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On the Buses: No Smoke Without Fire (1972)
Here's where the wheels fall off the bus.
It is well documented that towards the end of its route, OTB suffered as Wolfe and Chesney did not keep their eye on the ball, while pushing for a US version, as well as the first of three film outings. Lewis and Grant did their best to keep the sinking bus together, but their scripts were far from the quality of their masters, who, Frank Muir agreed were, for him, at the baked bean end of the menu to begin with. Consequently, Robbins, was rightly first to get off the bus, closely followed by Varney, and with the loss of these stalwarts, the wheels fall off. For me, No Smoke Without Fire is where this starts.
For once, unbelievable stupidity and story lines plague OTB. The climax of this whole sorry episode, the torching of the bus plot device which was designed to bring the house down, was met with silence by the studio audience, and I wager, those at home.
I loved OTB, and still do. But by series 6, the laughs have gone.
Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)
Another Bryan Forbes dumpster fire
SO Self-centred. SO Self-admiring. SO Self-smug. His name deserves a line and a paragraph of its own.
Bryan Forbes.
Anything that he wrote, produced or directed was a commercial, critical, and/or a financial disaster zone. This film does not disappoint. They say he was a creative force in the British Film Industry. This is true, for the force resulted in cheapskate, and unbelievably dire films, that appear as mere vanity projects for this model, prototype 'lovie'.
He surrounded himself professionally with sycophants, so, so obviously the same actors, actresses and crew appearing in his films. It is amazing how other gush about Forbes in glowing terms, which are sorely misplaced. That he managed a CBE for art services is beyond many.
This film is typical Forbes dire fair. See this, and you have seen all his back catalogue. Awful script, mumbled overlong speeches, Forbes fancying himself as an arty farty director. The conclusion to come to is that Forbes not a Jack of all trades, neither was he a master of any.
The Fabulous Dorseys (1947)
Great Music, True Story, No acting.
Oh dear. This film was shown on one of the Talking Pictures channels here recently. Now don't get me wrong. If you like Jazz and its technicians in this Golden Era, like I do, you will love the music and arrangements, and the surprise cameos.
But Jesus H Christ. Is this film smug and up its own backside or what?
Talk about If you love kitch and schmaltz, there's boatloads here, but you will have to suspend belief in that all you are seeing actually happened, or happened in the way as portrayed. Make sure you have a sick bag to hand.
Born Free (1966)
How awfully dull - and ennui-inspiring this plodder is.
Well, you'll probably know the whole story before viewing the film for the first time, these days, and yes it is a true yarn, give or take the odd liberty.
However, for a 1966 film, the film is around 30 odd years behind its time. Acting is so wooden, and amateurish. the script is frightfully dull, its oral expression clipped, and frightful and boring, and repetitive. Only the animals are natural performers here.
Read the book - it's better!