Film Reviews by MW

My only criticism is a technical one that the sound level seems to be really low on all the episodes and especially the actors' voices.  Had to turn the TV up to maximum or play through the stereo to be able to hear it properly.  Yet the 'In Memoriam' special feature was fine.

Like many people, I eagerly awaited each weekly edition of the recent 6-part BBC series 'The Trial of Christine Keeler' which told the story of the Profumo scandal in great detail.  This prompted me to revisit the movie version from 1989 via Cinema Paradiso and I found (was it a coincidence?) that it was scheduled for re-release in HD on Blu-Ray.  It was so long since I'd seen the film that I'd forgotten most things about it apart from the iconic poster featuring the lead actress Joanne Whalley-Kilmer.  It turned out to be a real treat with superb performances from not just the leading lady but also a majestic John Hurt as Stephen Ward, a surprisingly British-sounding Bridget Fonda as Mandy Rice-Davies, the ever-impressive Sir Ian McKellen as John Profumo and a galaxy of other significant actors of the time.  Condensed into 2 hours, the story must inevitably be pared down but all of the main features are there, beautifully shot with at times quite stunning HD restoration.  All in all, highly recommended.

I've always been quite fond of the 1976 film which, as I recall, used newly created content mixed with real life archive footage.  So, I was really looking forward to seeing what nearly 50 years of cinematic progress would yield.

It's always possible to pull war movies apart as they can never provide the detail and accuracy of a 500-page book or a good documentary series, yet I really enjoyed this and its honourable efforts to portray the roles of so many people in a vital episode of the battle against tyranny.  The special effects vary a tad from breathtaking dive bombing sequences to some slightly cartoonish explosions but the overall result is still very impressive.

My advice is to watch it once to get an overall sense of the narrative, then dive into the excellent special features, and finally watch the film again.  It's unusual for me to view the same film twice in a weekend but I really thought this was worth it.