Film Archive (73)

© Words Laurence Marcus.

When the series was screened on BBC2 the critics heaped praise on it finding David's story-telling hilarious and the new technique of using the filmed sequences an exciting innovation. In spite of Dave Allen's reputation for controversial material this first series took great pains to avoid anything crude or vulgar. True, he did take a side-swipe at religion and other sacred subjects but the only complaint that the first show had was not from a viewer.

© Words - A.J Marriot
There is a very strong, indefinable spiritual bond that binds comedians together, one which makes them want to seek out each other's company – regardless of the distance or hardship involved. Thus it was that the lives of the three greatest screen clowns that England has ever produced were destined to cross. Such was the impact of these meetings, that the lives of at least two of them were changed and sustained during their formative comedy years.

© Words Laurence Marcus.
David Tynan O'Mahony was born on 6th July 1936 in Dublin. He later changed his name to Dave Allen on advice from his agent who felt that his given name was 'unpronounceable'. However, that didn't hold back other members of the O'Mahony family of whom his grandmother, Nora O'Mahony edited Freeman's Journal, a publication that could boast W.B. Yeats among it's contributors, and his cousin, Eoin O'Mahony, a respectable barrister and something of a wandering scholar, who was affectionately given the nickname of 'The Pope', because one day when he was asked what he wanted to be -that's what he replied.

© Words - Scott Powhatan Collins

Dear readers, as I have often expressed to you, I am no film expert. I am only a film enthusiast. When I write my reviews and postings, I am only offering my opinion of the films that I have seen and not truly expressing a "set-in-stone" assessment designed to be the final word. Essentially, you have your opinions and I have mine, no one is inherently right or wrong and that is exactly how it should be. Even so, there are times in which my opinion seems to fall directly against what is seemingly the mass consensus,

© Words William Goodchild

In this her fifth feature, writer and director Nicole Holofcener brings us a good-humoured and extremely likeable tale of a couple and their surrounding relationships. This is not to say it’s a rose-tinted view. The darker and more unpleasant aspects of love are also explored but its general mood is one of tenderness and warmth.