Freeview (UK) films of the day : wednesday 8th of January

Serpico (1973 124min.) [C4 12.30am thursday &+1]

Police thriller starring Al Pacino, based on the real-life story of a young undercover cop. Despite the violence and cynicism that surround him, Frank Serpico retains his ideals, refusing the pay-offs which are common to his colleagues. Gradually, his attitudes and behaviour isolate him within the force, and he faces danger from both sides of the law.

There's a careful and nuanced performance by Pacino at the heart of this based-on-real-events drama which is deftly and expertly directed by Sidney Lumet, it makes the absolute maximum use of it's multiple New York location settings and some superbly realistic sets.

The central story is gripping and the (largely unkown) cast give some top-class support to Pacino as he rolls through the film with a convincing blend of swagger and deep-grained paraniod introspection.

Volver (2006 121min.) [Film4 12.50am thursday &+1]

Comedy drama from director Pedro Almódovar, starring Penélope Cruz and Carmen Maura. A Madrid housewife is forced to cover up the accidental murder of her husband while trying to deal with ghosts from her past.

Penelope Cruz vehicle directed with unusual restraint by Pedro Almodovar.
Cruz is brilliant in the lead role as a young mother seeking to protect her young child following An Unfortunate Event while simultaneously dealing with the "ghost" of her mother.
A perfect cast, some beautiful photography and an engaging story add up to a very enjoyable film.

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The Bad And The Beautiful (1952 113min.) [C4 2.50am thursday &+1]

Oscar-winning drama starring Kirk Douglas and Lana Turner. A Hollywood producer calls together a writer, a director and a star and reveals that ruthless movie mogul Jonathan Shields needs their help. But all three have vowed never to work with Shields again, and each remembers why.

Directed by Vincente Minnelli and co-starring Dick Powell.
It's a fabulous, fizzing, satirical, back-biting melodrama and it's very, very good.

The Wrong Man (1956)

The Wrong Man 

1959   

US 105 minutes

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock ; written by Maxwell   Anderson (from his story) and Angus McPhail.

Starring Henry Fonda, Vera Miles and Anthony Quayle

Fonda is a small time nightclub musician who is accused of a series of store robberies in his neighbourhood and sent for trial ; events have a disastrous effect on his wife (Miles) and any hope of reprieve seems to rest with an inexperienced lawyer (Quayle).

Henry Fonda was one of the great American screen actors of the twentieth century ; although now traditional matinee idol material he had a handsomeness born of quiet dignity and a genuine presence on the screen.

He's therefore perfectly cast in this based-on-real-events story of an unassuming musician and family man who is identified as the prime suspect in a spate of stick-ups of stores and business in his neighbourhood.

Throughout the investigation and subsequent court appearances Fonda remains stoic ; bewildered by the nightmare world in which he finds himself he still carries himself with pride, relying on the knowledge of his innocence and belief in the US justice system to act as armour against all of the many woes that befall him.

His performance is subtle and yet wide-ranging ; his absolute faith in Quayle's lawyer is touching, the death of two key witnesses is born with resolve; he demonstrates love, care and compassion for his wife and family members and tries his utmost to remain upbeat no matter what.

Only at one key point in the story does he lose his grip on his sang-froid and when this happens it's all the more shocking as it contrasts so brutally with his previous manner and bearing.


Hitchcock might seem like an unlikely director to be attracted to such a story but for me it sits very much as a companion piece to his films The Man Who Knew Too Much and, of course, North By NorthWest, all of which tell the story of a man who, through an accident of time and place, ends up embroiled in an adventure to which he is unsuited and which appears to have only the worst possible outcome for the central character.

For the most part Hitchcock sets aside his box of camera tricks and stylish flourishes ; the film is shot almost entirely in a gritty neo-realistic, documentary style. The shot construction and framing are, of course, perfect and Robert Burks' black and white photography is gorgeous; but the director keeps his more flamboyant nature under control and presents the story in a distinctly uncharacteristic style - for the most part using the standard reportage repertoire of two and three people talking in medium shot.

Which means that when he does throw in an extreme close-up of a face or an important and telling object (e.g. a rosary) the moment is heightened for the viewer.


Vera Miles is outstanding as Fonda's wife, a career best performance as the loyal partner unquestioningly supporting her husband as he goes through hell and then slowly crumbling as the realisation of the seeming bleakness of their situation begins to fully dawn on her.

Quayle is a bit weak in the lawyer role ; he's an odd casting decision and seems a little uncomfortable with the role; although the information we are given about his lack of experience in criminal court might suggest that his diffidence is a character trait rather than a failing on the part of the actor.

The supporting cast (Fonda's family, workmates and accusers, and especially the police who detain and interview him) are all perfectly fine

And there's a rather neat Bernard Herrmann score as well - cool and sophisticated at one moment, thumping like a rapid heartbeat at others.

The Wrong Man is a neglected work in Hitchcock's canon, often overlooked in the race to get from the wartime films to the holy trinity of Vertigo, Psycho and The Birds but it is a well made, strongly acted, beautifully delivered piece of work that shows both the director and the star working flat-out to achieve something really quite remarkable.

9595 minutes

The Mummy (1959)

The Mummy (1959)

Directed by Terence Fisher ; written by Jimmy Sangster

 Hammer dipped back into the Universal back-catalogue to find the subject for the follow-up feature to their box office success with Dracula and Frankenstein and the result is a small but perfectly delivered example of maximising your limited resources to the best effect.

The plot (the very thin plot, if we're being honest) revolves around Peter Cushing, an archaeologist who is searching for the lost tomb of an ancient Egyptian queen in the company of his father (Felix Aylmer) and uncle (Raymond Huntley).

When they discover the burial site Cushing is unable to explore it due to an injured leg ; the other two enter the site, despite dire warnings from local George Pastell - during the exploration Aylmer releases the mummified (yet still living) high priest Kharis (Christopher Lee) who had been entombed with his Queen.

The action then shifts forward three years and to England : the father is in an asylum, driven to the brink of insanity by the sight of the re-activated mummy in the tomb and Pastell and his undead chum are looking for revenge upon those who defiled the sacred site.

And that's it : a simple story with a predictable plot, an easily guessed conclusion and no hidden surprises lurking along the way.

And yet.....  there's a lot of skill and care that's gone into delivering the film. For a start there's Peter Cushing ; very few screen actors have been as adept at delivering preposterous lines of dialogue with a straight face, perfect diction and in such a convincing manner.

There's Lee's Mummy - not the usual lumbering, groaning, stumbling zombie in bandages but an agile, adept creature that retains the eyes of it's human origin and uses these to express emotion when required.

Aylmer and Huntley are perfectly convincing in their roles and Pastell's Egyptian is slightly better drawn than is usual for non-British villains in films of the era.

There's an extended flashback scene with a Cushing voice-over narration which explains the entire backstory of the Mummy's origins which is very well done and neatly directed by Fisher.

Yes, the studio sets doubling for Egypt or the English countryside are very obvious but the scenes are lit and photographed in such a way as to allow the viewer to suspend their disbelief just long enough so as not to jar.

For a film made on a restricted budget and shot very quickly it achieves everything that it sets out to do and certainly stands up to comparison to the Hollywood mega-budget spectacular from 1999 that shares it's name. 

Freeview (UK) films of the day ; monday 6th of January

Sightseers (2012 84min.) [Film4 10.55pm &+1]

Black comedy from Kill List director Ben Wheatley, starring Alice Lowe and Steve Oram. A couple from the Midlands set off on a week-long caravan holiday in the English countryside. However, a seemingly freak accident is the catalyst for their vacation to take a violent turn.

The film dubbed "Natural Born Caravanners" by critic Alan Jones is funny, playful and surprisingly horrible in places but it's also a great deal of fun.
Lowe and Oram are in terrific form and Ben Wheatley is the perfect director to handle this material and provide the perfect balance bewtween the silliness and the moments of gore and violence.


The Class (2008 124min.) [C4 1.00am tuesday]

Award-winning social drama starring François Bégaudeau as a teacher searching for ways to inspire his new class of teenagers at the start of another year at a tough, racially mixed school in Paris.

Laurent Cantet's Palme d'or-winning film about a French teacher and his often tricky relationship with a class of 14-year-olds in a multi-cultural quartier of Paris is a world way from Hollywood movies about crusading teachers, but arguably even more gripping.
Shot in seamless docu-drama style with semi-improvised performances, it also gives an honest picture of the problems confronting both teachers and pupils in modern Europe.
There's drama, heartbreak and insubordination aplenty.

A timely and well-made observation of the attractions and dangers of the drive towards order, conformity and discipline during a period of social change.

Freeview (UK) film of the day ; friday 1st of November

Le Scaphandre et le Papillon / The Diving-Bell And The Butterfly (2007 107min.) [BBC2 12.10am saturday]

Biographical drama starring Mathieu Amalric. In 1995, journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby suffered a catastrophic stroke and emerged from a coma suffering from "locked-in syndrome" - unable to move or speak. But he painstakingly dictated his memoir, adapted here, by blinking his left eye to signify letters of the alphabet.

Directed by painter turned director Julian Schnabel and with terrific cinematography by Janusz Kaminski.

Mathieu Amalric is superb in the lead role, especially given the fact that he is more or less immobile throughout and there is terrific support from Marie-Josee Croze, Emmanuelle Seigner and Anne Consigny.

Involving, moving, touching, funny, sweet and unmissable.




Kill List (2011 91min.) [Film4 12.30am saturday &+1]

Horror starring Neil Maskell and MyAnna Buring. Ex-soldier-turned-contract killer Jay is talked into doing one last job by friend and fellow hitman Gal. But as the bodies pile up, it soon becomes apparent the pair have become involved in a situation beyond their control.

Terrific British low budget thriller/horror film that casts back to the glory days of Hammer for its inspired air of creepy menace and moments of genuine shock.

Superly directed by Ben Wheatley, off the back of the equally striking Down Terrace, it's a mixture of gangster film, Mike Leigh style improvised domesticity and grand guignol horror.

A thoroughly engaging and satisfying film from beginning to end.

Freeview (UK) film of the day : monday 28th of October

Waltz With Bashir (2008 86min.) [Film4 1.20am tuesday &+1]

Award-winning animated documentary. Haunted by his combat experiences during the first Lebanon War in 1982, film-maker Ari Folman interviews old friends and Israeli comrades from that conflict, presenting the collective memories in a passionate bid for redemption.

As a young man film maker Ari Folman undertook his national service in the Israeli army ; during this time he took part in the 1982 war with Lebanon.

This is his reflection, memoir and documentation of that time.

Twenty five years after the event he tracked down family, friends and other former members of his batallion of conscripts and recorded their conversations as they discussed the events that they had been part of and the effects it had on their subsequent lives.

He's then animated these reminiscenses using brutal low-key black and white drawings (almost outline sketches) which suddenly burst into vivid colour at key points in the narrative.

He doesn't shy away from the traumatic events of the war either : carefully pulling together different voices to tell the story of the massacres at Sabra and Shatlia in an almost dispassionate way that serves to underline the brutality of what happened and the way that Folman and his comrades are still haunted by their memories.

It's a beautifully executed piece of work; part-documentary, part-folklore - that allows Folman to explore the way in which the events scarred a generation of young people on all sides of the divide.

Very highly recommended.

Freeview (UK) film of the day : Monday 21st of October

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter...and Spring (2003 98min.) [Film4 12.30am tuesday &+1]

An elderly Buddhist monk shares the wisdom of his years with a youngster in a one-room monastery floating on a beautiful lake. As the boy grows up, his burgeoning sexual desires overwhelm his need for inner peace and he abandons his master for a more modern life. However, when his quest for love ends in unhappiness, he returns home seeking enlightenment.

In the current century Eastern Cinema has gained a (deserved) reputation for producing some of the most inventive fantasy, horror and thriller films.

But it is also able to produce film such as this.

Kim Ki-Duk's direction and photography is elegant and poised, and he also takes the part of the adult monk; Oh Young-Su is the older monk and they are at the centre of a film that's about image, ritual and repetition and is more concerned with form and tone than action set-pieces or jumps & shocks.

It's not going to appeal to everyone (this may be an understatement) but it has a beautiful, quiet, reflective majesty which, if you allow it to, will entrance you for just under 100 minutes.