Prime Time: Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1972)

There are some titles that just grab you. Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? is one of them. When I saw this during some time spent once again browsing the internet for my next viewing choice, I knew I had to check it out. Seeing the cast also helped, with roles here for Shelley Winters, Ralph Richardson, and Lionel Jeffries, as well as quite a few other familiar faces.

Winters plays the titular character, although her name is actually Mrs. Forrest. Having survived both her husband and her young daughter, Mrs. Forrest isn’t in possession of every single one of her marbles, but that doesn’t stop her from doing some good deeds, with an annual tradition being her meal and party for a group of randomly-selected orphans from a nearby home. But the latest visitors feature a young girl (Katy, played by Chloe Franks) who seems to resemble Mrs. Forrest’s daughter, which ensures that Mrs. Forrest keeps trying to give her extra attention. Something doesn’t seem right, and Katy’s bother, Christopher (Mark Lester), suspects that Mrs. Forrest is a witch who means to harm the children.

Directed by Curtis Harrington, who seemed to spend the ‘60s and ‘70s helming many films in this vein (his previous feature is titled What’s The Matter With Helen?), and written by David Osborn, Robert Blees, and Jimmy Sangster, this is a mix of character study, melodrama, and psychological thriller that manages to do a good job with every individual aspect being blended into the narrative. It’s also quite different from what you might expect, with viewers being wrong-footed by the first half of the movie before realising exactly who might end up being painted as heroes and villains.

Winters is very good in her role, playing a typically warm-hearted and loving matriarchal figure. She gets to overact occasionally, but that really helps with what is sometimes a twisted panto atmosphere. Lester and Franks are both very good, making great use of their angelic little faces as they scheme to escape someone they view as a major threat, and both Richardson and Jeffries excel in small roles that still give them enough time to make their usual strong impressions. The other person to mention is Michael Gothard, a member of the household staff who plans to get himself a much bigger payday than usual from his vulnerable employer.

There are many other ways this could have gone. The whole thing could have been much darker, it could have been played comedically, it could have been a more straightforward game of cat and mouse (and it’s worth noting the extra satisfaction of seeing Winters cast in a central role in something that seems to subvert The Night Of The Hunter), but I am pleased with the strange delight that we got. I may not recommend it to many people, but I hope others give it a try, and some may enjoy it as much as I did.

7/10

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Prime Time: Watership Down (1978)

Look, I didn't get to reach my mid-40s without being aware of how far removed Watership Down is from the image of animated fluffy bunnies frolicking around I had in my mind as a child. It may have taken me far too long to see it, although I thought I was somewhat mentally prepared after having seen The Plague Dogs (from the same team) some time ago, but I knew what to expect. Well, I thought I did.

The story is simple. A group of rabbits (led by Hazel and Fiver, voiced by John Hurt and Richard Briers) leave their warren to seek a new home, due to Fiver having a vision of some major doom heading their way. Their journey is a perilous one, and they meet a variety of characters, some of them who become friends and many who show themselves to be enemies.

People speak about Watership Down with a mixture of emotions. It's a favourite, it has some lovely moments, and yet it traumatised many who didn't know what to expect, especially those who saw it closer to the time it was initially released. Some people may warn you if you're about to check it out for the first time. And you steel yourself. You know that not all of these bunnies are going to have a happy life. You know that there are going to be moments of darkness and danger.

What you may not know is that this is an almost non-stop barrage of bloodied bunny bodies in a tale that amounts to little more than intense rabbit genocide for much of the runtime. Construction development, gas, a snare, a cat, a dog, other rabbits, a shotgun, natural causes, these rabbits face danger and death at every turn. The film starts with the entire species being cursed by a god it has been a bit cheeky to. The entire species doomed to be hunted forever.

And don't start me on "Bright Eyes", a beautiful song written by Mike Batt, and performed by Art Garfunkel, that I always assumed would be at least a moment of lovely relief from the pain and death onscreen. Yeah . . . no, it isn't. Not at all. "Bright Eyes" plays while a rabbit spirit is heading over to join the others in the rabbit afterlife. It's not a sweet song to accompany the visuals, it's a bloody elegy. All of these years I have spent knowing the song, humming or singing it at various points in my life, and it must have sent any rabbits within a 40-metre radius into hiding, wondering which of their furry friends had just died.

Writer-director Martin Rosen (adapting the Richard Adams novel) does a good job, I guess. I begrudge praising him because of how traumatic the whole thing is but it's actually well-judged in terms of how to absolutely upset younger viewers while allowing the beautiful animation to soften the harsher imagery. This is a film that must be watched as a rite of passage, although I feel sorry for any parents who settle down to watch this with their children without enough tear-wiping accessories to hand (have a box of tissues, an old t-shirt, or even a towel, to hand).

The voice cast is wonderful. So many of the supporting roles also sounded familiar to me, although I couldn't pinpoint every voice, but Hurt and Briers are the heart and soul of the film. Michael Hordern and Ralph Richardson are quite instantly recognisable, due to the memorable timbre of their speech, and Michael Graham Cox, John Bennett, Simon Cadell, and Roy Kinnear are all worth mentioning, as well as Lynn Farleigh, Hannah Gordon, Nigel Hawthorne, Derek Griffiths, and, almost managing to lighten the mood slightly, Zero Mostel, who voices a seagull named Kehaar. I'll also single out Harry Andrews for the fact that he plays Gen, Woundwort, arguably the scariest character in the movie.

Watership Down is an absolute classic. I just don't know when I will be ready to watch it again.

9/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans may want to wait until there's something at a better price.

Sci-Fi September: Things To Come (1936)

Directed by William Cameron Menzies, Things To Come is a sci-fi movie that's often forgotten when the major touchstone movies of the genre are discussed, despite being arguably just as important and influential as any other title that you could mention.

Written by H. G. Wells, who adapted his own novel into screenplay form, this is a compressed history of an imagined future. Things to come, of course. It's a film that shows the impact of a long, devastating, world war before going on to show society being rebuilt. People are, however, mistrustful in the aftermath of the war, which makes progress slower than it could be. And there's always the worry that the advancement of the human race will lead to the potential for another war.

Things To Come is a film that I first saw while in my early twenties. My love of film was already established, but not quite to the point that it is now. I would try to watch a variety of genres, try to sample some world cinema, and also try to watch movies from different ages of cinema. But I had to do so with films that would help make the journey as smooth as possible (as opposed to now, when I can happily sit down and watch anything and everything). This was a film that had a reputation for being ahead of its time, for holding up as an interesting piece of work with impressive visual style and design throughout.  That reputation was/is well deserved.

Raymond Massey does well in the nominal lead role, and there are similarly solid performances from Edward Chapman, Ralph Richardson (who plays a character that I guess you could equate with The Governor from The Walking Dead . . . . . . . . sort of), Margaretta Scott, and Cedric Hardwicke, among others.

But, while the performances are all well and good, this isn't a film that you watch mainly for the acting. Made and released in the '30s, this is a movie that seemed to eerily prefigure a few 21st century problems, such as another major war and a powerful individual motivating people to conquer others in possession of valuable fuel. Even the first few minutes of the movie, showing Massey shrugging off talk of an upcoming war as he enjoys time with friends and family, serves as a timely reminder to those watching current world events (from here in the UK we currently watch trouble unfolding in Syria, Russia, Iraq, and the constant tensions that seem to arise from North Korea). Don't forget how far things can go, and just how powerful the technology is nowadays.

Although it doesn't seem as influential today as many other sci-fi movies from the earlier years of cinema, Things To Come certainly remains an experience that should be enjoyed by cinephiles. It shows that science fiction sometimes bleeds into science fact, which is slightly unnerving when you think of how many of these movies show things going horribly wrong for us meddling humans. Of course, that's still not dissuaded the many of us who are impatiently awaiting the day when we can all travel around by either jetpacks or hoverboards.

9/10

http://www.amazon.com/Things-Come-Blu-ray-Raymond-Massey/dp/B00BX49BAC/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1411314211&sr=1-2&keywords=things+to+come

Tales From The Crypt (1972).

It’s an anthology horror movie from Amicus (contrary to popular belief the studio DID make other types of movies  but they will forever be tied to their portmanteau legacy) and based, of course, on the popular E.C comics of yesteryear. As well as Tales From The Crypt, the movie also takes some story ideas from The Vault Of Horror, another popular title, but I couldn’t tell you which story comes from which source as I am far from an expert in comic books.

What I can tell you is that Freddie Francis once again directs from a screenplay by Milton Subotsky, as was the case with Dr. Terror’s House Of Horrors, and the results are almost as enjoyable.

The framing story concerns a number of people who get lost while wandering around a crypt area, funnily enough, but the fun is to be had in the separate, twisted tales that The Crypt Keeper (Ralph Richardson) reveals.
Story 1 – Joan Collins plays a nasty woman who bumps off her hubby on Christmas Eve but then finds herself trapped and unable to call the police when a madman dressed as Santa comes prowling around the house.
Story 2 – Ian Hendry plays a husband about to secretly leave his wife and kids until fate intervenes.
Story 3 – The ever-brilliant Peter Cushing plays an old man who upsets his affluent neighbours by not selling up his house, looking after a number of noisy dogs and being loved by the local children for the re-conditioned toys that he gives out to them. The affluent neighbour plans to spoil everything for the old man but things, inevitably, go too far.
Story 4 – A fun, knowing take on the classic horror tale, “The Monkey’s Paw”, that revolves around a husband and wife who may have found a way to make wishes come true.
Story 5 – Last, but by no means least, is the tale of Maj. William Rogers (Nigel Patrick), a man who becomes the head honcho at a care facility for the blind and who ends up causing so much upset that the residents (led by Patrick Magee) plan a particularly nasty bit of revenge.

Tales From The Crypt is one of the better anthology movies from this period thanks to it’s decent cast, the choice of tales and the fact that five stories are crammed into it’s 90-odd minute runtime so you’re never far away from either an enjoyable set-up or gleefully nasty punchline. The script and direction are acceptable, if unspectacular, but the main plus point here is in the delight the film takes in it’s own nastiness. This is a horror anthology movie a step or two ahead of the more austere entries in the subgenre and anyone meeting a sticky end meets a very sticky end indeed. Which makes for a lot of fun.

7/10. 

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