Posts by Adam Scovell

Why I love Kathy Burke’s performance in Nil by Mouth

By Adam Scovell

Her turn as a woman living under the thumb of an abusive husband is a masterclass in empathy and heartbreak.

Why I love Robert Mitchum’s performance in Cape Fear

By Adam Scovell

Sixty years after its release, the acting great’s unnerving performance as vengeful convict Max Cady still packs a punch.

How witchploitation cinema cast its spell on the counter-culture

By Adam Scovell

In the 1960s and ’70s, a spate of low-rent exploitation films tapped sorcery and the occult for cheap, sleazy thrills.

The grisly, greasy-spoon horror of Robert Hartford-Davis

By Adam Scovell

Inspired by real-life killings, 1968’s Corruption is one of the first – and most effective – British horror films of its kind.

The subversive sexual politics of Clint Eastwood’s Play Misty for Me

By Adam Scovell

Compared to other films of the counter-culture era, Eastwood’s directorial debut looks at the darker side of Free Love.

In praise of Lucio Fulci’s violent, vengeful Spaghetti westerns

By Adam Scovell

The Italian horror maestro’s handful of entries in the genre showcase his penchant for bloody retribution.

Pulp, Police and Politics: The hard and fast world of Poliziotteschi

By Adam Scovell

Throughout the 1970s an exciting subgenre dominated Italian cinema, combined action and crime to dizzying effect.

Why I Love Irène Jacob’s performance in The Double Life of Véronique

By Adam Scovell

Jacob’s pair of musical characters is one of the great feats of screen acting of the past 30 years.

On Location: The rural mansion from Night of the Demon

By Adam Scovell

Jacques Tourneur’s classic take on MR James’ Gothic chiller makes use of a partly-fictional English estate.

Beginnings: Peter Cushing’s Purley

By Adam Scovell

The British acting icon spent his formative years the South London district, in a house built by his father.

How Tod Browning’s Dracula changed horror cinema forever

By Adam Scovell

The 1931 film put the Count firmly on the cultural map and moved the genre on from its silent origins.

On Location: The South London of Alan Clarke’s The Firm

By Adam Scovell

The British director’s controversial football hooligan drama makes great use of various domestic locales.

Beginnings: Boris Karloff’s South London

By Adam Scovell

Tracing the humble origins of one of horror cinema’s most celebrated and important performers.

Beginnings: Ida Lupino’s London

By Adam Scovell

Visiting the leafy London street where the pioneering Hollywood actor and filmmaker came of age.

On Location: Scenes from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

By Adam Scovell

A walking tour of the French port town evokes a sense of wonder befitting Jacques Demy’s romantic musical.

Beginnings: Derek Jarman’s Bankside

By Adam Scovell

Visiting the site near Southwark Bridge in London where the late artist’s filmmaking career began.

On Location: The houses in Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita

By Adam Scovell

As with many of his “American” features, the director utilised various settings around London.

Beginnings: Charlie Chaplin’s London

By Adam Scovell

Retracing the comic master’s formative years across the English capital’s southern boroughs.

On Location: Ringo’s wander in A Hard Day’s Night

By Adam Scovell

Retracing the Beatle’s solo stroll through West London in Richard Lester’s 1964 music film.

On Location: The graffiti wall from Sympathy for the Devil

By Adam Scovell

Visiting the West London residence featured in Jean-Luc Godard’s legendary Rolling Stones essay film.

On Location: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

By Adam Scovell

A visit to two London locations featured in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s Technicolor masterpiece.

How The Asphalt Jungle changed the face of American noir

By Adam Scovell

John Huston’s heist classic, starring Sterling Hayden and Marilyn Monroe, emphasised the grittiness of the postwar era.

On Location: The door from Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy

By Adam Scovell

Visiting the scene of the director’s penultimate thriller, set in a bygone Covent Garden.

The provocative British drama that predicted the rise of reality TV

By Adam Scovell

Michael Elliott’s 1968 teleplay The Year of the Sex Olympics imagines a society addicted to screens.

Why I love Toshiro Mifune’s performance in Throne of Blood

By Adam Scovell

His portrayal of wild-eyed samurai warrior in Akira Kurosawa’s adaptation of ‘Macbeth’ is simply iconic.

On Location: The Normandy beach from The 400 Blows

By Adam Scovell

Following in the existential footsteps of François Truffaut’s young protagonist, half a century on.

On Location: The concert house from Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher

By Adam Scovell

The elegance of the Vienna Conservatoire perfectly contrasts the raw brutality of Isabelle Huppert’s actions.

How His Girl Friday redefined the screwball comedy

By Adam Scovell

Howard Hawks’ 1940 film remains one of Hollywood’s finest and most radical comedies.

Why I love Eva Marie Saint’s performance in On the Waterfront

By Adam Scovell

For all of its seething male energy, it’s the film’s young female lead who emerges as its star performer.

On Location: The London pub from Withnail & I

By Adam Scovell

The fictional Mother Black Cap makes a brief but memorable appearance in Bruce Robinson’s cult comedy.

How Jacques Demy reimagined the Hollywood musical

By Adam Scovell

With The Young Girls of Rochefort, the French director created something wondrously original.

On Location: The church ruins from The Blood on Satan’s Claw

By Adam Scovell

Adam Scovell visits the scene of one of the most disturbing moments in the history of British horror cinema.

Is this one of the great lesser-known location-based horrors?

By Adam Scovell

Robert Fuest’s And Soon the Darkness foreshadows both The Wicker Man and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

On Location: Harry Lime’s Vienna in The Third Man

By Adam Scovell

Retracing the steps of one of film noir’s most iconic characters through the Austrian capital.

On Location: The London park from Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up

By Adam Scovell

Maryon Park in Charlton lies at the beguiling centre of the Italian director’s psychological mystery.

On Location: The title sequence from Jacques Tati’s Mon Oncle

By Adam Scovell

The Parisian town of Joinville provides the backdrop to the French director’s 1958 masterpiece.

The strange, sickly pleasures of Amicus’ Gothic horrors

By Adam Scovell

In the 1960s and ’70s, this British film studio produced grisly tales to rival Hammer Horror.

The story of Duke Ellington’s Anatomy of a Murder score

By Adam Scovell

Otto Preminger’s 1959 courtroom drama was the first Hollywood movie to use an African-American composer.

On Location: The final shot from Agnés Varda’s Cleo from 5 to 7

By Adam Scovell

Paris’ Boulevard de l’Hôpital provides the setting for one of the most cherished endings in French cinema.

After the Wave: Exploring French cinema in the 1970s

By Adam Scovell

The decade following the Nouvelle Vague saw the emergence of progressive filmmakers like Chantal Akerman and Maurice Pialat.

On Location: The footbridge from Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise

By Adam Scovell

This unassuming overpass plays a pivotal role in Céline and Jesse’s Viennese waltz.

On Location: The dance academy from Dario Argento’s Suspiria

By Adam Scovell

A pilgrimage to one of the grandest and most iconic settings in all of horror cinema.

Why I Love Max von Sydow’s Performance in Shame

By Adam Scovell

The Swedish-born actor is at his transfixing best in Ingmar Bergman’s 1968 drama.

On Location: The bridge from Jules et Jim

By Adam Scovell

This grey structure in the centre of Paris provided the Nouvelle Vague with one of its most iconic images.

The troubled genius of Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons

By Adam Scovell

The director’s final picture for RKO suffered from severe cuts, but still retains his golden touch.

On Location: The Norman castle from Kind Hearts and Coronets

By Adam Scovell

This historic fortress is the scene of some unsavoury goings on in Robert Hamer’s classic Ealing comedy.

Why I love Barbara Stanwyck’s performance in Double Indemnity

By Adam Scovell

The silver screen icon subverted her heroine image to deliver one of Hollywood’s most memorable villains.

On Location: The house from Michael Haneke’s Hidden

By Adam Scovell

The Austrian director’s 2005 thriller is built around the mystery of place, as a visit to this Parisian setting revealed.

On Location: The house from Don’t Look Now

By Adam Scovell

The private residence featured in Nicolas Roeg’s iconic ’70s horror remains an idyllic, evocative setting.

Why I love Jean Seberg’s performance in Breathless

By Adam Scovell

The American star led something of a tragic life, but she will forever be remembered for her role in Jean-Luc Godard’s debut feature.

On Location: The neo-Gothic cathedral from 1976’s The Omen

By Adam Scovell

Visiting Guilford Cathedral, the grand, eerie centrepiece of Richard Donner’s horror classic.

How Twelve Monkeys built on the legacy of La Jetée and Vertigo

By Adam Scovell

Themes of memory and death lie at the heart of Terry Gilliam’s dystopian time travel saga.

On Location: The Dalston house at the heart of Mike Leigh’s Naked

By Adam Scovell

Despite the widespread gentrification of east London, this quiet street appears much as it did in 1993.

The Fallen Idol is one of the great films about the loss of childhood innocence

By Adam Scovell

Carol Reed’s 1948 classic captures the transition to adulthood in all its contradictions and hypocrisies.

The psychosexual pleasures of David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers

By Adam Scovell

The director’s tale of twin gynecologists is a gory study of the relationship between the physical and mental self.

On Location: The brutalist tower blocks of A Clockwork Orange

By Adam Scovell

Visiting the southeast London estate featured in Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 film makes for a dystopian experience.

The dark heart of Powell and Pressburger’s The Red Shoes

By Adam Scovell

The British filmmaking pair’s 1948 masterpiece is an elegant ballet of myth and fairy tale.

Five essential Orson Welles films for each decade of his career

By Adam Scovell

Revisiting the iconic director’s work every 10 years, from Too Much Johnson to Touch of Evil.

Why Bringing Up Baby is my favourite classic Hollywood comedy

By Adam Scovell

Howard Hawks’ screwball is one of the first truly great sound comedies.

How Cleo from 5 to 7 portrays a city under the female gaze

By Adam Scovell

A curiosity in the everyday powers Agnès Varda’s masterful second feature.

Why George A Romero’s Night of the Living Dead still gets under our skin

By Adam Scovell

Released 50 years ago, the director’s lo-fi debut is filled with potent imagery and political resonance.

In praise of Night of the Demon: Jacques Tourneur’s proto-folk horror

By Adam Scovell

The director’s 1957 occult classic continues to cast a long, sinister shadow over horror cinema.

How In a Lonely Place deconstructed misogyny in Hollywood

By Adam Scovell

Nicholas Ray’s 1950 tale of male power, anger and violence is receiving a timely theatrical re-run.

Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest and the art of the chase

By Adam Scovell

How the director’s mastery of space and location created the famous crop-duster sequence.

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