This film is part of Rentals
Time Flies
Fast-talking funny man Tommy Handley visits Elizabethan England - and ends up teaching Good Queen Bess con tricks - in this snappy time-travel comedy.
Director: Walter Forde
Overview
This rollicking flight of fancy sees Liverpool-born comic Tommy Handley - best known for his cheery wartime radio comedy show, ITMA - take a trip back to Ye Olde England inside a dotty professor's amazing 'Time Ball'. While he's there, he and his friends teach Raleigh to smoke, help Shakespeare pen a few tricky lines, and introduce the peasants to the joys of jazz music.
Some of the jokes in Time Flies would surely have been considered corny in Shakespeare's day, but amid the puns and patter are some remarkably prescient sci-fi ideas - a futuristic camera, capable of capturing and instantly replaying moving images, seems a lot like a hand-held digital video device. Notable among a strong supporting cast are Felix Aylmer, outstanding as a scientist in a world of his own, and Will Hay's old sidekicks: Moore Marriott as a Nostradamus-like soothsayer, and Graham Moffatt as his surly nephew. Digitisation supported by The Mohamed S. Farsi Foundation.
Related
Old Boys Old Boys
Comedy 2019 95 mins Director: Toby MacDonald
Charmingly idiosyncratic comedy reworking of Cyrano de Bergerac, starring Alex Lawther as a boarder who helps the school hero woo a teacher's daughter.
Afire Afire
Comedy 2023 103 mins Director: Christian Petzold
Fires rage around a pompous novelist and his awkward desires in Christian Petzold’s sharp comedy drama.
Sweet Sue Sweet Sue
Drama 2022 100 mins Director: Leo Leigh
A shameless woman finds her new lover’s son wants to divide them in this cringe comic drama starring Maggie O’Neill.
Cop Secret Cop Secret
Comedy 2021 100 mins Director: Hannes Þór Halldórsson
Two Icelandic cops forced to work together become more than just buddies in this enjoyably explosive send-up of action movies.
Diamantino Diamantino
Comedy 2018 97 mins Director: Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt
Diamantino, Portugal’s (the world’s!) top football player, becomes embroiled in genetics and conspiracies, in this joyful, postmodern political fantasy.
Patrick Patrick
Drama 2019 96 mins Director: Tim Mielants
Life on the nudist colony is fairly routine for handyman Patrick (Kevin Janssens), that is until the mystery of his missing hammer sets in motion a quest of self-discovery.
Kadoyng Kadoyng
Children's 1972 60 mins Director: Ian Shand
It looks like the quaint village of Byway will be bulldozed to make way for a motorway – until alien outcast Kadoyng arrives from Outer Space to help.
Quest for Love Quest for Love
Romance 1971 87 mins Director: Ralph Thomas
This British sci-fi comedy, adapted from a John Wyndham story, follows a man’s search to find the ideal woman whom he briefly meets in a parallel universe.
The Day the Earth Caught Fire The Day the Earth Caught Fire
Science Fiction 1961 100 mins Director: Val Guest
The BFI’s HD remaster of the British sci-fi classic. A journalist discovers that the Earth has been knocked off its axis and is moving ever closer to the sun. Is the Earth doomed?
The Man Who Changed His Mind The Man Who Changed His Mind
Horror 1936 63 mins Director: Robert Stevenson
Boris Karloff stars as Dr. Laurence, a scientist who has devised a way to put one person’s mind into another’s body.
Brown on Resolution Brown on Resolution
War 1935 71 mins Director: Walter Forde
Walter Forde’s 1935 war drama stars a young John Mills as the illegitimate son of a naval officer who brings down a German cruiser in WWI.
Rome Express Rome Express
Thriller 1933 91 mins Director: Walter Forde
A star-studded international cast boards the Paris-Rome express for this lavish comedy-thriller from Gainsborough Pictures.
Anselm Anselm
Documentary 2023 94 mins Director: Wim Wenders
Wim Wenders' stately and beautifully scored study of Anselm Kiefer.
Red Island Red Island
Drama 2023 117 mins Director: Robin Campillo
Writer-director Robin Campillo offers an exploration of memory and politics, in this boldly conceived story of boyhood in 1970s Madagascar.
Girl Girl
Drama 2022 87 mins Director: Adura Onashile
Le’Shantey Bonsu gives a stunning performance as a young girl deeply connected to her mother (Déborah Lukumuena) in Adura Onashile’s tender drama.
Rose Plays Julie Rose Plays Julie
Drama 2021 101 mins Director: Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor
A young woman seeking her biological mother veers into dangerous territory in this psychological thriller from Irish directing duo Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor.
The Painted Bird The Painted Bird
Drama 2019 169 mins Director: Vaclav Marhoul
Based on Jerzy Kosiński’s 1965 novel, Václav Marhoul’s extraordinary The Painted Bird finds a lone Jewish boy on a dark odyssey towards home.
White Colour Black White Colour Black
Drama 2016 83 mins Director: Joseph A. Adesunloye
A young mixed heritage man confronts the psychological complexities of his identity in this essential, truly cinematic discovery.