Month: September 2024

From Darkness to Light review – Jerry Lewis’ infamous Holocaust film rescued from oblivion | Movies

by

In 1971 Jerry Lewis, America’s most famous comedian, decided to swing for the fences and make his masterpiece. The Day the Clown Cried was a Holocaust tale about Helmut Doork, a hapless party entertainer who becomes a death camp pied piper. Lewis starred and directed, overseeing every aspect of a fraught shoot in Sweden, but … Read more

Ukrainian drone attacks hit power stations and refineries in Russia | Ukraine

by

Ukraine has carried out one of its biggest ever drone attacks on Russia, with videos showing a series of explosions and fires at power stations and refineries including in Moscow. Russia’s defence ministry downplayed the overnight strikes. It said it had intercepted and destroyed 158 unmanned enemy aerial vehicles. These were shot down over 15 … Read more

UK police risk assessment before riots said far-right threat probably ‘minimal’ | Police

by

In the months leading up to this summer’s riots, police leaders believed that the threat of violence from far-right protests was likely to be “minimal”, official papers reveal. Documents from December 2023 show that police instead prioritised the pro-Palestinian movement, environmental protests, football matches and animal rights activism as potentially threatening public order. Police deny … Read more

‘Like criticising a book that has 700 pages’: The Brutalist director defends long films | Venice film festival 2024

by

How do you properly do justice to the life story of a Hungarian-born Jew who survived the Holocaust and emigrated to the US, where he toiled in poverty and indignity in pursuit of the American dream? According to the director of the highly anticipated new film The Brutalist the answer is to push back against … Read more

As festival season ends, let’s celebrate their communal magic – and the fact they’re a rare national asset | John Harris

by

This column was completed in a tent on the borders of Dorset and Wiltshire, during the somewhat bleary morning that followed a brilliant Saturday night. I was among 17,000 people trying to hang on to the remains of summer in a set of fields, woodland and Victorian gardens, over four nights and three days of … Read more

For decades, it’s been a man’s world on Capitol Hill – that’s finally changing | US Congress

by

The halls of the US Congress were, for many years, a man’s world. The first woman elected to Congress, the Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana, joined the House in 1917, three years before the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote and decades before the civil rights movement enabled ballot access for women of … Read more