Time: 7.30pm [doors open at 7pm] Date: 9th December Tickets: FREE!
"A contemporary and penetrating social drama about a ruthless business executive who returns home to his Liverpudlian roots to investigate his father’s death. Nicol Williamson produces an intense and compelling performance as the reprehensible hero conflicted by his old and new lifestyles – the high-powered London business world he has entered with his middle class life and the working class streets of Liverpool where he came from and which draws him back. This brutal drama about class in Britain was a contemporary production with Up The Junction and Room At The Top and it also preceded Get Carter, but it was in many ways more original and credible."
Film Nights resume at the library with the classic French film, 'Madame De' [1953]. It is considered a "masterpiece of 1950s French cinema" and has been highly acclaimed by critics from both sides of the Channel. The story involves Louise, the titular Madame De, a spoiled women who has amassed large debts due to her opulent lifestyle. She has to sell her diamond ear rings, a wedding present from her husband, a General called Andre. This results in much drama and emotional turmoil for a number of people. The film starts at 7.30pm with doors opening at 7pm. As usual, there will be refreshments and a raffle.
I Thank A Fool is a 1962 British crime film made by Eaton (De Grunwald Productions) and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by Robert Stevens and produced by Anatole de Grunwald from a screenplay by Karl Tunberg based on the novel by Audrey Erskine Lindop. The film stars Susan Hayward and Peter Finch with Diane Cilento and Cyril Cusack. Also in the cast are Kieron Moore, Richard Wattis, Athene Seyler, Miriam Karlin, Laurence Naismith, J. G. Devlin, Clive Morton, Richard Leech and Brenda De Banzie.
It was filmed in places including New Brighton and Liverpool.
Our next Film Night is the neo-realist Italian film, Umberto D [1952]. Most of the actors were non-professional, including Carlo Battisti, who plays the title role of Umberto Domenico Ferrari, a poor old man in Rome desperately trying to keep his room. His landlady (Lina Gennari) is evicting him, and his only true friends, the housemaid (Maria-Pia Casilio) and his dog Flike (called 'Flag' in some subtitled versions of the film) are of no help. The movie was included in "Time Magazine's All-Time 100 Movies" in 2005.
It is a wonderful film, Chris. Everyone who came really enjoyed it. Not the most upbeat of pictures though. The scene at end in which Umberto almost kills himself and his dog had most of the audience flinching.
Our next Film Night is Tuesday 24th February. We'll be showing a Norman Wisdom picture called 'What's Good For The Goose' [1969]. This film is quite a curiosity as it's quite different to a usual Norman Wisdom film. He plays a 50-something assistant bank manager called Timothy Bartlett whose marriage has become lacklustre. When he goes to a banker's conference in a coastal town he meets a fun-loving female student called Nikki (Sally Geeson) with whom he has a brief affair and abandons his work responsibilities to have a perfect day with her having fun taking in all the seaside attractions and recapturing his youthful energy. It is one of the few films set in Southport and includes some fascinating shots of the resort in the 1960s. It also includes a few scenes of a more adult nature. Although a curiosity, it's also a good film in its own right. It will make for a very enjoyable evening. This also concludes our 'On Merseyside' season.
Our next Film Night is tomorrow. We'll be showing the classic French film 'Diary Of A Country Priest' [1951]. Diary of a Country Priest (original French title: Journal d'un curé de campagne) is a 1951 French film written and directed by Robert Bresson, and starring Claude Laydu. It was closely based on the novel of the same name by Georges Bernanos. Published in 1936, the novel received the Grand prix du roman de l'Académie française. It tells the story of a young, sickly priest, who has been assigned to his first parish, a village in northern France. The film was lauded for the debut performance by Laydu, called one of the greatest in the history of film. It won numerous awards, including the Grand Prize at the Venice International Film Festival, and the Prix Louis Delluc.
Our next Film Night is tomorrow. We'll be showing the 1960s film 'Catch Us If You Can' [1965]. It was the feature-film debut of director John Boorman. It was designed as a vehicle for pop band The Dave Clark Five, whose popularity at the time almost rivaled that of The Beatles, and named after their hit song "Catch Us If You Can".
Our next film is The 400 Blows (French: Les Quatre Cents Coups) is a 1959 French drama film, the debut by director François Truffaut; it stars Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy, and Claire Maurier. One of the defining films of the French New Wave, it displays many of the characteristic traits of the movement. Filmed on location in Paris and Honfleur, it is the first in a series of five films in which Léaud plays the semi-autobiographical character.
13-year-old Antoine (Jean-Pierre Léaud) can't seem to do anything right. His dysfunctional parents yell at him, his spiteful schoolteacher picks on him and luck just never goes his way. Despite his efforts at patience, one day it all becomes too much and Antoine throws in the towel, choosing to take his chances on the Paris streets.
'Hell Is a City' is a 1960 film based on the novel by Maurice Procter. It was made by British studio Hammer Film Productions filmed in Manchester it was also written and directed by Val Guest. It was partly inspired by the British New Wave films. Committed but seen-it-all police Inspector Martineau [Stanley Baker] rightly guesses that after a violent jailbreak a local criminal will head home to Manchester to pick up the spoils from his last job. Martineau is soon investigating a murder during a street robbery which seems to lead back to the same villain. Concentrating on the case and using his local contacts to try to track the gang down, he is aware he is not keeping his own personal life together as well as he might.
Date: Tues 28th April Time: 7.30pm Tickets: FREE![i][/i]
Breathless (French: À bout de souffle; "out of breath") is a 1960 French film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard about a wandering criminal (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and his American girlfriend (Jean Seberg). It was Godard's first feature-length work and represented Belmondo's breakthrough as an actor.
Breathless was one of the earliest, most influential examples of the French New Wave (nouvelle vague). Together with François Truffaut's The 400 Blows and Alain Resnais's Hiroshima, Mon Amour, both released a year earlier, it brought international acclaim to this new style of French filmmaking. At the time, the film attracted much attention for its bold visual style and the innovative use of jump cuts.
Date: 12th May Time: 7.30pm FREE!
There will be a raffle and there will also be wine available.
Tomorrow's Film Night is the 1961 North East thriller 'Payroll'. The film was shot in around Newcastle and Gateshead and stars Michael Craig and Francoise Prevost.
"Four crooks (Johnny Mellors, Monty, Blackie and Bert) plan and execute a robbery on a payroll van, using the inside knowledge of Dennis Pearson, who works as an accountant at the firm concerned. Pearson is under pressure to support his wife Katie (Françoise Prévost) who demands a higher standard of living. However, the van driver, Harry Parker, is killed during the heist, whilst Bert is fatally wounded by Parker's colleague Frank Moore. Nevertheless, the gang manage to get away with £100,000."
