Now Screening - What Are You Watching Right Now?

[Macca]

'The Million Pound Note' (1954)

Gregory Peck is in Victorian London on the bones of his arse when two brothers - as a bet between them - give him a million pound note, the condition being he has to survive for a month without cashing it. If he succeeds they will give him a job in their firm.

From a short story by Mark Twain which was also the basis for 'Trading Places'.

This film is nothing like as good as 'Trading Places', but it's watchable enough, helped along by the presence of Jane Griffiths at the height of her powers.

[struth]

Ship Of Fools, 1965. Directed by Stanley Kramer and stars Vivian Leigh, Jose Ferrer, George Segal, Simone Signoret, Elizabeth Ashely and Lee Marvin.




Well enough recieved and won a couple of Oscars t'boot, ship of fools is an interesting film with a great ensemble cast.

this is the bluray ltd edition

[struth]

Red River, 1948. Directed by Howard Hawks and stars John Wayne and Montgomery Clift. Supporting cast features Walter Brennan, Joanne Dru, Coleen Gray, Harry Carey, John Ireland, Hank Worden, Noah Beery Jr., Harry Carey Jr. and Paul Fix.






To commemorate their work on the film, director Howard Hawks had special Western belt buckles made up for certain members of the cast and crew of Red River. The solid silver belt buckles had a twisted silver wire rope edge, the Dunson brand in gold in the center, the words “Red River” in gold wire in the upper left and lower right corners, the initials of the recipients in the lower left corner, and the date "1946" in cut gold numerals in the upper right corner. Hawks gave full-sized (men's) buckles to John Wayne, his son David Hawks, Montgomery Clift, Walter Brennan, assistant director Arthur Rosson, cinematographer Russell Harlan, and John Ireland. Joanna Dru and Hawks' daughter Barbara were given smaller (ladies') versions of the buckle. According to David Hawks, other men's and women's buckles were distributed, but he can only confirm the family members and members of the cast and production team listed above received Red River D buckles.

Wayne and Hawks exchanged buckles as a token of their mutual respect. Wayne wore the Red River D belt buckle with the initials "HWH" in nine other movies including North To Alaska, Circus World, Hatari! Rio Bravo, El Dorado, McLintock!, and Rio Lobo.

In 1981, John Wayne's son Michael sent the buckle to a silversmith in order to have duplicates made for all of Wayne's children. While in the silversmith's care, it was stolen and has not been seen since. Red River D buckles, made by a number of sources, are among the most popular and sought after icons of John Wayne fans.

[struth]

Vertigo, 1958. Hitchcock directs James Stewart and Kim Novak in this superb film noir psychological thriller.





This is the 2013 bluray release, and not the latest 4k release alas but still very decent.

[struth]

His Girl Friday, 1940. starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell and featuring Ralph Bellamy .... Howard Hawks directs.




This time it is the Criterion version. It contains a new high-definition digital restoration of His Girl Friday, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray.
Another disc with a new 4K digital restoration of original 1931 version of The Front Page, made from a recently discovered print of director Lewis Milestone’s preferred version, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack. This was a pre-Code comedy-drama film directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Adolphe Menjou and Pat O'Brien. Based on a 1928 Broadway play of the same name by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, the film was produced by Howard Hughes, written by Bartlett Cormack and Charles Lederer, and distributed by United Artists.

[Barry]

Last night - An Inspector Calls shown on the Drama channel.



David Thewlis plays the "Inspector", with Ken Stott and Miranda Richardson playing Mr and Mrs Birling.

Every time I watch J. B. Priestley's enigmatic play, I get no further in knowing exactly who the "inspector" is. No doubt the mystery is intentional.

[struth]

Dead Men Tell No Tales, 2017, directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg. Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem, Geoffrey Rush, Brenton Thwaites, Kaya Scodelario, and Kevin McNally star...







Film turned a near total of $800m from a filming budget of about $250m.. a licence to print money. This is the 5th and currently likely to be the final installment. It is also known as Salazar's Revenge.
This is a 4k digital file from my amazon film collection.

[struth]

Last night - An Inspector Calls shown on the Drama channel.



David Thewlis plays the "Inspector", with Ken Stott and Miranda Richardson playing Mr and Mrs Birling.

Every time I watch J. B. Priestley's enigmatic play, I get no further in knowing exactly who the "inspector" is. No doubt the mystery is intentional.

not seen this version. The Sim one is so good i always watch it

[Barry]

I haven't seen the Alisdair Sim version, so I can't make any comparison. But I will say Thewlis's timing is impeccable, and the scenes at the end heavily suggest that the "Inspector" is a supernatural being: a harbinger of the forthcoming WW1, or of the fall of the Birling family fortunes?

[struth]

I haven't seen the Alisdair Sim version, so I can't make any comparison. But I will say Thewlis's timing is impeccable, and the scenes at the end heavily suggest that the "Inspector" is a supernatural being: a harbinger of the forthcoming WW1, or of the fall of the Birling family fortunes?

highly reccommend it barry. think you will like it