Film Reviews by CV

The story is told from the point of view of four journalists who try to get the truth of the debacle of the Gallipoli "invasion" out to the British and Australian publics. The historical characters are vividly drawn and contrasted and Charles Dance as a gruff General Hamilton is a masterly performance. Charles Bean is a fascinatingly unlikely character who charges into the thick of the action without arms for the sake of observing every detail of battle. The dialogue is punchy and there are great one-line responses : the reporter Schuler presents the general with photographs of horrific wounds to individual soldiers. The general scoffs that no-one will see them (as he will confiscate them) but Schuler replies: "No, but you did." The theme is very topical with all that is going on in Russia concerning the war in Ukraine.

There is an interesting extra of the background and biographies of the various reporters and it is apparent that a lot of careful research went into the making of this feature film as Bean's diaries in particular were very detailed and presumably all his experiences were genuinely depicted. He is both superior and compassionate by turns and the actor is very well matched in appearance.

Yes, Keith Murdoch is the father of Rupert! While the son sought the truth in major issues of war, the son's newspaper makes vast sums of wealth, seeking the "truth" by spying on private lives!

One of the first things I remember when our family got our first black-and-white television in 1968 was the news reporting of Bobby Kennedy's assassination: the blurred images and shouts of panic caused me to run out of the lounge and tell my mother in the kitchen. She also, of course, remembered the shooting of his elder brother John F a few years before which had already caused her shock and disbelief.

Robert had been instrumental in the peaceful negotiation of the Missile Crisis in Cuba and had earned a reputation as a decent and strong runner for election. The film increasingly took on the form of a Passion Story: Bobby (the film title alone indicates his rapport with the people) appears in contemporary news reel (in colour) as himself and the whole film integrates these clips very neatly into the story-line. Like Christ advancing on Jerusalem to face the crucifixion, we are aware that Bobby Kennedy is also progressing to his own assassination and the whole action is that fatal day which takes place at a hotel. As Christ had spoken to and blessed the crowds days before his death, we feel the presence and expectation of Bobby's arrival having a positive effect on ordinary people who are at the hotel as staff or guests and their lives also are affected positively in anticipation of his visit: couples are reconciled, racial tensions are eased and personal relationships are deepened and this is how the film conveys "Bobby" as a spiritual influence. And the tragedy of his death also causes more reconciliation among these ordinary people.

Bobby Kennedy was clearly adored and raised such hopes of racial reconciliation and a respectful exit from the Vietnam War. News footage reveals his genuine compassion for all people and he did not shirk from going right into their midst to be with them. One scene shows him talking to children in a school about pollution which we would now include in the environmental problem. Now the Trumps and Johnsons of this world have made all this seem as though this all took part on another planet.

I don't remember this series at all in 1979 but was delighted to have watched it now. Interesting to hear King George's frequent statements against female politicians as the year the series was made, Margaret Thatcher entered the first year of her premiership! The series of eight substantial episodes covers strictly the Regency period which also covers King George III, magnificently played by Nigel Davenport who commands such presence even on a small screen. But the whole is really dominated by the ever engaging character portrayed by Peter Egan. Whatever prejudice one has for this king, who is always imagined as a frivolous dandy, one is won over to a sympathetic understanding and even a fondness for this "merry" monarch as he seemed always to have had good intention and generosity of spirit. The condition of the series is excellent and the aging processes are incredibly well done in make-up and acting style. Well done Cinemaparadiso for preserving these wonderful forgotten series!

The influence of theatre is still present in this early 1969 production in the respective of stylized acting and small sets and the camera work also adds a creative and meaningful dimension to the whole. The casting is excellent and acting vivid and well-differentiated. I haven't read the book but one feels the dialogue is verbatim and that most of it is retained in the script. The black and white production also adds a Dickensian shade of atmosphere. You will notice that the introduction boldly says "Dramatized by" rather than vaguely "Based on" as so many modern productions are obliged to. I do remember watching this series at the time with my family and the catch-phrase "Stand by!" has always been with me!

I was intrigued to see if the singer Antonio Theba was actually playing the violin and found out that he was! Although the picture is excellent for 1973, the singing for this operetta by Franz Lehar was badly dubbed in this film version . In fact it felt more like a popular Broadway musical and one of the two lighter numbers didn't seem to be by Lehar at all as they were dance-band style with trumpets and drum-kit. Mildly entertaining and interesting but I had hoped for a staged version despite the scenic locations on the film.

I'm afraid many will find this the aural equivalent of paint drying. While the audience seem to be an appreciative beard-scratching lot, I can imagine the boy up the tree (in the Emperor's New Clothes story) shouting out "But it's just four simple chords repeated over and over again!" Maybe I did nod off but I saw no references to Martin Luther King and there was just a hint of Tolstoy in the first act. Bland, very concordant and simple harmony but do give me that old, old piercing dissonant kind of music instead! The picture quality was also poor. How performers memorized such repetitive music and posed in static tableaux for minutes on end I know not.

This film is just over three hours long and you feel it. The story of Nero is presented as a Greek tragedy, his hubris being his allegiance to a slave-girl romance in tension with his desire to change the world for good by seizing power. The film relies too much on the romance, which all looks too modern in style, and the dialogue is ever soporifically banal. There is one character, a veteran senator, who attempts profundity with lines such as "All liars believe what they say - until they've said it." That's as good as it gets.

With a big smile the producer said he wanted to make a film that was not the usual BBC Period Drama. So we were presented with an unbelievable exclusively Lesbian sex story that had the flimsiest connection with real history with only nominal reference to what was happening politically outside the queen's court. Too silly to be serious and too bad-taste to be funny. Surely the challenge for a producer IS to make actual history interesting and captivating and not make your own imaginary sexed-up history instead. All three female characters rapidly became tedious, revolting and despicable in their own particular selfish and ambitious ways. And the modernistic dialogue with all its expletives - colourful language of the time was much more imaginative - clashed with the effort of providing lavish period costume. One star only for artistic presentation, none for content.

I was pleasantly surprised that Cinemaparadiso had this film as I had recently read the original novel hidden away in the "Classics" section of the local library. The dominant theme is that of class prejudice where a government minister falls in love with a young lady of dubious background. She had been born out of wedlock and was adopted by her mother's subsequent husband who ran a brothel "downstairs". The girl is educated and is innocent of her step-father's double occupation. The family falls on hard times and Fanny has to make her way relying on family friends and a long-standing friend, Lucy, who has becomes a dancer and actor. Made during the war, the film does well and is a good Sunday afternoon watch. Note a young James Mason as a villain and a very young Stewart Grainger in their early careers.

Incidentally, the novel is told by an elderly Fanny who has retired in a French Pension, looking back over her life. There is much that is poignant in the novel, more detail of the brothel activities and characters who are staunch, generous and kind despite their lowly circumstances.

I suppose you would call this film an acted documentary and it is fascinating to see acted scenes spliced with interviews with the actual characters recounting their wartime experiences many years later. It is a testament to both the bravery and ingenuity of a group of Jewish students who change their identity and live a precarious existence constantly evading detection by the Gestapo authorities and trusting Jewish-sympathising Germans who also put their lives on the line. Even though the various personae live to tell the tale, as it were, there is still nail-biting tension in the acted scenes. Germans who defied the Nazi regime must be the greatest heroes of the war as they must have felt everyone was their enemy and had everything to lose. How good it is to have this document so well made by the people themselves.

My feelings about this film are similar to those of Alphaville below: I wonder if film actors of today have lost the benefit of the once requisite experience of theatre and have passed their drama exams by just the experience of film settings with microphones about their person which minimises their need to project - not just in vocal terms but in also in terms of characterisation. Why go to the length of getting costumes right when the dialogue and way of behaving doesn't match the period either. Interpreting the novel of 'Frankenstein' in this way was interesting as it was not what I have understood the received interpretation to be.

It was truly wonderful to see a film about a mathematician I had only heard about in lectures where even in these his ascent to greatness was referred to as phenomenal. Jeremy Irons is true to form as the crusty bachelor Cambridge don Dr Hardy with Dev Patel the wonderkind from India. There were so many themes in this film which would make it so appealing to almost anyone and it certainly has an emotional impact despite the low-key stiff-upper lip portrayal of post-Edwardian England. For me it raised questions about the supremacy of proof-bound serialist thinking of the west where Ramanujan's inspiration came from a holistic view of nature perhaps more typical of the east. An obvious theme was also the overcoming of racial prejudice where you would think that genius recognising genius would transcend national boundaries. Praise must go to Littlewood and the softening of Hardy to promote Ramanujan's colossal contribution to modern mathematics.

I'm afraid I was quite disappointed with this account of Robert the Bruce. The action starts where Bruce is a fugitive having disbanded his forces after defeat from the English. There is a price put on his head and former comrades turn traitor and attempt to hunt him down. After one attempt to take him, where he incurs an arrow wound, taking brief refuge in a cave with a spider, he is rescued by a family, who still remain loyal to the King, who live in a remote cottage and keep a low profile. After this point the film seems to borrow a Hollywood formula where the family of mother and children nurse the wounded Bruce back to health and together fight a heroic "battle" against the "baddie" traitors at the end in the manner of the Unionist soldiers defending the fort against an overwhelming force of marauding Indians. I waited in vain for the Battle of Bannockburn - it was mentioned briefly at the end. There was no sense that this was vital history for Scotland and if the film was made in view of a second referendum for independence the moment was lost with a rather family-adventure style film to plead the cause.

For all its splendid costume and lighting this is quite disappointing. Mozart looks more like Boy George, even the hair colouring is wrong. Some of the dialogue sounds like two Darleks with their batteries running low.

I was not aware of this series when it was first broadcast in 1975 but I was very impressed with it seeing it decades later and there was no need for an apology for the mechanical quality of production. Despite its twee-sounding title, the series follows the careers, including their, at times rather incestuous romantic relationships, of members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which include men and associated women who excelled in often more than one art form. They set out to oppose the current academic dogma of contemporary art and instead champion truth and nature which meant painting scenes conveying emotion with realistic detail of background settings so that the picture does not lead the viewer to read in further hidden and arcane meanings: everything is as you see it.

The series excels in having a group of highly-talented and committed actors playing the parts with such distinction and convincing aging process: no one personality dominates although I personally liked the humanity and eccentricity of William Morris. There is still the influence of theatre in the acting style: everything is orated and made big with gesture and movement though the set itself may look a bit flimsy at times. One reviewer elsewhere has lauded the enthusiasm and skill of actors in the 70s and there are many other classic historical series that still maintain the sense of live theatre in this way. No basking in opulently expensive settings, fantastic costumes and mumbling of two-word phrases in this era! The dialogue is typically rich in expression with much insight into the technical and aesthetic ambitions of the various artists.

I hope to be able to buy the series at some point.