British Film Institute - London Film Festival

Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

Search cinema listings

Browse cinemas A-Z

Search 20,000 reviews

 

T. Dan Smith (1987)

Director: Amber Films

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Resembling Evelyn Waugh facially and perhaps Huey 'Kingfish' Long historically, T Dan Smith proves a mesmerising speaker in this documentary by the Amber Films collective. Was he the fall-guy for the Establishment in the Poulson Affair, imprisoned to save Home Secretary Reginald Maudling's neck, or was he a Trot idealist who dreamed of transforming Newcastle into the Milan of the North, infiltrated the system, but surrendered his soul in the process? That face doesn't give much clue, and the linking investigatory journalists confess themselves no wiser by the end. A compilation of newsreel, interview and dramatic reconstruction, the film is sometimes clumsy, but the facts are strong enough to tether the viewer. Unfair immunity at the top seems to be the commercial.

Author: BC

Time Out Film Guide


  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields





Top Stories

A Bond a day: No. 11 'Moonraker'

A Bond a day: No. 11 'Moonraker'

Time Out revisits the 21 Bond movies day by day to celebrate the release of 'Quantum of Solace'

The essential guide to the London Film Festival

The essential guide to the London Film Festival

Get the inside track on the all the films and events you'll want to catch at the Times BFI 52nd London Film Festival

Terence Davies: interview

Terence Davies: interview

Wally Hammond talks to visionary British director Terence Davies about his deeply personal and long-awaited new documentary ‘Of Time and the City’

W.

W.

Read our early review of Oliver Stone's George W Bush biopic, 'W.', playing at this year's London Film Festival

Ten friendly ghost movies

Ten friendly ghost movies

To celebrate the release of 'Ghost Town' in which Ricky Gervais plays a New York dentist who can see dead people, Time Out counts down ten great friendly ghost movies.