silent running (1972)

"report right away to the recreation room."
In an unspecified future, a lone scientist (Bruce Dern) on a space station, tends to all the flora from earth on a spacestation, as the planet is now barren. But as he does so, he remonises about the day that he is given orders to destroy it all, and we find out why he is alone.
Although now showing its age, the central story still holds poignancy.

lili marlene (1950)

"Her father was a collaborator!"
A French girl (Lisa Daniely) becomes famous for singing the German song Lilli Marlene, ad falls for Steve (Hugh McDermott), who managers her. The Nazi's sensing a propaganda coup manage to kidnap her, and make her broadcast for them. Once the war is over, Lili re-appears in London and in Steve's life. She convinces him that she was brainwashed and forced to broadcast for the German's, but this doesn't convince the British secret service...
Predictable war drama with an unconvincing conclusion.

some like it sexy (1969)

aka Afternoon Delight .
"We've all got to do our bit for international relations."
Peter (Christopher Matthews) is a man about town, with one thing on his mind, who works his way through various stereotype women.
Sexploitation enlivened only by some bizarre symbolic cutaways, and a kitsch view of the 60's, in this cut-price Alfie.

venom (1981)

aka Afternoon Delight .
"We've all got to do our bit for international relations."
Peter (Christopher Matthews) is a man about town, with one thing on his mind, who works his way through various stereotype women.
Sexploitation enlivened only by some bizarre symbolic cutaways, and a kitsch view of the 60's, in this cut-price Alfie.

don't just lie there say something (1974)

"MP's why don't they stay at home and watch telly like the rest of us."
MP Sir William Mainwaring-Brown (Leslie Phillips) is sponsoring an anti-smut campaign in Parliament, and to an effort to scupper it, some hippies try to kidnap him. Unfortunately they only succeed in grabbing Barry Ovis (Brian Rix), an accident prone MP, on the day he is meant to marry Sir William's daughter.
A bed-hopping farce that unfortunately was what passed for comedy in 70s Britain.

the wildcats of st trinians (1980)

"Beat it scum."
The girls of St Trinians decide they want to form a trade union, and Flash (Joe Melia) tells them that they have to infiltrate all the top schools in England, in order to create a closed shop. So this is what they do...
A continuation of the St Trinians series, sees some of the original team back, for a 70's take on worker relations. Unfortunately it lacks much of the wit the series had become known for.

the purge: election year (2016)

"We will now purge. We will torture you and violate your flesh. Remove your skin and share in your blood. This is the American way."
Senator Charlie Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell) has risen on the promise to ban the event. The political elite determine to bring her down, with the aid of a white power militia, but they don't recon on Roan and her security advisor Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo), receiving the help of a couple of Deli owners (Mykelti Williamson & J.J. Soria) and a paramedic (Betty Gabriel)...
The Purge becomes political, in this chase thriller, which demands you don't ask any questions, in order to be entertained.

dead end (1937)

aka Dead End: Cradle of Crime.
"Straight in the arms of my mother"
'Baby Face' Martin (Humphrey Bogart), a renowned gangster, returns to the tenements where he grew up, to see his mother and an old girlfriend. Unfortunately the ten years that have passed since he was last around may not have changed the place, but it has changed the people; with his mother rejecting him, and Frenchie (Claire Trevor) now a terminally ill prostitute. Feeling sorry for himself, Martin then decides to rob a luxury apartment in the area...
A gritty gangster flick, (for its time), that looks at the poverty that drives juvenile delinquency, and in turn fuels adult crime.

behind the mask (1958)

"I may be old-fashioned but I prefer to think of them as human beings."
Philip Selwood (Tony Britton) is a newly qualified surgeon, under the wing of Sir Arthur Benson Gray (Michael Redgrave), and is set to marry his daughter (Vanessa Redgrave). But then a patient dies, and Philip is disturbed that the Polish anesthetist Dr Romek (Carl Möhner) is being set up as the scape goat, due to his newly discovered drug addiction.
Stiff upper lip Medical drama, that is more interesting for Redgrave's screen debut.

amelia and the angel (1958)

"This is the story of Amelia, the least angelic of them all."
Young Amelia (Mercedes Quadros) is forbidden to take away the angel wings, that form part of her costume for an upcoming dance. But she takes them home anyway. Unfortunately her little brother soon damages them, and she is forced to scour the streets of London for replacements.
Experimental short film by Ken Russell, that incorporates many of the themes that he developed in later projects, from dance to treatise on Catholicism.

peepshow (1956)

A Beggar's Academy trains people to impersonate the blind and infirm, to con money out of the public, but their earnings tumble when a peepshow is set up.
Ken Russell's debut short film shows promise and is styled in a Caligariesque fashion.

melody club (1949)

"Ok! Trust Freddie. "
Jean (Gwynneth Vaughan) has inherited a nightclub that a gangster wants to buy. He's hit on a scheme to ruin the clubs reputation, so he can buy it cheap. So Jean employs an incompetent private detective Freddy Forrester (Terry-Thomas) to go undercover and find out what is going on.
Clumsy comedy that even Terry-Thomas cannot save.

the forest (2016)

"Turn around Sarah."
identical twin Sara (Natalie Dormer) goes to Japan to find her sister, when she is told she has walked alone into an infamous suicide hot spot. No one will help her due to their fear of the forest and the demons said to live within it, but her luck seems in when she meets Aiden (Taylor Kinney), a travel journalist, who says he will help her...
Emulates the Japanese psychological horrors, though lacking the shocks and unease that this genre is famous for.