Shameless Self Expression

10 year-old Freddie Findlay is sent to a boarding school by his father (Edward Fox, almost entirely in voice-over) who is subsequently the target of much bullying by other students. His only sanctuary is in forming a secret gourmet cooking club with other misfits at the school. Robert Hardy (no relation to the director) plays the headmaster, Christopher Lee is the sinister and imposing Latin instructor, with Lisa Faulkner as his daughter.   Apparently one of Christopher Lee’s favourite films of his own, I’m afraid I don’t share the sentiment here. This 1994 children’s film from director Justin Hardy (most prolifically a director of TV) and his co-writer Yoshi Nishio plays like Roald Dahl without the bite. Also without much of a plot. It’s all very English, very slight, and with the sinister elements ultimately coming across like a red herring. That’s a shame because the only thing I enjoyed here were the snotty attitudes of the kids and the sinister way the adult characters seemed

Nice chorus girl Virginia Valli takes pity on Carmelita Geraghty when the latter is targeted by a pickpocket, getting her a look-in at the title music hall, as well as a place to stay. Turns out Geraghty is kind of a beeyatch social climber who ignores her perfectly nice fiancé (John Stuart) for a Russian aristocrat. For her part, Valli hooks up with a no-good friend (Miles Mander) of Geraghty’s fiancé. Gee, I wonder how this will all turn out?   Perfectly nice 1925 silent film from Sir Alfred Hitchcock ( “The Lodger” , “Strangers on a Train” , “Vertigo” ) won’t rank among his 10 best-ever films but it’s quite good and definitely worth seeking out for Hitchcock buffs. The story might seem stock-standard looking at things retroactively, but it nonetheless works and was probably much fresher at the time. We even get an early example of the ‘meet cute’ where a romantic couple literally trip over one another. Although it mostly plays out as a romantic piece of fluff, it actually gets d