I wanted to do something a bit different this week so I’m putting the retro block to one side. I’m going to be showing a couple of films I’ve wanted to see for a while, and some other bits and pieces.

4.00 Train Sim Journey: The Woodhead Route
5.30 hbomberguy – Scanline: The Power of VHS
6.05 Contrapoints – Voting
6.30 Star Trek: The Next Generation – S02E06 The Schizoid Man
7.20 Savage Messiah (1972)
9.00 Arena – Woody Guthrie (1988)
10.10 Sacco and Vanzetti (2006)
11.30 [???MYSTERY BONUS???]

We start off at 4pm with a train sim journey – I will attempt to drive a Metropolitan-Vickers EM2 locomotive on an express service to Sheffield along the Woodhead route! After this we’re going to watch a couple of videos by leftist YouTubers hbomberguy and Contrapoints. I have retained Star Trek: The Next Generation (but please note it starts a bit earlier than usual). Then we have our first film of the evening.

Savage Messiah (1972)
Henri Gaudier-Brzeska was a French artist and sculptor who moved to London in 1910, becoming involved in the burgeoning Vorticism movement. His partner was Polish writer Sophie Brzeska, with whom he had an intense relationship which was complicated by their mental health issues. He enlisted with the French army at the start of the First World War, and was killed in the trenches in 1915 at the age of 23. This film by Ken Russell is largely based on letters sent between Henri and Sophie, and explores both their relationship and Henri’s work. Starring Dorothy Tutin, Scott Antony and Helen Mirren.

This will be followed by a fantastic 1988 episode of Arena about the life of Woody Guthrie. We then move onto our late film.

Sacco and Vanzetti (2006)
Sacco and Vanzetti were Italian anarchists who emigrated to America in the early 1900s. In 1920, they were framed for robbery and murder – despite a lack of evidence they were convicted of these crimes by a judicial system which treated them with utter contempt, and they were eventually executed in 1927. This documentary film, directed by Peter Miller, goes through their history and examines the evidence used against them at their trial. Howard Zinn, Studs Terkel and Arlo Guthrie are amongst those interviewed, whilst Tony Shalhoub and John Turturro voice the enigmatic pair, bringing their prison letters to life.