Resaw The Illusionist (2006). A good quality film with a decent story and where the lead (Edward Norton) was trained to perform the magical illusions rather than them having to resort to CGI special effects. One of those rare modern films which is enjoyable.
Watched Who?, a 1974 film. A low key film, not really science fiction or a spy thriller, more of a mystery. American scientist severely injured in a car crash on the border between East and West Germany has been captured by the East Germany military. He has been nursed back to health but is so badly scarred much of his body is replaced with electronics and his face is replaced with a metal mask. That's before the start of the film where the scientist is supposedly released to the Americans but who is he really? They won't let him return to his Neptune project unless he can prove that he is who he says he is.
The lead American interrogator is played by Elliott Gould, the scientist (?) by Joesph Bova and there are flashbacks to the East Germany military interrogations or are they brainwashing lead by Trevor Howard.
It's quite a good film and unusual. In the states it was released on video under the title Robo Man. I can see why but the film is totally different in style to Robocop. It is also known as The Man with the Steel Mask.
The film was directed by Jack Gold.
I resaw Dead End (1937) which starred Joel McCrea & Sylvia Sidney and also a notable performance by Humphrey Bogart. Also the group of boys which were known as the Dead End Kids which had various films afterwards. Clearly a film version of a stage play. Directed by William Wyler.
The two best scenes were between Baby Faced Martin (Humphrey Bogart) and his utterly despairing broken mother (Marjorie Main) and him meeting his ex girl friend (Claire Trevor) who had turned to prostitution (clearly indicated rather than stated).
As a point of trivia, in the Broadway stage production of the play the part of the rich boy was played by Sidney Lumet.
Exceptional photography by Gregg Toland with use of deep focus which he would use 4 years later in Citizen Kane.
Rewatched Carnival of Souls (1962). Very low budget independent film, a bit like a full length Twilight Zone story. Considering that it is low budget, it's not bad and at times quite eeries.
As a piece of trivia the assistant director was Reza Badiyi. 6 years later he created the title sequence for the original Hawaii Five-O, a strong contender for the best title sequence in the history of television.
Saw the British film Sapphire (1959) which was on the Talking Pictures channel. Good quality intelligent police procedural film with a racial background. The two lead detecives were played by Nigel Patrick and Michael Craig. Peter Vaughan's second film role (not credited).
