Dr Deborah Allison
@deborahuk.bsky.social
Cinema programmer and film writer. Latest books: ‘Film Title Sequences: A Critical Anthology’ (2021) | ‘The Films of Aleksandr Rou: Father of Soviet Fairy-Tale Cinema’ (2025)
Pinned
My latest book has arrived: ‘The Films of Aleksandr Rou: Father of Soviet Fairy-Tale Cinema’. Thanks to the hard work and patience of the wonderful team at Intellect Books, I think it’s looking lovely. #AleksandrRou
Reposted by Dr Deborah Allison
I've had a longstanding assignment in Film History that asks students to interview an older family member about their earliest memorable film experience. It's led to some fascinating accounts, including outdoor screenings in China immediately after the Cultural Revolution, mobile screenings...
February 3, 2026 at 3:26 AM
I've had a longstanding assignment in Film History that asks students to interview an older family member about their earliest memorable film experience. It's led to some fascinating accounts, including outdoor screenings in China immediately after the Cultural Revolution, mobile screenings...
My latest article is out today: ‘Juvenile Enculturation in a Time of Change: The Early Years of the “Boys’ Cinema Weekly”’ out today in Journal of Modern Periodical Studies. doi.org/10.5325/jmod...
January 26, 2026 at 7:59 PM
My latest article is out today: ‘Juvenile Enculturation in a Time of Change: The Early Years of the “Boys’ Cinema Weekly”’ out today in Journal of Modern Periodical Studies. doi.org/10.5325/jmod...
Reposted by Dr Deborah Allison
As it’s officially Blue Monday, I thought I’d cheer myself by opening up this old wooden apple, which was originally my Mum’s and has been around for as long as I can remember. How cute is this?
January 19, 2026 at 8:15 PM
As it’s officially Blue Monday, I thought I’d cheer myself by opening up this old wooden apple, which was originally my Mum’s and has been around for as long as I can remember. How cute is this?
Reposted by Dr Deborah Allison
🎉 Can you believe Wikipedia is 25 years old? 🎂
A quarter-century of free knowledge—built on a simple but powerful idea: show your sources. That commitment to citations is one of our favorite things about Wikipedia. ℹ️📚🔍
🧵⬇️ (1/5)
#Wikipedia25 #WikipediaDay @wikipedia.org
A quarter-century of free knowledge—built on a simple but powerful idea: show your sources. That commitment to citations is one of our favorite things about Wikipedia. ℹ️📚🔍
🧵⬇️ (1/5)
#Wikipedia25 #WikipediaDay @wikipedia.org
January 15, 2026 at 11:00 PM
🎉 Can you believe Wikipedia is 25 years old? 🎂
A quarter-century of free knowledge—built on a simple but powerful idea: show your sources. That commitment to citations is one of our favorite things about Wikipedia. ℹ️📚🔍
🧵⬇️ (1/5)
#Wikipedia25 #WikipediaDay @wikipedia.org
A quarter-century of free knowledge—built on a simple but powerful idea: show your sources. That commitment to citations is one of our favorite things about Wikipedia. ℹ️📚🔍
🧵⬇️ (1/5)
#Wikipedia25 #WikipediaDay @wikipedia.org
Reposted by Dr Deborah Allison
We've got another folklore film screening for you this month, partnering with our pals at Norfolk Folklore Society to bring Carnival of Souls (1962) to the big screen!
🗓 Wednesday 28 January, 8.30pm
📍Cinema City, Norwich
🎟 Tickets here: www.picturehouses.com/movie-detail...
Poster by Matt Willis
🗓 Wednesday 28 January, 8.30pm
📍Cinema City, Norwich
🎟 Tickets here: www.picturehouses.com/movie-detail...
Poster by Matt Willis
January 7, 2026 at 10:46 AM
We've got another folklore film screening for you this month, partnering with our pals at Norfolk Folklore Society to bring Carnival of Souls (1962) to the big screen!
🗓 Wednesday 28 January, 8.30pm
📍Cinema City, Norwich
🎟 Tickets here: www.picturehouses.com/movie-detail...
Poster by Matt Willis
🗓 Wednesday 28 January, 8.30pm
📍Cinema City, Norwich
🎟 Tickets here: www.picturehouses.com/movie-detail...
Poster by Matt Willis
HEART OF STONE (Das kalte Herz, dir. Paul Verhoeven, GDR, 1950), DEFA’s first fairy-tale film, looking lovely in Agfacolor, was a delightful finale to our annual fairy tale retrospective.
January 5, 2026 at 6:02 PM
HEART OF STONE (Das kalte Herz, dir. Paul Verhoeven, GDR, 1950), DEFA’s first fairy-tale film, looking lovely in Agfacolor, was a delightful finale to our annual fairy tale retrospective.
Scandalous! The January season of pre-Code Hollywood movies starts at Picturehouse cinemas this Sunday. First up: THE PUBLIC ENEMY. Read more here: www.picturehouses.com/blog/scandalous #precode
January 2, 2026 at 7:40 PM
Scandalous! The January season of pre-Code Hollywood movies starts at Picturehouse cinemas this Sunday. First up: THE PUBLIC ENEMY. Read more here: www.picturehouses.com/blog/scandalous #precode
Juraj Herz’s THE NINTH HEART (Czechoslovakia, 1979) proved a worthy follow up to the previous year’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Bonus points earned for the fabulous opening titles by Eva Švankmajerová and Jan Švankmajer.
January 1, 2026 at 5:19 PM
Juraj Herz’s THE NINTH HEART (Czechoslovakia, 1979) proved a worthy follow up to the previous year’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Bonus points earned for the fabulous opening titles by Eva Švankmajerová and Jan Švankmajer.
We revisited NEW ADVENTURES OF PUSS IN BOOTS (Aleksandr Rou, USSR, 1958) for yesterday’s fairy-tale film offering: Rou’s first venture into the genre after the ‘film famine’ of the post-war years. Pictured: the ever-wonderful Lidiia Vertinskaia.
December 30, 2025 at 8:53 PM
We revisited NEW ADVENTURES OF PUSS IN BOOTS (Aleksandr Rou, USSR, 1958) for yesterday’s fairy-tale film offering: Rou’s first venture into the genre after the ‘film famine’ of the post-war years. Pictured: the ever-wonderful Lidiia Vertinskaia.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (Juraj Herz, Czechoslovakia, 1978) is a macabre marvel: the first screen adaptation I’ve seen that comes close to rivalling Jean Cocteau’s seminal 1946 adaptation.
December 29, 2025 at 11:12 AM
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (Juraj Herz, Czechoslovakia, 1978) is a macabre marvel: the first screen adaptation I’ve seen that comes close to rivalling Jean Cocteau’s seminal 1946 adaptation.
Producer/puppeteer Lou Bunin’s little-known feature adaptation of ALICE IN WONDERLAND (dir. Dallas Bower, France/UK, 1949) centres on delightful stop-motion animation amid strikingly minimalist sets. I especially liked the giant puppy.
December 28, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Producer/puppeteer Lou Bunin’s little-known feature adaptation of ALICE IN WONDERLAND (dir. Dallas Bower, France/UK, 1949) centres on delightful stop-motion animation amid strikingly minimalist sets. I especially liked the giant puppy.
We continued our fairy tale film season with THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN (dir. Bretaigne Windust, US, 1957). This Technicolor musical extravaganza was the first pre-recorded made-for-TV feature film. Claude Rains sings, and even dances a little. (Ignore the 1966 poster’s claims of Eastmancolor!)
December 27, 2025 at 10:49 AM
We continued our fairy tale film season with THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN (dir. Bretaigne Windust, US, 1957). This Technicolor musical extravaganza was the first pre-recorded made-for-TV feature film. Claude Rains sings, and even dances a little. (Ignore the 1966 poster’s claims of Eastmancolor!)
Scandalous! I curated a short season of pre-code films with Rose Butler for Picturehouse Cinemas. Think of it as a festive gift to enliven your January and banish its upcoming blues. Read more here: www.picturehouses.com/blog/scandal... #precode
December 26, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Scandalous! I curated a short season of pre-code films with Rose Butler for Picturehouse Cinemas. Think of it as a festive gift to enliven your January and banish its upcoming blues. Read more here: www.picturehouses.com/blog/scandal... #precode
Next in our annual fairy tale film season: MOROZKO (Father Frost, dir. Iurii Zheliabuzhskii, USSR, 1924), released shortly before the escalating political war against fairy tales saw them disappear from Soviet screens for more than a decade.
December 26, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Next in our annual fairy tale film season: MOROZKO (Father Frost, dir. Iurii Zheliabuzhskii, USSR, 1924), released shortly before the escalating political war against fairy tales saw them disappear from Soviet screens for more than a decade.
We began our annual fairy tale film season with the very groovy, live-action folk revival adaptation of THE SNOW MAIDEN (Snegurochka, dir. Pavel Kadochnikov, USSR, 1968).
December 25, 2025 at 11:24 AM
We began our annual fairy tale film season with the very groovy, live-action folk revival adaptation of THE SNOW MAIDEN (Snegurochka, dir. Pavel Kadochnikov, USSR, 1968).
Reposted by Dr Deborah Allison
Watch The Amazing 1912 Animation of Stop-Motion Pioneer Ladislas Starevich, Starring Dead Bugs
Watch The Amazing 1912 Animation of Stop-Motion Pioneer Ladislas Starevich, Starring Dead Bugs
Last week we featured 1937's The Tale of the Fox, the crowning glory of inventive Russian filmmaker Ladislas Starevich's work in puppet animation.
www.openculture.com
November 27, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Watch The Amazing 1912 Animation of Stop-Motion Pioneer Ladislas Starevich, Starring Dead Bugs
A new review in for my book about Aleksandr Rou.
November 26, 2025 at 1:49 PM
A new review in for my book about Aleksandr Rou.
Reposted by Dr Deborah Allison
Lindsey Vickers, the lovely chap who made THE APPOINTMENT, has died. I've written a tribute to him here:
www.bfi.org.uk/features/lin...
www.bfi.org.uk/features/lin...
Lindsey Vickers obituary: onetime feature director behind rediscovered British horror The Appointment
The British director, who has died at 85, only got one shot at a feature film and it never had a cinema release, but The Appointment was rediscovered 40 years later and won fans in Martin Scorsese, Gu...
www.bfi.org.uk
November 7, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Lindsey Vickers, the lovely chap who made THE APPOINTMENT, has died. I've written a tribute to him here:
www.bfi.org.uk/features/lin...
www.bfi.org.uk/features/lin...
Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff drink tea on the set of THE BLACK CAT (1934).
November 5, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff drink tea on the set of THE BLACK CAT (1934).
Reposted by Dr Deborah Allison
RIP Adam Greenberg
He was the superb cinematographer who shot Near Dark (watch it!), Terminator 2: Judgment Day and, of course, The Terminator, which means he’s responsible for one of my favourite shots in cinema that also coined a new genre for its film:
He was the superb cinematographer who shot Near Dark (watch it!), Terminator 2: Judgment Day and, of course, The Terminator, which means he’s responsible for one of my favourite shots in cinema that also coined a new genre for its film:
November 2, 2025 at 9:08 PM
RIP Adam Greenberg
He was the superb cinematographer who shot Near Dark (watch it!), Terminator 2: Judgment Day and, of course, The Terminator, which means he’s responsible for one of my favourite shots in cinema that also coined a new genre for its film:
He was the superb cinematographer who shot Near Dark (watch it!), Terminator 2: Judgment Day and, of course, The Terminator, which means he’s responsible for one of my favourite shots in cinema that also coined a new genre for its film:
Celebrate Day of the Dead with the mesmerising MACARIO (dir. Roberto Gavaldón, Mexico, 1960). Here’s a short piece I wrote about it for @sensesofcinema.bsky.social: www.sensesofcinema.com/2025/cteq/fr...
November 2, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Celebrate Day of the Dead with the mesmerising MACARIO (dir. Roberto Gavaldón, Mexico, 1960). Here’s a short piece I wrote about it for @sensesofcinema.bsky.social: www.sensesofcinema.com/2025/cteq/fr...
Reposted by Dr Deborah Allison
Your crumpled correspondent proudly plugging SHORT SHARP SHOCKS VOLUME 4 - out very soon on BFI
double disc Blu-ray. A plethora of peppery peculiarities are contained herein! Don't miss it.
double disc Blu-ray. A plethora of peppery peculiarities are contained herein! Don't miss it.
October 3, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Your crumpled correspondent proudly plugging SHORT SHARP SHOCKS VOLUME 4 - out very soon on BFI
double disc Blu-ray. A plethora of peppery peculiarities are contained herein! Don't miss it.
double disc Blu-ray. A plethora of peppery peculiarities are contained herein! Don't miss it.
Reposted by Dr Deborah Allison
Having never had the opportunity to see this brilliant film at the Pictures, I'm looking forward to what will be the LONDON CINEMA PREMIERE of THE APPOINTMENT this Sunday...
Not long now until this rare chance to see two fantastic BFI Flipside releases up on the big screen at Picturehouse Cinemas around the UK: THE APPOINTMENT (5-8 Oct) and FULL CIRCLE: THE HAUNTING OF JULIA (13-16 Oct). I can’t wait!
October 2, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Having never had the opportunity to see this brilliant film at the Pictures, I'm looking forward to what will be the LONDON CINEMA PREMIERE of THE APPOINTMENT this Sunday...