3 - 9 SEPTEMBER 2022

​I am recommending three from Talking Pictures this week – and the good news is that, from 1 September, its catch-up service can be accessed, via your red button, on Freeview, rather than having to switch on the computer. The bad news is that you might need a relatively new model – it hasn’t worked on my ‘oldie’ so far! 
THE MYSTERIOUS MR SHEFFIELD (1935) Wednesday 7 September 4.50-6.05pm TP (Ch 82)    P 
Selected here for its rarity value – apparently, it hasn’t been on any UK network before. Don’t expect too much, though – this is bargain basement, even for a B-western. Its American title was Law of the 45’s; it stars Guinn ‘Big Boy’ Williams and the plot tries hard to be inventive within its 57 minutes.
MANIAC (1962) Friday 9 September 9.05-10.55pm TP (Ch 82)             
TP’s Cellar Club double bills, introduced by Caroline Munro, has been the best curated season of films since Alex Cox’s Moviedrome on BBC 2 – and that was some years ago now. Maniac was one of Hammer’s brief flirtations with psychological thrillers. Less well-known than most of the studio’s output, it is worth a look and, back then, was deemed scary enough for the publicity to declare: “Warning! No woman will be admitted unless accompanied!” Ouch . . . .
THE FACE BEHIND THE MASK (1941) Friday 9 September 10.55pm-12.15am TP (Ch 82)             
I haven’t seen this, probably, for 50 years – and I still remember the impression director Robert Florey and star Peter Lorre left on me. It is a classic B-thriller, made with skill and imagination, in which a disfigured immigrant turns to a life of crime.