Adam Bowen's Talkie Talk #50 - Modest pickings at the cinema but masterpieces galore on the TV including THE SMALL BACK ROOM and SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS

NEW IN CINEMAS THIS WEEK

Girls of the Sun (2018) Kurdish women fight to take their town back from extremists…

Watch the trailer here

Hotel Mumbai (2018) …this time extremists attack a Mumbai hotel. Dev Patel and his fellow staff members resist.

Older Than Ireland (2015) Thirty Irish centenarians talk about their lives.

Watch the trailer here

Sometimes, Always, Never (2018) Bill Nighy tries to find his missing son, via an online game of Scrabble.

ON THE TELLY

 

David Farrar, Kathleen Byron, The Small Back Room

Wednesday Noon 9Gem: Nigel Balchin’s The Small Back Room (1949) – during WW2 an alcoholic bomb disposal expert (David Farrar) faces the external challenge of an ingeniously booby-trapped bomb. Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger; photographed by Christopher Challis, and co-starring the magnetic Kathleen Byron.

Thursday 10.30pm & Friday 2pm on Fox Classics: The Taking of Pelham 123 (1974) Gripping, non-nonsense thriller, mostly set on the NYC subway. Stars Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw. Great score by David Shire. Not to be confused with the limp re-make (2009)

Click to see a smart mash-up of the David Shire  score

Saturday 7pm 9Gem: Jane Eyre (2011) Laudably restrained adaptation of the famous novel. Mia Wasikowska is excellent as the heroine, employed by the mysterious Mr Rochester (Michael Fassbender - less successful) to be governess to his child, in his mansion on the moors. Skilfully directed (Cary Joji Fukunaga), photographed (Adriano Goldman), and scored (Dario Marinelli).

Watch the trailer here

Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster, Sweet Smell of Success

Sunday 8.30pm Fox Classics: Bullitt (1968) – Steve McQueen is a very cool San Francisco detective; Robert Vaughan is a smoothly sleazy politician. The plot is familiar, but there’s lots of atmosphere and a brilliant car chase.

Sunday 10.15pm Fox Classics: Sweet Smell of Success (1957) – jet black drama, starring Tony Curtis as an NYC press agent, eager to do favours for creepy gossip columnist, Burt Lancaster. Brilliant work by cinematographer, James Wong Howe, director, Alexander Mackendrick and composer, Elmer Bernstein.

Here's a trailer done to accompany the release of the film on Criterion DVD