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Courtesy of BFI

by James Cameron-wilson

Between the years 1931 and 1937, Michael Powell directed twenty-three films: twenty-three films in six years. Sadly, ten of those works are no longer with us due to the fact that they were printed on the highly volatile nitrate film stock, which was not only extremely difficult and expensive to store, but was highly flammable. Michael Powell, who went on to direct such classics as The Red Shoes, A Matter of Life and Death, Black Narcissus and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, was still in his twenties when he started directing but was known for his sense of economy and swiftness of turning a project around. Thanks to a government initiative set up to boost British cinema by establishing a quota system – so that a proportion of British films had to be shown in British cinemas alongside the big-budget Hollywood releases – the ‘quota quickie’ was born.

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger officially become ‘The Archers’ for this sterling morale-propaganda picture lauding the help of the valiant Dutch resistance. It’s a joyful show of spirit, terrific casting (with a couple of surprises) and first-class English filmmaking.

One of Our Aircraft is Missing

Blu-ray

Olive Films

1942 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy /103 82 min. / Street Date November 15, 2016 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98

Starring Godfrey Tearle, Eric Portman, Hugh Williams, Bernard Miles, Hugh Burden, Emrys Jones, Pamela Brown, Joyce Redman, Googie Withers, Hay Petrie, Arnold Marlé, Robert Helpmann, Peter Ustinov, Roland Culver, Robert Beatty, Michael Powell.

Cinematography Ronald Neame

Film Editor David Lean

Camera Crew Robert Krasker, Guy Green

Written by Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

Produced by The Archers

Directed by Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

There are still a few more key Powell-Pressburger ‘Archer’ films waiting for a quality disc release, Contraband and Gone to Earth for just two.

'Sorrell and Son' with H.B. Warner and Alice Joyce. 'Sorrell and Son' 1927 movie: Long thought lost, surprisingly effective father-love melodrama stars a superlative H.B. Warner Partially shot on location in England and produced independently by director Herbert Brenon at Joseph M. Schenck's United Artists, the 1927 Sorrell and Son is a skillful melodrama about paternal devotion in the face of both personal and social adversity. This long-thought-lost version of Warwick Deeping's 1925 bestseller benefits greatly from the veteran Brenon's assured direction, deservedly shortlisted in the first year of the Academy Awards.* Crucial to the film's effectiveness, however, is the portrayal of its central character, a war-scarred Englishman who sacrifices it all for the happiness of his son. Luckily, the London-born H.B. Warner, best remembered for playing Jesus Christ in another 1927 release, Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings, is the embodiment of honesty, selflessness, and devotion. Less is...

British commercial broadcasting group Cirkus has taken a minority stake in Cirkus, a Swedish-based VOD service that offers up British TV programs on demand to audiences in Scandinavia. ITV did not disclose financial details of the deal nor did it specify how large a stake it acquired in Cirkus. British TV executives Hugh Williams and Mark Bradford launched Cirkus last December, in cooperation with Sweden's leading cable operator ConHem and Dtt platform Boxer. It's programming is focused on British TV, particularly high-end scripted drama, along with comedy and factual programming. Gallery: TV Showdown: Exclusive Portraits of 4 Top

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Paulette Goddard: An Ideal Husband and Paris Model on TCM Paulette Goddard height: Supposedly 5’4″. Paulette Goddard age: Well… Goddard would have turned 108 today. Or 103. Or 102. Or 98. It all depends on the source, though Goddard herself apparently — and not at all surprisingly — preferred the 1915 birth date, which would have made her 98 years old in 2013. Whether a centenarian or a nonagenarian, Paulette Goddard is Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Day. TCM has already shown several Goddard movies, among them Charles Chaplin’s Modern Times and the Luise Rainer star vehicle Dramatic School, and it’s currently showing An Ideal Husband. (Picture: Paulette Goddard publicity shot, ca. 1940.) Made in England for London Films, An Ideal Husband (1947) was quite a prestigious production so as to justify the presence of a top Hollywood star in a British film. No less a figure than London Films founder Alexander Korda directed this movie adaptation of...

1935-42, PG, Network

The first volume of this series was disappointing, but this one is both valuable and entertaining. The first disc from pre-Michael Balcon days has the more significant films. The likable 18th-century children's naval yarn Midshipman Easy (1935) stars future TV star Hughie Green as an idealistic, naive teenager turning up trumps at sea and waving a cutlass ashore while serving on a Royal Navy sloop command by Roger Livesey. It's significant as the directorial debut of Carol Reed and welcomed by his future collaborator Graham Greene in his Spectator film column.

The other film, Brief Ecstasy (1937), directed by Edmond T Gréville, a French film-maker at home on both sides of the Channel, is a little gem about a handsome middle-class Englishman (Hugh Williams) and the attractive student (Linden Travers) with whom he has a one-night stand in London and then meets again five years later, when she's...

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is well known as one of the nicest guys in showbiz. But when his cover story in GQ was published, the writer mentioned the death of his brother, saying it was an alleged drug overdose. JoGo took issue with that. "I’m writing this because I have a problem with what their article says about my brother. I’ll be honest, it really made me feel terrible. Using the word “alleged” technically allows the writer to say whatever she wants. The “allegations” to which she must be referring were made by a handful of gossip websites. They are factually incorrect according to the coroner’s office and the police department. I don’t like publicly speaking about my brother’s death, but I’m making an exception to correct this irresponsible claim."

Towelroad has a great video made by Waterstone Outdoors to welcome Homoclimbtastic, a gay rock climbing group,...

Paulette Goddard, Modern Times Paulette Goddard on TCM Part I: Modern Times, Reap The Wild Wind I've never watched Alexander Korda's British-made An Ideal Husband, a 1948 adaptation (by Lajos Biro) of Oscar Wilde's play, but it should be at least worth a look. The respectable cast includes Michael Wilding, Diana Wynyard, C. Aubrey Smith, Hugh Williams, Constance Collier, and Glynis Johns. George Cukor's film version of Clare Boothe Luce's hilarious The Women ("officially" adapted by Anita Loos and Jane Murfin) is definitely worth numerous looks; once or twice or even three times isn't/aren't enough to catch the machine-gun dialogue spewed forth by the likes of Goddard, Rosalind Russell, Joan Crawford, Mary Boland, Phyllis Povah, Lucile Watson, et al. A big hit at the time, The Women actually ended up in the red because of its high cost. Norma Shearer, aka The Widow Thalberg, was the nominal star; curiously,...

Dan Steinberg/AP

Celebs and their kids stepped out for Sunday’s premiere of How to Train Your Dragon, held at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, Calif.

Among the attendees? Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott, who brought along kids Liam Aaron, 3, and Stella Doreen, 21 months.

The family is gearing up for the new season of their reality show, Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood, which returns April 5th on Oxygen.

Click below for more photos from the premiere!

Todd Williamson/WireImage

Former Will & Grace star Eric McCormack brought along son Finnigan Holden, 7 ½, and a pal — the trio posed with one of the movie’s stars.