Omen night at West London Fantasy Film Society, BBC News on TV Themes & the Bank Charges fight back

by Parsley on Tue, 2010/02/16 - 4:13pm Post to Twitter

PARSLEY’S COMMLOCK
Event Review : Omen night at the West London Fantasy Film Society 04/02/10
I was back as my brother’s guest at this tiny cinema for enthusiasts of an old style cinema experience. First on the bill was a documentary about the making of The Omen 2.

The original Omen film is regarded as a class act. Omen 2 is coloured for me by the fact that it starred John Taylor a.k.a. Jonathan Scott-Taylor, as the Antichrist. I was at school with him, and I remember our English teacher saying how his talent shone through whilst comparing my performance to a small child walking round in grown-ups clothes. Strike me down, but on my first reading of Shakespeare I think it’s a tall order to do a convincing acting job when you barely know what your words mean, let alone their subtle nuances within the context of the play, …but I digress. I remember a girl telling me she had idolised John’s portrayal of the Antichrist and had dreamt of being his girlfriend. Alas, she lived in Wolverhampton, and we were at school in Elstree.

‘The making of’ film was short and limited to footage of the filming of a few scenes, notably the ice hockey game. John Taylor looked suitably pasty/disturbing in a film that he could be in, but was too young to go see at the cinema.

Next up was an episode of Ghost Story, a series not unlike Twilight Zone or Night Gallery, in being made up of short spooky stories. It was made around the same time as Night Gallery and had similar production values, only with the hilarious Sebastian Cabot as your host William Essex, trying to provide a dry narration. This one concerned a woman going to a summer house she doesn’t like, only to find that the house seems to have taken a dislike to her, and she’s having a sequence of flashbacks to the murder of her husband she may or may not have committed. It was well done and disturbing in a confused reality/fairytale way.

As usual at the society, intermission was preceded by some classic adverts from bygone days of cinemas. Lady Penelope and Parker discussing a FAB ice lolly was a hit with me. There was also the stunning advert for travel company Gay Tours, with their slogan ‘Go Gay!’ The shock at seeing this advert shows how the world has changed.

After the intermission the main feature was Omen III for which the screen was switched to its widest dimension. The Antichrist has grown up here, and is now controlling a business empire and pulling strings in the higher echelons of government.

The premise of there being a ‘devil’ was rather confused in execution. It seemed that some people were going to behave normally, while others were going to do horrible things cleverly and secretly as disciples of the Antichrist. And then, for no apparent reason, others would be normal to start with, then hypnotised into doing something horrible by a rottweiler staring at them. So Antichrist Damien becomes ambassador to England not because the existing one resigns or retires, but because something horribly gruesome happens.

The tension of the Antichrist causing evil in the world is juxtaposed and rather diffused by the band of priests moving to defeat him before he can kill Jesus in his second coming. I was left marvelling at native British indifference to Christian religion on a personal level, despite an obsession with possible ‘sword and sorcery’ hidden meanings to it.

Media Review: BBC News Online story about What makes a great TV theme tune?
After the death of Johnny Dankworth, BBC News ran a story about TV themes, implying that he had written the well-known theme from The Avengers. He did write a theme for The Avengers, but not the one everyone is familiar with. I wrote to them, but as they didn’t publish, here are my comments:

Can I just mention how excruciatingly annoying it is, as an aficionado of theme tunes (and leader of a TV Theme tune band), that the excellent Johnny Dankworth is being credited as composer of The Avengers theme, without any clarifying reference to it being the ORIGINAL Avengers Theme, from the series before Diana Rigg et al. I’m a big fan of it, but it is not the theme that most people are familiar with, and associate with the series, which is by the also wonderful Laurie Johnson.

Of course the greatest theme and TV music writers were Edwin Astley (Danger Man, Randall&Hopkirk and others), Jerry Goldsmith (Man from UNCLE, Planet of the Apes), John Williams (Lost In Space, Time Tunnel i.e. before Star Wars), Alan Hawkshaw (Dave Allen, Grange Hill), Albert Elms (The Prisoner incidental music, Man In A Suitcase incidental music), John Barry (James Bond, The Persuaders), and best of all, Barry Gray. Gray backed Dame Vera Lynn and also wrote the music to the best Gerry Anderson TV shows, including the greatest theme ever written – UFO.

After them has come a wealth of TV successors including Philip Pope (Who Dares Wins), Steve Brown (Harry Hill), Mitch Benn (The Now Show), and my personal hero Pete Baikie (Absolutely, Shooting Stars). Steve Brown gives a masterclass on TV Themes as part of radio comedy In One Ear (currently repeating on Radio 7). One of the tricks is to make it possible to sing the title to the theme tune e.g. “The Sweeney, The Sweeney,” etc.

Financial News: The Bank Charges fightback starts here!
It has come to my attention that certain banks (mentioning no names and certainly not referring to a black horse…) are trying to ‘blank’ complaints on the basis of a recent judgement won in the supreme court. Of course that judgement didn’t entitle them to go after account opening commissions and set up overdraft arrangements that were against the interests of customers.

So if they are implying to you that it did, then be bolstered by the knowledge that by complaining to the financial ombudsman service you can make the bank incur an automatic charge to themselves of £500. So please make sure you mention your intention to pursue the complaint with the F.O.S. if they are being unreasonable.

parsley.L at virgin.net [http://freespace.virgin.net/alpha.moonbase/garden.records]