I'm a sucker for old Russian-language movies and TV serials set in the West or adapted from Western authors, and thought I had just about found all of them when I came across this movie. It's an adaptation of "Puppet on a Chain" by Alistair MacLean, which was previously adapted for cinema in 1970. There is an abundance of information on the web, but no screenshots or footage - neither clips nor the full movie - aside from a poster. No one has uploaded this film to odnoklassniki (usually you can find just about any former Soviet film there) or any other Russian social media sites.
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Come on and slam, and welcome to the jam!
A few months ago, one of the admin team had a dream that we picked 'Basketball' as the theme for Film Club. We all laughed a lot, but soon came to realise that the humble Basketball motion picture is an often overlooked cornerstone of cinema that needs highlighting. Alas, here we are! Ron Shelton's 1992 classic White Men Can't Jump. Be sure to check the JustWatch page to find out where this film is streaming in your country! A big thanks to our good friend and mod superstar cdbavg400 for suggesting this movie in our last thread.
Once you've finished watching this edition's selection, you can head to the Film Club channel in our Discord Server to join in with the discussion, or leave your thoughts on the film to discuss in the comments below. Also, don't forget to tag your diary entries with 'lbfilmclub' so if you decide to review the film, it's up for spotlight selection in the next Film Club post! Here are our review spotlights from the last instalment - Tetsuo: The Iron Man.
To coincide with Transgender Awareness Week (November 13th to November 19th), and J L's Trans Film Week 2021 Challenge, this Film Club's theme is Trans Cinema! We're looking for suggestions for Trans movies by Trans filmmakers!
Reminder: You can follow our r/Letterboxd profile on Letterboxd to follow all of our community events across the subreddit and Discord server.
Candyman (1992) is just amazing. It's poetic, raw, cultured, world opening, romantic, bloody, I could go on. Everytime I watch it I love it more. I enjoy hearing about random facts like these and things about the film on the net or documentaries. The attention to detail is quintessential. For example everything echoes in the parking garage scene but when Candyman walks there is no noise. Adding ghostly vibes without most even noticing. 18 years ago this movie wasn't in my top 10, but after watching it 2 more times since then and watching the deleted scene that was too gory for the film at the time of release (they wanted to keep it rated R not NC-17) it's now quite possibly my favourite horror film.
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PW = 123
My Rating: 1/5 stars
Plot
Christopher Columbus plans a different way from Europe to the Far East to avoid Turkey and its exorbitant duties on goods. The Sultan of Turkey sends a spy to derail the expedition.
Verdict
After struggling through 30 minutes of England I swore I'd give this just as long. It was the longest half hour of my life. It's beyond dreadful and the "alternative" comedians remind me of what some old-style funny guy said: "They're great as an alternative to comedy."
Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas must have been hard up or someone must have had blackmail photos of them. How could they put their names to this crud?
Rik Mayall is woefully miscast. Sara Crowe makes for a great carry On girl and is the best in what I saw of the film. Bernard Cribbins also turns in good work, mainly because he is one the few that can actually act.
My Favourite Character
None
The Trivia Section aka What I Found on Wikipedia
Jim Dale is the only Carry On regular to appear
Kenneth Connor refused to appear, saying, "I want to be remembered as a Carry On star, not a Carry On bit-player"
The film is chock full of stars of "The Comic Srip Presents..." films
And The 'Not Aged Well' Award Goes To...
Nothing really
Best Carry-On Style Character Names
A business called "Cobblers to the Pope" - I know it's the oldest of jokes but I'll take what I can
Best Non-Carry-On Style Character Names
None
Relevant Extracts From The Kenneth Williams Diaries
He doesn't mention it
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