Film Reviews by AW

BEWARE, there be SPOILERS:

1958 Hitchcock with James Stewart & Kim Novak. Multiple language subtitles.

I'm sure I've seen this film several times before but perhaps never finished it or watched enough for the plot to sink in - except that it had Barbara Bel Geddes in it.

Classic Hitchcock scenes, original camera angles, effective suspense, can't fault AH on that, but it's been oft quoted that at age 50 perhaps James Stewart was a tad too old to be the male lover lead...I didn't really have a problem with that and Kim Novak was yet again a classic beautiful Hitchcockian blonde leading lady (remember AH's obsession with blondes, ie: T.Hedren, G.Kelly, J.Leigh, E.M.Saint) but in my mind the outstanding woman in this film was Bel Geddes - who really only gets a very short part but is wonderful - modern, feisty, clever, educated, well read, but ultimately disappointed that Stewart as Scottie is no longer interested in her. She lives above the San Francisco skyline in a fascinating, colourful flat, designing brassieres.

To be honest I thought Novak, even though playing an apparently confused and tortured soul was a bit wooden and afterwards, Stewart, when going after Judy turned into a domineering and somewhat sinister character - forcing her to wear reproductions of Madeleine's suit, shoes, even the hair style. Weird or what?

Wonderful views of a clean and tidy, non- traffic congested San Francisco in the '50s, sadly SF is now apparently populated with homeless and drug addled people.

In a way the plot as it stands is also a tad unbelievable, {So now for the SPOILERS!! Kim is a decoy for the murder of the real Madeleine, Scottie has been duped as the fall guy to testify that the woman he is obsessed with, genuinely fell from a bell tower}.

The twist at the end is therefore a bit of retribution even though it's not particularly karma as it is rather more accidental due to the sudden appearance of a nun.

Hitchcock's best? Hmmm. Not really. Personally I liked NORTH BY NORTHWEST, MARNIE and TO CATCH A THIEF better but that may just be me.

Kudos go to the 2 men who oversaw the film's restoration from a nearly destroyed and faded master to a clear and crisp copy for posterity.

Disc doesn't contain the director's cut longer version, apparently a lot was cut out, but it does have interesting extras, a Feature Commentary, and a Obsessed with Vertigo Featurette.

Gosh, 1974!

13 episodes.

Never saw the original broadcasting, but I like Alderton and Collins and wanted to contrast it with the recently viewed later series YES HONESTLY, with Liza Goddard and Donal Donnelly, written by the same scriptwriters, Brady & Bingham.

John A plays "CD" (Charles Danby),a sensible and patient jobbing actor who meets Pauline C as Claira Burrell, at a party. Instant attraction.

Each episode starts with them sitting straight to camera as if introducing themselves years on and reflecting on their marriage, then showing snippets of the romance and route to getting to know each other. Claira's character is quite kooky and totally fey. Doesn't seem to know how to turn on a TV!! She comes from an aristocratic family, who are otherworldly & have a butler. Daddy is obsessed with gardening & plants and Mummy neighs like a horse & observes all the proprieties. Hilarity and total confusion ensue.

Quirky and charming series, have put next disc on the list. Always lovely to have non- smutty, genuine comedy to lighten the mood in the times between serious dramas, with their general gloom and violence.

Theme tune sung by the late Lynsey de Paul

Written to my surprise by Downton's creator Julian Fellowes. Had never heard of it before. Took a while to get going but I persevered and it just gets better and better. I thoroughly enjoyed it and eagerly sought the 2nd disc after Episodes 1-3 on D1. Ep. 4-6 contained on D2..

Adequate LWT sitcom 1976-77. Catchy theme tune written & sung by Georgie Fame. 8 half hour episodes on Disc 1.

NO subtitles.

Loosely based on and written by the same team who wrote the romantic comedy No Honestly with John Alderton/Pauline Collins.

I missed most of the late 70s TV shows through being overseas so CP allows me to catch up on both.

Liza Goddard is, well, Liza Goddard - cute, bubbly, quick, witty, sparkling as a slightly scatty secretary, Lily, working for, and able to, easily rebuff the tantrums of neurotic, misogynistic writer/composer Donal Donnelly as Matthew Browne. Not familiar with Donal's repertoire, but it was extensive This is supposed to be a further romantic comedy but why they thought Lily would fall for Matt eIudes me.

Each episode starts and ends rather oddly with both characters bantering to the camera (isn't it called the 4th wall?) behind a very fancily decorated grand piano.

Lily's Russian mother & grandmother plus Matt's staid & stuffy mother provide comic relief. The cute blond John Alkin (later better noticed as Malta head of station in the final episodes of spy series The Sandbaggers) plays Lily's brother, an unconvincing stutterer. Of interest he went on to marry aspiring singer Audrey Middleton aka "Lee Everett" - ex-wife of Kenny.

Should you watch this? Well, witty enough dialogue thru Liza, so fine for a wet afternoon.

I really thought this film was late 70s, say '77 thru '80 but was surprised to find it was 1971. The fashions, hairstyles, and technology were not as obvious. People too often state films are "dated" but the term really doesn't apply...if you watch ones of 30, 40 or 50 years ago (52 in this case!) they are simply of a period.

I was sure I'd seen it before but wanted to revisit it after reading the book I got free from a railway station help-yourself bookshelf. The story is by Alistair MacLean who incidentally wrote the screenplay. Often authors aren't really up to translating their adventurous stories to the big screen but AM nails it here. There's plenty of action, suspense, intrigue & skullduggery, with helicopters, boats, grappling hooks, underwater photography, and plenty of chilly seawater and ragged rocks on the wild west coast of Scotland. AM wrote a number of cracking stories that got filmed, including Ice Station Zebra, Where Eagles Dare, Fear Is The Key, etc. Unfortunately AM's nearest rival Desmond Bagley, my all-time favourite author sadly suffered worse with filmings of his own stories, they just never seemed to match up.

Anthony Hopkins leads the cast as navy diver and secret agent Philip Calvert who's on a quest to find the gang who's been hijacking gold bullion from ships. I didn't recognise Corin Redgrave as his intelligence officer cohort Hunslett on the Firecrest, but the film is full of more of the top actors of the period - Robert Morley, Jack Hawkins, Ferdy Mayne, Maurice Roeves... and Natalie Delon, Alain's former wife, speaking very good English and providing female diversion and potential love interest.

Worth a watch with some good chuckles off lines by Morley as 'Uncle Arthur' or 'Annabel'.

As another person has remarked I saw the original WHISKY GALORE a while ago, black & white, a classic 50s film (I think...er, whoops; '49 I see! ) 98 minutes, colour and has English subtitles.

This WG is a whimsical film, filmed on the north coast of Scotland above Aberdeen. Think it was fairly close to the coastal village they used in LOCAL HERO, called Pennan. Plenty of location scenery.

I was drawn to this by Eddie Izzard whose performances are fine to me, he tends, as he says in the special features, not to perform in comedies per se, although I must admit I did chuckle a lot in this.

Subtle nuances poking fun at staid Scots but pleasing. Definitely a feelgood film with a happy ending.

What I find awkward is the two lead young men. I got them all mixed up as they all looked similar. I wish more film directors would remember we the viewers don't know who people are in your story until you establish the scenes and plot! The schoolteacher's mother was a typical church and god-fearing harridan but as usual she thaws.

My mother enjoyed it and she misses a lot through being deaf and needing the subtitles to follow the story. Happily they were fairly good and correct. I have noticed far too much AI subtitles that appallingly mangle what newsreaders and video shorts say.

GRIMSEY (2018)

Written and directed by Ricardo Garcia

who plays the character Bruno.

Bruno searches the whole huge island of Iceland hopeful of finding missing boyfriend Norberto who has irritatingly left a trail the length and breadth of the country and fails to communicate with Bruno to tell him their relationship is off. It's only quite late on you find there may be a a rather feeble reason for it all, but by then I'd lost much of my patience.

Basically it's a road trip with lots of lovely & unusual Icelandic vistas, Reykjavik to Akureyri, to the island of Grimsey, 40 km off the northern coast. Great as a travelogue but boring as a story which really goes nowhere by the end. Sparse and limited dialogue.

Garcia is laconic and curiously expressionless and seems a bit irritated with Spanish tour guide Arnau who only seems to want to help. They even meet up with another gay Spanish couple but their apparent happiness just seems to grate on Bruno - I think - but by then I was nearly turning it off...another CP rental I was keen to send back.

Luckily it was only 70 mins, and ends strangely with upbeat Spanish music.

POW/WWII theme, might be your bag but frankly I have to be in the mood. When the disc arrived I couldn't even remember having it on my CP list,

let alone in the top 10 choices. Possibly I was looking for a hitherto unknown Sellars vehicle, but this had no comedy at all. Peter was in a straight & serious role as it was several yrs before the Pink Panther franchise and its fame but one realises he'd been "on the go" in films like I'm Alright Jack, Casino Royale and After the Fox from 1959.

This film's from 1973 but you can't tell the age due to the theme. Sadly it's filmed yet again in the dark (aargh) with a muddy, fuzzy background, making it hard to see the characters in every frame & even more difficult because of grubby faces, long hair and plenty of face fuzz.

The lads endure weeks underground - waiting for rescue? - umn, dunno - because by then, frankly, I'd "switched off" my attention tho' I left the disc running in the background, lest I find, as I sometimes do, a more interesting part to prompt me to rewind and play back.

That's the ultimate joy of DVDs.

Familiar faces, Vaughan, Kemp & Lissek but I barely recognised Jones and Lynch until I saw the cast list. Aznavour is angular Aznavour - he made a lot of serious films and he's fine.

It's probably ultimately a pretty good film and well made but that week I'd have preferred something more uplifting or amusing - that's the problem at times with CP. What you fancy one week isn't what you fancy the next but you don't wanna waste the rental slot, so sometimes it takes a while to view and return and give it a chance .

1990 film with Pierce Brosnan in the lead role as army officer Harry Rudbeck, in the years before he became Bond. Beattie Edney (Sylvia Sims' daughter) plays his pretty and tolerant wife, the only white woman in the area.

The standout is Maynard Eziashi in his first film role as the eponymous Mr Johnson, a local clerk who has styled himself as British and adopted colonial traits; wants wealth and civilisation for himself and the area but falls afoul of the straightlaced Foreign Office and army rules, plus his own people. He seems good natured enough initially and tries hard to solve problems, eventually cooking the books to further Brosnan's ambitions to build a road out to civilisation, but as things go on, his actions become a tad more sinister although you feel some sympathy for his plight. Things soon come to a head when an auditor arrives unexpectedly and he's found out.

Filmed interestingly in Nigeria where Australian director Bruce Beresford (directed also Breaker Morant/Driving Miss Daisy) incidentally lived several years. There's red soil and dust everywhere and hundreds of local extras in a rather sparse landscape.

Edward Woodward is a foul mouthed shopkeeper in Fada out in the bush; he's an Aussie-like character; some of his verbal slurs about the natives may grate on ears of the ultrasensitive (I guess this predates our complete reversal into painful wokeness) but remember this is the 1920s.

Not the first outing either for Brosnan, Woodward or Eziashi with this director.

The first half hour tested my tolerance a bit but I urge you to persevere. The story gets more gripping and there's a real dilemma by the end. Brosnan has the right amount of sympathy but grit to do what he has to.

LOST Title slightly confusing; don't mix it up with the 2004 American mystery series of a downed airliner with its survivors stranded on a mysterious tropical island.

Appears to have an a.k.a title: TEARS FOR SIMON. Reasonably gripping 1950s film, this time pleasantly in colour and filmed in locations most likely on the Sussex coast (near some white cliffs - Beachy Head?) I like watching these 50s films for the pinched waists, trim women, elegant dresses (everyone dresses properly to go out), children playing in the street who don't talk back, the cars, a refreshing lack of road traffic, and tidy houses & neighbourhoods where pride reigns. There's usually at least one post-war bombsite somewhere, reminding you it's only 10 or so years after WW2..

A child is snatched along with its pram from outside a chemists shop in London whilst Nanny is inside. It's the 18 mo.old son of a slightly drippy American Embassy official (David knight) and his Viennese wife (Julia Arnall). The latter becomes frantic and won't stop in her quest to find the boy, slightly hampering the official police investigation. Apart from David Farrar who plays the craggy faced inspector charged with the case, I was not familiar with many of the other bit players except the following in the early parts of their careers, who became stalwarts in films for decades afterwards: Eleanor Summerfield as the sassy police sergeant, Joan Hickson, Margery Rhodes, Joan Sims, Mona Washbourne, Thora Hird, and Barbara Windsor. The usual black police cars traverse London with their tingly-dingly bells, and it's fun seeing some well known locations.

There are few clues to go on initially. There's standard policing and enquiries to decent hardworking London cockney speaking folk, then there's something to do with printed books and a library (afraid my attention wandered here) through which they glean the identity of the kidnapper, as no ransom has yet been demanded so fears are rife that the child's been murdered.

Bit of a Cliff-hangar-ending, what? Pun intended. Police inspector nearly comes-a-cropper, parents get baby back, then the credits roll. Quite a short film but Ok for a quiet Sunday afternoon in. Worth a gander.

The titular 'hero' Harry is a bumbler, moving through every episode in a cleverly scripted haze of incomprehension, miscomprehension, innuendo, and tunnel vision. He gets people so wound up with his word salad of literal interpretation they want to crown him, and I don't blame them; It started out slowly in the 1st episode, his brand of humour took a bit of getting used to (and technically the CP disc here was from episodes from Season 2 - dunno quote what goes on with these compilations) but the following episodes got much funnier.

My warning though: Don't get more than one disc at a time, I feel sure this type of humour might start to grate. Perhaps I'll see more discs with strictly limiting spacing.

Also a lot of regulars appear as new characters in subsequent episodes, Sydney Tafler, Jack Woolgar, Anthony Sharp, Leonard Williams, Les Clark, Sam Kydd, even Ballard Berkeley (the dotty Major in Fawlty Towers)!

Episodes contained on Disc 1 were

The Bicycle, The Holiday, The Request, The Medals, The Voice, The Dance.

I watched a disc of Denver Live in Japan recently; it was a full programme of his tip top greatest hits; wonderful to sing along with, don't remember it's date.

Here we have John in Birmingham in '86, being simultaneously recorded by the BBC, at the full height of his career but playing a much more varied programme, including new songs from his 24th (yep, 24th) album, a number of which I had never heard before but so distinctly Denver style. Always a delight to hear any programme by this guy, he was a consummate singer/ songwriter; sadly no longer with us. He's got 3 backing singers, numerous brass instrumentalists and an orchestra. So far so good - but sadly JDs voice was having a really off day. He's normally so distinctive and energetic with a lovely smooth voice even up to almost yodelling - unfortunately here he blew a lot of notes. Maybe he had a sore throat or something but sadly once you notice that and replay the disc you simply can't help picking up on it every time. Oh well, it's not bad, just it's not...good. Any repertoire of his playing in the background is fun; I'm not put off totally, I'll probably go and watch some of his other concerts when he's having a better voice day.

As several versions of the Father Brown stories have been made there is ample choice around but for my money I find this particular and latest series sweet and gentle. Good mysteries and a very deprecating performance by Mark Williams with Sorcha Cusack as his housekeeper/parish secretary, usually providing hilariously prim and proper but hopelessly biased views which the good Father swallows and manages to counter by the application of logic and fairness.

Lovely location and sets in a yellowstoned Cotswold village. A bit like Midsomer Murders, a lot of people get bumped off !

Has run to 6 series and 70 episodes so there's plenty to enjoy. Loads of well know guest stars. Frances Barber, Martin Kemp, Pennie Downie, Selina Cadell, etc.

Theme music composed by Debbie Wiseman.

I loved this. Laughed so much. The situation seems absurd but then you're not so sure it isn't close to the truth. It's 1998. Warren Clarke is great as the disheveled and mostly discredited journalist, Alun Armstrong the Scotland Yard DCI, Richard Griffiths is a clueless MP only interested in lunch, Sally Phillips is the stoned flighty hippy type who turns deeply professional and serious announcing the radio news, Stephen Fry and John Bird plot to discredit the DG to get him fired, Rik Mayall is, well, Rik Mayall, and there's a dominatrix living above the party offices! What bizarre scenario is not to like?

Great locations around London including the Dog and Duck in Soho, the Beeb in Portland Place and Television Centre in the White City.

Worth a gander.

Thoughtful, tearjerker insight into what might happen when a family discovers the child they lost on a beach at 4 years old is still alive and well, 11 years later - after being well cared for in the interim by the abductor and her husband.

Story is all about a mother never letting go of the hope of finding her missing child. (One could even equate it with the McCann case...what on earth might the parents do if Maddy ever was found alive? Could she really ever be returned? The whole of the life of that child is upended and the original parents expect her to return to the fold just because she's there and alive?) Hmn.

Lots of arguments abound and you can see both sides of each argument. It's a real conundrum. (Much the same I feel at times like an adopted child seeking out a birth mother - risking the almost inevitable schism of being pulled by both sides.)

Holly Aird leads the story as a tortured maternal soul, her husband is a philanderer but even his protestations have a valid point; the 15 y.o. finds the pull from both sides confusing and difficult; and especially, one sees the effect this all has on 2 younger children of the family.

What a tortured web we weave...

Slightly trite dialogue too but should be worth a watch.

3 episodes on this Disc. Not sure at this stage if it's more than 3 episodes, as I'm still watching Ep.3 - CP lets me order it again but doesn't particularly say Disc 1 or 2. Looking like only 3.