Film4 Listings for Tuesday 26th February
Listings: all day morning afternoon evening late night
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11:00
The Seven Year Itch (Film)
Billy Wilder's comedy of the sexes stars Tom Ewell as Richard Sherman, a publishing executive who lives in New York with his wife of seven years and their son. While his wife and son decamp to the lakes for the summer, he is forced to stay behind in the sweltering heat to meet a deadline. But his discomfort may be alleviated by the girl who's just moved in upstairs. As the pair get to know each other, her innocent flirting begins to make him wonder whether, while the cat's away, it's time for the mouse to play. Ewell reprised his role from the Broadway hit, while Monroe was at her most luminously beautiful, epitomised by the iconic moment when the subway breeze provides her with some welcome cool air, and the audience a glimpse of her legs.
Director: Billy Wilder
Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Tom Ewell, Evelyn Keyes, Sonny Tufts, Robert Strauss, Oskar Homolka
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 1955, PG, 4 Star)
13:05
Seven Days to Noon (Film)
Barry Jones stars as Professor Willingdon, a leading atomic research scientist who rebels and devises a plan to prevent the potential for nuclear war: he steals an atomic bomb and announces that, unless all work on the atomic project stops, he'll detonate it in central London. Special Branch officer Superintendent Folland is given the thankless task of trying to track the scientist down. Co-starring Olive Sloane and Joan Hickson.
Director: John Boulting, Roy Boulting
Starring: Barry Jones, André Morell, Hugh Cross, Sheila Manahan, Olive Sloane, Joan Hickson
(Black and White, Subtitles, 1950, PG, 4 Star)
15:00
That Touch of Mink (Film)
Cary Grant and Doris Day star in Delbert Mann's delightful, frothy comedy-romance. She plays Cathy Timberlake, who falls for businessman Roger Adams when his car coats her in mud. Instantly attracted, she wants a ring while he just wants a fling. She figures the way to get him is to be the playgirl he desires, while his plan is to be a straight-ace guy. Inevitably, misunderstandings galore abound but the spark between the two leads is unmistakable. The supporting cast includes Gig Young, John Astin and Audrey Meadows, plus cameos from then-baseball superstars Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra.
Director: Delbert Mann
Starring: Cary Grant, Doris Day, Gig Young, Audrey Meadows, Alan Hewitt, John Astin
(Subtitles, Audio Described, 1962, U, 3 Star)
17:00
Akeelah and the Bee (Film)
Doug Atchison's charming drama stars Keke Palmer as Akeelah Anderson, a young girl attending a tough ghetto school in Los Angeles. When she sees the finals of the National Spelling Bee, she decides to enter the competition on the strength of her special skill at spelling. Despite her classmates derision and the antipathy of her mother Tanya, thanks to the efforts of her teacher Dr Joshua Larabee, she reaches the final. But when she meets her fellow competitors, she learns a lesson that will stand her in better stead in the future as she realises that coming first isn't everything in life.
Director: Doug Atchison
Starring: Keke Palmer, Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett, Curtis Armstrong, J.R. Villarreal, Sean Michael Afable
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2006, 12, 4 Star)
19:10
Hocus Pocus (Film)
Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Thora Birch star in this slightly dark Disney family fantasy-comedy, directed by Kenny Ortega. Max is not happy that his family have moved to Salem, Massachusetts, and he's even less pleased that he has to look after his younger sister Dani on Halloween. While attempting to prove to his sister and his sweetheart Allison that Halloween is all just superstition and nonsense, he accidentally resurrects Winnie, Sarah and Mary, three witches put to death 300 years earlier for killing children to create rejuvenating potions. The revived crones resume their quest for eternal youth, and only Max, Dani and Allison can stop them.
Director: Kenny Ortega
Starring: Jason Marsden, Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, Omri Katz, Thora Birch
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1993, PG, 3 Star)
21:00
The Sentinel (Film)
Clark Johnson's thriller stars Michael Douglas as Peter Garrison, a veteran Secret Service agent guarding President Ballentine but, to complicate matters, Ballentine's wife Sarah is having an affair with Garrison. After an agent is shot dead trying to reach Garrison, a mole tells him there's a traitor in the White House bent on assassinating the President. When investigator David Breckinridge learns of this, he screens everyone and only one agent fails the test - Garrison. Garrison, now on the run, has to find the crucial information that will clear his name, expose the traitor and save Ballentine's life as the President prepares to attend a crucial summit.
Director: Clark Johnson
Starring: Michael Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland, Eva Longoria Parker, Martin Donovan, Ritchie Coster, Kim Basinger
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2006, 12, 3 Star)
23:10
Oldboy (Film)
Chan-wook Park's visceral thriller begins when Dae-su Oh, an obnoxious drunk, is bailed from the police station yet again by a friend. But he's abducted from the street and wakes up in a cell where he remains for the next 15 years, drugged unconscious when human contact is unavoidable, otherwise with only the television as company. Then he is suddenly released and invited to track down his jailor. His path to revenge incorporates a superbly choreographed fight against multiple foes in which he is armed with just a hammer, and a scene which features the ingestion of a live octopus. It's not easy viewing but it's always compelling.
Director: Chan-wook Park
Starring: Min-sik Choi, Ji-tae Yu, Hye-jeong Kang, Dae-han Ji, Dal-su Oh, Byeong-ok Kim
(Subtitles, Subtitled, In Korean with English Subtitles, 2003, 18, 4 Star)
01:30
Walter (Film)
A chance to see the film that was screened on the very first night of Channel 4's existence. Ian McKellen stars in this moving drama, adapted by David Cook from his award-winning book, as Walter, a man with learning difficulties, who fi$$$ himself at the mercy of society's blinkered attitudes: some call him 'backward', some say he's 'handicapped' and others think of him as a joke. However, despite their hostility, he manages through his own efforts and the help of his mother to read, write and hold down a mundane job. But when his parents die, a nightmare begins, one which leads him through the forbidding doors of a long-stay mental hospital. Directed by Stephen Frears and filmed by Chris Menges, Walter was the first Film on Four - a series of feature films commissioned specially by Channel 4 at its birth, which marked a substantial boost for the British film industry as well as the beginning of the channel's longstanding and continuing contribution to British drama.
Director: Stephen Frears
Starring: Ian McKellen, Arthur Whybrow, Barbara Jefford, Frankie Connolly, Jim Broadbent, Garry Cooper
(Subtitles, 1982, 18, 3 Star)