As Good As It Gets

Absolutely Fantastic

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Not to be confused with the B.B.C.'s 'Out Of The Unknown', this was Hammer's first - and best - attempt at a television anthology series. The eerie title sequence featured a silhouette creeping into a deserted fairground late at night, which suddenly lit up, an effect as startling as it was memorable. The whistling theme tune was by Harry Robinson. The series itself played like a British 'Twilight Zone'; in 'Eve' Dennis Waterman plays a nerd who falls in love with a shop window dummy, 'Paper Dolls' concerns identical boys linked by a psychic bond, 'Somewhere In A Crowd' has David Hedison noticing the same five people present at major disasters, and in 'The Madison Equation' a computer is used in a murder plot. It was unnerving rather than scary. Because it was funded by 20th Century Fox, each episode had to have an American guest-star, but this enhanced the show rather than detracted from it. There were some notable British performers involved too, such as Edward Fox, Allan Cuthbertson, Michael Gough, and Roddy McDowall. Only seventeen episodes were made, yet 'Journey' continued to crop up irregularly on late-night British T.V. well into the '80's.

I have the entire series on video, taped mostly from Sky (Europe) broadcasts. After 35+ years, the show still holds up well. Each show featured an American actor in the lead with British supporting players. Some of my favorite actors in the series included George Maharis, formerly of Route 66, and Barbara Jefford, a British actress. Ms. Jefford played an evil aunt to a boy made to wear dresses and pose as a girl. It would be great if the series would be released on DVD but I'm afraid it's one of the countless short-run series that are very fondly remembered but will never make it to disc. This would be a great series for Encore Mysteries to run.

I was just surfing through this site and stumbled across the title JOURNEY TO THE UNKNOWN . Sounds familiar I thought , then I read the comments " Oh yeah I remember it now " I told myself " That`s the series with the opening title sequence of someone whistling , stepping through the deserted twilight fair and going on the big dipper " . Maybe not a classic title sequence compared to THE PRISONER or DOCTOR WHO but still very impressive and if memory serves me right ( I haven`t seen the show since the Spring of 1983 ) a very impressive fantasy series There`s two episodes that stick out in my mind . One is Eve which stars a young Dennis Waterman as Albert who works in a fashion store and falls in love with a showroom mannequin who appears to him as a living teenage girl and which ends with a twist in the tale . The other episode ( Did someone say it`s titled Beautiful Dreamer ? ) starts with an American draft dodger with his girlfriend in a cafe where a waitress approaches warning them not to leave . The girlfriend doesn`t heed the advice and is killed in an accident moments later . The boyfriend realises the waitress can tell the future and decides to profit from this . Again there`s another twist at the end . In fact I can`t remember the details but I think every tale closes with a twist in the tale with varying degrees of success The production values are absolutely superb , always as good as or sometimes better than movies made at the time . The reason was that the show was funded by American money ( As were the latter series of THE AVENGERS ) which meant filming in colour and showing an American audience how cool and swinging London is , a London Brits living there at the time probably wouldn`t recognise . It also explains why every episode had an American character in the narrative somewhere ( It`s for the benefit of audience identification )and why the opening caption " In Color " is spelt the American way I can still remember it , and remember it more fondly than those other twist in the tale shows like TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED . Having said that I haven`t seen it for over twenty years and there`s a nagging doubt that my memory might have cheated on me same as it cheated with VAULT OF HORROR , THEATRE OF BLOOD and THE CREEPING FLESH

The dark, empty amusement park. The roller coaster. The music. Chills up and down my spine! I honestly can't remember an episode (though seeing it over might jog my mind) but the intro to this tv program has NEVER left my mind. Given the number of episodes, this one seems perfect for release on dvd. I would LOVE to see that! If there is anyone I can email or anyway to generally support that happening, let me know.