Red Headed Woman (1932 Jack Conway)

Jean Harlow is horrible (and we think unattractive) as slut who throws herself at men to get money and status in pre-Code shennanigans written by Anita Loos. Her sarcastic friend provides comedy relief.

Down with Love (2003 Peyton Reed)

It was the tacky split screen in Airport which put us in mind of this, because it has some neat gags reusing the old device. Ewan McGregor, Renee Zellweger, David Hyde Pearce, Sarah Paulson, Tony Randall.

Ph Jeff Cronenweth.

A lot of thought went into riff on Hudson-Day movies.

Eve Ahlert and Dennis Drake wrote it.

Key Largo (1948 John Huston)

When skirts were worn long and trousers high, ex soldier Bogart visits wife and pop (Bacall and Lionel Barrymore) of fallen comrade, only to bump into mobster Edward G and lush girlfriend Claire Trevor (winning Oscar). Tense, claustrophobic drama (Q describes it as painful) has cracking ending.

Well shot in the studio by Karl Freund, music Steiner, Warner Bros. written by Huston and Richard Brooks - play Maxwell Anderson

The very old looking woman Felipa Gomez was only 78 and lived till 96.

Airport (1970 George Seaton)

Good, entertaining film undermined by cheesy optical effects (which are hilarious).

Burt Lancaster (an actor who doesn't seem to have a modern equivalent), Dean Martin, Jean Seberg (not a great role - she doesn't have enough to do), Jacqueline Bisset, Helen Hayes (winning Oscar), Van Heflin, George Kennedy, Maureen Stapleton, Lloyd Nolan, Jessie Royce Landis.

Ross Hunter produced it for Universal. Ernest Laszlo shot it. Arthur Hailey wrote the book. Alfred Newman scored it.

It's funny to see how close Airplane! is to it.

Niagara (1953 Henry Hathaway)

"Miss Va-va-voom" Marilyn Monroe and dissatisfied and neurotic husband Joseph Cotten tangle with honeymooners Jean Peters and Max Showalter in somewhat contrived set of circumstances from Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch and Richard Breen.

Frankly if I had to listen to those bells all day long, I'd murder someone.

It's 20th Century Fox again, so Ben Nye has been super-reddening Marilyn's lips for Joe MacDonald's fine colour noir photography. (I'm not sure if it was his first in colour, but researching that has led me to buy O Henry's Full House - thus demonstrating the dangers of the Internet.)

Pickup on South Street (1953 Sam Fuller & scr)

Poor old Jean Peters, who gets socked in the jaw by Richard Widmark (then he steals from her handbag again in a neat touch), then gets nastily assaulted and shot in the back by Richard Kiley. Quite violent for its day. Starts with intriguing wordless pickpocketing set-up. In fact, three-time loser Widmark goes through her bag no less than four times in all.

Some nice camera moves and lighting from Joe MacDonald, though at least two of his focus puller's close ups of Ms Peters are noticeably out.
Music - Leigh Harline.

Thelma Ritter ("I need to keep making a living so I can die") was Oscar nominated and delivers a moving final scene, but Peters is very good also and Q thinks Ben Nye's makeup should get a mention. (It's Fox, so there are no Westmores involved.)

Peters was also in Niagara the same year. After marrying Howard Hughes she disappeared from view and thus life imitated art (Citizen Kane). She was also one of the Three Coins in the Fountain.

And we loved the sandwich board "Handsome Mens Suits".

Lots of New York location in punchy, direct Fuller drama, which really ends too happily for a noir (Peters seems to recover from her injuries incredibly easily, for example).

Hail the Conquering Hero (1944 Preston Sturges & scr)

Another Sturges which, when analysed, reveals a number of astonishingly word perfect and well-filmed long takes (by John Seitz, with his beautiful blacks). Film is not quite as funny as the golden group at the top of the Sturges oeuvre. Great cast full of familiars - led by William Demarest, Eddie Bracken, Ella Raines, Raymond Walburn (seeing him together in one scene with Franklin Pangborn at the train station is a joy to behold). Stuart Gilmore then not given much to cut.

And you have to pay attention. At bar scene, when Bracken says "they bled and died" while a cash register rings in the background - that little touch surely was planned?

Design for Living (1933 Ernst Lubitsch)

Play Noel Coward, scr. Ben Hecht

Plenty of subtle Lubitsch stuff - the flowers that get kicked over, her bed being dismantled and moved, dust off mattress, bedroom screen, silent moments. Seems to have no music. Very risqué and funny material.

Billy Wilder had a sign hanging in his office: "How would Lubitsch do it?" (which tells you a lot).

Frederic March and Gary Cooper make a fine pairing, Miriam Hopkins, Edward Everett Horton, Franklin Pangborn, Jane Darwell.

Ph. Victor Milner

Dangerous (1935 Alfred E Green)

Don't mess with jinxed has-been actress Bette Davis, or you'll lose your shirt, fiancée, self-respect etc and develop a 20 whisky a day habit (made up last bit). Here, eyebrows are pencil thin.

With Franchot Tone, Margaret Lindsay (other woman), Alison Skipworth (the maid).

Ernie Haller, one feels, was especially attached to Bette.

The Big Bounce (1969 Alex March)

Also by Elmore Leonard and so a natural pairing with the previous film, quite catchy story is underscored by really terrible music. It needs a Dirty Harry type score.

Ryan O'Neal falls for psycho Leigh Taylor-Young who is being pimped out by her husband. Robert Webber also fancies her, and Van Heflin is on hand to try and straighten out the young drifter.

The scene which I noticed had been cut when I first saw it on TV on April 9 1980 was of a discreetly naked Taylor-Young standing in profile on a gravestone. These cut scenes are hardly ever worth getting excited about!

Out of Sight

Yes, again.

Love in the Afternoon

Yes, again.

"You know, with the short leather pants. Then one thing led to another."

You'll miss half of this stuff if you don't pay attention.

Chevalier: "She's such a little fish - throw her back into the water."

The Descendants

Yes, again. It's that good.

"In Hawaii, some of the most powerful people look like bums and stuntmen."

Lilith (1964 Robert Rossen)

Kim Hunter slowly realises trainee occupational therapist Warren Beatty is as bonkers as the patients; in the meantime he's ravished inmate Jean Seberg (another seriously good performance) in a film I can only describe as trippy.

Editor Aram Avakian was one of the new breed, from Jazz on a Summer's Day. His very long dissolves are fabulous and the scene where the couple make love for the first time, with a sparkly river superimpoosed on lots of different fades of Seberg is worth the entire price of admission. Eugen Schufftan's marvellous high contrast deep focus photography is also a major asset. Compositions and angles all very interesting.

Peter Fonda makes a strong impression, as does Gene Hackman, who I guess Beatty then picked up for Bonnie and Clyde.

Our 1.85:1 transfer looks slightly cropped at top and bottom to me leading to suspicion it was probably 1.66:1.

Somewhere in Time (1980 Jeannot Szwarc)

Christopher Reeve falls in love with old photo of 1920s theatre star Jane Seymour at Grand Hotel, Macinac Island, Michigan.

I don't quite know what I thought of this film, though moment he discovers the coin is really haunting.

Ladies in Lavender (2004 Charles Dance & scr)

Judi Dench and Maggie Smith find violinist Daniel Brühl shipwrecked on the beach. Consequences are unpredictable. With David Warner, Natasha McElhone, Miriam Margolyes, Toby Jones.

William J Locke wrote the original short story, the filming of whose novels was popular in the silent age, it seems.

Um.

You've Got Mail (1998 Nora Ephron)

Don't remember even watching this.

Must have been quite impactful.

Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Greg Kinnear.

Sheriff of Fractured Jaw (1958 Raoul Walsh)

"I wouldn't recognise her for love nor dust."

Kenneth More, Jayne Mansfield.

Beautifully shot by Otto Heller in CinemaScope.

Hugely enjoyable. Written by Howard Dimsdale, from short story by Jacob Hay.

21.02.

Tales of Manhattan (1942 Julien Duvivier)

Really unexpectedly good multi-story treat revolving around coat. Duvivier (Pépé le Moko ) was in the US.

Charles Boyer, Rita Hayworth, Thomas Mitchell.
Charles Laughton.
Ginger Rogers, Henry Fonda.
Edward G.
Paul Robeson, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson.
Eugene Pallette.

Shot by Joseph Walker.

Tales from the Crypt (1972 Freddie Francis)

Anthology of horror stories from EC Comics, directed with great visual flair by Oscar-winning cameraman Francis - opening Christmas story with Joan Collins is actually dialogue free. Handsomely shot by Norman Warwick (who did such a good job on The Abominable Dr Phibes ) in what looks like an open matte format.

How on earth I managed to sneak this on, I have no idea.

Peter Cushing gives great late performance as kindly toy shop owner who comes back from the dead.

Also with Richard Greene, Ian Hendry, Barbara Murray, Nigel Patrick, Patrick Magee and Ralph Richardson as the Crypt Keeper.

The assertion - on IMDB - that this was the second top US box office release of 1972 (behind The Godfather ) is complete bollocks.