Articles by Neil Rosen

About Neil Rosen

Neil went to the City of London School and Manchester University graduating with a 1st in economics. After a brief stint in accountancy, Neil emigrated to a kibbutz In Israel. His articles on the burgeoning Israeli film industry earned comparisons to Truffaut and Godard in Cahiers du Cinema. Now one of the world's leading film critics and moderators at film Festivals Neil has written definitively in his book Kosher Nostra on Jewish post war actors. Neil lives with his family in North London. More Posts

Nazi war crimes: fact or fiction?

In the week I had two interesting conversations regarding the Nazis. The first was with an old cultivated friend and brother of a distinguished historian, who said that non-fiction was more reliable than any fiction in understanding history. The second was with a highly knowledgeable, well informed [...]

January 23, 2025 // 0 Comments

El Cid/The book and the film

I was recently given a new biography of El Cid, the Spanish 11th Century knight, by Nora Berend, a Cambridge University historian. Her thesis is that Rodrigo de Viva – far rom being a patriot – was a mercenary. She concedes that many of the primary sources are unreliable. However this [...]

January 12, 2025 // 0 Comments

Top Hat (1935)

Time was when Christmas television would show a ‘big film’ but now these are to be found on Amazon Prime or Netflix and the main channels have to recycle tired old war films or superannuated blockbusters. It was therefore a huge relief that BBC broadcast – at the unlikely time of 8.15 am [...]

January 4, 2025 // 0 Comments

Operation Daybreak

Fred Trueman one made the cutting comment: there haven been many great bowlers from the Kitkstall Lane Emd but Neil Mallender is not one of them” the same or similar comment might be made of director Lewis Gilbert. He directed many niteable films like Alfie, Shirley Valentine , Educating Rita [...]

December 30, 2024 // 0 Comments

The Critic (2023 movie)

I missed out on this film on general release and watched it yesterday on Amazon Prime. It’s based upon the Anthony Quinn novel Curtain Call but fell short of the book. It featured Ian McKellen as the acerbic Daily Chronicle theatre critic Jimmy Erskine modelled on James Agate. Set in the 1930s, [...]

December 24, 2024 // 0 Comments

Conclave (2024)

Conclave is the film of the Robert Harris story of a papal election. It’s not the normal stuff of films as it has no action sequences, nor special effects, nor glamorous young stars and the tension lies in the supervision of the election by Cardinal Lawrence (played by Ralph Fiennes). There are 5 [...]

December 12, 2024 // 0 Comments

The Art of Cinema/Sky Arts

Last week’s programme presented by Ian Nathan focussed on script supervisors, once called ‘continuity girls’. These provide an essential input by creating the illusion of reality in a film and avoiding ‘bloopers’. Clive James once presented a programme on Saturday mornings [...]

October 12, 2024 // 0 Comments

Two seismic documentaries

This week BBC and Channel 4 have commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Brighton Grand Hotel bombing and the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on Southern Israel with documentaries. Of the two documentaries I found Brighton Bombing – The Plot To Kill Mrs Thatcher the more riveting. Its [...]

October 10, 2024 // 0 Comments

Lee movie (2023)

Yesterday I finally got to see Lee. Enjoyed would be the wrong word as her pictures of the campaign after the Normandy landings – and Dachau – were searing, but the film was impressive notably for the fine acting of Kate Winslet as Lee Miller. The film covers one year (1945) and one [...]

September 17, 2024 // 0 Comments

Classic Movies/Sky Arts

This series, presented by Ian Nathan, has returned. No Dr Bonnie Greer, but instead a young American critic and film historian Christina Newland. Neil Norman is also a regular but Steven Armstrong, the Sunday Times film critic, features only occasionally. The choice of movies is odd. The first [...]

September 6, 2024 // 0 Comments

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Sunday tv sport

February 2, 2026 // 0 Comments

Normally of à Sunday morning I take a bracing walk by the sea but in the face of driving rain I watched the final of the Australian tennis open Instead. Those who know [...]
A Matter of Life and Death (1945))

February 1, 2026 // 0 Comments

Emetic Pressburgsr abd Michael Powell were amongst our greatest filmmakers. Colonel Blimp is a classic and so is A matter of Life and Death which was on BBC2 yesterday. [...]
One Life

January 29, 2026 // 0 Comments

i have been meaning to see One Life for some time. It was on Bbc1 on Monday. it’s the true story of Nicholas Winton à stockbroker who decided to organise the repatriation [...]
Fulham 2 Brighton 1

January 25, 2026 // 0 Comments

No doubt about it. Fulham have got the wood over us. Even Marvo Silva admitted a draw would be the fairer result. In Carlos Baleba we had the most effective player on the [...]
The Tanner Report: Fulham 2 Brighton 1

January 25, 2026 // 0 Comments

This was a highly enjoyable victory, all the more so as undeserved. For long periods Fulham were not in the game but ended up winning it. When I asked a group of Fulham [...]