tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58515932882156207172024-02-25T03:29:02.606+00:00Mike's Movie Projector2,000 POSTS DONE!, so I am posting less frequently, but will still be adding news, comments and photos.. As archived, its a ramble through my movie watching, music and old magazine store and discussing People We Like [Loren, Monroe, Vitti, Romy Schneider, Lee Remick, Kay Kendall, Anouk & Dirk Bogarde, Delon, Belmondo, Jean Sorel, Belinda Lee; + Antonioni, Hitchcock, Wilder, Minnelli, Cukor, Joni Mitchell, David Hockney etc]. As Pauline Kael wrote: "Art, Trash and the Movies"!Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.comBlogger2035125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-50036931056694165602017-12-08T09:57:00.001+00:002017-12-14T14:32:10.816+00:00RIP, continued. <div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="color: #444444;"><b>Anthony Harvey </b>(1930-2917), aged 87.<b> </b>Harvey directed one of our perennial favourites<b> THE LION IN WINTER</b> in 1968, I remember seeing it at the old Odeon Haymarkt in London, where the sight of Queen Eleanor arriving at Chinon by boat was terrific on the large screen. Katharine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole of course had huge success here, with another Oscar for Kate, and it also featured that rising talent Anthony Hopkins, Timothy Dalton, John Castle and Jane Merrow (whom I had met a few years previously). John Barry's faux-medieval score and the authentic settings were major pluses too. We will be seeing it again this christmas. It proved to be Harvey's biggest hit, though he worked with Hepburn twice more, and other director credits included <b>THERE MY BE GIANTS</b> and <b>DUTCHMAN</b>. He had also been editor on such films as Kubrick's <b>LOLITA</b>, and <b>DR STRANGELOVE</b>, <b>THE WHISPERERS</b>, <b>THE MILLIONAIRESS</b>, <b>THE L-SHAPED ROOM</b> and <b>THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD</b> plus <b>THE ANGRY SILENCE</b> and <b>I'M ALRIGHT JACK</b>. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><b><i>Below: Harvey with Hepburn and Robert Helpmann. </i></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmhA0wbFhBJ7VG_Pl8CiJdY4xIuF_hRdDMb3J2gRJ0qhCfRdSpi4mPWY-0izvXlWiK2DXfHHc78zkO6NZdo5ALRTXzZ9bC0xIJyTKk2ytFRjZz3bypiYKkppzFUXtUoyj7t6QOcwzLQreR/s1600/Shashi-Kapoor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="338" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmhA0wbFhBJ7VG_Pl8CiJdY4xIuF_hRdDMb3J2gRJ0qhCfRdSpi4mPWY-0izvXlWiK2DXfHHc78zkO6NZdo5ALRTXzZ9bC0xIJyTKk2ytFRjZz3bypiYKkppzFUXtUoyj7t6QOcwzLQreR/s200/Shashi-Kapoor.jpg" width="193" /></a><span style="color: #444444;"><b>Shashi Kapoor</b> (1938-2017) aged 79. One of Bollywood's most recognisable, photogenic stars throughout the 60s and 70s. His breakthrough role was in the 1963 Merchant-Ivory film <b>THE HOUSEHOLDER</b>, and then in their <b>SHAKESPEARE WALLAH</b>, <b>BOMBAY TALKIE</b> and <b>HEAT AND DUST</b>. Other international films include <b>PRETTY POLLY</b> in 1969 and<b> SAMMY AND ROSIE GET LAID</b> in 1987, as well as his many Indian films in the booming Bollywood film industry. He was married to Jennifer Kendal, sister of Felicity, whose parents toured India with their Shakespeare productions.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6rLwEBUQIk0iR8E4Zjsod-1W7PQMMyaxVPEEv4nMq09QrTBkAaX5cm5Yo8nBO4zohuIE5VWyhgjPdKFh2oiiiitu9RVjWfQPql4v46jEZBOrTXYJqJGuj7IVRZywa6-QcdenUa1BhYCtJ/s1600/keeler.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="423" data-original-width="306" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6rLwEBUQIk0iR8E4Zjsod-1W7PQMMyaxVPEEv4nMq09QrTBkAaX5cm5Yo8nBO4zohuIE5VWyhgjPdKFh2oiiiitu9RVjWfQPql4v46jEZBOrTXYJqJGuj7IVRZywa6-QcdenUa1BhYCtJ/s200/keeler.jpg" width="144" /></a><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><b>Christine Keeler</b> (1942-2017) aged 75. English model and showgirl, at the heart of the Profumo scandal in 1963 (I was 17 at the time and remember reading avidly about it. The story is too well known to rehash here, but she was involved with the Minister for Defence John Profumo, as well as Soviet spy (at the height of the Cold War) as well as society osteopath Stephen Ward. Profumo lied about his involvement with her in the House of Commons and discredited the Macmillan government. Her later life was dogged by the scandal. It was a high price to pay for being a symbol of the Swinging Sixties. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj18FUaJRMWCQXvqIDYgyp8ksPxSXzY2JwsmLW6tlTKYcmomHnLDSIshT5STsSX5lUUOAcYG0oWaSJYjbanRJ-LPtYG48x51YWPJPdyEP4X9mqgXJtngVPVnlRSsTaAA2SwzIvoP3jnwA6i/s1600/dor+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="320" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj18FUaJRMWCQXvqIDYgyp8ksPxSXzY2JwsmLW6tlTKYcmomHnLDSIshT5STsSX5lUUOAcYG0oWaSJYjbanRJ-LPtYG48x51YWPJPdyEP4X9mqgXJtngVPVnlRSsTaAA2SwzIvoP3jnwA6i/s200/dor+2.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="color: #444444;"><b>Karin Dor</b> (1938-2017) age 79. Another of the Eorobabes who departed this year, Karin had a substantial career in European films. I know her best from Hitchcock's <b>TOPAZ</b> in 1969, where she is stunning as the Cuban who is helping the Americans</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhyXXcoTR7RE6vE5oGeGAeR3-UfOvzmSpOTTVQdkGqqoIATm4RZ2XGozh5sx0DKT-kUpi7RKP3xszzaNffd3LDMLbV9V8PCV5VhA1G33-0nnIUEV0IS6BtuH2mR2a1l30jW9gLMAaTpQWA/s1600/dor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="180" data-original-width="300" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhyXXcoTR7RE6vE5oGeGAeR3-UfOvzmSpOTTVQdkGqqoIATm4RZ2XGozh5sx0DKT-kUpi7RKP3xszzaNffd3LDMLbV9V8PCV5VhA1G33-0nnIUEV0IS6BtuH2mR2a1l30jW9gLMAaTpQWA/s200/dor.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="color: #444444;">. Hitch gives her a perfect death scene as she is shot with that purple dress billowing out around her as she falls. She was also an early Bond girl in <b>YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE</b> in '67. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><b>Suzanna Leigh </b>(1945-2017), aged 72. Another of those decorative British blondes popular in the mis-60s: she was the posh one in <b>THE PLEASURE GIRLS</b> (1965) and co-starred with Elvis in <b>PAADISE HAWAIIAN STYLE</b>, and in <b>BOEING, BOEING</b> in '66 with Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis - we did not feel the need to see that. Soon it was stinkers<b> like THE DEADLY BEES, THE LOST CONTINENT, LUST FOR A VAMPIRE</b> and various tv series. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><b>Keith Chegwin </b>(1957-2017) aged 60. Another British TV stalwart 'Cheggers' worked mainly in childens' television and morning shows, and seemed unfailingly popular. </span></div>
Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-83531567542318260392017-12-05T11:38:00.003+00:002017-12-05T11:38:43.487+00:00Strictly finalists ?<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="text-align: justify;">Our 2017 season of </span><b style="text-align: justify;">STRICTLY COME DANCING </b><span style="text-align: justify;">is coming to a close, with the semi-final this weekend. Here are three sizzlers from last week's Musicals theme. We expect these three to be in the final ...</span></span><br />
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Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-30516156372536841212017-12-02T09:26:00.000+00:002017-12-02T22:56:10.768+00:00Weekend photo miscellany<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="color: blue;">Some of our favourites:</span></b><span style="color: #444444;"> Vitti, Stamp & Losey during <b>MODESTY BLAISE</b>, Dirk and Ingrid when she was his house-guest in 1965 (Eve Arnold photo), Marlon visits Marilyn at 20th Century Fox in 1954, he was playing Napoleon and she is in one of her <b>THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS</b> dresses, a nice shot of Alan Bates, and that duel between Florinda Bolkan (as Lola Montez) and marvellous Margaret Courtenay in Lester's under-rated<b> ROYAL FLASH</b>; and Barbra wants to be a cycle slut in <b>THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT</b>, 1970.</span></div>
Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-78586843726110134702017-11-30T13:12:00.000+00:002017-12-02T09:22:44.413+00:00The Wages of Fear / Sorcerer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #444444;">I realised the other day I had never seen Henri-George Clouzot's 1953 classic <b>THE WAGES OF FEAR</b>, that highly regarded thriller about the four desperate men driving two trucks of dangerous explosives over rough terrain in a South American jungle. who would survive?. I almost did not like it at the start as the first hour is spent setting the scene, but once they get going, and Yves Montand takes command - boy, does the tension build...</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">In 1977 William Friedkin, a hot director after <b>THE FRENCH CONNECTION</b> and <b>THE EXORCIST </b>(and of course<b> THE BOYS IN THE BAND</b>)<b> </b>did a remake, with stunning colour photography of the jungles and Roy Scheider (hot after <b>JAWS</b>) in the lead, and its super fantastic now, with that great score by Tangerine Dream (me neither), but it, now renamed <b>SORCERER,</b> it was a huge box office disaster, as we were all loving those space operas by George Lucas and Spielberg or living the New York life with Woody Allen (<b>ANNIE HALL</b>) and John Travolta (<b>SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER</b>), so <b>SORCERER</b> quickly got lost and disappeared from view, until a new issue recently. Its a keeper and one to see again, even if - like the Clouzot film there is a confusing opening section setting up the characters in various locations like Paris, Jerusalem, New York etc. Highly recommended - if only for the scenes of the trucks crossing those bridges ... It must have been a tough shoot.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(185 , 185 , 185 , 0.1); color: blue;">A gangster, a crooked banker, a hitman and an arab terrorist are stranded and on the run in a small village in South America. Their only chance of escape is to drive two trucks filled with unstable nitroglycerin up a long and rocky mountain road in order to plug an escalating oil refinery blaze. With their deadly cargo likely to explode at the slightest bump, the four men must put aside their differences and work together to survive.</span><span style="background-color: rgba(185 , 185 , 185 , 0.1); color: #333333;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #cfe2f3; color: #333333; font-family: inherit;">Trapped in squalor, unable to return to the lives they abandoned, they're driven by circumstance to accept a normally unthinkable job. They have to drive old, unstable dynamite from its storage site hundreds of miles over mountain terrain and washed-out roads to the location of an oil well fire so the blaze can be snuffed out. The pay is exorbitant -- but it's commiserate to the danger. The risks are colossal ... and they ultimately have no choice.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="background-color: #cfe2f3; font-family: inherit;"><b>SORCERER</b> is tense, suspenseful film-making at its finest. Friedkin creates a palpable sense of place, and Scheider is immensely powerful as a man whose every move suggests that he knows he's doomed. Taut with suspense, completely convincing and breathtakingly human, <b>SORCERER</b> is an unfairly maligned film that delivers in every way.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="background-color: #cfe2f3; font-family: inherit;">See both versions and decide which you prefer ...</span></span></span><br />
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Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-16153618133009855562017-11-26T16:50:00.001+00:002017-11-26T17:20:21.136+00:00Frantz, 2016<div style="text-align: justify;">
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In the aftermath of World Wa<span style="color: #444444;">r I in 1919 Germany, Anna notice a stranger placing flowers on the grave of her fiance, Frantz. She now lives with Frantz's parents, (a doctor who refuses to treat French patients) and his equally upset wife. In fact anti-French feelings run high in the town. The stranger</span> is Adrien and he and Anna slowly get to know each other. He and Frantz were best friends in Paris and then both enlisted in their respective armies ...</div>
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This is a slow, languid film with marvellous widescreen black and white photography, with occasional moments of pale colour, and it confounds our expectations of where the story is going. Just when we think it is almost over there follows another departure as Anna travels to Paris to find the missing Adrien and ends up meeting his wealthy family. The upper class milieu of concerts and art galleries is nicely depicted, and is certainly a departure for Francois Ozon, the gay French director who has been very prolific - is it really seven years since his delightful<b> POTICHE</b> (reviews of this and other Ozons (<b>SWIMMING POOL</b>, <b>UNDER THE SAND</b>, <b>8 WOMEN</b>. <b>TIME TO LEAVE</b> etc at <b><i>Ozon</i></b> label).</div>
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Paula Beer (new to me) is marvellous as Anna, a quiet controlled performance drawing the camera to her, and Pierre Niney is new too as Adrien. Highly recommended for when one is in the mood for something different (rather like Fassbinder's <b>EFFI BRIEST</b> also with that marvellous monochrome photography and hypnotic slow pace).</div>
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Co-scripted by Ozon loosely based on a 1932 Lubitch film <b>BROKEN LULLABY</b>.<br />
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Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-83666763397893161242017-11-25T10:55:00.001+00:002017-11-25T11:17:50.869+00:00Period pieces 1: Miss Marple / Mapp & Lucia<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiawMB3DSPMAVjsi3w_ZmSdgbGwJ3mHeM6BLJrLTb8uTcITynDVChV2UrEL9c7bnzYVHycKJh_3rN0sZD_yaWfGuVzGx2UJZLFDwpF4VS618jt0ji1MDTgBMy3GRyAkmmvQHBSK5XncBKkb/s1600/joan+hickson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="268" data-original-width="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiawMB3DSPMAVjsi3w_ZmSdgbGwJ3mHeM6BLJrLTb8uTcITynDVChV2UrEL9c7bnzYVHycKJh_3rN0sZD_yaWfGuVzGx2UJZLFDwpF4VS618jt0ji1MDTgBMy3GRyAkmmvQHBSK5XncBKkb/s1600/joan+hickson.jpg" /></a><span style="color: #444444;">An investment for those long winter nights is a reasonably priced boxset of all 12 BBC Miss Marple stories featuring Joan Hickson as the intrepid detective of that perfect 1950s English village St Mary Mead. Hickson, usually seen in comic roles (<b>YANKS</b>, <b>UPSTAIRS & DOWNSTAIRS</b>, <b>PLEASE TURN OVER</b> etc) is just perfect here.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">The 1960s Marple films with Margaret Ruthrford were comic trifles, and much as I like Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie their later Marples were all wrong, and the films silly and stuffed with guest stars (step forward as usual David Walliams).</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPrXpklC_M7MqUKhaqNRoIRIR6M1RC5uozLTCcFGpX4ElJCr-9k_PeZqQpSICrQIH7AWRS7nZV3vBjdW7VRy-iOasmJOX18Q29BqpmtDhJBvAjBmBy_lMG5Qjzj48eQMobj327sQQTILd6/s1600/mapp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="188" data-original-width="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPrXpklC_M7MqUKhaqNRoIRIR6M1RC5uozLTCcFGpX4ElJCr-9k_PeZqQpSICrQIH7AWRS7nZV3vBjdW7VRy-iOasmJOX18Q29BqpmtDhJBvAjBmBy_lMG5Qjzj48eQMobj327sQQTILd6/s1600/mapp.jpg" /></a><span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">The main Marple stories like <b>MURDER AT THE VICARGE</b>, <b>4.50 FROM PADDINGTON</b>, and my particular favourite A<b>T BERTRAM'S HOTEL</b> are all iincuded and it will be a pleasure to see them again.<i> See <b>Miss Marple l</b>abel for review of this,</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">I already have the 80s series of <b>MAPP & LUCIA</b>, the blissful comic capers of those two warring ladies in Tilling in Sussex, in that perfect period between the wars, with Geraldine McEwan, Prunella Scales and Nigel Hawthorne all perfectly cast, as are all the other characters. I have reviewed this in more detail at <b><i>Mapp & Lucia</i> </b>label. </span></div>
Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-47443926989373436382017-11-22T12:19:00.002+00:002017-11-22T12:50:36.641+00:00RIP, Jill Barklem & Brambly Hedge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT02JBq7kfIJ-_Uz_1Q00e015CsUuGhiYsKbLt7zjGXoFxmnxazwsbuUNdZE9Eah1GHCAHgUxYlJWU53yevKrX426c86_pd7d6qt30o381PMA70i5IC74v3cHPWv073Tpp3-xPjZ6GJJ_M/s1600/jill+b+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1278" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT02JBq7kfIJ-_Uz_1Q00e015CsUuGhiYsKbLt7zjGXoFxmnxazwsbuUNdZE9Eah1GHCAHgUxYlJWU53yevKrX426c86_pd7d6qt30o381PMA70i5IC74v3cHPWv073Tpp3-xPjZ6GJJ_M/s320/jill+b+2.jpg" width="254" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">We we sorry too to hear of the death of childrens' graphic books writer and illustrator <b>Jill Barklem</b>, at the early age of 66. I have long enjoyed her series of books of <b>BRAMBLY HEDGE</b> with their endlessly fascinating illustrations of the mice who live there, in the series of four books charting the seasons: <b>SPRING STORY</b>, <b>SUMMER STORY</b>, <b>AUTUMN STORY</b>, <b>WINTER STORY</b>. The mice live in their little houses, so splendidly detailed, in the tranquil hedgerows and the illustrations of trees show how they have stores, and bedrooms, and lovely cosy living rooms, by the fire, as the community of mice live amid the wild roses, brambles and elderberries of a hedgerow. </span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaumxlFGkVyWwHhk4SCupANGKueDLSt0SE5xX_ftlMb76PCCL3x-nctcXZwJSOOG3LGSmweMrca84fkczDINuUql-Rjw_T5COPQTO1rSJgsTHTdpwKKq5V62_dL9ufBju21f3vpCeYIDie/s1600/jill+barklem.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="442" data-original-width="630" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaumxlFGkVyWwHhk4SCupANGKueDLSt0SE5xX_ftlMb76PCCL3x-nctcXZwJSOOG3LGSmweMrca84fkczDINuUql-Rjw_T5COPQTO1rSJgsTHTdpwKKq5V62_dL9ufBju21f3vpCeYIDie/s200/jill+barklem.png" width="200" /></a><span style="color: #444444;"></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;">In the winter they have a Snow Ball with lots of marvellous observation too. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">She wrote the stories and did all the illustrations. The hobbits' homes in the <b>LORD OF THE RINGS</b> series gives one a flavor of their underground retreats. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">Children of all ages would find her books endlessly fascinating and they have been huge bestsellers and led to merchandise like Royal Doulton figures to stationery. </span><br />
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Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-82448897336189094632017-11-22T11:39:00.000+00:002017-11-22T13:15:52.147+00:00RIP, continued ...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #444444;"><b>Rodney Bewes</b> (1937-2017), aged 79. Distinctive-looking British actor, best known for <b>THE LIKELY LADS</b> (1964-1966) and <b>WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE LIKELY LADS?</b> (1973-1974) which captured the aspirational Seventies perfectly, as well as being marvellously funny as we followed the misadventures of Bob (Bewes) and his grumpy pal Terry (James Bolam), forever carping and mocking Bob's suburban lifestyle with his wife, the formidable Thelma (Brigit Forsyth). </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;">In later years Bewes seemed the forgotten man of British TV comedy, as Bolam blocked any repeats of the hit series for many years. It is bliss seeing them again now. He continued working on the stage and doing lucrative voiceovers. Rodney was also Tom Courtenay's pal in <b>BILLY LIAR</b> (1963) - he and Tom had shared a flat. It seems he and Bolam had a falling out which led to the series not been seeing much. I have just ordered them on disk now to re-live them all again. Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais' comedy is up there with the best of the 70s British tv comedy series, like <b>HI DI HI</b> or <b>ARE YOU BEING SERVED? </b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><b>Keith Barron</b> (1934-2017), aged 83. Another stalwart of British TV, and a familiar face from one's TV viewing, Barron was in everything from <b>CORONATION STREET</b> to <b>BENIDORM</b>, via hit series <b>DUTY FREE</b>, and series as varied as <b>Z -CARS</b>, <b>UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS</b>, <b>DR WHO</b> and the Dennis Potter plays <b>STAND UP, NIGEL BARTON</b> and <b>VOTE, VOTE FOR NIGEL BARTON</b>. The Yorkshire actor was a familiar face and certainly kept busy from 1961 to 2015. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;"><b>David Cassidy</b> (1950-2017), aged 67. The Seventies pop and tv icon.</span></div>
Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-62542815125126417352017-11-19T15:34:00.000+00:002017-11-19T15:39:31.056+00:00New must sees ...<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #444444;">Now the festival season is over and winter settling in, the new Award Season should be underway for the next Oscar ballyhoo in February. Three I particularly want to see are the new Luca Guadagnino <b>CALL ME BY YOUR NAME</b>, Annette Bening (surely leading the Best Actress nominations) as Gloria Graham in <b>FILM STARS DON'T DIE IN LIVERPOOL</b> and <b>PADDINGTON 2</b>- my lofty film buff friends turned up their noses at the first one, boy are they missing out ... </span></div>
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Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-86166639017380952462017-11-19T15:03:00.000+00:002017-11-20T16:25:57.065+00:00Revisiting old favourites ...<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #444444;">I have written about these here several times, so no need to rehash them again, but its been a lot of fun revisiting <b>QUENTIN DURWARD,</b> <b>JUSTINE</b> and <b>SANDRA</b> ..... see labels for previous comments.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;"><b>QUENTIN DURWARD</b> from 1955 is maybe my favourite costume drama</span><span style="color: #444444;"> from the 50s (along with Fritz Lang's <b>MOONFLEET</b>, also 1955 - I enjoyed seeing them as a kid at Sunday afternoon matinees). <b>DURWARD</b> captures the Walter Scott world perfectly, with perfect roles for Kay Kendall and Robert Taylor and Robert Morley as the very devious King of France.</span> </div>
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<span style="color: #444444;"><b>JUSTINE</b> is a genuine Trash Classic, started in Tunisia and then moved to Hollywood, it in 1969, it has that plush 20th Century Fox look, a great score by Jerry Goldsmith and Anouk Aimee looking stunning in those Irene Sharaff creations, plus Michael York and Dirk Bogarde as well as Anna Karina. George Cukor took over the direction, lensed by veteran Leon Shamroy, so it romps along, capturing some of Durrell's exotic Aleandria. I just like it a lot.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;"><b>SANDRA</b> in 1965 is maybe a lesser Visconti, but is still a powerful operatic melodrama with Claudia Cardinale and Jean Sorel at their peaks of stunning beauty as the incestuous brother and sister. Again, one to savour. </span></div>
Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-35581589582437726322017-11-13T10:21:00.000+00:002017-11-14T17:29:22.109+00:00Soldier of Fortune, 1955<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #444444;">One of those little seen now adventure movies the studios churned out in the 1950s, usually teaming two stars (like John Wayne and Lana Turner in <b>THE SEA CHASE</b>, also 1955) and featuring exotic locations - we are in 1950s Hong Kong here and with Clark Gable and Susan Hayward, plus Michael Rennie.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">Susan - looking good here - arrives to find her missing husband who it seems in held captive in 'Red China' and engages shady businessman Gable to help her, he is initially reluctant but falls for her charms. There is lots of local colour too in the locations with all those junks and sampans and those shady people at the hotel. It moves along at a nice pace but the two stars never left the studio backlot, though one would not notice. This was Susan's adventure movies period for 20th Century Fox, when she was teamed with the likes of Cooper, Power, Mitchum, before her big emoting roles in <b>I'LL CRY TOMORROW</b> and <b>I WANT TO LIVE!</b>. (Gable it seems did go go to Hong Kong for some location shots).</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">Gable was getting a bit long in the tooth for these kind of action roles - he wisely stuck to romantic comedies afterwards until his final film <b>THE MISFITS</b> filmed in 1960. Hayward is in her element, she had tested for Scarlett O'Hara in 1939, but finally gets Gable here. Directed by Edward Dmytryk, with a good score by Hugo Friedhofer from a novel by Ernest K Gann, it is one programmer that is worth another look now. </span></div>
Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-62742462028909815612017-11-12T12:37:00.004+00:002017-11-12T13:26:32.418+00:00Under-rated directors: Clive Donner<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRnkbDmbJW1cvLFxFNFbEDSDIb1PaqrQSsuwnvH9mK1eywF0o6efMIqd6g2seBTY9_zebFH0k71bzfCn4CzU12Xwd7hVdwx41I0S_-Y8hF8tDnocKgBBAQAU3q4Q7hH4M7nCYHbwjRnggF/s1600/whatsnew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="207" data-original-width="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRnkbDmbJW1cvLFxFNFbEDSDIb1PaqrQSsuwnvH9mK1eywF0o6efMIqd6g2seBTY9_zebFH0k71bzfCn4CzU12Xwd7hVdwx41I0S_-Y8hF8tDnocKgBBAQAU3q4Q7hH4M7nCYHbwjRnggF/s1600/whatsnew.jpg" /></a><span style="color: #444444;">Like Desmond Davis (below) Clive Donner (1926-2010) also seems under-rated but directed a clutch of interesting films and tv movies during the 1960s, starting with <b>THE SECRET PLACE</b>, a 1957 Belinda Lee drama I have just got a copy of, and he also helmed Pinter's <b>THE CARETAKER</b> in 1962 with the powerhouse trio of Robert Shaw, Alan Bates and Donald Pleasance. He also did <b>SOME PEOPLE</b> that year, that pleasing film about pre-Beatles teenagers making music in Bristol, with the young David Hemmings.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9xdp46W5kGKAQNDh-TZ8LeZtR5h4xGhZTimd3WEGIP-C4nqu97-7nHHH9vXAXU_BjInN9IH5k4DW-V90HvHFW0U706nvxNVWdhtBaxfOgAzJa4xULqO1ZuVBikLYGDQSRR26m5ZdAeoBK/s1600/bush.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="726" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9xdp46W5kGKAQNDh-TZ8LeZtR5h4xGhZTimd3WEGIP-C4nqu97-7nHHH9vXAXU_BjInN9IH5k4DW-V90HvHFW0U706nvxNVWdhtBaxfOgAzJa4xULqO1ZuVBikLYGDQSRR26m5ZdAeoBK/s200/bush.jpg" width="151" /></a><span style="color: #444444;">Two seminal Sixties movies followed<b>: NOTHING BUT THE BEST</b> in 1964 capturing that new London on the rise, and the delirious <b>WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT </b>in 1965 which the 19-year old me and my friends loved and saw several times, with that terrific line up of O'Toole, Sellers, Schneider, Capucine, Paula Prentiss, Ursula Andress and more in a madcap Paris, with a Burt Bacharach score (I had to have the soundtrack album) and script by Woody Allen, who also appears - his first film.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRMB_b5Qh8RBppyjY4UPHBWosHBMqd5egfqelOL20UfYfb_79zNg-iCFshfa2S54GpaS5fY37XM90hwhcGaadG_Uera2F2BbXTdvBJA5dVRyYma2tIMzr1cBFtgO_urs35WsISTg6eXOCM/s1600/alfred_the_great_1969.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="470" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRMB_b5Qh8RBppyjY4UPHBWosHBMqd5egfqelOL20UfYfb_79zNg-iCFshfa2S54GpaS5fY37XM90hwhcGaadG_Uera2F2BbXTdvBJA5dVRyYma2tIMzr1cBFtgO_urs35WsISTg6eXOCM/s200/alfred_the_great_1969.jpg" width="161" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpqNUbyRLKd4zmN7f5sVucxXj6uuAgOsgPhKNVRXDULjmaz1irt1Kj8fgRipSiFJnCGbP3HGnm3uj9vqU_W18YM2kyg8rMBAEewG4YcgRhAi9Og3X41n7PIXIP3evUCHD9-qRJwxr7G_U_/s1600/york+viking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="500" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpqNUbyRLKd4zmN7f5sVucxXj6uuAgOsgPhKNVRXDULjmaz1irt1Kj8fgRipSiFJnCGbP3HGnm3uj9vqU_W18YM2kyg8rMBAEewG4YcgRhAi9Og3X41n7PIXIP3evUCHD9-qRJwxr7G_U_/s200/york+viking.jpg" width="160" /></a><span style="color: #444444;">We also loved his 1967 Swinging London (though set in Stevenage) comedy <b>HERE WE GO ROUND THE MULBERRY BUSH</b> with its cast of engaging youngsters led by Barry Evans, and that great Traffic score, and his 19689 historical mini-epic <b>ALFRED THE GREAT,</b> filmed in Ireland and very much of its time as hippie king Alfred (David Hemmings) fights the Danes led by Michael York, and it also features a young Ian McKellen, Colin Blakely and Vivien Merchant. Its one to see again too. Quality television work included Peter O'Toole in <b>ROGUE MALE</b>, and good versions of <b>THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL</b> and <b>A CHRISTMAS CAROL</b>. <i>Donner, below, with Hemmings & Blakely.</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;">Quite a few of these I would like to see again- see<b><i> Donner</i></b> label for reviews.</span><br />
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Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-61826464064292997372017-11-11T10:45:00.001+00:002017-11-12T12:16:41.148+00:00Under-rated directors: Desmond Davis<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #444444;">Now in his 90s (born in 1926) Desmond Davis is surely one of Britain's most neglected film directors, who had a good run in the 1960s, and directed that original star-heavy (led by Olivier, Maggie Smith) <b>CLASH OF THE TITANS</b> in 1981 (I couldn't even watch the CGI-heavy remake). </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">He began as camera operator on <b>TOM JONES</b> in 1963, and also on Huston's <b>FREUD</b>, plus those new wavers <b>A TASTE OF HONEY</b> and <b>THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER</b>. His 30 directing credits include those two particular favourites of mine, from Edna O'Brien stories: <b>THE GIRL WITH GREEN EYES</b> in 1964 and <b>I WAS HAPPY HERE</b> in 1966, with those great County Clare locations Lahinch and Liscannor, as they were then, and Sarah's bedsit in London overlooking the new Post Office Tower. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBshEehz1CrHWXRkLaH2Zg2vLfJ8DRffRdCeptDRPPiV_qULdaL4pNR5Apa1RAa2itb9UBoMtRMlv7OH5EDhHOQiCbixc2lqxhNIP5YHUkwj9ECHm56eNXbMxJCr64f17U73MT1CeDxzAz/s1600/happy+here+5.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBshEehz1CrHWXRkLaH2Zg2vLfJ8DRffRdCeptDRPPiV_qULdaL4pNR5Apa1RAa2itb9UBoMtRMlv7OH5EDhHOQiCbixc2lqxhNIP5YHUkwj9ECHm56eNXbMxJCr64f17U73MT1CeDxzAz/s200/happy+here+5.png" width="200" /></a><span style="color: #444444;">I have written about these a lot here - see Ireland, O'Brien, Miles, Tushingham labels), and he also directed the 1984 television remake of O'Brien's <b>THE COUNTRY GIRLS</b> (the original of<b> GIRL WITH GREEN EYES)</b>. Other 60s films include our other favourite <b>SMASHING TIME</b>, re-uniting Rita and Lynn in that slapstick Swinging London riot. There was also a rather good Agatha Christie: <b>ORDEAL BY INNOCENCE</b>. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">Other British-based directors of the time may have got all the kudos and awards (Tony Richardson, Schlesinger, Losey, Lester, Boorman) but Davis's work endures and is still endlessly watchable, particularly his Irish-based dramas,which should have a lot of resonance with anyone Irish. He also did a lovely little film <b>THE UNCLE</b> in 1967 which barely got seen, though I got a ticket to the premiere from "<b>Films and Filming</b>" magazine. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOi32T3TXeCb1XFwOizCR4ZYPxYhRqkgSGI9U0JLn6E1rvKF11TT3I-3GA0m_YtoAPcpFe76PWBhqvpWEw_lEMpG0lRUCsJugfKbIEL2WpL6bO0ft0BXE_Sg7Iknx-k0xmNb_BBDCqE8f0/s1600/smashing+7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOi32T3TXeCb1XFwOizCR4ZYPxYhRqkgSGI9U0JLn6E1rvKF11TT3I-3GA0m_YtoAPcpFe76PWBhqvpWEw_lEMpG0lRUCsJugfKbIEL2WpL6bO0ft0BXE_Sg7Iknx-k0xmNb_BBDCqE8f0/s200/smashing+7.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_K3Lqk5d02s1yU4PmHUSrQk3-QhvJdVIGIY3RsbyOAq26qPE6qOTcsS8b1psNykYRFNI5g9yQBvxFcRVmNuWNtj0nU_LLZh7VbP3kKJsv7Sv6VjppKZvhw_PgXYZe_70_0lnd0nbRswr3/s1600/smashing-time.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="752" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_K3Lqk5d02s1yU4PmHUSrQk3-QhvJdVIGIY3RsbyOAq26qPE6qOTcsS8b1psNykYRFNI5g9yQBvxFcRVmNuWNtj0nU_LLZh7VbP3kKJsv7Sv6VjppKZvhw_PgXYZe_70_0lnd0nbRswr3/s200/smashing-time.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
<span style="color: #444444;">Next: equally neglected Clive Donner & <b>WHATS NEW PUSSYCAT</b>, <b>ALFRED THE GREAT</b> etc.</span></div>
Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-5988297101583109272017-11-06T11:13:00.003+00:002017-11-07T08:03:01.356+00:001960s girls on London underground<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBjVDNuka4S92u5edDc5ZwvSpRlj5QWRMP1uJlOUa5upyHwaQoPXJjNwWnp8CBd6Hkol1FnFTBhzDimyVTPZXmTjGIrbNK00sr5Hxd_kvMGBa7Sb8FIgs96MebmXUTZ8vaOghbDFy_X4v2/s1600/julie+on+tube.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="928" data-original-width="700" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBjVDNuka4S92u5edDc5ZwvSpRlj5QWRMP1uJlOUa5upyHwaQoPXJjNwWnp8CBd6Hkol1FnFTBhzDimyVTPZXmTjGIrbNK00sr5Hxd_kvMGBa7Sb8FIgs96MebmXUTZ8vaOghbDFy_X4v2/s640/julie+on+tube.jpg" width="482" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">Julie Christie of course, and below: Brigitte Bardot, circa 1955, and a guy - me, in 1966 .... thankfully the tube is more modern now, even if more overcrowded. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1gbu62kJW-OEsT6gj33ubyyKBKq81bFQdcsJ_DuHpFuCjJ2jMiLfqOvu-QyMnwf3Sd-u6ljNwZhfyqj4cShXbXmKoXABql2_IlzX7oNnw_MnwYKy-y4Ni53mdH-ScSMhMPrk879SsMnqa/s1600/bb+tube.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1372" data-original-width="886" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1gbu62kJW-OEsT6gj33ubyyKBKq81bFQdcsJ_DuHpFuCjJ2jMiLfqOvu-QyMnwf3Sd-u6ljNwZhfyqj4cShXbXmKoXABql2_IlzX7oNnw_MnwYKy-y4Ni53mdH-ScSMhMPrk879SsMnqa/s320/bb+tube.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTEOwOHXiz7Yfu2o0IWW42Z3HvdTIBdgl2EZ6WWZmOnlw7kQCcXh1RLNcOhg7B237B1G69gsw6WWEXjyNphkpleFMHNA_7BblEDS981uHuBoMBDm69ZEcOOZ_OwXPCv20cOMKlR6MREde6/s1600/me+66.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="675" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTEOwOHXiz7Yfu2o0IWW42Z3HvdTIBdgl2EZ6WWZmOnlw7kQCcXh1RLNcOhg7B237B1G69gsw6WWEXjyNphkpleFMHNA_7BblEDS981uHuBoMBDm69ZEcOOZ_OwXPCv20cOMKlR6MREde6/s320/me+66.jpg" width="236" /></a></div>
Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-57324770254093636902017-11-06T10:59:00.002+00:002017-11-06T11:12:10.698+00:00Jenny or Jenny ?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLq9RnAStCo6e-5Ke6K4dKolApKLXSJr4WI7crzNoTRBG_CRbCp6fS_SaXbY18IRGbzMeWFDLx6X4nErEPPnEcQk2gwIvRm2lAc2tSw7Up6CqmDE-VU_GRnrUnaylmj-jyK9sh3LKMgi17/s1600/torch-song-joan-crawford.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="325" data-original-width="427" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLq9RnAStCo6e-5Ke6K4dKolApKLXSJr4WI7crzNoTRBG_CRbCp6fS_SaXbY18IRGbzMeWFDLx6X4nErEPPnEcQk2gwIvRm2lAc2tSw7Up6CqmDE-VU_GRnrUnaylmj-jyK9sh3LKMgi17/s320/torch-song-joan-crawford.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-B-M8GP7LqUBtn2VmRq74TVKcFYA734jTS85UPSuzNlSR4QFl2zWPQYsgNCLQFbxRF57q7hBzNON4HHmCKdEaNAtvP8pBTj9szGnANDT1W27MlaauWddLOzI2FxJjKeHqL8zhs-lFMk7c/s1600/ICouldGoOnSinging.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1263" data-original-width="1000" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-B-M8GP7LqUBtn2VmRq74TVKcFYA734jTS85UPSuzNlSR4QFl2zWPQYsgNCLQFbxRF57q7hBzNON4HHmCKdEaNAtvP8pBTj9szGnANDT1W27MlaauWddLOzI2FxJjKeHqL8zhs-lFMk7c/s200/ICouldGoOnSinging.png" width="158" /></a><span style="color: #444444;">Jenny Bowman or Jenny Stewart, that is. Both are legendary Broadway divas, very used to getting their own way. Joan Crawford is Jenny Stewart and <b>TORCH SONG</b> is Joan's first in colour, in 1953, and is a camp riot of garish colour, particularly with Joan in "tropical makeup" for the bizarre "Two Faced Woman" number. One feels sorry for the chorus boys Jenny terrorises and Michael Wilding as the blind pianist who is the only man who can stand up to her. Very odd too is her pack of teenage fans crowding the stage door to meet her .... I have reviewed this Camp Classic several times, as per Crawford label, so these are just a taster: love her party where she is the only woman. Joan truck gold again the following year with the equally bizarre western <b>JOHNNY GUITAR</b>, the first movie I saw, aged 8; again see label.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje7obSr7njBWOWockpjU2V4rvMNcXjbJtDcF94q45CbxoJQa8eGB7Tc4BVySGc5sNvBza5yGndZ7FyY1Qxg4eBoAfezJQgZ8J2GhEkHtRxne_0Eki2GC5e0Ms9RTCYpr42C51oHkPx6Eey/s1600/Torch+Song+02+BIS.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="343" data-original-width="631" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje7obSr7njBWOWockpjU2V4rvMNcXjbJtDcF94q45CbxoJQa8eGB7Tc4BVySGc5sNvBza5yGndZ7FyY1Qxg4eBoAfezJQgZ8J2GhEkHtRxne_0Eki2GC5e0Ms9RTCYpr42C51oHkPx6Eey/s320/Torch+Song+02+BIS.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;"><b>I COULD GO ON SINGING</b> is more serious fare, with Judy Garland's final role, a decade after her <b>A STAR IS BORN</b>, where she plays Jenny Bowman, a version of herself, superbly aided by Dirk Bogarde. The numbers are great and Judy is caught here at a good moment for her in the early sixties. The shoot though was a nightmare, as per Dirk's memoirs<i>. Lots more at <b>Judy</b> label,</i></span><br />
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Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-32659121711372379442017-11-06T10:08:00.003+00:002017-11-07T07:18:18.306+00:00Happy Birthday Joni<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: blue;"><b>74 tomorrow, Happy Birthday to our icon (whom I met in 1972, when we were both in our twenties, as per previous reports at label), Joni Mitchell, we trust she is improving and keeping well.</b> </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;">Good to see her out and about, if in a wheelchair, at various music events, with her peers and people she knows. Wonder if she is still smoking. </span></div>
Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-14146675647200458152017-11-04T16:38:00.003+00:002017-11-04T16:38:21.061+00:00Grace for the weekend<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #444444;"><b>It sounds like all my clubbing nights rolled into one!</b></span>Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-43354504450992888802017-10-26T10:49:00.000+01:002017-10-26T11:13:34.021+01:00"Life during wartime" ...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWSjEBunXl1CiinJ3WAcwsU4l8M0hpyIF80Wi8uSU8iwtxwiauuk1bwdDrvxpPSfNAtvWl5uYR2RuEsBPn1nqefDYlXxpuCWAN_ZBtXGWGeeVe7cEI129wOnisCQi9D_ubydEnFvefrrAc/s1600/waterloo+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="268" data-original-width="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWSjEBunXl1CiinJ3WAcwsU4l8M0hpyIF80Wi8uSU8iwtxwiauuk1bwdDrvxpPSfNAtvWl5uYR2RuEsBPn1nqefDYlXxpuCWAN_ZBtXGWGeeVe7cEI129wOnisCQi9D_ubydEnFvefrrAc/s1600/waterloo+1.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">Given my penchant for 1940s British movies, both of the war years and that grim post-war era, its surprising I never saw <b>WATERLOO ROAD</b> before. Its a 1944 Gainsborough gem set around Waterloo Road in South London, just behind Waterloo railway station and there are lots of shots of the station then and those streets and back to back houses.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaLUOfXCBt62NJ1FztsOYtp9c9Aqf1DPXGsIz9N9PULlSObIJ9ze1_2CdqyJOtXrRmdaaNLDYst83G0_AaEPptyuSHDpNkWbhjQ_Tt6LL8ZsI1CFcrXonwbURrMH_n-KPa0VczOKjsKhBq/s1600/Alison+Leggatt++Waterloo+Road+%25281944%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="190" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaLUOfXCBt62NJ1FztsOYtp9c9Aqf1DPXGsIz9N9PULlSObIJ9ze1_2CdqyJOtXrRmdaaNLDYst83G0_AaEPptyuSHDpNkWbhjQ_Tt6LL8ZsI1CFcrXonwbURrMH_n-KPa0VczOKjsKhBq/s200/Alison+Leggatt++Waterloo+Road+%25281944%2529.jpg" width="140" /></a><span style="color: #444444;">I felt at times I was watching an alternative <b>THIS HAPPY BREED</b> or<b> IT ALWAYS RAINS ON SUNDAY</b>, as we encounter squaddie John Mills, unfaithful wife Joy Shelton (who does not register at all - it needed a Kay Walsh) and the widest of wide boys Stewart Granger (before he decamped for Hollywood) as the spiv putting the make on Mills' wife. Mills goes AWOL to track him down and that very brutal fight follows. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">Add in Alistair Sim as the local doctor, Jean Kent as local good time girl, Beatrice Varley as the worried mother and the great Alison Legatt (above)as another nagging spinster aunt (as she was in <b>THIS HAPPY BREED</b>). She is as under-rated as Kathleen Byron) I loved it, directed by Sidney Gilliat. Play it with <b>HOLIDAY CAMP</b> or <b>THE WAY TO THE STARS </b>or<b> 2,000 WOMEN</b>, <b>THE BLUE LAMP</b>, <b>POOL OF LONDON </b>etc.</span></div>
Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-75119239474103740162017-10-24T10:56:00.001+01:002017-10-28T15:42:53.979+01:00Vanishing London - an occasional series<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="color: blue;"><b><i>Today: Sandwich bars</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;">The evolution of London into the new metropolis continues with the rise of all those new eateries and trendy new restaurants and foodie destinations like <b>Borough Market</b>, as detailed in the (now free) weekly "<b>Time Out</b>".</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;">But those of us who worked in the city or west end in the '80s and '90s and early 2000s fondly remember the proliferation of sandwich bars, where office workers queued up at lunchtime for sandwiches made to your specifications so it was all fresh and at a reasonable price. Those windows with their stacked piles of cold meats, chicken, ham, cheeses and salads of every description - like a New York deli in fact.. The premises did not need to be large, just enough room for a couple of tables as it was mainly takeaway business.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">But since then the unstoppable rise of chains like Pret A Manger, EAT and all the rest, and all those gourmet burgers means most of these earlier fast food outlets are on the way out. I am as much to blame as anyone else - I loved those early Pret sandwiches and baguettes, even if they got soggy if left too long. Then Marks & Spencer got in on the lunchtime trade, and their sandwiches were and are top notch. I might be having their chicken and avocado today. The humble sandwich may be on the way out though as they all now promote wraps, flatbreads, quinoa pots etc. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">When I first began working in London in the Sixties there were still some Kardomah cafes with their super strong coffee, and at the other end of the spectrum those Wimpy Bars, how we liked those burgers wrapped in a frankfurter with all the trimmings. Worker then too got Luncheon Vouchers as part of their salary, which were used as part of paying for lunch.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;">Here are a few places I particularly liked: </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">In Brewer Street, across from where I worked in Regent Street was a terrific outlet, run by a very friendly mother and daughter, where it seemed most of the office went for their freshly made sandwiches, they seemed to have an endless supply of different fillings and salads.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">Down in The Strand too, in a tiny space next to one of the Drury Lane theatres, the most perfect sandwiches or baps were treats, with perfect ham and fillings.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">There were still some sandwich bars (maybe they are still there) in the Marylebone area just up from Oxford Street - a particular favourite was our Friday morning treat of a hot sausage sandwich with mustard, it set one up for the day, as did their bacon butties, maybe with a fried egg.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">Progress of course is inevitable but one wonders where the next trendy food revolution will lead, and of course it won't be cheap and cheerful.</span><br />
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Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-64634810608186546402017-10-23T10:38:00.002+01:002017-11-08T00:37:49.592+00:00The Crown<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #444444;">Slight reservations about the massive Netflix series <b>THE CROWN</b>, Series 1 is now a 4 dvd pack (10 one-hour long episodes), as they film Series 2. One can see the quality and the interesting casting, but it moves at a slow pace and Buckingham Palace seems a very gloomy, dark place, with all those older ministers and courtiers - but I presume thats how the Fifties are perceived now.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">Stealing the show four episodes in is the venerable Dame Eileen Atkins as Queen Mary, a role she has played a few times. Claire Foy and Matt Smith are growing into their roles, but will be replaced by older actors as the decades pass .... John Lithgow is a terrific Churchill, and there's Jeremy Northam (Anthony Eden), Greg Wise (Lord Mountbatten), Harriet Walter (Lady Churchill) and more, who capture the essence of their characters, without being lookalikes. Victoria Hamilton is a perfect Queen Mother, but Jared Harris seems all wrong as George VI (it begins with him coughing up blood, while drinking more whiskey and endlessly smoking, and shooting wildlife. The very busy Alex Jennings would be much better here, but he plays the brother who abdicated. Showing the coronation scene mainly through his eyes is genius. Vanessa Kirby looks like being an ideal Princess Margaret too.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;">Surely though Princess Elizabeth knew she would always be queen and was trained to step into her father's shoes, so why all the nervous stares and looking like a scared rabbit in the early scenes. The marriage in 1947 and the births of her first two children (surely important events for her) are glossed over too. Still, there will be a lot to cover ... television costume drama at its best then, these early episodes are directed by Stephen Daldry and its written by Peter Morgan (<b>THE QUEEN</b>). Its certainly better than the risible <b>VICTORIA</b>!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">Series 2 starting next month continues from 1956 so we should see a lot more of Margaret once she meets Tony Armstrong Jones.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><b><i><span style="color: #444444;">Above: the Royal Family at Windsor Royal Lodge, by Herbert James Gunn, 1950</span><span style="color: blue;">.</span></i></b></span></div>
Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-61222416991478259682017-10-21T12:00:00.002+01:002017-10-24T11:04:07.380+01:00 An Irish cottage for the weekend ...<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="color: #444444;">Its a weekend with <b>THE QUIET MAN</b> - John Ford's immortal piece of Irish whimsy from 1952. No matter how many times I have seen it (quite a lot since I was a kid) it always comes up fresh. All those great characters to enjoy spending time with - that perfect cottage interior and were Wayne and O'Hara ever more lovable? <i>(above: the restored cottage for today's tourists)</i></span><br />
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Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-82668213630293146012017-10-19T14:16:00.005+01:002017-10-26T11:16:37.729+01:00RIP, continued<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="color: #444444;"><b>Danielle Darrieux</b> (1917-2017), aged 100. Madame Darrieux, one of France's premier stars clocked up 140 credits, including several classics. I first saw her as Richard Burton's mother Olympias in <b>ALEXNDER THE GREAT</b> in 1956, when a kid, and she did several other international films like <b>THE GREENGAGE SUMMER</b>, <b>FIVE FINGERS</b>, but will be always remembered for Max Ophuls' <b>THE EARRINGS OF</b> <b>MADAME DE ...</b> , <b>LA RONDE</b> and more. She was delightful as the mother in Demy's <b>YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT</b> in 1967, and in her later years was one of Ozon's <b>8 WOMEN</b>. She also replaced Katharine Hepburn in <b>COCO</b> on Broadway in the 1970s. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;">She was tarnished with a Nazi smear during the war years, and one of her husbands was the "legendary" playboy Porfirio Rubirosa. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><i><b>See reviews at label.</b></i></span></div>
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<b>Rosemary Leach </b>(1935-2017) aged 81. Another venerable British actress it was always a pleasure to see, mainly in television roles as in <b>THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN</b> and <b>THE CHARMER</b>, and as Mrs Honeychurch in <b>A ROOM WITH A VIEW</b>.<br />
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<b>Walter Lassally </b>(1926-2017) aged 90. Acclaimed cinematographer (I attended a lecture he gave at the BFI in the 70s), who was in at the birth of the English New Wave with his luminous work on <b>A TASTE OF HONEY</b> and <b>THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER</b> and <b>TOM JONES</b>. <b>ZORBA THE GREEK</b> in 1964 cemented his reputation and he also shot favourites like <b>THE DAY THE FISH CAME OUT</b> and <b>SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE</b>. He also shot several Merchan-Ivory films,including <b>HEAT AND DUST</b> and <b>THE BOSTONIANS</b>. He shot several filmsnin Greece and had moved there.<br />
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<b>Fats Domino</b> (928-2017), aged 89. Fats was one of the first rock'n'rollers I saw as a kid, probably in <b>THE GIRL CANT HELP IT </b>or the few other movies in appeared it. we preferred him to the somehow more sleazy Chuck Berry. Fats and Buddy Holly and of course Elvis were our new gods then in those great '55 and '56 years. One only has to hear "blueberry Hill" or "Ain't that a shame" to bring it all back - his jovial brand of New Orleans and Louisiana boogie woogie and rhythm and blues remain timeless and was hugely influential.</div>
Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-21030332402555783462017-10-19T13:37:00.001+01:002017-10-25T11:18:39.477+01:00Gloria Grahame<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="color: #444444;"><b>Gloria Graham </b>(1923-1981) is being celebrated by a two-part season at London's BFI. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #d0e0e3; color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">The season will tie in with the release of <b>FILM STARS DON'T DIE IN LIVERPOOL </b>(Paul McGuigan, 2017), about the passionate relationship between British actor Peter Turner and the Academy Award-Winning actress, starring Annette Bening and Jamie Bell. (Bening should be ideal here - I read the book some time ago, so looking forward to seeing it).</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #d0e0e3;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><b>As the perceptive notes by programmer Jo Botting, say:</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><i><b style="background-color: #d0e0e3;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Although Grahame never reached the heights of major stardom, she excelled at playing complex, damaged women. Her innate ability to tap into the psyche of troubled characters imbued them with an emotional depth that hinted at a troubled past, and a doomed future. Crossfire (Edward Dmytryk, 1947) offered Grahame one of her earliest substantial roles; her portrayal of a dance-hall girl who witnesses a murder earned her an Oscar®-nomination and set the mould for her screen persona. Nicholas Ray’s beguiling blend of murder mystery and love story In a Lonely Place (1950) is one of the finest American movies of the early 50s, which sees a Hollywood scriptwriter (played by Humphrey Bogart) become the prime suspect in the murder of a young woman, that is, until his neighbour played by Grahame provides him with a false alibi. As the pair embark on a romance, his volatile temper makes her wonder whether he might have been guilty. In a Lonely Place is rereleased by Park Circus on Friday 24 November, and plays on extended run; also re-released on the same day is The Big Heat (1953), Fritz Lang’s stark thriller about a cop fighting city-wide corruption. Lang’s film is pacy, unsentimental and to the point in exploring the thin line between the law and rough justice. The robust direction, terse script and unfussy performances ensure the movie feels strangely modern. Grahame read Macbeth in preparation for the role of Irene Neves in Sudden Fear (David Miller, 1952) – looking to Lady Macbeth to locate the emotional drive to manipulate a man to murder, as she does with actor-cum-fraudster Lester Blaine. Joan Crawford is at the film’s core and plays the melodramatic angle to perfection, but Grahame is compelling as the driving force behind the murderous plot. </span></b></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;"><i><b style="background-color: #d0e0e3;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Alongside the noir titles, part one of the season in November will also include Vincente Minnelli’s classic Hollywood take on the movie business The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), which tells the tale of a ruthless producer and the effect his dealings have on his friends and colleagues. Grahame received the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for the role despite being on screen for only nine minutes.</span>
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<span style="color: #444444;"><i><b style="background-color: #d0e0e3;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Part two of the season in December further explores Grahame’s femme fatale finesse, but also showcases some of her lighter roles including Vincente’s Minnelli’s lush melodrama The Cobweb (1955) in which she plays the neglected wife of a doctor, frustrated by his dedication to his work and stifled by the small-town mentality of those around her. Although she was not a natural singer (her singing was dubbed in Naked Alibi) Grahame’s naïve, endearing vocal style in the classic Rogers and Hammerstein musical western Oklahoma! (Fred Zinnemann, 1955) brings genuine charm to her portrayal of the flirtatious </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The selection of films screening in the season illustrates Gloria Grahame’s great acting talent and reveals a scintillating screen presence and effortless glamour. Her scandalous and turbulent private life has intensified her legendary status, but this shouldn’t distract viewers from her most important legacy: her uniquely compelling performances.</span></b></i></span></div>
Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-51625181043880150442017-10-18T08:14:00.002+01:002017-10-19T10:09:41.503+01:00"100 thrillers to see before you die"<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM4uffmr-8hVHUYyO7sRXg27Oe30pK2uURdrNuS6rpBB6VnZqCTuWL4-CXRNBX5Hy08kdlf4OjG7TQTDQTAlJsnaX05AMmT7yqOYkOQTE7p6slEcQGJhAn_IslMuI70NByRpB1p9befnXR/s1600/boucher-le-1970-001-jean-yanne-stephane-audran.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="741" data-original-width="1000" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM4uffmr-8hVHUYyO7sRXg27Oe30pK2uURdrNuS6rpBB6VnZqCTuWL4-CXRNBX5Hy08kdlf4OjG7TQTDQTAlJsnaX05AMmT7yqOYkOQTE7p6slEcQGJhAn_IslMuI70NByRpB1p9befnXR/s320/boucher-le-1970-001-jean-yanne-stephane-audran.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="color: #444444;">Here's a doozy for lovers of lists and thrillers. The British Film Institute has come up with 100 listed alphabetically. See them all at the link:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;"> </span><span style="color: blue;">http://www.bfi.org.uk/thriller/100-thrillers-see-before-you-die?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">But what really is a thriller? Is <b>CHINATOWN</b> a thriller or a deep romantic drama with thrills added? </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">I am happy with 90% of this list, most of the obvious choices are here - from Chabrol's <b>LE BOUCHER</b> (right) to <b>THE BIG HEAT </b><i>(below),</i><i style="font-weight: bold;"> </i>and pleased to see Moll's <b>HARRY, HE'S HERE TO HEL</b>P included, but would have to fit in :</span></div>
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<li><b><i>OBSESSION - DePalma, 1976</i></b></li>
<li><b><i>THE PARALLAX VIEW - Pakula, 1974</i></b></li>
<li><b><i>LE SAMOURAI - Melville, 1967</i></b></li>
<li><b><i>CHAIR DE POULE - Duvivier, 1963</i></b></li>
<li><b><i>COMA - Crichton, 1978</i></b></li>
<li><b><i>THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR - Pollock, 1975</i></b></li>
<li><b><i>LES MAUDITS - Clement, 1948</i></b></li>
<li><b><i>THE BIG COMBO - Lewis, 1955.</i></b></li>
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<b><i>Next: Gloria Graham ...</i></b></div>
Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5851593288215620717.post-69333532760076063682017-10-17T11:27:00.002+01:002017-10-25T10:40:02.614+01:00Marilyn by Milton<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtQ6588Uvy3k-0ap_K14Aej6KEm58cHXNj8CrtaZgzsfiYawyIeCMNk2KA5498wyHuvagxvoyq7xY8tuDdBhIom2c80s60gCVaCyZiZzGDmZHJxWHEUjmmdTLFNv-1AXpM1q_CUAay2b7W/s1600/MM+Greene.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="220" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtQ6588Uvy3k-0ap_K14Aej6KEm58cHXNj8CrtaZgzsfiYawyIeCMNk2KA5498wyHuvagxvoyq7xY8tuDdBhIom2c80s60gCVaCyZiZzGDmZHJxWHEUjmmdTLFNv-1AXpM1q_CUAay2b7W/s1600/MM+Greene.jpg" /></a><span style="color: #444444;">She really was the most photographed woman ever, and this stunning new tome <b>THE ESSENTIAL MARILYN MONROE</b> with 280 full page photographs covers only 1953 to early 1957.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">There have been other great Monroe picture books, but nothing tops this. Milton H. Greene was MM's friend, confidant and business partner - they produced two films; <b>BUS STOP</b> and <b>THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL</b> as he helped her break out of her 20th Century Fox contract, and did at least 50 photograph sessions with her.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;">A lot, in fact most, of these are new to me - only a few have been published before - like the iconic "ballerina" shot which even my teenage niece had on her bedroom wall - mainly in Norman Mailer's 1973 biography which brought all the main photographs together, including Greene's stunning "black session" shots never published during her lifetime. Greene was one of the ace photographers of the era and his son Joshua has curated this massive tome, and its a reasonable price too. The restored images just don't look 60 years old.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">It shows Greene as up there with the other key Monroe photographers like Eve Arnold, George Barris, Bert Stern, Jack Cardiff, Lawrence Schiller (the 1962 pool pictures), Sam Shaw, Cecil Beaton etc, each capturing a different Marilyn. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;">By 1957 Marilyn had moved on to marrying Arthur Miller and the Greene pictures were shelved. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;">Massively recommended. Just don't drop it on your foot, like I did yesterday! </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Milton H. Greene (1922-1985), famous for his fashion photography and celebrity portraits from the golden age of Hollywood, met Marilyn Monroe on a photo shoot for </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">Look </i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">magazine in 1953. The pair developed an instant rapport, quickly becoming close friends and ultimately business partners. In 1954, after helping her get out of her studio contract with 20th Century Fox, they created Marilyn Monroe Productions, Inc. Milton and Marilyn were much more then business partners, Marilyn became a part of the Greene family. By the time their relationship had ended in 1957, the pair had produced two feature films, in addition to more than 5,000 photographs of the iconic beauty. There was magic in Milton and Marilyn's working relationship. The trust and confidence they had in each other's capabilities was on full display in each photo.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Greene passed in 1985, thinking his life's work was succumbing to the ravages of time. His eldest son, Joshua, began a journey to meticulously restore his father's legacy. A photographer himself, Joshua spent years researching ways to restore his father's photographs as well as cataloging and promoting Milton's vast body of work all over the world. As a result, Joshua established "The Archives," a company committed to the restoration and preservation of photography. After spending nearly two decades restoring his father's archive, Joshua Greene and his company are widely regarded as one of the leaders in photographic restoration and have been at the forefront of the digital imaging and large-format printing revolution.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Now Joshua Greene, in conjunction with Iconic Images, presents </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;"><b>The Essential Marilyn Monroe: Milton H. Greene, 50 Sessions.</b></i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> With 280 photographs, including many never-before published and unseen images, newly scanned and restored classics, as well as images that have appeared only once in publication, Greene's Marilyn Monroe archive can finally be viewed as it was originally intended when these pictures were first produced more than 60 years ago. These classic sessions - 50 in all - cover Monroe at the height of her astonishing beauty and meteoric fame. From film-sets to the bedroom, at home and at play, Joshua has curated a lasting tribute to the work of a great photographer and his greatest muse.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Poignant and powerful, joyful and stunning - these breathtaking images of an icon stand above all the rest. </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;"><b>The Essential Marilyn Monroe: Milton H. Greene, 50 Sessions</b></i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> is sure to be a book that will become the platinum standard in photography monographs</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">.</span></span></div>
Michael O'Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.com1