www.list.co.uk/film WAR/DRAMA LANDFALL (PG) 85min (Optimum) ●●●●●
This watchable 1949 adaptation of a novel by Nevil Shute casts handsome Michael Denison (Angels One Five) as a cheeky chappy who takes his wartime commission as a coastal command pilot very much more seriously than he does his ladies. Thus, when he sinks what he believes is an enemy U- Boat that later proves to be a British submarine, shame – not fame – is the spur that leads him to volunteer for a perilous follow-up mission. Meanwhile, plucky girlfriend Patricia Plunkett (Mona) attempts to prove her beloved’s innocence. Under the direction of veteran Ken Annakin (a former RAF pilot who fought in the Battle of Britain and later received an Oscar nomination for Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines), Landfall swings smoothly from chipper comedy to grim drama. The leads are likeable and the sterling support cast includes Maurice Denham, Laurence Harvey and Joss Ackland. Digitally remastered, without extras. (Miles Fielder)
ANIMATION FANTASTIC PLANET (LA PLANETE SAUVAGE) (PG) 72min (Eureka/Masters of Cinema) ●●●●●
Previously unavailable on DVD, René Laloux’s 1973 animated sci-fi fable is a startling rediscovery. Based on Stefan Wul’s 1957 novel Oms by the Dozen, Laloux’s extraordinary film is a kind of Swiftian counterpart to the surreal anarchy of Czech animator Jan
Svankmajer’s greatest work, and in some way certainly seems to prefigure the work of Hayao Miyazaki at Studio Ghibli (politically, culturally, technologically and experimentally). Detailing the plight of
Oms, human-like creatures kept as domesticated pets by an alien race of blue giants called Draags, the story takes place on the Draags’ planet Ygam, where we follow our film’s narrator, an Om called Terr, who manages to escape enslavement and begins to organise an Om revolt. Thought at the time to be an allegorical statement on the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia, Fantastic Planet features some really amazing work by legendary French illustrator and painter Roland Topor and Alain Goraguer’s breathtaking much sampled (by the hip hop community) score. Extras include Laloux shorts and 28-page booklet featuring a new essay. (Paul Dale)
WAR/DRAMA THE SILENT INVASION (U) 66min (Optimum) ●●●●●
This British drama made in 1962 and set in an occupied French village during the early years of World War Two feels like an episode of a television show – and well it might, given it was written by small screen legend Brian Clemens during his
eight-year run on The Avengers. Directed with a distinct lack of cinematic flare by Frenchman Max Varnel (who subsequently relocated to Australia to direct Skippy and Neighbours), it nevertheless benefits from an intriguing scenario in which good German Captain Von Strafen (Eric Flynn) and local beauty Maria (Petra Davies) become pawns in the conflict between the Nazi oppressors and the French resistance even as they fall in love. Certainly, the film suffers in comparison to, say, Henri-Georges Clouzot’s occupation masterpiece Le Corbeau, but it’s an interesting little film in its own right. Digitally remastered, no extras. (Miles Fielder) HORROR/COMEDY OTTO; OR, UP WITH DEAD PEOPLE (18) 94min (Peccadillo) ●●●●●
A new film from Bruce La Bruce – queer cinema’s very own Andreas Baader – is always something to celebrate and Otto, his first foray proper into the horror genre, doesn’t disappoint. Amnesiac zombie Otto (Jey Crisfar) hitches a ride to Berlin where he is discovered by underground filmmaker Medea (Katharina Klewinghaus), who begins to make a documentary about him. She is also trying to finish a political-porno- zombie movie that she has been working on for years, and convinces its star, Fritz Fritze (Marcel Schlutt) to allow the vulnerable Otto to stay in his guest bedroom. As he stays there, a few details of Otto’s memories start to return.
Amateurishly filmed and acted, awash with
DVD Reviews Film PLAYLIST 20
With the recent launch of Creative Scotland, the new body responsible for nurturing and promoting Scottish arts and culture, your latest Playlist column is taking a look at how Scottish arts have been represented in years gone by. If you’re an artist looking to the future, it’s well worth checking out the illustrious past. The British Pathe website has a selection of gem-like films dealing with items of
Scottish cultural pride. Check out Kilt making, in which a rampantly jingoistic narrator explains the origins of the ‘devils in petticoats’ (tinyurl.com/3adprp5) and cheerfully looks forward to some kind of Scottish-Prussian massacre. The secrets of Scots tweed-making are laid bare in the film Scottish Tweed, which visits the Perthshire village of Killin to look at bobbins and experience the thrilling ‘clickedly-clack’ of the loom (tinyurl.com/3aery4h). And what could be more Scottish than the humble clog? Not just the preserve
of the Dutch, Clogs (tinyurl.com/34wgvtp) profiles a small business in Stirlingshire as they turn trees into durable wooden shoes in a couple of astonishingly simple steps. And from the National Library of Scotland, From Glasgow Green to Bendigo is a priceless clip that shows a designer from Templeton’s Carpet Factory in Glasgow (where my granny used to work) as he quickly rustles up a modern pattern in the spirit of the great Robert Adam. The design itself isn’t that remarkable, but the elocution is top class throughout, making today’s newsreaders sound like Begbie from Trainspotting (tinyurl.com/38cdcaz). While the subject matter of these films may seem quaint, there’s no denying
their entertainment value, with a ten-minute Technicolour short called Edinburgh Festival (pictured) the pick of the bunch, offering up glimpses of the vibrant new talent showcased at the 17th Edinburgh Festival as Auld Reekie plays host to fresh new talent such as Sir Benjamin Britten, Larry Adler and the sadly forgotten Fringe Faces – a game troupe in racy latex bodysuits, false moustaches and push-up bras that have to be seen to be disbelieved. If anyone ever dares suggests we’re no hoaching wi’ culture up here, just send them this clip (tinyurl.com/37fzk49) to set them right. (Eddie Harrison) ■ www.britishpathe.com
austere cinematic and anarchic ideology allusion, satiric, funny and quite unlike any other zombie flick you will ever see, Otto is by turns hilarious and jaw- dropping. It deserves to find a cult audience, La Bruce would suck dry any other kind of audience. Minimal extras. (Paul Dale) DRAMA THE UNPOLISHED (15) 95min (Second Run) ●●●●●
Overdue DVD release of Pia Marais’ hot 2007
festival film, which never found a home, until now, on UK screens, large or small.
A sensitive and thought-provoking re- evaluation of the counter cultural dream,
Marais’ film follows Stevie (Ceci Schmitz- Chuh), a 14-year-old girl in small town Germany who must cope with her hippy parents’ unstable whims. Stevie’s journey away from her parent’s nihilism and unconventional home life makes for an engrossing trajectory, albeit one that gives way to a fairly conventional character study of youthful bewilderment. Nevertheless this quietly fascinating film is definitely worth checking out. Minimal extras. (Paul Dale) 8–22 Jul 2010 THE LIST 53