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Sky UK TV Guide

14/04/2011
Time Film4
02:00

02:30 Close
No Genre

10:00

10:00 The Green Ray
Film Unlike Eric Rohmer's previous films, the dialogue of this comedy of manners was almost entirely improvised by the actors. How one reacts to the film may depend on how one reacts to the character of the overly fastidious Delphine, played superbly by Marie Rivière. Not knowing what to do on her holidays, she goes to Cherbourg, then the mountains and then Biarritz, but is bored and depressed everywhere until she meets the man of her dreams. The title, taken from the Jules Verne novel, refers to the last ray of sunset, the green of which is supposed to make observers more aware of the feelings and perceptions of others. Rohmer's intelligent films have much the same effect.

11:00

11:55 My Darling Clementine
Film In this classic western, Henry Fonda's Wyatt Earp and Victor Mature's Doc Holliday are heading for that close shave at the OK Corral. Owing rather less to historical accuracy than more recent movies - Tombstone and Kevin Costner's Wyatt Earp - this John Ford picture boasts some fine sequences. The best is a dance in an unfinished church, a fine symbol of the "garden being fashioned from the wilderness" by the strong-arm methods of Fonda's self-righteous lawman. Filmed in expressive black and white against Monument Valley locations, the picture combines both the grandeur and the folksiness so typical of its director.

13:00

13:45 A Matter of Life and Death
Film The theatrical stylisation of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger sometimes deflected their thematic purpose, but in this dazzling fantasy they succeed in marrying the two elements to perfection. David Niven stars as an RAF pilot who has a conversation with American servicewoman Kim Hunter as his plane is going down. After his miraculous survival, the two meet and fall in love but he is then told he was meant to die and must defend himself in heaven. Although the film was intended to celebrate the Anglo-American alliance that had prevailed in the Second World War, the Archers production company instead delivered a barbed allegory that called into question not only the strength of the ties between the Allies, but also Britain's continued status as a world power. Few in officialdom rejoiced when it was selected for the first Royal Command Performance, but its political outspokenness, visual audacity and mannered playing now make it one of the most fondly recalled of all British movies.

15:00

15:50 Local Hero
Film This comedy drama firmly established Bill Forsyth as a major British film-maker. It's a lyrical, almost mystical tale that follows the attempts of Texas oilman Burt Lancaster and his minion Peter Riegert to buy up an isolated Scottish village in order to build an oil refinery, without bargaining on the village's integral strength of community. Local Hero manages to avoid the relentless whimsy that over-egged Forsyth's previous outing, Gregory's Girl: the scenery is gorgeous, the performances are funny, ironic and moving (Lancaster, in particular, is superb), and Forsyth brings a sure directorial touch.

18:00

18:00 The Duellists
Film Based on a story by Joseph Conrad, this beautifully photographed movie was director Ridley Scott's first feature after graduating from commercials (Alien was to be his second). Set against the heavyweight hostilities of the Napoleonic Wars, it comes across as a coldly brilliant portrait of obsession, as hussars Harvey Keitel and Keith Carradine challenge each other over the years to a series of duels. Their small-scale battles might seem petty and ludicrous when juxtaposed against the war that's raging around them. But Keitel's manic man of honour is a character whose chilling fixation says something about the wider conflict and humankind's need to struggle. The British supporting cast is very impressive, too, with Albert Finney, Robert Stephens and Edward Fox all making brief but memorable appearances.

20:00

20:00 Kung Fu Hustle
Film Hong Kong writer/director/star Stephen Chow began his career as a children's TV entertainer, but his unique style - called "mo lei tau" (or "nonsense") - transforms ordinary situations into kung fu-injected, CGI-laden, stunt-fuelled comedic romps. As in his previous film Shaolin Soccer, Chow casts himself as the hapless, idiotic hero - here, a poor, weedy guy keen to be a member of the infamous Axe Gang who terrorise 1940s Shanghai. But from a tough neighbourhood, unlikely heroes appear. In the middle of a homage to Scorsese's Gangs of New York, a hilariously impressive martial arts battle begins. The exemplary fight scenes are choreographed by Sammo Hung (a collaborator of Jackie Chan) and Yuen Wo-Ping (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Matrix trilogy). Featuring more action than most action films, more comedy than most comedies and certainly more "nonsense" than most films in general, this is a dazzling and outrageous movie.

22:00

22:00 Saturday Night Fever
Film John Travolta's role here as Tony Manero, the Brooklyn shop assistant who becomes king of the New York disco scene, turned him from a B-list TV actor into, for a time, the hottest movie star in the world and a pop-culture icon. Party-poopers may find the whole thing a cringeworthy period piece and a reminder that the 1970s really were the naffest decade. But most will sit back and enjoy the snazzy dancing (much of it with co-star Karen Lynn Gorney), the memorable soundtrack - featuring classic songs from The Bee Gees, Tavares and KC and the Sunshine Band - and the all-round, high-energy entertainment.