Vic Pratt

A montage of five images, including the following. A portrait photograph of Aleksandr Rou. The front cover of the book ‘The Films of Aleksandr Rou: Father of Soviet Fairy-Tale Cinema’ by Deborah Allison, which shows an image from the film ‘Vasilisa the Beautiful’ (1939). An image from the film ‘Evenings on a Film Near Dikanka’ (1961). An image from the film ‘Jack Frost’, aka ‘Morozko’ (1964). An image from the film ‘Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors’ (1963).

8 March marks 120 years since the birth of one of my favourite film directors. Aleksandr Rou, the father of Soviet fairy-tale cinema, #BOTD in 1906. My book about his career will be out in paperback on 22 May. @intellectbooks.bsky.social

I loved watching and reviewing this disc. Pioneering investigative journalist Daniel Farson investigates witches, UFOs, cats, striptease, the Stock Exchange and a whole load more: www.theartsdesk.com/tv/blu-ray-d... @vicpratt.bsky.social #bfi #danielfarson #associatedrediffusion

Daniel Farson's Guide to Britain: Volume 1 - BFI - Blueprint: Review Samuel Port reviews the BFI's collection of films made by '1950's Louis Theroux' Daniel Farson as he guides us through Britain of the past.

blueprintreview.co.uk/2026/02/dani...

IT’S NANCY’S THURSDAY WE JUST LIVE IN IT We see a close up of Nancy with her red hair bow ,She is happy .

IT’S NANCY’S THURSDAY
WE JUST LIVE IN IT

Trailer for Daniel Farson's Guide to Britain: Volume 1 | Dual Format Edition out on 16 Feb | BFI YouTube video by BFI

There's some corking stuff on 1950s - 1960s pop culture in this latest release in the BFI Video Rediffusion range - on dual format Blu ray/DVD! First stop, The Cavern Club...straight from the fridge, Dad...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rENw...

Kenneth Anger #BOTD. How I wish he’d actually got round to publishing those Memoirs he promised me back in 1995!

My latest article is out today: ‘Juvenile Enculturation in a Time of Change: The Early Years of the “Boys’ Cinema Weekly”’ out today in Journal of Modern Periodical Studies. doi.org/10.5325/jmod...

Yes! Black Angel is great - there's a lovely cleaned-up version on the BFI's new Short Sharp Shocks Blu-Ray, Vol 4. Highly recommended. Salut @vicpratt.bsky.social...

Juraj Herz’s THE NINTH HEART (Czechoslovakia, 1979) proved a worthy follow up to the previous year’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Bonus points earned for the fabulous opening titles by Eva Švankmajerová and Jan Švankmajer.

Thanks Vic. The Appointment is astonishingly good. RIP Lindsey and condolences to friends and family.

In SSS vol. 4 @vicpratt.bsky.social and William Fowler ramp it up for disc 2 with some spicy teatime shorts including an atmospheric rescore by the Begotten. But then drops the all time classic, Frisbee. 🥏 ‘Jimmy!’

A new review in for my book about Aleksandr Rou.

We began our annual fairy tale film season with the very groovy, live-action folk revival adaptation of THE SNOW MAIDEN (Snegurochka, dir. Pavel Kadochnikov, USSR, 1968).

Next in our annual fairy tale film season: MOROZKO (Father Frost, dir. Iurii Zheliabuzhskii, USSR, 1924), released shortly before the escalating political war against fairy tales saw them disappear from Soviet screens for more than a decade.

We continued our fairy tale film season with THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN (dir. Bretaigne Windust, US, 1957). This Technicolor musical extravaganza was the first pre-recorded made-for-TV feature film. Claude Rains sings, and even dances a little. (Ignore the 1966 poster’s claims of Eastmancolor!)

Producer/puppeteer Lou Bunin’s little-known feature adaptation of ALICE IN WONDERLAND (dir. Dallas Bower, France/UK, 1949) centres on delightful stop-motion animation amid strikingly minimalist sets. I especially liked the giant puppy.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (Juraj Herz, Czechoslovakia, 1978) is a macabre marvel: the first screen adaptation I’ve seen that comes close to rivalling Jean Cocteau’s seminal 1946 adaptation.

We revisited NEW ADVENTURES OF PUSS IN BOOTS (Aleksandr Rou, USSR, 1958) for yesterday’s fairy-tale film offering: Rou’s first venture into the genre after the ‘film famine’ of the post-war years. Pictured: the ever-wonderful Lidiia Vertinskaia.

I missed this last month. The Appointment is an amazing film. I wish we could get a Region A release of the Region B blu-ray put out by BFI a couple years ago.

Lindsey Vickers obituary: onetime feature director behind rediscovered British horror The Appointment The British director, who has died at 85, only got one shot at a feature film and it never had a cinema release, but The Appointment was rediscovered 40 years later and won fans in Martin Scorsese, Gu...

Lindsey Vickers, the lovely chap who made THE APPOINTMENT, has died. I've written a tribute to him here:

www.bfi.org.uk/features/lin...

So weird to see my dad’s school bestie on a cover in Fopp! @vicpratt.bsky.social

I think you’ll enjoy the further peculiarities contained herein…

A man’s not dressed without one.

Your crumpled correspondent proudly plugging SHORT SHARP SHOCKS VOLUME 4 - out very soon on BFI
double disc Blu-ray. A plethora of peppery peculiarities are contained herein! Don't miss it.

Having never had the opportunity to see this brilliant film at the Pictures, I'm looking forward to what will be the LONDON CINEMA PREMIERE of THE APPOINTMENT this Sunday...

Image shows poster artwork for THE APPOINTMENT (1982, directed by Lindsey C. Vickers and starring Edward Woodward) and FULL CIRCLE: THE HAUNTING OF JULIA (1977, directed by Richard Loncraine and Starring Mia Farrow). Text reads: ‘Two BFI Flipside classics back on the big screen: October 2025’ with booking link at www.picturehouses.com

Not long now until this rare chance to see two fantastic BFI Flipside releases up on the big screen at Picturehouse Cinemas around the UK: THE APPOINTMENT (5-8 Oct) and FULL CIRCLE: THE HAUNTING OF JULIA (13-16 Oct). I can’t wait!

I wrote about one of my favourite films for @sensesofcinema.bsky.social‬. ‘From Märchenland to Mexico: MACARIO’s International Fairy-Tale Journey’. www.sensesofcinema.com/2025/cteq/fr...

One of my dad’s short films made in 1967 is included on the BFI’s new Short Sharp Shocks blu-ray release! Thanks to @vicpratt.bsky.social for choosing and restoring the film 🎥

Bernard Cribbins, David Lodge and Peter Sellers in 'Two Way Stretch'

Peter Sellers in the film 'Heavens Above!'

Britain's greatest comic actor? Probably, for a decade or so: theartsdesk.com/film/blu-ray... @studiocanal.com @vicpratt.bsky.social #petersellers #britishcinema #bfi