By words that just hang in the air and stories that aren't going anywhere

[sovay]

I cannot say that I am going to town on the free channels of the Roku, because as of late I have been so exhausted that I am watching fewer movies than usual, but I am fascinated by TVTime because it gives me access to a remarkable number of British films which have been otherwise difficult to impossible to find—noirs, musical comedies, the aforementioned quota quickies—so long as I am willing to watch them at a quality that gives pirated media a bad name. It reminds me of the early days of Netflix and YouTube and I keep expecting to discover one evening that it's all been pulled on grounds of massive rights sketchiness, but in the meantime it's enabling me to pursue several avenues of exploration that until now had obliged me to wait on the hazards of Criterion and TCM and once upon a time the local arthouses. I am still out of luck on a couple of particular titles, of course, and I am dead out of luck when it comes to finding a couple of source novels in my local library, which would be less annoying if I could find them on my local internet. I'm not entirely sure what I'm researching and am not asking for suggestions, but I'll report back if it resolves into anything more complicated than comparative literature. If nothing else, I had never thought of John Mills as a noir-identified actor like Eric Portman or James Mason, but I've just seen him in a second example after The October Man (1947) and there's at least a third on my radar. I suppose when you are a national archetype, it's an unavoidable phase.

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

I will watch Clive Brook in pretty much anything. It hasn't completely let me down yet.

I have come to the same conclusion, basically. I haven't actively followed him about yet, but when deciding if I want to record this old film/which next vol of Rarities to get, Clive Brook will sway me in that direction. The Ware Case is, I think, an exceptional example of Clive Brook's watchability! I don't think it would have had the weirdly addictive quality it had without him. (It was like three different genres stapled together and he just went at each with a running leap. Uh. If you ever see it, I apologise for the unintentional pun.)

for the obvious reasons of Robert Donat and Denholm Elliott and it has firmly refused to turn up anywhere I have access to! I may resort to actual piracy one of these days. Didn't know it was in color, though.

It is! I watched it halfway through my second Rarities Vol in a row and was stunned: colour??? What is this? I'm not sure I approve... lol Slightly faded colour, but that suits it. It feels like a slightly faded film, ideal for the right moment and not of note at other times.

(#1 in the category of "It was terrible. I loved it.")

I respect that category.

*nods* There are times when it is the best category. And Margaret Lockwood is v cute indeed in it: proof in gifs here