High hopes 1988

Starring: Philip Davis

A family of contrasting types gather to celebrate their mothers birthday.

This movie is all about charachterisation. It's a quirky look at a family, their friends and neighbours in London and is actually really sad in places but also has some touching moments. Edna Dore as the mother who's just letting life go on around her is wonderful as is her daughter in law Shirley. The stray traveller from Bagshot and the snooty neighbours are too over the top and just didn't come across as at all realistic. Never gets too far as amovie but when it is downplayed, it's brilliant. 6/10

The Misfits 1961

Starring: Marilyn Monroe

Cowboys gather in the Nevada desert to rope wild mustangs, and a divorcee becomes involved with one of them.

This movie will always be remembered as the last made by both Monroe & Clark Gable who both died shortly after its completion. Monroe fittingly plays a completely screwed up girl whilst Gable, well, he's the same as always. The scenes with the mustangs are very effective and slightly disturbing whilst Thelma Ritter livens up the early moments. It's fascinating to watch for its notoriety, otherwise it's a unmemorable rather sad melodrama. 6/10

Pygmalian 1938

Starring: Leslie Howard

A Professor of phonetics takes a bet that he can turn a cockney flower seller in six months into a lady who can pass as a duchess.

A nice adaptation of a classic tale. The Covent garden scenes although clearly shot on a set, are wonderful. Leslie Howard is utterly disagreable as Higgins whilst Wendy Hiller is superb as Eliza Doolittle. This part must be difficult enough to play, but she not only changes the way she talks, she also changed the way she walked, looked and even thought. Hiller was so impressive that the movie lost pace every time she was off screen. 7/10

Cattle empire 1958

Starring: Joel McCrea

A trail boss out of prison gets a new assignment and signs up helpers who had previously made life difficult for him.

An enemy of the town is 2 horse drags away from death until saved by an unlikely source, he is then hired to lead a cattle drive which will save the town from financial ruin. During this drive, the true events of the past come to light. A watchable yarn which has some truely dodgy acting with the exception of McCrea. Lots of continuity errors, my favourite being when a blind man is told that the stars are out when all you can see is thick cloud cover. An instantly forgetable but harmless movie. 5/10

The Bravados 1958

Starring: Gregory Peck

A widower chases four killers who, he believes, raped and murdered his wife.

Peck is a man of few words in this movie but is actually quite effective. Joan Collins was a great actress when she was young but had little to do here. This is a downbeat western with a lengthy manhunt and a twist which I certainly never saw coming. The town has a huge church which looked like the inside of Westminster Abbey & was a bit out of keeping with the rest of the town. A slow moving but compelling western. 8/10

Boys night out 1962

Starring: Kim Novak

Three married men and their bachelor friend share a flat and a 'mistress'

This looked and sounded like a slightly racier episode of the TV series 'Bewitched'. Totally studio based and in this modern age, not raunchy whatsoever. James Garner was always at his best in quirky comedies such as this, in fact all the cast showed great comic timing. A couple of hours of harmless, frothy fun. 7/10

Boy on a dolphin 1957

Starring: Alan Ladd

A Greek girl diver discovers a sunken artifact of great value and the news spreads to an American archaeologist and an unscrupulous collector.

The nice thing about seeing lots of films is the different views of the World that you see. This movie had great views of several Greek islands. This was a matinee type story which was harmless enough but took forever to reach its conclusion. It could have comfortably lost 20 minutes. Sophia Loren Sizzled, danced and sang. If only you could understand what she was saying half the time. 6/10

The Snows of Kilimanjaro 1952

Starring: Gregory Peck

A hunter lies wounded in Africa and while waiting for help loooks back over his lifes and loves.

I'm afraid that I hate movies with flashbacks, they so rarely work for me. This film started off like a nature film, I kept expecting David Attenborough to walk out. This is an incredibly wordy film with moody lighting, morbid reminicising and large quantiteis of drinks being 'fixed'. I'm afraid I found the whole thing deadly dull. 2/10

The Flame of New Orleans 1941

Starring: Marlene Dietrich

A European adventuress settles in America.

Dietrich plays a smouldering, sultry love-torn Countess in the sort of role that made her famous. This film is at its best when Dietrich was sparring with sailor Carbot who made a great foil for her. The comedy scenes were a bit thin and dated and the plot was a little thin, however, it was interesting to see this star in full bloom. 5/10

Lord of the flies 1963

After a plane crash, a party of English schoolboys are stranded on an uncharted tropical island and gradually turn savage.

Thiis was one of the few books I studied at school and enjoyed. This adaptation just seemed really dated. the fact that it was in black & white didn't help and the TV series 'Lost' has taken desert island stories to a new level. I'd love to see this story done really well, but although the kids acting improved as the movie went on, it was all abit staged and disjointed. This story has a message to us all which is more relevant now than ever. But like Jack, so many people are not listening. 4/10

Ladies of the chorus 1949

Starring: Marilyn Monroe

A Broadway burlesque queen falls for a socialite

Interesting, as this was Marilyn Monroe's first principal role. This was a movie with some scenes I really liked & others which were plain tiresome. Marilyn Monroe was excellent with a lovely understated performance, the actress playing her future Mother-in-law was also good. The decorator and his kid side-kick were possibly the most annoying characters I've ever seen in any film. However, at 60 minutes long, this movie showed that you can still tell a story without having to book a day off work. 5/10

They rode West 1954

Starring: Robert Francis

A Cavalry doctor at a frontier fort gets into trouble trying to help the Indians

This was a bit like watching a wild West episode of Casualty. As usual with most Westerns, it was spot on with its locations and costumes. I'm not sure I quite bought the whole white girl/Squa thing. But the doctor, Captain and supporting cast were all great.
Predictible but great fun. 8/10

The Good die young 1954

Starring: Laurence Harvey

Four crooks, all with private problems, set out to rob a mail van.

I have to say, I wouldn't have kept in the first scene which shows the four men on their way to the robbery. It removed any element of surprise & I found myself waiting for this scene to happen which somewhat distracted from the plot. This was actually quite well acted although it was amusing to hear the rather dated 'clipped' tones of the actors. An enjoyable film with an exciting finale..

Three coins in the fountain 1954

Starring: Clifton Webb

Three American girls find Romance in Rome

A gentle romance set in Rome. It's a bit dated now but easy on the eye. A slow moving movie which does however give some gorgeous views of the Italian capital. 5/10

Sky west and crooked 1965

Starring: Hayley Mills

A Mentally retarded girl falls in love with a gypsy.

I don't think I've ever seen a movie, so much of which is set in a graveyard. Haymey Mills is terrific, but the real star is the west country setting & scenery. The parson, although rather stereotypical, is played beautifully and sets the whole think off. This movie was both funny and tragic as well as thought provoking. Who was really at fault for the young lads death & were the grudges just hiding the guilt? 9/10

City beneath the sea 1953

Starring: Robert Ryan

Deep sea divers fall out over a sunken treasure

Robert Ryan and Anthony Quinn combine well in a good mixture of comedy & action. I must say, I expected to actually see a living city beneath the sea and felt slightly short-changed. Some of the underwater clips were over long, the best moments were when the stars were together on land, I absolutely loved the bar fight scene with the band frantically accompanying the fracas. 5/10

Raw deal 1986

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger

An ex-FBI man is recruited to infiltrate Chicago's biggest mob.

Unashamed star vehicle for Arnie. Completely unrealistic, no cop would behave like him. Poor acting & not a great script with everything just oh so obvious. Some reasonable one-liners were lost with desperate timing & delivery. A watchable enough movie but instantly forgetable. 5/10

The Man in grey 1943

Starring: Margaret Lockwood

In Regency times, an aristocratic girl's love for her less fortunate friend is repaid by jealousy, treachery & murder.

A gripping melodrama that positively oozed Hollywood quality. Any dodgy lighting or poor small part performances were forgiven by 4 sterling leading performances. Lockwood was so charismatic, you couldn't take your eyes off her. Mason gave an intense, loyal performance. Phyllis Calvert pitched it just right as the jealous, scheming seductress & Grainger made a dashing lover & all round good guy. Slightly dated, but a joy. 8/10

The Reckless moment 1949

Starring: James Mason

A woman accidently kills her daughter's would-be-seducer, and is then trailed by a blackmailer.

A well paced thriller with Joan Bennett pitching it exactly right. I often feel films are overlong, if anything, this was too short. I never really found myself noticing Mason softening towards Bennett, it just suddenly happened. Having said that, this movie was slightly dated but is still a gripping watch. Oh, and as a footnote, everyone could do with 'Help' like Sybil. 8/10

Permission to kill 1970

Starring: Dirk Bogarde

British agents try to stop a communist returning home from the West.

A very good cast unfortunately were off colour and actually looked thoroughly bored with the exception of Timothy Dalton who was actually a delight. Attractive setting lightened the mood somewhat, but the plot was too complicated, single paced and I frankly never cared about the characters. Although it all ties up at the end, this movie was instantly forgetable. 4/10