The events leading up to British involvment in the Crimean war are the focus of The Charge of the Light Brigadd the final recommendatiin from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of Lawrence of Arabia. Based in part on the historical text, The Reason Why by Cecil Woodham-Smith. Featuring…
Tag: british
Doctor Who (Paul McGann) – The Movie
Seven years after Sylvester McCoy’s last story, Survival, a weird co-production involving Fox television and the BBC, introduced Paul McGann as the Doctor when McCoy regenerated into him after being shot in San Francisco (actually Vancouver), at the end of the 20th century. The story is deeply flawed, conflicts with canon in a number of…
Penny Dreadful: The Complete Series
Paramount Pictures in association with Showtime is unleashing the Complete Series of the British Sky TV programme Penny Dreadful today. This danse macabre is by turns frightening, poignant, and completely unnerving. And it has never looked better. Featuring a gorgeous high definition transfer, the series looks and sounds fantastic as it takes the viewer deeper…
A Matter of Life and Death (1946) – Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
David Niven and Kim Hunter star in this wonderful piece of fantasy that is the next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film. Also known as Stairway to Heaven, this is a film I had never heard of. Niven is Peter Carter, a RAF pilot. He and his crew are returning to…
Whistle Down the Wind (1961) – Bryan Forbes
As I return to the Family Genre in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book, I come across a number of recommendations from a screening for E.T. which I’ve previously covered Whistle Down the Wind is a British film that focuses on a group of young children, including Charles (Alan Barnes), Nan (Diane…
Where Eagles Dare (1968) – Brian G. Hutton
The next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of The Dam Busters features a story and script by Alistair MacLean and stars Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton. Burton is Major Smith, Eastwood is Schaffer an American Ranger working with a British squad that is coming up with…
The Guns of Navarone (1961) – J. Lee Thompson
Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Anthony Quinn bring World War II excitement to the big screen in The Guns of Navarone, a recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book for my screening of The Dam Busters. Based on the novel by Alistair MacLean, and adapted by Carl Foreman, the story follows…
The Dam Busters (1955) – Michael Anderson
As I return to the war genre I plunge into the events of World War II and the creation of a ‘bouncing bomb’ that would help the Allies against the Nazis. The film is based on two books, one by Paul Brickhill about the creation of the weapon, and the other by Guy Gibson about…
Brief Encounter (1945) – David Lean
I dive into the recommendations for the Romance and Melodrama genre following my screening of Casablanca for the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book and first up is the David Lean film, based on the play by Noel Coward, Brief Encounter. Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard star as Laura Jesson and Dr….
It Runs In the Family, presented by Drayton Entertainment
If you missed its run at the Drayton Festival Theatre, the British farce, It Runs In the Family runs deliciously amuck on the King’s Wharf Theatre stagein Penetanguishene starting today, and running to the 27th. Written by Ray Cooney, and directed by Alex Mustakas, the farce is at its best when it reaches Howard…
The Mind Reels 