Another week of films to look forward to; incredibly, it is now six months since we began the weekly listings. Other organisations, including Sight & Sound magazine, have done similar things, but I think ours are a little more detailed (and eccentric). As we continue to endure restrictions on our lifestyles, we’ll try and keep going for, at least, the foreseeable future!

ONE OF OUR AIRCRAFT IS MISSING (1942) Saturday 3 October 3.25-5.30pm TP (Ch 81)
A good example of a wartime drama that has a documentary feel to it (there isn’t a score) as, with the help of Googie Withers and others, Godfrey Tearle tries to get his crew back to Blighty. 
THE DAY OF THE LOCUST (1975) Saturday 3 October 9.05-11.55pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
This is not the John Schlesinger film that springs most readily to mind, but it is only a notch below his very best work. It is an excellent exposé of Hollywood’s 1930s underbelly – so, best not to expect any Fred Astaire joie de vivre! 
A HARD DAY’S NIGHT (1964) Sunday 4 October 12.20-1.45am BBC 2 (also Thursday, 7.30pm BBC 4)
Richard Lester’s imaginative direction ensured that The Beatles’ transfer to the big screen would be successful. John Lennon would have been 80 on the 9 October and his early death still resonates.
THE SEARCHERS (1956) Sunday 4 October 4.05-6.00pm BBC 2
Also Thursday evening, BBC 4 (see later notes) and preceded today by a Talking Pictures special.
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (2017) Sunday 4 October 8.00-10.15pm Channel 4
This Freeview première, directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot, should be a very pleasant way to spend the evening. The all-star suspects include Johnny Depp and Judi Dench. 
THE GHOSTS OF BERKELEY SQUARE (1947) Monday 5 October 4.20-6.00pm Talking Pictures (Ch 81)
If you are feeling properly nostalgic today, this droll comedy had a three-day run at the Regent from Monday 20 September 1948. Two ghosts (Robert Morley and Felix Aylmer) are doomed to haunt a house until it is visited by royalty. 
HANNA (2011) Monday 5 October 9.00-11.15pm Channel 32
This helped to establish both director Joe Wright and star Saoirse Ronan, who plays a teenage assassin on a revenge mission. The settings are well-realised and the quota of thrills is high. 
SALLY SALLIES FORTH (1928) Tuesday 6 October 6.00-6.35am Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
TP is showing a very rare comedy short – the UK’s first “all-woman” film production – in which young Sally becomes a maid for the day. 
THE NOVEMBER MAN (2014) Tuesday 6 October 9.00-11.15pm Channel 32
Sorry, we need to clutch at straws a little this evening: to wit, a reasonable spy thriller with Pierce Brosnan revisiting his Bond-style heyday. It’s slick and enjoyable enough, but don’t dally over the plot contrivances!
DEAD RECKONING (1947) Wednesday 7 October 8.05-10.05am Channel 40
Bogie plays an ex-paratrooper who hopes to track down his buddy’s killers, helped by Lisabeth Scott. John Cromwell was one of his trusted directors and the end product is an above-average thriller. 
THIS HAPPY BREED (1944) Wednesday 7 October 12.50-3.05pm Film Four
David Lean, working in colour for the first time, adapts Noel Coward’s play quite superbly. We follow the ups and downs of a family in the interwar years, 1919-1939. 
THE NAKED TRUTH (1957) Thursday 8 October 12.55-2.45pm Film Four
Dennis Price is the editor of a dubious magazine who blackmails celebrities; the worms, led by Peter Sellers, Peggy Mount and Terry-Thomas, decide to turn. The result is a very funny, topical comedy.
THE SEARCHERS (1956) Thursday 8 October 8.00-9.55pm BBC 4 
Welcome back to the BBC, no. 1 western! It’s Hollywood, the mid-1950s, and we have a film from a major studio where the protagonist is a racist consumed by hate, an ex-Confederate of dubious morals and an outlaw. He disrespects kith and kin, coverts his brother’s wife, is unchristian, kills the buffalo because they are a source of food, shoots the eyes out of a dead Comanche so that he cannot travel to the spirit world and is on a mission to kill his niece. And John Wayne makes Ethan Edwards a sympathetic character; it’s a truly iconic performance and remains an influential film.
THE WILD ONE (1953) Friday 9 October 7.40-9.15am Channel 40
Banned in Britain for many years, this original biker movie seems rather quaint now. It features an iconic performance (and, later, poster) from Marlon Brando as the gang’s leader and good support from Mary Murphy and Lee Marvin (even though he, like Brando, was too old).
HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940) Friday 9 October 12.10-2.00pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
This remake of The Front Page (1931) is still the fastest comedy ever made. Buried amongst the scintillating dialogue are Cary Grant as the editor and Rosalind Russell as his star reporter. Genius!
CARRIE (1976) Friday 9 October 11.10pm-1.20am Film Four
Brilliant horror film starring Sissy Spacek as the teenager bullied in school and at home (by a splendid Piper Laurie), who unleashes her telekinetic powers on her tormentors. The Untouchables isn’t Brian De Palma’s best film, this is. In one of the quieter domestic scenes, the film showing on television is Duel at Diablo. 
 
RANDOM WORDS AND RANDOM MEMORIES
I was watching the opening credits to North by Northwest and spotted the name Robert Boyle; he was the production designer on the film. When declaring that a film is a classic, we look to praise first the director, then the editor, writer, cinematographer and even the composer. However, there are those who maintain, with justification, that the most underrated of cinema artists is the production designer/art director. He, or she, is responsible for the film’s visual quality and, therefore, whether it is atmospheric and the scenes believable. It is a complex and demanding job that requires an ability to select suitable natural locations or build them in the studio – with a good team, of course. (In North by Northwest, this included a replica of Mount Rushmore.) The designer also needs to know architectural styles, graphics, costumes, lighting and camera angles and be able to visualise the bigger picture and meld everything together. Check out, for example, the award-winning work of Allan Starski and Ewa Braun on Schindler’s List (1993).
The doyen of art directors would be Cedric Gibbons who has a screen credit on some 1,500 MGM films and earned 11 Oscars and 37 nominations in the process - and designed the statuette itself. (Although it was William Cameron Menzies who worked on GWTW.) At Warner Bros, Anton Grot designed the amazing temple set for Noah’s Ark (1928) and worked on The Sea Hawk (1940), receiving a special technical award for inventing a wave illusion machine. In this country, Vincent Korda did some equally impressive work, especially on The Thief of Bagdad (1940).
Returning to Robert Boyle (1909-2010), whilst his CV might not be quite as impressive, his work was diverse and very good, even on more modest productions such as It Came From Outer Space (1953) and Buchanan Rides Alone (1958). He worked several times for Hitchcock (including on The Birds) and on Fiddler on the Roof (1971). I adore his work on The Shootist (1976) – his use of the Carson City locations and the 1901 period detail in the boarding house, Doc Hostetler’s surgery and the Metropole saloon, are exemplary.

In a sign that the film world might be returning to some kind of normal, the Venice Film Festival was held recently. Cate Blanchett headed the jury, there was a special award for Tilda Swinton and the Frances McDormand film Nomadland won the Golden Lion. We’ll definitely be tracking that one! Closer to home, I’m delighted to say that the BBC showings of Casablanca and Doctor Zhivago were not isolated one-offs. I’d missed the fact that there is a Thursday Film Club season with a second – first?! – showing on a Sunday. This takes me back to my very happy, formative viewing years with the BBC’s High Adventure, Saturday Western, Wayne in Action and Midnight Movie seasons. I think the films to come are all going to be 5-star classics and will be commented on here!

THE DESERT RATS (1953) Saturday 26 September 7.10-9.00pm Channel 40
Sequels were virtually unheard of 75 years ago; Richard Burton and Robert Newton filmed this follow-up to The Desert Fox(1951) on a three-week schedule (including drinking sessions). James Mason cameos as Rommel and it’s all done very efficiently. 
McQUEEN (2017) Saturday 26 September 9.45-11.30pm BBC 2
This is a Freeview première for the documentary on iconic fashion designer Alexander McQueen, who committed suicide in 2010 aged forty. 
THE LAST WAGON (1956) Sunday 27 September 2.15-4.20pm Channel 31
Wagon doesn’t immediately spring to mind for ‘best of’ lists, but it’s really good. It is accomplished technically, looks great and Richard Widmark is splendid as Comanche Todd who helps – reluctantly – a small group of settlers, the survivors of an attack by hostiles.
NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959) Sunday 27 September 4.50-7.00pm BBC 2
Also showing Thursday evening, BBC 4 (see later notes)
SNOWPIERCER (2013) Sunday 27 September 9.00-11.35pm Film Four
Following the success of Parasite Bong Joon-ho’s dystopian sci-fi thriller, set aboard a train that is home to a second ice age’s few survivors, has (rightly) attracted enhanced interest (and a TV series).
THE GIRL IN THE TAXI (1937) Monday 28 September 9.25-10.45am Talking Pictures (Ch 81)
Welcome to the first of two Freeview debuts today, both British, but poles apart. This is a light, musical farce, featuring the aristocracy, suitors and ‘correct’ marriages. 
DARK RIVER (2017) Monday 28 September 11.15pm-11.05am Film Four
This was promising director Clio Barnard’s third feature. Ruth Wilson returns home to help her brother save the family farm. It is strong on character and settings, but don’t expect James Herriot!
CASH ON DEMAND (1961) Tuesday 29 September 11.20am-1.00pm Channel 40
This is a relatively unknown, but much respected, British co-feature. Peter Cushing is the bank manager whose life is about to change dramatically and works very well (again) with André Morell. Hopefully, the bank holds more than the cost of the film - £37,000.
BRITISH INTELLIGENCE (1940) Tuesday 29 September 4.45-6.00pm Talking Pictures (Ch 81)
Ha! We have a Warner Bros B-feature that uses a First World War background to warn against spies and dodgy butlers (the inimitable Boris Karloff). Only last week, this was my ‘bought years ago, still shrink wrapped’ lockdown DVD. It runs just over the hour, so perfect for tea and cake!
HOW TO MURDER YOUR WIFE (1965) Wednesday 30 September 12.50-3.10pm Film Four
Fear not ladies, this is a Jack Lemmon/Terry-Thomas comedy, typically 1960s (frothy, frenetic wives/ husbands/ girlfriends, often Tony Curtis or Rock Hudson). A bachelor wakes up married . . .
JESSE JAMES (1939) Thursday 30 September 1.50-4.00pm Channel 31
Tyrone Power is the famous outlaw and Henry Fonda his brother Frank; there is a fine score, glorious Technicolor and the quieter moments and action scenes mesh well. The main criticism levelled is that he is romanticised (true), but there were also genuine attempts at authenticity with location shooting near Pineville, Missouri – and research supplied by his granddaughter. 
NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959) Thursday 1 October 8.00-10.00pm BBC 4 
Top-drawer, quintessential Hitchcock has Cary Grant the subject of mistaken identity, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason, the legendary crop-dusting scene and a climax on Mount Rushmore. 
THE ASSASSINATION BUREAU (1969) Thursday 1 October 10.00pm-12.15am TP (Channel 81)
Bureau is an Edwardian-period black comedy with an eclectic cast (Oliver Reed, the late Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas and Philippe Noiret). It is great fun for both cast and audience!
I REMEMBER MAMA (1948) Friday 2 October 11.20-2.00pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
Mama is a lovingly made, exquisitely detailed (i.e. typically George Stevens) drama about a Norwegian immigrant family in San Francisco. It gave Irene Dunne a late-career hit although Cedric Hardwicke steals the acting honours. The later I Dismember Mama (1972) was quite different!
FLIGHT NURSE (1953) Friday 2 October 2.30-4.20pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
Wow, this is a rarity! Set during the Korean War, Joan Leslie performs gamely as the nurse who helps to evacuate wounded troops. Allan Dwan had been directing since 1911 (some 400 films) and knew every trick in the book; indeed, he’d invented quite a few himself. Even he can’t make it a silk purse, but it was only ever intended as a second feature and money was very tight, by then, at Republic.  
 
RANDOM WORDS AND RANDOM MEMORIES
RANDOM FILMS
A slight departure this week: inspired by the Thursday Film Club, I’ll take a brief look back at some entries in earlier BBC film seasons.
HIGH ADVENTURE
MAN OF CONQUEST (1939) Saturday 10 June 1967, 7.00pm BBC 1
Richard Dix stars as Sam Houston, the founder of Texas. It was the first time Republic Studios tried to compete with the majors and earned them three Oscar nominations. I was too young to see it then (1967, that is!) and, 50 years on, it is one of the few ‘must see’ sound westerns that I haven’t caught up with – yet!
DANGEROUS EXILE (1957) Tuesday 21 December 1971, 7.30pm BBC 1
Were it to be televised now, we could at least enjoy the colour! Apparently, it is quite a rousing swashbuckler, with a good score, in which Louis Jourdan helps rescue a young Louis XVII and takes him to Wales by balloon. Well, I’ll be looking out for it! It was directed by Brian Desmond Hurst (he had a fascinating life and career) and some of it was filmed on Cornish locations.
MIDNIGHT MOVIE
X THE UNKNOWN (1956) Saturday 15 July 1972, 11.50pm BBC 2
I remember my parents letting me stay up for this and it was scary! A misty, remote part of Scotland and a monstrous sludge is snacking on the supporting cast. (Leo McKern and Peter Hammond, then working on ITC adventure series such as The Adventures of Robin Hood were in there somewhere.) Dean Jagger popped over from the States to destroy it and Barry Norman’s father, Leslie, directed. On initial release, it was half of a double-‘X’ bill with a French film called The Fiends (the French classic Les Diaboliques!),  but now – good grief – it is a PG! I still think it was scary . . .
THE SATURDAY WESTERN
THE LAW AND JAKE WADE (1958) Saturday 1 May 1976, 3pm BBC 2
Robert Taylor’s long tenure as a star at MGM was coming to an end, when he teamed up with Richard Widmark for this western. They make a good pairing, John Sturges (The Magnificent Seven) directs (he uses CinemaScope particularly well) and the supporting cast is a strong one. The leading actress is Patricia Owens; only eight years before, she had been a schoolgirl in The Happiest Days of Your Life, but by the mid-1950s had been given a shot at Hollywood stardom. 
WAYNE IN ACTION
STAGECOACH (1939) Friday 15 January 1971, 10.15pm BBC 1
Another late night watch – these were happy days! Even back then, I knew it was a cut above the rest and, today, I still think so. In terms of rhythm, dialogue, ensemble performances and settings (sets with ceilings were quite the innovation), it is well-nigh perfect. (Orson Welles watched it 40 times in preparation for Citizen Kane.) So, it remains at no. 5 in my all-time list. We showed it at the Regent in our inaugural season (March 1989 marked 50 years since it was released) and it scored 89%. I watched it with some anxiety on the big screen – would the entrance of the Ringo Kid be as defining a moment in cinema history as Dilys Powell (if memory serves) said it was? Yes. And John Ford’s audacity in topping the legendary chase sequence, the likely climax to the film, with a shoot-out in Lordsburg, was a masterstroke.

After recommending the film Goldstone recently, I’m delighted to see that series 2 of the TV series Mystery Road, starring Aaron Pedersen as Aboriginal detective Jay Swan, starts on Saturday (BBC 4) – with the bonus of Sofia Helin (The Bridge) as an archaeologist. A reminder, too, that Sky Arts has now transferred to Freeview (Channel 11). Elsewhere, there are several classics showing this week – a true sign that autumn is on the way.

RIVER OF NO RETURN (1954) Saturday 19 September 4.45-6.40pm Channel 31
Neither director Otto Preminger nor Marilyn Monroe made many westerns; this one passes a very pleasant 90 minutes. Robert Mitchum and Rory Calhoun are very good and the scenery is superb.
I, TONYA (2017) Saturday 19 September 9.30-11.25pm BBC 2
For us, no more than a possible on the questionnaire, so this Freeview première is a good opportunity to catch it. Margot Robbie does very well as skater Tonya Harding, but it was Allison Janney, playing her mother, who vacuumed up the awards. 
JIMMY: ALL BY MY SIDE (2013) Saturday 19 September 11.25pm-1.15am BBC 2 
This is a well-told biopic showing how, in 1966, Jimi Hendrix left New York for London, as he set out on the road to becoming (for many) the world’s greatest guitarist. Only downside: there are few standards on the soundtrack for copyright reasons. (As with Martin Luther King’s speeches in Selma). 
ICE COLD IN ALEX (1958) Sunday 20 September 12.10-2.50pm Channel 40
Alex needs little introduction (especially if you are a lager drinker): John Mills, Sylvia Syms et al try and get to the safety of Alexandria in a battered old ambulance. Director J. Lee Thompson made some really good films 1957-62; after that a decline set in and highlights were very few.  
THE GUNFIGHTER (1950) Sunday 20 September 2.15-4.10pm Channel 31
Gregory Peck, as Jimmy Ringo, is superb in the title role. He moves from one austere town to another (as did William S. Hart), hoping to see his son before his past and his destiny become one. 
MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (1946) Sunday 20 September 4.10pm-6.15pm Channel 31
What a double bill! Henry Fonda is Wyatt Earp, Victor Mature Doc Holliday and Walter Brennan Old Man Clanton. Ford admirer Lindsay Anderson, himself a director, thought that this classic depiction of wilderness v civilisation was the maestro’s best western. 
DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965) Sunday 20 September 3.00-6.05pm BBC 2
Also showing Thursday evening, BBC 4 (see later notes)
THE MAGIC BOX (1951) Monday 21 September 3.50-6.00pm Talking Pictures (Ch 81)
Although it lacks historical accuracy this Festival of Britain production, with many all-star cameos, is a delight for film lovers. Robert Donat plays William Friese-Greene, the ‘inventor’ of cinema.
THE DEAD ZONE (1983) Monday 21 September 9.00-11.00pm Channel 70
It’s a shame that this Stephen King thriller about a teacher, who, after awakening from a coma, discovers he can foretell events, isn’t as appreciated as Carrie or The Shawshank Redemption.
THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME (1932) Tuesday 22 September 1.30-2.55am TP (Channel 81)
From new-style horror to old – a big game hunter (Joel McCrea) himself becomes the hunted; co-star Fay Wray was soon working on King Kong. Several versions later, this remains the best.
THE LOST CONTINENT (1968) Tuesday 22 September 10.00-11.40pm TP (Channel 81)
It’s a quiet day, so we’ll take a peek at this off-the-wall Hammer with its sea monsters, carnivorous seaweed and, of course a left-over Spanish Inquisition! Then it was cert X, now it is cert 12.
GET LOW (2010) Wednesday 23 September 6.55-9.00pm Channel 32
Highly unusual fare: Robert Duvall is a 1930s Tennessee hermit who, after 40 years, comes to town to ask for a funeral before he dies. Sissy Spacek and Bill Murray also shine and it’s a first showing. 
STALAG 17 (1953) Thursday 24 September 1.40-4.00pm Film Four
The film that won William Holden (he’s a suspected stool pigeon) his Oscar, is an offbeat POW drama that blends expertly comedy, satire and a measure of tension, as only Billy Wilder can. 
DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965) Thursday 24 September 8.00-11.05pm BBC 4 
Incredible as it may seem, critics have never been unanimous in their praise of this sweeping epic. I have to say, though, that on the Regent’s screen, a few years ago, it was wonderful! 
FUNNY COW (2017) Thursday 24 September 11.15pm-1.20am Film Four
Not for all tastes (so it wasn’t a popular option with our members), but Maxine Peake gives a dominant performance as the northern lass looking to go into stand-up when it was ‘men only’.
MANDY (1952) Friday 25 September 12.10-2.00pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
Mandy, the story of a hearing-impaired child, her parents and her headmaster, was very popular and well received on release. It will still charm and satisfy a modern audience. 
NIGHT OF THE EAGLE (1962) Friday 25 September 10.00-11.45pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
A teacher’s wife uses witchcraft to further her husband’s career. Best known for his TV work (Jason King especially), Peter Wyngarde and the rest of the cast deliver a minor gem, genuinely chilling at times, that punches above its weight. 
 
RANDOM WORDS AND RANDOM MEMORIES
We all tend to associate an actor with a particular role and believe that no-one else could possibly have done it so well. However, it is quite likely that the film’s producers didn’t see it that way. More often than not, you’ll find that several other actors were considered for the role and might even have turned it down. As I wrote last week, Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan were due to star in Casablanca (George Raft and Hedy Lamarr were also considered); here are a few more . . .

1. Dirty Harry: Frank Sinatra had injured a hand, John Wayne turned it down and Clint Eastwood said yes (and created an iconic character).
2. Lawrence of Arabia: Marlon Brando and Albert Finney turned it down before Peter O’Toole was asked. 
3. The Wizard of Oz: It was offered to both Shirley Temple and Deanna Durbin, but their respective studios wouldn’t release them.
4. The Graduate: Doris Day was offered the role of Mrs Robinson, but considered it too risqué.
5. James Bond: In the frame were Albert Finney, Patrick McGoohan, Trevor Howard and Richard Johnson (who did go on to play an updated “Bulldog” Drummond) before Sean Connery was asked to read the books . . .  
6. The Man With No Name: Sergio Leone wanted Henry Fonda (much too big a star); James Coburn and Charles Bronson were too expensive; Clint Eastwood was offered the part.
7. GWTW: Whilst Rhett Butler was only ever really going to be played by Clark Gable (although Margaret Mitchell envisaged Basil Rathbone in the role), finding the right Scarlett O’Hara became an epic saga in itself. Nearly every actress in Hollywood was linked to the project; the leading contenders were Paulette Goddard, Miriam Hopkins, Ann Sheridan and Katharine Hepburn, before the fortuitous late arrival of Vivien Leigh.

So, there we go. Charles Chaplin was very keen to play Jesus in a film under consideration in the mid-1920s and had a long-standing ambition to play Napoleon. Both of those would have been quite something!  

My spot checks on last week’s TV transmissions confirmed what I outlined in Random Memories. For example, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Plenty and The Bridge on the River Kwai were all shown correctly in widescreen letterbox, but The Bridge at Remagen (apart from the opening and end credits) was not – and the five minute CinemaScope short Rollercoaster was shown with black bars to the top, bottom and sides, so the desired effect was lost somewhat! Never mind, we won’t let it interfere with this week’s selection . . .

THE RED SHOES (1948) Saturday 12 September 11.00am-1.10pm BBC 2
This story of a ballerina torn between two men, (part-fairy tale, part-tragedy, in sumptuous colour), has become, deservedly, a cinema legend. It is said to be Martin Scorsese’s favourite film.
TROUBLE IN STORE (1953) Saturday 12 September 6.00pm-7.45pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
I’ve never been a fan of Norman Wisdom (although his two-hander with Bruce Forsyth in a Sunday Night at the London Palladium show was brilliant), but maybe I’ll take another look at his first hit.
MEMENTO (2000) Saturday 12 September 9.45-11.35pm BBC 2
This stunning thriller, about a man with short-term memory loss determined to avenge his wife’s death, instantly made Christopher Nolan a director to watch. He still is.  
AFTER THE STORM (2016) Sunday 13 September 12.35-2.30am BBC 2
Another very good piece of work from Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda (Shoplifters); here a private detective finds it difficult to reconnect with his estranged family.
CASABLANCA (1942) Sunday 13 September 4.20-6.00pm BBC 2
A timeless classic that a lot of people would say is the best film that Hollywood ever produced. For sure, it is a perfect amalgam of happy accidents that wouldn’t have been the same with Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan. Avoid the Charles Bronson update Caboblanco (1980)!
THREE SISTERS (1970) Sunday 13 September 10.00pm-1.10am Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
Periodically, in the 1960s and 1970s, cameras would film a stage production for posterity. Here it is Olivier’s National Theatre production with Joan Plowright, Derek Jacobi and Alan Bates.
I WAS A FIREMAN (US title, 1943) Monday 14 September 12.25pm-2.00pm Talking Pictures (Ch 81)
There are two good documentaries showing today. This, contemporary to events, is a fine tribute to the Auxiliary Fire Service. It was directed by the great Humphrey Jennings. 
SPITFIRE (2018) Monday 14 September 9.00-10.30pm BBC 2
Looking back with the combined benefits of new and archive footage, and interviews, this documentary was good enough to be considered for bookings by southwest film societies.
BRASSED OFF (1996) Monday 14 September 11.30pm-1.40am Film Four
It’s over 20 years (1997-98 season, 92%) since we programmed this entertaining, moving story about a colliery brass band, but it is as delightful as ever.  
THE SPY IN BLACK (1939) Tuesday 15 September 11.00am-12.45pm Film Four
This first Powell and Pressburger collaboration stars Conrad Veidt as a German spy, active in Scotland, who is determined to help scupper the British fleet in the First World War.
BREAKER MORANT (1979) Tuesday 15 September 5.00-7.10pm Channel 40
In plot terms, Morant is a predecessor of The Paths of Glory (1957) – three soldiers are selected for a trumped-up court martial in the Boer War. It won several Australian film awards.
CAT BALLOU (1965) Wednesday 16 September 1.00-3.05pm Channel 40
The comedy western that won Lee Marvin his Oscar; Jane Fonda is good, too. I must confess that it isn’t a personal favourite – probably because it lacks both subtlety and respect for the genre. 
THE EVACUEES (1975) Wednesday 16 September 10.00-11.15pm BBC 4
Not a film as such, but a nice tribute to the late Alan Parker. Written by Jack Rosenthal, it’s about the evacuation of two Jewish boys to Blackpool. A Face to Face interview, with the director, follows.
THE BLACK ROSE (1950) Thursday 17 September 6.40-9.00pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
Tyrone Power made two historical epics (Prince of Foxes, 1949, was the other) almost back to back; here, he’s a Saxon adventurer in the Far East. Orson Welles was the villain in both and each had a good director, and cinematographer (Jack Cardiff, working in colour, in this case). Ultimately, the scripts let them down, and so they are considered to be average, but – go on – indulge yourself!
BAIT (2019) Thursday 17 September 11.20pm-1.05am Film Four
The British critical success of last year had a good response on our members’ questionnaire, but then Covid intervened. Do watch it and, when we all meet again, tell us what you think! New to Freeview.
POOL OF LONDON (1950) Friday 18 September 6.45-8.30pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
This is a very interesting, groundbreaking, drama from Ealing Studios. The late Earl Cameron is a black docker, with a white girlfriend, who becomes involved with smugglers. It might not be a classic, but deserves 10/10 for effort!
GALAXY QUEST (1999) Friday 18 September 9.00-11.10pm Channel 30
Possibly the most fun we ever had from our Christmas films! The cast of a sci-fi TV show become the unlikely saviours of an alien race. It is done sublimely – the acting is great, it’s funny and – the clever bit – it mocks gently everything from thespian posturing to nerdy fandom, whilst respecting both source material and genre conventions (cf. Support Your Local Sheriff! [1969]).
 
RANDOM WORDS AND RANDOM MEMORIES
Last week’s showing of The Smallest Show on Earth has had me thinking about films set in cinemas. There are several that involve arriving, leaving or a brief view of the interior. In Footlight Parade (1933) James Cagney watches, briefly, the B-western The Telegraph Trail; the gangster John Dillinger was famously shot dead after going to see Manhattan Melodrama (1934), an event depicted in Dillinger (1973); in The Seven Year Itch (1955), Marilyn Monroe famously sympathised with The Creature From the Black Lagoon. And on television, such plot devices have been used to lend authenticity to the week’s storyline: in ‘The Townie’ from season 1 of The Waltons, John-Boy goes to see Forbidden Heaven, a 1935 Charles Farrell film; there is a partial view of the star and title above the cinema entrance and a brief clip.
However, whilst some major films have had key moments, or scenes, in cinemas (one thinks of Brief Encounter, The Purple Rose of Cairo and, more recently Mr Holmes and The Shape of Water, for example), those where the cinema itself is effectively a character, are fewer in number. Skipping quickly over Movie House Massacre (1984), I would recommend Targets (1969). The climax makes brilliant use of a drive-in theatre, as an elderly Boris Karloff tackles the new horror that is a rampaging shooter. Sherlock Junior (1924), in which projectionist Buster Keaton dreams his way into the movie, is pure genius. Alfred Hitchcock (of course) reworked Joseph Conrad’s novel The Secret Agent, so that the terrorist operates a small London cinema (Sabotage, 1936). In the wonderful The Last Picture Show (1971), the cinema (still showing Red River) is the perfect metaphor for a small, declining town in Texas in the early 1950s. The best of them all, however, is surely Cinema Paradiso (1988) which twice has had a rapturous reception from our members.

 I am probably the only LRFS member who, in the summer of 1980, saw Mission Galactica – the Cylon Attack in the cinema. Well, it would appear that the BBC is continuing to buy in series in this troubled summer and so the recent TV series, the update of Battlestar Galactica, previously on Sky 1, makes its Freeview debut on BBC 2. I think I’ll give it a whirl! Our regular listings are below (and include two films that the cinematographer Jack Hildyard, a founding member of the BSC, worked on), but can I suggest that, this week, you read the random memories notes first . . . .

HAIL, CAESAR! (2016) Saturday 5 September 4.35-6.40pm Film Four
A typically clever, and entertaining, work from the Coen brothers has Josh Brolin as the studio fixer in 1950s Hollywood and George Clooney as the star of a historical epic.
Z FOR ZACHARIAH (2015) Saturday 5 September 11.00pm-12.30am BBC 1
 The source novel was a set text in local schools some years ago: Margot Robbie has survived the apocalypse in a remote valley, but the dynamics change when two strangers arrive . . . .
GINGER & ROSA (2012) Sunday 6 September 12.45-2.10am BBC 1
Writer/director Sally Potter always offers intriguing fare; set in the early 1960s, this is the story of two teenage friends growing to maturity under the threat of nuclear war.
THE MARCH HARE (1956) Sunday 6 September 11.15am-1.25pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
This is a rare, but inconsequential, light drama about horse racing; however, it has a top-notch use of colour and CinemaScope by Jack Hildyard (see next entry, and random notes). 
THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957) Sunday 6 September 9.00pm-12.20am TP (Ch 81)
This classic, another multi-award winner from Columbia Pictures, needs little introduction. I include it because Jack Hildyard won an Oscar for his work. This, too, should be showing in CinemaScope!
A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH (1946) Monday 7 September 2.30-4.15pm BBC 2
We showed this as a Christmas film a few years ago and it held up beautifully. It has lovely cinematography and performances from David Niven and Kim Hunter, and was the first Royal Film Performance.
JALLIKATTU (2019) Monday 7 September 11.35pm-1.25am Film Four
This is a Freeview première for an Indian drama in which an escaped buffalo triggers a bizarre set of events.
THE SHOOTING (1967) Tuesday 8 September 2.15-4.00pm Channel 31
This existential Western from cult director Monte Hellman isn’t, as some critics have declared it, one of the best, but is always a fascinating exercise. Jack Nicholson and Will (Sugarfoot) Hutchins star.
POOR COW (1967) Tuesday 8 September 10.00-12 midnight Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
In the same year, Ken Loach made his feature debut. Carol White is the teenager without much of a future; Queenie Watts is surprisingly effective as the aunt who is also a prostitute.
THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE (1961) Wednesday 9 September 12 noon-2.00pm TP (Ch 81)
Good British sci-fi films were a little thin on the ground in the 1950s and 60s; this was an honourable exception. Edward Judd and Leo McKern are the journalists reporting on what might be the end of mankind. A simple yellow filter can be very effective! The BFI’s DVD has good extras, by the way.
THE CRUEL SEA (1953) Wednesday 9 September 2.30-4.30pm BBC 2
This classic war film about the Atlantic convoys, remains a favourite of many and the role of ship’s captain was the one with which Jack Hawkins was most associated, thereafter.
CARRY ON SERGEANT (1958) Wednesday 9 September 4.50-6.35pm Film Four
If you are now firmly in nostalgic mood, why not revisit the comedy that kickstarted the Carry Ons? Not all the regulars are present and correct, but it’s fascinating to see the comic style developing.
THE CAINE MUTINY (1954) Thursday 10 September 2.30-4.30pm BBC 2
Mutiny is a superb courtroom drama. A ship’s skipper unravels during the trial of two officers; the performance and character (Bogart as Captain Queeg) have since entered the lexicon of popular culture. A re-imagining, set in the White House, might be even more striking!
THE SMALLEST SHOW ON EARTH (1957) Thursday 10 September 7.15-9.00pm TP (Channel 81)
What a wonderful treat for lovers of single-screen cinemas! Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers are the new owners of the Biijou, whose staff include Peter Sellers and Margaret Rutherford.
GOLDSTONE (2016) Thursday 10 September 10.00-11.45pm BBC 4
Australia produces some great films and television; Aboriginal detective Jay Swan sits comfortably in both mediums. Here he’s looking for a missing Chinese woman – and it’s very good.
IN WHICH WE SERVE (1942) Friday 11 September 2.30-4.20pm BBC 2
When I first saw this classic, some years ago now, I knew of its reputation but was still stunned by its brilliance. Without a doubt, it is one of the best, and most moving, films Britain has produced.  
THE VIOLENT MEN (1955) Friday 11 September 2.40-4.30pm Film Four
Rudolph Maté was a fine cinematographer who switched to directing and did good (but not outstanding) work across several genres. This was his best Western and benefits from an excellent cast (Glenn Ford, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson and Brian Keith) who give it their all. And it makes excellent use of CinemaScope!! Here’s hoping . . . .
 
RANDOM WORDS AND RANDOM MEMORIES
SCREEN RATIOS
When we list the films for each week, we are unable to say, with certainty, if the film being shown is in the correct aspect ratio. Some printed guides, and internet sites, will tell you how it was made; unfortunately, it doesn’t always follow that this will be respected for its TV transmission. I was reminded of this – again – just the other day, when I checked out the opening credits for Hour of the Gun (1967). It was filmed in Panavision, but shown in the academy (pillarbox) ratio with black bars to the side. This means, of course, that the picture as filmed is cropped; it might also mean that the actors look a little ‘odd’. Sometimes the reverse also happens. The TV channel shows an old film and stretches the picture to fit the shape of a modern TV. This might mean that the actors in the foreground look a little too large, or that the horse looks like it has wandered in from Doctor Dolittle!
Before the release of The Robe in 1952, almost all films, from 1906 onwards, were made and projected in the academy ratio that is, 4: 3/1.33: 1 or, in the case of sound films, 1.37: 1. (After talkies came in, extra space was needed for the soundtrack although an academy mask was sometimes used on the camera aperture, to recreate 1.33: 1.)  Later, as this happened to be the shape of the old-style TV sets, these films transferred easily for broadcast. And, in the present, most DVDs present pre-1952 films at 1.33: 1.
However, the situation changed dramatically with The Robe, the first film in CinemaScope, because the ratio, in this instance, was 2.55: 1. (There had been earlier experimentation with widescreen processes. In 1930 The Big Trail was filmed in 70mm Grandeur and Billy the Kid in 70mm Realife; both had a ratio of 2: 1.) Crowds flocked to see this new marvel and, henceforth, widescreen was used to entice people away from small, square TV sets (and 3D, in the cinema). A ratio of 2.35:1 became the standard widescreen format for CinemaScope and the other systems that appeared in the US and elsewhere: WarnerScope, RKO-Scope, Hammerscope (England), Tohoscope (Japan), SuperTotalscope (Italy) and so on. Some later ones were even bigger (or wider): MGM Camera 65 was 2.75:1 and this is how the 1959 Ben-Hur should be seen.
This brings us back nicely to films in the cinema, and on television, in 2020. Just about all films are widescreen (unless the director wants the academy effect, as with The Artist, Ida or Cold War) and the standard ratio now is 1.85:1; this fits nicely the modern TV screen of 16 x 9. Anything larger, whether an old film or new should have bands top and bottom (the DVD for the Bond film Spectre clearly says 16: 9 letterbox as it is 2.40: 1). And it can matter. The Alamo (1960) was filmed in Todd-AO; ITV 4 normally shows it to fit the modern screen and the difference between that (especially if the print is a little washed out) and a DVD with better colour is quite marked. When Talking Pictures has shown The Last Valley (1970), it has been in 4: 3 and it looks awful (Todd-AO is2.2: 1) – a great shame, as it remains one of Michael Caine’s best pieces of work.
To conclude – most new films should be fine; old films and TV shows (such as The Avengers) should have black bands to the side; those with larger ratios than 1.85: 1 should have bands to the top and bottom.  I will try and do some spot checks to see if this holds up! I must add, too, that my TV is quite a basic model (although I can adjust the aspect ratio for DVDs if I need to). If yours is a more expensive model with cinema mode etc, I am blissfully unaware of what it can do!

 Well, the summer is almost over and it looks as though schools will be open again. So, any time now, Film Four should be reducing their holiday programming and giving us better options again. In the meantime, what we do have this week, are some interesting foreign language titles, but – a note of caution – two are definitely outside even the art house ‘norms’!

THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS (1992) Saturday 29 August 9.00-11.15pm Channel 31
This is the best version of a classic adventure story – with the possible exception of Maurice Tourneur’s in 1920. It has thrills, excitement, a memorable score – and Daniel Day-Lewis.
GUNN (1967) Saturday 29 August 10.00pm-12 midnight Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
This has definite curiosity value: creator-director Blake Edwards revisits his successful TV series (1958-60, 114 episodes) about a big city private eye.
THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY (2014) Sunday 30 August 1.05-3.20am Film Four
The central plot strand – an S & M relationship – might be off-putting (and is cert. 18), but the film has humour and is very well made; indeed, some critics believe it is a modern classic. S/T
RANSOM FOR A DEAD MAN (1971) Sunday 30 August 3.55-5.55pm Channel 21
This was the TVM that set up properly the iconic detective Columbo (there had been a stage production, and then Prescription Murder in 1968). I recall it having a UK theatrical release at the time and that the character and modus operandi were already fully formed.
MOVIE STRUCK (aka Pick a Star, 1937) Sunday 30 August 6.00-7.10pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
The film (a young innocent arrives in Hollywood) is quite charming, but not a good one; however, it does have two priceless scenes with Mr Laurel and Mr Hardy.
THE UNFORGIVEN (1960) Sunday 30 August 8.00-9.50am Channel 40
Its credentials are impressive: John Huston directs Burt Lancaster, Audrey Hepburn and Audie Murphy from an Alan LeMay novel, and both the music and photography are splendid. Hepburn is a Kiowa claimed by both races who is unsure as to where she belongs.
BORDER (2018) Monday 31 August 12.55-2.45am Channel 4
This, the second of the week’s off-the-wall art house films (with s/t), is a very unusual psychological drama about a customs officer who forma a very strange friendship with a traveller.
PASSPORT TO PIMLICO (1949) Monday 31 August 2.30pm-4.10pm Talking Pictures (Ch 81)
The inimitable Margaret Rutherford plays Professor Hatton-Jones, who confirms that paperwork stating that Pimlico is part of Burgundy is genuine. It remains a comedy classic.
THE COLDITZ STORY (1954) Monday 31 August 4.10-6.20pm Channel 40
Surely this is the film about prisoners-of-war who are determined to escape and who come up with ingenious ways of doing so. Later, it would be a successful BBC TV series (with Robert Wagner).
MOLLY’S GAME (2017) Monday 31 August 10.00pm-12.10am BBC 2
Jessica Chastain (you might remember how good she was in Miss Sloane) is an ex-skier who builds an illegal poker-playing empire. Idris Elba and Kevin Costner lend good support. Based on a true story. 
FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953) Tuesday 1 September 4.50-7.10pm Channel 40
Adapted from the weighty bestseller by James Jones, and directed by Fred Zinnemann (High Noon), all six of the main cast do some of their best ever work – a quite remarkable feat that helps to explain its 8 Oscars. As does the legendary ‘clinch in the surf’ scene! 
THE COMEDY MAN (1964) Wednesday 2 September 10.05-11.55pm Talking Pictures (Ch 81)
It’s a desperately quiet day today, but TP does offer us another, not-so-well-known drama in its 10pm slot. Kenneth More plays a struggling, middle-aged actor; the observations are well judged and there is a strong supporting cast.  
THE LAST HURRAH (1958) Thursday 3 September 9.00-11.20am Channel 40
A touch too sentimental, perhaps, but this story of a politician with too little service left to give, is also very moving. John Ford elicits excellent performances from Spencer Tracy and his cast.
ANNE OF THE INDIES (1951) Thursday 3 September 4.25-6.00pm Talking Pictures (Channel 81)
How lucky is this? After referencing Jean Peter’s pirate movie last week, we get the chance to take a look (with tea and cake). Shiver my timbers!
PILI (2017) Friday 4 September 12.35-2.15am Film Four
The third of this week’s subtitled films is a much gentler affair. It’s the story of a young Tanzanian woman, who has HIV, trying to raise the money for a market stall. TV première.
THE YOUNG MR PITT (1942) Friday 4 September 12.00 noon-2.00pm Talking Pictures (Ch 81)
Made, in part, to boost wartime morale, this account of an earlier triumph over tyranny is very good, particularly the settings and period detail. Robert Donat was always a most subtle actor.
THE GUNS OF FORT PETTICOAT (1957) Friday 4 September 3.00-4.40pm Film Four
By 1957, Audie Murphy was trying for greater independence and quality of product and, in George Marshall’s capable hands, he succeeds here. He’s a cavalry officer who must quickly mould a group of defenceless women into a fighting force.
 
RANDOM WORDS AND RANDOM MEMORIES
Last week’s listing of The Taking of Pelham 123 and The Kidnappers gives me the opportunity to shine a light on the two directors, Joseph Sargent and Philip Leacock. They are relatively unknown, having occupied that netherworld ‘twixt film and television, where you produce very good work in both mediums, but are never asked to take on a really big film project. Joseph Sargent (1925-2014), an American of Italian ancestry, worked on The Man from Uncle, directed one of the best Star Trek episodes (‘The Corbomite Manouever’), the pilot for Longstreet, and The Marcus-Nelson Murders which gave the green light to Kojak (and earned Sargent an Emmy). His early TV movies, such as The Soldier who Declared Peace and Sunshine (a moving drama about a young woman who is dying of bone cancer), are well thought of. His 1996 miniseries Streets of Laredo (the third of the Lonesome Dove sagas) is superb and, in my opinion, contains the best performance ever given by an actress in a television western, courtesy of Sissy Spacek. His cinema work was less frequent, and more variable in quality, but, in addition to Pelham, he directed The Man (1972) and Gregory Peck as MacArthur (1977).
Conversely, Philip Leacock’s TV movies such as The Birdmen (1971), Baffled! (1973) and Dying Room Only (no. 102 on my 1975- viewing list), whilst offering unusual and intriguing subject matter, were not of the same quality. However, his track record with TV series was quite impressive: as a producer on Gunsmoke, Cimarron Strip and Hawaii Five-O, but also directing episodes of Route 66, Marcus Welby MD and some of the best episodes of The Waltons. Here he showed a particular affinity with the younger cast members and this was his greatest attribute throughout his career. From the age of 18, he was an assistant director on documentaries, acquiring both good technique and a concern for social issues that he then brought into his feature films. The standouts, in this regard, are: The Brave Don’t Cry (1952, a mining disaster), Innocent Sinners (1958, neglect of the young) and, in particular, Take a Giant Step (1959, racial prejudice) and Hand in Hand (1960, religious bigotry). The latter, endorsed by Eleanor Roosevelt, is a delight and should be a part of any school’s teaching of tolerance and understanding.