A Triple Bill of Silent Witnesses (2017)

Discovery. Ed Whitmore. A woman is knocked off her bike and kidnapped. Does this connect to the family that live next door? And what's this got to do with the death of an ex addict? The solution of  the latter, involving air bags, is ingenious; otherwise I was quite confused throughout.

Remembrance. Graham Mitchell. A Body is found in the river. It links to another death three years before involving an over-emoting Sarah Smart, who latches onto Nikki. And some angry young men.

Covenant. Richard Davidson. Man and son are tun off the road and killed. Was the man's brother, fresh out of prison, connected? (Lee Ross.) We're led to believe it's a military operation, but the gunman isn't a great shot. Turns out there's a Strangers on the Train back story. and we meet Clarissa's husband, Daniel Weyman, who's an IT expert.

This Happy Breed (1944 David Lean)

 

Alison Leggatt and Guy Verney

The Aeronauts (2019 Tom Harper & co-scr)

He came up with the story; Jack Thorne helped him adapt it.

Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones are a great team. She's as good as he is - probably better. I thought she was award-worthy. Didn't get nominated for anything. The film is unusual in that there's no romantic plot at all.

Splendidly photographed by George Steel in 2.39 on the ground and 1.85: 1 in the air. The main balloon action was filmed in a 100 x 100 foot bluescreen stage with 360 degree lighting. Some of the changes in climate were created with a box filled with smoke in front of the light source. It looks fabulous. Louis Morin is the VFX supervisor (he describes it as the 'department of miracles').

Mark Eckerberg edited. Great sound as well.

The Best of Enemies (2019 Robin Bissell & scr)

Taraji Henson and Sam Rockwell are predictably good as real life characters; Babou Ceesay (We Hunt Together) is charmingly effective as the negotiator.

It had a cinema release but was then pretty much rushed to DVD - though it still hasn't had a Region 2 release - why not??

Good screenplay. Bissell was an associate / executive producer on Pleasantville and Seabiscuit, which may explain Tobey Maguire's role as producer on this. He hasn't managed to do anything since.

Brief Encounter (1945 David Lean)

Ding ding! (As the background fades to black.)

Loved Celia Johnson's inner thoughts.

Never has the torment of unwantedly falling in love been so well expressed.

That Summer! (1979 Harley Cockliss)

Great title! Fairly dismal film has ex offender Ray Winstone training for Torquay swimming event, befriending Julie Shipley, Tony London and Emily Moore, to the detriment of their careers. His progress hindered by unpleasant Glasgow types. Amusing ending where Winstone, pursued by cops, starts the race late, has time en route to save said Youth, make him confess to police and still win the race!

A key year for Winstone - both Quadrophenia and Scum also came out in 1979.

David Watkin shot it, not that you'd notice in TPTV's rubbish screening.

Hamlet (1948 Laurence Olivier)

Interesting to hear such well known phrases / titles as 'murder most foul', 'to the manor born' and 'leave her to heaven'.

Strikingly photographed and directed, though some of the tracking / crane shots are somewhat wobbly. George Dickinson's roving camera and strong lighting are a definite feature. Also the writing's good in that it doesn't feel like a series of scenes and acts.

Really more interesting than I thought it would be, though not quite up to Orson Welles's standard.

Love the soliloquies that start out as internal thoughts.

Desdemona's death - most lyrical. The filming of the play-within-the-play most interesting.

Long, though (2 1/2 hours).

Good cast: Jean Simmons, Basil Sydney and Eileen Herlie (king and queen), Felix Aylmer, Norman Wooland (Horatio), Terence Morgan; and Stanley Holloway, Peter Cushing, Anthony Quayle, Patrick Troughton, Harcourt Williams, Esmond Knight, John Laurie.

I think the dialogue between Hamlet and Desdemona "Shall I lie on your lap...Do you think I meant country matters?..That's a fair thought to lie between maid's legs" was meant to be suggestive.

I was all set to go straight into Kozintsev's 1964 version, but the disc was fucked.

Good Morning Babilonia (1987 Paolo and Vittorio Taviani & scr)

Two skilled Italian architects Vincent Spano and Joaquim de Almeida journey to the US to make enough money to buy back their father's building restoration business. After several wrong turns, they end up designing the giant elephant statues for D.W. Griffiths' Intolerance! (He's played by Charles Dance, the father by Omero Antonutti.)

Despite finding love with dancers Greta Scacchi and Desiree Becker, tragedy overtakes with a death in childbirth, and a bleak and quite unexpected World War II finale.

It wasn't quite as good as I was hoping it would be. Written With Antonioni's collaborator Tonino Guerra.

Good music by Nicola Piovani. Photographed by Giuseppe 'Beppe' Lanci (Nostalgia, Caro Diario).

Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man (2026 Tom Harper)

George Steel's digital film was then transferred to celluloid and the re-digitised, leading to the inevitable question - why not just shoot it on film? It looks great, though:

And I was wondering about this amazing shot on Pontcysyllte Aquaduct whether it's actually a brilliant drone shot or CGI:

As revealed by Cillian Murphy here, it's neither: it's actually a non-CGI helicopter shot, which deserves George Steel's crew some kind of award, surely?

Oh yeah, as to the film. Tommy's become a recluse but his sister Sophie Rundle brings him back into action, as his son Barry Keoghan is behaving like a wrongun and discrediting the fine name of the Peaky Blinders. Tim Roth is trying to devalue English currency with millions of pounds of forgeries (a true history lesson). Steve Graham returns for the showdown and old friends Packy Lee, Ned Dennehy and Ian Peck are still around. With Rebecca Ferguson (the Dune films), Jay Lycurgo and Ruby Ashbourne Serkis.

...and it's likely to be something of an audience pleaser for fans of the show (despite that unexpected ending).

Mark Eckersley cut it. He also cut The Aeronauts, Heart of Stone and Wild Rose, all three directed by Harper and shot by Steel, and also worked on War and Peace back in 2016 (Harper again - we should give it another watch).

Some Kind of Wonderful (1987 Howard Deutch)

Written by John Hughes. Eric Stoltz lusts after lea Thompson but it's his buddy Mary Stuart Masterson that's right for him all along. Craig Sheffer good as totally unlikable over-privileged jerk, Elias Koteas also good as skinhead friend.

"A 1949 Plymouth Fury", I asserted confidently. In fact it's a 1951 Jaguar Mk VII

Jerry Zeismer was first AD on this. He befriended Eric Stoltz, and it was Stoltz that persuaded Jerry to meet Cameron Crowe and work on Say Anything.

The Teacher (2026)

According to IMDB The Teacher wasn't written by anybody. Maybe Channel 5 has its own Chat GPT now that just churns out this crap. Victoria Hamilton is the teacher who allows herself to be pushed around by super-woke troublemaker Alice Grant (couldn't bear to take a screenshot of her smug face!), leading to blackmail, murder and the inevitable blah blah.

Enjoyably bad in 4 x 45 minutes episodes, until last episode, when I just couldn't wait for it to be over. They must known it's bad?

Olly Rhodes (son), Steve Edge (dad), Shak Benjamin (initially cool classmate), Ellis Jupiter (the persecuted 'they').

He's Just Not That Into You (2009 Ken Kwapis)

Some of the women are as much nitwits as the men.

Great cast though are there one or two stories too many? Ginnifer Goodwin, Kevin Connelly, Bradley Cooper, Scarlett Johansson, Baffleck, Jen, Drew Barrymore, Justin Long, Jennifer Connelly, Kris Kristofferson.

Funnily enough Some Kind of Wonderful was referenced, and that's also on my hit list.

We kept interrupting it to chat and accordingly it ended up feeling much longer than it was - though in fact the film does clock in at just under two hours - long for a comedy.

A Woman of Substance (2026 Katherine Jakeways)

Begins promisingly in 1970s NYC and Brenda Blethyn in the middle of a power struggle with her kids over her company. Then quickly goes back to her young self, Jessica Reynolds (who's fabulous), and her experiences working as a maid in the dreadful Fairley household in Yorkshire, and how she makes good. I assumed the flashback structure was written for the series but actually its derived from the novel, written by Barbara Taylor Bradford.

Reynolds is Irish, and does a good Yorkshire accent. She was in Steven Knight's House of Guinness and Kneecap.

Leanne Best, Ewan Horrocks. Emmet J Scanlan, Lydia Leonard, Niall Wright (the dependable 'Mac'), Mara Huf (the granddaughter), Will Mellor, Rosie Cavaliero.

Tony Slater Ling is on camera on the first three. It totals eight x 45 on Channel 4.

The production designer is Anna Pritchard, art directors Richard Downes, Matthew Hope, Victoria Richards, set decorator Faye Brothers.

Unfortunately the ending is rather fluffed. For example we meet her three other children for the first time and have no information, for example who is the father of two of them? It would have been sensible to just write them out. Then the twist end is actually rather disappointing, after all she's had to overcome; the novel had a more positive conclusion. And where's Mac?

Silent Witness - New Season 20 (2017)

Identity examines the immigrant crisis through the story of a teenager who has lost half her family. An exploitative white Muslim is taking money off immigrants and leaving them to die at the same time, interpreting the Koran rather over-enthusiastically. (Well, I don't know anything, and I think there are probably different versions of the Koran, but I personally think the one most decent Muslims believe in doesn't actually tell you to kill 'non-believers'.)

Meanwhile in a massively stingy irony, a people smuggler who actually tries to help an even younger immigrant is slain by one of her own family. Biblical! Maybe that's what they were going for. 'They'? I mean of course Timothy Prager, who treads delicately through this material (though rather solemnly).

Knew none of the (largely good) cast. Sofia Asir, Gerald Kyd, Nathacha Karam, Elham Ehsas, Billy Cook.

Silent Witness (2016)

Did Police firearms unit cover up a botched killing? (Jean Charles Menezes was 2005.)

Stukie investigates. In Plain Sight, written by Tracey Malone and Matthew Arlidge.

Then, a family is murdered whilst having a picnic. It's another sneaky tale from Ed Westmore, River's Edge. Claire Holman, Nicholas Sidi, Elen Rhys, Sally Carman, Derek Griffiths, Dean Paul Gibson.

A decent enough film. Nikki and Jack in danger.

Mona Lisa Smile (2003 Mike Newell)

1953 Wellesley College. Art teacher Julia Roberts dares to be different and comes up against the Establishment. Written by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal (The Concierge).

Amazing cast: Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ginnifer Goodwin, Dominic West, John Slattery, Juliet Stevenson, Marcia Gay Harden, Marian Seldes (President). Terrific confrontation scene between Dunst and Gyllenhaal, tender scene between Roberts and Stiles. Having seen these young women develop, I would guess that neither director Newell not editor Mick Audsley had to do much to shape the performances.

The final scene, the girls on bicycles following her car out - is perhaps a shade too far but generally this is really good, though perhaps overlong: for example, Julia's new onerous contract terms are spelled out twice, once in the meeting and again in the letter dictation. Newell and Audsley went on to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which Mick worked on for 13 months! I noticed he used the same shots of the church tower and bell at the end as he did at the beginning.

Photographed by Anastas Michos, unfortunately not associated with anything else of note.

Loved the ending compilation of women portrayed in the media in the fifties.

Silent Witness (2016)

Life Licence. Chris Hurford & Tom Butterworth. Lyndsey Marshal is a therapist charged with the rehabilitation of murderers, one of whom is released after serving time for a notorious child murder. When a former jail mate of his is murdered he naturally comes under suspicion. It's like pinning the tail on the donkey - I went through at least three possible murderers before eventually settling on the right one (who's often the least likely). That guy with the chin investigates (Lloyd Owen).

Vigil in the Night (1940 George Stevens)

Carole picked it as it was the meatiest subject matter on offer at RKO, a story about a dedicated nurse and her sister, based on an A.J. Cronin novel (adapted by Fred Guiol, P.J. Wolfson & Rowland Leigh). Carole is fine as usual, but audiences thought it too depressing and it lost money. Seen today it seems slightly creaky and contrived, though holds the attention. Anne Shirley is the errant sister, Brian Aherne the saintly doctor figure, Julien Mitchell the conscience deprived millionaire. Good support from Ethel Griffies as a no-nonsense matron (you know, from The Birds) and a very early appearance from none other than Peter Cushing.

Lombard respected Stevens as technically proficient, having been a cameraman he knew how to use light; the DP is Robert de Grasse. (Stevens shot many short films in the twenties including those of Laurel & Hardy). The music's by Alfred Newman.

Whatever Works (2009 Woody Allen & scr)

 Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson, Henry Cavil, Ed Begley Jr.

"I saw the abyss!"
"Don't worry - we'll watch something else."

Such great plot turns. It was originally designed to be a play, but he needed exterior scenes, so converted it to a movie and pushed more of the action outside.

It doesn't rain!! 

"I was very, very pleased with my cast. Even the people in the small parts were wonderful. Larry is sensational. In spite of his constantly saying "I can't act, I can't act." Evan Rachel Wood is a miraculous young actress. And Patricia Clarkson is a great actress, so they made it come to life." Woody to Eric Lax. Wood didn't really make a mark, subsequently (I am reminded she was in the later Mildred Pierce) though has more recently found an audience in Westworld.

Nowhere Special (2020 Uberto Pasolini & scr, prod)

Marvellously acted by James Norton, Daniel Lamont and Eileen O'Higgins and very well edited by Masahiro Hirakubo and Saska Simpson.

A film which breaks all the rules: has no bad guy, no love affair, no character arc; yet succeeds beautifully - as such it had to borrow its budget from Romania. Also known as 'Rear Window Cleaner'! (Actually the title is the only thing about the film that is lacking.)