Vintage Classics
Blu-Ray Review: The Criminal
Stanley Baker was hardly what you’d call a typical leading man in post-war British cinema. Unlike his peers, who were almost always handsome and debonair, the former electrician’s apprentice cut a rough and ready figure. In many ways a brooding brute of a man, he carved out a niche for himself in the likes of …
Blu-ray Review: Odette
During World War II, the British set up the Special Operations Executive. This secretive organisation was established with the purpose of carrying out espionage, reconnaissance and sabotage in occupied Europe. Odette Sansom was a French-born British agent who was persuaded to join the SOE. She was awarded the George Cross for her contribution to the …
Blu-ray Review: I Was Monty’s Double
Major wars are not won or lost by one major battle or moment but more often than not through a number of smaller victories or defeats. Whilst most people are aware of the major events of World War II, it’s often the lesser known stories which provide the most fascination. D-Day has been portrayed on …
Film Review: Kind Hearts and Coronets
For many people, Sir Alec Guinness will always be remembered as Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars. Indeed, in that sense he’s possibly one of the most recognisable faces in cinema history. He was a phenomenal character actor and starred in a number of memorable roles. These include Fagan in Oliver Twist, Scrooge, Colonel Nicholson …
Blu-ray Review: Rosa Luxemburg
There’s a good chance that you’ve never heard the name Margarethe von Trotta before. Despite being a leading light of the German New Wave, the Berliner has been over-shadowed by the likes of Wim Wenders, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Werner Herzog. She’s still making films, but history has done her a disservice and her earlier …
Blu-Ray Review: The Dam Busters
To try and document and capture everything that happened during World War II would be nigh on impossible. There were so many different battles, skirmishes and engagements on air, land and sea, taking place all over the world, that it’s simply too much to process. Therefore, we tend to focus on certain key dates, battles …
Blu-ray Review: Le Corbeau
World War II was a difficult period for many European film directors. There was a migration ahead of the Holocaust and Nazi rule, which trundled West from Germany along with the Panzer regiments. If you were Jewish, there was obviously not option, but those who remained in occupied territory faced the choice of complying or …
Blu-Ray Review: Ice Cold in Alex
The subject of World War II has been approached from almost every conceivable angle by film-makers. Most dwell on the major events or pivotal moments in the conflict. J. Lee Thompson preferred to focus on the smaller skirmishes and battles, concentrating on the peripheries or human stories. He did this successfully in the big budget …
Blu-Ray Review: The L-Shaped Room
For a few years around the beginning of the 1960s, British new wave cinema burned fast and fierce. Shot in black and white, and with an emphasis on portraying real people, it produced some of the most creative and powerful films of the era. The likes of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, This Sporting Life, …
Blu-Ray Review: Melody
You may never have heard of a 1971 film called Melody but it marked an important moment for the British Film Industry. A new wave of screenwriters, producers and directors arrived on the scene from the advertising sector. It was David Puttnam’s first film as a producer. A career which has seen him to go …