The Browning Version (1951) The Moment The Human Soul Is Split In Two!

If you ever wondered what the breaking of a human soul looked like on film? then this is the perfect place to view such a devastating blow.

That moment when a scaving remark is delivered with such utter venom, resulting in a visual much similar to the work of scientists splitting the atom on the Manhattan Project. To go from a warm, emotional, heartbreaking scene with a sweet moment of clarity to an instant smash down with a demolition sized ball of destruction. It truly knocked me right of my feet.

Ministry of Fear (1944) Nazis, Bombs & Spies, Fortune Tellers & Cake!

Having sat in his room staring at the swinging pendulum of his ticking clock for two years straight, Stephen Neale (Ray Milland) has had time contemplating life and reflecting what the future will hold for him. After being on his own for those years, Stephen fancies the hustle and bustle of London, to be surrounded by people again. He’s probably picked a bad time to visit London, the city is being pounded by the Germans during The Blitz but he’s determined. With a spring in his step he takes off to the local train station. As he leaves his building of residence, the camera pans to show the engraved sign on the wall, Lembridge Asylum!

Pathfinder (1987) Shivering Snowy Scandinavian Survival Fable

In this Norwegian, freeze your goolies off, action adventure film from director and writer Nils Gaup, we get to witness a survival tale set in the bleak frozen lands and fjords of Northern Norway, some time around 1000 AD. Pathfinder is a tale about the Sami people, a traditional reindeer herding community living in the harsh regions of the north. A peaceful people, keeping in small family groups, utilising the resources of furs, hunting and coastal fishing. With the help of their Pathfinder, a spiritual shaman, they plan their days to a beat of a small drum and mystical symbols.

Bad Boys (1983) America’s Own British Borstal Prison Drama “Scum”

As teenage boys, these gritty prison dramas and brutal tales of youths fighting the system and getting banged up were all the rage in our VHS rental days! The grand daddy of these was the notorious savage borstal prison TV play and later, film Scum which starred Ray Winstone.  A few other titles around the time were Made In Britain, McVicar and even the girls had a go in Scrubbers. Yeah we really were way too young to watch these films but I guess in a strange way that rather than make us into raging psychotic hoodlums, I think they put a terrifying fear into you that there’s no way you going to end up in the clink.

Brute Force (1947) Sadistic Prison Guard Gives Lancaster Beef!

Tough driving rain smashes against the brick fortress of the Westgate Penitentiary prison walls. If the place wasn’t dark enough as it was, the bleak cold rain just added more dreary dread to the inmates banged up inside. Six guys per cell room, squeezed in like sardines, so close together you just had to be friends. Luckily the six in cellroom R17 are tight together, a band of brothers watching out for each other.

Split Second (1953) Of All The Places To Drop An Atomic Bomb!

Two escaped convicts on the run, one with a murderous temper, the other, a belly full of lead! Running for freedom, these two crooks need a place to lay low. A place far away, a place no cop or interfering civilians will go.  Hard man Sam Hurley (Stephen McNally) knows the perfect place, an old derelict mining ghost town in the Nevada Desert.  Maybe he can arrange to get his fugitive pal Bart Moore (Paul Kelly) fixed up at the same time. With the help of the silent but loyal gangster muscle who helped them breakout the joint, Dummy (Frank de Kova), they make their way to their perfect safe haven.

Side Street (1950) Temptation Brings Pain And Misery!

Captain Walter Anderson – “New York City, an architectural jungle where fabulous wealth and the deepest squalor live side by side. New York, the busiest, the loneliest, the kindest, and the cruelest of cities. Three hundred and eighty new citizens are being born today in the city. One hundred and ninety-two persons will die. Twelve persons will die violent deaths. And at least one of them will be a victim of murder. A murder a day, every day of the year, and each murder will wind up on my desk.”

The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973) Ivan Dixon, Sam Greenlee & Herbie Hancock

The Spook Who Sat by the Door is a novel by writer, poet Sam Greenlee which was published in 1969 causing quite the stir with it’s controversial political message. A satire on revolutionary reaction to civil rights in America during the sixties. A race motivated story with a direct response against the white oppression lived by African Americans in the United States. To shake things up, giving power to the people through the means of freedom fighters to push their important message across.

What’s Been Watched This Month – February 2018

I do like a list, hope you do too! Here’s what has been watched in February 2018.