Theeb (2014)

It was my lunch hour. I was sitting on a wooden step watching the world turn. The sun was doing it’s hot summer thing as a ferry pulled out of Wellington harbour. The usually gusty Wellington wind was a mere puff. Tourists and locals alike went about their business with an air of gentle summery […]

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Hell’s Angels (1930)

As you may now, even though I live in New Zealand, my passport is a British one. My home town started out as a tiny countryside village in Essex. But then the Second World War happened, and in particular the blitz, and there was suddenly a severe lack of liveable accommodation in London. Built in […]

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Admiral (2008)

Here’s one of those partial Great War Films I occasionally watch. For any one of a thousand reasons some of the films on my list aren’t primarily about the Great War but they do have something Great Warish (Great Warry?) about them. My film today is one of those films. ‘Admiral’ (2008) is a biopic […]

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Four Sons (1928)

Oh dear, here we go again. A silent era Great War Film. I settle myself in for an hour and a half of set chewing, cartoonish stereotypes and 30 minutes of story. But, just maybe this one has a bit of promise. ‘Four Sons’ is an early John Ford film. The guy who directed some […]

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Mata Hari (1985)

Mata Hari and Fraulein Doktor. Two names from the Great War, celebrities of the conflict maybe. Their stories have been told with varying degrees of accuracy over the years. Quite a while ago I reviewed ‘Mata Hari’ (1931) starring Greta ‘Bloody’ Garbo. It was a bit rubbish but ultimately harmless. Then more recently I watched […]

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