‘STAND BY FOR ACTION’ – the first prize I won ever was a Stingray Painting by Numbers kit and I haven’t won too many others in the sixty years since then! So, well done – again – to Talking Pictures as, following on from Fireball XL5 and Thunderbirds, they bring back Captain Troy Tempest and his doughty crew (plus Oink, of course) from the Gerry Anderson back catalogue. It was the Andersons’ first series in colour and it is a good example of how mogul Lew Grade was not afraid to give strong financial backing to a project – the allotted budget was in the region of £800,000. Two more enormously popular series from the 1960s also make their debuts on TP this week: The Beverly Hillbillies and Bonanza. The former went to no. 1 in the US in just three weeks which might still be some kind of record for a series.
TRUE THINGS (2021) Sunday 3 March 10.45pm-12.20am BBC 2 P BBC 2 premieres a recent UK drama that focuses on a toxic and uncomfortable relationship between Ruth Wilson’s benefits officer and an ex-con who is manipulative. BULLET FOR A BADMAN (1964) Monday 4 March 2.15-4.00pm 5 Action This is the last decent western made by war hero Audie Murphy towards the end of his career. It is still relatively standard fare but Darren McGavin is a particularly good foil. He was a good actor and always a welcome sight in TV movies and series – particularly the cult classic Kolchak the Night Stalker. OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN (2022) Tuesday 5 March 11.10pm-1.15am Film Four P It is a shame that this sensitive, beautifully-acted French drama is on so late. Rachel is a 40-year-old teacher in a stable relationship – but it is newly established, and her partner has a daughter. If things do go wrong, Rachel fears that she will not cope with the break-up of her new family. COLD COMFORT FARM (1995) Wednesday 6 March 10.15-11.55pm BBC 4 This is a very good adaptation of the popular novel with a fine cast that includes Eileen Atkins (currently in new release Wicked Little Letters) and Ian McKellen. Plus cast member Miriam Margolyes gives a new introduction at 10.pm. SMOKE SAUNA SISTERHOOD (2023) Thursday 7 March 11.15pm-1.05am Film Four P Come on Film Four – give these interesting, quality films an earlier transmission time! Should it have been on the questionnaire? Quite possibly, and it is certain to say more about the human condition than half-a-dozen Hollywood blockbusters. But, it is a documentary set in an Estonian sauna so it might not appeal to all members. THE CABINET OF CALIGARI (1962) Friday 8 March 9.05-11.20pm Talking Pictures (Ch 82) Anyone who knows anything about film will be aware that the 1921 Cabinet of Dr Caligari was a landmark of expressionist cinema. Despite being written by Robert (Psycho) Bloch, this version isn’t any such thing – but it is shown very seldom, and so it is one to add to the viewing list!
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This week, it is a warm welcome back to Scandinavian drama and a new 6-part drama on BBC 4: Prisoner starring Sofie Grabol as a prison warden. I am expecting it to be gripping, compulsive viewing with a fair measure of violence – I think we can guarantee it absolutely will not pull its punches. The BBC’s archive also comes up trumps again with a Tolstoy adaptation that I don’t think has been transmitted in over 60 years, although BFI Southbank does programme TV drama from this period, from time to time.
QUO VADIS, AIDA? (2020) Saturday 24 February 11.00pm-12.40am BBC 4 P No, not the 1951 epic with Robert Taylor and Deborah Kerr; rather, we have a Bafta-nominated drama new to Freeview. The year is 1995, the Bosnian War is ongoing, and UN translator Aida is torn between duty and family. The TV premiere of the 1951 Quo Vadis was my first entry when I started to keep viewing lists (Tuesday 2 September 1975). A lot of films have flowed under the bridge since that memorable evening . . . THE RESCUE (2021) Sunday 25 February 9.00-10.45pm BBC 2 P The Rescue is a tense, absorbing, quite brilliant documentary, even though everyone knows the outcome. Broadcasters all over the world followed the desperate attempt to save, in 2018, the Thai youth football team trapped in caves as heavy rain fell. You might also remember the unsavoury comments on Twitter that followed it. TIME LOCK (1957) Wednesday 28 February 11.00am-12.35pm Film Four To start the day, we have a good little B-movie that generates a fair amount of tension. A small boy is locked accidentally in a bank vault, and then it is a race against time before his air runs out. Director Gerald Thomas and screenwriter/producer Peter Rogers were soon making the Carry On films; lead actor Robert Beatty the TV series Dial 999 (which still holds up due, in large measure, to its location filming in London); Sean Connery – here billed as welder number 1 – went on to James Bond and superstardom. ANNA KARENINA (1961) Wednesday 28 February 10.15pm-12.05am BBC 4 Wow! Not a film, really – but equivalent to a TV movie and as rare to view as gold teeth, so I have to include it. It was a BBC production that was based on an adaptation for the stage. Claire Bloom plays the title role (and does an introduction at 10pm), and Sean Connery and Frank Williams (Captain Pocket in The Army Game and, later, the vicar in Dad’s Army) are also in the cast. Norman Jewison passed away on the 20th January, aged 97. He was one of the newer breed of Hollywood directors (although he was born in Canada and his mother was English) who started out in television: first with the BBC, then in Canada, and finally with the CBS network in the US. He began his film career in light comedies with Tony Curtis and Doris Day, but after replacing Sam Peckinpah on The Cincinnati Kid (1965), he showed quickly – with the brilliant In the Heat of the Night (1967) – that he could direct films with more challenging themes. Later work included The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), Rollerball (1975) and Moonstruck (1987).
The Bafta Awards presentation is on BBC 1 Sunday evening. FULL TIME (2021) Saturday 17 February 9.00-10.25pm BBC 4 P It’s a warm welcome back to quality, if modest, subtitled drama on BBC 4. It is quite an incisive look at modern lifestyles, as single mum Julie works all hours in a Paris hotel, but still hopes to beat a train strike to get to an important job interview. MOONFALL (2022) Saturday 17 February 9.20-11.55pm Channel 4 P Alternatively, you might want to watch something completely bonkers! Halle Berry leads a team of astronauts on a desperate mission to stop the Moon colliding with planet Earth. Yes, really! JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (1973) Sunday 18 February 12 noon-1.40pm BBC 2 And FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (1971) 1.40-4.35pm BBC 2 presents a double bill of iconic musicals, both directed by Norman Jewison. And there will still be time to make a quick dash and join us for Tori and Lokita! BENEDICTION (2021) Sunday 18 February 11.00pm-1.10am BBC 2 P Terence Davies died in October 2023 and, whilst his films tended to disappoint members, his voice was a distinctive one and will be missed. His last film should appeal more to us, as the subject is the poet Siegfried Sassoon. THE KID DETECTIVE (2020) Thursday 22 February 9.00-11.00pm Film Four P This is a brave effort to do something different with a gumshoe drama. Adam Brody made a great child detective before his skills deserted him – now in his 30s, can he make a comeback? The student who asks for help is played by Sophie Nélisse who first came to our attention in The Book Thief. VISITING HOURS (1982) Friday 23 February 9.05-11.20pm TP (Channel 82) Why include a slasher movie that has only 2-stars in the Radio Times and a BOMB rating in Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide? Nostalgia, I suppose. I saw it on release – in Louth’s Playhouse cinema on a double bill with Escape from New York, as best I recall. It has a good actress, Lee Grant, as the reporter and Michael Ironside as the stalker plus one William Shatner. And we can always start a small cottage industry discussing films that we might prefer to Aftersun . . . |
By David JohnsonChairman of Lyme Regis Film Society Archives
March 2024
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Updated 27.3.2024
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