Gone (2026 George Kay)

Kay is inspired by a true life crime book 'To Hunt a Killer' by ex detective Julie Mackay and Robert Murphy, which I think provides the backstory to this rather different case. So in other words, this is mainly an original story. 

Tough headmaster Michael, David Morrissey (also in Kay's The Long Shadow), finds wife / teacher has disappeared and neither he nor daughter Alana (Emma Appleton) know where she's gone. Detectives Anne (Eve Myles) and Nira (Jennifer Macbeth) investigate and - when a body is found - become family liaison.

Meanwhile Anne is still visiting the mother of a murdered girl from years before (this is the backstory). She's also tentatively renewing a relationship with ex-husband Craig, Peter McDonald, also a detective.

Complications arise when we learn the missing wife has been having an affair with married Stephen, Elliot Cowan, whose son Dylan (Billy Barratt) is the star rugby player; wife is played by Claire Goose.

Directed by Richard Laxton over 6 x 45 minutes for ITV.

There's a real dynamic shift at the end of episode 4, when Anne is getting closer to Michael revealing things about himself but her ex turns up all annoyed she's stood him up. He appears frighteningly aggressive and when Michael tries to ensure Anne is OK Craig attacks him and ends up arresting him. So we've suddenly been shifted from not liking the head teacher at all to finding Anne's ex even worse, making the former sympathetic in contrast.

Rather too many drone shots for my liking. Find another way to do a transition shot, for Wilder's sake.

Framed ties hanging on headmaster's wall?

The usual irritating senior (male) copper is Arthur Hughes, more helpful one is Oscar Batterham; Jodi McKnee good as police interviewer. Staff includes Rupert Evans, 

When Strangers Marry / Betrayed (1944 William Castle)

Maltin: "As good a B picture as you'll ever find." So Kim Hunter hadn't really been discovered yet for AMOLAD; and I guess Mitchum hadn't really taken hold either. Dean Jagger is actually star billed.

George Moskov's story was screenwritten by Philip Yordan and Dennis J Cooper. And makes for a most economical and enjoyable 63 minutes.

Has some bizarre touches, like the newspaperman who claims he doesn't have the newspaper that he does, the huge volume from the dance hall outside Kim's hotel room, Hunter's rush from the balcony, couple finding themsleves in Harlem all-black bar, superimpositions aplenty and the former tenant's photo.

With Neil Hamilton, Lou Lubin (a memorable face; he had appeared alongside Hunter in The Seventh Victim), Milton Kibbee (drunk), Dewey Robinson.

Approx 1940 vintage, today will cost c. £500, suggests it wasn't a cheap watch then

The film was shot in only seven days; luckily the actors had (for free) agreed to a seven day rehearsal first, which helped with the speed of filming enormously.

Castle's scream-to-train-whistle is indeed a steal from Hitchcock, The 39 Steps.

Lord of the Flies (2026 Jack Thorne)

Thorne has preserved much of William Golding's story and even the time period, probably a good idea.

The island location is good (Malaysia), the music different (Cristobal Tapia de Veer, The White Lotus), the extremely wide lenses weird (Mark Wolf). Mátyás Fekete / Andonis Trattos edited alternately.

Directed by Marc Munden.

Good cast: with Winston Sawyers (Ralph), Lox Pratt (Jack), David McKenna (Piggy), Ike Talbut (Simon).

Second part, Ralph, features a brilliantly handled pig hunt. Third, Simon has a weird red colouring running through, perhaps predicting what will happen at the end. Leading me to wonder if they've all been colour themed.

Silent Witness (2015)

A quite disturbing story about social work and child care: Protection by Timothy Prager. 

A child goes missing and we suspect the parents are up to something - they are, but it's not what we think. In tandem an angry young man finds one sister is being fostered and another about to be adopted; his mum is with someone unsuitable. Oh yes, and another couple are questioned over bruises on their baby. And central to all of this is social worker Claudie Blakley, who we sense errs on the side of caution a bit too much. The ending is heartbreaking.

John Dalgleish we know from something - Lark Rise. Amit Shah is a useful doctor. Otherwise didn't particularly recognise anyone. Directed by Daniel O'Hara.

None of the humour from the previous Nikki-Harry relationship seems to have survived, unfortunately, especially with material this dark.

Sadie McKee (1934 Clarence Brown)

"Your name's Sadie.. And your mother's a cook." Edward Arnold plays the most annoying drunk since that Spencer Tracy film we couldn't watch. Actually he's not as annoying as him, but.. Oh yeah, it's Mrs Merton's question - "What was it about millionaire drunk Edward Arnold that appealed to you?" His horribly drunken behaviour is just Pre-Code, as is fade out on kiss in hotel room.

And all because the guy she's run away to New York with to marry proves to be a worthless whore. Will decent but privileged Franchot Tone save the day? The answer's not as clear cut as you think it will be, which is all good.

Joan Crawford, Gene Raymond, Esther Ralston (man-stealer), Earl Oxford, Jean Dixon (world weary friend), Leo G Carroll (his debut), Akim Tamiroff (his first credited role), Helen Ware.

John Meehan adapted a story by Viña Delmar. Oliver T Marsh photographed, one of 15 Crawford films he shot from as far back as 1925.

Great little song 'After You've Gone' performed on piano, guitar and double bass by Gene Austin, Candy Candido and Otto Heimel.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008 Woody Allen & scr)

 The shocking revelation - it doesn't rain!! (Though there is a bit of a storm flying in to Oviedo.)

Quite an interesting film for Woody, in many ways.

Doesn't he write a cracking story?

Hotel de la Reconquista, Oviedo

If Wes Anderson Directed Vicky Cristina Barcelona is funny.

Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont (2005 Dan Ireland & co-scr)

I don't know how much of this is from the book but it's special - a film with no bad guys. Loved the line "Good Lord - we're trapped in a Terence Rattigan play!" Adapted by Ruth Sacks. So love the last couple of minutes which - to copy Orson Welles again - would make a stone cry. (Isn't Ryan Gosling's new film something about a stone?)

Ireland co-founded the Seattle International Film Festival, then became a film buyer before branching into direction. Weirdly his online obits say he died aged 57, but in fact he was 66 (heart attack). Which is all a shame - but at least he left us this lovely lasting legacy. The film is dedicated "With all the thanks and love in the world, Betty Ireland." 

Joan Plowright was indeed Laurence Olivier's third wife; she only died last year, aged 95. Apart from Enchanted April I can't really think of anything else she's been in. Tea with Mussolini, Equus, Uncle Vanya (two different versions), The Entertainer.

Some of the acting veers a bit into overkill, but there's no arguing with Plowright, Rupert Friend, Anna Massey and Zoe Telford.

Ellis - Season 2 (2026)

 4 x 45 minutes reunites Sharon D Clarke and Andrew Gower.

Ashenham. Sian Ejiwunmi-le Berre. Young offenders programmer is murdered. Links back to something that happened years before. Never heard that plot before. Again, murderer revealed at end seems unlikely (like, which characters have we got left who could have done it?)

Elmsly. Oliver Frampton. Murder in stone factory links to sex traffickers. Inevitable suspect-running-away scene.

Wasn't sure which screen shot to put in -

- you need them both.

Drones should be banned. Here's why. There's a drone shot of a manhunt in progress. Yawn.

Now, imagine if your camera was low down on the crest of a hill. And over the hill one by one appear police with sniffer dogs. Isn't that a much more potent image than the aerial one?

The Murder of Mary Phagan (1988 Billy Hale)

Larry McMurtry was responsible for putting together this (what seems) largely very accurate depiction of events in Georgia in 1913 - not only a terrible miscarriage of justice but an acknowledgment that lynching by mob was then unchallengeable. Jeffrey Lane and George Stevens Jr wrote the teleplay and Stevens narrated and produced it for Orion Television.

Maurice Jarre composed, Nic Knowland photographed, John Martinelli edited it into two two hour films (won ACE and Emmy).

The posthumous pardon was only finally issued, somewhat grudgingly, in 1986, so this was in a way extremely topical. It remains a terrible indictment of prejudice (not just racial - south v north). Won Emmy for outstanding miniseries.

Many memorable moments: the appearance of the 'World's Greatest Detective' and the reason the woman has been going along with the murderer in prison; interrogations by Lemmon; the court proceedings overtaken by the Southerners singing an anthem; the secret of the office boy; the calmness with which Frank meets his end.

Good cast: Jack Lemmon (Emmy nominated), Peter Gallagher (Leo Frank), Richard Jordan, Robert Prosky, Kathryn Walker (Governor's wife), Rebecca Miller (convicted man's long suffering wife), Paul Dooley, Charles S. Dutton (good as the murderer, A Time To Kill), Kevin Spacey, Cynthia Nixon, Kenneth Welsh, Dylan Baker, William H Macy.

Ann Hite's 'I am a Georgian: The Life of Lucille Selig Frank, 1888-1957' (2025) sounds good, published in Macon, GA by Mercer University Press. David Mamet used the story for his novel 'The Old Religion' (1997) but reviews say it's quite interior and difficult to read.

And this is the South - what's amazing is that they didn't just find the Black Man guilty and string him up.

To Rome with Love (2012 Woody Allen & scr)

 We're not clever enough to understand this joke:

"My brain doesn't fit the usual id-ego-superego model."
"No, you have the only brain with three ids."

Antonio Albanese

"What's next - Tosca in a phone booth?"

Silent Witness (2015)

Falling Angels. Graham Mitchell / Craig Viveiros.

A bewildering turn of events unfolds with homeless man Jack Roth (son of Tim; good) seeming to commit random murders, whilst new lover Leila Mimmack stands by him. All revealed in good twist. Again it's not pathology that seems to be at work rather than forensics.

In parallel Nikki investigates the death of detective Richard (Rebus) Rankin's father - which turns into another twist.

My only problem is that we don't get any motivation for the homeless man's behaviour but otherwise it's a good, sneaky one.

The Walsh Sisters (2025 Stefanie Preissner)

Marion Keyes' novels provide source for Dublin sisters Louisa Harland, Caroline Menton (out of control), Danielle Galligan, Máiréad Tyers and Stefanie Preissner; Carrie Crowley and Aiden Quinn are parents. The mother is horrible.

Most engaging bits - when we hear just how bad a drunk and druggie Menton was from her boyfriend; and Harland's encounter with a fellow griever at the cemetery.

It was OK; we were somehow not really that involved.

Shrinking - Season 3 (2026)

Jason Segel, Jessica Williams, Luke Tennie, Harrison Ford, Michael Urie, Lukita Maxwell, Ted McGinley, Christa Miller, Michael J Fox, Devin Kawaoka.

Ted and Liz have to kick their son out so he can make something of himself. Brian and Charlie have a baby. Sean's girlfriend returns. Great to see Fox as Parkinson's patient. Paul is retiring. Alice is going to Uni.

Various writers. Good stuff.

Silent Witness: Season 18 (2015)

Sniper's Nest. Ed Whitmore. Director David Richards.

One of those ones in which (one of the) perpetrators is someone you haven't met during the whole two hours, so it seems like a bit of a cheat. Random sniper strikes. Like some of the other films, pathology doesn't seem particularly relevant.

Zoe Telford and Sean Gilder are up against it. Adam Wilson is good as the juvenile murderer (and we thought of Adolescence).

Silent Witness: Fraternity (2014 Graham Mitchell / Dušan Lazarević)

Is Jack's half brother Owen McDonnell the killer of a schoolgirl? No, or course not, but he is ultimately responsible for other dodgy stuff that gets him nicked. Leaving us clinician Liam Garrigan a prime suspect.

The murderer attempts to kill Jack but is somehow unsuccessful. Their identity is somewhat unlikely.

Ashley Walters investigates with bad grace. Haydn Gwynne is a stand in pathologist. Kirsty Besterman, Clare Calbraith, Teresa Churcher, Daisy Ridley.

A Woman's Face (1941 George Cukor)

From a play 'It Etait Une Fois' by Francis de Croisset, which had been adapted  as an Ingrid Bergman Swedish film En Kvinnas Ansikte in 1937, and it was she who came up with the ending - that she would face trial for murder but the outcome wasn't known. This of course had to be changed to the happier ending that MGM audiences were expecting, by Donald Ogden Stewart and Elliot Paul. It was a big hit.

The scarred faces compared:

Bergman's diary reveals she cried in the studio - not from the pain of the makeup but because she was so 'bad'

Thanks to Musings for saving me the trouble.

Both versions take the form of a trial in which various witnesses come forward and present the story of the scarred and (emotionally) ugly woman blackmailer, beginning with a cohort in Donald Meek, who explains how Crawford blackmailing an adulterous woman Osa Massen leads her to meet plastic surgeon Melvyn Douglas, and her transformation begins. But she's being manipulated by evil Conrad Veidt (was he ever the good guy?) who wants her to kill his nephew, a little boy, and so we are led to the snowy, er, hills of Hollywood, and Albert Basserman, Marjorie Main and young Richard Nichols.

There's a very exciting sled chase / race at the end, edited by Frank Sullivan (and without music) and Robert Planck's photography of these scenes and Ms Crawford's face are equally good. Bronislau Kaper's score is not to the fore.

Lots of recognisable people in cast include Reginald Owen, Connie Gilchrist, Gwili Andre, Henry Daniell, George Zucco, Robert Warwick.

Silent Witness - Season 17 (2014)

To get over the bad taste left by the Louis Theroux doc we turned instead to abduction, torture, rape and murder - how very British of us.

In a Lonely Place by Ed Whitmore and Tracey Malone (Whitmore) takes place in the Scottish Highlands. Not one but several bodies are uncovered - effectively depicted as sniffer dogs one by one sit on places of corpses. It all links to a seedy pole dancing club.

Martin Compston investigates along with his old 'pals' Robert Cavanah and Gary Lewis, principal suspect is Christopher Hatherall. It's got quite a merry-go-round of a plot (though Q thinks table tennis is a more apposite analogy).

Enjoyably cruel and far-fetched idea to have the victim who got away kidnapped and tortured again - at least she survives - Nicola Grier.

Then in Undertone (Ed Whitmore again, with Declan Croghan) the corpse of a young women, who has had a baby removed, is linked to a drug dealing Turkish gang - this one of the quite unlikely ones. Akin Gazi is memorable as the baddie, Sean Gallagher as the very bad cop, Morvern Christie his subordinate.

Why the other cop is shot at the beginning is I think not explored.

The Alexandra Road Estate (aka Rowley Way) in Camden is a location we've seen before:

... notably in Breaking and Entering.

Loved Jack taking out the bad guy who has him at gunpoint.

Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere (2026 Adrian Choa)

Louis chums up with some utterly despicable and twisted people with no brains and decides that their promotion of mancentric things and Matrix-fuelled conspiracy theories are all organised to make sales for them and no one else - Louis'  $500 investment managed by 'billionaire brokers' quickly expires. 

Utterly depressing - the world has gone backwards.

Funded by Netflix.

Rooster (2026 Bill Lawrence / Mark Tarses)

New Steve Carrell comedy for HBO revolves around University. Carrell is a best selling author who drops in to look after recently separated daughter Charly Clive, finds himself sequestered (the wrong word I know) by college professor Danielle Deadwyler. Brit Phil Dunster is the ex, who's now with Lauren Tsai ("I'm funnier than everyone thinks"). Eccentric Dean is John C McGinley.

Oscars 2026

Conan O'Brien is a capable host - some of the skits, like old films remade for vertical, Casablanca over-explained (with Sterling K Brown as Sam) and the advertising that would appear if the Oscars were screened on YouTube are good - some of the 'jokey' bits by presenters are just screamingly awful.

No real surprises here - Wunmi lost out to Amy Madigan for Weapons; Leo lost to Michael B Jordan in Sinners. Sean Penn won again for Supporting. Paul Thomas Anderson won the Wilder hattrick, reflecting how important that film was perceived to be by the Academy.

The K Pop band were rather unfairly musiced over.

But the real seismic event was the first time a woman won Best Cinematography. Women must have won in all the major categories before so rather belatedly they're now caught up on this one. Congratulations to Autumn Durald Arkapaw for Sinners. Rachel Morrison had been nominated for Mudbound in 2017, Mandy Walker for Elvis in 2022.

Despite Jafar Panahi's It Was Just an Accident being in competition for Foreign Film, the Norwegian Sentimental Value won.

Silent Witness (2014)

Coup de Grace Graham Mitchell / David Richards. Very diffused photography. Nikki helps acquit suspected murderer Michael Socha (pronounced, I am informed, 'So-cha') but then more murders in his style take place. Nikki gets too close to defence lawyer Tobias Menzies. Meanwhile detective Lorraine Ashbourne is convinced they had the right man all along.

The House in Marsh Road (1960 Montgomery Tully)

Patricia Dainton inherits a family house giving her and her wastrel husband Tony Wright a place to crash, and from where he can 'write'. The house seems inhabited by a poltergeist,  as pointed out by housekeeper Anita-Sharp Bolster, which the husband doesn't love, but he's soon after glamorous (by that I mean she's prone to wearing shiny slacks) single typist Sandra Dorne, who's a bad girl and indifferent to stealing a woman's husband. He's a real sleaze, did I mention that? Even to the point of planning to murder his wife. But - and this is a neat twist - the house (or the poltergeist) has other ideas... The ending is the best part of this short 66 minute indie, which despite many shortcomings remains watchable.

Written by Maurice Wilson from a story by Laurence Meynell. Didn't know any of the crew except for nascent director, first AD Douglas Hickox.

I was initially caught by John Veale's opening credits music, which in melody and orchestration sounds like a trial run for Barry's Thunderball theme. The rest of the music is more routine but you wonder.

Silent Witness: Season 17 opener (2014)

Commodity. Timothy Prager / Daniel O'Hara.

New pathologist Richard Lintern steps in to take Leo's job (Nikki didn't want it). 

Jack has insulted a detective (Adrian Rawlins). So he has to apologise, but Lintern endears himself to us (and the team) by making the DI apologise as well. Then he leaves Nikki with Leo's old creaky chair.

The plot is all about whether a cocky footballer has murdered the ex nanny.

Woody Allen Double Bill: You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010) / Magic in the Moonlight (2014)

Completely coincidentally both films are linked by mediums. In the first, Pauline Collins predicts Gemma Jones' future, much to the disbelief of daughter Naomi Watts and her husband, Josh Brolin, a writer. She in turn hopes to have an affair with boss Antonio Banderas and he with neighbour Freida Pinto. Jones' ex Anthony Hopkins is in a very misguided relationship with Lucy Punch. And they all make a big mess of everything!

Vilmos Zsigmond shot it in London.

With Fenella Woolgar, Philip Glenister, Neil Jackson, Ewen Bremner, Anna Friel, Celia Imrie, and briefly, Joanna David.

Darius Khondji shoots the Cote d'Azur beautifully. Great production design / locations. Most enjoyable film.

Sitting Target (1972 Douglas Hickox)

 I quite enjoyed this seventies British thriller, which takes after Performance and its ilk.

Convict Oliver Reed - sporting ugly accent - learns wife Jill St John is leaving him and determines to break out of prison with mate Ian McShane and escape planner Freddie Jones - leading to an exciting scene, well shot, and showing what a difficult and scary task it is.

Reed's mission is to kill her, and it involves fellow criminal Frank Finlay and detective Edward Woodward. There's some good action scenes and a nice twist ending.

Well photographed by Ted Scaife, edited by John Glen, music by Stanley Myers.

The Lost Patrol (1934 John Ford)

A restrained Victor McLaglan leads said British patrol across Mesopotamian desert (now Iraq) to oasis where they are gradually picked off by an unseen enemy - an inspiration on Assault on Precinct 13?

Boris Karloff is a religious nutter. With Reginald Denny, Wallace Ford (no relation), J.M. Kerrigan.

Music by Steiner, shot by Harold Wenstrom, filmed in the Imperial Sand Dunes, Buttercup City for RKO.

Some surprising and memorable deaths, e.g. soldier who has just scaled a palm tree, aircraft pilot; but there's not a lot to it, really, certainly not the **** which Maltin bestows it with. Though I have to admit, almost berserk McLaglen with machine gun and Arabs, and British army finally showing up, is an effective ending.

Frenzy (1972 Alfred Hitchcock)

I was surprised to read that Quentin Tarantino thought it 'a piece of crap' as it's Hitch's last great film, a real change of pace, a nouvelle vague Hitchcock.

Friends With Benefits (2011 Will Gluck & co-scr)

Written by Gluck, David A Newman and Keith Merryman..

Justin Timberlake, Mila Kunis. Patricia Clarkson, Woody Harrelson, Jenna Elfman, Richard Jenkins, Emma Stone.

Twentieth Century (1934 Howard Hawks)

I'm not sure we were in quite the right mood to experience the histrionics of Carole Lombard and John Barrymore, though they are both great in Ben Hecht / Charles MacArthur screenplay. Based on the play 'Napoleon of Broadway' by Charles Bruce Millholland.

With Roscoe Karns, Walter Connolly, Etienne Girardot (mad man).

Ms Lombard in an array of glamorous fashion:

Mr Barrymore's response: