Noticias

Studiocanal is delighted to mark the centenary in 2024 of the birth of British comedy royalty, Tony Hancock, by announcing the release of The Punch And Judy Man on DVD and Blu-Ray on 3rd March 2025. To celebrate we are giving away 2 Blu-Ray copies of the film!

Appearing in his second feature film-starring role, Tony Hancock gives a memorable performance in this bittersweet comedy of small-town snobbery and one-upmanship.

Content to scratch out a living in the faded seaside town of Piltdown, puppeteer Wally Pinner (Hancock) is unhappily married to Delia (Sylvia Syms), a gift-shop owner with social pretensions. When Wally is invited to perform at the town’s anniversary gala reception, however, Delia senses a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to raise the couple’s social standing…

Directed by Jeremy Summers and written by Phillip Oakes & Tony Hancock.

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Tony Hancock’s feature film outings The Rebel and The Punch And Judy Man are getting fresh DVD and Blu-ray releases. More here.

It’s one of the most well known lines in comedy. Tony Hancock goes to give blood and, on being told he’ll be giving a pint, says the immortal words, “I don’t mind giving a reasonable amount, but a pint? That’s very nearly an armful!”.

The writers or those words and many more were Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, who went on to create the hugely successful sitcom Steptoe And Son too.

Hancock made only two forays into film, and they are both being rereleased on DVD and Blu-ray in March.

The first film was The Rebel. Directed by Robert Day, scripted by Galton and Simpson and released in 1961, the synopsis reads as follows:

A self-taught artist with an enthusiasm that far exceeds any ability,...

Courtesy of Studiocanal

by James Cameron-wilson

Social commentary doesn’t come much stronger than in J. Lee Thompson’s 1959 drama. Here, a jittery aerial shot swoops down on the meandering Thames and the industrial, terraced sophistication of London in the 1950s. The drama, an adaptation of the play by Ted Willis, opens with a shot of an open stretch of urban wasteland, where a young thug – played by David Hemmings – runs straight into the arms of a plainclothes policeman, played by Ronald Howard (son of Leslie Howard). Allowing for the poetic licence that the teenager would have seen the cop a mile off, it is a good starting point, as the detective inspector gives a Pythonesque/Harold McMillan sermon: “you’ve never had it so good, when I was twenty years younger…” And so we cut to the bustling life of the block – or rather, the street – as it used to be,...

Studiocanal are delighted to announce the release of two compelling dramas from British director J. Lee Thompson into their Vintage Classics Collection The Weak And The Wicked and No Trees In The Street, both Blu-ray, DVD and Digital from 5 August. We’re giving you the chance to win both copies on Blu-Ray.

Studiocanal are delighted to announce the release of two compelling dramas from British director J. Lee Thompson (Ice Cold in Alex) into their Vintage Classics Collection featuring standout performances from two legendary and much-missed British actresses Glynis Johns and Sylvia Syms. The Weak And The Wicked stars the late Diana Dors (Yield to The Night) alongside Glynis Johns (Mary Poppins), and No Trees In The Street features Herbert Lom (The Pink Panther Strikes Again) and Melvyn Hayes (Summer Holiday) alongside Sylvia Syms (Woman in a Dressing Gown) in her BAFTA-nominated performance. Both films will premiere at Bristol’s...

Appearing in many of the landmark gritty dramas of the era, the actor, who has died aged 87, stood out for portraying vulnerability combined with a canny intelligence

Shirley Anne Field had the kind of ingenue English-rose freshness and beauty that the British cinema loved in the 50s and 60s – it had something feline about it, a kind of innocent-fatale. Hers were the kind of looks that always introduced an almost unintentional note of innocence and poignancy into the tough dramas and kitchen-sink pictures in which she was cast; she had something of the model agency and deportment school and yet also the pinup mag.

Field was of the same generation as heartstoppingly beautiful performers such as Janette Scott, Shirley Eaton, Sylvia Sims and Julie Christie. She appeared briefly in Michael Powell’s 1960 chiller Peeping Tom as a temperamental film diva (quite unlike her real self) but had her breakthrough in...

Hollywood is mourning the loss of Cindy Williams, the optimistic foil to Penny Marshall’s Laverne in the hit 1970s sitcom Laverne & Shirley. Williams died in Los Angeles on Wednesday after a brief illness, her family told The Associated Press.

Related Story Cindy Williams Dies: ‘Laverne & Shirley’ Star Who Appeared In ’American Graffiti’ & ‘The Conversation’ Was 75 Related Story Sylvia Syms Dies: 'The Queen' & 'Victim' Star Was 89 Related Story Gina Lollobrigida Dies: Italian Cinema Diva Was 95

“The passing of our kind, hilarious mother, Cindy Williams, has brought us insurmountable sadness that could never truly be expressed,” reads the statement from her children, Emily and Zak Hudson.

After news of Williams’ death, Hollywood shared their thoughts on social media remembering the star.

Ron Howard remembered his frequent on-screen partner. “Her unpretentious intelligence, talent, wit & humanity impacted every character she created & person she worked with,” he wrote on Twitter.

Actor who starred in films of the 1950s and 60s including Ice Cold in Alex and went on to a long career in supporting roles

Although Sylvia Syms, who has died aged 89, emerged as an actor during the decade from 1956 to 1966 that saw British cinema changing radically, she seemed to belong to an earlier stiff-upper-lip tradition of British films rather than “kitchen sink” drama. Nevertheless, the ethereal Syms starred in a wide variety of films during that period before she developed in later years into a fine supporting actor.

She was nominated for a Bafta for her performance in J Lee Thompson’s Woman in a Dressing Gown (1957), which had Syms playing the “other woman” for whom Anthony Quayle wants to leave his wife (Yvonne Mitchell). Based on a play by Ted Willis, this candid social drama heralded a new dawn in gritty British film-making. However, the same director-writer team...

Performer starred opposite Dirk Bogarde in Victim as well as playing the mother of Helen Mirren’s monarch in The Queen

Sylvia Syms, the versatile British actor who appeared in a string of films including Ice Cold in Alex, Expresso Bongo, The Tamarind Seed and The Queen, has died aged 89.

According to a statement given to Pa by her family, Syms “died peacefully” on Friday at Denville Hall, a care home in London for those in the entertainment industry. Her children, Beatie and Ben Edney, said: “Our mother, Sylvia, died peacefully this morning. She has lived an amazing life and gave us joy and laughter right up to the end. Just yesterday we were reminiscing together about all our adventures. She will be so very missed.”...

Sylvia Syms, the British actress whose body of work stretched back to the 1950s and included roles in Ice Cold in Alex, Victim and The Queen, has died. She was 89.

In a statement to Sky News, her family said she “died peacefully” on Jan. 27 at a London care home for those in the entertainment industry.

“She has lived an amazing life, and gave us joy and laughter right up to the end,” they said. “Just yesterday, we were reminiscing together about all our adventures. She will be so very missed.”

Born in London in 1934, Syms attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and became an almost instant star in her 20s, thanks to major roles in films such as WWII drama and 1958 Berlinale winner Ice Cold in Alex (alongside John Mills, Anthony Quayle and Harry Andrews), English Civil War drama The Moonraker and Expresso Bongo with Cliff Richard.

In 1961, she...

English actress Sylvia Syms has passed away in the UK aged 89, according to her family.

Syms was best known for roles in movies including Ice Cold Alex, Victim, The Tamarind Seed and Stephen Frears’ The Queen, in which she played The Queen Mother.

Related Story Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries Related Story Gina Lollobrigida Dies: Italian Cinema Diva Was 95 Related Story Chris Ledesma Dies: 'The Simpsons' Longtime Music Editor Was 64

Syms passed away this morning at Denville Hall, a care home in London for those in the entertainment industry. In a statement shared with The Sun, Syms’ family said: “She has lived an amazing life and gave us joy and laughter right up to the end. Just yesterday we were reminiscing together about all our adventures. She will be so very missed.

“We would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at Denville Hall for...

Sylvia Syms, best known for her leading role in Ice Cold in Alex, has died aged 89.

The British actor “died peacefully” early on Friday (27 January) morning at Denville Hall, a London care home for those in the entertainment industry, her children shared in a statement.

“Our mother, Sylvia, died peacefully this morning. She has lived an amazing life and gave us joy and laughter right up to the end,” Beatie and Ben Edney said.

“Just yesterday we were reminiscing together about all our adventures. She will be so very missed.”

They added: “We would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at Denville Hall for the truly excellent care they have taken of our Mum over the past year.”

Born in Woolwich, London in 1934 to Daisy and Edwin Syms, Syms was raised in Well Hall, Elthan.

She studied at prestigious drama school Rada before gaining her first on-screen...

British actor Sylvia Syms, best known for her roles in “Ice Cold in Alex” and “Victim,” died Friday in London. She was 89.

Syms’ family said that she died at Denville Hall, a care home in London for entertainment industry people.

“Our mother, Sylvia, died peacefully this morning. She has lived an amazing life and gave us joy and laughter right up to the end. Just yesterday we were reminiscing together about all our adventures. She will be so very missed,” Syms’ children, Beatie and Ben Edney, said in a statement. “We would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at Denville Hall for the truly excellent care they have taken of our Mum over the past year.”

Syms was educated at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. In the first phase of her storied career, Syms had significant roles in British war classic “Ice Cold in Alex...

Alan Cumming says he has handed back his OBE after a re-examination of the “toxicity” of the British empire.

The Scottish actor was awarded the honour in 2009 in the Queen’s birthday honours for his services to film, theatre and the arts, as well as his LGBT+ activism.

However, marking his 58th birthday on Friday (27 January), Cumming shared an Instagram post announcing that he had recently returned the honour.

“Today is my 58th birthday and I want to tell you about something I recently did for myself. I returned my OBE,” he wrote.

Cumming, who has US as well as British citizenship, explained that he’d received the honour for “activism for equal rights for the gay and lesbian community, USA” at a time when same-sex marriage was still illegal in the US and the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy was in place in the military.

After resharing...

A version of this story about Judi Dench first appeared in the Down to the Wire issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.

Dame Judi Dench and and Sir Kenneth Branagh’s twelfth collaboration since they met in 1987 was a auspicious one: Playing her longtime friend’s grandmother in his autobiographical coming-of-age drama “Belfast” earned Dench her eighth Oscar nomination.

“It is good, always, to know somebody so well that you have a kind of shorthand with them, which I have with Ken because we’ve worked together for such a long time,” Dench told TheWrap. “But this was a very personal story to him and we all, I think, felt a tremendous responsibility to him to get it right. And I hope that’s what we did.”

Dench’s career, of course, was thriving for decades before she and Branagh crossed paths. She spent years in the London theater beginning in the 1950s,...

Showbiz in Soho is artificial, gaudy and vulgar, but Laurence Harvey’s slick promoter-con man thinks he can cheat at the pop music game. Cliff Richard is his new discovery, a teen crooner who digs the bongo drums. Wolf Mankowitz’s portrait of talent, glitz, and double-dealing in music and TV showbiz also stars Sylvia Syms as a Soho stripper and Yolande Donlan as a singing star trying to make a comeback. The disc contains director Val Guest’s uncut original version.

Expresso Bongo

Blu-ray

Cohen / Kino Lorber

1959 / B&w / 2:35 widescreen / 111 106 min. / Street Date January 18, 2022 / Available from Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Laurence Harvey, Sylvia Syms, Yolande Donlan, Cliff Richard, Meier Tzelniker, Ambrosine Phillpotts, Eric Pohlmann, Gilbert Harding, Hermione Baddeley, Reginald Beckwith, Avis Bunnage, Sally Geeson, Kenneth Griffith, Burt Kwouk, Wilfrid Lawson, Patricia Lewis, Barry Lowe, Martin Miller, Susan Hampshire, Peter Myers, Lisa Peake, The Shadows.

Cinematography: John Wilcox

Art Director:...

Billie

Unreleased interviews with the jazz icon, newly restored color pictures and videos, pus conversations with other musical greats like Tony Bennett, Charles Mingus, Sylvia Syms, and Count Basie – the new documentary examines the life and cultural legacy of Billie Holiday as it’s never been before. The film was made possible by over 200 hours of footage that Linda Lipnack Kuehl captures during the Sixties for a biography of Holiday that was never completed. (November 13th)

Dune

Frank Herbert’s 1965 science-fiction epic novel is getting another big-screen adaptation. This time,...

A new documentary, Billie, will delve into the life of jazz great Billie Holiday with the help of hours of never-before-heard interviews.

The project is centered around 200 hours of previously unreleased interviews that Linda Lipnack Kuehl conducted during the Sixties for a biography of Holiday that was never finished. The tapes feature conversations about Holiday with fellow legends like Tony Bennett, Charles Mingus, Sylvia Syms and Count Basie, as well as others in Holiday’s life — from high school friends, lawyers and pimps to the federal agents who targeted and...

Can a war movie be reassuring in a time of crisis? Each of the films in this excellent collection stress people working together: to repel invaders, escape from or attack the enemy, and just to survive in sticky situations. All are inspirational in that they see cooperation, organization and leadership doing good work. See: the ‘other’ great escape picture, the original account of Dunkirk, and the aerial bombing movie that inspired the final battle in Star Wars. Plus a tense ‘what if?’ invasion tale, and a desert trek suspense ordeal that’s one of the best war films ever. The most relevant dialogue in the set? Seeing the total screw-up at Dunkirk, Bernard Lee determines that England will have to re-organize with new people in key leadership positions, people who know what they’re doing. I’m all for that Here and Now, fella.

Their Finest Hour 5 British WWII Classics

Went The Day Well,...

Greenwich Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Billie, James Erskine’s documentary about the life of iconic jazz singer Billie Holiday that world premiered over Labor Day weekend at the Telluride Film Festival. A 2020 release date is in the works from the distributor, which in 2019 released Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice, which was one of the year’s top-grossing documentaries.

Billie features newly unearthed interviews from those who knew Holiday best — Charles Mingus, Tony Bennett, Sylvia Syms and Count Basie among them — and features performances restored into color for the first time. It helps paint the picture of a singer with breathtaking talent and global popularity, and whose song “Strange Fruit” exposed the realities of black life in America and earned her powerful enemies over her short, turbulent life. She died almost penniless in 1959 at age 44.

The documentary weaves her story through one of her most enamored fans,...

HBO and BBC period drama Gentleman Jack has been handed a second season. Sally Wainwright’s Suranne Jones-fronted series will return for another eight-part run.

It comes as the Lookout Point-produce drama is still on the air. The series debuted on HBO on April 22 in its new Monday night slot and on the BBC on May 19. It became the BBC’s biggest new drama launch of the year with an average overnight audience of 5.1 million viewers.

Written by Happy Valley creator Wainwright, it tells the story of Anne Lister, played by Jones, who had a passion for life and a mind for business, and bucked society’s expectations at every turn.

Gentleman Jack focuses on Regency landowner Lister in the period drama, which is set in 1832 Halifax, West Yorkshire. She is determined to transform the fate of her faded ancestral home, Shibden Hall, by reopening the coal mines and marrying well.

Gentleman Jack has become the BBC’s biggest new drama launch of the year and the British broadcaster most successful new scripted series since Jenna Coleman-fronted psychological thriller The Cry.

The HBO co-production, which stars Suranne Jones, scored an average of 5.1M viewers with a peak of 5.6M on Sunday night in a 9pm slot. It secured an average share of 27.2% across the hour.

This comes after Coleman’s Australian-set drama averaged 5.7M viewers last year with a peak of 6.3M, compared with Bodyguard’s opening audience of 6.7M last year.

Gentleman Jack launched on April 22 in HBO’s new Monday night slot. It is created, written and co-directed by Happy Valley’s Sally Wainwright. The drama, which is produced by War and Peace producer Lookout Point, tells the story of a woman who had a passion for life and a mind for business, and bucked society’s expectations at every turn.

Gentleman Jack, the period drama fronted by Doctor Foster’s Suranne Jones, will debut on HBO on Monday April 22 – marking one of the first scripted series to play in the new premium broadcaster’s new slot.

The series, which is a co-production with the BBC, is created, written and co-directed by Happy Valley’s Sally Wainwright. It will join series including mini-series Chernobyl, Catherine The Great , His Dark Materials and the final season of The Deuce in the newly opened 10pm Monday slot.

The drama, which is produced by War and Peace producer Lookout Point, tells the story of a woman who had a passion for life and a mind for business, and bucked society’s expectations at every turn. The Killing star Sofie Gråbøl and Happy Valley star Katherine Kelly also star.

It will air later this spring on the BBC in the UK.

Jones plays Regency landowner Lister in the period drama,...

The Killing star Sofie Gråbøl and Happy Valley star Katherine Kelly have joined HBO and BBC drama Gentleman Jack.

The pair will star alongside Suranne Jones in the eight-part series, which was created by Happy Valley creator Sally Wainwright. The series is produced by War and Peace producer Lookout Point for the premium U.S. cable network and British public broadcaster.

Kelly plays Elizabeth Sutherland, the sister of Anne Lister’s intended wife Ann Walker, played by Peaky Blinders’ Sophie Rundle, whilst Gråbøl will appear towards the end of the series as Queen Marie of Denmark. Her appearance will be shot on location in Copenhagen. Jones plays Regency landowner Lister in the period drama, which is set in 1832 Halifax, West Yorkshire. Gentleman Jack focuses on the landowner, who is determined to transform the fate of her faded ancestral home, Shibden Hall, by reopening the coal mines and marrying well. The...

When it comes to anthologies, no one scratches my omnibus itch better than Amicus. From Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965) to (my personal favorite) Tales from the Crypt (1972) through From Beyond the Grave (’74), time and again they served up slivers of ghoulish goodness, succinct and delectable. Asylum (1972) is no different; as a matter of fact, to its advantage it probably has the best wraparound of any horror anthology, which helps set it apart.

Released in the U.K. in July with a rollout stateside by Cinerama Releasing Corporation in November, Asylum did well in its homeland, but fared less with the critics; Roger Ebert’s bizarre (yet humorous) two star review focuses completely on producer (and Amicus co-founder) Max J. Rosenberg’s obsession with coleslaw. Splayed cabbage aside, Asylum holds up as a witty multistory film with a wicked denouement and (as usual) solid work from legendary writer Robert Bloch...

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Hereditary

Toni Collette stars as a mother coping with a haunting of her family in this horror drama. Costarring Milly Shapiro and Ann Dowd. (male writer-director)

my review | find cinemas

limited

Tranny Fag [pictured]

Documentary about Brazilian performance artist and activist Mc Linn Da Quebrada, a trans woman of color, whose work attacks the ingrained misogyny and heteronormativeness of her nation. Cowritten and codirected by Claudia Priscilla.

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Together

Sylvia Syms costars as an elderly woman who has to fight to stay with her husband when they are separated by medical issues. (male writer-director)

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Please let me know if I’ve missed any movies directed by, written by, or about women.

Please help me continue this work with your financial support. A recurring contribution or a one-time donation, even only $1, is a great help, and tells me that my work here is valued. Thank you. Links here for PayPal,...

Streaming channels specialist TV4 Entertainment has launched Concrete Club as an independent original content studio, Variety has learned exclusively.

The genre-based studio will develop, produce and distribute feature films and television series targeting underserved, global audiences for all screens. The new studio is touted as an extension of TV4 Entertainment’s portfolio of genre-based lifestyle, entertainment, and sports over-the-top streaming channels.

Concrete Club said Thursday it will create originals in the genres of existing and planned global streaming brands and use TV4 Entertainment’s channels as a development pipeline and guaranteed distribution for Concrete Club productions.

Concrete Club’s first theatrical release will be “Together,” opening June 15 at every Odeon Cinema across England, Scotland and Wales — making it one of the largest independent, self-distributed opening releases in U.K. history. Produced by TV4 Entertainment, the comedic drama was written and directed by Concrete Club’s studio head, Paul Duddridge.

“Together...

Peter Bowles and Sylvia Syms play an elderly couple who are forcibly separated by officious social workers, after 60 years of marriage

One could argue that with this fictional account of an elderly couple who are forcibly separated from each other by meddling do-gooders is an example of that very thinly populated genre, the sentimental black comedy. Populated by broadly drawn characters whose personalities are subservient to their function to the plot, the whole kit and kaboodle emits a kind of rustic, chortling didacticism, like a cinematic Hogarth series set in the era of NHS bureaucracy and contemporary social work. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, although some viewers might harbour suspicions that, in terms of political sympathies, the film-makers’ intended audience may be less inclined to read the Guardian than the Daily Mail.

Philip (perpetual supporting actor Peter Bowles) and Rosemary Twain (national treasure-candidate Sylvia Syms), a pair of chirpy,...

Writer-director Paul Duddridge describes his film as ’Romeo & Juliet for the over-60s’.

UK exhibition chain Odeon has lined up screenings of romantic drama Together, in 96 theatres on June 19.

Made for £850,000, Together was written and directed by Paul Duddridge, and stars Sylvia Syms (The Queen) and Peter Bowles (Victoria) as an elderly couple who are separated into different care homes against their will after 60 years of marriage. The film takes in their fight against a frustrating system to be together again.

The cast also includes Cathy Tyson (Band Of Gold), Amanda Barrie (Benidorm) and Nina Wadia (Bend It Like Beckham...

Writer-director Paul Duddridge describes his film as ’Romeo & Juliet for the over-60s’.

UK exhibition chain Odeon has picked up UK rights to local romantic drama Together

It will be released in 96 theatres on June 19.

Made for £850,000, Together was written and directed by Paul Duddridge, and stars Sylvia Syms (The Queen) and Peter Bowles (Victoria) as an elderly couple who are separated into different care homes against their will after 60 years of marriage. The film takes in their fight against a frustrating system to be together again.

The cast also includes Cathy Tyson (Band Of Gold), Amanda Barrie (Benidorm) and...

Writer-director Paul Duddridge describes his film as ’Romeo & Juliet for the over-60s’.

UK exhibition chain Odeon has picked up UK rights to local romantic drama Together

It will be released in 96 theatres on June 19.

Made for £850,000, Together was written and directed by Paul Duddridge, and stars Sylvia Syms (The Queen) and Peter Bowles (Victoria) as an elderly couple who are separated into different care homes against their will after 60 years of marriage. The film takes in their fight against a frustrating system to be together again.

The cast also includes Cathy Tyson (Band Of Gold), Amanda Barrie (Benidorm) and...

Author: Competitions

To mark the release of Ice Cold in Alex on 19th February, we’ve been given 3 copies to give away on Blu-ray.

1942: The Libyan war zone, North Africa. After a German invasion a British ambulance crew are forced to evacuate their base but become separated from the rest of their unit. Somehow they must make it to Alexandria, but how?

Their only hope is a dilapidated ambulance named “Katy” and an irrational, alcoholic soldier known as Captain Anson. Facing landmines, a Nazi attack, suffocating quicksand and the relentlessly brutal and unforgiving Sahara desert, can Captain Anson face his demons and make the road to hell a journey to freedom?

Directed by J. Lee Thompson (Cape Fear, The Guns of the Navarone) with one iconic set piece after the next and with career best performances from John Mills (Goodbye Mr Chips, Great Expectations), Sylvia Syms (The Tamarind Seed,...

Mothers And Daughters‘ director Paul Duddridge has released the first trailer to his film Together, a heart-tugging story centered on the issue of elderly abuse. Starring Peter Bowles and Sylvia Syms, the pic follows a married couple Phil and Rose, who are separated by an unjust care system when Rose finds herself in the hospital after a minor injury. Phil must fight to prevent his wife of over 60 years from being moved into a nursing home. The film, which was co-produced…...

NBC is developing an adaptation of Anthony Horowitz's Collision, which aired in November, 2009, on ITV and Utv, as a five-episode event series. In the Us, an edited version of the original series aired on PBS, in two parts. Horowitz will serve as show runner on the new, Us version, and reportedly will write the first two episodes.

The cast of the ITV series includes: Douglas Henshall, Kate Ashfield, Christopher Fulford, Jo Woodcock, Craig Kelly, Dean Lennox Kelly, Zoe Telford, Claire Rushbrook, Phil Davis, Jan Francis, Sylvia Syms, Paul McGann, Lucy Griffiths, Lenora Crichlow, David Bamber, and Nicholas Farrell. Continue on for more about NBC's new Collision adaptation. Read More…...

Fans of Paul Newman will love watching BBC Two’s program on Newman’s life, “Talking Pictures: Paul Newman.” The feature can be viewed on FilmOn’s BBC Two channel. “Talking Pictures: Paul Newman” takes an extensive look at Newman’s life, including airing some rare interviews from the BBC archives. The program, narrated by Sylvia Syms, will give fans a look at what turned Newman into one of Hollywood’s most beloved and most popular actors. Make sure to watch the program when it airs on FilmOn’s BBC Two channel on Feb. 1. There’s more programming from BBC Two as well as live TV from other UK channels on FilmOn. FilmOn has such UK [ Read More ]

The post Watch Talking Pictures: Paul Newman for Free on FilmOn appeared first on Shockya.com.

The Big Bang Theory: E4, 8pm

This week's episode sees Penny (Kaley Cuoco) and Leonard (Johnny Galecki) attempt to distract Sheldon (Jim Parsons) from his career problems by reinstating 'Anything Can Happen' Thursday.

Their attempt to be spontaneous leads to unexpected friction among the gang when Amy (Mayim Bialik) and Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) are caught out lying to the others.

Raj (Kunal Nayyar) and Howard (Simon Helberg) watch a horror film to help Raj prepare for a date with Emily.

Playhouse Presents: Timeless: Sky Arts 1, 9pm

Cara Delevingne makes her acting debut in the final episode of the Playhouse Presents series as Chloe, whose soldier fiancé has recently been posted in Afghanistan.

However, Chloe thinks her world has been torn apart when a military officer (Jaye Griffiths) arrives on their doorstep with news of a death. Also starring Sylvia Syms.

The Good Wife: More4, 9pm...

Exclusive: UK outfit boards animation, readies production slate.

Moviehouse’s Cannes slate includes recent animation addition A Giant Adventure, which will feature the voices of John Goodman and Kelsey Grammar.

Goodman will play lumberjack Paul Bunyan who teams up with two adventurous kids to rescue a town from the developer’s evil clutches in this modern tale.

The deal was negotiated by Toonz Media Group CEO Kumar together with Moviehouse’ Managing Director, Mark Vennis and cements Moviehouse’s relationship with Toonz, which also produced upcoming Magnolia Us release The Hero Of Colour City, also sold by Moviehouse.

The film, which will be released in North America by Cinedigm, is produced in conjunction with U.S. animation company Exodus Film Group, whose principals, John Eraklis and Max Howard, will serve as producers together with Toonz’ CEO P. Jaya Kumar.

Simultaneously, Moviehouse is also developing a growing production slate, includingUK drama Grand Duet, about a classical...

Cara Delevingne's acting debut has been teased in two new pictures.

The British model will star in the Sky Arts Playhouse drama Timeless, written by Tim Firth.

Sylvia Syms also appears in the first-look photos from the drama, which is scheduled to air on June 19.

Delevingne stars as Chloe, a young woman having to look after her great-grandmother while her mother and grandmother are away on a cruise.

The star attended the launch of the Playhouse Presents season last night (April 29), at the Courthouse Hotel in London.

The Playhouse Presents season premieres on Thursday (May 1) on Sky Arts, starting with Matthew Perry's first UK production The Dog Thrower.

Billie Piper, Mark Strong and Ben Whishaw will also star in other Playhouse productions.

Delevingne also attended Kate Moss's Topshop launch at Oxford Street yesterday, along with Suki Waterhouse, Sienna Miller and others.

Adding another impressive credit to her resume, Cara Delevingne announced she will make her television debut in the series "Timeless."

Written by Tim Frith, the drama follows Chloe (Cara), a young woman searching for her great-grandmother (played by Sylvia Syms). Described as "an engaging tale of love, loss and hope" the story follows the unlikely bond that slowly develops between the family members after Chloe discovers sad news about her soldier finance serving in Afghanistan.

During an interview with the Telegraph, Miss Delevingne revealed her excitement for the new role and her thoughts about her famous runway career. "Modelling is a great job, and I appreciate everything it has brought me, but it's not my passion. As far back as I can remember I have wanted to act."

Cara is also starring in upcoming films, including "Kids in Love" and "Face of an Angel."...

Cara Delevingne will make her TV acting debut in a Sky Arts one-off drama. The 21-year-old model - who has recently turned her hand to film work - will be one of the stars featured in the latest 'Playhouse Presents...' strand, starring in 'Timeless'. The drama follows Chloe (Cara) and her great-grandmother Alice (Sylvia Syms), who, despite their generational gap, bond over their shared ''pain of having been separated from their partners by war''. Chloe's fiancé is currently serving in Afghanistan and when an army official arrives on her doorstep, a shocking revelation will stir emotions in both characters. The latest 'Playhouse Presents...' strand...

Cara Delevingne will make her TV acting debut in a one-off Sky Arts drama called Timeless.

The model will have a lead role in the Playhouse Presents production, which tells the story of two women separated from their partners by war.

The description of the drama is as follows:

"Alice and Chloe may be generations apart but both share the pain of having been separated from their partners by war. Chloe's soldier fiancé is serving a term of duty in Afghanistan when an army official arrives at Alice's door.

"The two women are shocked by the news but the generation gap is finally closing. Sylvia Syms and Cara Delevingne star in this engaging tale of love, loss and hope."

Timeless was written by Tim Firth (Calendar Girls, Kinky Boots).

The new series of Playhouse Presents, Sky's comedy and drama strand, returns in May on Sky Arts.

Other talent signed up...

Sky Arts HD is getting ready for its annual Playhouse Presents series which returns to the channel this May. The showcase is devoted to one-off comedies and dramas with talent lined up this year to include Matthew Perry, Billie Piper, Ben Wishaw, Mark Strong, Jo Brand, Simon Callow, Cara Delevingne, Lindsay Duncan, Kevin Eldon, Jane Horrocks, Daniel Mays, Sylvia Syms, Ashley Walters, Jason Watkins and Richard Wilson. Previous editions have had such names as Jon Hamm, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Thompson, Idris Elba and David Tennant. This year also involves the writing talents of Oscar-winner Peter Straughan, among others. Perry, who’s prepping his Odd Couple pilot at CBS, will make his UK TV comedy debut with The Dog Thrower, the story of a man who finds fame, then infamy, when he starts throwing his dog. It’s produced by Runaway Fridge. Among the other offerings, Piper and Whishaw will star in Foxtrot from Sprout Pictures,...

Back in May we told you about a new killer croc flick called The Hatching, which at the time hadn't even begun filming. Following up on that story, we've just learned that the big green monster is inching ever closer to the surface, Stealth Media officially announcing that production on the film has wrapped.

No word yet on when it will see release, but we'll keep you posted.

Michael Anderson directed the film with Greg Davies from a screenplay by Nick Squire. Thomas Turgoose and Sylvia Syms star.

Synopsis

Tim Webber, a teenager at boarding school, and his friends Baggy and Nick take a dare to sneak out of the dormitory one night and steal crocodile eggs from a nearby zoo, but the prank ends in tragedy with Nick being killed and Tim taking all responsibility. Fifteen years later, after the death of his father, Tim returns home to Somerset...

Dirk Bogarde: ‘Victim’ star took no prisoners in his letters to Dilys Powell Letters exchanged between film critic Dilys Powell and actor Dirk Bogarde — one of the most popular and respected British performers of the twentieth century, and the star of seminal movies such as Victim, The Servant, Darling, and Death in Venice — reveals that Bogarde was considerably more caustic and opinionated in his letters than in his (quite bland) autobiographies. (Photo: Dirk Bogarde ca. 1970.) As found in Dirk Bogarde’s letters acquired a few years ago by the British Library, among the victims of the Victim star (sorry) were Academy Award winner Vanessa Redgrave (Julia), a "ninny" who was “so utterly beastly to [Steaming director Joseph Losey] that he finally threw his script at her face”; and veteran stage and screen actor — and Academy Award winner — John Gielgud (Arthur), who couldn’t "understand half of Shakespeare" despite being renowned for his stage roles in Macbeth,...

Paul Henreid in ‘Casablanca’: Freedom Fighter on screen, Blacklisted ‘Subversive’ off screen Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month of July 2013, Paul Henreid, bids you farewell this evening. TCM left the most popular, if not exactly the best, for last: Casablanca, Michael Curtiz’s 1943 Best Picture Oscar-winning drama, is showing at 7 p.m. Pt tonight. (Photo: Paul Henreid sings "La Marseillaise" in Casablanca.) One of the best-remembered movies of the studio era, Casablanca — not set in a Spanish or Mexican White House — features Paul Henreid as Czechoslovakian underground leader Victor Laszlo, Ingrid Bergman’s husband but not her True Love. That’s Humphrey Bogart, owner of a cafe in the titular Moroccan city. Henreid’s anti-Nazi hero is generally considered one of least interesting elements in Casablanca, but Alt Film Guide contributor Dan Schneider thinks otherwise. In any case, Victor Laszlo feels like a character made to order for Paul Henreid,...

Around these parts we love our nature-run-amok flicks. The bigger and bloodier, the better. One flick that's hit our radar recently is Stealth Media's new flick The Hatching, and as you'll see by the sales art, it's right up our alleys!

Michael Anderson directs with Greg Davies from a screenplay by Nick Squire. The flick is currently in pre-production. Thomas Turgoose and Sylvia Syms star.

Synopsis

Tim Webber, a teenager at boarding school, and his friends Baggy and Nick take a dare to sneak out of the dormitory one night and steal crocodile eggs from a nearby zoo, but the prank ends in tragedy with Nick being killed and Tim taking all responsibility. Fifteen years later, after the death of his father, Tim returns home to Somerset to run the family stone masonry, but there is a sinister undercurrent to the idyllic village setting that seems to harbor a dark secret.

Made and released at a time when male homosexuality was a criminal offense in England, Victim (1961) is a film I'm surprised I have not heard more about. The story centers on a blackmailer targeting high profile, closeted Londoners, with a focus on Melville Farr (Dirk Bogarde) a married barrister whose past comes calling in the early stages of the film only he chooses not to answer, the consequences of which drive much of the film's narrative. Farr must decide if he'll risk his career and place in society to stand up for what's right. Given the social climate with relation to homosexuality, the film was released in 1961 with an X rating (adults only) from the BBFC. 44 years later, Victim would be resubmitted for classification and receive a PG rating from the same organization, citing the reasons, "contains mild language and sex references." Between those 44 years it would be re-rated two...

Dr Seuss' The Lorax (U)

(Chris Renauld, Kyle Balda, 2012, Us) Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Ed Helms, Danny DeVito. 86 mins.

Dr Seuss's most environmentally minded story was a natural choice for movie treatment, but as with so many others (How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Horton Hears A Who!), the temptation to "expand" on the original runs out of control. Seuss's elegant tale of a land where they paved paradise and cut down all the Truffula trees has been injected with all the compulsory gags, subplots, musical numbers and painfully bright landscapes that family animation is now deemed to require, making for an eco-tale that's packed with artificial additives.

Searching For Sugar Man (12A)

(Malik Bendjelloul, 2012, Swe/UK) 86 mins.

An inspiring documentary that successfully rehabilitates the reputation (and perhaps more) of Sixto Rodriguez, a 1970s Detroit troubadour who never found fame at home but unwittingly became huge in South Africa – where his...

J Lee Thompson's unmissable proto-kitchen-sink drama goes all the way where Brief Encounter loitered hesitantly

Terence Davies's recent film The Deep Blue Sea returned audiences to Britain's lost postwar world of dingy flats, unhappy marriages and sing-songs in smoky pubs where adulterous couples are to be seen hunched in corners staring silently into their drinks. The rerelease of this brilliant proto-realist kitchen-sink drama from 1957, written by Ted Willis and directed by J Lee Thompson, is from just this world. Anthony Quayle and Yvonne Mitchell are Jim and Amy, a married couple: they are middle-aged, though modern audiences might find their mannerisms much older. The stars were respectively 44 and 42 years old. Amy is a superficially cheerful chatterbox, and Jim seems tolerant of her scatterbrained inability to keep the flat tidy, her habit of leaving things burning on the stove and often never getting out of her dressing-gown all day. Amy...

★★★★☆ Available to own on DVD for the first time since its cinematic release back in 1957, J. Lee Thompson's Woman in a Dressing Gown hints at what was to come from the British New Wave of the 1960s, with its realistic portrait of the breakdown of a marriage on a post-war London council estate. Amy (Yvonne Mitchell) is a hopelessly lost house wife, whilst her husband Jim (Anthony Quail), frustrated with his spouse, falls in love with his secretary Georgie (Sylvia Syms). When Amy discovers the affair her world falls apart and she attempts to win back Jim's heart.

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Asif Kapadia on shooting his London Olympics film, and Sylvia Syms on a neglected 50s classic

As if by magic

My favourite of the official Olympics films is by Asif Kapadia. His The Odyssey examines London from the skies against a backdrop of Olympian expectation and politics, like these two were fighting it out to be the prevailing winds over the city. A panoply of voices give their Olympics memories and London thoughts, but just as in his award-winning doc Senna we don't see their faces: they could be media personalities (Richard Williams, Robert Elms, Lord Coe) or boys or elderly ladies interviewed on the street.

The film includes social comment on the closure of council leisure facilities and the shock of the 7/7 bombings. I hear now that Asif is developing his themes into a feature film. "Even though we shot in a very short time, there was still a...