A Night to Remember

 Year of Release:  1958

Director:  Roy Ward Baker

Screenplay:  Eric Ambler, based on the book A Night to Remember by Walter Lord

Starring:  Kenneth More, Michael Goodliffe, Laurence Naismith, Honor Blackman, Kenneth Griffith, David McCallum, Tucker McGuire, Frank Lawton

Running Time:  123 minutes

Genre:  Drama

In 1912 the luxurious passenger liner RMS Titanic, the largest vessel afloat and widely believed to be unsinkable, sets sail on it's maiden voyage from Britain to America.  During the voyage, however it strikes an iceberg, in one of the most famous maritime disasters in history.

While this lacks the spectacle and production values of James Cameron's Titanic (1997), this is widely regarded by historians and survivors as the most accurate version of the famous disaster.  It's filmed in a documentary style with a large ensemble cast.  It moves from the opulent splendour of First Class, to the cramped, crowded Steerage, who are more or less abandoned to their fate.  We also see the reactions of the nearby ships, the only ship to render any assistance is too far away to do anything but collect survivors, and one ship that is very near is oblivious to their distress calls.  The cast do occasionally come across as comically upper class and the upper lips are as stiff as cardboard, but there are some good performances from a number of notable British actors including Honor Blackman, David McCallum and a very early, uncredited appearance from Sean Connery.  The film is most effective in it's quiet moments and cumulation of telling details.    While the special effects look crude by modern standards, the sequences of the ship sinking are still effective.

A Night to Remember

Dr. No

Year of Release:  1962

Director:  Terence Young

Screenplay:  Richard Maibaum, Johanna Hawood, Berkely Mather, based on the novel Dr. No by Ian Fleming

Starring:  Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, Joseph Wiseman, Jack Lord, Anthony Dawson, Zena Marshall, John Kitzmiller, Eunice Gayson, Bernard Lee

Running Time:  109 minutes

Genre:  Thriller, action

British secret agent James Bond (Connery) is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a diplomat and his secretary in Kingston, Jamaica.  Quickly becoming a target himself, Bond's investigations lead him to a mysterious private island owned by the sinister Dr. No (Wiseman).

This adaptation of Ian Fleming's 1958 novel Dr. No has a place in cinema history as the first film to feature British super-spy James Bond, and the inaugural instalment of one of the most influential and popular film franchises in cinema history which has chalked up 25 films to date.  Produced on a low budget the film's mix of action, adventure, high living, exoticism and a dash of eroticism made it a huge hit with British audiences in the grey early 1960s. Mixing charisma, intelligence and sex appeal with a strong thread of ruthless brutality, Sean Connery became the quintessential James Bond, and is arguably still the best, and "Bond Girl" Ursula Andress has one of the most iconic entrances in cinema coming out of the tropical sea clad in a bikini.  Unlike most of the later Bond films, this is relatively faithful to Fleming's novel, and, even though the series didn't really hit it's stride until the third film, Goldfinger (1964), it does introduce sone of the elements that would become hallmarks of James Bond, including the trademark "gun barrel" opening, the rousing theme by John Barry, stylish title sequence, elaborate secret lairs for the villain, and the flirtatious banter between Bond and secretary Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell).  As with most of the Bond films, this is a bit problematic by today's standards, and it also suffers from having a fairly bland villain in Dr. No, who barely appears in the film.  It remains a hugely enjoyable adventure film though, and a fantastic slice of escapist entertainment.

     Bond... James Bond:  Sean Connery in Dr. No

Time Bandits

 Year of Release:  1981

Director:  Terry Gilliam

Screenplay:  Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin

Starring:  John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Michael Palin, Ralph Richardson, Peter Vaughan, David Warner, Craig Warnock, David Rappaport, Kenny Baker, Jack Purvis, Mike Edmonds, Tiny Ross 

Running Time:  113 minutes

Genre:  Fantasy, comedy

Young Kevin (Warnock) lives in an average house in middle-class suburban England, with his normal parents.  One night Kevin is woken up by a knight in full armour on horseback bursting out of his wardrobe and running through his bedroom wall.  This heralds the start of a bizarre adventure when he encounters a gang of quarrelling dwarves who have stolen a map revealing the locations of holes in space and time, which they plan to use to commit a series of robberies throughout history.  They encounter Napoleon (Holm) who is obsessed with his own height, a frightfully posh Robin Hood (Cleese), the Ancient Greek warrior Agamemnon (Connery), take a trip aboard the RMS Titanic, and become unwittingly embroiled in the age-old battle between Good (Richardson) and Evil (Warner).

This is a delightfully dark comic fantasy which shows director Terry Gilliam at his very best.  Co-written with fellow Monty Python alumni Michael Palin, who also appears along with fellow Python John Cleese, this has a real Pythonesque feel to it, and feels like a low-budget British take on the American blockbuster.  There is a distinctly British feel to the film, despite Terry Gilliam being American, with the minutiae of everyday mundanity existing cheek-by-jowl with fantastic wonders, and characters being adrift in a chaotic and hostile universe.  Working on a limited budget the filmmakers work wonders with some impressive special effects and memorable images (for example a large old sailing ship turns out to be a giant's hat).  Almost every frame is packed with detail, and there is a real chaotic feel to the film and you do feel like anything could happen.  As Kevin, the film's anchor role, young Craig Warnock doesn't really have much to do except look wide-eyed, but the dwarves have well-defined personalities and their constant bickering with each other is very funny ("I can't stand people who are right!"  "That must be how you get on with yourself so well").  Otherwise you have famous faces appearing in small funny roles, with the late, great Sean Connery giving real gravitas to the part of Agamemnon, even if his Scottish accent doesn't sound quite right for an Ancient Greek hero, and Ian Holm as the mercurial Napoleon, give to drunken rants about the heights of famous historical people.  David Warner relishing every second as Evil, and Ralph Richardson as a querulous Supreme Being ("Dead, eh?  That's no excuse for slacking off work").  There is also a very early appearance by Jim Broadbent as a game show host.  The film has some still quite pointed satire, and a surprisingly bleak conclusion.  It was co-produced by former Beatle George Harrison who provides the closing theme song "Dream Away", some of the lyrics of which were apparently inspired by his notes to Gilliam during the film's production.  

David Rappaport, Kenny Baker, Malcolm Dixon, Jack Purvis, Mike Edmonds and Tiny Ross are Time Bandits 

Zardoz

Year:  1974
Director:  John Boorman
Screenplay:  John Boorman
Starring:  Sean Connery, Charlotte Rampling, Sara Kestelman, John Alderton
Running Time:  106 minutes
Genre:  Science-fiction

In the year 2293, a post apocalyptic world is divided into two areas divided by an impenetrable force-field:  The "Zone" is inhabited by powerful but bored immortals known as "Eternals" and the "Outlands" are inhabited by the mortal "Brutals" who are controlled by the savage "Exterminators" who worship a giant floating stone head called Zardoz which distributes guns and rules, and which is the only thing that can pass through the force-field.  One Exterminator, Zed (Connery), hitches a ride on the head and enters the Zone, where he introduces the Immortals to such old favourites as emotions, sex and death.

This film is pretentious, extremely self indulgent, deeply weird, and often very silly.  It's also stylish, ambitious and has moments of real brilliance.  It takes hoary old ideas but treats them in a very imaginative way.  It has the image of Sean Connery clad in what looks like a bright red nappy, with a  long ponytail and huge handlebar mustache, and that is just the tip of the iceberg.  The Eternals are kind of a hippy commune, given to psychic communication through the medium of interpretive dance.  There is a lot of real imagination on display though and you have to admire John Boorman's nerve in bringing it to the screen, he wrote, produced and directed the film, and it certainly looks like a personal vision.  For better or worse, I think he did have a more or less free hand with this, and I have to wonder what it was like on set.  The actors do what they can with the material.  The thing with Zardoz is that it's a film that is at once great and absolutely dreadful.  It constantly oscillates between two extremes.  There are times when it feels like a parody, but it also takes itself very seriously.  Often it's very dull, but also full of scenes and images so eccentric and bizarre they almost make your eyes pop.  To put it mildly, it is a film that will divide audiences.  It's become a big cult movie, and I can definitely see why.  I cannot imagine that a film like this would be made today, because I cannot imagine that any studio would give  a filmmaker carte blanche to make something as frankly weird as this.  It's not as dreadful as you may have heard, but neither is it particularly good, however for all it's ridiculousness, pretentiousness and inconsistency, I like it for it's quirks, strangeness and imagination.

             A visit from Zardoz

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Year: 2003
Director: Stephen Norrington
Screenplay: James Dale Robinson based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill
Starring: Sean Connery, Naseeruddin Shah, Peta Wilson, Tony Curran, Stuart Townsend, Shane West, Jason Flemyng, Richard Roxburgh and Max Ryan
Running Time: 110 minutes
Genre: Fantasy, action, adventure, superhero, science-fiction, steampunk

Summary: The year is 1899 and a mysterious villain known as The Fantom has arranged a raid on the Bank of England designed to point to the Germans, and this is followed by a raid on an airship factory in berlin designed to point to the British. With the countries of Europe at each other's throats the world stands on the brink of an all-out World War. The only solution is to recruit a "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" consisting of hunter and adventurer Allan Quatermain (Connery), Captain Nemo (Shah) who owns the world's only submarine the Nautilus, vampire Wilhelmina Harker (Wilson), the completely invisible thief Rodney Skinner (Curran), the apparently indestructible Dorian Gray (Townsend), American sharpshooter Tom Sawyer (West) and the tormented Doctor Henry Jekyll with his violent alter ego Edward Hyde (Flemyng). Brought together by the mysterious "M" (Roxburgh) the group have to conquer they're own personal demons to save the world.

Opinions: This film has the benefit of a really interesting central idea, that of bringing together characters from 19th century adventure stories, such as Allan Quatermain (from the novel King Solomon's Mines and it's various sequels and prequels by H. Rider Haggard), Captain Nemo (from the novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne), Wilhemina Harker (from the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker), the "Invisible Man" (from the novel The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells), Dorian Gray (from the novel The Portrait of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde), Tom Sawyer (from the novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and others by Mark Twain) and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (from the novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson). However the movie, which was hated by critics despite being relatively successful at the Box Office, never became the franchise which it so obviously was intended to be.
The movie had a notoriously difficult shoot with one of the biggest sets being destoryed in a storm and a great deal of tension between director Stephen Norrington and star Sean Connery (when asked why the director didn't attend the premiere Connery snapped "check the local asylum"). Also due to the nature of using already created characters some charcaters had to be changed, added or dropped depending on whether or not the film-makers could get the rights to use them. The character Tom Sawyer was added at the request of the studio (20th Century Fox) in order to make the film more accessible to an American audience. The film was also the subject of a lawsuit brought against the studio by writers Larry Cohen and Martin Poll who claimed that the film plagarised a script they had written called Cast of Characters which the studio had previously rejected. The writers claimed that the studio hired Alan Moore to write the graphic novel based on the Cast of Characters script. The idiocy of this claim is heightened by the fact that the lawsuit focused on two characters (Tom Sawyer and Dorian Gray) which did not appear in the original comics and were added for the film. Despite dismissing the claim as "absurd nonsense" the studio settled out of court, which infuriated Alan Moore who thought that he had been denied the chance to exonerate himself. In the end after this film Sean Connery announced his retirement from acting and Stephen Norrington declared that he would never make another film again (although he has changed his mind) and Alan Moore has severed all ties with the movie world (despite the release of the movies V for Vendetta (2006) and Watchmen (2009) based on his comics).
It is not a good film by any means, basically hurtling from one special effects packed action sequence to another with a minimum of story or character development. The special effects are good and the action sequences are well done and do provide some excitement but it is all really predictable, and with so many interesting ideas it just feels like a wasted opportunity. It is also worth mentioning that the movie has absolutely nothing in common with the superb graphic novel series aside from the title and central premise.