Category Archives: Screening and Discussion

Melodrama Screening and Discussion, Wednesday 20th of February, 5-7pm, Jarman 6

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All are very welcome to join us as we return to screening Dirk Bogarde films with links to melodrama. We will be showing A Tale of Two Cities (1958, Ralph Thomas, 118 mins) on Wednesday the 20th of February, 5-7pm, in Jarman 6.

This British adaptation of Charles Dickens’ 1859 novel sees Bogarde playing the initially dissolute, but ultimately self-sacrificing, lawyer Sydney Carton. We have previously screened Bogarde films which adapted modern texts (Libel, The Singer Not the Song and Cast a Dark Shadow) and one from the late 19th century (Esther Waters). Through discussing A Tale of Two Cities we can tackle one of English literature’s most adapted authors, whose connections to, and influence on, melodrama, bear further examination.

 

Do join us if you can.

 

Melodrama Screening and Discussion, Wednesday 6th February, 5-7pm, Jarman 6

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All are very welcome to join us as we take a brief break from screening Dirk Bogarde melodramas to once more appreciate Barbara Stanwyck. We will screen Ladies They Talk About (1933, Howard Bretherton and William Keighley, 69 mins) on Wednesday the 6th of February, 5-7pm, in Jarman 6.

The British Film Institute (BFI) is celebrating Stanwyck in a season running from February to March. (More information on their programme of events can be found here). The season includes screenings of Barbara Stanwyck films the melodrama group has previously discussed such as Baby Face (1933, Alfred Green) and Stella Dallas (1937, King Vidor).(See summaries of our discussion here and here). 

The event starts with a series of talks ‘Barbara Stanwyck in the Spotlight’ on Saturday the 2nd of February, at BFI Southbank in London. One of the speakers is melodrama research group member Lies Lanckman. (See more details and purchase tickets here.)

Lies will also kindly be introducing our on campus screening of Ladies They Talk About. 

A quick plot summary of the film:

This Warner Brothers production stars Barbara Stanwyck. She plays gangster’s moll, Nan Taylor, who is caught during a bank robbery but who appeals to old male classmate David Slade (Preston Foster) for help. David is now a radio evangelist, intent on just punishment for criminals, but agrees to help Nan. Despite David’s intervention, Nan is sent too San Quentin prison where she meets an array of fellow female convicts. Dramatic urgency is supplied by a thwarted escape, a shooting, and romance.

The film was later remade in 1942, starring Faye Emerson as the more aptly titled Lady Gangster (Robert Florey).

Do join us if you can.

 

 

 

 

 

NEW Timetable for Spring Term 2019

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To maximise the number of possible attendees, we have changed the day on which we meet for melodrama. Meetings will now take place on the Wednesday of even weeks, from 5-7pm, in Jarman 6.

Screening dates:

6th of February

20th of February

6th of March

20th of March

3rd of April

My sincere apologies to anyone who is inconvenienced by this change.

Melodrama Screening and Discussion, Monday 21st January, 5-7pm, Jarman 6

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All are very welcome to join us for the first of this term’s screening and discussion sessions. We’ll be showing Cast a Dark Shadow (1955, Lewis Gilbert, 82 mins) on Monday the 21st of January, 5-7pm, in Jarman 6.

The film continues our focus on Dirk Bogarde. In Cast a Dark Shadow he stars as Teddy, a man who having disposed of one wealthy wife (Mona Washbourne) is lining up Margaret Lockwood as the next Mrs Bare… Consideration of these as women in peril allows us to examine another facet of melodrama, since it returns the group to the subject of the Gothic.

Do join us if you can.

Timetable for Spring Term 2019

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We are pleased to announce the dates for this term’s melodrama screening and discussion sessions. Like last term, these will take place on the Monday evenings of ‘even’ weeks of term, between 5 and 7 pm, in Jarman 6. All are very welcome to attend.

The dates comprise:

21st of January

4th of February

18th of February

4th of March

18th of March

1st of April

Once again, there will be a focus on Dirk Bogarde, and more details will be posted on the blog in due course.

 

Melodrama Screening and Discussion, Monday 10th of December, 5-7pm, Jarman 6

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All are very welcome to join us for the last meeting of the term. We will be screening I Could Go On Singing (1963, Ronald Neame, 99 mins) on Monday the 10th of December, 5-7pm, in Jarman 6.

The film was not assigned the label ‘melodrama’ by the American industry magazine Box Office, but is referred to as a ‘drama with songs’ (18th March, 1963). This allows us  to consider an important element of melodrama we have not yet considered in relation to Dirk Bogarde melodramas – music.

It is unsurprising that Box Office’s main focus in advice to cinemas as to how to advertise the film in the US (and probably the UK) is its female lead – singing mega-star Judy Garland – rather than Bogarde, who plays her British ex-husband. The magazine’s ‘exploitips’ says that the big selling angle is indeed the music, with Garland performing songs in a film for the first time since A Star is Born (1954).

Catchlines (short sentences which Box Office suggests can be used) refer to the music, but also outline a melodramatic performance style and plot: ‘Judy Garland, Singing, Laughing and Tearing Your Heart Out In a Great Drama with Songs Galore…She Had to Let Love Pass Her By as She Sang to her Public From the Lonely Stage.’

Do join us, if you can, for what is likely to be an emotional viewing!

Melodrama Screening and Discussion, Monday 26th November, 5-7pm, Jarman 6

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All are very welcome to join us for the next instalment in our series of Dirk Bogarde melodramas. We will show The Singer Not the Song (1961, Roy Ward Baker, 132 mins) on Monday the 26th of November, 5-7pm, in Jarman 6.

The main plotline of the film was summarised by the US trade magazine Boxoffice on the film’s releases in that country in May 1962 as follows: ‘John Mills, a Catholic priest, arrives in a small Mexican town to take over for a predecessor who had bowed to the will of Dirk Bogarde, a bandit who has the townsfolk intimated.’ (8th January 1962)

While the plot description continues, for the sake of avoiding spoilers, I’ll just add that the two men end up in a battle for the town, and the soul of local girl, Mylene Demongeot…

In terms of melodrama, at the time of the film’s UK release (in January 1961) John Cutts, in the film magazine Films and Filming, reviewed it as a ‘protracted adventure-melodrama’ (February 1961, p. 33).

Do join us, if you can, for our move into colour and adventure!

Due to the film’s length we’ll attempt to start promptly at 5pm.

Melodrama Screening and Discussion, 12th November, 5-7pm, Jarman 6

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All are very welcome to join us as we return to screening melodramas starring Dirk Bogarde. We will be showing Libel (1959, Anthony Asquith, 100 mins) on Monday the 12th of November, 5-7pm, in Jarman 6.


The screenplay was adapted by Anatole de Grunwald and Karl Tunberg from the 1935 play of the same name by Edward Wooll. It stars Bogarde as Baronet Sir Mark Sebastien Loddon, a man who launches a libel action after he is accused of being an imposter. It was described as a ‘courtroom melodrama’  on its release in the United States by the trade journals Harrison’s Reports (24th October 1959, p. 170) and the Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (26th of October 1959, p. 21).

Do join us, if you can, for a film which also stars Olivia de Havilland (as Loddon’s wife), Paul Massie (as Loddon’s accuser), Robert Morley (acting for the prosecution) and Wilfrid Hyde-White (as the defence counsel).

Melodrama Screening and Discussion, 29th October, 5-7pm, Jarman 6

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All are very welcome to join us as we take a brief break from Dirk to screen something suitably Halloweeny. We will be showing The Bat Whispers (1930, Roland West, 83 mins) on Monday the 29th of October, 5-7pm, in Jarman 6.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Bat Whispers tells the tale of an infamous criminal (the bat of the title) who has supposedly retired. A bank robbery near Cornelia Van Gorder’s (Grayce Hampton) home suggests otherwise, however.  As the house is filled with unexplained noises and spooky occurrences, Detective Anderson (Chester Morris) arrives on the scene to investigate…

Like last time’s offering, Hunted, the film was categorised as a ‘melodrama’ by the trade press. In a double-page advertisement for the film in Film Daily (11th December, 1930) the film is hailed as the ‘Best Mystery Melo Screen Has Had For Decade’.

Do join us if you can, to watch a film which allows us to focus on the first element of the mystery violence chase of male melodrama.

Melodrama Screening and Discussion, 15th of October, 5-7pm, Jarman 6

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All are very welcome to join us for our next melodrama screening, on Monday the 15th of October, 5-7pm, in Jarman 6. We will be showing Hunted (1952, Charles Crichton, 84 mins).

This film, also known as The Stranger In Between, stars Dirk Bogarde as Chris Lloyd, a desperate man who has killed his wife’s (Elizabeth Sellars’) lover. After being discovered in a bombed out house by a boy, Robbie (Jon Whitely), Chris has to take the young witness with him as he goes on the run…

In contrast to Esther Waters’ focus on the suffering, though resilient, heroine, Hunted focuses on Bogarde’s tortured male criminal. The film contains aspects of the male melodrama, which Steve Neale relates to the Hollywood director Raoul Walsh’s use of ‘mystery, violence, chase’ (Genre and Hollywood, 2000).

To reinforce such a categorisation, trade paper Variety’s review called the film a ‘man-hunt meller’ (i.e. melodrama) (5th March, 1952, p. 6). Furthermore, fan magazine Picturegoer’s review commented on the last of the three aspect Walsh favoured: it describes the film as an ‘exciting chase’ (15 March, 1952, p. 16).

Do join us, if you can, for the second in our season of Dirk Bogarde melodramas.