Mark West's Blog, page 9

An Obscure Gem: The Silent Partner (1978)

A few weeks back, intrigued by the write-up, I decided to give The Silent Partner a chance and recorded it from the excellent Talking Pictures TV (through whom I discovered the wonderful The Beach Girls (which I wrote about here).  I'm so glad I did - what a fantastic, obscure little gem of a film it turned out to be!Elliot Gould plays Miles Cullen, a mild-mannered bank teller who works at a

The Art Of Brian Bysouth

When I discovered that a British artist was responsible for not only my favourite Bond film poster (which I wrote about here) but also many others I liked, I decided he'd make an excellent subject for my occasional "The Art Of..." thread.So here's a celebration of Brian Bysouth and his work.1981My favourite Bond poster (I wrote about the film here)19731974197519781981

A Bright Spot (with The Crunch)

We’re living in extraordinary times and, it seems to me, it’s even more important now to seek out and acknowledge the bright spots of humanity that exist all around us.  One of those happened to me this weekend and it all started with a post I published a year ago.“a whole new experience in boys' papers! It's for the boy of today - packed with never-before told stories with true life features on

Novelisation Review 4: The Six Million Dollar Man: Wine, Women And War, by Mike Jahn

The fourth in an occasional thread celebrating old-school paperback novelisations from the 70s and 80s, which are now mostly forgotten.  We're not talking great art but these books have their place - they were a fantastic resource from a time when you couldn't watch your favourite film or TV show whenever you felt like it - and I think they deserve to be remembered.This time, I'm looking at The

Here's [Some] I Made Earlier...

Usually, to round off
a blogging year, I do a post about my creative exploits in the past twelve
months but, to be honest, I didn’t feel like doing one in 2020.  It was a bad year for all of us, though not
without individual rays of sunshine and as a writer, I found it stifled me for
a while.  The various lockdowns also meant all Cons and gatherings I would normally
attend didn’t happen and I

The Twelfth Annual Westies - review of the year 2020

Well it's been an odd year but here we are again, gearing up for Christmas and so it's time to indulge in the annual blog custom and remember the good books of 2020.Once again, it's been a great reading year for me with a nice mixture of brand new novels, a few books that have languished on my TBR pile for too long, some good second-hand finds (which jumped straight to the top of the pile) along

The Twelth Annual Westies - review of the year 2020

Well it's been an odd year but here we are again, gearing up for Christmas and so it's time to indulge in the annual blog custom and remember the good books of 2020.Once again, it's been a great reading year for me with a nice mixture of brand new novels, a few books that have languished on my TBR pile for too long, some good second-hand finds (which jumped straight to the top of the pile) along

Nostalgic For My Childhood - Christmas Annuals (part 4)

"Christmas is coming!"


me, Christmas 1982, posing with my haul (and clearly very chuffed with the Blondie calendar).  That sign I'm holding would stay on my bedroom door well into my mid-teens... (also - The Fall Guy!)

Welcome to the fourth post (the others are here - 2017, 2018 and 2019) showcasing one of the Christmas highlights from when I was a kid (beyond the catalogues I wrote about in

Creature From The Black Lagoon

Creature From The Black Lagoon opened in the UK on 9th December 1954, having premiered in the USA on 12th February that year.  It was directed by Jack Arnold, produced by William Alland and written by Harry Essex & Arthur Ross (story by Maurice Zimm).  William E. Snyder was director of photography, Ted Kent was editor, Milicent Patrick created the suit and the team of Henry Mancini, Hans J.

At Home In The Shadows, by Gary McMahon

In a new edition of the occasional series, I want to tell you about a book I've read and loved, which I think adds to the horror genre and that I think you'll enjoy if you're a fan (though I'm getting to it a little late, it was published last year).Black Shuck Shadows presents a collectable series of micro-collections, intended as a sampler to introduce readers to the best in classic and modern