Hallelujah! TCM showed Dead of Night

A few nights ago, so, it is forever locked in to my dvr until we get a good US dvd/blu ray version.

Never buy an antique mirror in Chichester, England.

The best episode in this (brilliantly) linked omnibus film is still the Robert Hamer one, starring Googie Withers.  (Although the Michael Redgrave/ventriloquist's dummy episode is damn fine, too.)  The Hamer/Withers episode is about a nice London couple, near to getting married.  For the Groom's birthday, Withers buys him a v fancy antique mirror.  He loves it (at first) but then strange things start happening.  The Groom starts getting headaches and starts seeing the reflection of himself in the mirror in a v different, older, creepier kind of bedroom than the one he lives in.  It is damn good.

And besides, how can you not like a film that has, basically, Charters and Caldicott (from The Lady Vanishes) in an episode revolving around ghosts, a rivalry for a fair young maiden's hand, and golf.  Yeah, that is right, golf.

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There is a great deal to like about the Brighton Rock remake.  For instance, Dame Helen and John Hurt are fantastic, as usual.  And the gritty, slashing, knife violence is cool.  And the Mods v Rockers on Vespas and Motorbikes is cool, too.  So, how come I am still kind of iffy about it? The score is way too heavy-handed (they shoulda used period music for the whole thing) and Andy Serkis (an actor I usually really like, espec in Longford, where Serkis plays Ian Brady to Samantha Morton's Myra Hindley) was way over the top and super lugubrious and oily.  But, still I wonder why I am not more enamored of the film.

I have not seen the original with Attenborough's break-through, legendary (in England, at least) performance as Pinky, and maybe that is it.  Or maybe, I just need more time away from the film.  Or maybe, it is just not that good.  Anyroad, ...

Love you all,
Ardent