I rewatched Silent Running (1972). Directed by Douglas Trumbull and starring Bruce Dern this this is a significant science fiction film. Trumbull was heavily involved in 2001 (1968) and later the first Star Trek film (1979) and Blade Runner (1982). John Dykstra was also involved and later was involved with the first Star Wars film and also the first Star Trek film.

Storyline is a touch simplistic and is about a botanist's attempt to preseve the last of Earth's plant life being kept on his space craft. One of the script writers was Michael Cimino in his first work in film. Another writer was Steve Bochco who became one of the best known writers in television.

Interesting music score by Peter Schickele. It includes 2 songs sung by Joan Baez.

Fill The Void (Lemale et ha'halal) (2012) 7.5/10

Witnesses (Svjedoci) (2003) 8/10

Somewhere Under the broad sky (Kono hiroi sora no dokoka ni) (1954) 8.5/10

Living (Zhit) (2012) 9/10

A Quiet Life (Una vita tranquilla) (2010) 6/10

My Way (Mai wei) (2011) 8/10

A Walk In The Sun (1945) 8/10

Still Life (2013) 7/10

The Monuments Men (2014) 6/10

An Innocent Witch (Osorezan no onna) (1965) 8/10

The Man Who Copied (O Homem Que Copiava) (2003) 8/10

Jellyfish (Meduzot) (2007) 7/10

The River Used To Be A Man (Der Fluss war einst ein Mensch) (2011) 6/10

I watched Destry Rides Again (1939) again. This is the one starring James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich and is much better than the remake Destry which starred Audie Murphy.

One of Marlene Dietrich's best performances in American films, along with Witness for the Prosecution. A fairly early star role in James Stewart's career in the type of role associated with him.

Like Father, Like Son (Soshite chichi ni naru) (2013) 9/10

Thieves Like Us (1974) 8/10

Wolves, Pigs & Men (Okami to buta to ningen) (1964) 7.5/10

I saw The Dark Mirror (1946) which starred Olivia de Havilland as twin sisters, Lew Ayres and Thomas Mitchell. The doctor boyfriend of one of the sisters is found murdered. One of the sisters is the main suspect but which one? Lew Ayres is the psychiatrist who worked with the victim and is asked by the police to carry out tests on the sisters to try and identitify which sister is capable of murder.

It's a bit different for a 1940s murder film and is quite good.

Tears Of April (Kasky) (2008) 7/10

Sazen Tange And The Pot Worth a Million Ryo (Tange Sazen yowa: Hyakuman ryo no tsubo) (1935) 8/10

The Nun (La religieuse) (2013) 6/10

The Murderer Lives At Number 21 (L'assassin habite... au 21) (1942) 8/10

Priest Of Darkness (Kochiyama Soshun) (1936) 7/10

Falskur Fugl (2013) 7/10

Short Stories (Rasskazy) (2012) 6/10

In Hiding (W ukryciu) (2013) 6/10

My Childhood (1972) 8.5/10

My Ain Folk (1973) 8.5/10

My Way Home (1978) 8/10

Great trilogy of films from Bill Douglas.

House Of Strangers (1949) 8/10

Pleasant Moments (Hezke chvilky bez zaruky) (2006) 7/10

God's Sandbox (Tahara) (2004) 5/10

I saw Robinson Crusoe (AKA The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe). Various film books give a date of between 1952 and 1954, IMDB shows 1952.

The film was shown on the Movies4Men channel and much of that channel's output is indifferent. However from time to time it does have films of some interest. Robinson Crusoe is such a film and is of note as it was directed by one of the greats of world cinema - Luis Bunuel. It was made during his time in exile in Mexico and is his one film made in English.

It starred Dan O'Herlihy.  As the film was low budget, the technical quality of some scenes is not of the quality of the Hollywood action films of that time but that's a minor quibble. Fascinating retelling of the well known classic by Daniel Defoe. Touches of Luis Bunel's surrealism can be seen in scenes where Crusoe is almost driven mad through loneliness or is suffering from fever.

Moveis4Men tends to recycle its films so it's worth keeping an eye on the schedules for when the film is shown again. It's also on Youtube.

The Ravine Of Goodbye (Sayonara keikoku) (2013) 7/10

Bethlehem (2013) 7/10

I watched An Ideal Husband (1999) based on the play by Oscar Wilde. It's a fairly entertaining film with a starry cast but only Rupert Everett had the ability to convey the Wilde wit.

Nostalgia (Nostalghia) (1983) 8.5/10

Tarkovsky was one of the great Russian directors. I rate Andrei Rublev (1966) as his best film. I saw it at the cinema when I was staying in London and it's the only film I've ever seen when there was spontaneous applause from the audience at the end even though it wasn't the UK premiere. A great epic film, up there with Lawrence of Arabia.

I saw X-Men: First Class (2011). I'm not a great fan of that genre so will just say that it was OK but no more.

I  haven't seen Andrei Rublev 

The Cruel Sea (1953) 8.5/10

The Road I Travel With You (Kimi to yuku michi) (1936) 6/10

It's rated the 26th best film ever made in Halliwell's top 1000 films:

http://www.icheckmovies.com/li...ate+movie+countdown/

That site lists the films in Halliwell's book, allows people to add their comments but does not include his review. Like all lists, many people will disagree with the films chosen and the order but it is an excellent book. As Halliwell died a few years ago the most recent films cannot be in the list. Also a film such as The Shawshank Redemption is not in his top 1000 and Halliwell says in the book that he knew that many people would disagree with his decision.

I watched Cornered (1945) which was directed by Edward Dmytryk and starred Dick Powell and Walter Slezak. A Canadian flyer, discovering that his wife had been murdered by a French collaborator, goes in search for revenge. Quite a good film, but relentlessly dark so no entertainment value.

Part of a short season of Edward Dmytryk films of the Movies4Men channel, others being Crossfire (shown yesterday) and the definitive version of Farewell My Lovely showing this afternoon.

Isabella (Yi sa bui lai) (2006) 7.5/10

The Dinner (Het diner) (2013) 6/10

Freeze Die Come To Life (Zamri, umri, voskresni) )1989) 8.5/10

Born To Be Bad (1950) 7/10

Rivals (Les liens du sang) (2008) 6/10

I watched Crossfire (1947). Strong cast - Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan and Gloria Grahame. Film noir account of a man found murdered, who killed him, why was he killed, told in a way which reminded me of the later Rashomon.

Strong film and a remake is overdue.

Captive (Cautiva) (2003) 7/10

I resaw The Body Snatcher (1945) which starred Boris Karloff and Henry Daniell. Based on the story by Robert Louis Stevenson, it is one of the Val Lewton produced classic horror films of the 1940s. It was directed by Robert Wise. The film also featured Bela Lugosi but Boris Karloff was a far better actor than him.

The Wrestler (2008) 9/10 2nd viewing

Mindless (Meeletu) (2006) 7/10

I watched "They Live by Night" (1948) which was Nicholas Ray's directorial debut and starred Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell. It was based on the book "Thieves Like Us" which was refilmed under that title in 1974 by Robert Altman.

Leigh Harlin wrote the music.This is some of it:

The first part seems to have been pinched from the traditional song "I Know where I'm Going" which was used in the Michael Powell film of the same name which was made 3 years earlier.

Ahlaam (2006) 8/10

I saw "Catch me if you can" (2002) the Spielberg film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks.

Hunting And Gathering (Ensemble, c'est tout) (2007) 7/10