TPTV Films Page 43

Juggernaut (1936)

Weird title this. Not the lorries we see on the roads today of course, but "a huge, powerful, and overwhelming force", which still doesn't make sense with this film - more to do with luring people into the cinema I expect, but at least the film poster made sense this time.

So, dying medical scientist (Boris Karloff) needs £20,000 to finish his research and takes up the offer from a young wife to move into the house of her sick elderly husband, to bump him off and get the necessary moolah.

Made up from bits of film I would say as whole scenes leapt forward in places.

All goes well, until...................

Not a bad short film and Karloff is always worth a watch as he oozes villainy. Oh, and the lugubrious Gibb McLaughlin from the previous JG Reeder film, played the butler in this one.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 1st August 2021, 11:21 PM

UK B&W Films on TPTV that I haven't seen are thin on the ground at the moment, just in case my film review fans are wondering what was going on :D Whistling nnocently Angelic Cool

You should try Don't Talk to Strange Men at 21.05 tomorrow night (Wednesday 18th) if you haven't seen it (doesn't seem to be a review). Stars a young Christina Gregg (top 1960s model), Conrad Phillips and Dandy Nicholls amongst others. Quite suspenseful.

Quote: Billy Bunter @ 17th August 2021, 10:47 PM

You should try Don't Talk to Strange Men at 21.05 tomorrow night (Wednesday 18th) if you haven't seen it (doesn't seem to be a review). Stars a young Christina Gregg (top 1960s model), Conrad Phillips and Dandy Nicholls amongst others. Quite suspenseful.

Ta - night give it a look, but I don't usually watch anything post 1960

Quote: Billy Bunter @ 17th August 2021, 10:47 PM

You should try Don't Talk to Strange Men at 21.05 tomorrow night (Wednesday 18th) if you haven't seen it (doesn't seem to be a review). Stars a young Christina Gregg (top 1960s model), Conrad Phillips and Dandy Nicholls amongst others. Quite suspenseful.

OK, watched it yesterday - quite good and clearly made on a limited budget as it was a slow burn and then seemed rushed at the end, as though they were running out of money. Also, being in B&W would confirm this.

Speaking of the end, as we were - how did William Tell in his post war Bentley Roadster, chasing the villain in his Mk2 Ford Consul, know that he was in that car? No one had ever seen who he was or what he drove, yet in a flash he was chasing him - again, rushed ending, and Christina Gregg (top 1960s model) - hardly Jean Shrimpton was she with her pointy nose and dumpy legs.

Not a bad film though, and being just over an hour, well worth the watch, so thank you Billy. :)

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 20th August 2021, 10:31 AM

Speaking of the end, as we were - how did William Tell in his post war Bentley Roadster, chasing the villain in his Mk2 Ford Consul, know that he was in that car? No one had ever seen who he was or what he drove, yet in a flash he was chasing him - again, rushed ending, and Christina Gregg (top 1960s model) - hardly Jean Shrimpton was she with her pointy nose and dumpy legs.

Not a bad film though, and being just over an hour, well worth the watch, so thank you Billy. :)

Yes, I know. One had to suspend disbelief at the end. It was almost as if they'd cut a vital scene out. I came to the conclusion that they must have set off as soon as the older girl had alerted Mr Tell when she came off the phone to her sister and they arrived at the scene just as the sister was being bundled into the car and so the chase began.

No, I don't remember Christina Gregg from back in the day. I was just quoting what IMDB said.

Quote: Billy Bunter @ 20th August 2021, 1:49 PM

No, I don't remember Christina Gregg from back in the day. I was just quoting what IMDB said.

Of course, I realised it wasn't your opinion, and I don't remember her either. I see she had a bit more work in 62 & 63 and then disappeared out of showbiz, she now lives in Canada and her second husband died only last month.

The Way Out (1955) Yank title Dial 999

Man, accidentally kills another in a bar brawl (NO, IMDb he wasn't innocent), and goes on the run with the help of his wife and her friends, but he turns out to be a bit of a drunken bastard anyway and tries to cheat on his wife etc. who still believes in him, although her patience runs thin.

Not a bad little 1½ hour thriller with mostly people I've never heard of (2 Americans in the lead parts), but there was B movie regular Sydney Tafler in his "best" role of dodgy night-club owner and John Bentley (police DI) who finished up managing Crossroads motel in the 60s/70s.

Murder in Soho (1940) "Murder in the Night" - Yank title. I think Soho would have confused them

American gangster, is trying to go legit in London (actually played by US actor Jack La Rue - No, I'd never heard of him either), but a small time Brit crook is trying to queer his patch by threatening to tell the Met of his dodgy past. Throw in some stolen pearls, the excellent Googie Withers as his jealous moll and you have a recipe for fireworks.

Only about an hour long, so worth a look, if only to see a just about recognisable Bernard Lee as ace reporter and James Hayter as a gofer. Also, apparently Robert Beatty's first uncredited film part.

Nice Sunday afternoon fodder, before you drift off into the Land of Nod. :).....................Sleepy

Likely Lads 10pm tonight. Best sitcom film ever, and the Porridge film aint far behind it. Clement and La Frenais ear for working class dialogue is sublime.

Quote: paulted @ 5th September 2021, 9:06 PM

Likely Lads 10pm tonight. Best sitcom film ever, and the Porridge film aint far behind it. Clement and La Frenais ear for working class dialogue is sublime.

Just started reading their biog. "More Than Likely" - excellent read so far, which deals with The Likely Lads in the first chapter - very interesting snippets.

Quote: paulted @ 5th September 2021, 9:06 PM

Likely Lads 10pm tonight. Best sitcom film ever, and the Porridge film aint far behind it. Clement and La Frenais ear for working class dialogue is sublime.

Oh I missed it, but the last time I saw it was as if I'd never properly watched it before, it was great. What an ending. But I think that of a lot of things I haven't seen for years. It's either down to the growing power of nostalgia or I just didn't concentrate enough when watching them before. Which I can believe, I'm easily distracted.

Yes both film's scripts are very verbally busy, like the sitcoms. I'd have both in my sitcom film top 20 but The Likely Lads could be in top 10, although probably bottom half. Hmm...

Snowball (1960)

The title being how a small (untrue) incident can gather pace and ruin someone's life.

12-year-old Dennis Waterman tell his parents he was thrown off the bus coming home from school to cover up for the fact that he was late, by saying he'd lost his bus fare. Parents Gordon Jackson and Zena Walker tut-tut about it, but let it go.

BUT their nosey neighbour posts a letter in the local rag to say how disgusting it was that a young lad should be made to walk 4 miles home, with all that can happen to a child. Annoyed at their neighbour's interference, they confront their son, who realises his lie has got out of hand, but sticks with it, lest he should be punished.

It all gets worse when the bus driver, played by Kenneth Griffith denies it happened, but since his involvement in the war, he does have these blackouts, where he can't remember things.

So, it all snowballs into a nasty, tragic incident.

Good film, with Waterman in his first film role, and very good he was too.

How to Undress in Public Without Undue Embarrassment (1965)

Well, this is a weird docu-film, and no mistake. I wouldn't normally look at anything post 1960, but I was intrigued as it starred Jon Pertwee in various "nude" romps, with Kenneth Connor and Reginald Beckwith making brief appearances, and a shared commentary by Fenella Fielding and, of all people, John Deacon.

Full marks to Renown Pictures for digging this oddity up - as the IMDb puts it "Comic survey of methods of undressing through the ages, from Victorian modesty to modern strip clubs."

50 minutes, filmed in B&W with original Soho nightclub clips, so done on the cheap - Jon's nude scenes, such as Adam in the Garden of Eden, was poorly edited and more than once you got a glimpse of the white underpants he was wearing.

You Pay Your Money (1957)

I've seen some pointless, boring B movies, but this one takes the biscuit. Just meandered around about protecting some stolen sacred Arab scriptures, its only saving grace was to see 32-year-old Honor Blackman (nice) in a bathing suit and a black Mk1 Ford Consul exactly like my first car - it was that riveting, and why the hero, Brit actor Hugh McDermott had to pretend to be an American is anyone's guess.

IMDb "A rogue smuggler enters the world of intrigue and deception, when he finds that his wife has been kidnapped his world changes." Really?

Didn't know anyone else, but do see that Robert Dorning (who I'm presently watching in Bootsie and Snudge) was in a bird watcher scene that was deleted, and coincidentally Bill Fraser (Snudge) as an uncredited Fishing Boat Captain, who I didn't notice as it was filmed from so far away.

All in all, a waste of just over an hour.

What a selfless chap is dear Herc, watching this dross so we don't have to!