DVD

In Bad Times At

The El Royale (16) ★★ Jeff Bridges’s preacher man Daniel Flynn is clearly not what he seems. What this padre seeks is a stash of loot his brother buried way back when under the hotel.

But is anyone at the El Royale who they say they are? The dialogue nudges us to draw analogies between the skulduggery here and Richard Nixon’s antics in the White House. I couldn’t see the connection myself, but then I could barely follow the plot.

Given the amount of pan-stick and eyeliner Peter O’Toole hides behind in the lead role, the Beeb’s 1976 version of Rogue Male (15A)

★★★★ would have been better called Rouge Male.

Geoffrey Household’s novel is a classic thriller, but that makeup, Frederic Raphael’s arch dialogue and Clive Donner’s broad direction here turn it into French farce.