BOS man’s film of the week is “The Young and Innocent” can’t remember seeing this early Hitchcock before, a genuine rarity.
Hi Everyone
Welcome to this week’s newsletter. For this week’s picks I’ve tried to find a few more obscure titles as so many of the films we choose are repeated so often, so a few morning matinees in this week’s choices. We hope that those of you that joined us for last Friday’s online screening of ‘Asunder’ enjoyed it? We had a chat online afterwards and there is an interesting You Tube interview with the director which is worth a look. It was an interesting use of social history and film footage as well as narration from actor Alun Armstrong and journalist Kate Aidie.
Talking of film history I’m currently reading the excellent ‘Women v Hollywood’ by Helen O Hara. It’s available to reserve via St Helens Libraries. Hopefully we can do more online screenings in the future and we will be looking at our upcoming cinema programme with an eye on reopening after the Whit holiday period. It’s also great to see the accessible ramp finally in place after so long as well; news on the official ribbon cutting is forthcoming.
Looking at a few cinematic highlights this coming week, Drama on 3 on Sunday 18th (Radio 3 7.30 pm) stars Toby Jones in ‘Killer’, the first ever radio dramatization of Eugene Ionesco’s 1958 play ‘Tueur Sans Gages’ while Wednesday’s ‘Front Row’ on Radio 4 (7.15 pm) includes a chat with Noel Clarke about his latest project ‘Viewpoint’ inspired by Hitchcock’s ‘Rear Window’. (see below for more Hitchcock) Meanwhile Thursday afternoons ‘Film Programme’ features an interview with ‘Nomadland’ director Chloe Zhao, who is the first woman of colour to be nominated as best director in this year’s Oscars taking place on Sunday 25th April. She has already bagged a BAFTA for best director so it’s looking good to repeat the feat next Sunday. With Oscars in mind Monday night (19th April) sees a Secrets of Cinema special devoted to Oscar Winners with Mark Kermode on BBC 4 at 9.00 pm, repeated at 1.25 am.
Of course I’m still glued to ‘Line of Duty’ and the snooker world championships started yesterday so plenty to keep us occupied both film wise and otherwise.
Have a great week
This week’s picks….
Against the Wind
Talking Pictures TV Sunday 18th April 7.00 pm
Freeview Channel 81 Sky Ch 328 Virgin Ch 445
This Ealing Studios film takes the activity of saboteurs in occupied Belgium during the war, with a British slant of humour (HQ in the history gallery basement of a library, upbeat music accompanies scenes of gun practice).
Jack Warner is the surface good egg, Simone Signoret – in her first English role – is beautiful and stunning, Gordon Jackson is a prototype Q showing off his gadgets, Robert Beatty is a priest who joins the cause, Sybille Binder is a former teacher given to an act of courage, James Robertson Justice is team recruiter, and Gisèle Préville is the flirty Julie.
It’s a solid cast, well-directed by Charles Crichton. There’s talk of quislings, stiff upper lips, fear of the occupiers, suspicion, and a twist which modern observers who are familiar with some of the actors and their best-known roles might guess.
The Naked Truth
Tuesday 20th April 11.00 a.m.
Film 4
Freeview Ch 14 Sky Ch 313 Virgin Ch 428
This black comedy supplied Peter Sellers with some of his funniest, and finest, pre-Hollywood material. It’s based – as the best British humour often is – on class and sex, with Sellers as a crowd-pleasing TV personality who’s being blackmailed by smarmy Dennis Price, in Kind Hearts and Coronets mode as the editor of a muck-raking magazine. Terry-Thomas (who had worked with Sellers on Tom Thumb) is the peer who encourages the victims (among them Peggy Mount and Shirley Eaton) to gang up against their persecutor. Mario Zampi directs the gags in Michael Pertwee’s satisfying script with superb timing.
Appointment with Danger
Wednesday 21st April 11.00 a.m.
Film 4
Freeview Ch 14 Sky Ch 313 Virgin Ch 428
This nifty little B-thriller finds Alan Ladd working for the Post Office’s detective branch, tracking down the murderers of a colleague and foiling a robbery by posing as a corrupt cop. Phyllis Calvert plays a nun on the run who witnessed the murder in a film that packs a lot into its short running time. Moodily shot by master cameraman John F Seitz, the film noir proceedings are smartly handled by Lewis Allen, the man who directed that minor Frank Sinatra classic, Suddenly in 1954.
The Last Train from Gun Hill
Friday 23rd April 11.00 a.m.
Film 4
Freeview Ch 14 Sky Ch 313 Virgin Ch 428
A very fine adult western, made by the same team (including director John Sturges and producer Hal Wallis) that worked on Gunfight at the OK Corral, with Kirk Douglas again in a starring role. Here, Douglas is at his most intense as a man seeking revenge following the rape and murder of his wife. Anthony Quinn makes a tough adversary, and the rich Technicolor and VistaVision photography by Charles Lang Jr is exemplary. Not a film for the squeamish but, for discerning admirers of the classic western form, this is a superior example: intelligent, finely wrought and exceptionally well cast.
The Young and the Innocent
Talking Pictures TV Friday 23rd April 1.20 pm pm
Freeview Channel 81 Sky Ch 328 Virgin Ch 445
A 1937 British crime thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Nova Pilbeam and Derrick De Marney.[1] Based on the 1936 novel A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey, the film is about a young man on the run from a murder charge who enlists the help of a woman who must put herself at risk for his cause.
This rarely shown Alfred Hitchcock film maybe a minor entry in the directors cannon, but it boasts one of the most stunning sequences – an audacious crane shot through a bustling hotel which ends with a close-up of the murderer’s twitching eye – it still proves him to be the master of technique, as well as suspense.
Alfred Hitchcock’s cameo is a signature occurrence in most of his films. He can be seen outside the courthouse, holding a camera, at 14 minutes into the film.
The attention devoted to The 39 Steps (1935) and The Lady Vanishes (1938) has ensured that Young and Innocent has remained the poor relation of Hitchcock’s three 1930s comedy thrillers – but it’s not hard to see why this hugely enjoyable film was reportedly Hitchcock’s personal favourite among his 23 British movies.