I think there is something for everyone this week. My Thursday and Friday evenings are already mapped out, anyway, with Harry and Tonto and Death Line. There’s a contrast for you! TP continues to introduce more of the TV series from the 1950s and 1960s. I suspect that Sherlock Holmes will be the Ronald Howard series (I have a few episodes on DVD somewhere). Really interesting, though, will be One Step Beyond, a sci-fi series about psychic phenomena. It was mostly an American series that ran for over 90 episodes, BUT the third season was made in the UK (13 episodes) circa 1961. These episodes featured some of our best actors including Christopher Lee and Peter Wyngarde.

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES AT THE WHISTLE STOP CAFÉ (1991) Saturday 8 May 1.10-3.50pm Ch 31              
In its day, Tomatoes was very much a staple of the film society and art house circuit (although we did not show it in Lyme). It is a friendship story-within-a-story, as an elderly Jessica Tandy (nominated for an Oscar) recounts some adventures from the 1920s and 1930s to housewife Kathy Bates.
WHEN WE WERE KINGS (1996) Saturday 8 May 10.00-11.20pm BBC 2
We did, however, open the 1997-98 season with this excellent documentary (audience reaction: 80.5%). It uses interviews and archive footage to look back at the Ali v Foreman championship bout in 1974 (the legendary “Rumble in the Jungle”), and to expound on its wider socio-political significance. Don’t be put off by the subject matter (boxing) – it is very good indeed. Preceded by Muhammad Ali: a Life in Ten Pictures – the full story of the most important sportsman of the 20th-century.
CITY OF TINY LIGHTS (2016) Sunday 9 May 12.05-1.50Am BBC 1
Today, we have a good opportunity to compare two fine actors early in their careers. (More or less – it is now eight years since the release of The Reluctant Fundamentalist.) Now, in 2021 Riz Ahmed is very much the flavour of the month, following his performance in Sound of Metal (2019). In this commendable attempt to transfer an American-style private eye thriller to Britain, Ahmed is the gumshoe tasked with finding a missing prostitute. Before you can shout ‘Raymond Chandler’, he finds himself navigating some very murky waters.
PRICK UP YOUR EARS (1987) Sunday 9 May 10.00pm-12midnight Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
Gary Oldman made critics sit up and take notice with his brilliant portrayal of playwright Joe Orton. Not that he was the only one on top form: Stephen Frears directed, Alan Bennett wrote the screenplay and Alfred Molina was also quite exceptional as Kenneth Halliwell. In 2021, Oldman is a lauded veteran who, whilst happy to appear in franchise movies (Harry Potter and Batman), has always taken on challenging roles (JFK, Romeo Is Bleeding, Darkest Hour – and not forgetting his directorial debut Nil By Mouth). Please note that Prick Up Your Ears retains its 18 certificate. It has a repeat showing on Wednesday evening.
RIDE A CROOKED TRAIL (1958) Monday 10 May 12noon-1.55pm Channel 32   
The Audie Murphy westerns keep coming thick and fast, courtesy of Paramount Network! Here, he is a bank robber mistaken for a new marshal and we wonder which trail he will take (sort of). It was one I caught up with relatively late in life and I found it to be an enjoyable time-filler, played slightly tongue-in-cheek and with the bonus of an early performance from Walter Matthau as a wily judge.
CAPERNAUM (2018) Monday 10 May 11.40pm-2.15am Film Four    P
Thankfully, this Freeview première has saved me from trying to recommend Killer Mermaids. It is a film currently on our radar, being that it has received multiple awards and nominations, and is a sub-titled drama from Lebanon. Young Zain runs away from home and sues his parents for having given birth to him. Capernaum is a moving, affecting story in our best traditions of bringing you some of the finest films in world cinema.
THE TWO-HEADED SPY (1958) Tuesday 11 May 5.15-7.10pm Channel 41
This could be a world exclusive – two films featuring Gia Scala in just over 24 hours! Here, she co-stars with Jack Hawkins (rather than Audie Murphy) in the true story of a British spy operating in Berlin under the very noses of senior Nazis. It is a suspenseful, entirely believable account, well-told by a committed cast of good actors and the director, André de Toth. Michael Caine also has a small role.
SECRET IN THEIR EYES (2015) Tuesday 11 May 11.05pm-1.25am Channel 31
In my opinion, the Argentinean original (released in 2009) is one of the best films LRFS has shown. This is the American remake and the story is transposed to Los Angeles and the FBI. It isn’t as good, obviously, but Chiwetel Ejiofor, Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman are quality actors who are always worth watching.
PALE RIDER (1985) Wednesday 12 May 9.00-11.20pm Channel 25   
A number of critics dismissed Pale Rider as being an inferior rehash of Shane and with some justification. Even so, it was one of the few westerns of the 1980s that merited analysis and discussion and also enjoyed success at the box office. Clint Eastwood is the mysterious preacher, handy with both gun and axe handle, who rides into the valley and helps some struggling miners and their families. There is an ecological message (and questioning of big business) in there, combined with the mythological (Biblical) effect that Clint, as director, wanted. Interestingly, Dean Riesner wrote the Season 5 episode of Rawhide Incident of the Pale Rider and also worked on High Plains Drifter which shares some common traits with tonight’s film.
THERE IS ANOTHER SUN (1951) Wednesday 12 May 11.05pm-1.00am TP (Channel 81)  
This is an above-average, b/w drama about the unseemly goings on at a funfair, as two workers plot to rob their boss. Maxwell Reed is the nominal star, but it was Laurence Harvey who grabbed the attention, and went on to build a major career (as did director Lewis Gilbert). Look out for comedy stalwarts Leslie Dwyer (Mr Partridge in Hi-di-Hi) and Arthur Mullard (here willing to box Mr Harvey for a purse of £1!!).  
WHEN HARRY MET SALLY . . . (1989) Thursday 13 May 9.00-10.30pm BBC 4
The two best films of the day clash this evening, although it helps that Sally will be on iPlayer for another week or so. Arguably the best Woody Allen comedy that wasn’t made by Woody Allen, Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan are the acquaintances who beg to differ on how friendship and romance may, or may not, intermingle successfully. 
HARRY AND TONTO (1974) Thursday 13 May 9.00-11.20pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
Question: Who won the Oscar for Best Actor in 1974? Answer: Art Carney for this role – and his fellow nominees were Albert Finney, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson and Al Pacino! He plays a widower, evicted from his New York apartment, who takes his cat, Tonto, on a journey across America.
DEATH LINE (1972) Friday 14 May 9.00-10.55pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
Well, this is a turn up for the books! For once Donald Pleasence is the good guy, a police inspector investigating some disappearances in the London Underground. Little does he realise, but a group of cannibals, living in the tunnels since Victorian times, is responsible. Personally, I am delighted to see that the film’s reputation is undimmed amongst horror aficionados, as it was a key element in my formative viewing years. As well as catching the likes of GWTW and Ben-Hur on re-release (unusual for a teenager in the early 1970s), I must now confess to seeking out X-rated fare, when not quite of age. If I remember correctly, this required a bus journey to the Unit Four cinema in Brierfield and it was the support feature. All these years later, I can still remember key moments and scenes. I am pretty certain that the main feature was a psychological horror called Night Hair Child which teamed Britt Ekland with Mark Lester (!). If this ever turns up on Freeview (uncut), I would, as the phrase goes, be absolutely gobsmacked!  
LONG SHOT (2019) Friday 14 May 10.45pm-12.40am BBC 1    P
Back to earth with a bump! We finish the week with a ‘modern’ romantic comedy (cue swearing, sex scenes, etc.), as a journalist (Seth Rogen) is hired by his former babysitter (Charlize Theron) as a speechwriter for her presidential candidature. As you would of course.
 
RANDOM WORDS AND RANDOM MEMORIES
FILM OR SONG?
Usually, as I type up the weekly notes, I click onto BBC Sounds and play the Bob Harris Country Show (or similar). Two weeks ago, he played a track by Poco following the death of founder member Rusty Young, aged 75. A day or so later, as ‘The Essential Collection’ played on the car stereo, I began to mentally sift through some titles that are common to film and song.
1. ROSE OF CIMARRON. The 1952 film is a poor, low-budget western with spotty colour starring Jack Buetel, who had been in Howard Hughes’ notorious The Outlaw alongside Jane Russell, and Mala Powers. The song, however, is one of Poco’s best, melodic and with good instrumentation; undoubtedly, it helped to make the album probably their most popular UK release.
2. MULLHOLLAND DRIVE. The song is on the 2012 album Handwritten by The Gaslight Anthem. Not a bad one, either, but the 2001 David Lynch film had many critics quite beside themselves, as they placed it in the masterpiece category.
3. THE ENTERTAINER – the final track to complete a rather nice KT Tunstall album Tiger Suit. It was also the title of a 1960 drama in which Laurence Olivier had one of the best roles (music-hall song-and-dance man Archie Rice) of his distinguished career. He had also played him on stage and director Tony Richardson gave us a valuable record of Olivier at the peak of his powers.
4. WALK ON THE WILD SIDE. The 1962 film has several pluses – an Elmer Bernstein score, titles by the great Saul Bass and a cast that includes Jane Fonda, Anne Baxter and Barbara Stanwyck - but the film per se doesn’t quite work. Probably because it was five years too early to shed the mantle of MPPA censorship. The song, however, is a Lou Reed classic. Also on the Transformer album is perhaps his best-known song, Perfect Day, which happens to be the title of a 1929 Laurel and Hardy short.
5. A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS and NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH. Al Stewart is a respected, and popular, singer-songwriter (who grew up in Dorset) and these are two of his songs. Good though they are, Night Train to Munich (1940) has Rex Harrison as a spy in a fast-moving and witty escapade and A Man for All Seasons (1966) won six Oscars, including Best Picture, Actor and Director.
6. STRANGERS ON A TRAIN – is the last track on the Travis album Everything at Once. The film is the one where two strangers agree to swop murders and would be placed – easily – in Hitchcock’s Top Ten.
7. COLD TURKEY. A Dick Van Dyke film made in 1969, but not released until 1971, tells its own story. It was the last film of the great character actor Edward Everett Horton (Top Hat etc.) as well. It is also the title of a John Lennon song (as a solo artist) – so, in this instance, the song has it.
8. THE MULE – is track no. 5 on the Deep Purple album Fireball which, I think, was released 50 years ago in 1971 (good grief – feeling old!). The film is the most recent acting success of Clint Eastwood; if, post-Covid-19, he decides to retire, then it would be a fitting end to his career.
9. NEW FRONTIER. The song, written by Adam Duritz, is on the Counting Crows album Hard Candy and it is a shame that the band isn’t better known. The film (aka Frontier Horizon) is a 1939 Three Mesquiteers B-western. It is the last of the batch of eight that starred John Wayne (rather than Robert Livingston and others) and is the weakest of the set. It does, however, have Phylis Isley as the female lead and she was paid $75 for the privilege. Not long after, she changed her name to Jennifer Jones, won an Oscar for The Song of Bernadette (1943) and married producer David O. Selznick in 1949.
10. DESPERADO.  In 1995, Robert Rodriguez effectively remade El Mariachi on a bigger budget. It turned out well enough, but the song (and the album) is one of the best from The Eagles. Glenn Frey plays the evocative piano and Don Henley’s vocals are superb. I was surprised to read somewhere that he wasn’t happy with the original recording and felt that he could have sung it better, had they had more recording time. If that is true, then perhaps any roughness makes the song just right – it is a good way to drift off and bring to mind innumerable portrayals on the silver screen. Later on, the song led to a series of four TVM starring Alex MacArthur, the first being Desperado (1987). They popped up on late night TV in the UK beginning in the first week of December 1990 here in the southwest. I would quite like to see them again – wonder if they are on region 2 DVD . . .

Ammonite has been available to stream for a month or so now and you might have been wondering when it is due to be released on DVD. The date proposed is Monday 14 June. I would expect the initial price to be £15-£18, but someone might reduce the price – if we are lucky!

RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON (1952) Saturday 1 May 11.35-12noon Talking Pictures (Ch 81)              
TP proudly presents episode 1 of its new 12-chapter serial: Commander Cody, Sky Marshal of the Universe, has to stop the evil Retik invading Earth! Alas, it is a later serial and not one of the best, although the flying scenes (re-used from King of the Rocket Men) are well-staged.
CITIZEN KANE (1941) Saturday 1 May 2.30-4.30pm BBC 2
Please refer to Thursday’s notes; today’s showing is preceded by a Talking Pictures segment on Orson Welles.
FLYING BLIND (2012) Saturday 1 May 11.55pm-1.25am BBC 1
Showing as a tribute to the late Helen McCrory – and she is very good as an engineer involved in defence work who has an affair with an Arab student. It was on the 2013 questionnaire, but didn’t earn enough votes. You might like to take a look now.
ALIVE AND KICKING (1958) Sunday 2 May 10.05am-12.05pm Channel 55
Today, we will set up a good, old-fashioned double bill! First on is a prototype (sort of) for our big success The Hundred Year Old Man . . . (2015-16 season, 89%), as three elderly ladies (Sybil Thorndyke, Kathleen Harrison and Estelle Winwood – what a trio!) escape from a home and set up in business. It is all quite charming and also marked the film debut of Richard Harris. Kathleen Harrison herself lived to be 103 and was one of the great character actors of British cinema.
TRAIN OF EVENTS (1949) Sunday 2 May 12.05-2.00pm Channel 55
There was a spate of portmanteau dramas in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Whilst Kathleen Harrison popped up in Trio (1950), her frequent co-star Jack Warner is in this one (as is a young Peter Finch). The Euston to Liverpool express is about to jump the rails – cue multiple flashbacks from some of the people on board.
ROBIN HOOD (1963) Monday 3 May 6.50-9.00pm Channel 33   
Such was the excitement over Kevin Costner (and the Bryan Adams song that spent 24 weeks in the UK Top Twenty), this version of the legend was largely overlooked. A great pity because this one looks the more authentic of the two, has good action scenes and a distinguished group of actors. Patrick Bergin plays the title character.
TULIP FEVER (2016) Monday 3 May 10.00-11.35pm BBC 2    P
We were tracking Tulip Fever as a potential LRFS booking, but it seemed to have production difficulties and disappeared into film limbo. It is set in 17th- century Amsterdam and concerns the wife of a wealthy businessman who falls in love with the artist engaged to paint her portrait. On balance the film disappoints, but a fine cast that includes Alicia Vikander, Christoph Waltz and Judi Dench should be enough compensation to give it a whirl.
THE GHOST OF ST MICHAEL’S (1941) Tuesday 4 May 10.30am-12.10pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
St Michael’s turned out to be the penultimate Will Hay classic. It was his final collaboration with regular director Marcel Varnel and in this one he and his pupils encounter Nazi spies after their evacuation to a haunted Scottish castle. 
DEMETRIUS AND THE GLADIATORS (1954) Tuesday 4 May 3.55-6.00pm TP (Channel 81)
Prior to modern cinema, this was a rare instance of a sequel – in this case, to 20th Century-Fox’s Biblical epic The Robe, which had introduced audiences to CinemaScope and been a huge financial success. The studio assigned some of its best contract players to it and Delmer Daves was a good director, so it is an entertaining, professional piece of work even though we cannot claim that it is the participants’ best.
HACKSAW RIDGE (2016) Wednesday 5 May 9.00-11.50pm Channel 32   
Based on a true story, Andrew Garfield stars as Desmond Doss, a conscientious objector during the Second World War who enrolled as a medic and displayed exceptional bravery (he received the Medal of Honor).  If you are familiar with Mel Gibson’s work as a director, then you will know that Hacksaw Ridge is not for the faint of heart – but it is brilliant film-making. 
THE BELLS OF ST MARY’S (1945) Thursday 6 May 3.40-6.15pm Film Four  
We have come up with a ‘Safe or Risk’ double bill for today! Separately or together, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope were enormously popular during the 1940s; here, a solo Mr Crosby reprises his Oscar-winning turn as Father O’Malley. Ingrid Bergman co-stars (as a nun of course) and the schmaltz is very much front and centre.  
CITIZEN KANE (1941) Thursday 6 May 8.00-10.00pm BBC 4
RKO Radio took the risks and famously allowed Orson Welles to play with his new train set – and the result was a film that has frequently been cited as the best ever made, in subsequent decades. It remains an astonishing piece of work. We ran it in our 1991-92 season and members awarded it 79%, giving it 7th place for that season. Bye Bye Blues had 81% - do you remember that one? You are a tough audience to please! Still at least we were able to see it. Back in the day, an outraged William Randolph Hearst was putting pressure on the industry to the extent that, apparently, Louis B. Mayer offered $800,000 to have the negative and prints destroyed.
Tonight, it is followed by Mark Cousins’ absorbing documentary The Eyes of Orson Welles.
JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN (1943) Friday 7 May 4.00-6.00pm Channel 68
The lasting legacy of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson is, of course, in television and Supermarionation series such as Thunderbirds. Their live-action work, particularly in the cinema, is relatively scarce. They wrote and produced this sci-fi drama, however, and it is held in quite high regard. Roy Thinnes (architect David Vincent in the TV series The Invaders) is the astronaut who discovers a hidden planet that seems to duplicate everything on Earth (the original title was Doppelgänger). The special effects were nominated for an Oscar; hopefully, this gave some comfort to the Andersons, as they had recently declined an invitation to work on a Stanley Kubrick project . . .
VAMPIRE CIRCUS (1971) Friday 7 May 9.00-10.45pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
Rank Distributors were very pleased with the end product – and it was indeed one of the best latter-day Hammer productions. Not only does it tick all the (oblong) boxes – central Europe, plague, sharpened incisors and a brightly-coloured finale – it also has a headier, more surreal atmosphere than usual. Adrienne Corri adds some pep as the ‘gypsy woman’.
 
RANDOM WORDS AND RANDOM MEMORIES
IT’S OSCAR NIGHT!
Now that the results of the 93rd Academy Awards are in, it seemed like a timely moment to reflect on past ceremonies. Everyone has an opinion, of course: films that we felt should have won and didn’t (and vice versa) and the same with actors and directors. For sure, there have been many instances of Hollywood playing it safe (and respectable). For example, between 1951 and 1971, twelve of the winners were epics or musicals and only three (Tom Jones, In the Heat of the Night and especially Midnight Cowboy) might be said to have been controversial choices. Hitchcock never won Best Director and you would not need many fingers to count the number of women who have won in that category (two, including this year’s). Richard Burton and Deborah Kerr were overlooked time and time again; Henry Fonda had to wait until the very end of his distinguished career; yet Paul Lukas won for Watch on the Rhine (1943), his only nomination. In 1952, the only nomination Singin’ in the Rain received in any of the major categories was Jean Hagen for Best Supporting Actress (she did not win). The western Cimarron won Best Picture in 1931, but it was another 60 years before we saw another one earn the top prize – Dances with Wolves in 1990 and then Unforgiven in 1992.
The first winner – the only silent film to do so – was Wings (1927); it still holds up well and is available on disc. Likewise, All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) remains one of the great antiwar films and the other abiding memory from the earliest years would be Charles Laughton’s performance as Henry VIII. I have long thought that cinema’s greatest year was 1939. There were so many good films, but there was only going to be one winner of course – GWTW. It won several awards and they included one for Hattie McDaniel, the first black actor to win (and it was to be 1963 before Sidney Poitier won for Lilies of the Field). 
Three is quite a popular number: Walter Brennan won three in five years for supporting roles, Daniel Day Lewis has three statuettes and, with this year’s success, so does Frances McDormand. And, regarding the biggest winners, there is a triple tie on 11 for Best Film (Ben-Hur, Titanic and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King). Whilst it is conceivable that, one day, a director might catch John Ford (four wins plus two for wartime shorts), with the expanded category for Best Film, it is highly unlikely that one film will win so many awards again. Hopefully, if it does happen, we will be able to watch a decent show with Best Film announced last once again – I don’t think this year’s ceremony earned too many plaudits.
Finally, if you see a statuette for sale in a shop window proceed with caution. I believe that it is only legal if it was issued before 1950 (Price Guide: the one for GWTW sold for $1.5 million some years ago).

There are very few premieres for us this week, but the BBC has extensive coverage of the snooker, so we will have to be patient for a little while. The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony takes place in the early hours of Monday morning (UK time) – and it will be a big surprise if Nomadland does not win for best film, actress and director.  

JULIA (1977) Saturday 24 April 6.50-9.10pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)              
Julia is a film that isn’t shown very often which is a great pity (I doubt that I have seen it more than once since making one of many visits to the Commodore cinema in 1978). It recounts the 1930s friendship between writer Lillian Hellman (Jane Fonda) and her friend Julia (Vanessa Redgrave), who is organising resistance to the Nazis. Nominated for 11 Oscars, it won three (including one for Ms Redgrave) and it marked the feature film debut of Meryl Streep.
THE EXCEPTION (2016) Saturday 24 April 9.00-11.15pm Channel 33
By a coincidence, we have a second drama this evening that has an interesting, Jewish story to tell. A soldier who is ordered to watch over the exiled Kaiser Wilhelm falls in love with a young housemaid. The upcoming British actor Lily James and the late Christopher Plummer register strongly; it isn’t as good as Julia, but has enough to commend it.
THE HISTORY OF MR POLLY (1948) Sunday 25 April 11.45am-1.45pm TP (Channel 81)
 This adaptation of the HG Wells novel still amuses 70 years after it was made. John Mills is very good indeed as the draper in an unhappy marriage, who finds himself in various scrapes. At times, it is reminiscent of Henry Fielding but transposed to a Victorian setting.
THE GIRL CAN’T HELP IT (1956) Sunday 25 April 3.30-5.30pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
I think it is fair to say that this is a film that would not be made in 2021, owing to Jayne Mansfield’s outrageous parody of her own physical self, as press agent Tom Ewell tries to make her a singing star at the behest of her gangster boyfriend. Director Frank Tashlin was renowned for his sight gags and he makes this a winning combination of a major studio satirical comedy and the new threat to teenage America, namely rock ‘n’ roll. Nearly all the 1956-59 films that featured the new craze were short, b/w and cashing in. Tashlin helped to bring the music into the mainstream by giving free rein (in colour and widescreen) to Little Richard, Eddie Cochran, Fats Domino and others.
STURDAY NIGHT OUT (1963) Monday 26 April 9.00-10.55pm TP (Channel 81)   
All credit to TP for bringing us another rare, largely forgotten, film. The plot is a slender one – five merchant seamen on a day out in London – but it has a good mix of actors (Bernard Lee, Nigel Green, Heather Sears and Francesca Annis) and a good feeling for time and place. It is director Robert Hart-Davis’ most accessible film; for sure, Gonks Go Beat (on DVD) would not qualify! Virtually unknown then and now, his films often had imaginative camera placement and movement, but were mostly exploitation. Two of his horror films, Corruption (1968) and The Fiend (1971) are quite bonkers, but have their admirers.
THE BALLAD OF LEFTY BROWN (2017) Monday 26 April 11.10pm-1.20am Channel 32
It was never more than a long shot for a LRFS booking and it does not have the kudos of the Coen brothers’ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018). However, they both contain insightful variations on western themes; in this case, it is the sidekick (Bill Pullman) who takes centre stage when his partner (Peter Fonda) is murdered. Thus, at one fell swoop, the director (Jared Moshe) upended several hundred B-westerns.
THE EMBEZZLER (1954) Tuesday 27 April 6.30-8.00pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
The Embezzler is a very modest production in which a bank clerk facing retirement contemplates a change in lifestyle. Between 1938 and 1958, Charles Frank appeared in over a hundred British films as a supporting actor; he must have been thrilled to have had a leading role at long last!
THE KID (2019) Tuesday 27 April 9.00-11.05pm Film Four    P
Please don’t expect a great deal from yet another take on the Billy the Kid story, but at least it is a new film and has Ethan Hawke (Maudie) in the cast. My heart does sink, though, whenever I see the word ‘reimagining’ and I suspect that, dramatically, it is on a par with Buster Crabbe’s ‘inhabiting’ of the character in the 1940s.
DON’T TALK TO STRANGE MEN (1962) Wednesday 28 April 9.05-10.25pm TP (Channel 81)   
Although it did not receive the same critical attention, or cause quite the same fuss, as Hammer’s Never Take Sweets from a Stranger (1960), it carries the same social message and builds up a fair measure of tension. The comfort settings (village pubs, red telephone boxes and nice, sensible parents) are used well and the film is worth a look.
THE CRYING GAME (1992) Wednesday 28 April 11.10pm-1.25am Film Four   
Eventually, The Crying Game was recognised as one of the best, most original, films of the early 1990s – but it was American audiences who discovered it first. Neil Jordan won an Oscar for the screenplay and its astute blend of romance, politics of the day and domestic terrorism made it a welcome addition to the film society and art house circuit.
THE BLUE DAHLIA (1946) Thursday 29 April 1.15-3.20pm Film Four  
There were several splendid thrillers in the mid-forties from novels by Raymond Chandler (or James M. Cain) and starring the likes of Bogart and Dick Powell. Here, Alan Ladd dons the raincoat (it was his final teaming with Veronica Lake) as Johnny Morrison, fresh from military service, who discovers that his unfaithful wife has been murdered. If it is a notch below the likes of The Big Sleep, it is probably because director George Marshall worked almost exclusively with lighter material.
SAVAGE (2018) Thursday 29 April 11.15pm-1.30am Film Four    P
We are short on premières this week, so you might consider recording this Chinese action film about a cop who is after a gang of bullion thieves. Please note, though, it is a film that is light on philosophical asides and heavy on heart-stopping thrills and moments of violence.
WARN THAT MAN (1943) Friday 30 April 3.20-5.00pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
To all extent and purposes this was an early prototype for The Eagle Has Landed (1976) in that the plot is built around an attempt to kidnap Winston Churchill. It makes you wonder how the wartime audience reacted! At the time he made this, Gordon Harker was known best for his Inspector Hornsleigh characterisation.  
RONNIE’S (2020) Friday 30 April 10.00-11.45pm BBC 4
If you lived in London fifty years ago and/or are a jazz fan, then this documentary is for you. The film has some revealing interviews and some great archive footage.
 
RANDOM WORDS AND RANDOM MEMORIES
DISCOVERING THE WESTERN
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the fact that Sky Arts was showing a documentary/discussion called Discovering Westerns on Film. It was enjoyable and, if you have an interest in the genre or just film in general, and want to have an idea as to which ones are held in high regard, I would recommend catching a repeat transmission. We have highlighted about 65% of them in our weekly listings, so there are not too many surprises and most of the titles would be familiar to you. Did I agree entirely with their choices and order of merit? No, of course not . . .    
As much as I have always admired Gary Cooper as an actor, it is appropriate that only one of his films (High Noon) should make a Top 25, although his ‘Quaker western’ Friendly Persuasion is excellent and better than some of those selected. However, not a single film with either Randolph Scott or Joel McCrea was a genuine surprise - particularly since they appeared together in Guns in the Afternoon (aka Ride the High Country) and it would make my Top Five. Nor would I have chosen Winchester ’73 as the best of the James Stewart/Anthony Mann partnership. It is interesting, too, that they also chose not to include a comedy western or a modern western such as Lonely Are the Brave or (a personal favourite) the superb Bad Day at Black Rock. What should not come as a surprise to anyone, are the three chosen as representative of Clint Eastwood’s contribution to the genre or the fact that one third of the titles feature John Wayne.
Allowing for some substitutions with films that one might feel are of equal merit (or marginally better), their list is, overall, a decent one and uncontroversial. There were just three occasions when I found myself shouting ‘surely not’:
1.JOHNNY GUITAR (1954). To be fair, it was adored by French critics 60 years ago, made the ‘best of’ lists of both Christopher Frayling and Phil Hardy and in the context of doing something different with the conventions of the genre . . .  no, I can’t, not a Republic western starring Joan Crawford and made all the more garish by their Trucolor process. Mind you, it does contain one of the best lines in any western, courtesy of Sterling Hayden: “I never shake hands with a left-handed draw”.
2.GUNFIGHT AT THE OK CORRAL (1957). It is entertaining, but overblown from the moment Frankie Laine starts singing the title song. It isn’t even the best film about Wyatt Earp (the one that is, makes the list as well – thankfully); I would go as far as to say that Tombstone (1993) is also better.
3.THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER (1965). Don’t get me wrong, I like the film and I must have seen it twenty times since its TV debut clashed with The War Wagon Saturday, 23 December 1972. (There was a lot of agonising that day – no VCR recorders, of course.) It just isn’t Top Twenty – and if it is, where are The Comancheros and North to Alaska? 

 The Baftas ceremony was enjoyable and, as predicted, the awards were made across a broader spectrum. The Oscars will be next! Confession time – I have thrown caution to the wind and added to my DVD collection this week. All happen to be westerns – two rare John Ford silent films (Straight Shooting, his first feature from 1917, and Hell Bent from 1918); three 1940s B-westerns with James Warren ( who had a very short career!) and The Hangman (1959); the latter is one of only two Robert Taylor westerns I have not seen and I decided it was time!

HOUSE OF BAMBOO (1955) Saturday 17 April 3.55-6.00pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)              
And here we are again with another cult director! Samuel Fuller’s forte was gritty, b/w war films (he had received the Bronze Star, Silver Star and a Purple Heart during the Second World War); however, House of Bamboo sees him working in colour and CinemaScope (and note the clever use of the latter in the robbery sequence). Robert Stack is in Tokyo looking for the men who robbed a munitions train; Robert Ryan and Cameron Mitchell are also on top form.
HEAVEN CAN WAIT (1943) Saturday 17 April 6.45-9.00pm TP (Channel 81)
In contrast, Ernst Lubitsch was an A-list director, famed for his delicate ‘golden touch’ and who, for about a dozen years, could do little wrong. This was his last great film from those years – a witty satire with playboy Don Ameche negotiating with the Devil (Laird Cregar) prior to his entry into Hades. It was one of only two films that Lubitsch shot in colour and it looks superb.
FIRST MAN (2018) Saturday 17 April 9.00-11.45pm Channel 4    P
Damien Chazelle followed his successes Whiplash and La La Land with a different kind of project – a serious nuts-and-bolts look at the first Moon landing. Ryan Gosling is excellent as Neil Armstrong and The Crown’s Claire Foy received a lot of plaudits for her performance as his wife Janet.
WESTWORLD (1973) Sunday 18 April 12.01-1.25am BBC 1
If you enjoyed the updated series on satellite TV, you might like to take in the original. It is very good – Yul Brynner is perfect casting as the robot gunslinger whose safety protocols malfunction, leading to a worrying time for those indulging in their fantasies. 
AGAINST THE WIND (1947) Sunday 18 April 7.00-9.00pm TP (Channel 81)
 Ealing made the occasional decent drama to complement its famous comedies, but they couldn’t quite get them to the same level. This tale of Allied saboteurs on a mission in Belgium has the required authentic atmosphere and the cast (Robert Beatty, Simone Signoret and Jack Warner) to make it work and worth your time; it just doesn’t outshine more recent treatments for the cinema and for television.
THE BLACK SHIELD OF FALWORTH (1954) Monday 19 April 11.00am-1.05pm Film Four   
This is a jolly romp, set in medieval England, in which Tony Curtis is training to be a knight in (plastic) armour and his then wife Janet Leigh starts – reluctantly - to admire him from afar. Our hero’s delivery of the line “yonder lies the castle of my fodda” has kept wags in employment down the years, but is it really any sillier than Russell Crowe’s accent in the mega-budget – and ‘seriously authentic’ – Robin Hood? 
HEAVEN CAN WAIT (1943) Monday 19 April 3.00-5.25pm TP (Channel 81)
If you did not have time to watch it on Saturday, here is another opportunity.
GRAN TORINO (2008) Monday 19 April 9.00-11.25pm Channel 25
Clint Eastwood directs and also dons his acting shoes again as Walt Kowalski, a curmudgeonly, ‘white and proud’ ex-soldier and retired auto worker who befriends an Asian refugee. Clint just about keeps the right side of the line in making Walt a sympathetic character and his views understandable but not acceptable. 
WHO KILLED THE CAT? (1966) Tuesday 20 April 2.10-3.55pm TP (Channel 81)
I am surprised that this extremely modest ‘whodunnit’ from B-director Montgomery Tully is still around! My personal archive lists it as no. 174 which means I saw it probably in early 1976. Three elderly ladies are under threat because they stand in the way of the inheritance of a boarding house. Interestingly, Who Killed Teddy Bear (1965) occupies slot no. 184; this is American and so the sleaze quotient is higher. There must have been something about late-night programming back then!
LORD JIM (1965) Tuesday 20 April 4.10-7.15pm Channel 41
In 1965, Peter O’Toole was a big star and this adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s novel was a major release. He plays a sailor accused of cowardice who, as a consequence, wanders through South East Asia looking for a way in which to redeem himself. The film may be 20 minutes too long, but the photography and supporting cast (including James Mason, Curt Jurgens and Eli Wallach) are outstanding.
IN THE LINE OF FIRE (1993) Wednesday 21 April 9.00-11.40pm Channel 33   
Clint Eastwood forsook the director’s chores, on this occasion, and Wolfgang Petersen did a great job – it is one of Eastwood’s best star vehicles. He plays a Secret Service agent still troubled by his inability to save JFK, who finds that history might be about to repeat itself. John Malkovich is superb as the would-be assassin and Ennio Morricone contributes an effective score.
THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION (1957) Thursday 22 April 4.20-7.05pm Channel 41  
This historical epic has not been on a Freeview channel for several years. Based on CS Forester’s The Gun, it is the story of an English officer (Cary Grant) moving an enormous cannon to attack a French fortress during the Peninsular War. Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren also star. On balance, most students of film would say that Stanley Kramer was a better producer than director – and yet, his best ones (as a director) made bold social statements and made for superior entertainment.
THE MAN WITH THE IRON HEART (2017) Thursday 22 April 10.00-11.55pm BBC 4
Whereas Operation Daybreak (1975) centred on the Czech resistance’s assassination of Nazi ‘golden boy’ Reinhard Heydrich, tonight’s drama employs a dual focus and begins with the domestic life of perhaps the most notorious of Hitler’s henchmen. These scenes are very effective. Apparently, the original title (and the one used in some European countries) was HHhH - an acronym for Himmlers Hirn heißt Heydrich ("Himmler's brain is called Heydrich").
YOUNG AND INNOCENT (1937) Friday 23 April 1.20-3.00pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
Whilst it is not quite in the same class as the Fritz Lang masterpiece You Only Live Once (also a 1937 release), with which it shares some themes, this is still classic Hitchcock, albeit one of his lesser ones. Derrick de Marney is accused of murder and is on the run; the delightful Nova Pilbeam believes he is innocent and helps him. It contains one of Hitchcock’s most celebrated technical achievements: a crane/dolly shot that ends in a close-up of the murderer’s eye.
NOTE: the director’s Notorious follows immediately (and contains a reworking of the technical shot described above).
PHILOMENA (2013) Friday 23 April 11.35pm-1.10am BBC 1
Philomena was hugely popular in Lyme and deservedly so. Judi Dench is, of course, excellent as the elderly Irish woman searching for the child who was taken from her many years before. Steve Coogan is also very good as the journalist who helps her in her quest and it came as no surprise that he was so brilliant in Stan & Ollie.
 
RANDOM WORDS AND RANDOM MEMORIES
SOME RANDOM HOBOES
I had forgotten that the on-screen foreword to Emperor of the North included a dedication to the hoboes who were crisscrossing the United States during the Great Depression. Earlier the same evening (11 April), Nomadland was winning three major awards at the Baftas. It brought to mind some other notable films that deal with the same themes.
The pre-Covid season at the Marine included Sullivan’s Travels (1941), a brilliant and ageless satire from Preston Sturges. Joel McCrea plays a film director who, with 10 cents in his pocket, sets out to experience the “real world” that is out there, beyond the confines of Hollywood. David Carradine delivered his best performance in Bound for Glory (1976), the biopic of dustbowl balladeer Woody Guthrie. Songs such as Hard Travelin’ and I Ain’t Got No Home became (pun not intended) a moving chronicle of those times. The marvellous Beggars of Life (1928), which I saw at the Bridport Palace – with live music – in September 2018, was one of the last great silent movies.  Louise Brooks is on the run and dressed as a boy and Wallace Beery plays Oklahoma Red, the tough hobo with a streak of kindness.
This does not mean to say, of course, that all the stories were in deadly earnest, as they could just as easily lend themselves to comedy. At the beginning of the short Night Owls (1930), Stan and Ollie are sleeping on a park bench and in One Good Turn (1931) they are desperate enough to ask widow Mary Carr for a handout. (Ollie: “I wonder if we could trouble you for a slice of buttered toast?” Stan: “And while you’re at it, could you slap a piece of ham on it?”) The French classic Boudu, Saved From Drowning (1932) is still very funny and better than the American remake Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), although Nick Nolte, Richard Dreyfuss and Bette Midler are certainly game enough. We could, of course, write a book on ‘the tramp on film’ – and, specifically with reference to Charlie Chaplin, that has been done many times. I am sure it would strike you as ridiculous to suggest that Chaplin is undervalued (after all, his image is the most famous, and recognised, in the history of cinema), but the pendulum swung some time ago towards the technical virtuosity of Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd and even, for a brief dalliance, Harry Langdon. Charlie, though, was equally adept at humour and pathos – consider, for a moment, the opening to City Lights and the ending. I have watched a lot of films over the years and I would be hard pressed to name another scene from anywhere that captures pure emotion so perfectly, as that final sequence.
As for the hobo on television . . . I must end by reminding you all of The Littlest Hobo.  It was a Canadian TV series that ran for 48 episodes between 1963 and 1965 and the central character was a German shepherd dog. The actor/dog was called London and it was a shame they did not do canine Oscars. There had been a low-budget film in 1958 and the TV series was revived during the 1980s. London starred in them all, so I think it is fair to say there must have been some sons or grandsons in there somewhere!

The award season proper is almost upon us with the Baftas this weekend and the Oscars to follow. It will be interesting to see if they embrace diversity – the early signs are encouraging, as Noel Clarke is to be presented with an “outstanding contribution” award on Saturday evening. This week also sees the release (in the US) of a new film Virus Shark. Yes, you guessed it – a deadly virus is transmitted by the bite of a shark! It is highly unlikely that LRFS will book it for a future season.

THE BLUE LAMP (1950) Saturday 10 April 1.50-3.35pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)              
This rather good British crime thriller was notable for two things (three if you include its gritty realism for the street scenes): for providing a breakthrough role for Dirk Bogarde as the young killer and for introducing us to PC George Dixon (Jack Warner) star of the later BBC TV series. And – a modest bonus – we have a brief appearance from “Two Ton” Tessie O’Shea.
THE HOUSE ON TELEGRAPH HILL (1951) Saturday 10 April 6.35-8.30pm TP (Channel 81)
Robert Wise seems to direct every other film at the moment! The twist on the usual shadowy film noir is that the central (female) character is a refugee who has entered the US on stolen papers. Richard Baseheart is suitably ambiguous as the guardian; I saw it in a late-night slot a few years ago and was pleased to have added it to my list.
NOTE. Immediately following (8.30-9.00pm) is a Scales of Justice featurette called Payment in Kind (1967), which was co-written and directed by Peter Duffell.
 THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN RIDE! (1972) Sunday 11 April 6.50-9.00pm Channel 25
Such was the success of the 1960 classic that three sequels followed; this was the last – and best – of them. Lee Van Cleef is very good as Chris (the leader), the set-piece climax is quite imaginative and those he recruits contain some interesting names building their careers (Luke Askew, Ralph Waite and James Sikking).
EMPEROR OF THE NORTH (1973) Sunday 11 April 10.00pm-12.30am TP (Channel 81)
 Not many directors of the period were as effective as Robert Aldrich in combining hard-edged action with meaningful characters (excluding his The Grissom Gang, one of the few films from any source that I actively dislike). This is mostly a two-hander in which Lee Marvin is a hobo riding trains during the Depression and Ernest Borgnine is the conductor with an impeccable record of stopping them. And Mr Borgnine had few equals in doing ‘nasty’ with such gusto! Writer Christopher Knopf has an interesting CV – not prolific, and mostly in television, but series like The Restless Gun and Cimarron Strip rather than Gunsmoke or Bonanza. If the opportunity ever presents itself, you might also check out his TVM A Cold Night’s Death.
RIDE IN THE WHIRLWIND (1965) Monday 12 April 12.30-2.15pm Channel 32   
On occasion, I have highlighted cult directors and, between 1965 and 1975, Monte Hellman is probably the one who attracted most critical attention, largely on the strength of Two-Lane Blacktop (1971). Earlier, he had shot two westerns back-to-back (The Shooting was the other); both starred Jack Nicholson (here opposite Cameron Mitchell) and some critics refused to separate the two when submitting them in ‘Top Ten’ lists. This is the more straightforward one (three cowboys are mistaken for outlaws); its interest lies in how Hellman uses his material.
MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD (2003) 12 April 9.00-11.45pm Film Four
This was a very solid seafaring saga: a good director (Peter Weir), a cast headed by Russell Crowe, fine art direction and Patrick O’Brian’s Napoleonic novels as source material. It looked impressive on the Regent’s big screen, so it was a surprise that more did not follow – perhaps it just did not have the daftness of the Caribbean franchise.  
BEHEMOUTH, THE SEA MONSTER (1959) Tuesday 13 April 8.00-9.30am TP (Channel 81)
Eugène Lourié was an excellent art director (he worked with Jean Renoir and Chaplin amongst others) who also had an interest in special effects. Occasionally, he turned to directing creature features – in this instance, teaming up with Willis O’Brien (King Kong) and co-director Douglas Hickox. It is decent, low-budget fun and its message about radioactive waste still resonates.
THE HOUSE ON 92ND STREET (1945) Tuesday 13 April 4.00-6.00pm TP (Channel 81)
This was one of the key American films of the 1940s, in that it ushered in a new era of documentary-style realism that, by 1950, even MGM had started to use. The story of a Nazi spy ring in New York is still robust, first-rate drama; it dispenses with major stars and actors Lloyd Nolan and Signe Hasso seize their moment.
THE HEIST (2009) Wednesday 14 April 7.05-9.00pm Channel 33   
Today is the quietest day for a while, so we are reduced to one film – and the plot (the theft of some art paintings) is very familiar. However, the security guards/thieves are played by three very distinguished actors (Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken and William H. Macy) and the lightness of touch that is brought to the enterprise is pleasing.
CAPTAIN BOYCOTT (1947) Thursday 15 April 10.30am-12.30pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)  
The historical events that explain how the word boycott came into general use are interesting, although the film is let down by an uneven tone. The strong cast is a very welcome one: Cecil Parker in the title role, Stewart Granger, Alastair Sim and Robert Donat in a cameo as Charles Stuart Parnell.
TOPKAPI (1964) Thursday 15 April 9.00-10.55pm BBC 4
Peter Ustinov would have been 100 years-old tomorrow and the BBC marks the occasion by showing Topkapi, the film that earned him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. It is a very good heist drama (another one, sorry); director Jules Dassin had earlier helped star Melina Mercouri win Best Actress for Never on Sunday at Cannes in 1960. They married in 1966 and were together until her death in 1994.  
REBECCA (1940) Friday 16 April 2.25-5.00pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
Hitchcock never won an Oscar for best director, but Rebecca, his first film in Hollywood, did win Best Picture. Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine make an immaculate Maxim and Mrs de Winter and Judith Anderson was never better than here, as Mrs Danvers. It is a timeless classic, of course, and had a score of 81% in our second season (1989-1990).  
THE INNOCENTS (1961) Friday 16 April 9.00-11.00pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
The Innocents is also a great film. Whilst it has always had strong approval from some critics, it has never received quite the same approbation as, say, The Third Man or Saturday Night and Sunday Morning – yet it deserves to. There are many things to admire – performances, the aura that seems to emanate from what unfolds on screen and the evocative cinematography of Freddie Francis – but the most remarkable thing, perhaps, is that it is still unsettling and scary after 60 years.
 
RANDOM WORDS AND RANDOM MEMORIES
SOME BOOKS AT RANDOM
I am sure that you will not be surprised to discover that I have amassed a considerable number of books on cinema (and related topics) over the years.
The earliest ones I can remember acquiring would be three editions (1955, 1956 and 1959) of F. Maurice Speed’s Western Film Annual. A cousin gave these to me, when I was a child, and so began a lifelong interest in the genre. (And, yes, I still have them somewhere.) The first two specialist books I recall ordering, with my precious pocket money, would be A Pictorial History of Westerns (1972, Michael Parkinson and Clyde Jeavons) and The Films of John Wayne (1973 edition, Mark Ricci, Boris and Steve Zmijewsky). Then it was on to reference books (Leslie Halliwell’s set the standard to beat, of course), biographies from Julie Andrews to Lana Turner and Fred Zinnemann, and whatever else took my fancy.
In 2021, when there are several databases the click of a mouse away, are books still a useful tool? I believe so, and here are some I use regularly plus a few favourites . . .
FILM GUIDES
It was a sad day when, about five years ago, it was announced that the internet had effectively put printed film guides out of business. The best two are the Radio Times Guide to Films and Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide and I still use them every week. Michael J. Weldon’s Psychotronic Video Guide is brilliant for ‘bad’ and obscure titles. Ephraim Katz’s The Film Encyclopedia covers a lot of ground and I have always valued David Quinlan’s books on actors and directors. The best two reference guides on the western, I find, are Phil Hardy’s mighty tome in The Aurum Film Encyclopedia series and Edward Buscombe’s BFI Companion to the Western. The latter also has valuable entries on the historical west.
TELEVISION GUIDES
Halliwell’s Teleguide is still useful and The ITV Encyclopedia of Adventure is very thorough, as is a later ITV publication on TV science-fiction. Richard West’s Television Westerns 1946-1978 was, for me, an exciting (and expensive) import. It is good, but a tad disappointing in that most of the entries are relatively superficial.
THREE MEMOIRS
The passing of the actor Henry Darrow in March had me flicking through Lightning in a Bottle once again and Maureen O’Hara’s ‘Tis Herself is an entertaining read. I am also the proud owner of a signed copy of Peter Duffell’s memoirs Playing Piano in a Brothel.
A FEW FAVOURITES
The Hammer Vault is not only informative, it has some superb stills and Patricia Warren’s British Film Studios is a very through A to Z. Forgotten Horrors (with an introduction by Mel Brooks) is a splendid book on the B-films of the 1930s (mostly) that were churned out by minor American studios such as Tiffany and Chesterfield. I must own up to a fondness for topics that are a little different. Usually, the author is very knowledgeable and clearly loves his subject. Two particular favourites are Bart Plantenga’s book Yodel-Ay-Ee-Oooo and Simon Sheridan’s Keeping the British End Up. The latter author has a very witty style and it is a treasure trove of information on the ‘naughty’ British films that were so prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s.
Finally, and coming full circle, my absolute favourite of the last couple of years was an unexpected gift from friends – Kathryn Kalinak’s book How the West Was Sung. Subtitled Music in the Westerns of John Ford, it examines his work from that perspective – a brilliant idea and quite an eye-opener. 

Last week was a quiet one and the selection was not particularly exciting. Helped by the Easter weekend, we think that you will find this week’s choices more appealing. I am already ‘buzzing’ – after 50 years I have managed to see the 1927 John Ford film Mother Machree. More or less, anyway, since only three reels have survived. Patience is a virtue, then! Happy Easter everyone.

REAP THE WILD WIND (1942) Saturday 3 April 10.05am-12.35pm Channel 41              
Cecil B. DeMille’s films were not noted for their subtlety, but drew huge crowds in all respects (the world première in Los Angeles attracted 3,000 onlookers). So, whilst some of the dialogue might make you wince, this seafaring saga of 19th-century sailors and wreckers, has Technicolor, a great cast (Ray Milland, John Wayne, Paulette Goddard and Susan Hayward), a ripe piece of villainy (Raymond Massey) and sideburns galore. And the giant squid at the climax fully deserved its Oscar!
BLACK KkKLANSMAN (2018) Saturday 3 April 9.00-11.40pm Channel 4    P
Spike Lee’s audacious thriller enjoys its Freeview première tonight. John David Washington and Adam Driver are splendid as the undercover cops who infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan (not easy as one of the officers is black) and it was 3rd= in our final season before lockdown (90%).
 RED JOAN (2019) Sunday 4 April 10.00-11.35pm BBC 2    P
Members’ favourite Judi Dench is on good form, although the film itself disappoints. (Director Trevor Nunn’s best work has been in the theatre.) Ms Dench plays a pensioner arrested for spying; Sophie Cookson is her younger self who, as a Cambridge student in the late 1930s, fell in love with a ‘red under the bed’.
THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THE BIGFOOT (2018) Sunday 4 April 11.45pm-1.40am Film Four  P
Admit it – the title intrigues you! I saw the film a couple of years ago and rather enjoyed it – but I am a fan of Sam Elliott. Here, he is a secretive ‘special-ops’ adventurer who is (and was) employed to carry out those missions.   
SAHARA (1943) Monday 5 April 1.30-3.35pm Channel 41   
Humphrey Bogart swopped his fedora for helmet and goggles, for this excellent tale of a group of army stragglers – plus tank – trying to make their way to safety. The likes of J Carrol Naish and Dan Duryea are in support and Zoltan Korda directs a very talented crew. Little harm is done when you share or re-use a good idea with some skill in the telling, so I would also recommend the British equivalent Nine Men (1943) and the western Last of the Comanches (1952).  The tank film I would really like to catch again is Treasure of Kalifa (1953, aka The Steel Lady). I have seen it just the once (about 44 years ago) and it absolutely was NOT the “searing Sahara-hot adventure” that the taglines claimed! Clearly, even then, I was attracted to the low-budget obscurities.
ALPHA (2017) Monday 5 April 2.55-4.45pm Film Four    P
Whilst it does not quite have the tension and thrills of our early Lapp success Pathfinder (1989-1990 season, audience reaction 82%), this is still a beautifully photographed and commendable effort. Kodi Smit-McPhee is the young prehistoric warrior surviving various trials and tribulations – and the wolf deserves a pat on the back, too.
THE QUICK AND THE DEAD (1987) Tuesday 6 April 1.00-2.55pm Channel 41
Not the cinema release with Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman, but an earlier, superior, TVM that paired Sam Elliott and Kate Capshaw. He is the seasoned westerner helping a family of greenhorns (Tom Conti is the husband) against an outlaw gang. It is well-scripted and a satisfying watch.
LIFEBOAT (1944) Tuesday 6 April 3.55-6.00pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
The setting taxed even Alfred Hitchcock’s ingenuity: after a liner is torpedoed, some survivors make it to a lifeboat; how they fare is totally engrossing, especially after they take a Nazi aboard. The director’s regular cameo is rather a clever one!
STIFF UPPER LIPS (1997) Wednesday 7 April 9.05-11.05pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)   
This looks quite interesting – a parody of the lace bonnet/Jane Austen/Helen Mirren period dramas that so delight our Silver Screeners. Prunella Scales is the aristocratic Aunt Agnes, whose family embarks upon a Grand Tour of far-away places. By all accounts, it is rather witty!
POOR COW (1967) Wednesday 7 April 11.05pm-1.05am Talking Pictures (Channel 81)   
This is where it all began for one of our favourite directors, Ken Loach. His cinema debut concerns teenager Carol White’s attempts to make a go of things; Terence Stamp co-stars, but it is Queenie Watts, as a prostitute, who walks off with the acting honours (and is a very different aunt to the one in Stiff Upper Lips!). It is not Ken Loach’s best (and we listed it last year), but is a fascinating foretaste of what was to come.
STATION WEST (1948) Thursday 8 April 7.45-9.35am Channel 41  
Station West has a cast (Dick Powell, Jane Greer and Steve Brodie) that we would expect to see in a sleazy urban thriller of the same vintage and this is essentially what we have – film noir in a western setting. Powell is an undercover military officer trying to solve a series of gold robberies. The dialogue is pitter-patter sharp and it all works rather well – including the obligatory bout of fisticuffs, this time with Guinn ‘Big Boy’ Williams on the receiving end (eventually).
GET CARTER (1971) Thursday 8 April 11.15pm-1.35am Channel 25
Surprisingly, director Mike Hodges made only another nine films in the next 30 years after this classic – and he never came close to equalling it. It is a brilliant piece of work that has Michael Caine’s London enforcer returning to Newcastle to find out – in uncompromising style – who killed his brother. It remains one of Mr Caine’s best films, too.
KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS (1949) Friday 9 April 10.20am-12.30pm TP (Channel 81)
This peerless black comedy is, arguably, Ealing’s best: Alec Guinness gives an astonishing performance as all eight members of the D’Ascoynes family; Dennis Price is great, too, as the overlooked family member determined to bump them off. Twenty years later, an episode of The Persuaders entitled ‘A Death in the Family’ paid a modest tribute to it, although Roger Moore only had enough screen time to play three characters.
SUFFRAGETTE (2015) Friday 9 April 6.50-9.00pm Film Four
It is nice to end the week with two British offerings; this more recent one has the cast, the period detail and the incidents that one would expect in an account of the fight for the right to vote. It is all done with care and commitment; it just does not have the extra creative inspiration that Coronets has. To be fair, though, few films do.
 
RANDOM WORDS AND RANDOM MEMORIES
(NOT SO) RANDOM FILMS 2
After another six months of writing about films that, hopefully, have been of interest, it is time to look back. So, once again I shall ignore the great classics (such as Singin’ in the Rain) that we all know and love, and select instead the more modest productions, this time from October to the end of March. As before, I have limited myself to 20 titles and have not used film society bookings. In alphabetical order:
1. ALIEN NATION (great fun yet thought-provoking; exciting and well-paced)
2. AMAZING GRACE (my, Aretha Franklin could sing with power, passion and conviction)
3. BALLOON (members would have loved this audacious escape movie)
4. BEEN SO LONG (a streets-of-London musical with attitude and a vivid palette – loved it!)
5. BLUEPRINT FOR ROBBERY (good B-movie about a perfect heist – WE know they never are!)
6. THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND (would have been a huge success with members)
7. ENEMY MINE (intelligent sci-fi that makes a pre-fashionable plea for inclusion)
8. FEAR STRIKES OUT (not many 1950s films focussed on mental illness more than baseball)
9. THE GANGSTER, THE COP, THE DEVIL (one of my films of the year so far)
10. GIFTED (this story of a gifted child had the right tone, approach and conclusion)
11. THE GUARDIANS (superb French drama – classic film society fare)
12. HAND IN HAND (Philip Leacock coaxes marvellous performances from his child actors)
13. HELL DRIVERS (high-octane thrills with Stanley Baker, Patrick McGoohan and Sean Connery)
14. THE HILL (a great performance from Sean Connery)
15. LAND OF MINE ( tense, involving and moving drama from Denmark)
16. LOVE, SIMON (a pertinent, heartfelt teenage romance with a difference.)
17. LOVING (a touch manipulative, but still very good story of a mixed race marriage)
18. THE SCARLET AND THE BLACK (a top TVM set in wartime Rome; a lot of talented personnel)
19. A WINDOW IN LONDON (a neat little thriller; Michael Redgrave is such a convincing actor)
20. WITCHFINDER GENERAL (Vincent Price as Matthew Hopkins; a favourite cult classic)
EMBARRASSED TO SAY I OVERLOOKED IT: LADY OF DECEIT (1947). Robert Wise again shows his versatility; every frame drips sleaze, fear and double-crosses; the audience hopes fervently that both Lawrence Tierney and Claire Trevor will get their just desserts!
SHORT FILM: MISS GRANT GOES TO THE DOOR (1940). That will teach those nasty Nazis to burst in on genteel English ladies!
A VERY GOOD DOCUMENTARY: BILLIE. This documentary on Billie Holiday includes a stunning rendition of the song Strange Fruit. Just as interesting is the back-story of journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl, who amassed a huge amount of research in the 1970s. If the writer really did commit suicide, I am a Dutch uncle!
Would you believe it? Fifteen of the twenty films are in colour this time – I must be undergoing some kind of modernisation.