TPTV Films Page 36

The Boys (1962)

Broke my rule of sticking to films no later than the 1950s, because TPTV made a lot of fuss of this, with also an interview with one of the stars (still alive!), ex minor pop star/actor Jess Conrad. Also not keen on courtroom drama films, but this did have a huge cast of well known actors and a lot of the story was shown from different viewpoints around not quite yet swinging London in the early 60s.

Good story of four yobs (or were they) who rob (or did they) a garage, during which the night-watchman (very prevalent in those days, not so much now) gets viciously stabbed to death.
And speaking of the garage scene, for a few seconds I couldn't figure out why the calendar on the office wall in the garage was noticeably out of focus - then, of course, the penny dropped with TPTV "censoring" anything iffy in the way of nudity. FFS, is anyone going to be offended by an innocuous nudie photo on a calendar in the background,.

As I say, a lot of well known actors too numerous to list here, so you can check them out if you like on the IMDb............. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054697/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_13

Good film and well worth a look.

Good-Time Girl (1948)

Although not star of the film, any chance to see a gorgeous 17 year old Diana Dors is going to get my attention. In this she was playing a 15 year old going bad and by way of a warning is told by the probation officer Flora Robson of her previous charge - a 16 year old "Good-Time Girl" played by the also gorgeous 27 year old Jean Kent, who was superb in this gritty film.

Herbert Lom, Dennis Price, Bonar Colleano were some of the baddies she comes across in the big city after storming out of her family home when her ne'er-do-well father beat her once too often.

Can't add any more detail for fear of spoiling a very good film and well worth watching out for.

Bonar Colleano
My mother had a thing for him and was very upset when he died in a motor accident.

Yeah, he was one of the few Americans working in the UK at that time, and his name/face has popped up in a number of films I've seen on TPTV - usually they were Canadians playing a Yank (Paul Carpenter springs to mind as one of a few)

He was married to very pretty English actress Susan Shaw, and apparently she went to pieces after his death in a haze of drink and drugs. So sad.

In the car with him bit part actor Michael Balfour - he of the pock marked face who usually played ugly bastards. He managed to crawl out of the wreckage - a Jaguar XK140, which went off the road at a black spot.

Spies of the Air (1939)

One of the main parts in this is taken by Roger Livesey who I'm not a fan of at all - I don't know why or what, but there's something that grates with me about him. It may be his voice or his acting style.

Anyway, apart from the one half of the funny duo (with Naunton Wayne) of Basil Radford and Felix Aylmer, who is the spymaster in this plodding spy film, all the other actors are unknown to me and according to the IMDb had very short film careers anyway, which probably explains it.

Not bad for a pre war film about the development of a supercharger for a fighter (could well have been for a Spitfire?), it wasn't a bad film and just about worth a watch.

The Story of Shirley Yorke (1948)

Not my usual cup of tea, but turned out to be a good drama involving an absolute rotten cad (Derek Farr) who leads a naïve Dinah Sheridan up the garden path twice, then disappears.

The story gets more complicated than that, then their paths cross many years later when he has finally managed to marry a very rich widow who is dying and Sheridan comes to the huge house to nurse her, not realising that Farr is her husband and so the intrigue develops.................

Good film. They don't make 'em like that anymore, with a proper beginning, middle and end.

Doublecross (1956)

Said before not a fan of Donald Houston, but he was OK in this, with his so called Cornish accent where the film was set - mind you, there were others in the film whose accent wandered a bit too from Wales to Cornwall.

Two spies, Allan Cuthbertson and everyone's favourite "German" Anton Diffring steal some plans, kill a guard and leg it to Cornwall in the hope of getting a boat to take them to France and escape. Houston being the local fisherman prepared to do this, not realising the danger until half way through the journey.

There is a back story of salmon poaching involved, which provided a bit of local humour, and so overall not a bad film if you have an hour and a half to spare.

Others in the film were Raymond Francis (Inspector Lockhart in No Hiding Place) as a Police Inspector, William Hartnell as local fish inspector, Harry Towb, Kenneth Cope and apparently Robert Shaw who I didn't notice - perhaps his scene was cut.

Perhaps he was eaten by a shark

Fnah

Go Kart Go (1964)

Another film in the Saturday Morning Pictures series, and this could be simply a rewrite of the "Soapbox Derby" (1958), I reviewed when it was the second one is the series :-

https://www.comedy.co.uk/forums/thread/35193/35/#P1232715

So basically, kids building this time with an engine, a Go Kart from scrap and yet again having it sabotaged by a rival gang of kids, led by Frazer Hines, except this time the leader of the good gang is Dennis Waterman. But what happened to the other star of the film, Jimmy Capehorn? This was his only film, after a very short career in television.

A few well-known faces, in the form of Graham Stark, Campbell Singer, Cardew Robinson and made for the part Wilfrid Brambell as Fred the Junkman!

And there was an enormous amount of post war vehicles to see, including one I'd never heard of - 1959 Borgward Isabella, and what they made their first Kart out of, a 1948 Brockhouse Corgi Mk2.**

Interesting only for the vehicles and long-gone scenery (except for the Kart track, which is still in existence), and thankfully short as most of these were from the CFF.

** Usually sell for about £1,000, but here's one for sale, if you fancy doing it up.

Wilfrid Brambell as Fred the Junkman!

He would have been well known as old man Steptoe by then.The could have caused confusion in young minds.

I see that Dangerous Davies is being shown next Sunday at 10pm. This is the film featuring Bernard Cribbins as Leslie Thomas's creation, the last detective.

The Avenging Hand (1936)

What a mess! Murder mystery that was difficult to follow half way through as, yet again, a lot of the men looked the same and the story was all over the place with plot holes everywhere.

Only actor of note was the American Noah Beery (his son Noah Beery Jnr. was more famous - for those of us who are of a "certain age" will remember him in the TV series "Circus Boy" with Micky Donlenz) in the lead part as a gangster on holiday in the UK who befriends a drunk in the hotel who then is murdered.

One to miss, and I've no idea why the film was titled as it was. What avenging hand?

his son Noah Beery Jnr. was more famous - for those of us who are of a "certain age" will remember him in the TV series "Circus Boy"

yes and if were are not too senile as Rocky in The Rockford Files

That's a series I didn't watch.