Reel Britannia

Welcome to Reel Britannia-a very British podcast about very British movies ...with just a hint of professionalism. A very special episode this week as we celebrate our 4th birthday as well as our 100th episode. Joining us is our good friend Anthony from the Glass Onion: On John Lennon podcast to chat about one of the greatest British movies of all time Join us we take a look at The Third Man (1949) starring Joseph Cotton, Trevor Howard and Orson Welles Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, black-market opportunist Harry Lime—and thus begins this legendary tale of love, deception, and murder. Thanks to brilliant performances by Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, and Orson Welles; Anton Karas's evocative zither score; Graham Greene’s razor-sharp dialogue; and Robert Krasker’s dramatic use of light and shadow, The Third Man, directed by the inimitable Carol Reed, only grows in stature as the years pass. “Don't be so glo

Welcome to Reel Britannia-a very British podcast about very British movies ...with just a hint of professionalism. In the latest episode, Scott and Steven review the third in our season of movies starring one of nation’s favourite and best loved entertainers. Join us we take a look at Man of the Moment from 1955 starring Norman Wisdom A lowly filing clerk in a Whitehall ministry, Norman, finds himself propelled to head of the office when both of his superiors are away, one ill and one on leave. Meanwhile, developments around the Pacific have put Tawaki - a small, independent island nation - at the centre of world affairs: its unique geology makes one of its outlying islands the perfect location for a world power to establish a new strategic outpost. Many have been making representations to the island's Queen, but so far she has yet to make a decision. Hoping to impress the British case upon her, the ministry dispatches a delegation to an international conference in Geneva - and they are in need of a filing c

Welcome to Reel Britannia-a very British podcast about very British movies ...with just a hint of professionalism. In the latest episode, Scott and Steven review the debut feature from British director, Steve McQueen – a compelling and unforgettable portrayal of life within The Maze prison at the time of the 1981 hunger strike. Join us we take a look at Michael Fassbender as Bobby Sands in Hunger (2008) “Focusing on the 1981 hunger strikes by Republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. Bobby Sands is one of a group of prisoners who first “took to the blanket” with a “dirty protest” in pursuit of their claims for recognition as political prisoners. Sands then became the first one of the group to embark on a hunger strike that was to end in his death.” “I'm clear of the reasons Dom. I'm clear of all the repercussions. I will act and I will not stand by and do nothing.” You can find this and all our previous episodes at: Apple Podcasts Libsyn Player FM Podtail Owltail ListenNotes Follow us on Twitter @rbritanniap

Welcome to Reel Britannia-a very British podcast about very British movies ...with just a hint of professionalism. In the latest episode, Scott and Steven are joined by Booze from the Sweet Feathery Jesus podcast to chat about bald heads, bathtubs, and beans. Join us we take a look at Mick Jagger and James Fox in Performance (1970) “After killing a rival in self-defence, hoodlum Chas (James Fox) must flee both from the law and from his boss, Harry Flowers. He eventually moves into a house owned by Turner (Mick Jagger), a former rock star who lives with female companions Pherber (Anita Pallenberg) and Lucy (Michele Breton). Chas and Turner initially clash, but Turner becomes fascinated with Chas' life as a criminal. Through drugs and a series of psychological battles with Turner, Chas emerges a different man.” “You're a comical little geezer. You'll look funny when you're fifty.” You can find this and all our previous episodes at: Apple Podcasts Libsyn Player FM Podtail Owltail ListenNotes Follow us on Twi

Welcome to Reel Britannia-a very British podcast about very British movies ...with just a hint of professionalism. In the latest episode, Scott and Steven are joined once again by Mark from The Good The Bad and the Odd podcast for a tale featuring interplanetary peril, petrified forests and Peter Cushing Join us we take a look at Doctor Who and the Daleks (1965) “When Dr. Who shows his time machine TARDIS to the clumsy Ian, who is boyfriend of his granddaughter Barbara, he accidentally transport them and Dr. Who's granddaughter Susan to somewhere in space and time. They explore the spot and see a city; Dr. Who fakes a leak in the fluid and they go to the city to seek mercury to refill the component. They are captured by the Daleks and soon they learn that a war between Daleks and Thals has destroyed the planet. Further they are exposed to radiation and only the Thals have the antidote. The Daleks send Susan to find the cure and she meets the Thal Alydon that has the antidote and wants to negotiate with the D

Welcome to Reel Britannia-a very British podcast about very British movies ...with just a hint of professionalism. In the latest episode, Scott is joined by Steven to chat about a movie featuring fading communities, Thatcher and flugelhorns. Join us we take a look at Brassed Off (1996) “In existence for a hundred years, Grimley Colliery Brass band is as old as the mine. But the miners are now deciding whether to fight to keep the pit open, and the future for town and band looks bleak. Although the arrival of flugelhorn player Gloria injects some life into the players, and bandleader Danny continues to exhort them to continue in the national competition, frictions and pressures are all too evident. And whose side is Gloria actually on?” “The truth is, I thought it mattered - I thought that music mattered. But does it bollocks? Not compared to how people matter.” You can find this and all our previous episodes at: Apple Podcasts Libsyn Player FM Podtail Owltail ListenNotes Follow us on Twitter @rbritanniapod J

Welcome to Reel Britannia-a very British podcast about very British movies ...with just a hint of professionalism. In the latest episode, Scott is joined by Steven for the next in the series of kitchen sink dramas. A tale of smoky factories, sultry French mistresses and suicide… Join us we take a look at Room At The Top (1959) “The English factory town is dreary but Joe Lampton has landed a job with a future. To have something to do at night he joins a theatrical group. His boss's daughter Susan is playing ingenue roles on stage and in real life. She is attracted to Joe and Joe thinks about how much faster he will get ahead if he is the boss's son-in-law. This plan is complicated by his strong desire to be with an older woman who also belongs to the theatrical group. She is French and unhappily married. Joe believes he can get away with seeing both women.” “Don't worry about the way the world's run, lad. Enjoy it while you're young.” You can find this and all our previous episodes at: Apple Podcasts Libsyn P

Welcome to Reel Britannia-a very British podcast about very British movies ...with just a hint of professionalism. In the latest episode, Scott is joined by his co hosts from the official Talking Pictures TV Podcast, Mel and Daniel Join us we take a look at an early Hitchcock classic, Young and Innocent (1937) An actress is murdered by her estranged husband, who is jealous of all of her young boyfriends. The next day, writer Robert Tisdall (who happens to be one such boyfriend) discovers her body on the beach. He runs to call the police, however, two witnesses think that he is the escaping murderer. Robert is arrested, but owing to a mix-up at the courthouse, he escapes and goes on the run with a Police Constable's daughter Erica, determined to prove his innocence. You can find this and all of our previous episodes at: Apple Podcasts Libsyn Player FM Podtail Owltail ListenNotes Follow us on Twitter @rbritanniapod Join us over at our Facebook Group ….we’d love to chat with you email: reelbritannia@gmail.c

Welcome to Reel Britannia-a very British podcast about very British movies ...with just a hint of professionalism. In the latest episode (recorded back in November!) Scott welcomes back the original co host of the podcast, Tony, to chat about New Order, The Sex Pistols and Des O’Connor! Join us as we take a look at 24 Hour Party People (2002), starring Steve Coogan in a tale featuring The Happy Mondays, the Hacienda and hang gliding. Manchester, 1976. Tony Wilson (Steve Coogan) is an ambitious but frustrated local TV news reporter looking for a way to make his mark. After witnessing a life-changing concert by a band known as the Sex Pistols, he persuades his station to televise one of their performances, and soon Manchester's punk groups are clamouring for him to manage them. Riding the wave of a musical revolution, Wilson and his friends create the legendary Factory Records label and The Hacienda club. You can find this and all of our previous episodes at: Apple Podcasts Libsyn Player FM Podtail Owltail Lis

Welcome to Reel Britannia-a very British podcast about very British movies ...with just a hint of professionalism. Rapidly running out of British Easter themed movies, Scott is joined by Steven for the tenuously linked Whistle Down The Wind (1961). After a confusing exchange with a strange man (Alan Bates) they find hiding in their family barn, Kathy Bostock (Hayley Mills) and her young siblings jump to the conclusion that the man -- in reality an escaped killer -- is none other than Jesus Christ. Excitement erupts as word spreads among the children in their small farming community in northwest England. Adult scepticism abounds, until their father (Bernard Lee) catches wind of the tale and begins to investigate. “He’s not Jesus…he’s just a fella” You can find this and all of our previous episodes at: Apple Podcasts Libsyn Player FM Podtail Owltail ListenNotes Follow us on Twitter @rbritanniapod Join us over at our Facebook Group ….we’d love to chat with you email: reelbritannia@gmail.com #whistledownthewind

Welcome to Reel Britannia - a very British podcast about very British movies ...with just a hint of professionalism. This week, Scott is joined by Steven to review the Boulting Brothers classic Private’s Progress (1956) As World War II settles over England, university student Stanley Windrush (Ian Carmichael) receives his call-up. During training, Windrush is plunged into a thoroughly unfamiliar world, with his leading officer, Maj. Hitchcock, more apt to be found in a pub than on the base. There's also Pvt. Percy Fox (Richard Attenborough), a cunning working-class type always on the make, and the cold and crafty Bertram Tracepurcel (Dennis Price). All are being trained for an unusual mission inside Germany. #absoluteshower #britmovie #podpals “Good Lord - Windrush! What on earth are you doing dressed up as a Jerry? You're an absolute bounder.”   You can find this and all of our previous episodes at: Apple Podcasts Libsyn Player FM Podtail Owltail ListenNotes Follow us on Twitter @rbritanniapod Join us ov

Welcome to Reel Britannia-a very British podcast about very British movies ...with just a hint of professionalism. In the latest episode, Scott is joined by Tony to discuss the movie that recalls one of the most incredible incidents that occurred in World War Two. The story of Operation Mincemeat and The Man Who Never Was from 1956. As the British military prepares to invade Sicily during World War II, intelligence agent Ewen Montagu (Clifton Webb) hatches a cunning plan to fool Germany into believing the Allies' true target is Greece. Concocting a fictitious British officer named Maj. William Martin, Montagu gathers false top-secret documents and personal letters to plant upon a corpse that will wash ashore in Spain. But the investigations of a German undercover agent (Stephen Boyd) could potentially expose the fraud.     You can find this and all of our previous episodes at: Apple Podcasts Libsyn Player FM Podtail Owltail ListenNotes Follow us on Twitter @rbritanniapod Join us over at our Facebook Group

Welcome to Reel Britannia-a very British podcast about very British movies ...with just a hint of professionalism. In the latest episode, Scott is joined by Steven and Mark for a trip down memory lane…back to the glorious days of Saturday Morning Pictures Join us we take a look at two classics from the Children’s Film Foundation: Mr Horatio Knibbles and Battle Of Billy’s Pond   You can find this and all of our previous episodes at: Apple Podcasts Libsyn Player FM Podtail Owltail ListenNotes Follow us on Twitter @rbritanniapod Join us over at our Facebook Group ….we’d love to chat with you email: reelbritannia@gmail.com Thanks for listening Scott, Steven and Mark

Welcome to Reel Britannia-a very British podcast about very British movies ...with just a hint of professionalism. In the latest episode, Scott is joined by Steven and Tony for our slightly delayed New Year episode, recorded way back at the beginning of December last year. Join us we take a look at the nineties comedy/drama, Peter’s Friends, starring Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Imelda Staunton, Tony Slattery, Alphonsia Emmanuel, Rita Rudner and Phyllida Law Seven friends in an acting troupe graduate from Cambridge University in 1982 and go their separate ways. Ten years later, Peter Morton (Stephen Fry) inherits a large estate from his father, and invites the rest of the gang to spend New Year's holiday with him. Many changes have taken place in the lives of all the friends assembled, but Peter has a secret that will shock them all. “Oh, how can I put this delicately? It's just that I'm not really in the vagina business.” You can find this and all of our previous episodes at: Ap

Welcome to Reel Britannia-a very British podcast about very British movies ...with just a hint of professionalism. For our Christmas episode, Scott is joined by Steven and Tony to chat about the children’s classic ‘The Amazing Mr Blunden’, specially requested by listener Chris Ferguson Join us we take a look at this charming ghost story, directed by Lionel Jeffries and featuring an all star cast A mysterious, old solicitor Mr. Blunden visits Mrs. Allen and her young children in her squalid, tiny Camden Town flat and makes her an offer she cannot refuse. The family become the housekeepers to a derelict country mansion in the charge of the solicitors. One day the children meet the spirits of two other children who died in the mansion nearly a hundred years previously. The children prepare a magic potion that allows them to travel backwards in time to the era of the ghost children. Will the children be able to help their new friends and what will happen to them if they do? “As they grow older they lose their po

Welcome to Reel Britannia-a very British podcast about very British movies ...with just a hint of professionalism. In the latest episode, Scott is joined by Steven to chat about slaughterhouses, suicides and Sinead O’Connor. Join us we take a look at the darkest of dark comedies, The Butcher Boy from 1997, directed by Neil Jordan and starring Stephen Rea, Fiona Shaw, Brendan Gleason and Ian Hart. Francie and Joe live the usual playful, fantasy filled childhoods of normal boys. However, with a violent, alcoholic father and a manic depressive, suicidal mother the pressure on Francie to grow up are immense. When Francie's world turns to madness, he tries to counter it with further insanity, with dire consequences. “And that was the end of the goldfish, because from now on I was gonna be good. And if anyone was looking for Francie the Bad Bastard, they wouldn't find him because he was busy getting the Francie-Not-a-Bad-Bastard-Anymore diploma.” You can find this and all of our previous episodes at: Apple Podcast

Welcome to Reel Britannia-a very British podcast about very British movies ...with just a hint of professionalism. Episode 084 – Look Back In Anger (1959) Scott and Steven are back in the Balaban Sound Studio for this week’s review…continuing our look at the kitchen sink dramas. It’s 1959 and the movie that proclaimed the era of the angry young man. Richard Burton stars alongside Clare Bloom and Mary Ure in the Tony Richardson picture, Look Back In Anger Richard Burton smoulders as the ever-complaining Jimmy Porter in Tony Richardson's version of John Osborne's ground-breaking play, which at the time was the epitome of the kitchen-sink drama and heralded the liberated Swinging Sixties. As the downtrodden, middle-class wife taking the brunt of his tirades, Mary Ure poignantly deserves better from life than a husband who believes the world owes him a living, while Burton makes his portrayal remarkably unsympathetic. An emblem of its time that's not to be missed. SUMMARY A disillusioned cynic takes out his ange

Welcome to Reel Britannia-a very British podcast about very British movies ...with just a hint of professionalism. In the latest episode, Scott is joined by Steven to chat about governesses, ghosts and all manner of ghastly goings-on Join us we take a look at the classic horror movie from 1961, The Innocents, starring Deborah Kerr In Victorian England, the uncle (Sir Michael Redgrave) of orphaned niece Flora (Pamela Franklin) and nephew Miles (Martin Stephens) hires Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr) as governess to raise the children at his estate with total independence and authority. Soon after her arrival, Miss Giddens comes to believe that the spirits of the former governess Miss Jessel (Clytie Jessop) and valet Peter Quint (Peter Wyngarde) are possessing the children. Miss Giddens decides to help the children to face and exorcise the spirits. “Truth is very seldom understood by any but imaginative persons... and I want to be quite truthful.”   You can find this and all of our previous episodes at: Apple Podc

Welcome to Reel Britannia-a very British podcast about very British movies ...with just a hint of professionalism. Episode 082 – Gideon’s Day (1958) Scott and Steven are back in the Balaban Sound Studio for this week’s review…24 hours in the life of Detective Chief Inspector George Gideon of the Metropolitan Police. A story of armed robbers, crooked cops, family strife…and salmon. Directed by John Ford and starring Jack Hawkins. Scotland Yard Inspector George Gideon starts his day off on the wrong foot when he gets a traffic-violation ticket from a young police officer. From there, his 'typical day" consists in learning that one of his most-trusted detectives has accepted bribes; hunts an escaped maniac who has murdered a girl; tracks a young girl suspected of a payroll robbery and, then, helps break up a bank robbery. His long day ends when he arrives at home and finds that his daughter has a date with the policeman who gave him a ticket that morning. “I could tell you a few things about executions - they'r

Welcome to Reel Britannia-a very British podcast about very British movies ...with just a hint of professionalism. This week, Scott is joined by Steven to review the Oscar winning Chariots Of Fire (1981) – a tribute to Ian Holm and Ben Cross Based on a true story, Chariots of Fire is the internationally acclaimed Oscar-winning drama of two very different men who compete as runners in the 1924 Paris Olympics. Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson), a serious Christian Scotsman, believes that he has to succeed as a testament to his undying religious faith. Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross), is a Jewish Englishman who wants desperately to be accepted and prove to the world that Jews are not inferior. The film crosscuts between each man's life as he trains for the competition, fueled by these very different desires. As compelling as the racing scenes are, it's really the depth of the two main characters that touches the viewer, as they forcefully drive home the theme that victory attained through devotion, commitment, integrity