Classic Cinema
Blu-Ray Review: The Defiant Ones
In 1964, Sidney Poitier became the first black actor to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for Lilies of the Field. He went on to become one of the most famous actors of his era and direct films in his own right. In a prodigious career, some of the highlights included: In the Heat …
Film Review: King of Hearts
Whilst today he may not get the credit or acknowledgement that some of his peers receive, Alan Bates was unquestionable one of the most versatile and well thought of British actors of his generation. Some of his more acclaimed roles are in Gregory’s Girl, Women in Love, The Fixer, Far from the Madding Crowd and …
Blu-Ray Review: Inherit the Wind
Considering its position within the First World and how much power and influence it has on the global stage, the United States of America is a peculiar country when it comes to religion. Whilst most educated people around the world accept, at least partially, the theory of evolution, America is still having the argument between …
Blu-Ray Review: Breakheart Pass
The 1960s were boom time for Charles Bronson. With roles in a string of hits including The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape and The Sandpiper, his star was definitely in the ascendancy. After a brief sojourn in European cinema he returned to the States. By then in his 50s, Bronson continued to …
Blu-Ray Review: The Bloodthirsty Trilogy
Folklore and legend play a huge role in the evolution of Japanese horror films. Unlike the genre’s development in the Western world, Japanese filmmakers have been largely concerned with psychological and supernatural terror. Ghost stories drove literature, theatre and film. Whilst this century has seen the likes of Ringu, Dark Water and The Grudge make …
Blu-Ray Review: Marty
There must be few more unlikely winners of the Academy Award for Best Picture than Delbert Mann’s 1955 film Marty. It was initially conceived as a tele-play, which broadcast a couple of years earlier. It wasn’t exactly taken overly seriously by Hecht-Lancaster Productions in the beginning. One of the stars, Betsy Blair, had previously been …
Blu-ray Review: The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds
Paul Newman was one of the most iconic actors of the 1960s. The decade was bookmarked by The Hustler and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but it’s arguably Cool Hand Luke which remains his most memorable and powerful performance. Whilst he found fame in front of the camera, Newman also directed five feature films. …
Blu-Ray Review: Suddenly, Last Summer
Tennessee Williams was without doubt one of the greatest American playwrights of the 20th century. There are few, if any, dramatists who have had so much of their work adapted for the big screen. His plays have become synonymous with some of the greatest moments of American cinema. Taylor and Newman in Cat on a …
Film Review: The Old Dark House
Whilst he railed against being typecast as a horror director, James Whale is unquestionable one of the most important pioneers of genre cinema. He virtually (re)invented Gothic Horror and had a huge influence on directors in the 1960s and ‘70s. Today, his depiction of Mary Shelley’s macabre creation in the 1931 film Frankenstein is the …
Blu-Ray Review: The Passenger
There is something deep down inside of every one of us which longs to escape our lives and become someone else. To throw off the shackles of our past, leave all our choices and mistakes behind and start afresh. It’s a very human yearning, but it’s more of a pipedream than an obtainable reality. Our …