Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

BeSummers Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Spikeopath Campbell's Kingdom is directed by Ralph Thomas and adapted to screenplay by Robin Estridge from the Hammond Innes novel. It stars Dirk Bogarde, Stanley Baker, Michael Craig, Barbara Murray, James Robertson Justice, Athene Seyler, Robert Brown, John Laurie and Sid James. Music is by Clifton Parker and cinematography by Ernest Steward. With only six months to live, Bruce Campbell (Bogarde) arrives in the township of Come Lucky in the Rockies to take up his grandfather's inheritance. The inheritance is a valley area known as Campbell's Kingdom, a place where Bruce's grandfather insisted to his dying day that it held oil, something which caused a major rift in the township. Bruce arrives to a hostile reception, and told that his inheritance will not be allowed to stop the building of new dam, the building of which is ethically wrong but is the source of employment for most of the townsfolk. Bruce, fragile and short of friends, is determined to prove his grandfather was a honourable and correct man and so goes toe to toe with the ruthless dam builders led by Owen Morgan (Baker). The film makers take their time to build the characters and their part in the plot. Film then deftly builds up a head of steam in the second half where we are treated to genuine thrills as dirty tricks and action sequences go hand in hand. Beautifully photographed in Eastman Color by Steward (Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy standing in for The Rockies), film is essentially a variant on Western movie staples that saw two opposing work forces (cattlemen/farmers/railroad/stageline etc) going against each other with pain and misery sure to surface. Here it's the delicate grace of Bogarde against the brawn of Baker, and both men are excellent in their portrayals. Around them are a bunch of more than competent performers to further add weight to the character dynamics, while the art department have come up with some decent sets and model work for when the story is away from the great outdoors. It's not all convincing, but the action and effects are good value in entertainment terms, while some romance helps things along considerably; even if it ultimately leads to an irritating twist at the finale.You could maybe be irked by the lack of location based accents, and even question the ethics on both sides of the argument here as the land is set up to be raped by man, but really why let such quibbles stop your enjoyment of this immensely satisfying entertainment? 7.5/10

ianlouisiana In the 1950s - in stark contrast to today - people were queueing up to leave Britain.Fed up with post -war austerity,rationing,low wages,class distinction and crap weather hundreds of thousands opted for healthier,more prosperous climes.Many became" £10 Poms ",taking an assisted passage to Australia,I barely escaped that fate myself,my father - an electrical engineer - being offered a promotion and a move to the south coast a few months before we would have sailed.Others made for other former colonies that offered a fresh start,Canada being the most popular alternative destination.To any waverers amongst them,the magnificent setting of "Campbells Kingdom" might well have acted as the clincher.The actors,the plot,the script,all are secondary to the majestic great outdoors that dominates the film.It is a "Kingdom" indeed fit for a king. Taken from a Hammond Innes novel,the film tells the story of a dying man who goes to Canada to claim his inheritance,but of course he's Dirk Bogarde and he isn't really dying at all but he does get to show his 3/4 profile a lot and look rather archly at the camera because this was before we discovered he could act and we were quite happy for him to put a cigarette in his elegant mouth and smoulder. Stanley Baker is,unsurprisingly,the bad guy,and he has thin lips and sneers at Dirk rather unpleasantly.He and several other members of the cast all make courageous but ill - advised attempts at the Canadian accent.I wish they hadn't - but there it is. I enjoyed this in 1958,smoking my "Gitanes"(pretentious - moi?) and blowing bubbles down the straw of my "Kia - Ora" in my innocent uncritical way,but after half a century of determined movie - going it now looks like little more than a travelogue plagued by some pretty appalling acting. Its always a pleasure to watch the young Mr Bogarde valiantly trying to express real emotion but falling short of the mark and he does it a lot here.But,bless him,he kept at it and eventually got it right a few years later in "Victim".But,as I ground the stub of my "Gitane" into the carpet and dropped my empty "Kia - Ora " under the seat,I just wanted him to punch Stanley Baker..

christopher lyons I haven't seen this film for a long time. I saw it in the cinema in the late 50's early 60's and over the years since on TV. I think it probably still stands up due to the fact that it is in colour, it's a good clean action film with no heavy violence or strong language, and it has some familiar faces in it. Sid James of course was in Hell Drivers playing a truck driver,with Stanley Baker,who was the hero but, in this one he is the baddie, as he was in Checkpoint which also starred James Robertson Justice who was in the Doctor films with Dirk Bogarde. There are probably other connections, but this and the other films are very straight forward and untaxing to watch.

hogan-pj This film scores best in it's fine sense of location, which is to be applauded as the post war industry made the effort to escape from Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire.Where it falls down is the residual ambiance, among the actors, that they are still in 'Titfield Thunderbolt' country.(OK. So that was filmed in Somerset). Nice in light comedy, Bogarde never really convinced in action roles and though Baker may have convinced some (Himself maybe) that he was tough, one feels that a Broderick Crawford or Richard Boone, possibly even James Mason, (if thinly sliced) would have eaten them both on toast, . Watch for the 'two shot' when Bogarde confronts Baker in the saloon and the bottle of 'Canada Club' whisky on the table jumps on and off its tray.