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This meticulous docu-drama is still the best show about the Titanic, the awesome disaster that has never lost its grip on the imagination. Roy Ward Baker leads an enormous cast of Brit character actors through 2.5 hours of true-life terror in the icy Atlantic — Kenneth More, Honor Blackman, David McCallum, Laurence Naismith, Anthony Bushell. No stupid subplots and no insulting anachronisms, just an awful sinking death trap and 1600 passengers facing the freezing water. [Imprint] brings some new extras to the mix, too.

A Night to Remember

Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] #135

1958 / B&w / 1:66 enhanced widescreen / 123 min. / Street Date June 29, 2022 / Available from / 39.95

Starring: Kenneth More, Honor Blackman, David McCallum, Laurence Naismith, Anthony Bushell, Alec McCowen, John Cairney, Michael Goodliffe, Ronald Allen, John Merivale, Jill Dixon, Kenneth Griffith, Frank Lawton, Tucker McGuire, Ralph Michael, George Rose, Joseph Tomelty, Jack Watling, Michael Bryant, Bee Duffel, Thomas Heathcote, Andrew Keir, Jeremy Bulloch, Desmond Llewelyn, Derren Nesbitt, Beth Rogan,...

Showbiz in Soho is artificial, gaudy and vulgar, but Laurence Harvey’s slick promoter-con man thinks he can cheat at the pop music game. Cliff Richard is his new discovery, a teen crooner who digs the bongo drums. Wolf Mankowitz’s portrait of talent, glitz, and double-dealing in music and TV showbiz also stars Sylvia Syms as a Soho stripper and Yolande Donlan as a singing star trying to make a comeback. The disc contains director Val Guest’s uncut original version.

Expresso Bongo

Blu-ray

Cohen / Kino Lorber

1959 / B&w / 2:35 widescreen / 111 106 min. / Street Date January 18, 2022 / Available from Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Laurence Harvey, Sylvia Syms, Yolande Donlan, Cliff Richard, Meier Tzelniker, Ambrosine Phillpotts, Eric Pohlmann, Gilbert Harding, Hermione Baddeley, Reginald Beckwith, Avis Bunnage, Sally Geeson, Kenneth Griffith, Burt Kwouk, Wilfrid Lawson, Patricia Lewis, Barry Lowe, Martin Miller, Susan Hampshire, Peter Myers, Lisa Peake, The Shadows.

Cinematography: John Wilcox

Art Director:...

Veteran filmmakers Michael Relph and Basil Dearden try a hip ‘n’ flip costume comedy about an 1899 consortium that’s the equivalent of Murder Inc.: Killings for hire done with veddy proper civility and good taste. The charming Oliver Reed and Diana Rigg lead a notable cast — Telly Savalas, Curd Jürgens, Philippe Noiret, Beryl Reid, Clive Revill — through mayhem-filled chases in several European capitals. Tossed off in tongue-in-cheek style, it’s shallow but cute, and if you like the stars it can be a lark. Its saving grace is the spirited Ms. Rigg.

The Assassination Bureau

Region-Free Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 86

1969 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 110 min. / The Assassination Bureau Limited / Street Date October 29, 2021 / Available from [Imprint] or Amazon /

Starring: Oliver Reed, Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas, Curd Jürgens, Philippe Noiret, Warren Mitchell, Beryl Reid, Clive Revill, Kenneth Griffith, Vernon Dobtcheff, Annabella Incontrera, Jess Conrad, George Coulouris.

Cinematography: Geoffrey Unsworth

Art Director: Michael Relph

Film...

No one goes to the circus anymore. Outdated, antiquated, and cruel, it houses and mistreats animals for our amusement; I’d sure like to see the people running it tortured instead of the animals. Speaking of which, Circus of Horrors (1960) does just that; the circus is an ideal setting for shadowed deaths and “unforeseen” accidents, and this film provides plenty while still retaining a solid focus on its characters.

Released by American International stateside in August, with a slight earlier date (late June) by Anglo-Amalgamated on its home turf of the UK, Circus of Horrors was well received by some critics, who praised its sturdy direction, potent atmosphere, and strong performances. Audiences dug it too, especially in the states, where it double billed with The Angry Red Planet and did quite well. Even if it hadn’t performed, it’s still a fast-paced thrill ride through the grimy and tattered tents of the big top.

Four out of five psychologists agree that something rotten is alive and well between the sawdust and the high wire in the delirious Circus of Horrors. Lame big-top horror pix are common enough, but this fiendishly entertaining delight would inspire the voyeur-sadist in MisterRogers. Anton Diffring is the steely-eyed medical maniac with a mission to populate an insane circus exclusively with cosmetically-enhanced prostitutes and criminals. And I won’t turn that into a White House joke.

Circus of Horrors

Blu-ray

Scream Factory

1960 / Color / 1:78 anamorphic 16:9 / 88/92m. / Phantom of the Circus / Street Date September 10, 2019 / 29.95

Starring: Anton Diffring, Jane Hylton, Kenneth Griffith, Erika Remberg, Conrad Phillips, Yvonne Monlaur, Donald Pleasence, Colette Wilde, Vanda Hudson, Yvonne Romain, John Merivale, Carla Challoner.

Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe

Film Editor: Reginald Mills

Makeup: Trevor Crole-Rees

Art Direction: Jack Shampan

Original Music: Muir Mathieson, Franz Reizenstein

Written by George Baxt

Produced by Leslie Parkyn, Julian Wintle

Directed...

Alec Guinness transfers an acting challenge from the stage to the screen, in this account of a Cardinal forced to knuckle under to a Communist regime — instead of extracting a confession with torture, Jack Hawkins’ Inquisitor uses psychology to find his prisoner’s weakness. The picture is uneven but its key performances are choice, with a special assist from Wilfrid Lawson as a jailer.

The Prisoner

Blu-ray

Arrow Academy

1955 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 95 min. / Street Date March 12, 2019 / 39.95

Starring: Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Wilfrid Lawson, Kenneth Griffith, Jeanette Sterke, Ronald Lewis, Raymond Huntley, Percy Herbert.

Cinematography: Reginald Wyer

Film Editor: Frederick Wilson

Original Music: Benjamin Frankel

Written by Bridget Boland from her play

Produced by Vivian Cox

Directed by Peter Glenville

Is this an anti-Communist piece, or simply a story about human convictions and human weakness? Believe it or not, some interpreted it as anti-Catholic in 1955. European film festivals may have...

By Dawn Dabell

A subject which seems to rear its head more and more in today’s society is paedophilia. It feels like every other week brings with it some story of a TV star, singer, film star or MP who has preyed upon young and vulnerable victims for their sexual gratification. That’s not counting the number of domestic cases or the growing problem of online abuse and degradation against minors. Thankfully the culprits are in a minority, but such stories - when they break - send ripples of shame and outrage throughout the journalistic world.

Film-makers have been tackling this most difficult of subjects for longer than people realise. One example is Hammer’s Never Take Sweets From A Stranger (1960), which was largely dismissed by critics when released, but is actually a very well-executed attempt which highlights the horrors of child molestation. If nothing else, it is worth...

By Darren Allison

Chain of Events 1958 Region 2 DVD Review: Directed by Gerald Thomas, Starring Kenneth Griffith, Susan Shaw, Dermot Walsh, Freddie Mills and Joan Hickson. Released November 2nd 2015

A taut 1958 crime melodrama, Chain of Events features noted actor and film-maker Kenneth Griffith as a bank clerk whose attempt to dodge a fare has devastating consequences; a powerful cast includes Rank "Charm School" starlet Susan Shaw and future Richard the Lionheart lead Dermot Walsh. Chain of Events is also directed in sharp, pacey style by the ‘Carry On’ legend Gerald Thomas.

Rather curiously, Chain of Events was adapted from a radio play written by the late Australian character actor Leo McKern. John Clarke (Kenneth Griffith), an uninspiring sort of gentleman, one day boards a bus on his way home from work and foolishly “forgets” to pay his fare. He is caught by an inspector, but instead of owning up to it,...

It’s time for another update from our friends at Arrow Video, this time previewing their March 2012 releases which encompass sleazy horror, cult British action movies and gory, cheesy sci-fi… The highlight for me in March’s releases? Definitely has to be Don’t Go In The House.

Who Dares Wins (Arrow Video)

The 60 Second War Begins Now! Paranoia, black ops and espionage combine in Who Dares Wins, a violent and edgy anti-terror classic starring Lewis Collins (The Professionals) and Edward Woodward (The Equalizer). The anti-nuclear movement is plotting a bloody outrage on British soil and, having already fatally lost their undercover operative at a violent protest, the secret services call on the aid of the Sas. Captain Peter Skellen (Collins) risks his career, his family and his life to infiltrate the terrorist group before they can unleash an attack that will devastate the country. Relive a classic cold war...

By Lee Pfeiffer

By the way some reviews describe this moody 1967 film, one might think they are dealing with a story about the supernatural. Dame Edith Evans, giving a bravura Oscar-nominated performance, plays an elderly woman who believes she can hear conspiratorial voices plotting against her. She reprimands them but they keep returning. They are the titular "Whisperers"- however, this plot angle is only fleetingly explored in Bryan Forbes downbeat but impressive film. In fact the movie is a character study that illustrated the plight of the elderly in Britain at that time. The Brits may have been on the winning side in WWII, but the social consequences of living in a nation that was financially crippled because of the consequences of that conflict were severe. The popular image of England in the mid to late 1960s was that of London being the epicenter of the pop culture revolution.