Drama

Synopsis:
The Man From the Alamo manages to pack a few nuances and surprises in its traditional western plotline. During the siege at the Alamo, John Stroud (Glenn Ford) is chosen by lot to leave the fort and warn the families of the mission’s defenders of the impending arrival of General Santa Ana. But when everyone around him is wiped out by the Mexicans, Stroud has no proof that he was ordered to leave his post, and is therefore branded a coward. He spends the rest of the film performing acts of conspicuous bravery to clear his name–and also tracks down the film’s real villain, Jess Wade (Victor Jory), who robbed the Alamo victims of their possessions after the smoke cleared. Julie Adams, Chill Wills, Hugh O’Brien, Neville Brand, Arthur Space and future soap-opera star Jeanne Cooper round out the cast. — Hal EricksonRead More »

Aldo Fabrizi plays a widowed school janitor with an infant son. The film depicts the joys and sorrows of father and son, as they journey through life. Maybe we could say that this is something like an Italian Goodbye, Mr. Chips; it is certainly no less affecting. Watch for author/director Mario Soldati in a small, but crucial, part as one of the professors at the school, where father and son live, study and work.Read More »

Four first-grade middle school students in the same class are members of a photography club. Before leaving for summer break, the teacher hands out an old-fashioned analog camera to each of them and asks them to take pictures with them as a summer assignment. The assignment topic is the “end of the world.” What does the end of the world mean? What on earth are they supposed to take pictures of? They all have different opinions on it, but as one of the girls suggests, they decide to take a subway to Sinchang Station, the last station on Seoul Metropolitan Subway Line 1. That is the end of the world for these girls. They doze off on the subway, stop for a while due to rain showers, and feel drawn to an unfamiliar world.Read More »

Although Jack Rosenthal’s television plays are peppered with Jewish characters and passing references drawn from the writer’s Jewish roots, only three bring the subject centre stage: The Evacuees (BBC, tx. 5/3/1975), Bye, Bye, Baby (Channel 4, tx. 3/11/1992) and Bar Mitzvah Boy.

Unlike The Evacuees, Bar Mitzvah Boy is not autobiographical, and Rosenthal even played down its Jewishness in a Radio Times interview prior to its first broadcast by stressing the universality of its central theme: “When I was young and reading comics there were always men heroes, actually aged about 15, who were playing football for England or winning wars single-handed. I used to think that when I’m a man I’ll be like that, never indecisive or frightened, but there suddenly comes a point of disillusionment when you realise it is a fallacy”.Read More »

Based on the true story of Vivian Nicholson, whose husband Keith won £152,319 on the pools (a sum that would be worth in excess of £2 million today), Spend Spend Spend is a modern morality tale in which two naïve working-class northerners are thrust overnight into a world of hitherto unimaginable wealth, which they prove wholly unable to handle. This is demonstrated from the start when Vivian, suffering from severe stage fright, blurts out during the formal presentation of her winnings that she’s going to “spend spend spend!”, thus creating an impression of selfish hedonism that’s largely at odds with the complex characterisation that Jack Rosenthal goes on to give her.Read More »

Quote:
A revenge thriller in which, following his estranged father’s death, a man vows vengeance against his relatives who had abandoned him and returns to the family diamond business with an elaborate robbery in mind.Read More »

Transmitted on 13th October 1965 at 9.05 p.m. on BBC 1 as part of the Wednesday Play series. Repeated on 6th July 1966 on BBC1

The play is a fictionalised account of the relationship between Charles Dodgson and Alice Liddell. It cleverly integrates events, conversations and chance remarks into the narrative which later become part of the “Alice” books but more than anything it’s a touching story of unrequited love where frustration and innocence co-exist but never quite resolve their conflict. It was later remade as the film ‘Dreamchild’.Read More »

Fictional character played by 24 different actresses, Françoise Durocher is altogether small time waitress, hostess and barmaid. Together, according to the author, they represent the archetypical Québec waitress that everyday waits on us with a smile, despite whatever problems she faces in her personal life. First cinematographic experience of the André Brassard-Michel Tremblay tandem, this film full of ironic joy details all the nuances of the waitress living conditions.Read More »

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Las Malas Intenciones tells the story of a period in the life of Cayetana, an eight-year-old girl growing up in Peru in the early 80’s, when terrorist violence was starting to agitate the country. The story unfolds from the point of view of this intelligent child, but with a somewhat dark and distorted personality. Daughter of separated parents, Cayetana spends most of the time on her own and under the care of their employees. After returning from a long trip, the mother, Agnes, gives her some unexpected news: she is pregnant. With this news Cayetana’s fragile world collapses. She locks herself in her room and solemnly declares that the day of birth of her brother will be the day of her own death. Only her imagination and the emergence of the national heroes of their textbooks – Olaya, Grau, Bolognesi – may save her from an increasingly alienated family environment in a country about to collapse.Read More »