Freeview Boxes : Classic or Dud?

It was, indeed, the Kidman film.

I watched REDS again about 8 years ago, it might might have been sadly missed poster Morbz who spurred me to do it. It's much better than To Die For.

anyone seen the donald pleasence film 'death line' that is new to TP next week? plot synopsis has me intrigued.

i have been watching that Interpol thing on TP (finished this week) and the last but one of those was Donald blowing up someone with a decoy duck.

One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing was on this afternoon and, like most of the Archers films, i caught 10 minutes of it and got sucked in til the end.

Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun on as well, lesser known Gerry Anderson.

just seen TP advertising that film i mentioned above, During One Night, as part of a War box set along with 7 other things i've never heard of.

https://www.renownfilms.co.uk/product/war-in-film-box-set/

Who Goes Next (1938)
Subway in the Sky (1959)
Desert Mice (1959)
The Treasure of San Teresa (1959) (AKA Hot Money Girl)
During One Night (1960)
The Hand (1960)
Beyond the Curtain (1960)
Mr Kingstreet’s War (1971)

hot money girl...

PALE RIDER (1985) is on ITV4 tonight. As usual! I must try to watch.

anyone seen the donald pleasence film 'death line' that is new to TP next week? plot synopsis has me intrigued.

Death Line is amazing, probably the best 'cannibals on the London underground' film ever made but offers so much more especially in Pleasance & Norman Rossington's turn as policemen who really can't be arsed with the Young People and just want a quiet pint or six.

Yep, Death Line is one of my absolute favourite horror films - it's amazingly grim and funny at the same time.

thank you both. will watch.

(it's on friday at 21:00)

This week.

MONDAY
BBC4 doc on cars made in Coventry
Film 4: Robert Mitchum in THE RED PONY
THE BLUE LAGOON on Sony Movies Classic

WEDNESDAY
ITV4: PASSENGER 57
Sony Movies Classic: DOUBLE INDEMNITY

THURSDAY
ITV4: THE BLUES BROTHERS
Film 4: SHANE. PARIS, TEXAS at ... 11:15.
Sony Movies Classic: THE GRADUATE

FRIDAY
Film 4: THE AFRICAN QUEEN

I'm afraid I can't see much on this thread's favourite channel Talking Pictures TV.

My Freeview box gave up the ghost 20 minutes into the FA Cup final the other day, if I don't bother replacing it I wonder if I need to still pay the license fee? Answer is almost certainly yes.

If you watch any live TV from any source, or anything on iPlayer, you need a TV license.

> I'm afraid I can't see much on this thread's favourite channel Talking Pictures TV.

Small Back Room, (minor) powell and pressburger, tonight at 22:50
Boulting Brothers double bill from 12:35 tomorrow afternoon

the thing i find with Talking Pictures is that the film names in the list aren't very promising, but the films themselves are perfectly watchable.

they've almost invariably got one or more of John Laurie, John "The Measurer" or Gordon Jackson in them

I'm afraid I can't see much on this thread's favourite channel Talking Pictures TV.

Well, my opinion's suspect, but:

THINGS I KNOW ARE GOOD

Today at 16:15 there's Home At Seven, Ralph Richardson's only directorial effort (he also stars in it). A man loses a day, having no memory whatsoever of what transpired - useful reference points would be The Twilight Zone at the popcult end of the sprectrum and Kafka at the highart end, but it's very much about the British suburbs. Richardson of course a master at playing guilty but not in the way you imagine characters, cf Hidden Idol. Later on at 22:50 there's The Small Back Room, really great Archers film about an alcoholic bomb defusing expert during wartime.

Friday at one in the morning, Rasputin The Mad Monk, one of Christopher Lee's favourite roles. Costume drama filtered through Hammer bloodlust.

NEVER SEEN BUT LOOKS INTERESTING

Blood Relatives, Tuesday at 21:00 - Claude Chabrol directs The Two Donalds (Sutherland and Pleasance) in an Ed McBain adaptation.

The Singer Not The Song, Wednesday at 14:45 - A British produced western (shot in Spain), with Dirk Bogarde and John Mills. Word on the street is that Bogarde camps it up something rotten in this as an act of protest against the film's direction. It's about an Irish priest standing up to a Mexican bandit? And why this title? So many questions. There's also The Strange Loves Of Martha Ives on late at night.

xposts

John Mills is another for the list of canonical TP actors. and the bloke who played Dixon of Dock Green. and Donald Pleasance who was in at least 3 things i watched over the weekend (Death Line, Battle Of The Sexes, er, something else)

i also usually enjoy Gideon's Way, which is a 1 hr police procedural, on daily. and Interpol Calling which is 1/2 hour and less frequent.

saturday morning they are now showing all the kinds of crap i used to hate when it would replace Swap Shop over the summer holidays. Champion The Wonder Horse, CFF films, Popeye etc

Also Fleischer Superman cartoons and Looney Tunes.

They're showing One Step Beyond on Tuesday nights but from the ep I saw it's no Outer Limits.

yeah, i caught half of one the other day but it didn't seem to go anywhere.

some freeview channel should show all the Outer Limits and Twilight Zone episodes.

The Singer Not The Song, Wednesday at 14:45 - A British produced western (shot in Spain), with Dirk Bogarde and John Mills. Word on the street is that Bogarde camps it up something rotten in this as an act of protest against the film's direction. It's about an Irish priest standing up to a Mexican bandit? And why this title? So many questions. There's also The Strange Loves Of Martha Ives on late at night

Oh man, you haven't seen this? This is like one of the campest British films of all time. I remember seeing this for the first time, with my brother, on like a boring Saturday afternoon on BBC2 and both of us not quite believing that we were watching. Dirk struts about in tight designer leather trousers and everyone in Mexico has a RADA accent. It's a pity that boring old John Mills is playing opposite Bogarde as soembody a bit more attractive - and able to actually do an Irish accent - would have pushed it entirely over the cliff of homoeroticism.

watched a George Formby and half a Norman Wisdom with the kids yesterday, they were surprisingly into the George Formby.

Sylvia Sims seems to have been in every other British movie from about 1955 to 1965. That's fine though, I like Sylvia Sims.

Today at 16:15 there's Home At Seven, Ralph Richardson's only directorial effort (he also stars in it). A man loses a day, having no memory whatsoever of what transpired - useful reference points would be The Twilight Zone at the popcult end of the sprectrum and Kafka at the highart end, but it's very much about the British suburbs.

This *does* sound good.

and Jack Hawkins is the Dixon actor i couldn't remember the name of (he's in Home At Seven)

Sky Arts showing old Landscape Artist Of The Year episodes which are relaxing tv. also the odd Portrait Artist Of The Year for those who prefer your paintings taller rather than wider.

and there are The Tube highlights on London Live.

(Jack Warner is Dixon, not Jack Hawkins)

Following the tip earlier I managed to catch most of HOME AT SEVEN (1952). Very much like a play in a provincial theatre - a few sets: the house, the doctor's surgery, the police station, the pub for a rare flashback; and a few main characters. Must have been cheap to make. I see the TWILIGHT ZONE link, at least at the start when he learns of the memory loss, but that aspect is rather overtaken by the police murder investigation.

I watched this too, I'm afraid it was far too In Every Old British Movie Ever for me.

"Lower Middleswallop, you say? Well you'll be wanting the 3.30 from platform 3 but better hurries along now, young sir, it'll be leaving in *pulls out fob watch* five minutes *winks*."
― Bees Against Racism (Tom D.), Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Excellent.

but that aspect is rather overtaken by the police murder investigation

Yes, and the eventual resolution is very weak, but I like to think that the way it's turned the main character's life upside down will have repercussions for years to come.

Very much like a play in a provincial theatre

You're probably right about budgetary concerns but also films directed by actors are likely to go easy on the Film As A Visual Medium stuff to give the acting more of a spotlight.

I liked the film, more than Tom D did. I actually liked the way that the solution lay in the City pub that he had mentioned to the doctor early on but that might since have been forgotten. And it involved an element of WWII / PTSD that gave the memory lapse theme more historical weight.

20 minute thing on TP earlier about a 3 week, 24 hour-a-day, endurance test on a 120 mile loop of belgian cobbled roads in a Hillman Minx by female drivers. 41mph average on public roads.

the football's done a number on the tv schedules...

Talking Pictures are showing Laurel and Hardy shorts on saturday afternoons, which is something i've always meant to investigate. 3 today:

Stan convinces Ollie that they should become fishermen, but making a boat seaworthy is not an easy task.

Unaware that the Great War has ended, Stan remains at his post for 20 years.

The boys are contracted to build a house in a day but run into trouble with the nearby hospital staff, due to their excessive noise.

bits i've caught in previous weeks had them playing their own estranged relatives, their own wives etc

(this is another thing to file under 'tv i hated on saturday mornings as a kid'. was more of a harold lloyd fan)

All classic.

i don't recognise the titles ('Towed in a Hole', 'Block Heads', 'The Finishing Touch') but the descriptions are familiar, especially the boat.

Yes, this all sounds excellent.

Unusually good films on TV this week. Or at least, several I've not seen.

SATURDAY

IRON MAN 3: BBC1 - I will watch
FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY: C4

SUNDAY

ROBIN HOOD: Great Movies (formerly Sony Movies) - this is worth watching
IF .... : Great Movies classic - I would watch this again it not for clash with other things

MONDAY

IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD: BBC2
THE OLD MAN AND THE GUN: Film4
(not to mention MY DARLING CLEMENTINE on Paramount)

TUE-THU: St Trinian's films on BBC2 afternoons

TUESDAY

THE SHALLOWS: E4

WEDNESDAY

PERSONAL SHOPPER: BBC2, probably worth catching on iPlayer
GRAN TORINO: ITV4
CROUCHING TIZER, HIDDEN VIMTO, as P.J. Miller used to call it: Great Movies

THURSDAY

THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD on Talking Pictures, though I don't need to see this again yet

FRIDAY

THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT: BBC2
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER: BBC1
MEAN GIRLS: ITV2
FLAMING STAR (Elvis Presley) on Paramount but again I saw this not long ago.

A lot!

I'll try to watch:

IRON MAN 3
THE OLD MAN AND THE GUN
St Trinian's films
THE SHALLOWS
PERSONAL SHOPPER
CROUCHING TIZER, HIDDEN VIMTO
THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT
MEAN GIRLS

always interesting to see the pinefox's taste in fillums.

film4 on thursday has a documentary on the Alien films that i don't think i've seen before.

Hallam Foe on f4 tuesday. have i seen that? was it any good? i associate it, vaguely, possibly incorrectly, with belle and sebastian.

(i am wrong, actual soundtrack looks more interesting - Pram, Orange Juice, Hood, Ganger, Four Tet, King Creosote, Quickspace, The Pastels, Clinic Future Pilot AKA, Movietone, Psapp)

BBC4 also showing Meades' Bunkers and Brutalism thing over the course of the week as well. it's probably all on iplayer anyway. (oh, it's not, but will be after tuesday when it airs)

THE LADY VANISHES is on BBC2 today!

IRON MAN 3 was quite good btw.

Interested in HALLAM FOE

, Koogs, but unfortunately I don't like that Jamie Bell actor.

films you never knew existed (until Talking Pictures):

The Bliss Of Miss Blossom

Robert Blossom is a brassiere manufacturer and workaholic. When his wife Harriet's sewing machine breaks, he sends his bumbling employee Ambrose Tuttle to repair it. Mrs. Blossom seduces Ambrose, then hides him in the attic

(richard attenborough, shirley maclaine, also monkhouse, rushton, routledge, co-written by denis norden)

it's very swinging sixties...

(forgot to tape Hallam Foe)

just finished on TPTV, The Way We Live, "A look at Plymouth's hopes and fears just after the end of World War 2" including a cameo by young labour candidate Michael Foot... (wikipedia confirms)

London Live last night, Inseminoid, which i think i saw on video at the time but not since. oddly, for something i think of as almost video nasty it features stephanie beacham (tenko, colbys) and judy geeson (to sir with love). so far, so Alien, with a much lower budget.

i shd've mentioned Forces TV has been showing Blake's 7 for the last couple of weeks

ooh, i've just set a recording. missed the first 5 unfortunately. i'm sure they'll repeat them interminably, the way they are doing with UFO (immediately after)

in Inseminoid news, she's just tried to cut her own leg off with a hedge trimmer.

i've watched bits of a couple of episodes of B7 since they've shown it but i don't record stuff so i haven't bothered keeping it up, and tbh it's not as good as i thought it was in 1980-whenever

if it's anything like sapphire and steel it's as slow as all hell.

The first series of B7 is easily the best. The fourth might be the most fun, but that's because it's played as high camp. There are more than a few terrible episodes.

Still the most shocking thing is that in episode 1 Blake gets discredited by the Federation through a fake story he's a paedophile.

A tune for ILX poster Koogs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCAJyVEU8MY