20th Century
Desert Journey, Part Two
In 1961 my uncle, John Alldridge spent some time on the set of Lawrence of Arabia and reported his experiences for the Birmingham Mail – Jerry F Jebel Tubeiq, in the desert I’ve done some [more…]
Movies
Arts
P’tang yang Kipperbang
This was one of the earliest films shown on Channel 4. It was broadcast on the channel’s 2nd evening on 3rd November 1982 as part of the “First Love” series – please bear with me! [more…]
Culture
A View From The Greenhouse (ish); The Rise of The Islamist “Talking Head”
Firstly Postaliers, allow me to apologise for not supplying the usual bi-weekly fix of ramblings and inanities on the 5th of December. Life got in the way a bit, but I’m back (for the foreseeable), [more…]
20th Century
Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
Two young men, in a souped-up old Chevy, travel across the USA, making what money they can by betting on the drag races they enter. Along the way they’re joined by a lost hippie girl, [more…]
Arts
Kundun (1998)
I do like a good biographical film, they often portray important and fascinating figures, set in exotic locations around the world, giving snap shots of the turning points in civilization. Showing what has been [more…]
Arts
Zatoichi (2003)
Hands up who wants to watch a tap dancing, comedy, Samurai flick? No? Well, you should do. Zatoichi is such a breath of fresh air in the action genre that I came away with a [more…]
Arts
The Truman Show (1998)
“All the worlds a stage, and all the men and women merely players”, so wrote Shakespeare, and never could these words be better applied than to The Truman Show. Released in 1998, the film is [more…]
Arts
The Birds (1963)
Not the most obvious choice to start with when delving into the Hitchcock canon, he did better films undoubtedly, but The Birds is just a great example of pure story telling. We are not weighed [more…]
Arts
F for Fake (1973)
What is art if not a forgery of the real world. A reflection of what we see in our lives, and then try to convey to others, a form of primeval communication. This is the [more…]