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Reviews
The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)
Arthur Christiensen
Despite his listing as an "actor" this is the same Arthur Christiensen that was the actual editor of the Daily Express 1933-1957, four years before playing that part in this film. One of those very rare occasions when the editor of a paper in a film was an actual journalist.
The film is a curiosity now when one regards the changes that have taken place in the methods and techniques of newspaper production.
The scene where the alternative front pages await confirmation is one of those classic scenes from the period, nuclear fission being at the forefront of the publics mind at the time. Worth watching for all that.
Schalcken the Painter (1979)
It's not lost
I don't understand the comments about this being a lost masterpiece. It is a masterpiece of course but £13.59 gets you the DVD from Amazon! Hardly "lost".
This is superbly atmospheric and all render their parts superbly. A little gem of a ghost story, the level of detail concerning the style, method and technique of Dutch painting at this period is most impressive. John Justine is made up to look deeply unattractive and Clyde's character, whilst ostensibly the hero, is far from loveable. Also so good to see the wonderful Maurice Denham proving to still be such good value so late in his career.
BBC Play of the Month: Maigret at Bay (1969)
Maigret on the Defensive gets the BBC treatment
Good to see Rupert Davies reprising his classic role as Simenon's Chief Inspector Maigret. Sadly missing the excellent Ewen Solon as Lucas and, of course, Victor Lucas as Torrance (for the obvious reason that they killed the character off!) Nevertheless this is a pretty faithful dramatisation of the story. Pity there weren't more Maigrets broadcast, Simenon had written a goodly number more since the series ended in 1962.
Maigret: Peter the Lett (1963)
Simenon's error corrected.
Peter the Lett was Simenon's first Maigret book. Presumably he hadn't intended to write a series originally because he killed off Torrance in that book. Torrance's reappearance in subsequent books is never explained. Putting this dramatisation as the penultimate episode removes that anomaly. Clever! Also clever is the way it explains Maigret's time off in the next episode.
Maigret: The Flemish Shop (1963)
The Flemish Shop
Pumpexch asks what the piano piece was. Solveig's Sing by Grieg.
Many Simenon books prove a challenge for dramatists. Like the Reluctant Witnesses this is one such. They don't do too badly.
I wonder how much Simenon's regard of Davies as "My Maigret" has to do with him being a top pipe smoker . . . That would impress Georges, an inveterate pipe man himself. Rupert certainly conveys that cerebral image you get in the books.
Maigret: The Madman of Vervac (1962)
Maigret and the Madman of Bergerac
Vervac? Bergerac! Why change the locale? Pretty faithful to the book otherwise. Nice locations and decent acting. Looks like the BBC had increased the budget for this series. In remember it had got very popular by this stage.
Maigret: The Countess (1962)
Maigret Goes Home
Strange deviations from the book on this one. No mention that M is there because he's had a note saying "A crime will be committed at first mass in the church of St. Fiacre on All Souls Day". Madam Maigret is there? Not in the book. Why omissions and alterations that don't improve the plot?
That said there's a strong cast and good locations so all in all a satisfactory episode.
Maigret: The Cactus (1961)
Maigret Takes a Room
One of the few disappointments with the old BBC Maigrets is that Janvier never appears, just occasionally getting a mention as the person on the end of the phone getting instructions from Lucas. So in this story it has to be poor old Lapoint who gets shot instead. Davis renders a very Simenon-like version of Maigret here. No surprise there as we know the author thought him to be ideal for the part. (He's certainly a superb pipe-smoker!) Good rendition of a book that takes some dramatising.
Maigret: The White Hat (1962)
Madam Maigret's Own Case
As is usual with these old BBC dramatisations it has some tweaks to the plot to fit the broadcast time but is faithful to the spirit of the book. Davies remains, for all the competition, a definitive M. Enjoying finally getting to see these episodes.
The Handmaid's Tale: The Wilderness (2021)
Ridiculous!
What a thoroughly stupid bit of screenplay to end the series. Would Canada agree to this? Why give Gilead what they want when you have an intelligence asset? Why pander to base instincts of victims? This makes no sense at all. If this is the best you can do don't bother making season five!
The Handmaid's Tale (2017)
Cynical
So far four seasons with a fifth to come and there's still no indication that 5 will be the last. All this from one book that took us up to the end of season 1. When it ends would appear to be up to Bruce Miller and Elizabeth Moss. Margaret Attwood's reputation diminishes with each season she agrees to. This has become a cash cow as long as we mugs keep watching.
The Brave Don't Cry (1952)
Good basic acting pays off
No frills, no intrusive music "creating an atmosphere". Just good basic acting in the most natural fashion by many unsung cast members, some of whom such as Fulton Mackay and Andrew Keir going on the distinguished careers.
I see IMDB haven't credited the title song, Kishmulls Run. It is the inestimable Kenneth MacKellar at his best.
The Stars Look Down (1940)
A worthwhile attempt at setting a very good book.
A. J. Cronin is best known for his Dr Finlay books but is also the author of many social reality books such as How Green was my Valley and this, The Stars Look Down.
All through the film we are aware of the dangers of mining too near a water source. The older miners know about it, our hero's father has even seen plans of the pit, but the owner, Mr Barrass, is adamant that he wouldn't flood his own pit and the union are taken in by this.
As a result the miners go on unnoficial strike for three months and are eventually driven back to work by starvation. Not before Davey Fenwick (our hero)'s father is jailed for his involvement in ransacking a butcher who refuses a meat bone to a miner who's wife has pneumonia. During this ransack our villain, Joe Gowland, hides and helps himself to the contents of the butcher's till, absconding on the next train out of town.
Davey is a bright lad and is working hard towards a scholarship for university which he achieves and moves in the big city to study for his degree. Here he meets up again with Joe who introduces him to Jenny, a rather dim gold-digger whom Joe is trying to unload as he has his ambitious eyes on the wife of a wealthy pit owner (a brief cameo from the excellent Cecil Parker),
Eventually Joe sneaks away from the digs where he has met Jenny while staying with her mother and Jenny decides to get her claws into Davey instead. This is disasterous for our hero how is eventually persuades to ditch his studies and become a schoolmaster. This goes wrong as his employer thinks his teaching methods too unorthodox and sacks him. Davey has to fall back on giving the son of Mr Barrass the pit owner lessons at 10s a week. Not enough for Jenny who eventually hooks up with Joe again.
At the climax of the film the worst comes to worst and the pit is flooded, trapping Davey's father and five others, including Joe's father, behind half a mile of roof collapse. Davey and other miners dig vigorously to try to get them out, helped by Mr Barrass who obviously knows the plans of the old workings despite having denied their existence. The dig proves too hard and takes too long to the trpped men die.
At that stage the film comes to a sad end but there needs to be too levels of context borne in mind. Firstly the censorship laws governing film at the time mean that certain aspects of the story are not filmed, or at least don't appear in the final cut.
One scene in the film that doesn't have the weight it has in the book shows Mr Barrass looking at Joe's contract for coking coal and saying "I don't lie that penalty clause". Joe plays it down. In the event we don't see that the penalty clause is invoked as a result of the tragedy causing the Barrass family to fail to fulfill the contract. Joe is then able to buy the pit at a knockdown price from the bankrupted owners and ends up running the pit. Davey, with no prospects, ends up back working down the pit.
What the film also doesn't show is that Joe gets Jenny pregnant and makes her have an abortion (illegal at the time). Davey eventually finds her in hospital and is at her side when she dies.
This film was made just five years before the 1945 Labour Government nationalised the coal industry so the Joe Gowlans of this world didn' have long to prosper. Having said that he would probably have made a fortune out of the war effort and ended up in a cosy directorship somewhere. Cronin's point is heavily made in the book but in the film we don't see Joe any longer after Davey has sent him packing for cuckholding him.
Crime on the Hill (1933)
A good old-fashioned murder mystery
A straightforward murder mystery told well. Allowing for differences in acting methods since then and the technical capabilities of film just about as good as any supporting feature made in the 1930s. One or two technical glitches on the print I've seen do not detract from enjoyment of the story which is your classic Sunday Afternoon Old Film.
Lots of local colour and scenes of ordinary life in a village for the period makes for interesting viewing. There are enough Red Herrings to keep the plot ticking over.
For those who like trivia: Michael Bilton (Old Ned in To the Manor Born) is to be seen fleetingly in the garden fête scene as a very young man sporting a straw boater.