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Friday 6:30am - 9pm Saturday 9:45am - 4pm

Little Savoy Community Cinema

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Little Savoy Community Cinema

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Little Savoy Community Cinema,
Based in Colne Lancashire, A community cinema and film club,

02/11/2026

Born in New York City, James Dunn was the son of a Wall Street stockbroker. He joined his father in his business for three years. Dunn started his entertainment career in vaudeville before progressing to films at Paramount's Astoria studios in the late 1920s starting as an extra. After a gap where he appeared in stock companies, he returned to films. He was signed by Fox in 1931, making 22 films and several more on loan-out.

Dunn made a strong first impression with his first major role, in director Frank Borzage's "Bad Girl" (1931). He went on to make several formula films, including "Society Girl" (1932), in which he played a boxer distracted by his girlfriend (Peggy Shannon) and whose manager, played by Spencer Tracy in a rare supporting role, walks out in frustration; and "Hello, Sister!" (1933), a butchered recutting and partial reshooting of Erich von Stroheim's film "Walking Down Broadway" with Boots Mallory and ZaSu Pitts. Dunn's early successes included four Shirley Temple films in 1934, "Baby Take a Bow," "Stand Up and Cheer!," "Change of Heart," and "Bright Eyes."

The roles that followed did nothing to further his career, and during the late 1930s his prospects were further diminished by a battle with alcoholism.

In 1945, his performance in "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" (below, with Peggy Ann Garner) earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He portrayed an alcoholic but good-natured Irish-American father, a dreamer whose presence brought joy to those around him even though he was never a success in the traditional sense.

Dunn, on hearing his name announced at the Academy Awards: "I trampled several people and bumped Ann Revere's head getting to the aisle, and all I could say was 'Gee, not me!' I walked backstage into a corner and started to cry."

02/11/2026

Michael Bates had a much closer connection to India than many people watching It Ain’t Half Hot Mum probably realised. He wasn’t simply an actor learning about the country for a television role.

The BBC comedy ran from 1974 to 1981, following a British Army concert party stationed in India and Burma during the Second World War.

Created by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, it became hugely popular, with Bates playing Rangi Ram, the concert party’s Indian bearer.

His casting has been criticised over the years. Bates was a white British actor playing an Indian character with darkened make-up and an exaggerated accent, something many viewers now find uncomfortable.

But his own background is worth knowing about, too.

Bates was born in Jhansi, India, in 1920. His father worked for the Indian Civil Service, and Michael spent part of his childhood there before going to school in England.

He later returned during the Second World War, serving in the British Indian Army.

He served with the Gurkhas during the Burma Campaign, reached the rank of major and was mentioned in despatches. That was quite a life before he became a familiar face on television.

India was somewhere he knew through childhood and military service, rather than simply a setting in a script. Those experiences were part of his life long before Rangi Ram came along.

He also had plenty of acting work beyond the sitcom. His credits included A Clockwork Orange, Frenzy and The Navy Lark, showing the range of parts he could take on.

There’s a story often repeated about an Indian woman challenging him over whether playing Rangi Ram was racist.

According to the account, Bates answered her in several Indian languages, leaving her surprised. However, the exact exchange is difficult to verify, so it’s worth treating that particular anecdote with caution.

His background certainly adds something to the discussion, although it doesn’t mean everyone will agree about the portrayal itself. Knowing a country well and playing a character built around stereotypes are different things.

It Ain’t Half Hot Mum drew enormous audiences in the 1970s, but parts of it are viewed differently today. That change in attitudes is part of any discussion about the programme.

Bates died in 1978, while the series was still being made. Rangi Ram remains the role many remember him for, but there was considerably more to his life and career than that one character.

02/11/2026

Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman on the Thames, London, 1957. A break from shooting Indiscreet, eleven years after Notorious.

Houndstooth, fur collar, a silk scarf knotted the Bergman way, like she’s about to steal a Jaguar. Lovely.
Now park all of that for a minute.

Rewind to 1950. Bergman leaves her husband for Roberto Rossellini, has his child, and America decides she’s done. She gets denounced on the floor of the US Senate, and half of Hollywood suddenly can’t remember her number.

Cary remembers it. He stays. Defends her in public and keeps the line open through all her Italian years, at a moment when being seen with Ingrid Bergman could cost you something.

March 1957. Hollywood is finally ready to forgive, and she wins her second Oscar, for Anastasia. She’s in Paris that night, on stage. The man who walks up to collect it is Cary. Months later he’s making Indiscreet and wants one leading lady only. He also quietly makes sure she gets a cut of the gross, plus a wardrobe by Christian Dior. Gentleman’s details.

02/11/2026

Before becoming one of Britain's best-known comedy stars, Norman Wisdom had a childhood marked by poverty, hardship and a very different kind of struggle.

After his parents separated, he spent time in a children's home, running away at just 11 years old. By the age of 13, he was earning his living as an errand boy at a grocer's. He also spent time in the Merchant Navy before joining the Army.

Serving in India during the Second World War proved to be a turning point. At an Army concert, he performed a comedy boxing routine that made his fellow servicemen laugh. It was then that he began to realise entertainment could become his future. He also developed his musical abilities, serving as a bandsman with the Royal Corps of Signals.

After leaving the Army, Norman worked his way through variety shows, pantomimes and summer seasons. His first starring film role came in 1953, earning him a BAFTA for Most Promising Newcomer.

His familiar little-man character, complete with a crooked cap, ill-fitting suit and brilliant physical comedy, soon won audiences over. His popularity reached far beyond Britain, and he continued performing into later life.

In 2000, Norman Wisdom was knighted for his services to entertainment.

01/11/2026

Robert Ryan and Nita Talbot in On Dangerous Ground (Nicholas Ray, 1951). Is it film noir or melodrama? Whatever, I really like this film. Ida Lupino is luminous as a blind woman whom Ryan slowly falls for. (Talbot, later a hardworking actress on television, was uncredited.)

31/10/2026

R.I.P. to Elke Summer. Born Elke von Schletz.
(November 5, 1940 – October 28, 2026)

Elke was a German actress, entertainer and artist, who has starred in many Hollywood films.
She was spotted by film director Vittorio De Sica while on holiday in Italy, and began appearing in films there in 1958. Also that year, she changed her surname from Schletz to Sommer, which was easier to pronounce for a non-German audience. Quickly becoming a noted s*x symbol and moved to Hollywood in the early 1960s, Sommer also became one of the most popular pin-up girls of the time, and posed for several pictorials in Pl***oy magazine, including the September 1964 and December 1967 issues. Sommer became one of the top film actresses of the 1960s. She made just shy of 100 film and television appearances between 1959 and 2005, including A Shot in the Dark with Peter Sellers, The Art of Love with James Garner and Dick Van D**e, The Oscar with Stephen Boyd, Boy Did I Get a Wrong Number! with Bob Hope, the Bulldog Drummond extravaganza Deadlier Than the Male, The Wrecking Crew with Dean Martin, and The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz. In 1964, she won a Golden Globe award as Most Promising Newcomer Actress for The Prize, a film in which she co-starred with Paul Newman and Edward G. Robinson.
A frequent guest on television, Sommer sang and participated in comedy sketches on episodes of The Dean Martin Show and on Bob Hope specials, made 10 appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and was a panelist on the Hollywood Squares game show many times between 1973 and 1980, when Peter Marshall was its "Square-Master", or host. Sommer's films during the 1970s included the thriller Zeppelin, in which she co-starred with Michael York, and a remake of Agatha Christie's frequently filmed murder mystery Ten Little Indians. In 1972, she starred in two Italian horror films directed by Mario Bava: Baron Blood and Lisa and the Devil. The latter was subsequently re-edited (with 1975 footage inserted) to make a different film called House of Exorcism. Sommer went back to Italy to act in additional scenes for Lisa and the Devil, which its producer inserted into the film to convert it to House of Exorcism, against the wishes of the director.
In 1975, Peter Rogers cast her in the British comedy Carry On Behind as the Russian Professor Vrooshka.[2] She became the Carry On films' joint highest-paid performer, at £30,000; this was an honor that she shared with Phil Silvers (who starred in Follow That Camel).
Most of her film work during the decade came in Europe. After the 1979 comedy The Prisoner of Zenda, which reunited her with Sellers, the actress did virtually no more acting in Hollywood films, concentrating more on her artwork. She provided the voice for Yzma in the German release of The Emperor's New Groove.
Sommer also performed as a singer, recording and releasing several albums.

Partial Filmography:

• The Prize (1963) – Co-starred with Paul Newman; won a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer.
• The Victors (1963) – Directed by Carl Foreman.
• A Shot in the Dark (1964) – Played Maria Gambrelli opposite Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau in the classic Pink Panther sequel.
• The Art of Love (1965) – Comedy co-starring James Garner and Dick Van D**e.
• The Money Trap (1965) – Caper film with Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth.
• The Oscar (1966) – Drama starring Stephen Boyd.
• Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966) – Comedy with Bob Hope.
• Deadlier Than the Male (1967) – Bulldog Drummond action-thriller.
• The Corrupt Ones (1967) – Action/crime film with Robert Stack.
• The Venetian Affair (1967) – Spy thriller.
• The Wrecking Crew (1968) – Matt Helm spy spoof starring Dean Martin and Sharon Tate.
• They Came to Rob Las Vegas (1968) – Caper film with Gary Lockwood.
• Zeppelin (1971) – World War I adventure-thriller with Michael York.
• Baron Blood (1972) – Italian gothic horror film directed by Mario Bava.
• Lisa and the Devil (1973) – Psychological horror film directed by Mario Bava (later re-edited as The House of Exorcism in 1975).
• And Then There Were None / Ten Little Indians (1974/1975) – Agatha Christie murder mystery adaptation.
• Carry On Behind (1975) – British comedy where she played Russian Professor Vrooshka.
• The Swiss Conspiracy (1976) – Thriller.
• The Prisoner of Zenda (1979) – Adventure-comedy.
• Lily in Love (1984) – Comedy-drama.

31/10/2026

Yvonne Furneaux (1926–2024) was a British-French actress celebrated for her refined beauty and international career in mid-century European cinema.

Born Elisabeth Yvonne Scatcherd in Roubaix, France, to English parents, Furneaux studied at Oxford and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before beginning her film work in the early 1950s. She collaborated with major directors including Michelangelo Antonioni (Le Amiche, 1955), Federico Fellini (La Dolce Vita, 1960), and Roman Polanski (Repulsion, 1965). Equally at home in art-house films and genre pictures, she brought a distinctive elegance and quiet intensity to her roles.

With her dark features and sophisticated presence, Furneaux remains one of the graceful faces of 1950s and ’60s European film. These elegant photos capture the refined beauty and understated grace of Yvonne Furneaux, a distinctive presence in mid-century European cinema.

30/10/2026

Faith Domergue (1924 or 1925–1999) was an American actress known for her dark beauty and memorable roles in 1950s science fiction and horror films.

Discovered as a teenager by Howard Hughes, Domergue was signed to a contract and groomed for stardom, though her early career was marked by delays and limited opportunities. She gained lasting recognition in the mid-1950s with appearances in cult classics such as ‘This Island Earth’ (1955), ‘It Came from Beneath the Sea’ (1955), and ‘Cult of the Cobra’ (1955), earning her a place among the era’s early “scream queens.”

With her striking features and intense screen presence, Domergue remains a distinctive figure of mid-century genre cinema. These captivating photos highlight the dark beauty and dramatic presence of Faith Domergue, a memorable face of 1950s science fiction and film noir.

30/10/2026

A publicity photo of Maureen O'Hara and a few of the dashing gentlemen from "How Green Was My Valley," released in theaters on this date in 1941. The film was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won five including Best Picture, famously beating "Citizen Kane."

30/10/2026

F***y Brice (born Fania Borach) was born in New York City, the third child of Rose, a Hungarian Jewish woman who emigrated to America at age ten, and Alsatian immigrant Charles Borach. Under the name Lew Brice, her younger brother also became an entertainer and was the first husband of actress Mae Clarke. In 1908, Brice dropped out of school to work in a burlesque revue, "The Girls from Happy Land Starring Sliding Billy Watson." Two years later, she began her association with Florenz Ziegfeld, headlining his Ziegfeld Follies from 1910 to 1911. She was hired again in 1921 and performed in the Follies into the 1930s. In the 1921 Follies, she was featured singing "My Man," which became both a big hit and her signature song. She made a popular recording of it for Victor Records. The second song most associated with Brice is "Second Hand Rose," which she also introduced in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1921.

Her films include "My Man" (1928), "Be Yourself!" (1930) and "Everybody Sing" (1938) with Judy Garland. Brice, Ray Bolger, and Harriet Hoctor were the only original Ziegfeld performers to portray themselves in "The Great Ziegfeld" (1936) and "Ziegfeld Follies" (1946).

Barbra Streisand starred as Brice in the 1964 Broadway musical "Funny Girl," which centered on Brice's rise to fame and troubled relationship with gambler Nicky Arnstein. In 1968, Streisand won an Academy Award for Best Actress for reprising her role in the film version. The 1975 sequel, "Funny Lady," focused on Brice's turbulent relationship with impresario Billy Rose and was as highly fictionalized as the original film. Streisand also recorded the Brice songs "My Man," "I'd Rather Be Blue Over You (Than Happy with Somebody Else)," and "Second Hand Rose," which became a Top 40 hit.

Address

Robert Street
Colne
BB80NW

Opening Hours

Friday	6:30am - 9pm
Saturday	9:45am - 4pm

Telephone

+447535923893

Website

http://www.littlesavoycinema.com/

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