BBC Two is going to be showing The Summer Of British Film with a major seven part series entitled British Film Forever. Of course, there was previously the not-at-all-bad The Best of British Cinema which seemed to be a bought-in series at a time (1987) when indie productions were pretty rare on the BBC. I particularly remember the episode that looked at Olivier’s version of Henry V.
Anyway, alongside this new series will be around 70 films showing on BBC Two. Among these is the UK Premiere of A Cock And Bull Story amongst others.
What I find especially peculiar is that the BBC press release says that they’ll also be showing From Russia With Love. Is this the first time that a Bond movie has been shown on the BBC? I’m not talking about the original Casino Royale or Never Say Never Again. I’m talking about the “proper” Bond films.
Interestingly, there also going to be some cinema re-releases of various titles across the summer with showings of Goldfinger, Brief Encounter, Billy Liar, the aforementioned Henry V, The Wicker Man, The Dam Busters (ahead of the Peter Jackson backed remake), and Withnail & I (Can I just admit at this point, that I’ve never seen Withnail & I. Yes, I know. It’s incredible. But I haven’t).
There’s also an unnecessary “user generated content” element – although perhaps some will enjoy remaking old films. I’d have thought that encouraging new ideas might be a more worthwhile idea (I just recently discovered Propeller hidden away in the depths of Sky. There are some very good shorts on it.).