Customer Reviews

British Cinema Drama Collection: The Rough and the Smooth, The Scamp, Grand National Night, Kill Me Tomorrow

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

VCI Entertainment presents "BRITISH CINEMA DRAMA COLLECTION VOL.3" --- (1952, 1957 & 1959) (342 min) --- (Dolby digitally remastered) --- Check the Editorial Reviews for Product Description on this Amazon page for details.

THE ROUGH AND THE SMOOTH (1959) (102 min/B&W) -- Robert Siodmak (Director) - Nadja Tiller, Tony Britton & William Bendix
The story line and plot is a little hard to swallow. As the film draws to an end it keeps you still puzzled, what was this all about.

THE SCAMP (1957) (86 min/B&W) -- Wolf Rilla -- (Director/Screenwriter) - Richard Attenborough, Dorothy Alison, Colin Petersen, Terence Morgan & Jill Adams
Outstanding performances by the entire cast with heartfelt direction by Wolf Rilla --- Featuring a young Richard Attenborough too boot.

KILL ME TOMORROW (1957) (74 min/B&W) -- Terence Fisher (Director) - Pat O'Brien, Lois Maxwell, George Coulouris, Wensley Pithey & Tommy Steele
Great direction by Terence Fisher, who within months of making this would become one of the leading British horror film directors at the Hammer studio. Pat O'Brien and Lois Maxwell are mismatched and their scenes together are evident of that.

GRAND NATIONAL NIGHT (1953) (80 min/B&W) -- Bob McNaught (Director) - Nigel Patrick, Moira Lister, Beatrice Campbell & Betty Ann Davies
With a couple of slick twists this develops into a thriller, with an unsuspecting ending that gives the customer their monies worth.

This collection contains no bonus features

Total Time: 342 mins on DVD ~ VCI Home Video 8571 ~ (1/26/2010)

It is good to see again the old British movie dramas which only now
are being released on DVD. This collection includes four movies
namely "The Rough and the Smooth" (1959), "The Scamp" (1957), "Kill
Me Tomorrow" (1957) and "Grand National Night" (1953).

The movie that I have selected for this review is "The Scamp", a
favourite of mine and the reason that I chose this particular disc
for purchase.

Made in 1957 and starring Richard Attenborough, Terence Morgan,
Jill Adams and Colin Petersen who is fresh from his winning role
in the Australian movie "Smiley".

It is the story of a schoolmaster (Richard Attenborough) who
befriends a street urchin named Tod (Colin Petersen). Tod is the
product of a broken marriage and is being neglected by his drunken
father. The boy is bad tempered and revengeful taking out his
frustration on society. The schoolmaster does his best to guide
the boy to a better life despite the odds against him.

Colin Petersen who was a charmer in the movie "Smiley" shows here
that he has considerable talent as a dramatic actor. The movie is
a good drama with a surprising twist at the end.

The other movies on the disc are reasonably good entertainment.
The disc has been digitally remastered and is in pristine condition.

I have given this disc a five star rating because of the movie
"The Scamp". The other movies although good would not rate so
highly.