​ 29 JULY – 4 AUGUST 2023

Just as the nation descends from the high levels of excitement generated by the latest Tom Cruise stunts in the Mission Impossible franchise Mark Branston, writing in the Radio Times, reminds us that Michael Crawford was doing them in the 1970s. (Repeats of Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em start on Tuesday, BBC 4.) However, it is still safe to assume that, since the advent of green screen work and computer effects, stuntmen – and women – are not employed to the same degree.  So, I’ll give thanks here to the likes of David Sharpe, Vic Armstrong, Polly Burson and the legendary Yakima Canutt. 
GREED (2019) Saturday 29 July 10.30pm-12.35am Channel 4    P         
Alas, not the von Stroheim classic from 1925 (unsurprisingly, the original 10 hour version never made it into cinemas), but a satirical comedy about a retail millionaire. Wonder who that was based on? Steve Coogan stars. 
THE TRIALS OF OPPENHEIMER (2009) Tuesday 1 August 10.30pm-midnight BBC 4         
If you are planning to catch the new Christopher Nolan film Oppenheimer, this Storyville documentary offers a very interesting comparison. He was clearly a multi-faceted man, talented but flawed. He was also tarred with the same ‘commie lover’ brush as Dalton Trumbo and his reputation never really recovered. Now, of course, it helps your candidature for president – what a strange world we live in!
MAN WITHOUT A STAR (1955) Wednesday 2 August 12.25-2.15pm 5 Action (Channel 33)             
An unusual western for the mid-1950s in that the characters have quite complex neuroses, and the sexual tensions generated by the arrival of Kirk Douglas are there to see rather than the audience relying on guesswork. The cinematography is good (and so, as always, is Richard Boone) and the range war story is well defined. Author Brian Garfield, in his book Western Films, called it “charming, lifelike and adult” although he was writing 40 years ago. Even so, I have never really got on with it (whilst thinking that it is more interesting than The Indian Fighter and Gunfight at the OK Corral which Douglas made either side of it). So, I doubt it would be in my Top 200 Westerns should I ever get around to compiling a list! Feel free to disagree and discuss in September . . .
REFRAMED: MARILYN MONROE (2022) Friday 28 July 9.00-10.30pm BBC 2             
The documentary series concludes with parts 3 & 4, this evening.