Features

In Review: The Plague of the Zombies

by Helen Cox 11 June 2012

Shot back to back with The Reptile and released alongside Dracula: Prince of Darkness as a double feature, Hammer’s The Plague of the Zombies (1966) delivers a gripping mystery and some genuinely creepy moments. Sir James Forbes (André Morell, who also appeared in The Bridge on the River Kwai, Ben Hur and Quatermass and the [...]

Read the full article →

In Review: The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

by Maryann O'Connor 7 June 2012

It has been said that Charles Dickens wrote his magazine serials purely to inspire some sympathy amongst his wealthier Victorian counterparts for the less fortunate of society, to impart upon them the surprising notion that poor people were actually human. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby became one of these magazine serials in 1839. [...]

Read the full article →

Films that time forgot: Wake in Fright

by Neil Mitchell 6 June 2012

As many of you may still be filling in the blanks after a somewhat inebriated Jubilee celebration it seems the perfect excuse to revisit Australian classic Wake in Fright (1971): the tale of one man’s lost weekend. Over a decade before Canadian film-maker Ted Kotcheff made First Blood (1982) he directed Wake in Fright ,(aka [...]

Read the full article →

In Review: Traitor Spy

by Helen Cox 27 May 2012

Walter Summers’ Traitor Spy [sometimes referred to as The Torso Murder Mystery] is based on a T.C.H. Jacobs novel of the same name. The story follows Detective Inspector William Bernard [Edward Lexy playing one of Jacobs' most popular characters] and Beverley Blake [Romily Lunge] – a secret agent masquerading as an intrepid newspaper journalist – [...]

Read the full article →

Films that time forgot: Defendor

by Emma Farley 15 May 2012

The Avengers may be breaking box office records everywhere you look but, in these super-fuelled times, how about sparing a thought for the heroes who didn’t get so much as a plastic lunchbox with their face on it, let alone a parade?

Read the full article →

Films that time forgot: Virtual Sexuality

by Helen Cox 1 May 2012

Tomorrow Jim, Michelle, Oz, Kevin, Vicky, Heather and Stifler are, fairly randomly, reunited in American Reunion 13 years after their original big screen outing. Back in 1999 when the first American Pie was released however, another now-forgotten teen flick also came to cinemas – the odds of Justin, Jake, Chas and Hoover being scheduled in [...]

Read the full article →

The British Silent Film Festival: A Couple of Down and Outs

by Helen Cox 29 April 2012

A Couple of Down and Outs [1923] is the second known film to be directed by Walter Summers, a man who went on to direct a further 36 pictures between 1923 and 1941. Anyone who thought Steven Spielberg’s War Horse was lacking a certain je ne sais quoi should definitely give this film a look [...]

Read the full article →

The B-Team: The Avengers, but not as you know them…

by Howard Burdett 26 April 2012

As an avid comic book fan, when one thinks of the newly-released Avengers Assemble, it is their more humble, more entertaining, and much less successful colleagues – the Great Lakes Avengers (subsequently renamed S.W.O.R.D., Great Lakes X-Men, and so forth) that spring to mind. For those living in miserable ignorance, the Great Lakes Avengers lived [...]

Read the full article →

Girl Power? The strange suppression of female superheroes

by Matthew Hammond 26 April 2012

Supergirl. Barb Wire. Elektra. Catwoman. These four distinct super heroines are all strong-willed, powerful and determined role models from the world of comics. They all, however, share a specific critical legacy: each have been the stars of eponymous films that have crashed commercially, critically and financially. Without exception.

Read the full article →

The British Silent Film Festival: The Bohemian Girl

by Helen Cox 25 April 2012

The Bohemian Girl [1922] , directed by Harley Knoles, is a film based on William Balfe’s nineteenth century operetta of the same name. The story follows a young Polish soldier named Thaddeus [Ivor Novello] who is on the run from Austrian soldiers.

Read the full article →

50th Anniversary: Twice Round the Daffodils

by Maryann O'Connor 24 April 2012

This sanatorium-set British comedy is known to some as an unofficial Carry On film, which is not an outlandish label considering a number of the cast, director Gerald Thomas, producer Peter Rogers and writer Norman Hudis were also responsible for the innuendo-laden joyous pieces of film which populate the extensive Carry On collection.

Read the full article →