James R | On 03, Sep 2016

Heard of BFI Player? Well, there’s also BFI Player+, a subscription service that offers an all-you-can-eat selection of hand-picked classics.

Every Friday, Mark Kermode highlights one of the collection’s titles with a video introduction. This week, it’s The Lady Vanishes.

Hitchcock’s 1938 classic sees a train-full of passengers holed up in a small hotel for the night, just after the mysterious disappearance of an old governess. Mark Kermode revisits the locomotive mystery, positing the tale of a young socialite’s investigation into the disappearance within the context of the director’s career, arguing it marks the apex of Hitch’s British filmmaking exploits, on the cusp of his great Hollywood adventure.

What else is available to stream? Every week, we bring you a round-up of the latest titles on BFI Player+:

Vapors

The directorial debut of Andy Milligan, this 1965 drama offers a window onto the pre-Stonewall gay scene.

Hands of the Ripper

Already highlighted by Mark Kermode as one of the collection’s best titles, Hands of the Ripper is not the first title to be incorrectly listed by BFI Player as a new addition. Nonetheless, the Hammer Horror classic from 1971, which sees Freudian psychiatrist (Eric Porter) cover up for his patient, the homicidal daughter (Angharad Rees) of Jack the Ripper, is worth a revisit.

Anger Me

Elio Gelmini’s documentary is a portrait of Kenneth Anger, avant-garde filmmaker and author of the Hollywood Babylon books.

The Gold Diggers

Labelled by the BFI as a key milestone of 80s feminist cinema and made with an all-female crew, this is the first film from Sally Potter, director of The Tango Lesson.

The Moon over the Alley

The Moon Over the Alley reunites Duffer writer/directors Joseph Despins and William Dumaresq, with this London musical about a doomed Notting Hill boarding house in the 1970s.

Diana

Aleem Khan’s short film follows a young transgender woman in London, rejected by her family back home in India, in the aftermath of the death of Princess Diana.

Life of Blood

Jean Rollin’s horror sees a man haunted by a childhood vision of a girl trapped inside a castle, whom he longs to rescue. In the words of the BFI: “The dream-like atmosphere perfected by the director over the course of several films is ideally married to a narrative that’s also preoccupied with the elusiveness of dreams and memory. And some of the images he conjures are unforgettably haunting, such as the famous shot of a coffin floating out to sea.”

 

A BFI Player+ subscription costs £4.99 a month with a 30-day free trial. For more information, visit http://player.bfi.org.uk.
 

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