Supported by Wiltshire Council’s Future High Streets Fund
The Best in Classic & Independent Cinema
Programme
Friday 31st May
Doors open 6pm for 8pm start
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KIND HEARTS & CORONETS (1949) Cert PG.
Dennis Price, Valerie Hobson, Joan Greenwood, Alec Guinness. Directed by Robert Hamer. (1 hr 46m)
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This savagely funny black comedy is among the best British movies ever made, and its potent combination of shocking dark humour and scheming amorality was astonishingly daring for its time. It's hard even for a modern audience not to avoid a vague sensation of guilt at finding such terrible misdeeds so thoroughly entertaining. Dennis Price enjoyed the best role of his career by far as the elegant but cold-hearted Edwardian social climber Louis Mazzini. His mother was disinherited by her aristocratic family, the d'Ascoynes of Chalfont, when she eloped with an Italian opera singer, so after her death he sets out to avenge her and claim the noble title by murdering every family member who stands between him and the family fortune. But his plans go awry when he finds himself torn between his equally devious paramour, played by the deliciously husky-voiced Joan Greenwood, and the pure-hearted widow of one of his noble cousins. Better even than Dennis Price is Alec Guinness, who delivers a simply astonishing multiple performance as all eight variously jolly, arrogant, mean and stupid members of the d'Ascoyne family who stand in his way. Serial killing has never looked so much fun, or been so enjoyable to watch!
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Why not join us for dinner before the movie? Ushers Bar is open for drinks and dinner from 6pm.
Friday 7th June
Doors open 6pm for 8pm start
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BALTIMORE (2023) Cert 15
Imogen Poots, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor. Directed by Joe Lawlor & Christine Molloy. (1hr 38m)
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Part thriller, part psychological portrait, Irish filmmakers Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor’s Baltimore is based on the extraordinary true story of the infamous English heiress and debutante Rose Dugdale who died earlier this year. Imogen Poots gives an exceptional and fiery performance as the tortured revolutionary. The film doesn't either condone or demonise Dugdale's actions but seeks to understand how and why she chose to follow the path she did. Born into extreme wealth and privilege, she became radicalised while at Oxford University by the political turmoil of the 1970s and renounced her family to become an active volunteer and fundraiser for the Irish Republican cause. That led to a series of increasingly daring burglaries, culminating in one of the biggest art heists in history: an armed raid on an Irish stately home to steal 19 priceless paintings. But when that robbery takes a violent turn, is she prepared to face the devastating consequences and take innocent lives to save her own?
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This screening replaces the previously announced Children Of Men, which we hope to show at a future date.
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Why not join us for dinner before the movie? Ushers Bar is open for drinks and dinner from 6pm.
Friday 14th June
Doors open 6pm for 8pm start
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MONTY PYTHON & THE HOLY GRAIL (1975) Cert 12A
Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle. Directed by Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones (1h 32m)
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Purists might argue over the respective merits of the Monty Python movies, but for our money Holy Grail is, for sheer lunacy and imaginative daring, their crowning achievement. The full Monty if you like. It remains arguably the most gloriously silly and inventive comedy ever to grace the silver screen, a sublime send-up of medieval history and the legend of King Arthur that manages to be as intellectually sharp as it is hilarious. The Life Of Brian five years later enjoyed a significantly bigger budget but it's the rougher edges of Holy Grail that are among its greatest pleasures. Not just the far more explicit comedy violence -- "It's only a scratch" "A scratch? Your arm's off." -- but the way in which the film makes an absolute virtue of its minuscule budget, from clapping coconut shells instead of real horses to cut-out castles and greater use of Terry Gilliam's wonderful animations to link individual sequences. Yet even with limited cash to spend, co-directors Gilliam and Terry Jones make exceptional use of several sumptuous locations -- not all the castles are cut-outs -- and the cinematography is often gorgeous. And let's not forget the gags: "She turned me into a newt!" "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries" "I'm not dead" "Help! Help! I'm being repressed!" "We are the Knights who say 'Ni'!" "I just want to sing!". Ah! Pure pleasure!
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Why not join us for dinner before the movie? Ushers Bar is open for drinks and dinner from 6pm.
Friday 21st June
Doors open 6pm for 8pm start
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ROBOT DREAMS (2023) Cert PG
Directed by Pablo Berger. (1hr 43m)
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Prepare yourself for one of the loveliest films you'll see this or any other year. Adapted by Spanish director Pablo Berger from the graphic novel by American author and illustrator Sara Varon, it's an absolutely delightful and deeply moving tale of love and loss, and also a beautifully detailed nostalgic ode to the summer in New York in the 1980s. Dog lives a lonely existence in Manhattan, but he's tired of being alone. Then he sees an ad on TV for a robot companion, and his life changes completely. Until disaster strikes. After an idyllic day at the beach, salt water gets into Robot's mechanism and shorts his circuits. It's the classic story: Dog meets Robot, Dog loses Robot... How will the story end? Although kids will certainly enjoy it, Robot Dreams is really a film for grown-ups who understand the subtleties of loneliness and friendship and the importance of a loving relationship. Be prepared for an emotional rollercoaster: joy and pain, laughter and tears. And, believe us, there will be tears. This is visual storytelling at its finest, a traditional animation of gentle, unshowy genius, made entirely without dialogue. Sometimes the very best love stories go deeper than words can say.
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