It should not surprise us that films from our questionnaires, as in the first listed, continue to be premiered. The old five-year release window has dropped (usually) to two or three. 
QUEEN & SLIM (2020) Sunday 2 October 10.45pm-12.50am BBC 2    P   
I think members would have enjoyed this well-paced drama, had it made the final list. Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith are lovers-on-the run after an encounter with a racist white cop. There is a second showing Wednesday, 10pm on BBC 3. 
THE SWORDSMAN (2020) Thursday 6 October 11.40pm-1.45am Film 4    P 
Part of Film 4’s Korean season, The Swordsman riffs on the legendary Japanese Zatôichi films (the main series, centring on a blind avenger, ran from 1962 to 1989). It isn’t quite the same quality of drama (although the fight scenes are very good); you might like to give it a look-see, though.
WAVES (2019) Friday 7 October 9.00-11.10pm BBC 3    P 
This tells the story of a black teenager who has to re-assess his future after an injury. It is a tough hitter (literally, as his character is a promising wrestler), and not one that we considered, so perhaps now is a good time

This is another good week for films that are new to network TV. 
THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO (2019) Sunday 25 September 10.00-11.55pm BBC 2    P   
Achieving a happy balance between reality and one’s right to dream, this was an impressive debut from director Joe Talbot
RAMS (2020) Tuesday 27 September 9.00-11.20pm Film 4    P 
Well I never – an Australian (!) remake of the 2015 Icelandic comedy that members rated at 72.72%. A Sam Neill performance is always worth catching.
HARRIET (2019) Wednesday 28 September 10.40pm-1.20am BBC 1    P 
Another film, worthy of consideration, that didn’t quite make one of our final programmes. Cynthia Erivo is very good as Harriet Tubman who, having escaped slavery herself, then helped others to do the same. 
HOUSE OF THE GORGON (2019) Friday 30 September 10.40pm-12.20am TP (Ch 82)    P 
Alas, we must not expect it to be a good film, but the idea intrigues – evil is at work and three Hammer leading ladies (Veronica Carlson, Caroline Munro and Martine Beswick) are on hand to witness it. The sort of retrospective casting that Burt Kennedy used in Once Upon a Texas Train and which can be pleasurable and nostalgic at the same time. 

​If you are ready for some light relief, there is an excellent comedy double bill this week!
THE PRODUCERS (1968) Thursday 23 September 9.00-10.30pm BBC 4
BLAZING SADDLES (1974) Thursday 23 September 10.30-12 midnight BBC 4  
BBC 4 has two splendid comedies from Mel Brooks this evening – one featuring a scam that involves setting up a musical based on the life of Hitler; the other is a parody of just about every Western cliché in any given script! In the latter, Cleavon Little is the black sheriff (“you’d do it for Randolph Scott!”) and Gene Wilder the gunfighter. Brooks asked John Wayne to join the project – he declined to do so, but wished the director well. 
NEVER TAKE CANDY FROM A STRANGER (1960) Friday 23 September 9.05-10.50pm TP (Ch 82)
I am expecting this to be an American release print courtesy of Columbia studios as Sweets was in the original Hammer title. Again, it is another example of a film that, like Maniac recently, doesn’t appear too often on network TV. This is a pity because it is a serious, well-made drama that was endorsed by the then director of the NSPCC. 

​There are some interesting premieres this week one of which (with Tom Hanks) was on a recent questionnaire . . . .
A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD (2019) Mon 12 Sept 9.00-11.10pm Film Four    P 
American TV icon Fred Rogers never caught on outside North America, but that should not spoil your enjoyment. Tom Hanks is very good and, in a positive way, it is a ‘nice’ film that doesn’t harm anyone or anything!
A HIDDEN LIFE (2019) Tuesday 13 September 11.15pm-2.55am Film Four    P   
Alas, A Hidden Life was too long for us to consider here in Lyme. The story of an Austrian farmer who refuses to support Hitler, this great Terrence Malik drama only just falls short of being a masterpiece. 
MOFFIE (2019) Thursday 15 September 1.45-4.00am Film Four    P   
The third Film Four premiere of the week and, unless you are an insomniac, you might prefer to record it! Moffie, in Afrikaans, is slang for a gay man and the film concerns an 18-year-old army recruit during the 1980s.
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) Friday 16 September 9.05-11.05pm TP (Channel 82)
One of the most important horror films in the history of cinema and, with a couple of earlier exceptions, entirely responsible for the hundreds of zombie films (and TV episodes) made in the last 50 years. It first caught my attention at Llanbadarn Film Society, probably late 1976, as it sits at no. 9 in my list. In case you are wondering, no. 8 was Fahrenheit 451 and nos. 10 and 11 a double bill of The Sell Out and Black Emanuelle (sic). Happy days!

​I am recommending three from Talking Pictures this week – and the good news is that, from 1 September, its catch-up service can be accessed, via your red button, on Freeview, rather than having to switch on the computer. The bad news is that you might need a relatively new model – it hasn’t worked on my ‘oldie’ so far! 
THE MYSTERIOUS MR SHEFFIELD (1935) Wednesday 7 September 4.50-6.05pm TP (Ch 82)    P 
Selected here for its rarity value – apparently, it hasn’t been on any UK network before. Don’t expect too much, though – this is bargain basement, even for a B-western. Its American title was Law of the 45’s; it stars Guinn ‘Big Boy’ Williams and the plot tries hard to be inventive within its 57 minutes.
MANIAC (1962) Friday 9 September 9.05-10.55pm TP (Ch 82)             
TP’s Cellar Club double bills, introduced by Caroline Munro, has been the best curated season of films since Alex Cox’s Moviedrome on BBC 2 – and that was some years ago now. Maniac was one of Hammer’s brief flirtations with psychological thrillers. Less well-known than most of the studio’s output, it is worth a look and, back then, was deemed scary enough for the publicity to declare: “Warning! No woman will be admitted unless accompanied!” Ouch . . . .
THE FACE BEHIND THE MASK (1941) Friday 9 September 10.55pm-12.15am TP (Ch 82)             
I haven’t seen this, probably, for 50 years – and I still remember the impression director Robert Florey and star Peter Lorre left on me. It is a classic B-thriller, made with skill and imagination, in which a disfigured immigrant turns to a life of crime. 

Something old something new . . . .
BLACK ‘47 (2018) Wednesday 31 August 9.00-11.05pm Film Four    P 
This ‘Irish western’ was on our questionnaire following its cinema release, but didn’t quite pick up the required number of votes. A pity, as it is rather good – exciting, well-performed and always interesting. James Flecheville returns home after fighting for the British abroad, only to take up arms against them in a quest for revenge.
REVENGE OF THE CREATURE (1955) Wednesday 31 August 4.00-5.35pm Legend (Channel 41)             
If, like me, you are a completist then this was Clint Eastwood’s debut. He is the lab technician in a white coat that is looking for some mice! Jack Arnold (see last week) directed the sequel to the previous year’s superior Creature from the Black Lagoon.