Try and Get Me! / The Sound of Fury (1950 Cy Endfield)

A rare film noir - though of course it features in Eddie Muller's trove of that genre 'Dark City' - 'One of the most emotionally charged and bleakest of all noirs'. Film is unjustly forgotten and packs a punch in lynch mob finale. ("There are more films in this heaven and earth...")

Properly doomed, down on his luck anti-hero Frank Lovejoy (one of the ex-service / post-war depression / crime scenarios which it seems noir was capable of talking about) unluckily falls in with violent criminal Lloyd Bridges (who twirls things well) - a really nasty murder of a kidnap victim results and as Lovejoy falls apart with booze he accidentally confesses to Adele Jergens.

Meanwhile newspaperman Richard Carlson is getting a lesson in ethics from Renzo Cesana and Kathleen Ryan is left at home looking after the brat - I mean son.

Can't have been that low budget, with final mob scenes, really rather nicely put together throughout (OK too much camera tilt in nightclub scene, but you have to forgive these youngsters - actually he was 36 - their youthful excesses) and nicely shot by someone called Guy Roe (great shots from inside back of car oddly resemble similar material in same year's Gun Crazy). Jo Pagano adapted his own novel. Music Hugo Friedhofer.

Good print onto DVDR available from www.pressplayhouse.net. Try and find it elsewhere.

Once again this is an example of a film that enraged the HUAC for being 'un-American', causing Endfield (like Losey) to relocate to England, where his most famous film became Zulu.

Loved the waitress who gives the order for a steak sandwich as 'cow on a slab' and also has another such gem in her repertoire (which now I can't remember).

Let's Live a Little (1948 Richard Wallace)

Independently-produced (by star Robert Cummings) fluff is quite fun as nervous ad man falls for psychiatrist Hedy Lamarr (who always reminds me of a beautiful dog). Anna Sten is the odious client and Robert Shayne the rival love interest, and I thought that was Robert Greig as the butler but in Talking Picture TV's print, like looking through a fog, it was difficult to make out anything of Ernest Laszlo's original photography (it turns out to have been Billy Bevan).

Looking at reviews though it seems the US DVD release was even worse.

State of Play (2003 David Yates)

The original, six hour journalism/conspiracy thriller absolutely zips along without ever a single dull moment thanks to Paul Abbott's screenplay, Yates and editor Mark Day's presentation, and a fantastic ensemble cast. On the Herald we have John Simm, Kelly Macdonald, Bill Nighy (who provides most of the laughs), a young James McEvoy, Amelia Bullmore, Benedict Wong and Tom Burke.

David Morrissey is the PM, Polly Walker his wife. Philip Glenister and Sean Gilder represent the boys in blue and Marc Warren is way out of his depth (ultimately believably pathetic).

Day has accompanied Yates on everything and they're finishing Tarzan and the Harry Potter prequel.

Jigsaw (1962 Val Guest & scr)

Adaptation of Hillary Waugh's detective fiction 'Sleep Long My Love' (1959), which in turn had echoes of real life murder cases from Brighton involving disembodied murder victims. It's shot very dry, like a documentary in widescreen, with no music, and most of the members of the general public involved are bad-tempered and unhelpful. With Jack Warner, Roland Lewis and Yolande Donlan. Shot by Hammer's Arthur Grant (who appears to be playing with a new zoom lens).

Vertigo (1958 AH)

Red, green.
High, low.
Red, green.
High, low.
Kim! Kim! Kim!

It's one of the most serious Hitchcocks, and that I think may be why we have the funny ending with the nun - it's his way of leaving you on a smile (or titter).

Scream (1996 Wes Craven)

What? Wes Craven has just died and it is that time of year. Besides Scream is written (by Kevin Williamson) with a lot of fondness for the movies that it sends up, to the delight of a knowing, horror-movie aware audience.

Neve Campbell is the heroine in danger, Courtney Cox a ruthless TV presenter, David Arquette (the deputy), Matthew Liddard (annoying), tum, tum.

Most horrific moment - group of friends are watching Halloween (the music from which creeps into the film) in 4x3. Shock! Horror!

Can't remember who the masked killer was now - does it matter?

Did You Hear About the Morgans? (2009 Marc Lawrence & scr)

To dilute the shock effect of Cracker and This Is England we turn to Queddy's second two-for-one bargain basement videos, probably written by the same computer as Wild Child. The laziest actor in the world Hugh Grant teams up with the least sympathetic, Sarah Jessica Parker, on the run from Changeling's Michael Kelly, aided by sweet, rifle-toting folks Sam Elliot and Mary Steenburgen. (The gun stuff, in light of recent events, is quite queasy.)

The notion of 'star chemistry' has eluded the computers - I mean producers - of this film.

Wild Child (2008 Nick Moore)

It may have been written by Roald (and Patricia Neal's) daughter Lucy Dahl, but actually feels like it was constructed by a computer, so formulaic is it. (Loved the lame voiceover 'Stop her!' when she runs into blazing building.) Even the syrupy music is auto-generated.

Julia Robert's niece Emma is the wild child in question, Natasha Richardson (in her last role) is the (slightly lesbian?) head, and the best thing in the movie, which also features Cold Meat's Kimberley Nixon, as well as Juno Temple and other St Trinian's alumni (just made that up). Hopefully, Georgia King (the head girl) has given up acting.

P.S. Yes, this is editor Nick Moore.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Perfect Crime (1957 AH)

'Great' detective Vincent Price unravels as James Gregory challenges his latest case

Unmistakeably one of Hitchcock's own - it's in the low camera angles and different setups. Also imaginative is the way one of the female flashback characters mouths the words of the male voiceover, and the artful way the murder moves into shot. Nice twist ending too, written by Stirling Silliphant from Ben Ray Redman story.

Cracker (1993 - 1996 Creator / writer Jimmy McGovern)

Series regulars:  Robbie Coltrane, Geraldine Somerville, Chris Eccleston, Lorcan Cranitch, Kieran O'Brien and Tess Thomson (Fitz's kids), Barbara Flynn.

The Mad Woman in the Attic d. Michael Winterbottom

With Adrian Dunbar, David Haig, Kika Markham, John Grillo, Beryl Reid
Various reimaginings of 'Summertime' (when sang, performed by Carol Kidd) create soundtrack, a similar effect to Altman's The Long Goodbye, though in this case some of them are repeated a little too often.
Set in Manchester.

To Say I Love You d. Andy Wilson

Susan Lynch and Andrew Tiernan are particularly good as the violent Bonnie and Clyde couple.

One Day a Lemming Will Fly d. Simon Cellan Jones

It's while delivering this speech while atop a very high building we are astonished that Robbie and prime suspect Christopher Fulford appear to have no safety platforms and are literally on the edge - TV CGI wasn't that sophisticated so how the hell was that done? (Dave Holland is the credited stunt coordinator.)

Behaviour of paedo-hating crowd to unproven suspect is abominable.

To Be a Somebody 1994 season d. Tim Fywell

Was Jimmy McGovern in psychotherapy? He uses this episode also to vent feelings about Hillsborough (I reckon). Robert Carlyle is frighteningly good as nutter.

I remember seeing it for the first time and it being quite an effective shock to kill off a main character, thus auguring in Ricky Tomlinson.

The Big Crunch d. Julian Jarrold

In the nuttiest story so far, sectarian (but seemingly orthodox) middle class church group kills girl who head teacher / priest has made pregnant. No problem with the acting, though, of Jim Carter, Samantha Morton, Cheriuth Mellor, Maureen O'Brien, James Fleet and Darren Tighe.

Cinematographer Ivan Strasburg also shot Happy Valley, Treme, Generation Kill, The Corner, and Bloody Sunday, not a bad CV at all.

Men Should Weep d. Jean Stewart

Graham Aggery, Rachel Davies.

Brave episode (probably the best of the series) confronts all the rape issues most successfully, plus introduces a great emotional pull on Fitz, whose girlfriend had been raped, then his wife returns home, pregnant. Fitz's son makes up for all his lazy behaviour in one beautiful move.

Geraldine Somerville is so good in this - it's all in the eyes - particularly when she has to sit in on uncomfortable interview... She became Harry Potter's mum! Barbara Flynn is great also.

Brotherly Love d. Roy Battersby, opens 1995 season.

Directed far too much in close up, story finally reconciles Panhandle's rape by Beck in another high-rise finale, made effective by withdrawal of sound (same trick used in Bilborough's stabbing).

Mark Lambert is the prostitute visitor, Brid Brennan his wife. Fitz's brother is Clive Russell, Ruth Sheen has a small part as the first victim.

Best Boys d. Roy Battersby

A young John Simm gets into trouble with Liam Cunningham.
Fitz takes the baby to work and at one point we see even Ricky Tomlinson pushing the pram!

True Romance d. Tim Fywell

This one's written by Paul Abbott, and is slightly more humorous than the others. Emily Joyce is terrific as the psycho, better than her subsequent career suggests. Elizabeth Estensen is Fitz's psychologist mate.

White Ghost d. Richard Standeven (1996)

Michael Pennington's pregnant wife-to-be won't mind at all being imprisoned in a cargo container - why should she? - in pretty nuts Hong Kong set episode. Freda Foh Shen is the DCI who gradually warms up to Fitz, not leaving Ricky Tomlinson much to do. Paul Abbott wrote it.

A Yank in Ermine (1955 Gordon Parry)

A John Paddy Carstairs novel / script, for Monarch Films, whoever they are.

Fluffy yank Peter Thompson inherits Dukedom (local village looks to us like Turville again), falls for adjacent Lady Noelle Middleton, accompanied by typical British faces such as Reginald Beckwith, Sid James, Richard Wattis and Guy Middleton (who wasn't in Dial M, that was Anthony Dawson).

Film is pretty pale really (especially in almost transluscent print broadcast by Talking Pictures TV) but not too bad.

A most interesting footnote is that one of his yank buddies is Jon Pertwee, sporting a somewhat variable accent, and the other Harold Lloyd Jr, son of the silent star, who had a tough time of things being gay and died soon after his dad aged 39.

One Two Three (1961 Billy Wilder)

Much underrated classic, so clever, well assessed here.

One or two notes. 'Minsk is out, Pinsk is in' surely is a reference to Preston Sturges' classic line 'Get me Minsk, Minsk, Pinsk and Pinsk'. And knowing that a most important film in Billy's life was Battleship Potemkin it's no coincidence that the hotel goes under the same name.

The film has such a rushing momentum that you need to remember to take a breath of air after it's finished.

So stuffed with classic jokes that if you don't pay attention you'll miss half of them.
Also an interesting footnote that Pamela Tiffin was considered for The Birds next.

This is the film which features "Yes, We Have No bananas" (featured also in Sabrina) in German, which seems to have become stuck in my head.

This Is England '90 (2015 Shane Meadows & co-scr)

Naturalistic (improvised) scenes draw you in, then something happens right in front of your eyes that you can't quite believe - episode one has it in a sequence at a nightclub - it's like alchemy.

Then in two, there's a scene so upsetting it's like looking at the sun - though the point of this is about friends who are looking after each other. The moment where we find Jo Gilgun sleeping on Andrew Shim - with the latter's hand on his head - melts your heart.

Great cast: Thomas Turgoose, Andrew Ellis, Vicky Mclure, Chanel Cresswell, Jo Hartley, Michael Socha, Danielle Watson, Stephen Graham.

Stuart Bentley is on camera, Matthew Gray editing, Jack Thorne is the co-writer.

Third episode - featuring painful, extended and clearly improvised dinner table confrontation, just makes you weep, and is unlike anything else on television. (Tom Turgoose really looks like he wishes he were elsewhere.) Andrew Ellis - who clearly is in love with Chanel Cresswell - is as endearing as anything.

And then that ending. One of the most powerful things about it is the way characters suddenly explode. But it's also the combination of sweet and sour. Room for one more?

Laura (1944 Otto Preminger)

OK, there's a debate / mystery about this film. According to Lucien Ballard, he and Rouben Mamoulian shot "75 percent of that together" when Otto Preminger came in with another cameraman, Joseph Lashelle, who then won the Oscar.

Preminger wrote the screenplay and lobbied hard for 'light on his feet' Clifton Webb. The film wasn't going well with Mamoulian and Zanuck replaced him with Preminger, who is quoted as saying "We threw out everything Mamoulian had directed and I finished the picture".

To be honest, it does look like Lashelle's lighting, and it's rather beautifully shot, but it's hard to tell.

With Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, Vincent Price and Judith Anderson, accompanied by David Raksin's memorable theme, for 20th Century Fox. Has an interesting moment where Webb exposes himself to Andrews getting out of the bath.

(The sources here are Maltin's book on cinematographers and Bogdanovich's 'Who the Devil Made It?')

Say Anything (1989 Cameron Crowe & scr)

"I gave her my heart - she gave me a pen."

Rather well acted by John Cusack; with Ione Syke, John Mahoney, Lili Tayor, Joan Cusack, Eric Stoltz, Jeremy Piven.

Great screenplay, throwaway lines like "There's no food in your food" but has a mark of authenticity to it as well. He really is a very nice guy. Love the way it ends on board a plane.

Shot by Laszlo Kovacs, with a typically resonant pop music soundtrack.

Edited (and co-produced) by Richard Marks. Certain scenes are ballets of eyes, especially with Joan's little boy (Glenn Walker Harris), who John plays as a guitar at one point! (Cameron's good with kids.)

Aloha (2015 Cameron Crowe & scr, prod)

Cameron's done it again. You can't help thinking about Billy Wilder when you watch his films (the 'silent' sequences between Bradley Cooper and John Krasinski are beautifully set up) but he has a warmth that cynical Billy didn't have and - in this case - a clear love for the country and history of Hawaii, even casting Hawaiian king Bumpy Kanahele to play himself... He's also not so wedded to his script he won't allow improvisation.

From the opening montage of Hawaiian footage and early space stuff, you know it's going to be wonderful... The usual skilfully assembled soundtrack...

Emma Stone (who's wide-eyed look made me think of a manga character more than once) is just right as jet fighter / watchdog. Also features the unique talents of the always unpredictable Bill Murray, a shouty Alec Baldwin, Rachel McAdams, Danny McBride ('fingers') and the lovely Danielle Rose Russell in the film's most beautiful finale.

The critics don't get it, once again.

Amazing attention to detail in the scene where the satellite is being bombarded with library footage and audio. Plus you have to marvel at the comic timing when the thing destructs.

Shot by Eric Gautier (in sequence) and edited by Joe Hutshing. The way he makes scenes in which even the smallest reaction shot is perfect (in acting and editing and staging) shows just how good the boy has become.

Full of fabulous moments - the scene with the hat is perfect, because we can't see her face. I started to wonder if Cameron didn't keep writing variations of Miss Kubelik...

Was looking forward to watching it again while it was still on.

Prime Suspect: The Final Act (2006 Philip Martin)

Martin made Birdsong and the Murder on the Orient Express update; written by Frank Deasy.

Easily the most melancholy of the series, we find Tennison on her last case, burned out, alcoholic and utterly alone - to the extent that her 'heart falls' for 14 year old Laura Greenwood (another fantastic performance).

Mirren absolutely owns the character. It's an exceptional body of work, with top-notch acting from people who didn't necessarily make it big.

We get to hear the great repeated line (one that came from the show's inspiration, DCI Jackie Malton) "Don't call me ma'am - I'm not the queen" - which is especially funny as Mirren later became her.

With Steven Tomkinson, Frank Finlay, and dedicated to Tom Bell, who died just before the film was aired.

Interesting - watching a fabulous extras film - that she particularly enjoyed the level of involvement - in scripts, director and casting choices - she had in the series. Why was she not even BAFTA nominated for this (she won the Emmy)??

Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness (2003 Tom Hooper)

Strong stuff about Bosnia-Serbia conflict in Peter Berry's story (another writer without much on his CV), which makes Jane - and thus us too - look at cleaners differently. The King's Speech Tom Hooper directs Mirren, Liam Cunningham, Velibor Topic (good), Oleg Menshikov (also good as the name-changing optician), Ben Miles, Mark Strong. I'm not quite sure who Olegar Fedoro played but he debuted in Stalker!

She always gets her man, and manages to upset Scotland yard into the bargain.

Helen was nominated for an Emmy for this (but won for the Scent of Darkness and the final film) and episodes 2, 3 and 5. The British Academy gave her the award three years running for the first three (you can imagine how the other nominees were feeling in the 1994 ceremony!) and she was nominated for The Lost Child, Errors of Judgement and this one.

After a seven year break we are finally in 16:9. Larry Smith (The Guard, Calvary, Nemesis) shot it with a somewhat distracting overuse of wide lenses.

We also learn conclusively how to pronounce Duscan Zigic (Duzhan Zhigich).

Prime Suspect 5: Errors of Judgement (1996 Philip Davis)

Yes, that Phil Davis. We had been lulled into a false sense of security with the last two - this is another 200 minute epic, set in Manchester, written by Guy Andrews and dealing with the corrupt coalition between a senior policeman and a feared local criminal known as 'The Street', rather convincingly played by Stephen Mackintosh.

So we have a new team headed by John Mcardle, with Julia Lane, John Brobbery, and the measured Glasgow tones of David O'Hara.

Barry McCann shot this one, with really good black night scenes, but he wouldn't have liked our ITV DVD box set presentation which crops his (presumably) 14x9 image into 4x3 so that even main characters are often slightly out of frame.

The ending, in which the bent cop stands by his decision to ally with a psycho, seems slightly incredible, but there's the usual very tense finish in the kind of derelict industrial estate that Life on Mars then reclaimed for seventies locations.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: One More Mile to Go (1957 AH himself)

Begins as a silent film - husband and wife argues, he kills her. Then sets out in the car to dump the body. Until the end of part one there's no dialogue. Then a traffic cop gets involved, and we're suddenly in a trial run for Psycho (with John Russell on camera).

Simple, neat teleplay by James Cavanagh from a story by FJ Smith features the master's trademark view-POV sequences on a lonely highway.