NEVER TAKE SWEETS FROM A STRANGER **

Highly controversial at the time of it's release and still disturbing today "Never Take Sweets from a Stranger" now feels like a polemic which somewhat dilutes its effectiveness as a thriller. It's extremely well-intended if a little on the dull side. The subject is child abuse; of course, being 1960 the abuse in question is never actually shown and is actually not even looked on as abuse by anyone other than the parents of the abused child.

Felix Aylmer is admirably and bravely cast as the old man who gets a couple of little girls to dance naked for him while he gets off on it. Unfortunately Aylmer is a local bigwig while the family of one of the abused children are newcomers to this closed community who then gang up against them, taking the side of the abuser's family. (The family of the other little girl don't seem to want to know). Consequently the film is as much about the abuse of power as it is about sexual abuse.


It was a product of Hammer Studios and sold as a 'horror' film but it's a very serious and sober picture, a message movie rather than an outright thriller. It is well written and Patrick Allen and Gwen Watford are fine as the parents while Niall MacGinnis as Aylmer's attorney and Alison Leggatt as the little girl's grandmother are outstanding. Today the film remains virtually unseen and while it may be no masterpiece at least you have to admire its intentions.

PRIVATES ON PARADE **

This screen version of Peter Nichols' largely autobiographical play was scripted by Nichols himself and directed by Michael Blakemore, better known for his work in the theatre so it's certainly faithful to its theatrical origins and it does preserve for all time Dennis Quilley's legendary performance as Acting Captain Terri Dennis, the campiest queen in the camp, while the rest of the cast, the cream of British acting talent, are all pretty good, too. It was, of course, sold as a vehicle for John Cleese, who was the biggest 'name' in the cast, in the part created on the stage and with a lot more subtlety by Nigel Hawthorne who, at this point in this career wasn't 'name' enough to carry a picture. Cleese is very funny but it's a much broader performance than Hawthorne's. Of course, there's a serious side to it as well, set as it is in the jungles of Southeast Asia just after the war when the British were fighting the communists and there's a well-handled sub-plot about a corrupt sergeant, (a first-rate Michael Elphick), selling arms to the enemy. And it's utterly un-pc; the racist, sexist, homophobic jokes would probably be considered much too near the knuckle today but taken as a period piece and as a piece of old-fashioned music hall it's very enjoyable. The pastiche musical numbers, with Quilley as Dietrich, Carmen Miranda etc, aren't half-bad, either.

HYDE PARK ON HUDSON **

"Hyde Park on Hudson"is so light and gossamer thin as to practically evaporate before our eyes and yet it has its own peculiar charm. It's about a visit to America by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1939, basically to drum up support from FDR for the war effort and it's all seen through the eyes of Daisy Suckley, the president's 5th cousin and, as it turns out, one of his several mistresses. But this isn't a film about politics or history or even relationships. You mi ght say that if it's about anything it's about the past filtered through the haze of time and considering the personages involved and the significance of the events portrayed, not a great deal actually happens. The director is Roger Michell who has done better, more substantial work but it is often very well acted. Bill Murray is remarkably good as Roosevelt and Laura Linney gives Daisy a surprisingly steely backbone. As the royal couple Samuel West and Olivia Coleman are both excellent while Olivia Williams gives Eleanor more charm that she probably had. A minor film then but a hard one to dislike.

AGE OF CONSENT *

There's a touch of the Gulley Jimsons as well as Paul Gaughin to the artist that James Mason plays in Michael Powell's final 'proper' feature film "Age of Consent". It isn't very good but it's also a hard film to dislike; it's as if everyone involved is having a holiday in one of the most beautiful places on earth, (Dunk Island in Queensland), and having more fun than we are.

It is, then, thin on plot but strong on scenery. Others enjoying the sun and the sand are a young Helen Mirren, (the wild spirit who becomes Mason's muse), and Jack MacGowran, (the scrounger who comes to stay). There is some wildly misplaced comedy as well as a lot of well-cured ham from the supporting cast, (Mason and Mirren, at least, are nicely subdued), and if it is something of a comedown for its director it still manages to exude a peculiar charm all its own.

THE NAKED TRUTH **

A genuinely funny British farce dealing with blackmail and murder and splendidly played by a great cast of British comic actors, (Terry-Thomas, Peter Sellers, Peggy Mount, Joan Sims and Dennis Price). Price is the blackmailer and Sellers, Terry-Thomas and Mount, together with model Shirley Eaton, (long before someone thought of painting her gold), are his victims who plan to murder him but, as with any good farce, things don't go quite according to plan. The underrated Mario Zampi directed from an original and highly ingenious script by Michael Pertwee. Perhaps you need a very British sense of humour to really appreciate this but if you are blessed with such a thing, it's a real treat.

THE SPIKES GANG **

From a time when the western was trying to appeal to a younger audience by making movies that featured boy protagonists rather than men, ("The Culpepper Cattle Company", "The Cowboys" and here, "The Spikes Gang"). This time the boys are Gary Grimes, who wisely gave up acting, Charlie Martin Smith and someone called Ron Howard who appeared in a popular tv series and I believe went into directing.

They're runaways from home who prove to be pretty useless at everything they turn their hand to until outlaw Lee Marvin takes them under his wing, at which point they become pretty good at killing. It's a typically amoral tale where even killing is played largely for laughs, at least at the beginning before it turns tragic along the lines of "Bonnie and Clyde", though this is never in that class and while it may not be the best thing Richard Fleischer, or for that matter Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank Jr, ever did it is still an unusually grim tale which might account for why it's now almost totally forgotten when others of its ilk are more fondly remembered.

THE NANNY **

You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out who the nut job is in "The Nanny". This is Bette Davis in post "Baby Jane/Sweet Charlotte" mode. She's nanny to disturbed little Joey, (an excellent William Dix), who may or may not have drowned his little sister in the bathtub. Joey is a sulky little sod given to rather extreme practical jokes, (little pretending to hang himself), but one look at Mary Poppins Davis and you might be inclined to run a mile. That fine and underrated director Seth Holt directed his excellent psychological chiller well adapted by producer Jimmy Sangster from Evelyn Piper's novel. Davis is superb but so too are Wendy Craig and Jill Bennett as Dix's mother and aunt. It has now built up something of a cult reputation.

9 FINGERS *

With elements of "Kiss Me Deadly" and Lars von Trier's "Europa" and a lot else in-between this decidedly daft film is a kind of Kafkaesque 'thriller' minus the thrills. It won its director, F.J. Ossang, the best direction prize at Locarno though I have no idea what the competition was. It certainly looks the part even if it doesn't make a lot of sense; this is an art-house movie for smart kids who like this sort of thing. You could say it's very 'French'. Don't get me wrong, I didn't dislike it. I was actually rather bemused by it. Ossang is undoubtedly a skilled film-maker but he's also an acquired taste.

SUMMER OF SAM no stars

Something of a misfire. Spike Lee's "Summer of Sam" isn't a total dog but it comes close and is full of missed opportunities. Like the much better "Do the Right Thing"
it tries to balance several stories and isn't directly concerned with the killer or indeed the killings but with a disparate group of people living in the New York borough where the killings took place. The fact that none of these people are remotely interesting is certainly problematic; they are, for the most part, dull caricatures and an outstanding cast, (John Leguizamo, Mira Sorvino, Adrien Brody, Ben Gazzara, Patti LuPone, Anthony LaPaglia, Bebe Neuwirth), are largely wasted. Only Brody's bisexual punk emerges with any credit. A tighter script might have helped. The film wasn't really a success and it's easy to see why.

THE CHALLENGE *

"The Challenge" (or if you prefer "It Takes a Thief"), may not be "Rififi" or "The Killing" but this John Gilling directed crime movie isn't nearly as bad as people would have you believe. In fact, it's a consistently fast-moving, surprisingly tough picture with a decent cast that includes Anthony Quayle and Carl Mohner as crooks under the thumb of  unlikely crime boss Jayne Mansfield. Yes, that's right - Jayne Mansfield, who isn't just miscast here but is perfectly dreadful and was probably the main reason the movie bombed, (was casting her really such a good idea in the first place?). Still, she turns almost every line she utters into a howler and is just one of the reasons the movie is so damned entertaining. Nice black and white photography, too, by Gordon Dines and a good use of locations.

A SIMPLE TWIST OF FATE no stars

This updating of George Eliot's novel "Silas Marner" to contemporary America is just weird enough to be of more than passing interest but if its story-line seems far-fetched to say the least, remember it's a Victorian melodrama that was probably hard to swallow even when Eliot wrote it. Steve Martin is the Silas Marner character who finds a baby abandoned in the snow and through her finds a new meaning in life. The child's natural father is corrupt politician Gabriel Byrne and Laura Linney is Byrne's wife who wants to adopt the child.

Given the material, (Martin did the screenplay himself), they aren't really that bad and it's always good to see Catherine O'Hara, (the local woman with a soft spot for Martin), in any role and at least Martin does manage to inject a degree of comedy into the proceedings that just about alleviates the overall yuckiness. The director was Gillies MacKinnon, better known for somewhat more hard-nosed pictures. This has a 'made-for-tv' feel to it and is much too cosy for my tastes.

THE BIG PICTURE ***

"The Big Picture" is a tale that begins with a murder among Paris' nouveau riche and is one that wouldn't disgrace Chabrol or even Hitchcock, though perhaps it's still too early to call its director, Eric Lartigau, the new Chabrol, though his direction is superlative. At its centre is an absolutely terrific performance from Romain Duris as a man who kills his wife's smug lover and then tries to reinvent his life by taking on the dead man's identity. For a time it looks like it may be a one-man show and it's a tour-de-force. The source material is a novel by Douglas Kennedy and set, not in France but in New England while the beautifully constructed script is by the director and Laurent De Bartillant and the superb cinematography is by Laurent Dailland. All in all, a total pleasure from beginning to somewhat unlikely but nevertheless hugely satisfying end.

SIDE BY SIDE **

Don't let Keanu Reeves' involvement put you off, as it almost did me. "Side by Side" is a terrific documentary that examines the differences between the use of traditional film and the development of digital photography. It's mostly made up of talking heads, primarily directors and DPs, but their passion and enthusiasm for the medium is infectious. There aren't too many examples of the uses of either and often the film seems more like an excuse for why digital is preferable to film; it's almost a valedictory to film and that depresses me. Younger and younger audiences are growing up knowing only digital and are losing out on the beautiful, pain-staking imagery of over a 100 years of film.

I admit film fades and great movies have been lost but give me the black and white glories of Gregg Toland over a lot of what we are seeing today anytime. Is there room for both? Of course; art is all-embracing. I know I'm old-fashioned in my love of old movies and that, in time, the digital revolution will probably, (hopefully), produce masterpieces as great as "Citizen Kane" and "Psycho". I love high definition and the clarity of well shot digital films but for me it will never match the thrill I got seeing for the first time D W Griffith's "Intolerance" (1916) on a large cinema screen.
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