“MUSSOLINI’S HOPE IN SCREEN,” ran the headline on the front page of Variety on 21 September 1927. “ This can bring the world together and end war, ” the Italian dictator said of his first appearance in talking pictures. Eight years later, Italy invaded Ethiopia. But in that “all talking” autumn of 1927, the delusions of the Jazz Age were still in full swing. I nside the same Variety issue was a review of Il Duce’s performance in the “first demonstration of Fox’s Movietone w

It was 1935. Only nineteen years old, Pat Jackson, who was assistant to the film’s co-director, Harry Watt, was waiting for the Night Mail with Watt and the cameraman Jonah Jones on the summit of Beattock. Over a thousand feet above sea level, the hill was the highest point on the West Coast Main Line. Pat – who would go on to direct the great wartime drama documentary Western Approaches – described the occasion in his memoirs: “It was cold, I remember, and we played ru

Last year I complained to Amazon that a book sold on its website had infringed my copyright. Amazon quickly adjudicated in my favour and de-listed the title. But their high-handed anonymity and avoidance of any dialogue that could not be reduced to ticking a box made the experience memorably unpleasant. They were like robots! Beyond their seriously impressive selling operation which has elevated getting stuff to being as easy as in the blink of an eye, they were an intimid