Confessions Of A Window Cleaner (1974)

While I have done my bit to fight back against the erasure of the British sex comedies that helped to boost the box office numbers for a few years in the 1970s, I am far from an expert on the topic. I will persevere, however, even if it means continuing to see far more of Robin Askwith than I ever wanted. I'm not going to claim that these movies have enduring appeal, nor am I going to say that many of them have an artistry and sophistication unjustly ignored by snobs, but they have earned a place in the history of cinema that remains worthy of note.

Based on a book by Christopher Wood (as Timothy lea), this is the tale of a young man (Askwith) who finds out that being a window cleaner is about more than just cleaning windows. He has to go out of his way to ensure that every client is happy. That's easier said than done though, especially when our young lead ends up taking a proper shine to a female police officer named Elizabeth Radlett (Linda Hayden).

Adapted into screenplay form by Wood and director Val Guest, this is silly and horribly dated stuff. It's based around the idea that all attractive women are really desperate for horny men to help take care of their needs, and also tries to convince viewers that Robin Askwith can often become the main object of their desire. Askwith works in his role because he's very much an everyman, but that also works against him, considering how he is supposed to be able to stir up such a passion in a number of the featured female characters.

The most fun here comes from the supporting cast. Aside from Askwith, who simply has to look cheeky and chirpy, and always ready to jump into bed with someone, there are turns from Anthony Booth (the man who shares the lore of the mystical window cleaner lothario), the aforementioned Hayden, John Le Mesurier and Joan Hickson (sorely underused as the parents of Hayden's character), Bill Maynard and Dandy Nichols (the parents of our randy lead), and a number of other faces familiar to fans of British TV and cinema.

Guest may be very aware that he's not making any kind of absolute classic, especially in contrast to some of his much better work throughout the '50s and '60s, but he knows exactly what he's helming. There's a lot of titillation (despite the extra raunch factor of both this and the "Adventures" series, things are still presented with the emphasis on sauciness ahead of anything truly pornographic. It may be a bit more full-on than the seaside postcard humour of the Carry On movies, a series that fell by the wayside when it tried to balance the milder sensibilities and comforting companionship of the main stars with the more liberal attitudes of cinema-goers, but it's still trying to offer a bit of something for everyone (no pun intended).

People will continue to roll their eyes at me, and they'll pull my leg about my reasons for watching films like this, but I'll continue to bang the drum for the inherent value of these relics. They're a fascinating snapshot of one facet of British cinema, and I'm absolutely delighted to now own many of them in home media releases that also contain a wealth of supplementary features and information providing important context for them. 

Oh, this isn't one of my favourites though, but it's better than any of the instalments in the "Adventures" movie series. 

5/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing. All links are HERE.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Prime Time: Another Man's Poison (1951)

Based on a play, “Deadlock”, by Leslie Sands, Another Man’s Poison is a film that feels very much like it is based on a play. I don’t mean that in a bad way though. It’s just a film with no need for too many bells and whistles, thanks to a cast all working well with a script, written by Val Guest, that allows them to have a lot of fun exchanges.

Bette Davis plays a mystery writer named Janet Frobisher, and we find out quite early on in the movie that she has just killed her husband. Apparently. Her husband hasn’t been behaving very well, and the fact that nobody in the local area has ever really seen him should make it easier to get away with his murder. Things get much more intriguing when George Bates (Gary Merrill) turns up on Janet’s doorstep. He is on the run after a crime, committed with Janet’s husband, and decides that he can stay there for a while, pretending to be the previously-unseen Mr. Frobisher. Tension increases when Chris (Barbara Murray) and Larry (Anthony Steel) turn up. Chris is Janet’s assistant, while Larry is her significant other, and also engaging in a bit of infidelity with Janet. It’s only a matter of time until the wheels fall off.

Directed by Irving Rapper, this is a film that keeps adding one amusing detail on top of the other on the way to a third act that makes room for a couple of extra twists and turns. I can see people loving or hating the very final moments, which would taint your view of the entire film, but I watched events unfold with a wry grin and an amused groan. Despite it being a bit mishandled, it’s a wonderful punchline after the time spent watching people generally be horrible to one another.

Davis is superb in her role, clearly relishing a script that plays to her best ability to deliver wonderful barbs while taking no shit from anyone. It may not manage to barge into any Top 10 list of her work, but I would say it deserves to loiter just at the edges. Merrill is enjoyably antagonistic, playing his character as someone who enjoys having the upper hand and gets understandably irritable when things start falling apart. Murray and Steel both provide solid support, with Murray the most sympathetic and likeable character in the movie. Last, but by no means least, we have Emlyn Williams as a nosey neighbour, and veterinarian, named  Dr. Henderson. Williams manages to avoid being too big a pain in the butt because viewers know that his nosiness and prying could end up saving someone from a dire situation.

It’s no unmissable classic, which might explain why I had never heard of it before (I discovered this while browsing my streaming service options), but Another Man’s Poison is fun for fans of Davis, fans of thrillers with moments of delicious dark comedy, and anyone who just fancies a hugely enjoyable 90 minutes in the company of actors doing their best by a script that rewards their efforts.

7/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Quatermass 2 (1957)

It's the return of Professor Bernard Quatermass, in case you couldn't guess that from the title, in this Hammer movie that is again based on a TV series written by Nigel Kneale. Val Guest is back in the director's chair, after doing justice to the character and material in The Quatermass Xperiment, and everything is in place for another slice of low-key sci-fi drama.

This time around, Professor Quatermass (Brian Donlevy in the role once again) becomes involved in a mystery that involves meteorites causing a fair bit of trouble for those who get too close to them. The meteorites have all been landing at an area known as Winnerden Flats, but when Quatermass gets there (with his colleague, Marsh, played by Bryan Forbes) he finds more than he bargained for. As the plot thickens, Quatermass is told that what he saw at Winnerden Flats wasn't just a design very similiar to his own plans for  a moon colony but actually a plant where artificial food is being made. Quatermass finds this hard to believe, but finding out just what IS going on could prove very difficult. Time is against him, as are a number of people who no longer seem in control of their own minds.

Thanks to his character being slightly less arrogant in this outing, Brian Donlevy fares better in the main role than he did the first time. He is the pursued as opposed to the pursuer in this tale, seeking help from others as opposed to nominating himself as the one and only chance of fixing a situation. John Longden is very good as Lomax, someone who might just be the help that Quatermass needs, and it's great to see Sid James in a fairly straight role, playing a reporter named Jimmy Hall who likes to drink a bit too much, but works best when all sobered up. The rest of the cast includes William Franklyn, Vera Day, Charles Lloyd Pack and Hammer stalwart Michael Ripper. They may not all get to play particularly memorable characters, but the performances are just fine.

It may not feel quite as quintessentially British as the first movie, but this is a fine sci-fi drama with a fair share of thrills, one or two decent shocks (okay, nothing in the movie shocks nowadays, but back in 1957 this could have been gasp-inducing stuff) and a nice development of the plot that keeps it all entertaining enough to stop viewers from picking over the implausibility of it all. While it's not on a par with the first movie in terms of intelligence and tone it remains an equally enjoyable piece of entertainment.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Quatermass-Collection-Experiment-Pit/dp/B000772838/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1366773093&sr=8-4&keywords=quatermass+2

The Abominable Snowman (1957)

I'm not sure quite what it is, but there's just something here that stops me from loving this movie as much as I think I should. I admire it, it's an intelligent and atmospheric piece, but I also think that it somehow should have created a much better framework around the ideas at its heart.

Written by Nigel Kneale, and directed by Val Guest, the movie can be described quite simply as "a quest in search of the Yeti" but that sells the thing short. What the film is really about is the quest for knowledge (best symbolised by the tenacity and good intentions of the character Dr. Rollason, played by the great Peter Cushing) working side by side with the quest for personal gain and profit (shown by Tom Friend, the character played by Forrest Tucker). Obviously, these two viewpoints are opposing ones, but the path through treacherous terrain is made slightly easier by teamwork.

The Abominable Snowman works very well in a number of areas - the cast are all generally excellent (as is par for the course when it comes to Peter Cushing), the atmosphere builds nicely in the last half hour or so, and the material is treated with intelligence and a serious tone. Sadly, there are other areas in which the film doesn't do half as well - a running strand of mysticism just doesn't feel right, and none of the scenes at a lamasery do anything much for the pacing and characterisations, except basic exposition.

Aside from the performances of Cushing and Tucker in the two main roles, Maureen Connell is also excellent as Helen, the plucky but concerned wife of Dr. Rollason, Richard Wattis is enjoyable as Peter Fox and Robert Brown has some fun as the thrill-loving Ed Shelley.

There's certainly enough here for fans of subtle, smart horror to enjoy, but I didn't rate this quite as highly as some other people, despite some fine, atmospheric moments that show the effect the weather and general conditions have on members of the expedition. Give it a viewing and make up your own mind, especially if you're a Peter Cushing fan like myself, because there are plenty of Hammer fans who rate this one quite a bit higher than I do.

6/10

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Abominable-Snowman-Peter-Cushing/dp/B0058CLCNY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366578701&sr=8-1&keywords=the+abominable+snowman+dvd

The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)

AKA The Creeping Unknown.

I first encountered the character of Professor Quatermass many years ago, when I first saw the superb Quatermass And The Pit. He was played in that movie by Andrew Keir and back when I was a young boy I didn't even realise the history of the character. I didn't know that he'd been introduced to people in radio dramas and then television and I wasn't even aware of this film, the first to feature the character on the big screen.

Anyway, this film sees Quatermass (played by Brian Donlevy) called into action when a rocket (launched by a team led by the Professor) crash lands in the English countryside and only has one survivor (Victor Carroon, played by Richard Wordsworth) inside. Three went up, only one came back. Quatermass wants to figure out what went wrong, and what has turned the lone survivor into a mute shell of his former self, while Inspector Lomax (Jack Warner) is also wanting answers. Quatermass calls it a scientific matter requiring a scientific approach while Lomax argues that he needs to do his job, regardless of the unusual setting and situation. The two men find themselves working together as Victor Carroon escapes from those watching him, becoming more and more dangerous with each hour he's on the loose.

Directed by Val Guest, who helped shape the screenplay with Richard H, Landau as they adapted the television play by Nigel Kneale, this is a very low-key affair that plays out, for the most part, exactly as you'd expect an adapted piece of television to play out. There are some nice exterior shots, but most of the action takes place in offices and medical facilities (and also, most memorably, Westminster Abbey). The film starts with a tone of mystery before revealing plenty in the second half, leading viewers by degrees from the sci-fi core through to the real horror of the premise.

Donlevy is far from the best actor to have been given the role of Quatermass. I have to agree with Nigel Kneale, who wanted UK actors anyway, and found Donlevy to be far too unsympathetic and implausible in the role. He's not terrible in the role. However, he's just not on a par with the likes of Andrew Keir or Andre Morell. Jack Warner is decent as Lomax, David King-Wood is fine as a puzzled doctor and Margia Dean does well as the distraught wife of the suffering Victor Carroon. Wordsworth may have his performance overshadowed by some special effects here and there, but he's also pretty good (especially in the scene with him meeting a young Jane Asher in a moment reminiscent of Frankenstein). Great support comes from the likes of Lionel Jeffries, Thora Hird and Gordon Jackson, although the latter actor is hardly in the film for more than a minute.

All of the Quatermass tales are enjoyable adventures, mixing some impressively tense moments with intelligence and a very British approach to potential impending doom. This is certainly worth your time, even if it's not the best one (that would be the mighty Quatermass And The Pit, in my opinion).

7/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share