![[August 22, 1970] Falling From Great Heights (World Cinema: The Stolen Airship & Herostratus)](https://galacticjourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/WC-Titles.png)
By Mx Kris Vyas-Myall
Of the three channels on British television, the one that averages the best quality of output is easily BBC2. Not that all their output is entirely to my taste. For every Disco 2 and Laugh-In there is a High Chapparal or Pot Black
However, one section I try not to miss is their World Cinema slot. Whilst other shut-ins on a Friday Night are watching Manhunt or It’s A Knockout, I enjoy settling down to discover what gems from around the world I might not otherwise see.
Some of the films in the World Cinema slot recently. Clockwise from top left: Memories of Under-Development (1968); Happy Gypsies (1967); Loves of a Blonde (1965); Bride of the Andes (1966); Family Diary (1962); A Very Private Affair (1962).
Now there is a definite bias in the movie selection. Over the last two years, by my count, over half the films have been French and another third are from elsewhere in Europe (notably a heavy proportion from Italy and Eastern Europe). There have only been two films from Latin America (one from Cuba, another Mexico), two from Asia (both from Japan) and nothing from Africa (unless you count a French film shot in Tunisia).
They are also overwhelmingly within New Wave or Neorealist style with multiple films by directors like Truffaut and Visconti. Very few are broad comedy, crime, musical or melodrama, with no sight of pieces such as Les Grandes Vacances or Lemonade Joe. You are much more likely to see a slow black and white shot of an egg being cracked than someone cracking a joke.
As such, there is not a huge amount of fantastical content involved, even their love of Italian and French cinema could not give us Alphaville or The Tenth Victim (although The Batman-esque Judex a couple of years ago was a nice surprise). However, I do want to review two that have come on recently that are of possible interest to the Journey audience. One from Czechoslovakia and an Experimental film from here in Britain.