The Man Who Would Be King

Sean Connery (Bond) and Michael Caine (Alfie) produce splendid performances as two British Army sergeants, Danny and Peachy. They stumble upon riches beyond their wildest dreams, but will greed take over?

Michael Caine called this "the only film I've done that will last after I'm gone."

Revelation - Two Thousand Years of Evil

A bit on the heavy side but rated by the Evening Standard as "A first rate occult thriller...intelligent and intriguing"

Udo Kier makes a very convincing villainous Grand Master, set to take over the world in a very different way.......

This film is a bit gory but the basic story is clever and well worth watching.

Finally, two more films about an old chestnut.......Jack The Ripper!

Jack The Ripper

This is the DVD of the television series, which starred Michael Caine, Jane Seymour and Lewis Collins. Very tongue-in-cheek and a bit cheesy but the feel of Victorian London is there. Not Michael Caine's best, but certainly not the worse he's made.

From Hell

"If you like scary movies, this one's a killer!" Stars Johnny Depp and Heather Graham turn out very watchable perfomances as the two main characters - Depp the policemen and Graham the prostitute he falls for. It's a bit far fetched but the Hughes Brothers have kept pretty much to the known facts and the London scenes, which were shot in Poland, are very accurate. Depp's cockney accent ain't a patch on Dick Van Dyke's, in fact it's almost acceptable.

This one is rated 18, adults only, so don't let the kids view it. It will give them nightmares! But just the job to put a final touch to all that Christmas turkey?

Forgive me for the last two films, but I am a bit of a ripperologist and it's a subject that will never go away! I hear you groan, but honestly, I think they are very watchable. Only my personal choice. :)

UK police series of the 60's, 70's and 80's tended to be cast in the same mould - even earlier 'coppers' were slightly larger than life; Lockhart, Barlow & Watt, George Dixon, Regan - they were all a bit 'ploddy' to start but they always got the villain.

Barlow & Watt, in my opinion, broke the mould with the JTR storyline. They brought modern policing methods (of the time) to an investigation of old crimes and this made very enjoyable viewing but, of course, could make no further contribution to solving the original murders. Nevertheless a great series and I am going out immediately to buy it on DVD!

But take this idea a stage further...........one of the newest police series on UK television, and one that I particularly enjoy, is "New Tricks".

Amanda Redman plays Sandra Pulman, disgraced because she shot a dog in the first episode and subsequently 'demoted' to a new department - the Unsolved Crimes and Open Case Initiative.

She recruits 3 retired police officers to be her 'squad' who then proceed to solve all those previously unsolved crimes.

It wouldn't be too much of a stretch of the imagination if this, now elite team were to be asked to look at the Jack the Ripper murders........(I wonder if the series writers will get to read this)

On a similar note.........what about all those time travel stories? At the end of the (best?) time travel film, H G Wells's "The Time Machine", starring Rod Taylor, the question is asked "what books would you take [into the future]?" That question could start a whole new topic but if you could travel back in time, would you want to find out who Jack really was?

As a footnote: Gary Sparrow (Nick Lyndhurst) who travelled back in time in "Goodnight Sweetheart" ran into Jack in the episode when he went further back in time than usual.

Stephen

http://www.cremaster.net/crem3.htm

Nick

http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/fiction/cinema.html