Saturday, September 08, 2007

Channel 4 films this week

Last night I mourned the poor selection of films in the last week of the BBC's Summer of British Film. To some extent Channel 4 has come to the rescue.

Cottage to Let, a World War II espionage thriller, is great fun and has a wonderful cast: Alistair Sim, Leslie Banks, a very young George Cole and John bloody Mills again.

I have not seen The Guinea Pig, but it will undoubtedly tell us something about attitudes to class. Made in 1948, it tells the story of a 14-year-old working class lad sent to a public school. That 14-year-old was played by a 26-year-old Richard Attenborough, which may or may not look ridiculous.

But no film which also features Sheila Sim (who was already married to Attenborough when the film was made), Bernard Miles, Joan Hickson, Anthony Newley and Hay Petrie can be all bad. Can it?

Cottage to Let is on Tuesday 11 September at 1.45 p.m. The Guinea Pig is on Wednesday 12 September at 1.35 p.m.

No comments: