James Martin Charlton
@jmcfire.bsky.social
"...a poet of the tower blocks" - What's on. Theatre 🎭 and Film 🎬, Academic 📚. Author of Fat Souls, Divine Vision. Views my own. https://linktr.ee/jmcfire
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My two most recent play publications - Divine Vision: William Blake in Felpham and The Pilgrim's Progress - are available from TSL publications:
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tslbooks.uk/product-tag/...
The film of Frank Loesser’s last & lesser musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967) hits the screen in bright colours but with toothless satire – a handsome, harmless relic of a show which was never that great to begin with. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★★ review of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967)
The film of Frank Loesser’s final stage musical sits awkwardly between the stools of the comic satires of Billy Wilder, Frank Tashlin and Richard Quine, and the contemporaneous movies of big Broadway ...
letterboxd.com
November 9, 2025 at 8:33 PM
The film of Frank Loesser’s last & lesser musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967) hits the screen in bright colours but with toothless satire – a handsome, harmless relic of a show which was never that great to begin with. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
In The Critic I take a look at whether Wole Soyinka’s predictable ideological stance is helpful in the face of the massacres of Nigerian Christians.
thecritic.co.uk/the-hollow-h...
thecritic.co.uk/the-hollow-h...
The hollow horseman | James Martin Charlton | The Critic Magazine
The name Wole Soyinka is probably best known in Britain to those who keep half an eye on the Nobel announcements or who have studied drama at university. His most famous play, Death and the King’s…
thecritic.co.uk
November 8, 2025 at 6:27 PM
In The Critic I take a look at whether Wole Soyinka’s predictable ideological stance is helpful in the face of the massacres of Nigerian Christians.
thecritic.co.uk/the-hollow-h...
thecritic.co.uk/the-hollow-h...
My third time at Rough and Rowdy Ways, as Bob Dylan slowly but surely slips from view behind the piano, behind the music, but the voice is still strong.
November 7, 2025 at 11:03 PM
My third time at Rough and Rowdy Ways, as Bob Dylan slowly but surely slips from view behind the piano, behind the music, but the voice is still strong.
John Huston’s Sinful Davey (1969) is a handsome but hopelessly charmless Scottish caper in which John Hurt’s rogue fails to steal any sympathy. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★½ review of Sinful Davey (1969)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:56 AM
John Huston’s Sinful Davey (1969) is a handsome but hopelessly charmless Scottish caper in which John Hurt’s rogue fails to steal any sympathy. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
In my new Substack, I take a peek at Inside No. 9, the stage version. I found something part Grand Guignol, part variety show, and wholly what the fans expect.
Link 👇
Link 👇
November 5, 2025 at 9:38 PM
In my new Substack, I take a peek at Inside No. 9, the stage version. I found something part Grand Guignol, part variety show, and wholly what the fans expect.
Link 👇
Link 👇
Went to Inside No. 9 play, which wasn’t quite what I expected. Mix of comedy sketch show, Grand Guignol, actual play, and variety.
November 4, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Went to Inside No. 9 play, which wasn’t quite what I expected. Mix of comedy sketch show, Grand Guignol, actual play, and variety.
The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu (1930) is pre-Code pulp fun from Warner Oland’s potions-obsessed Fu Manchu, a talky but visually stylish relic with a somewhat fatter, jollier Fu than we see from later stars. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★★ review of The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu (1930)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
November 3, 2025 at 11:52 PM
The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu (1930) is pre-Code pulp fun from Warner Oland’s potions-obsessed Fu Manchu, a talky but visually stylish relic with a somewhat fatter, jollier Fu than we see from later stars. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A House of Dynamite (2025) is an ambitious, formally inventive disaster movie whose precision and power are undermined by a little too much underlining in its messaging. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★★½ review of A House of Dynamite (2025)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
November 2, 2025 at 3:23 PM
A House of Dynamite (2025) is an ambitious, formally inventive disaster movie whose precision and power are undermined by a little too much underlining in its messaging. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
Hallowe’en viewing: The Oblong Box (1969) is a thickly plotted colonial-gothic horror where Vincent Price’s hidden, mutilated brother becomes the avenger of both personal and imperial sin. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★★½ review of The Oblong Box (1969)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
October 31, 2025 at 11:31 PM
Hallowe’en viewing: The Oblong Box (1969) is a thickly plotted colonial-gothic horror where Vincent Price’s hidden, mutilated brother becomes the avenger of both personal and imperial sin. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
Leather Jackets (1992) is a catastrophic, eye-popping howler - unforgettable for all the wrong reasons, which leaves me haunted by the mystery of how Lee Drysdale ever got to make it happen. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★½ review of Leather Jackets (1992)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
October 31, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Leather Jackets (1992) is a catastrophic, eye-popping howler - unforgettable for all the wrong reasons, which leaves me haunted by the mystery of how Lee Drysdale ever got to make it happen. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
The Visitors (1972) is raw, uneasy Vietnam-era chamber piece wherein Elia Kazan wrestles with guilt, violence, and his own past testifying for the HUAC. Early brilliance from James Woods and Steve Railsback, but very slow. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★★ review of The Visitors (1972)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
October 29, 2025 at 12:34 PM
The Visitors (1972) is raw, uneasy Vietnam-era chamber piece wherein Elia Kazan wrestles with guilt, violence, and his own past testifying for the HUAC. Early brilliance from James Woods and Steve Railsback, but very slow. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
Playback (1962) is a taut, noir-tinged Edgar Wallace moral interlude wherein lust pulls a promising young copper down the trapdoor to his doom. Barry Foster and an impossibly cherubic Dinsdale Landen feature. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★★½ review of Playback (1962)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
October 28, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Playback (1962) is a taut, noir-tinged Edgar Wallace moral interlude wherein lust pulls a promising young copper down the trapdoor to his doom. Barry Foster and an impossibly cherubic Dinsdale Landen feature. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
Dead of Winter (1987) is a film I've wanted to see for years, chilly, twist-filled psychological thriller where performance, identity, and survival combine a fever dream of being trapped in someone else's masquerade. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★★★ review of Dead of Winter (1987)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
October 27, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Dead of Winter (1987) is a film I've wanted to see for years, chilly, twist-filled psychological thriller where performance, identity, and survival combine a fever dream of being trapped in someone else's masquerade. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
The Devil's Brigade (1968) is a tough, strongly scripted war pic with Dirty Dozen similarities. One of Andrew V. McLaglen’s most disciplined blends of camaraderie, muscle, and old-school heroics. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★★½ review of The Devil's Brigade (1968)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
October 26, 2025 at 10:25 PM
The Devil's Brigade (1968) is a tough, strongly scripted war pic with Dirty Dozen similarities. One of Andrew V. McLaglen’s most disciplined blends of camaraderie, muscle, and old-school heroics. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
Saw the Young Vic’s Entertaining Mr Sloane. A flawed but fascinating revival that emphasises Orton’s comedy's themes of exploitation, vulnerability, and sin.
Full thoughts 👇
Full thoughts 👇
October 26, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Saw the Young Vic’s Entertaining Mr Sloane. A flawed but fascinating revival that emphasises Orton’s comedy's themes of exploitation, vulnerability, and sin.
Full thoughts 👇
Full thoughts 👇
Harry & Son (1984) is all Paul Newman's fault, as star, director and co-writer of a soggy father-son weepy. Robbie Benson earned a Razzie nomination as the son, but he sure knows how to wear denim shorts. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★½ review of Harry & Son (1984)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
October 24, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Harry & Son (1984) is all Paul Newman's fault, as star, director and co-writer of a soggy father-son weepy. Robbie Benson earned a Razzie nomination as the son, but he sure knows how to wear denim shorts. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
In The Critic, I take umbrage with Daniel Day-Lewis’s notion that those of us who didn’t go to public school don’t feel entitled to go to the theatre.
thecritic.co.uk/no-one-needs...
thecritic.co.uk/no-one-needs...
No one needs “privilege” to enjoy the theatre | James Martin Charlton | The Critic Magazine
Daniel Day-Lewis has returned from his latest Sinatra-like retirement with a new movie, the critically excoriated Anemone, and has condescended to be interviewed at BFI Southbank.
thecritic.co.uk
October 24, 2025 at 6:55 AM
In The Critic, I take umbrage with Daniel Day-Lewis’s notion that those of us who didn’t go to public school don’t feel entitled to go to the theatre.
thecritic.co.uk/no-one-needs...
thecritic.co.uk/no-one-needs...
How enormously sad. Their collaboration, especially on the first 3 Soft Cell albums, was immeasurably important to so many of us. RIP Dave Ball.
October 23, 2025 at 1:22 PM
How enormously sad. Their collaboration, especially on the first 3 Soft Cell albums, was immeasurably important to so many of us. RIP Dave Ball.
What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966) is a sprawling, over-engineered farce where Blake Edwards’s flair for spectacle overwhelms story, leaving James Coburn's fixer forgotten but allowing moments for Dick Shawn to shine. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★★ review of What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966)
An enormous war comedy from Blake Edwards, a director who never did things by half – except, perhaps, character development and story. A square captain serving in late-WWII Sicily is given command of ...
letterboxd.com
October 21, 2025 at 10:33 PM
What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966) is a sprawling, over-engineered farce where Blake Edwards’s flair for spectacle overwhelms story, leaving James Coburn's fixer forgotten but allowing moments for Dick Shawn to shine. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
Defiance (1980) is a grimy, slow-burning urban western whose call for collective vigilantism gets lost in its predictability or manipulative payoff. Nevertheless, it's a good primer in anarcho-tyranny. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★★ review of Defiance (1980)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
October 20, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Defiance (1980) is a grimy, slow-burning urban western whose call for collective vigilantism gets lost in its predictability or manipulative payoff. Nevertheless, it's a good primer in anarcho-tyranny. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
Bloody Mama (1970) is a mean-spirited Roger Corman Ma Barker saga which plays like a sleazy, post-Bonnie and Clyde morality tale. It's a bit flat, lifted by Shelley Winters’s feral energy as another hubristic Corman protagonist. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★★ review of Bloody Mama (1970)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
October 19, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Bloody Mama (1970) is a mean-spirited Roger Corman Ma Barker saga which plays like a sleazy, post-Bonnie and Clyde morality tale. It's a bit flat, lifted by Shelley Winters’s feral energy as another hubristic Corman protagonist. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
Meatcleaver Massacre (1977) is a murky supernatural revenge film whose tangled production — half Ed Wood myth, half Christopher Lee curiosity — is a tad more intriguing than the movie itself. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★ review of Meatcleaver Massacre (1977)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
October 18, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Meatcleaver Massacre (1977) is a murky supernatural revenge film whose tangled production — half Ed Wood myth, half Christopher Lee curiosity — is a tad more intriguing than the movie itself. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
What Every Woman Wants (1954) is an early Talbot Rothwell script that plays like a straight-faced prototype for his Carry On films, its factory strike looking forward to At Your Convenience, and its bicycle loving couple the Potters in Camping. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★★ review of What Every Woman Wants (1954)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
October 18, 2025 at 6:47 PM
What Every Woman Wants (1954) is an early Talbot Rothwell script that plays like a straight-faced prototype for his Carry On films, its factory strike looking forward to At Your Convenience, and its bicycle loving couple the Potters in Camping. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
The Odd Job (1978) is a shambolic misfire that mistakes premise for comedy, leaving Graham Chapman looking bad in a flat, joyless black farce. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★½ review of The Odd Job (1978)
Each of the Pythons pursued individual projects after Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and this was Graham Chapman’s. Based on a half-hour TV play that originally starred Ronnie Barker, it tells the s...
letterboxd.com
October 17, 2025 at 10:30 PM
The Odd Job (1978) is a shambolic misfire that mistakes premise for comedy, leaving Graham Chapman looking bad in a flat, joyless black farce. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
The Return of Dracula (1958) is a taut small-town chiller that plays like a vampiric echo of Welles’s The Stranger, with Francis Lederer’s suave Count corrupting postwar innocence with old world guile. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★★ review of The Return of Dracula (1958)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
October 17, 2025 at 5:34 PM
The Return of Dracula (1958) is a taut small-town chiller that plays like a vampiric echo of Welles’s The Stranger, with Francis Lederer’s suave Count corrupting postwar innocence with old world guile. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...