Films you've seen lately

[LMcD]

Class, cultural and temperamental differences, which get heavy mention by those on hand at the time in the Extras section. I love those Extras, whenever they are provided - they make one reflect, add that extra dimension in appreciating both film and the time in which it was made.

Thank you - I was a bit worried that there might be another reason!

[Nick Armstrong]

Raising the Wind (1961) - a surprising and amusing curiosity from the early years of the “Carry On” franchise (produced by Peter Rogers, directed by Gerald Thomas) but rather less bawdy and more upmarket.

It’s set in and around what I take to be the RAM (it’s called the London Academy of Music but the film begins and ends in the Marylebone Road as far as I can see) and concerns the ups and downs of a group of music students. A couple of them are played by duds who pretty much disappeared without trace as far as I know, but Leslie Phillips and Kenneth Williams (in an almost-serious role playing a ghastly, pompous piano and composition student) stand out. Sid James pops up as a dodgy music publisher, and there are several other “Carry On” faces...

Top of the tree though is James Robertson Justice playing the Thomas Beecham look-alike professor of conducting - an absolute joy, had me laughing out loud.

The whole concoction is written by Bruce Montgomery (who also wrote and directed the score) - fascinating character, formerly organ scholar at St John’s Oxford and who as Edmund Crispin wrote the Gervais Fen whodunnit novels (which are great fun). In fact he scored some of the early “Carry On” & “Doctor” films too. But the screenplay oozes his knowledge of the world of classical music.

A bit hit and miss (the latter due to the odd wooden performance by the actors who disappeared with little trace) but well worth a watch and a giggle for classical music heads

One highlight: one of the most convincing examples of on-screen conducting by an actor - Leslie Phillips conducting Scheherazade! The beat is right and everything!

The Sinfonia of London are credited as the orchestra in question, incidentally

[pastoralguy]

Raising the Wind (1961) - a surprising and amusing curiosity from the early years of the “Carry On” franchise (produced by Peter Rogers, directed by Gerald Thomas) but rather less bawdy and more upmarket.

It’s set in and around what I take to be the RAM (it’s called the London Academy of Music but the film begins and ends in the Marylebone Road as far as I can see) and concerns the ups and downs of a group of music students. A couple of them are played by duds who pretty much disappeared without trace as far as I know, but Leslie Phillips and Kenneth Williams (in an almost-serious role playing a ghastly, pompous piano and composition student) stand out. Sid James pops up as a dodgy music publisher, and there are several other “Carry On” faces...

Top of the tree though is James Robertson Justice playing the Thomas Beecham look-alike professor of conducting - an absolute joy, had me laughing out loud.

The whole concoction is written by Bruce Montgomery (who also wrote and directed the score) - fascinating character, formerly organ scholar at St John’s Oxford and who as Edmund Crispin wrote the Gervais Fen whodunnit novels (which are great fun). In fact he scored some of the early “Carry On” & “Doctor” films too. But the screenplay oozes his knowledge of the world of classical music.

A bit hit and miss (the latter due to the odd wooden performance by the actors who disappeared with little trace) but well worth a watch and a giggle for classical music heads

One highlight: one of the most convincing examples of on-screen conducting by an actor - Leslie Phillips conducting Scheherazade! The beat is right and everything!

The Sinfonia of London are credited as the orchestra in question, incidentally

A truly lovely film. I wonder if the solo violinist was Sydney Hearth.

[Petrushka]

Raising the Wind (1961) - a surprising and amusing curiosity from the early years of the “Carry On” franchise (produced by Peter Rogers, directed by Gerald Thomas) but rather less bawdy and more upmarket.

It’s set in and around what I take to be the RAM (it’s called the London Academy of Music but the film begins and ends in the Marylebone Road as far as I can see) and concerns the ups and downs of a group of music students. A couple of them are played by duds who pretty much disappeared without trace as far as I know, but Leslie Phillips and Kenneth Williams (in an almost-serious role playing a ghastly, pompous piano and composition student) stand out. Sid James pops up as a dodgy music publisher, and there are several other “Carry On” faces...

Top of the tree though is James Robertson Justice playing the Thomas Beecham look-alike professor of conducting - an absolute joy, had me laughing out loud.

The whole concoction is written by Bruce Montgomery (who also wrote and directed the score) - fascinating character, formerly organ scholar at St John’s Oxford and who as Edmund Crispin wrote the Gervais Fen whodunnit novels (which are great fun). In fact he scored some of the early “Carry On” & “Doctor” films too. But the screenplay oozes his knowledge of the world of classical music.

A bit hit and miss (the latter due to the odd wooden performance by the actors who disappeared with little trace) but well worth a watch and a giggle for classical music heads

One highlight: one of the most convincing examples of on-screen conducting by an actor - Leslie Phillips conducting Scheherazade! The beat is right and everything!

The Sinfonia of London are credited as the orchestra in question, incidentally

I watched this when it was on Talking Pictures a while ago and many years ago met Peter Rogers and Leslie Phillips. Amazingly, Leslie Phillips is still with us at the age of 97.

It is indeed the RAM and from shots of the interior it hardly seems to have changed much and is perfectly recognisable as the place where I went to a good number of Pre-Prom talks.

[Serial_Apologist]

I watched this when it was on Talking Pictures a while ago and many years ago met Peter Rogers and Leslie Phillips. Amazingly, Leslie Phillips is still with us at the age of 97.

It is indeed the RAM and from shots of the interior it hardly seems to have changed much and is perfectly recognisable as the place where I went to a good number of Pre-Prom talks.

The same building used as the "hospital" for the Doctor series, if I'm not mistaken. I'd always assumed it to be the British Museum, which is archtecturally very similar!

[Petrushka]

The same building used as the "hospital" for the Doctor series, if I'm not mistaken. I'd always assumed it to be the British Museum, which is archtecturally very similar!

The 'Doctor' series was filmed at Pinewood and, without checking, I'd guess that the 'hospital' was there. It's amazing how often the house, gardens and ballroom at Pinewood turn up on screen.

[Nick Armstrong]

The 'Doctor' series was filmed at Pinewood and, without checking, I'd guess that the 'hospital' was there. It's amazing how often the house, gardens and ballroom at Pinewood turn up on screen.

I remember from a documentary on the Carry On series that you’re correct about the house at Pinewood Studios being used in the Carry on Doctor &c. films for some exteriors, though I also recall Maidenhead Town Hall was used for the main hospital exteriors.

But as for the Doctor series (the Dirk Bogarde vehicles), S_A is right about at least one of them (Doctor in the House) not using the Pinewood locations for exteriors, as this link makes clear: https://www.reelstreets.com/films/doctor-in-the-house/ - it was University College, London, on Gower Street which was used for ‘St. Swithin’s Hospital’.

And S_A is also right that it’s the same UCL exterior as was used to represent the ‘Academy’ in Raising the Wind - so I was wrong about Marylebone Road: https://www.reelstreets.com/films/raising-the-wind/

I suspect Pet that you’re right to recognise the interiors as being at the RAM (that page doesn’t mention it).

.

Incidentally, the page reveals I didn’t recognise Leslie P walking past what is now my bike shop, Evans Cycles on Westbourne Grove!

[Serial_Apologist]

Thanks, Nick!

[Nick Armstrong]

Thanks, Nick!

You were right also about the British Museum looking a dead ringer for the UCL building they actually used!

[Joseph K]

A truly lovely film. I wonder if the solo violinist was Sydney Hearth.

Welcome back.

[Petrushka]

A truly lovely film. I wonder if the solo violinist was Sydney Hearth.

A warm welcome back to the Forum, PG.

[Nick Armstrong]

The recently-released Army of the Dead on Netflix.

I enjoyed this hugely. You have to be able to take zombie gore and guts flying all over the place, but if you can, the mix of heist movie with zombie apocalypse is an exhilarating watch. From the teaser opening, through the immaculately choreographed storytelling of the title sequence, through to the literally Wagnerian climax (the use of music from the Ring gave me goosebumps), it’s a fantastically well-conceived and well-made film, shot through with humour and even satire (zombies in Las Vegas - you figure it out).

Zack Snyder’s latest seems to have come in for a lot of suspiciously orchestrated criticism, but for me it’s a bit of a masterpiece.

[jayne lee wilson]

Has really no-one else here seen the stunning Promising Young Woman yet? Sky Cinema, for which director Emerald Fennel won best original screenplay, and nominated for best direction etc too.....
Stunning pop soundtrack....(Paris Hilton to Britney Spears to Juice Newton and more)....
do-not-miss-this-miss!

Along with Sound of Metal (Amazon Prime) the most riveting, compellingly original films I've seen in years (I watch, or try to watch, too many movies, but usually end up discontented, leave halfway through, etc...).

See #1045 above for more.....But as I said there, the problem is the films spread across all these subscriptions....
(Nomadland (Disney+) is totally different of course, almost a docudrama - very beautiful, gentle laid-back classic road & landscape movie, rural, mountainside and industrial, also a study of friendship within deprivation, and the creation of community within tough social conditons in USA....
Deserved the Best Film award for sure, but I did find a second viewing a little hard going....)

[LMcD]

Has really no-one else here seen the stunning Promising Young Woman yet? Sky Cinema, for which director Emerald Fennel won best original screenplay, and nominated for best direction etc too.....
Stunning pop soundtrack too....(Paris Hilton to Britney Spears to Juice Newton and more)....
do-not-miss-this-miss!

Along with Sound of Metal (Amazon Prime) the most riveting, compellingly original film I've seen in years (I watch, or try to watch, too many movies, but usually end up discontented, leave halfway through, etc...).

See #1045 above for more.....But as I said there, the problem is the films spread across all these subscriptions....
(Nomadland (Disney+) is totally different of course, almost a docudrama - very beautiful, gentle laid-back classic road & landscape movie, rural, mountainside and industrial, also a study of friendship within deprivation, and the creation of community within tough social conditons in USA....
Deserved the Best Film award for sure, but I did find a second viewing a little hard going....)

'Fraid not - haven't got Sky, or Disney+, or Netflix, or Britbox, and probably wouldn't have time to watch any of them if I did - busy pensioner! Ideal gardening weather, I'm pleased to say. Also managing to make modest inroads into my ever-growing collection of 'must-read' books.

[jayne lee wilson]

'Fraid not - haven't got Sky, or Disney+, or Netflix, or Britbox, and probably wouldn't have time to watch any of them if I did - busy pensioner! Ideal gardening weather, I'm pleased to say. Also managing to make modest inroads into my ever-growing collection of 'must-read' books.

Thank you so much for taking time to offer this considered and insightful response, which gave me pause for several thoughts.........