rabbi
10-12-2008, 10:40 PM
Film4 Listings for Thursday 11th December
13:00
Waterloo Road (Film)
This lively, unpretentious wartime film sends AWOL squaddie Jim Colter back to his South London turf to save his wife Lillie from the advances of a philandering draft-dodger Ted Purvis. Pace, natural characterisation and warm humour elevate a simple story into an entertaining and humane drama that provides a finely-observed depiction of life during the Blitz.
Director: Sidney Gilliat
Starring: John Mills, Stewart Granger, Alastair Sim, Joy Shelton, Alison Leggatt, Beatrice Varley
(Black and White, Subtitles, 1944, PG, 4 Star)
14:30
Cattle Empire (Film)
Joel McCrea plays John Cord, a trail boss jailed for five years when his men looted and burned the town of Hamilton. Released from prison, he is attacked by the townsfolk. Saved by town boss Ralph Hamilton, who was blinded in the original riot, Cord is engaged to drive 5,000 head of cattle for Hamilton. But he also accepts a commission from Garth, Hamilton's rival, planning to double cross one of them. As the drive nears its end, Cord's men demand to be let loose in town, and as history looks likely to repeat itself, Cord learns about what really happened five years ago, and who his true enemies are, in Charles Marquis Warren's tough western.
Director: Charles Marquis Warren
Starring: Joel McCrea, Gloria Talbott, Don Haggerty, Phyllis Coates, Bing Russell, Paul Brinegar
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1958, U, 3 Star)
16:10
Escape to Athena (Film)
George P Cosmatos' wartime thriller is set on an unnamed Greek island where German officer Otto Hecht runs a slack PoW camp where prisoners include Stefanie Powers, David Niven, Richard Roundtree, Sonny Bono and Elliott Gould. The prisoners are charged with identifying and gathering the island's antique treasures for shipment to Germany, but when they come across an invaluable collection, there's a chance to line their own pockets if they can involve Hecht in their scheme and avoid the attentions of the local upright SS officer. An enjoyable caper movie, very much like Kelly's Heroes but with better weather, the film also stars Telly Savalas as a partisan who offers to help the group, and Claudia Cardinale as a local brothel owner who gets caught up in the plan. Edited for violence and language.
Director: George P. Cosmatos
Starring: Roger Moore, Telly Savalas, David Niven, Stefanie Powers, Claudia Cardinale, Richard Roundtree
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1979, PG, 3 Star)
18:35
The Parent Trap (Film)
Family comedy about identical twin sisters who are separated at birth when their parents divorce. Years later the girls meet at a summer camp and, despite strikingly different personalities, agree to a scheme to reunite their parents. When camp ends, they change places and start their plan with the first goal to scare off a gold-digger pursuing their father. A new remake of the 1961 favourite staring Hayley Mills.
Director: Nancy Meyers
Starring: Lindsay Lohan, Dennis Quaid, Natasha Richardson, Elaine Hendrix, Lisa Ann Walter
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1998, PG, 3 Star)
21:00
Alive (Film)
Frank Marshall's film is based on a true story from 1972 when a plane carrying 37 friends, family and members of a Uruguayan rugby team crash landed in the Andes. Because they were blown off course, rescuers missed them. They survived for 72 days before two of their number set off for help by cannibalising their dead colleagues and friends. The film opens with one of the most terrifying, vividly portrayed air crashes ever, courtesy of ILM, but after that, refuses to descend into sensationalism, instead concentrating on the moral and spiritual struggles of the slowly starving survivors. Ethan Hawke, Vincent Spano and Josh Hamilton play Nando Parrado, Antonio Balbi and Roberto Cannessa, the three protagonists around whom the story centres.
Director: Frank Marshall
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Vincent Spano, Josh Hamilton, Bruce Ramsay, John Newton, David Kriegel
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1992, 15, 3 Star)
23:25
The Hills Have Eyes (Film)
Alexandre Aja's re-make of Wes Craven's 1977 cult horror stars Ted Levine as Bob Carter and Kathleen Quinlan as his wife Ethel who, with five other members of the family, are heading for San Diego with their camper vans. An accident strands them in the desert and while two of the men go for help, the others are forced to wait. But they're unaware they're stranded near the site where, decades earlier, nuclear tests gave rise to a group of mutant monsters who have developed a taste for human flesh...
Director: Alexandre Aja
Starring: Maxime Giffard, Michael Bailey Smith, Tom Bower, Ted Levine, Kathleen Quinlan, Dan Byrd
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2006, 18, 3 Star)
01:30
Winter Light (Film)
Ingmar Bergman's film, which makes, with Through A Glass Darkly and The Silence, a trilogy of sorts, sees Gunnar Bjornstrand as a village pastor, widowed and losing his faith, who is tested by schoolteacher Ingrid Thulin's attentions and Max Von Sydow's suicidal parishioner.
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Starring: Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand, Gunnel Lindblom, Max von Sydow, Allan Edwall, Kolbjörn Knudsen
(In Swedish With Subtitles, Black and White, 1962, PG, 4 Star)
13:00
Waterloo Road (Film)
This lively, unpretentious wartime film sends AWOL squaddie Jim Colter back to his South London turf to save his wife Lillie from the advances of a philandering draft-dodger Ted Purvis. Pace, natural characterisation and warm humour elevate a simple story into an entertaining and humane drama that provides a finely-observed depiction of life during the Blitz.
Director: Sidney Gilliat
Starring: John Mills, Stewart Granger, Alastair Sim, Joy Shelton, Alison Leggatt, Beatrice Varley
(Black and White, Subtitles, 1944, PG, 4 Star)
14:30
Cattle Empire (Film)
Joel McCrea plays John Cord, a trail boss jailed for five years when his men looted and burned the town of Hamilton. Released from prison, he is attacked by the townsfolk. Saved by town boss Ralph Hamilton, who was blinded in the original riot, Cord is engaged to drive 5,000 head of cattle for Hamilton. But he also accepts a commission from Garth, Hamilton's rival, planning to double cross one of them. As the drive nears its end, Cord's men demand to be let loose in town, and as history looks likely to repeat itself, Cord learns about what really happened five years ago, and who his true enemies are, in Charles Marquis Warren's tough western.
Director: Charles Marquis Warren
Starring: Joel McCrea, Gloria Talbott, Don Haggerty, Phyllis Coates, Bing Russell, Paul Brinegar
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1958, U, 3 Star)
16:10
Escape to Athena (Film)
George P Cosmatos' wartime thriller is set on an unnamed Greek island where German officer Otto Hecht runs a slack PoW camp where prisoners include Stefanie Powers, David Niven, Richard Roundtree, Sonny Bono and Elliott Gould. The prisoners are charged with identifying and gathering the island's antique treasures for shipment to Germany, but when they come across an invaluable collection, there's a chance to line their own pockets if they can involve Hecht in their scheme and avoid the attentions of the local upright SS officer. An enjoyable caper movie, very much like Kelly's Heroes but with better weather, the film also stars Telly Savalas as a partisan who offers to help the group, and Claudia Cardinale as a local brothel owner who gets caught up in the plan. Edited for violence and language.
Director: George P. Cosmatos
Starring: Roger Moore, Telly Savalas, David Niven, Stefanie Powers, Claudia Cardinale, Richard Roundtree
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1979, PG, 3 Star)
18:35
The Parent Trap (Film)
Family comedy about identical twin sisters who are separated at birth when their parents divorce. Years later the girls meet at a summer camp and, despite strikingly different personalities, agree to a scheme to reunite their parents. When camp ends, they change places and start their plan with the first goal to scare off a gold-digger pursuing their father. A new remake of the 1961 favourite staring Hayley Mills.
Director: Nancy Meyers
Starring: Lindsay Lohan, Dennis Quaid, Natasha Richardson, Elaine Hendrix, Lisa Ann Walter
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1998, PG, 3 Star)
21:00
Alive (Film)
Frank Marshall's film is based on a true story from 1972 when a plane carrying 37 friends, family and members of a Uruguayan rugby team crash landed in the Andes. Because they were blown off course, rescuers missed them. They survived for 72 days before two of their number set off for help by cannibalising their dead colleagues and friends. The film opens with one of the most terrifying, vividly portrayed air crashes ever, courtesy of ILM, but after that, refuses to descend into sensationalism, instead concentrating on the moral and spiritual struggles of the slowly starving survivors. Ethan Hawke, Vincent Spano and Josh Hamilton play Nando Parrado, Antonio Balbi and Roberto Cannessa, the three protagonists around whom the story centres.
Director: Frank Marshall
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Vincent Spano, Josh Hamilton, Bruce Ramsay, John Newton, David Kriegel
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1992, 15, 3 Star)
23:25
The Hills Have Eyes (Film)
Alexandre Aja's re-make of Wes Craven's 1977 cult horror stars Ted Levine as Bob Carter and Kathleen Quinlan as his wife Ethel who, with five other members of the family, are heading for San Diego with their camper vans. An accident strands them in the desert and while two of the men go for help, the others are forced to wait. But they're unaware they're stranded near the site where, decades earlier, nuclear tests gave rise to a group of mutant monsters who have developed a taste for human flesh...
Director: Alexandre Aja
Starring: Maxime Giffard, Michael Bailey Smith, Tom Bower, Ted Levine, Kathleen Quinlan, Dan Byrd
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2006, 18, 3 Star)
01:30
Winter Light (Film)
Ingmar Bergman's film, which makes, with Through A Glass Darkly and The Silence, a trilogy of sorts, sees Gunnar Bjornstrand as a village pastor, widowed and losing his faith, who is tested by schoolteacher Ingrid Thulin's attentions and Max Von Sydow's suicidal parishioner.
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Starring: Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand, Gunnel Lindblom, Max von Sydow, Allan Edwall, Kolbjörn Knudsen
(In Swedish With Subtitles, Black and White, 1962, PG, 4 Star)