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stevemaitland
Reviews
Avant l'hiver (2013)
Before The Winter Chill
Daniel Autuiel, Kristin Scott Thomas and Leila Behkti head the cast of this unusual French drama/suspenser where a married, middle aged neurosurgeon (Autuiel) starts receiving anonymous deliveries of flowers at the same time as a young café assistant (Behkti) claims to recall him from an appendectomy operation in her childhood. The neurosurgeon's rather bored wife (Scott Thomas), much like the viewer, doesn't know what to make of it all.
An assured feature from Phillipe Claudel. Wouldn't mind checking out his previous film I've Loved You For So Long.
The French Connection (1971)
The French Connection
Superior 1970s US police thriller with plenty of procedural detail in amongst long, effective action sequences. Iconic cop character Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle, played with aplomb by Gene Hackman, puts his and his colleagues safety on the line in pursuit of a savvy intercontinental drugs gang. Roy Scheider and Fernando Rey co-star. The plot is based on a true story., the book of the same name by Robin Moore. More than anything it foregrounds just how dangerous certain streets of urban America were at the time.
The Thirty Nine Steps (1978)
The Thirty Nine Steps
This third big screen adaptation of the celebrated John Buchan story stars Robert Powell as Hannay, following on from Robert Donat (the Alfred Hitchcock adaptation) and Kenneth More. Its chief distinction is a denouement involving Big Ben's clocktower which is in itself Hitchcockian.
Even if you're already familiar with the frenetically paced plot, the innocent man on the run story is so strong that any of the last three renderings (there was a more recent TV version) are still a good watch. Initially features John Mills in a pleasing bit part role as the ill-fated Scudder.
Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
Sorry, Wrong Number
One of Barbara Stanwyck's finest performances as invalid Leona Stevenson, who by chance overhears a hitman and his client over a crossed line while trying to contact her husband (Burt Lancaster). A woman is about to be killed somewhere in the vast city outside her stately dwelling and bedridden Leona has a devil of a time phoning around for anyone who will take her seriously.
So sets the scene of Anatole Litvak's stylish film noir, based on the highly acclaimed play by Lucille Fletcher. The Stevenson's courtship and now shaky marriage is conveyed via a series of flashbacks involving use of the telephone itself. Gripping stuff.
Our Man in Havana (1959)
Our Man In Havana
Carol Reed echoes the musical score and, at least latterly, the dynamic compositions of earlier Graham Greene collaboration The Third Man in this 1959 Cuba-set spy outing. Alec Guiness is well cast as Wormold, a vacuum cleaner salesman covertly recruited by a British Intelligence agent (Noel Coward). In humourous scenes Wormold then clumsily attempts to recruit others in the same manner - notably in a Gent's lavatory.
...After that I'm afraid I lost the thread. Too many spies and their associates to keep track of. But the film is a good watch all the same and you always get the gist of what's going on. The authentic Cuban setting - its people and customs milling around central characters - makes for a refreshing escapism too.