Films in Abingdon
As a tribute to the late Nicholas Roeg who died in November 2018 we are screening his first feature film, co-directed with screenwriter Donald Cammell. Performance takes us into the psychedelic 1970s when hedonism was is at its height. When gangland criminal Chas [James Fox] goes to ground, taking refuge in a London basement next door to fading rock star Turner [Mick Jagger], he enters the counter-culture of the times.
Dir: Nicholas Roeg/Donald Cammell, UK, 105 mins, 1970
Following the success of the film ‘Stan and Ollie’ starring Steve Coogan and John C Reilly, ABCD felt it was time to celebrate the great masters of slapstick comedy with an original Laurel and Hardy. When Stan’s grandfather dies in Scotland he leaves the ever hard up Laurel an inheritance, necessitating his return to his homeland. But with the customary twists to the plot, the pair having enlisted in the army, find themselves enroute to the Northwest Frontier of India to wreak their usual chaos.
Dir: James W Horne, USA, 80 mins, 1935
Continuing our annual tradition of screening a silent classic, with piano accompaniment by Andrew Youdell of the National Film Theatre. We meet in St Nicolas’ Church, Market Place, Abingdon.
The Doll is the comedic story of the Baron of Chanterelle’s determination to find a suitable wife for his shy nephew Lancelot, in order to continue the family line. Lancelot finds himself enthusiastically pursued by all the eligible local village girls. Eventually Hilarius, a local doll maker, is called upon to assist but, through a series of events of mistaken identity, his daughter Ossi is the one that Lancelot only has eyes for.
Plus supporting programme.
Dir: Ernst Lubitsch, Germany, 64 mins 1919