The Naked City (1948)

Recommended

USA

Feature Film
Director: Jules Dassin
Writers: Albert Maltz, Malvin Wald
Cinematographer: William Daniels
Composer: Miklós Rózsa, Frank Skinner
Cast: Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart, Don Taylor, Frank Conroy, Ted de Corsia, House Jameson, Anne Sargent, Mark Hellinger

An innovative and influential police procedural, boasting some excellent dialogue and good performances, that has lost some of its bite through over familiarity from its many impersonators, but the film’s most jarring aspect is the contrast between the dispassionate documentary-style narration and some of the film's more melodramatic moments - fascinating none the less. Iain.Stott

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I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

Recommended

USA
Feature Film
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Writers: Curt Siodmak, Ardel Wray, Inez Wallace
Cinematographer: J. Roy Hunt
Composer: Roy Webb
Cast: James Ellison, Frances Dee, Tom Conway, Edith Barrett, James Bell, Christine Gordon, Theresa Harris, Darby Jones

Tourneur’s atmospheric horror film, a Caribbean set tale of love, hate, and voodoo, brought to life by Hunt’s outstanding chiaroscuro cinematography, is a creepy yet restrained work, which transcends its cheap, generic, B-movie roots. Iain.Stott

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Dustbin Baby (2008)

Cautiously Recommended

UK

Television Film
Director: Juliet May
Writers: Helen Blakeman, Jacqueline Wilson
Cinematographer: Chris Goodger
Composer: Adrian Johnston
Cast: Dakota Blue Richards, Juliet Stevenson, David Haig, Chris Ryman, Leah Ferguson, Sylvia Hodgson, Alex Hewett, Lucy Hutchinson

A relatively harrowing, considering its target audience, account of one young girl’s life in care, told primarily in flashback, with excellent performances from Richards and Stevenson, beautifully paced, and with a delightful score from Johnston, this sensitive and delicate BBC production more than earns its warm-and-fuzzy ending (although, perhaps, not the one that you might be expecting.) Iain.Stott

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The Thief of Bagdad (1940)

Recommended

UK

Feature Film
Directors: Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, Tim Whelan
Writers: Miles Malleson, Lajos Biro
Cinematographer: Georges Périnal
Composer: Miklos Rozsa
Cast: John Justin, Sabu, Conrad Veidt, June Duprez, Rex Ingram, Miles Malleson, Morton Selten

The Thief of Bagdad is an epic adventure, replete with magic carpets, giant flying genies, and nefarious kings, which manages, despite some rather dated and hokey special effects, to bring out one’s inner child by suspending disbelief and capturing the imagination with some good, well-paced, and fantastical storytelling. Iain.Stott

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Carve Her Name with Pride (1958)

Recommended

UK
Feature Film
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Writers: Vernon Harris, Lewis Gilbert, R.J. Minney
Cinematographer: John Wilcox
Composer: William Alwyn
Cast: Virginia McKenna, Paul Scofield, Jack Warner, Denise Grey, Alain Saury, Maurice Ronet, Anne Leon, Sydney Tafler, Avice Landone, Nicole Stéphane, Noel Willman

Based on the real story of Violette Szabo, a French speaking Londoner approached by the British secret services to become an undercover agent in Nazi-occupied France, this well-made picture, with Wilcox’s gorgeous photography and McKenna’s stunning performance, is a restrained and devastatingly moving film. Iain.Stott

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Goal! (2005)

Not Recommended

USA/Japan
Feature Film
Director: Danny Cannon
Writers: Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, Adrian Butchart, Mike Jefferies
Cinematography: Michael Barrett
Composer: Graeme Revell
Cast: Kuno Becker, Alessandro Nivola, Marcel Iures, Stephen Dillane, Anna Friel, Tony Plana, Miriam Colon, Kieran O'Brien, Gary Lewis, Kevin Knapman, Sean Pertwee

The Beautiful Game, the beautiful Friel, and the oft brilliant talents of Clement & La Frenais ensure that this rather silly film is never less than watchable, but one can’t ignore the mounting clichés, the general lack of credibility, the ghastly swelling score, and the horribly sentimental ending. Iain.Stott

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The Great Gatsby (1925)

USA

Novel
Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald’s acclaimed and revered novel is a delicate and moving depiction of the melancholic high-life of the rich and famous, that manages to be simultaneously cynical and romantic as it paints a picture of a life that is so remote from most of us, but at the same time is as deeply human as any other. Iain.Stott

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