The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1945) Full Spoiler Moan At That Pesky Hays Code Aimed To Ruin A Film

I understand The Hays Production Code was drafted in to protect and mollycoddle it’s weak gullible audience from the real life dramas of the everyday world. Save us from our feeble and easily corrupted minds. But, seriously man, it really could ruin an extremely good film or two. It must of been a constant irritating source of pure misery for any director and scriptwriter wishing to go that one step further. To push the boundaries. The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry is a film drastically undermined by the code. A film that slowly sneaks up on you with foreboding darkness. Only to make you throw your hands in the air at the end and go “FFS really“. Of course, you forgive it and remember this was 77 years ago and Will H Hays was a total pussy…

Massive spoilers incoming for this film. It’s on Youtube here if you want to watch it first.

Ladybug Ladybug (1963) Cold War Nuclear Missile Threat From Frank and Eleanor Perry

A nice quiet rural elementary school on the outskirts of the countryside was busy just having a normal day. At the back of the Principal’s sat a device. It featured four different alphabet codes. One had suddenly lit-up and started emitted a dreadful high-pitched tone. Soon the Principal is calmly trying to decipher the code. Three teachers look on. “What does the Y symbol mean Mr Calkins?” one asked as he skimmed through the manual. With a slight baffled break in his voice he calmly says “Nuclear missile attack in one hour!“.

The Square Ring (1953) Basil Dearden’s Knockout Boxing Drama

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Funny to think of a ring being square? Ok, just me then… Ding Ding. So that’s that, my review of boxing drama, The Square Ring. Thanks for popping on by…

A re-match you say? Ok! here goes. This is a neat little boxing drama featuring a snapshot into the lives of six fighters ready to enter the boxing ring. The main narrative is centered within the changing rooms for our home club boxers. Men at different stages and journey paths of their careers. A wise ex-pro is the dressing room attendant, his experience puts him in the perfect place to give out honest and practical advice. Whether they listen to his sage wisdom is another thing but he would never judge. He’s been there before.

The Killer That Stalked New York (1950) I’ll Take Some Noir Virus Over The Real Deal!

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Haha yes I’m still alive! What with all the crazy COVID-19 Coronavirus bubbling out of every orifice around the world it only seems apt to do a review about the Noir virus. I mean a virus within a Noir. Yes Smallpox gets the Film-Noir treatment and just check out that fantastically dramatic title, The Killer That Stalked New York!!!

The Entertainer (1960) That Saucy Seaside Comic Sir Laurence Olivier

Come along and sing-along with me. Here we go. “Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside. Oh, I do like to be beside the sea. Oh, I do like to stroll along the prom, prom, prom where the brass bands play tiddley-om-pom-pom.”

The old British seaside holiday traditions. Bucket and spades, chips in cones, fairground rides, annoying seagulls and Punch and Judy puppet shows. Beauty competitions, cheeky postcards, sticks of bright coloured rock and of course a saucy joke telling comic. Meet Archie Rice (Laurence Olivier) our music-hall stage performer. The gap toothed smiling painted face man with a whole arsenal of well seasoned innuendos ready to fire off from his repertoire.

The Whisperers (1967) Bleak Tap Dripping In Kitchen Sink Drama

My task of trying to go into a movie with as little knowledge as humanly possible can bring up some real surprises. I’d seen the above poster and was convinced that was Richard Attenborough poking his head around the door. It does look like him? Doesn’t it? I knew it was directed by Bryan Forbes. I’d loved Seance On A Wet Afternoon and The Angry Silence. Both Dickie films with Forbes connections. Hey! he never turned up. Now I know, no disrespect, that it’s Edith Evans tentatively peering through the chain latched door.

Taglines – The Whisperers, who are they?

The Man in the White Suit (1951) What Obi-Wan Kenobi Got Up To In His Early Years

Way before Obi-Wan Kenobi was having a right laugh bothering Jawas and scaring the bejeezus out of Tusken Raiders on Tatooine he’d grown up in an industrial northern town in England, Earth. Going under the name of Sidney Stratton he had been a keen amateur inventor. He was clumsy and socially awkward in his younger years but this didn’t phase his creative mind constantly coming up with scientific ideas. For Sidney’s inventive imagination and intellect had come up with the idea of creating a fabric so unbelievable that it could change the whole world.

Fat City (1972) Real Life Can Pack Quite A Punch!

Down and nearly out ex-semi pro boxer Billy Tully (Stacy Keach) looks into another empty bottle of spirits and drags himself to his feet, hey he might be down but he’s not out for the count yet. Determined to get back into shape and start a fresh, he packs his dirty old kit and heads off to the boxing gym. Wheezing, straining and sweating off the booze from countless nights, he steps and skips around the hall, shadow punching, ducking and a diving. He’s still got the moves under all that rust and achy bones.

Crossfire (1947) Robert Ryan & Hate Is Like A Loaded Gun!

Another great thing about doing this here blog is discovering actors I had previously missed. Robert Ryan is one such actor. I know his face well from a couple of classic films, two big favourites of mine too. Playing Deke Thornton in Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch and Col Everett Dasher Breed in Robert Aldrich’s The Dirty Dozen but you know what I’m ashamed to say I never knew his name or filmography.

Edge Of The City (1957) Everyone Needs A Friend Like Sidney Poitier

Went for this film mainly because of one of its stars, the delightful Sidney Poitier, a guy who oozes charisma and charm. He always lights up the screen with his presence on every single performance he gives. That broad beautiful smile warms you straight away to each of his characters he plays, displaying an unique warmth that his acting talent brings to his movies. Edge Of The City was a film of his I had never heard of let alone seen before and seeing who he was working with, I have to say I was extremely excited about this drama centered around a New York City dockland.