We are looking at a very busy week and beyond: football, Wimbledon, cricket and a general election. Not forgetting that your chairman and committee have been working very hard to select the films for next season, liaise with the Marine theatre and prepare the brochure that we will post to you later in the summer. So, it is time to take a break for a little while!
The occasional film of interest will still appear in the schedules, no doubt. Channel 4 is showing the film Spencer Saturday evening. Princess Diana would have been 63 this week, and Kristen Stewart was much praised for her performance in this film.

The European Championships will be underway as you read this. Not surprisingly new – or interesting – films are not much in evidence although an old friend makes his debut Sunday evening.
A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS (1966) Saturday 15 June 1.55-3.50pm BBC 2             
The only surprise is that Radio Times gives it 4* and not 5*. Fred Zinnemann’s adaptation of Robert Bolt’s play was one of the best films of the 1960s, and is still one of the most absorbing historical dramas to be put on screen. It won six Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor. Paul Scofield fully deserved his award for his portrayal of Sir Thomas More, but there are at least half-a-dozen fine performances to savour. The later version with Charlton Heston is decent enough, but it doesn’t measure up to this cinema classic.
THE DUKE (2020) Sunday 16 June 9.00-10.30pm BBC 2    P             
 The BBC continues its run of our most successful films – unintentionally, I’m sure! The Duke was our final film of the 2021/2022 season and had the highest poll rating (93%). Jim Broadbent, you might remember, steals The Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery as part of his campaign against the TV licence fee.
FLEE (2021) Tuesday 18 June 10.00-11.25pm BBC 4    P             
Flee is one we didn’t programme but, perhaps, should have because it is rather a unique enterprise. The best description might be animated documentary. It is based on the true story of a gay Afghan man who managed to escape from Kabul in 1989 and, after a hazardous journey across Europe, was finally able to make his home in Denmark.

My Talking Pictures email this week announced that “even diehard John Wayne fans” probably haven’t seen the 1933 serial The Three Musketeers which starts Saturday morning. Well, dear reader(s), I bought the DVD about 17 years ago (and I have a copy of Desert Command, the reconstructed ‘feature’ cobbled together circa 1946), but they do have a point. Whilst serials were a popular part of cinema programmes from about 1914 to 1954 they are little seen, or heard of, now. Most of the Hollywood studios made them and other countries (including France and Britain) did too, on occasion.   Each episode had a cliffhanger at the end so you would come back the following week. Republic Studios was usually deemed to be the best exponent of these chapter plays and Daredevils of the Red Circle (1939) is one of their best. The Three Musketeers is on a lower level, but the best of the three serials that Wayne made for Nat Levine’s Mascot during his Poverty Row years. It was called Poverty Row for a reason, of course – the companies based there would pinch every penny: no frills, no music score, a cast of just a few, and one chapter that would reuse some of the earlier footage to remind you of the story again!   
LIMELIGHT (1952) Saturday 8 June 1.00-3.40pm Sky Arts (Channel 11)             
Limelight concludes the channel’s Chaplin season and, fittingly, it encompasses Britain’s music hall traditions. Charlie saves a young ballerina (Claire Bloom) from suicide; he mentors her and gives his own life a renewed sense of purpose. It proved to be the last Chaplin classic, and was the only time he worked with Buster Keaton. There is a repeat showing Sunday evening.
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPEN (2021) Sunday 9 June 10.00-11.40pm BBC 2    P             
Tonight sees the terrestrial premiere of one of our successes (89%) from the 2022/2023 season. Mark Rylance, you might remember, is the hopeless golfer who gatecrashes prestigious golf tournaments.
KING OTTO AND FOOTBALL’S GREEK GODS (2021) Thursday 13 June 9.00-10.30pm BBC 4    P             
Even if you are not a fan of the beautiful game it’s worth giving this fascinating documentary a try – as underdog stories go, The Phantom of the Open pales into insignificance. Back in 2004, the Greek national side had never won a tournament game – but stunned everyone by winning the European Championships. The key figure in all of this was their coach, one Otto Rehhagel, who had left a successful career in Germany to take up the challenge. This year’s tournament starts tomorrow with Germany v Scotland, so the timing could not be better.