barrowa

A year ago, exploring northern France after attending a 2CV rally, my wife and I came across the charming town of Bergues. 'Bienvenu...' had just been released and the town was swarming with tourists and advertisements for the film. A few weeks later we caught the film in England, when it played at our local 'art' cinema. The film's a delight. We've just borrowed it on DVD and it again reduced us to tears of laughter; a warm, funny film about the destruction of pomposity and prejudice and the value of that most important of human relationships, friendship. Great slapstick moments and English subtitles that reflect the word play arising from the interplay between the slushy local dialect - Ch'ti - and French. See the film, then visit the town - both are delightful.

'The First of the Few' relates the story of the development of the Supermarine Spitfire by R.J.Mitchell, although as almost anyone who knows anything about the 'Battle of Britain' will tell you, around 70% of the Royal Air Force's front line fighters were Hawker Hurricanes. Slower, but a more stable and resilient gun platform than the Spitfire. In the Battle of Britain (fought in the summer of 1940) the Royal Air Force deployed the Hurricanes against bombers, while the more agile Spitfires engaged their fighter escorts. The Hurricane was designed by Sydney Camm (1893-1966) who designed many post-war jet aircraft including the Hawker Hunter - maybe someone should make a film of his life. An uncle of mine was an ace with 6 kills to his credit, flying a Hurricane from Malta. His aircraft was short down by British anti-aircraft fire on 29-12-1941. No, there's nothing new about friendly fire. William Walton's music also makes a great contribution to the film, and is now rightly (popular as the 'Spitfire Prelude and Fugue')in the concert hall.

I have just caught Lawrence Kasdan's 'Wyatt Earp' hidden away in a late night slot on a minority TV channel. I thought it a fine film; stately and powerful with a 'historic' feel to it, it seemed to be almost a documentary. Seeing the film has prompted me to explore some of the legends of the Wild West, legends which permeated my childhood growing up in a just post-war England. Far better than 'Tombstone', but I've yet to catch any of the earlier films based around the legendary gunfight at the OK Corral. Dennis Quaid was superb as 'Doc'Holliday - so good as to be almost unrecognisable. He must have lost a lot of weight to get the role, so what's the secret Dennis? He walks away with every scene he's in. Kevin Costner is too much of a blank canvas, though I enjoyed the recent 'Open Range'. A real late-night pleasure, much enjoyed with a fine bottle of Merlot.