Radioactive (2019), the story of Pierre and Marie Curie, was shown again last Saturday immediately before episodes 3 & 4 of the 1980 7-parter Oppenheimer. Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon starred in an early biopic Madame Curie 80 years ago and Christopher Nolan’s epic Oppenheimer has just been to the Radway, so it seems reasonable to assume that radioactivity has remained a ‘hot topic’ during the years in between. Often, though, the films contributed little to the scientific debate: Mickey Rooney’s The Atomic Kid (1954) purported to be a comedy, The Atomic Man (1955) was able to step into the future and, whilst X the Unknown (1956) was a rather good Hammer horror, it didn’t do a lot for Scottish tourism. However, On the Beach (1959) did film Nevil Shute’s novel of nuclear Armageddon very respectfully. Perhaps the most intriguing drama, that predated all of the above, was The Invisible Ray (1936). Made only two years after Marie Curie’s death, Boris Karloff is contaminated by a radioactive meteor and can then kill by touch. In real life, it was later revealed that The Conqueror (1956) was filmed on locations in Nevada that were close to nuclear test sites. Subsequently, several members of the cast and crew succumbed to cancer or related illnesses. 
BENEDETTA (2021) Sunday 27 August 11.15pm-1.55am Film Four    P         
The difficulty with director Paul Verhoeven has always been that you are never sure if you are getting a Black Book (given 85% by members in 2008) or Showgirls. This film manages to be both – it is a serious study of the nature of faith in 17th-century Tuscany, but with a fair amount of sex as a novice nun becomes enamoured of one of her fellow trainees. Fair to say, it might not end well . . .
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM (1955) Monday 28 August 8.45-11.15pm TP (Channel 82)        
Otto Preminger directed two films in the 1950s that pushed against censorship boundaries: The Moon is Blue (1953) and tonight’s rare Freeview showing. Frank Sinatra is the drug addict (he was Oscar-nominated), Eleanor Parker and Kim Novak are also excellent and Elmer Bernstein contributes a splendid jazz score. 
iHUMAN (2019) Tuesday 29 August 10.00-11.35pm BBC 4    P            
Good or evil? 2023 has seen serious debate over AI and urgent requests for scientific conferences to discuss where it might be taking us. So, this timely documentary from the Storyville team is most welcome! 
CLASSIC MOVIES: THE STORY OF THE THIRD MAN Thursday 31 August 8.00-9.00pm Sky Arts (Ch 11)
This isn’t a movie, but the first in a 6-part series of documentaries fronted by film critic Ian Nathan and colleagues including the great Derek Malcolm, who passed away recently. It should be enjoyable and quite illuminating; the film itself is still available on BBC iPlayer.  
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Earlier this week, I was saddened to read about the death of film composer Carl Davis. I first became acquainted with his music when watching The World at War as a teenager; a little later it was his work for the equally superb series Hollywood. Next, he and Kevin Brownlow collaborated on restoring films for Thames silents and did so much to bring early cinema back to appreciative audiences the world over, their masterpiece being Abel Gance’s Napoleon (1927).  He won a Bafta for his score for The French Lieutenant’s Woman. 

Science-fiction has become a mainstay of television (well, streaming) with the likes of Doctor Who and the various incarnations of Star Trek and now Star Wars (five series and counting). In the cinema, high concept/high budget sci-fi films only really started with 2001: a Space Odyssey (1968) and then carried on with the likes of Tarkovsky’s Solaris (1972) and Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Of course, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) had been an enormous undertaking but for the next 40 years it was mostly serials (Flash Gordon) and low to mid-budget fare. This produced several minor classics in the 1950s including 1951’s The Day the Earth Stood Still (to be given another run out by TP Saturday teatime), War of the Worlds (1953) and The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957). However, the film that came closest to high concept (and art) during this period was MGM’s Forbidden Planet (1956). Britain’s contributions were not great at this time except for the two Quatermass films and The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961). The British classics were closer to home (see below). 
THE POWER OF THE DOG (2021) Sunday 20 August 10.00-12 midnight BBC 2    P         
If proof were needed that Jane Campion is one of the most imaginative directors working today, this would prove it. Ranch owner George marries for love; even though it was a short courtship, there is still time for his brother (Benedict Cumberbatch) to undermine and derail their happiness. Set in Montana in 1925, this is the best ‘modern’ western drama since Brokeback Mountain. 
ROOM AT THE TOP (1959) Wednesday 23 August 9.05-11.25pm TP (Channel 82)        
Shock! Horror! 1950’s Britain, as depicted in this season’s opening film Living was, by the end of the decade, on a collision course with adult relationships that included sex. Laurence Harvey is superb as the accountant (and antihero) Joe Lampton, but the Oscar-winning Simone Signoret is even better. The 1965 sequel Life at the Top isn’t a patch on this classic, but the 1971-3 TV series Man at the Top was pretty good. Certainly, it was popular enough for Kenneth Haigh to take the character back onto cinema screens. 
SHADOWLANDS (1993) Thursday 24 August 9.00-11.05pm BBC 4             
Richard Attenborough would have been 100 on 29 August. Here he directs Anthony Hopkins as CS Lewis and tonight’s showing is bookended by two episodes of Arena which give a very good overview of his career to that point (2003). He was a true British great – as an actor, director, and humanitarian, and for his work in education and sport. Anthony Hopkins’ latest film will be one of the gala presentations at this year’s LFF.  

Coincidences never cease to fascinate me. After mentioning, last week, Mr Spielberg’s concerns about studios chasing the brass ring comes the revelation that Barbie has already passed the $1billion mark. Congratulations to WB are in order, I guess, and they needn’t be too concerned that the film is likely to be banned in Kuwait and Lebanon. And we can look forward to Barbie 2 in another year or so. One line of dialogue in The Lone Ranger (1956) stood out for the first time. Lyle Bettger, after giving his young daughter a riding lesson, says to his men “you raise them like boys, they’ll be boys”. Quite what 1950s America made of it isn’t on the record, but it is probably the same as in 2023. Some good news to finish - I Claudius, often cited as one of the best series of the 1970s, begins a repeat run Wednesday evening. 
AMMONITE (2020) Sunday 13 August 10.00-11.50pm BBC 2    P         
Perhaps the film we have all been waiting for? Kate Winslet is Mary Anning, and you might have seen some of the location shooting in Lyme. I must confess to not being a huge fan of the film; primarily because the director, Francis Lee, imposes a modern slant on it which is difficult to accept. It is still essential viewing, though!
THE PIANO (1993) Monday 14 August 11.15pm-1.10am BBC 2         
I was about to begin by referring to The Piano as a modern classic; then I realised it is now 30 years since it came to the Regent! Its all-round brilliance (script, performances, Jane Campion’s direction and Michael Nyman’s score), still takes the breath away. I wonder, though, were the idea to be pitched in 2023 would it get the green light?  
THE DRIVER (1978) Tuesday 15 August 9.00-10.55pm Legend (Channel 41)             
Remember Ryan O’Neal? He had a good ten years of making interesting films after leaving Peyton Place. He is very good in this cool French chic-style thriller as a getaway driver trying to outwit his nemesis, police detective Bruce Dern. Walter Hill’s speciality has always been action (and western) dramas with eclectic casting and it pays off here. It was an unusual, well-regarded film even on initial release; when I saw it, the obscure support feature was Guns Across the Veldt. Now, that film re-emerging would be a huge surprise!