BARNACLE BILL Aka ALL AT SEA (Dir: Charles Frend, 1957).

BARNACLE BILL aka ALL AT SEA (Dir: Charles Frend, 1957).

The last true Ealing comedy; 1958’s Davy, often regarded as the last, is a comedy/drama quite different in tone. Barnacle Bill, retitled All at Sea for US audiences, adheres to the ‘little guy against the system’ aesthetics of the classic Ealing comedy, although less subversively and with a little less bite than earlier films.

The marvellous Alec Guinness is on good form as Captain William Horacio Ambrose, the last in a succession of seafarers. Afflicted with seasickness, Capt Ambrose purchases a dilapidated seaside pier which he runs as a stationary luxury liner to the chagrin of the town council who wish to bulldoze the site to make way for a marina. A scene in which Guinness portrays his ancestors recalls Kind Hearts and Coronets (Robert Hamer, 1949) where he plays all 8 members of the D’Ascoyne family.

To be honest, Barnacle Bill is not as good as earlier Ealing comedies, despite its screenplay by TEB Clarke, scenarist of previous winners Passport to Pimlico (Henry Cornelius, 1949) and The Lavender Hill Mob (Charles Crichton, 1951). Perhaps director Charles Frend, an Ealing stalwart notable for Scott of the Antarctic (1948) and The Cruel Sea (1953) was better suited to drama than comedy. That said, it is not at all bad and as an example of a brand of comedy that cinema no longer produces it should be considered a minor treasure.

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RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (Dir: Peter Ramsey, 2012).

What would get if you crossed Marvel’s Avengers with a 1970s Rankin/Bass holiday special? Probably something not too dissimilar to DreamWorks Animation’s Rise of the Guardians as Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Toothfairy, the Sandman and new recruit Jack Frost assemble Avengers-style to defeat evil Pitch Black, aka The Boogeyman, as he attempts to take over the world by filling children’s heads with nightmares and suppressing their belief in the ‘Guardians’, threatening the imminent Easter celebrations to boot.

Director Peter Ramsey’s movie is action adventure on an epic scale rarely seen in animation. The glib humour and pop culture references that often mired DreamWorks’ early features is thankfully absent here. Certainly there is humour, yet there is also pathos, as when Jack learns of his forgotten past and why he was chosen as a Guardian.

With genuinely exciting action set pieces and excellent voice work from a star studded line up including Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Hugh Jackman, Isla Fisher and Jude Law, it is difficult to see how Rise of the Guardians could fail at the box office. But fail it did. Much to the detriment of cinema audiences who possibly found the Christmas/Easter mash-up aspect unappealing. Perhaps its winter release date was also misjudged, although it is certainly the most Christmassy of Easter movies.

While perhaps not quite in the same league as their ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ and ‘Kung Fu Panda’ franchises, Rise of the Guardians is still one of DreamWorks’s best movies to date. Its visuals are often breathtaking and its nod to vintage Rankin/Bass shows, where Santa is as likely to crop up in an Easter or a Groundhog Day special as he is a Christmas one, gives it a nice nostalgic feel befitting of a movie which deals with childhood and tradition. While this movie was designed as a franchise opener, Rise of the Guardians was destined to remain a one off. As a stand-alone feature film it is an often exciting, warm-hearted treat and is highly recommend viewing at Easter, Christmas or any other time of year.

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DUMBO (Dir: Ben Sharpsteen, 1941).

Walt Disney’s 4th animated feature is the story of the circus elephant born with oversized ears who uses his disadvantage to his advantage when he discovers his ears enable him to fly.

At 64 minutes it is one of the shortest Disney movies but is a masterclass in storytelling. Not a second of screen time is wasted; in fact its tight narrative and snappy pace make it an advocate for shorter movies!

It is also the most emotionally moving Disney feature. Many a tear has formed in audiences eyes as Dumbo is separated from his mother and ostracised by the other elephants. It is a credit to writers Joe Grant and Dick Huemer that the emotion never descends into false sentiment and there is also much humour to offset the heartache.

The animation too is exemplary, as one incredible animation set piece follows another. Highlights include the shadowy roustabout sequence, the tragicomic disastrous pachyderm pyramid, Dumbo’s inaugural flight and best of all the surrealist Pink Elephants On Parade. The character animation, opting for a more ‘cartoony’ look than in previous features, is also among the studios best as are the beautiful watercolour backgrounds against which the action takes place.

Add to this a fantastic score by Frank Churchill and Oliver Wallace, including the tender Baby Mine and the clever wordplay of When I See An Elephant Fly, and a powerful message of acceptance and the result is one of the greatest movies, animated or otherwise, of all time. In my opinion only rivalled for greatness by Walt Disney’s Pinocchio (B Sharpsteen & Hamilton Luske, 1940). Dumbo is unarguably a masterpiece and a work of art.

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Dumbo (1941)

Dumbo    (Dir: Ben Sharpsteen, 1941).  Walt Disney’s 4th animated feature is the story of the circus elephant born with oversized e

Movie number 48: The House of the Spaniard (Reginald Denham, 1936).

Based upon Arthur Behrend’s novel The House of the Spaniard is a hopelessly dated comedy thriller set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War. Peter Haddon hams it up as hapless David Grey, accidental witness to some dodgy goings on on Liverpool marshland who then gets mixed up in some nonsense about Spanish revolutionists. The confusing plot is peppered with coincidences and contrivances and for much of the movie I was in the dark as to what was happening as the narrative jumped from one incredulous event to another.

The Marlene Dietrich-esq Brigette Horney is appealing as Margarita, Mr Grey’s love interest and the daughter of his employer and eventual kidnapper Pedro de Guzman (Allen Jeayes) and the movie is not wholly unentertaining; some enjoyment is to be found its frankly ludicrous situations and eventual denouncement. But to be honest the film has little else going for it.

Told in a jolly, lighthearted manner unbefitting of it somber real-life backdrop of civil unrest, The House of the Spaniard is a largely missable b-movie that leaves a slightly bad taste. Those with an interest in pre-war British cinema, or with a peculiar fetish for bad movies, may find it worth a watch.

SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE (Dir: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey & Rodney Rothman, 2018).

Produced in a distinct style utilising 2D and 3D animation techniques, Sony Animation’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is the most visually spectacular feature film in recent memory. Unconnected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe or, indeed, any of Sony’s many incarnations of the Spider-Man universe; it has its roots in Marvel’s Ultimate Marvel Comics, a series set in an alternate universe to the regular comic lines.

The set-up - high school student is bitten by radioactive spider, struggles with newfound powers before using them to fight evil - is a familiar one, but here the bitten is not the expected Peter Parker but new kid at school misfit Miles Morales. Parker does appear, as a mentor to Miles. But this is an older Parker; a sweatpants wearing, out of shape, midlife crisis Parker from an alternate universe. They and a bunch of other alternate universe Spideys team up to fight his (their?) old adversary Kingpin.

This sounds complicated but Rodney Rothman and Phil Lord’s screenplay is brought to life with surprising clarity. The movie is never difficult to understand and doesn’t get bogged down by its complex multiverse concept. In fact its story is unexpectedly moving, dealing with Miles’ difficult family relationships and his seeming inability to find acceptance in new social surroundings.

The voice work is also exemplary. Shameik Moore is a suitably hip, streetwise yet vulnerable Miles and Jake Johnson brings a worldweary charm to the middle-age Parker.

In a cinematic landscape littered with superhero movies, here is one that really stands out from the crowd. With its humorous, thoughtful storytelling, action set pieces that are genuinely exciting and beautiful graphics Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is one the most satisfying comic book adaptations to grace the big screen.

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WINNIE THE POOH (Stephen J Anderson & Don Hall, 2011).

Disney’s 5th cinematic feature-length venture into the Hundred Acre Wood acts as a direct sequel to the compilation feature The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (Wolfgang Reitherman & John Lounsbery, 1977). Roughly separated into three sequences, the bulk of the movie concerns the search for the mythical Backson, a fearful creature to rival Heffalumps and Woozles, who Pooh and pals mistakenly believe has kidnapped Christopher Robin after misreading the phrase ‘back soon’ on a note from Christopher to Pooh.

Thematically Winnie the Pooh covers much of the same ground as the straight-to-video sequel Pooh’s Grand Adventure (Karl Geurs, 1997). However, where that movie was dark and at times somewhat depressing, this one is an inventive, humorous and warm-hearted delight.

Animated in handcrafted 2D, the movie is visually pleasing throwback to the original Pooh featurettes (the 3 shorts comprise ‘The Many Adventures... movie). It is more faithful to Milne and to Walt Disney’s original vision of Pooh than any of the intervening features or TV adaptations.

While Sterling Holloway will never quite be replaced as the voice of Pooh, nor Paul Winchell as Tigger, Jim Cummings does a decent job of imitating both. Likewise, John Cleese is a welcome choice of narrator, although perhaps not quite possessing the warm yet authoritative tone of Sebastian Cabot. However, to criticise a fine vocal cast for not replacing the childhood memory of now deceased actors in one’s mind would be churlish; younger audience members will neither notice nor care.

The subtle ‘hums’ of Richard and Robert Sherman are missed, although Frozen songsmiths Kristen Anderson Lopez and Robert Lopez’s more elaborate musical numbers are a satisfactory substitute.

At little under an hour before the end credits roll, the movie could stand being a mite longer. As it is, Winnie the Pooh is still a winning tribute to the Pooh movies of the past. A short and sweet old-school treat that should appeal to original Pooh fans as well as newcomers.

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