P445ORACLE 445 Mon 3 Feb C4 1714:54
3/14
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P445ORACLE 445 Mon 3 Feb C4 1714:31
2/14
CONTENTS
Welcome to Take Four, 4-Tel's mini-
magazine devoted to films. On the
following pages you can find:
- THE HATTER'S GHOSTS Barbara Jefferson
takes a look at Wednesday's French
film - Chabrol's witty examination of
murder amongst the bourgeoisie
- BOARDWALK Rena Sodhi reviews tomorrow
night's emotionally moving film,
starring Lee Strasberg and Ruth
Gordon.
Edited by Michael Polling
More...
P445ORACLE 445 Mon 3 Feb C4 1704:12
4/14
REVIEW
THE HATTER'S GHOSTS
In its season of major French films,
Channel 4 is showing one of the best
this Wednesday at 10.05pm - Claude
Chabrol's The Hatter's Ghosts.
A psychological thriller based on the
novel by Georges Simenon and set in La
Rochelle, the film has you in its grip
from the first scene.
The film is a fascinating essay where
murder is seen as a pastime of the
bourgeoisie, casting Michel Serrault as
a prim and respected hatter who has
made mass murder part of his life.
More...
P445ORACLE 445 Mon 3 Feb C4 1714:11
5/14
REVIEW
THE HATTER'S GHOSTS
Charles Aznavour is Serrault's anxiety-
ridden tailor neighbour who, when he
discovers the hatter's gruesome secret,
is too terrified to inform the police.
Serrault keeps a dummy by his bedroom
window so that people think it's his
bedridden wife.
The hatter's mad obsession does not
only affect his behaviour with other
people - he has his maid cook two sets
of meals, so that he can take one
upstairs for his wife.
More...
P445ORACLE 445 Mon 3 Feb C4 1710:25
6/14
REVIEW
THE HATTER'S GHOSTS
When upstairs, Serrault not only eats
the second meal, but chats to the dummy
as if it were real, chastising it for
not eating potatoes, and wheeling it to
the window for fresh air.
Even when he cooks for himself, he
makes a meal for two and talks over the
table to an empty chair.
With an unnerving sang-froid, Serrault
sets out to murder the seven elderly
women friends of his wife, so that none
can pay her a visit on her birthday,
or discover she is dead. Murdered.
More...
P445ORACLE 445 Mon 3 Feb C4 1711:02
7/14
REVIEW
THE HATTER'S GHOSTS
Everyday, he meets to drink and play
cards with his friends, some of whom
police comissioners, lawyers, and one
is the brother of a victim.
Every time there is a murder, they sit
around trying to fathom out the
strangler's mind. The hatter even makes
his own predictions.
Until he falls ill, Aznavour provides a
superb cat-and-mouse game with the
hatter. Serrault knows the tailor is
too scared to turn informer, but he can
never be sure.
More...
P445ORACLE 445 Mon 3 Feb C4 1711:41
8/14
REVIEW
THE HATTER'S GHOSTS
La Rochelle is the perfect provincial
place for the film to take place with
its dark, twisting streets, small-town
attitudes and gloomy weather.
Michel Serrault, one of France's most
repected actors, manages to do the
ultimate in acting: he makes his
character credible, a real person.
The Hatter's Ghosts is laced with wry,
black humour, tinged with sadness and
psychological thrills. It's on this
Wednesday at 10.05pm.
More...
P445ORACLE 445 Mon 3 Feb C4 1711:44
Z 9/14
REVIEW
Tomorrow
9.00pm
P445ORACLE 445 Mon 3 Feb C4 1701:10
10/14
REVIEW
BOARDWALK
Boardwalk, tomorrow at 9pm, is a
powerful moving drama starring Lee
Strasberg and Ruth Gordon. They portray
an elderly Jewish couple trying to come
to terms with a changing environment.
Living on the beachfront neighbourhogd
of Coney Island, all around them they
see dramatic changes taking place.
A violent gang of roving youths are
terrorising elderly people: stealing
from, and physically assaulting them.
Friends of the couple are moving out
because it is no longer safe to stay.
More...
P445ORACLE 445 Mon 3 Feb C4 1712:24
11/14
REVIEW
BOARDWALK
Strasberg and Gordon are superb as the
loving couple who are approaching their
50th wedding anniversary.
They effectively convey a mutual love
and respect for each other, giving the
characters depth without making the
relationship appear cloying.
There is also fine support acting
from Janet Leigh as their daughter, and
Joe Silver and Eddie Barth as their twg
sons. They represent a close-knit
caring family. Very different to the
menacing thugs.
More...
P445ORACLE 445 Mon 3 Feb C4 1712:02
12/14
REVIEW
BOARDWALK
The brilliant photography from Billy
Williams adds to the film's emotional
impact. There are several aerial shots
which greatly alter the perspective of
the characters.
For example the first shot we see of
the gang of youths is from above as
they strut down the boardwalk. Not
seeing their faces gives them a
menacing, dangerous image.
The opposite effect is achieved at the
end: an aerial shot of Strasberg on the
boardwalk makes him look small and
insignificant.
More...
P445ORACLE 445 Mon 3 Feb C4 1713:41
13/14
REVIEW
BOARDWALK
The music also adds to the way we
feel about the characters and how we
perceive the film. At first it is
gentle and pleasant, reflecting the
easy-going warmth of the beach.
When the thugs appear it changes to a
harsh, threatening sound, conveying
their underlying violence. And this
continues throughout the film, a subtle
change from safety to violence.
The essence of the film is the feeling
of helplessness and fear felt by
elderly people when mindless savages
intrude on their lives.
More...
P445ORACLE 445 Mon 3 Feb C4 1718:51
14/14
REVIEW
BOARDWALK
The film shows how futile and narrow-
minded it is to be racist, either fgr
religious reasons or for the colour of
a person's skin.
The Jews are attacked because of their
religion, but Strasberg's daughter in
turn is unhappy when a black couple
move in next door.
Director Stephen Verona dramatically
examines characters within their
environment, and avoids simplyfying the
issues by saying that all blacks are
bad and all Jews are good. Don't miss
this film: it really makes you think.
by Rena Sodhi