CASS

UK, 2008, 108 minutes, Colour.
Nonso Anozie, Natalie Press, Linda Bassett, Peter Wight, Tamar Hassan, Leo Gregory, Gavin Brocker.
Directed by Jon S. Baird.

Down-to-earth, gritty, f and c-layered, British gangsterland and the world of British hooliganism of the 1970s and 1980s. Enough to be quite off-putting for many audiences.

But, Cass has a lot going for it.

While it does immerse its audience in an ugly world with brutish behaviour, it is also a story of British racism from the 1950s to the present and the social changes affecting young thugs (and older), especially Margaret Thatcher’s post-Falklands war on football fan violence. This has been portrayed in such films as Greenstreet and The Football Factory but many commentators thought that these films were in danger of glorifying what they were deploring. There certainly are some graphic brawling sequences, in the streets and in a Newcastle club, but there is also much more to think about.

Cass is based on a true story. As the film opens, the adult Cass Pennant in the 1990s is gunned down outside a South London club. His voiceover tells us that this is his actual story and then takes us back to his experiences in Wolverhampton when he was 14 and his introduction to bashings by the ‘Firms’ (the yob supporters gangs). He takes us further back to when he was adopted through Barnardo’s by a middle-aged British couple and his experiences of being different, especially when he was at school, aged ten in the late 1960s. These sequences are credible and introduce us to Cass’s background (real name Carol Pennant but wanting to be called Cass after Cassius Clay). The other reason that these scenes work so well, as do some later scenes, is the wonderful performance by Linda Bassett as Cass’s adoptive mother, a strong woman, and by Peter Wight as his very laid-back but no less loving adoptive father.

However, Cass grows up to become the Intercity Firm leader for West Ham supporters, is interviewed for television and states that it was only in the camaraderie of the firms that he found any acceptance. Soon he is organising pre-emptive strikes against Newcastle which lands him in gaol. With time to think, he handwrites his story but is forbidden by regulations to take it when he is released.

After release he has the option of going back to how it was or changing. His encounter with a young woman, Elaine (Nathalie Press) pushes him in a more respectable direction. His friends still entangle him in the violence but times are changing. CCTV videos troublemakers and energy has gone for many young people into clubs and the world of drugs where Cass now works as a manager.

Cass’s story is a success story that takes us beyond the yobbism. Married for some time and with children, he is also a writer and publisher, keen on young people learning from his life and dangerous mistakes.

Well-acted by the imposing Nonso Anozie (who has already portrayed both Lear and Othello on stage) and an excellent cast of British character actors, this is an inspiring story without the ‘preaching’ that one sometimes finds in films exhorting young people to change for the better.

1.The film based on a true story, the autobiography of the central character? His acting as adviser to the film?

2.The film has a history of racism in the UK for fifty years, the obvious racism widespread in the 50s, the changes, the reinforcement of racism?

3.The film as a history of violence in the UK, football violence, gangs and thuggery? The 1970s to the 1990s?

4.The change in football violence with the introduction of CCTV, younger people going to clubs, the taking of drugs as a substitute for a high?

5.The settings: Wolverhampton, Leeds, East London and Plaistow? London through the decades, the pubs and the streets, the homes?

6.The musical score, the wide range of songs illustrating the popular songs and atmosphere of the decades?

7.The opening, the shooting, Cass and his voice-over, talking about himself? The film returning to this sequence? Cass’s survival?

8.Going back to 1972, Cass as fourteen, with his two friends, seeing the fights in the streets, telling the gang, joining in, the bashing, the exhilaration, the power? His being accepted? At the pub, experiencing racism and the head of the gang standing up for him? The vivid presentation of the brawling?

9.Going back to 1958, Cass as a young baby, his mother adopting him from Barnardos, in the pram, the woman with the racist comment about his growing up? The transition to 1968, going to school, his uniform, his relationship to Doll and Cecil? His friends, on the bridge, the fight? The blood, his mother tending him, his being upset about his name, Carol? His wanting to be Cass, Cassius Clay, a fighter? Cecil taking him to the game, to the pub, defending him against racism? His happiness?

10.The racism and the reverse racism in prison? The blacks accusing Cass of being really white? The murder attempt on him and the vicious racist comments?

11.Cass, grown up to be a big man, boss of the Firm? His friends as adults? Their life, sexual relationships, drinking? The fixtures and planning the fights? The international city firm? Cass and his leadership? The bashings, looking at the newspaper headings and resenting their being downplayed? The television interview and Cass talking about the violence, his being accepted, feeling himself as a man? Doll and Cecil watching the interview? Doll’s reaction? The plan to attack Newcastle? The drive up? Their friendship with Ray, the outing with him before prison? His joke and his promise to Cass?

12.Newcastle, the members at the club, the compere and his jokes? The attack, the brawl, the arrest, Cass going to jail, the Westham loyalty and the sullen warder giving him the clothes?

13.Cass’s experience of jail, the clash with the Jamaican prisoner in the cell, their fight? The second prisoner, their talks? Urging Cass to find his origins? Later Doll giving him the letters from his actual parents and his continued refusal to read them? His writing his autobiography? Going to see Ray, favours from Ray? Leaving and the warden applying strict rules and putting his book in the garbage?

14.His release, going to the pub, Elaine and Linda present, his speech? The racist clashes? His dating Elaine, the comments from his pals, being domesticated by Elaine? His going out, getting knifed, Elaine tidying the house and overhearing the story? Her outburst, her pregnancy?

15.The characters of Doll and Cecil, love for Cass over the decades, good people? The Christmas event, their pride in Cass, the crackers from Marks and Spencer, the children, his job as a manager? Doll’s death, Cecil telling Cass, the funeral, the minister inviting speakers and telling Cass not to speak? Cass’s speech, his thanks to his mother? Supporting his dad at the end, his dad’s final words of encouragement?

16.The marriage, the son, the boy growing up, Cass and his job, Ray and his support? Prospering?

17.The traces of the gang warfare, the pursuit of Cass’s friend, his being slashed? Wanting revenge? The assassination attempt? Elaine and her sadness, her friends, his survival? At home, seeing images of the assassin in the mirror? The card sent with the wreath at his mother’s death?

18.His anger at home, the outburst towards his son, Elaine upset and going? Her returning to the trashed house?

19.Ray and his offer of revenge? The motivations? The funeral cortege, going to the pub, the confrontation with the assassin? Cass’s decision not to kill him?

20.The decision and its aftermath? His prosperity, the permanence of his marriage, his books and publishing? His achievement? The film as a morale booster?

ROOM TO RENT

UK/France, 2000, 98 minutes, Colour.
Saeed Taghmaoui, Juliet Lewis, Rupert Graves, Anna Massey.
Directed by Khalid Al -Haggar.

Room to Rent is a comedy, focusing on issues of London’s multicultural background. Saeed Taghmaoui portrays a young Egyptian man, in England on a student visa, who wants to extend his stay. He gets mixed up in schemes for fake marriages (with explicit reference to Green Card) and various entanglements ensue. He wants to write screenplays and is ousted from his lodgings because the landlord thinks that the incidents in the screenplay are too much based on him and his allegedly unfaithful wife.

He then encounters a photographer, a gay man played by Rupert Graves. He boards with him for a time but also falls foul of him because of his new screenplay. However, an arrangement is made with an American singer who looks and speaks like Marilyn Monroe and sings her songs (Juliet Lewis). In the background is a mysterious elderly blind woman (Anna Massey) who encounters the young man, thinks he is the reincarnation of a man she was in love with in the 30s and 40s. A final encounter with her brings the proceedings to an end – with the touch of magical realism or a tough of reincarnation.

The film is interesting in its look at the mix in London at the beginning of the century.

1.The UK, the multi-ethnic background, multicultural background?

2.The perspectives of Egypt and North Africa compared with those of London? Freedom, artistic freedom? Politics? The English perspective? Towards the newcomers? The American touch?

3.The use of London locations, the streets, the flats, studios, restaurants? Authentic? The musical score? The songs? Especially with Linda and ‘I Want to be Loved By You’, Marilyn Monroe-style?

4.The elements of fantasy, magic realism, reincarnation? The blend with realism?

5.Ali and his life, the Egyptian background, talking with his family by phone? The student, writing his screenplays, imagining events with the characters like Tony his landlord and his wife? The encounter with Mark, Mark and his helping with Linda who wanted to marry? His being refused six-month extension on his visa? His work at the restaurant, the Green Card situation, the plan, his being ousted? His taking up with the British woman, the sexual relationship, her husband and his being ousted? The encounter with Mark, the room, posing for the photos, seeing Linda, the exhibition and the fashionable response to the photos? Mark seeing his story, ousting him, Ali being arrested, Mark taking him back? Linda and the contact, the agreement, the conditions, her wanting the money? The lyrical scenes together? Her husband and the fight? Ali’s friend, the thousand-pound deal for a bride? The failure of this scheme, his arrest? The background encounters with Sarah, in the bus, talking with her, re-meeting her, the discussion about her childhood, her love for Ali, his marrying her? Confessing the truth? Her being happy? The interview on television? The quietness of her death? His inheriting the flat – and the woman coming to view the flat, her name being Sarah, a possible reincarnation …?

6.Ali and his friends, the restaurant, the clients at the restaurant, the illegals, being forced to act as a gigolo, the affairs, patronage? The fickleness of the women?

7.Mark, photographer, the gay man, his visitors? Photographer, photographing Linda? Meeting Ali, helping him with Linda’s phone number, the agreement, Ali posing for him, the exhibition? His being angry with Ali and the story? Taking him from the police station? His father’s death, the severity of his father’s attitudes, not understanding his son? The father assuming that Ali was Mark’s partner, talking to him, the reconciliation between father and son?

8.Linda, American, the Marilyn Monroe impressions, her needs, the meetings, the dating of Ali, her husband turning up, her sympathy for Ali?

9.Vivianne, the rich women, their affairs, using the foreign men?

10.Sarah, her story, her love for Ali, his death, her blindness, expectations of his return, reincarnation, talking with Ali, the marriage, her happiness, the discussions on the television, her death?

11.All of Ali’s friends watching the television interview and their happy reactions to seeing him with Sarah?

12.A slice of life, a range of attitudes and characters, stances?

SPLITTING HEIRS

UK, 1993, 96 minutes, Colour.
Eric Idle, Rick Moranis, Barbara Hershey, Catherine Zeta Jones, John Cleese, Sadie Frost, Stratford Johns, Brenda Bruce, Eric Sykes.
Directed by Robert Young.

Splitting Heirs was written by Eric Idle who had made an impact on British television along with his fellow Monty Python group. Idle was also the composer of many of the popular Monty Python songs.

Here he portrays Tommy Patel who is, in fact, a duke who was lost, rather overlooked and misplaced at birth. Rick Moranis plays the young man who thinks he is the duke. Barbara Hershey is the American bleached blonde rather nymphomaniac mother. Catherine Zeta-Jones? in an early role is a gold-digger. Fellow Python, John Cleese, appears as a manic lawyer. In support are Sadie Frost as the secretary at the finance company and Eric Sykes as a doorman.

The film is not particularly hilarious but generally provides a lot of smiles. Eric Idle is much the same in every role but he carries it off well. He is a master of double-takes. Rick Moranis enjoys himself as a rollerblading childlike young duke. John Cleese really gives his all to the role – and over the top as well.

The film spoofs a lot of English customs, manners. It was directed by Robert Young, Robert William Young, who made films like Vampire Circus and the award-winning short Romance of a Double Bass and is not to be confused with Robert S. Young, director of more specialist art-house films.

1.Eric Idle and his brand of comedy, the Python tradition? English humour? Verbal humour, spoof, the songs?

2.The title, the pun, themes? Inheritance?

3.The humorous tone, the voice-over, the attitude towards the English aristocracy, peers and their behaviour, wealth? The judgments on various characters?

4.The introduction to the dukes and their curse, the re-enactment of historical disasters, the portraits of the ancestors, all with Eric Idle in them?

5.The 60s, the duke and his wife, hippie style, the American wife, at the restaurant, enjoying themselves, forgetting the baby, going dancing, the search for the baby, the advertisements, the answer, the duke and duchess bringing up the adoptee? The duke’s death in the 1990s?

6.Tommy, living with the Patels, the jokes about his place in a Hindu Indian family, going to Temple, the corner shop, the customs? His work at the duke’s company, Angela and her clashes with him? The boss, his dislike of Tommy, getting him to accompany Henry?

7.Henry, the skating, the hotel, his attitudes, childlike, getting as much petty cash as he wanted, the drinks and the songs at the hotel?

8.The duke’s sudden death, Henry taking over, firing the boss, retaining Tommy? Going to the funeral, the duchess and her seductive behaviour? The spoof of the 60s, mother, the blonde hair, nymphomania, with men, her later discovering the truth, doting on her son?

9.The gift of the spoon, the Patels and their recognising it, telling Tommy about his adoption, his searching for the documents, the newspapers, going to Shadgrind, Shadgrind and his suggestions of murder? The perspective? Tommy and the various murder attempts, the bombs, the cars? Henry always escaping?

10.Kitty, the gold-digger, her eye on Henry, the sexual encounter with Tommy, covering up, pregnant, the birth of the baby, the information about Tommy being the father? Her overhearing the truth with Henry and his reaction?

11.Shadgrind and his various attempts to kill the duke? The murder of the nanny, Mrs Bullock? The attempts on the baby?

12.The nanny and her place in the family, Mrs Bullock, her doting on Henry, the fact that she had substituted him? Her death in the freezer?

13.Tommy, his change of heart, the explanations to the duchess, Henry overhearing?

14.The confrontation with Shadgrind, the chase, the spoof and farce of the chase and escape?

15.The happy ending, Henry and his previous taking people around the mansion and finding his mother in compromising position? His becoming the tour guide on rollerblades? Tommy, Kitty and everybody settling down?

16.The lightness of touch, spoof and farce?

RUN THE WILD FIELDS

US, 2000, 100 minutes, Colour.
Joanne Whalley, Sean Patrick Flannery, Cotter Smith, Alexa Vega.
Directed by Paul A. Kaufmann.

Run the Wild Fields is based on a play by Rodney Patrick Vaccaro who has opened it out for the screen – it does not seem like a filmed play.

The setting is North Carolina in 1945. Joanne Whalley convincingly plays a woman whose husband has been missing in action in the Pacific for three years. Alexa Vega (just about to appear in the first of the Spy Kids films) is precociously strong as her daughter. They run a farm, live in a small southern town, get on well together – in an atmosphere of patriotism.

Sean Patrick Flannery plays a drifter who is injured by some dogs, cared for by mother and daughter, stays to work on the farm. This is a very reticent film and while there are suggestions of deep emotions, behaviour is very proper and decent.

The stranger is an enigma and it is only at the end of the film that one learns what his true story is.

This is a very pleasing film about the war years, about American spirit and behaviour, about the deep feelings of ordinary American people.

The producers won a daytime Emmy for the best children’s special program.

1.World War Two, a war story? From fifty years later? The role of memory, nostalgia? The perspective from the voice-over of Pug?

2.A telemovie, viewer-friendly, characters, plot, dialogue, issues?

3.The setting and its detail, the visualising of the farm, the home, the fields and the countryside, the roads? Shops, dance hall, church? Authentic feel? The musical score?

4.The war and its effect, the men serving overseas, the Pacific, no communication? The wives and families at home, photos, hoping and losing hope? The elderly couple, their son winning a Bronze Star, the letter coming to tell of his death? Grief? The end and the experience of relief?

5.Issues of patriotism, war service, joining the army and the forces, judgments on those who didn’t, issues of cowardice?

6.Ruby, her age, her life with her husband, work on the farm, the chores? Her love for her daughter, her daughter’s age? Finding Tom, helping him, the dogs? The doctor and her inviting Tom to stay? Silas turning up, his implicit criticism, his own hopes? His angers? Ruby giving the gift of the clothes, Tom arrested by the police? Her taking him back to work, to stay in the barn, helping with the work? The discussions, his being an enigma? The absence of husband and father? Tom becoming a father figure, helping Pug with the work, dancing? The bond with Ruby, her happiness? The scenes of work and sowing the fields? At the fair, the attack on Tom, his strength of response? Ruby and her reaction? The fire in the barn, Tom rescuing Pug? Ruby kissing him? Tom knowing the truth about Frank’s return, barring the door? Leaving quietly?

7.Pug and her voice-over, her age, love for her father, the three years that he was away? Her work in the fields, her mother and the dress? Going to church? Out in the fields, learning to dance, the fights at school, her defence of Tom, dancing with the young boy and Tom urging him to invite Pug to dance? Finding the ring, concocting the story about Tom? The letter, opening it, knowing that her father was coming back, not telling her mother? The complexity of her feelings, wanting Tom to be her father? Tom rescuing her from the fire? Leaving?

8.Tom, enigmatic, a good man, working hard, gentle, not a pacifist, the story of his brother in the Spanish civil war, the real story, his own involvement, his blaming himself for his brother’s death, the chance bullet and his brother dying, his taking his ring as a memory of him? The letter of discharge? People’s change of attitude when they heard the truth?

9.Silas, his life, looking after his mother, the boys, a hard life, his approaches to Ruby, helping her out, the clash? The boy and his taunting Tom? His being rescued from the fire by Tom?

10.Ordinary people, their capacity for gossip and judgment?

11.The letter, its arrival, Pug not telling her mother? Tom leaving, encountering Frank on the road, exchanging the cigarettes?

12.The themes of war absences, hardships? All presented from a different age – and an age of decency?

L'HEURE ZERO (TOWARDS ZERO)

France, 2007, 107 minutes, Colour.
Francois Morel, Danielle Darrieux, Melville Poupaud, Laura Smit, Chiara Mastroianni, Alessandra Martines, Clement Thomas, Xavier Thiam.
Directed by Pasquale Thomas.

There is a long history of films from Agatha Christie mysteries. The Internet Movie Database has 109 entries under her name with the first film being made in 1928 (and that does not count the 60 episodes of the Poirot series with David Suchet).

Here is a French adaptation with the action and characters transferred to Brittany. Even though set in the present, it retains something of the old world Agatha Christie atmosphere. It opens with some speculation about blind justice and the thoughts of a judge about murder and how the murder is the end of a process. It then moves to a mansion on the Breton coast, introduces a range of disparate characters, a number of whom dislike each other intensely, has a dinner where all are present and, soon after, as might be expected there is a murder.

An eccentric police officer on holidays is asked to look into the case. Arrests are made and then the arrested are released. As always with Agatha Christie, she does her best to draw attention away from the guilty by all kinds of tricks (and there are a few here) until everyone is gathered for the final revelation.

It is amazing how this still works eighty years after the first Christie film adaptation.

What is interesting here is the French cast. Danielle Darrieux (who made her first film in 1931) was 89 when she made this. Upcoming star Melvil Poupard is the heir apparent and Laura Smet is his unbearably moody wife contrasting with Chiara Mastroianni as his dignified first wife. There are some comic French servants. But Francois Morel holds his own as the detective.

Nothing new, but it is a pleasure to watch a serious but light version of Agatha Christie.

1.The popularity of Agatha Christie? The French interpretation of her characters, mystery? French locations?

2.The French locations, Brittany and the coast? The hotel, the cliffs, the beach? The musical score?

3.The title, the statue of Justice being covered? Trevoz and his talk, everybody listening, the police, his notions of murder, the circumstances, the victim? Trevoz and his explanations, sitting by the fire, saying how he would begin writing a murder mystery?

4.The basics of an Agatha Christie story: a group, the introduction to each of the characters, deflecting attention of the audience, supplying clues, all the possibilities, the group gathered together for the explanation?

5.The detective, his listening to Trevoz, his arrival, the background of his daughter, her confessing when she was not guilty, the clues, visiting his nephew, the holidays and his dress, his hat, idiosyncrasies, the quality of his investigation, his comments, the other police, his questioning of the various characters, the arrests, the witness, his gathering everybody on the boat for the denouement, pushing Fred overboard, his explanation, his personality?

6.The group, the situation at the mansion, Camille and her age, her will? Guillaume and his presence, relationship with Camille, his two wives being present, playing tennis, his idea that they should come, a gracious loser, pleasant, charm? His wife and her obnoxious behaviour, tantrums? Fred Latimer, her friend, the gigolo? The contrast with Aude, her dignity, being quiet? Thomas and his return? Marie -Adeline and her care for Camille, her relationship with the other guests? The place of the servants? The targeting of the victim? Motivation?

7.The mansion, the affluent lifestyle, tennis courts, swimming, bird-watching, the meals, playing billiards at the hotel …?

8.The argument, Camille clashing with Guillaume, the attendant drugged, the maid finding the body, the screams, the immediate response?

9.Camille, the grande dame, her attitude towards others, disapproval of Jenny, her friendship with Trevoz, her comment on his drinking, her own drug-taking, her principles, the clash with Guillaume? Close to Trevoz in death?

10.Guillaume, nice, Aude, the divorce, his marrying Jenny, her tantrums, his losing the tennis, his generally pleasant demeanour, the argument with Camille, the evidence against him with the golf club, the bloodstained jacket, his being arrested, the drugged assistant testifying that he had left the house? With each of the characters, with Fred? On the boat, the revelation of the truth, his insane demeanour?

11.Caroline, her age, dominance, moods, tantrums, her hostility towards Aude? Her friendship with Fred? Possessive, the will, wanting the money, her uncouth manners at table, her being drugged, the end and her going off with Fred?

12.Fred, the companion, the gigolo and his activities at the hotel, his inability to swim, his playing billiards with Guillaume, his attitude towards the family?

13.Aude, her dignity, a strong woman, her marriage to Guillaume, the divorce? Her friendship with Thomas? The irony of the truth, her affair, Guillaume divorcing her, her being forced to come to the house, her feeling under pressure from Guillaume, her admitting that she had done the murder, the policeman seeing the same attitude as in his daughter, his wanting to protect her, the end, her inheritance?

14.Marie -Adeline, her work, at home in the house, with Camille, with each of the guests, her place in the house yet her being a paid servant? With Thomas, the plan to leave?

15.Thomas, his brother’s death, his being in Vietnam, his return to the house?

16.The opening suicide attempt, the lovers on the cliff, the man leaping, not dying, in hospital, the nurse telling him that one day he would help someone? His story, the witness, his saving Aude? The irony that it was a rainy night when his testimony depended on moonlight?

17.The servants, Emma and her behaviour, hysterical, comic? Heurtebise and the comic touches? Barrette and her service of Camille?

18.The policeman’s daughter, the accusations of stealing, the headmistress, his arrival, his knowing that she was not telling the truth, that she was innocent? The end and the arrival for the holiday?

19.An Agatha Christie-style murder, the characters, the satisfaction in the solution?

MISS AUSTEN REGRETS

UK, 2008, 90 minutes, Colour.
Olivia Williams, Greta Scacchi, Hugh Bonneville, Adrian Edmondson, Tom Goodman -Hill, Harry Gostelow, Tom Hiddleston, Jack Huston, Phyllida Law, Imogen Poots, Pip Torrens.
Directed by Jeremy Lovering.

Another Jane Austen film, this time made by the BBC and focussing on the latter years of Jane Austen’s life.

One could say that more recently there has been something of a Jane Austen industry producing films for cinema and television, many versions of her novels, like Pride and Prejudice in the 1990s for television and then in 2005 for cinema. There have been films adapting her stories to different settings and cultures, from Clueless with US teens based on Emma, to the Bollywood Bride and Prejudice. The Jane Austen Book Club had members who commented on a book a month and whose lives resembled those of the books they read. 2007 saw a fictional biography of her early years and romance, Becoming Jane, with Anne Hathaway.

By the time of Miss Austen Regrets, Jane had gone back on an engagement, stayed at home with her sister Cassandra and her mother and had been highly successful and well paid for her novels. At this point she is finishing Emma.

Jane’s niece Fanny comes to her for advice about marrying. We find a rather sardonic and somewhat worldly-wise Miss Austen who is resigned to her choices in life despite their loneliness and frustrations and relishes her literary career. However, she also appears quite flirtatious, irreverent towards the clergy and fond of a glass of wine. She is not the prim, perhaps puritanical, figure that literary tradition might have imposed on her. Rather, she has the spirit of Elizabeth Bennett with the touch of the interfering Emma.

Olivia Williams has charm, cheekiness and melancholy as Jane. Greta Scacchi is her sister and Phyllida Law is her mother who has rather desperately wanted her to marry and does not appreciate her books.

It is an interesting addition to the Jane Austen screen cult.

1.The status of Jane Austen, in literature? In films, and in stories derived from her novels and paralleling them? The reasons for her popularity?

2.The 19th century settings, Hampshire and Kent, wealthy homes, poor homes, churches? London, hospital? The beauty of the countryside? Sets, costumes, musical score?

3.The title, the opening, the later explanation, Jane and her giving her explanations to Fanny? Her mother’s perspective, Cass’s perspective? The end?

4.The prologue, the proposal by Mr Biggs, the sisters, their happiness, the drinking, her saying yes, her happiness – and the sequence of her change of mind? Her reasons? Throughout the film? Regrets? Imagining the possibilities? Her mother’s taunts?

5.The transition to twelve years later, Jane Austen and her success, her age, nearing forty? Her earnings? Her business sense? Her creativity? Her writing ‘Emma’? Her relationship with her mother, the tensions? Her mother’s expectations, attitude towards her novels? Cassandra and her own sad experiences, Jane’s support? Fanny, her niece, coming to her for advice? Her principles, her joking manner, mischief and sardonic, her flirting, drinking, dancing? Her mocking of the clergy? Especially Reverend Papillon? The visits, her brother and his problems, meeting Mr Bridges, Mr Bridges and the memories, his rebukes of her? Her regrets? The dinner with the parliamentarian and her flirting? Mr Bridges’ attitude? Going to Henry, the discussions about publication, changing the publishers, earnings? Henry and his illness, the encounter with Mr Hayden, the attraction, flirting? Her returning home?

6.The character of Fanny, her age, her devotion to Mr Plumptre? Eagerness to marry, her hopes, wanting advice from Jane? Seeing Mr Plumptre through Jane’s eyes? The dance, laughing at him? Jane and Mr Plumptre, talking? His possibility of proposing, her smile, his walking away, decision not to marry her? Fanny and her attitude towards Jane, her anger? Her straight words to Jane? Going to London, the return, overhearing the conversation between Jane, her mother, Cassandra?

7.Edward, his problems, large family, the issue of the inheritance? Henry, his work for Jane, bankrupt, ill?

8.Mrs Austen, her narrow outlook, her criticisms of Jane, discerning that she was ill, the truth told?

9.Cassandra, her life, living away with her mother, supported by Jane? Sympathetic, listening to Jane, telling her the truth?

10.Mr Bridges, his wife, her illness, living at Ramsgate, his devotion to Jane, his presence in the household, his ability to tell her the truth?

11.The build-up to the climax, the meaning of the title? Jane, her illness, facing the possibilities of her death, publishing ‘Emma’, her being frightened about her books not being better than the last? Her mother, her sister? The truth for Fanny? The achievement of her life as well as her disappointments?

SOMEONE ELSE

UK, 2006, 78 minutes, Colour.
Stephen Mangan, Susan Lynch, Lara Belmont, Chris Coghill, Shawn Dingwall, Bridget Fry.
Directed by Col Specter.

Someone Else is a brief British film focusing on a man in his thirties, his inability to grow up emotionally, his love for Lisa (Susan Lynch) but his attraction towards Nina (Lara Belmont) who is going out with a married man. He gets advice from his friends Matt and married friend Michael. Jane, Michael’s wife, does not approve of David. David is played by Stephen Mangan (Confetti and many television comedy series).

David is very much a self-pitier. However, Stephen Mangan’s presence is strong enough to make audiences interested in him, look at his plight with moments of sympathy but with a great wish that he would be able to mature.

The film is set in London, has an authentic feel about it – and probably reflects the lives of many people who resemble the characters in this film.

1.A slice of life? People in their thirties? Relationships and commitment?

2.The London settings, flats, homes, restaurants, dating agencies …? An authentic feel? The musical score?

3.The troubles of people in their thirties, relationships, commitment, fears, self-image? The men who are unable to grow up emotionally? The contrast with women and their commitments and love?

4.The picture of David: his age, his background, photography work and seeing him in action, his friendship with Matt, discussions with him, friendship with Michael, the comparisons with Michael’s married life and his family, Michael having to tell him the truth, Jane, Michael’s wife, not approving of David. David and his love for Lisa, the possibility of marriage, going on the trip to Venice? His double-timing her with Nina? The infatuation with Nina, despite her other relationships? His breaking off with Lisa, her reaction? The money back for the Venice trip? His wandering, his moping, in the bar, trying to pick up the girls and their not being interested? The two women who enjoyed talking with Michael’s children rather than with David? His going to the party despite Jane’s disapproval? The encounter with Jane’s sister, the new age treatments, going back to the flat, his impotence? His despairing? Talking with Nina, her breaking off with him? The visits with Lisa, her coming to the flat, picking up things, the money refund? His gradual realisation of his love for Lisa? Finding her photo in the dating agency books? The information that he didn’t know about her? Their talking, gradually coming together, the possibility of his growing up and his commitment?

5.Lisa, sensible, her love for David? The long relationship? The plans for Venice? Her dismay at the breaking off of the relationship? Her getting used to it? The dating agency? The discussions with David, the gradual mellowing, coming together?

6.Matt, the bachelor, relationships with women, advice to David? Unable to attract women, going to the dating agency?

7.Michael, married, the ups and downs with his wife, her domination (and David’s criticism of this)? The children? The outings, the party, Jane warning David off her sister? Michael and the reconciliation?

8.The various friends, age? Their way of life, wanting commitment and love, sense of loneliness, fears of commitment?

THE ANGEL WHO PAWNED HER HARP

UK, 1954, 76 minutes, Black and white.
Felix Aylmer, Diane Cilento, Jerry Desmond, Joe Linane, Sheila Sweet, Philip Gard, Alfie Bass, David Kossoff, Phyllis Morris.
Directed by Alan Bromley.

The Angel Who Pawned Her Harp is a pleasant fantasy – more than a touch quaint by now. It was co-written by the screen by the author of the novel, Charles Terrot, who was on the staff of Ealing Studios and who wrote the novel and screenplay for An Alligator Named Daisy in the following year. It was directed by Alan Bromley, his first film, a director who spent most of his career in British television.

The film begins with an angel being sent to Earth to fulfil her mission. Because she needs money, she pawns her harp at the shop of Felix Aylmer. She is charming and Diane Cilento gives her both strength and naivety as well as a touch of knowing experience as she goes around changing people’s lives for the better. Aylmer is very good as the Jewish owner of the pawnshop, grown old, with few friends, lonely but who wants to befriend others, especially the local children. Jerry Desmond is a conman. There is a good supporting cast – however, most of them are known only in Britain with the exception of David Kossoff and Alfie Bass. Phyllis Morris gives a marvellously grating performance as Mrs Trapp.

The film was made in Islington in the London suburbs and uses effective black and white photography in the actual streets and shops, giving an almost documentary feel to the action.

The work the angel has to do is fairly conventional but she does it well, appearing and disappearing, playing the harp sweetly, charming everyone. There is the local policeman and his wife, who had not responded to his love for music. There is their daughter, eighteen, who is sweet on the pawnbroker’s assistant. However, he has no self-image, looks after his mother – and wants to get rid of her grating, gossiping friend. There is also a conman as well as the pawnbroker’s Irish friend. There is a touch of melodrama at times, but the film is generally very sweet.

This was one of the earliest films of Diane Cilento.

1.The appeal of the film? British? Sweet? Slice of life? Fantasy?

2.The black and white photography, in the streets of Islington? An authentic feel? The shops, homes, basements, the halls for youth groups, the festival hall? The musical score – especially the Beethoven concert?

3.The opening, the voice sending the angel to Earth, her mission, her harp, needing money, going to the shop, the discussion with Mr Webman? Her getting the money? The irony of her spending it betting on greyhounds? Her going further into debt? Needing three hundred pounds from Mr Webman? Her meeting with Len, going to the dance with him? Encouraging him after he foiled the robbery? Giving him a strong self-image? Meeting the policeman? Talking, playing the harp, encouraging his love for music, his taking his wife to the concert? The Irishman and his support of the angel? Mr Webman and his worries?

4.The character of Mr Webman, the Jewish background, Felix Aylmer’s screen presence, voice? His love for his music boxes? His loneliness, Len as his assistant, Ned Sullivan as his friend and their chats? Going to the pub, talking to Parker, the deceit about the instruments? The music box and its not working? His getting the test on the harp? His interactions with the angel, wary of her? His finally succumbing to her niceness? His giving the talk to the young people, the angel telling him to speak from the heart, his taking them back through history, bringing the theme alive, their response? The finale, feeling tricked because of the harp, the music box working, getting his money back?

5.The angel, her personality, her helping people? The harp, playing? Her interactions? The fact that the harp had very little financial value? Her going back to Heaven – or another mission? Len, helping, his love for Jenny, her not going to the dance with him, going with the angel? Going out with him, the clash? At home, his mother, Mrs Trapp? The robbers and his show of strength? The newspaper? The angel encouraging him, going home and telling Mrs Trapp to leave? Proposing to Jenny?

6.Lane, police work, the conman, the music, the harp, his wife suspicious, taking her to the concert and her enjoying it? Jenny, her age, attracted to Len, putting him off, the clash, reconciliation?

7.The burglars, looking for the safe, the confrontation with Len?

8.The Irishman, genial, supporting the angel?

9.A gallery of London characters of the 1950s – and a more simple time, a time of realism and of fantasy?

DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN

US, 1971, 90 minutes, Colour.
J. Carroll Naish, Lon Chaney Jr, Anthony Eisley, Reginald Carroll, Greydon Clark, Zandor Vorkov, Russ Tamblyn, Jim Davis.
Directed by Al Adamson.

Many people consider this a cult movie of the kind that it is so bad it must be very good. It was directed by Al Adamson who made his name in exploitation and trash movies during the 1960s and 70s.

The cast is stronger than the film needs. J. Carroll Naish is quite good as Doctor Duryea, the last of the descendants of Frankenstein, operating in a sideshow attraction of horror on the Los Angeles beaches. He looks much the same as he did thirty years earlier or more in such films as Bulldog Drummond Escapes. Lon Chaney Jr, however, simply mugs in his last film as the Frankenstein assistant. He uses some of the tones that he used, especially with the little dog, in the 1939 Of Mice and Men. Anthony Eisley is a television actor who is the hero. Regina Carroll, busty and with big hair, is the dancer who is searching for her murdered sister. Regina Carroll married the director the year after this film and stayed married to him for twenty years until her death by cancer. Others in the cast include Greydon Clark as the young man, strange, unlikely to have had the career that he did, directing many small-budget films. Guests include Jim Davis, from Dallas, and Russ Tamblyn, the child star from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and the adult from West Side Story.

The acting is mixed. Zandor Vorkov as Count Dracula (he made only one film after this) is absolutely terrible. He recites long passages of serious intent with a po-face (made up with heavy white makeup). This is the kind of performance that has a cult following with audiences reciting the lines along with the character.

The film has a small budget, rather poor sets – although there are effects, especially during the credits, for the horrors in a Ghost Train kind of attraction as well as Doctor Duryea’s laboratory. The re-creation of the Frankenstein monster is very weak and laughable indeed.

The film draws on the film traditions of Frankenstein and Dracula – parodying them. The film might be compared, unfavourably, to the films made by Hammer during the 50s and 60s and into the 70s. They even made a Dracula AD1972.

A curiosity item for film history.

RETURN TO HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL

US, 2007, 81 minutes, Colour.
Amanda Righetti, Cerina Vincent, Erik Paladino, Tom Riley, Andrew Lee Potts, Jeffrey Combs.
Directed by Victor Garcia.

Return to House on Haunted Hill takes up the themes of House on Haunted Hill, the horror film with Geoffrey Rush, 1999.

The film uses similar sets, the visuals of the house. It also draws on the themes of the previous film. However, it also introduces popular themes of ancient cursed statues being hidden and being sought by archaeologists and bounty hunters.

The direction is by Spanish-born Victor Garcia who worked on special effects from films ranging from Almodovar’s Talk to Her to Hellboy.

The film is brief, assembles a group of rather unlikeable characters, sets the plots for the search for the lost statue, takes them all to the haunted house, locks them in, lets loose the ghosts who gradually demolish all the group, starting with the bodyguards for the villains first, and only killing one of the good guys.

The film is strong on special effects, the strongpoint of the director. Some of these are quite effective, like the scene in the water tank. There are effective ghosts – and, for those who indulge in this kind of thing, some rather gory killings.

1.The original film of the 50s? The remake of the 1990s? This film drawing on characters, situations, the haunted house?

2.The Los Angeles settings, the university, the hospitals, the haunted house itself? The décor of the house, the rooms, the high ceilings, the long corridors, the rooms, cellars? The eerie atmosphere? The special effects? The ghosts? The deaths?

3.The credibility of the plot? The search for the statue? The haunted house?

4.Richard, his lecture, the explanation of the statue? His students? The death of Ariel’s sister? Her being in the haunted house? Desmond and his killing her? Wanting the diary? The information about the statue? Desmond having been Richard’s student? Richard and his wanting the statue, going on the expedition to the haunted house? His behaviour, the end, change of heart, wanting the statue at all costs, his death?

5.Ariel, her sister’s death, being a model, Paul as the photographer, their relationship? The information about the diary? Meeting Richard? With his assistant Kyle? Their going to the house? Their being taken by Desmond and his gang? Ariel as strong heroine? Paul left outside with the guard, eventually being brought in? His heroics? Ariel and the confrontations with the ghosts? Her decision about the statue, taking it, throwing it into the canal? Paul and the pursuit of the ghosts? Their surviving?

6.Kyle, agreeable, in the house, witnessing the deaths? His own death?

7.Desmond, student, villain, five million dollars, Michelle, her relationship with Richard, betraying him, the money? Their bodyguards? The tough stances? In the house, pursued, Michelle’s head being crushed, Desmond burnt?

8.The combination of popular ingredients of haunted houses, ghosts who are victims of a mad doctor, vengeance, mysterious statues and superstitions?