Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

stanley_b My wife and I have only just come across The Hour. We considered the acting excellent. The story was sequential, absorbing and compelling.I was born and raised in the U.K. I was 16 years old in 1956; the year of Suez and the Hungarian uprising. I remember them well. Those events as depicted in the series relate well to the memories I have of those times. Also, in contrast to some anonymous comments, the day to day personal issues and interactions are compatible with my own memories of those times; the only possible exception being the amount of alcohol consumed by both sexes at the BBC. The main point of the series for me however is that it depicts how the issues of today would have been exposed had they occurred in those days; but not today. Today such exposures are either not current or are smothered under the guise of the public good and safety. It is not surprising that the series was not continued. Indeed it is surprising that it was shown at all, by the BBC.Barry Stanley

buiger Wow! This reminds us that TV-Series can be serious, high quality undertakings. It was pure joy to watch both seasons of this series and left me wanting for more.Even though in it's essence this is, simply put, pure escapist entertainment, it is so well done that it transcends the stereotypes and becomes something much more. Similarly to "Fleming (2014)" which I reviewed some time ago, almost everything in this production is very well done, the Direction, the script, the performances, set decoration, costumes, camera, etc. Yet another wonderful production of the BBC (about the BBC, curiously enough), one of many in a long-standing tradition of excellence.

LCShackley THE HOUR is a decent 2-hour movie crammed into a 6-hour miniseries.It's about a ground-breaking BBC news show in 1956, in which the daring, progressive news team dares to face down the government and its undercover minions! Doesn't this sound like a thousand other BBC plots: government=bad, journalists=good! Of course, the bad government is carrying on a bad war, and covering it up with evil spies! I wonder if we're supposed to draw any comparisons with more recent history. Hmm!Some people compare this with MAD MEN, seemingly for the sole reason that it's set in the 1950s. For me, it's like a bad British remake of BROADCAST NEWS with a spy plot grafted on. By the last episode, it's easy to forget all the details of the setup, although I must say the writer did a decent job of explaining the whole plot (something the Beeb often forgets to do). The main character is an annoying little git who looks like Frank Sinatra's famous mug shot photo. The rest of the cast is more tolerable, including a tightly-wound Anton Lesser, the versatile Julian Rhind-Tutt in a semi-tough guy role (hard to take seriously with those dorky 50s glasses), and Burn Gorman, sinister as usual with his mouth like a badly-healed scar.Having worked in broadcasting for many years, I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes aspect of the plot. The spy subplot needed LOTS of tightening, but even so the series was worth a watch.

16mm-3 this is one of the most boring, poorly written and self-indulgently directed shows ever. if you don't fall asleep you must be on crystal meth, or really used to watching bbc period drama productions.there are several superb actors. among other factors, what lets the side down is the plodding, pretentious pace of development and the seriously anachronistic lashings of political correctness. the latter is lethal to any sense of verisimilitude.anarchic humour --the office, monty python, shameless-- is what the brits do better than Americans, not to mention also 'youf' shows like skins and the inbetweeners. but because the bbc is above all a preachy, paternalistic and politicized monolith, it cannot do TELEVISION.the British are incapable of six feet under, sopranos, true blood etc etc --just as the Americans are ludicrously incapable of shameless or the office. and here they prove they are incapable of mad men --every British reviewer leeching onto this comparison.needless to say, brit newspaper reviewers have rallied around the flag, though few enthusiastically.the reality is that this show would never have been produced, must less broadcast anywhere in the world where the government does not extort an annual television fee, and where viewer response has no impact whatsoever upon the commissioning editors.