EIFF: Wednesday 23rd

The opening film on Wednesday, again from the Mitchell Leisen canon, was the pairing of Marlene Deitrich and Fred MacMurray in THE LADY IS WILLING. She's a single woman who needs a husband in order to adopt the child she has taken under her wing; he's a doctor who really wants the money to move into research; a marriage of convenience is proposed.

It's easy to see where all this leads but it's a lot of fun getting there and the leading couple are excellent together. Of the romantic comedies in the Leisen retrospective, this is one of the better ones.

There was a slight detour via the book festival next as I took in historian Frederick Taylor's lecture on the history of the Berlin wall. Fascinating it was too.

From Cold War politics to modern day politics and my next movie was the documentary AL FRANKEN: GOD SPOKE. The former Saturday Night Live star, satirist and writer hit the headlines when Fox famously tried to sue him over the title of a book he wrote about the right-wing media bias... and he won. This film follows the aftermath of that victory as he continues his campaign (including his attempts to get that lobotomised chimp out of the White House) and launches his own liberal radio station.

The documentary wanders a bit but is never less than entertaining thanks to the presence of Franken, who manages the incredible task of being politically savvy but extremely funny at the same time; a stark contrast to the cold appearance of Anne Coulter or the incredible anti-Franken views expressed on Fox News.

THE UNCERTAIN GUEST is a Spanish thriller in the Hitchcock mould. A young man, having just split with his girlfriend, lives alone in a large mansion. One night a stranger appears on his doorstep asking to use the phone. The host obliges but almost as soon as the guest enters the house, he disappears - but could it be that he is still hiding somewhere inside?

The film is wonderfully tense with a dark sense of humour throughout. There's a shift half way through the film as well, when we suddenly begin to think differently about the protagonist and start having doubts about who really is the victim. I can't remember the last film I watched that made me spend so much time holding my breath.

The final film of the night was the Norwegian movie NEXT DOOR, a compact thriller about a man pestered by two strange girls that live next door to him. It's pretty brutal in places and won't be to everyone's taste but it's a compelling little movie. If there's one problem it's that it's very obvious early on where the film is heading - particularly if you've seen films like the superior THE MACHINIST - but it's still a fun ride and the final scene will still pack a punch regardless of how early you figured everything out.