Prismark10 Reviews

The Howerd Confessions: Episode #1.2 (1976) Season 1, Episode 2

Episode 2

[7/10 · 31 October 2024]

Frankie opens this story with a white suit made from a parachute. If he pulls something his trousers fall down.

It allows Frankie to reminiscence about his time entertaining the troops in France. His George Formby impression led him to an empty house. Well he should be used to that.

Before long Frankie is tangling with the French Resistance. Frankie soon learns about frisky Frenchmen looking for a concealed weapon.

He soon comes across Captain Latour (Caroline Munro) who views Frankie as a miserable pleader and a possible spy.

Once Frankie realises that Captain Latour is a woman, he looks forward to become a quivering wreck by her.

Later the Nazis storm in, luckily Frankie has a German uniform to wear and some acting skills.

Munro centrainly adds some buxom appeal. Frankie Howerd is full of innuendos. Enjoyable stuff.

Moonage Daydream (2022)

Moonage Daydream

[6/10 · 31 October 2024]

Moonage Daydream is a surreal look in the life of David Bowie. It is not as comprehensive as the Five Years trilogy made by the BBC.

Using narration from David Bowie himself. Granted full access to his archives by the Bowie estate. Director Brett Morgen has gone for weird visuals but the meat of the documentary is lacking.

It starts off with a quote from Nietzsche, God is dead. It ends with what role God or religion has to play in the 21st century. Bowie was always a bit pretentious.

He could also be very playful, even tolerant as he handles various chat show duties. The stand out bits was with the sneering Russell Harty (who was gay but did not come out openly.) Harty is shocked when Bowie admits he is bisexual. Then pokes fun at Bowie's platform heels.

Are they gay shoes Harty asks. No they are mines is Bowie's cheeky reply. It needed more of that.

Watching: Seasoning (1987) Season 1, Episode 8

Seasoning

[5/10 · 31 October 2024]

The festive episode wraps season one. Cedric is still scrounging in the pub and even steals a kiss from a pensioner.

Brenda has gone Christmas shopping but has still managed not to buy everything in her shopping list.

Brenda wants to spend Christmas with Malcolm, but he wants to spend it with his mum. It's a family tradition. Pamela reminds Brenda that they always Christmas with their mum as well.

The main thrust is getting a Christmas tree on the cheap in Frodsham. A dodgy mate of Sidney.

It was an amiable festive episode. Nothing too hilarious, apart from Pamela being thrown from the sidecar as they bring back the Christmas tree. Even then it is directed where it all looked cheaply done.

Thriller: Sign It Death (1974) Season 2, Episode 7

Sign It Death

[6/10 · 31 October 2024]

I recall watching this story back in the 1980s. It stars a young Francesca Annis as Tracy Conway. She is a helpless romantic.

Tracy has just returned from Bahamas and is a looking for a temporary secretarial job. After bumping into business mogul Richard Main (Patrick Allen) head of Main Enterprises.

Tracy decides that not only will he be the ideal boss but the ideal husband. No matter that Main already has an efficient secretary, Prudence and is also married to Janice.

Well Prudence is not a problem. Tracy goes to her flat and murders her. It does not take long for Richard to worry about his missing secretary and the police are soon involved.

They find an important clue, a romance magazine which is linked to some murders six months earlier in a northern town.

All the while, Tracy is honing on to get rid of the next victim.

Annis portrays Tracy as so unhinged. You wonder why Main as not seen through her, his business partner has. Also why could Main not ring his wife through his own phone. The story is rather ropey overall.

Nightsleeper: Episode #1.6 (2024) Season 1, Episode 6

Episode 6

[6/10 · 31 October 2024]

Whatever is happening the train is hurtling down to London. There seems to be no way of stopping it. The ransom demands keeps going up.

Joe Roag finds himself without the satellite phone. Suspicion falls on Yas Brown.

Back at base, Abby Aysgarth has managed to get back into Nicola Miller's good books. It seems no one else is capable of getting to the bottom of this train hijack.

Nightsleeper is best described as a guilty pleasure. With some gaping plot holes and what was Abby's friend doing at the station all this time just waiting.

The final reveal was not much of a shock. I did think it might had reflected on Abby's judgment as they were insistent on having this person on her team.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: There Was an Old Woman (1956) Season 1, Episode 25

There Was an Old Woman

[6/10 · 31 October 2024]

Alfred Hitchcock Presents a macabre black story. Monica Laughton (Estelle Winwood) is an eccentric old woman who lives on her own. She is also regarded as wealthy.

The milkman is her only regular contact. Frank Bramwell (Charles Bronson) overhears a story that Miss Laughton has hidden wealth somewhere in her mansion.

A ne'er do well like Bramwell views Miss Laughton as easy pickings. He goes to see her along with his wife Lorna with a plan to rob her. Only to find just how strange her household set up is.

Miss Laughton is quite mad with a house full of imaginary relatives and always carrying a handbag. She refuses to tell Frank where her money is but plays games with the two would be thieves.

It is not long before the gruesome twosome get their just desserts.

Bronson is a hissable villain. His wife seems a bit dim. Maybe that is why Miss Laughton has them stringing along so quickly.

The story is left rather open ended. Is Miss Laughton in the habit of bumping off people? Her conversation with the milkman seems to point that way.

Omnibus: Raymond Chandler: Down These Mean Streets a Man Must Go (1969) Season 2, Episode 24

Raymond Chandler: Down These Mean Streets a Man Must Go

[7/10 · 30 October 2024]

Raymond Chandler is known for his hardboiled cynical gumshoe Philip Marlowe. So it was a contrast that he was educated in a top English public school.

He worked for the British civil service, later became a journalist in England. Later he saw service in the first world war serving for the Canadian army.

Moving to his native America, he became an accountant and later vice president of the Dabney Oil Syndicate.

When he was fired for being drunk. In the depression era of the 1930s, Chandler aged 45, took up writing once again.

By now he had a wife to support, Cissie who was 18 years his senior.

Chandler turned to pulp fiction but this Omnibus documentary made 10 years after his death. Treats Chandler's work as art not pulp. It traces the origins of his best known character Philip Marlowe with dramatised excerpts from his work.

It contrasts the tough masculine writing with a more genteel life with Cissie in La Jolla in southern California with his wife Cissie. His life spiralled after her death with loneliness and a return to alcoholism.

It was notable so early after his death, Chandler's work was regarded as art and quickly reappraised. In an interview author JB Priestley was rightly sniffy about Chandler's plotting. He more than made it up for it in scene setting.

Recipes for Love and Murder: Sex Cake (2022) Season 1, Episode 2

Sex Cake

[3/10 · 30 October 2024]

Recipes for Love and Murder is certainly an odd series and I'm not sure if I am meant to be the primary audience.

With Martine Burger dead. Anna under arrest. Maria Purvis/Tannie Maria (Maria Doyle Kennedy) teams up with Jessie to investigate the death.

They don't seem to be convinced that if Dirk, Martine's husband could be the killer.

Chief police detective Khaya Meyer, is not keen on Maria poking her nose about in the police investigation.

With all this going on, Tannie gets a letter from a farmer in love.

I just found the juxtaposition of the scenes with the murder mystery and romantic farmer a bit odd.

I also think the central murder mystery might drag unless there is more to the central arc. The second episode was not too promising in that regard.

Shine on Harvey Moon: Baby It's Cold Outside (1984) Season 3, Episode 7

Baby It's Cold Outside

[7/10 · 30 October 2024]

It is a freezing cold winter and don't you feel it. You end up shivering with the cast.

There is not enough coal about. Rita is struggling with her hairdressing salon. There is no hot water, the pipes have frozen up.

Rita also has bill to pay like the rent for her salon to the landlord. She has to go to Leo for help but his overbearing mother stops the cheque he wrote.

Meanwhile Harvey has become close with Frieda. Her brother Erich is not happy. Especially about going to the cinema in the sabbath.

For Rita, Veronica might turn out to be her salvation. She wants to be a hairdresser and she has some money saved up.

It certainly is a busy and enjoyable episode. Lots of sarcasm from young Stanley. A little ditty from Erich. Rita even has the headmaster staying overnight in her home.

The Beverly Hillbillies: Duke Becomes a Father (1963) Season 1, Episode 30

Duke Becomes a Father

[6/10 · 30 October 2024]

Duke the bloodhound is not feeling himself. He seems to have lost his sense of smell. Maybe Duke is just getting old.

Elly May has a skunk to shake up his senses but that does not work.

As for Jed, he perks up when he gets a letter from France. Madammasoille Denise is visiting from Paris. Her dog is about to give birth to puppies. Claude, Mrs Drysdale's spoilt poodle is meant to be the father. Only it turns out that paternity rests with Duke. Mrs Drysdale is not pleased.

At least Jed decides to learn some French from Mrs Hathaway. Then takes Madammasoille Denise out for dinner.

It is nice to see some romance in this episode. Both from Jed and Duke.

I found the best comedy lines belonged to Mr Drysdale.

Joan: Episode #1.3 (2024) Season 1, Episode 3

Episode 3

[4/10 · 30 October 2024]

Finally Joan and Benny Boisie hatch a plan to steal a valuable painting from Mrs Taylor-Brown, a wealthy woman who drinks too much.

Joan enters her house in the remote country by claiming her car has broken down. She even befriends Mrs Taylor-Brown. The plan to steal the painting does not go according to plan. Someone comes in and Boisie produces a gun.

Later Joan hatches a plan to Boisie and Albie. Steal a ring that is worth 250k and replace it with a fake one.

All this is still not enough for Joan to get access to her daughter. In fact the social services tell her that the new family want to adopt Joan's daughter.

I noticed that the credits merely state that this drama is inspired by Joan Hannington's book. It just feel heavily fictionalised and after the first theft with the gun. It is hard to sympathise with Joan.

So far I'm not convinced what she has done to get access to her daughter. Although the new family wanting to adopt her is blunt. That is not how long term fostering works.

Miss MacTaggart Won't Lie Down (1966)

Miss MacTaggart Won't Lie Down

[6/10 · 29 October 2024]

When Jeannie MacTaggart returns to her home village after a short break to Glasgow. The locals are shocked and think they are seeing a ghost.

They believed that Jeannie MacTaggart had died. They even attended her funeral. It turns out it was her unbeknownst twin sister who collapsed and died while visiting her.

Now that Jeannie MacTaggart has been officially declared dead. She ceases to exist. No small minded official wants to help her.

So she launches a campaign of petty crime and harassment to come back to life. After all if she is legally dead, she cannot be arrested. (Maybe Miss MacTaggart should had taken her late sister's identity!)

Miss MacTaggart Won't Lie Down is an independent short, styled like an Ealing type farce. It makes pointed comments on sleepy small village officialdom.

The type that made a mistake, quickly got Miss MacTaggart wrongly declared dead. Stopped her bank account but would not lift a finger to rectify the situation.

Not even contact the Scottish Secretary or the Home Office to help out Miss MacTaggart.

It ends with an official telling Miss MacTaggart to contact an Ombudsman. A Scandinavian thing. Back in the 1960s, going to an Ombudsman was a rare thing. Now we have all types of Ombudsmen.

Ludwig: Episode #1.3 (2024) Season 1, Episode 3

Episode 3

[6/10 · 29 October 2024]

Megan Rowlands is a young American tour guide, doing a walking tour of Cambridge.

Her dead body is found by the subsequent tour. Once again John Taylor studies the murder scene.

This time Chief Constable Ziegler takes an interest. Although he is also preoccupied about the missing rich brat Jordan Halshaw, his father is a powerful millionaire.

Before long John Taylor thinks that the there could be a connection for the deaths of both Megan Rowlands and Jordan Halshaw. The culprit has to be someone from Megan's tour group.

This was a slight step down from the first two episodes. There was an important clue when John looked at the photos that Megan had taken.

I sometimes feel that the series arc gets in the way, disrupting the flow of the episode.

The Beverly Hillbillies: The Clampetts and the Dodgers (1963) Season 1, Episode 29

The Clampetts and the Dodgers

[6/10 · 29 October 2024]

Mr Drysdale has invited Jed and Jethro to shoot some golf balls. They think they will be hunting animals, not playing the sport of golf.

Granny tells them to get some greens while they are out there. Mr Drysdale has yet to introduce the Clampett's to a grocery store in Beverly Hills.

In the golf course they come across legendary baseball coach Leo Durocher. He mistakes Jed and Jethro as two down on their heels golf caddies.

Leo is soon impressed by Jethro's throwing arm and wants to sign him up for the LA Lakers. Until it turns out that Jethro can't throw without smearing his hands in possum fat.

I just did not see the possum fat being smeared at the golf club!

It was a funny episode once the action moves to the golf club. Maybe Leo should had seen a way to sign up Elly May.

Four Star Playhouse: My Own Dear Dragon (1954) Season 3, Episode 8

My Own Dear Dragon

[5/10 · 29 October 2024]

Charles Boyer plays John Bernard, a successful playwright with a big reputation but he has no time for critics and gossip columnists.

Now middle aged and with a younger wife Maggie (Vera Miles.) John wants to call it a day. He wants to spend time with his new wife.

However Maggie has her own ambitions. She too has written a script but one where John has given no input. He avoids reading about her work.

When columnist Hannah raves about her script. Maggie thinks that maybe John is holding her back. He seems to be aloof and self centred.

At a celebration party in John's honour. The truth is revealed.

This is a drama where you wonder where it is going. The couple seem to be at odds and mismatched. It does take a sharp dagger at gossip columnists. Just what if Hannah was not being entirely honest about Maggie's script. Just trying to stir a hornet's nest.

In the end Maggie sees the truth and that her husband does love her.

Doctor Odyssey: Pilot (2024) Season 1, Episode 1

Pilot

[2/10 · 29 October 2024]

First Disney had Death and Other Details. Now it is Doctor Odyssey. Disney certainly likes cruising.

This is from the Ryan Murphy stable. Going by the first episode, he was slacking with quality control.

In short this is Love Boat meets ER. Love Boat had a loveable cheesy vibe to it. This was just bad.

Also Joshua Jackson is no George Clooney. He plays Dr Max, an overachiever who is the ship's new doctor. Appointed by the ship's captain, Robert Massey (Don Johnson) after the previous medic went awry costing the company thousands.

Dr Max is a charismatic know all and immediately swoons Nurse Avery, who also has the hots for him. This places the other nurse Tristan's nose out of joint. He has always fancied Avery.

The first episode had Dr Max dealing with a guy who injured his todger. A man falling of the ship after trying to imitate a scene from the Titanic.

This one could sink without trace.

IF (I) (2024)

IF

[6/10 · 29 October 2024]

IF stands for Imaginary Friends. Bea (Cailee Fleming) is twelve years old and has to grow up fast. Her mother died of cancer, now her dad (John Krasinski) is in hospital with heart issues.

Bea has been sent to stay with her grandmother (Fiona Shaw) in her Brooklyn apartment.

Bea has put away childish things, but on another floor lurks things. Imaginary Friends that children have now forgotten as they got older. Cal (Ryan Reynolds) is the caretaker who wants to rehome them.

Eventually a reluctant Bea helps Cal to track down their former owners.

There is a lot here that owes a debt to Pixar. Some of the creature designs reminded me of Monsters Inc. The basic story was a spin on Toy Story. The toys left behind when Andy grew up and left home.

John Krasinski as writer and director struggles to keep the whole thing coherent. If these Imaginary Friends disappear forever if remain unclaimed. How is it they have existed for years as some of their previous owners are now very old.

Still despite the flaws, I did like it. More importantly it prompted to ask my grown up son about his imaginary friends when he was little.

Arrest Bulldog Drummond (1938)

Arrest Bulldog Drummond!

[5/10 · 29 October 2024]

Dastardly Rolf Alferson (George Zucco) has killed scientist Richard Gannet who has invented an atomic disintegrator machine that can explode anything nearby.

Bulldog Drummond comes across Gannet's dying body and is accused of his murder.

Now Bulldog Drummond has to clear his name while Rolf and his associate Lady Beryl plan to sell the weapon to the highest bidder. Even attempting to demonstrate the weapon on Drummond at one point.

As Bulldog Drummond sends Phyllis away for her safety. She ends up on the same ship as the Rolf and Lady Beryl. They see her wave goodbye to Drummond and places herself at risk.

It is unpretentious fun, with dastardly foreign powers wanting to buy the weapon. Bulldog Drummond, Algy and Tenny trying to evade the police. The script is a bit ropey in places.

Rivals: Episode #1.1 (2024) Season 1, Episode 1

Episode 1

[6/10 · 29 October 2024]

Hearing Jilly Cooper now has a damehood for literature. Recalls a scene from Star Trek IV when Spock and Kirk discussed the giants of literature. It was meant to be a joke.

Former Eastenders supremo Dominic Treadwell-Collins adapts this 1980s set bonkbuster. It starts off with some bonking in Concorde, then there is nude tennis, ending with various bedroom scenes.

In between all this is the rivalry between former showjumper turned politician, rich kid, ladies man and a cad Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell.) With Lord Tony Baddingham (David Tennant) a media mogul who owns an ITV franchise Corinium which is at risk.

So Baddingham has hired an ace US television producer Cameron Cook (Nafessa Williams) and poached strident no nonsense journalist Declan O'Hara (Aidan Turner) from the BBC.

The whole O'Hara clan have decamped to the country. His daughters are appalled at the decadence they see.

Baddingham needs Rupert Campbell-Black in his boardroom. When he is rebuffed, Baddingham embarrasses Campbell-Black in the process. Reigniting the rivalry as he has also been offered a ministerial position in Mrs Thatcher's government.

You are not talking high brow drama or even Dickens here. This is meant to be campy fun and the opener makes this clear. The characters are over the top, even some of the wigs are bad. In short, what else can you do with a Cooper novel!

Waco: Of Milk and Men (2018) Season 1, Episode 4

Of Milk and Men

[6/10 · 29 October 2024]

So far both law enforcement and the Branch Davidians are weary and tense. There is mutual distrust and from Mitch Decker's people, loathing.

While Koresh is injured and even going back on his word. It is left to Steve Schneider to build something with FBI negotiator Gary Noesner. He releases some children out of the compound.

That is a start. Steve Schneider has been loyal to Koresh but often feels frustrated by him as well. Koresh did sire a daughter with Judy Schneider.

The same applies to Noesner as well. When Steve Schneider requests milk as some of the mothers have stop lactating. His bosses demand that kids are released as part of the deal.

Kids for milk as Koresh mocks the FBI. However it is a way for the FBI to keep tracks on the Davidians when they deliver more than just milk.

The episode does have tense moments, such as when Dave Thibodeau steps outside to bury a dead body.

It also displays the signals as to why this siege ended up so messy.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

[6/10 · 28 October 2024]

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire will not herald a new gold age of Ghostbuster movies. It does deliver a solid comedy action film with a mix of the old and new.

Callie Spengler and her kids, Phoebe and Trevor along with boyfriend, Gary (Paul Rudd) have returned to New York. These Ghostbusters operate from the firehouse owned by Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson.)

When Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) comes across mysterious brass orb sold to him by hustler Nadeem (Kumail Nanjiani.) It could unleash an evil force that could herald a new ice age.

Once again New York city politicians are not keen on the Ghostbuster operating. Old foe Walter Peck (William Atherton) is now the mayor of the city.

It lacks the emotional punch of Afterlife. It is overstuffed with too many characters and a slightly redundant side plot. It is fun when both old and new Ghostbusters get together.

Doctor Who: Black Orchid: Part Two (1982) Season 19, Episode 18

Black Orchid: Part Two

[6/10 · 28 October 2024]

Once again the Agatha Christie vibes are strong on this one. A man dressed as a harlequin scares Ann, there are more killed people.

Lady Cranleigh (Barbara Murray) and her South American manservant Latoni are hiding a dark secret. They urge the Doctor not to inform what he has seen.

A bad call, as the Doctor becomes the chief suspect to the murders. He too wore a harlequin costume.

The only sci fi elements is the use of the Tardis to convince the police and Lord Cranleigh that the Doctor is telling the truth.

It probably is a bit too breezy as a two parter. It is not as strong the opener. The production values for Black Orchid is excellent.

Peter Gunn: The Passenger (1960) Season 3, Episode 1

The Passenger

[7/10 · 28 October 2024]

The passenger is Edward Hines who is asleep on a bus taking him home. When he wakes up, he sees a heavy set man strangling a woman at a hotel window. The murderer spots him.

Hines does his civic duty and goes to the police to report the murder. Only they are sceptical, he could had just imagined it all.

So Hines visits Peter Gunn, now that he thinks the murderer might be tailing him.

It's not long before Gunn is investigating Hine's death as well, but he has a few other questions whirring in his mind. While Lieutenant Jacoby finally finds a dead body of a woman.

An enthralling third series opener. Still heavy on visuals. There is comedy with Jacoby sitting on a newly varnished table and a talkative hobo reminiscing of his once prosperous days.

In the end the deaths were all for mundane even trivial reasons.

Cuban Fury (2014)

Cuban Fury

[4/10 · 28 October 2024]

Cuban Fury is a tepid rom com that was more inspired by the hit BBC television series Strictly Come Dancing and its international variants Dancing with the Stars.

As a teenager, Bruce (Nick Frost) was an ace salsa dancer until some bullies put him off dancing altogether.

Now Bruce is an overweight underachiever. He is shy, introverted and is bullied at work by Drew (Chris O'Dowd.)

When a new American boss Julie (Rashida Jones) arrives. Bruce decides to take up the salsa again as she likes latin dances. Only to find Drew has dark desires for her as well and he is in pole position with her.

This is an insipid movie with shallow characters and by the numbers storyline. Actors such as Olivia Colman are wasted as Bruce's sister and Ian McShane as his former dance teacher.

At least the dance scenes sizzle things up a bit.

Doctor Who: Black Orchid: Part One (1982) Season 19, Episode 17

Black Orchid: Part One

[7/10 · 28 October 2024]

Black Orchid is an unusual one for Peter Davison's debut season. The Tardis crew is relaxed and enjoying themselves. The Doctor even plays cricket and his uniform blends in for once.

It is a murder mystery set in 1925 and there are no sci fi elements to the story at all. A hark back to some of the first Doctor era stories.

Something sinister is afoot deep inside Cranleigh Hall. A mysterious person, a killing then the Tardis materializes at a railway station.

The Doctor is mistaken for a visiting cricketer for a match at Cranleigh Hall. There is a party as well and Nyssa is an exact double for Ann Talbot. The young lady who is engaged to Lord Cranleigh (Michael Cochrane.)

Only this mystery person is obsessed with Ann. It means Nyssas is in danger as they have swapped places.

It is an interesting and unusual first episode with an Agatha Christie feel to it. Tegan is having fun, Nyssa is dancing and Adric stuffs his face with food at the banquet.