I was at university at the time that Mark of Lilith was made in 1986. I was very active in the drama society (got me through my degree tbh) and did lots of student drama, sometimes accessible, sometimes 'challenging'. We rarely videoed our masterpieces but I remember shooting the music video for a local band and much fun was had throwing shapes in various costumes that day. (I don't recall the band exactly having a hit with that song.) Though…
Favorite films
Recent activity
AllPinned reviews
More-
-
Ten Cents a Dance 1931
Barbara Stanwyck standing sullenly at the side of the dancefloor waiting for some schmuck to tread all over her toes for ten lousy cents is the mood I'm adopting today.
Recent reviews
More-
I Spy 1934
American Allan Dwan directs Americans Ben Lyon and Sally Eilers in a ramshackle British comedy that has an uncanny knack of missing the mark. There are certain scenes that have charm and humour, such as the opening one where our hero wakes up in a strange room with a taxi driver, but they inevitably peter out, as if the filmmakers ran out of creative energy. Still, it rattles through a succession of Greatest 30s Comedy Thriller Setups (mistaken identity, thinly disguised Nazis, subterfuge on a train, romance in a grand hotel) so you haven't got too much time to moan about what might have been.
-
Popular reviews
More-
Mystery of the Wax Museum 1933
As much as I love Fay Wray and her legendary lungs of scream, this is Glenda Farrell's picture. She's fabulous as the hard-bitten, wisecrackin' reporter and has literally all the best lines - "You can go to some nice, warm place - and I don't mean California!"; "I've been in love so many times, my heart's calloused"; "You raise the kids, I'll raise the roof. I'd rather die of an arthritic heart from shaking cocktails and daiquiris than expire in…
-
Ball of Fire 1941
To some dear readers there may be an element of sacrilege in the following query, but what makes this a Howard Hawks film? This is a Billy Wilder film. The story originated with him and the script (from him and Charles Brackett) is filled with obvious Wilderisms, toying with the English language and sexual mores in his uniquely mischievous Viennese fashion. As one of the exchanges between professor and gangster goes:
'You don't mind if we talk, do you?'
'Just…