Starburst Memories: HMV RIP?
Since the announcement that HMV, the music, video and games retailer that’s been an institution on the British high street since the 1920s, has gone into administration, followed by the […]
Author Archives: Andy
ANDY: Chimes at Midnight (Welles, Spain/Switzerland, 1965)
Everyone knows that the only great film Orson Welles ever made was CITIZEN KANE (1941), right? Everyone knows that Welles blamed the studios for what happened to THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS […]
Dirk’s Five – The Friday Five With No Name
“The Man with No Name” is generally understood to refer to Clint Eastwood’s character in Sergio Leone’s “Dollars” trilogy, and Leone would use the trick for a fourth time for […]
ANDY: Once Upon a Time in the West (Leone, Italy, 1968)
Sergio Leone begins his masterpiece by making us wait for a train. Like commuters on the delayed 07:45 to London Bridge, not a word is spoken between those waiting as […]
Dirk’s Five – Hong Kong
Though it’s had its golden and not-so-golden periods, Hong Kong is and always has been a filmmaking hub for the Chinese-speaking world, perhaps because of its dramatic skyline and harbour […]
ANDY: Chungking Express (Wong, Hong Kong, 1994)
For me, Hong Kong is the most cinematic of cityscapes. By night it can feel like wandering through the neo-noir labyrinth of Ridley Scott’s BLADE RUNNER (although rumours that the […]
Dirk’s Five – Karloff the Uncanny
Calling all horror fans (and thanks to Dom for alerting me to this one): after his heavily US-centric series last year, last night Mark Gatiss returned to the history of […]
ANDY: The Old Dark House (Whale, US, 1932)
It was a dark and stormy night. In Wales. Welcome, traveller… With FRANKENSTEIN (1931), THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933) and THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935), visionary director James Whale made some […]
ANDY: The Wages of Fear (Clouzot, France, 1953)
In 1974 William Friedkin, riding on the crest of a wave after the consecutive successes of critically-lauded THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971) and box office behemoth THE EXORCIST (1973), arranged himself […]
ANDY: Went the Day Well? (Cavalcanti, UK, 1942)
Recently I’ve been working my way through Mark Cousins’ epic documentary THE STORY OF FILM (2011), and have been struck by just how many important and game-changing films in the […]
The Dirk Malcolm Alternative 