Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: Shadows

  • Standing in the Shadows

    Standing in the Shadows

    How are two events almost thirty years apart linked? With Britain in the grips of the search for the Yorkshire Ripper, was the 1980’s murder of a young university student part of his handiworks? Peter Robinson slowly teases out the links in his latest police procedural with its well-developed characters and complex plot set in the atmospheric Yorkshire Dales.

    Nicholas Hartley, who is the prime suspect in the case of the murder of his former girlfriend, Alice Poole in 1980, is also initially thought to be the Yorkshire Ripper, however the time line doesn’t fit! Why is no one searching for Mark, Alice’s mystery boyfriend, who disappeared without a trace on the night of her murder? As no arrest was made, for the next thirty years, Hartley undertakes his own investigation as he can’t give up on achieving justice for the girl he never forgot.

    When in November 2019 an archaeological dig uncovers the bones of a more contemporary body, instead of Roman remains or relics, DCI Banks arrives on the isolated scene with policewoman Gerry Masterson and they are confronted with the task of ‘who, why and by whom’.

    In his 28th and last twisting and turning DCI Banks tale, Peter Robinson has given the reader the final glimpse into this understated, plodding, focussed detective as the merging stories unfolds; layer upon layer.  Readers are not only totally engaged in uncovering the ultimate links between the two murders, but they will also appreciate the interesting details about culture, music and social events of both time periods.   

    Peter Robinson death in October 2022 will be greatly mourned by the fans of this superb series, who no doubt were looking forward to the next DCI Banks novel.    

  • Patty Hits the Court: Game Day!

    Patty Hits the Court: Game Day!

    The first two books of the Game Day Series by Patty Mills are “Patty Hits the Court”, and “Patty and the Shadows“.   Each book has about one hundred pages, with illustrations on every page, and large text which is well spaced for easy reading. The pages are a cream colour to further assist with decoding. These books are aimed at young boys and girls who love sport. The main character, Patty, struggles with Math’s and Spelling, but his parents insist he finishes his work before he goes to training.

     The first book begins with Patty playing football. He is quite a star and loves kicking goals. He and his friends in Canberra want to play a sport together, and they decide to try out for the basketball team. Suddenly Patty goes from being a grand goal sneak, to a rank beginner, with no understanding of the basic rules and terms of the game. His determination to compete and succeed almost deserts him, but after a steep learning curve, and a few embarrassing moments, he begins to learn the rhythm of the game and the procedures.

     During this story, the author raises many pertinent issues. Firstly, Patty is an Indigenous player, as are his team mates. Because the parents have come from all over the world to Canberra for work, his classmates are from many backgrounds. They even swear in their own language! The author also has many girls in roles as strong sporting and influential characters. The issues of bullying and school pressures are integrated naturally and seamlessly into the story and are dealt with simply.

     These stories have the absolute stamp of sincerity, as the author no doubt recollects his own youth and struggles. Patty Mills’s father is a Torres Strait Islander, while his mother is an Indigenous Australian from South Australia. Patty was introduced to basketball at the age of four, when his parents established a basketball team of Indigenous players, called the Shadows. He was a talented athlete, but ultimately chose basketball as his main focus. Now Patty Mills plays basketball for the San Antonio Spurs in the American National Basketball League.

     These books are deceptively simple, but touch many realities in children’s lives. There are parents who want homework before sport, Math’s tests that seem overwhelming, and friends who help to steer you towards self-awareness and cooperation. This is an excellent series of books about to become favourite reading for many children.

  • The Young Ones

    The Young Ones

    In this third movie featuring Cliff Richard and the Shadows, we see and hear far more of the vocals and the instrumental talent that took Cliff Richard and the Shadows to the #1 position on the Pop charts time and time again, and is a vastly different movie to his previous two, Serious Charges and Expresso Bongo.

    The storyline, as so many were in the 1960’s featuring Pop singers and using the big screen to promote both the singer and the music, is relatively basic focusing on a group of inner London youth, who’s local Youth Club is to be purchased by a land developer.

    Robert Morley carries the role of Nicky Black’s (Richard) father Hamilton Black in his usual iconic manner, adding a depth to the story which was needed in order to carry the very raw acting talent of Richard and several of the other cast members.

    Nicky’s friends have no idea he is Hamilton Black, the ruthless land developer and tycoon’s son,  and neither does Black know his son is the latest rage on the Pop scene in London. As the plot unfolds the group discover and old theatre they can use to try and raise enough money to attempt to save the Club.

    They decide to stage a variety concert, jamming the airwaves with ‘pirated’ transmissions of Nicky singing to advertise the show. His music captures London’s teen scene by storm, and as he is only known as the ‘mystery singer’ people want to know more.

    As a vehicle to promote the music, this movie reached #2 at the British Box Office in 1961and many of the various aspects and tracks from the movie have gone on to be showcased in other avenues, such as the much loved ‘The Young Ones’ television series running from 1982-84 developing a cult following and referencing Cliff Richard many times over the years.

    In the most recent revamp the movie version has been adopted for stage by John Plews as a musical, which opened at Upstairs in the Gatehouse in December 2007, presenting a revival for the songs so many rocked too during the ‘60’s. Author note: I must add here, we also swooned, if you can use that word these days, over the very handsome Cliff Richard.

    Once again a great collector’s piece that is always enjoyable to watch and definitely great for a hot summers day or cold winters night when you simply want to watch a ‘feel good’ movie, with a great beat.

     

  • Expresso Bongo

    Expresso Bongo

    In this fully re-mastered release of Expresso Bongo we step back to a time when making movies was still a developing industry, black and white was more of an option than colour and sometimes the sound tracks did not quite match up to the speech patterns.

    Many a successful stage play was changed into movie format and in this case became the vehicle for the up and coming Cliff Richard to star in his second movie. That the script proved to be prophetic for this young singer was an unknown factor back in 1959 as he played the part of a young bongo player with attitude, Bert Rudge.

    Based on the very successful stage play released in the West End in 1958, at the same time as My Fair Lady, it pulled in an equally as large audience but did not get the same coverage as My Fair Lady, eventually disappearing into obscurity.

    Val Guest took this wonderful satire written by Wolf Mankowitz and Julian More based on the music industry and took it to the big screen with a reworked musical score, leaving only The Shrine on the Second Floor in from the original musical score, in order to showcase the talents of Cliff Richard and his band the Shadows. The script was also reworked to allow a downplaying of the sharp satire of the play which in many ways has made the movie somewhat tamer than it perhaps should have been.

    Not for the younger viewing audience it features seriously adult themes in the strip clubs which is interesting as the following movies made by Cliff Richard and the Shadows were ‘squeaky clean’ as fitted the developing style of the young singer.

    For those who have followed Cliff Richard’s career from the beginning will enjoy this movie as it shows a young and talented young man learning the ropes of an industry which was to take him onto a stellar career that is still wooing the crowds 55 years later.

    Enjoyable and intriguing as it also highlights the direction his manger in the late 1950/60’s was encouraging him to move as the British answer to Elvis Presley, but also shows the formidable talent that was there to be developed, although thankfully Cliff Richard did not go on to become a bongo player!

    Interesting special features have been added to the DVD with Youth Club (1954) The Square (1957) which allows a trip back in time and for the modern viewer shows a snapshot life in the 1950’s, which will help with an understanding of how the generation of the day spent their leisure time.

    Overall a trip down memory lane with beautiful vocals rendered by all actors in a tamed down version of satire, which also makes you appreciate just how far the movies industry has progressed over the past 50 years.