Index of Films Reviewed

Click the link to open the review A for Andromeda (2006) The Abominable Snowman (1957) Ace in the Hole (1951) The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) The African Queen (1951) After Life (1998) Airplane! (1980) and Airplane II: The Sequel (1982) Alien (1979) All About Eve (1950) All About My Mother (1999) All That Heaven…

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Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

Ealing Studios is a name associated with cosy comedies, often expressing a distinctly insular British viewpoint – a hatred for authority, and a love for quaint local people. Yet curiously a few of its best-loved works are those that have a distinctly darker tinge. Dead of Night was one of the first horror anthology movies,…

The Body Snatcher (1945)

It is not often that a producer’s name is associated more with a body of work than any of the directors with which he worked, and yet that is the case with Val Lewton. This is all the more surprising as Lewton’s name was associated with horror movies – not the most prestigious of genres…

Robinson Crusoe (1954)

I must admit that I have never been a great admirer of Daniel Defoe’s famous adventure story, Robinson Crusoe. It is not that I hate the book, or even Defoe. I would put his Journal of the Plague Year in my list of Great Books. In the case of Robinson Crusoe, while I respect Defoe’s…

It’s Always Fair Weather (1955)

Gene Kelly’s most famous musical Singin’ in the Rain employed satire and cynicism, and yet was a huge commercial success. Three years later Kelly and Stanley Donen co-directed another musical with a satirical edge, It’s Always Fair Weather, and this time the film was a box office failure. Indeed the failure of the film was…

Intolerance (1916)

For anyone repelled by The Birth of a Nation, D W Griffith’s most famous and infamous film, then Intolerance, his follow-up movie, may come as something of a relief. The Birth of a Nation was notorious for its racism, but here is a film that promotes love over intolerance. Was Griffith seeking to atone for…

The Set-Up (1949)

I have heard the term ‘bowling noir’ to describe the small number of films noir that include bowling as a key element. A case might be made for a sub-genre of ‘boxing noir’ for films such as Champion, Body and Soul, The Harder They Fall, The Killers and The Set-Up. We might be generous and…

Alien (1979)

Alien could very easily have been another generic 1970s chiller. In the hands of Ridley Scott, the film set the template, for good or for bad, for much that has followed in both the sci-fi and horror genres. Since then we have become used to monster movies in which the antagonist is an unwieldy creature,…

Dekalog: Ten (1988)

This is one of a series of blog articles looking at Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Dekalog. I will be analysing each of the individual shows, and include the links at the end of this page. As each show is fairly short, it will be difficult to discuss them without including spoilers, so be warned before you read…

Dekalog: Nine (1988)

This is one of a series of blog articles looking at Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Dekalog. I will be analysing each of the individual shows, and include the links at the end of this page. As each show is fairly short, it will be difficult to discuss them without including spoilers, so be warned before you read…

Dekalog: Eight (1988)

This is one of a series of blog articles looking at Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Dekalog. I will be analysing each of the individual shows, and include the links at the end of this page. As each show is fairly short, it will be difficult to discuss them without including spoilers, so be warned before you read…