I Thang Yew

Another set of films which I have received recently and plan to review over the course of the next couple of months is the excellent box set of Arthur Askey Films.  Released by Granada Ventures it contains the films: I Thank You, Back-Room Boy, Miss London Limited, King Arthur was a Gentleman, Bees in Paradise and Band Waggon.  This means, along with Ghost Train and Charley's Aunt, all of his pre-1955 film output has been released.
I am still hoping to see Ramsbottom Rides Again come out on DVD, or even come on TV.
I'll put the reviews on my Poppycock blog (see right).  I am going to find it difficult to be objective about these films as I have a soft spot for this era in British Film making.  There is a certain charm that has been lost.  Films such as Ghost Train was built upon a strong story (by Arnold Ridley, aka Private Godfrey from Dad's Army) and had large sections of film which allowed Askey to showcase his humour.

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Coming Soon...

From time to time I might add ideas for future 'projects' for both this and my Poppycock film blog.  I recently had an interesting idea that seems like it might be quite fun.  Insane, but fun.
I really enjoy disaster movies and the fairly recent phenomenon of Movie of the Week and miniseries with large disasters set amongst CGI set pieces.  I have decided to review as many as I can possibly get my hands on.  I am going to jot down a small list of planned TV movies and hopefully somebody will chip in with other ideas.

10.5
10.5 Apocalypse
Atomic Train
Asteroid
Category 6
Category 7
Supernova
Flood: A River's Rampage
Killer Flood: The Day the Dam Broke
Firestorm: Last Stand at Yellowstone
Aftershock: Earthquake in New York
Epoch
Epoch: Evolution
Tidal Wave: No Escape
Tornado Warning

I plan to start this after my other Patricia Velásquez project which should be mid-March?!?
If I get time I will add links from this blog to Poppycock.

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Grace & Favour

Having just finished watching the entire two series of Grace & Favour (also known as Are You Being Served? Again!) I felt it necessary to write about it.
What we have here is a relatively gentle comedy which in 1992 was seen as very much old hat. 'Allo ' Allo! was cancelled, the tide was turning towards comedies like Absolutely Fabulous and Men Behaving Badly. It is very much in the same vein as other David Croft comedies such as Dad's Army (obviously G&F is nowhere near that pinnacle), It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Hi-de-Hi!, You Rang, M'Lord? and the aforementioned 'Allo 'Allo!.
The cast are carried over from Are You Being Served? and they are obviously having fun here and also very comfortable in their roles. The newly cast members of the crew are all very stereotyped but are all played well. Billy Burden who, with his broad accent, provides the most obvious comedy. Secondly, Joanne Heywood is dryly amusing as the stuck-up ex-mistress of Young Mr. Grace. The major addition to the cast is Fleur Bennett who is incredibly sweet and has a great camaraderie with the established cast.
The series was cut off after two series, much like Croft's other series Oh Doctor Beeching. In the case of Grace & Favour I think there was a lot more that could have been done but it seems like the powers that be were slightly embarrassed by this throwback to a previous era.

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Blood of the Daleks

Having recently listened to the first part of Blood of the Daleks, I am compelled to write a little about it.
The story is produced by the ever-engaging Big Finish Productions and was broadcast on BBC7 on 31st December 2006.  The story is the standard tale of a colony on the brink of destruction but the twist is that the Daleks offer to come to the rescue.  The Daleks have been overused in the past few years but this is an interesting take on them which should have a good payoff in the second part.
Sheridan Smith appears as Lucie Miller who is placed aboard the Tardis much to the surprise of Paul McGann's Doctor.  They work well together in this audio play and I am looking forward to listening to the next part and further stories.

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First Post

This is just a quick post to confirm that I have set up my blog and Flock correctly.
Please read my other blog about films which I get some content here.
Poppycock and Bunkum

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