THE TOWN (2010)

Almost without a hiccup, Ben Affleck completes his impressive transition from actor to actor/director with this first class crime drama inspired by the odd fact (you missed this one Stephen Fry) that the town of Charleston in Massachusetts has produced more bank and armoured car robbers than anywhere else in the world, the profession often being passed down from father to son. It's a tough, gritty and violent film that rarely puts a foot wrong - although I found the sentimental coda at the end a bit out of step with what had gone before. Performances are solid but I'd be amiss if I didn't mention the late Pete Postlethwaite as the very frightening Irish godfather. Rating ****

JANE EYRE (1943)

English director Robert Stevenson's career divides neatly into three periods. The first making feature films in both England and America after which he spent almost ten years working in television before settling down as Walt Disney's in-house director responsible for such mega hits as MARY POPPINS and BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS. He was never a great stylist but he had what Disney wanted - the ability to get the job done and do it efficiently. JANE EYRE is probably the best film from the first phase of his career. Watching it with hindsight it is hard not to believe that Orson Welles who plays Edward Rochester didn't influence the style of the film but that tends to be said about any good film Welles lends his talent to even when there is little evidence to support it. The film is dark and moody and very gothic which, of course, applies to the novel as well and Janes journey to Thornfield might just as well be to Castle Dracula or, at least to Baskerville Hall. Joan Fontaine must have had a strong sense of deja vu having not long before starred in Hitchcock's REBECCA from Daphne DuMaurier's novel which was heavily influenced by Bronte. Visually the film is a treat and besides Fontaine and Welles there are fine performances by Agnes Moorhead, John Sutton and particularly by the great Henry Daniell. Of course, special mention must be made of the uncredited performance by the very young Elizabeth Taylor and Janes doomed school friend - ironically I watched the film on the day she died before having heard the sad news. There have been several good versions of JANE EYRE (and another on the way) but this remains my favourite. Rating ****

ELIZABETH TAYLOR R.I.P.

FRANKENSTEIN'S WEDDING (2011)

To be honest I'm not sure if this is the right place to be reviewing this. Does it qualify as a film? Does it qualify as a television movie? What was it? Well, you get an audience of 12,000 people to turn up (free tickets) dressed as wedding guests at the magnificent ruins of Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds, Yorkshire and then you stage a live production of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein complete with musical numbers and then you transmit it live on BBC3. Nah, it couldn't work - but against all odds it did. The plot remains faithful to the original novel - with a few justified twists. Frankenstein's dad is a nouveau rich, gruff, Yorkshire business man (Mark Williams) who is laying on a big society wedding for his scientist son Victor (Andrew Gower) and his bride (the lovely and talented Lacey Turner- a million miles from EASTENDERS) not knowing that Victor has a dark secret. With some atmospheric filmed flashbacks the production is both imaginative and enthralling. The only fault I could find is the inclusion of some truly mundane, unimaginative and indifferently performed musical numbers that really were not needed. I've saved the best for last and that is the ever excellent David Harewood as the Monster - both sympathetc and threatening at the same time. Now if only the National Theatre can be persuaded to release a DVD of it's FRANKENSTEIN with Benedict Cumberbatch - it's been recorded so why no DVD?

Kirkstall Abbey

FAREWELL TO MICHAEL GOUGH........

Michael Gough 1916 - 2011 R.I.P.

L'ATALANTE (1934)

Jean Vigo was 29 when he made L'ATALANTE and dying of tuberculosis. His total output consists of a surreal documentary, A PROPOS DE NICE, about the town of Nice, a short film about a French swimming champion, a medium length feature about school kids, ZERO DE CONDUIT. All his films have a veneer of reality but Vigo had the eye of a poet and he was able to dig beneath the surface to discover the surrealism inherent in everyday life. In L'ATALANTE Vigo retains his eye for surrealistic imagery but the real power of this beautiful film comes from what today we have come to call "magical realism. A young barge captain marries an inexperienced village girl and almost as soon as the wedding ceremony is over the couple set off on his barge towards Paris. Although the newly weds are obviously in love the girl is not prepared for her husband's initially rough ways and the harsh realities of life on a working barge. As the barge moves slowly up the river, through fog, the bleak industrial landscape the film becomes as much a journey through the couples developing relationship as a realistic voyage (it is not to far fetched to compare the symbolism of the journey with that used by Conrad in his far bleaker Heart of Darkness). The girl dreams of Paris and fashions and romance (personified by the lively seductive tinker) but reality proves darker. Vigo never lets the symbolism overpower the human story of people learning to live together and his characters are fully developed with all the failings and idiosyncrasies of real people. The couple are beautifully played and Michel Simon gives in Pere Jules one of the most memorable screen performances of all time - and it isn't just comedy relief as some have suggested. A wonderful film. How sad that all Vigo's films now fit on to one DVD.....but at least we have them.

You lucky Americans......

A while back I was bemoaning that Rex Ingram's THE MAGICIAN is not available on DVD. Well, it is now. Warners is releasing it, along with other silent treasures, through the online Warners Shop (click here for link) which is great news - unless you are English! They only ship to America.

Paul Wegener as Oliver Haddo, the Aleister Crowley inspired villain of Rex Ingram's film version of W.Somerset Maugham's novelette THE MAGICIAN.