GEOFF BOTTOMS relishes a profoundly human portrait of a family as it evolves across 55 years in Sheffield
Alan Frank - 1937-2023
MARIA DUARTE remembers Alan Frank, connoisseur of horror films and longtime Morning Star film critic
PAUL DONOVAN applauds an excellently crafted new musical that explores the life and death of Ruth Ellis
PAUL DONOVAN is tickled by the excruciating take-downs of one of the funniest, wittiest, political writers around.
RON JACOBS points out, via a transcription of Kissinger’s secret recordings, that Trump could never have existed without Nixon and Kissinger
ELLIS RAE is persuaded that the advantages of the ‘talking cure’ are superior to the treatment of mental illness with drugs
JOHN GREEN, MICHAL BONCZA and BELLA KATZ review The Good Boy, Broken English, and Don't Be Prey
IT was around 2007 when I first met Alan Frank on the film screening circuit, and over the years we became colleagues and firm friends. He was the one who got me involved in writing for the Morning Star.
What struck me was his mischievous grin, the twinkle in his eye and the witty ripostes he always had to hand, plus his knowledge of cinema and the film industry which was second to none, along with his passion and expertise on the horror genre which he wrote extensively on.
He led a fascinating life. He was born in South Africa but was raised in Kenya and spent his holidays in Tanga (he always told me how Tanzanian coffee was the best, having four cups at breakfast).
Similar stories
1943-2025: How one man’s unfinished work reveals the lethal lie of ‘colour-blind’ medicine
Charles Lubselski pays tribute to a lifelong communist and supporter of the Daily Worker and Morning Star
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Along Came Love, The Ballad of Wallis Island, The Ritual, and Karate Kid: Legends
![CS Lewis in 1947 [Pic: Scan of photograph by Arthur Strong]](https://dev.morningstaronline.co.uk/sites/default/files/styles/desktop/public/2025-04/Untitled-1.jpg.webp?itok=2jzsrA-s)
After a ruinous run at Tolkien, the streaming platforms are moving on to Narnia — a naff mix of religious allegory, colonial attitudes, and thinly veiled prejudices that is beyond rescuing, writes STEPHEN ARNELL