The Outlaws (2021 Stephen Merchant & co-scr)

Written with Elgin James but inspired by Merchant's memories of his mother working as a community service supervisor. Good drug / crime thriller element incorporated well with humour. Opens up to have revealing character studies, e.g Eleanor Tomlinson's influencer with a serious temper problem.

Loved the Halloween reference in episode 2. And Merchant being caught with prostitute. And his burgeoning sweet relationship with Tomlinson.

The 'outlaws' are: Rhianne Baretto, Stephen Merchant, Christopher Walken, Darren Boyd, Gamba Cole, Clare Perkins, and Eleanor Tomlinson (Poldark), supervised by Jessica Gunning. With Dolly Wells, Nina Wadia, Aiyana Goodfellow, Ian McElhinney, Charles Babalola, Claes Bang, Richard E Grant.

"I've been to my father with bad ideas before."
"Such as what?"
"Tonic flavoured gin..."

And Aiyana getting the cops over as a distraction. "I'm fifteen and I'm on my own. There's people with hoodies outside, smoking drugs. (Beat) And they're black." "We'll be right with you." Wickedly funny reversal of negative stereotyping. More of this needed.

The incidental music often seems a Morricone western homage. Bristol location refreshing. Other writer involved: John Butler, who directed episodes 3-6.

Loved it. 'The Rat' by Banksy is painted over at the end (no doubt a tribute to Blek le Rat).

Close to Me (2021 Michael Samuels)

Connie Nielsen is lying at the foot of a posh staircase (why are the houses in these things always really chic?) with her head smashed in. "Well, you're alive," we hear in voiceover. "What does a girl have to do to get some help round here?" And that slightly humorous note sets a nice tone which gives it a point of difference from the off, as she has lost a year's worth of memory, and husband Chris Ecclestone seems to be covering up a number of things. Complicated by flashbacks to childhood in Denmark and father's dementia.

Though as these things progress you do find yourself asking, Is this credible? Is this entertaining? Is it going to turn out to be a load of nonsense? What's going on? Do I care? Who am I? The ending was just rubbish e.g. how did her friend suddenly rock up outside the house? How come the kids vanished and then were there again? I was left with a feeling of bored depression.

With Susan Lynch, Ellie Haddington, Tom Taylor, Rosy McEwen, Tom Blood as the vilest boyfriend on screen (why would the daughter or mother find him remotely attractive?), Henning Jensen.

Angela Pell adapted Amanda Reynolds' novel. Michael Samuels does a stylish job of it.

The last episode holds three minor compensations: a shadow pattern -

- a cute van -

"Oh, what a lovely van!"

- and a final shot into the sun:

Parenthood Season 5 (2013 Jason Katims)

Photographic relationship between Hugo and Max enjoyable, Max turning out to be one of the least irritating characters. Kristina decides to run for Mayor. Then open a school.

Drew's college roommate turns out to be Nicholas Krause (no relation to Peter) from The Descendants. His annoying girlfriend is Lyndon Smith. Annabeth Gish turns up briefly.

Joel leaves home. Why? Idiot.

Tyson Ritter is the lead singer of The All-American Rejects. He is not, though, another of John Ritter's clan.

Highest rated cast members: Mae Whitman, Max Burkholder, Ray Romano.

They All Laughed (1980 Peter Bogdanovich)

 It was just that time, it was needed. It's medicinal. It's staggeringly good.

House of Bamboo (1955 Sam Fuller)

Fuller does get in fast and furious. Under the shadow of Mount Fuji, an army train is intercepted and weapons stolen. Then Robert Stack arrives in Tokyo and immediately starts causing trouble, bringing him to the attention of crime boss Robert Ryan and friend's ex wife Shirley Tamaguchi.

Fuller and ace cinematographer Joe MacDonald use the Cinemascope frame well, pack the images with local colour and interesting compositions. Shoot-outs are violent and exciting, death of gang member by shooting in wooden tub memorable, as is rooftop finale over Tokyo.

Written by Harry Kleiner and Fuller, good music by Leigh Harline.

With Cameron Mitchell, Brad Dexter, Sessue Hayakawa, Biff Elliot, Harry Carey Jr., DeForest Kelly.

I know... This opened 1st July 1955, the Trouble with Harry 30th September...

The Spider and the Fly (1949 Robert Hamer)

Wonderful pairing of two deadpan talents, Eric Portman and Guy Rolfe, in that dry Hamer style that made Kind Hearts And Coronets so successful. Add in a Nadia Gray, Paris and a screenplay by Robert Westerby and you have a great film about a detective and a thief and the woman they both love, on the eve of WWI. Good stuff with kids, all characters well cast and directed. John Carol (It Always Rains on Sunday, Pink String and Sealing Wax), George Cole, Harold Lang (The Long Memory), Edward Chapman, Maurice Denham, John Salew, May Hallatt, James Hayter, Arthur Lowe, Philip Stainton.

Lovely music by Georges Auric, shot by Geoffrey Unsworth with Arthur Ibbetson on camera, edited by Seth Holt. An independent Mayflower production. A shame it's not been preserved and digitally remastered.

UFO more episodes

'The Man Who Came Back.' Derren Nesbitt tries to kill Straker. Roland Culver is in it for sixty seconds.

'Ordeal'. Paul goes to a health spa after a late party and dreams he's been kidnapped by aliens. Weirdly the credits for this show 1969. In fact they all do. UFOs travel at a million and a half miles a second, apparently. Or maybe that's only in Paul's dream.

'Confetti Check A-O.K' raises a question and provides an answer. The question is why make an episode entirely about Straker's marital problems in the days SHADO was set up - not an alien in sight - more of a soap opera. But this episode does point dramatically to why the series was not recommissioned - it's just boring (and I think misunderstands its audience).

The SHADO HQ is the MGM British Studios at Borehamwood.

Shadow Dancer (2012 James Marsh)

We were delighted to realise that this was written by our favourite newsreader Tom Bradby, who delivers a tense thriller about the IRA, right from the off. He was ITV's Northern Ireland correspondent from 1993 to 1996. This was his first 1998 novel; seven more have followed. Andrea Riseborough (as good as ever)  is our unlovable lead (a tricky part), recruited into the British services by Clive Owen. Marsh (and Rob Hardy) use Steadicam a lot to put us in to the action. It's edited by Jinx Godfrey.

With Domnhall Gleeson, Aiden Gillan, Gillian Anderson, Brid Brennan (Calm with Horses, Unforgotten, Brooklyn, Cracker), Martin McCann, Stuart Graham, David Wilmot (The Guard, Calvary, War on Everyone, Calm with Horses).

Music by Dickon Hinchliffe. Remi Adefarasin is the second unit DP.

The Rotter's Club (2005 Tony Smith)

Based on Jonathan Coe's novel, adapted by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, this tells of three school friends in 1974-77 Birmingham amidst the social and political whirl of the times, not to mention the shift from prog rock to punk. It's awfully familiar territory, e.g. brutish school teachers who used to throw things at you, pretentious prog rock groups.

Geoffrey Breton is the writer - his family: car plant exec Kevin Doyle, Rebecca Front, Alice O'Connell his devoted sister, brother Sebastian Harding. Nicholas Shaw is the one who goes from political into rock journalism; his parents are Elizabeth Berrington and Hugo Speer, who's having an affair with secretary Christine Tremarco. Then we have Rasmus Hardiker (from Lead Balloon), and his parents Mark Williams and Sarah Lancashire, who's being drawn into a relationship with pretentious art teacher Julian Rhind-Tutt. Cara Horgan is the female friend of the trio and Alice Eve makes an impression playing the elusive object of Breton's affection. Not sure there's a genuine Brummie in the cast. With Rafe Spall as a somewhat annoying (but curiously sidelined) school colleague, and Peter Bankolé as the black head boy. And Geoffrey Whitehead (headmaster), Pip Torrens, Christopher Fairbank, James Daffern. The violent and racist plant worker's story is also weirdly unfinished (played by Andrew Tiernan).

Tremarco has cute teeth, like a young Bowie, and Even Eve's aren't perfectly neat like modern teeth all have to be.

For the old bus fans amongst us

Maw - jaws or throat of voracious animal.

It's a three-parter for BBC.

Impeachment: American Crime Story (2021)

Sarah Paulson and Beanie Feldstein good. Also Clive Owen, Annaleigh Ashford, Margo Martindale, Edie Falco, Mira Sorvino. Ryan Murphy directed the pilot. But do we really need ten hours of this? Surely it's a story you could tell in two?? Made it to halfway through episode 3 and gave up.

FX.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967 Stanley Kramer)

 

Isabel Sanford and Sidney Poitier

Cecil Kellaway, Katharine Houghton, Poitier

Katharine Hepburn, the only winner of four acting Oscars, once had a relationship with John Ford, the only winner of four directing Oscars. This is one of her four, Tracy, Kellaway and Beah Richards were nominated.

There's a lovely long take between Tracy and Hepburn in the bathroom, ending where he accidentally puts his shaving brush into his whisky.

Before his pronouncement, Tracy calls Poitier 'John', the first time he's not addressed him as 'Doctor'.

When Tracy gives his speech, and gives Hepburn that look, it's as though they are acknowledging their real love for one another. He died seventeen days later.

The World of Henry Orient (1964 George Roy Hill)

Unusual comedy-drama. Two kooky kids, Merrie Spaeth and Tippy Walker, get lost in fantasy games and become obsessed with womanising pianist Peter Sellers, whose attempts to bed Paula Prentiss are constantly (and inadvertently) thwarted by the pair. Then Tippy's parents turn up (Angela Lansbury and Tom Bosley) and things turn darker. With Phyllis Thaxter, Bibi Osterwald, John Fiedler and Al Lewis. It was written by Nora Johnson and Nunnally Johnson (her dad).

The girls are sympathetic and energetic. Structurally interesting as Lansbury and Bosley don't even make an appearance until almost an hour in. Has a buzz of the New Wave to it.

Music by Elmer Bernstein (which does sound a bit like The Magnificent Seven here and there), cinematography from Boris Kaufman and Arthur Ortiz, edited by Stuart Gilmore.

Bird (1988 Clint Eastwood)

A bit of an epic (2 hours 40) from Clint, an honest biopic of Charlie Parker with contributions from his wife Chan, Red Rodney and Dizzy Gillespie.

Classily made, e.g. the cymbal, long tracking shot of doorman, jazz performances, good production design (Edward Carfagno). Touches of humour welcome, e.g. Red masquerading as an albino, Bird entering apartment miming to singer. Very darkly photographed by Jack Green (interestingly future DP Tom Stern is credited as 'lighting consultant'), edited by Joel Cox.

Great little speech from Dizzy to Bird: "What you're really asking me is, How come when you're supposed to be there at 9.30 I get there at 9.30? How come I can land on a cat I love almost as much as you and fire his ass for showing up late or stoned? Why I can hold a group together, why am I leader? Because they don't expect me to be. Because deep down they like it if the nigger turns out unreliable. Because that's the way they think it's supposed to be. Because I won't give them the satisfaction of being right. Here, we are, brothers. I'm a reformer and you're trying to be a martyr. They always remember the martyrs longer..." Written by Joel Oliansky.

Really well acted by Forest Whitaker, Diane Venora, Michael Zelniker and Samuel E Wright. Considering it won the Oscar and BAFTA for Best Sound, it's funny that you can't always make out what Whitaker's saying. Clint was nominated for the Palme D'Or and Forest won Best Actor; Cahiers named it one of the year's Top 10.

It was - perhaps unsurprisingly - a flop, though I'm pretty sure we saw it at the cinema in January 1989, and it was released throughout Europe, so I'm not sure Box Office Mojo is accurate as to how much of a flop it was, listing no non-domestic takings.

Parenthood Season 4 (2012 Show runner Jason Katims)

Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond, The Big Sick, Funny People) is the grumpy photographer who employs Sarah (not sure what's happened to her playwriting career, which is a shame, as we wanted to see Dreyfuss again). Kristina (who keeps looking like Dorothy Stratten) develops breast cancer - scene where Haddie enters restaurant and causes the news to be shared, without dialogue, is moving. Matt Lauria is the Afghanistan vet, with whom Amber becomes enmeshed (not sure what's happened to her performing / writing career). Pamela Adlon tries to get the recording studio shut down. Julia and Joel adopt a Latino kid (Xolo Maridueña) who turns from being a nightmare into good-as-gold for no explicable reason.

Yeah - I didn't think Monica Potter really shaved her head. It looks like she has a rather enlarged dome, as though escaped from a fifties sci-fi film, or a Star Trek episode.

The bad taste in art seems to run through the families.

Christmas in Connecticut (1945 Peter Godfrey)

Food writer Barbara Stanwyck has to quickly invent a husband (Reginald Gardiner), baby and house in Connecticut for the sake of publisher Sidney Greenstreet and war hero Dennis Morgan. Luckily she has her real cook S.Z. Sakall on hand (and Una O'Connor). Dick Elliott, the judge, has 380 actor credits on IMDB but The Man Who Came to Dinner is not one of them.

Fun Warners vehicle, photographed by Carl Guthrie, written by Lionel Houser, Adele Comandini, story Aileene Hamilton. Expertly scored by Frederick Hollander, e.g. the piano tune he plays becoming their love theme.

An Affair to Remember (1957 Leo McCarey & co-scr)

Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant are wonderful in McCarey's remake of his own Love Affair, which is inflated by a couple of music numbers (though the routine with the kids is fun).

McCarey: "The difference between Love Affair and An Affair to Remember is very simply the difference between Charles Boyer and Cary Grant. Grant could never really mask his sense of humour - which is extraordinary - which is why the second version is funnier. But I still prefer the first." ('Who the Devil Made It?') An elegant film, e.g. where they read their telegrams with their backs to each other.

"Winter must be very cold for those who have no memories to keep them warm."

Villefranche (in Monaco) looks still very much the same today.

Elegance in action

With Richard Denning, Neva Patterson, Cathleen Nesbitt ('Janou', Family Plot, French Connection II, The Parent Trap, Separate Tables, Three Coins in the Fountain).

Loved the English newsreader at the beginning.

Photographed by Milton Krasner, beautifully scored by Hugo Friedhofer (they were both Oscar nominated).

The little girl Grant picks up at Grandmother's house, Priscilla Garcia, later in Charley Varrick, is still with us.

Two Episodes of UFO (1971 Gerry & Sylvia Anderson)

'Mindbender' is indeed that, and the scenarist Tony Barwick may well have been tripping at the time. On the moonbase, one of the SHADO team sees everyone as villainous western characters and tries to kill them. He's gone off his head, so Ed Straker reluctantly kills him. Then Straker himself goes crazy. He sees himself as part of a film set, an ingenious use of Pinewood studios - he's an actor with not just the UFO sets all around him, starts seeing his own life play back in a screening room. His friend Colonel Paul Foster insists upon being called Mike (the actor's name is Michael Billington). They both seem to be wearing eye shadow.

'Timelash' by Terence Feely just four episodes later, is a load of crap with no budget. It plays on the former idea, but has Pinewood (the Straker studio) frozen in a millisecond of time - cue extras to stand very still. Then some ghastly loon keeps firing at Straker and his gorgeous Col. Virginia Lake (Wanda Ventham) and they chase him all over the studio. Interesting to see but zero plot. Vladek Sheybal is usefully on hand to bring Straker back to life.

Ventham turns up in Sherlock playing Sherlock's mum, and she is of course Benedict Cumberbatch's real life mum, with Timothy Carlton, who plays his dad.

The model work holds up very well.

Ten Little Indians / And Then There Were None (1945 René Clair & prod)

In there really a film whose cast includes Walter Huston, Roland Young, Judith Anderson, Barry Fitzgerald, C. Aubrey Smith and Mischa Auer? Yes there is, and this is the delightful baby which contains them. An unexpectedly entertaining version of Christie's story, through the filter of writer Dudley Nichols and director Clair, who provides wonderful little touches (the broken candle, the ball of wool, the cat). Loved the scene involving people spying through two keyholes and how they all start following each other - like Indians. And the realisation that there's no dinner causing more consternation than murder. Really good fun.

Rest of good cast: Louis Hayward, June Duprez, Richard Haydn, Queenie Leonard and Harry Thurston. Music by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, photographed by Lucien Andriot. 20th Century Fox.

Clair's career began with a trio of remarkably interesting-sounding experimental films, Entr'acte, Paris Qui Dort and The Phantom of the Moulin-Rouge, the acclaimed comedy-musical A Nous La Liberté, then moved to Hollywood where he was responsible for the comedy-supernatural duo of The Ghost Goes West and I Married a Witch, worked back in France after the war.

Parenthood Season 3 (2011 Creator Jason Katims)

Best bit: Amber training Max to apologise with emotion. And CeeLo Green in Crosby and Adam's new (old) studio. Get that bar open! Then the new receptionist (Alexandra Daddario, The White Lotus) kisses Adam, and the fool has to tell Kristina, triggering a very real sounding argument, written by (obviously) a woman, Monica Beletsky.

Sarah's getting jiggy with John Ritter again, Amber with a politician, Crosby with a cellist, and then with his ex (Joy Bryant), Drew with his GF... Julia and Joel try to adopt coffee girl's baby (Rosa Salazar)

Max Burkholder is a perfectly normal young man as far as I can ascertain. 

Overlapping conversation / arguing has definitely been a trademark of this since season one.

Tina Lifford and Bonnie Bedelia

The Tower (2011 Jim Loach)

Based on a book by ex cop Kate London, adapted by Patrick Harbinson, refreshingly seems to fall straight into the middle of a story as a young woman and a cop have fallen to their deaths. Unfortunately it's not long before the dreaded flashback disease takes hold. Our leading investigator Gemma Whelan is gay, for a change, though I miss the damaged protagonists of yore, the variously inebriated Fitz, Jane Tennyson and Morse.

Why do a cop and a young woman fall from the top of a tower block, and why does the WPC who was there go on the run? We shall find out. Meanwhile there's also an unpleasant character called Laszlo Kozacs for good measure (not the first time that has happened, either), causing us to laugh (didn't you shoot Paper Moon? etc etc.)

Better than your average ITV thing, nuanced, she doesn't get her man, the ethics are all a bit cloudy.

Whelan was in Killing Eve, White House Farm, Gentleman Jack, GOT, Tahira Sharif, Nick Holder, Emmett J Scanlan, Jimmy Akingbola, Karl Davies.

Teacher's Pet (1957, released 1958 George Seaton)

Fay and Michael Kanin's somewhat implausible screenplay was nominated for an Oscar and enquires 'is journalism best learned at school or on the job?' - and doesn't satisfactorily answer that question, either.

Clark Gable is the seasoned hack who undercover joins professor Doris Day's journalism class. Gig Young is the seemingly perfect love rival, who turns out not to be but a useful confidant (he also was Oscar nominated). It's quite fun, especially in nightclub scene, where Mamie Van Doren's navel is still unexposed (things changed in 1962 with Marilyn Monroe in Something's Got to Give and Ursula Andress in Dr. No. Actually there's a sneaky one in the Psycho shower scene too.) Mamie's only there for a bit of nix verboten and so Doris can take the musical piss out of her later.

Music by Roy Webb, photographed by someone called Haskell Boggs. For Paramount.