PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

The Cleaner Series 2

The Cleaner Series 2 Based on the German series Der Tatortreiniger. The UK version is mostly written by Greg Davies with occasional help. The 6 episodes aired March 24, 2023 in the UK.

Greg Davies plays the main character Wicky, each episode finds him cleaning up a bloody crime scene. One episode is set in a bar, another in an appliance shop, all with some blood to clean up. Greg get joined by a nice bunch of guest actors, among them Asim Chaudhry, Harriet Walter, Simon Callow, Zoë Wanamaker, Roisin Conaty and Mark Lewis Jones. Zita Sattar is the only regular, she plays a police officer.

I thought they were great fun and I got a few laughs out of each episode. Usually there's a touching moment or a bit of payback. I hope they make some more.

Science Fiction Sunday 735

Doctor Who Series 6 Episodes 11 - 13

 

The God Complex September 17 2011 Written by Toby Whithouse and directed by Nick Hurran.

 

The Tardis lands in a hotel which is really a construct by some aliens. A creature in the building has been feeding on people's faith. The alien spotted Amy's faith in the doctor. The Doctor will need to break that down to defeat the creature. The Doctor buys Amy and Rory a house and car as a goodbye present.

 

Closing Time September 24 2011 Written by Gareth Roberts and directed by Steve Hughes.

 

The Doctor goes to visit Craig from the Christmas Special. There's something odd interrupting the electrical grid. Turns out it was Cybermen.

 

The Wedding Of River Song October 1 2011 Written by Steven Moffat and directed by Jeremy Webb.

 

The Doctor is due to die at that lake. He'll have to do something about that.

Mostly pretty good stories. There's a commentary, some featurettes and the 13 short episodes of Doctor Who Confidential. It took a while to get through.

Friday Night Movies 935

Madam Satan 1930 Screenplay by Jeanie MacPherson with dialog by Gladys Unger and Elsie Janis, directed by Cecil B DeMille.

A romantic musical comedy that had scenes filmed in Multicolor. Sadly the color scenes set in the Zeppelin only exist in B&W. It was the most expensive film made at Metro Goldwyn Mayer that year.

That's DeMille next to Kay Johnson, the lady on the left is screenwriter Jeanie MacPherson. It's DeMille's only musical and came out at a time when the public had started to lose interest in them. It was a box office failure that lost $390K, that's over $7,000,000 in 2023 dollars. DeMille had left Paramount for a better deal at MGM. He made three pictures there and two of them went bust at the box office. He went back to Paramount.

Kay Johnson plays Angela Brooks and Reginald Denny plays her husband Bob. Early one morning Bob comes home drunk with his pal Jimmy, played by Roland Young. Angela finds out from the newspaper that he'd been arrested and appeared in Night Court with his wife and Jimmy. Bob tries to convince Angela that "Mrs Brooks" was really Jimmy's wife Trixie, played by Lillian Roth. It's not a convincing story and Angela knows that Bob is cheating on her.

After Bob sleeps the day away the couple get into a fight because he's forgotten that they were supposed to go to the theater. They split up and Bob leaves the house. Angela regrets the split and decides to fight for her hubby. Her maid sings her a song about fighting for her husband. Angela tells Jimmy she's like to spend the night with him and Trixie, knowing all too well that they aren't married. She follows them home and puts them on the spot. Bob appears and they fool him into thinking that Trixie was out and Jimmy was there with a new girlfriend.

Jimmy has a costume party on a zeppelin. There's a nice model of the zeppelin and mooring tower. The zeppelin has large sets and plenty of great costumes.

There's a floor show with about as many performers as guests.

Angela makes an appearance in her Madam Satan costume and wows the men. Bob forgets Trixie quickly and goes after Madam Satan. There's some running about and funny dialog. Then things take a turn, a giant electrical storm comes up and detaches the zeppelin from the mooring tower. Now it's a disaster movie. The zeppelin is tossed about, the guest parachute to safety and only Bob manages to get himself hurt. Things get back to what ever normal is among the rich and the movie is over.

I enjoyed parts of the movie. The banter among the main characters is entertaining, Angela putting Jimmy on the spot is fun, the zeppelin model is great, the costumes are wild. I didn't care for the musical numbers. the singing is high pitched and the words are hard to understand. I did like the big dance routine on the zeppelin even though it's a bit of a goofy thing. I'd recommend seeing it, it's unusual and that's a plus. I doubt I'd need to see it again so I don't need a DVD of it. That's one less thing to store.

Eat Brains Love 2019 Based on the novel Eat, Brains, Love by Jeff Hart, screenplay by Mike Hero and David Strauss, directed by Rodman Flender. Rodman has directed very few films, I've only seen a couple, Leprechaun 2, Idle Hands, and enjoyed those. He mostly directs TV episodes, most of which I've also not seen.

Jake and Amanda are in school when they turn zombie and eat their classmates. The zombie plague is only transmitted sexually. The victim of the disease only appears as a zombie when stressed or hungry. They look normal the rest of the time. Zombie's have remarkable recuperative powers.

The government is hunting zombies so the couple go on the run. With the help of a zombie lesbian couple they quickly adapt to their new lifestyle. The lesbians have a shopping list consisting of local sex offenders. No one will miss those victims. One of the zombie hunters is a psychic called Cass. She develops a thing for Jake over the movie and eventually gives up the zombie hunting. Alastaire is Cass's boss, he's been experimenting on zombie's turning them into controlled slaves.

There's a good bit of gore that isn't too excessive, it goes well with the humorous tone of the script. It's briskly paced and mostly enjoyable. Not sure I'd need to see it again, I'm not going to get the Blu-ray.

Sherlock Holmes And The Masks Of Death 1984

Sherlock Holmes And The Masks Of Death 1984 Story by John Elder, screenplay by Anthony Hinds, N J Crisp, directed by Roy Ward Baker.

Peter Cushing is Holmes, John Mills is Watson, and Anne Baxter is Irene Adler.It's Peter Cushing's last turn as Holmes, his ill health kept him from being able to appear in a sequel.

Inspector MacDonald asks Holmes for help with the three dead bodies in the East End. Before he gets going on that, the Home Secretary shows up with a German diplomat who has lost one of his envoys, a German Prince, who has disappeared right out of his house in Buckinghamshire. Could get serious between England and German if the guy isn't found.

There's a fairly good script that pokes a bit of fun at Sherlock's age. He's not quite as sharp as he used to be, it takes a while for him to get going and figure things out. Not a top notch film but entertaining for the most part. You can see it on YouTube. Link above.

Torment 1950

Torment 1950 Written and directed by John Guillermin. It was John's first solo directing job. It was released in the US with the title Paper Gallows.

Twin brothers, Cliff and Jim Brandon, are murder mystery writers. They're both interested in their secretary Joan but she's only got eyes for one of them. The unwanted brother kills someone and frames Joan for the murder. The good brother has to keep her off the gallows and marry her before the end of the movie.

Dermot Walsh plays Cliff, Rona Anderson plays Joan and John Bentley plays Jim. It's an OK movie but not much above average. It's short and quickly paced, I was entertained.

The Crowded Day 1954

The Crowded Day 1954 Based on a story by John Paddy Carstairs and Moie Charles, screenplay by Talbot Rothwell, directed by John Guillermin. Released in the US under the ghastly title of Shop Soiled. A comedy with a serious side.

 

Joan Rice plays a shop girl at Bunting and Hobbs, a large multi floor department store in London. Joan is dating a co-worker played by John Gregson. She's not happy with him, when the movie opens he's failed to show up for their date, his excuse is he had to go to a meeting of his vintage car club. She breaks their engagement and they spend the rest of the movie getting back together.

On a more serious note, Josephine Griffin plays another store employee with relationship problems. She's desperately trying to find her fiance. He left his mother's house two months ago for a job and Josephine hasn't heard from him since. The mother hates Josephine and won't tell her where her son has gone. The personal manager finds out that she's pregnant and gives her two week notice. Josephine steals some strychnine tablets and leaves the store. She spends the rest of the movie deciding what to do. Josephine's scenes contrast with the more carefree scenes of her co-workers. The movie ends on a high note for her.

The other characters have small story arcs that fill in the spaces around the two main story lines. It's more of a drama that I care for but I enjoyed it. There's a good script, a director I like, and some good actors in the cast: Freda Jackson, Patricia Marmont, George Woodbridge, Sonia Holm, Rachel Roberts, Vera Day, Thora Hird, Arthur Hill, Prunella Scales, Sydney Tafler, Edward Chapman, Richard Wattis and Sidney James. You can check out a nice copy on YouTube.

Tomorrow At Ten 1963

Tomorrow At Ten 1963 Story and screenplay by James Kelley and Peter Miller, directed by Lance Comfort. Lance directed a few good crime and horror films that I've seen. Most recent for me was The Painted Smile. I keep an eye out for his films.

It's got a good cast: Robert Shaw, John Gregson, Alan Wheatley, Kenneth Cope, William Hartnell, Betty McDowall, Ernest Clark, Helen Cherry, Renee Houston and Alan Clunes (father of Martin Clunes).

Alan plays a rich guy who's son is kidnapped and hidden away with a bomb. The kidnapper shows up at Alan's house wanting a big pile of cash. He plans to run away to Argentina where they can't extradite him. When he gets there he'll call with the location of the boy. Things don't go well after Alan's wife calls the police.

I thought it was a good story that was well told. You can see a decent copy on YouTube.

Science Fiction Sunday 734

Doctor Who 2 Series 6 Episodes 7 - 10

 

A Good Man Goes To War June 4 2011 Written by Steven Moffatt and directed by Peter Hoar.

 

The Doctor gathers some old acquaintances and they sneak into the base where Amy Pond is being held. She's had her baby, called Melody, and the baby turns out to have some Time Lord DNA. The baby turns out to be a doppelganger but Amy and Rory have known her in two different identities. One's River Song and the other is Mels, Amy's childhood friend whom she named her baby after.

 

Let's Kill Hitler August 27 2011 Written by Steven Moffatt and directed by Richard Senior.

 

Amy and Rory call the Doctor, he meets them in the cornfield. Amy's pal Mels turns up in a stolen car. None of them know Mels is Melody Pond yet. They give Mels a ride in the Tardis to escape the police and she shoots the Tardis.

 

It takes them to Hitler's office in 1938. Instead of killing Hitler like Mels wanted they wind up saving him from a robot bent on killing him. Mels gets shot and regenerates into River Song. River poisons the Doctor and then later gives up all her regenerations to save him.

 

Night Terrors September 3 2011 Written by Mark Gatiss and directed by Richard Clark.

 

The Doctor gets a call for help from a small boy who fears everything. Turns out he's an alien who took the form of a child to make a young couple happy. They couldn't have children. The child had gotten fearful of everything and he was sure if they would keep him because of his fears. A hug from dad helps sets things right and the Tardis gang take off.

 

The Girl Who Waited September 2011 Written by Tom MacRae and directed by Nick Hurran.

 

The Tardis arrives on the planet Apalapucia where Amy gets trapped in an accelerated time stream and ages 36 years before they don't rescue her.

I thought the episodes were a mixed bag, I liked Night Terrors the best. I didn't like the complicated life of Melody Pond much. I'm less and less interested in Amy and Rory. I enjoyed Series 5 much more.

There's one commentary, a couple of prequels and a monster featurette. Nothing much exciting.

Friday Night Movies 934

Where The Spies Are 1966 Based on the novel Passport To Oblivion by James Leasor, screenplay by James Leasor, Wolf Mankowitz and Val Guest, directed by Val Guest. Niven and Guest optioned the next five Leasor novels but only two of them ever got written. I've not read any of them.

David Niven plays Doctor Jason Love, he's been recruited by MI5 to go to a medical conference in Beirut to contact another doctor. John Le Mesurier plays the MI5 guy MacGuillvray, he'd worked briefly with Doctor Love in WWII when they both were in Military Intelligence. Love is reluctant to go but MacGuillvray offers to buy him a rare Cord automobile to get him on board.

Françoise Dorléac plays a spy called Vikki, her day job is that of international model. She's Love's contact at the airport. They start a bit of a romance. Love misses his plane only to see it explode on take off.

There's plenty of spying activity as the Russian spy Stanilaus, played by Ronald Rudd, gets ready to assassinate the pro-British Prince of Zahlouf. Love turns up and nobbles the Russian's plan. The Russkies kidnap Love and plan to take him to Russia.

Vikki turns out to be a double agent. She does redeem herself by shooting Stanilaus but sadly her modeling career comes to an end when Stanilaus returns the favor. I figured she'd die, it's the mid-60s, there's usually payback for blowing up a plane full of people. Doctor Love escapes and returns home.

I liked the movie well enough, it's more a spy movie like Our Man In Havana than a James Bond thriller. The Wikipedia says it's a comedy adventure film, it does OK on the adventure but it lacks a good supply of jokes. Despite that it's got a fairly decent script, perhaps a bit too long at 112 mins, and cast of good British actors. I recognized Cyril Cusack, Eric Pohlmann, Paul Stassino, Noel Harrison, Alan Gifford, Bill Nagy, Basil Dignam and Nigel Davenport. It's different enough from the average spy film that I'd watch it again.

Dr Renault's Secret 1942 Written by William Bruckner and Robert F Metzler and directed by Harry Lachman.

I wasn't certain that I had seen it before but the title was familiar. I looked at my Watched Movie List but I couldn't see it. Well, I couldn't find it due to a typo when I entered the movie in November 2017. The post I did then is linked in the title above. I still feel the same about the movie.

Das Mädchen Mit Den Katzenaugen 1958

Das Mädchen Mit Den Katzenaugen 1958 Story and screenplay by Werner P Zibaso, directed by Eugen York. A German film called The Girl With The Cat Eyes.

The German police are investigating a stolen car ring. Gert Fröbe is the owner of a garage the crooks are using to process the stolen cars for resale. He's not happy when his daughter shows up unannounced. He's even more upset when he has to run over a police detective with his truck. He's got no choice, the baddies will kill him if he doesn't.

Joachim Fuchsberger plays the next detective to go undercover. It takes him a while to get the goods on the baddies but he does a OK job of it. He even gets the girl. I enjoyed it, except for the fact I was watching a rather poor copy from YouTube. You can see it by clicking the link above. Here's a rather nice Italian poster for the movie.