What classics did you see last week ? (14 Apr - 20 Apr 2019)

Hi all,I hope everyone is having a good Easter,and on Saturday, (which is fitting since that used to be the day he usually visited) I got a letter from Chester Zoo saying a memorial plaque to Guy Morgan will be put by the African Painted Dog area.



I also watched:

Brit Noir: The Franchise Affair (1951) 7



Similar to what they did for another film of his called Warn That Man (1943-also reviewed) Network present an outstanding transfer, with the picture quality being incredibly pin-sharp, and the soundtrack being clean and crisp.

Whilst giving this adaptation of Josephine Tey's novel a refined appearance, the screenplay by co-writer/(with Robert Hall) director Lawrence Huntington keeps the mould-breaking style of Tey sharp at the edges, via the secret affairs of British Film Noir at a lake house, Chinese Whispers spread across the town, and the sordid details of a woman picking up a man to be her encounter of the night. Based around not a murder, but a kidnapping, the writers closely follow gentlemanly Robert Blair's sharp sightedness in untangling the fake threads in the kidnapping claims.

Surrounded by a great supporting cast of Kenneth More,Peter Jones and Patrick Troughton, Michael Denison gives a polished turn as Blair,who Denison keeps cool under the pressure over his clients being guilty, whilst Ann Stephens gives the accusing Kane a cheeky butter wouldn't melt in her mouth fake innocent grin. Breaking the franchise in a courtroom final, director Lawrence Huntington & cinematographer Günther Krampf (his last film) give the hearing an elegant style of panning shots down the dusty corridors of the Franchise household, and an easy-going light Film Noir/Gris atmosphere over following Blair end the franchise affair.

The Old Dark House (1932) 10



Going from a lost film for decades after Universal sold the rights to Columbia for their remake,to film-maker Curtis Harrington making it a personal mission to get a print found, (which led to Universal finding a poor quality print in their archive) Master of Cinema's breath-taking restoration finally sets all the candles alight, in the image quality retaining the film grain,but being spotless of any dirt,and a soundtrack which crisply captures the layers of audio.

Running round the old dark house in a Pre-Code pale pink satin dinner dress the director had chosen to make her "Look like a beautiful flame" Gloria Stuart gives an enticing turn as Waverton,with Stuart feeding in her own state as being one of the few non-British people in the cast/crew into Waverton being at a distance from the other guests, with Stuart having Waverton ignite as she gets closer to the secrets of the house. Stamping into the place with his thick Yorkshire accent filling the rooms, Charles Laughton as Porterhouse initially has him be a ball of energy bouncing off each fellow guests, until Laughton begins peeling into Porterhouse's need of companionship from DuCane. Saying no lines of dialogue and making only grows and heavy breathing,Boris Karloff impressively creates an imposing impression as Morgan, whose bulky body movements from Karloff gives him a Universal Monster menace, balanced with an unexpected Pre-Code edge of Morgan trying to look down Waverton's dress.

Reuniting with James Whale after the magnificent Waterloo Bridge (1931-also reviewed) and teaming up with R.C. Sherriff (who wrote the play Journey's End,which became Whale's debut film) for an adaptation of J.B. Priestley's (wrongly spelt "Priestly" in the credits) novel, Sherriff and Benn W. Levy continue to peel the themes which span across Whale's work,in splendid dialogue subtly touching on the "shaken" state of those who returned from the battlefields of WWI. Gathering round the table for dinner, the writers make this stormy night a horror of darkly comedic comments on class, in the spike-driven exchanges between Horace and Rebecca Femm,and the on opposing sides of gruff Yorkshire man Porterhouse (who attempts to give his relationship with DuCane the appearance of something it is not) and refine starlet Margaret Waverton.

Inspired by Paul Leni's The Cat and the Canary (1927), directing auteur James Whale is joined by regular cinematographer Arthur Edeson in bringing the shadow of German Expressionism into the house, via startling splintered shots giving the Femm's a monstrous reflection and the flickering flame appearance of Margaret's dress being threaded into a stylish motif of flickering shadows lining the walls of the old dark house, igniting the Gothic Horrors laying within the heart of the building. Panning down the dinner table, Whale and Edeson continue expanding on their ultra-stylised use of tracking and panning shots,with Whale making the meals served look grotesque whilst panning across the faces filled with disgust from the guests, and tracking shots following the guests uncover the darkest corridors in the old dark house.