Well, the World Cup is upon us with controversy as to its location firmly attached. There are likely to be fewer films of interest for a week or two, but we’ll find something!
DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944) Sunday 20 November 9.00-11.05pmm Sky Arts (Ch 11)         
Many film enthusiasts regard this as the best film noir ever made. It has a femme fatale (of course), a ‘perfect’ murder (plus patsy) and an insurance scam. Billy Wilder directs Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray and Edward G. Robinson and it really is one of the greats.
SURGE (2020) Sunday 20 November 10.00-11.35pm BBC 2    P     
This week’s new British thriller is not quite up to some of the other premieres in the current season, but is of interest, nevertheless. Ben Whishaw plays a security guard who goes off the rails and embarks upon a crime spree. 
LES MISERABLES (2019) Wednesday 23 November 11.55pm-2.00am Film Four         
Absolutely NOT what you might expect from the title! This is a tremendous debut feature from Ladj Ly, who uses his personal experiences of growing up on a Parisian housing estate to telling effect. It is all there: the racism, poverty and hard-line policing and it is riveting. A shame that it is on at such a late hour, so if you are unable to record look out for a future repeat!

For those members who have Netflix, the latest version of All Quiet on the Western Front looks impressive; it is Germany’s entry for the 2023 Academy Awards.
A DEMON FOR TROUBLE (1934) Saturday 12 November 6.00-7.15am TP (Channel 82)         
Old time cinemagoers swore that Bob Steele was the best B-western star of them all. Whilst he lacked physical stature, he was a good rider, good actor (later on in character parts), athletic and very comfortable with stunts and fight scenes. Several of his westerns offered something different, quirky even, and, even though this one is typically very low-budget, it is above average. Unusually, it also gives us a Mexican sidekick who is engaging and humorous rather than an out-and-out villain.
HERE BEFORE (2021) Sunday 13 November 10.30-11.50pm BBC 2    P     
A decent thriller in which Andrea Riseborough (whom you might remember from the update of Brighton Rock about 10 years ago) is the grieving mother who becomes obsessed with her new neighbour’s young daughter. 
THE LAST HUNT (1956) Thursday 17 November 11.50am-2.00pm Channel 33         
Not televised much in recent years, this is one of my favourite Robert Taylor films. Cast in direct contrast to his usual MGM roles, he is very good as a ruthless buffalo hunter. Stewart Granger makes an able foil, Debra Paget is also along for the ride and director Richard Brooks makes excellent use of some splendid outdoor locations. 

The film premieres continue, but can I also draw your attention to two good films from the mid-1960s. They haven’t been around for a while; I first saw them as a teenager and found them to be well-made, a little different from the normal fare and they still hold up today.
SWEETHEART (2021) Sunday 6 November 10.45pm-12.30am BBC 2    P       
This spin on a not-so-typical holiday romance ought to be a must-see for members, as it is set in and around a Dorset campsite. . . .
THE LAST CHALLENGE (1967) Monday 7 November 1.55-4.00pm Channel 33         
MGM’s house director for 33 years, Richard Thorpe (The Great Caruso, Ivanhoe) ended his career with this satisfying western, whose UK release title was The Pistolero of Red River. Glenn Ford (soon to move into TV work) is the gunman challenged by upstart Chad Everett and Angie Dickinson owns the saloon. The veterans involved all made bigger and better films, but also made this one very watchable. 
A HOUSE MADE OF SPLINTERS (2022) Tuesday 8 November 9.30-11.00pm BBC 4    P     
This Tuesday, an award-winning Storyville documentary about a Ukrainian orphanage; one of the children featured is Kolya, coincidentally the title of one of our most successful films (from the 1997-1998 season).  It is heartbreaking to watch but might allow us to put some of our own troubles into perspective. 
36 HOURS (1964) Thursday 10 November 11.45am-2.10pm Channel 33         
George Seaton is another director who doesn’t readily spring to mind (although he made Miracle on 34th Street and also Airport). Actually, he wrote the screenplays for more films than he directed including this one and it is, perhaps, his most intriguing script. The Nazis have captured spy James Garner and German intelligence (Rod Taylor) tries to convince him the war is over, so that he will reveal the plans for D-Day. 
EAGLE VS SHARK (2006) Friday 11 November 11.00pm-12.45am Film Four    P       
This oddball romantic comedy was the feature debut of director Taika Waititi (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, 2017-2018 season 92%). 

The terrestrial channels are again presenting some of the best new British films this week. The downside is that there is a clash, so you might need to use one of the catch-up services. 
ROCKS (2019) Sunday 30 October 10.15pm-12.05am Channel 4    P       
Bukky Bakray won the Bafta Rising Star for her performance as a teenager left to look after her younger brother, when her mother leaves unexpectedly.
HIS HOUSE (2020) Sunday 30 October 10.45pm-12.15am BBC 2    P     
A most intriguing offering we have here: a couple from South Sudan are granted asylum; unfortunately, the council house they have been given might be haunted. . . . 
A STORY OF BONES (2022) Tuesday 1 November 9.30-11.05pm BBC 4    P     
Another fascinating Storyville documentary – this time about the discovery of human remains on Saint Helena in 2008 and the efforts of Annina Van Neel to have the emancipated slaves who died remembered. 
A REFLECTION OF FEAR (1973) Friday 4 November 9.05-10.55pm Talking Pictures (Channel 82)         
TP does it again with another rarity. This one has a particularly interesting cast – Robert Shaw, Mary Ure, Sally Kellerman and Sondra Locke – and is the sort of thriller that had to be made in the 70s and not in the 1960s or 1980s. Cinematographer William A Fraker only directed three cinema features and they all have merit. 

As Halloween approaches, you won’t be surprised to hear that there are horror films, in abundance, across the Freeview channels. I opted not to focus on them in the notes that follow, but must mention three titles that are on next Friday evening. Who would have thought that the BBC would show an ex-video nasty (The Evil Dead on BBC 3, well done the Beeb) and there are two rare films on Talking Pictures: Brotherhood of Satan (1970) and The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre (1964) starring Martin Landau. 
LILIES OF THE FIELD (1963) Saturday 22 October 2.00-3.30pm BBC 2       
Sensitive, delicate drama directed by Ralph Nelson – especially when considering that his other best-known film was Soldier Blue (1970). Sidney Poitier rightly won an Oscar as the handyman who helps German nuns build a chapel. 
AFTER LOVE (2020) Sunday 23 October 10.50pm-12.15am BBC 2    P     
Here we have another modest, but winning, drama, from our ‘nearly list’. Joanna Scanlan won a Bafta for Best Actress as the widow who discovers that her husband had a secret family. 
THE RIDER (2017) Tuesday 25 October 11.30-1.40am Film 4    P     
A pre-Nomadland Chloé Zhao had already garnered critical acclaim for this authentic drama set in the world of US rodeos. 

Alfred Hitchcock remains one of the most iconic of film directors and it will be interesting to see if Vertigo still tops the Sight & Sound poll, conducted every 10 years, in 2022. Sky Arts has also been showing his 1950s TV series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and many of the episodes still hold up well.
THE 39 STEPS (1935) Saturday 8 October 1.15-2.40pm BBC 2       
Still the best adaptation of John Buchan’s novel; it stars the impeccable teaming of Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll. It is also Hitchcock’s best British film.
THE LADY VANISHES (1938) Saturday 8 October 2.40-4.10pm BBC 2     
Despite some ridiculous model work at the beginning, this – mostly – train-set thriller, with Michael Redgrave and Margaret Lockwood, is essential viewing.
STALAG 17 (1953) Thursday 13 October 12.35-2.55pm Film 4     
We began the current season by drawing everyone’s attention to the superb performance given by Anthony Hopkins in The Father. Most people would struggle to name William Holden’s Oscar-winning role; it was in this prison camp drama. Equally, most of wouldn’t think of Billy Wilder as the director, although his satirical and comic jibes are present and correct.