The Daily Mail's a huge problem in all this. I've twice been caught sneaking from WH Smith clutching the thing for the coupons! Both were pretty girls, one a big noise in the local SWP (I kid you not. She's a precious jewel, possibly unique: SWP + good looking + smart + funny.)

She looked at me up and down with utter contempt. 'It's for the coupons,' I wailed. 'Right,' she said, and made a sucking noise through sculptured Trotskyite lips. A small selection:

George Monbiot and Melanie Phillips sandwiched together like peas in a pod. Imagine! It does, however, get worse. Once you've clipped the precious coupons the temptation is to read the thing. A horrible truth then dawns. It's a very fine paper. They know exactly what their prejudices are, and precisely how to communicate them to their (massive) readership. You can see why politicians become obsessed with middle England. They're better organised, and have a better publicity machine, than the most militant 1970s trade union.

LOL I call trainers 'daps' and raves 'discos.'

 

Sorry.... back to films. Has 'The Ghost and Mrs Muir' been mentioned? A clever film which operates on several levels. On the one hand, a touching love story, well acted and filmed. On the other, it links with two contemporary themes, one personal, one political. It's about coming to terms with grief, how we're reunited with loved ones after death (or possibly before). This was important in 1947, with so many grieving widows. But it's also about the feisty women who ran the factories and farms while the men were away fighting. After the war they weren't too keen on being shoved back in the kitchen and the film reflects that self-confidence and resistance. A moving film, but light and funny too.

Get your own Trot. 

Some one I know, a North London mum and lawyer, told me her parents went abroad for holiday.  When they returned they were asking anxiously how everyone was surviving all the terrible things.  The question "what terrible things?" produced the answer - their hotel had been providing them with complimentary copies of The Daily Mail every day....

Good to see these titles, Stanley. I think member Ted Ryder will be pleased also: three films made after 1956!

# 41 offbeat and # 44 AndyD        Yes, I've also had to rack my brain re " WR Mysteries of the Organism" (1971) but it was directed by Dusan Makavejev and the controversy over its ban in Yugoslavia gave it a notoriety which made it a huge international hit.  The word allegorical comes to mind but I'm quite vague after that.   However, offbeat, your slip of the pen reminded me that the film was often referred to as "Mysteries of the Orgasm" (unintentionally) and the ban, together with the title variation COULD have added to its box office appeal.     There; not many people know that!

You may be interested to know, offbeat, that I'm also a WC Fields devotee and your avatar is always a pleasure to see.    Some time ago, I was interested a a DVD box set with 17 WC Fields titles; among them "My Little Chickadee" with Mae West (upstaging each other outrageously), "It's A Gift", "Man On The Flying Trapeze", "If I Had A Million" with a segment directed by Ernst Lubitsch, involving Charles Laughton, "Never Give A Sucker An Even Break" "Mississipi" and, of course "The Bank Dick".    I didn't buy the set as it seemed pricey but, in February, Play.com came up with an almost half price offer and took several months to deliver it - from 'down under', I suspect.    At the time, I opted for a Region 1 DVD with WC as Micawber in George Cukor's 1934 film of "David Copperfield" - compressed to 132 mins but by far the best version and a remarkable cast:  Roland Young (Uriah Heep), Edna May Oliver (Aunt Betsy), Basil Rathbone (a horror as Mr Murdstone), Lionel Barrymore (Dan Peggotty) - a stalwart cast of Hollywood's best.  Interesting that Hugh Walpole wrote the screenplay and appeared as The Vicar.     But it was WC who used his elongated vowels and strong emphasis to memorably deliver all the Micawberisms.    Confronting Heep and co.   "In -the -aggregate, I judge you --to be - a highly distasteful collection"  is quite inimitable.   Almost as funny, in a different context as:  "I went to Philadelphia---last week---and it was CL--O--S--ED!"    My party piece for so many years.

Two directors of a rather controversial reputation i like are Michael Haneke and Roman Polanski
Haneke's Funny Games is a seriously nasty film but with real impact
and remember seeing Polanski's Repulsion in the cinema in which Catherine Deneuve plays this very disturbed girl - powerful film and great performance by Deneuve

To Stanley
thank you very very much for telling my about that w c fields film offer - i only have few of his films on video and this looks an excellent collection with some films i have never seen before - thanks again !!