.5/10 (#England)



Oh, Edward Watson as Gregor Samsa, in the best adaptation of Kafka's 'The Metamorphosis, here receiving the night visit of his disturbed Ids for the complete bug-ification of self, with spine-chilling music by Frank Moon,



(37 min carried over)

Spoiler

1. Mad Jack (Jack Gold, 1970) 9/10 (#England)
2. The National Health (Jack Gold, 1973) 8/10 (#England)
3. Moments (Peter Crane, 1974) 8/10 (#England)
4. Un nos ola' leuad/One Full Moon (Endaf Emlyn, 1991) 9/10 (#Wales)
5. Gadael Lenin/Leaving Lenin (Endaf Emlyn, 1993) 8/10 (#Wales)
6-7. Operavox (1995) : Carmen (Mario Cavalli) 7.5/10, The Magic Flute (Valeriy Ugarov) 9/10, Rhinegold (Graham Ralph) 7.5/10, Rigoletto (Barry Purves) 10/10 (RV), The Barber of Seville (Nataliya Dabizha) 9.5/10, Turandot (Gary Hurst) 8/0 (Total: 183 min) (23 minutes carried below) (#Wales)
8. Akram Khan's Giselle (Akram Khan & Ross MacGibbon, 2018) 10/10 (#England)
9. Benediction (Terence Davies, 2021) 8/10 (#England)
10-12. (23 min), The Visit (Jack Gold, 1959) 7.5/10 (35 min), Stranger in the City (Robert Hartford-Davis, 1961) 7.5/10 (22 min), The Six-Sided Triangle (Christopher Miles, 1963) 7.5/10 (30 min), Stop Laughing, This Is England (Douglas Hickox, 1963) 7.5/10 (20 min), Simon Simon (Graham Stark, 1970) 8/10 (30 min), Hofesh Shechter's Clowns (Hofesh Shechter, 2018) 10/10 (28 min) (Total: 188 min) (8 min carried over) (6x#England)
13-14. (8 min), The Strange World of Gurney Slade (Anthony Newley & Alan Tarrant, 1960) 10/10 (156 min) (Total: 164 min) (#England)
15. Three on a Spree (Sidney J. Furie, 1961) 7/10 (#England)
16. The Boys (Sidney J. Furie, 1962) 8/10 (#England)
17. England Made Me (Peter Duffell, 1973) 8/10 (#England)
18. A Private Enterprise (Peter Smith, 1974) 8.5/10 (#England)
19. Long Shot (Maurice Hatton, 1978) 8/10 (#Scotland)
20. Hooray for Holyrood (Ross Wilson, 1986) 7/10 (#Scotland)
21. Barry Purves program : Next (Barry Purves, 1990) 9/10 (RV) (5 min), Screen Play (Barry Purves, 1993) 9.5/10 (RV) (11 min), Achilles (Barry Purves, 1995) 10/10 (RV) (11 min), Gilbert & Sullivan: The Very Models (Barry Purves, 1998) 8.5/10 (16 min), Hamilton Mattress (Barry Purves, 2001) 8/10 (30 min), Tchaikovsky - An Elegy (Barry Purves, 2011) 8.5/10 (RV) (13 min) (Total: 86 min) (6x#England)
22. The Canterbury Tales (Jonathan Myerson, Aida Zyablikova, Ashley Potter & Dave Antrobus & Mic Graves, Joanna Quinn, Iain Gardner, Deiniol Morris, Valeriy Ugarov, Sergey Olifirenko and Damian Gascoigne, 1998/2000) 8/10 (Total: 83 min) (#Wales)
23. Umbilical World (David Firth, 2018) 8/10 (#England)
24. LOLA (Andrew Legge, 2022) 7.5/10 (#Ireland)

[blocho]

20-21. And Then There Were None (2015) #England
Given the many adaptations of this classic story over the decades and that the source material is one of the most popular novels ever, odds are that most viewers already know the tale pretty well, as I did. The only way this miniseries could succeed then is by going deeper on character and atmosphere than the other adaptations. And that’s what happens here, with mostly positive effects. It’s not a great series, but it’s an entertaining one, with a hard edge of brutality and some gorgeous photography.

[ororama]

4. The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005, Steve Box, Nick Park) * 85 min. #England
Funny and fun.

Spoiler

1. The Quiet Girl/An Cailín Ciúin (2022, Colm Bairéad) * 95 min. #Ireland
2. Overlord (1975, Stuart Cooper) * 83 min.  #England
3. Dreamland Express (1982, David Anderson) * 14 min.  #England
Home Road Movies (2002, Robert Bradbrook) * 12 min.
Great (Isambard Kingdom Brunel) (1975, Bob Godfrey) * 24 min.
Dear Margery Boobs (1976, Bob Godfrey) * 5 min.
Dream Doll (1979, Bob Godfrey, Zlatko Grgic) * 12 min.

*First time viewing