For me, second only to the enjoyment/excitement/wonder of watching a film, has been reading a book on an actor or director, or flicking through a reference book on film. I should really be downsizing, and part of my film library is in storage, but . . . what would my detour to Hay-on-Wye, and the aptly named The Cinema Bookshop, bring me in 2023? (In 2020, it was John Ford The Complete Films; the many stills are gorgeous.) Well, I had a splendid couple of hours and came away with: the autobiographies of actor Ernest Borgnine and British director Roy Ward Baker; a book on the ITC adventure series of the 1960s and (the icing on the cake) a book that covers every episode of the legendary TV series Maverick. Later, in Aberystwyth, I added Glenn Mitchell’s Laurel and Hardy Encyclopaedia (Mr Mitchell is one of the leading experts on silent comedy) and a book on the Western by (I kid you not) the author of the novel Death Wish, Brian Garfield. It is fair to say, then, that I had a very good time away! However, back to the night job . . .  
FIREBALL XL5 episode 1 (1962) Saturday 3 June 2.35-3.05pm TP (Ch 82)         
You can never find a Lazoon when you need one . . . ah, here we are! Apologies for this brief sojourn away from the world of film, but I have just been enveloped by a space cloud of nostalgia. TP has brought Steve Zodiac out of the vaults for (one hopes) a 39-episode run. Earth is under attack from a planetomic missile! “I’d like to be a spaceman, the fastest guy alive . . .” – Gerry Anderson, you were a true TV pioneer and genius.
PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (1975) Saturday 3 June 9.30-11.50pm TP (Ch 82)       
This story of a group of three Australian schoolgirls and their teacher who disappeared, whilst on a school outing, in the year 1900, still fascinates and mesmerises us in equal measure. It was also one of our earliest successes (1988-1989 season, 81%). 
THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD (1970) Sunday 4 June 9.00-11.00pm Legend (Ch 41)          
Wow – the Legend Channel obtaining the rights to show this rarity, and cult classic, is a surprise (my DVD is a Spanish import). It is a short-story omnibus that treads a delicious line between chills and comedy. It has a great cast, too. It was directed by our friend and former member, the late Peter Duffell; I still miss our chats before and after the show at the Regent.  
ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED (2022) Sunday 4 June 10.00-11.55pm BBC 2    P           
Whilst we haven’t considered this for Season No. 35, it is a documentary that merits our attention. Photographer and activist Nan Goldin probes the links between major art galleries and the major pharmaceutical companies. It is quite an eye-opener!
THE ABOMINABLE DR PHIBES (1971) Friday 9 June 9.05-11.00pm TP (Channel 82)         
We have another horror classic this evening, in which an organ-playing madman seeks revenge on the surgeons who failed to save his beloved wife. Who else but Vincent Price would we expect to play him? It was a success at the box office (there was a sequel) and director Robert Fuest’s work is odd, but worth catching. His And Soon the Darkness (1970) has a persuasive sense of unease.

It is always pleasing when there is a new film on Freeview or one which is little known and seems to have escaped you over the years – and there are good examples of both this week. Having said that, there are favourites that I try and watch at least once a year, so I am likely to be looking for my discs of the 1953 War of the Worlds and The Shootist (1976) sometime soon. I shall not be posting next week as I’ll be in Aberystwyth – which reminds me, the latter film still holds my record for ‘longest trip to see a film’ since I saw it at the Commodore in 1979. Those were the days! 
GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1946) Saturday 20 May 1.00-2.55pm BBC 2         
Forget the irritating, and ridiculous, BBC adaptation shown recently; David Lean’s version is the classic and continues to set the standard that all others are judged by. 
TOMORROW (1972) Saturday 20 May 9.30-11.35pm TP (Channel 82)        
I have followed Robert Duvall’s career pretty closely over the years (great actor who just seems to get better and better), but I confess this one was unknown to me. He plays a handyman who falls in love with an abandoned woman (played by Olga Bellin) who is pregnant. If Leonard Maltin says it is the best ever adaptation of a William Faulkner story that is good enough for me.
SUPERNOVA (2020) Sunday 21 May 10.00-11.30pm BBC 2    P         
Members: please do not turn off the TV because you think Supernova is science-fiction! Rather, it is a sensitive character piece co-starring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci, set in the most gorgeous English countryside. 
INSIDE KABUL (2023) Tuesday 23 May 10.00-10.30pm BBC 4    P           
Do try and set aside 30 minutes to watch this special presentation from the Storyville team. It is simple in concept and in its style of animation, yet is both timely and revelatory in the telling of its story. Marwa and Raha are two young friends; one is trapped after the fall of Kabul, but the other manages to escape. The film uses their audio diaries to give us an insight into their experiences. 

This week, I’d like to start by reminding everyone that Sky Arts is on Freeview (Channel 11). Whilst a good deal of its content is music-linked, there is a lot for film lovers, too. There are frequent Discovering documentaries on major actors, an occasional feature-length documentary and a series that covers major directors. In addition they also programme something from TV’s early years such as the 1950s anthology series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. 
FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD (2015) Saturday 13 May 8.05-10.00pm BBC 2         
It is highly likely that most members saw this adaptation on first run at the Regent, or on a previous TV showing; if neither, a pleasant evening awaits. Carey Mulligan is fine as Bathsheba (although memories of Julie Christie will not be dispelled!) and the locations used look fantastic. 
THE MAURITANIAN (2020) Sunday 14 May 10.00pm-12.05am BBC 2    P       
The Mauritanian is a drama with great credentials: Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland) directs; Jodie Foster plays the defence attorney and Benedict Cumberbatch a US army prosecutor. The central character, Mohamedou Ould Slahi, was held, without charge, in Guantanemo from 2001 to 2016. Please note – there are some scenes of torture in this film.
IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER Tuesday 16 May 10.00-11.30pm BBC 4    P           
This is an eye-opening documentary from Bat-dor Ojalvo, who was given permission to film in a secretive Hasidic community in Galilee. The way in which he exposes Mohorosh, an influential Rabbi who died in 2015, is riveting. 
A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA (1946) Wednesday 17 May 3.00-4.45pm TP (Channel 82)         
Whilst it doesn’t come close to equalling the sublime comedy of Duck Soup or A Night at the Opera, any Marx Brothers is better than none. In this offering, Groucho is the manager of a hotel that seems to have an abundance of Nazi spies . . . . Alas, their frequent foil Margaret Dumont isn’t one of them. Her scenes with the boys were always to be treasured!

Apparently, there are other events this weekend, but we’ll take a look and see if there is a film or two worth catching. What I hope to be watching, is the presentation of the Championship trophy next Monday afternoon . . . .
HOMEWARD (2019) Saturday 6 May 9.00-10.30pm BBC 4    P         
We have a pertinent drama from Ukraine for you, this evening. Mustafa arrives in Kyiv to take his son’s body home to the Crimea.  Slowly, he begins to bond with Alim, his other son, during the journey. 
CARMEN JONES (1954) Sunday 7 May 2.40-4.25pm BBC 2       
Chosen by the BBC to pay tribute to Harry Balafonte, who passed away last month, and what an apt choice it is. Filmed in CinemaScope, and directed by Otto Preminger, its all-black cast was groundbreaking for the time. Both Mr Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge are very good as is the film – Bizet via Broadway is a real treat for lovers of musicals. 
THE LOST LANGUAGE OF CRANES (1991) Wednesday 10 May 10.00-11.30pm BBC 4           
This was also a groundbreaking drama, albeit for different reasons. Brian Cox and Eileen Atkins (co-creator of the TV series Upstairs, Downstairs) are the middle-aged parents whose son comes out as gay. It is as much a BBC ‘Drama of the Week’ as a conventional film, but its premiere was at the 1991 LFF and the renowned director John Schlesinger pops up in a cameo role. The principal actors are excellent and this very rare showing is most welcome.

Three popular members of the arts fraternity passed away last week: Harry Belafonte, aged 94, the actor, singer and activist who made a cameo appearance in our film BlacKkKlansman; Barry Humphries (aka Dame Edna Everage) and Len Goodman. I had the pleasure of meeting Len Goodman during my time as manager of the Regent. You might recall, in addition to Strictly, he hosted a BBC series called Holidays of My Lifetime. He brought the actor Ian Kelsey back to Lyme Regis and they asked permission to film in the cinema. He was very friendly, affable and came across as quite a modest chap who will be missed by many. 
JOHNNY O’CLOCK (1947) Saturday 29 April 9.30-11.25pm TP (Channel 82)    
Dick Powell made a very successful conversion from a light leading man in 1930s musicals to a cynical, weary character in film noir and private-eye thrillers in the 1940s (RKO’s Murder My Sweet is a classic), before moving into directing and television. Here, he plays a gambler who becomes a murder suspect; the future U-I star Jeff Chandler has an uncredited role. The director whose debut this was is Robert Rossen, who often wrote the scripts as well. Whilst he only directed 10 films, they included Body and Soul (still one of the great boxing films), All the King’s Men and the tremendous Paul Newman film The Hustler. There is an overlap, too, with our film Trumbo – Rossen was blacklisted and one of his other films was The Brave Bulls (1951) which was referenced in that fascinating drama.
THE ROAD DANCE (2021) Monday 1 May 11.00pm-12.55am BBC 2    P         
The Road Dance is a period drama, set in 1916 on the Isle of Lewis. Sensitively directed and well acted, it tells the story of 16-year-old Kirsty (Hermione Corfield), whose life changes radically after a sexual assault. John MacKay wrote the source novel. 
I’M YOUR MAN (2021) Wednesday 3 May 11.15pm-1.25am Film Four    P       
Here is your chance to catch a German comedy that didn’t quite make one of our seasons. Alma (Maren Eggert) agrees to take part in a social/AI experiment where a humanoid robot comes to live with her for three weeks . . . .

In the 1999 edition of Quinlan’s Film Directors Michael Bay and William Beaudine sit side-by-side. Whilst The Rock and Armageddon just pass muster . . . . Pearl Harbor and the Transformers franchise are as hollow as an empty tin can. I am unable to convince myself that the likes of Mom and Dad (a 1944 exploitation classic, banned until 1957 as it featured childbirth), Gas House Kids Go West and Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla are more of an insult to the viewer’s intelligence, but I’ll keep watching and comparing notes. Someone has to!
HUMAN DESIRE (1954) Saturday 22 April 9.30-11.20pm TP (Channel 82)    
TP produces another welcome drama from Columbia’s vaults; this time it is Hollywood’s version of Emile Zola’s novel La Bête Humaine. Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame and Broderick Crawford are the leads who make up the three sides of a fatalistic triangle. The great Fritz Lang directs. 
NELLY AND NADINE: RAVENSBRÜCK 1944 (2022) Tuesday 25 April 10.00-11.30pm BBC 4    P         
Welcome back, Storyville! This is the fascinating story of two women who fell in love under the most arduous of circumstances, separated and then spent the rest of their life together. 
JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN’S DAUGHTER (1966) Weds 26 April 2.55-4.30pm Legend (Ch 41)       
Ha – thank you again, Legend! The esteemed scientist’s offspring is continuing with the family recycling business; John Lupton is the outlaw this time – his role as Tom Jeffords in the decent 1950s TV series Broken Arrow must have seemed a world way. Work is work, I suppose! If you’d rather watch a 5-star classic, Bride of Frankenstein (1935) is on Legend tomorrow, 3.00-4.30pm.