Movie review - "I'll Take Sweden" (1965) **

1965 was the high-water mark of Frankie Avalon's film career - AIP gave him the title role in Sergeant Deadhead and he supported Bob Hope in this comedy which teams him with Tuesday Weld.

This film has a lot going for it and should be better than it is. The central idea is strong - Hope dislikes Avalon, the boyfriend of daughter Weld, so he goes over to Sweden - only to discover he dislikes Weld's new Swedish boyfriend even more.

You can have a lot of fun with that, even if Hope's persona doesn't exactly mesh with being a father figure - you could use that to your advantage, have him play one of his cowardly con men who is now responsible for this wild child. But they don't give Hope a fixed character (I was never sure how cocky or sleazy he was supposed to be... he's a bit sleazy with Dina Merrill).

More frustratingly they don't give Weld a character either. She starts off as a semi kook but during the Swedish section she doesn't cut loose - we want her to send up an American abroad, but she just becomes more conventional.

The film becomes all about Hope trying to stop Weld having sex which is just dull. Stopping her from marrying a deadshit is relatable, but sex just feels boring. And with Weld being all down with no sex before marriage at the end... that's just dull. And it doesn't feel true. I know there were censorship concerns but I feel these could have been avoided if it was all about marriage rather than sex and Hope was trying to stop marriage not sex.

I also wish there had been more satire of Sweden. Very little is done with it - the film was clearly not shot in Sweden and doesn't feel Swedish. Couldn't they have gotten any Swedish actors?

A disappointment. Weld is pretty at least, Hope has a few gags and Avalon is animated.

Movie review - "Sail a Crooked Ship" (1961) **

The opening scenes of this film scream "cut about in post production" - lots of narration, Ernie Kovacs badly dubbed, no dialogue scenes. It's awkward and uncertain. Comedy is hard. This film proves it.

The plot has Robert Wagner give a ship to Ernie Kovacs who plans on using it in a bank robbery. Wagner is professional as always but feels miscast - too old, too smooth to play a nebbish idiot. The producers were clearly hoping for Jack Lemmon but in hindsight would have been better off casting Frankie Avalon, who plays a sailor on the ship. Avalon's youth and gee whiz naivety would have worked a tonic. It doesn't help that Wagner is set up as a lech who wants to bang girlfriend Dolores Hart, who won't let him (Hart famously became a nun in real life) - this would have felt a little more forgivable from a super young man like Avalon.

The cast is strong but either misfires or doesn't do enough. Hart tries but doesn't have It. Reviewing her career I think her performance in Where the Boys Are was the exception in its effectiveness rather than the rule. Frank Gorshin and Jess Matthews are fun as crooks but don't do enough; ditto Buddy Hackett was another crook. I kept wanting Kovacs to do more. Carolyn Jones is in glamour mode as Kovacs' moll - weird to see her running around in a bikini.

People try but its badly directed. There's lots of studio bound scenes of the boat, even in a storm. It feels low budget - it's in black and white.

I did laugh at the bank robbery by the crooks dressed up as pilgrims.

Movie review - "Operation Bikini" (1963) **

AIP are best remembered for their teen orientated movies - JD pictures, beach party films, Poe adaptations, sci fi flicks. They did turn out a few meat and potato war movies as well, films with titles like Jet Attack. This was a late entry - originally called The Seafighters its title was changed to Operation Bikini, which implied it was a military themed beach party movie. (The film was made before Beach Party).

Which would probably have been more fun. This is a sluggish not terribly involving film. It has an interesting, eclectic cast who in all honesty look like they should be in a beach movie: Tab Hunter, Frankie Avalon, Jim Backus (as part of the same platoon!), Gary Crosby (who actually looks like a believable GI), Michael Dante, Scott Brady, Eva Six, Jody McCrea. Avalon, Six and McCrea would go on to make Beach Party.

It's a flabby film. It's a guys on a mission movie but the mission doesn't start til 45 minutes in. The time up til then is padded out with not one but two scenes of Avalon dreaming about his girlfriend  and him singing a lounge tune to her.

Eva Six, who would be in Beach Party, is a native girl who helps the men - including dousing Hunter's head and bare chest with water, giving him a massage and then having sex with him. This scene was a little awkward to watch.

The action isn't very well done - it's not that exciting. There's some stock footage from the water and murky underwater footage. And an ending which mentions the Bikini Atoll explosions and a final credit sequence in colour with two women in bikinis (I think one of them is Eva Six, even though her character dies in the movie) cavorting around on a beach. It's just a bit weird. 

I honestly wonder what the hell the story was with the making of this film. My guess is they started off making a conventional war movie then worried how dull it was and panicked.

Script review - "Deeper" by Max Landis (warning: spoilers)

People go "why do Max Landis scripts sell" but reading this I can see it. It's simple, has a great star role, a hooky concept (a one location thriller about a vessel that goes to the deepest part of the ocean), has a few twists (there are creatures down there, encountering a mission person). I kept thinking another draft would have been even better but it was consistently spooky, with great atmosphere. You can see the film.

Movie review - "Tommy" (1975) ****

I keep surprising myself how much I'm enjoying Ken Russell films. When married to a strong piece of material he could do marvellous work, as shown here.

Why do rock bands no longer attempt rock operas? Surely U2 should have had a go (I guess they did with Spiderman). This was from Pete Townsend in all its late 60s glory but the public took to it - snapping up the various albums, going to see stage shows, buying tickets for this.

Russell was the perfect director - he loves music and visuals and had a decent story sense so could streamline a few things in the original. It is bold and imaginative and the story holds.

Russell had actors who could commit. Oliver Reed always goes for it, and is a lot of fun as the slimy uncle. Ann Margret flings herself into the part as Tommy's mother - famously being doused in baked beans, but because this is a Ken Russell movie it makes sense.

Roger Daltrey is effective in the lead. Actually everyone is good. Robert Powell's oddness works for Tommy's dad. There's bits from Jack Nicholson, Elton John, Tina Turner. Someone for everyone.

It's full bodied and a lot of fun. It's a shame Russell didn't do more rock musicals.

Movie review - "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1962) ***1/2 (warning: spoilers)

An epic which famously nearly bankrupted MGM and marked a turning point in the career of Marlon Brando. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it - it's smart, has some very good acting, and looks amazing. They spent too much money to be sure but a lot of it is up on screen - the replica of the Bounty, location shooting in Tahiti with its stunning vistas, excellent period detail. It's a really gorgeous movie. It doesn't play dumb. Character interactions are complex.

It goes for too long and becomes a hard slog. The build up to the mutiny is okay (though you can still see things which could be cut), because you know the mutiny is coming. Afterwards, it's harder - a lot of screen versions of this story have this problem.  There's an intermission here but it just feels plunked in the middle. Really they should have built to the mutiny then had an intermission then told the rest of the story.

Notably the film struggles to illustrate characters who aren't Bligh and Christian. Richard Harris was billed third, above the title, but even he doesn't do that much - which is a shame because he's very good and always looks interesting and dynamic,  but he really just joins in the mutiny. Okay and I guess he burns the ship at the end. But that would've meant more had there been more interaction between Harris and Brando during the film. 

Compare it to say the 1935 movie which focused on Clark Gable, Charles Laughton and Franchot Tone - everyone forgets Tone is in the film, but he's a crucial character. I actually think if the filmmakers had gone "right, this movie is about three people and is going to build towards the end where Harris betrays Christian" it would have been a hit... but they only added the end after filming had been completed.

Hugh Griffith and Percy Herbert also feel underserviced. So too does Richard Haydn - his horticultural character starts off narrating the film and gets all this screen time then he disappears from the story.

Chips Rafferty is one of the mutineers. He actually looks the part - he's very 18th century seaman in appearance. His Australian accent is a little distracting. He doesn't have that much to do.

Tarita, who plays Christian's love interest, is the usual smiling south seas beauty, although she gets to be a little more active than this role is normally depicted - after the mutiny she swims out to the Bounty to give Christian a kick up the arse. At least it's something!

Look, I get it, but at three hours... they needed more subplots/plot twists or characters. If they didn't want to do that they should have cut it down.

Its a shame because dramatically this is solid. Playing Christian as a fop... I know that's not true but it works for drama. His arc in this movie is quite interesting. Having Harris burn the boat because Brando wants to return home... that's actually a good way of getting around the problem that Bligh and Christian didn't see each other after the mutiny.

The acting is very good. Brando is always interesting. Trevor Howard is superb. All the sailors are good.

This movie shouldn't have cost as much as it did and clearly lacked a vision but there's some fantastic things about it.

Movie review - "North to Alaska" (1960) **** (re-viewing)

Maybe four stars is too much but re-watching this film - I've seen it several times - I was struck by how much I like it. So many of the pleasures you simply don't get any more - John Wayne in the lead, Charles Feldman's mistress Capucine knocking it out of the park as his co star, Fabian in support, a jaunty ballad-pop theme tune.

Apparently the movie was greatly rewritten as it went along by Henry Hathaway supervising. Someone knew writing though because it does hang together in part because there is decent central conflict - Wayne and Stewart Granger are partners in Alaska circa 1906 who've struck it rich, Wayne goes to Seattle to collect Granger's fiance, finds she's gotten married to someone else so he brings back a prostitute, Capucine. Capucine thinks Wayne wants her and by the time she finds out the truth she's fallen for her - but Wayne doesn't want to be tied down.

So you've got good central conflict and decent characters - a miner who won't be married, and a prostitute who wants him. That's a juicy central dramatic situation. They complicate it in decent ways - there are claim jumpers after Wayne's mine, Granger falls for Capucine, so does Granger's kid brother Fabian, a conman Ernic Kovacs is after the mine, drunken Mickey Shaugnessy used to own the minr. Stories dovetail neatly - for instance Capucine is an ex of Kovacs.

It goes for two hours and really could have been cut - the last half hour the conflict is contrived as they struggle to find ways to keep Wayne and Capucine apart. I also think the sequence where Granger and Capucine are trying to make Wayne jealous drags. They probably wanted to give Granger something to do - it's not much of a part. However, he is a believable miner and it's nice that this role was played by someone with charisma and presence, he gives it heft.

Kovacs is a strong antagonist - he's clever and sly. Wayne is in wonderful form - big, warm, charismatic, doing an amusing slow burn, jealous, charming It's one of his likeable performances.

It's also one of Fabian's best efforts. The role suits him like a glove - not too much pressure, but still with a little meat. It's not very convincing that he and Granger are brothers, and his haircut feels 1960 rather than 1906 but he gets to play a 17 year old and has a definite character - kid who wants to be an adult, who falls for Capucine and tries to seduce her (a long scene and he holds his own). He sings a song "If You Only Knew", which is a soft ballad - he wasn't bad at these eg "This Friendly World" from Hound Dog Man. He's very likeable.

The real surprise packet though is Capucine. A bit of a joke at the time because she was am oderl turned actress and mistress of Charles Feldman, she's a delight - perfectly cast (as a French prostitute), elegant, beautiful, lovely. She believably falls in love with Wayne, is very sweet - the first third of the film, their courtship in Seattle, is among the best bit of the movie. She's good at comedy - very funny being seduced by Fabian and later taking part in the brawl at the end. This is important too because the movie is her character's story as much as Wayne's - she drives the second half of the movie, pursuing Wayne.

The scenary is spectacular and the production design a delight - beaches, steamers, muddy roads, bordellos, lumberjack lunches, mines. I have a soft spot for "Northerns" set during the Alaskan gold rush and this film really goes for it.

It's a charming, sweet movie  with a jaunty title track. I recognise I may be biased because I saw this film as a kid when highly formative.

(I could have done without the wacky sound effects during the fight scenes eg birds tweeting when someone gets punched.)

Movie review - "Green Fire" (1954) **

Pretty much every film Grace Kelly starred in was popular - this one has a reputation as a dud but in fact it made a profit. No one likes it though and it isn't very good.

It's bewildering what went wrong. It has a lot of things going for it - Kelly of course, but also an ideally cast Stewart Granger (stepping in for Clark Gable, who was meant to star, but the studio took it away when he wouldn't renew his contract), Paul Douglas in support, location filming in Columbia, CinemaScope, great color, and a plot about looking for jewels in Columbia. There's elements which sound exciting - bandits, cave ins, fights - and it looks good, but it's all... flat.

Part of the problem is the story is stagnant. Granger turns up looking for emeralds, and finds them very quickly... near the coffee plantation of Grace Kelly. He spends most of the film hanging around the coffee plantation. They have meals on the verandah, walks in the garden, then they do some mining but it's next door - it's not like say King Solomon's Mines where he was moving around.

There are some villainous bandits but they just sort of turn up whenever need to. Paul Douglas feels extraneous - a sidekick who is Granger's moral conscience, I think. But Kelly is also his moral conscience. They should have made Douglas a villain, or at least funny.

There's also John Ericson as Kelly's brother. He sort of hangs around, then overrules Kelly in helping Granger build the mine, then is killed... to... make Kelly annoyed at Granger, I guess. But Ericson feels pointless. Why not make him a villain too?

Instead we've got this boring drama about Granger being greedy, digging  a mine (though the script tweaks it so that Ericson pushes the idea on Granger).

I would have made it that Granger's partner, Paul Douglas, was more ruthless than Granger. I would have had Kelly as an innocent abroad - she has nothing to play as it is, she's just this dim woman hanging around a coffee plantation. If you wanted to keep the stupid coffee plantation I would have had Kelly come out to take it over, and if you wanted to keep Ericson, have him run it into the ground because he was lazy and useless. So Kelly is this hoity toity miss trying to fix her coffee plantation while Granger is swagging around digging for emeralds - this gives Kelly something to do.

I would've added more sexual tension too. The hottest bit is when Granger and Kelly kiss in the rain - at the end. Have this stuff throughout. Make her prim and proper, wanting to be rogered but afraid at the same time etc etc. Not rocket science.

But MGM under Dore Schary struggled with these sort of meat and potatoes broad appeal entertainments.

Why Burt Reynolds Might Not Have Worked with A List Directors More

I always felt that Burt Reynolds might have sustained his regime as star had he worked with better directors. Because his filmography was littered with the work of journeymen - Hal Needham, Joseph Sergeant. And his career famously never recovered from turning down the role of the astronaut in Terms of Endearment from James L Brooks. 

But maybe there is something to be said in his defence.

Burt didn't have great luck with A list directors. Look at the following: 

 * Stanley Donen - made a hash of Lucky Lady which had been a much-in-demand script

* Steven Spielberg - was to direct White Lightning but pulled out instead Sergeant did it and was rewarded with a big hit

*Sam Fuller - made Shark but Fuller took his name off the film

*John Boorman - helped make Reynolds a star with Deliverance - they were going to do another film together but Reynolds got sick... the film was Zardoz! Bullet dodged. Still it's a shame Reynolds didn't appear in The Emerald Forest.

*Peter Bodganovich - the hottest director in Hollywood used Reynolds for two films, both big flops: At Long Last Love and Nickelodeon

*Don Siegel - directed Rough Cut which was a mess.

*Robert Altman - was meant to direct Heat and would have been perfect but pulled out.

*Michael Crichton - he'd made Coma, Westworld, The Great Train Robbery... but with Reynolds did Physical Evidence

 *Blake Edwards - his two films with Reynolds, The Man Who Had Power Over Women and City Heat, were both disappointments.

*Bill Forsyth and John Sayles - a dynamic combination resulted in a good film, Breaking In, but no one cared.

So you can blame him for being wary. 

He did work with some top directors with fine results - Boorman, Alan J Pakula, Norman Jewison, Robert Aldrich.

He fought with directors - John Alvidsen on WW and the Dixie Dance Kings, Dick Richards on Heat, Henry Winkler on Cop and a Half and PT Anderson on Boogie Nights.

Movie review - "Altered States" (1981) ****

Joe Eszterhas accused Ken Russell of killing Paddy Chayefsky by what he did to the latter's script on his film - and certainly Chayefsky was unhappy. But I've got to say, while I didn't do a direct comparison and script and film, it felt faithful. Maybe not what Chayefsky wanted but the words were there - spat out, rushed through, but there - and the basic concepts felt the same.

This is an enthralling, intriguing film which takes what is admittedly a really silly idea - something out of a Bela Lugosi movie - and brings it into the modern era with plenty of mumbo jumbo and research. It explores the nature of what it is to be a man and all that stuff.

William Hurt is ideal as the lead, so young and arrogant, and Blair Brown - what happened to her - is lovely and warm (which is what the film needs to give it a human heart) as his wife. The time jump is a bit of a jolt.

Support players include Bob Balaban and Charles Haid.

Its thought provoking, gripping and much better than I'd been led to believe.

Movie review - "Gothic" (1986) **1/2

This Ken Russell film was box office disappointment but a hit on video, giving his career a second wind. It's got a sexy concept - the famous holiday spent with Percy and Mary Shelley, and Byron - plus some way out visuals, good moments and a strong cast.

I wasn't wild about it though. I think I prefer a stronger storyline - this felt like a couple of people running around a house where a lot of weird shit was happening.  The boldness and weirdness is great - but a bit more character work and a bit more of a story would've been good.

Gabriel Byrne is ideal as Byron and Julian Sands plays a Ken Russell Shelley very well. I loved seeing a young Tim Spall - his character really suffers, lots of make up jobs! Natasha Richardson is solid as Mary - less fun, but then she's the one sensible character in the film.

Movie review - "Always Be My Maybe" (2019) ***

Sweet rom com which has Asian actors in the leads as opposed to being sidekicks. Randall Park and especially Ali Wong are a lot of fun, and very likeable. Occasionally the film goes for gags over character - I feel it's strongest when the humour comes from more realistic grounded stuff. I did laugh at Keanu Reeves but it pushed the reality. Whereas stuff like the Cantonese women being mean to Wong was brilliant. I wish more had been found for Casey Wilson to do.

Movie review - "A Murder Mystery" (2019) ***

This starts off terribly - it feels awkward and cheap - but perks up considerably once Jennifer Aniston and Adam Chandler start doing a scene with Luke Evans, then it's off to the races. The film is strong when the two of them play off a third person. The mystery was satisfying, as were the locations and there's a strong supprt cast including Gemma Arterton, David Walliams, Terence Stamp, Joseph Kani and Dany Boon.

It's silly, not as good as Manhattan Murder Mystery (which clearly inspired it), but was fun and Aniston and Sandler are an ideal team.

Script review - "Jane Got a Gun" by Brian Duffield (warning: spoilers)

Tight, simple, effective. I enjoy Duffield's scripts. Lots of white space interesting characters. Reading this, I can see why people wanted to make it and it's confusing (yet also depressingly predictable) that they dicked around with it. Great twist in that the lead had kids who were stolen.

TV review - "Elgar" (1962) ***

Docu drama which helped make Ken Russell's reputation. It didn't strike me as amazing but it was influential so that's unfair - I can imagine in 1962 it was very impressive. It's a combination of narration, pictures, music and documentary re-enactment. Elgar's best known hit was "Land of Hope and Glory. There's lots of his music here. Clearly a work of a man with much talent and skill but all along I admit I was going "I'm sure this was amazing.... in it's day".

Script review - "Chernobyl" by Craig Mazin

You can tell from listening to episodes of Scriptnotes that Craig Mazin is as smart as a tack but it's been hard to source scripts he's written, unlike John August. This work knocked my socks off - it's brilliant drama, taking a subject that doesn't sound that exciting, and exploiting the fact that most of us know something happened but now what, exactly how or why. It throws the reader right in with the explosion, then doesn't stuff around from that point - the all too believable insistence that nothing wrong is happening, the potential massiveness of catastrophe, the bravery of the miners and divers, the doggedness of the decent scientists.

There are so many knock out scenes - the miners volunteering, the quivering bureaucrats, the death of the dogs. In a way the story has parallels with Operation Barbarossa - the Russians refused to believe what was happening, allowing a situation to get totally out of hand, but then once they appreciated the new reality they rallied, showing great determination and bravery and complete disregard to the safety of its warriors.

This is a masterpiece.

Movie review - "12 Strong" (2018) **1/2

Starts off strongly with the attack on September 11, the dazed first few days, the longing of troops to get on the ground... but once they arrive in Afghanistan the film gets progressively less compelling. 

It's based on a true story so you can't do anything interesting with the characters, and the fact no Americans die means the film struggles to have extra depth. It could have done with a three act structure. 

Too many of the battle scenes are people firing ammunition behind rocks - which happens, I get that, it just feels so repetitive. It's also too long, clocking in at over two hours.

Movie review - "Summer Holiday" (1963) ***

This has a great wish fulfilment central idea - driving a bus around Europe with your mates, picking up some girls to come along - and has the bright idea of adding a Roman Holiday style plot about a runaway film star who joins them.

The locations are bright and colourful and its been written and choreographed like a real musical - the songs support story and character, the numbers are real West End/Broadway stuff (Herbert Ross did the job).

The main debit is Lauri Peters as the star. She can sing and dance and act but she's far too young - it's really uncomfortable. Cliff Richard is winning in the lead, although it is awkward now watching him with Peters when she's meant to be a 14 year old boy. Nice tunes.

Movie review - "Ski Party" (1965) **1/2

AIP got ambitious for this - they shifted the local to the ski fields and actually went there, added some extra star power for Frankie Avalon by teaming him with Dwayne Hickman, had some quasi names as the girls (Deborah Walley, Yvonne Craig), had James Brown and Lesley Gore as the music acts, and use a plot which borrows heavily from Some Like It Hot.

I wish this was better than it was - I liked the scenery, and the tunes (James Brown in a sweater singing "I Feel Good"!), Avalon and Hickman are a solid duo, the skiing gives it freshness. Aaron Kincaid is fun as the rich guy falling for Hickman.

The script isn't up to this. The motivation to go in drag - "to find out about women" -is weak. There is no urgency no villains. The female characters aren't differentiated. It doesn't have much logic.   I wish Funicello had been given a role. The relationship between Walley and Craig and Avalon and Hickman lacks sense.

It's breezy, it's fine, I just wanted it to be sharper.

Movie review - "Captain Marvel" (2018) **

Disappointing. I wanted to like it - I enjoy Marvel and Brie Laren. I really hope this isn't unconscious sexism on my part. Maybe it is.

Things I did like:
* the running gag about how Nick Fury's eye got destroyed
* the montage about a girl standing up after being knocked down
* the use of 'Celebrity Skin' over the final credits
* the shout out to Stan Lee's cameo in Mallrats.

But I don't feel it was particular well made. It starts off sluggishly with a lot of mumbo jumbo exposition on some planet. Larson starts off a bad arse with a code, and winds up that at the end of the film - she just changes her enemy.

It was hard to get a fix on her character. Some scenes she acted like a robot - this seemed to be intentional. But in the scenes with Samuel L Jackson she was chatty and natural. Why were they friends by the way? I know the script needed them to be but why character wise?

The actor who plays her best friend and her daughter aren't very good. Ben Mendehlson is starting to appear in too many bad comic book movies. Annette Bening is fine.

The action is okay - it's cool how Marvel can blow people away. But there's no action. No cleverness. No character.

I feel a film about the human life of Marvel would have been better - a girl knocked down who gets up, who becomes a fighter pilot, who's brave. That would've have more resonance.

It's a very ordinary movie.

Movie review - "Crimes of Passion" (1984) ***

Ken Russell's great days were in the 70s but in hindsight he had a pretty good 80s because many of his films found popularity on video. This was one such movie - a drama about sex I guess you could call it with Kathleen Turner going balls to the wall as a designer who works nights as  hooker, and Tony Perkins as a reverend who is obsessed with her.

You can tell Russell's heart is with this nutty duo rather than John Laughlin an all American guy who tails Turner. Laughlin has a difficult role to play - an ordinary joe - but doesn't pull it off. He's got all these scenes with Annie Potts as his wife - and she's acting her arse off, but she's hurt because her character is basically someone who doesn't want to have sex with Laughlin.

In its heart of hearts I feel the China Blue character should have been a guy - China talks a lot about cocks - which would make Laughlin's dilemma more solid, a married man attracted to a guy. I know why the writer did what he did.

Turner and Perkins really go for it especially Perkins - they completely commit. And it's a reminder what a powerhouse Turner was. They probably should have cut the Laughlin bit - or maybe he's useful as a straight man they just could have trimmed it down.  I would have liked more with Turner as a designer.

There's some delirious stuff - sex involving a night stick, sex with a dying man, video clips. Russell went for it. A flawed film but consistently interesting.

Movie review - "The Railway Children" (1970) ***

The feel good story of Bryan Forbes' regime at EMI Films - Lionel Jeffries had been acting forever, wanted to write, fell in love with the classic book and optioned the rights, took it to EMI and Forbes (an actor who turned to writing and directing) suggested he direct. The result made a profit and became a family classic- in England at least.

Jenny Agutter became famous (among a certain section of viewer anyway) for taking her clothes off in films so it's kind of weird to see her being so wholesome, but she's animated and pretty and a great lead for a film. She's so perfect for this kind of material that you wish she'd had more opportunity to play these kind of roles - cheerful leads in family films. Not that it isn't great she got naked but in most of those parts she was just "the girl" and here she drives the action.

Her sister is played by the blonde off Man About the House and her brother looks like the guy who breast fed at a late age on Game of Thrones.

The plot is episodic. They warn the train when there's a mudslide, spend a lot of time on the tracks, help a crotchety old man. I was hoping they would bust the spy gang to help prove their father's innocence. The reunion with the father is well done. The production values are high.

You'll probably like it more if you've read the book.

Movie review - "Tread Softly Stranger" (1958) **

British B film which combines kitchen sink realism (well, it's set in the north) and film noir. It also has a bit of semi star power - George Baker, a quasi name in the 50s, flees gambling debts in London to join his brother - Terence Morgan - in the north. Morgan has a girlfriend Diana Dors and a tendency to fiddle the books so Dors suggests they rob Morgan's office.

Baker is a decent actor but always felt like a bit of a nerd - this role could have done with an actor who better suggested Baker. Maybe he should've swapped parts with Morgan, a leading man of the time who never quite made it.

Dors is a femme fetale, quite sexy, though she doesn't get the chance to show humour which she was so good at; also she has a two dimensional character (she wants money) whereas the brothers get to play three dimensional characters.

Once again I'm wishing Dors had more to do - it's not so much screen time I just wish she was more active in the heist. She wears a lot of slinky outfits. I wish she'd done the robbery.

This is alright. There's a smug character who I think is meant to be a goody - he's just annoying. Director Gordon Parry isn't a particularly gifted visual stylist.

Aussie films worth remaking

The Sundowners
The Overlanders
The Siege of Pinchgut
They're a Weird Mob
Skippy
Summer of the Seventeenth Doll
The man from Snowy River
Adventures of Prisclla (the stage version)
Muriel's Wedding (the stage version)

Movie review - "Savage Messiah" (1972) **1/2

Ken Russell made a lot of film about artists for TV and this feels like a TV movie - it's mostly a two hander between a young sculptor and the elder crazy woman who became his muse although they never slept together. I'd never heard of the sculptor before - some bloke called Gaudier who was one of many artists killed in World War One.

The central relationship is an interesting dynamic.. but the film really doesn't have anywhere else to go after that. He sculpts, they talk, they monologue, she's a bit mad, he ends up dying. It needed more of a plot - well for me anyway. During the first hour that is - it's two people talking and being bohemian-y. In the last half hour Helen Mirren comes in as a model/rich girl and the film perks up - in part admittedly because Mirren does most of her role nude. But also because she provides another character for the leads to interact with, and because she's a fantastic actor.

Tutin's a fantastic actor too - it's a grand part for a "big" actor, and she goes there, acting all over the shop, Scott Antony, a relative unknown, plays Gaudier. Now he's a nice looking guy and he tries, and he's not terrible... he's just competent. Like say the best actor of the year at a run of the mill drama school. On a soap or cop show he'd be fine. But the role needs more - someone with a dash of madness, someone like say Alan Bates or Oliver Reed. I know they were probably too expensive, but someone like, I don't know, Jon Finch would have been better. He doesn't match Tutin which is bad because it's a two hander without  a lot of plot.

It is interesting especially that last half hour, but it does feel more like the movies Russell made for TV. I was wishing for more flamboyance - he's really restrained in this one.