Casualty - (Jan 18th)
Tonight - (Jan 18th)
Dateline - (Jan 18th)
Mysteries Unearthed with Danny Trejo - (Jan 18th)
The Chase - (Jan 18th)
The UnBelievable with Dan Aykroyd - (Jan 18th)
The Way Home - (Jan 18th)
Gangland Chronicles - (Oct 1st)
Ruby Wax- Cast Away - (Oct 1st)
Deadliest Catch - (Oct 2nd)
Murder in a Small Town - (Oct 2nd)
Slow Horses - (Oct 2nd)
Bad Monkey - (Oct 2nd)
Midnight Family - (Oct 2nd)
Wheres Wanda - (Oct 2nd)
Tell Me Lies - (Oct 2nd)
Seoul Busters - (Oct 2nd)
American Sports Story - (Oct 2nd)
The Bay - (Oct 2nd)
Unsolved Mysteries - (Oct 2nd)
This is hands down my favorite Ealing Studios comedy, as I'm sure it is for many others. A most exquisite and brilliantly dark comic showcase, most especially for Dennis Price who is outstanding here in the lead role of Louis, and for some young actor named Alec Guinness who plays a whopping 8 roles in this film! In those early days the young Mr. Guinness was constantly challenging both himself, and his directors, in order to prove his capabilities. He had done just that the year before with his fabulous portrayal of Fagin in Oliver Twist, and that was only his 2nd movie! With this phenomenal 3rd piece of work, he silenced any critics that might still be left, going on to enjoy a tremendous career that would last nearly the rest of his life.
The best, I think, of the Ealing Comedies features a wonderful Dennis Price as the hard-done-by aristocrat who sets out to exact the most spectacular series of acts of vengeance on those whom he blames for the plights of his childhood. Alec Guinness plays the entire (somewhat doomed) "D'Ascoyne" family outstandingly (especially, I thought, the vicar) and both Valerie Hobson and Joan Greenwood complete this excellent casting of this very enjoyable dark comedy that has the odd extra twist to complicate things nicely. It is one of those films you can watch over and over again and it just doesn't get wearisome.
For everything that I'd heard about this film, I was left underwhelmed. I'd always heard that Alec Guinness was superb, playing multiple characters, but most of them were on screen for just a moment. Yes, the makeup artist did a good job making them all visually distinct, but only a couple really have a role to play in the story. There is one shot, clever for the time, which brings them all "together" which you can admire on a technical level. It does nothing to raise the piece. Honestly, all of that is a side-show to the actual story and had it been six different actors the film would be unaffected. The humour is that of a gentle farce and personally it caused little more than a wry smile for me. I realise it's "of it's time", but even for the late '40s I think it's pedestrian.
A duck accidentally eats a radioactive burger that turns him giant. Shenanigans ensue when the people of Smallville panic and will do everything to demonize and destroy this innocent duck without realizing the damage they themselves do.
An alienated and misanthropic teenager gains sudden and unwanted celebrity status after he's taken hostage by terrorists where his indifference to their threats to kill him makes news headlines.
A man who spent his formative years in prison for murder is released, and struggles to adjust to the outside world and escape his lurid past. He gets involved with a cheap dancehall girl, and when her protector is accidentally killed, they go on the lam together, getting jobs as farm labourers. But some fellow workers get wise to them.
An undertaker who hasn't had any 'customers' in a long time is forced to pay one year's back-rent. To get money he starts to kill people, which brings absurd results.
Sid Caesar is a bumbling gopher to a mob boss who must recover a fortune in cash stowed in the suit of a corpse.
The Little Fellow finds the girl of his dreams and work on a family farm. He helps defend the farm against criminals, and all seems well, until he discovers the girl of his dreams already has someone in her life. Unwilling to be a problem in their lives, he takes to the road, though he is seen skipping and swinging his cane as if happy to be back on the road where he knows he belongs.
Raymond Lembecke is a con just out of prison after serving time for selling drugs for his mob boss Tony Vago. (Lembecke was innocent and took the rap for Vago.) Lembecke thinks Vago owes him big time so, when his former boss gets him a measly job in a warehouse, he decides on revenge and plans to steal a million dollars worth of drugs from him.
After suffering terrible headaches and stomach cramps, Mr. Lăzărescu, a lonely 63 year-old man, calls for an ambulance, beginning one man’s hellish journey through Bucharest hospitals in search of proper medical care. As the night unfolds, his health starts to deteriorate fast.
After the death of his son, travel writer Macon Leary seems to be sleep walking through life. Macon's wife is having similar problems. They separate, and Macon meets a strange, outgoing woman who brings him 'back down to earth', but his wife soon thinks their marriage is still worth another try.
In the 21st Century, Tony Ricks was a criminal who was executed for his crimes. In the distant year 2020, he is revived in a freak accident, and must infiltrate a futuristic prison and retrieve a powerful bioweapon in exchange for his freedom... and his life.