30 MARCH – 5 APRIL 2024

HAPPY EASTER everyone! In film terms this means, of course, that the usual suspects are in the weekend line-up: Ben-Hur (1959), Easter Parade (1948) and The Wizard of Oz (1939), on Sunday; then The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), on Monday.
ON THE WATERFRONT (1954) Saturday 30 March 2.30-4.15pm BBC 2             
Waterfront isn’t just one of the best films of the 1950s; it’s one of the best ever. A scintillating drama set in New York’s docklands it won 8 Oscars including Best Picture and one for Marlon Brando – who would have been 100-years-old this week. Ye gods!
WATERLOO (1970) Tuesday 2 April 4.30-7.10pm Great Action (Channel 42)             
Consider this essential viewing if you haven’t seen it but went to see Napoleon last year. Some of the reviews for Waterloo were mixed but it remains a very good, old-style epic (no CGI, thousands of extras). And Rod Steiger (as Napoleon) and Christopher Plummer are both excellent.
THE SECRET ARMY (2024) Tuesday 2 April 10.00-11.30pm BBC 4    P             
It might seem eccentric to recommend a documentary that examines another documentary made 50 years ago, but bear with me! The original The Secret Army was filmed by an American team that went to Northern Ireland and was given exclusive access to key IRA personnel. Unsurprisingly, political pressure was then applied and it wasn’t transmitted . . .
IN HARM’S WAY (1965) Friday 5 April 10.45am-2.05pm 5 Action (Channel 33)             
For me, this is one of the most underrated films in the John Wayne canon. He teamed rarely with a director like Otto Preminger (in this instance, just once), and they both worked really hard – with minimum fuss (or clashes) on set – to make it work. There is a powerful cast, too, that includes Kirk Douglas, Patricia Neal and Dana Andrews. Set in Pearl Harbor in 1941/42, the story unfolds like a combination of the novels From Here to Eternity and The Winds of War. Only some poor model work detracts from the overall effect.