Upcoming Movies on TV (UK)

[Jonathan S]

...the real coup would maybe have been showing some further films such as Robert Wises' Mademoiselle Fifi and Mark Robson's Youth Runs Wild, since they are the rarer titles)

Those Lewton titles were each broadcast by the BBC one-time only, in 1982 and 1993 respectively. I recorded both and recall Mademoiselle Fifi was notably soft (16mm source?) and televised under the alternate UK (?) title The Silent Bell, also in the Radio Times listing. I'm not sure if I still have the tape as I replaced it with a French DVD which is not much better but uses the original title. I recently caught up with Christian-Jaque's 1945 Boule de suif which, at around 105 mins (much longer than the imdb running time), for me plays like a bloated remake of Lewton's more compact film, following his lead of combining two Maupassant stories.

All I know about the BBC's allegedly "leaky" film library roof was quoted in the New Scientist article, of which I must have a cutting somewhere. I do recall that at some point - late 1990s? - the BBC seemed to switch to video masters of the RKO films which looked as if they'd been digitally cleaned-up but also often had a softer, smearier, greyer appearance (perhaps suggesting standards conversion in some cases) than the rougher but sharper physical prints which had previously been televised. Of course, the difference wasn't as noticeable on small CRT sets, especially when played back on domestic VHS tapes. But it was also around this point that the range of RKO films aired by the BBC contracted sharply; many previously broadcast titles I'd taped in the '80s were no longer shown but several dozen of the most popular were endlessly repeated (at least until the surprise season in 2013). This may have been due to technical issues or a decision based on ratings. Around 2000 Channel 4 also stopped showing the more obscure pre-1950s films.

I remember this "video look" when the complete version of The Body Snatcher was broadcast compared to the heavily BBFC-censored copy which had played in the 1980s. I wondered if the BBC obtained the uncensored version from the US rightsholder. There was of course also the exciting 1994 Lost and Found season, during which The Ghost Ship finally turned up on the BBC. I don't know if lack of good materials or the famous plagiarism case against RKO had prevented a previous broadcast; it had definitely been available for purchase (complete) on Super 8 since the 1970s - I bought a print - and I think 16mm rental too, though Joel E. Siegel called it "virtually a lost film" in his 1972 book on Lewton.

I don't know about RKO titles but my understanding is that when film prints were broadcast 16mm was often used, as suggested here by a friend of Philip Jenkinson recalling "Warner Brothers offered him their entire UK-housed stockpile of 16mm prints after their TV license deal expired rather than pay to ship them back to Burbank".

Some of the above is mere speculation and memory by an interested spectator and I'd be delighted for my theories to be corrected - or confirmed - by the professionals involved! (I've no idea what's used today by the BBC for their RKO titles as I haven't had a licence for several years.)

[colinr0380]

There was of course also the exciting 1994 Lost and Found season, during which The Ghost Ship finally turned up on the BBC. I don't know if lack of good materials or the famous plagiarism case against RKO had prevented a previous broadcast; it had definitely been available for purchase (complete) on Super 8 since the 1970s - I bought a print - and I think 16mm rental too, though Joel E. Siegel called it "virtually a lost film" in his 1972 book on Lewton.

There appears to be no footage online from the introduction of The Ghost Ship from that premiere screening (the nearest is the junction promoting it at the end of the first screening of the 'restored' version of A Star Is Born earlier that evening) but I taped it and can confirm the opening slides before the film say this:

[First slide]During the 1940s producer Val Lewton made a series of classic low budget horror films and thrillers for RKO including Cat People and I Walked With A Zombie.
[Second slide]The Ghost Ship, withdrawn from distribution following a law-suit, has long been the missing film from this group. This is its British television premiere.

Apropos of nothing that "Lost and Found" season was a very formative experience in my early years of film appreciation. It showed so many different types of films from all eras, all bound together by just being obscure or having been difficult to see before that point: Christopher Strong and Becky Sharp (both RKO titles); the Hitchcock French propaganda shorts Bon Voyage and Aventure Malgache; It Happened Here; Caged Heat (shrewdly scheduled to play around the same time that ITV were premiering The Silence of the Lambs!); Confidential Report; Tokyo Drifter; Before The Revolution; the Frank Sinatra starring Suddenly; the Robert Mitchum psychological western Pursued; Le Samourai and Rainer Werner Fassbinder's TV film I Only Want You To Love Me. And most famously Michael Mann's The Keep.

Come to think of it, outside of the 1954 A Star Is Born, Le Samourai turning up on the Mark Cousins version of Moviedrome in 1999, and Film4 screening both Pursued and The Keep a number of times in recent years, I do not believe that any of the other films in that season have been shown since.

[Jonathan S]

Christopher Strong was repeated in the BBC's 2013 "season" but I don't recall any of the others. (Becky Sharp did turn up again on the amazing but short-lived Carlton Cinema digital channel.)

Thanks, that's what I recall from The Ghost Ship intro (I still have my tape but was too lazy to dig it out!) Although it implies the law-suit had been the cause of its previous absence on UK TV, it isn't explicitly stated and I'm not sure why any ban wouldn't have applied to other UK outlets, including the Super 8 market. I've now checked the programme for a (public) theatrical Lewton season I programmed in Birmingham in 1983 and The Ghost Ship was definitely included but - unlike the others - in a 16mm print... so in the UK at least it was only "missing" from TV. Theatrical screenings and home movie versions were allowed much earlier than the 1994 UK TV premiere. Joel E. Siegel mentions that, as far back as the 1950s, 16mm prints were struck and distributed to American TV stations, at one of which he tracked it down.

[colinr0380]

Quite quiet next week. I should have guessed this with Film4 showing the 2000s Charlie's Angels films a few weeks back but they are showing the 2019 Charlie's Angels film at 9 p.m. on Saturday 28th. Keeping with the 'somewhat unnecessary remake from 2019 of an already somewhat unnecessary previous film version of an old TV show' theme of the week ITV2 is showing the CGI Addams Family film at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday 2nd (which is the first day of the Queen's Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend)

Film4 are showing The Art of Racing In The Rain at 6:50 p.m. on Monday 30th, which looks like A Dog's Purpose with added Kevin Costner narration. If that dog does not end up behind the wheel of a racing car at the climax I will feel so cheated! (At the very least I want a badly done insert shot of an obvious puppet paw shifting the gear stick! ) There is an obvious precedent too:



(I just thought: what if this is Costner doing a variation on his Mr Brooks role in a kind of Summer of Sam tale of somebody hearing their dog talking to them?)

BBC4 is showing Queen Elizabeth: The Coronation at 10 p.m. on Tuesday 31st, which is apparently a new BFI produced film looking back at 1953 to tie in with the current events.

The Horror Channel is showing Bloodline at 10:50 p.m. on Saturday 28th and Demon Eye at 9 p.m. on Friday 3rd.

And the RadioTimes appears to think that Film4's screening of Buddies at 1:25 a.m. on Friday 3rd is a premiere probably because, as jlnight notes, it has been an extremely long time (over thirty years) since its last Channel 4 showing. So that's the big film news of the week.
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In terms of foreign language repeats, Good Morning Karachi is on BBC2 at 12:50 a.m. on Sunday 29th and Suntan is on Channel 4 at 2:30 a.m. on Friday 3rd. It appears that to tie in with the 'premiere' of Buddies Film4 is doing a gay-themed late night season of films with the Georgian film And Then We Danced at 1:25 a.m. on Monday 30th and 1985 at 1:25 a.m. on Tuesday 1st.

And as jlnight notes on Bank Holiday Thursday, the 2nd June, BBC4 gets to the last episode of The RKO Story at 8 p.m. followed by the 1942 Cat People at 9 p.m. and I Walked With A Zombie at 10:15 p.m.

[colinr0380]

In rather depressing news the BBC have announced that over the coming years they will be shutting down BBC4 and the CBBC channel (i.e. the two best channels on their service) and the Radio 4Extra radio channel (i.e. the second best radio station on their service, after 6Music. It is what I have my wake up alarm clock set to which can be either a pleasant way to wake up to the day or gets me sharply awake and desperately flailing around hunting for the off button if the dulcet tones of Paul Merton come out of the speaker!), and moving them online on demand only.

I'm not one of those people who wonder why I pay the licence fee (as hopefully the number of posts in this thread attests to), since as long as every year I get introduced to something like We Bare Bears and Summer Camp Island, or we get premieres of recent French films and classic RKO titles, I'm more than happy with paying. But to be left with Strictly Come Dancing, Masterchef, Dragon's Den and The Repair Shop makes a licence fee seem, well, Pointless.

I'd have axed BBC1 entirely myself.

[roadshower]

Re repeats of Lost and Found titles: Becky Sharp was also shown on BBC Choice on 12/11/1998, but (although originally released by RKO) it is not part of the RKO library. The Ghost Ship was repeated on BBC2 on 02/07/2005 and 25/10/2009. It Happened Here was shown on Channel 4 on 29/08/1999. Caged Heat was repeated in Moviedrome on 25/10/1998. Tokyo Drifter was shown on BBC Choice on 07/08/2000 and on BBC Knowledge on 01/09/2001 and 08/09/2001. Suddenly was shown on BBC1 on 16/06/1996 and four times on BBC2 between 1998 and 2008; it has also turned up a number of times on Talking Pictures TV. Pursued was repeated on BBC2 on 12/05/2001 and 01/09/2004. The Keep was shown twice on Channel 4 and ten times on Film 4 between 2012 and 2017. Le Samouraï was shown on BBC2 on 15/11/1998 and on BBC Knowledge on 18/09/1999. Although trailered as part of the 'Lost and Found' season, Christopher Strong doesn't appear to have been shown until two years later, on 06/04/1996. It was repeated on 09/06/2013.

Re prints, the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 all tried wherever possible to acquire films on 35mm prints. Although the international standard, 16mm TV prints were relatively rare in the UK. Many of the BBC's prints (and I believe also C4's) were subsequently donated to the BFI National Archive. Others were returned to their distributors. I have shown a couple at my university and they still had BBC logos on the cans and, in one case, telecine projection instructions inside. Most of ITV's prints were junked.

[Jonathan S]

Most of ITV's prints were junked.

I presume most were worn out by the time they'd toured every regional station, each one not only inserting adverts in sometimes different places but often cutting (then re-splicing) different sections to make the films fit into pre-determined timeslots - more common then with older films than censorship, though that did occur too to eliminate moments that were considered unsuitable for daytime broadcast. I recall my film tutor Victor Perkins - who I believe had a few 16mm prints sourced from the BBC - telling me in 1979 he was against daytime broadcasts because of censorship. (He'd written a 1968 film studies series for BBC Schools called Mirror for Our Dreams: The Ways and Meanings of Cinema which I'd love to see if any of it still exists.)

These splices - indicating previously cut sections or advert breaks (which could also be used to mask removed footage) - were often evident in ITV broadcasts. Besides 1980s showings like this I recorded on VHS, I have a commercially produced DVD of Make Me an Offer (Group 3 productions were ITV daytime staples) which appears to use one of these ITV-mutilated prints, "quiet" sections that don't advance the plot - and therefore regarded as dispensable - being bracketed by splices!

[jlnight]

John and Julie (not CFF), Sat 4th Jun, Talking Pictures.
Where No Vultures Fly, Sat 4th Jun, Talking Pictures. Also Tue 7th Jun.
Mantrap (1953), Sat 4th Jun, Talking Pictures. Also Thu 9th Jun.
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Sat 4th Jun, Great Movies.

Dick Barton Strikes Back, Sun 5th Jun, Talking Pictures. Also Thu 9th Jun.
A Child's Guide to Blowing Up a Motor Car (short), Sun 5th Jun, Talking Pictures.
Manuela (Stowaway Girl), Sun 5th Jun, Talking Pictures.
Radioactive (2019), Sun 5th Jun, BBC2.

The Big Knife, Mon 6th Jun, London Live. (ex-Moviedrome)

Texas (1941) + The Black Dakotas, Wed 8th Jun, Talking Pictures. (Saddle Up)

It Couldn't Happen Here (PSB), Fri 10th Jun, Sky Arts. Or...
The Internecine Project, Fri 10th Jun, London Live. (been on TPTV?) Or...
The Plague of the Zombies + The Flesh and Blood Show + The Wasp Woman, Fri 10th Jun, Talking Pictures. (Cellar Club)

My copy of Tokyo Drifter comes from one of those BBC Knowledge screenings!

[roadshower]

Jonathan, I'm delighted to hear you were taught by Victor Perkins, as I was from 1983-86. It's very unlikely that his BBC Schools series still exists but I have copies of the scripts.

Great stuff about cut-and-spliced prints, the subject of the chapter I am currently writing for my book about films on TV. Censoring of films for daytime broadcast still continues, of course, possibly even more so than in the 1970s and 1980s, because films suitable for late-night slots now often get shown in sanitised versions well before the watershed (on the C5 channels in particular). This would not have happened under ITV's old system of regulation, overseen by the IBA.

[GaryC]

Many of the BBC's prints (and I believe also C4's) were subsequently donated to the BFI National Archive.

For example, Ulzana's Raid, which I saw at the BFI Southbank a few years ago. It still bears the cuts for violence made for TV broadcast in 1979. However, it also includes the horsefalls which the BBC didn't cut but which have always been cut by the BBFC.

Stromboli is another example of a version shown on the BBC including material that the BBFC has always cut (as with Ulzana's Raid, for animal cruelty reasons). I'm sure there must be other examples.

[colinr0380]

Very quiet next week. The big film is BBC4 showing the French film Chanson douce aka Sweet Song, known in the US and UK as Perfect Nanny but for some confusing reason the RadioTimes and BBC4 are referring to it under its Irish release title of Lullaby. Which may have to do with the original book by Leïla Slimani having been published as The Perfect Nanny in the US and as Lullaby in the UK, so they may be going after an audience of those familiar with the book rather than cinephiles. That's at 9 p.m. on Saturday 4th.

At 9:30 p.m. on Sunday 5th BBC2 are showing the Marie and Pierre Curie biopic Radioactive, from Marjane Satrapi, the director of that animated Iranian film Persepolis. That clashes against the start of the second series of The Outlaws at 9 p.m. on BBC1, which is the series created by Stephen Merchant and starring Christopher Walken. As well as a repeat of Werner Herzog's Nomad: In The Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin at 9 p.m. on BBC4. It is actually a Bruce Chatwin evening on BBC4 as Nomad is preceded with a 'creative performance reading of an abridged version' of Chatwin's novel On The Black Hill at 8 p.m. (which itself has a previous 1988 film adaptation, released by the BFI).

Not much during the rest of the week, except for on BBC2 on Friday 10th at 9 p.m. there is a TV film My Name Is Leon which features Olivia Williams and Christopher Eccleston in the cast. I see that is written by Shola Amoo who wrote and directed The Last Tree, which was about a similar seeming theme of multi-racial families being torn apart through societal forces, and which I was a bit lukewarm about, but maybe this will be more promising.

Also from this Thursday 2nd (or rather 1:45 a.m. in the early hours of Friday 3rd) E4's Adult Swim block begins showing Tuca & Bertie. E4 also shows the final two episodes of the final series of Brooklyn Nine-Nine at 9 p.m. on Wednesday 8th, followed by the first two episodes of Killing It from 10 p.m.
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In terms of repeats Film4 is showing Joseph Kosinki's pre-Top Gun: Maverick film Only The Brave at 6:25 p.m. on Tuesday 7th, and Embrace of the Serpent at 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday 8th.

[jlnight]

Sky Pirates (CFF), Sat 11th Jun, Talking Pictures. (been on before)
The Gentle Gunman, Sat 11th Jun, Talking Pictures. Also Tue 14th Jun.
Tove (2020), Sat 11th Jun, BBC4.

Impact (1963), Sun 12th Jun, Talking Pictures.

Black Jack (1979), Tue 14th Jun, London Live. (last on Film4)
Tucker: The Man and His Dream, Tue 14th Jun, Film4.
Servants (2020), late Tue 14th Jun, Film4.

The Doolins of Oklahoma + Wyoming Renegades, Wed 15th Jun, Talking Pictures. (Saddle Up) Or...
Strange Invaders (1983), Wed 15th Jun, Horror.
Tumbledown (TVM), Wed 15th Jun, BBC4.

Big Wheels and Sailor (CFF), Thu 16th Jun, London Live.
Bruce Lee - Martial Arts Master, Thu 16th Jun, Talking Pictures.

Pineapple Express, Fri 17th Jun, Great Movies. Or...
The Changeling (been on Horror) + Cat Girl (1957) + Hands of a Stranger (1962), Fri 17th Jun, Talking Pictures. (Cellar Club)



Buddies was a rare example of Film4 actually showing an old-school independent film, although it had logos for Peccadillo Pictures and Vinegar Syndrome at the start and end.

When shown in 1986 it was part of Channel 4's Eleventh Hour strand, as part of a gay movie season, possibly the first in the UK:

SpoilerShow

01/09/86 - The Times of Harvey Milk/Veronica 4 Rose
08/09/86 - Home Movie (short)/Madchen in Uniform
15/09/86 - Buddies
22/09/86 - Silent Pioneers (short)/On Guard
29/09/86 - David Roche Talks to You About Love (short)/Window in Manhattan

06/10/86 - November Moon
13/10/86 - Scorpio Rising/What Can I Do With A Male Nude?/Fireworks (shorts)*
20/10/86 - Before Stonewall

*I think 17 Rooms was meant to be shown here but was apparently dropped from the schedules.

[colinr0380]

I always get amused by the possibly apocryphal comment made by one of the contributors to that "15 Years of Channel 4" programme that aired in 1997 saying something to the effect of how many Conservative MPs were in favour of the creation of a 'minority interest' channel (mostly because it fit in with the idea of breaking up the BBC's in house monopoly on programme production by providing a channel for independent production companies to sell their programmes to) because they were apparently under the misguided impression that 'minority interests' meant programmes about pottery or canal boating, or suchlike! (i.e. what BBC4 turned out to be decades later! ) And there were programmes of that ilk on there, but they were shocked and horrified when Channel 4 opened the airwaves up to actual minority groups (from political to racial and sexual minority groups) as well!

At least until Channel 4 had to start selling its own advertising around 2000 or so, and not coincidentally became the Big Brother channel at the same time, it was quite a provocative channel. Not least with its film seasons.

[colinr0380]

A lot of really interesting things next week. BBC1 has a rare premiere in 21 Bridges at 10:20 p.m. on Saturday 11th, although this has managed to steal BBC3's thunder somewhat, leaving that channel just to repeat it at 9 p.m. on Tuesday 14th. This also rather annoying clashes against BBC4's premiere of the evening in Tove at 9 p.m., a biographical drama about the creator of the Moomins, which apparently could only have been conceived through a lot of shagging, at least according to the trailer.

But Channel 4 and Film4 rather comfortably win the week. It shows how much I notice these things but apparently it is Gay Pride Month (which may also explain the characters testing their bed springs to breaking point in Tove), and in addition to the screenings of And Then We Danced, 1985 and Buddies last week there are a couple of interesting gay-themed premieres including the Australian film Sequin In A Blue Room on Channel 4 at 1:30 a.m. on Monday 13th and Two of Us (starring Barbara Sukowa!) on Channel 4 at 2:15 a.m. on Tuesday 14th (Film 4 is repeating the Merchant-Ivory film Maurice at 12:40 a.m. on Thursday 16th but the most exciting of Film4's entries into this season is the rare repeat of the 1996 film Alive & Kicking at 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday 14th: not only is it a rare film role for the late Antony Sher, it also features Dorothy Tutin's last feature film appearance. It is also the only other film directed by Nancy Meckler after Sister, My Sister, based on the same case that inspired Genet's The Maids, and which also has not appeared on television for a long time)

Film4 is showing the American remake of Force Majeure, Downhill at 9 p.m. on Wednesday 15th. Most excitingly however on Tuesday 14th Film4 are showing Francis Ford Coppola's Tucker: The Man and His Dream at 11:45 p.m. (which is a repeat as it has shown a couple of times on ITV but a first showing on Film4) followed by the Czech-Slovak film Servants at 2 a.m.
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In terms of repeats since we are in the 40th anniversary year of that conflict (BBC4 are also repeating The Falklands Play, along with its associated documentary this evening) BBC4 is showing Richard Eyre's 1988 film about the Falklands War Tumbledown, which has an early role for Colin Firth (amusingly the same year he appeared in the Buenos Aires-set thriller Apartment Zero, in which his character goes through a similar kind of psychotic break! And which may be a good pick for Gay Pride Month in itself!)

BBC4 is also showing The Color Purple at 9 p.m. on Thursday 16th.

Film4 is showing Otto Preminger's The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell at 11 a.m. on Thursday 16th and a double bill of westerns on Friday 17th with Budd Boetticher's film The Tall T at 12:30 p.m. and Anthony Mann's Man of the West at 2:10 p.m.

I am rather impressed by Channel 5 this week, as they are showing a rare repeat on the main channel of Jean-Claude Van Damme's Timecop at 12:10 a.m. in the early hours of Sunday 12th (which is a guilty pleasure, as most of Peter Hyams films are to me!), and Kevin Costner's excellent (best?) western Open Range at 3:45 p.m. on Sunday 12th (preceded by Waterworld at 1 p.m.)

Speaking of action films, ITV4 is showing the Steven Seagal film Force of Execution at 11 p.m. on Sunday 12th, which seems worth a look just for the supporting cast of Ving Rhames (who for some reason at some point apparently says the line "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" with a straight face) and Danny Trejo!

[jlnight]

Treasure at the Mill (CFF), Sat 18th Jun, Talking Pictures. (been on before)
Dick Barton: Special Agent (1948), Sat 18th Jun, Talking Pictures. Also Tue 21st Jun.
All the Right Noises, Sat 18th Jun, London Live. (been on TPTV??)

Face the Music (1954), Mon 20th Jun, Talking Pictures. Also Fri 1st July.

Tulsa + Adventures in Silverado, Wed 22nd Jun, Talking Pictures. (Saddle Up)
Honey Boy, Wed 22nd Jun, Film4.

Cul-de-Sac, Fri 24th Jun, London Live. Or...
The Mad Room + The Werewolf (1956) + The Beast in the Cellar, Fri 24th Jun, Talking Pictures. (Cellar Club)


A Child's Guide to Blowing Up a Motor Car was a no-show other than on the Footage Detectives.

[colinr0380]

Very quiet next week except for weirdly on Wednesday, of all days, which is incredibly busy. Channel 4 is showing the third(?!?) Jumanji film, Jumanji: The Next Level at 8 p.m. on Saturday 18th. Other than that the only film premiere is of the Shia LaBeouf autobiographical film Honey Boy on Film4 at 11:20 p.m. on Wednesday 22nd. BBC4's Storyville series is showing the transgender transition documentary Into My Name at 10 p.m. on Tuesday 21st.

In terms of television programmes BBC4 is showing the first episode of the 1967 BBC series Rainbow City at 10 p.m. on Wednesday 22nd, which was the first British series to feature a black person in a leading role, with Errol John as a Birmingham-based lawyer. Amusingly (and I don't know exactly how intentional this was since they are both very small roles) but BBC4's classic film slot on Thursday 23rd is showing The African Queen at 9 p.m. (in which Errol John is an uncredited extra) and The Nun's Story at 10:45 p.m. (in which John plays an African convert to Christianity)

Errol John also turns up in the upcoming from Criterion Buck and the Preacher.

However the most surprising news of the week is that Channel 5 are showing the first episode of the Halo series from 10 p.m. on Wednesday 22nd. Warning for the linked trailer: it contains a moody, downbeat cover version of a Phil Collins tune. (EDIT: I have just learned that apparently Paramount is the parent company for Channel 5 and has been since 2014 when the channel was bought by Viacom, which became Paramount Global in 2019, so that probably explains why Halo has appeared on the channel)

EDIT: Also the episode of BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking series at 10 p.m. on Wednesday 23rd (which I think turns up on the BBC's "Arts & Ideas" podcast) is a discussion about the writings of ETA Hoffman, to mark 200 years since his death.

[therewillbeblus]

Honey Boy is one of the rare therapeutic exercises for an actor that works. The film around it is flawed, but Shia LaBeouf's performance as his own father is shockingly complex without palliating the toxic and abusive behavior. I don't often recommend films with confidence based off a single performance, but this is the exception

[jlnight]

The Sky-Bike (CFF), Sat 25th Jun, Talking Pictures. (been on before)
Journey to the Seventh Planet, Sat 25th Jun, Talking Pictures.

Rebel Dykes, late Tue 28th Jun, Channel 4.

No Orchids for Miss Blandish, Wed 29th Jun, London Live. (last seen in 1983)
When the Legends Die + Zane Grey: Black Is for Grief, Wed 29th Jun, Talking Pictures. (Saddle Up)

The Man in the Glass Booth, Fri 1st July, London Live. Or...
Strait-Jacket + House of Whipcord + Revenge of the Zombies, Fri 1st July, Talking Pictures. (Cellar Club)

[colinr0380]

Very quiet next week. The third (?!?!?) in the Bad Boys series, Bad Boys For Life is on Channel 4 at 9 p.m. on Saturday 25th.

Tuesday is the big film evening with as jlnight has noted Channel 4 showing Rebel Dykes at 1 a.m. in the early hours of Wednesday 29th; and BBC4's Storyville season showing Citizen Ashe at 10 p.m.

Two other big gay-themed programmes are on the television next week: BBC4 is showing a repeat of the entire three part series of Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit at 10 p.m. on Wednesday 29th (followed by a Face to Face interview with Jeanette Winterson at 12:50 a.m.), though the big event is the first part of AIDS: The Unheard Tapes on BBC2 at 10 p.m. on Monday 27th.

[Dr Amicus]

Rebel Dykes is great and very highly recommended, making a low-tech virtue of not being able to access certain material (eg the disruption of a BBC news item by a group of lesbians) they re-enact with actors in cut-out photo masks!

[colinr0380]

Here's a news report from that incident. I had not realised until recently that Boy George did a protest song about Section 28!, which may be the only song in which the image of Margaret Thatcher could possibly co-exist with the vocal exclamation "Yeaahhhh Boy!". Or one where the SDP could be name dropped into a rap verse!

(Oh God, we're going to get a BBC Films produced, Keira Knightley-starring film about the historical invasion of the BBC now, aren't we?)

[jlnight]

Cry Wolf (CFF), Sat 2nd July, Talking Pictures. (been on before)
X: The Unknown, Sat 2nd July, Talking Pictures. Also Mon 4th July.
The Weapon (1956), Sat 2nd July, Talking Pictures. Also Fri 8th July.
Futureworld (1976), Sat 2nd July, Talking Pictures.

Gaslight Follies, Sun 3rd July, Talking Pictures. Also Tue 5th July.
The Last Page (1952), Sun 3rd July, Talking Pictures. Also Mon 4th July.

Stage Mother, Tue 5th July, Film4.

The Best Man (1964), Wed 6th July, London Live.
Lust for Gold + The Parson and the Outlaw, Wed 6th July, Talking Pictures. (Saddle Up)

Mr Selkie (CFF), Thu 7th July, London Live.
Murder by Proxy (1954), Thu 7th July, Talking Pictures. Also Tue 12th July.

Overlord (1975), Fri 8th July, London Live. (last on TPTV)

[colinr0380]

Relatively quiet next week. Film4 has the most premieres of the week. jlnight has noted Stage Mother at 9 p.m. on Tuesday 5th. Film4 are also showing Freaks at 9 p.m. on Thursday 7th, though not the Tod Browning classic but a 2018 thriller that appears to be a mix of Bad Boy Bubby, 10 Cloverfield Lane and Firestarter.

The most exciting film of the week however is the seventh(!) film in the Child's Play franchise (and last of the trilogy - Seed, Curse, Cult - that was directly helmed by the creator of the series Don Mancini) that tied up the whole franchise before it inevitably got rebooted. Cult of Chucky is on the Legend channel (formerly the Horror channel) at 11 p.m. on Saturday 2nd.

BBC4's Storyville season continues at 10 p.m. on Tuesday 5th with On The Morning You Wake (To The End Of The World), which was originally a VR film about the Hawaii nuclear attack scare from 2018.
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In terms of repeats, the big news is that after BBC4's repeat of Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit this evening, next Wednesday (ironically after the last episode of a series about Thatcher's Britain) the channel is showing the first three episodes (with the fourth and fifth showing the week after) of Alan Bleasdale's 1982 series about the almost inescapable cycle of joblessness and poverty Boys From The Blackstuff from 10 p.m., with a five minute introduction by Bernard Hill.

For films, Film4 is doing a small shake up of its classic films in the afternoons, with Cat Ballou getting a couple of showings across the week. Though I am most excited that Carol Reed's The Running Man is showing at 5 p.m. on Thursday 7th.

BBC2 is repeating Michael Haneke's Happy End at 12:15 a.m. in the early hours of Tuesday 5th, as a tribute to the late Jean-Louis Trintignant (Amour may have been even more fitting, but I think Film4 has the rights to show that)

(I am also glad that Look Who's Talking Too and Look Who's Talking Now! are showing in a double bill on Channel 5 from 2:50 p.m. on Saturday 2nd, as I have only fully seen the first. Though I think the second is about a sister voiced by Rosanne? And the third shoves the cute children out of the way to focus on cuter boy and girl dogs?)

[jlnight]

Night Ferry (CFF), Sat 9th July, Talking Pictures. (been on before, cut version!)
The Time Travelers, Sat 9th July, Talking Pictures.
Frances, Sat 9th July, Talking Pictures. Also late Sun 24th July. Or...
Extreme Prejudice, Sat 9th July, Legend.

Confession (1955), Sun 10th July, Talking Pictures. Also Thu 14th July.
Olga (2021), late Sun 10th July, Channel 4.

Railroaded!, Mon 11th July, Talking Pictures. Also Thu 21st July.

The Boss (1956), Tue 12th July, London Live.

The Prisoner of Shark Island + Seminole Uprising, Wed 13th July, Talking Pictures. (Saddle Up)
Lucy In The Sky, Wed 13th July, Film4.

Hide and Seek (1964), Thu 14th July, Talking Pictures. Also Mon 18th July.

Shout at the Devil, Fri 15th July, London Live. (also been on TPTV and Great Movies)

[colinr0380]

Very interesting next week.

The big premiere of the week has been noted by jlnight with the Ukrainian/Swiss film Olga showing on Channel 4 at 12:55 a.m. in the early hours of Monday 11th. Film4 has a great week too with the premiere of Lucy In The Sky at 9 p.m. on Wednesday 13th and a double bill of horror films on Friday 15th with Underwater at 9 p.m. (from William Eubank who made that interesting sci-fi film Love back in 2011) and the 2020 remake of the 2004 remake of the 2003 film of the 2000 video-film of The Grudge at 10:50 p.m.

BBC4 is beginning a new Danish crime drama series with the first two (of six) episodes of Trom at 9 p.m. on Saturday 9th. And the fourth and fifth episodes of Boys From The Blackstuff show at 10 p.m. on Wednesday 13th.