Ridley Road, Paris 1900, Paul Verhoeven revisited & The Directors

Ridley Road  finished last Sunday and by and large I was impressed.

Without in any way denigrating the Black cause that has suffered such discrimination in my lifetime it’s good that in the anti-racism platform the BBC gives expression to anti-semitism too.

Ridley Road was set in 1962 when Colin Jordan was taking over the mantle from Oswald Mosley in promoting British fascism.

The 62 Group of Jewish activists, not sanctioned by the Board of Deputies the official spokesmen, resolved that the British fascists would not achieve power – as Hitler did – by controlling the streets.

As for the drama, Eddie Marsan as Solly and Rita Tushingham as a landlady were particularly good, as was Tracy Oberman.

It was not an all Jewish cast. Gone are the days when Alfred Marks, Sydney Tafler, Alfie Bass and Harry Landis were the go-to Jewish actors – as Bert Kwouk was for the oriental – and Saeed Jeffrey the Indian.

The lead was played by Agnes O‘Casey, the granddaughter of Sean.

Rory Kinnear played the sinister Colin Jordan, a teacher educated in Cambridge, with typical skill.

I thought that the infiltration of Jewish people in the Jordan set-up was not credible but, speaking to an old school friend from the City of London school whose brother was the in 62 Group, the level of infiltration was high.

Typically, though Jewish people would monitor a meeting discreetly for intelligence purposes, then the heavy mob (Cyril Paskin an ex-sergeant in the 1946 Burma campaign, Morris Beckman a dab hand with the Stanley knife) would charge the central desk of the Fascist meeting and create mayhem.

The anti-semitism as reflected in Paris 1900 was worse in the toxic atmosphere after Dreyfus.

It’s a dark series in every sense and not always easy to follow.

Having extolled the virtues of Paul Verhoeven’s Dutch war films I re-watched Black Book and Soldier of Orange.  

Both are high-octane action movies with female nudity and torture scenes a-plenty but you can appreciate why Verhoeven went onto to become a successful Hollywood director with Blade Runner and Basic Instinct.

He is particularly adept in filming scenes of celebration – be they the joy of liberation in the Netherlands, or a rousing sing-song at a party.

Finally The Directors series returned on Thursdays on Sky Arts featuring John Sturges – best known for The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape – and another fine action director well appreciated by the usual team of Ian Nathan, Neil Norman and Steven Armstrong.