Wealthy landowner Mr. De Peyhorrade uncovers a bronze statue of Venus on his property. Afterwards, De Peyhorrade asks an antique expert, named Matthew, from another village to examine the statue and confirm its wealth. Upon arrival, Matthew is striken with love by Clara, Mr. De Peyhorrade’s daughter-in-law, who bears an uncanny resemblance to the statue.Read More »
reviewed by Richard Bowden
(Spoilers Ahead)
Children Of The Stones has been called ‘the children’s Wicker Man’ – one indication of the high regard with which this seven-part 1977 British television series is still held. Resemblances between Robin Hardy’s 1973 cult classic are certainly strong, notably the pervasive strength of the pagan cult which threatens to overwhelm Adam Brake (Gareth Thomas) and his son Matthew (Peter Denim). Other influences include that of Nigel Kneale, whose work had been so prominent in British TV science fantasy. Thomas had already appeared playing a minor part in Kneale’s Quatermass And The Pit (1967). Read More »
The Dybbuk is a made for TV film adaptation of a classic Jewish folktale. The story is about a young Jewish man, Sender (Theodore Bikel) who loves a young Jewish woman, Leah (Carol Lawrence) but her father arranges her marriage with another man. The grief of this causes Sender to die, but his spirit passes into the body of his beloved on her wedding day. Rabbi Azrael (Ludwig Donath), who serves as our narrator through the beginning of the film, is charged with the task of exercising Sender’s Dybbuk (sometimes defined as a malicious spirit or demon who possesses the living) from Leah’s body.Read More »
An uproarious adoption of a popular novel by Iraj Pezeshkzad set in and around the family compound in early 1940s Tehran, marvelously rich in personality and incident. The title character, so-called because of his constant invocation of the general, rules over a wonderfully complex extended family. A hilarious series which makes fun of just about everything.Read More »
A fascinating documentary from Trinidad and Tobago about the domination of Caribbean television by programs from the North, primarily the US. This film ambitiously weaves together interviews, indigenous poetry and music with clips from imported French and US television programs to show how Caribbean viewers receive a distorted view of the world that alienates them from their own cultural heritage. Also included is a glimpse of how Cuba has tackled the problem and the US response in the form of Radio Marti.Read More »
Synopsis:
‘Inspired by a visit to Turkey and Pinter’s experience of the suppression of the Kurdish language, this short, sharp shock of a play explores the increasing intolerance of dissent.
Written in cold fury, it’s a play that shows how, in dictatorial states, the suppression of language becomes an extension of physical brutality.’
– BFIRead More »
A ragout of real memories and mockumentary, as Fellini explores a childhood obsession: circus clowns.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid wrote:
The arc of Federico Fellini’s career is endlessly fascinating. He started as something of a neo-realist, and then his films grew in style and scope until they became bizarre, swirl-colored, phantasmagoric spectacles. Then at one point, he stepped back again and began making more intimate, personal projects in the last section of his career. Made for television, The Clowns seems to have been a crucial turning point; it came immediately after the overblown Satyricon, and it shows an interesting mix of that film, and the film that would come just a few years later, the wonderful Amarcord. It fits perfectly.Read More »
IMDB:
Otanes is certain that Smerdis, King of Persia is an impostor. He gathers together a group of people to stage a coup, only to face the question of which one of them will be worthy to take the thrown.Read More »
Synopsis:
‘Gentry stars Roger Daltrey in a blackly comic suspense drama in which a couple buy a shabby house in an up-and-coming area but find themselves drawn into the aftermath of an armed robbery.’
– NetworkRead More »