It's tempting to just think of Christopher Plummer as Capt. Von Trapp and little else, but a casual glance at his stage credentials illustrate that he was well chosen for his title role in this Shakespearian tragedy. This adaptation also benefits from being a British/Danish co-production so was even filmed in Elsinore, too. You'' probably know the stroy of the eponymous Prince who has lost his father and seen his mother "Gertrude" (June Tobin) remarried to the new king "Claudius" (Robert Shaw). Now he, and his best pal "Horatio" (a passable Michael Caine) must tread a very fine line as they try to get to the truth as guilt, madness and thoughts of revenge are never far away. Though fairly faithful to the bard's original story, this adaptation is much less method than other versions. Plummer's natural style of delivery is convincing as "Hamlet" becomes more and more convinced of his truths, but conflicted as to his solution. Alec Clunes's "Polonius" and the pairing of "Rosencrantz" (David Calderisi) and "Guildenstern" (Bill Wallis) - which doesn't always work so well on the silver screen, all work to ramp up the sense of menace and mayhem as events head to their rather tragic, if befitting, denouement. There's a powerful cameo from Roy Kinnear as the gravedigger. A comedy actor by trade but so often really effective in the role of the pivotal or fool type of ostensibly side character whose words command special attention. The star here, for me anyway, is Robert Shaw. His performance as the King is subtle and powerful, his characterisation odious yet at times he does manage to elicit just the vaguest hint of sympathy as his step-son becomes much less guarded about his accusations. It's also worth noting the efforts from Jo Maxwell Muller whose "Ophelia" is delicate and enthralling - especially in her last scenes. It is abridged, but not so that you'd would necessarily notice and certainly not really to the detriment of the story. If you've never read the play, then this might just encourage you.
Reviews
3,922 Reviews
Earthbound
(1940)
Earthbound
2 June 2024
I quite enjoyed this daft little crime caper. "Nick" (Warner Baxter) has been shot, stone dead as a dodo - and his pal "Jeff" (Henry Wilcoxon) looks set to swing for it. Thing is, he didn't do it. We know he didn't - he is just covering for someone, but whom? Well the spirit of "Nick" is determined to try and help, even if nobody can actually see or hear him - except "Whimser" (Charley Grapewin) who might have some clues that will turn him into the original "influencer"! Using some simple and effective visual effects, Irving Pichel now takes us on what is, admittedly, a rather procedural cat chases mouse affair using his widow "Ellen" (Andrea Leeds) to investigate and deliver the fairly obvious culprit before it's fry-day for "Jeff". It's only an hour and moves along quite amiably without remotely taxing your little grey cells.
The Prestige
(2006)
The Prestige
2 June 2024
As ever with Christopher Nolan films the chronology needs close attention - as so many of the clues as to what the hell is actually going on require a considerable degree of concentration (and multiple viewings) before any semblance of quality emanates from the outwardly cluttered and, frankly, preposterous plot. We start with Christian Bale ("Borden") about to swing for the murder of Hugh Jackman ("Angier") but of course it is not that simple; and through a series of complex flashbacks we discover just how these two, erstwhile friends and colleagues, got themselves into this predicament. This is a story about ambition, obsession - to succeed and to hate; it has elements of love - both men have relationships, one the cause of their estrangement; the other (with Scarlett Johansson) continues to fuel it. The whole nature of their profession - illusionists; conjurers of/to the imagination - lends itself splendidly to the subject of this vendetta. The look of the film is first class, with Wally Pfister creating a gem of vivid imagery with some wonderful visual effects too. The performances are OK - they are not great; the dialogue is likewise. For a film essentially about seeing being believing (or not) the script is frequently too wordy and overpowers the subtle opportunities for the actors to demonstrate rather than speak their parts. Sir Michael Caine probably brings the most authentic accent to the proceedings - the others left me needing quite a bit of convincing; and the brief appearances of David Bowie as Tesla were a poor choice of casting, I felt. This is a good film, and I enjoyed it - but I did need to watch it 4 times before I felt half way comfortable writing anything down about it!
The Six Wives of Henry VIII
(1970)
The Six Wives of Henry VIII
2 June 2024
Unlike many other depictions of the life of the eponymous English King, this one actually features a great deal more meat on the bones of his first marriage to the long-suffering Catherine of Aragon (Annette Crosbie). Brought to England to marry his elder brother (Prince Arthur, who died young) she is kept hanging about, living in a form of palatial poverty unsure of her status with Henry VII and having no status at all in Spain. Will she be repudiated? Well Crosbie gives us a solid start as she portrays a woman of decency and piety who had no intention of going quietly upon the arrival of Anne Boleyn (Dorothy Tutin) who led the King (Keith Michell) a merry dance for a thousand days, before her only bearing a daughter (Elizabeth) proved insufficient for her not to end up on the block and replaced by the pallid Jane Seymour (Anne Stallybrass) who did manage the son (Edward) he craved, but didn't survive the week afterwards. Bereft, it's his lord chancellor Thomas Cromwell (Wolfe Morris) who convinces him that an alliance with the fellow Protestant Duke of Cleves would be a good idea. Holbein is despatched to provide a painting and a marriage is arranged. In comes Elvi Hale as his second Anne, but one he cannot bear to be with. She's no fool though and is equally determined to keep her head. A deal is struck with the King that leaves him free to chase after the child that is Catherine Howard (Angela Pleasence) - a neice of the ambitious Norfolk (Patrick Troughton) but one who's previous life made her days as numbered as the minutes of her hour. Now old, huge and curmudgeonly - and without virtually anyone whom he could trust, he alights on the independently minded Catherine Parr (Rosalie Crutchley) to see him out. The BBC were very good at these condensed period dramas with some splendid costumery and (occasionally wobbly) settings providing a bedrock for some well cast acting and solid writing. Michell made the part his own and, barring some over-applied make up at the end, serves well as the conduit for six characterful female performances spanning his reign. Crosbie excelled here, I felt, as did Elvi Hale proving her Queen every bit the intellectual match for a King unused to being outmanoeuvred. David Munrow was pretty expert at music for the Tudor period and his score accompanies well these stories of dynastic politics frequently disguised as lust, ambition, guile but very rarely as love. As starter level history of this turbulent period in the history of this Kingdom at a time of religious turmoil, it's a thorough and well produced grounding.
A Little Chaos
(2014)
A Little Chaos
2 June 2024
Alan Rickman directs and features in this engaging story as French King Louis XIV who desires a new and innovative garden for his palace at Versailles. He turns to his trusted planner André Le Notre (Matthias Schoenaerts) who is a bit bereft of ideas, so he seeks an assistant. All of the horticultural great and the good apply with their perfectly symmetrical designs - but they don't float his boat. Then the widowed "Mme. De Barra" (Kate Winslet) shows up with her own ideas for a waterfall style feature that is radically different - and will require quite a bit of engineering too. Surprisingly, she gets the job and what now ensues sees her develop a relationship with her boss - much to the irritation of his own cheating wife (Helen McCrory), and with the flamboyant Duc d'Orléans (Stanley Tucci) and then his brother the King. It's the death of Queen Maria Theresa that really allows "De Barra" to convince the King to indulge her dream - but with the weather, the costs, time and envy conspiring against her, can she deliver? This is a good looking film with a considered and amiable effort from both Winslet and Schoenaerts well complemented by a little of the science (and botany) required to make something that will break the mould and by a score from Peter Gregson that complements well the grandeur and pomp of the court contrasted with the mud, the endless, mud. It does take a while to get going, but when it does it shows us a little of a woman in a man's world and of a King who didn't always want to be in his.
Tristram Shandy
(2005)
A Cock and Bull Story
2 June 2024
This isn't really a film about a story with a beginning, middle or, even, an end. It's more a film about a book being turned into a film, and about how that all pans out with the actors in and out of character throughout. It's Steve Coogan who takes on the title role in a film about a landed character from Georgian England who is determined to make his mark by writing a novel about himself. Thing is, his life is just too rich and varied. He is just so interesting that he can't fit everything it... Meantime, the production crew are facing all of the issues in trying to make the film, reconcile the ambitions and peccadilloes of the cast, the writers, visiting family, bits on the side and a particularly Darwinian sort of special effect. Jeremy Northam features sparingly as real-life director Peter Winterbottom (who always looked so completely fed up when doing publicity for this) and the story flows at it's most naturally when it's just him, Coogan, Ian Hart and the man vying for (alphabetically) top billing - Rob Brydon. It's when they decide that one of the characters - the "Widow Wadman" needs to be written back in, and they discover madam "X-files" herself (Gillian Anderson) is going to come and play the part, that Brydon gets all excitable and the film starts to become a little bit too much like a farce. Still, it's an enjoyable introspective on actors, writers, directors - throughout the ages, offering us ninety minutes of characterful fun, babies screeching and copious vodka and tonics.
The Ones Below
(2015)
The Ones Below
2 June 2024
This might have worked a little better had there been just a little more effort put into the characterisations. As it is, it's all a rather predictable drama that sees two couples living above each other in apartments in a converted house. Both are expecting a child, but when an accident robs one couple of that joyous event, rancour looms and the story takes a much darker turn as an unconvincing truce breaks out with a pretty obvious agenda. The story itself is all rather weakly delivered as the relationship between Clémence Poésy and Stephen Campbell Moore and their downstairs neighbours Laura Birn and the sparingly featured David Morrissey plays out in a none-too-plausible, indeed actually quite flawed, fashion. I think it might work better with the added intensity of a stage performance, but here it's a film that leaves too much to our own imagination to fill in the plentiful gaps in the underwhelming screenplay. It's just a bit too lightweight for the topic, sorry.
The Great Train Robbery
(1978)
The First Great Train Robbery
2 June 2024
Think it's Jerry Goldsmith's opening theme that gives a clue that we're in for some fun antics on the railways! That's confirmed when Michael Elphick chucks some would-be robber from the speeding carriage down an embankment where he lands at the feet of "Pierce" (Sean Connery). This bowler hatted gent wouldn't have been out of place in the Reform Club at the start of "Around the World in Eighty Days", so is a natural at another gentleman's club where the manager of a bank is bragging about their impregnable transfer of gold to pay the soldiers of the Crimea. Hardly patriotic, but "Pierce" has his eyes on this bullion and so with the help of girlfriend "Miriam" (Lesley-Anne Down) and cracksman "Agar" (Donald Sutherland) sets about doing the impossible - robbing a ton's worth of gold from a moving train. Each key to the safe is kept separately, so they have to use their guile and wits to find them, copy them, and return them without anyone suspecting! It's this series of escapades that is quite fun to watch whilst shining a light on the double-standards of the Victorian elite. Can they all get away with it? Well this is one of those charismatic ensemble efforts that makes you hope that they do. There's mischief a plenty, some precision thievery and quite impressive acrobatics from the nimble Wayne Sleep along the way too. Hats off to Sutherland though. What was he doing with that cat in the coffin?
The Whales of August
(1987)
The Whales of August
2 June 2024
When I see this, I cannot help but wonder how much actual acting Bette Davis and Lilian Gish (who made her first film in 1912!) were doing, and how much of their performances were but second nature for two elderly ladies who were simply being themselves in this screen adaptation of David Berry's play. The sisters, now spinsters, spend their summers away from the heat of Pittsburgh in a small cottage on an island off the coat of Maine. Davis ("Libby") is blind and reliant on Gish ("Sarah"), her slightly more nimble, certainly more amenable sister as they live out their lives contemplating what has gone before. Vincent Price adds some delicate diversion to the dynamic, sparingly, as a local gentlemen who, having escaped from revolutionary Russia, has his own stories to tell too. It moves very much at it's own pace, evoking quite poignantly the day-to-lives of the women as one of them is clearly suffering the effects of senility tempered with odd spells of lucidity that demonstrate the fragility of life and of the aging process. You won't need a tissue, but you might want to pick up the phone to your grandmother afterwards...
Ten Cents a Dance
(1931)
Ten Cents a Dance
2 June 2024
"Barbara" (Barbara Stanwyck) works in one of those dance halls where the managers charge 10 cents to dance with her - unless they are at table drinking (she's partial to milk!). It's not really a marriage of true love, but she ends up marrying the petty waster "Eddie" (Monroe Owsley) - a man who steals left, right and centre from his boss to stay one step ahead of his gambling debts. When she realises the size of the hole he's in, she borrows $5,000 from a wealthy client to bail him out. His reaction is the final straw for her patience with this relationship and she turns to a more practical solution with her loved-up benefactor "Carlton" (Ricardo Cortez). Thing is, that doesn't really make anyone very happy either... Lionel Barrymore directs this and he keeps it engaging enough as the plot itself regurgitates a fairly well trammelled triangular romantic drama. It's really Stanwyck who stands out as a star - she steals each scene simply by being on screen. There is a degree of chemistry between all three of the characters, but the ones with the pretty odious "Eddie" worked better as tempers fray. There is also a strong sense of camaraderie depicted between the gals who are trapped in a cycle of paw or be pawed and though the production is basic, it's still a watch hinting at what's to come from this actress.
The Baroness and the Butler
(1938)
The Baroness and the Butler
2 June 2024
Hungarian Prime Minister "Count Albert" (Henry Stephenson) is having a family breakfast on the morning after the election when he hears news on the radio that his butler "Johann" (William Powell) has been elected to Parliament - and for the opposition party too! He's quite a savvy and decent old chap and offers his congratulations. In turn, "Johann" promises to continue to take care of his master whilst performing his new parliamentary duties. It turn out that he's quite an effective politician and that although they are not quite of the same social class, he and the "Baroness" (Annabella) - who is married to "Baron Georg" (Joseph Schildkraut) - start one of those love/hate relationships that can only end one way. With the odd, slightly confusing, appearance from Nigel Bruce and a Stephenson who looks like he's enjoying the mischief of it all, I found this to be an entertaining swipe at the principles of declining aristocratic rule and of the aspiring hope of the people in a new order with all of the same problems. Powell is on good form here but Annabella isn't very natural nor entirely at home with the English language. Still - as "Johann" says - "there are always difficulties"! I quite enjoyed this.
The Fisher King
(1991)
The Fisher King
2 June 2024
"Jack Lucas" (Jeff Bridges) is one of those late night radio presenters who loves the sound of his own voice and who enjoys nothing better than to put down, disdainfully, the collection of sad individuals who phone in with their problems. It's one of his casual off-the-cuff remarks that leads to a tragedy and a spiral that sends him into some serious doldrums. Things change for ever one night when he finds himself on the wrong end of a beating and then rescued by an eccentric looking fellow called "Parry" (Robin Williams). This is an erudite and complicated man who is obsessed with the "Fisher King" legend of the Holy Grail. Upon further investigation, "Lucas" learns more of the tragic cause of his new friend's predicament and as much as for his own salvation as for that of "Parry", he embarks on a task to find him meaning again. To that end he introduces him to the shy "Lydia" (Amanda Plummer) in the hope that this might help him find a new reason to live again. Things come full circle when "Parry" himself becomes a victim of the thugs and "Lucas" must strive to fulfil the quest and save something of both men. Whilst all of this chaos is bubbling away, it's down to "Anna" (Mercedes Ruehl) who is the former broadcaster's long-suffering girlfriend, to carefully tread on the eggshells of her relationship with him whilst quite temperamentally (and engagingly) trying to make sure she keeps him on as straight and narrow a path as possible. This is one of Bridges' better and more natural efforts and he works well with what I thought was an over-the-top performance from Williams to provide a film that is at times funny and at times quite poignant. The underlying mythology is quite effective at providing a modern day conduit for an ancient story of a hunt for the perfect in all of us and though it does take it's time, Bridges keeps it going.
The Greene Murder Case
(1929)
The Greene Murder Case
2 June 2024
This all starts with a sort of roll-call where a lawyer checks the presence of the "Greene" family at the bedside of their mother. A condition of their late father's will is if they don't all live together for fifteen years after his demise, then they don't get a sou. Not surprisingly, they don't exactly see eye to eye so when one of them is shot, it's hardly a shock. The police - the instantly recognisable Eugene Palette as "Sgt. Heath" - duly arrive and enlist the help of detective "Philo Vance" (William Powell) who quickly discovers that any one of them could have done it. Thing is, the killer isn't content with just the one - and when the family start to drop like flies, the investigators must get a move on in case it is just them who are actually left at the end! It's very stage-bound, this, but the pace is break-neck and there are a few characters - not least the bed-ridden and grumpy mother (Gertrude Norman), to keep the investigation moving along until it's slightly unexpected conclusion. It's a bit of an hybrid of other "Dark House" style stories, but Powell and Pallette deliver simply and quite well here.
Flawless
(2007)
Flawless
2 June 2024
"Laura" (Demi Moore) is the first woman manager at the London Diamond Corporation but regardless of her obvious skills, it's clear that she has reached the peak of her career. Continually passed over for promotion by mediocre men with carnations in their button holes, she becomes a bit despondent and the ideal executive target for the cleaner "Hobbs" (Sir Michael Caine) who's long nurtured a cunning plan. The film doesn't really dwell on the heist itself, suffice to say that when they open their vault door one morning, the powers that be have conniptions and boss "Ashtoncroft" (Joss Ackland) certainly needs his early morning brandy! They draft in "Finch" (Lambert Wilson) to investigate and pretty quickly he is drawn to the nervous "Laura" as she is also surprised by the scale of the crime. Things is - where did all the stones all go? It's quite an interesting premiss not unlike "11 Harrowhouse" (1974) but the pace is really quite slow and the pairing of Moore and Caine doesn't really catch fire. It does take a bit of a swipe at the venal, corporate incompetence, sexism and patronage and shines a light on crooked industrial and insurance arrangements that smack very much of emperor's new clothes, but it's just a bit under-written and lacklustre conclusion of this film rather sums it all up. Watchable, but entirely forgettable.
Fire Over England
(1937)
Fire Over England
1 June 2024
If anyone ever doubted the kind of actor Laurence Olivier was going to become, then they need only watch this and it is as plain as the nose on his handsome young face. Here, though, his over-acting (and singing) in the role of the enthusiastic "Michael Ingleby" rather badly dates an otherwise quite entertaining recounting of the machinations leading up build up to the Spanish Armada's attempt to invade Elizabethan England. Flora Robson always did carry off the role of a monarch well and Morton Selten (reputedly a child of Edward VII), Vivien Leigh, Raymond Massey and a slightly camp Leslie Banks serve well in support as this story of court intrigues and romance unfolds. Though it is mostly stage bound there are a few attempts to take it outside, the costumes look the part and it's quite menacingly scored at times, too. Keep a look out for early appearances by James Mason and Robert Newton and remember - a Spanish lady may retire, but she never goes to bed!
Avatar
(2009)
Avatar
1 June 2024
This is another of these films for which I didn't get the memo. It undoubtedly has parallels with the ecological ravaging of Earth by mankind, but for the most part it is just a fairly standard action romance that owes much of it's significance to it being an outstanding technical production. Sam Worthington is "Jake", a paraplegic solider who is tasked with assisting on a mission on a distant planet. By way of a bribe, the authorities offer him surgery to restore his mobility if he uses an avatar machine to infiltrate the folks inhabiting the planet "Pandora". The more he explores this bright new world, the more he begins to integrate with the people and their beautiful and colourful environment. His affection for "Neytiri" (Zoe Saldana) and his gradually developing appreciation of just what his mission is about, sets him up for a serious conflict with the gung-ho militaristic "Quaritch" (Stephen Lang). This film is all about corporate greed and an horrendous disregard not just for nature, but for an indigenous population that is though frequently touching, let down by a really mediocre cast, some slightly pontificating dialogue and yes, it is really too long. It is great to look at, the standards of the production mixing reality with animation are outstanding; it's just that the story is just all a bit lightweight.
The Reader
(2008)
The Reader
1 June 2024
David Kross is really effective in this tale of a young boy ("Michael") who encounters "Hanna" (Kate Winslet) as he shelters in her doorway from a rainstorm. In fairly short order, this fifteen year old boy becomes her lover; in return she gets him to read to her. He is soon infatuated and devastated when he turns up at her apartment one day to find her gone. Skip on thirty years or so and he - now Ralph Fiennes - takes over a retrospective of her story as we discover she was tried for being a particularly nasty Nazi prison camp guard and she is sentenced to life imprisonment. Throughout her internment, the two continued to correspond - he would send her tapes to aid in her learning to read... Stephen Daldry has created a delicate masterpiece here, I think. Winslet is very much on form as the story goes from a bit of sexual fantasy for the young man, through to a far darker, more horrific, second part. There is something unnervingly natural about Winslet's performance; from the playful and generous - though temperamental - lover for this naive young boy, then the odious and distinctly unrepentant, almost belligerent, woman at her trial. Despite that, somehow, Daldry manages to elicit just a grain of sympathy for her. Was she inherently bad or just inherently weak - or both? Did she crave for affection just as much as the young "Michael" did when they met? His story is one of emotional barren-ness growing up in a large family where his relationship with his father was distant and chilly and the young Kross really does shine in the role. There is plenty of sex at the beginning, but it's not gratuitous; it's exploratory - for both of them and that intimacy also adds richness to what is ultimately quite a sad tale that, though thought-provoking when it comes to the whole concept of forgiveness and reconciliation, did make me realise that so many people caught up in the Nazi machine were ill-educated and frightened. It's also worth noting the subtle role played by Bruno Ganz as his legal professor "Rohl". This is a character who proves to be a crucial conduit for the young man as he has to come to terms with what he thought she was, and what he now knows she became. The pace of this production is measured, the photography frequently intimate and lingering and the attention to the detail from the production designer also adds potency to this visceral and touching story that I really did find well worth a watch.
The Young Victoria
(2009)
The Young Victoria
1 June 2024
Historically - as far as the cinema is concerned - Queen Victoria was born well into her seventies. Rarely has anyone tried to depict her early years and sadly, this is a rather shallow attempt so to do. Emily Blunt portrays the Queen with some fortitude but the rather soppy performances from Rupert Friend and Paul Bettany don't give us anything like a proper comprehension of the struggle she had, as a (young) woman, to establish herself at the head of an empire riddled with chauvinism, ambition and pomposity. Miranda Richardson as her mother takes up some of the slack in this lacklustre effort with the occasional, wise, contribution from Harriet Walter as the dowager Queen Adelaide welcome too. If it is a love story, then it just about works - anything else is just too far out of reach.
The Other Boleyn Girl
(2008)
The Other Boleyn Girl
1 June 2024
Except, it isn't really much about the "other" Boleyn girl at all, is it? Eric Bana never could hold a film together, and his effort as the amorous but volatile King Henry VIII proves he can't here either. Scarlett Johansson (Anne) and Natalie Portman (Mary) play the Boleyn girls well enough with decent, if brief, contributions from Kristin Scott-Thomas and Mark Rylance as their parents and from Jim Sturgess as their sexually ambiguous brother George. It looks sumptuous enough with plenty of attention to detail both indoors and out, but is over-written and it has all the sexual chemistry of a children's tea party. Sadly, it's a disappointingly weak adaptation of an intriguing story of betrayal, treachery and lust that really deserves better. Perhaps a film mainly for fans of a good costume drama that's big on costumes but less so on drama...
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
(2007)
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
1 June 2024
Sadly, someone agreed that a sequel to "Elizabeth" (1998) was required so we ended up with this rather fanciful vehicle for a still competent Cate Blanchett but not so much for a terribly wooden Clive Owen as the seafaring Walter Raleigh. Following the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots (Samantha Morton), England is facing impending invasion by the Spanish Armada. The (largely forgivable) factual inaccuracies that dogged the first film are somehow magnified in this rather poor follow up. It really does miss Sir Richard Attenbourgh and despite the best efforts of Geoffrey Rush is left too much to likes of the somewhat flighty Abbie Cornish. As you'd expect, the film looks great and the use of CGI is effectively complementary - especially as things hot up, but none of that really helps enliven the rather ponderous pace of this history. Fortunately the Queen didn't live too much longer after this so we ought to be safe from "Elizabeth III - the Essex Years."
Elizabeth R
(1971)
Elizabeth R
1 June 2024
Depicting the life of Elizabeth Tudor, this six part drama series takes us as she evolves from the terrified Princess living under constant threat of death to the famed Virgin Queen who ruled England for 45 years. Glenda Jackson is superb in the title role with a supporting cast from amongst the finest English stage and television actors - notably Ronald Hines, Stephen Murray, John Shrapnel and Robert Hardy. The script is tight, the direction focused and the performances convey all the peril, malevolence, greed, perniciousness and ambition of the 16th Century English court. It rarely ventures out of the studio, but the quality of the production has held up well in the almost 50 years since it was made by the BBC.
Rear Window
(1954)
Rear Window
1 June 2024
Jimmy Stewart is cracking as the laid-up photographer who spends his chair-ridden days casually observing the day-to-day activities of his neighbours. Gradually, he becomes suspicious of one of them as the wife suddenly disappears and the husband (Raymond Burr) starts making odd trips out at night; calling long distance and generally acting oddly. Grace Kelly (his girlfriend) thinks this all a bit too prurient for her but is slowly drawn into his web of intrigue and ends up an active participant with his investigations as we now have a great conspiracy theory thriller. Thelma Ritter is great as "Stella" as is Wendell Corey as "Det. Doyle". This is a tight, tense drama with a really cohesive cast under the skilful direction of the master of this genre.
The 39 Steps
(1935)
The 39 Steps
1 June 2024
A simply wonderful, sophisticated, adaptation of John Buchan's book of wartime espionage and murder. Robert Donat ("Hannay") goes to the theatre to see a man with an incredible memory; but instead becomes embroiled in a tale of cloak-and-dagger antics that see him accused of murder and forced to flee to the highlands of Scotland. It is here that he encounters a sceptical Madeleine Carroll and together they try to get to the bottom of this clever mystery. The dark and eerie Scottish scenery adds to the suspense and there are two good cameos from Peggy Ashcroft and John Laurie too. I found the ending let this down a little - but it is still a gripping hour and half to watch under the expert hand of Alfred Hitchcock.
The Lady Vanishes
(1938)
The Lady Vanishes
1 June 2024
This is a great adventure caper - Margaret Lockwood befriends a charming old lady - Dame May Whitty - in an hotel who subsequently disappears as they travel on a train back to England. She teams up with the pretty exasperating Michael Redgrave and together they try to find the old girl. Paul Lukas is the wonderfully understated doctor and Catherine Lacey has fun being the nun. There are also a few minor storylines running parallel with the search which add some humour and a little diversion as we discover that there are sinister forces at work. It's a simple but compelling Sidney Gilliat screenplay with Hitchcock at his suspenseful best.
Jamaica Inn
(1939)
Jamaica Inn
1 June 2024
Charles Laughton excels as local grandee "Sir Humphrey" in this super adaptation of Daphné du Maurier's book. The bleak photography and huge great waves help generate a sense of the menace of the evil Cornish wreckers. They are led by Leslie Banks's malevolent "Joss" who is just as cruel to his wife "Patience" (Marie Ney) as he is to any survivors after his men seek to drive ships onto the rocks and make off with the contraband - murdering as they go. His niece "Mary" (Maureen O'Hara) and under-cover customs man "Trehearne" (Robert Newton) discover the evil antics and complicities of both "Joss", his puppet-master and his accomplices and the film now tells the tale of their own death-defying actions trying to bring all to justice. Alfred Hitchcock has much to work with here, the photography is effective and the star is exactly that.
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