15/07/2020 by Peter Viney
Review of The Dave Clark Five in Catch Us If You Can (1965) in the 60s Retrospective series. While the debt to A Hard Day’s Night is obvious, it was a successful film in its own right (retitled Having A Wild Weekend in the USA). Dave Clark chose the director (It was John Boorman’s first feature film) and screenwriter, Peter Nichols. Barbara Ferris co-starred. Black and white, and very unusually it’s a comedy chase drama, with a Dave Clark Five soundtrack, but no songs are performed, sung or mimed on film.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Barbara Ferris, Dave Clark, Dave Clark Five, Dennis West Payton, JohnBoorman, Lenny Davidson, Mike Smith, Peter Nichols, Robin Bailey, Yootha Joyce | 4 Comments »
11/07/2020 by Peter Viney
My first play review since lockdown! Review of Terence Rattigan’s THE DEEP BLUE SEA at the National Theatre in 2016 (linked). This started live streaming on YouTube on 9th July, and is available now. It’s a detailed review which also continues and discusses live theatre v streamed recordings, and also the comparison with the Chichester 2019 production and the difference in the theatres. Definitely one to see.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Adetomiwa Edun, Carrie Cracknell, Helen McCrory, Hubert Burton, John Sullivan, Nick Fletcher, Terence Rattigan, Tom Burke, Yolanda Kettle | Leave a Comment »
08/07/2020 by Peter Viney
Review in the 60s Retrospective series of WONDERFUL LIFE (1964). (follow the link) It’s the third Cliff Richard musical, and suffered from its release date, just days before ‘A Hard Day’s Night.’ It’s much maligned, though the “In The Movies” series of pastiches gets praised. I’ve put more pictures in than any other review, because there are two long pastiche / send ups of dance movies, and then movies worth illustrating. I had never seen it before. I was struck by the criticized ‘film within a film plot’ at the time, which makes it look most knowing in subverting movie conventions nowadays. It suffers from the music (a burden for a musical) but filming and cinematography are always good.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Brian Bennett, Bruce Welch, Cliff Richard, Gillian Lynne, Hank B. Marvin, John Rostill, Melvyn Hayes, Peter Myers, Richard O'Sullivan, Ronald Cass, Sidney J. Furie, Stanley Black, Susan Hampshire, The Shadows, Una Stubbs | Leave a Comment »
04/07/2020 by Peter Viney
An article added to rants on lockdown, 100 Days Plus & Counting.The title should be self-evident. What we’ve been doing and not doing. The inertia of lockdown …
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28/06/2020 by Peter Viney
The 60s Retrospective series stays with pop exploitation for the other huge non-Beatles one, Cliff Richard and The Shadows in SUMMER HOLIDAY (1963). Linked. Like The Young Ones it didn’t make a mark in the USA but dominated the coldest British winter on record in 1963. The burst of colour and sunshine throughout was a tonic. A significant snippet – the LP topped the British charts for fourteen weeks. It was replaced by Please Please Me. That marks a watershed point in British popular culture. So a look at pre-watershed pop.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Cliff Richard, David Kossoff, Lauri Peters, Melvyn Hayes, Ron Moody, The Shadows, Una Stubbs | 2 Comments »
28/06/2020 by Peter Viney
The superb Bridge Theatre 2019 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is on YouTube. Link to my original review from last year. Look for National Theatre Live. It’s definitely on for five more days. It’s great. You lose the action of stages going up and down all over the auditorium, but in compensation you get the facial close ups you don’t see in the theatre so well- and we saw it twice in the theatre. This is the end where they’re choosing who will do the entertainment for the nuptials. The Rude Mechanicals at the bottom. With Bottom.
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24/06/2020 by Peter Viney
One of my most thorough 60s reviews, laden with pictures. THE YOUNG ONES from 1962, starring Cliff Richard & The Shadows. This film did nothing in the USA, but in the UK, the rivals in popularity on release would be A Hard Day’s Night and Help! (And the sequel, Summer Holiday). This film was massive. It has some discomfort in mixing genres … pastiche MGM musical with 60s pop exploitation. In spite of that we enjoyed revisiting it. It’s a great snapshot of the era … filmed in mid-1961, General Release was January 1962.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Carole Gray, Cliff Richard, Melvyn Hayes, Richard O'Sullivan, Robert Morley, The Shadows | Leave a Comment »
19/06/2020 by Peter Viney
Review of the 1964 film THE CHALK GARDEN. Starring Hayley Mills, Deborah Kerr, Edith Evans, John Mills, Felix Aymler, Elizabeth Sellars. This was a film version of the popular stage play from 8 years earlier which was described as the last and best of the drawing room comedy-thriller genre. The film loses most of the comedy. The stage play has been revived and as well as an overview of the film, there is a comparison between stage play (at Chichester in 2018) and the film, and on acting styles in general.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Deborah Kerr, Edith Bagnold, Edith Evans, Elizabeth Sellars, Felix Aymler, Hayley Mills, John Mills, Rodney Neames | Leave a Comment »
17/06/2020 by Peter Viney
Review of the BBC TV mini-series THE SALISBURY POISONINGS added. It received very good reviews for its focus on the individual human angle, and there are clear parallels with Coronavirus – parts of Salisbury were shut down for many months. For me, it dodged the main issue and avoided any attention on the guilty perpetrators. Most reviews would disagree with me and liked its focus.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Annabel Scholy, Anne-Marie Duff, Clare Burt, Johnny Harris, Jonathan Slinger, Mark Addy, MyAnna Buring, Rafe Spall, Saul Dibb | Leave a Comment »
16/06/2020 by Peter Viney
Review added in the 60s Retrospective series, LIVE IT UP! (linked) from late 1963. I’m getting addicted to these pop exploitation films and this is another full plot review with many pictures so you won’t need to watch it. This focusses on a lad starting a group, David Hemmings. The lead singer is Heinz and the drummer is a young Steve Marriott. Most of the soundtrack is Joe Meek, and featuresThe Outlaws, Sounds Incorporated, Jennifer Moss, Patsy ann Noble, Kenny Ball & His Jazzmen and a sweet Gene Vincent. The Outlaws included Ritchie Blackmore and Chas Hodges.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Chas Hodges., David Hemmings, Gene Vincent, Heinz Burt, Jennifer Moss, Joan Newell, Joe Meek, Kenny Ball, Kim Roberts, Lance Comfort, Patsy Ann Noble, Ritchie Blackmore, Sounds Incorporated, Steve Marriott, The Outlaws | Leave a Comment »
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