The Great Dictator
dir. Charlie Chaplin (1940)
A political satire that, even at the time, carried a poignance well beyond its surface humour. Chaplin, playing a Jewish barber Hitler lookalike, struck an uneasy but quite brilliant balance between serious filmmaking (Chaplin the writer-director) and comic business (Chaplin the actor).
Flowers and the Last Hurrah
by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Analog, March 1999)
A cloning murder mystery, mostly scenario.
Reach for the Sky: The Story of Douglas Bader DSO, DFC
by Paul Brickhill (W. W. Norton & Company, 1954); audiobook read by Robert Hardy (Chivers, 1991/2010)
Brickhill is firmly eulogistic (though not without cause) in detailing the extraordinary feats of double-amputee fighter pilot Douglas Bader, and also something of English life itself in the interwar period and during World War II. Robert Hardy’s audiobook reading captures the spirit.
Sapphire & Steel, Assignment 2
by P. J. Hammond (ITV, 1979)
A murky, abandoned railway station provides the setting for this cagey, at times creepy foray into the supernatural. Sapphire and Steel’s second assignment has more coherence; more progression. The dénouement—though not foreshadowed—remains grimly in keeping, not a deus ex machina.
Mr Browser and the Brain Sharpeners
by Philip Curtis (Alfred A. Knopf, 1981); audiobook read by Sandi Toksvig (Brilliance, 2014)
A perfectly pitched middle grade adventure, pitting 10-year-old Michael Fairlie against egg-headed aliens who want to smarten up and then abduct his classmates. The foggy school oval and pepper-pot spaceships lend an eerie imagery to what otherwise is a fast, fun tale.
The Prestige
by Christopher Priest (Simon & Schuster, 1995); audiobook read by Simon Vance (Blackstone, 2006)
The intertwined life stories of two feuding magicians, told by way of their respective reminiscences. The overlapping viewpoints allow for an exploration of narrative felicity and also, dramatically, an almost Shakespearean tragedy; concomitantly, there’s no denying the book sags in the middle.
The Last Boy Scout
dir. Tony Scott (1991)
The film that, in development stage, donated its name to Die Hard (and could have been as big had it been made first). A serviceable action plot with Bruce Willis, plenty of tough guy moments and more memorable repartee than its precursor.
The Death of Grass
by John Christopher (Michael Joseph, 1956); audiobook read by William Gaminara (Audible, 2011)
A straightforward but fluently written quest narrative, disquieting in its content. Christopher is something of a forgotten master, and posits an all-too-real apocalypse brought about by systemic crop failure. The plot twists grimly to follow humanity’s rapid and inevitable loss of civilisation.
Doctor Who: Dimensions in Time
by John Nathan-Turner and David Roden (BBC, 1993)
A 14-minute charity special mashup with EastEnders seems a rather sad way for Doctor Who to have celebrated its 30th anniversary. The interchanging multi-Doctor, multi-companion plot is impossibly silly, but amidst all the rattling snippets some of the acting is surprisingly good.
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
by Douglas Adams (Pan, 1984); audiobook read by Martin Freeman (Macmillan, 2012)
The ideas, as ever, are ingenious, and Adams is at the top of his game in reuniting Arthur Dent with the erstwhile-destroyed Planet Earth. The story, however, such as it is, hitchhikes half-heartedly while secretly yearning to become a Dirk Gently novel.