WATERLOO.
After reading over 20 Sharpe novels I had the sudden yearning to watch this. Thanks to finding it in the TV box sets section of cex(???) I got my chance.
Rod Steiger plays Napoleon and the film chronicles his escape from Elba, his re-taking of Paris and attempt to crush the European forces allied against him, led by Arthur Wellsley, aka The Duke of Wellington, played by Christopher Plummer.
Dino De Laurentiis produced this and it was directed by Sergey Bondarchuk. Its a 'mostly' accurate depiction, to scale with a cast of stars and thousands of extras, sweeping camera movements and a fantastic score. The only problem with the film is its 2 hours long, there is apparently a four hour version and this would probably serve the film better as a lot of stuff is left missing. One prime example is the Charge of the light brigade that seems to head straight to the French guns, seemingly missing out the part where they hit a French column, routed it and took two eagles. It's also difficult to recreate the rigid discipline and horrifying rate of musket fire from the British Red coats, who could manage around four shots in a minute. Also there is a lack of background detail regarding Wellington, with only brief mention of the fact that he was undefeated in battle against the french forces throughout the penisula campaign to liberate spain.
That said its a decent film, I would love to see it in its four hour entirety, hopefully if anyone deems the film worthy enough to release on blu-ray.
Assault.
A brutal rapist is targeting girls from a local school. Suzy Kendall plays an Art techer who managed to get a look at the nonce. The film plays like a British Giallo, the police are background detail at best, with Frank Finlay representing the detective, plenty of psuedo-psychological analysis and a witness who is not sure what they saw. Great slice of brit cinema, worth scouring your local CEX as its only £3.
 |