Posted in British Film, Directors, Stars, Style, War films on May 22nd, 2008 1 Comment »
The 26th of May is something of a red-letter day in the DVD release calendar. Whether this is because of a conjunction of the planets in the far-distant heavens or some sinister international conspiracy of art-house DVD labels, I don’t know. But whatever the reason, there’s a whole bunch of films released that day which […]
Posted in British Film, Directors on May 9th, 2008 2 Comments »
It’s perhaps a wee bit early to be talking about the best DVD of the year but if there’s a better release than the BFI’s splendid Land of Promise this year, I’ll be a very happy little chap indeed. As I’m sure you’re aware, it gathers together many British documentaries made between 1930 and 1950, […]
Posted in British Film, Directors, Stars, Style on Mar 4th, 2008 No Comments »
Given that relations between Britain and Russia hover somewhere distantly below freezing point at the moment, I wonder how the Russians received Eastern Promises. It’s fair to say that this (ostensibly British) thriller doesn’t show its Russian villains in an entirely positive light. I wouldn’t want to be the projectionist who shows it to Vladimir […]
Posted in British Film, Double-bills, Lists on Feb 21st, 2008 No Comments »
Sometime last century, my then-local fleapit decided to branch out into late-night screenings. This in itself was a novelty in a small town where the weekend’s entertainment usually involved Diamond White and Actual Bodily Harm. So imagine the feverish buzz that resulted when it was learned that these late-nighters would be double-bills, that is two […]
Posted in British Film, Directors on Feb 4th, 2008 No Comments »
I was recently tasked with reviewing a new box set which gathers up the thrillers Alfred Hitchcock made in the 1930s, and which also throws in a few of his silents for good measure. This wasn’t difficult, as I’m extremely fond of this period in the master’s career. He would make objectively ‘better’ films but […]
Posted in British Film, Directors on Nov 27th, 2007 4 Comments »
A month or so back, appalled by the profoundly conservative ‘Summer of British Film’, I wrote a piece championing the films that had slipped through the cracks: British masterpieces that were just as good as (and in some cases better than) the establishment history. You’ll find it here.
It climaxed with a rousing exhortation to readers […]