Monthly Film Bulletin - Rotten Tomatoes

Monthly Film Bulletin

Tomatometer-approved publication
Rating
Title/Year
Author
1
Swedish Wildcats (1972)

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Apart from some competent character-acting by Diana Dors, Swedish Wildcats is strictly a routine example of the current trend in sexploitation to 'go straight' and aim for the Love Story market.
Posted Nov 10, 2021
2
W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings (1975)

Jonathan Rosenbaum

W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings conveys an unmistakable affection for its title characters, milieu and period that is as unexpected as it is refreshing in this branch of semi-computerised cinema.
Posted Nov 10, 2021
3
La Signora Senza Camelie (1953)

Jonathan Rosenbaum

If it lacks the final fusion of purposes characterizing a masterwork, [the film] is nevertheless so unmistakably and remarkably the work of a master that one is shocked to discover the rather cursory critical treatment it has generally been accorded.
Posted Nov 9, 2021
4
Nickelodeon (1976)

Jonathan Rosenbaum

The virtually total rejection by Bogdanovich of anything that exists beyond the boundaries of certified (and ossified) movie myth may help to explain the curious sterility of Nickelodeon in relation to its fascinating subject and sources.
Posted Nov 9, 2021
5
Die große Ekstase des Bildschnitzers Steiner (The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner) (1974)

Jonathan Rosenbaum

The true subject of this otherwise unexceptional documentary, the real object of its spectacle, is not simply Steiner himself but also the director's own interest in him; and both, in turn, are presented as a kind of sensationalism.
Posted Nov 9, 2021
6
Squadron Leader X (1943)

MFB Critics

An exciting story, well scripted and produced with tremendous attention to detail. The direction is admirable, the pace deftly adjusted and the photography and lighting noticeably good.
Posted May 14, 2021
7
Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965)

MFB Critics

A patchy piece of juvenile science fiction. The settings are quite effective in a Christmas pantomime way, while the Daleks themselves make admirable villains.
Posted Nov 20, 2018
8
The Old Dark House (1932)

John Pym

The film is shot through in almost every scene by a wholly individual sense of comic timing and bizarre juxtaposition.
Posted Jul 5, 2018
9
Grease (1978)

Jan Dawson

Insidiously, it congratulates its audience on having achieved a stable perspective from which it can view with amused tolerance the turbulent times of its supposed teenage traumas.
Posted Jul 5, 2018
10
Lucia (1968)

Jan Dawson

To describe Lucía as a masterpiece seems almost to belittle it since visually it is not one film but three.
Posted Jun 19, 2018
11
Windbag the Sailor (1936)

MFB Critics

The story though not strong and rather slowly developed is an excellent vehicle -- and a new one -- for Will Hay's particular kind of humour and fooling and he is in good form.
Posted Feb 13, 2018
12
The Winds of Change (1960)

MFB Critics

The film, as its pretentious title implies, takes too much upon itself.
Posted Feb 13, 2018
13
Two Thousand Women (1944)

MFB Critics

Though the balance of humour and dramatic suspense is good, the film is lacking in realism. However, taken solely from an entertainment angle, it may be enjoyed for its snappy dialogue and good comedy angles.
Posted Feb 13, 2018
14
Turned Out Nice Again (1941)

MFB Critics

Admirers of George Formby will find little for complaint in this film, though it differs from his previous comedies in that the story is less improbable than usual and contains very little slapstick.
Posted Feb 13, 2018
15
The Gay Lady (Trottie True) (1949)

MFB Critics

The film hovers on the edge of a charm, humour and style which it never quite attains.
Posted Feb 13, 2018
16
Tonite Let's All Make Love in London (1967)

MFB Critics

Peter Whitehead's fragmented look at the "swinging" London first brought to light by Time magazine is in some ways a fascinating document of contemporary mores. But as a film in its own right, it is confused, imitative and finally self-destructive.
Posted Feb 13, 2018
17
Yield to the Night (1956)

MFB Critics

As a plea against capital punishment, the producers' conception of their drama seems to lack passion, and this makes it difficult to assimilate the film's emotional climate.
Posted Feb 13, 2018
18
X: The Unknown (1956)

MFB Critics

After a series of prolonged climaxes, with its potential victims staring directly into the camera and shaking with fright, the "Unknown" finally emerges as a type of rolling rubber mattress, disappointingly unhorrific in content and appearance.
Posted Feb 13, 2018
19
Woman in a Dressing Gown (1957)

MFB Critics

The facile ending, with its suggestion of "happy ever after", is in line with the compromising attitude of the film as a whole; and rings entirely false.
Posted Feb 13, 2018
20
The Conqueror Worm (Witchfinder General) (2000)

MFB Critics

Visually, the theme is beautifully supported by Reeves' subtle use of colour, in which the delicate patchwork greens of the English countryside are shot through by the colours of death and decay as Matthew Hopkins prowls through it robed in black.
Posted Feb 13, 2018
21
The Witches (The Devil's Own) (1966)

MFB Critics

After a crude opening sequence of poor Joan Fontaine being frightened out of her wits by a prancing witch-doctor in an African hut, this very enjoyable thriller settles down more calmly to make good use of Nigel Kneale's highly literate script.
Posted Feb 13, 2018
22
Whistle Down the Wind (1961)

MFB Critics

Bryan Forbes, directing for the first time, reveals a painstaking, often incisive talent for behaviour rather than a marked personal style.
Posted Feb 13, 2018
23
Western Approaches (1944)

MFB Critics

Through arduous months of filming at sea -- and using not professional actors but serving officers and men -- Dalrymple and Jackson have created a dramatic essay in realism which equals any comparable treatment of their subject.
Posted Feb 13, 2018
24
We Dive at Dawn (1943)

MFB Critics

The direction achieves agonies of suspense and thrills. The model work is somewhat weak, but the location shots atone for everything.
Posted Feb 13, 2018
25
The Way to the Stars (1945)

MFB Critics

No other film has so subtly and so truthfully portrayed the life of the airman in war, its problems, its hazards, its exaggerated casualness towards death, its courage, its humour, its comradeship.
Posted Feb 13, 2018
26
The Way Ahead (The Immortal Battalion) (1945)

MFB Critics

From a thorough, thoughtful and lively script by Eric Ambler and Peter Ustinov, this is an outstanding piece of film-making from the viewpoint of production, direction, camera-work and acting.
Posted Feb 13, 2018
27
Waterloo Road (1945)

MFB Critics

In both writing and directing, Gilliat has achieved a remarkable degree of sincerity, of fidelity to background and character.
Posted Feb 13, 2018
28
Violent Playground (1958)

MFB Critics

It is very sad that such a wonderful opportunity to make a true to life film on such an important theme has been allowed, once again, to slip away.
Posted Feb 13, 2018
29
Unearthly Stranger (1964)

MFB Critics

One can pick holes in the script, but in the long run ingenuity and suspense pay off handsomely. The climax in particular is as satisfying as it is bleak.
Posted Feb 13, 2018
30
Trouble in Store (1953)

MFB Critics

Norman Wisdom brings to the screen his well-known stage personality, "the little man against the world," and with it its basic weakness -- its dependence on a first-rate script, which he lacks in this film.
Posted Feb 13, 2018
31
Tomorrow At Ten (1964)

MFB Critics

Robert Shaw is chillingly effective in an intelligent performance which, for about twenty minutes deludes one into thinking that Lance Comfort's direction is much better than it really is.
Posted Feb 12, 2018
32
Together (1956)

MFB Critics

Concerned with the sadness and desolation of life in a city, with the melancholy landscape in which the helpless loneliness of the deaf-mutes is only part of a general sadness, Together draws one remarkably into its world.
Posted Feb 12, 2018
33
The Titfield Thunderbolt (2005)

MFB Critics

The script itself is disconcertingly short on wit, and some of its invention appears forced, and Crichton's handling fails to supply the charm that could still have been the film's justification.
Posted Feb 12, 2018
34
They Were Sisters (1945)

MFB Critics

Although it could not be called striking or outstanding, this is an interesting film which leaves its own kind of quiet satisfaction.
Posted Feb 12, 2018
35
Winslow Boy (1949)

MFB Critics

This is quite definitely a film to see and enjoy.
Posted Feb 12, 2018
36
Taxi zum Klo (Taxi to the Toilet) (1981)

Bill Marshall

Ripploh left teaching when disciplinary action was taken against him, and devoted himself full-time to filmmaking. This, his first feature, was made on a shoestring but the result is a mature work, perfectly controlled and finely photographed.
Posted Feb 12, 2018
37
Target for Tonight (1941)

MFB Critics

It dramatises reality and is very successful in conveying atmosphere.
Posted Feb 12, 2018
38
A Tale of Two Cities (1958)

MFB Critics

A straightforward adaptation which follows the events of Dickens' crowded narrative with commendable fidelity. The pure excitement of the book is missing, however; and the fault lies mostly with T. E. B. Clarke's reverent but somewhat lifeless script.
Posted Feb 12, 2018
39
Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1936)

MFB Critics

There are several inconsistencies in the development of the plot, but a certain amount of the necessarily gruesome atmosphere has been caught and the story itself is so good that the film has some success.
Posted Feb 12, 2018
40
Summertime (1955)

MFB Critics

The script maintains slightly the tone of an impeccably smooth and glossy novelette, romantic rather than sentimental, but scarcely concerned to explore its situation very deeply.
Posted Feb 12, 2018
41
Summer Holiday (1963)

MFB Critics

A star vehicle for Cliff Richard that aims high, but continually slops into the second-rate through lack of inventiveness in narrative and dancing.
Posted Feb 12, 2018
42
Story of Gilbert And Sullivan (1953)

MFB Critics

The respectfully dull costume productions of the Korda group since 1947 find full scope in this frightfully proper account of the work of "two great men of the Victorian stage".
Posted Feb 12, 2018
43
The Stars Look Down (1940)

MFB Critics

The scenario writer has wisely concentrated on a well-knit and straightforward plot. The result is thoroughly holding entertainment.
Posted Feb 12, 2018
44
The Square Peg (1958)

MFB Critics

Norman Wisdom is too unrelaxed, too self-conscious as yet, to be one of the great screen comedians.
Posted Feb 12, 2018
45
Queen of Destiny (Sixty Glorious Years) (1938)

MFB Critics

The treatment is necessarily and inevitably episodic, but the incidents are admirably chosen, and the balance is skilfully kept between pageantry and human interest.
Posted Feb 12, 2018
46
The Secret Place (1957)

MFB Critics

The Secret Place is a modest production, but it develops conventional material with an encouraging sense of enterprise.
Posted Feb 12, 2018
47
Piccadilly Incident (1946)

MFB Critics

It remains quite an entertaining film... but it certainly seems a pity that so promising a beginning should have tailed off to such an unsatisfactory ending.
Posted Feb 12, 2018
48
Old Bones of the River (1938)

MFB Critics

This is a roaring farce which gets steadily more and more funny as it proceeds.
Posted Feb 12, 2018
49
Elephant Gun (Nor the Moon by Night) (1958)

MFB Critics

It is sad that such resources should have been squandered on material of pulp magazine level, in which neither character nor incident nor theme has any coherence or interest.
Posted Feb 12, 2018
50
Spring in Park Lane (1949)

MFB Critics

Here an old and sorely tried story has been taken and transformed by Nicholas Phipps into a brilliant script bubbling over with gaiety and wit.
Posted Feb 12, 2018