CALL NORTHSIDE 777
(1948, b/w)
Channel 4, 1.25pm
The first film to be shot on location in Chicago, Henry Hathaway’s hard-nosed docudrama stars James Stewart as a reporter who campaigns against the false conviction of a death row inmate (Richard Conte). Pacy and punchy, Call Northside 777 was inspired by the true case of Joseph Majczek, who was released in 1945 with a handsome payout for wrongful imprisonment. (111 min)
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BEFORE SUNSET (2004)
Sky Movies 2, 8pm
The sequel to Richard Linklater’s Viennese two-hander Before Sunrise is a flirtatious exercise that reunites the same actors and characters in Paris nine years later. Ethan Hawke’s American drifter is now a successful novelist, while Julie Delpy’s French student is a troubled young woman. Unfolding in real time and co- written by its two stars, Before Sunset is slight but carries enormous charm. (77 min)
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SOMERSAULT (2004)
FilmFour, 8.20pm
Beautiful and absorbing, Somersault is a coming-of-age drama set in an off-season Australian ski resort. Looking remarkably like a young Nicole Kidman, Abbie Cornish gives a terrific performance as an emotionally confused teenage runaway. The writer and director Cate Shortland’s exquisitely composed debut feature deservedly won a record-breaking number of Australia Oscars. (106 min)
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THE GODFATHER: PART III (1990)
Five, 9pm
Francis Ford Coppola’s belated final instalment in the operatic Godfather trilogy falls far short of its predecessors, but still has plenty to recommend it, notably Al Pacino’s lyrical portrait of a guilt-ridden Michael Corleone eking out his autumn years while trying to go legitimate. Pacino co-stars alongside Andy Garcia and Coppola’s daughter, Sofia, now a successful director herself, who stepped into a role vacated by Winona Ryder. (162 min)