General Chat

You two probably know this, James Mason's son, Morgan Mason is married to the beautiful Belinda Carlisle. Just a bit of trivia!

I like the late Sir John Mill's films

Ice Cold in Alex was a good example. But I really enjoy his portrayal of Pip

Yes David, always fancy a lager after that one!

Saw Great Expectations on telly years ago and it frightened me to death that opening scene in the grave yard.

Passport to Pimlico....... sorry Pam ,never heard of that one, or your Ealing comedy Ed.......

Sir john Mills..... What film was it where he acted with daughter Hayley,? and I think it won an oscar or 2, think it was from the 60s.

Great 60s films.......

Born free..... a ground breaking film in its time, nowadays TV have many animal documentaries from Africa, think that must have been the first. {have always loved the song as well...was it Matt Monroe?

Oliver.... the Lionel Bart version, not Oliver Twist

Up the junction.... was a very young Dennis Waterman in it?

Help...... The Beatles

Half a Sixpence.... with the wonderful Tommy Steele

Cabaret...... Liza Minelli dancing her socks off......

Run Wild Run Free.....Mark Lesters follow up film after the success of Oliver

Zulu....... one of OH`s favourites, a great performance from Michael Caine

The Railway children...... Bernard cribbins as the wonderful Mr Perks, Jenny Agattur {spelling!!} before she found more "Adult" films, and the girl from was it man about the house? Sally someone who was in fact about 26, but was playing a 13 year old!! and I think Dinah Sheridan as the mum

I saw most of these at the cinema when they came out, used to be a school holiday treat from my mum, loved the Kia-ora orange they used to sell along with the ice creams in the interval........ aahhhh those were the days when the usherette showed you to your seat, instead of like now when you stumble around in the dark.!!

Nicky

HI Nicky,

That was Sally Thomsett in the Railway Children I think wasn't it?

Oh yes - Zulu, with Stanley Baker as Lt John Chard and a very young Michael Caine as Lt Gonville Bromhead. History is one of my things too! It also had Jack Hawkins as the missionary in it and Nigel Green as Colour Sergeant Bourne (who suprisingly didn't get a Victoria Cross at Rorke's Drift) One suprising bit of trivia is the Zulu King, Cetchawayo (I think that's how you spell it) was played by Chief Buthelese in the film, who went on the lead the South African Inkatha movement, who fought for freedom.

Half a Sixpence was based on a novel by H.G. Wells (of War of the Worlds and The Time Machine Fame) called "Kipps"

Anyone remember "The Blue Lamp" with Jack Warner and a young Dirk Bogarde as the young criminal who shot PC Dixon? They resurrected PC Dixon for the longest running TV police drama ever made - Dixon of Dock Green.

What about Von Ryan's Express with Frank Sinatra and Trevor Howard? Love those POW stories.

One of my favourites from the 70s was "The WIld Geese" with the late Richard Burton, Hardy Kruger, Roger Moore and Richard Harris. Had a great supporting cast too - Stewart Granger (who's real name was James Stewart - but he changed it so as not to be confused with the other great actor of the same name), Jack Watson and Ronald Fraser.


David, I was a great fan of Sir John Mills too - loved Ice Cold in Alex - apparently they used real beer in the scene at the end which had to be re-shot several times, and by the final take they were all half p*****!

Great Expectations - who was the scary old bird - Miss Havesham? She frightened the willies out of me when I saw it as a kid for the first time.

The other one that put the frighteners up me was The Picture of Dorian Gray - filmed in black and white but you saw the portrait in colour.

Enemy at the Gates has just started ... oh dear I envisage another long one; I forgot it had Rachel Weisz in it!! (She's just got off the train with lank hair in a ponytail and a tatty grey coat but still looks GORGEOUS!)

Tiger Bay was on the other week, that starred John Mills and daughter Hayley. One of my teachers at primary school used to call me Hayley, she said I looked like her, think it was the colouring.

It always makes me cry at the end of the Railway Children when Jenny Agutter waits for her father to come off the train...she says "My Daddy, my Daddy". It gets me everytime. Makes me think of the times I'd wait for my dad at the bustop in Kenley, he'd come home on the 197 usually.

Been reading A postillion Struck By lightning by Dirk Bogarde...he mentions being in The Blue Lamp...

Another good one...Flight of The Pheonix, you're willing that aircraft off the ground aren't you!!! Especially good when he says they are not toy planes they are models!!

The one that gets me in the throat is the last scene from The Alamo, where the little girl (who is the epitome of sweetness) is being taken out of the mission at the end of the battle, and she turns around to her mum and says "Mummy, where's Daddy?"

And ten minutes earlier you saw "Daddy" killed by the cannon he was manning.

Probably gets me because I have two daughters ...

Oh Edd, yes I know what you mean!

One more before we turn in..."Alfie" with Michael Caine. Another film I could watch any time.

I'm currently reading Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield (again). It's about the battle of Thermopylae - I saw on the web a while back that George Clooney's film company bought the rights to it several years ago and I'm waiting patiently for them to make the film! Apparently, Bruce Willis really wanted a role in it.

Thermopylae has to be one of the greatest, yet most tragic, tales of ancient history and has been reproduced on celluloid twice to my knowledge - the 1963 film "300 Spartans" with Richard Egan and Ralph Richardson, and more recently, "300" with Gerard Butler, which was based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller.

I have both films on DVD (and the graphic novel too).

To broaden the thread a bit - are there any books you've read that you'd really like to be made into a film?

Gawd Ed you're so clever!! This is going to sound pathetic...but I'm going to be honest...a lovely little book called Dust to Dust by Mavis Budd. It's about the author's childhood in the country living near to her grandparents and with her mum, dad and sisters.

Well if we`re talking about films that make us cry, it has to be Titanic for me......The Kate Winslet /Leonardo deCaprio version not the original...... its the bit at the end when Rose... now an elderly lady tells her grand daughter about the night the ship sank, and says " he saved me in every way a person could be saved" or words to that effect, as he`d {Jack} let Rose lay on the floating door and he`d perished in the freezing waters. ...... gets me every time....... and while we`re talking daughters I have 3....must be them that bring out my emotional side.........

Dixon of Dock Green ...longest running police drama? how many years was that on for then? as The Bill is way over 20 years now..... and wasn`t Softly Softly Task force also a spin off from dock green? John Watt, Harry Hawkins? played by Norman Bowler, and Stratford John as the Chief superintendant, if my memory serves me correctly. A brilliant series in its day.

You and your Rachel Weizz Ed!!! didn`t realise she`d made so many films!!

The Wild Geese, have seen that, but a long time ago.....

Talking of Richard Burton, whats the name of the film where they all get stuck at the airport, also stars Liz taylor........ was it The V.I.P.s? also thought he was good with Clint Eastwood in Where Eagles Dare...

Nicky

Wasn't she in The Land Army Girls film (Rachel Weizz)

Tell you who is my heart throb,and I bet neither of you know the actor I mean...TED WASS...I've been in love with him since 1977! He's got better with age. ☺

TED WASS.... off to google him now Pam......yup your right ,never heard of him..... will take a google and tell you what i think.....31 years, don`t you think its time this man new how you feel about him!!!......lol


Nicky

Hi Nicky

I just checked Dixon of Dock Green - it ran from 1955-1976; maybe it just seemed to go on for a lot longer ...

I thought Softly Softly was a spin off from Z Cars, but I may be getting my police dramas mixed up there ...

I really can't believe that the Bill has been going for over 20 years now.

There's a film that's bugging me that I've seen twice as a kid; I can't remember the actors in it though (I was quite young both times around). It's about a passenger ship that is sinking and there's a woman trapped under a piece of wreckage, and the main plot is the fight to save her. They need to get an acetalyne torch from a vessel that's come to the rescue to cut her out and its touch-and-go as to whether they'll get her out in time.

EDIT: Just had a thought - I think Woody Strode was in it

Isn`t that the Posieden Adventure? with a very blousy Shelley Winters being the lady in question?

Your probably right about softly being a spin off from Z cars, I knew it was a spin off from one of them....

Pam have checked out your Ted, and must admit I don`t recognise him....... though theres a very fetching photo of him in a loincloth!!!


Nicky

Found the film: I googled Woody Strode and found his filmography (is that a word?)

It was called The Last Voyage and the actress who played the trapped woman was Dorothy Malone. Her husband was played by Robert Stack.

I wouldn't mind seeing that one again ...