Film Reviews by None

In an council-subsidised theatre on the Norfolk coast the owner-manager Norman about to go through some unwanted changes. Norman is played by Roger Lloyd-Pack who passed away early in 2014, and there are good performances from the two women: Niamh Cusack as Sandra his loyal secretary and Gwyneth Strong as council officer Laura who has an interesting private life. Written and directed by Tony Britten who is known as a musical director and conductor, not to be confused with an elderly actor of same name. There are one or two jarring moments which help to prevent the film becoming simply a wallow in nostalgia, but watching it is a small and maybe forgettable experience.

In this full-length cartoon The Blue Meanies invade Pepperland, attacking happiness, goodness and positivity – and banning music! The Beatles go to the rescue in a yellow submarine. The story is weaved or woven around some genuine Beatles recordings such as All Together Now, Eleanor Rigby, Hey Bulldog, Nowhere Man, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, When I’m Sixty-Four, and more. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds is a strikingly inventive sequence that can take your breath away. John, Paul, George and Ringo had very little to do with the making of the film but they pop up in person at the end. Canadian-born animation director George Dunning did not have much of a track record before or after this; he died in 1979 in London at the age of 58; his place in history is assured.

This film is in French language with English subtitles. Having admired writer-director Michael Haneke’s ‘Amour’ (2012) and having a soft spot for actress Isabelle Huppert, I had expected to like this film better than three stars. It is a rather unpleasant journey into the sexual desires of what we used to call in less politically-correct times an “old maid”. She lives with her mother, teaches piano has a messy affair with a boy student. An atmosphere of repression and brutality hangs around the film, and it has no likeable characters. The quality of writing is high and so is the standard of directing. Perhaps it is more suited to cinephiles than to general viewers.

This 1964 film, which is also known as Contest Girl, is not a comedy. It has some comedy character actors such as Tommy Trinder and Sid James, and it begins in light-hearted fashion, but the drama darkens as it unfolds. Local newspaperman Don (played by Ian Hendry) is looking for stories down on the beach in Weston-Super-Mare and falls for bikini girl Shirley a typist from Bristol (Janette Scott). He steers her into a career in beauty contests up to and including a world event, and becomes her manager. Personal and professional tensions arise between the two – and that is the point of the story really. There are fleeting appearances by a host of 1960s celebrities and a jolly good big band jazz score by composer Laurie Johnson. I have seen the film now and again over the decades and always enjoyed it. Pity that the DVD - a 2013 release by Strawberry Media – presents the film with its picture cropped to 4:3 instead of the original widescreen format.