Oh I forgot... "Edge of Darkness" (Martin Campbell, USA 2010) Another action movie with a tiny script, endless action, guns, violence, America in danger, secret services, conspiracy, super cop, "they kill my daughter!!",revenge... etcetera... 4/10
"Winnetou - 1. Teil" (aka "Apache Gold") (Harald Reinl, West Germany, Yugoslavia, Italy, 1963) First part of the adventures of Winetou (Pierre Brice) the Apache chief and of his friend Old Shatterhand (Lex Barker) and his pretty sister Nscho-tschi (the beautifull Marie Versini). They will fight a bunch of bad men leaded by Frederick Santer (Mario Adorf) a very very bad guy... Lot of action and gunfights, pursuits... nice filming (in Italy and Yugoslavia...) a good entertaining western with positive point of view... 7/10
@fungus... I watched the tv serie as a child... it was very funny and gentle. Here, in the feature, I found it a bit sad (the death of Nscho-tschi) and violent (the massacre in town, hundreds of deads in this movie!!). I'm not sure it would be now watchable for small children... of course the background is very kind, humanist and so on, but the form not very imo... In few weeks, the Lumière's festival in Lyon... many movies to come !!
"Act of Violence" (Fred Zinnemann, USA 1948) Excellent film-noir about the destiny of two WWII veterants. One, Frank, is now a respectable man with wife and son (Van Heflin)... the other, Joe (Robert Ryan) one tortured, mantaly disturbed and only want to kill Frank. They share a terrible secret and people are not always what they seem to be. A clever screenplay, a nice filming (look at the first sequence!!) good acting, good supporting role for the two women( Janeth Leigh and Phyllis Thaxter) A good one 8/10
"Two Flags West" (Robert Wise, USA 1951) Great western of Robert Wise the story of confederate prisonners who must engage in the yankee army to fight indians in the west... Gret acting of Joseph Cotten and Jeff Chandler is huge. The attack of the fort is one of the most violent one, with strong feeling of non sense. Nice phtography too. 8/10
"Apache Drums" (Hugo Fregonese, USA 1951) A rarity. This wonderfull western is the last movie produced by Val Lewton. The story of a small welsch community in the apache territory which will be attacked by the indians and which find a refugee in the church of the village. Indians are around, waiting and celebrating with drumming, drumming... when drums will stop, the attack will begin. Huge screenplay but low low budget for this masterpiece of the B movie. As usual Lewton make a lot with few. As usual the terror is here mor subjective than explicit. All the sequences in the church are simply huge, with an incredible use of light and colors and a great sensibility in the construction of the shots. Another forgotten gem from the B... 9/10
"The Cimarron Kid" (Budd Boetticher, USA 1952) Another B western by a specialist of the genre. Even if Audy Murphy is not Randolph Scott, thei one is a good B, with the story of a young guy pushed to crime by corrupted politicians and who'll become the Cimarron Kid a terrible outlaw. Even if the ending is disppointing (directors can't kill Audy Murphy!!) the whole is nice filmed with lot of action. A good B 7/10
"Charlie Chan in London" (Eugene Forde, USA 1934) The ninth movie of Warner Oland as Charlie Chan. Here the detective will have only three days to prove that the young brother of a pretty girl is innocent of a murder. The movie take place in the so-british world of hunt yard. A mysterious murderer eliminate people each time they try to speack to Chan. But the famous detective wrongly naive will succeed in his mission despite all ambushes... Funny if you like series like Columbo or else... 6,5/10
"Murders in the Zoo" (A. Edward Sutherland, USA 1933) This small horror movie with a great acting of Lionel Atwill and a young Randolph Scott is a small jewell of sadism. It goes through the censorship because the code was only beginning at that time... one or two years later it couldn't has been done. The Dr Gorman (Atwill) has a young and beautiffu wife Evelyn (Kathleen Burke, beautifull) but he is incredibly jealous and kills all the lovers of his wife sometimes very cruelly (see the first sequence incredible!!). He's director of the zoo and will uses his knowledege of animal to continue to kill... Very interresting B movie who let you imagine once more what could have been without Hay's code... 7,5/10.
"The Impostor" (Julien Duvivier, USA 1944) A pure propanganda film with Jean Gabin as a bad guy condamned to death sentence who'll escape because of bombing of his jail, steals the papers of a dead soldier, and engage in the free France army in tropical Africa and who'll become a hero... But some friends of the dead soldier want to meet the hero... The screenplay is simple and predictable of course, but the whol is well filmed and some good sequences. Movies of a forgotten time. 6,5/10
"Hors de prix" (aka "Priceless") (Pierre Salvadori, France 2006) A typical french comedy with a girl who only dates guys for money and who'll find a poor guy with heart... All is predictible and the success of the movie is certainly due to the presence of Audrey Tautou and Gad Elmaleh. Otherwise nothing new under the sun... I read that this movie made people think to Lubitsch comedies or to "Breackfast at Tifany's"... If you find cynicisme or social commitment or criticism, or even finesse here... please tell me. This comedy is also not very dynamic... hard to keep eyes always open and I smiled not very often... 5/10.
"Terrore nello spazio" (aka "Planet of the vampires") (Mario Bava, Spain, Italy 1965) Nice Sc-Fi movie dealing with a group a two spaships landing on a strange planet inhabited by diembodied aliens who have the power to take control of minds... Their world is dying and they wan to take control of the crew to leave their world and invade another... The Bava's touch is evident here especialy in the colors mixing black and deep blue with flashy reds and yellows... the creepy atmosphere is also typical of his work. A pleasant one. 7/10
"The man with nine lives" (Nick Grindé, USA 1940) A strange B movie about the mad doctor Dr. Leon Kravaal (Boris Karloff) brought back to life after beeing frozen duringten years... With the help of doctor Tim Mason (Roger Pryor) and his fiancée nurse Judith Blair (Jo Ann Sayers) he will continue his experiment using his ennemies as guinea pigs... but when the last one dies... Tim and Judith are in great danger... Extremly weird movie on experiment on human beings with a very ambiguous purpuse and point of view... a curiosity. 6,5/10
"Camille" (Ray C. Smallwood, USA 1921) Nice adaptation of the famous novel of Alexandre Dumas fils. The drama is well known and the adaptation here put the action in present (the 20's of course) Great acting of Rudolph Valentino and especily Alla Nazimova (who aloso produced the movie) and great settings of Natasha Rambova (future wife of Valentino) in a pure futurist style... Nice filming espacialy the composition of the shots in good harmony with the settings. A good and moving drama 8/10
"Einer Frisst den anderen" (aka "Dog eat Dog!") (Gustav Gavrin, Richard E. Cunha, Ray Nazarro (did nothing indeed) Albert Zugsmith, West Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein 1964) Weird sexy thriller well made indeed with a bunch of tough characters all crazier than the others who make all what's possible to get back one million dollars, lost on a small greek island... A good cast with faces and a body the one of the gorgeous Jayne Mansfield !! Nice b/w photography and some nice findings in the filming. A curiosity of eurotrash vault to discover... 7,5/10
Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011) 3/10 A romantic comedy coming from Hollywood, so what to expect? Right: all the predictable shit about the 'one true love' we have to fight for, despite all the hilarious complications. The plot is also an insult to our intelligence. We all know the recipe for American high school dramas: there is an 'ugly', unpopular girl who in fact is a 'beautiful' girl with glasses. The rest follows automatically. Here we have a 'dork' husband and father whose marriage is in trouble. But then he has a haircut and buys a suit size 42 instead of 44. And everything changes.
Sekai no chûshin de, ai o sakebu [Crying Out Love, in the Centre of the World] (2004) 6/10 Reconstruction of a doomed romance between two Japanese teenagers. Nice structure and fine cinematography, but also long, sentimental and not very exciting.
Cold Weather (2010) 6/10 Nice and simple low budget detective mystery movie set in Portland, Oregon, that tries hard to be unconventional and unpolished.
"Tim Tyler's Luck" (Ford Beebe & Wyndham Gittens, USA 1937) A nice serial in 12 episodes, adapted from the famous comics of the 20-30's... Full of exotic adventures, this one is pretty watchable with lot of imagination (the jungle cruiser) and a good mix of exotic, fantastic and western... The acting is not so bad for a serial and Frances Robinson is pretty... A good B movie. 7,5/10
"The Mad Doctor of Market Street" (Joseph H. Lewis, USA 1942) Not the best movie of Lewis but a strange tale of a mad doctor, the Dr. Benson, (Lionel Atwill) who studiies catalepsy to aloows people to stay alive waiting for the time science be alble to cure them... one day an experiment goes wrong and a patient dies... the police is after him he just takes a boat to New Zealand but the boat sinks... and he reaches with some other survivors a small island inhabited by agressive natives... but Benson cures the wife of the chief who was in catalepsy... then he's the god of the natives and he know dicides to rule the world... but he must eliminate the ones who comes with him on the island... A cheap B movie for fans. Interresting as an early work of Lewis... his taste for black movies is already here in the first sequences at night in dark corners and streets... to discover 6,5/10
"Macao" (Josef von Sternberg, USA 1952) Nice exotic thriller in which Sternberg comes back to his favourites themas. In the universe of the downtown, with touble people, casinos (some scenes are like in "The Shanghai Gesture"), the pursuit in the port through the boats and the fishnets is huge. Even if Sternberg didn't edit the movie (Nicholas Ray did) the filming is typical from his style. (the persuit scenes in the night, the casino ones) Nice screenplay based on a mistake made by a corrupted policeman... Nice acting of Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell (hot!!) and William Bendix... 8/10
"The Woman on the Beach" (Jean Renoir, USA 1947) Last american movie for Renoir, it's unsuccess will make him fired from the RKO and comes back to Europe. Indeed this movie is simply huge. A great story of a trouble trio. Robert Ryan haunted by the shipwreck he's the only survivor, meets one day on the beach the strange Peggy (Joan Bennett). She lives alone with her husband Tod (Charles Bickford) a famous painter who beame blind because of her after a quarrel between them. They fall in love and Ryan wonder if Tod is really blind... great screenplay, great filming in a very spare way great acting. A typicaly Renoir movie with trouble characters, the weight of the past... Great movie 8,5/10
"Slave Girls" (Michael Carreras, UK 1967) Another strange movie of the Hammer's vault... The story of an axplorator David (Michael Latimer) captured by a tribe of amazons. The blondes ones are slaves, the brunes the masters but most are mute exept the (hot!!) queen Kari (the beautifull and hot Martine Beswick!!). Every month the must sacrifice a blonde girls to eveil spirits in honnor of their god a white rhino...The men are reduced to animals and live in a cave. Of course Kari want to keep David for herself as a private slave... He will fall in love with a blonde and make a revolt. Cheap exotic movie made especialy to show us a bunch of protty girls dancing in short fur skirts... funny and completly camp !! 6,5/10
"Black Legion" (Archie Mayo, USA 1937) First lead role for Bogart in this impressive movie (which had many difficulties to be diffused and the Warner recieved many threats). The story of a worker seduced by racist speaches and became member of the black legion (part of the KKK). The movie shows clearly the fasination of certain people for the secret, the group, the uniform and weapons... how important they feel and all the consequences... Bogart will be lead to kill his best friends before the final redemption... Nice movie in wich Michale Curtiz was also involved. The best movie of Mayo with the "Petrified forrest". 8/10
"Picture Snatcher" (Llyod Bacon, USA 1933) Nice comedy of an ex bandit Danny (James Cagney) who want to stop after four years in jail and become a journalist... He only find a place as picture snatcher in a tabloid wich only publish trash news... (very actual indeed). He fall in love with a journalism student who id the daughter of the cop who arrest him four years ago... He will make all his's possible to take impossible picture even the one of an execution of a woman on elctric chair... but now he's got a problem... Very funny comedy indeed still actual about the power of the press and especialy tabloids... Cagney is 200% as usual... 7/10
"King & Country" (Joseph Losey, UK 1964) A movie like on the same thema as "path of glory" or the nice TV movie of Yves Boisset "le pantalon". A soldiers has deserted he's juged and will be killed "for the example"... Here the movie seems to be disconected from the war... the oppression is constant in a claustrophobic atmosphere. It's of course a bit speacky but the filming is huge with a nice work on the shots and the light. Not the best Losey but good even if a bit didactic and for "intellectuals"... 8,5/10
"Onna kyôshi no mezame" (Katsuhiko Fujii, Japan 1981) An erotic movie about a trio of girls (the wife, tha assistant, the secretary) who want to take revenge of a macho-man. They want to make him love... to death... A cheap erotic B movie with nice pretty girls but of few interrest indeed. Lost cinema of the japanese movement "Roman Porno". 5/10
"Where the Sidewalk Ends " (Otto Preminger USA 1950) Great film noir of a violent cop Mark Dixon (Dana Andrews) son of a thief, kills a suspect by accident and fall in love with his wife Morgan (Gene Tierney)... The father of Morgan is accused of the murder and Mark try to input the crime to Tommy Scalise (Gary Merrill) a thief he tries to put in jail and who has known his father... Great screenplay, great acting of Dana Andrews, Gene Teirney and Carl Malden... Very nive filming of Preminger especialy intellignet camera moves and link shots... A very good one. 8,5/10
"Devil Bat's Daughter" (Frank Wisbar, USA 1946) Another broke PRC movie about a girl Nina (ex miss america Rosemary La Planche) who is taken in charge by a psychiatrist Dr. Clifton Morris (Michael Hale) because she imagine she's cursed by her father the Devil bat a mad doctor who used a giant bat to kill people... she now imagines she's a vampire... Indeed one day as she awake she's found with cisors and the body of the Dr's wife... but the step son of the Dr doesn't belive she's guilty... A poor, poor B bad acted but with funny plot... for B fans only 5,5/10
Sik san [God of Cookery] (1996) 1/10 Over-the-top action comedy by Stephen Chow about an arrogant master chef. Impossible to watch due to excessive stupidity.
Nina's Heavenly Delights (2006) 3/10 Tasteless film. The most ugly opening titles ever; kitschy lighting throughout the film; redundant dialogues that constantly tell us what we already know from watching; loaded with soap series clichés. It feels like Eastenders in Glasgow, and that's not meant as a compliment.
Haeundae [Tidal Wave] (2009) 3/10 Ridiculous Korean disaster movie.
The Joy Luck Club (1993) 5/10 Melodrama about four Chinese immigrant women in the USA and their daughters. It's off balance: the stories of the mothers are extremely dramatic, those of the daughters rather trivial.
Hong gao liang [Red Sorghum] (1987) 6/10 Zhang Yimou's debut film about an arranged marriage, making wine and Japanese occupation is better than his martial arts stuff, but I couldn't quite tell if it's meant as a story, a parable or something symbolic or even political.
The Classic [Keulraesik] (2003) 6/10 Well composed Korean story about two love triangles, but also very melodramatic and kitschy.
Tampopo (1985) 6/10 Japanese film for foodies. The best bits are the often hilarious unconnected side stories that freely cut through the main story, which is about a young woman setting up a noodle restaurant with the help of some free spirited eccentrics.
The Bow [Hwal] (2005) 6/10 As in other Kim Ki-duk movies the story is simple and strictly defined (and beautifully filmed), but it also feels rather artificial.
The Taste of Tea (2004) 7/10 Memorable for its awkward humour, relaxed atmosphere and brave (absence of a) plot. The six members of a Japanese rural family all have their own private preoccupations.
Yin shi nan nu [Eat Drink Man Woman] (1994) 7/10 Fine portrait of a Taiwanese family, directed by Ang Lee.
The Cove (2009) 8/10 Exciting documentary in which the film crew outsmarts the authorities and fishing industry in the Japanese coastal city of Taiji in James Bond manner and uncovers atrocities against the species and fraud with the dolphin meat. Credible voice of the operation is former Flipper trainer Richard O'Barry, responsible for the rise of popularity of dolphins in captivity, but now on a mission to reverse the course of history.
"The Hound of the Baskervilles" (Sidney Lanfield, USA 1939) First of the 14 movies that Basil Rathbone will make as Sherlock Holmes, this first one is pretty good with a nice setting of the moorland with lot of fog, darkness... a true atmosphere. The duelist Rathbone (Holmes) and Nigel Bruce (Watson) are already on stage as an old couple and a certain humour is present for exemple the last words of Holmes to Watson "don't forget the needles" is a clear reference to Holmes drug's addiction... not very reasonnable in that time... A good entertaining B movie but with some means (the two first were produced by the Fox, the others will be more cheap by Universal and become true B movies) 7,5/10
"The Glass Key" (Stuart Heisler, USA 1942) Nice and faithfull adaptation of the eponymous classic novel of Dashiell Hammet. A very violent world of corruption, murder darkness and crime... The couple Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake (beautifull!) is very impressive. The direction is nervous, some scenes very violent for thet time and William Bendix is excellent as the "gorilla"... A good Film-noir. 8/10
"The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" (Alfred L. Werker, USA 1939) Second of the 14 movies of Sherlock Holmes with the couple Rathbone/Bruce, this one deals with a mad criminal the Pr Moriarty (George Zucco) who's challenging Holmes... He says he will make the greastest crime of all times (i.e. he wants to steal the jewels of the crown in the tower of london...) He tries to push Holmes on another inquiry about a curse an murders... Very entertaining the last Holmes produced by the Fox, the others will be cheaper at Universal.... A good B movies with some means 7/10
"Umirayushchii lebed" (aka "the dying swan") (Yevgeni Bauer, Russia 1917) Very nice and interresting movie of pre-soviet cinema in Russia. Nice poetic and sad story of a mute dancer who dances the dying swan and who meets a mad artist who want to paint the essence of death... when he watch her dancing he immediatly want to paint her... Very nice filming for that time with great use of depth of field and nice composition of the shots... 7,5/10
"Salambò" (aka "The loves of Salambo") (Sergio Grieco, France/Italy 1960) Unfaithfull adaptation of the eponymous novel (and masterpiece) of Gustave Flaubert. This cheap historical epics is mainly interresting for the settings and the costumes completly camp and kitch. The story and especialy the ending are very different here (a happy end a bit ridiculous). The acting is not very good and the battle scenes just good. A curiosity 6/10
"Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror" (John Rawlins, USA 1943) First movie of Holmes by Universal the hero is now in the present and has to enquire on a mysterious nazi agent who comits acts of sabotage and who send underground messages on radio to discourage people and announce his acts... Holmes is called to find who's the voice of terror... Propaganda movie to make people keep up one's moral... The messages are sometimes a bit heavy but the whole is not unpleasant. 6,5/10
"The Mad Ghoul" (James P. Hogan, USA 1943) Nice small B horror from the vault the story of a mad doctor (Lionel Atwill) who discovered a gaz that transform people in zombies... and the antidotes to comme back to life... But there are some side conséquences esspecially a premature ageing... But professor discovers it after he tries the gaz on his assistant, to take his girl... Crazy movie with good directing and acting, interresting B. 7/10
"Les femmes s'en balancent " (aka "Dames don't care") (Bernard Borderie, France 1954) Third adventures of Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constantine) the famous Peter Cheney's hero. Here he will face two dangerous femme-fatale (Beautifull Nadia Grey and Dominique Wilms...) in a dark story of murder and false money... Nice acting lot of action. A lost cinema 7/10
"Frankenstein’s Daughter" (Richard E. Cunha, USA 1958) A pure Z gem by a master of the genre... Pathetic story of the grand son of Frankenstein who creates a female-monster "more obedient" as he notices... Completly camp and pathetic movie with ridiculous machist dialogs, uncoherent screenplay bad acting and so on... great Z 4/10 for Z fans 9/10 !!
"Captain Kidd" (Rowland V. Lee, USA 1945) Great (cheap) adventure movie with a great casting Charles Lauthon, Randolph Scott and John Carradine in this pirates story with Captain Kidd (Laughton) who's engaged by the king to escort a tresure on a boat but he steal all the stuff kidnapp lady Ann (Barbara Britton)... But Mercy (Randolph Scott) the secret son of a man killed by Kidd will stop him. Nice adventure movie and great acting of Laughton as a mad pirates who want to become a Lord... 7/10
"International House" (A. Edward Sutherland, USA 1933) Great comedy (and musical) of W.C. Fields as an alcoholic inventor who want to make a fly with an experimental plane from New mexico to kansas but lands in China on the roof of an international hotel where many people from all the world meet to buy the invention of a chinese professor... Very funny comedy with lot of cynicisme and lot of crude sexual references (the scene when the girl is sitting on a... pussy of course... Very entertaining 8/10
"The Blue Dahlia" (George Marshall, USA 1946) Dark film-noir (who will be the inspiration for the tittle of the famous "Black Dahlia") with the famous Paramount star couple Alan Ladd & Veronika Lake (beautifull as usual) A complex screenplay (Raymond Chandler did it from day to day) and nice acting for a strange story of murder. Alan Ladd a veterant comes home and find his wife with a gigolo... he left the house and meet a femme fatale (Lake) The day after his wife his found dead killed with his gun... but the detective of the hotle seems to have seen many things... Note also the nice acting of William Bendix as a mentally disturbed veterant (in the first script he was the murderer) A good Noir. 7,5/10
"Faceless" (Jesus Franco, France Spain 1987) A tribute tothe famous cinema "Midi-Minuit" in paris. The plot of the story is directly an homage to Franju's "Les Yeux sans visage" but in a very gory way... A great casting for a Franco Movie with Chris Mitchum and Telly Savalas, the french porn-star Brigitte Lahaie and Chabrol's fetish actress Stephane Audran and of course Howard Vernon. A good Franco 7/10
"Ru lai shen zhang" (aka "Buddha’s palm") (Taylor Wong, Hong-Kong 1982) A completly crazy movie of the mythic Shaw Brothers... completly wierd screenplay huge huge settings, incredibly kitch special effects, wonderfull choregraphy for the fights restless action and direction... a very good one for the fan of the genre 7,5/10
"Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon" (Roy William Neill USA 1943) Another propaganda movie of Sherlock Holmes (a bit less than in the previous one) directed by Neill who'll direct most of them... Her Holmes (Basil Rathbone) find his best ennemy Pr. Moriarty (Lionel Atwill). Both try to find the part of a secret weapon... Lika a chess game both try to anticipate the act of the other... very entertaining one 7,5/10
"Sette orchidee macchiate di rosso" (aka "Seven Blood-Stained Orchids") (Umberto Lenzi, Italy/West Germany 1972) A dark and bloody Giallo with a serial killer who kill seven women who were all present two years ago in the same hotal the same day... but who have no other thing in common... One ecape to death and the police declare she's dead... Now she will inquire with the help of her boyfriend... A good suspence, frightening scenes of murders... nice music score. A good Giiallo 7,5/10
"Buffalo Bill" (William A. Wellman, USA 1944) A nice biography of the famous Bill Cody first advance man for the army, buffalo exterminator, war hero against indians, defenson of indian cause and then show-man... Wellman is fine enough to avoid the apology and a too negative view, that's a constant in his cinema. The filming on location is very nice and the colors too. Maureen O'Hara and Linda Darnell very pretty... A good Western 7,5/10
Tree of life, 4/10 - other than beautiful cinematography and Pitt's performance the movie is horrible and watching it was one of the worst movie experiences I had. There is absolutely no plot or anything that can hold viewer's interest, at least mine, for 140 minutes, silly scattered scenes do not create art just chaos. Sean Penn himself had no idea what the hell is this movie supposed to be, I'd not recommend that movie to my worst enemy.
Drive, 8/10 - one of the most overrated movies of the year, but stil very good and unusual, powerful performance by Ryan Gosling, great cast, great music and although the movie is slow-paced it's filled with incredible tension, the whole movie is like "Taxi Driver" of new century, both the protagonists and the movies are very similiar.
Skin I live in, 8,5/10 - very good Almadovar with stellar performances and fantastic storyline full of twists and turns, elegantlly shot and with gorgeous music. Definetly not for everyone - Almodovar always had more or less controversial ideas in his movies, this time I think this is his most shocking story, but it's not completely his - the film is based on the novel, although if you read it you know he made some significant changes.
"Der Frosch mit der Maske" (aka "Face of the Frog") (Harald Reinl, Denmark/West Germany 1959) Great adaptation of Edgard Wallace novel, this movie is the beginning of a long serie of "krimis". In this one a mad gangster the frog and his gang challenge scotland yard and has secret views on a girl... Good screeplay, nice filming (brand new copy!!) and a good reconstitution of the london atmosphere... A lost cinema 8/10
"Sherlock Holmes in Washington" (Roy William Neill, USA 1943) This time Holmes and Watson (Rathbone/Bruce) are searching to a mysterious microfilm hidden in a match-box... They'll have to fight a dangerous german agent (George Zucco). Very funny to follow the trials and tribulations of the matchbox from cigarettes to pipes... Pretty Funny. 7/10)
"Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla" (William Beaudine, USA 1952) Another cheap B movie by a king of the genre. This is a mix of exotic, horror, musical, comedy... A couple of cabaret actors fall on an exotic island ninhabited by gentle savages especially chief's daughter Nina... She's also working in the lab of a mad doctor (Lugosi) who study evolution. He's in love with Nina but she... not. She prefers the young fresh arrived crooner... He will transform him in gorilla for revenge... Well. a very cheap B but some sequencesa re interresting and sometimes it's a bit funny.... For B fans only 6,5/10
La cité de la peur (1994) 5/10 Silly French comedy about murders at the Cannes film festival.
Hanna (2011) 7/10 On the one hand this thriller is rather nice. Locations, cinematography and Chemical Brothers soundtrack are great; the plot isn't unnecessarily complicated and the film refrains from too much clever talking. It manages to mix some of its fairy-tale atmosphere into the action movie. Too bad it also has an unconvincing side (apart from all the killing and chasing): the scenes in which 'home educated' Hanna has to learn to come to grips with things that are new to her. Especially the Internet café scene is a joke.
Kongen av Bastøy [The King of Devil's Island] (2010) 7/10 Norwegian drama, based on real events, about an uprising in a reform school for juvenile prisoners on an isolated island, in the early 20th century. Classic, predictable, but well acted, grim and artful.
Hunger (2008) 8/10 Prison drama, but unlike the ones that made it to IMDb's top 250. Not much plot, not much dialogue, no taking sides - unless it's the side of art.
Till det som är vackert [Pure] (2010) 8/10 Fish Tank meets An Education. 20-year old Swedish girl with a single parent alcoholic mother and a poor school and work record hears Mozart and is deeply moved. She manages to get a job as a receptionist at the Gothenburg Concert Hall. The chief conductor takes her under his wings.
Womb (2010) 8/10 I was totally blown away by the first two thirds of the movie, the first English spoken film by Hungarian director Benedek Fliegauf. It's calm, beautiful and full of suspense, thanks to the enigmatic acting and the subtle, inventive plot twists. But then the film lost me. There is an unexplained aging problem in this possessive love story slash science fiction drama (which has none of the usual science fiction atmosphere - the obvious comparison is Never Let Me Go) that is extremely frustrating. Still an 8 because of everything else.
"All Fall Down" (John Frankenheimer, USA 1962) Very nice family drama with a wonderfull casting : Eva Marie Saint, Warren Beatty, Carl Maldel, Angela Lansbury, Brandon De Wilde... In a very sad and often disturbing story. Sort of decomposition of a model, in a world of saddness and uselessness. Even xmas is sad, the florida is dirty under the sun and so on. The filming is also huge : wonderfull b&w and nice use of the camera. A very interresting drama. 9/10
"Sherlock Holmes Faces Death" (Roy William Neill, USA 1943) Back to more classic investigation for Holmes and Watson in an ancient and sinister manor... all the heirs are killed after the clock rings 13 times... There is an old poem transmitted to each generation which may be they key of all the mystery.. Very entertaining with a frightening atmosphere this one is very good B. 7/10
"The Strange Case of Doctor Rx" (William Nigh, USA 1942) A strange little movie between horror, thriller and comedy... very pleasant to watch with Patric Knowles, Lionel Atwill, Mantan Moreland and the pretty, Anne Gwynne. The story is classical but very pleasant with a killer who murder criminal that are not condamned... and who scare olmost to death of people investigating to near... Gwynne told in an interview that most of the thing were improvised because the script was very very incomplete... That's peraps why the movie is entertaining... 7/10
"Fantômas" (Jean Sacha, France 1947) This is a rarity. Very hard to watch adaptation of the famous vilain. This one involves famous french actors as Simone Signoret (as Fantômas's daughter) who want to marry the famous journalist Fandor (André Le Gall) but the major is killed just before the ceremony... then Fantômas (Marcel Herrand) want a billion francs gold or half of the inhabitants of Paris will die... But Fandor, Juve (Alexandre Rignault) will stop him. Very entertaining movie with Herrand excellent in the role, nice scenes in Paris's catacombs ... A movie to discover 7,5/10
"The Spider Woman" (Roy William Neill, USA 1944) Seventh movie of the tandem Rathbone/Bruce in a very difficult investigation of people who are pushed to suicide at night... they are all found dead in pajamas all found defenestrated. How does a mysterious woman do to make those murders possible. A great challenge for Holmes... Good one in Conan Doyle's spirit. the ending at the fun house is especialy good 7,5/10
"Bab el hadid " (aka "The Iron Gate") (Youssef Chahine, Egypt 1958) One of the most famous movie of the egyptian cinéma. A strange story of a mad love. If it can be a little confuse because many themas are treated in this short movie, the style is also interesting a mix of italian neo-realism, melodrama and film noir (see the last sequences in the train). Very nice photgraphy and direction. 8/10
"Black Hand" (Richard Thorpe, USA 1950) A very ionterresting movie about the fight against mafia in the beginning of XX century in New York. Very ionterresting reconstitution of the poor italian quarter with all the little shops... And the ocasion to watch Gene Kelly in a dramatic role... A poorly known movie to discover. 7,5/10
I was i Lyon’s "Festival Lumière" last week for the third time… A great festival dedicated to « classic » cinema.
An homage to William Wellman with a bunch of great movies (I had already watched some of them but was great pleasure to do it again!!).
"Wings" (William A. Wellman, USA 1927) Wellman was an aviator in the famous Lafayette escadrille during WWI, he directed many movies on that theme (his last one was “Lafayette Escadrille”) but “Wings” is certainly the best. A love square with two pilots loving the same woman. This long movie (2h30) is fascinating especially the scenes of fights between the planes all made with cameras in the planes, very realistic and perhaps never equaled. The budget was colossal and Wellman had many problems with producers so one day he invited them on stage, tell them to go on a place that have to be bombed but without warning them… they never came back again… A great epic. 9/10
"Beggars of Life" ((William A. Wellman, USA 1928) One of the first road-movie about tramps and hoboes, wandering in trains, night under the stars around fires with nothing to eat. The story is the meeting of a young man Jim (Richard Arlen) and a girl Nancy (the wonderful Louise Brooks disguised as a boy) who killed a man who try to rape her. They are thrown out on the road pursued by the police. They meet other tramps especially Oklahoma Red (the excellent Wallace Berry who was a tramp himself for a short time) who want to get Nancy for him. But at the end he will realized that the Jim and Nancy are truly in love and he will sacrifices himself to let them flee to Canada… One of the first appearance of Gary Cooper which will launches his carrier. Note, Louise Brooks wrote a chapter on Wellman and “Beggars of Life” in her excellent memories on Hollywood) A great unknown movie 9,5/10
"Other men’s Women" (William A. Wellman, USA 1931) The second time I watched this pre-code masterpiece of Wellman, and I appreciate it much more than the first time. Another love triangle in the milieu of railroad men. Another love triangle between Bill (Grant Withers) (a man who has a girl in each station) and his best friend Jack who’s married with the pretty Lily (Mary Astor). The movie begins like a comedy and after the kiss that Lily and Bill shares the movie becomes a great drama. Some scenes are simply hugely directed like the first one in the bar with the train in the background, when Bill eats and drinks while talking with the barmaids and counts the wagons at the same time, or the one with quarrel between Bill and her occasional girlfriend Mary (Joan Blondell). Note one of the first appearance of James Cagney. A wonderful story of love and friendship. 9,5/10
Lumière Festival (2) "The Public Enemy" (William A. Wellman, USA 1931) The movie that makes Cagney a star. And the luck for him was that Wellman switches the two roles of Cagney and Eddie Woods and makes him a criminal !! and a star by the same occasion. And that was clever indeed. A great movie, very violent for that time with the famous scene of the grapefruit crushed on the face of the poor Mae Clarke. I was said to be a souvenir of Wellman who dreamt one time to do it on her wife… But Cagney and Mae Clarke said it was only a joke and that Wellman dicided to keep it. A great gangster movie which can be considered as the ancestor of the Film Noir some years later. 8,5/10
"Night Nurse" (William A. Wellman, USA 1931) Another unknown masterpiece of the pre-code cinema. In this one A very volunteer and courageous nurse Lora (Barbara Stanwyck wonderful) will face a dangerous doctor (junky) and a sadistic chauffeur Nick (a young and surprising Clark Gable) who want to murder two little girls to get the heritage, because their mother is completely alcoholic and proud about it… Some scenes should have been impossible to do some years later, the numerous scenes of undressing/dressing of Lora and her friend Maloney (Joan Blondell), when they sleep in the same bed, the talks about alcohol. Lot of humor in this small movie of this nurse-avenger without fear ! Great acting and directing too. 8/10
"Safe in Hell" (William A. Wellman, USA 1931) A small B movie very interesting with a totally weird screenplay. Gilda (Dorothy Mackaill) is a prostitute because of her boss who fired her. One day she’s send to the house of a man who is her ex-boss, they quarrel and she beats him and leaves him dead. But know she is pursued for murder. Her boy-friend Carl, a sailor, bring her on an Island where she can stay safe because no extradition is possible. But she meets not very commendable guys who all want to seduce her. Especially the local dictator. But one day her ex-boss comes to the island fleeing the police too. She’s now innocent and can come back to the continent. She asks her boy-friend to come. But one day the man wants to rape her and she really kills him this time. She’s condemned to death. When her boy-friend comes she can’t tell him the truth and when he leaves her with a place in the boat for the continent she his hanged. Very strange movie beginning like a strange comedy and finishing as a drama. Gilda will reamin faithfull to her love till death. A film that seems to follow the code (she was a prostitute, she killed an man…) but indeed the character of Gilda is so engaging that his death appears too unjust that the code principles seems ridiculous. A great B. 8/10
"Heroes for Sale" (William A. Wellman, USA 1933). I’ve already commented this great pre-code movie with very strong social commitment that will be almost impossible to do nowadays. 9,5/10
"Wild Boys of the Road" (William A. Wellman, USA 1933) Another movie with strong social commitment in the same way as “Beggars of Life” the very moving story of boys and girls pushed on the road by misery and poverty. I commented it before too Excellent. 9,5/10
A Star is Born (William A. Wellman, USA 1937) The first of the three adaptation. This one is perhaps not as good as Cukor’s one but Janet Gaynor is wonderful and many ideas of the screenplay will be used by Cukor (for example the suicide on sunset on the beach). The satire of Hollywood is fine and sometime very funny and the melodrama is very moving. A typical Zelnick production. Great 9/10.
"The Ox-Bow incident" (William A. Wellman, USA 1943) This excellent movie is well known enough. 9/10
"Story of G.I. Joe" (William A. Wellman, USA 1945) Great war movie that will make Robert Mitchum a star. The (true) story of Ernie Pyle a war reporter who will follow the marines through Africa till Italy during WWII. He will share the life of the infantry marines in all the battles and will make some friends of some soldier, especially a lieutenant Walker (Mitchum excellent). Some will come, some will die completely anonymous heroes. A powerful movie about friendship, courage and the absurdity of war. A great movie difficult to watch in all senses. The directing is very good some scenes are great (the one with the German radio speaking) and will inspire some directors (obviously Kubrick for example for "Full Metal Jacket") 9/10.
"Yellow Sky (William A. Wellman, USA 1948) I’ve already write something about this great western. I found it as good as the first time. A great directing, and great photography. Great acting of Gregory Peck and Richard Widmark. 9,5/10
"Westward the women" (William A. Wellman, USA 1951) A masterpiece of the western. Wellman was often accused to be macho and salacious, indeed in was a tough guy. But he very often made very nice and sensible portraits of women, and often of strong women. This is the case of course here (but also in White Nurse, Beggars of Life, Safe in Hell...). Her a macho cowboy Buck Wyatt (Robert Taylor) has to guide an convoy of women to a great ranch to California. He will discover a world he didn’t knew… the world of women. He will discover their courage, solidarity, and strength despite all the ambushes of the trail, despite all the dramas they will reach California and he will change. A pure jewel. 9,5/10
Some Yakuza movies now, by a specialist of the genre.
"Jingi Naki Tatakai" (aka "Battles Without Honour and Humanity") (Kinji Fukusaku, Japan 1973) 7/10
"Kenkei Tai Soshiki Boryoku" (aka "Cops vs. Thugs") (Kinji Fukusaku, Japan 1975) 7,5/10
Both movies deal with the same theme : the end of the traditional Yakusa code of honor in the late 60’s. The Yakusas just after war had friendly relationships with the population thanks to black market that allows people to survive and with police because Yakusas helped police to fight Korean and Taiwanese gangs coming to Japan after war. But know the code of honor is broken with the changes of the practices, the appearance of drug and prostitution… In both movies it’s the desperate fight of Yakusas and Cops faithful to the old tradition face to the new ones, like in the 70’s crepuscular westerns of Hollywood. And as in those western the violence is omnipresent here. The directing is very similar in the two movies with a carried camera very long focal especially during the scenes of fight, very numerous. A bunch of Dead and violence, and a good dose of eroticism.
Some others movies now
"Il Fuoco" ("The Fire") (Giovanni Pastrone, Italy 1916) This movie is the story of a fatal love. Divided in three parts the spark / the flame / the ashes. Three parts of a love story between a famous poetess and a poor painter. She will make him famous but drive him mad abandoning him. We are very far from “Cabiria” here with a short movie (1h16) and almost only two characters. A strong story with very nice filming. Pina Menichelli is wonderful as a lethal lover… 8,5/10
"I Giorni Contati" (aka ?? nothing)(Elio Petri Italy 1962) Very strong and rare movie of Petri. One day, an old plumber, Cesare, (Salvo Randone impressive) see someone die in the bus… Very shocked he decides to stop working to live. Now he’s wandering through Rome discovering a city and his own interior world. An existentialist movie, filmed in an impressive “Nouvelle Vague” style. A deep interrogation of the meaning of life, of time passing by… Very nice and certainly the best Petri’s movie and a tour de force of acting. 10/10
"Ramrod" (André De Toth, USA 1947) A very good western with strong women characters especially a wonderful Veronika Lake (Mrs. De Toth!!) terrible manipulator of men and who will push them to kill. Joel McCrea is very good as the good guy completely manipulated but who will find love at the end. Nice one. 8,5/10
"La Macchina Ammazzacativi" (aka "The Machine That Kills Bad People ") (Roberto Rossellini, Italy 1952) A true rarity and certainly one of the less known movie of Rossellini. Perhaps his only comedy. But a dark and cynical one, mixed with some fantasy. A gentle photographer discover one day, thanks to a strange old man, to kill bad people only by taking o photograph of their photograph. They will die petrified in the same position they have on the photograph… But who’s the old guy who make this possible, and who ar the bad guys ? And what will happen when they’ll all have disappear ? Great comedy and a nice satire of all the failings of the Italians and the Italian society, the good and the evil are not always where they are supposed to be. That’s what the poor photographer will learn. Excellent 9/10
"Park Row" (Samuel Fuller, U.S.A. 1952) A movie on a theme that Fuller loved : journalism. (see Shock Corridor, Power of the Press). The war between a Newspaper man Phineas Mitchell (Gene Evans great) who create a true Newspaper which commits in delicate subject and scandals against the pretty owner of a powerful tabloid Charity Hackett (Mary Welch). Nice filming especially with nice camera moves and a lot of irony (see the first shot of Gutenberg!!). A movie to discover. 8,5/10
"Puzzle of a downfall child" (Jerry Schatzberg, USA 1970) First movie of Schatzberg and first masterpiece. A very fine portrait the rise and fall of a model Lou Andrea Sands (Faye Dunaway in an impressive tour de force of acting). One day on the beach of an isolated island Aaron Reinhardt (Barry Primus) comes to make the interview of his old friend Lou Andrea… Piece after piece, the puzzle of her life arise from her memory, but as usual with puzzles, some pieces are lacking, or doesn’t exactly fit as they were supposed to. The results is a deep and moving movie with a very interesting work on the image and especially on the sound. A wonderful drama to discover quick!! 9,5/10
"Agantuk" (aka "The Visitor")(Satyajit Ray, France/India 1991) Last movie of the most important director of Indian Cinema. A moving and deep story of an unknown uncle who comes back to visit his niece after 35 years of travel around the world. But is he really what he claims to be ? A deep movie about identity, culture and civilization. The movie is very slow and “speaky” but fascinating from the beginning through the end. A very good one. 9/10
"Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini" (aka "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis") (Vittorio De Sica, Italy/Germany 1970) Moving Drama of the story of two Jewish family in Ferrara from 1938 to 1943. The discovering of love in those times of the slow rising of the anti-Semitism in Mussolini’s fascist Italy. A very moving drama with a strong screenplay a nice filming. Only the acting is not always very good. A nice drama. 8/10
A special compilation of colorized early cinema and especially an original colorized version of "Le Voyage dans la lune" of Georges Meliès (France, 1903). Simply astonishing!! Incredibly nice! with a nice original music from the french band AIR. The other "color" short movies were: "La traverse des Alpes françaises en automobile" (France, 1911) "Les bords de la Tamise d’Oxford à Windsor" (France, 1914) "Danse Serpentine" (France, 1896) "Le Tango" (Alice Guy, France, 1905) "Le spectre Rouge" (Segundo de Chomon, France 1907) "Les Floraisons" (France, 1912) "Bébé Nègre" (Louis Feuillade, France 1911) "Mammifères américains : paca, coati, tatous, maras" (France 1914) "Coiffures et types de Hollande" (France, 1910) "Dans l’Hellade" (Charles Decroix, France 1909) "Magie moderne" (Segundo de Chomon, France 1908)" "Pyrotechnic celebration in London Sky" (UK, 1911)
"Corman’s World" (Alex Stapelton, USA 2011) A great documentary about the king of the B and exploitation movie. Very instructive portrait of one of the most important figure of independent cinema. And a lesson too. A movie to ponder at our times of ridiculous super-productions with millions of dollars.
The festival was also the time to meet some interesting people like Jerry Schatzberg, Helmut Berger, Roger Corman (the living god!!), Gérard Depardieu, the French director Bertrand Tavernier (A Wellman fan!!) and many others… 2011 festival was a very good vintage… I hope next year...
"L'abîme des morts vivants" (aka "Oasis of the Zombies") (Jesus Franco, France 1981) Another Z movies of the spanish king of the genre. In this one a young guy and his friends goes to an isolated oasis in the desert to find the treasure of Rommel... But the treasure is guarded by a bunch of nazi soldiers Zombies... Very poor and cheap. 4,5/10
"Gorgo" (Eugène Lourié, UK 1961) Another story of giant dinosaur coming from the sea. here some treasure seekers capture a dinosaur and sell it to a circus. But scientist are very unquiet because the monster seems only to be a baby... by the way the mother of Gorgo is very angry and London will pay the price. The screenplay, as usual in such movies, is very thin, but Lourié make a good use of special effects and the scenes of London's destruction are very pleasant... For B movies fans. 6,5/10
"Jack the Ripper" (Robert S. Baker, Monty Berman, UK 1959) A poorly known adaptation of the story of the famous serial killer. This one is not bad at all and put the action in the milieu of doctors in an hospital for women. Good atmosphere, nice filming of the murders and the night in downtown. A movie to discover 7/10
"Chichi ariki" (aka "There Was a Father") (Yasujirô Ozu, Japan 1942) WOnderfull movie about the relationbships between a son and his father through life. "Nothing" That's what is writing on Ozu's tomb. And as in most of his movies, all those "nothing" give a great story, and a great movie. The cinema of Ozu is at the complete opostie of actual cinema. It's an other way to make movie and what a way. It's just great 9,5/10
L'éden et après (1970) 4/10 Semi-artistic and semi-intellectual load of crap by Alain Robbe-Grillet. Nice images, but they can mean anything.
L'homme qui ment (1968) 4/10 I love Alain Robbe-Grillet's nouveau roman Dans le labyrinthe and of course his script for L'année dernière à Marienbad, but his films seem to make less of an impression. This one may have been experimental at the time (although L'année dernière sort of did the same thing 7 years earlier and much better), but today it's mainly tedious.
Ima, Boku Wa [Now, I...] (2008) 4/10 Documentary style portrait of an extremely passive, uninterested and shy 20-year old hikikomori, in a Japanese no-budget hand-held camera debut film with a cast of three, the writer/director/producer among them. It shows that the guy is, well, extremely passive, uninterested and shy. And that's what he is. And we witness it. And now what? Director Yasutomo Chikuma is welcomed by many critics as a great talent, but that doesn't mean the film is very exciting to watch.
Black Butterflies (2011) 5/10 Mediocre biopic about an uninteresting hysterical South African poet, played by Dutch sweetheart Carice van Houten.
Rango (2011) 6/10 Entertaining animated parody of many westerns (and some other movies).
3 (2010) 6/10 I liked Tom Tykwer's 2000 film Der Krieger und die Kaiserin a lot, but since then he has always disappointed. 3 is passable, but again not a masterpiece. It's about a love triangle between three forty-ish people working in arts and science, which adds some intellectual depth to the capable directing. Emotionally, however, the story is not quite delivering.
Tenten [Adrift in Tokyo] (2007) 7/10 Charming road movie about a gangster (and debt collector) and a law student (in debt) walking through Tokyo, three days in a row, meeting odd people and showing the viewer some lesser known parts of the city in the process.
"Johnny Guitar" (Nicholas Ray, USA 1954) We propose this nice movie at ou cine-club last night. First movie of Ray as an independent, this true masterpiece is not really awestern, as his first movie "They live by night", was not a true film-noir. But everybody knows this movie : 9,5/10
"The Pearl of Death" (Roy William Neill, USA 1944) Another Holms story very creepy and directly adapted from a Doyle novel. In this one a mysterious criminal and his friends (a beautifull girl and a mad ugly killer "the creeper") trys to find back a huge pearl hidden in a Napoleon's bust... A nice one very entertaining. 7,5/10
"The Caretaker" (Clive Donner, UK 1963) Wonderfull adaptation of the famous Harold Pinter's play. Wondefull acting of the (only) three characters of the movie. (Robert Shaw, Alan Bates and Donald Pleasance). A strong movie about the illusions of words, of illusions of life. The three characters can experience other's failure and illusion but can't experience his own. Also a great movie about brotherhood even if the brother never talk eachother (they do it through the thir character of the tramp). The filming is also good and strengthen the impression of claustrophobia. A great one. 9,5/10
Blindness (2008) 4/10 Poor apocalyptic kind of drama that doesn't know whether it wants to be realistic or metaphorical, doesn't have a single convincing character and has a cheap and unimaginative production design.
Tennen kokekkô [A Gentle Breeze in the Village] (2007) 6/10 Coming-of-age film about the six school kids of different ages in a remote village in southern Japan. Then a seventh steps into their lives: a cool guy from Tokyo. Nothing much happens, but the observant camera notes the subtle disruptions this brings about.
The Town (2010) 6/10 Conventional American crime thriller that could have been much worse, thanks to some good acting and cinematography. Still, the director and co-writer (Ben Affleck) playing the lead part of a gangster who really is a totally uninteresting Mr nice guy is seriously damaging the whole thing.
Stop Making Sense (1984) 7/10 Talking Heads concert film, directed by Jonathan Demme. The first 30 minutes are brilliant, for the music, but especially for the build-up of the concert. Then, when you hope things will develop even further, we're served images from two other shows. It remains fun to watch, but the magic is gone.
Los colores de la montaña [The Colors of the Mountain] (2010) 8/10 Fine debut film about a 9-year old boy and his friends in a Colombian mountain village that is getting caught between guerilla fighters and the army. The adults find out that remaining neutral is not an option, the kids try to keep playing soccer. Shown from the perspective of the kids, the film manages well to remain light and playful. One of the best part is the dialogues, that never directly address what is going on - and rightly so; the viewer is intelligent enough to understand by seeing.
La Mirada Invisible [The Invisible Eye] (2010) 8/10 A film centered around a 23-year old assistant teacher at an elite private school in Buenos Aires in 1982, during the dictatorship. She lives with her mother and grandmother, is insecure, ignorant and sexually frustrated. Fear, suspicion, repression, secrecy: it's all in the air and the camera catches it all.
"Posle smerti" (aka "After death") (Yevgeni Bauer, Russia 1915) Nice adaptation of an Ivan Turgenev novel. A young man (Andrei) lives seclused after his mother's death. A friend of him convinces him to go to a party where he meets a young artist (Zoya). She falls in love with him. But he rejects her... three months later she commits suicide... Now haunted by Zoya's souvenir Andrei only want to die... Very nice filming with some impressives sequences and a nice use of travelling (lateral and frontal) A good movie. 8,5/10
"The Prowler" (Joseph Losey, USA 1951) A perverted Film-Noir. A wonderfull screenplay that detourns the code of the genre. No Femme-Fatal here but a male Fatal. The opposition between a frustrated woman Susan (Evelyn Keyes) who has preferd to marry an impotent but rich man to get security and who will be abused by a cop Webb (sic) (Van Heflin excellent), the symbol of security. A strong attack against the consumer society, the only aim of Webb is to possess thing, money, Susan, but who's unable to have true feelings... Excellent movie Losey and Trumbo at thier best. And some humor: Trumbo was blacklisted, his name don't appear in the movie, Losey will soon have to leave US forerver also blacklisted, but on the radio, the voice of susan husband is the voice of Trumbo... A must to see 10/10
"Les Stances à Sophie" (Moshé Mizrahi, France 1971) Nice post 1968 movie about a woman Céline (Bernadette Lafond) a hippy, who marries a middle-class man. But soon she's boring. A nice reflexion on the couple and the position of woman in a strong feminist movie with all the ideas of that time about sexual-freedon, feminism, drug... The filming is not bad and the acting too. But the most interresting here is the soundtrack performed by one of the most creative Jazz band of that time the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Great one 8,5/10.
"Journey Into Fear" (Norman Foster, USA 1943) A great noir with a strong contribution of Orson Welles who also has an interrestiong role. A twisted story of a weapons industry ingenieur who's pursued by a killer in Istambul during WWII and then on a boat. Very good 9/10
"El mundo de los vampiros" (aka "the World of the Vampires") (Alfonso Corona Blake, Mexico 1961) Another horror movie from mexican vault. In this one the count Subotai (a vampire) must take revenge on the family of the magician that kill him 100 years ago. Then the undead will rule the world... As usual the movie is very entertaining and nicely filmed. for B fans. 7,5/10
You'll be seeing me writing about classics now, I've decided to see as many as I can. I started with 12 Angry Men and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane. Brilliant movies, excellent representatives of their genres. 10/10 for the first one and 8/10 for the second (I must admit I expected something scarier, but nevertheless I was pleasantly surprised. Two of the strongest female performances I've seen in a long time).
"Stella Dallas" (King Vidor, USA 1937) One of the best if not the best "women's movie" This one is exeptionally good. The clever screenplay with the references to the cinema (the beginnig when the young Stella go to theatre and the final scene) the ending indeed very ambiguous particularly for the spectator who can't believe like Stella do to what will happen regarding all the movie. The acting of Barbara Stanwyck is also wonderful and she said this role was her favourite. A very good one 10/10
"Po zakonu" (aka "By the Law") (Lev Kuleshov, USSR, 1926) Adapted from a novel by Jack London the story of a couple of goldseekers lost in Yukon who'll have to keep a murderer through season and who'll decide finaly to judge him. Nice filming and good acting for thin non soviet movie. 7,5/10
"The Scarlet Claw" (Roy William Neill, USA 1944) Back to the moorland for Holmes and Watson but in Canada this time... A mysterious phosphorescent killer is haunting the moor of La Mort Rouge a small village full of legends... But Holmes doesn't see anything supranatural in this case... A very good one 8/10
"Cinderella" (James Kirkwood, USA 1914) One of the first adaptation of the famous story (after Méliès ones). It's also a good movie to watch at a young Mary Pickford playing the gentle Cinderella. For oldies fans only 7,5/10
"Invasion of the Saucer Men" (Edward L. Cahn, USA 1957) A B sci-fi movie by a specialist, mixed with teeanger movie. Teenagers dicover that aliens have landed. But of course nobody's listen to them. They'll have to find a way to stop the invasion. Very cheap and poor one but funny. Only for B fans 6,5/10
"Billy the Kid Returns " (Joseph Kane, USA 1938) One of the bunch of B westerns made by Republic Pictures in the 30's-40's with a star of the genre Roy Rogers, one of the singing cowboy... Here, Roy takes the place of Billy the kid just shooted by Pat Garret to help him to fight agains farmers who don't want brave settlers to come... Very cheap and simple but funny with lot of songs. Thos kind of western were very popular and Rogers was a big big star in the US at that time like many others (William Boyd, Tex Ritter, Gene Autry and many others) but this genre his very poorly known on this side of the Atlantic ocean... to discover 6,5/10
"The House of Fear " (Roy William Neill, USA 1945) Another Sherlock Holmes adventure adapted from a Conan Doyle Novel. This one takes place in a castle in Scotland where mempbers of a club are murdered one by one... But a great surprise is awaiting Holmes... A good one 7,5/10
"The Crime of Doctor Crespi" (John H. Auer, USA 1935) A poor B movie but with a great acting of Erich von Stroheim as the mad doctor Crespi who his jalous of the succes of his pupil the doctor Ross who also married Estelle the woman he loved. When Ross has an accident he saves him but later give him a secret serum who completly paralyses him... Ross his burroed alive !! But dr Thomas a colleague of Crespi is suspicious... Fon B fans only 6,5/10
@RDPL55: Stella Dallas is indeed a great movie. As you know Barbara Stanwyck is one of my favourite actresses :)
@lovelyT: Indeed great news. I decided this for myself a few years ago and never regretted it. But be prepared: the more you see, the more you will discover you still haven't seen yet.
Fungus, your last sentence is so true. Don't know how many classics I've discovered (and watched) lately, that i hadn't even heard of two or three years ago.
"Novyy Vavilon" (aka "the New Babylon") (Grigori Kozintsev, Leonid Trauberg, USSR 1929) Excellent silent movie about the french "Commune de Paris" one of the few about this special part of the french histoiry. The story of a young salewoman in a big shop "La nouvelle Babylone" in Paris who meets a soldier after french defeat in 1870 against Prussian army. They fall in love but will be separate. He will be part of the army used by the bourgeois to supress the attempt of the Paris workmen to create a collective management of the city ("La Commune de Paris"). The filming is excellent, the editing is awsome. The acting is special in a typical Kozinzev and Trauberg way who considered actors must play like puppets. It's especialy true inthe feast scenes which are completly frenzied... The ending is very good, the soldier remain a coward all the movie, he won't help her lover till the end... He will bury the tomb of the girl before she's shot laughing at him. Very good one 9/10
The Man Who Knew Too Much - a very promising beginning, with an interesting plot, but the end wasn't that memorable and definitely not Hitchcock - suspense type. Nonetheless an entertaining movie 7/10 The Night of the Hunter - excellent story, with some of the most terrifying scenes, including brilliant, wonderful R. Mitchum, playing one of the most disgusting characters I've seen in a movie. The second part of the movie made me lower the grade to 8/10, because it somehow switched from its first terror to a mellow drama which ended in a not that imaginative finale.
Deep End (1970) 5/10 15 year old boy starts working in a public bath house and develops a crush on his 23 year old colleague Susan. It is an energetic film, shot in vibrant 1970s colours, but I found the boy hysterical and his actions far-fetched and unconvincing.
Moonlighting (1982) 6/10 Four Polish workers illegally renovate the London flat of their corrupt Warsaw boss exactly when at home the military ban Solidarity and impose martial law. It's a political film about inequality and totalitarianism, but alas I was often distracted by poor acting.
Cztery noce z Anna [Four Nights With Anna] (2008) 7/10 A creepy but harmless socially inept middle aged man spies on his neighbour, in a filthy and poor rural Polish setting. The cinematography is great and the story is nicely focused and restrained. As in Skolimowski's latest film, Essential Killing, we see everything from the perspective of the main character. It's a powerful tool to create atmosphere and suspense, but one could argue that in both films that character is too obscure to really empathize with.
Three Faces of Eve - an interesting story, especially for the 50s when this topic wasn't that widely discussed. It's a story about a multiple disorder and the ways a young woman had to deal with it. Joanne Woodward gave a great performance and was awarded with an Oscar for best actress. 7/10