A High Wind in Jamaica (1965 Alexander Mackendrick)

No, we hadn't seen it before and yes, that is the same Sandy Mackendrick who made The Ladykillers, The Maggie, Whisky Galore and The Man in the White Suit (thus had worked with Douglas Slocombe before), then went to the US for The Sweet Smell of Success - apart from the forgettable Tony Curtis Don't Make Waves this was his last film, and it's a real charmer, particularly because of the great chemistry between Deborah Baxter and pirate chief Anthony Quinn (who, with James Coburn, is much too nice to be a real pirate). And yes again, that is novelist Martin Amis as the elder boy who rather clumsily gets himself killed.

It doesn't end the way we like it, but the gallows humour is welcome, as is the cinematic treatment.

It is a real treat for the eyes and Dougie is lighting the night scenes without a trace of artificial light - and the matching between on set and on location is superb. It's in CinemaScope and De Luxe colour.

With Nigel Davenport, Lila Kedrova (Torn Curtain), Gert Frobe, Dennis Price. Written by Stanley Mann, Ronald Harwood (The Dresser, The Pianist, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) and Denis Cannan from a novel by Richard Hughes, published in 1929.

The Spanish girl, Vivienne Ventura, appears here in the hilariously titled 'Girl Illustrated':