THE ARSENAL STADIUM MYSTERY (1940)

An early film by the very talented Thorold Dickinson who would later make such memorable films as GASLIGHT and THE QUEEN OF SPADES. I grew up about three miles away from The Arsenal Stadium at Highbury, London, but I confess that I've never been in the stadium and have only ever seen it in the distance from the top deck of a bus, further I've never seen a football/soccer match live. Having no particular interest in the sport this film has minimal attraction for me and that is only historical. Arsenal were Britain's premier football club before the Second World War and this film must have done fantastic business in north London when released. The film is a rather routine effort enlivened only by the performance of Leslie Banks (Count Zaroff himself) as an eccentric detective. Anthony Bushell who is mudered early in the film later went on to co-direct Olivier's RICHARD III and Hammer's TERROR OF THE TONGS. Very much of its time and rather dull unless you are a soccer or Leslie Banks fan or like policemen in ballet dresses. Rating **

I'M NOT THERE (2007)

Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan? You've got to be freakin' joking! Okay Cate Blanchett as His bobness's doppelganger Jude Quinn. Batman Bale as Bob and Joker Ledger as Bob and a seven year old black kid as Bob/Woody Guthrie, or maybe nobody is Bob because as the title tells us he ain't there. No conventional biopic like WALK THE LINE or RAY is going to pin down the enigmatic Mister Zimmerman and Todd Haynes fascinating film has more in common with WALK HARD : THE DEWEY COX STORY then it does with conventional rock 'n' roll biopics but then, come to think of it, Bob probably has more to do with Dewey than any real contemporary singer/songwriter. With a narration (of which I have no recollection) by Kris Kristofferson, a one-time ageing Billy the Kid, the film features Richard Gere with a yellow dog called Henry as another ageing Billy the Kid (at one point he is greeted as Mr.McCarty - the Kid's real name) riding to another confrontation with his old nemesis Pat Garrett in a town called Riddle while Bob/Cate romps with fab four and sees no direction home. To try and decipher I'M NOT THERE is to do it as much of a disservice as trying to decipher one of Dylan's apocalyptic songs (not that it will stop anybody including myself from doing it).I'm not sure what non-Dylan fans will make of it but then will they bother to watch it? Rating ****

DARK PASSAGE (1947)

In his introduction to the film on the current DVD critic and historian Leonard Maltin quite rightly says that DARK PASSAGE is not a great film, just a good solid one. In all technical departments the film is indeed first class, it looks good and it is superbly cast and has some excellent dialogue and atmosphere. What lets it down is a plot that is so full of unlikely coincidences that however generous you want to be to the film one starts to disbelieve. Without giving away the story too much, what are the chances that a convicted killer on the run just happens to get in a cab with a driver who not only recognizes him but is sympathetic enough to take him to a friendly plastic surgeon that he just happens to know? The film is full of unlikely events like this. But, that said, it is Bogart and Bacall and some great character actors in a moody film noir that is very well directed by Delmer Daves so there is a lot to enjoy if you can get past the plot weaknesses. The studio had severe reservations about the use of the first person camera in the first third of the film - Bogart's face not being seen until well into the movie - but, although not a fan of this gimmick, I thought it worked very well here, much better than in Robert Montgomery's THE LADY IN THE LAKE. I loved the final wordless reunion of Bogart and Bacall - romantic indeed! Rating : a generous ***

And as MULAY AHMED EL RAISULI, LAST OF THE BARBARY PIRATES we present.....

John Milius's THE WIND AND THE LION (1975) is a great favourite of mine. Based on a true incident when an American teacher (female in the film but male in reality) was kidnapped by a Berber chief causing an international incident Milius follows his oft quoted dictum "If this is not how it was it is how it should have been" and offers up a strong no holds barred piece of action adventure. The Berber Chief, Mulay Ahmed el Raisuli was a real person and here is his picture.

But this is John Milius and Hollywood, so who gets cast in the role ?

0f course, it is obvious, Sean Connery, the world's only Berber with a Scottish accent. Convincing? I'll leave you to decide.

ISLAND IN THE SKY (1952)

Like THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY, another John Wayne aviation drama made the following year, ISLAND IN THE SKY languished in the vaults at Batjac for many years despite much pleading from fans for its release on DVD. It finally appeared a couple of years ago backed up by some nice extras and an introduction by Leonard Maltin. Considering that the plot concerns civilian airman working for the USAF during WW2 who crash land in the frozen north of Canada and have to fight for survival against the elements while their comrades fly search missions to rescue them, I, perhaps chose the wrong time to watch it as a blizzard raged outside and snow piled up at the door. It's a gripping film which, like THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY, was based on a novel by writer/aviator Ernest Gann. Wayne is excellent as the experienced pilot trying to keep his panicky younger crew focused on survival and the film is packed with casting goodies for the film fan. This is almost certainly the only film where rotund Andy Divine appears in a pair of swimming shorts and makes a very creditable dive into a pool - surely worth the price of the DVD for that alone. There are also excellent performances from Lloyd Nolan, a very young James Arness, Harry Carey Jr, Walter Abel, Carl Switzer, Paul Fix, Bob Steele, Dwayne Hickman, Sean McClory, Mike Connors and an uncredired Fess Parker. Tensely directed with some excellent flying scenes by William Wellman. Rating ****

DEATH DEFYING ACTS (2007)

Every time I watch a film directed by Gillian Armstrong I find that at the end of it I just want to shrug and say, is that it? DEATH DEFYING ACTS is no exception. Although, seemingly, aimed at cinema audiences (despite being co-financed by the BBC) this Australian production has the rather bland feel of a made-for-television feature. The story involves an Edinburgh music hall performer (Catherine Zeta Jones) who tries to con Harry Houdini out of $30,000 when he visits the city but instead ends up having an affair with him. None of it is very convincing with CZJ coming off worse that Guy Pearce who nevertheless is pretty unbelievable as Houdini (although you have to give him credit for that haircut). The interior scenes look pretty good but the exteriors suffer from the same problem as many of the cheaper historical dramas that take a few old buildings and film scenes from different angles - thus the slum where CZJ lives early in the film is actually the basement of a more up market building with a few washing lines as set dressing. The film has a touch of the supernatural thrown in but this seemed quite confused to my poor brain as the rest of the film never really decides what it wants to be and doesn't convince on any level. Best Performace comes from the ever reliable Timothy Spall as Houdini's manager. Rating *

And as RUTH ETTING AND MARTY SNYDER we present.....

I have long been fascinated at the way real people (not necessarily famous) are depicted in the movies. Sometimes the casting is uncannily accurate in terms of physicality, sometimes the impersonation can be done with just a gesture or a voice. When I heard that Geoffrey Rush was to play Peter Sellers in a biopic I couldn't see anyway it would work but it did and Rush, fine actor that he is, managed to bring Sellers back to life. When Joaquin Phoenix was cast as Johnny Cash I thought it was a wonderful choice but despite the rave reviews I never felt that he was able to capture the essence of Cash, unlike Jamie Foxx who was quite amazing as Ray Charles. Of course, I appreciate that a lot depends on how we personally see the person being depicted on the screen. In this occasional series I'm going to show some photographs of real people who have been depicted on the screen alongside pictures of the people who have portrayed them. First off the starting block is chanteuse Ruth Etting and her mobster husband, Marty Snyder.

Etting and Snyder had the story of their turbulent relationship told in the excellent 1956 musical drama LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME which featured powerful performinces by Doris Day and James Cagney as the couple.

Accurate ? I leave you to decide.