SIR BEN KINGSLEY... BACK ON FORM / JAMES BOND RERELEASES

IT'S NOT out till April, but Fifty Dead Men Walking was as compelling as it was harrowing to watch today.

One of the stars is Sir Ben Kingsley, who plays a British 'peeler' in Belfast at the height of the Troubles.

HIs job is to try to win the confidence of informers who will help to save lives by revealing where arms are being kept or moved to.

The violence is scarecely watchable but the film does try to be even handed.

And, 26 years after Gandhi won him the Best Actor Oscar, Sir Ben proves that he is still a class act.

And it's good to see that he has quickly put The Love Guru behind him!

I was with Sir Ben in Milton Keynes today and, at 65, he seemed to be very relaxed and on top form.

More about him in the Mail when the film is released, but the news below makes me think he'd be a great James Bond villain.

I also saw a remastered version of 007 thriller From Russia With Love today which is being rereleased on April 24.

Sad to say, that although the nature of the plot was a change after some of the recent, convoluted 007 movies, this didn't half feel a bit dated and slow.

And Sean Connery didn't exactly appear to be busting a gut in the acting stakes. Maybe Ian Fleming was right all along when he initially thought they'd picked the wrong guy.

Connery's great advantage, of course, is that he got to play Bond first. When he tried to follow Roger Moore in Never Say Never Again he came unstuck himself.

I still think Pierce Brosnan could have been the best Bond, but he never did quite get the film to match his talents.

Dr No, Thunderball, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die and The Spy Who Loved Me are also going to be screened again nationally in April and May thanks to digital cinema technology giving them all a new lease of life.