Movies

Flame (1975) Rock and roll rise and fall story, starring Slade. I come from a position of complete ignorance about Slade, and though I have never been fully reconciled to the grating tenor vocals of that type of band I found it overall believable and entertaining. Lots of gritty lower-class locales, and a visit to the pirate radio station on the sea forts in the Thames estuary is always a plus. It seems to have been made with the assumption that the audience was fairly intelligent. Thanks to Urania 235 for the recommendation. 8/10

The Cool Mikado (1963) A no-budget modernization of Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta. A bad idea poorly executed, though poorly doesn't capture the amateurish and inept quality of it all. Jazzed-up renditions of a few of the songs are just an excuse for a series of creaky vaudeville routines on unbelievably cheap and crappy sets. I was unsure about watching this until I read that comic Frankie Howerd claimed it was the only thing in his career of which he was truly ashamed, though he might have said that before Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was filmed. American comedian Stubby Kaye singing a re-written version of the one about letting the punishment fit the crime (I am as ignorant of G&S as I am about Slade) was the high point of the experience. The overall weirdness might be rationalized in that it is presented as a fantastic story being told in a framing sequence, but that concept is abandoned and never closed at the end of the film. For the badfilm fan, this is a gem but in the greater scheme of things, 2/10