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Reviews
Orson Welles' Great Mysteries: Captain Rogers (1973)
A gripping little thriller by a masterful story teller
WW Jacobs is best known for writing one of the world's great horror stories, The Monkey's Paw. A gripping, supernatural tale about a talisman that grants its owner three wishes with the most heartbreaking consequences. First published by Harper's Magazine in 1902.
A couple of years earlier Harper's had published another Jacobs story, Captain Rogers. It was similarly a gripping little tale although this one had nothing to do with the supernatural but everything to do with down to earth blackmail. I remember seeing this very respectable TV adaptation with Donald Pleasence playing the part of the blackmailer. And an evil charecter he was. A good adaptation that is still fresh in my mind some 50 years later.
Shades of Darkness: The Maze (1983)
A haunting little gem
I remember seeing the "Shades of darkness" TV series when it first came out decades ago and was struck by it then. Something prompted me to look for it on YouTube last year and I found to my delight another devotee had uploaded most of the episodes. With a couple of exceptions they have held up remarkably well over the years.
"The maze" is a haunting little piece. James Bolam and Francesca Annes are so credible in their roles. And the early 1950s setting around London with the Victorian house and rambling garden was just as I experienced in my own childhood home there at that time.
CLB Kitchin's 1953 short story was hard to track down because it's been out of print for so long. But a diligent librarian helped me get hold of a copy. The TV adaptation is absolutely faithful to Kitchin's words.
Incidentally, the title of the series, "Shades of darkness", is from the opening line to Walter De La Mare's best poem, "Fare well". 'When I lie where shades of darkness shall no more assail my eyes, nor the rain make lamentation when the wind sighs, how will fare the world whose wonder was the very proof of me, memory fades, must the remembered perishing be?'
Not a bad jumping off point for a series of gentle ghost stories of which "The maze" is one of the best.
Project Twenty: The Real West (1961)
The real west narrated by the hero of "High Noon"
I must have been about 11 when I first saw this. I was living in England and an addict of "shane", "Calamity Jane" and all those Warner Brothers TV westerns. The BBC announcer warned us just before the broadcast we might be surprised by what Gary Cooper had to say.
It was a spell binding documentary. Here, the much respected marshal from "High Noon" revealed all about the illusory world he'd made his career from.
It was a bit of a shock. Not only were the tooth fairy and Father Christmas a figment of the imagination but so it would seem was the way of life portrayed in the cinema and TV westerns.
Where were those neat, well clothed and well groomed townsfolk with their classy furniture and enormous barroom mirrors? Where was that comfortable little spruced up cabin in "Calamity Jane"? Not it would seem in the Real West and that's for sure. Cooper's matter of fact narration backed up by all the facts and photos was highly credible.
I recall that watching the programmes pushed me across a threshold into the real world where I learned to question the credibilty of everything. A good lesson to learn at the age of 11.
A recording of the TV programme happened to be on a VHS tape before the detective series we wanted to watch this evening. So I revisited the programme some 63 years after I first saw it.
Still spell binding.
Inspector Morse: Dead on Time (1992)
Far and away the best episode of the Morse series so far
In a sense the Inspector Morse series has been building up to this episode in which so much is explained about the lead character. To this point Morse has been an enigma as far as women are concerned. He's a cultivated, attractive, single man with a strong personality and rough charm which clearly women find appealing. Yet he is unmarried and nothing develops to change that. Clearly something happened in the past which has scarred him as far as romance is concerned. In this episode we find out what that was when he comes face to face with a woman he tells Lewis he was once engaged to.
The storyline of Dead on Time is pretty near perfect as far as plot, direction and acting. It's involved but all the pieces come together without any holes. The episode's construction is spot on.
Joanna David is just the person you could imagine Morse would want to marry. Attractive without being an exceptional beauty. Intelligent - she lectures in English literature at the University of London - with a serious appreciation for classical music just like Morse. Her brother, played with relish by Richard Pasco, adds a delightful injection of humour with his eccentricities and outrageous butler who sports a pirate's eye patch and is anything but obsequious to his employer and house guests. Samantha Bond has possibly the most difficult role in playing the part of an unfaithful wife who is in love with an absolute louse. She is such an accomplished actress that she pulls it off convincingly. And Whately gives the Sergeant Lewis character such credibilty as being a strong character in his own right and not just an adjunct to his boss.
Clearly Morse and his former lover, now a widow, still feel a strong attraction for each other. To the point that she arranges to spend the night at his flat. But to no avail as far as taking it any further. The storyline makes it quite impossible for the two of them to get married. And her suicide removes the possibilty of any further involvement in future episodes.
I have been working my way through the entire set of Inspector Morse DVDs. So I was prepared for this episode having learned to appreciate the characters and background of each of the recurrent players. This episode made so much sense and answered all the questions I had about why they behave the way they do.
If I could give this episode an 11 star rating I would!
The Count of Monte Cristo (1964)
A definitive TV adaptation of the story...with subtitles
Thank you, thank you, thank you, BBC, for not only releasing this quite excellent TV adaptation from the 1960s but adding English subtitles in a readable font size. I remember watching this series in England on Sunday afternoons on the TV in our sitting room.
Alan Badel was superb in the role of the Count.
To come across it again is truly a treat. I am now in my 70s and almost deaf so the subtitles make it possible for me to enjoy it to the full all once more.
The cast is filled with several other old friends besides Badel. Not least is an early performance by Philip Madoc who went on to distinguish himself as Magwa in an excellent TV production of The Last of the Mohicans and as the U Boat commander in a memorable episode of Dad's Army.
Omnibus: Paradise Restored (1972)
Brilliant Omnibus episode about the blind English poet John Milton
I remember watching this Omnibus episode late on a Sunday night in London, England over 50 years ago. John Neville's portrayal of Milton was so vivid and memorable that I only have to shut my eyes and I can see him on the small B/W TV screen in my mind. The screenplay dealt with Milton's relationship with his wife and daughter. There was a climactic scene towards the end where he scolds his daughter and, if memory serves, banishes her from his presence if not his life.
The episode did cross the Atlantic and was broadcast on PBS TV in the mid-1970s. It was not released on a DVD. I know it is available at a couple of university libraries in the US on a video cassette. But they cannot be accessed by the general public. Too bad. I'd love to see Paradise Restored again.
The Terminator (1984)
Horribly glories in portraying an active shooter killing innocent people
This used to be a favourite film of mine that I rewatched every six months or so. The intriguing plot, the imaginative construction, Arnold S's limited acting abilities given a chance to shine and Linda Hamilton's screen presence made it a sure fire winner for me.
However, when I happily put the DVD in my player tonight and we settled down to once again enjoy this classic i was starled by one scene I now found a total turn off.
This is when the terminator is let loose with a bunch of assault weapons in the police department. He horribly realistically plays the part of an active shooter going from room to room killing innocent people.
We see the terror of Linda Hamilton's teaction who thinks her last moment has come.
The film revels in this extended sequence. It's only February of this year (2023) and the news has daily reports of active shooters wantonly slaughtering helpless people with assault weapons in our schools and shopping malls.
Terminator is not a documentary. It is an entertainment movie which glories in portraying an active shooter in action. It made me think of the children at the elementary school in Uvalde who were faced with such a situation and I took no pleasure in watching it.
At the end of the film I took my DVD and shredded it. I never want to go through that visual experience again. There have been too many active shooters in real life to make them something to watch for entertainment purposes.
Tales of Mystery (1961)
The Man who was Milligan
I too remember this series from my London childhood in the '60s. I can still see John Laurie with his oh so distinctive face and voice sitting in his chair introducing each episode. There was one episode in particular that I recall. It was so creepy and so well done that at the climax my heart almost skipped a beat. It was the episode "The man who was Milligan" about a picture hanging on the wall of a London bedsit of a Chinaman rowing a boat across a lake. The man in the picture gets bigger and bigger until he eventually rows into the room and transports Milligan to a totally new life in Hong Kong. I saw that episode 60 years ago, yet it's indelibly engraved in my memory banks. And John Laurie too, along with it.
The Wednesday Play: Who's a Good Boy Then? (1966)
Who's a good boy, then? I am!.
I well remember watching this play back in 1966. It was so well acted and so creepy. Thora Hird and her husband were seemingly a nice, ordinary, childless couple befriending this lonely and rather simple man, Billy Oates, while they're out shopping and taking him into their home. Thora Hird establishes the catchphrase "Who's a good boy?" very early on with Billy, just as she might with a child, which he readily joins in with answering "I am". And then things begin to go awry and you realise Thora Hird and her husband are anything but nice and ordinary. Billy is punished for some transgression by being locked in the attic with bars on the window. Just as a child might, Billy tries to earn approval for his release by crying out in tears of desperation over and over again, "Who's a good boy? I am!". To no avail. The play ends as his two captors go on with their lives a couple of floors below contentedly having a cup of tea in the sitting room. Oh yes, I remember this play, vividly. I'm not surprised others do too. It was a masterpiece. I'd love to see it again.