Biggles (1986)

In a slightly foggy and half-forgotten way I think I just about remember Biggles from when I was a nipper. I can’t quite remember the details but just the name makes me conjure images of Britishness. A warm summer evening watching cricket, the Last Night of the Proms, boys own stuff, swooping and shooting off […]

In Love and War (1996)

I’ve been here before. That déjà vu feeling when you recognise something but you can’t quite put your finger on it. When a word or a sense, a place, an emotion take you back to somewhere just out of reach of your memoratic synapses. We’ve all been there and as I press stop on my […]

Gunbus/Sky Bandits (1985)

I think I’ve mellowed over the years doing these reviews. I was probably a bit tough on some of the early films I wrote about if they didn’t take themselves too seriously. I was a bit disparaging about ‘Shout at the Devil’, mostly for the scenery chewing antics of Lee Marvin. I was also tough […]

Captain Conan (1996)

I’ve noticed a few trends during my expeditionary voyage through the first 100 years of Great War Films. Whether it’s cultural stereotypes or clichéd plot lines, there’s similarities which rear their heads in films that span the generations from cinemas’ earliest days right through to today. There’s always someone getting their head blown off when […]

Shock Troop 1917 (1934)

There was a lot going on in German Cinema in the post Great War years. Directors, actors and assorted film personnel from around Europe dusted themselves down and made their way to various German studios to chase their dreams. The Expressionists arrived first in the early 20’s, Robert Wiene’s ‘The Cabinet of Dr Caligari’ was […]