Some Doctor Who characters are intended for greatness; some are intended to be killed off at the end of their first episode. Writers have a lot more control over the second than the first. What remains true for all characters, is the tension that exists between their function in the story and their potential to affect it. Even a guard who simply runs into a room to get shot could have dragged the story in another direction, should they be allowed (this stock background character was the inspiration for Terry Pratchett’s City Watch novels).
Successful one-off characters aren’t necessarily those who break away from their function,, but those who make a story soar to another level entirely. More often, what makes them work is when their function in the story is disguised. There are plenty of ways to do this and most of them intersect: casting, costume, dialogue,...
Successful one-off characters aren’t necessarily those who break away from their function,, but those who make a story soar to another level entirely. More often, what makes them work is when their function in the story is disguised. There are plenty of ways to do this and most of them intersect: casting, costume, dialogue,...
- 2/25/2021
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
The prospect of being alternately by not only their families, but also society, for the rest of their lives is a powerful motivator for many senior citizens to rebel against the staff of their retirement homes. That’s certainly the case for the two protagonists, retired photojournalist, Diana Trent, and former accountant, Tom Ballard, who are […]
The post Stephanie Cole is Hired to Cheer Up Graham Crowden on Waiting for God appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Stephanie Cole is Hired to Cheer Up Graham Crowden on Waiting for God appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 9/8/2020
- by Karen Benardello
- ShockYa
Lindsay Anderson’s third ‘Mick Travis’ movie is a crazy comedy eager to overstep lines of cinematic decorum. Britain in 1982 is a country at war with itself, torn by elitist snobbery and working-class revolt. Union grievances cripple the functioning of a major public hospital, on a day when the Queen is set to visit. A huge comic cast grapples with satire that reaches beyond cynicism to express total dysfunction. And the comedy has a wicked sting in its tail: Graham Crowden’s mad-as-a-hatter scientist has diverted National Health funds into grisly experiments with human body parts. The ‘visionary’ maniac spills more blood than Peter Cushing and Sam Peckinpah, put together.
Britannia Hospital
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1982 / Color / 1:85 widescreen/ 117 (111) min. / Street Date June 29, 2020 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99
Starring: Leonard Rossiter, Vivian Pickles, Graham Crowden, Jill Bennett,
Marsha A. Hunt, Joan Plowright, Malcolm McDowell, Mark Hamill.
Cinematography: Mike Fash...
Britannia Hospital
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1982 / Color / 1:85 widescreen/ 117 (111) min. / Street Date June 29, 2020 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99
Starring: Leonard Rossiter, Vivian Pickles, Graham Crowden, Jill Bennett,
Marsha A. Hunt, Joan Plowright, Malcolm McDowell, Mark Hamill.
Cinematography: Mike Fash...
- 7/7/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Patricia Neal ca. 1950. Patricia Neal movies: 'The Day the Earth Stood Still,' 'A Face in the Crowd' Back in 1949, few would have predicted that Gary Cooper's leading lady in King Vidor's The Fountainhead would go on to win a Best Actress Academy Award 15 years later. Patricia Neal was one of those performers – e.g., Jean Arthur, Anne Bancroft – whose film career didn't start out all that well, but who, by way of Broadway, managed to both revive and magnify their Hollywood stardom. As part of its “Summer Under the Stars” series, Turner Classic Movies is dedicating Sunday, Aug. 16, '15, to Patricia Neal. This evening, TCM is showing three of her best-known films, in addition to one TCM premiere and an unusual latter-day entry. 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' Robert Wise was hardly a genre director. A former editor (Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons...
- 8/16/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
John Boorman's career is littered with misfires, maybe the price we pay for the huge artistic risks he takes. In between the early triumphs of Point Blank (1967) and Hell in the Pacific (1968) and his masterwork Deliverance (1972) lies Leo the Last, which gets very little love and not even the kind of scornful attention accorded to catastrophes like Zardoz (1974) and Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977).
Maybe this is because bad drama has kitsch value, whereas bad comedy nobody can stand, and Leo the Last appears, at times, to be attempting humor, a surprising choice for Boorman whose very humorlessness can seem a strength in his successful films and a weakness in his failures. There's something heroic about the fact that it apparently never occurred to Boorman that a man having sex wearing full plate armor (Excalibur), Sean Connery in thigh boots, bandoliers and nappy (Zardoz) and Linda Blair doing a musical...
Maybe this is because bad drama has kitsch value, whereas bad comedy nobody can stand, and Leo the Last appears, at times, to be attempting humor, a surprising choice for Boorman whose very humorlessness can seem a strength in his successful films and a weakness in his failures. There's something heroic about the fact that it apparently never occurred to Boorman that a man having sex wearing full plate armor (Excalibur), Sean Connery in thigh boots, bandoliers and nappy (Zardoz) and Linda Blair doing a musical...
- 11/20/2014
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
There's a pernicious misapprehension afoot that the Brits are the polite ones while Yanks are inclined to brusqueness or brashness, but a comparison of the varied reactions to the deaths of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher would seem to give the lie to this. While "The Great Communicator" was hailed for ending the Cold War (something surely Mr. Gorbachev deserves some credit for), with little mention of his disastrous economic policies and illegal covert wars, Thatcher has received her due as a "divisive" figure, even on the BBC. And, as I write this, there is a genuine chance that "Ding Dong, The Witch is Dead," will reach number one in the UK charts.
Nor were the British uniformly polite about her when she was alive. The Tories gave no encouragement to the art of cinema, or most of the other arts. Invited to talk about her favorite works of art on television,...
Nor were the British uniformly polite about her when she was alive. The Tories gave no encouragement to the art of cinema, or most of the other arts. Invited to talk about her favorite works of art on television,...
- 4/18/2013
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
Philip Madoc in A Mind to Kill. Acorn Media DVD
Kieran Kinsella
The late Philip Madoc was a fantastically talented actor who specialized in playing dark and brooding characters. A familiar face on British TV, Madoc appeared in everything from Doctor Who to Dad’s Army but he saved his best performances for the crime drama A Mind to Kill. Two versions of the series were made with one being in English and the other in Madoc’s native Welsh tongue.
Madoc’s character was Detective Chief Inspector Noel Bain – an old-school detective who unhappily faces up to the fact that the world is a darker and scarier place than it was when he first walked his beat. Much to his chagrin, his daughter Hannah, (Ffion Wilkins) eventually decides to follow in his footsteps and become a police officer. The duo have a difficult relationship away from the office and...
Kieran Kinsella
The late Philip Madoc was a fantastically talented actor who specialized in playing dark and brooding characters. A familiar face on British TV, Madoc appeared in everything from Doctor Who to Dad’s Army but he saved his best performances for the crime drama A Mind to Kill. Two versions of the series were made with one being in English and the other in Madoc’s native Welsh tongue.
Madoc’s character was Detective Chief Inspector Noel Bain – an old-school detective who unhappily faces up to the fact that the world is a darker and scarier place than it was when he first walked his beat. Much to his chagrin, his daughter Hannah, (Ffion Wilkins) eventually decides to follow in his footsteps and become a police officer. The duo have a difficult relationship away from the office and...
- 3/17/2013
- by Edited by K Kinsella
Imposing stage and screen actor whose work ranged from Shakespeare to The Bill
The character actor Bernard Horsfall, who has died aged 82, appeared in television, films and on the stage for more than half a century. Tall, imposing and authoritative, he appeared in many of the major television series from Z Cars and Dr Finlay's Casebook to Casualty and The Bill, and in Doctor Who took no fewer than four roles.
In 1968 he played Lemuel Gulliver in The Mind Robber, where he was encountered by Patrick Troughton, the second Doctor, in the Land of Fiction. The following year he returned as a Time Lord in The War Games. In 1973, with Jon Pertwee now donning the time-traveller's cape, he played the Thai chieftain, Taron, in the six-part Planet of the Daleks. And finally, he was another Time Lord, Chancellor Goth, in the 1976 story The Deadly Assassin, famously battling with Tom Baker...
The character actor Bernard Horsfall, who has died aged 82, appeared in television, films and on the stage for more than half a century. Tall, imposing and authoritative, he appeared in many of the major television series from Z Cars and Dr Finlay's Casebook to Casualty and The Bill, and in Doctor Who took no fewer than four roles.
In 1968 he played Lemuel Gulliver in The Mind Robber, where he was encountered by Patrick Troughton, the second Doctor, in the Land of Fiction. The following year he returned as a Time Lord in The War Games. In 1973, with Jon Pertwee now donning the time-traveller's cape, he played the Thai chieftain, Taron, in the six-part Planet of the Daleks. And finally, he was another Time Lord, Chancellor Goth, in the 1976 story The Deadly Assassin, famously battling with Tom Baker...
- 1/31/2013
- by Michael Coveney
- The Guardian - Film News
Poirot
Kieran Kinsella
Acorn Media have released numerous Agatha Christie tales on DVD but this month they are upping the ante by releasing a box set that is like manna from Heaven for fans of Britain’s favorite mystery writer. Their six disc, 16 hour long, January 29 release contains some of the best loved stories involving both Marple and Poirot. Two super sleuths squeezed into one novel sized box.
The six Poirot tales include my personal favorite – The ABC Murders, and Christie’s best loved tale – Murder on the Orient Express. I had never seen Four and Twenty Blackbirds or The Mysterious Affair at Styles before but both were very good. The former revolved around the double murder of two elderly brothers while the latter involved the murder of an early 20th century “cougar” who may or may not have been “done in” by her toy boy. Hercule Poirot’s Christmas...
Kieran Kinsella
Acorn Media have released numerous Agatha Christie tales on DVD but this month they are upping the ante by releasing a box set that is like manna from Heaven for fans of Britain’s favorite mystery writer. Their six disc, 16 hour long, January 29 release contains some of the best loved stories involving both Marple and Poirot. Two super sleuths squeezed into one novel sized box.
The six Poirot tales include my personal favorite – The ABC Murders, and Christie’s best loved tale – Murder on the Orient Express. I had never seen Four and Twenty Blackbirds or The Mysterious Affair at Styles before but both were very good. The former revolved around the double murder of two elderly brothers while the latter involved the murder of an early 20th century “cougar” who may or may not have been “done in” by her toy boy. Hercule Poirot’s Christmas...
- 1/29/2013
- by Edited by K Kinsella
Well, at last here we are with a full-on top 10 list! Whereas with the First and Second Doctor we didn’t have enough existing material for ten stories, and whereas with the Pertwee Doctor there just weren’t enough stories made, with his Doctor we can do it properly!
Tom Baker is, without a doubt, the most popular and well-known Doctor of the classic Who era, and rightly so. With his bizarre (but epic!), scarf, his penchant for Jelly Babies, his odd sense of humor and charisma, he really is a fascinating screen presence. Better yet, some of the best stories of the classic era were written during his time as the Doctor.
Though he’s been eclipsed these days by Tennant, Baker remains wildly popular with fans, especially here in the USA where his episodes were those most frequently shown. So let’s go through and see which of...
Tom Baker is, without a doubt, the most popular and well-known Doctor of the classic Who era, and rightly so. With his bizarre (but epic!), scarf, his penchant for Jelly Babies, his odd sense of humor and charisma, he really is a fascinating screen presence. Better yet, some of the best stories of the classic era were written during his time as the Doctor.
Though he’s been eclipsed these days by Tennant, Baker remains wildly popular with fans, especially here in the USA where his episodes were those most frequently shown. So let’s go through and see which of...
- 8/21/2012
- by Chris Swanson
- Obsessed with Film
Terry Gilliam turned his surreal talents to directing in his debut solo feature, Jabberwocky. Andrew takes a look back at a flawed yet entertaining black comedy…
Firstly, before you read further, I just want to mention this: if you have any plans of seeing Jabberwocky but have not seen it before, then stop reading this immediately. I know it goes without saying that these articles contain spoilers, but this film is one where there's a significant chance of you not having seen it before. It's not Spider-Man 3, which a great many people have seen it (whether they like it or not).
Jabberwocky is a film which is all the more impressive if you go into it without being spoilered, and it may lose its inability to surprise if you read the rest of this article. However, if you want a cross between Monty Python And The Holy Grail and Brazil,...
Firstly, before you read further, I just want to mention this: if you have any plans of seeing Jabberwocky but have not seen it before, then stop reading this immediately. I know it goes without saying that these articles contain spoilers, but this film is one where there's a significant chance of you not having seen it before. It's not Spider-Man 3, which a great many people have seen it (whether they like it or not).
Jabberwocky is a film which is all the more impressive if you go into it without being spoilered, and it may lose its inability to surprise if you read the rest of this article. However, if you want a cross between Monty Python And The Holy Grail and Brazil,...
- 11/17/2011
- Den of Geek
If.... Directed by: Lindsay Anderson Written by: David Sherwin Starring: Malcolm McDowell, David Wood, Richard Warwick, Robert Swann Lindsay Anderson's 1968 film If…. sets a counterculture revolution within the walls of an English public school, creating an allegorical fantasy which reflects the volatile atmosphere of the time. Featuring a pre-Clockwork Orange Malcolm McDowell, comparisons to Kubrick's masterpiece aren't totally misguided. Both films are populated with rebellious youths and flashes of ultra-violence, but Anderson's approach is a less austere look at aggression as a means of change rather than simply a way to curb boredom. The film begins with the start of the school year at an English school for boys. While the youngest kids (do they call them freshman in England?) attempt to navigate the halls of the school and acclimatize to the demands of their surroundings, Mick Travis (McDowell) returns for another year, lugging a giant suitcase and sporting...
- 8/31/2011
- by Jay C.
- FilmJunk
Your Weekly Source for the Newest Releases to Blu-Ray Tuesday, August 30th, 2011
The 5th Quarter: Special Edition (2010)
Synopsis: In February, 2006, young Luke Abbate accepted a ride home from a fellow student following his high-school team practice. In a severe case of irresponsible and reckless teen-age driving, and over the objections of Luke and the other young passengers, the driver lost control of the car at nearly 90 miles-per-hour, spinning off a narrow road and landing in an embankment some seventy feet below. Luke suffered irreparable brain damage, and died in the hospital two days later – just four days before his sixteenth birthday. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features: Making-of Featurette.
Bereavement (2010)
Synopsis: The horrific account of 6 year old Martin Bristol, abducted from his backyard swing and forced to witness the brutal crimes of a deranged madman. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features:
Commentary track with director/writer Stevan Mena Behind the scenes featurette Deleted...
The 5th Quarter: Special Edition (2010)
Synopsis: In February, 2006, young Luke Abbate accepted a ride home from a fellow student following his high-school team practice. In a severe case of irresponsible and reckless teen-age driving, and over the objections of Luke and the other young passengers, the driver lost control of the car at nearly 90 miles-per-hour, spinning off a narrow road and landing in an embankment some seventy feet below. Luke suffered irreparable brain damage, and died in the hospital two days later – just four days before his sixteenth birthday. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features: Making-of Featurette.
Bereavement (2010)
Synopsis: The horrific account of 6 year old Martin Bristol, abducted from his backyard swing and forced to witness the brutal crimes of a deranged madman. (highdefdigest.com)
Special Features:
Commentary track with director/writer Stevan Mena Behind the scenes featurette Deleted...
- 8/29/2011
- by Travis Keune
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Malcolm McDowell has been pretty busy lately, and we’re not talking about his recent work in such TV projects as Entourage, Heroes, CSI and The Mentalist, but rather all the promotion he’s been doing for the upcoming Warner Home Video releases of Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange on Blu-ray and the DVD and for Never Apologize, a film of his one-man stage show that pays tribute to his mentor, filmmaker/stage director Lindsay Anderson.
Malcolm McDowell is Mick Travis in Lindsay Anderson's 1969 If...
And speaking of Lindsay Anderson (we call that a segue, in the business), the Criterion Collection will release a Blu-ray version of Lindsay Anderson’s memorable youth-in-revolt drama movie If…, starring Malcolm McDowell as the inimitable Mick Travis, on Aug. 30.
In the film, Mick, with the help of his school buds, challenges authority at every turn and ultimately emerges as a violent savior...
Malcolm McDowell is Mick Travis in Lindsay Anderson's 1969 If...
And speaking of Lindsay Anderson (we call that a segue, in the business), the Criterion Collection will release a Blu-ray version of Lindsay Anderson’s memorable youth-in-revolt drama movie If…, starring Malcolm McDowell as the inimitable Mick Travis, on Aug. 30.
In the film, Mick, with the help of his school buds, challenges authority at every turn and ultimately emerges as a violent savior...
- 5/24/2011
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
It’s so strange, writing this so long after the announcement yesterday. In today’s internet world of instant information, and twenty four second news cycles, yesterday’s August 2011 Criterion Collection new releases may as well have happened last week, or last month. I’m sure that the page views for this post will be markedly smaller than the usual, as I have tried consistently to have the new release post up within minutes of the pages going live on Criterion’s website. I know this all sounds like inside baseball stuff, but it’s on my mind, and darn it, this is my website.
I had a whole, several paragraph long, write up of the August titles, but since I’m finding myself writing this at 10pm on Tuesday evening, I think it’s better if I just scrap that whole thing and start over. I was going on...
I had a whole, several paragraph long, write up of the August titles, but since I’m finding myself writing this at 10pm on Tuesday evening, I think it’s better if I just scrap that whole thing and start over. I was going on...
- 5/18/2011
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
Pantomimes: I hate 'em. Let me count the ways: The forced jollity. The cheesy music. The gaudy sets and costumes which could melt the eyeballs from a million miles away. And don't even get me started on the strained attempts at audience participation.
Plus there's the fact that panto season means Christmas, a time of year that depresses the hell out of me because of the empty bank account, the turkey, the freezing weather, the fact that summer seems like a dot on the horizon, the X Factor winner getting to number one, Cliff - or the fact that I am a great big Scrooge who makes the Grinch seem like Ronald McDonald.
So it's with trepidation that I approach The Horns Of Nimon, a Doctor Who story that can only be described as pantomime. Appropriately, it originally went out during the Christmas period of 1979, and as a result, it...
Plus there's the fact that panto season means Christmas, a time of year that depresses the hell out of me because of the empty bank account, the turkey, the freezing weather, the fact that summer seems like a dot on the horizon, the X Factor winner getting to number one, Cliff - or the fact that I am a great big Scrooge who makes the Grinch seem like Ronald McDonald.
So it's with trepidation that I approach The Horns Of Nimon, a Doctor Who story that can only be described as pantomime. Appropriately, it originally went out during the Christmas period of 1979, and as a result, it...
- 11/26/2010
- Shadowlocked
Graham Crowden, the distinguished British character actor of stage, screen and TV has died at age 87. Crowden toiled in many films for years before finding late career success in the 90s British sitcom Waiting For God. He had also once turned down the chance to play Doctor Who, succeeding John Pertwee in the role. Crowden's big screen appearances include If..., Oh Lucky Man, Out of Africa, Jabberwocky and the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only. Click here for more on his life and career...
- 10/25/2010
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Actor with great stage presence who found his metier in comic and satirical roles
There was something extra-terrestrial about the character actor Graham Crowden, who has died aged 87 – a mix of the ethereal eccentricity of Ralph Richardson and the Scottish lunacy and skewiff authoritarianism of Alastair Sim. He specialised in portraying doctors, lawyers or teachers in a satirical way.
Crowden was a tall, red-haired, serious and sometimes professionally diffident man – he turned down the opportunity of succeeding Jon Pertwee as the fourth Doctor Who, remarking that working with a lot of Daleks did not sound like much fun. He had a tremendous stage presence, always moving with an emphatic, loping gait.
Despite his eminence in plays at the Royal Court and the National Theatre, where he introduced roles in works by Nf Simpson and Tom Stoppard, and in films directed by Lindsay Anderson, he did not become widely familiar until...
There was something extra-terrestrial about the character actor Graham Crowden, who has died aged 87 – a mix of the ethereal eccentricity of Ralph Richardson and the Scottish lunacy and skewiff authoritarianism of Alastair Sim. He specialised in portraying doctors, lawyers or teachers in a satirical way.
Crowden was a tall, red-haired, serious and sometimes professionally diffident man – he turned down the opportunity of succeeding Jon Pertwee as the fourth Doctor Who, remarking that working with a lot of Daleks did not sound like much fun. He had a tremendous stage presence, always moving with an emphatic, loping gait.
Despite his eminence in plays at the Royal Court and the National Theatre, where he introduced roles in works by Nf Simpson and Tom Stoppard, and in films directed by Lindsay Anderson, he did not become widely familiar until...
- 10/22/2010
- by Michael Coveney
- The Guardian - Film News
Career of actor best known for TV roles in Waiting for God and A Very Peculiar Practice spanned more than 50 years
Actor Graham Crowden has died aged 87, his agent said today.
The Edinburgh-born actor was probably best known for his roles in the television shows Waiting For God and A Very Peculiar Practice.
His agent Sue Grantley said: "He was a wonderful, wonderful man and a brilliant actor and we will miss him terribly."
In a career spanning more than half a century, he appeared in films including the cult 1968 movie If … and the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only.
He turned down the role of the Doctor in Doctor Who after the departure of Jon Pertwee but later appeared in an episode of the longrunning science fiction series as a villain opposite Tom Baker.
He leaves a wife and several children including a daughter, Sarah, who followed him into acting
Television
guardian.
Actor Graham Crowden has died aged 87, his agent said today.
The Edinburgh-born actor was probably best known for his roles in the television shows Waiting For God and A Very Peculiar Practice.
His agent Sue Grantley said: "He was a wonderful, wonderful man and a brilliant actor and we will miss him terribly."
In a career spanning more than half a century, he appeared in films including the cult 1968 movie If … and the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only.
He turned down the role of the Doctor in Doctor Who after the departure of Jon Pertwee but later appeared in an episode of the longrunning science fiction series as a villain opposite Tom Baker.
He leaves a wife and several children including a daughter, Sarah, who followed him into acting
Television
guardian.
- 10/21/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
Doctor Who is more about entertainment than social realism and the show has relied on a procession of baddies to raise the hackles of the audience. Not always do we end up scuttling behind the sofa though, as on occasions certain over-the-top performances have provoked cringes and guffaws instead. In the wake of Elisabeth Sladen’s hamtastic turn as the Androvax-possessed Sarah Jane, we look at some other 'interesting' depictions of villainy in the Whoniverse over the years... Soldeed Graham Crowden’s performance in the 1979 story ‘The Horns Of Nimon’ is the purest piece of unadulterated ham in Who history. Theatrical is not the word. Stomping around the corridors of a spaceship with a wild-eyed glare and scowl, he delivered some shocking dialogue in the most overly enunciated pantomime-esque style possible. "You are all doomed. Dooooomed!!" (more)...
- 10/25/2009
- by By Ben Rawson-Jones
- Digital Spy
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