Silent Shakespeare? It might seem to invalidate the very reason why Shakespeare has been a cultural constant for centuries now, but it was popular in its time. When cinema was invented it was widely considered a novelty rather than a serious art form, so it was necessary to prove it could […]
BFi
Around China with a Movie Camera (2015) A Must for Film Historians (Review)
A Month in the Country (1987) An Elegant, overlooked film about the strength of the human spirit (Review)
Richard III (1995) Ready to be reclaimed as a masterpiece (Review)
Expresso Bongo (1959) Cliff Richard in pre-swinging London Rock N’ Roll Musical (Review)
Let us imagine the pitch: a hotshot young writer and a director whose career spans groundbreaking horror, gritty drama and sexploitation decide to make a musical. But not just any musical – this would be a musical powered by stage performances, rather than the familiar contrivance of people bursting into […]
Beat Girl (1959) British B-Movie that found a 2nd life in 60s America (Review)
At the start of Ben Wilson’s 2007 history book Decency and Disorder, there are excerpts from letters written by French citizens who visited Britain and were horrified by the rudeness, salaciousness and drunkenness of life over here. That was in the early nineteenth century. One strict course of Victorian values later, […]
Farewell my Concubine (1993) The Chinese Epic as a performance piece (Review)
Ken Russell: Great Composers (1965-7)(Review)
The music documentary is enjoying a boom period with the likes of 20,000 Days on Earth & Searching for Sugar Man receiving both critical and commercial acclaim, there’s also the channel defining content from the award-winning BBC Four. Staying with the British Broadcasting Corporation, it is easy to forget what […]