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After twenty years honing his craft on ever-more precise filmic constructions, David Lean opened up his imagination for a story of loneliness and romance in Venice, Italy. A vacationing American woman searches for — she doesn’t know what. Katharine Hepburn reveals the vulnerable side of her personality, and the woman eventually leaves her fears behind. Lean creates the most compelling ‘relaxed vacation’ ever, yet every shot is as keenly envisioned as in any of his films. It’s an amazing ‘on location’ show that initially ran into trouble with U.S. censors — some thought it was morally incompatible with the Production Code, and shouldn’t be released here at all.

Summertime

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 22

1955 / Color / 1:37 Academy (1:66 widescreen?) / 100 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date July 12, 2022 / 39.95

Starring: Katharine Hepburn, Rossano Brazzi, Darren McGavin, Jane Rose, Mari Aldon, Macdonald Parke, Gaetano Autiero, Jeremy Spenser, Isa Miranda, Virginia Simeon,...

We can already tell that Netflix's final To All the Boys film, Always and Forever, is going to be an absolute delight. On Wednesday, the romantic trailer dropped, and it's giving us all the feels. Not only does it feature some adorable moments between Lara Jean (Lana Condor) and Peter (Noah Centineo), but it's also set to the perfect song. As the couple live out some of their final high-school moments, Betty Who's 2016 cover of "I Love You Always Forever" plays in the background. The singer even reacted to the trailer on Twitter, writing, "The Noah Centineo stan in me is *squealing*."

The track was originally sung by Donna Lewis in 1996 and has been featured in a handful of romantic comedies ever since. Interestingly enough, the song was actually inspired by H.E. Bates's 1977 novel Love for Lydia. The lyric "I love you always forever, near and far...

Lenny Henry, the British comedian, actor and diversity campaigner, is collaborating with A Very English Scandal scribe Russell T Davies on a deeply personal ITV drama series inspired by his mother’s move from Jamaica to the UK in the 1950s.

Henry’s Douglas Road Productions and Tiger Aspect — both part of the Banijay group — will make Three Little Birds for ITV, with Davies consulting on the script and serving as an executive producer.

The six-part series will narrate a Windrush-era story of two sisters, Leah and Chantrelle, and their Bible-loving acquaintance, Hosanna, as they leave the Caribbean to embark on a new life in Britain.

On arriving in Notting Hill, they quickly realize that London is not for them and flee to the Midlands, overcoming racism and integration issues to make a new home for themselves.

ITV drama head Polly Hill said Henry’s scripts are funny, moving and life-affirming,...

This obscure 1972 thriller features excellent performances by Glenda Jackson and Oliver Reed, and marks the feature debut of the great director Michael Apted. The wartime home front drama takes a surprisingly precocious and sensitive view of a bizarre incident that probably happened in real life: to escape his military service, a reluctant soldier cross-dresses as a woman.

The Triple Echo

Region B Blu-ray

Powerhouse Indicator

1972 / Color / 1:85 / 94 min. / Soldier in Skirts / Street Date March 25, 2019 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £18.36

Starring: Glenda Jackson, Oliver Reed, Brian Deacon, Anthony May, Gavin Richards, Jenny Lee Wright.

Cinematography: John Coquillon

Film Editor: Barrie Vince

Original Music: Mark Wilkinson

Written by Robin Chapman, from the story by H.E. Bates

Produced by Graham Cottle

Directed by Michael Apted

Billy Wilder would have given the makers of The Triple Echo cautioning advice about putting male actors in drag and passing them off as women: it’s a...

Fans of this show know it as the It's a Wonderful Life of war movies, an intensely moving tale that restores feeling and tenderness to people crippled by loss and despair. The stellar pairing of top star Gregory Peck and Burmese unknown Win Min Than is unique in movies and not to be missed. The Purple Plain Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1955 / Color /1:66 widescreen / 100 min. / Street Date April 5, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Gregory Peck, Win Min Than, Brenda De Banzie, Bernard Lee, Maurice Denham, Lyndon Brook, Anthony Bushell, Josephine Griffin Cinematography Geoffrey Unsworth Art Direction Donald M. Ashton, Jack Maxsted Film Editor Clive Donner Original Music John Veale Written by Eric Ambler from a novel by H.E. Bates Produced by John Bryan, Earl St. John Directed by Robert Parrish

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

How can one convey the way a picture grows on one? I liked The Purple Plain...

Valencia

John Goodman is in talks to star in Dan Trachtenberg's low-budget thriller "Valencia" for Paramount Insurge and Bad Robot. J.J. Abrams will produce and Dan Casey penned the most recent draft of the script.

Set primarily in an underground cellar, the story follows a teen girl who wakes up in the cellar after a car accident, at which point her eerie companion (Goodman) tells her a nuclear attack has devastated society. [Source: Variety]

The Briny

Francesca Annis, Larry Lamn and Stephen Campbell Moore have joined the cast of Lucy Kirkwood's directorial debut "The Briny" from Film4. Filming just wrapped in Suffolk, UK.

The story follows a woman who believes herself to be suffering from a sympathetic pregnancy due to the Royal baby. Olivier award-winning playwright and screenwriter Kirkwood also penned the script. [Source: Screen]

The Darling Buds of May

Matthew Rhys ("The Americans") has signed on to star in Christian Carion...