Ellen Cheshire

2020 is the 55th anniversary of Diana Rigg's first appearance as Emma Peel in the British TV show The Avengers. As a teen in the 1980s I watched The Avengers on Channel 4 and was hooked on both The Avengers and Diana Rigg. 20 years ago I wrote an article for the now defunct Classic Television about Diana Rigg and this culutral phenomena. It is therefore with a sad heart that I am updating this blog in light of Rigg's death aged 82. In recent years she had become associated w

I've been doing a #30DayFilmChallenge, and day 20 is a 'Film that changed your life'. It was a tough one as I couldn't initially recall a pivotal film that in some way 'changed me'. So, I've been mulling over key moments or decisions in my life that were in some way linked to film, which led me to the films of Mira Nair. I was doing my A Level in Film Studies at Redbridge College (from 1991-1993), and one of the four pieces of coursework we had to submit was on an indpendent

With the Chichester International Film Festival scheduling a screening of Monsoon Wedding on 20 August at 20.45 I thought I'd post a review of the film I wrote for the now defunct clickwalla.com website back in 2002 (I haven't re-edited it). You can read more about my love of Mira Nair's films in the blog 'How Mira Nair's Mississippi Masala Changed My Life' Monsoon Wedding (2001) Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Lilette Dubey, Vasundhara Das, Parvin Dubas, Sameer Arya, Vijay Raaz and

It’s been 75 years since Disney’s Fantasia was released, and 15 years since Fantasia 2000 so I thought it time to re-visit them. Fantasia (1940) Prd. Walt Disney, Dir. Samuel Armstrong, James Algar, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Hamilton Luske, Jim Handley, Ford Beebe, Walt Disney, Norman Ferguson, Wilfred Jackson Composer Johann Sebastian Bach, Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, Igor Stravinsky, Ludwig van Beethoven, Modest Mussorgsky, Franz Schubert, Amilcare Ponchielli, Paul Duka

Ahead of Thursday's screening of Sense and Sensibilty as part of Worthing WOW's Jane Austen season here's an extract from the chapter on the film from my book on Ang Lee. Sense And Sensibility (1995) Director: Ang Lee. Screenplay: Emma Thompson. Based on the novel by Jane Austen. Editing: Tim Squyres. Cinematography: Michael Coulter. Costume Design: Jenny Bevan and John Bright. Production Design: Luciana Arrighi. Original Music: Patrick Doyle. Producers: Laurie Borg, Lindsay

A few years back Linda Thorson, who played Tara King in 33 episodes of The Avengers in 1968-69, very kindly responded to some email questions for an article I was writing for Classic Television. Here are her answers in full. EC: Of all the Avengers series, those in which you were involved were the most surreal – how did you find being entombed in a vat of butter and other extreme measures of confinement and bizarre plot lines. LT: Well, I found it very slippery, greasy and s

On Monday evening I was channel hopping and found Moulin Rouge had just started on Movie Mix, "I'll watch of bit of this" I thought - two hours later I'd been once again swept away by Baz Luhrmann's highly-theatrical film musical. The year is 1900, the setting Paris. Christian (MacGregor), a young Englishman newly arrived in Paris to pursue is dream of being a poet, becomes embroiled with Toulouse-Lautrec’s (Leguizamo) mad-cap scheme to create a Bohemian Revolutionary musica

150 years ago, people read for the first time Alice’s immortal line “And what is the use of a book, without pictures or conversation?” How she would have loved the movies! On Saturday 23 May 2015 I'll be giving a paper at the Wonderlands: Reading/Writing/Telling Fairy Tales and Fantasy symposium at University of Chichester, organised by the Sussex Centre of Folklore, Fairy Tale and Fantasy.You can see all the presentations from the Wonderlands conference here. I'll be talkin

Last year I invested (via kickstarter) in London Symphony, a brand New Silent Film about the Culture and Diversity of London. The director/editor Alex Barrett referenced some of my favourite films as his influences inlcuding Man With a Movie Camera (1929) and Night Mail (1936). The trailer, music and photography are stunning, and I can't wait to see it. Here's a sample to tempt you.... With the release of London Symphony still a few months away, thought I check in with Man

With the UK release of Christophe Gans new version of the Beauty and the Beast myth still a few months away, thought I'd revisit Cocteau's 1946 classic. La Belle et La Bete (1946) Director: Jean Cocteau For those only familiar with the Beauty and the Beast fable from Disney’s 1991 Oscar nominated animated cartoon, Cocteau’s La Belle at La Bete will be a revelation. The plot possesses the darkness, surreal romanticism and eroticism of the original fairytale (often attributed

I have always had a soft spot for the MGM musical extravaganzas of the 1950s, particularly those starring Esther Williams, the swimming superstar. Reading her autobiography reveals a fascinating story of heartache and triumph behind the fabulous smile. The Million Dollar Mermaid by Esther Williams and Digby Dell Published by Pocket Books, 2000 Esther Williams, the million-dollar mermaid, made a number of great films for MGM. The swimming sensation and founder of water ballet

A few years ago I had what for many people would be THE perfect job. I had to watch every single film Audrey Hepburn had ever made, for a book I had to be asked to write the Pocket Essential Audrey Hepburn. Imagine my delight, when caught curled up on the sofa watching Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck riding around Rome on a vespa for the umpteenth time I could exclaim – “it’s research – I have to watch it!” You can snap up copies of my book on Audrey Hepburn on Amazon in kin

Recently I've been working on a chapter for Aurora Metro's forthcoming Silent Women: Pioneers of Cinema (exploring women’s contribution behind the camera in these early days of cinema. The focus of my research was female cinematographers, and was astonished by the misogyny of the male writers of the time. Some choice quotes! A. J. Dixon writing in Picture-Play Magazine January 1916, described his initial reaction to hearing of Grace Davison’s work behind the camera “I conclu