Change Your Image
Prismark10
Reviews
The Gold Robbers: The Midas Touch (1969)
The Midas Touch
Oh they are wrapping up the series. Only there are still two episodes to go.
Victor Anderson is feeling the heat. Everyone has gotten sloppy. Jo wants to cash out but she might get betrayed by Victor.
Even Tilt the man who does the dirty work for Victor gets slapdash. Throwing a bent barrister on to the path of an oncoming train. In front of witnesses.
Cashing in when the heat is on is also not cheap. Those Swiss bankers know when to squeeze hard when you are desperate.
Craddock now starts to make his luck breaks. Jo turns out to be the weak link.
By the end this was a fast moving episode and enjoyable episode. The action went from London to Switzerland and to Paris. All studio sets mind you.
I did like the Swiss banker telling Cradock just how few bars of pure gold have been produced in the history of the world. That was a surprise.
Of course Cradock figures there was someone above Victor Anderson. By this point even the audience could guess who that person is.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Safe Conduct (1956)
Safe Conduct
Alfred Hitchcock does his bit to fight off the red peril. As well as stay in Senator Mccarthy's good books.
Mary Prescott (Claire Trevor) is a the go getting American journalist who has been invited to go behind the Iron Curtain.
She has interviewed the head of state of an East European nation and is now heading back to West Germany.
On the train is well known footballer Jan Gubak. He won his nation the world cup trophy.
Jan has been critical of his country. He is on his way to see his sister in Munich, she is having an operation.
Mary offers to looks after a valuable watch, which Jan hopes to raise money for her operation. It is illegal to take out currency and items of value from the country.
In a turn of events. Jan tells the authorities that Mary is smuggling a watch over and she is arrested.
It turns out that the watch was of little value. So what was Jan's game?
Not much of a twist. All it shows that people from this communist countries cannot be trusted. Hidden spies and double agents. It's really a propaganda piece.
If Jan's sister could not afford the operation. How did she end up in hospital in Munich?
The Lloyd Bridges Show: Testing Ground (1962)
Testing Ground
Adam Shepherd is at Cape Canaveral for the launch of a rocket.
He imagines being part of a crew. Astronauts going to another planet. Like a diamond shining in the sky.
Only this planet unleashes hidden greed which could drive the astronauts to immense anger. All because they see the biggest diamond ever, reaching out to the sky. Untold riches for them, if they take it for themselves.
However one crew member sees sanity and is willing to die for it.
An unusual story, this would be more at home in The Twilight Zone. It is also filled with religious imagery. Very much a Christian subtext to it.
Greed is not good for you. Especially if you cannot cut the diamond down to size.
Batman: The Joker Goes to School (1966)
The Joker Goes to School
The kids at high school are suddenly goofing off school. The Joker has corrupted the youth of Gotham City by offering free money (He'll use that phrase in a movie one day.)
Each time a student places a dime in a vending machine. It dispenses silver dollar coins. The students feel they no longer need to learn. Batman tells them that nothing in life is free.
Batman knows the Joker is behind this. He purchased the One Armed Bandit Novelty Company soon after leaving prison.
The crooked jailhouse lawyer is doing all this to get himself a solid alibi. It's Batman himself. As the Joker and the bad pennies are up to no good. Using the one armed bandits by remote control to carry out some robberies.
Crime can be shocking. There is a lot here that was used in the 1989 Batman movie.
Once again the Joker has Batman trapped. It is an electrifying ending.
Doctor Who Confidential: Bringing Back the Doctor (2005)
Bringing Back the Doctor
Broadcast after the Doctor Who episode of Rose. This was a behind the scenes look at the making of new Doctor Who.
Unusually similar clips had already been shown on a Doctor Who special shown before Rose was broadcast. That was narrated by David Tennant.
So an element of duplication between both shows. The first series of Confidential was narrated by Simon Pegg who would also guest star in the first series.
It flits through the previous Doctors, going through the concept of regeneration.
More interesting was looking at the new people involved with Doctor Who. Talking to Russell T Davies, the various heads of BBC departments (all female) as well as Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper.
RTD is full of enthusiasm. More important was hearing Eccleston's approach to the role. Few people knew at the time that he had already quit the role and there would be no second season with him.
So it is fascinating to hear his words. There would be bad blood for some years after as to what disagreements he had with the producers of the show.
Doctor Who Confidential: A New Dimension (2005)
A New Dimension
This was shown just before the transmission of Rose on BBC1. The first episode of a new Doctor Who series in 16 years. They even had a clock counting down in this.
The series was going to be launched with a blaze of publicity. There were even billboards with Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper.
Yet after the transmission of Rose. The first episode of Doctor Who: Confidential would be broadcast as well which would be about bringing the Doctor back to the screen.
So why the two shows sandwiching the main episode of Doctor Who?
This was narrated by David Tennant. It is a brief rundown on the filming of the new show. It went through the previous actors who played the Doctor. There are interviews from past actors.
It is all fluffy stuff, little would be new to fans of the show. You get to see clips from the new episodes.
What it did was allow David Tennant to visit the Cardiff studios and film the regeneration scene in secret. People thought he was there for the narration.
There is no inkling at the time. When Eccleston was being interviewed here, he was leaving the role after one series.
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
Killers of the Flower Moon
Martin Scorsese is technically the best director working today. His films are made with precision and skill. Unfortunately his recent films also come with bloat.
The running length is an unfortunate impediment to the Killers of the Flower Moon. Primarily made for Apple TV, maybe Scorsese should had made a mini series rather than an overlong movie.
Based on a factual book by David Grann. Scorsese who loves westerns has essentially made one set in the early 20th century. It is all about greed and the murder of the Osage people of Oklahoma.
William Hale (Robert De Niro) is the local political boss who has hatched a scheme to steal the oil rich reservation land from the Osage tribe. He appears to be a trusted friend of the Osage nation.
Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) was his dim nephew. Hale got him married to an Osage woman Mollie Burkhart (Lily Gladstone.) Primarily to inherit her oil rights after her death. Hale and Burkhart slowly poison her with insulin.
Hale ordered the deaths of other members of Mollie's family so the oil rights go to her. Hale conspired to stop any investigation until Washington sends in one of their own investigators to examine the spate of deaths.
This is a story that needed to be told. It could had been done with 60 minutes easily lopped off.
There is no doubt to me that the film has problems. It is all De Niro and DiCaprio. The Osage people are cyphers. Mollie is an interesting character but is then sidelined as she wastes away.
It needed a perspective of one Osage tribe member leading the fight against Hale. That they knew what he was up to. That was missing.
Manhunt: Degrade and Rule (1970)
Degrade and Rule
Diana (Ann Lynn) is a British agent transmitting radio messages in France. She gets captured by the Germans.
It might be her luck that it is the Abweh who interrogate her. It means more games for Sergeant Gratz to play. Hence the episode title Degrade and Rule.
He is up to his usual interrogation tricks. Diana resists for now.
Gratz has also now been bitten with greed. He lavishes Nina with jewellery. Taken from Jewish jewellers. Gratz has plans to make money by forging rare forgeries.
More importantly he plans to use Diana, to transmit false radio messages to trick the British. This could be his personal triumph.
Ony Nina has a few tricks of her own. She gets to Diana and gives her much needed assistance.
This is a topsy turvy episode. Gratz just needed to dangle the image of a hot bath, warm running water and fragrant soap to get the captured women to turn, albeit reluctantly in Diana's case.
It ends with egg on his face for the first time. His enemies have got Gratz where they wanted. Unfortunately Nina has lost her protector. She might be in peril and now be back to square one.
Night Court: Train Court (2023)
Train Court
Abby and Olivia are delayed for night court. Their subway train breaks down. It leaves Olivia to coach Abby to behave like a typical New Yorker.
Abby wants to be friendly to everyone. Everyone else gets more irate the longer the train is stuck.
When there is an argument over seating. Abby decides to resolve matters by holding an impromptu court hearing.
Back at court, there is an incompetent substitute judge. Dan Fielding eyes an opportunity to rush through his cases as he has a reservation at New York's must eat restaurant.
These reservations are hard to get and Dan is looking forward to his meal.
Only Gurgs wants to delay him because two ice skating celebrities are appearing in court as witnesses. Abby would just love to meet them.
Another awful episode. The writers are really struggling with a plot. The actors are struggling with the lines. This really is a throwback to the appalling sitcoms of the 1970s and 80s.
Cribbins: Episode #2.4 (1970)
Episode 4
Once again Robin Hood is struck with an arrow as he receives a message that may not be so important.
Down at the police station a drunken man turns up, celebrating the anniversary of his wife leaving him. He expects the police to give a lift home.
A man goes to see his doctor as he has bees in his underpants. The doctor has problems of his own and it stings.
The song Bernard sings is Gossip Calypso written by Trevor Peacock.
Bernard plays an injured butler who is showed no sympathy by his master. Eventually the butler loses his temper.
Bernard pretends to be the first Englishman to land on the Moon. His worried wife tries to tempt him to stay. Which is just what the husband was hoping for.
Sheila Steafel plays an amorous Traffic Warden who has the hots for the driver illegally parked. He gets more than he bargained for.
There are a good variety of sketches but I found it more miss than hit. Adrian Bogworthy is good value.
Breathtaking: Mitigation (2024)
Mitigation
The series jumps towards Christmas and the run up to the second lockdown.
By this time there was a winter surge. The government wanted to remove Covid restrictions for Christmas. Only there was a winter surge.
Also the government's shortcomings throughout all this.. It lack of preparedness for the pandemic when it was emerging westwards from China. Then there was the ministers own breaches of the rules that eventually became public. Boris Johnson was a serial offender and has shown no genuine remorse.
The rampant death toll in care homes because people with Covid were sent back. Then spread it to others.
It was a messy conclusion. Maybe they should had gone the polemic route and given both barrels to Boris Johnson and his cronies. That includes the press who were in effect Johnson's fan club at the time. Just check all those 'Brave Boris' headlines when he himself would not comply with the rules his government introduced.
The government gave a lot of money to newspapers in the form of advertising. Keeping them going as no one was buying them during lockdown.
I did like the anti Covid people being shown as idiotic. I think in 2021, every other person I met was a Covid sceptic. All seemed to have gone to the same conspiracy websites and thought they were clever.
Some even going to bereaved families and telling them their loved ones died of something else and it was not Covid.
The Karate Kid (1984)
The Karate Kid
The Karate Kid was a sleeper hit in the summer of 1984 in the USA and Australia. Elsewhere it managed to get traction on the video rental market.
Director John G Avildsen hit Oscar paydirt with Rocky, managed to assemble another underdog story. So much so, 40 years after the release of this movie. The Karate Kid saga continues in the streaming television series Cobra Kai with some of the original actors.
Daniel (Ralph Macchio) is a soccer loving kid who has moved with his mother from New Jersey to Los Angeles. He is not happy, at school he is bullied by Johnny (William Zabka) and his karate loving chums.
All because Daniel got friendly with Ali (Elisabeth Shue.) She is Johnny's ex girlfriend.
Mr Miyagi (Pat Morita) the janitor at Daniel's apartment building agrees to train Daniel in karate. He also manages to get Kreese, the head of Johnny's dojo to call off the bullying. They agree to have it out at a karate tournament where Johnny is the defending champion.
Only Mr Miyagi has an unorthodox way of training. He gets Daniel to do various chores like cleaning cars, painting the fence and sanding the floor. Only Daniel never realises that he is learning basic karate skills.
There is an element of John Hughes teenager movies about the Karate Kid. Daniel is the poor kid with his mum driving a crummy car. Ali comes from a well to do family, her parents like Johnny.
It was noticeable even Johnny and some of his goons were not out and out baddies. Relevant to the story carried over to Cobra Kai.
When it comes to the tournament it is Kreese, an ex Vietnam vet who wants his students to fight dirty. Johnny and a few others are reluctant. It is just Dutch who truly hates Daniel.
It really is a story of friendship between Daniel and Mr Miyagi who teaches the teenager a philosophy of life and the crane karate move. Morita a journeyman actor was Oscar nominated for the role.
The film has an abrupt ending. All the signs that they ran out of money.
Passenger: Episode #1.6 (2024)
Episode 6
Writer Andrew Buchan must had been confident of a second series of Passengers. It ends in a kind of a cliffhanger.
If you want to be uncharitable. The previous five episodes were a prelude. The show only kicked off in the final episode.
If there was a plot then it came about in the final fifteen minutes. When Ali and Nish find a hidden room inside the bread factory.
There is a video game that enticed the teenagers of Chadder Vale. A game where the challenges turn deadly. (I like the assumption that only teenagers can be gamers!)
By this time I was thinking of the amount of movies and television shows where teenagers are trapped inside a deadly game or gaming app. Then there are those people watching them online. Red Rose on BBC3 comes to mind.
So the story is not that original.
Screen One: Hancock (1991)
Hancock
In 1989 Alfred Molina played pianist John Ogdon in the BBC Screen Two film, Virtuoso.
The writer and director reunited with Molina for this BBC Screen One film about Tony Hancock.
By this time Molina had already played several real life characters. He was Kenneth Halliwell in Prick up your ears.
Hancock was a much loved British comedy actor. With acclaimed writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, he had a hit show with Hancock's Half Hour.
Only he felt he could achieve a lot more such as movie success and maybe become a big star in America. That proved elusive as he drank too much. Although obliquely noted in this movie. Hancock had trouble remembering his lines. In later seasons of Hancock, he had the help of cue cards.
Molina gives an astonishing performance as Hancock. He physically resembles Hancock. The film concentrates in the last years of his life, after his hit BBC comedy show finished. Where he had veered away from his regular script writers.
Only Hancock hit a downward spiral in his career fueled with booze and bitterness. A movie in American failed to come off. His stage show was his usual comedy routines, not the new reinvention he promised the press.
While recording a show in Australia. Hancock committed suicide in 1968, he was only 44 years old. He looked much older when he did Hancock's Half Hour.
It is a shame that Hancock never realised how popular he was with the British public. The movie gives an insight as to some of his demons.
If there was a bum note. The actor playing John le Mesurier never convinced me.
Crime Story: Wallpaper Warrior (1992)
Wallpaper Warrior
If the first episode of Crime Story was highly dramatised. Wallpaper Warrior very much keeps towards the truth.
It looks like what took place in the story happened in real life. The sad fact is very little is shown about the victim, DC Jim Porter who was gunned down in Bishop Auckland.
The story is about Eddie Horner, a young not too bright man. Dismissed from his job at a wallpaper factory after it introduced a new bonus scheme which resulted in a pay cut. He was one of fourteen men who went out on strike and were sacked.
Horner had befriended Paul Standen, another unhinged young man who came in as a flying picket. Both talked about revolution and creating a Worker's Party.
Standen fed Horner some tall stories and seemed to have radicalised Horner. It led to both of them going on a crime spree with a third man as a getaway driver.
Featuring a most unlikely lookalike of Michael Foot played by Jack Watling (whose son Giles Watling went on to become a Tory MP.) This was a slice of early 1980s industrial strife.
A febrile ground for extreme left wingers who seem to provide no real answer to the industrial decline. Actually they still can't provide one even 40 years after the events took place.
It really is a matter of fact drama of some not very bright loners. Horner thought himself as a political prisoner who thought come the revolution. He will be freed from his life sentence.
The effect on the dead policeman's colleagues and families is absent.
Murder, She Wrote: Reflections of the Mind (1985)
Reflections of the Mind
Madness could be all in the mind, maybe according to Dr Victor March. He has been treating Francesca Lodge (Ann Blyth) an old friend of Jessica Fletcher.
She was a widow who later married a much younger man Scott Lodge (Ben Murphy) who is now cheating on her.
Only Francesca believes that her first husband's spirit is haunting her. Has he come back to life somehow?
Jessica investigates while Dr March decides whether Francesca needs to be hospitalised. Especially after Scott dies in an accident.
Any show that has Wings Hauser has a guest star does not need to look too far who the culprit could be.
There was more than a touch of Agatha Christie about the solution. My wife was very pleased to work out the likely suspect.
Red Eye: Episode #1.3 (2024)
Episode 3
By this point you would think the plane would have made an emergency landing. If the bodycount continues, it would had to be landed by autopilot. Assuming that has not been tampered with.
There are flashbacks to Dr Matthew Nolan's last days at the health conference in China. He was introduced to Shen Zhao, the woman Nolan has been accused of killing.
She interacted others who are also returning to China on the plane. Maybe Shen told one of them something important or maybe slipped something vital.
Nolan found himself drugged and in trouble as he dealt with his injuries. He quickly made his way back to Britain.
DC Hana Li now finds that one more person has died and another has disappeared. While her sister Jess is the only journalist in Britain following this story up.
It is good that Nolan's backstory has been covered. There is a suspicion that he might be a little shifty and hiding something. At least the tension has been ramped up.
I also noticed the camera lingering just a little too much on one plane crew member here and there. Indicating they could be the murderer.
Dixon of Dock Green: Sounds (1974)
Sounds
By this time the era of the all filmed episodes was over. We are back to the police station scenes in Dock Green. All the interior scenes are shot in video.
The exterior scenes are on 16mm film. Video cameras were still too cumbersome for outdoor location shooting.
The return of the police station scenes might have been due to budget cuts. Also to accommodate Jack Warner's age and health.
The police receive an urgent phone call. A small girl tells them that her mother has had an accident and she then puts the phone down.
Sergeant Dixon is sure that the child might be in danger and her mother has been attacked. Without a phone trace. They only have got the background noise to pinpoint the location.
A sound expert is brought in. They could hear a ship's horn and later the noise of a printing machine.
The story is reminiscent of these weekly American cop shows. The story where the police need to find a place solely in the background sounds and it is a race against time.
Although this story morphs into the issue of domestic violence. The injured woman was avoiding her husband. That too goes to the roots of Dixon of Dock Green under creator Ted Willis. Where it would often deal with social issues.
77 Sunset Strip: Casualty (1958)
Casualty
Mrs Dolan catches her husband coming out of a shop. Only he died a year ago. So she goes to see Jeff Spencer of the detective agency.
He is reluctant at first to take on the case. Maybe it was a close relative of her husband. Some bereaved wives often claim to see someone who resembles their husband.
As Jeff looks into the case further. He comes across what looks like a clever insurance scam. Mrs Dolan's husband has often assumed another identity, later died for relative low amounts of life insurance. So the companies never look into it that much.
So Jeff also teams up with the life insurance company concerned. There has to be other people involved in the scam, such as a funeral company supplying and burying a body.
A good story that should be harder to do these days. Repeatedly fake your death. It's a lucrative scam that Mr Dolan got involved in.
Jeff is willing to place himself in danger to crack the case. Stuart Bailey only makes a brief appearance. There is a nice cameo from Nancy Kulp as the nosy, sexually starved landlady.
Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Baker Street Bachelors (1955)
The Case of the Baker Street Bachelors
A would be politician finds himself being blackmailed. So he consults Sherlock Holmes.
He went to see a marriage broker. As the man has good prospects, he was matched up with a suitable bride. Only later to find himself embroiled in a potential scandal and now he faces blackmail demands.
So Sherlock Holmes takes Dr Watson along to the same marriage broker. Holmes makes out he is a man of means and they are immediately introduced to ladies.
On a later date at a tea rooms. A man walks in claiming that he is the husband of one of the ladies and that Holmes is trying to break up the marriage.
Holmes is arrested and the overzealous Inspector Mason will not let him out of jail. Despite protests that he is on an important case.
So it is up to Dr Watson and Inspector Lestrade to break up the blackmailing scammers.
An interesting story goes downhill very quickly. It gets silly and Inspector Mason has no idea the importance of Sherlock Holmes. Or that the marriage bureau is a sham. There is a race against time to clear the would be politician's name.
The Adventures of Robin Hood: Too Many Earls (1957)
Too Many Earls
It is winter and business is slack for outlaws. They may have to work just a little harder to track down the rich.
So Maid Marian has an idea. For Robin to take part in an archery contest. Her uncle is the birdwatching, animal loving vegetarian Earl of Rochdale.
He has been in dispute over boundary rights with the Earl of Northgate. The contest with settle the argument once and for all as well as 500 gold sovereigns.
As Robin Hood is an outlaw, he needs a letter of safe conduct signed by the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Rochdale is aghast to learn that Robin is an outlaw and wants nothing to do with the plan. Robin Hood sends an actor to pretend to be Rochdale, who the Sheriff has never met before.
This was a fun romp but a weak story. An Earl who does not know of Robin Hood. He has never met the Sheriff, a greedy man who likes to get to know the wealthy aristocracy.
There is a good cast here that includes Clive Revill and Nigel Davenport.
Doctor Who: Space Babies (2024)
Space Babies
New Doctor Who from 2005 is now so old. It makes the classic incarnation of the show even more classic.
The return of the Russell T Davies has led to the great renumbering. Welcome to the era of New New Doctor Who.
It is series one, Space Babies has the Doctor explaining the basic concept of the show to the new Disney viewers. While BBC viewers find they can stream the show on the stroke of midnight.
One thing is for sure. RTD likes to make his first episode to be a romp. A children's story coming to life in a space station. Babies being abandoned but they can speak. A literal bogeyman and the space station is falling apart.
If the episode Rose had a burping bin. This one has enough poo from dirty nappies to fire the space station to a safe planet.
The Doctor and Ruby make for a promising team and there was even a brief glimpse of a dinosaur. Kids would love it.
The Doctor is intrigued about Ruby though. Just what is in her DNA makeup?
Doctor Who: The Devil's Chord (2024)
The Devil's Chord
Also known as the Beatles episode. Only the Beatles look too old and nothing like Paul and John.
Ruby wants to see the Beatles record their first album back in 1963. The Doctor thinks it is a brilliant idea.
Only this is a world where music has disappeared. Britain of 1963 lacks colour, tunes and a zest for life. The Beatles can't sing for toffee.
It is all the fault of the Maestro (Jinkx Monsoon) who feeds off the music that has not been created. Only this majestic maestro is not the Master. Something even more sinister. The giggle is a giveaway.
The music is the thing in this story. It is a kind of episode that Doctor Who has not done before in its 60 years. There is even a fantastic dance number at the end.
We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Adapted from Lionel Shriver's acclaimed book. Director Lynne Ramsay has to deal with a difficult subject matter. A story of an evil unrepentant teenager.
Kevin (Ezra Miller) is a 15 year old high school, student. He was born with a psychological hatred of his mother Eva Khatchadourian (Tilda Swinton.) He cried all day and night. He deliberately pooped in his pants. He is cruel to his younger sister Celia. Even allowing her to be disfigured.
Only his father Franklin (John C Reilly) has a warm relationship with Kevin, teaching him archery. Only Franklin is oblivious just what a wicked child Kevin is. That he is being played by his son.
Ramsay directs the film in different timelines with an assured touch. The audience is aware that something bad has happened. Eva was a successful author living in a large house.
Now she is doing menial tasks as a secretary. Lives in a crummy house which constantly gets daubed with red paint. Her life has gone on a downward spiral. Eva has hit rock bottom.
The film takes the audience to the events that led to a barbaric act and how it affected Eva.
It is an intense performance from Swinton. Her hairstyle changes in the different timelines. Miller too matches her as the monstrous son. Ironically his career went on a tailspin in real life.
This is a difficult watch, a tough subject matter. We Need to Talk About Kevin. If only Eva and Franklin did. Realised that he needed psychological help early on.
The Upper Hand: Welcome Home (1990)
Welcome Home
It's winter and it is snowing but things could be heating up at the Wheatley household.
Caroline's estranged husband Michael has returned from the jungle with a snake as a gift for his son Tom. Michael is a documentary filmmaker and has been away for some months.
So he is surprised to be served divorce papers and find that Charlie is staying in the house. Michael has not been told that Caroline has got a male live in housekeeper.
While Laura insists that Caroline gets Micheal to sign the divorce papers. She does not like her son in law. Michael manages to warm Caroline's heart. Maybe she will give her marriage another go.
It is the first of a two part episode to push the will they/won't they angle between Caroline and Charlie.
There is jealousy and rivalry with the two alpha males. Michael concedes that Charlie is a good housekeeper. Only there is not going to be a room for him if Michael moves in.