14 - 20 JAN 2023

I have long held the opinion that Ken Burns is the best documentary filmmaker working. BBC 4 is showing his latest, The US and the Holocaust, in three parts on Monday evenings. (Part 2 is 16 January). The combination of photographs, archive footage and revelations is totally absorbing. I had forgotten that Henry Ford was rabidly anti-Semitic, but Part 1 brought it home with a vengeance.
A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA (1965) Saturday 14 January 4.55-7.00pm TP (Ch 82)                
Alexander Mackendrick didn’t make many films, but he was a brilliant director. No surprise, then, that he helmed this unusual, and literate, pirate picture in which Anthony Quinn and James Coburn are saddled with a group of children. 
THE LAST ANGRY MAN (1959) Sunday 15 January 2.55-5.00pm TP (Channel 82)      
During the 1930s, Paul Muni was the Robert De Niro of his day and gave some superb performances – the WB classic I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) is a particular favourite of mine. This was his final film and he plays an elderly doctor whose life story has been optioned for television.
BOMBSHELL (2019) Thursday 19 January 9.00-11.15pm Film Four   P
Bombshell is a very good drama with a satirical edge that deals with the sexual harassment relating to Fox News honcho Roger Ailes. Margot Robbie, Charlize Theron and Nicole Kidman head an excellent cast. 
DREAMLAND (2019) Friday 20 January 9.00-11.05pm Film Four   P
We recommend a second Margot Robbie premiere in 24 hours – and why not? This time, in the best traditions of a role-reversal Bonnie and Clyde, she leads an impressionable young man into a life of crime. However, please do not assume that the slant given to the story is entirely a new idea. Dorothy Provine starred in The Bonnie Parker Story in 1958 – and Clyde was nowhere to be seen!