What was the last film you watched?

[J. R.'s Piece]

Desert Mice. With Alfred Marks, Patricia Bredin, Sidney James, Dora Bryan, Dick Bentley, Reginald Beckwith, Irene Handl, Liz Fraser, Anthony Bushell and John Le Mesurier

The Wicked Lady. Starring Margaret Lockwood, Griffith Jones,
James Mason, Michael Ronnie and Sir Felix Aylmer

The Delavine Affair. Starring Peter Reynolds, Honor Blackman and Gordon Jackson

The Mark of Zorro. 1940. Starring Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone.

And The Same To You. 1959. Starring Brian Rex, Leo Franklyn, Tommy Cooper, Vera Day, William Hartnell, Miles Malleson, Shirley Anne Field, Arthur Mullard and Terry Scott. “With a guest star appearance of Sidney James”. With additional script material by John Junkin and Terry Nation.

All Night Long. Starring Patrick McGoohan, Keith Michell and Richard Attenborough. With Bernard Braden, Dave Brubeck, Johnny Dankworth and Charles Mingus

Dry Rot. 1956. Starring Ronald Shiner, Brian Rex, Peggy Mount, Lee Patterson, Sidney James and Joan Sims

The Big Job. 1965. Starring Sidney James, Sylvia Syms, Dick Emery, Joan Sims, Lance Percival, Jim Dale, Edina Ronay, Deryck Guyler, Reginald Beckwith, Brian Rawlinson, Wanda Ventham and Frank Thornton. Screenplay by Talbot Rothwell, Music by Eric Rogers, produced by Peter Rogers and directed by Gerald Thomas.

Too Many Crooks. 1959. Starring Terry-Thomas, George Cole, Brenda De Banzie, Bernard Bresslaw. With Sidney James, Vera Day, Delphi Lawrence, John Le Mesurier, Sydney Tafler, Nicholas Parsons and Terry Scott.

Life At The Top. 1965. Starring Laurence Harvey, Jean Dimmons, Honor Blackman and Michael Craig

 

[Payton Cross]

IT - [part 1] (2017)

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Oops! Did I really put Jean Dimmons instead of Jean Simmons? Oh dear.

Saw Aileen Marson starring in The Way of Youth. Sadly, she died just five years later at the age of 27, while giving birth to twins.

Watched Thunderstorm with Charles Korvin (later star of ITC’s Interpol Calling) plotting against Carlos Thompson (ITC’s The Sentimental Agent from ITC’s Man of the World and ITC’s The Sentimental Agent).

Build My Gallows High

They Cam’t Hang Me. Starring Terence Morgan

The House Across The Lake. 1954. Starring Alex Nicol, Hilary Brooke, Sidney James, Susan Stephen, Paul Carpenter, Alan Wheatley, Peter Illing and Joan Hickson. Paul Carpenter was found dead in his theatre dressing room in his early 40s, having played lead roles in several films and also provided the voice of the Invisible Man in a few episodes of ITC’s H. G. Wells’ Invisible Man.

Watched Hy Hazell in The Lady Craved Excitement. With Michael Medwin and Sidney James. Remember that Hy Hazell passed away when she choked to death on her steak.

Watched The Iron Maiden. 1962. A Peter Rogers production, starring Michael Craig (by arrangement with Columbia Pictures Corporation), Anne Helm, Jeff Donnell, Alan Hale, Noel Purcell, Cecil Parker, Roland Culver, Joan Sims, John Standing, Brian Oulton, Sam Kyff, Judith Furse, Richard Thorp and Jim Dale. With Anton Rodgers and “The Duke of Bedford as Himself”. With music by Eric Rogers and directed by Gerald Thomas.

 

[Willie Oleson]

It was on YouTube, and I had never seen the full movie. It was more fun than I thought it would be - and I think it's time for a sequel.

 

[Seaviewer]

The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

Updated from the nuclear fears of the the cold war era original to the eco concerns of today. A little heavy handed but well made.

 

[Swami]

Skyfall.

Swami

 

[Willie Oleson]

They killed Rodney! You bastards!

 

[Mel O'Drama]

They killed Rodney! You bastards!

Ha.

Have you seen it before, Willie?

 

[Willie Oleson]

Have you seen it before, Willie?

No, this was the first time. I had read the novels decades ago so I didn't recognize many of the storylines.
And since I love the tv series so much I wasn't very eager to watch the movie, but now it was on YouTube so there was no excuse not to watch it.

Some random thoughts:

-The class had a president and vice-president, and I thought "how typically American!"

-Michael Rossi has a funny voice, kinda like a puppeteer's puppet.

-Allison was my least favourite character and I found her narration insufferable.

-I had completely forgotten that the novel was a pre-WWII story, and I still had no idea until they mentioned Pearl Harbor.

-the acting is a mixed bag, sometimes good and sometimes wooden and overtly melodramatic, but at least it gets the point across.

-the score is outrageously over the top sometimes, for example: when Lucas chases Selena in the forest (I actually had a jump scare).

-the murder scene was perfectly staged.
Selena manages to push Lucas away, runs towards the door to grab the log that she would use as a weapon, but just before that she sort of smashes against the wall.

Which is perfectly normal, considering the panic and chaos - and yet there was something blooper-ish about it. Funnily enough that made it look even more realistic.

It was an ejoyable movie but it doesn't go very deep, partially due to its limited duration, I suppose.

rating:

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Desert Mice. With Alfred Marks, Patricia Bredin, Sidney James, Dora Bryan, Dick Bentley, Reginald Beckwith, Irene Handl, Liz Fraser,

Oh, Liz Fraser has died.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituar...-hearted-blonde-actress-carry-films-obituary/

...and so has Burt Reynolds.

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Never Let Go. A Wintle/Parkyn film. Starring Richard Todd, Peter Sellers (as a delightfully violent car racketeer, whose business falls apart when Adam Faith nicks Richard Todd’s Ford Anglia for him), Elizabeth Sellars, Adam Faith, Carol White, Mervyn Johns, Noel Willman, David Lodge, Peter Jones, John Bailey, Nigel Stock, John Le Mesurier, David Gregory, Cyril Shaps, Jan Holden, James Bree and Roberta Tovey. Music by John Barry.

The One That Got Away. Produced by Julian Wintle. With Hardy Kruger, Michael Goodliffe, Colin Gordon, Terence Alexander, Frederick Jaeger, Jack Gwillim, Robert Cawdron, Andrew Faulds MP. Hardy Kruger as Von Werra, who makes daring escape attempts and gets back to Germany...after which he soon died within months.

All About Eve

The Ghost Ship. Starring Dermot Walsh and Hazel Court

The Way to the Stars

Park Plaza 605. With Tom Conway, Eva Bartok, Sidney James, Richard Wattis, Anton Diffring, Edwin Richfield and Terence Alexander

Payroll. Starring Michael Craig

The music from Never Let Go keeps lingering in my mind
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PZJROc5af68

 

[Seaviewer]

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)

A sort of homage to the "pulp" adventure of the 30s and 40s but with modern CGI and effects.

 

[Willie Oleson]

The first 30 minutes of PSYCHO II

What a stupid and boring movie.

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Mine Own Executioner. Starring Burgess Meredith, Dulcie Gray, Kieron Moore, Barbara White and John Laurie

Night Caller From Outer Space. Starring John Saxon, Maurice Denham, Patricia Haines, Alfred Burke and Warren Mitchell.

The Trollenberg Terror. Starring Forrest Tucker, Laurence Payne, Jennifer Jayne, Janet Munro and Warren Mitchell

The Beauty Jungle. Starring Ian Hendry, Janette Scott, Edmund Purdom and Sidney James. Oh, Edmund Purdom! I remember him!

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Lucky Jim

Rogue’s Yarn. Starring Nicole Maurey, Derek Bond. Derek Bond bumps off his wife with the help of his radio-controlled boat


The Black Rider. Starring Jimmy Hanley, Rona Anderson, Leslie Dwyer, Lionel Jeffries, Vincent Ball, Valerie Hanson, Kenneth Connor, Robert Rietty, Edwin Richfield and Peter Swanwick.

What a Whopper. Starring Adam Faith, Sidney James, Carole Lesley. Co-starring Terence Longdon, Clive Dunn, Freddie Frinton. Introducing Marie France. Guest stars Charles Hawtrey and Spike Milligan. With Wilfred Brambell, Fabiani Drake, Harold Berens, Ewan Roberts, Archie Duncan and Terry Scott. And Anna Gilcrist, Gordon Rollins, Bernard Hunter, Lloyd Reckord, Lance Percival, Molly Weir and Fife Robertson. Screenplay by Terry Nation, based on an idea by Trevor Peacock and Jeremy Lloyd. Music by Laurie Johnson. Adam Faith’s songs arranged by John Barry.

 

[Seaviewer]

Ex Machina

One of a slew of films of recent years about a man who falls in love with a computer or robot or doll. It's its own sub-genre now.

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

Your money or your wife. Starring Donald Sinden, Peggy Cummins, Richard Wattis, Peter Reynolds and Georgina Cookson.

The captains table. Starring John Gregson, Peggy Cummins, Donald Sinden, Richard Wattis, Nadia Gray, Maurice Denham, Joan Sims, James Hayter, Miles Malleson. Reginald Beckwith, John Le Mesurier, Bill Kerr

The Fast Lady. Starring James Robertson Justice, Leslie Phillips, Stanley Baxter, Kathleen Harrison, Julie Christie, Eric Barker, Frankie Howerd, Raymond Baxter, Esma cannon, Terence Alexander, Clive Dunn, Dick Emery, Deryck Guyler, Gerald Campion, Allan Cuthbertson, Harold Goodwin, Toke Townley, Bill Fraser, ‘Monsewer’ Eddie Gray, Fred Emney, Bernard Cribbins, Michael Balfour and Martin Miller. A Julian Wintle/Leslie Parkyn production. Directed by Ken Annakin

VeryImportant Person. Starring James Robertson Justice, Leslie Phillips, Stanley Baxter. With Eric Sykes, Richard Wattis, Godfrey Winn. With Colin Gordon, John Le Zmesurier, Norman Bird, Ronnie Stevens, Jeremy Lloyd, Ronald Leigh-Hunt and Steve Plytas. A Julian Wintle/Leslie Parkyn production. Directed by Ken Annakin

The Vicious circle. Starring John Mills, Derek Farr, Noelle Middleton, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Roland Culver, Mervyn Johns, Lionel Jeffries, Lisa Daniely. Produced by Peter Rogers. Directed by Gerald Thomas

 

[Willie Oleson]

 

[J. R.'s Piece]

I Am A Camera. With Julie Harris, Laurence Harvey, Shelley Winters, Ron Randell, Anton Diffring, Patrick McGoohan and Tuttle Lemkow.

Fort Algiers. 1953. With Yvonne De Carlo, Carlos Thompson, Raymond Burr

The Rake’s Progress. 1945. With Rex Harrison, Jean Kent, Griffith Jones, Alan Wheatley, Joan Hickson and Lilli Palmer Mrs Rex Harrison and Mrs Carlos Thompson)

Ambush in Leopard Street. 1962. James Kenney. Michael Brennan, Jean Harvey, Norman Rodway and Bruce Seton (soon to leave acting and become the 11th Seton baronet, upon death of his brother).

 

[Seaviewer]

I Am A Camera. With Julie Harris

I saw that on TV a while back. It's easy to imagine it almost as the story of young Lilimae.