This excellent documentary follows Billy Bragg as he embarks on a mission to put music to a selection of lyrics penned by folk legend, Woody Guthrie. Billy's love of the People's Troubadour is evident as he visits his home town, tracing Woody's life and influences with the help of his daughter, Nora Guthrie. The music (compiled on two albums, 'Mermaid Avenue' Vol.'s 1 and 2) is excellent and is lifted with the collaboration of Wilco. Jeff Tweedy, lead singer with Wilco, seems particularly inspir
find out more...
BOUND FOR GLORY (1976)
CertificationPG Our Rating
A gilded bio of the legendary balladeer, Woody Gutherie, and his hobo existence in 1930s depression-hit America. Beautifully shot and, as you would expect, with an amazing score, Bound For Glory is a loving recreation of Gutherie as an American icon, the people's poet bringing light and hope to the down trodden masses; a gentle, elegiac film far removed from director Hal Ashby's previous work.
find out more...
DELIUS - SONG OF SUMMER (1968)
CertificationPG Our Rating
Based on Eric Fenby's 1936 memoir 'Delius As I Knew Him', we follow the last five years of the composer, by now blind, paralysed, embittered and at war with the world, as Fenby helps him formulate into music the compositions he still has whirling around his mind. 'Delius - Song of Summer' is a powerful and moving story.
find out more...
KANSAS CITY (1996)
Certification15 Our Rating
Small time gangster's moll Blondie kidnaps a big-wig local politico's junkie wife in order to secure her husband's release from the local mafiosi. Altman's homage to his hometown is a swirl of bourbon soaked atmospherics on the themes of love, crime, race and politics, grafted onto a fine jazz soundtrack.
find out more...
LADIES IN LAVENDER (2004)
Certification12 Our Rating
Cornwall in 1936 is still a timeless place. Sisters, Janet and Ursula Widdington discover a castaway on the beach below their house, and with the help of the local doctor they nurse him back to health. During his convalescence the sisters discover his talent as a musician and the unsettling effect he has on them both - especially Ursula, whose life will never be the same again. Award winning actresses Dame Judi Dench and Maggie Smith star in this evocative, heart-warming story of unfulfilled dre
find out more...
THE GLENN MILLER STORY (1953)
CertificationU Our Rating
It's all sweetness and light in this moving music biopic classic of Glen Miller's impressive rise to fame with June Allyson playing his childhood sweetheart and James Stewart outstanding as the man himself. It's got all the great arrangements from 'Pensylvania 6-500' to 'Moonlight Serenade', all scored by Henry Mancini in homage to Miller's style, plus Louis Armstrong makes an appearance playing 'Basin Street Blues' and Frances Langford does 'Chattanooga Choo-Choo'.
find out more...