James Sherlock

Film historian, presenter, writer, publicist and film restoration and preservationist, James Sherlock, has been a cinema industry veteran for over four decades, beginning in 1964, at a number of Melbourne's most revered Picture Palaces.

James became a publicist in 1971, and so began his long career of working with many legendary filmmakers and performers on some of the most memorable and influential motion pictures ever made.

Such films as Bonnie and Clyde, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, The Wild Bunch, Point Blank, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, A Clockwork Orange, The French Connection, The Poseidon Adventure, Cabaret, Fiddler on the Roof, The Godfather, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Jaws, Deliverance, The Return of the Pink Panther, Being There, All The President's Men, Blazing Saddles, The Towering Inferno and The Shining have been a tremendous influence during his extraordinary career.

While working on the release of the James Bond blockbuster The Spy Who Loved Me, James first appeared on television, and so began a life-long association with many national television programs including The Early Bird Show, The Peter Couchman Show, The Don Lane Show, Hinch on Seven, Good Morning Australia, a regular on the long running Denise show on the Seven Network, and more recently on the Nine Network's What a Year and Can We Help in 2007.

Radio is also an important contribution, which continues to this day with numerous weekly programs around Australia on 3AW Melbourne, 4BC Queensland, as well as others in Sydney, Newcastle and Perth. Over the years James has written extensively on film for most major newspapers and magazines in Australia and around the world.

WEEKLY DVD RECOMMENDATIONS: 


FILM:         NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA:
Genre:        Historical/Drama/1971/Rating: TBC.
Cast:        Michael Jayston, Janet Suzman, Harry Andrews, Tom Baker.
Summery:    The epic tragic story of Nicholas II, the last Czar of Russia, his family and their involvement with the mysterious Rasputin, all set against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution. Big W Exclusive.  STARS: **** 

FILM:         THE MOUNTAIN MEN:
Genre:        Western/Adventure/1980/Rating: TBC.
Cast:        Charlton Heston, Brian Keith.
Summery:     The delightful adventure of pair of grizzly old frontiersmen in their search for a legendary valley 'so full of beaver that they jump right into your traps,' both Charlton Heston and Brian Keith are in top form. Big W Exclusive.  STARS: ***1/2 
       
FILM:         THE HANGMAN'S KNOT:
Genre:        Western/Classic/1952/Rating: TBC.
Cast:        Randolph Scott, Donna Reed, Lee Marvin.
Summery:    A rousing western classic about a unit of rebel soldiers who attack a Union troop carrying gold, only to learn the war has ended, and are being pursued by more that they bargained for who also want that gold. Big W Exclusive.  STARS: *** 

FILM:         LILITH:
Genre:        Drama/1964/Rating: TBC.
Cast:    Warren Beatty, Jean Seberg, Peter Fonda, Kim Hunter, Gene Hackman.
Summery:    Absorbing drama of a mysterious young woman in an elite New England sanitarium and a young man who is drawn into her web, leading to tragic results. Great performances throughout. Big W Exclusive. STARS: ***1/2

FILM:         THE END OF THE AFFAIR:
Genre:        Drama/Romance/War/1955/Rating: TBC.
Cast:    Deborah Kerr, John Mills, Van Johnson, Sarah Miles, Peter Cushing.
Summery:    The classic and absorbing story of war-torn London and a man who falls in love with his neighbour and a romance begins behind her husband's back, but both the war and the romance do not last forever. Remade in 1999 with Ralph Fiennes and Julianne Moore. Big W Exclusive. STARS: ***1/2

FILM:         THE DEVIL AT 4 0'CLOCK:
Genre:        Adventure/Drama/1961/PG.
Cast:    Spencer Tracy, Frank Sinatra, Kerwin Mathews.
Summery:     Classic adventure of an eccentric priest who recruits three reluctant convicts to help him rescue a sick children from a remote Pacific island menaced by an active volcano about to explode, high tension every step of the way as they try to escape the pending doom. Big W Exclusive. STARS: ****