The Sword and the rose 1952

Starring: Richard Todd

The romantic problems of young Mary Tudor.

A light-hearted drama with lavish settings & bright colours, typically Disney. Richard Todd is suitably suave & debonair, Glynis Johns as Mary is full of spirit and delightful, James Robertson Justice when he underplayed his role of Henry v111 was fine but whenever he tried to portray any emotion, he just shouted, typical of this one dimensional actor. Harmless enough movie.      5/10

A Shock to the system 1990

Starring: Michael Caine

Passed over for promotion and bored by his wife, a marketing executive turns to murder to resolve his difficulties.

Unoriginal black comedy where a man finds ingenious ways to get away with murder. Caine's performance is incredibly one-paced except for one scene in his bosses office; I'm guessing he was supposed to be cool and calculating, I found it a bit like wading through treacle. Most of the cast looked bored and only occasional scenes brought this to life. The whole murder idea was supposed to have been triggered after Caine had an electric shock. That idea kind of summed up the whole movie.        5/10

Cromwell 1970

Starring: Richard Harris

An account of the rise of Cromwell to power, the execution of Charles 1, and the civil war.

Certainly taught me a little more of Britain's history although it was too wordy to be compelling. Very well acted with Richard Harris & Alec Guinness exemplary in their performances.      5/10

The Woman in question 1949

Starring: Jean Kent

Police investigating a woman's death build up several different impressions of her.

Simple, single paced  whodunit, this must have been great fun for the actors who got to play their characters from several different angles. The usually rock solid Dirk Bogarde gave possibly the weakest performance that I've ever seen from him. But this kept me guessing right up until the end.      6/10