Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976)

Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Director: Robert Altman

Writers: Robert Altman, Alan Rudolph, Arthur Kopit

Cinematographer: Paul Lohmann

Composer: Richard Baskin

Cast: Paul Newman, Joel Grey, Kevin McCarthy, Harvey Keitel, Allan Nicholls, Geraldine Chaplin, John Considine, Frank Kaquitts, Will Sampson, Pat McCormick, Shelley Duvall, Burt Lancaster

Altman's western takes an irreverently entertaining look at the running of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, exploring such timeless themes and institutions as show business, self-marketing, history, legend, ego, racism, and societal norms and conventions. Iain.Stott

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Moonlight (2007-2008)

USA

Television Series
Creators: Ron Koslow, Trevor Munson
Cast: Alex O'Loughlin, Sophia Myles, Jason Dohring, Shannyn Sossamon, Jordan Belfi, Jacob Vargas, Brian J. White, David Blue

Koslow and Munson’s sadly short-lived vampire detective series, superficially similar to other such shows, was a morally interesting blend of thrills, drama, romance, and comedy, and was never less than entertaining if slightly (by the end) formulaic. Iain.Stott

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The Talented Mr Ripley (2009)

UK
Radio Play
Series Titles: The Saturday Play / The Complete Ripley
Writers: Stephen Wyatt, Patricia Highsmith
Director: Claire Grove
Cast: Ian Hart, Stephen Hogan, Barbara Barnes, Malcolm Tierney, Janice Acquah, Stephen Critchlow, Matt Addis

A lean adaptation of Highsmith’s popular crime novel in which Hart’s eponymous antihero infiltrates and takes the life of (in both senses of the phrase) a rich young American, living in Italy. Iain.Stott

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The Lady Vanishes (1938)

Highly Recommended

UK
Feature Film
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writers: Sidney Gilliat, Frank Launder, Ethel Lina White
Cinematographer: Jack Cox
Composer: Louis Levy
Cast: Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas, Dame May Whitty, Cecil Parker, Linden Travers, Naunton Wayne, Basil Radford

Hitchcock’s wonderful trans-European, train-set comic thriller – a tale of spies, missing old ladies, Will Hay impressions, and cricket obsessed, tea taking Englishmen – is a ramblingly inconsequential (yet absolutely riveting) delight, mixing laughs and thrills with charm and romance. Iain.Stott

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I Was a Male War Bride (1949)

Recommended

USA
Feature Film
Director: Howard Hawks
Writers: Charles Lederer, Leonard Spigelgass, Hagar Wilde, Henri Rochard
Cinematographers: O. Borrodaile, Norbert Brodine
Composer: Cyril Mockridge
Cast: Cary Grant, Ann Sheridan, Marion Marshall, Randy Stuart, William Neff

A leisurely paced farce from Hawks, based on a true story, chronicling Grant’s recently demobbed French Army officer’s attempts to spend time with his lovely new bride, a US Army officer, battling earnestly (and losingly) against bureaucracy and red-tape. Iain.Stott

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Monkey Business (1952)

Recommended

USA

Feature Film
Director: Howard Hawks
Writers: I.A.L. Diamond, Ben Hecht, Charles Lederer, Harry Segall
Cinematographer: Milton Krasner
Composer: Leigh Harline
Cast: Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, Charles Coburn, Marilyn Monroe, Hugh Marlowe

Hawks’s agreeably silly farce, depicting Grant’s research scientist’s attempts to find a formula for youthful regeneration, mixing slapstick, social satire, and delightful juvenility, is a mildly-guiltily pleasurable and often very fun film. Iain.Stott

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Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (2006)

Cautiously Recommended

France/Iceland
Feature Documentary
Original Title: Zidane, un portrait du 21e siècle
Directors: Douglas Gordon, Philippe Parreno
Cinematographer: Darius Khondji
Composers: Mogwai
Featuring: Zinédine Zidane

The melancholically beautiful images of a stony-faced Zidane, trotting around the pitch, devoid of the context of the game that they belong to, suggest that this film, a documentary following the titular footballer through the course of one game for Real Madrid in 2005, is less about football than it is about the futility of human experience, and on that level it is a depressingly successful if not entirely engaging work. Iain.Stott

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