Just watched it for the third time and it gets better with each viewing. Super stylish credits, with a great moody jazz score from Philip Green. I am bored with the modern tendency to fill a movie with various styles of music, usually sung, for commercial reasons, while not having a cohesive theme, if you'll pardon the pun.
A shipping executive, played by Stewart Granger, is accused of raiding the company safe for 100,00. Pounds that is. 1961 that is. When the going rate was 2.40 dollars to the pound. He is having marital problems with his wife Haya Harrareet, who played the love interest in Ben Hur ,and is heavily in debt due to an extravagant lifestyle, including a boat which he is conveniently on as the robbery is being committed. Bernard Lee plays the detective inspector assigned to solve the case on the eve of retirement ( although how long he expects to survive in retirement with the chain smoking he does in this movie is anybody's guess ) and as always is reliably excellent. The too seldom seen Hugh Burden ( who was great as Protopopov in Fall of Eagles ) plays Granger's supervisor, and the beautiful Melissa Stribling plays Burden's wife, both of whom may have reason to frame our poor protagonist, among a few others.
I'll say no more. Suffice it to say, this twisty thriller is well woth the hour and a half. I was, however, slightly disappointed with the denouement. That prevented me form giving the movie ten stars. And another one from the great director Basil Dearden must be seen. League of Gentlemen
Reviews
6 Reviews
Hard Times
(1977– )
Brilliant!!
25 February 2019
The best Dickens I've seen, bar none. Better than Copperfield or Bleak House or Nicholas Nickleby or the others I've seen over forty years. It seems, in this four part adaptation, more modern than the others in it's conciseness and lack of coincidences so common in his other works. The whole cast is superb. Timothy West hilarious as the pompous Bounderby (they'll be wantin' turtle soup with venison and a golden spoon) matched for comic relief by Rosale Crutchley as the inscrutable Mrs Sparsit. Patrick Allen is great as Gradgrind and Jacqueline Tong is most moving as the unfortunate Louisa. The whole cast is memorable and Arthur Hopcraft's adaptation could not have been improved upon. On Amazon Prime, it's a must see!
Clayhanger
(1976)
A Victorian Masterpiece!!
8 October 2018
The best approximation of the Victorian novel that I know of on the big or small screen. Based on Arnold Bennett's Clayhanger trilogy, this is brilliant television. Yes, it's slow, perhaps to the point where younger viewers might just shut it off, but the slow pace of life in the nineteenth century is I think accurately portrayed.
A brilliant cast of characters flesh out the drama. As the story begins, Edwin Clayhanger (Peter McEnery) is leaving school at 16 to work in his father"s (Harry Andrews) printing business. A clash of generations immediately becomes apparent when when Edwin declares he wants to be an architect and Darius the father says he must work in the family business.
Without going into more detail. the story follows Edwin into middle age, his relationship with his father up to his demise,and his tempestuous marriage to an early suffragette. Douglas Livingstone did the adaptation and it was a brilliant job.
The actors apart from the above range from Janet Suzman to Dennis Quilley to Clive Swift to Denhom Elliott. Miss Gailey played by Renee Asherson was a memorable poignant character, though among many others
I cannot rank this production more highly. Along with Winston Churchill The Wilderness Years, Edward and Mrs Simpson, and the Jewel in the Crown for example, it stands as an exemplar of British TV production in the1970s and 1980s
The Organization
(1972)
A Great Artifact of the Past!
31 July 2016
Tells the story of a young executive learning his way through the corporate culture in his first year at the Greatrick Corporation, apparently a soft drinks business, although perhaps with its own PR department, it's actually a conglomerate?
All members of this sect pay obeisance to the unseen chairman, while alternately trying to advance one's own career or just being happy staying in place. The acting is top notch, especially from Donald Sinden as the head of PR and the lovely Elaine Taylor as his ever dutiful, resourceful secretary. The dialogue is witty and the episodes well rounded. Norman Bird is in the first two episodes as an aging exec on his way out, and James Grout, years before becoming Inspector Morse's boss, plays a management psychologist by the name of Dr Ducker ( a clear swipe at Peter Drucker !). At a mere seven episodes, this series definitely leaves the audience wanting more! The restoration is excellent, although the sound could be better, and all and all it is well worth the money! And look out for a cameo by Gareth Hunt in the first episode.
All members of this sect pay obeisance to the unseen chairman, while alternately trying to advance one's own career or just being happy staying in place. The acting is top notch, especially from Donald Sinden as the head of PR and the lovely Elaine Taylor as his ever dutiful, resourceful secretary. The dialogue is witty and the episodes well rounded. Norman Bird is in the first two episodes as an aging exec on his way out, and James Grout, years before becoming Inspector Morse's boss, plays a management psychologist by the name of Dr Ducker ( a clear swipe at Peter Drucker !). At a mere seven episodes, this series definitely leaves the audience wanting more! The restoration is excellent, although the sound could be better, and all and all it is well worth the money! And look out for a cameo by Gareth Hunt in the first episode.
Telford's Change
(1979)
Outstanding slice-of-life drama
4 June 2016
A middle aged banker at the pinnacle of his career gets tired of the stress and strain of constant work and travel and decides to demote himself to a small bank in Dover. It doesn't sound interesting on the printed page but is in fact fascinating in the hands of actor Peter Barkworth and writer/director Brian Clark. 10 memorable episodes, with Hannah Gordon and Keith Barron leading an outstanding supporting cast. The scene in the eighth episode, which I won't go into for reasons of spoilage, between Telford and his boss, played by actor Simon Lack, is as revelatory and stunning as any scene in any play I've seen EVER. It's a scandal that this brilliant series has never been released on DVD. Hopefully that situation will be rectified soon. I haven't been able to get a copy of the follow up production of the Barkworth/Clark team, Late Starter. That's another scandal.
A Kind of Loving
(1982)
Watched it Three Times !!
18 November 2015
A classic ! Based on the Vic Brown trilogy by Stan Barstow, its a much more filled out portrait of the protagonist than was presented in the movie with Alan Bates, which is based on only one of the novels. Perhaps too slow moving for younger viewers, it is life as it is, without kidnappings, car and helicopter chases, hopping in and out of kinky sexual encounters balderdash etc. Great acting all around: Clive Wood who I've never seen since but this must be the highlight of his career; Joanne Whalley who's even better than she was in SCANDAL; Susan Penhaligon wonderful as always. And Robert Keegan, Constance Chapman,Neil Phillips and a host of other great character actors. The period detail, from the late fifties to the seventies, is outstanding! SEE THIS it's better than anything on masterpiece classic
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