cult film freak: ZENA WALKER & DENNIS WATERMAN IN THE DRAMA 'SNOWBALL'

Written by James M. Tate / 2/23/2023 / No comments / british new wave , daphne anderson , dennis waterman , gordon jackson , kenneth griffith , melodrama , roddy mcmillan , sixties , zena walker

ZENA WALKER & DENNIS WATERMAN IN THE DRAMA 'SNOWBALL'

2/23/2023 | No comment

Zena Walker in SNOWBALL Year: 1960 Rating: ***

A unique British New Wave/Kitchen Sink melodrama involving how fate works... not the first or last... and SNOWBALL is set in some pretty warm weather, so the title's about gossip gaining momentum...

And all because of child actor Dennis Waterman as an English suburban kid who shares to his parents and neighbor how a bus driver dumped him off: having to walk home four miles — the last stretch of that seemingly breezy stride opening the movie with credits shown...

Dennis Waterman and Zena in SNOWBALL

So it's not very difficult for the audience to realize the kid's a liar, making this a melodrama without much mystery: although SNOWBALL has many elements of the latter, including a cub reporter trying to get to the bottom of things — a wishbone between his editors and the bus company...

But the true lead is the kid's mom... lovely British actress Zena Walker in one of many friendly homemaker roles, here married to strict husband/father Gordon Jackson — and the sparse realism into their problematic household both literally and symbolically represents the Kitchen Sink aspect...

Kenneth Griffith and Daphne Anderson in SNOWBALL

Meanwhile on the outskirts (yet technically holding the most significance) is a British character-actor who usually plays troubled, mousy sorts: Yet Kenneth Griffith has a wife as faithful and even similarly down-home-pretty as the central family — all caught within an ironical juxtaposition that's somewhat intriguing...

If only there were more stakes raised for the kid, played by Waterman, who, despite being a great child actor (before becoming an adult who'd never not have a hit TV series), seems to basically care less about pretty much anything and everything all along — yet maybe that's all part of the realism.

Zena Walker in SNOWBALL

Dennis Waterman in SNOWBALL

Right to Left: Roddy McMillan and Dennis Waterman from Snowball to Sweeney 2

Dennis Waterman and Zena Walker in SNOWBALL

Zena Walker and busybody neighbor Myrtle Reed in SNOWBALL

Scot Finch as the cub reporter in SNOWBALL

Gordon Jackson in SNOWBALL

Zena Walker and Gordon Jackson in SNOWBALL

Troubled Kenneth Griffith in SNOWBALL

Giving Opening Credit for SNOWBALL

Zena Walker in SNOWBALL

Gordon Jackson in SNOWBALL

Dennis Waterman in SNOWBALL

Daphne Anderson in SNOWBALL

Kenneth Griffith and Daphne Anderson in SNOWBALL

Daphne Anderson in SNOWBALL

Share This Post :

Tags : british new wave , daphne anderson , dennis waterman , gordon jackson , kenneth griffith , melodrama , roddy mcmillan , sixties , zena walker

James M. Tate

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)JUNGLE STREET 9)ANATOMY OF A MURDER 10)THE CROWDED SKY 11))THE MAN FROM LARAMIE 12)SHARKS' TREASURE 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)THE SYSTEM 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)HIDDEN FEAR 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)NIGHT CREATURES 22)CURSE OF THE DEMON 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE BREAK 25)AIR PATROL 26)HANNIBAL BROOKS 27)EASY LIVING 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)FRENZY 30)THE ROARING TWENTIES 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 1)VIRGINIA MAYO 2)SUE LYON 3)GENE TIERNEY 4)MERRY ANDERS 5)FAYE DUNAWAY DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)STANLEY KUBRICK 4)ORSON WELLES 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)JOHN LANDIS 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)VAL GUEST 9)JOHN CARPENTER 10)MICHAEL WINNER