Bob’s reels of misfortune
QUESTION Was Bob Monkhouse prosecuted for recording films from the TV? BoB Monkhouse (1928-2003), the much-loved TV host of The Golden shot, Celebrity squares and Family Fortunes, was an expert on the history of silent cinema and an avid film collector.
In 1966, he wrote, presented, produced, financed and syndicated the show Mad Movies worldwide. It featured clips from comic silent films, many from his private collection, some of which he had helped to recover and restore.
Monkhouse stored his 1,800 films in a cinema he built at Claridges, his Bedfordshire home. These were not copied films, but original 16mm film reels he had collected through various dealers.
In 1978, he was arrested for conspiracy to defraud film companies by illegally importing films for his collection. Despite rumours at the time, he was not accused of piracy or owning pornography.
Monkhouse described his arrest in his autobiography, Crying With Laughter: My Life story. he was settling down to watch a film when his home was raided by the serious Crime squad. When he asked what the charges were, he was told: ‘Conspiracy, sir. have you any 16mm films on the premises?’
‘Just a few,’ he replied. ‘I swept back the first of six big panels to reveal about 100 cans of film standing edgewise on racks, the title displayed on the forward rims.’ All the films were impounded and taken to a police station.
The next day the Press were at his door. It was a reporter who told Monkhouse the specific charge he was facing: ‘I was accused (over a period of seven years) of conspiring to import copies of feature films belonging to Columbia Warner and other film distributors without having the rights to do so.’
he described how members of the public misconstrued the charge. A petrol pump attendant said to him: ‘Who’s been a naughty boy then, eh, Bob? They give you back all your mucky porno films yet?’ The case went to court on June 6, 1979. Monkhouse was quickly acquitted and awarded costs.
Despite the victory, he lost the greater part of his collection because he would have had to go to court to establish his right to each film individually.
Many were destroyed including, it is believed, a number of unique films.
Justin Houseman, St Austell, Cornwall. QUESTION I feel the Wicked Witch Of The West was justifiably angry having lost her sister tragically and been deprived of her precious ruby red slippers. What other movie villains had just cause? HAVING been a civil servant for most of my life, I often find myself in sympathy with cinematic bureaucrats.
The prime example is Walter Peck ( played by William Atherton), the environmental protection agent who tries to shut down Ghostbusters in the 1984 film.
he is portrayed as a snooty overofficious government bureaucrat getting in the way of small business. To my mind, he was a good public servant, only doing what he was paid to do.
After all, the Ghostbusters had an unlicensed, unregulated and unstable nuclear reactor hidden in the basement of a condemned building — and even they were concerned about it failing.
When Bill Murray’s character, Dr Peter Venkman, asked why he wanted to see the facility, Peck said quite reasonably: ‘Frankly, I’ve heard a lot of wild stories in the media and we want to assess any possibility of dangerous and possibly hazardous waste chemicals in your basement.’ Tired of the obfuscation and lies, Peck took the unfortunate step of turning off the electricity. how was he to know this would trigger a near apocalyptic supernatural event?
In 1978’s Animal house, John Vernon’s character Dean Vernon Wormer tries to shut down the Delta Tau Chi fraternity for violating the school code of conduct and poor academic performance. The socalled heroes’ idea of appropriate activities include theft, destruction of property, drunken mayhem and equine abuse.
Daniel Rees, Newcastle upon Tyne. hoW about Raoul silva, the villain in the James Bond film skyfall? Played by Javier Bardem, he was formerly Tiago Rodriguez, a cyber terrorism specialist working for station h, the MI6 division in hong kong when it was British. When he hacked into the Chinese government’s top secret files, M, who was the head of station h at the time, handed him over to the Chinese in exchange for six captured agents.
he was tortured for five months until attempting suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule. he survived, but was left disfigured. small wonder he was out for revenge.
Helen Jones, Retford, Notts.
MEDUSA, the Gorgon whose vile face turns mortals to stone, is a figure from Greek mythology and the villain in several films including Clash of The Titans (1981 and 2010).
however, it’s impossible not to feel sympathy for her. Medusa was originally a human. As a priestess devoted to Athena, she was supposed to be chaste, but she was pursued for her beauty and raped in Athena’s temple by the sea god Poseidon. For losing her chastity, she was transformed into a hideous monster with snakes for hair.
Mrs Rachel Stanton, Wilmslow, Cheshire.