BBC 4 is repeating the documentary Voyage to Mars: the Longest Goodbye on Wednesday evening; a timely showing in that plans to visit the Red Planet are likely to gather pace in the next five years or so. Coincidentally, the Legend channel is showing the 1978 film Capricorn One that afternoon. This is the one where the trip to Mars is a hoax, leaving three astronauts earthbound and in peril. More recent dramas, such as The Martian, feature top actors (Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain head a strong cast) and the science is more plausible. This was not the case in the 1950s and 1960s, of course, although Rocketship X-M (1950) was pretty good for a low-budget offering from a minor production company (Lippert); having Lloyd Bridges on board helped. Their original destination was the Moon and they went off course; Abbott and Costello left for Mars in 1953 and somehow ended up on Venus! Conquest of Space (1955) was better; Eric Fleming (who went on to play the trail boss in Rawhide) was the lead and the director, Byron Haskin, went on to make Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964). In case you ever wondered, the same year’s Santa Claus Conquers the Martians really is one of the worst films ever made – but my record for watching a film to the end has remained intact! 
RED ROCK WEST (1992) Saturday 9 September 9.00-10.55pm Legend (Channel 41)         
Film noir made a modest comeback (in colour) in the early 1990s with two films directed by John Dahl. The most celebrated one was the splendid The Last Seduction (1994), but this earlier work is almost as good. Unemployed Nicholas Cage is mistaken for a hitman and thinks he has it made, until the real assassin turns up – and very few actors could do ‘crazy’ as well as Dennis Hopper. 
CRIME OF PASSION (1957) Monday 11 September 7.00-8.45pm TP (Channel 82)        
Having seen at least 30 of her films, I thought I knew Barbara Stanwyck’s CV pretty well but this late-entry film noir is an unknown quantity! Furthering her husband’s career by sleeping with the chief of police isn’t a problem for her until he looks to promote someone else. Whilst it isn’t Double Indemnity, there is a great cast (Sterling Hayden, Raymond Burr, Fay Wray and Royal Dano) and director Gerd Oswald was known for making this kind of material very atmospheric. 
LION (2016) Tuesday 12 September 9.00-11.20pm Film Four    P            
Based on a true story, and popular in cinemas, watching Lion will be a pleasant two hours viewing for members. Five-year-old Saroo falls asleep during a train journey, ends up alone in Calcutta and is subsequently adopted by an Australian couple. Dev Patel then plays the grown-up Saroo as he returns to India in search of his family. 
BALLOON (2018) Thursday 14 September 11.40pm-1.35am BBC 4
I highlighted this German drama when it was premiered during lockdown, but it is worth mentioning again. Two East German families plan an audacious escape to the West. It is humorous, tense and a very rewarding watch.

It was in the summer of 2008 that I went to work at the Regent and we had two films that ran for weeks and weeks: Mamma Mia! and Wall.E. The plot of the latter – a robot picks up rubbish on a desolate planet Earth, with occasional input from an indolent and obese human supervisor – struck me as being remarkably prescient. Until, that is, I caught last week’s documentary iHuman. Advanced AI in the hands of the military and a handful of super tech companies or governments doesn’t bear thinking about. Just 24 hours later, X (formerly known as Twitter) was removing the ban on political advertising. Here we go then . . . 
ELMER GANTRY (1960) Sunday 3 September 10.00pm-1.00am TP (Channel 82)         
A first showing on TP for this excellent drama in which a ‘snake oil’ salesman in the 1920s Midwest finds his true calling as an evangelist. It is almost certainly more relevant in 2023, of course. Burt Lancaster is superb and won an Oscar, as did Shirley Jones for her portrayal of his ex-girlfriend turned prostitute. Director Richard Brooks also won for his coruscating script although it was The Apartment that won most of the major awards, that year. 
DEATH RACE 2000 (1975) Monday 4 September 10.05-11.40pm TP (Channel 82)        
Younger members (do we have any?) might be more familiar with Jason Statham’s 2008 update. However, the original is the bee’s knees, for lovers of cult films, and the story (car racers earn extra points for running over pedestrians), actors (David Carradine and a yet-to-make-it Sylvester Stallone) and producer Roger Corman all belong to the 1970s. And this was when I saw it for the first time – at the old Coliseum in Aberystwyth (now a museum and coffee house) with Pam Grier’s Sheba, Baby as the support feature. Such double bills are long gone and we’ll not see their like again. Shame!
BLUE BOX (2021) Tuesday 5 September 10.00-11.25pm BBC 4    P            
Documentary film-maker Michal Weits investigates the work of her great-grandfather, Yosef, who became known as the Father of the Forests for his pioneering work in Israel and Palestine. She discovers that her family are reluctant to discuss this part of their history, and the truths she uncovers are not always palatable. 
FISHERMAN’S FRIENDS (2018) Wednesday 6 September 9.00-11.15pm Film Four    P
I am not ever so keen myself, but if you enjoyed The Phantom of the Open and The Duke (and clearly you did) then settle down in a favourite chair and watch this true story of the Cornish fishermen who signed a record deal. It is light, diverting fare and there is the sequel to look forward to at some future time, no doubt. 

Radioactive (2019), the story of Pierre and Marie Curie, was shown again last Saturday immediately before episodes 3 & 4 of the 1980 7-parter Oppenheimer. Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon starred in an early biopic Madame Curie 80 years ago and Christopher Nolan’s epic Oppenheimer has just been to the Radway, so it seems reasonable to assume that radioactivity has remained a ‘hot topic’ during the years in between. Often, though, the films contributed little to the scientific debate: Mickey Rooney’s The Atomic Kid (1954) purported to be a comedy, The Atomic Man (1955) was able to step into the future and, whilst X the Unknown (1956) was a rather good Hammer horror, it didn’t do a lot for Scottish tourism. However, On the Beach (1959) did film Nevil Shute’s novel of nuclear Armageddon very respectfully. Perhaps the most intriguing drama, that predated all of the above, was The Invisible Ray (1936). Made only two years after Marie Curie’s death, Boris Karloff is contaminated by a radioactive meteor and can then kill by touch. In real life, it was later revealed that The Conqueror (1956) was filmed on locations in Nevada that were close to nuclear test sites. Subsequently, several members of the cast and crew succumbed to cancer or related illnesses. 
BENEDETTA (2021) Sunday 27 August 11.15pm-1.55am Film Four    P         
The difficulty with director Paul Verhoeven has always been that you are never sure if you are getting a Black Book (given 85% by members in 2008) or Showgirls. This film manages to be both – it is a serious study of the nature of faith in 17th-century Tuscany, but with a fair amount of sex as a novice nun becomes enamoured of one of her fellow trainees. Fair to say, it might not end well . . .
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM (1955) Monday 28 August 8.45-11.15pm TP (Channel 82)        
Otto Preminger directed two films in the 1950s that pushed against censorship boundaries: The Moon is Blue (1953) and tonight’s rare Freeview showing. Frank Sinatra is the drug addict (he was Oscar-nominated), Eleanor Parker and Kim Novak are also excellent and Elmer Bernstein contributes a splendid jazz score. 
iHUMAN (2019) Tuesday 29 August 10.00-11.35pm BBC 4    P            
Good or evil? 2023 has seen serious debate over AI and urgent requests for scientific conferences to discuss where it might be taking us. So, this timely documentary from the Storyville team is most welcome! 
CLASSIC MOVIES: THE STORY OF THE THIRD MAN Thursday 31 August 8.00-9.00pm Sky Arts (Ch 11)
This isn’t a movie, but the first in a 6-part series of documentaries fronted by film critic Ian Nathan and colleagues including the great Derek Malcolm, who passed away recently. It should be enjoyable and quite illuminating; the film itself is still available on BBC iPlayer.  
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Earlier this week, I was saddened to read about the death of film composer Carl Davis. I first became acquainted with his music when watching The World at War as a teenager; a little later it was his work for the equally superb series Hollywood. Next, he and Kevin Brownlow collaborated on restoring films for Thames silents and did so much to bring early cinema back to appreciative audiences the world over, their masterpiece being Abel Gance’s Napoleon (1927).  He won a Bafta for his score for The French Lieutenant’s Woman. 

Science-fiction has become a mainstay of television (well, streaming) with the likes of Doctor Who and the various incarnations of Star Trek and now Star Wars (five series and counting). In the cinema, high concept/high budget sci-fi films only really started with 2001: a Space Odyssey (1968) and then carried on with the likes of Tarkovsky’s Solaris (1972) and Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Of course, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) had been an enormous undertaking but for the next 40 years it was mostly serials (Flash Gordon) and low to mid-budget fare. This produced several minor classics in the 1950s including 1951’s The Day the Earth Stood Still (to be given another run out by TP Saturday teatime), War of the Worlds (1953) and The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957). However, the film that came closest to high concept (and art) during this period was MGM’s Forbidden Planet (1956). Britain’s contributions were not great at this time except for the two Quatermass films and The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961). The British classics were closer to home (see below). 
THE POWER OF THE DOG (2021) Sunday 20 August 10.00-12 midnight BBC 2    P         
If proof were needed that Jane Campion is one of the most imaginative directors working today, this would prove it. Ranch owner George marries for love; even though it was a short courtship, there is still time for his brother (Benedict Cumberbatch) to undermine and derail their happiness. Set in Montana in 1925, this is the best ‘modern’ western drama since Brokeback Mountain. 
ROOM AT THE TOP (1959) Wednesday 23 August 9.05-11.25pm TP (Channel 82)        
Shock! Horror! 1950’s Britain, as depicted in this season’s opening film Living was, by the end of the decade, on a collision course with adult relationships that included sex. Laurence Harvey is superb as the accountant (and antihero) Joe Lampton, but the Oscar-winning Simone Signoret is even better. The 1965 sequel Life at the Top isn’t a patch on this classic, but the 1971-3 TV series Man at the Top was pretty good. Certainly, it was popular enough for Kenneth Haigh to take the character back onto cinema screens. 
SHADOWLANDS (1993) Thursday 24 August 9.00-11.05pm BBC 4             
Richard Attenborough would have been 100 on 29 August. Here he directs Anthony Hopkins as CS Lewis and tonight’s showing is bookended by two episodes of Arena which give a very good overview of his career to that point (2003). He was a true British great – as an actor, director, and humanitarian, and for his work in education and sport. Anthony Hopkins’ latest film will be one of the gala presentations at this year’s LFF.  

Coincidences never cease to fascinate me. After mentioning, last week, Mr Spielberg’s concerns about studios chasing the brass ring comes the revelation that Barbie has already passed the $1billion mark. Congratulations to WB are in order, I guess, and they needn’t be too concerned that the film is likely to be banned in Kuwait and Lebanon. And we can look forward to Barbie 2 in another year or so. One line of dialogue in The Lone Ranger (1956) stood out for the first time. Lyle Bettger, after giving his young daughter a riding lesson, says to his men “you raise them like boys, they’ll be boys”. Quite what 1950s America made of it isn’t on the record, but it is probably the same as in 2023. Some good news to finish - I Claudius, often cited as one of the best series of the 1970s, begins a repeat run Wednesday evening. 
AMMONITE (2020) Sunday 13 August 10.00-11.50pm BBC 2    P         
Perhaps the film we have all been waiting for? Kate Winslet is Mary Anning, and you might have seen some of the location shooting in Lyme. I must confess to not being a huge fan of the film; primarily because the director, Francis Lee, imposes a modern slant on it which is difficult to accept. It is still essential viewing, though!
THE PIANO (1993) Monday 14 August 11.15pm-1.10am BBC 2         
I was about to begin by referring to The Piano as a modern classic; then I realised it is now 30 years since it came to the Regent! Its all-round brilliance (script, performances, Jane Campion’s direction and Michael Nyman’s score), still takes the breath away. I wonder, though, were the idea to be pitched in 2023 would it get the green light?  
THE DRIVER (1978) Tuesday 15 August 9.00-10.55pm Legend (Channel 41)             
Remember Ryan O’Neal? He had a good ten years of making interesting films after leaving Peyton Place. He is very good in this cool French chic-style thriller as a getaway driver trying to outwit his nemesis, police detective Bruce Dern. Walter Hill’s speciality has always been action (and western) dramas with eclectic casting and it pays off here. It was an unusual, well-regarded film even on initial release; when I saw it, the obscure support feature was Guns Across the Veldt. Now, that film re-emerging would be a huge surprise! 

n talks he was giving to film students 10 years ago, even Steven Spielberg expressed concern that a studio “would rather invest $250m in one film for a real shot at the brass ring” than back more personal projects. Indeed, he stated for the record that Lincoln (shown at the Regent in February 2013) only earned a theatrical release because of the clout he had with the production companies. In the early 1970s, he had started his career working in television. At the time, Universal (his employer) was the most powerful operator in the medium. One of the studio’s most successful shows in those cheesy days, The Six Million Dollar Man, starts a rerun on Legend next Tuesday evening. Mr Spielberg was quite right, of course, although he did not predict that, by 2023, six million wouldn’t even cover a top footballer’s wages. Should Mbappé go to Saudi Arabia he will earn £19 a second . . .  
THE LONE RANGER (1956) Saturday 5 August 3.00-4.50pm Legend (Channel 41)         
Hi-yo Silver and away . . . Such was the popularity of the TV series, WB decided that a colour feature with the same actors might be profitable. The plot – the baddies, led by Lyle Bettger, are after the Indians’ silver – is perfunctory but entertaining. A sequel, The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold, followed in 1958 and Legend is showing it Wednesday afternoon. A double DVD was released in 2013 because ‘the team that brought you Pirates of the Caribbean’ had just spent around $200m on an update. With apologies to Johnny Depp, there was only one Tonto (Jay Silverheels) and one Lone Ranger (Clayton Moore). Moore’s fondness, and respect, for the character, in later life, was actually more interesting than the films. In costume, he had continued to open supermarkets and nurture American youth until in the late 70s the copyright holder took legal action. A public outcry followed and the Masked Man rode again soon after! Spielberg opens The Fabelmans with archive footage involving Lyle Bettger, who was the consummate ‘let others do the dirty work’ villain of the era.
CLEMENCY (2019) Tuesday 8 August 11.15pm-1.00am BBC 2         
I wrote about this drama when it had its first showing in early March, but I make no apology for including it again. Alfre Woodard is superb as the warden who has to deal with the consequences of the imposition of the death penalty. 
C’MON C’MON (2021) Wednesday 9 August 11.10pm-1.25am Film four    P         
Another near miss from a recent questionnaire has come to Freeview. Joaquin Phoenix is a radio producer who sets out on a road trip with his 9-year-old nephew. It was filmed in b/w. 
 TOP HAT (1935) Thursday 10 August 10.40pm-12.15am BBC 4             
What is there not to like about the quintessential Astaire-Rogers musical? It is witty, romantic, has fantastic set design and memorable songs. Members still rated it 89% over 50 years after its initial release!