Tuesday 19 May 2020

50

Seven Days Leave (1930 - b/w) - Gary Cooper is a Scotsman who dances with aul wans.

Three Faces East (1930 - b/w) - Routine RKO drama with Constance Bennett and Von Stroheim.

This Modern Age (1931 - b/w) -Joan Crawford romances Commissioner Gordon.

Red Headed Woman (1932 - b/w) - Routine Jean Harlow vehicle. See also the wartime Cary Grant/Franchot Tone battle Suzy (1936 - b/w).

So Big (1932 - b/w) - Rural drear. Barbara Stanwyck at the end looks like Tracey Ullman. Bette Davis bitches.

Speak Easily (1932 - b/w) - Lesser Keaton, average Durante.

Riptide (1934 - b/w) - Routine Norma Shearer drama. See also Strange Interlude (1932 - b/w), Smilin' Through (1932 - b/w) and Strangers May Kiss (1931 - b/w).

6 Day Bike Rider (1934 - b/w) - Routine Joe E. Brown tosh.

The King's Vacation (1933 - b/w) - Twee romance with George Arliss.

The Key (1934 - b/w) - Oirish Civil War nonsense with William Powell, Edna Best, Colin Clive and papers called the Weekly Irish Times and the Morning Standard and McLaughlin's Bakery of Parnell Street. About a fictional Irish patriot named PeadarConlin.

Stand Up and Cheer (1934 - b/w) - Average musical that helped launch Shirley Temple. The problem is Stepin Fetchit at his worst.

Sadie McKee (1934 - b/w) - Routine Joan Crawford dirge.

The Secret Bride (1934 - b/w) - Routine Stanwyck.

Housewife (1934 - b/w) - I found George Brent smarmy as hell. More Bette Davis rota. See also The Rich are Always with Us (1932 - b/w)

Symphony of Six Million (1934 - b/w) - Tiresome Jewish saga with Irene Dunne and Ricardo Cortez.

Spitfire (1934 - b/w) - Katharine Hepburn is some kind of mountain lesbian.

A Wicked Woman (1934 - b/w) - Routine bad girl drama with Robert Taylor and Mady Christians.

I Live My Life (1935 - b/w) - Routine Joan Crawford.

In Person (1935 - b/w) - Routine Ginger Rogers.

Wife vs Secretary (1936 - b/w) - Routine Harlow, but also Loy, Stewart and Gable.

Seven Sinners (1936 - b/w) - Routine quota quickie mystery with Edmund Lowe and Constance Cummings.

Small Town Girl (1936 - b/w) - Routine Janet Gaynor weepie.
See also the lighter Three Loves for Nancy (1939 - b/w).

Romeo and Juliet (1936 - b/w) - Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Basil Rathbone - a mix of middle-aged cast and unconvincing settings hamper this adap.

Rhodes of Africa (1937 - b/w) - Colonial bull.

That Certain Woman (1937 - b/w) - Routine Bette Davis vehicle.

Tovarich (1937 - b/w) - Routine Russian drawing room comedy with Claudette Colbert,Charles Boyer and Basil Rathbone.

Second Honeymoon (1937 - b/w) - Fox filler.

The Sisters (1938 - b/w) - Routine Bette Davis romance, here with Errol Flynn who is first billed.

Swing Your Lady (1938 - b/w) - Idiotic Hillbilly comedy with Reagan and Bogart. Yes, really.

Merrily, We Live (1938 - b/w) - No, we don't.

Jezebel (1938 - b/w) - Somehow had never seen this typical Southern melo with Bette Davis.

Remember (1939 - b/w) - Robert Taylor and Greer Garson gossip.

Quiet Wedding (1941 - b/w) - Routine British comedy with Derek Farr and Margaret Lockwood.

Repeat Performance (1947 - b/w) - Ambitious but turgid backstage noir from Eagle-Lion.

So Well Remembered (1947 - b/w) - Routine Northern saga with John Mills, Trevor Howard and an incongruous Martha Scott and Richard Carlson.

Angel on the Amazon (1948 - b/w) - Dreary drama, not much of an adventure. The titular Vera Hruba Ralston barely appears, or maybe it just feels like it.  George Brent appears with the almost-identical Brian Aherne, to the point I genuinely thought there was split-screen involved. It's Republic grot.

The Reluctant Widow (1950 - b/w) - Sub-Gainsborough vehicle for Jean Kent and Guy Rolfe.

Too Young to Kiss (1951 - b/w) - June Allyson and Van Johnson do the Major and the Minor, yawn.

The Sea Shall Not Have Them (1954 - b/w) -  And I won't have Dirk Bogarde.

Andy Hardy Comes Home (1958 - b/w) - Dreary nostalgic lookback with a middle-aged Mickey Rooney.

2001 A Space Odyssey (1968)  - It's slow, languid and yes, it's nice, but not even Leonard Rossiter and Kenneth Kendall help.

The Perfume of the Lady in Black (1974) - It takes a while, but the epic climax/feast is surprising and astonishing.

The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1978) - Routine politics saga.

Damned in Venice (1978) By Italian standards, well-made if not particularly exciting Rosemary's Baby knockoff starring teen idol Renato Cestie, with a nice Pino Donaggio score that elevates proceedings.


Sunday 17 May 2020

110

The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1929 - b/w)/The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937 - b/w) - Routine melodramas, the latter with William Powell, Joan Crawford and Nigel Bruce.

The Letter (1929 - b/w) - Herbert Marshall does rehearsing in this shonky early sound version of the Bette Davis chestnut.

Holiday (1930 - b/w) - Routine rom-com with Mary Astor. Remade with Grant and Hepburn, with Edward Everett Horton in his old role.

Our Blushing Brides (1930 - b/w) - Joan Crawford chases after Robert Montgomery and gloats over her purse. See also the more comedic No More Ladies (1935 - b/w).

Men Without Women (1932 - b/w) - Routine submariner.

Lillom (1930 - b/w) - Borzage fantasy. Forgettable.

Bought (1931 - b/w) - Routine Constance Bennett vehicle.

Inspiration (1931 - b/w) - Routine Garbo vehicle.

The Guardsman (1931 - b/w) - This vehicle for Lunt and Fontanne feels like a  operetta without songs, and with good reason, it was the basis for the Chocolate Soldier.

The Bachelor Father (1931 - b/w) - Routine comedy with C Aubrey Smith, Marion Davies and Ray Milland.

Private Lives (1931 - b/w) - Stiff Americanisation of Coward.

Possessed (1931 - b/w) - Joan Crawford cries. Usual women's picture. Not the last film with that title to star Joanie.

A Free Soul (1931 - b/w) - Norma Shearer and Leslie Howard in a routine pre-code melodrama.

The Animal Kingdom (1932 - b/w) - Routine melodrama with Leslie Howard and Myrna Loy. See also The Wet Parade (1932 - b/w).

The Man Who Played God (1932 - b/w) - Routine George Arliss.

The Mouthpiece (1932 - b/w) - How did people find Warren William attractive? A great character face, sure but...

Me and My Gal (1932 - b/w) - Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett gangster programmer. See also Quick Millions (1931 - b/w) and Now I'll Tell (1934 - b/w).

Blondie of the Follies (1932 - b/w) - Routine backstage drama with Marion Davies.

As You Desire Me (1932 - b/w) - Routine vehicle for Garbo.

Cabin in the Cotton (1932 - b/w) - Routine Southern drama with Bette Davis.

Polly of the Circus (1932 - b/w) - Routine Marion Davies vehicle, with Clark Gable.

Life Begins (1932 - b/w) - Routine maternity melodrama.

Berkeley Square (1933 - b/w) - The old time travel wepeie chestnut with Heather Angel and Leslie Howard.

The Power and the Glory (1933 - b/w) - Routine boardroom soap with Spencer Tracy.

The Life of Jimmy Dolan (1933 - b/w) - Rote boxing/crime drama with Douglas Fairbanks and Mickey Rooney, and John Wayne.

Double Harness (1933 - b/w) - Rote William Powell vehicle.

Morning Glory (1933 - b/w) - Routine Katharine Hepburn weepie.

Hello Sister (1933 - b/w) - Rote romance, a Zasu Pitts vehicle before she quickly turned middle-aged. By Von Stroheim and Raoul Walsh.

Hold Your Man (1933 - b/w) - Rote Harlow/Gable romantic drama.

Perfect Understanding (1933 - b/w) - Gloria Swanson romances Olivier in England.

Ann Vickers (1933 - b/w) - Routine melodrama with Irene Dunne, Walter Huston and Bruce Cabot.

Hard to Handle (1933 - b/w) - Routine comedy with James Cagney, wasted even though he wanted to be a comic not a tough guy.

Professional Sweetheart (1933 - b/w) - Routine Ginger Rogers vehicle.

Long Lost Father (1934 - b/w) - Ropey vehicle for John Barrymore.

Viva Villa (1934 - b/w) - Wallace Beery is about as Hispanic as Paul Shane in this.

Change of Heart (1934 - b/w) - Janet Gaynor melo.

The Girl from Missouri (1934 - b/w) -Routine Jean Harlow vehicle.
See also Libeled Lady (1936 - b/w), which adds Spencer Tracy, Loy and Powell, and Personal Property (1937 - b/w) with Robert Taylor.

The Fountain (1934 - b/w) - Routine RKO melodrama with Ann Harding. See also The Life of Vergie Winters (1934 - b/w).

Chained (1934 - b/w) - Routine vehicle for Clark Gable/Joan Crawford. See also Forsaking All Others (1934 - b/w).

The Gay Bride (1934 - b/w) - Stop sniggering at the title of this Carole Lombard vehicle. Not worth it.

Caravan (1934 - b/w) - Ruritanian folly with Charles Boyer.

Babbitt (1934 - b/w) - Routine  political scomedy with Guy Kibbee.

Men in White (1934 - b/w) - Clark Gable's a doctor. So is Jean Hersholt. Myrna Loy is in love. Blah blah blah.

The Painted Veil (1934 - b/w) - Routine oriental exotica with Greta Garbo.

Vanessa  - Her Love Story (1935 - b/w) - Silly faux-British romance that killed Helen Hayes' screen career for thirty five years. See also Another Language (1933 - b/w).

Bonnie Scotland (1935 - b/w) - Actually, it's Laurel and Hardy carrying on up the Khyber.

Alice Adams (1935 - b/w) - Routine Katharine Hepburn vehicle.

Alibi Ike (1935 - b/w) Joe E. Brown baseball nonsense.

Front Page Woman (1935 - b/w)/Girl from 10th Avenue (1935 - b/w) - Routine Bette Davis vehicles.

Ah, Wilderness (1935 - b/w) - Routine rural comedy-drama, based on a Eugene O'Neill play, with Wallace Beery.

Living on Velvet (1935 - b/w) - Rote Kay Francis melo.
See also The Marriage Playground (1929 - b/w) and the rote shipbound melo One Way Passage (1932 - b/w).

One More Spring (1935 - b/w) - Janet Gaynor does more Oirish mush.

Biography of a Bachelor Girl (1935 - b/w) - Routine 30s women's picture with Ann Harding and Robert Montgomery.

The Perfect Gentleman (1935 - b/w) Amiable music hall farce starring the mismatched duo of the Wizard of Oz and Stan Butler's mum (Cicely Courtneidge, not Doris Hare).

See also the not-dissimilar Robert Donat vehicle Perfect Strangers (1935 - b/w).

The Bride Walks Out (1936 - b/w) - Routine Stanwyck romcom. See also Baby Face (1933 - b/w), Breakfast for Two (1937 - b/w) and His Brother's Wife (1936 - b/w) and Always Goodbye (1938 - b/w), a more serious Barbara.


The Voice of Bugle Ann (1936 - b/w) - Maureen O'Sullivan/Lionel Barrymore culchie homespun wisdom.

The Plough and the Stars (1936 - b/w) - John Ford Oirish cack. Barbara Stanwyck was more convincing in the Thorn Birds. The Dublin sets aren't that bad.

Cain and Mabel (1936 - b/w) - Gable/Marion Davies musical tosh.

Petticoat Fever (1936 - b/w) - Charisma vacuum Robert Montgomery and Myrna Loy go to the Arctic.

Piccadilly Jim (1936 - b/w) - Based on a Wodehouse saga, this Robert Montgomery vehicle is a weird American idea of British comics, so I suppose it has its charms. Wodehouse had background writing Punch.

The Man Who Found Himself (1936 - b/w) - Rote aviation saga with Joan Fontaine.

The Perfect Specimen (1937 - b/w) - Errol Flynn does romcom with Joan Blondell, who looks a bit like Teri Garr here (her costar in Won Ton Ton).

Pick a Star (1937 - b/w) - Feature-length musical ad for Hal Roach studios.

Love is News (1937 - b/w) - Rote romcom with Loretta Young, Tyrone Power and Don Ameche

The Bride Wore Red (1937 - b/w) - Joan Crawford miscast as Cinderella.

Green Light (1937 - b/w) - Routine Frank Borzage melodrama with Errol Flynn and Anita Louise.
Not to be confused with the stereotyped but rather beautiful-at-times black biblical saga of Green Pastures (1936 - b/w).

The Go-Getter (1937 - b/w) - Routine romcom by Busby Berkeley, with Anita Louise and George Brent.

Call It A Day (1937 - b/w) - Faux-British comedy with Olivia de Havilland.

Mannequin (1937 - b/w) - Routine Joan Crawford melo.

The Affairs of Annabel (1938 - b/w) - Goofy B with Lucille Ball.

Of Human Hearts (1938 - b/w) - It took me a while to realise this James Stewart Civil War farm saga was a western. The snow helped disguise it.

Mother Carey's Chickens (1938 - b/w) - Family poultry.

Having Wonderful Time (1938 - b/w) - Timid rural resort comedy with Ginger Rogers, Douglas Fairbanks Jnr, and befitting a Catskills trip, Eve Arden, Lucille Ball, Red Skelton...

Boy Meets Girl (1938 - b/w) - Routine 30s comedy.

Man-Proof (1938 - b/w) - Routine Myrna Loy comedy.

Fools for Scandal (1938 - b/w) - Routine Carole Lombard and French star Fernand Gravey.

Lady of the Tropics (1939 - b/w) - Routine exotica with Hedy Lamarr.

Miracle on Main Street (1939 - b/w) - Cheapo RKO Christmas schmaltz.

Angels Wash their Faces (1939 - b/w) - Ronald Reagan cleans up the Dead End Kids. As dreary as that sounds.

In Name Only (1939 - b/w)  - Routine Carole Lombard vehicle.

Lucky Night (1939 - b/w) -Rote romcom with Myrna Loy supported by Robert Taylor.

The Philadelphia Story (1940 - b/w) - Was sure I'd seen this before, but it's so influential that I just felt it.

The Monster and the Girl (1941 - b/w) - Routine gorillathon.

I Married An Angel (1942 - b/w) - Your typical Nelson and Jeanette musical.

Unpublished Story (1942 - b/w) - Routine British blitz drama with Richard Greene and Valerie Hobson.

Lady Takes A Chance (1943 - b/w) - Routine Jean Arthur vehicle AND John Wayne western. Yawn.

Of Human Bondage (1946 - b/w) - Stale adap with Paul Henreid sounding almost English, and Eleanor Parker's extraordinary Cockney accent.

Never Take No for an Answer (1951 - b/w) - Ralph "Danger Man" Smart does the story of the boy who brings his donkey to the Vatican.

The Benny Goodman Story (1956 ) - Rote biopic with Steve Allen, lots of Variety and Hollywood Reporter headlines spinning.

Jet Over The Atlantic (1959 - b/w) - Shonky B-air disaster.

The Money Trap (1965 - b/w) - Routine 60s b/w crime film with Glenn Ford, Elke Sommer, Rita Hayworth and Ricardo Montalban.



Friday 15 May 2020

120

The Valiant (1929 - b/w) - Shonky Fox sound film.

Condemned (1929 - b/w) - Rote Devil's Island hokum.

The Cockeyed World (1929 - b/w) - Victor McLaglen militaria.

She's My Weakness (1930 - b/w) - Bland RKO comedy with the infuriating Arthur Lake.

Up the River (1930 - b/w) - Routine prison escape comedy with Spencer Tracy, by John Ford.

Min and Bill (1930 - b/w) - Routine Wallace Beery vehicle.

The Divorcee (1930 - b/w) - Routine melodrama with Norma Shearer, Chester Morris and Robert Montgomery.

Daddy Long Legs (1931 - b/w) - Routine Janet Gaynor vehicle.

Young America (1932 - b/w) - Rote proto-juvenile delinquency with Spencer Tracy.

Westward Passage (1932 - b/w) - Routine period drama with Olivier.

What Price, Hollywood (1932 - b/w) - The wonky prototype for A Star is Born.

Emma (1932 - b/w) - Routine melodrama with Marie Dressler.

Too Many Cooks (1933 - b/w) - Odious Bert Wheeler vehicle.

Faithless (1932 - b/w) - Ropey Tallulah Bankhead melodrama.

Eskimo (1933 - b/w) - Faux-docudrama.

The World Changes (1933 - b/w) - Almost a western.

When Ladies Meet (1933 - b/w) - Routine fare with Myrna Loy.

The Silver Cord (1933 - b/w) - Rote 30s romance.
See also Our Mothers (1933 - b/w) and The Little Minister (1934 - b/w) with Katharine Hepburn.

Night Flight (1933 - b/w) - Rote aviation drama.

The Richest Girl in the World (1934 - b/w) - Dreary Miriam Hopkins vehicle.

The Meanest Gal in Town (1934 - b/w) - Zasu Pitts does her schtick.

Dangerous Ground (1934 - b/w) - Routine 30s British mystery, with Jack Raine.

Hollywood Party (1934 - b/w) - Allstar mess, with Laurel and Hardy, the Three Stooges, Jimmy Durante and Mickey Mouse, leased out to MGM.

Finishing School (1934 - b/w) - Ginger Rogers melodrama. Not to be confused with Lana Turner Stage Door knockoff Dramatic School (1938 - b/w).

The Show-Off (1934 - b/w) - Rote 30s Spencer Tracy comedy-drama.

The World Moves On (1934 - b/w) -  John Ford rich white slave-owners' melodrama.

Checkmate (1935 - b/w) - Felix Aylmer, Maurice Evans and Donald Wolfit in a forgettable mystery.

Once In A New Moon (1935 - b/w) - Amateurish but strange lunar-themed British fantasy predating Under the Dome.

Farmer takes A Wife (1935 - b/w) - Janet Gaynor western comedy with Henry Fonda and Janet Gaynor. See also Way Down East (1935 - b/w).

Inside the Room (1935 - b/w) - Ropey Poirot knockoff made by Universal's British arm, starring actual Poirot Austin Trevor.

West Point of the Air (1935 - b/w) - How many times did Wallace Beery make this movie? See also Way for A Soldier (1930 - b/w).

The Devil is a Sissy (1936 - b/w) - Mickey Rooney/Jackie Cooper/Freddie Bartholemew tedium.

The Dream Doctor (1936 - b/w) - Forgettable fantasy with Leo Genn.

Double Wedding (1937 - b/w) - Rote Powell/Loy vehicle.

Ever Since Eve (1937 - b/w) - Rote romcom with Marion Davies and Robert Montgomery.

Madame X (1937 - B/W) -Routine weepie. See also Madame X (1929 - b/w).

There Goes The Groom (1937 - b/w) - Ann Sothern and Burgess Meredith argue.

The First Lady (1937 - b/w) - Rote Kay Francis vehicle.

Espionage (1937 - b/w) - Rote Edmund Lowe vehicle.

Navy Blue and Gold (1937 - b/w) - Silly over-age military college-com with Tom Brown (whose career was seemingly just these type of films), Robert Young and James Stewart, both pushing thirty.

Thoroughbreds Don't Cry (1937 - b/w) - Rote Garland/Rooney vehicle.

Saratoga (1937 - B/W) - Routine Gable/Harlow vehicle.

Quality Street (1937 - b/w) - Forgettable Faux-British farce with Katharine Hepburn and a young-ish Estelle Winwood.

Fit for a King (1937 - b/w) - More Joe E. Brown tripe.

White Banners (1938 - b/w) -

Three Comrades (1938 - b/w) - Rote 30s faux-European melodrama with Robert Taylor and Robert Young.

Test Pilot (1938 - b/w) - Forgettable Tracy/Loy/Gable aviation.

Second Best Bed (1938 - b/w) - Routine Aldwych farce. 

Who Goes Next (1938 - b/w) - Rote British war drama.

Mrs. Pym of Scotland Yard (1938 - b/w) -  Ropey British B.

I Met A Murderer (1938 - b/w) - Early James Mason proto-noir.

Wings of the Navy (1939 - b/w) - Routine propaganda.

The Day the Bookies Wept (1939 - b/w) - Idiotic Joe Penner horse-racing vehicle.

Everything's On Ice (1939 - b/w) - Forgettable icecapades.

Daughters Courageous (1939 - b/w) - Typical 40s family drama. See also Four Daughters (1938 - b/w) and Yes, My Darling Daughter (1938 - b/w), also with various Lane sisters.

You Will Remember (1941 - b/w) - Attempt at doing a prestige quickie with Robert Morley as composer Leslie Stuart.

He Found A Star (1941 - b/w) - Rote musical drama with Vic Oliver and his real-life wife Sarah Churchill. Yes, they were the son-in-law and daughter of that Churchill.

The Common Touch (1941 - b/w) - Rote working-class drama, featuring Bernard Miles and Bill Fraser.

Bob's Your Uncle (1942 - b/w) - Tiresome Home Guard/schoolboy impersonation comedy with Albert "the Lancashire Lad" Modley and Wally Patch. Features an issue of Comic Cuts.

The Butler's Dilemma (1943 - b/w)/Something in the City (1950 - b/w)/The Madame Gambles (1951 - b/w)/Time of His Life (1955 - b/w)/Tons of Trouble (1956 - b/w) - Uneven films starring Richard Hearne as Mr. Pastry.

That Brennan Girl (1942 - b/w) - Forgettable Republic romcom.

When Strangers Marry (1944 - b/w) - Stolid, passable poverty row noir with Kim Hunter and Robert Mitchum.

The Agitator (1945 - b/w) - Rabble-rousing drama with Billy Hartnell.

Mysterious Mr. Nicholson (1947 - b/w) - Unmemorable cheapie with one-time Paul Temple Anthony Hulme.

Stop Press Girl (1949 - b/w) - Sally Ann Howes and Gordon Jackson plus Wayne and Radford as not-Charters and Caldicott (plus other characters) in a typical 40s comedy about a telekinetic teenager.

Soho Conspiracy (1950 - b/w) - A vehicle for Radio Luxembourg announcer John Witty, padded out by BBC radio theatre scenes of Tito Gobbi.

The 20 Questions Murder Mystery (1950 - b/w) - Routine novelty mystery set  at the BBC.

EyeWitness (1950 - b/w) -Rote British mystery with Robert Montgomery.

The Promise (1952 - b/w) - Rote spiritual drama with Harry Fowler and Edward Underdown. Forgettable British B-filler.

Hammer the Toff/Salute the Toff (1952 - b/w) - Sub-Saint failed series with John Bentley. Featuring early jobs for Shelagh Fraser, Arthur Hill and Tony Britton.
See also Send for Paul Temple (1946 - b/w), Paul Temple's Triumph (1950 - b/w), Paul Temple Returns (1952 - b/w)

Here Comes The Girls (1953) - Routine Bob Hope musical with a Jack the Ripper knockoff subplot. 

Forces' Sweetheart (1955 - b/w) - Hy Hazell, Michael Bentine and Harry Secombe in wartime filler fluff.

Police Dog (1955 - b/w) - As dreary as the title would suggest, with Christopher Lee as a copper.

Shadow of A Man (1955 - b/w) - EJ Fancey produced mystery nonsense written by Paul "Doctor Who and the Ark" Erickson.

Fools Rush In (1955 - b/w) - An American production, but made by EJ Fancey, a typical poverty row though AFAIK EastCoast production with Frank Silvera and Betsy Palmer.

Bond of Fear (1956 - b/w) - Eros films cheapie with John Colicos like an Aldi James Mason as he terrorises Dermot Walsh's caravan holiday. Also set at the BBC, partly. Well, a stock shot of Broadcasting House is used.

Port of Escape (1956 - b/w) - Googie Withers noir fluff.

The Traitor (1957 - b/w) - A cheapie by any other name, but a prestige project for EJ Fancey, with Donald Wolfit (who seemed to be first choice for such projects, as he was knighted, but he'd still do anything for toffee), Anton Diffring, Christopher Lee in a floral dressing gown, Rupert Davies... Very much a typical military thriller cheapie, but sold as a horror.

Fighting Mad (1957 - b/w) - EJ Fancey Canadian western.
See action cheapies like Action Stations (1957 - b/w) and Hangman's Wharf (1950 - b/w).

Rock You Sinners (1957 - b/w) - Terrible C-rate British rock and roll.

A Cry form the Streets (1958 - b/w) - Max Bygraves and Barbara Murray in routine Cockney working class drama.  There's a massive telly in their living room. It's a Bush. I didn't think Bush were around then. And I watched this film on a Bush . Turns out they were part of Gaumont.

Blind Spot (1958 - b/w) - Butcher's crime cheapie with Gordon Jackson, John Le Mesurier, George Pastell, John Crawford and some young fella named Michael Caine.

Whirlpool (1959) - Serviceable color noir with Juliette Greco.

Desert Mice (1959 - b/w) - Routine military comedy with Dora  Bryan, Sid James and Alfred Marks.

The Treasure of San Teresa (1959 - b/w) - Routine Brit thrillwe with Eddie Constantine, Dawn Addams, Marius Goring and Christopher Lee.

During One Night (1960 - b/w) - Simplistic if efficient wartime romance cheapie with Susan Hampshire, by Sidney J. Furie.

Identity Unknown (1960 - b/w) - Routine Danziger's fluff with Richard Wyler and Pauline Yates, who looks not much different than she did when married to Reginald Perrin/Martin Welbourne.

A Cold Wind in August (1961 - b/w) - Sleazy UA strippers drama.

The Boys (1962 - b/w) - Average British JD film with Richard Todd vs Jess Conrad, Dudley Sutton, Tony Garnett and Ronald Lacey.

She Knows, You Know (1962 - b/w) - Hylda Baker Northern comedy.

Shadow of Fear (1963 - b/w) - Rote Butcher's spy thriller starring Paul Maxwell, featuring the somewhat unexpected presence of British Hollywood Raj-era second-lead John Sutton, in his only British film. He's not given any special billing.

The Hi-Jackers (1963 - b/w) - Forgettable Tony Booth B.

Smokescreen (1964 - b/w) - Better than average B-thriller with Peter Vaughan.

Who Killed the Cat? (1966 - b/w) - Forgettable elderly mystery with Mervyn Johns.

Straw Dogs (1971) - What a crock of anti-yokel shite.

Mr. Kingstreet's War (1972) - Tacky South African melodrama with John Saxon, Tippi Hedren and Rossano Brazzi.

Swashbuckler (1976) - A confusing mess. Was this intended to be a film version of Robert Shaw's TV series the Buccaneers? It probably looks cheaper than that ITC series. It's all shot in Mexico, in that stock TV-like style of Universal, most of the actors are Americans, the likes of Beau Bridges and Peter Boyle playing lords and Royal navy captains with not much attempt at the accents, the costumes look stock, James Earl Jones and Geoffrey Holder try their best, Genevieve Bujold moans and I was surprised that the lute solo was by Julian Bream, because surely he'd have cost money. Anjelica Huston plays a decorative bit of stuff for Boyle.



The Treasure Seekers (1979) - Ropey early Cannon adventure shot in Jamaica with Rod Taylor, Jeremy Kemp, Stuart Whitman and Elke Sommer.

Captive (1980)/Psi Factor (1980) - Dopey low-budget SF from Robert Emenegger.

Under the Rainbow (1981)- A goofy, idiotic film about the making of the Wizard of Oz with Billy Barty as a Nazi big bad that somehow cost millions.

The Fantasist (1986) - I wrote a big long review of this but it got lost. "Produced by Mike Murphy", and directed by Robin Hardy, a pedestrian idea made strange by being full of Irish soap stars and shot in 80s Dublin.

The Relic (1997) - It's so badly lit you can't even see anything. To believe that licence fee money funded this turkey.

Friday 8 May 2020

120

The Dawn Patrol (1930 - b/w) - I suppose it wasn't a routine WW1 drama when it came out. Weird seeing Neil Hamilton as a handsome lead, but his voice didn't change in the thirty-five years between this and Batman.
Sweet Mama (1930 - B/W), Scarlet Pages (1930 - b/w), The Widow from Chicago (1930 - b/w) - Rote First National crime fare.

Behind Office Doors (1931 - b/w) - Rote 30s news-y drama with Mary Astor.

Laughing Sinners (1931 - b/w) - Rote melodrama with Joan Crawford that introduced Clark Gable.

A Bill of Divorcement (1932 - b/w) - John Baryrmore/Katharine Hepburn melodrama.

The Nut Farm (1935 - b/w) - Forgettable movie making comedy from Monogram.

Air Hawks (1935 - b/w) - Ropey though efficient serialesque actioner with Ralph Bellamy.

Hearts in Bondage (1936 - b/w) - Civil war rota from Republic.

It's Love I'm After (1936 - b/w) - Rote screwballer with Bette Davis and Leslie Howard.

Paradise Express (1937 - b/w) - Routine Republic serial-style thrills, but in an hour.

Lady Beware (1937 - b/w) - Forgettable Monogram comedy.

The Hollywood Stadium Mystery (1938 - b/w) - Ropey poverty row mystery with Neil Hamilton essentially playing Commissioner Gordon thirty years early.  See also The Spanish Cape Mystery (1935 - b/w).

Vivacious Lady (1938 - b/w) - Routine Ginger Rogers vehicle.

We Are Who Young (1940 - b/w) - Romantic schmaltz with Lana Turner.

I Take This Woman (1940 - b/w) - Romantic tosh with Hedy Lamarr and Spencer Tracy.

The Mortal Storm (1940 - b/w) - Routine war melodrama with Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart.

The Earl of Chicago (1940 - b/w) - Faux-British not-a-comedy with Robert Montgomery.

Kitty Foyle (1940 - b/w) - Rote weepie with Ginger Rogers as an elderly teenager.

Escape (1940 - b/w) - Norma Shearer and Robert Taylor in a typical WW2 melodrama.

The Primrose Path (1940 - b/w) - Forgettable semi-rural drama with Ginger Rogers.

Anne of Windy Poplars (1940 - b/w) - Rote schoolmarm drama.

Men of Boy's Town (1941 - b/w) - I haven't seen Boy's Town (1938 - b/w) in fifteen years but this sequel with the main cast back is pretty consistent.

Babes on Broadway (1941 - b/w) - Oh, the blackface. See also Babes in Arms (1939 - b/w).

The Little Foxes (1941 - b/w) - Southern melodrama par the course, with a camp black butler.

I'll Wait for You (1941 - b/w) - Lower-rung studio romance.

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942 - b/w) - Overwrought musical biopic, with James Cagney reading Variety on his deathbed.

Ship Ahoy (1942 - b/w) - Red Skelton on a boat mugging. Oh, and Frank Sinatra and Eleanor Powell.

The Big Street (1942 - b/w) - Routine romance with Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball.

Lost Angel (1943 - b/w) - Routine melodrama made purely so Margaret O'Brien can cry.
Music for Millions (1944 - b/w) - Typical schmaltz with Margaret O'Brien.
See also Big City (1948 - b/w).

Song of Russia (1944 - b/w) - Anti-Soviet propaganda with an orchestra and Robert Taylor.

The Valley of Decision (1945 - b/w) - Routine melodrama with Greer Garson romancing miner Gregory Peck.

They Were Expendable (1945 - b/w) - A fitting title for this naval John Wayne vehicle.

The Enchanted Cottage (1945 - b/w) - Not as magical as it sounds. A slushy MGM romance with Robert Young.
See also the turgid The Trial of Mary Dugan (1941 - b/w).

The Secret Heart (1946 - b/w) - Claudette Colbert, June Allyson  and Walter Pidgeon appear in  a dreary melodrama.

The Hoodlum Saint (1946 - b/w) - Ropey depression era melodrama with William Powell, Esther Williams and Angela Lansbury, whose singing is dubbed, despite being Angela goddamm Lansbury.

Mourning Becomes Electra (1947 - b/w) - Overwrought, overlong melodrama with Rosalind Russell, Michael Redgrave, Leo Genn and Kirk Douglas.

Killer McCoy (1947 - b/w) - Rote boxing yoke with Mickey  Rooney, Brian "Quatermass McGinty" Donlevy and Ann Blyth.

Night Song (1947 - b/w) - Rote musical-themed romance with Merle Oberon, Dana Andrews and James Bond himself, Hoagy Carmichael.

Cass Timberlane (1947 - b/w) - Rote Lana Turner vehicle, with Spencer Tracy.

Song of Love (1947 - b/w) - Routine orchestral romance with Katharine Hepburn, Robert Walker and a Spaceyesque Paul Henreid.

Enchantment (1948 - b/w) - Slushy Rumer Godden adap with Teresa Wright, David Niven, Farley Granger, Leo G. Carroll and Evelyn Keyes. Actually feels kind of convincing in its British locations.

Easy Living (1949 - b/w) - Rote sporting saga with Victor Mature and Lucille Ball.

The Doctor and the Girl (1949 - b/w)  - Janet Leigh and Glenn Ford star in what could easily be another Dr. Kildare movie, but isn't.

The Great Sinner (1949  -b/w) - Gregory Peck melodrama, typical MGM of the period.

Madame Bovary (1949 - b/w) - Routine MGM adaptation with Jennifer Jones and James Mason.

Edward, My Son (1949 - b/w) - British-made MGM drama, typical weepie with Deborah Kerr, Spencer Tracy and the likes of Mervyn Johns.

My Foolish Heart (1949 - b/w) - Routine women's picture with Susan Hayward, Dana Andrews and Kent Smith.

East Side, West Side (1949 - b/w) - Rote melodrama with Barbara Stanwyck, Ava Gardner, James Mason and Van Heflin. See also B.F.'s Daughter (1948 - b/w).

The Green Promise (1949 - b/w) - Interchangeable rural melodrama with wee Natalie Wood.

Roseanna McCoy (1949 - b/w) - Dopey version of the Hatfields and McCoys, with Joan Evans, Farley Granger and Richard Basehart.

Geraldine (1953 - b/w) - Republic comedy, a forgettable vehicle for Stan Freberg.
Not to be confused with the Pat Boone vehicle Bernardine (1957).


Goodbye Again (1933 - b/w) - Rote Warren William (or Joan Blondell) vehicle.

Studs Lonigan (1960 - b/w) - Routine Irish American epic on a sub-Corman budget.

The Gallant Hours (1960 - b/w) - Tedious WW2 biopic with James Cagney.

Exodus (1960) - Three hours long, but it looks nice. Though Jill Haworth's fridging wasn't needed.

The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960) - Lush epic with Peter Finch, James Mason, Yvonne Mitchell, John Fraser and Lionel Jeffries.
Not to be confused with Oscar Wilde (1960 - b/w) with a miscast Robert Morley and John Neville as the bitchy lovers Oscar and Bosie.

Never On Sunday (1960-  b/w) - Melina ****** Mercouri.

A Majority Of One (1960) - Another Japanese-set comedy with Rosalind Russell and Alec Guinnes, whose accent and makeup is more Hispanic than anything.

The Misfits (1961 -b/w) - Still a western.

The Explosive Generation (1961 - b/w) - Rote JD trash with William Shatner as a beleaguered teacher.

Something Wild (1961 - b/w) - Carroll Baker has a breakdown. The gaggle of faceless schoolgirls is a haunting image, though.

By Love Possessed (1961) - Lana Turner makes the same film again.

The Young Doctors (1961 - b/w) - Routine soap opera of the era. Even the title would be used again.

Hero's Island (1962) - Ropey pirate film with James Mason as Brian Blessed on Bull Island. Not that Bull Island, sadly. He doesn't interrupt a much maligned Irish satire show.

Pressure Point (1962 - b/w) - Sidney Potter meets racist Bobby Darin. Slightly preachy but the flashbacks are suitably nightmarish.

Two for the Seesaw (1962 - b/w) - Grim two-hander between Shirley MacLaine and Robert Mitchum.

Jessica (1962) - Angie Dickinson, a Maximillian Schell-esque Gabriele Ferzetti and Maurice Chevalier in this typical goofy Italian romantic comedy.

The Happy Thieves (1962 - b/w) - Routine heist comedy with Rex Harrison and Rita Hayworth.

The Caretakers (1963 - b/w) - Routine mental hospital drama with Joan Crawford, Polly Bergen and Roberts Vaughn and Stack.

Love is a Ball (1963) - Typical rote 60s romantic froth with Hope Lange and Glenn Ford.

A Child is Waiting (1963 - b/w)/I Could Go On Singing (1963) - The last days of Judy Garland. She seems haunted, burnt out, and tired. So do the films.

Call Me Bwana (1963) - Goofy sci-fi comedy in Africa with Bob Hope, Anita Ekberg and Lionel Jeffries as David Kossoff, known only because as it was an Eon production, it is featured in From Russia with Love.

The Ceremony (1963 - b/w) - Laurence Harvey is pursued by Irish character actors in Spain.

Girl with Green Eyes (1964 - b/w) - Absolute filth, despite the Tayto cameo and a copy of Look and Learn seen.

A Rage to Live (1965 - b/w) -Rote melodrama about hellraising with Suzanne Pleshette.

I'll Take Sweden (1966) - Sweden looks so Californian that Frankie Avalon makes it into a beach movie, and Bob Hope sits there, befuddled. See also The Facts Of Life (1960).

Khartoum (1966) - It looks incredible, but Oliver blacked up, well he has more dignity than his Othello, but he still seems painted as a typical Arab baddie.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967) - Annoying musical with Robert Morse.

Fitzwilly (1967) - Dick Van Dyke, Barbara Feldon and John McGiver in a film for years I presumed was Disney. It ain't.

Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush (1967) - Obnoxious sexcom psychedelia.

Billie (1967) - Ropey sub-Disney musical - Patty Duke is very lezza as a girl on the boys' track team.

Hostile Witness (1968) - Ropey sub-Edgar lustgarten British crime quickie with Ray Milland, Sylvia Syms, Felix Aylmer, Raymond Huntley, and the likes of Richard Hurndall and the inevitable Ballard Berkeley.

Inspector Clouseau (1968) - Alan Arkin is Clouseau. The trouble he plays it seriously. He doesn't dominate the scene like Sellers. And it's very weak, but it does have a newsstand that sells the Beano, Wham! and various IPC Marvel reprints. It feels like a lesser prototype for Pink Panther Strikes Again. And despite the decent British cast - Frank Finlay, Barry Foster, Patrick Cargill, Beryl Reid, Clive Francis, Geoffrey Bayldon, it sorely misses Lom and especially Burt Kwouk.

Paper Lion (1968) - American football comedy based on the exploits of journalist George Plimpton. Alan Alda's fun, but his accent as Plimpton is well, he's Alan Alda.  He doesn't sound the faux-British intellectual Plimpton was.

Impasse (1969) - Rote Burt Reynolds pre-fame actioner with sterling action.

Where It's At (1969) - Peculiar Swiss/Vegas-set psychedelia with David Janssen.

Number One (1969) - Charlton Heston does American football and has sex. As boring as that sounds.

Popi (1969) - Alan Arkin plays a Puerto Rican who to support his kids, they go on a desert island and pretend to be illegal immigrants. Yes, really.

The Adventures of Gerard (1970) - Napoleonic sub-Flashman Europudding by Jerzy Skolimowski, but Eli Wallach's a fun Napoleon.

Halls of Anger (1970) - Calvin Lockhart gives a decent performance in what feels like a slight US redressing of To Sir With Love, but with more black faces, and Jeff Bridges.

The Last Picture Show (1971) - It's a picture of a place, and it feels real, but I wouldn't want to visit there again.

There's A Girl in My Soup (1971) - Sellers and Hawn do it. With another fictional ITV region - Lion Television (alternative ABC-TV, governed by British Lion rather than Associated British?).

200 Motels (1971) - Frank Zappa docudrama that being made on VT, is almost a kind of like a Sid and Marty Krofft project.

The Visitors (1972) - Ropey home  movie from Elia Kazan, with a young James Woods.

Hammer (1972) - Rote boxing drama with Fred Williamson that manages to be watchable despite the basic, mediocre plot because of the blaxploitation dressings and solid character actors.

A Visit to A Chief's Son (1974) - Robert Halmi's first production, a semi-autobiographical story of a photojournalist and his son in Africa. Richard Mulligan looks about fifteen years younger than he did just three years later in Soap. Here, he's fit and youthful, and his hair's still dark. Johnny Sekka is the African guide. Sub-Wonderful World of Disney.

Moonrunners (1974) - Routine moonshining car chase film with narration by Waylon Jennings. Yes, this inspired the Dukes of Hazzard. Jim Mitchum is as always like an animated waxwork of his da. He reads DC comics' Weird Mystery Tales.

Nightmare Honeymoon (1974) - Grim rapey horror, from MGM?!?!

That's the Way of the World (1975) - Lesser New Hollywood filler with Harvey Keitel.

The Sunshine Boys (1975) - It captures the 70s NY entertainment scene, with Joel Grey in Goodbye Charley on a  Broadway marquee, John Kani and Winston Ntshona in Sizwe Banzi is Dead, Walter Matthau (in incredibly convincing if not especially prophetic makeup) dissing General Hospital, although I wonder does the Munsters exist in this universe, or are there two Al Lewises in the entertainment scene, a la Mike Reid/Read or Harry (H) Corbett. F. Murray Abraham worked with both (he's in this and They Might be Giants). Features CBS hq. Maybe the best Neil Simon adap.

Carrie (1976) - I never watched this in full before, because I always expected it to be terrible. One thing I didn't realise before is that the prom is only at the hour or so. I always imagined it to be the last ten minutes. Plus everyone looks so old. The camera is always leery. The performances are unconvincing. It looks and sounds like softcore porn. The soundtrack is marvellous. I kept imagining a schlockier sequel, with a title like "Carrie Lives", starring another actress as Carrie, who'd be seen rising from an unconvincing graveyard set that'd literally explode, and now powerless but alive, going on a road trip as a runaway, to find her telekinetic overlord father.

Semi-Tough (1977) - I didn't realise Lotte Lenya was in this, and actually did not understand how Lotte Lenya could appear in a good old boy comedy opposite Burt Reynolds, Kris Kristofferson, Jill Clayburgh and Carl Weathers.

Coming Home (1978) - Jane Fonda gloats as Jon Voight wheels along. Bo-ring.

Slow Dancing in the Big City (1978) - If you ever thought the one thing that could improve Love Story was if instead of Ryan O'Neal, it was Paul Sorvino, then this is for you.

Hair (1979) - Outdated hippie nonsense.

The Champ (1979) - It's overlong. It'd be much better if an hour. It's like seeing Jon Voight and Ricky Schroeder on holiday.

Voices (1979) - Slightly pervy romantic drama with Michael Ontkean and Amy Irving playing deaf.


Thursday 7 May 2020

100 -mainly RKO, a smattering of MGM

The Road to Singapore (1931 - b/w) - Routine jungle romance with William Powell.

Sporting Blood (1931 - b/w) - Horsey nonsense, with Clark Gable. See also Sporting Blood (1940 - b/w), Florian (1940 - b/w) and Boys' Ranch (1946 - b/w).

George White's Scandals (1934 -  b/w)/George White's 1935 Scandals  (1935 - b/w)/George White's Scandals (1945 - b/w) - Painful burlesque from my namesake.

Little Orvie (1940 - b/w) - Kiddie comedy.

And One was Beautiful (1940 - b/w) - Forgettable drama with Robert Cummings.

Dance, Girl, Dance (1940 - b/w) -Maureen O'Hara AND Lucille Ball in another routine backstage musical.

Little Men (1940 - b/w) - Forgettable adaptation of the sequel to Little Women (1933 - b/w), though  Kay Francis replaces Katharine Hepburn as Jo.

You Can't Fool Your Wife (1940 - b/w) - Routine Lucille Ball B-comedy.
See also Too Many Girls (1940 - b/w) and A Guy, A Girl and A Gob (1941 - b/w).

L'Il Abner (1940 - b/w) - Cheapo adaptation of the comic strip. A kind of Poverty Row precursor to Popeye. I wasn't sure if the guy playing the Indian comic relief was doing a Buster Keaton imitation or Keaton himself. Surely, it couldn't be the Great Man reduced to these circumstances. But then, I remembered his reduced circumstances.

Tom Brown's Schooldays (1940 - b/w) - Ropey adaptation.

This Time for Keeps (1940 - b/w) - Routine family drama with Frank Morgan.

Irene (1940 - b/w) - Rote musical romance with Anna Neagle and Ray Milland. See also No, No, Nanette (1940 - b/w).

Laddie (1940 - b/w) - Forgettable rural romance, with Peter Cushing last-billed.

Cross Country Romance (1940 - b/w) - Rote romcom.

One Crowded Night (1940 - b/w) - Forgettable, no budget small town drama.

The Ramparts We Watch (1940 - b/w) - A ninety-minute newsreel padded out with stilted amateurs.

Lucky Partners (1940 - b/w) - Rote screwballer with Ginger Rogers.

My Life with Caroline (1941 - b/w) - Forgettable Ronald Colman romcom.

A Date with the Falcon (1941 - b/w) - Ropey mystery with George Sanders. See also The Falcon's Brother (1942 - b/w), which leads into Tom Conway taking over in

Father Takes A Wife (1941 - b/w) - Forgettable Gloria Swanson comeback.

Tom, Dick and Harry (1941 - b/w) - Peculiar Ginger Rogers comedy where she constantly hallucinates. With a young Burgess Meredith. 

Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941 - b/w) - Hitchcock does a  generic screwball comedy. If it had just a little suspense, it would add a bit more excitement.

Play Girl (1941 - b/w) - Forgettable Kay Francis vehicle.

They Met in Argentina (1941 - b/w) - Routine exotica musical with Maureen O'Hara.

Unexpected Uncle (1941 - b/w) - Another comedy with Charles Coburn as an eccentric relative.

The Villain Still Pursued Her (1940 - b/w) - Unusual Pearls of Pauline homage with Hugh Herbert.

The Mayor of 44th Street (1942 - b/w) - Routine nightclub saga.

Scattergood Rides High (1942 - b/w)/Scattergood Swings It (1942 - b/w)/Cinderella Swings It (1953 - b/w) - Interchangeable Scattergood Baines installments.

Joe Smith,American (1942 - b/w) - Forgettable Robert Young propaganda.

Powder Town (1942 - b/w) - Slightly scientific comedy drama. Average, but interesting seeing a fresh-faced Edmond O'Brien before the hellraising set in.

Ladies' Day (1942 - b/w) - Forgettable B-comedy with Eddie Albert and Lupe Velez.

Obliging Young Lady (1942 - b/w) - Routine chase-com B from RKO.

Four Jacks and a Jill (1942 - b/w) - Rote musical with Ray Bolger.

Pierre of the Plains (1942 - b/w) - Sentimental MGM northern.

My Favorite Spy (1942 - b/w) - Kay Kyser variety show with a limp plot. See also Playmates (1941 - b/w).

Mokey (1942 - b/w) - Little Robert Blake, before he became a murderer runs away from home, eat some Babe Ruths and blacks up to live with his African American pals.

Sing Your Worries Away (1942 - b/w) - Routine musical with Bert Lahr and Buddy Ebsen.

Mr. Lucky (1943 - b/w) - Rote Cary Grant vehicle.

Hitler's Children (1943 - b/w) - Propaganda puff with Bonita Granville about the Hitler Youth.

Higher and Higher (1943 - b/w) - Routine early Frank Sinatra vehicle with his old head.

They Got Me Covered (1943 - b/w) - Routine Bob Hope routine.
See also Road to Singapore (1940 - b/w), Road to Zanzibar (1941 - b/w), Road to Rio (1947 - b/w).

Government Girl (1943 - b/w)  - Rote political romance with Olivia De Havilland.

Petticoat Larceny (1943 - b/w) - Forgettable precocious little girl comedy.

Call of the South Seas (1944 - b/w) - Routine South Seas hokum, from Republic. See also Harbor of Missing Men (1950 - b/w).

My Pal Wolf (1944 - b/w) - Forgettable kiddy-pic. See also Banjo (1947 - b/w).

Heavenly Days (1944 - b/w) - Bogstandard angelic comedy with Fibber McGee, Molly and Eugene Pallette.
See also Seven Days' Leave (1942 - b/w) and Look Who's Laughing (1942 - b/w), which brings in Fibber, Gildersleeve and the genius Edgar Bergen, and Charlie McCarthy plus Lucille Ball and a wing-walking chimp, and the sitcommy The Great Gildersleeve (1942 - b/w), Gildersleeve on Broadway (1943 - b/w) and Gildersleeve's Bad Day (1943 - b/w).

Belle of the Yukon (1944) - Rote saloon musical with Randolph Scott.

Youth Runs Wild (1944 - b/w) - Ropey juvenile delinquency from Val Lewton
Step Lively (1944 - b/w) - Rote musical comedy, with Frank Sinatra, but one of several vehicles for Brown and Carney. See also Gangway for Tomorrow (1943 - b/w), Seven Days Ashore (1944 - b/w), Girl Rush (1944 - b/w), Radio Stars on Parade (1945 - b/w), and a part in Mexican Spitfire's Blessed Event (1944 - b/w).
Also saw the various Mexican Spitfires with Leon Errol and Lupe Velez - The Girl from Mexico (1939 - b/w), Mexican Spitfire (1940 - b/w), Mexican Spitfire Out West (1940 - b/w), Mexican Spitfire's Baby (1941 - b/w), Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost (1942 - b/w), Mexican Spitfire's Elephant (1942 - b/w), Mexican Spitfire at Sea (1942 - b/w). Typical sitcoms that focus more on Leon Errol's faux-Lord schtick.

The Enchanted Forest (1944) - Charming if treacly color fantasy from PRC, with Harry Davenport as the white equivalent of a Magical Negro.

The Clock (1945 - b/w) - Routine romance with Judy Garland and Robert Walker.

Riverboat Rhythm (1946 - b/w) - Dullish musical comedy.

San Quentin (1946 - b/w) -Ropey prison fare with Lawrence Tierney.

Without Reservations (1946 - b/w) - Routine romcom with Claudette Colbert and John Wayne.

The Flame (1947 - b/w) - Threadbare Republic noir, with Henry Travers and Hattie McDaniel as, what else, a maid. See also The Red Menace (1949 - b/w).

Honeymoon (1947 - b/w) - Routine romcom with Shirley Temple.
See also Bride by Mistake (1944 - b/w), Casanova Brown (1944 - b/w), Lady Luck (1946 - b/w), A Likely Story (1947 - b/w).

Tenth Avenue Angel (1948 - b/w) - Margaret O'Brien schmaltz.

T-Men (1948 - B/W) - Well-made noir, but I find these kind of stories boring.

Mickey (1948) -Cheapo color teen musical from Eagle Lion, with Hattie McDaniel.

The Shanghai Story (1954 - b/w) - Hackneyed Republic attempt to do a Phil Karlson-type true crime film in China, with Ruth Roman and Edmond O'Brien.

Tuesday 5 May 2020

99 - mainly RKO

Inside the Lines (1930 - b/w) - Dreary WW1 RKO drama.
See also Christopher Strong (1933 - b/w) and The Soldier and the Lady (1937 - b/w).


The Lost Squadron (1932 - b/w) - More WW1 action.

Panama Flo (1932 - b/w) -Routine jungle adventure with Helen Twelvetrees.

Is My Face Red (1932 - b/w) - Routine crime flick, from RKO. See also Conspiracy (1930 - b/w), Midnight Mystery (1930 - b/w), Framed (1930 - b/w), The Fall Guy (1930 - b/w), Runaway Bride (1930 - b/w) Shooting Straight (1930 - b/w), Alias French Gertie (1930 - b/w), The Pay-Off (1930 -b/w), Lightning Strikes Twice (1934 - b/w), Traveling Husbands (1931 - b/w), The Public Defender (1931 - b/w), Tomorrow at Seven (1933 - b/w), Woman in the Dark (1934 - b/w), The Roadhouse Murder (1935 - b/w), We're Only Human (1935 - b/w), Wanted Jane Turner (1936  - b/w), Muss 'Em Up (1936 - b/w), Special Investigator (1936 - b/w), Two in the Dark (1936 - b/w) and Don't Turn 'Em Loose (1936 - b/w), Crime Ring (1938 - b/w), Crashing Hollywood (1938 - b/w), The Spellbinder (1939 - b/w), Two Thoroughbreds (1939 - b/w).
And various Hildegarde Withers mysteries - Murder on the Blackboard (1934 - b/w), Murder on a Honeymoon (1935 - b/w), The Plot Thickens (1936 - b/w), Murder on a Bridle Path (1936 - b/w), and the non-Withers vehicles with Helen Broderick and Edna May Oliver,  Ladies of the Jury (1932 - b/w) and We're On The Jury (1937 - b/w).


And the bland Saint ventures The Saint in New York (1938 - b/w) with Louis Hayward, the George Sanders ventures The Saint Strikes Back (1939), The Saint in London (1939 - b/w  - with a scene in a newsagent that sells Radio Fun and The Rover comics) and The Saint In Palm Springs (1941 - b/w), and the Hugh Williams ventures The Saint's Vacation (1941 - b/w) and The Saint Meets The Tiger (1943 - b/w), the latter of which was not RKO but Republic.

Roar of the Dragon (1932 - b/w) - Yellow peril nonsense.

Midshipman Jack (1933 - b/w) - Naval timewaster with Bruce Cabot.

Headline Shooter (1933 - b/w) - William Gargan B-tosh. See also Emergency Call (1953 - b/w).

Silver Streak (1934 - b/w) - Train peril not to be confused with the 1976 film.

You Can't Buy Luck (1934 - b/w) - Rote music hall mystery.

The People's Enemy (1935 - b/w) - Dreary RKO crime cheapie with Preston Foster and Melvyn Douglas.

The Three Musketeers (1935 - b/w) - Ropey RKO adaptation.

The Nitwits (1935 - b/w) - Wheeler and Woolsey stay true to the title.

The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936 - b/w) - Undistinguished screwball mystery with Jean Arthur and William Powell.

Winterset (1936 - b/w) - Handsomely mounted Burgess Meredith drama.

Snowed Under (1936 - b/w) - Warner filler.

A Woman Rebels (1936 - b/w) - Victorian melodrama with Kate Hepburn.

Riding on Air (1937 - b/w) - Rote Joe E. Brown comedy.

Sea Devils (1937 - b/w) - Maritime boredom with Ida Lupino and Victor McLaglen.

There Goes My Girl (1937- b/w) - Gene Raymond/Ann Sothern comedy. Bland.

Criminal Lawyer (1937 - b/w) - As generic as the title.

China Passage (1937 - b/w) - RKO exotica cheapie.

Tarnished Angel (1938 - b/w) - Forgettable RKO melodrama.

Romance for Three (1938 - b/w) - Alias Paradise for Three, rote vehicle for Robert Young.

The Flying Irishman (1939 - b/w) - About aviator Douglas Corrigan, starring aviator Douglas Corrigan.

Full Confession (1939 - b/w) - Victor McLaglen plays Pat O'Brien.

Way Down South (1939 - b/w) - Bobby Breen and his slaves sing.

Twelve Crowded Hours (1939 - b/w) - Richard Dix/Lucille Ball B-quickie. See also the more sitcommy Annabel Takes A Tour (1938 - b/w) and Go Chase Yourself (1938 - b/w).

They Made Her A Spy (1939 - b/w) - Routine B-pic with Sally Eilers.

Nurse Edith Cavell (1939 - b/w) - Typical 30s biopic with Anna Neagle. 

Sued for Libel (1939 - b/w) - Rote radio mystery.

Flight for Freedom (1941 - b/w) - Rosalind Russell in RKO-made biopic about Amelia Earhart. Heavily fictionalised to become propaganda.

The Strawberry Blonde (-1941 - b/w) - Musical comedy with Cagney, Hayworth and De Havilland.

The Gay Sisters (1942 - b/w) - Generic Barbara Stanwyck vehicle.

Syncopation (1942 - b/w) - RKO jazz mixtape.

Stallion Road (1947 - b/w) - Modern western with Ronald Reagan.

The Fugitive (1947 - b/w) - Gloomy tale of Mexico, with Henry Fonda.

I Remember Mama (1948 - b/w) - Typical family saga. I can't quite believe that the young girl in it is Barbara Bel Geddes.
See also genteel comedies Good Sam (1948 - b/w) Adventure in Baltimore (1949 - b/w), Bride for Sale (1949 - b/w), Holiday Affair (1949 - b/w), The Judge Steps Out (1949 - b/w).

The Story of Seabiscuit (1949) - Oirish-infused horse operetta with Barry Fitzgerald and an Oirish Shirley Temple.

The D.I. (1959) - Dreary militaria with Jack Webb.

Kisses for my President (1964 - b/w) - Sexist bullshit with Polly Bergen as President but focusing on the First Lady, Fred MacMurray.

Friends (1971) - Treacly, provocative Elton John-scored teen romance from Lewis Gilbert.

The Man (1972) - James Earl Jones plays the first black President. He is completely convincing, even as the father to Janet MacLachlan (in real life only two years younger, but convincing as college age). An underseen little gem, written by Rod Serling based on an Irving Wallace paperback.

A Separate Peace (1972) - A bunch of identical-looking white boys go to school. A film based on a book that is beloved in America but is unknown outside. I can see why. It's preachy American boys' school gubbins.

A Doll's House (1973) - Slow thespian-heavy adap.

The Duellists (1977) - Ponderous historical epic. I like the fact it has "You've Been Watching" credits and Maurice Colbourne gets billed thus, above Jenny Runacre and Alan Webb. Arthur Dignam and Matthew Guinness and Liz Smith and Pete Postelthwaite don't.

Joseph Andrews (1977) - Peggy Ashcroft, Peter Bull, Wendy Craig, Kenneth Cranham, Karen Dotrice, John Gielgud, Hugh Griffith, Alfie Lynch, Murray Melvin, Ronald Pickup, Norman Rossington, Jenny Runacre and Timothy West are all listed as "special guest stars", but Berkoff, Jonathan Cecil, Sandra Dorne, Vernon Dobtcheff, Brian Glover and Willoughby Goddard, Tim Pigott Smith, James Villiers, Patsy Rowlands, Janet Webb, Penelope Wilton and Henry Woolf aren't. It's very much Peter Firth as Tom Jones, BUT Richardson wants to be Ken Russell or some bull hence Ann-Margret. Who asked for a naked Michael Hordern?

Thieves (1977) - Bland New York comedy with Marlo Thomas and Charles Grodin.

Nest of Vipers (1978) - Teenage temptress nonsense with Ornella Muti.

Blood Feud (1978) - Loren/Mastroianni dirge, by Lina Wertmuller. Depressing. Sophia Loren looks like Alice Cooper.

North Dallas Forty (1979) - American football good old boys with Nick Nolte and Mac Davis, America's question that Ireland answered with TR Dallas (who covered Davis' songs for the Irish market).

Giallo Napoletano (1979) - Tati-esque comedy giallo. If you ever wanted to see Marcello Mastroianni in a pink dress and big red Crystal Tipps/Bette Midler wig and glasses like Lynda from Gimme Gimme Gimme, here it is. Directed by Sergio Corbucci in comedy mode.  Has Michel Piccoli muirdered live during a concert  on Rai, and a cafe that sells Mars Treets, which were basically a bag of Revels if they were just Peanut Revels.

Starting Over (1979) - Watching this, I can at last understand my mother's habit of confusing Kathleen Turner and Candice Bergen.

Frances (1982) - Affecting if overlong, soapy dramatisation of Frances Farmer. But the soundtrack is excellent, John Barry on all cylinders.

Stormy Monday (1988) - Dreary Geordie noir.

Saturday 2 May 2020

120

Reserved for Ladies (1932 - b/w) - Leslie Howard faux-quota quickie.

Calm Yourself (1935 - b/w) - Rote light drama with Robert Young.

Bengal Tiger (1936) - Forgettable Warner B with Barton MacLane.

Going Places (1938 - b/w) - Rote horse racer with Dick Powell.

Lady in the Morgue (1938 - b/w) - Rote Universal cheapie.

Magic Town (1947 - b/w) - Actually just James Stewart, Jane Wyman and local politics.

Henry V (1944) - It goes from being stagey, almost kiddy-show esque Fairyland to the literal hills I see when I look out of my bedroom window. My barber's dad cut that haircut for Olivier.

Tammy and the Bachelor (1957)/Tammy Tell Me True (1961)/Tammy and the Doctor (1963) - Rural sugar with Debbie Reynolds and Leslie Nielsen gives way to rural sugar with Sandra Dee.

IDIOT (1958) - Dramatic Mosfilm historical.

The Wind Cannot Read (1958) - Rote Dirk Bogarde romance, set in India, but with Yoko Tani.

Upstairs and Downstairs (1959) - Michael Craig is the lead in this generic British proto-sexcom. Sidney James billed over Claudia Cardinale.

Prisoner of the Volga (1959) - Ropey Italian historical with John Derek and Dawn Addams.

Home from the Hill (1960) - Typical Southern melodrama that launched George Peppard.

It Started in Naples (1960) - Cutesy Gable/Loren/Desica teamup.

Bells are Ringing (1960) - Average 50s musical made slightly later, with Judy Holliday and Dino.

The World of Suzie Wong (1960) - Love is A Many Splendored Thing, Too - This Time, We Actually Cast An Asian Actress Opposite William Holden.

All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960) - Dreary jazz soap with Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood.

Cash McCall (1960) - Tiring soap starring James Garner and Natalie Wood.

Once More, With Feeling (1960)- Bland but chirpy comedy with Yul Brynner as a classical musician in a tiny Liverpool Town Hall, with BBC cameramen, Kay Kendall, Geoffrey Toone and Gregory Ratoff.

Ice Palace (1960) - Dreary Alaskan soap with Richard Burton. See also The Bramble Bush (1960).

Song Without End (1960)- Dirk Bogarde's big Hollywood break. It didn't work.
See also HMS Defiant (1962).

Pepe (1960) -A three-hour mammoth production trying to give Cantinflas his solo showcase for the US, but it's filled with stars some as themselves (why is Edward G. Robinson a studio boss?) and filled with diversions i.e. two little dancing Mexicans. But Cantinflas himself is totally baffling. He's one of those foreign comedians who, I can kind of see his charm, but he's a little Wisdomesque.

Morgan The Pirate (-1960) - Routine, undistinguished pirate film from Italy with Steve Reeves.

Go Naked in the World (1960) - Transatlantic tripe with Gina Lollobrigida and Tony Franciosa as the son of Ernest Borgnine.

Tarzan the Magnificent (1960) - Probably best of the 60s Tarzans. Gordon Scott is okay, but it has a great supporting cast - Jock Mahoney, later Tarzan himself is better here as the baddie, alongside John Carradine (who apparently made his first trip outside the US to make this film in Kenya and England), Lionel Jeffries is the Brit abroad, Earl Cameron adds gravitas as the token African, and Charles Tingwell sweats well. Plus the plot revolves around a African corner shop (with Crosse and Blackwell tinned produce). Betta St John and Alexandra Stewart are the females, with not much to do.  Ewen Solon, Tommy Duggan and Peter Howell have smaller roles.

The Grass is Greener (1960) - Stately British stage comedy. Not much laughs.

Cinderfella (1960) - Just another duff Jerry Lewis vehicle. Set in the modern day, with a big NBC van about.

Very Important Person (1961) - Generic POW comedy with James Robertson Justice, Stanley Baxter and Leslie Phillips.

Ada (1961) - Stolid political soap with Susan Hayward, Dean Martin and Wilfrid Hyde-White struggling with a Deep South twang.

Cry for Happy (1961) - Two stars of different versions of the Courtship of Eddie's Father, Glenn Ford and Miyoshi Umeki in idiotic Japan-set culture clash comedy.

My Geisha (1961) - Shirley Maclaine plays herself, a Paramount actress who goes undercover as a Geisha to get a role. As bad as it sounds.

Parrish (1961) - Overlong Southern melodrama with Claudette Colbert and Troy Donahue.
See also Susan Slade (1961).

Summer and Smoke (1961) - Lesser Tennessee Williams.
See also Period of Adjustment (1962 - b/w) - which I only realised was a comedy when John McGiver appeared.

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961) - Vivien Leigh in her last gasp and Warren Beatty as George Hamilton in a rote soaper.

The Best of Enemies (1961) - Niven and his old pal Trubshawe interrupt an Italian comedy. Bernard Cribbins is wasted.

Splendor in the Grass (1961) - Tiring teen drama.

The Count of Monte Cristo (1961) - Two part megafeature  a la The Tiger of Eschnapur/The Indian Tomb, with Louis Jourdan. Sumptuous, like a big-budget rival to the Flashing Blade.

The Marriage-Go-Round (1961) - Susan Hayward and James Mason in a rote battle of the sexes comedy. Julie Newmar also appears as the "crumpet".

The Singer Not the Song (1961) - A gay British western starring Dirk Bogarde as a Mexican and John Mills as Cyril Cusack. Every bit the fiasco they said it was.

The Pleasure of his Company (1961) - Fred Astaire, Debbie Reynolds, Lilli Palmer, typical 60s studio froth.

Return to Peyton Place (1961) - Undistinguished bonkbuster.

Town Without Pity (1961 - b/w) - Grim rape trial in Germany with Kirk Douglas. Oh, the irony.

The Light in the Piazza (1962) - The Roman Spring springs a knockoff. George Hamilton and Olivia De Havilland deputise for Beatty and Leigh.

Vie Privee (1962) - Louis Malle/Bardot arty-fartiness.

Lolita (1962) - It looks cheap, maybe because it is trying to be American in England. But everything reeks of a quota quickie. Though I like the fact they watch Curse of Frankenstein.

Cronaca Familiere (1962) - Costa Gavras-ish drama with Marcello Mastroianni.

The Chapman Report (1962) - Overlong anthology bonkbuster with Claire Bloom, Jane Fonda, Shelley Winters and Glynis Johns.

Swordsman of Siena (1962) - Rote Italian swashbuckling schlock with Stewart Granger.

Diamond Head (1962) - Godawful Hawaiian melodrama with Charlton Heston and James Darren, George Chakiris and Aline MacMahon in a ton of yellowface.

Who's Got The Action (1962) - Rote Dean Martin comedy, with Lana Turner, Walter Matthau and the inevitable John McGiver.
See also Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed (1963).

Boys' Night Out (1962) - Routine romcom with Kim Novak and James Garner.

Gypsy (1962) - I admired the design. Natalie Wood seemed to be stuck playing this role, though.

In the Cool of The Day (1963) - Transatlantic tripe with Jane Fonda as Madeline Kahn as Mrs. White, Angela Lansbury and Peter Finch.

The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963) - So routine that it became a sitcom.

Stolen Hours (1963) - Susan Hayward and Michael Craig do Dark Victory in Cornwall. Only distinguishing factors are Chet Baker and a scene in a Spar, with Lyon's Maid and Fyffe's ad placement.

The Horizontal Lieutenant (1963) - More goofy Japan-set military alleged comedy, with Jim Hutton and Paula Prentiss.

Critic's Choice (1963) - Typical late-period Bob No-Hoper.
See also the Carnation/Quaker ad placement-heavy antics of Bachelor In Paradise (1961), featuring per US comedy films of the era were forced to do, John McGiver.

My Six Loves (1963) - Feels like a sitcom pilot for Debbie Reynolds, down to cute kids and John McGiver.

Come Fly with Me (1963) - Air hostess soaper.

Papa's Delicate Condition (1963) - Treacly Jackie Gleason turn-of-the-century family comedy.

The Running Man (1963) - Lawrence Harvey tries to be Australian. Made between Spain and Wicklow.

Gidget Goes to Rome (1963) - Forgettable shark-jumping beachless sequel. See also Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961).

A New Kind of Love (1963) - Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman faux-French (with French TV news) cheesecake comedy.

Sunday in New York (1963) - Rote comedy with Jane Fonda and Rod Taylor.

Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963) - Rote Jack Lemmon comedy.

The Wheeler Dealers (1963) - Texan idiocy with  Lee Remick and James Garner.

The Yellow Rolls Royce (1964) -I remember this bored me as a child. A cavalcade of international stars from Ingrid Bergman to Wally Cox with little to do.

The Killers (1964) - It's stifled by its dayglo Universal TV production values, but the cast are convincing hoods - Lee Marvin, John Cassavetes, even Norman Fell. Reagan's presence though is slightly out of place.

Sex and the Single Girl (1964) - Rote studio sexcom.
See also Good Neighbour Sam (1964).

The Pleasure Seekers (1964) - No pleasure to be had in this redo of Three Coins in the Fountain.

Marnie (1964) - If it weren't by Hitchcock, no one would remember it. The Americanisations to the British setting don't work, what with the fox hunt. It feels like just another studio melodrama.

Where Love Has Gone (1964) - Pornographic muzak from Harold Robbins with Susan Hayward as the daughter of a bewigged Bette Davis. Hayward is not-Lana Turner, and Joey Heatherton is her murderous daughter.
See also The Carpetbaggers (1964), in which Carroll Baker plays a Jean Harlow expy. Baker would then appear in the same role in Harlow (1965), an overlong, colourful but boring biopic headed by a  slightly too old Carroll Baker (who had played a Harlow type in the Carpetbaggers) and Angela Lansbury as her impossibly young mother, and inaccurate looking props of Photoplay and Variety. The Keystone Kops bits are scored and shot like a Monkees episode.
A rival production, also Harlow (1965 - b/w) was released in cinemas, but is a cheapo videotaped show with the look of a soap, with Carol Lynley leading a distinguished cast.

The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) - Too much of a western. Not enough Titanic.

The Lively Set (1964) - Forgettable juvenile racing pic with Pamela Tiffin, James Darren and Doug McClure.

Becket (1964) - A history lesson I didn't want.

Lilith (1964 - b/w)/Sylvia (1965 - b/w) - Both interchangeable black and white stories of mental cases, with Jean Seberg and Carroll Baker.

The Sandpiper (1965) - Forgettable chunk of pornographic music with Richard Burton as a vicar, Elizabeth Taylor, Eva Marie Saint, and Charles Bronson.

The Girls on the Beach (1965)/Wild, Wild Winter (1966) - The worst of the beach movies, despite the Beach Boys in the former. Sub-kiddie TV look, unmemorable leads and no fun.

Situation Hopeless But Not Serious (1965 - b/w) - Alec Guinness lusts over soldiers Robert Redford and Mike Connors.

The Battle of the Villa Fiorita (1965) - Another parent trap for Maureen O'Hara, plus Rossano Brazzi, Richard Todd, two seconds of Finlay Currie seen only from the side, and Martin Stephens and Olivia Hussey as the kiddies.
I've always confused this with Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (1968), the Denis Norden-written basis for Mamma Mia with Gina Lollobrigida.

That Funny Feeling (1965) - God, Bobby Darin did look like Kevin Spacey (if Spacey ever looked young, that is). Otherwise, routine 60s romantic comedy. Leo G. Carroll actually sounds Irish, though here.
See also If A Man Answers (1965) and Doctor, You Must Be Kidding (1967), which has Sandra Dee, but Darin is replaced by George Hamilton.

Genghis Khan (1965) - Ludicrous. Buck-toothed Chinaman James Mason is the least of its problems. Omar Sharif isn't that bad, but everyone is miscast, from  Eli Wallach to Robert Morley and Michael Hordern as Chinamen (with Woody Strode as his sidekick) to both Savalas brothers. It's better than the Conqueror, but the Conqueror didn't have Kenneth Cope. Stephen Boyd's supposedly Oriental makeover still reeks of "bloke of Belfast who wants to look like Charles Bronson".

Joy in the Morning (1965) - Depressing drama with Yvette Mimieux and Richard Chamberlain.

That Man in Istanbul (1965) - Rote though efficient Eurospy with Horst Buchholz.

Young Cassidy (1965) - John Ford (and Jack Cardiff)'s last foray into Oirish twaddle. Though mostly shot in Dublin, with a few MGM British interiors (was Ardmore busy? They filmed in Bray for exteriors). Rod Taylor still sounds like himself. Maggie Smith is convincing, Michael Redgrave is Michael Redgrave, Julie Christie way too English, but ads for Rowntree's, Jacob's, Jack MacGowran, T.P. McKenna, Joe lynch, Arthur O'Sullivan, the extraordinary Martin Crosbie, Vincent Dowling, John "Pa Riordan" Cowley, Harold Goldblatt and others help.

Clarence The Cross-Eyed Lion (1966) - Goofy Disney-esque pilot for Daktari. Still, Richard Haydn gets a good bit.

A Covenant  with Death (1967) - Phony story of mixed-race tribulations with George Maharis as a Mexican.

Divorce American Style (1967) - I must have forgotten to log this before. It's very generic. Van Johnson, Jean Simmons, Dick van Dyke...

To Sir, With Love (1967) - Slightly treacly,  basically a straight redo of Blackboard Jungle but with Sidney Poitier in the teacher role. Still, it has Geoffrey Bayldon, Pat Routledge and a surprisingly sinister Edward Burnham.

No Tears for a Killer (1967) - Shonky Italian actioner with Franco Nero and Robert Webber.

The Young Warriors (1967) - Bland TV-ish WW2 drama, just a bunch of soldiers headed by James Drury in a field.

Benjamin - The Diary of an Innocent Boy (1968) - Rote French period drama with Catherine Deneuve and Michel Piccoli.

Two Weeks in September (1968) - Boring. Brigitte Bardot goes about London and Scotland, and stays with James Robertson Justice.

Some Kind of a Nut (1968) - Dick Van Dyke gets a bee sting, grows a beard and is mistaken as a hippie. That's the joke. Peter Brocco appears done up as Dr. Lao for some reason.

The Sea Gull (1968) - Relatively engrossing Chekhov adap, with an unrecognisable Denholm Elliott.

Oedipus the King (1968) - Christopher Plummer gets his eyes clawed out. Routine Euro-epic.

The Counterfeit Killer (1968)  - Surely this lame actioner with Shirley Knight, Jack Lord and Jack Weston was intended for telly.

The Sweet Ride (1968) - Psychedelic beach dreariness with Anthony Francoisa, Jacqueline Bisset and Michael Sarrazin.

Romeo and Juliet (1968) - Not one for the Bard. This is a sumptuous, if predictably goo-goo-eyed adap.

The Bofors Gun (1969) - Tough but memorable military drama with a sterling cast - Nicol Williamson, John Thaw, David Warner, Ian Holm, Barry Jackson, Donald Gee, Peter Vaughan, Barbara Jefford.

Age of Consent (1969) - James Mason does Lolita down under, with Helen Mirren and some Aussie TV (in black and white).

Angel in My Pocket (1969) - Preachy Christian bull with Andy Griffith.

The Kirlian Witness (1979) - Artsy-fartsy weirdness about plant communication.