Appendix 3.2: Sample films - synopses and character lists
THE DAM BUSTERS UK 55
|
27 |
Spotlight operator at the London theatre__________ |
4_____ |
|
28 |
Poultry farmer_____________________________________ |
4_____ |
|
29 |
Guards on the gate of the RAF bomb testing site |
4____ |
|
30 |
Guard outside the squadron briefing session______ |
4_____ |
|
31 |
Mechanics preparing planes_______________________ |
4_____ |
|
32 |
RAF men speaking to Gibson's dog, Nigger__________ |
4_____ |
|
33 |
Cosby, a guard at the RAF base gates______________ |
4_____ |
|
34 |
Orderly bringing laundry to the RAF pilots' rooms |
4_____ |
|
35 |
Radio operator at London operations room__________ |
4_____ |
|
36 |
Men trapped in flooded German power station.______ |
DOCTOR AT SEA dir Ralph Thomas UK 1956
This film is the second in the cycle of 'Doctor' films in
which Dirk Bogarde plays the central character, Dr Simon
Sparrow. The story opens with Simon's voice over describing
his experience as a junior partner in general practice, moving
quickly to his decision to avoid the unwelcome advances of the
senior partner's bespectacled and 'healthy' (a euphemism in
this film for 'unattractive') daughter, by going to sea as
ship's doctor.
The narrative chronicles the voyage of the SS Lotus to and
from an unspecified foreign port. The period is contemporary
though the diegetic construction of chronological time and
geographical space is minimal. The ship's voyage and the
young doctor's initiation into seafaring life between them
form the pretext for a loosely connected series of 'music
hall' jokes.
These jokes, which read like a series of set pieces, fall into
four main categories: those concerning medical practice and
terminology; those concerning life at sea and its hazards;
those concerning the British vs the Foreign; and, not least,
those concerning women. Underlying the comic intentions of the
film is an excessive attention to class position, British
chauvinism and extreme sexism, and yet the stereotypical
representations - particularly those concerned with women and
foreigners - are so pointedly performed that the audience is
invariably invited to laugh at as well as with the male
British protagonist.
Women are variously objectified: they are likened to animals
Come on then - family model
Catch her when she barks.
to food
221