First Impressions: Thinking Aloud About Film

https://notesonfilm1.com/2026/11/12/in-conversation-with-sergio-angelini-on-film-noir-uk/ I wanted to do a podcast on FILM NOIR UK to draw attention to the extraordinary work James Harrison and everyone involved with the festival are doing. The festival is on its third year now, growing its audience, and itself growing in importance year upon year. It’s an opportunity to be immersed in noir Halloween weekend in a perfect setting (Weston-super-Mare), a perfect cinema (the art-deco Merlin) and get the opportunity of seeing great classics, in brilliant restored versions, on a big screen with an audience, whilst also offered the opportunity of enhancing one’s understanding and knowledge by the screening of more marginal, tangential, lesser known works that are of undoubted interest. One can relive pleasures and discover new ones, in a setting that in spite of its success, still feels familial and intimate: one gets endless opportunities to meet, chat, debate, explore, often with a beer in a group at the pub next door. Many congratulations to all involved for another successful festival, one which is sure to grow as more and more people discover it. I wanted to talk to Sergio Angelini specifically, well….because I like talking to Sergio Angelini. But I wanted to record a podcast with him for you because, as anyone who’s listened to Tipping My Fedora, his brilliant podcast on all things noir, he’s informed, knowledgeable and articulate. He’s also on the advisory board of FILM NOIR UK, the programmer of the Ida Lupino section, and I had a bone to pick with him: while no one can question the importance of Ida Lupino; as an actress; as one of two female directors during the classic sound era; as someone who focussed the films she wrote, produced and/or directed on female centred-subjects often neglected by Hollywood; does one also have to make claims for her as a great director? I had also appreciated the section on Spanish noir – all UK premieres -- more than he, and bridging these differences of opinion are the basic structure of the podcast, though we touch on the festival as a whole: the boxing films programmed by Steve Hunt; the British section, many of the films kindly facilitated by TPTV; the wonderful screening of The Racket with Neil Brand playing his own score for the film live – a highlight amongst highlights; the Supernatural section programmed by Tim Vincent; and of course all the screenings of great classics in superb often restored versions (The Killers, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Notorious, the UK premiere of the restoration of Orson Welles’ The Stranger – a revelation). A marvellous festival already a fixture on my annual calendar.

https://notesonfilm1.com/2026/10/17/in-conversation-with-lee-nabbs/ The Mockingbird Cinema has been nominated for CINEMA OF THE YEAR by the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA). I love the Mockingbird; am an admirer of its programme, the quality of its projection, the kindness of its staff; of the way that it brings different types of film fandom together, builds community around one welcoming site in Digbeth but across diverse interests related to cinema throughout Birmingham and the Midlands. In this podcast I talk to Lee Nabbs, Programmer and co-owner, to ask about the cinema’s history and its current operations. He tells me about the cinema’s connections to all the organisations that basically make up film culture in the Midlands, from festivals (Flatpack, Forward Film and Television Festival), to other cinemas (Midlands Arts Centre), filmmaking networks (Reel Brum), film clubs (Whatever Pays the Rent), events (The Secret Cinema Screenings at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens), patrons like Joe Lycett and Trevor Beattie, why he could have shown the PEAKY BLINDERS film forever, and much more. At the end, when he reads to me what audience members said when they nominated the Mockingbird for Best Cinema, he’s visibly moved: ‘Like a second home’, ‘The happiest place’, ‘The beating heart of Digbeth’, ‘They fight for justice’. His being moved moves me. Birmingham is undeserved, only three independent screens in the Second City, two of them at The Mockingbird. But it’s clear from talking to Lee that what’s lacking in numbers and finance is compensated for with lots of love, care, community, mutual support; that those involved in The Mockingbird care about cinema, about making it available in Birmingham and about supporting the making and showing of films locally. A lovely and illuminating chat.

https://notesonfilm1.com/2026/07/31/cinema-rediscovered-2026-wrap-up/ Pastor Hall (Roy Boulting, 1940)/ Obsession (Edward Dmytryk, 1949) Richard I talk about two films screened recently at Cinema Rediscovered in Bristol, that will be touring around art cinemas this Autumn and will also be released through Indicator. PASTOR HALL is an early anti-Nazi film that somehow feels very timely now. A small village in Germany, a happy recognisable place, patriotic, is taken over by a platoon of stormtroopers and suddenly young women are being brutalised, jews have their homes destroyed and even the Pastor is in trouble. Based on a true story about how German pastor Martin Niemöller got sent to Dachau concentration camp for criticising the Nazi Party. In the podcast we discuss how the film raises questions of morality, ethics, collaboration, resistance, how easily it lends itself to current events in the US now, and how much people new about concentration camps then. OBSESSION is a British noir in which Robert Newton kidnaps his wife’s lover to murder him at a later date and commit the perfect crime. It’s directed by Edward Dmytryk (FAREWELL MY LOVELY, CORNERED, CROSSFIRE) then on the run from the House of Un-American Activities and finding temporary shelter in the UK. We discuss it as a noir, as a British film, and praise the way the film uses the bombed out setting, London in ruins as setting for a life in ruins, an Empire dissolving and Americans walking ‘our’ streets and stealing ‘our’women. Two old films that feel newly relevant and are worth looking forward to.

https://notesonfilm1.com/2026/07/31/cinema-rediscovered-2026-wrap-up/ As ever Richard and I loved attending this year’s edition of Cinema Rediscovered at the Watershed in Bristol. They do so many things for the city and for cinema; bringing in so many venues into the festival; offering young people the opportunities to programme, to get experience with criticism, to learn about Bristol as a cinema city (Mark Fuller’s wonderful walks), familiarise themselves with different histories (Rosie Taylor’s wonderful talk on 9.5mm film; the Queen Kelly programme with Pamela Hutchinson’s superb introduction, and in two different venues, so one can explore different cinemas in Bristol) and so much else. In this podcast Richard and I go through the programme day by day, speaking on all the events we attended (everyone will have a slightly different experience of Cinema Rediscovered), praising much (Different Ways of Seeing panel, the Cruising pop-up, many of the individual films) and offering some criticisms which we aim to be constructive (is it time to let go of the 70s, rogue or not? Might the comic book adaptation strand have been better shaped and signalled; might connections between films in the programme have been better highlighted). That said, another brilliant year, it’s tenth! Here’s to many more. Congratulations to Mark Cosgrove, Maddie Probst and the dozens of other people who made it all possible.

https://notesonfilm1.com/2026/07/19/thinking-aloud-about-film-death-of-a-cyclist-muerte-de-un-ciclista-juan-antonio-bardem-1955/ Part of the Juan Antonio Bardem cycle of films screened at Bologna and available to see through a marvellous Criterion Edition. An adulterous couple run over a cyclist in a deserted road and run off in fear of their affair being found out. The cyclist dies. An epicene art critic claims to have seen them and starts a blackmail scheme. What are they willing to do to protect their wealth,  family name and social standing? What are the effects of murder on an already tainted love? A noir influenced by neo-realism that uses striking compositions and innovative editing to create an atmospheric and scathing social critique, where the circus is rendered equivalent to the Church, tenement subsistence living is contrasted to upper class life where charity fundraisers focus on the festivities rather than the cause. Made at the height of the Franco era. Lucia Bosé post Antonioni and at the height of her fame is the Garboesque enigmatic femme fatale. We discuss all of this and more in the podcast below. It won the International Critics Award in Cannes in 1955.

https://notesonfilm1.com/2026/07/16/pamela-hutchinson-on-the-curse-of-queen-kelly-new-york-sticking-place-books-2025/ “A naughty little number” This is a story of how not to make a film. A story about three people who should have known better – people we could dismiss as a spendthrift, a swindler and a sadist, but who are far more interesting than that. They almost made a movie, but succeeded in creating a legend. This is the story of how a 1920s movie star, a businessman, and an artist set out to make an impossible film, the infamous Queen Kelly, of how they hit breaking point and threw it all away. It is also the tale of how that star spend the rest of her life trying to save the trio’s beleaguered infant.

https://notesonfilm1.com/2026/07/06/cinema-ritrovato-2026-wrap-up/ Cinema Ritrovato 2026 Wrap-up Richard and I get together to chat about our experience of this year’s Cinema Ritrovato. The programming is so vast and diverse that everyone who attends will have a completely different Ritrovato. In this podcast we spend quite a lot of time discussing the strand on Juan Antonio Bardem, Javier’s uncle, one of the key Spanish directors of the Franco era, and a real discovery for Richard. We also touch on the Mitchell Leisen program, concluding that it will invariably raise his standing as a Hollywood director, particularly for those interested in the queer dimension of his work, without quite succeeding in putting him at the level of the very greatest (Lubitsch, Hitchcock, etc). The Stanwyck program demonstrated that the great star could do anything – comedy, drama, westerns; aristocrats and subalterns – much more convincingly than her rivals to the title of classic Hollywood’s greatest star/ actress, Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn. We touch briefly on the Daisuke Ito, Ritwick Ghatak, and Josephine Baker strands but mainly dwell on some of the films shown under the Cinemalibero banner, always one of the highlights of the festival: A SPRING FOR THE THIRSTY (Yuri Ilyenko, 1965/1987), LA DÉRIVE (Paula Delson, 1964), WEIGHTED BUT FOUND WANTING (Lino Brocka, 1974), MUDAR DE VIDA (Paulo Rocha 1966), among others. From other strands we also discuss SUGATA SHANSHIRO (Kurosawa, 1943), THE LONG MEMORY (Robert Hamer, 1953), LA BIUGIARDA (Luigi Comencini, 1965). We end with comments on the chairing (applauding the Guy Maddin event), the Piazza Maggiore screenings (NEW YORK, NEW YORK), the amazing tinting on some of the silent masterpieces (WHAT PRICE GLORY). Our one critique is that the festival really has to remind itself that the introductions are for the audience rather than for the presenters. A great year.

https://notesonfilm1.com/2026/06/13/thinking-aloud-about-film-tarik-saleh-and-the-cairo-trilogy/ Richard and I were so excited after seeing Eagles of the Republic (2025), that when we learned that it was the third film in a trilogy, we made a point of seeing the other two: The Nile Hilton Incident (2017) and Cairo Conspiracy/ Boy From Heaven (2022). José went even further and also saw his first live action film, made in Sweden, Tommy (2005), and, at least up to now, the only feature film he's made in the US: The Contractor (2022). Thus the podcast encompasses all of his live-action feature films (he also made Metropia (2009), an animated film) and spans a twenty-period.  Saleh is the offspring of an Egyptian father and a Swedish mother. The Nile Hilton Incident  was set to be filmed in Cairo but Saleh was given a week to flee the country before shooting started. Thus the trilogy is a critique of Egypt that could not be made in Egypt. The films are genre piece -- and are satisfying on that level; you don't need to know anything about Egypt or Egyptian culture to enjoy them -- but are also serious films about morality, ethics, the extent of corruption, and the limits otherwise good people are willing to go to in order to prosper or even survive. In the podcast we discuss this and contrast with his earlier Swedish film, fascinating in that it makes the gangster's girlfriend the central figure in a genre piece, and his later American film, in that it points to the limits on free speech currently imposed on American cinema.  Aside from all of this, we also linger to appreciate the beauty and expressiveness of the mise-en-scène and encourage everyone to see these marvellous works.  Eagles of the Republic is currently on distribution (I saw it at the MOCKINGBIRD) The Nile Hilton Incident is available on MUBI Boy From Heaven/ The Cairo Incident is available to see on BBC i-player.

https://notesonfilm1.com/2025/12/31/thinking-aloud-about-film-last-days-gus-van-sant-2005/ Richard and I went to see the Royal Opera’s production of Oliver Leith’s and Matt Copson’s LAST DAYS, directed by Copson and Anna Morrissey, with superb set designs by Grace Smart. It’s inspired by Gus Van Sant’s 2005 film and so were inspired to podcast on it. The film is part of what’s been called Van Sant’s 'Death Trilogy' (alongside GERRY (2002) and ELEPHANT (2003)). In the podcast we discuss how, in spite of it being a ‘slow’ film, time flew by; how we were hypnotized by images and entranced by the originality of its story-telling. It made those last days intelligible.  The film seems to run entirely on mood -- loneliness, frailty, vulnerability, alienation in a cold climate.  A  fluid dexterity of original story-telling and tone. Blaine is the source of money, power, creativity ... but no one is looking after him. In the podcast we discuss how we don’t see Blake’s full face until close to the end, though re-visiting the film proves this to be inaccurate. It’s nonetheless interesting that this is a dominant impression. It’s a film where interiority is expressed through externals. We also discuss the film in relation to Bella Tarr’s Sátántango and to Grey Gardens (1975). We discuss how LAST DAYS  is about a young man, outwardly rich and successful but  feeling he’s got nothing to live for and with no one – even those physically in the room with him -- to help him break through his isolation and alienation. A great film, propulsed by mood.

https://notesonfilm1.com/2025/12/06/jose-arroyo-in-conversation-with-glyn-davis-on-rebel-without-a-cause-nicholas-ray-1955/ A treat to talk to the marvellous Glyn Davis on his handsome new book, the ‘BFI Classic’ on Rebel Without a Cause (Nicholas Ray, 1955). In the podcast we discuss how we were both surprised that the film hadn’t yet been covered in the series and why the book is the fulfilment of a long-standing wish of his. We discuss how the film established an iconic template for adolescent dissent and how James Dean became the embodiment of youthful American dissatisfaction and rebellion; Glyn compares Rebel to other films of the period such as The Wild One (Lázló Benedek, 1953) and Blackboard Jungle (Richard Brooks, 1955). We discuss the pros and cons of auteurist approaches; Glyn’s findings in the LA Archives, Ray’s concerns of filling the CinemaScope frame; his uses of colour (the film was originally designed for black and white); the film’s unusual structure, how the film became a template for the teen film that extends to television (Dawson’s Creek was named after the High School in Rebel); how Dean’s extraordinary performance helped popularise and disseminate ‘The Method’, how the figure of Plato has become central to subsequent queer cultures; and how Natalie Wood is often marginalised in discussions of the film. Glyn generously praises previous work on Ray and the film, particularly Bernard Eisenschitz’ monumental Nicholas Ray: An American Journey and the extraordinarily detailed Live Fast, Die Young: The Wild Ride of Making Rebel Without A Cause by Lawrence Frascella and Al Weisel. A generous and articulate conversation on a book worth reading and discussing José Arroyo