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It’s the granddaddy of British cop dramas of the modern era. The most popular English picture of 1950 introduced PC George Dixon, a warm-hearted constable who would become a staple on BBC TV for 21 years. T.E.B. Clarke’s screenplay of a murder manhunt is stocked with actors American fans know well — Dirk Bogarde, Bernard Lee — and some we should know better — Jack Warner, Robert Flemyng, Dora Bryan. The show was made by the top craftsmen of Ealing Studios, and its fast pace and Brit sensibility will definitely impress. And remember — the Bobbies on the beat don’t even carry guns.

The Blue Lamp

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1950 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 85 min. / Street Date June 1, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Jack Warner, Jimmy Hanley, Dirk Bogarde, Robert Flemyng, Bernard Lee, Peggy Evans, Patric Doonan, Bruce Seton, Meredith Edwards, Dora Bryan, Gladys Henson, Tessie O’Shea, Betty Ann Davies, Jennifer Jayne, Sam Kydd,...

3-D in CinemaScope? That seems like a strange combination, but this obscure treasure hunt adventure with Joanne Dru and Mark Stevens is indeed billed as being filmed in the ‘Miracle of Stereo-Vision,’ five years after the demise of Hollywood’s first fling with ‘depthies.’ Kino and the 3-D Film Archives extras include two vintage 3-D shorts, one of them never screened in 3-D.

September Storm

3-D Blu-ray

Kino Classics

1960 / Color / 2:39 widescreen / 92 min. / Street Date March 28, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 34.95

Starring: Joanne Dru, Mark Stevens, Robert Strauss Asher Dann, Jean-Pierre Kérien, Véra Valmont..

Cinematography: Lamar Boren, Jorge Stahl Jr.

Film Editor: Alberto Valenzuela

Art Direction: Boris Leven

Underwater director: Paul Stader

Original Music: Edward L. Alperson Jr., Raoul Kraushaar

Written by W.R. Burnett from a story by Steve Fisher

Produced by Edward L. Alperson

Directed by Byron Haskin

The 3-D Film Archive has been an amazing resource for the fascinating depth format,...

No Highway in the Sky

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1951 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 99 min. / Street Date February 7, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring : James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Glynis Johns, Jack Hawkins, Janette Scott, Niall MacGinnis, Kenneth More, Ronald Squire, Elizabeth Allan, Jill Clifford, Felix Aylmer, Dora Bryan, Maurice Denham, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Bessie Love, Karel Stepanek.

Cinematography: Georges Périnal

Film Editor: Manuel del Campo

Original Music: Malcolm Arnold

Written by: R.C. Sherriff, Oscar Millard, Alec Coppel from the novel by Nevil Shute

Produced by: Louis D. Lighton

Directed by Henry Koster

A few years back, whenever a desired title came up on list for a Fox, Columbia or Warners’ Mod (made-on-demand) DVD, my first reaction was disappointment: we really want to see our favorites released in the better disc format, Blu-ray. But things have changed. As Mod announcements thin out, we have seen an explosion of library titles remastered in HD.

Next week sees the release of Criterion’s stunning Blu-ray restoration of the film that launched a thousand Smiths lyrics (I nearly fell of the couch when I heard Paul Danquah say “I dreamt about you last night. I fell out of bed twice.”) Morrissey credits half his career as a writer to Shelagh Delaney, the nineteen-year-old Manchester playwright whose 1958 play and subsequent film were a worldwide sensation. The rare kitchen-sink classic that centers on a woman rather than an angry young man, the main reason for the film’s success—though it is excellent in so many ways—was the then-unknown Rita Tushingham. Chosen from among thousands of girls, her star-making performance blew all the remaining cobwebs off British film acting and skipped away with the Best Actress award at Cannes (where, as recounted in a lovely interview with the now 74-year-old Tushingham on the Blu-ray, she and co-star...

Elfin Rita Tushingham makes a smash film debut as Shelagh Delaney's dispirited working class teen, on her own in Manchester and unprepared for the harsh truths of life. It's one of the best of the British New Wave. A Taste of Honey Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 829 1961 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 100 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date August 23, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Rita Tushingham, Dora Bryan, Paul Danquah, Murray Melvin, Robert Stephens. Cinematography Walter Lassally Film Editor Anthony Gibbs Original Music John Addison Written by Tony Richardson and Shelagh Delaney adapted from her stage play Produced and directed by Tony Richardson

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

The British New Wave got a real shot in the arm with 1961's A Taste of Honey. A stubbornly realistic drama about life in the lower working classes of Manchester, it was adapted from a near-revolutionary play by Shelagh Delaney, produced by Joan Littlewood. Here in...

“Everything But The Kitchen Sink”

By Raymond Benson

In the late 1950s, a film movement emerged in Britain known as “Free Cinema.” Some of the U.K.’s most celebrated filmmakers of the 1960s and 70s were among its practitioners—Lindsay Anderson, Karel Reisz, Lorenza Mazzetti, and Tony Richardson. The directors made low budget, short documentaries about the working class with an almost deliberate “non commercial” sensibility. It was radical and exciting, and it was a precursor to the British New Wave that dovetailed with the French New Wave that was so influential on filmmakers everywhere.

Many of the pictures of the British New Wave, released between 1959 and 1964, focused on characters described as “angry young men,” and the films themselves were referred to by critics and theorists as “kitchen sink dramas.” This was because the movies were presented in a harsh, realistic fashion and were indeed about the gritty, working...

Actor Aubrey Morris has passed away at the age of 89. The veteran star, who is known best for his role of P.R. Deltoid in 1971's A Clockwork Orange, died on Wednesday, July 15, his agent confirmed to the BBC. Morris started his acting career on the small screen before making his big-screen debut in the 1960s. The British thespian's early film work includes roles in Night Caller From Outer Space with John Saxon and Maurice Denham, The Sandwich Man with Bernard Cribbins and Dora Bryan, and [...]...

TV, stage and movie actress Dora Bryan has passed away.

The star, whose TV roles included Ros Utterthwaite in Last of the Summer Wine and June Whitfield's on-screen friend Dolly in Absolutely Fabulous, was 91.

Bryan also appeared in films such as A Taste of Honey, The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery and Apartment Zero.

She was awarded an OBE for services to drama in 1996.

Bryan's manager David Hill has paid his respects to her via Twitter, saying: "As her agent / manager, but above all her friend, I'm so sad to announce that #DoraBryan has died today. A legend, an icon & a true star!"

The actress died at a nursing home in Hove today (July 23), with her sons Daniel and William Lawton telling The Argus: "It was heartbreaking but it was peaceful. She just left us.

"She was a tiny woman but her constitution was incredible. She loved being on stage,...

Dora Bryan has died aged 91. The 'Last of the Summer Wine' and 'Absolutely Fabulous' actress passed away with her sons Daniel and William Lawton by her bedside, according to The Brighton Argus newspaper. Dora, who was based in Brighton, had lived at a nursing home in Hove, south east England, in the final years of her life. Her son Daniel said: ''It was heartbreaking but it was peaceful. She just left us. ''She was a tiny woman but her constitution was incredible. ''She loved being on stage, that's what she wanted. Not only did she do it, but she was good at it. ''She was...

Dora Bryan has died aged 91. The 'Last of the Summer Wine' and 'Absolutely Fabulous' actress passed away with her sons Daniel and William Lawton by her bedside, according to The Brighton Argus newspaper. Dora, who was based in Brighton, had lived at a nursing home in Hove, south east England, in the final years of her life. Her son Daniel said: ''It was heartbreaking but it was peaceful. She just left us. ''She was a tiny woman but her constitution was incredible. ''She loved being on stage, that's what she wanted. Not only did she do it, but she was good at it. ''She was...

One of Hammer’s last films and I think one of their best, Hands of the Ripper is a fun play on the Jack the Ripper mythology, with a great central performance from Angharad Rees. Although she’s the daughter of a killer and she is no angel, you still feel for her. Synapse has released this gem on Blu-ray and DVD with a fine looking image and a slate of bonus content that should make most fans happy.

Little Anna (played as an adult by Angharad Rees), witnesses her father murdering her mother as a child. Needless to say, she is traumatized. To make things worse, she is adopted by a terribly manipulative Mrs.Golding (Dora Bryan), a fraudulent psychic who ropes Anna into working for her. One night, something goes horribly wrong at a séance Anna is assisting with. Her life takes a turn seemingly for the better...

My mother Pat Ashton, who has died aged 82, was an actor for over four decades. Probably her most important TV role was that of Annie, wife of a burglar (Bob Hoskins) who comes out of prison to find that his old friend (John Thaw) has moved in, in Thick As Thieves (1974). When Yorkshire TV declined a second series, the writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais took the idea to the BBC, where it was developed into the much-loved series Porridge.

Pat was born and raised in Wood Green, north London. During her early years, the piano was the focus of entertainment at home, with her brother Richard playing all the popular songs of the day. Her grandmother had been a trapeze artist, performing in front of the tsar in Russia, and Pat quickly became fascinated with music hall, learned to tap-dance from an early age and went on to...

My father, Stanley Dent, who has died aged 95, swapped the world of accountancy for running Adelphi Films, which produced British feature films throughout the 1950s – comedies, romances, dramas and horror, cheap and cheerful, but good entertainment, featuring stars such as Peter Sellers, Diana Dors, Sid James, Max Bygraves, Tommy Trinder and Dora Bryan.

Stanley was born in London, one of the three sons of Arthur Dent, a successful and charismatic film salesman, and his wife Hettie. He went to Kingsbury county school (now high school), and then qualified as an accountant. During the second world war, he was a gunner in Egypt and Syria. He enjoyed the outdoor desert life, where he learned to steer his jeep by the stars.

Arthur acquired Adelphi Films in 1949 and Stanley joined the company as business director, with his brother David as a producer. Their brother, Harry, had been killed during the war. Adelphi...

1948 was a good year for mermaids.

In Britain, producer Betty E. Box presented Miranda, starring Glynis Johns as a Cornish water-nymph who goes on dry land disguised as an invalid, making merry with the menfolk. Six years later, a sequel, Mad About Men, continued the character's amorous adventures in Technicolor.

Meanwhile in America, William Powell romanced mute mermaid Ann Blyth, an apparent manifestation of his mid-life crisis, in Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid. (Tarzan and the Mermaids, the same year, did not supply any true amphbious ladies.)

What do these fish stories reveal about their respective countries of origin? None of the films' directors have much in the way of auteur credentials—Ken Annakin directed the first Miranda film, staying true to the tradition of innocuous entertainment which was the defining quality of his career, and Ralph Thomas directed the second: though his son Jeremy has produced major films for Bertolucci and Cronenberg,...

Feisty playwright best known for her ground-breaking debut, A Taste of Honey

Shelagh Delaney was 18 when she wrote A Taste of Honey, one of the defining plays of the 1950s working-class and feminist cultural movements. The play's group of dysfunctional characters, utterly alien to the prevailing middle-class "anyone for tennis?" school of theatre, each explored their chances of attaining a glimpse of happiness. The central character, a young girl named Jo, lives in a decrepit flat in Salford with her mother, who is apt to wander off in pursuit of men with money. Jo becomes pregnant by a black sailor and is cared for by Geoffrey, a young gay friend, until her mother ousts him in what could be a burst of suppressed maternal love or a display of jealous control-freakery.

Delaney, who has died of cancer aged 71, had to endure harsh criticism for her attack on the orthodoxies of the period.