Category: Film, TV & Radio

Vanilla Ninja

Yesterday was unusual. It was almost the first dry, sunny day in London this year. It was the second time I have used real money this year.

Die Kaiserin

A colour television in the 1960s cost as much as a new, I suppose small, car. A large Dover Sole in a restaurant cost 12/6 or half a crown. I have bought a TV for £125 (the TV licence is £175) and it does everything except brush my teeth. On the other hand I don’t… Continue reading Die Kaiserin

Leopard Changes Spots

I can’t let go of The Leopard. Encouraged by favourable reports from friends I am now a Netflix subscriber and have watched the first two episodes back-to-back.

Pictures in a Picture

Serendipitously, fifteen letters so it fits on a Scrabble board, Apollo Magazine carried an article (by David Weir) about The Leopard yesterday.

Il Gattopardo

“ Nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.” The daily recital of the Rosary was over. For half an hour the steady voice of the Prince had recalled the Glorious and the Sorrowful Mysteries; for half an hour other voices had interwoven a lilting hum from which, now and again, would chime some unlikely word;… Continue reading Il Gattopardo

Pompey

Pompey’s Pillar is a Roman triumphal column not built in memory of the emperor Pompey (106 – 48 BC), as you might expect, but to honour Diocletian (284 – 305 AD). It stands at the eastern side of the temenos of the Serapeum of Alexandria, which is now in ruins. So you have two obscure… Continue reading Pompey

Empire

At least twenty years ago I found I was using my small television as an unplugged, sofa-side coffee table and paying for a TV licence. More recently I found I can watch television using an iPad (and I have a TV licence again).

Modesty Blaise

Modesty Blaise, Joseph Losey’s 1966 offbeat, spoof, comedy caper, is a far cry from his other work: The Servant, The Go-Between, The Damned, Accident etc. But it does have a script by Harold Pinter (in part) and Dirk Bogarde who transformed himself from a matinée star for the Rank Organisation into a Losey favourite portraying… Continue reading Modesty Blaise

Miami Vice

“- Now, as you walk out to the plane, look neither to the right nor to the left. Just look straight ahead, okay? Just keep going straight ahead.”