Monthly Archives: November 2011

Recent viewing, part 1

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Kenneth George Godwin

Since reading Chris Fujiwara’s book about Jacques Tourneur, The Cinema of Nightfall (Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore and London, 1998), I’ve been searching out films by the director, particularly ones unconnected with the genres he’s best known for, horror and … Continue reading →

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Ken Russell (1927-2011)

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Kenneth George Godwin

Although I no doubt had read about Ken Russell‘s film of D.H. Lawrence’s Women In Love (1969) when it was released, I didn’t see it until some years later. My first real memory of him is from late 1970 or … Continue reading →

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Disk error: No Blade of Grass (Warner Archive)

Posted on November 26, 2011 by Kenneth George Godwin

There are always risks involved when revisiting a movie that impressed you years ago, when you were a lot younger and no doubt more arrogant but less wise. But it’s hard to resist taking the chance. Last year I was … Continue reading →

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Stanley Kubrick part 1: Becoming Kubrick

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Kenneth George Godwin

My first encounter with Stanley Kubrick’s work came before I was ten years old. Sometime in the early ’60s, my parents took me to see Spartacus, probably at the Odeon in Chelmsford. For years afterwards, two things stuck with me: … Continue reading →

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Sci-Fi Savant by Glenn Erickson: book review

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Kenneth George Godwin

I’ve been reading, and appreciating, the DVD Savant on-line column for years. Apart from Glenn Erickson’s almost terrifyingly prolific output, it’s the scope of his work that impresses. He writes in an accessible, conversational style, and yet avoids the superficiality … Continue reading →

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DVD of the week: The Four Feathers (1939)

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Kenneth George Godwin

Time was – longer ago than I care to contemplate – I would have devoured a movie like Zoltan Korda’s The Four Feathers (1939) as nothing more than a thrilling adventure that appealed to a boy’s imagination. Watching it now … Continue reading →

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Zombie addendum

Posted on November 5, 2011 by Kenneth George Godwin

A few days after watching Zack Snyder’s dissatisfying remake of Dawn of the Dead (2004), a copy of Howard J. and Jon Ford’s The Dead (2010) arrived from England. This small film made by an English director in West Africa … Continue reading →

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Remaking and undoing horror

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Kenneth George Godwin

For some reason, I just watched Zack Snyder’s remake of Dawn of the Dead (2004). I’d seen it when it first came out and found it pointless, but since then have discovered an odd, inexplicable appeal in Snyder’s work. He’s … Continue reading →

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