DVD/150: OUT (Jim Goddard, 1978, tv)

Eight years ago, Frank Ross' gang were arrested breaking into a bank.  Now Frank is out...

Hugely successful when first broadcast, this Thames TV series now is a time capsule of late 70s South London; Jim Goddard captures the desperation and danger in dark streets and smokey pubs.

OUT provided a magnificent showcase for the late Tom Bell, the great 'outsider' of 60s British actors.  His Frank Ross has a terse, coiled tension as he seeks revenge on whoever stole him from his now insane wife and tearaway son.  He is simply stunning.

Trevor Preston's flinty non-PC revenge drama is Euston Films at it's most hard-edged and pure London.

...and what a cast!  Brian Croucher, Norman Rodway, Lynn Farleigh, Oscar James, Maurice O'Connell, Brian Hall, Peter Childs, John Junkin, Andrew Paul, Peter Blake, Bryan Marshall, Brian Cox, Norman Eshley, Lynda La Plante and Derrick O'Connor deliver memorable performances. 

Shelf or charity shop?  Frank Ross is out... and living on my shelf...

Dvd/150: BUSTER KEATON: A HARD ACT TO FOLLOW (David Gill / Kevin Brownlow, 1987, tv)

In 1987 Thames TV showed this three-part documentary on silent screen legend Buster Keaton which later won three Emmy Television awards.

This was the third Thames 'silent' series from Kevin Brownlow and David Gill and their love of the subject shines through.

Combining testimonies of surviving friends and colleagues with priceless Keaton interview footage, it charts Buster touring in his parents' vaudeville act, his screen apprenticeship with 'Fatty' Arbuckle to eventual star billing, owning his own studio with full creative Independence.

It explores Keaton's most thrilling stunts and routines from classics like THE NAVIGATOR, SHERLOCK JUNIOR, STEAMBOAT BILL JR and his creative highpoint, THE GENERAL.

THE GENERAL was not successful resulting in studio interference and a loss of creative control; with his professional and personal lives in turmoil, alcoholism took hold.

But happily, Buster was rediscovered in the 1950s and 1960s, living to see his films restored and celebrated.

Shelf or charity shop? With an excellent narration by film director Lindsay Anderson, this tribute to a cinematic hero of mine will stay on the shelf...