Change Your Image
johntaylormedhurst
Reviews
Tim Driscoll's Donkey (1955)
- this film re-defines 'low-budget'
Except for the purposes of research where you're looking for parameters to judge films by, I doubt if anyone will ever watch this film, ever. I remember watching it in 1963 with some friends - the reason why it sticks in my mind is because it was always used as a benchmark to describe something else by, i.e.,'It was nearly as bad as......', or, 'It couldn't be any worse than...........' To be fair, this was a very low budget 'B' film shown in support of the main feature. It's about an Irish lad that takes his donkey called 'Patchy' to a local derby and races it. The 'speeded-up' special effects are very much of the time and are truly awful. There are some who will find this film rather quaint, but that's not a sentiment I can agree with! Judge for yourself, the Children's Film & Television Foundation Ltd., have uploaded a 5 minute clip onto Youtube!
The Spanish Sword (1962)
For research purposes only!
If you're in the film industry and looking for something else, this is something else. 'Low-budget B Movie' doesn't come close to preparing you for the abject disappointment of this film. Any period film is going to be expensive, done properly - so this was never going to work. Nigel Green - an actor I very much admired, couldn't pull this dog out of the .....! The sword fighting scenes where victims are viewed being run through are truly awful, because it's clear that the victim has the blade under his arm and is turned sideways to look as though the sword has gone through, when it obviously hasn't! And that's just the beginning - I won't waste your time with any further negative comments, other than to repeat that students of the film industry should watch films like this!