Wednesday 23 September 2020

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 Midnight (1934 - b/w) - Rote family drama, featuring Humphrey Bogart. 


Page Miss glory (1935 - b/w) - Forgotten Pat o'brien/Marion Davies musical. 


Where's That Fire (1940 - b/w) - Routine Will Hay.


First of the Few (1942 - b/w) - passable wartime biopic with Leslie Howard as Reginald "Spitfire" Mitchell. 


The Man in Grey (1943 - b/w) - The ultimate in Gainsborough.

see also Ealing's Saraband for dead lovers (1947)


Eve of Saint Mark (1944 - b/w) - samey Fox war fare.


Mystery of the 13th Guest (1943) - Forgettable Monogrammer.


See also The Way Ahead (1944), which with it shares David Niven. But it has the greatest cast of character actors - Niven, Stanley Holloway, James Donald, John Laurie, Leslie Dwyer, Hugh Burden, "Jimmie" Hanley, Billy Hartnell, Reginald Tate (ooh - first Doctor and first Quatermass), Leo Genn, Renee Ascherson, Tessie O'Shea, AE Matthews, Jack Watling, Peter ustinov "and Raymond Huntley", plus Esma Cannon


The Strange Mr. Gregory (1945 - b/w) - Rote Monogram mystery. 


They Were Not Divided (1950 - b/w) - Terence Young war pic starring Edward Underdown. 


Room to let (1950 - b/w) - One of two Lodger variants starring doomed Limerick-born Constance Smith, one of seemingly dozens of Rank charm school grads abandoned and then left to die young, 


Four in a Jeep (1951 - b/w) - Rote war Europud.


Something to live for (1952 - b/w) - Rote weepie. See also Ray Milland in Three Brave Men (1956).


Tom Brown's Schooldays (1951 - b/w)  - John Howard Davies does the old chestnut. With Robert Newton, James Hayter, Michael Hordern, Max Bygraves, Glyn Dearman (the other JH Davies - known for playing a Dickensian character, and then became a BBC radio producer)


Scared Stiff (1953) - Like the Karloff vehicle The Man with Nine Lives (1940), I swore I had seen this. Maybe just felt like it. See also Spooks Run Wild (1940), Doomed to Die (1936), The Miracle Man (1932 - b/w)


Julius Caesar (1953 - b/w) - It feels so small. 


Albert,  RN (1953 - b/w) - Routine British war fare, but with a dummy. Not to be confused with Carrington, VC (1954). 

 

Shark River (1953 - b/w) - Generic southern. 


The Black Tent (1956) - Dreary desert adventure.


The Naked Truth (1957) - The usual 50s comedy. Peter Sellers' turn as a Scottish TV personality in the McKeller/Stewart mould is terrifying. See also Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (1959 - with Nicholas Parsons!), The Battle of the Sexes (1959) and Wrong Arm of the Law (1962), Only Two Can play (1962), Trial and Error (1962), Where Does it Hurt (1972), and the bizarre Yellowbeard-for-kids Ghost in the Noonday Sun (1973)


Tom Thumb (1958) - Charming. Peter Sellers looks like Tim Healy.


Daddy O (1958) - Miserable AIP rockery.  See also Rock all Night (1957), Runaway Daughters (1956),  High School Hellcats (1958)...


Carve Her Name with Pride (1959 - b/w) - Typical WW2 film. 


Machine Gun Kelly (1958 - b/w) - Rote gangstery from Corman, an early lead for Charles Bronson. 

Operation Dames (1959) - AIP fluff with pervy soldiers and singing nurses. See also Tank Commandos (1958) and Paratroop Command (1959). 


El Cid (1961) - Typical epic. 

See also 55 Days at Peking (1963). 


The Last Judgment (1961 - b/w) - All-star DeLaurentiis fantasy comedy partly set in Liverpool. 


Sodom and Gomorrah (1962) - An Italian biblical epic, cinematic junk food on a large scale.


The Young Racers (1963) - Dreary Corman racing pic. 

See Also Pit Stop (1969)


I Maniaci (1964) - all-star Fulci comedy.


The Born Losers (1967) - Routine biker trash that launched Billy Jack. 


Mission Phantom (1967) - Fun visuals in this Euroheister with Fernando Sancho.


The Bride wore Black (1968)  Like the Paul muni Europic Stranger on the Prowl (1952), long thought I had seen this. 


Black Angels (1970) - The worst Hell's Angels picture?


A Man Called Horse (1970)/The Return of the Man Called Horse (1976)/Triumphs of a Man Called Horse (1983) - the last one is pure stale spaghetti, but these are intriguing films. Despite the heavy amounts of brownface and bag pigtail wigs. Harris is an ideal presence. 


Tragic Ceremony (1972)  - ?


Dillinger (1973) - so generic I swear I had seen this. But its a decent gangster fick. 


Five on the Black Hand Side (1973) - Pleasantly confrontational black family drama.


The Voyage (1974)  - Typical turgid vehicle for La Loren. By De Sica?!?!


Caged Heat (1974) - Rote women in prisoner.


Arabian Nights (19740 - Pasolini doing his usual. 


Adolf Hitler - My Part in his Downfall (1974) - Dullish biopic of young Spike Milligan, even though Jim Dale is way too old, the resemblance just gets uncannier year by year. 


Death Weekend (1976) - No matter how tough this rape-revenge flick gets, I can't take it seriously because Brenda Vaccaro I can only associate with Andrea Martin in SCTV no matter how many things I've seen her in, and as this is a Canadian production (SCTV associate Ivan Reitman producing) , it doesn't help. 


The Missouri Breaks (1976) - A western, yes, but Brando is so convincing as an Irishman. Really. Not just the voice, the body language. 


Robin and Marian (1976) - Is it supposed to be ludicrous? The ending is a tear-jerker, and the soundtrack is one of Barry's best.


A Bridge Too Far (1977) - A film no matter how much its epicness and scale and the fact I visited Arnhem age 12, I associate with being that film "Cos worked on", Cos being a family friend. 

See also Yanks (1979) and Cross of Iron (1977).


Hound of the Baskervilles (1978) - A Waste. Yet I'd lie if I said I wasn't partly amused. Cook and Williams should have switched parts, though. Kenneth Williams would have been a genuinely brilliant serious Sherlock. 


Force 10 from Navarone (1978) - It begins with a Patrick allen narration/montage, and because of Reeves and Mortimer, I can't take this seriously. 


The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh (1979)/Roller Boogie (1979) - Flip Wilson does two awful novelty disco movies for UA???


Don't Go in the House (1979) - I wish I didn't. 


see also The Slumber Party Massacre (1982), Final Exam (1981), Graduation Day (1981) and He Knows You're Alone (1980)

Night School (1981) - Feels like a slightly-above giallo because of the presence of the American but previously Rome-based Leonard Mann. The twist makes no sense. Is Rachel Ward the killer?


Encounters of the Spooky kind (1980)  - Some interesting gore. But quite indebted to Iron Fisted Monk (1981). 


City of Women (1980) - huh?

See also Il Bidone (1953) and Variety Lights (1950). Finishing up on Fellini. 


Charlie Chan and the Curse of The Dragon Queen (1981) - Why was this made? If it was a Tv pilot, it'd explain a lot. But it ain't. 


Comin at Ya (1981) - Whata beautifully strange western.


Knightriders (1981) - Flawed because of how strange it is - a creative anachronist knight of the realm finds himself living his delusion of being King Arthur, but Romero's ace up his sleeve is the casting of storyteller Brother Blue as Merlin.


Excalibur (1981) - It's bacially just nutters roaming about Wicklow. Even Clive Swift suggests my childhood. 


Enter the Fat Dragon (1981)   - Sammo at his best.


A STranger is Watching (1982) - TV movie-ish Kate Mulgrew thriller. 


See also Visiting Hours (1982), which features UBS, the titular Network of the 1976 film and American Nightmare (1983, equally generic, down to the Canadian setting). 


Handgun (1984) - Tough but well-made kitchen sink vigilante rape flick from Tony Garnett. Has a weird cod-reggae theme from Harry Nilsson. 



The Company of Wolves (1984) - The effects are so trashy, but the film is so "classy", but the performance from Rea and the tone projected by Mr. Neil Jordan of Bray  is pure Wanderly Wagon. Hey, product placement for DC Thomson. What a waste. Never noticed that Graham Crowden and Brian Glover were double-billed first, though we have introducing credits and "and David Warner". In the end credits, Crowden and Glover and 3rd and 4th billed, but still, Neil, you had a great cast. We could have monster hunter Angela Lansbury. 


Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) - Yawen. 


The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984)- ZZZ.


Yes, Madam (1985) - Typical Hong Kong coppers. But you can see that despite all the posturing from Cynthia Rothrock, that it would be Michelle Yeoh who'd be the major Anglophone star. 


The Doctor and the Devils (1985) - Weird to see Lewis Fiander billed over Beryl Reid, TP McKenna and Patrick Stewart. The performances from Stephen Rea going full stage Dub, Jonathan Pryce and Phil Davis don't help. 


Lethal Obsession (1987) - Erotic German thriller with Elliott Gould. 


Shanghai shanghai (1990) - Ropey Sammo Hung vehicle, too glossy for its own good. 


Rewatched The Elephant Man (1980 - which I finally understand and see is a great film), Scanners (1981), Somewhere in Time (1980), the bollocks Hellraiser (1987), Don't look now (1973), Ashanti (1979), Zulu (1964), Zulu Dawn (1979), The Tamarind Seed (1974), a Hard day's Night (1964), Thunderbirds are GO/Thunderbird 6 (1967)/(1968)), The Bridge at Remagen (1969), Yellow Submarine (1968), Chitty chitty, bang Bang (1968)...


 Convicts Four (1962) - Rote prison film, Allied artists spending the money on an incredible cast.


Dirty Weekend (1973) - Peculiar Italian buddy comedy with Oliver Reed and Mastrello Mastroianni.


Wolf Lake (1980) - Dreary revenge film with Rod Steiger and the soon-to-be-murdered David Huffman. Set in Canada, shot in Mexico. 


Circle of Two (1982) - Canadian march-january romance with Richard Burton and Hammer fan Tatum O'Neal. 


Pit and the Pendulum (1991) - Typical Band ambition doesn't meet success.


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