Vanilla is a product of Lussumo. More Information: Documentation, Community Support.

    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeFeb 10th 2014
     permalink
    Few movies those last days...

    “Dracula vs. Frankenstein” (Al Adamson, USA 1971)
    Beyond a certain level making bad movies becomes a true art. Al Adamson is a director who succeeded in allways reaching such level and never failed. Everything is bad in this one that’s what make it a must to see for all Z grade fans. 2/10 (but for Z fans 10/10)

    “G.I. Joe: Retaliation“ (Jon M. Chu, USA 2013)
    Another video game non-sense… Like the previous one, this movie is extremely bad… but costed a lot of money and unfortunately brought back a lot of too… Something is going wrong… I hope for Jon M. Chu, he’ll become the new Al Adamson in some years… 2/10

    "120, rue de la gare" (Jacques Daniel-Norman, France 1946)
    Gentle adaptation of a novel of the famous french writer, creator of the reoccuring character the detective Nestor Burma her involved between Lyon and Paris in the murder of one of his detective friend. Armelss small crime movie with a good rhythm and lot of action. 7/10

    "Hell-Fire Austin" (Forrest Sheldon, USA 1932)
    A small B western with the great Ken Maynard as an ex-soldier after WWI who wants to become a famous rodeo rider. He’s hired by cute Judy Brooks, the owner of the most rapid horse of the area Tarzan. But crooked guys want also to win the big race… For B fans only with an amazing scene of riding in the stairs of a hotel… 6,5/10

    "Texas Gun Fighter" (Phil Rosen, USA 1932)
    Another good small B western with Ken Maynard who is ex-member of a gang who wants to prevent another attack of stagecoach. He gets hired by the local town people as sherif but his ex-friends come and ask him to help them for another robbery. 6/10

    "Les belles de nuit" (René Clair, France 1952)
    A young and poor musician tries to compose an opera but his laughed at by other people. He takes refugee in dreams where he meets success and beautifull women… but when he loses sleep, things goe wrong… Excellent musical/comedy with lot of very original findings and a very good screenplay and filming. Gerard Philipe is great, Marine Carol and Gina Lollobrigida are beautiful… 8,5/10

    "Bhowani Junction" (George Cukor, USA/UK 1956)
    Excellent adventure/romance movie in India at the end of the english colonisation… Even if the happy ending at the end is a bit to easy, the rest of the movie is excellent with a great couple Ava Gardner (wonderful) and Stewart Granger… 8/10

    "The Hill" (Sidney Lumet (UK, 1965)
    We proposed this excellent Sidney Lumet movie at our cineclub… Excellent 8,5/10

    "Jappeloup" (Christian Duguay, France/Canada 2013)
    If you’re fond of horses you’ll certainly enjoy this movie, otherwise nothing new in this classic tale…. 6,5/10

    "Law of the North" (Harry L. Fraser, USA 1932)
    A small western with the great Bill Cody (no relation with the great William Frederick Cody) who poses as Bill Roberts who is wrongly accused of uder by crooked judge Hanley… This movie is part of th Bill ‘n Andy serie in which Bill cody is paired with young Andy Shuford. They made 8 features together… Nice small B 6,5/10

    "Mason of the Mounted" (Harry L. Fraser, 1932)
    Another Bill ‘n Andy movie in which Bill Cody is a Canadian Mounted Police Agend sent to New Mexico to arrest the Killer of a trapper… 6,5/10

    "La maison du maltais" (Pierre Chenal, France 1938)
    Nice romance between Matteo (Marcel Dalio) a muslim poet of Tunis who fall in love with prostitute Safia (Viviane Romance) but then, as she is pregnant he’s arrested for gun smuggling… Beleiving he abandoned her she marries a French older but rich man and goes to Paris. After his return Matteo travel to paris to find Safia and becomes a famous mob… Excellent movie. 8/10

    "Go-Get’Em Haines" (Sam Newfield, USA 1936)
    Nice small crime movie on a boat during a cruise… Good screeplay and an early role for the great William Boyd before he definitively remains Hoppalong Cassidy… 6,5/10

    "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" (Val Guest, UK 1970)
    A great movie from the Hammer studios, certainly one of the best prehistoric movie of those times… The runaway of Sanna a pretty blonde virgin who escape as she is going to be sacrificed to the god of sun… Victoria Verti is bbeautiful, the special effects very good and the whole very entertaining. 7,5/10
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeFeb 15th 2014 edited
     permalink
    Some movies last days...

    “The Haunting” (Robert Wise, UK/USA 1963)
    I rewatched with friends and with much pleasure this classic of horror movie. We all enjoy this fantastic tale of the house “that kills people” 9/10

    “The Offence” (Sidney Lumet, UK/USA 1972)
    We proposed this extraordinary movie at our cineclub, the dark exploration of a sick mind with a wonderfull Sean Connery in his best performance. 9/10

    “The Wild World of Batwoman” (Jerry Warren, USA 1966)
    Ed Wood Jr. is recognized as the worst director ever… Watching this one, it’s sure that Jerry Warren could also have been… 2/10 for Z grade fans 10/10

    “Curse of the Stone Hand” (Jerry Warren, Hugo Christensen, USA/Chile 1964)
    The massacre of two Chilean movies by the master of Z grade movies Jerry Warren, using large parts of “La casa está vacía” (Carlos Schlieper, Chile 1945) and “La dama de la muerte” (Carlos Hugo Christensen, Chile 1949) plus some few sequences he made with John Carradine and Katherine Victor… If the two original movies are quite good (the first is a family drama, the second a dark tale in a XIXth century's London about a man involved in a death match after he contracts to much bebts in gambling… Warren manages to do a ridiculous movie… Like a sort of avant-garde director Warren is able to do good + good = bad so common today ;) 2/10 for Warren’s movie… certainly more for the original material…

    “His Brother’s Ghost” (Sam Newfield, USA 1945)
    Another routine western from the gang PRC/Newfield/Neufeld/Crabbe/St. John… In this one Buster Crabbe as Billy Carson wil have to fight a gang which attacks farmers with the help of the twin brother of one victim. 6/10

    “Shadows of Death” (Sam Newfiel, USA 1945)
    Buster Crabbe as Billy Carson once more with the help of Al St. John will have this time to fight against a crooked saloon owner who wants to takes the land of a rancher after he learned that the railroad is going to come to town… for B fans 6/10.
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeFeb 22nd 2014 edited
     permalink
    Few movies those last days...

    First some small B movies from the vault...

    “Ten Laps to Go” (Elmer Clifton, USA 1936)
    Larry Evans (Rex Lease), champion race car driver, is envied by his chief rival, Eddie DeSylva (Duncan Renaldo) but during a race Larry is badly injured. He doesn’t want to race again but events will push him to breack this vow. Nice meeting in a non-western for two stars of western Rex Lease and the future Cisco Kid Duncan Relnaldo. For B fans 6,5/10

    “Carnival Lady” (Howard Higgin, USA 1933)
    When his bank fails, a young man (Allen Vincent) loses not only all his money but his fiancée, deserts him, too. Depressed, he joins a circus and meets prettu Penny Lee (Boots Mallory) and they fall in love. But soon social background threaten their new love. Nice small B with strong smell of pre-code and with the beautifull Boot Mallory. 6,5/10

    “Law of the Lash” (Ray Taylor, USA 1947)
    The first of the eight movies Las LaRue made for PRC with sidekick Al ‘Fuzzy’ St. John. They will continue after PRC falls aparts. A good entry for the tough character of Cheyenne Davis the marshal all dressed in black who uses equaly of gun and lash… 6,5/10

    “In Old Santa Fe” (David Howard, Joseph Kane, USA 1934)
    The first appearance of the great singing cow-boy Gene Autry. Even if he has only a bit part in this one he will become the most famous western star of the decade… for connoisseurs. 7/10

    “The Old Corral” (Joseph Kane, USA 1936)
    The only western with the meeting of two huge western stars Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. For B fans a must. 6,5/10

    “Riders of the Whistling Pines” (John English, USA 1949)
    A curiosity. To save a forrest attacked by a noxious moth, ranger Gene Autry must spray huge doses of DDT despite the opposition of lumberkjacks and farmers… Today it will be exactly the contrary… funny ! A curiosity for B fans. 6,5/10

    The I watched the six episodes of the famous Hildegarde Withers serie made by the RKO in the 30's... The adventures of an old and maniered old school teacher who become a sleuth helping the local inspector to solve murder cases... a good serie.

    “Penguin Pool Murder” George Archainbaud, USA 1932)
    In this fiorst episode the old schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers (Edna May Oliver) discovers with her pupils the body of a man, drowned in the pinguin’s pool of the city aquarium. She will solve the case helping the old inspector Oscar Piper (James Gleason). Delightful. 7/10

    “Murder on the Blackboard” (George Archainbaud, USA 1334)
    In this one, the music teacher of the scholl where the old Hildegarde Withers is a teacher is found dead in her class. A new case for amateur sleuth Hildegarde and her friend inspector Piper. 7/10

    “Murder on a Honeymoon” (Lloyd Corrigan, USA 1935)
    As she flies to Catalina Island, amateur sleuth and school teacher Hildegarde Withers witnesses the death of a passage of the plane. She suspects murder…. Very good once more… 7/10

    “Murder on a Bridle Path” (William Hamilton, Edward Killy, USA 1936)
    Helen Broderick replaces Edna May Oliver for this episode as the later moved from RKO to MGM. In this investigation she will have to help inspector Piper in a curious death of a woman during a riding in central park… 7/10

    “The Plot Thickens” (Ben Holmes, 1936)
    In this episode Amateur sleuth Hildegarde Withers (Zazu Pitts) will help inspector Piper to solve the murder of wealthy James Carter found dead in his office… and the disappearance of numerous precious jewels inn the cosmopolitan mudseum… 6,5/10

    “Forty Naughty Girls” (Edward F. Cline, USA 1937)
    The publicist of a famous Broadway miusical is kille the day of the première. Amateur sleuth Hildegarde Withers (Zazu Pitts) and inspecteur Piper (James Gleason) are in the public and directly backstage to investigate wile the show must go on… 7/10

    To be continued...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeFeb 22nd 2014 edited
     permalink
    the other movies I watched...

    “A Scanner Darkly” (Richard Linklater, USA 2006)
    We proposed this nice Philip K. Dick’s eponymous novel (partial) adaptation at our cineclub. People enjoy a lot and fount it quite original. 8/10

    “The Eagle’s Brood” (Howard Bretherton, USA 1935)
    As promised I try to watch all the 66 Hopalong Cassidy movies. In the second one, the outlaw El Toro saves Hoppy’s life and ask him to find back his grandson whose life is threatened by a gang of gold thieves… 7/10

    “Bar 20 Rides Again” (Howard Bretherton, USA 1935)
    In the third Hopalong Cassidy movie our hero is called by friend rancher Arnold in Wyoming to fight a gang of cattle rustlers leaded by the mysterious Nevada who is in fact the crookes owner of the neibouring ranch and Arnold’s daughter fiancé. 7/10

    “Call of the Prairie” (Howard Bretherton, USA 1936)
    The fourt Hopalong Cassidy movie. Johnny, Hopy’s best friend get involved in the attack of Bar 20 ranch and the attack of the city’s bank. Hopy has only twelve hours to prove Johnny is innocent. 6,5/10

    “The Spy in Black” (Michael Powell, UK 1939)
    The fist collaboration of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. The story of a German spy during WWI who infiltrates in Orcades islands to investigate about the brittish fleet. He mets anaother german spy the cute school teacher of the island and a traitor of the brittish army. But things are perhaps not what they seems to be… Great filming and with a touch of brittish humour. 8/10

    “Mickey One” (Arthur Penn, USA 1965)
    A weird story of paranoia and and a denunciation of McCarthysm. A young wealthy comic must flee Detroit after contracting strong debts after gambling with the mafia. He hides in Chicago and tries to survive but live in a complete paranoia… a strang movie with huge filming…. 8/10

    “La grande illusion” (Jean Renoir, France 1937)
    Rewatched this huge french classic with so much pleasure. But everybody knows it. 9,5/10

    "A Good Day to Die Hard" (John Moore, USA 2013)
    Watched it just after the previous one... can you just imagine… the shock... the schlock... 2/10

    That's all for the moment...
    • CommentAuthorAsmodai
    • CommentTimeFeb 24th 2014
     permalink
    MisterZob watched Twilight.
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeFeb 24th 2014
     permalink
    @Asmodai, Really ?? have you certain sources ?? Sure you're kidding....
    • CommentAuthorAsmodai
    • CommentTimeFeb 24th 2014
     permalink
    The same sources as you people do, I just pay attention ;)
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeMar 4th 2014 edited
     permalink
    Some movies I watched those last days...

    "Gold" (Otto Brower, USA 1932)
    A classic small B western part of the few movies the famous Jack Hoxie made at the beginning of the sound era. Hoxie was a great western star at Universal in the silent era. Unfortunatly his last come back will last less than one year. In this one he will fight a gang who buy mine claims to miners and then kill them. 6/10

    "Gun Law" (Lewis D. Collins, USA 1933)
    One of the last movie of the famous cowboy star Jack Hoxie. Here, he is the Sonora Kid an ex-bandit who will take the place of the son of a blind woman and help her with her ranch and cattle. But his ex-friends come and things go wrong. 6/10

    "Jungle Jim" (William Berke, USA 1948)
    First movie of the 16 of the eponymous serie of the Columbia. Jungle Jim (Johnny Weissmuller) is a hunter and a guide who will help an archeologist (Virginia Grey) to find the secret city of Zimbalu but here they’ll have to face the Devil Doctors a cruel tribe of natives… 7/10

    "L'horloger de Saint-Paul" (Bertrand Tavernier, France 1974)
    Nice movie about a man who’ll have to face the justice after his son get involved in a murder. They’ll learn then to know eachother. Nice 7,5/10

    "21 Days" (Basil Dean, UK 1940)
    A nice melodrama with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. Jerry (Laurence Olivier) is in love with Wanda (Vivien Leigh) but kills her husband when he comes back after three years and claims for money. They hide the crime and Jerry goes to confess to his brother Keith (Leslie Banks) a famous lawyer who, fearing for his further carreer, asks him to tell nothing. But when an innocent is accused of the murder the couple decides to live their last 21 days together before the end of the trial… 8/10

    "Capitaine Conan" (Bertrant Tavernier, France 1996)
    Nice movie about the problems of a group of ‘war dogs’ after WWI in eastern Europe. Nice acting of Michel Torreton. 8/10

    "Johnny Got His Gun" (Dalton Trumbo, USA 1971)
    I re-watched this masterpeace with much fun. A frightening anti-war tale. 8,5/10

    "It’s A Joke, Son!" (Benjamin Stoloff, USA 1947)
    A gentle comedy about a pure southerner who have to make the campaign to be senator against the ‘northern’ politician but also against his… wife ! 6,5/10

    "The Pay-Off" (Lowell Sherman, USA 1930)
    A nice small B with the famous actor Lowell Sherman who also produced en directed the movie. A thug robs a young engaged couple of their last few dollars. When the thug's gang boss hears of the robbery, he gives them back their money and takes them under his wing. The thug, resentful of the couple, plans to organize a mutiny against the gang's boss, but when he is killed in a botched robbery, the police focus their attention on the young couple… 6,5/10

    "Sex Kittens Go to College" (Albert Zugsmith, USA 1960)
    S.A.M. computer of the college aka Thinko finds the perfect scientist to heads the scientific department of the college the Dr. Mathilda West (Mamie van Doren)… But she’s not as expected : the team of the college discover she’s also a pure sex-bomb. Then things will go wrong when some mobs come searching for a certain Sam Thinko who wins all the loteries and gambling organized by the bosses of the mafia… Incredible Z grade movie an absolute must with a amazing cast : Mamie van Doren, Vampira, Tuesday Weld, John Carradine, Vampira and others… 2/10 for Z fans at least 10/10

    "The Thing That Couldn’t Die" (Will Cowan, USA 1958)
    A cheap but quite good small horror movie about guys who find a box with the living head of an hypnoytist killed 300 years before. He was cursed till his head will join back his body… 6,5/10

    To be continued...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeMar 4th 2014 edited
     permalink
    Other movies...

    "Atlantis the Lost Continent" (George Pal, USA 1961)
    Nice and entertaining sword and sandal movie about a young greek fisherman who finds the boat of the princess of Atlantis. He brings her back home but is then enslaved… 7/10

    "Vice Raid" (Edward L. Cahn, USA 1960)
    A small noir with sex-bomb Mamie van Doren as a prostitute who finaly will help vice squad agent to arrest the leader of a prostitution ring after his gunman rape her little sister. 7/10

    "Lucrèce Borgia" (Abel Gance, France 1935)
    Very nice movie of Abel Gance, underated because it’s very complex and need to have some knowledge about the history of Europe at the time. Otherwise a great story of power, love and treason. Much nudity for that time but in Europe it was quite common before WWII as it was already banned in the US. Edwige Feuillère as Lucrèce is very good and Gabriel Gabrio as Cesar Borgia amazing. 8/10

    "Zero Dark Thirty" (Kathryn Bigelow, USA 2012)
    Ambiguous movie who aims to be like a documentary but which is not because of the main character who is fully fictive… So it sadly becomes another re-writing of history as some have done it long times ago… 6/10

    "Yukon Manhunt" (Frank McDonald, USA 1951)
    First movie of the serie with Kirby Grant as Mounted police Agent Rod Webb and his heroic husky dog Chinook who will solve the problem of payroll holdups in the rugged Canadian Northwest. Nice small B. 7/10

    "Northwest Territory" (Frank McDonald, USA 1951)
    Fort McKenzie prospector Pop Kellogg, just before the arrival of his newly-orphaned grandson Billy, is killed by McBeau and Dawson because they discover oil on his claim. Mountie Rod Webb and his husky Chenook will have to investigate with the help of Billy. 6,5/10

    "Yukon Gold" (Frank McDonald, William Beaudine, USA 1952)
    In this one Mountie Rod Webb and his husky Chenook will have to discover smugglers who sell claims for gold mines which are fake and then kill the poor miners. 6,5/10

    "Fedora" (Billy Wilder, France / West Germany 1978)
    Wonderfull movie which can be considered at Wilder’s last movie. A dark and disillusioned look at Hollywood but also ambiguous, Wilder is certainly nostalgic of the golden age and very critic toward new Hollywood but also show the dark side of the Hollywood dream and all its illusions… Simply excellent. 9,5/10

    "Desert Nights" (William Nigh, USA 1929)
    Poorly known silent movie made at time of speaking. John Gilbert is the boss a a diamond mine in south Africa. He is kdnapped by a band of thieves who try to flee with him across the Kalahari desert… but soon they realize they will need him if they want to survive, the roles reverse. It's also a pity to see what director William Nigh became after silent, directing only poor B movies... 8/10

    "La mujer murciélago" (René Cardona, Mexico 1968)
    Delightfull movie about the super hero Batwoman in this delirious mexiccan B movie. A must pour all fans of super hero !!! 3/10 but 10/10 for Z fans…

    "Phantom of the Rue Morgue" (Roy Del Ruth, USA 1954)
    Nice small horror movie loosely adapted of Alan Poe Murder in the Rue Morgue mixed up with movie like Murder in the Zoo. Nice colors and a camp and kitsch studio reconstruction of Paris. 7,5/10

    "Le juge Fayard dit le shérif" (Yves Boisset, France 1977)
    Nice crime and politacal movie adapted from real events even if the characters are a bit cliched. 7,5/10

    That's all for today...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeMar 15th 2014
     permalink
    Some movies I watched recently...

    “Thunderbirds Are GO” (David Lane, UK 1966)
    Entertaining small movie for kids, watched it with great nostalgia. Well done by the way. 7/10

    A small serie of B-crime movies with western star 'Willd' Bill Elliott, the last he did before retiring...

    “Dial Red O” (Daniel B. Ullman, USA 1955)
    First of the five movies the great western star ‘Wild’ Bill Elliott made before ending his carrier. The whole serie is quite good and very modern looking like modern police tv series with a group of police investigators using different clues and technics to solve murder cases… 7/10

    “Sudden Danger” (Hubert Cornfield, USA 1955)
    In this second episode of the serie Dt. Lt. Andy Doyle and his team have to solve the murder of a woman, head of a sportswear manufacturing company, found dead in Central Park as she was riding her horse… 7/10

    “Calling Homicide” (Edward Bernds, USA 1956)
    In this one Andy Doyle and his team try to connect the death of one of their friend detectinve in a car-bombing and the discovery of the mutilated body of a woman involved in blackmail… 7/10

    “Chain of Evidence” (Paul Landres, USA 1957)
    Lt. Andy Doyle and his men try to find a young guy on parole who lost his memory after a hard beating and who may be involved in a murder case… 6,5/10

    “Footsteps in the Night” (Jean Yarbrough, USA 1957)
    Last movie of the serie of small B-crime movies with ‘Wild’ Bill Elliot as the Lt. Doyle, investigating on the murder case of a gambler who seems to have been killed by mistake… 7/10

    “The Incredible Melting Man” (William Sachs, USA 1977)
    A Z grade movie loosely adapted from the Robert Day’s Sci-Fi classic 'The first Man into Space' and the Z grade cult-movie 'Monster a-Go Go' from Bill Rebane. The result is quite weird and bad. 4/10, for Z grade fans 10/10

    “Mekagojira no gyakushu” (aka “The Terror of Mechagodzilla”) (Ishirô Honda, Japan 1975)
    Mechagodzilla is brought back to life by evil aliens and joins his force with a giant dinosaur brought back to life by bitter scientist and his cyborg Daughter… But Godzilla will protect his home planet… Pure Japanese Sci-Fi of the golden age by the master Ishirô Honda. Camp and kitsch as usual but very entertaining. 7/10

    To be continued...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeMar 15th 2014
     permalink
    Then, four small B westerns with singing cowboy Bob Baker...

    “The Last Stand” (Joseph H. Lewis, USA 1938)
    A small B western of the Universal with singing cowboy Bob Baker who is Tip Douglas posing as a famous outlaw to infiltrate a gang of cattle rustlers… Classic story but welle done by a young Joseph H. Lewis… 6,5/10

    “Guilty Trails” (George Waggner, USA 1938)
    In this small B western, Bob Baker the singing cowboy of the Universal, engaged to compete with Republic’s Roy Rogers, must solve the case of a fake hold-up organized by the bank manager… 6,5/10

    “Border Wolves” (Joseph H. Lewis, USA 1938)
    In this small B western directed by Jospeh H. Lewis, singing cowboy Bob Baker must find the gang who attacked a wagon train and murder the settlers… 6,5/10

    “Black Bandit” (George Waggner, USA 1938)
    In this small B western singing cow-boy Bob Baker is both twin brothers Bob and Don Ramsay who were separated in their youth, Bob is now a sherif and Don the leader of a gang of cattle rustlers… 7/10

    “Anything for a Thrill” (Leslie Goodwins, USA 1937)
    In this small B action movie, the eternal teenager Frankie Darro is the younger brother of ace newsreel man Cliff Mallory (Kane Richmond) who wants to become a cameraman despite his brother’s objections… When the later get involved in an obscure scheme with a beautiful heiress Frankie will havre to help him… 6/10

    “Men of Action” (Alan James, USA 1935)
    In this small B movie, Frankie Darro poses as the son of an old worker on a big dam who is killed after an explosion caused by the henchmen of crooked banker who wants to stop the construction of the dam. Frfankie will help the ingeneer 5LeRoy mason) to defeat the bad guys. 6,5/10

    “La Banque Nemo” (Marguerite Viel, France 1934)
    Adapted from a play by Louis Verneuil the story is losely adapted from the famous french « Affair Stavisky » a financial-political scandal which lead to the fall of French government in the early 30’s. The rise of a newspaper sailer who becomes director of a bank by cheating and corrupting everybody... Still very actual indeed… 7/10

    “Al Capone” (Richard Wilson, USA 1959)
    Great bio-pic of the famous gangster with an amazing Rod Steiger as Al Capone. The physical resemblance is strikening and his acting in a pure ‘Actor’s studio’ way is excellent. Certainly the best one with DeNiro’s one in 1987… 8,5/10

    “Blondie Johnson” (Ray Enright, Lucien Hubbard, USA 1934)
    Nice small pre-code movie with the pre-code star Joan Blondell as a poor jobless girl who will become the leader of the mafia in town using her intelligence and charms… Excellent. 8/10

    “Sono yo no tsuma” (aka “That Night’s Wife”) (Yasujirô Ozu, Japan 1930)
    An early silent Ozu movie about a man forced tpo steal money to cure his sick daughter… When the police inspector coemes to his home his wife takes a gun and takes him in hostage. A long night begins near the bed of the small girl… Amazing movie, mixing occidental influences of Ozu (like Strenberg’s underworld for exemple) and already most of Ozu’s art. 8,5/10

    “Side Street” (Anthony Mann, USA 1950)
    Re-watched this great early Anthony Mann noir-movie about a poor man involved in a blackmail ring after he stole what he supposed it was few hundred buck but which reveal being more than 30,000 in the office of a crooker lawyer… Excellent. 8,5/10

    “Silver Linings Playbook” (David O. Russell, USA 2012)
    Teenagers meets, teenagers wants to be only friends but teenagers fall in love of course, people can’t speak just yell, De Niro is playing the same role since already ten years and have abandoned any ambition. some sport and dance and other clichés… shake it, shake it… 3/10. On Imdb it’s 7,9/10… as much as The 39 Steps… seriously…

    to be continued...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeMar 15th 2014
     permalink
    And to finish back to the dark side of US exploitation movies of the 60's...

    "Flesh and Lace" (Joseph W. Sarno, USA 1965)
    Another weird movie of king Joe Sarno in which a girl who works in a go-go dancing discovers she’s a nymphomaniac and then is locked up in the basement of a toy shop by his 'fiancé' who provides her with the men she needs… 6,5/10

    Then I watched the sick 'Flesh' trilogy writen, produced and directed by the mythic couple Michael and Roberta Findlay...

    "The Touch of her Flesh" (Michael Findlay, USA 1967)
    In the first part of the flesh trilogy, a man Richard Jennings (Michael Findlay) discover his wife with her lover, as he runs away desperate, is injured in a car accident and lose one eye… He then decide to take revenge on his wife but also on every moman… he starts to kill in the most horrible ways… poison, stangle and finish to kill his wife with buzz saw… A complet sick movie… 6,5/10

    "The Curse of her Flesh" (Michael Findlay, USA 1968)
    In the second opus of the trilogy mad one-eyed Richard Jennings wants to kill the lover of her wife (he killed her in the first movie) but also all the girls the man is involved with… another serie of thrash murders begins… 5,5/10

    "The Kiss of her Flesh" (Michael Findlay, USA 1968)
    In the last movie our mad one-eyed killer Richard Jenning continues to kill women for "the good of humanity" as he says… in the most horrible ways… poison, blowtorch, electricity and…. a lobster claw… Yes, The Kiss of her Flesh is the ONLY movie with a murder with a lobster claw… 6/10

    That's all for the moment...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeMar 18th 2014 edited
     permalink
    Some movies those last three days...

    “Mark of the Renegade” (Hugo Fregonese, USA 1951)
    A nice adventure movie mix of western, pirate movie and Zorro. Full of colors and action with nice Cyd Charisse, even if under-employed. The movie deals with Ricardo Montalban posing as a renegade who his hired by crooked Gilbert Roland who wants him to seduce the daughter of the leader of the republic of California to dishonnour him and then becoming emperor of California. 7,5/10

    “Ukikusa” (aka “Floating Weeds”) (Yasujirô Ozu, Japan 1959)
    Excellent remake of his early movie of 1931. Floating Weeds is of course a masterpiece… But coult it be otherway with Ozu ?? 9/10

    “La caperucita roja” (aka “Little Red Riding Hood”) (Roberto Rodríguez, Mexico 1960)
    A weird and lose adaptation of the famous tale. Completely crazy movie with the cute little María Gracia (the famous Niña México) as Little Red Riding Hood… very very strang movie, much under-rated…. 7/10

    “Un papillon sur l’épaule“ (Jacques Deray, France 1978)
    Nice political thriller about a man who get stuck in an absurd conspiracy he knows nothing about… very strange movie with lot of suspense even if some cold-war clichés. 7,5/10

    “I Drink Your Blood“ (David E. Durston, USA 1970)
    A mad gory movie about a group of satanic hippies who terrorizes the people of a small village. A boy decedes to take revnge… listen : he kills a rabid dog and put some infected blood in meat-pies he sells with a special price to the hippies who become rabid too and blood hirsty… the rabies is very contagious and soon spread to the neighbouring dam’s construction site… A pure Z grade but quite enjoyable… 6/10

    “The New World“ (Terrence Malick, USA 2005)
    I rewatched this one with much pleasure… It’s certainly not Malick’s best work but even a weak Mallick is still much better than most of “good” stuff. 8,5/10
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeMar 24th 2014 edited
     permalink
    Some movies I watched recently...

    “Marie-Octobre“ (Julien Duvivier, France 1959)
    Excellent behind closed doors drama about a group of resistants during WWII gathered by the only woman in the group nicknamed Marie-Octobre 15years after the en dof the war. She invites them to celebrate the death of their leader killed by german one night as they had a meeting. But indeed her secret aim is to dicpver the traitor among them because she accidentaly meet the ex-gestapo agent who discovered them and who told her he would never have if there wasn’t a trator… Huge cast with great French actors of that time : Lino Ventura, Bernard Blier, Serge Regiani, Danièle Darrieux, Robert Dalban, Paul Meurisse… and huge direction by Duvivier. 8,5/10

    “Thunder Birds [Soldiers of the Air]“ (William A. Wellman USA 1942)
    Nice Technicolor war romance in a training aviators camp during WWII with a beautiful Gene Tierney. Good flying sequences too. Not the best Wellmann movie but worth of watching. 7,5/10

    “Fa yeung nin wa” (aka”In the Mood for Love”) (Kar Wai Wong, Hong Kong/France 2000)
    We proposed this nice romance at our cineclub, I didn’t watched it after it’s release so it vas great fun. 8,5/10

    “Kingu Kongu no gyakushû” (aka “King Kong Escapes”) (Ishirô Honda, Japan 1967)
    Camp and kitsch Japanese sci-fi movie with an evil doctor Who who creates a king kong robot to excavate the precious radio-active element X from north pole and sell it to mysterious Madame X. But the robot circuits disconnects because of radiations so he decides to capture the real King Kong… By the master of the genre Ishirô Honda. 6,5/10

    “Octaman” (Harry Essex, USA/Mexico, 1971)
    A creepy and quite ridiculous horror movie about a monter half-man half-octopus who appeared because of water pollution by radio-active elements… the monster starts to kill people… some scientists are in the area… for fans. 5,5/10

    “Cult of the Cobra” (Francis D. Lyon, USA 1955)
    Nice small B-horror movieabout a group of GI’s who assistsecretly to a ceremony of the Cult of the Cobra during which a woman transforms herself in a venomous cobra. As they are discovered they managed to escape but are cursed by the high priest. Back to the US they begon to die one by one… Not as bad as expected. 6,5/10

    “The Monster and the Girl” (Stuart Heisler, USA 1941)
    A big surprise. This small B-Horror from the Paramount is nearly a masterpiece. Even if the plot is weird the direction and light are excellent in a pure Universal way of the golden age. The movie is made very seriously and in a very nice way. Afeter a man is wrongly condemned to death for murder he promise the mobs who send him to death to take revenge. As a mad doctor proposes him to use his brain after his death he accepts. The mad doctor transplant his brain in a gorilla who gets all his memory and feelings… Excellent. 8/10

    “The Leech Woman” (Edward Dein, USA 1960)
    Another small horror-B about an endocrinologist in a dysfunctional marriage with an aging, alcoholic wife journeys to Africa seeking a drug that will restore youth. They discover the tribe who keeps the secret but the effect of the therapy is very short. He decides to sacrifiy his wife to make a test but she kills him and now needs more and more males hormones to keep her youth eternal… Not that bad. 6,5/10

    “Untamed Youth” (Howard W. Koch, USA 1957)
    A complete crazy teen-movie forme the 50’s with the sex-bomb Mamie van Doren, cute Lori Nelson and… Eddie Cochran as delinquent teeagers who are put in a crop farm to work but indeed are enslaved by the crooked owner… A pure camp and kitsch movie for fans only. 5/10

    to be continued...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeMar 24th 2014
     permalink
    Then I once more explore dark side of cinema with a small serie of porn movies from the 70's...

    “Sexcula” (John Holbrook, Canada 1975)
    A parodic hard-core porn movie from the golden age of the genre with a complete weird and sick plot : The beautiful Doctor Fallatingstein create the perfect man and lover…. But he’s impotent… She built a love-robot to try to cure him but in vain so she decides to call her friend Countess Sexcula for help… if you add a sexualy degenerate hunchback and a sex maniac gorilla you can imagin…. Or perhaps not. This cult porn is the only Canadian movie of the genre at that time and the only porn movie made with public money of the Canadian Film Development Corporation… an UFO in cinema… 4/10 but for fans of weird cinema much more…

    “The Suckers” (Stu Segall, USA 1972)
    Long considered as lost this cult movie is a soft-porn adaptation of “The Most Dangerous Game” but less interesting than Jess Franco’s “La Comtesse Perverse”. A group of photographs and models are kidnappend and hunted by a blasé professional hunter… 5/10

    “The Love Garden” (Mark Haggard, USA 1971)
    Nice small hard-core pron movie with a plot. (yes, there are some). If the story is quite simple : a love triangle with a young writer who falls in love with his beautiful neigbour who is in love with another girl… the whole is well made in a simple and efficient way and with an unexpected ending… 6,5/10

    “The Vixens of Kung Fu” (Bill Milling, USA 1975)
    Another crazy hard-core porn movie from the golden age with a complete crazy plot : a prostitute is attacked, wounded and raped by a group of men. Then she is cured by a group of kung-fu Amazons who learn her the erotical power of the ying and yang that can make her kill any man who try to attack her. For a demonstration they capture a monk they rape and humiliate. He then contact anaother master of kung-fu to learn special sexual kung-fu technics to take revenge. A great fight is planed… Complete madness. 6/10

    “Oriental Blue” (Bill Milling, USA 1975)
    Another hard-core porn from the 70’s with a more classic plot and using the same cast as the previous one. Madame Blue is a flesh merchant who sells beautiful girls to the WBA (World Bordellos Assiciation). Her associate is Rocky a rough and tough guy who tames the girls. But one day he falls in love with one of the girl and decides to ruin Madame Blue business… More classic tha the previous one, this one is more nicely filmed but less interesting. 5,5/10

    that's all for the moment...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeApr 13th 2014
     permalink
    Well... some movies I watched those last two weeks...

    “La vérité” (Henri-George Clouzot, France 1960)
    Nice court drama with a beautiful Brigitte Bardot in certainly her best performance. The story of a too beaufiful girl pushed to crime by men hypocrisy and cowardness. 8/10

    “Raging Bull” (Martin Scorsese, USA 1980)
    Re-watched with much pleasure this classic, but everybody knows it. 8,5/10

    “The Night the World Exploded” (Fred F. Sears, USA 1957)
    Nice sci-fi B movie about a scientist who builds a machine able to prevent earthquakes. Unfortunatly the machine predicts an huge hearthquake just in the area nobody believes him what what should happen happens. Then the machine predicts it’s just a beginning and all the planet is going to be affected by a strange force concerning earth core… The plot is unbelievable but the script manages to make us it’s possible… well done even if cheaply made. 7/10

    “Little Odessa” (James Gray, USA 1994)
    Nice first movie about a professional killer who is forced to come back in his childhood place, Little Odessa to achieve a contract… He was forced to leave the place after he murdered the son of a local mob. He tries to meet again his family especialy his little brother fascinated by his older bro. Things will go very wrong… Nice and sad movie. 8/10

    “Three on the Trail” (Howard Bretherton, USA 1936)
    Fifth of the 66 Hopalong Cassidy movie, In this one an evil gang is involved in both cattle rustling and the robbing of stagecoaches. Hoppy must stop them... Not bad small B… 7/10

    “Heart of the West” (Howard Bretherton, USA 1936)
    Sixth of the 66 Hopalong Cassidy movies…. THi one finds Hoppy and his friend Johnny arrive to take jobs as cow punchers for rancher Trumbull and quickly learn of his fight with rancher Jim Jordan. Taking a dislike to Trumbull for his attack on Jordan's foreman Windy, they join up with Jordan instead and soon find themselves caught up in the conflict… 6,5/10

    “The Fire-Trap” (Burt P. Lynwood, USA 1935)
    A small B movie with handsome Norman Foster before he became a famous director (many Mr Moto’s and great Films Noir like Kiss the Blood off My Hands). Here, he is an investigator for an insurance company that writes large fire-insurance polices for factories and warehouses, has his car wrecked due to the road-hog driving of Betty. This leads to a romance which is hampered by the activities of her guardian-uncle,R.A. Rawson, who has squandered her inherited fortune, and Bill's boss, Cedric McIntyre…. For B fans only 6/10

    “A Stranger in Town” (Roy Rowland, USA 1943)
    A nice small crime comedy in which local attorney Bill Adams of the small town of Crown Port is trying to break up the ring of corrupt town officials by running for mayor. Fortunatly John Josephus Grant, judge at the supreme court has decided to take a vacation incognito in the small village… Nice small B and the occasion to watch Frank Morgan (The Wizard of Oz) in a leading role… 7/10

    “Pinky” (Elia Kazan, USA 1949)
    Despite many clichés a very nice movie about racism with a great Jane Crain as Pinky a black girl with a so pale skin that when she’s send to north to study and become a nurse, nobody knows about her origins and she fall in love with pretty doctor Bill Adams (Richard Carlson). She decides to come back in the south to visit her grand mother (Ethel Waters). When she’s confronted to racism she decides to assume her true identity… 8,5/10

    “Boomerang!” (Elia Kazan, USA 1947)
    If less known than Panic in the Streets, this other noir form Kazan is quite good. In a small town, a priest is killed apparently without any reason. The police is under pressure and when they find smomeone who may be the culprit all seems to be alright but attorney Henry L. Harvey (Dana Andrews is sure the suspect is innocent, he will risk his whole carrier to prove it… Excellent 8,5/10

    “Man on a Tightrope” (Elia Kazan, USA 1953)
    Excellent movie of Kazan about the boss of a czech circus Karel Cernik is stuck with his troup in the changes of the society just after the communists take control of the country. He decides te crazy plan to pass in Gernany with all his troup, through the border. Excellent movie. Fredric March, Gloria Grahame are excellent… 9/10

    To be continued...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeApr 13th 2014
     permalink
    “House of Strangers” (Joseph L. Manckiewicz, 1949)
    A nice but poorly known family drama. In New York, after seven years in prison, the lawyer Max Monetti goes to the bank of his brothers Joe, Tony and Pietro… The three brother took control of the bank after their father was accused of bankruptcy but Max decides to take responsibility to avoid his old father to go to jail. He’s here to take revenge and get back his girl Irene. Nice one 8,5/10

    “The Hanging Tree” (Delmer Daves, 1959)
    Re-watched with much pleasure this great western with a frightening and dark Gary Cooper and a great Carl Malden. The final part is absolutely awesome… 9/10

    “Le coupable“ (Raymond Bernard, France 1937)
    Nice french court drama about a prosecutor who discover that the man he is going to send to guillotine is the son he abandonned before going to WWI… 8/10

    “Inferno” (Roy Ward Baker, USA 1953)
    Excellent aventure movie originaly made in 3D. The story of a millionaire (Robert Ryan) abandoned in desert with a broken leg by his wife (Rhonda Fleming) and her lover (William Lundigan)… His only will, survive and take revenge… Excellent. 9/10

    “The Big Night” (Joseph Losey, USA 1949)
    The last US film for Losey. The story of the long night of a young and shy boy who decides to take revenge after he sees his father strongly beaten by a crooked journalist… 7,5/10

    Then a bunch of small B's...

    “Trigger Pals” (Sam Newfield, USA 1939)
    A small B western in which the crooked Kent wants the Allen ranch. So he has Steve and his men rustle their cattle using Pete, the foreman, as an informant… Three friends looking ofr work will help… 6/10

    “Texas Man Hunt” (Sam Newfield, USA 1942)
    A propaganda movie which mix western and spy movie. It's WW II and German Reuther has organized local gangs to sabotage the beef supply at the source…. Marshal Lee Clark and his two singing pals will stop them… First movie of the Forntier marshal serie made par The PRC during WWII. For B fans only 6/10

    “Notorious But Nice” (Richard Thorpe, USA 1933)
    Nice small B drama with Marian Marsh as Jenny Jones a poor girl pushed to prostitution by men after her mother died. A nice pre-code melodrama with good acting. 7/10

    “Windjammer” (Ewing Scott, USA 1937)
    Small and cheap maritime adventure movie. A group of shipracers are saved by captain Morgan after wrecking. But the captain is a gun smuggler and decides to bring our heroes to Macao with his friet… 5,5/10

    “Bars of Hate” (Albert Herman, USA 1935)
    Nice small crime-comedy in which Ted Clark rescues pickpoket Danny from a mob, and restores Danny's loot, a pocketbook, to its owner Ann Dawson. She is carrying a letter that proves her brother, who is on death row, is innocent and Jim Grant is the guilty party. Ted and Danny help her escape from Grant's henchmen. They have several narrow escapes while on their way to give the proof to the Governor. For B fans only 6,5/10

    “Rio Rattler” (Bernard B. Ray, USA 1935)
    A small B western with Tom Tyler who finds a dying Marshal gives his identification papers to Tom. He decides to pose at the marshal… 6/10
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeApr 13th 2014 edited
     permalink
    Still some B's from the vault...

    “The Thirteenth Guest” (Albert Ray, USA 1932)
    A small old dark house moivie with all the secret passages, dead bodyes, masked killer and… a young Ginger Rogers… 6,5/10

    “Ride’em Cowgirl” (Samuel Diege, USA 1939)
    One of the rare singing cowgirl movie, very entertaining indeed even if still full of clichés, the women are on top in this one, Dorothy Page is great. Unfortunatly Grand National fired Page after only three movies… 7/10

    “A Million to One” (Lynn Shores, USA 1937)
    John Kent (Monte Blue) wins the Olympic decathlon but is disqualified on a charge of professionalism. William Stevens (Kenneth Harlan), the second-place finisher, is awarded the title and trophies. Six years later Kent is running a moving truck for a living and training his young son Johnny (Bruce Bennett) to become an athlete. Chance brings about a meeting between Ken and Stevens, now a prosperous business man, with a little daughter, Joan (Joan Fontaine), who makes friends with young Johnny… Nice sport drama with handsome Bruce Bennet (one of the numerous tarzan of cinema) and a young Joan Fontaine… 6,5/10

    “Monte Carlo Nights” (William Nigh, USA 1934)
    A man wrongfully convicted of murder escapes custody and goes in search of the real killer. The problem is that he only has one clue to go on, a trick used that night at the roulette in the casino where the murder took place… 6,5/10

    “Picture Brides” (Phil Rosen, USA 1934)
    A small pre-code movie in which four "Picture Brides", from New Orleans, arrive in the Brazilian jungle on a riverboat, brought there to marry workers at Lottagrasso, a remote mining site of the Standard Diamond Mines.Also on the boat with the four "mail-order" brides (Americans Mame Smith, Flo Lane, and Gwen from England and Lena from Europe) is Mary Lee, a frightened and innocent girl, who has come to see the mine's brutal supervisor, Von Luden , about a job… A curiosity for B fans only… 6,5/10

    “Galloping Dynamite” (Harry L. Fraser, USA 1937)
    A small B western with Kermit Maynard, Ken’s brother who poses as a texas ranger who tries to find the murderers of his brother after the later found gold… 6/10

    “Twisted Rails” (Albert Herman, USA 1931)
    A railroad employee finds out the identity of "The Wrecker", a criminal who is deliberately causing trains to crash... An informer must be in the place… A nice fellow proposes help to the boss of the company… 6/10

    “Midnight Manhunt” (William C. Thomas, USA 1945)
    First movie directed by Thomas on the classic plot in which a murder is commited but the corpse vanishes and re-appear and re-vanishes…. A good small B. 6,5/10

    to be continued...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeApr 13th 2014 edited
     permalink
    Some other movies now...

    “L’Amant” (Jean-Jacques Annaud, France 1997)
    Re-watched with much pleasure this nice melodrama adapted form Marguerite Duras novel. Nice filming of this torrid but forbidden love story. 8/10

    “Hiroshima mon amour” (Alain Resnais, France, Japan, 1959)
    Awsome movie also by Resnais the love story between a Japanese guy and a French girl who comes to Hiroshima to make a movie about peace… 9/10

    “Wuthering Heights” (William Wyler, USA 1939)
    This is the most famous adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel. Nice directing, a great Laurence Olivier and a marvelous Merle Oberon… 9/10

    “Viaggio in Italia” (Roberto Rosseillini, Italy/France 1954)
    Great drama about the dissolution of a couple durong a trip in Italy around Napoli… Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders are great. 9/10

    “Abismos de passion“ (Luis Buñuel, Mexico 1954)
    We proposed this movie at our cineclub... The Bunuel adapatation of Wuthering Heigths begins at the return of the heroe… This one is more like an horror movie completly crazy and with a final scene with necrophilia you wont forget. Even if cheaply made a great Bunuel movie… 8,5/10

    “Tanganyika” (André De Toth, USA 1954)
    A nice jungle adventure movie with Van Heflin who makes a safari to find a criminal who controls a tribe of natives which attacks all the settlers in the area… He discover the brother of the criminal injured , a schoolteacher and two children who joins the trip… 7/10

    “The Fan” (Otto Preminger, USA 1949)
    Another adaptation of Lady Windermere’s Fan after the famous Lubitsch’s one in 1925. In this one, the noir influence is there with the construction in flash-backs. Jeanne Craine is nice as the Lady Windermere and George Sanders too… 8/10

    "The Cabinet of Caligari" (Roger Kay, USA 1962)
    A nice and interesting movie loosely adapted from the original. Well filmed and very nice photography. A girl has a breackdown with her car and arrives in the strange house of Caligari… 8/10

    "Zero Hour!" (Hall Bartlett, USA 1957)
    Airplane! the original. This is the movie the team of the famous comedy used for their parodic adaptation… Indeed the first movie of a genre promised to a great future. If you have Airplane! In the head you can’t wacth this one without laughting. Otherwise the movie is very good with excellent suspense and great actors : Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell, Sterling Hayden… Very good indeed 8/10.

    That's all for the moment...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeApr 19th 2014 edited
     permalink
    Few movies thos last days...

    “The Sentinel” (Michael Winner, USA 1977)
    Nice horrific thriller on religious background. Huge casting with many famous actors in bit parts… John Carradine, Ava gardner, Jose Ferrer, Arthur Kennedy Burgess Meredith, Sylvia Miles, Tom Berenger, Christopher Walken, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Dreyfuss… 7,5/10

    “Robinson Crusoe“ (Luis Buñuel, Mexico 1954)
    Not the best Buñuel movie but a typical Buñuel movie too with all elements of his cinema : animals (and specialy insects, because he always wanted to be an entomologist !) religion, seam (if you watch carefully very frequent in his cinema..) relationship of domination, cynicism… 7,5/10

    “Comanche” (George Sherman, USA 1956)
    A good pro-indian western by Sherman who often was on indian side in his movies. In this one Dana Andrew must have to struggle in order to avoid an new war against Comanches along Mexican border… Not the best Sherman movie but nice filming in huge landscapes and a nice final sequence. 7,5/10

    “Midnight Warning” (Spencer Gordon Bennet, USA 1932)
    A small B very interesting using this classic plot of the disappearance of a man in his hotel room. Then his sister try to find him but noboby have seen him or even remember him… Like The Lady Vanishes or So Long at the Fair but many years before. Even if cheaply made a good small B ahead from it’s time ! 7/10

    “Missing Girls” (Phil Rosen, USA 1936)
    Some girls are pushed to town to find a job but many disappear in whit slavery… The daughter of the town senator get involved in such case and is eve kidnapped, her newspaperboy boyfriend will hae to find her back… 6/10

    “The Girl Who Came Back” (Charles Lamont, USA 1935)
    A girl wants to leave her gang anf flees to California. She get hired in a bank and fall in love with her boss. But ex-gang members find her back andask her to help them rob the bank. Pure small B. 6/10

    “Star Trek Into Darkness” (J.J. Abrams, USA 2013)
    Nice shots for WTM and then… More than two hours for almost nothing… 7,9 on IMDb… seriously… 3,5/10

    “Les profs“ (Pierre-François Martin-Laval, France 2013)
    Another pathetic french comedy… in the worst college in France, direction decides to hire the worst teachers for the worst pupils… 2,5/10
    • CommentAuthorAsmodai
    • CommentTimeApr 19th 2014
     permalink
    Keep at it with these posts, RDPL! I always read them with a lot of pleasure :)
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeApr 20th 2014
     permalink
    @Asmodai, thanks for reading... I'm a bit lonely here but I don't care... I'll try to continue...
    • CommentAuthorkinoute
    • CommentTimeApr 20th 2014
     permalink
    @RDPL55 I watch Arte a lot too.. L'amant nearly killed me last week (I've never seen it before) so I bought the Blu-ray.
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeApr 22nd 2014
     permalink
    @kinoute, good choice with l'Amant... Yes Arte proposes some nice classics movie in nice copies. I've already watched much of them but it's always a good occasion to watch them once more, otherwise I think I won't do it. Sometimes I realize I missed some things before... by the way it's always interresting to refresh memory... ;)
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeMay 4th 2014
     permalink
    I was in Lyon for festival Hallucinations Collectives and watche few movies...

    “Dolls“ (Stuart Gordon, USA 1987)
    A classic horror movie of the 80’s. A group of person get lost in the storm and come to the strange house of an eldery couple who creates dolls… with the bodies of their victims… only way to escape is to be a child or to still have a child mind… 7/10

    “Le locataire“ (aka “The Tenant“) (Roman Polanski, France 1976)
    I was lucky to watch this movie on screen. Excellent horrigic thriller by Polanski, much underrated in my opinion because comparisions with Répulsion, but it’s quite different indeed. 8,5/10

    “Night of the Juggler“ (Robert Butler, USA 1980)
    A classic Urban movie of the 80’s. An ex-cop races across devastated Bronx and whole New-York after the mad man who kidapped his daughter by mistake. 7/10

    Then I was on vacations so watched few movies...

    “Fargo Express“ (Alan James, USA 1932)
    A very nice small B-Western by veteran Alan James with Ken Maynard in one of his best movie. Ken tries to clear the young fiancée’s brother wrongly accused of murder by commiting himself a stagecoach attack… 7/10

    “Twin Husbands” (Frank R. Strayer, USA 1933)
    The movie begins like My Name is Julia Ross, the masterpiece of Joseph H. Lewis. A man awake in a dark house and everybody consider him to be another man. But what they don’t know is that he is a famous thief… Then the movie turns to be a good small comedy…. 7/10

    “Here Comes Trouble” (Fred Guiol, USA 1948)
    A small comedy about a naïve newspaper boy, Dodo, sent on a dangerous nvestigation by his boss who hopes he will be killed because his daughter wxants to marry Dodo… A good small B comedy. 6,5/10

    “Open Secret” (John Reinhardt, USA 1948)
    Nice small B-noir about a recently wedd detective who discovers his murdered friend was a member of an anti-semitic ring… by the poorly know director John Reinhardt who made such good movies like High Tide and Chicago Calling. 7,5/10

    “The Law West of Tombstone” (Glenn Tryon, USA 1938)
    A nice small B-western with Harry Carey who poses as notoriuos liar Bill Barker, having been banished westward by the law, talks the townspeople of Martinez into making him Mayor and Judge to serve it ideae to bring the railroad to the town… 6,5/10

    “The Renegade Ranger” (David Howard, USA 1938)
    Thiis western is the only one that George O’Brien and Tim Holt, the two stars of B-western made together. George is a marshall who must arrest the leader of a renegade gang leaded by pretty Judith Alvarez (a young Rita Hayworth!!). His young pal, Tim Holt, is dismissed from the rangers and joins the gang… 7/10

    Then two small B-horrors with the queen of the genre Alyson Hayes, the mythic 50 foot woman...

    “The Hypnotic Eye” (George Blair, USA 1960)
    A weird movie about a detective who investigates on the cases of beautifull girls making self-mutilation after being hypnotized by Desmond (Jacques Bergerac) and his assistant Justine (Alyson Hayes). 7/10

    “The Disembodied” (Walter Grauman, USA 1957)
    A group of three men making a safari arrives in the house of Docteir Metz and his beautifull young wife Tonda (Alyson Hayes) who is in fact a cruel Voodoo Queen…. Pure exploitation B movie. For fans 6,5/10

    That's all !!
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeMay 10th 2014 edited
     permalink
    Some movie I watched recently...

    "Macabre" (Willam Castle, USA 1958)
    A nice small horror movie by the master of the genre, with a funny warning at the beginning enjoining people to subscribe a life insurance before watching the movie. A dork story of a little girl kidnapped and supposed to have been locked in a coffin and who have only 24 hours to live. The father and his secretary are on the track… 7/10

    "Die Brücke" (Bernhard Wicki, West Germany 1959)
    Wonderful anti-war movie about a group of young pupils who get enrolled in the army near the end of WWII… 9/10

    "Valerie" (Gerd Oswald, USA 1957)
    The Rashomon of the B’s transposed in the wild west. A man and his two pals arrive in a house. Some gunfights are heard. At the trial the witnesses and the accused have each their own version of the affair… some are lying. With Sterling Hayden and Anita Ekberg. 7,5/10

    "The Rocket Man" (Oscar Rudolph, USA 1954)
    Nice family movie about a space-man who give an orphan boy a ray gun that can do good and make people talk the truth. A crooked and greedy politician is about to buy the orphanage and is going to be elcted… 7/10

    "Le passe-muraille" (aka "Mr. Peek-a-Boo") (Jean Boyer, France 1951)
    Nice and funny comedy with famous French actor Bourvil about a gentle guy who one day discover he can walk through walls… 7,5/10

    "Planeta bur" (aka "Planet of Storms") (Pavel Klushantsev, SSSR 1962)
    Very nice russian Sci-Fi movie about an expedition on Planet Venus… Lot of imagination and poetry. The movie will be used (and butcherd) to make US Z grade movie Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet which was re-used to make Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoris Women by peter Bogdanovitch and with mamie van Doren. 8/10

    "Il pianeta degli uomini spenti" (aka "Battle of the Worlds") (Antonio Margheriti, Italy, 1961)
    A strange Sci-Fi movie with Claude Rains as a misanthropic scientist who aware earth about the arrival of a strange small planet near the earth. As a rocket is launched on the planet saucers emerge and attack Earth… 6,5/10

    "La vendetta di Lady Morgan" (aka "Lady Morgan's Vengeance") (Massimo Pupillo, Italy 1965)
    Nice horro movie from the golden age of Italian gothic horror. Even if the story is classic (a woman is driven crazy by greedy husband and pushed to suicide but then comes back as a ghost to take revenge) the whole is well filmed with nice atmosphere. 7/10

    "The Sitter" (David Gordon Green, USA 2011)
    Poor Comedy about a fat guy who make baby-sitting and get involved with the children in a drug story sduring the night… Hardly funny often grotesque. 4,5/10

    "Monte Cristo" (Emmett J. Flynn, USA 1922)
    Very nice adaptation of Dumas’s novel perhaps the most faithfull to the original. Even if the direction is classic, there are some nice moments and huge setting. A debbuting John Gilbert is mercyless Edmond Dantès… 8,5/10

    "Racing Luck" (Sam Newfield, USA 1935)
    A classic story of horse races with William Boyd before Hopalong Cassidy… For B Fans. 6/10

    "Happy Landing" (Robert N. Bradburry, USA 1934)
    A nice B movie about a couple of pilots of the border patrol involved with the same girl and with a dangerous gang of thieves… 6,5/10

    That's all for today...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeMay 22nd 2014 edited
     permalink
    Some movie I wathed... First a bunch of small B's...

    “Dancing Man” (Albert Ray, USA 1934)
    A small B about a girl who falls in love with a dancer and Gigolo and who discovers that her stepmother has also an affair with the same man. Touch of finishing pre-code in this small B. 6,5/10

    “Road Gang” (Louis King, USA 1936)
    Nice social-movie directed by the Warner. A strong attack against the prison and corruption of politics. Dalton Trumbo is on the screenplay. Even if sometime a bit “heavy”, a good small B. 7,5/10

    “Draegerman Courage” (Louis King, USA 1937)
    A good small B of the Warner with social background about accident in gold mine (adapted from true events) because of greediness of the bosses and the rescue of the trapped miners. A good small B rom the Warner. 7,5/10

    “The Lost Tribe” (William Berke, USA 1949)
    Second adventure of Jungle Jim (Johnny Weissmuller) who must protect a secret tribe full of diamonds from the greediness of crooked adventurers. 7/10

    “The Heart Punch” (B. Reeves Eason, USA 1932)
    A small boxing movie about a boxer who accidentaly kills his friend on the ring and gets involved with the sister of his friend… for B fans 6/10

    “Courage of the North” (Robert Emmett Tansey, USA 1935)
    First of the three adventures of Morton of the Mounted a courageous mounty who will arrest crooked trappers with the help of his horse Dynamite and his dog Captain… for B fans 6,5/10

    “The Curtain Falls” (Charles Lamont, USA 1934)
    Nice small drama/comedy about an old actess who takes the place of and old friend of her who she looks like and help members of a family to solve their problems. For B fans. 6,5/10

    “Western Racketeers” (Robert J. Horner, USA 1934)
    Poor western with Bill Cody who helps Cattlemen who use Alamo Pass in order to get their cattle to market. But a gang has taken it over and charges a toll to go through it. 6/10

    “The Hurricane Horseman” (Armand Schaefer, USA 1931)
    Small interesting B western with Lane Chandler as a gunsmith who get captured by a gang and who falls in love with another nice prisoner, a mexican girl called Tonita. An unusual dose of humour in this one. 6,5/10

    “In Old Cheyenne” (Stuart Paton, USA 1931)
    Remake with Rex Lease of 1930 "Phantom of the Desert" with Jack Perrin. A nice wild white stallion is used by smugglers to rob cattle. In both films the role of the horse is played by Starlight the Horse 6,5/10

    “Cyclone of the Saddle” (Elmer Clifton, USA 1935)
    The cavalry sends Andy Thomas to infiltrate a gang attacking settlers wagon trains in the desert with the help of an indian tribe… 6,5/10

    To be continued...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeMay 22nd 2014 edited
     permalink
    Then, the other movies...

    “Natvris khe” (aka “The Tree of Wishes”) (Tengiz Abuladze, Georgia/SSSR, 1976)
    The second part of Abduladze trilogy on Georgia. A sad love story face to social and mystical traditions… 10/10

    “Du bi quan wang da po xue di zi” (aka “The Master of the Flying Guillotines”) (Yu Wang, Taiwan/Hong Kong, 1976)
    A pure kung-fu movie with tiny plot, bab guys very bad and hero not so nice… and flying guillotines ! for fans a must… 7,5/10

    “Stupéfiants” (Kurt Gerron, Roger Le Bon, Germany 1932)
    A nice and poorly known movie about drugs use and smuggling with a nice peter Lorre. Funny to compare with American movies on the subjects of the same period… 7,5/10

    “The Road to Ruin” (Mrs. Wallace Reid, Norton S. Parker, 1928)
    A nice silent exploitation movie very well done indeed and very sad even if the background is very conservative. A shy girl begins to smoke an drink and discovers love… too permissive parents will let her go to the road to ruin… 7,5/10

    “Monanieba” (aka “Repentance”) (Tengiz Abuladze, Georgia/SSSR)
    Last part of Abduladze trilogy about Georgia. The great dictator (the black shirt of Mussolini, the moustache of Hitler and the glasses of Beria) is dead but his body digged out and found every night in the garden of his son and grandson… 10/10

    “Passion in Hot Hollows” (Joseph W. Sarno, USA 1969)
    Another sexploitation movie of master Sarno. In this one a girl and his man try to corrupt the lonesome sister of the girl in pervert trio… sick but nice filming. 6,5/10

    “Honky Tonk” (Jack Conway, USA 1941)
    An unusual western with great couple Clark Gable and Lana Turner. A professional gambler decides to take control of a booming goldtown… A nice mix of melodrama and humour. Great acting of Gable and a moving Lana Turner. 8/10

    “Le trou” (Jacques Becker, France/Italy 1960)
    We proposed this masterpiece at our cineclub… everybody enjoyed it a lot. But everybody knows it. 10/10

    That's all for the moment...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeMay 26th 2014 edited
     permalink
    Some movies of those last four days...

    First watched some movies of Pare Lorentz a director who worked for the US federal states during the great depression making movies and documentary to support the New Deal politics...

    “The Fight for Life” (Pare Lorentz, USA 1940)
    After the death of a young woman while giving birth, a young doctor decide to go in a free health center in the poorest part of the town to learn new methods… Amzing movie which shows us how things have changed… 7,5/10

    “The River” (Pare Lorentz, USA 1938)
    A nice short documentary about the soil erosion in mississipi valley after years of cotton cultivation and deforestation. 7,5/10

    “The Plow That Broke the Plains” (Pare Lorentz, USA 1936)
    Very nice documentary about the soil erosion of the great plains because of over exploitation and mecanisation of agriculture which pushes so many people on the roads during the great Depression. People who love Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans work on the period will love this small movie. 8/10

    Then I watched the two masterpieces of Albert Lamorisse...

    “Crin blanc: Le cheval sauvage“ (aka “White Mane“) (Albert Lamorisse, France 1953)
    Great and moving movie from the director of the Red Balloon. The impossible friendship between a young fisherman and a beautiful white horse. 8,5/10

    “Le ballon rouge“ (Albert Lamorisse, France 1956)
    Wonderful short movie about the friendship between a young boy and a red balloon accross the streets of Paris. 9/10

    Then some other movies...

    “Les mains sales“ (Fernand Rivers, Simone Berriau, France 1951)
    An adaptation of the famous eponymous play from Jean-Paul Sartre. In Illyria, a country allied to Germany during WWII, the communists resistants are planning an association with other conservative resistants. Some members of the party decide to send a young romantic anarchist to kill the leader of the party accusing him of treason… interesting but a bit disappointing. 7,5/10

    “Timber Terrors“ (Robert Emmett Tansey, USA 1935)
    The second and last adventure of Norton of the Mounted. In this one our hero and his pals Lightning the horse and Captain the dog will fight a crooked woodman and his gang… for B fans 6,5/10

    “Man's Best Friend“ (Edward A. Kull, Thomas Storey, USA 1935)
    A family movie about the friendship of a young boy and his dog despite the hate of the father for the dog. 6/10

    “The Silent Code“ (Stuart Paton, USA 1935)
    Another adventure of a mounted police agent who will investigate about the murder of another agent who discovered a gang of gold smugglers… 6/10

    “Un soir sur la plage“ (Michel Boisrond, Annette Wademant, France 1961)
    A strange movie which begins like a sentimental comedy but ends up in a sad crime movie about a father who will kill his simple minded but dangerous and nymphomaniac daughter… very unusual themes here such mentaly defiscients children, paedophilia, abortion… a curiosity. 7,5/10

    “Dernier Domicile Connu“ (aka “Last Known Address“ ) (José Giovanni, France/Italy 1970)
    A good frend crime movie about a couple of cops (Lino Ventura and Marlène Jobert) who have to find a mysterious witness who hides in paris in four days before a trial… quite good. 8/10

    “Kaijû daisensô” (aka “Invasion of Astro Monsters”) (Ishirô Honda, Japan 1965)
    Another great adventure of Godzilla by master Ishiro Honda. In this one aliens from planet X kidnap Godzilla, Rodan and King Ghidora and then use magnetic waves to control them and attack Earth… Much fun for Sci-Fi fans… 7,5/10

    Then I continue exploration of US underground cinema of the 60's with five productions of famous producer David F. Friedman...

    “A Smell of Honey, a Swlallow of Brine“ (Byron Mabe, USA 1966)
    In this one a nymphomaniac teases guys and ten push them to crime and jail… but, when she meets a guy sicker than her, things go wrong. Very sick movie. 7/10

    “A Sweet Sickness” (Jon Martin, USA 1968)
    A naïve girls comes to Hollywood to make a carrier but is then soon involved in different affairs of sex and drug… 6,5/10

    “The Brick Dollhouse” (Tony Martinez, David F. Friedman, USA 1967)
    Girls find their roommate murdered. The police comes and they give their testimony and remember their friend in order to find the culprit… 6/10

    “The Defilers” (Lee Frost, David F. Friedman, USA 1965)
    Two edonistc guys just think to have fun with girls but one day they soon get bored and decide to kidnap a young naive girl who came to Hollywood to make a carrier and they make her their sex-slave… 6,5/10

    “The Scum of the Earth” (Hershel Gordon Lewis, USA 1963)
    Another naive girl needs money to pay her college and becomes a model. But soon she is forced to make nude photos and then is blackmailed… 5,5/10

    thats all for the moment...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeJun 1st 2014 edited
     permalink
    Movies I watched those last five days...

    “Divorzio all'Italiana” (aka “Divorce Italian Style”) (Pietro Germi, Italy 1961)
    Delightful and wonderful comedy with much cynicism. A wealthy Sicilian is married to a loving but not very beautiful woman. He falls in love for his pretty cousin but can’t divorce. He then imagines a way to kill his wife… 9/10

    “Hopalong Cassidy Returns” (Nate Watt, USA 1936)
    Seventh of th 66 Hopalong Cassidy movies. In this one Hoppy comes in Mesa Grande to clean the town after his friend has been murdered. 7/10

    “Furankenshutain no kaijû: Sanda tai Gaira” (aka “War of the Gargantuas”) (Ishirô Honda, Japan 1968)
    One of the weakest Hondda movies. A giant Frankenstein monster arises from the sea eating people. With ray guns the army almost kill him but the twin brother of the monster comes and saves him. But they soon get in conflict and struggle over Tokyo… 6,5/10

    “The Patient in Room 18” (Bobby Connolly, Crane Wilbur, USA 1938)
    A small crime/comedy about a detective who must take some rest after he failed on a case for the first time in his life. But the patient in the next room is murdered and a hard investigation begins. 7/10

    “Saleslady” (Arthur Greville Collins, USA 1938)
    A classic small romance about a rich girl who comes to town to find the man who will love her not for her money. She takes a job in a general store as a saleslady… 6/10

    “Daring Daughters” (Christy Cabanne, USA 1933)
    A city girl who works in an hotel wooed by many mans but she prefers to play with them because she knows them well. But when her naïve sister comes from the country, she decides to protect her… 6/10

    “The Magnificent Seven” (John Sturges, USA 1960)
    Rewatched with much fun this very good all-star western. 8,5/10

    “Vera Cruz” (Robert Aldrich, USA 1954)
    Another great werstern I re-watched with much pleasure… 9/10

    “Korolevstvo krivykh zerkal” (aka “The Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors”) (Aleksandr Rou, USSR 1964)
    Nice fairy tale which begins much like Alice ,in wonderland but when the girl goes through the mirror she meets her twin and they have great adventures… 8/10

    “Magdanas lurja” (aka “Magdana’s Little Donkey”) (Tengiz Abuladze, Rezo Chkheidze, USSR 1955)
    Wonderful and moving small movie of great director Tengiz Abduladze. Magdana is a poor widow with three children. She must carry the milk to town every day on her back to sell it. One day the children find a donkey abandoned almost dead by his cruel owner. They take care of him and soon Magdana takes the small animal to carry her milk… 10/10

    “Detstvo Gorkogo” (aka “Gorki’s Childhood”) (Mark Donskoy, USSR 1938)
    First part of Donskoi’s trilogy on the youth of the great writer Maxim Gorky. Very nice picturing of the life at the end of XIX century in Russia, nice vision of childhood… Excellent; 9/10

    “Murder à la Mod” (Brian De Palma, USA 1968)
    One of the first De Palma movies. Even if sometime confuse and bad acting a good movie where De Palma clearly shows (too much perhaps) his influences : Truffaud, Powel, Hitchkock, the burlesque… Like in Rashomon, the murder of a young model with an ice peak is seen by different persons. 7/10

    “The Iron Sheriff“ (Sidney Salkow, USA 1957)
    An unusual western which is mostly a crime movie. The young brother of shrif Galt (Sterling Hayden) is on trail for murder. Galt investigates to save him and find the real culprit. Nice screenplay even if acting and directing are a bit too calm. 7,5/10

    “Non credo più all'amore (La paura)“ (aka “Fear“) (Roberto Rossellini, Italy/West Germany 1954)
    The last movie of Rossellini with Ingrid Bergman. A strange experiment leaded by a jalous husband on his cheating wife… 8,5/10

    That's all...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeAug 27th 2014
     permalink
    So... My field season is now finished for this year... By the way a rainy one... :( so I watched few movies during summer...

    “Lyudi i zveri“ (aka “Men and Beasts“) (Sergei Gerasimov, Lutz Köhlert, K. Tavrisian, SSSR 1962)
    Very nice (and long amost 3 hours!) movie about a russian soldier who come back after 17 years outside USSR after he was a prisoner Germany. He meets a woman and her daughter and they travel together. He then tells them all his experiences in the western world… Excellent lesson about humanity. 9/10

    “Rusalochka” (aka “The Little Mermaid”) (Vladimir Bychkov, SSSR 1976)
    Nice adaptation full of colors of the classic fairy tale and Viktoriya Novikova is a beautiful mairmaid. 8/10

    “The Urge to Kill” (Derek Ford, Canada/UK 1989)
    A poor typical gore movie of the 80’s. A wealthy womanizer lives in a hi-tech apartment run by a computer called S.E.X.Y… the computer becomes jalous of it’s master conquests and begins to kill… 5/10

    “Satanik” (Piero Vivarelli, Italy/Spain, 1968)
    Nice adaptation of famous italian comics some kind of female Diabolik. Not as good as Bava’s movie but worth of watching… 7/10

    “La bande à Bonnot” (Philippe Fourastié, France 1968)
    Nice movie about the famous gang of anarchists/bank-robbers in the early XXth century in France. Bruno Cremer and Jacques Brel are convincing. 8/10

    “Il castello dei morti vivi” (Lorenzo Sabatini, Luciano Ricci, Michael Reeves, France/Italy 1964)
    Nice horror movie of the european goldan age of the genre A small toup of entertainers are invited to the cstle of the mysterious count Drago an embalmer of animals… and humans… Nice story and filming and photography. 7,5/10

    “Jariskatsis mama” (aka “the father of the soldier”) (Rezo Chkheidze, SSSR 1964)
    Nice and moving story of an old Georgian man who wants to visit his son in a military hospital during WWII, but when he comes to the place his son is already back to the front. The old timer joins the army and try to find his son back… Excellent. 9/10

    “Red Fork Range” (Alan James, USA 1931)
    A classic B western about a stagecoach race with Hal Taliaferro as the hero and Ruth Mix, the sister of the famous Tom Mix in the female lead. For B fans only 6,5/10

    “Under Strange Flags” (Irvin Willat, USA 1937)
    A strange small B western with Tom Keen as a cowboy involved in the Mexican civil war and who will help Pancho Villa and his rebels to get some silver to help the revolution. Strange one because US army fought Villa during the war… 6,5/10

    “Under the Tonto Rim” (Lew Landers, USA 1947)
    A small B western of the RKO with Tim Holt with a screenplay based on a novel by the famous writer Zane Grey. In the 40’s RKO made a bunch of remakes of earlier Paramount movies mostly directed by a young Henry Hathaway and based on the same novles… 6/10

    “Sunset Pass” (William Berke, USA 1946)
    Another B western on a story by Zane Grey and with James Warren as the hero who is involved with his pal in a dark story of stolen money… 6,5/10

    “Wild Horse Mesa” (Wallace Grissell, USA 1947)
    Another small B western with Tim Holt and his pal Chito (Richard Martin) who have to face a gang of horses smugglers… 6/10

    “Thunder Mountain” (Lew Landers, USA 1947)
    In this small B western adapted from Zane Grey, Tim Holt and his pal Chito are running a Ranch but get involved in a family quarrel activated by a crooked saloon owner who speculate on the range… 6,5/10

    “The Watch” (Akiva Schaffer, USA 2012)
    Another non funny comedy with Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill who create a vigilante brigade in their suburbs and must face an invasion of bloodthirsty aliens… follow me ?? 4,5/10

    “Identity Thief” (Seth Gordon, USA 2013)
    Another comedy not very funny in which a shy businessman (Jason Bateman) must face the explosive girl (Melissa McCarthy) who steals his identity… A good idea but a poor film at the end… 5/10

    To be continued...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeAug 27th 2014
     permalink
    “Varvara-krasa, dlinnaya kosa” (Aleksandr Rou, SSSR 1969)
    Nice fairy tale movie about Varvara, a gentle and beautiful which and daughter of the king of the swamps and her adventures to conquer the heart of a gentle prince… 8/10

    “Les tontons flingueurs“ (Georges Lautner, France 1963)
    I re-watched this classic french comedy with my students (some never watched it!) and we enjoy a lot. 9/10

    “Three Comrades” (Frank Borzage, USA 1938)
    A very nice melodrama adapted by Francis Scott Fitzgerald from the book of Erich Maria Remarque. The story of three germans friends after WWI and a girl sick of tuberculosis… 9/10

    “It's a Wonderful World” (W.S. Van Dyke, USA 1939)
    Funny crime/comedy written by famous writer Ben Hecht with a wonderful couple James Stewart Claudette Colbert. A detective (Stewart) try to protect his client wrongly accused of murder… but soon he is accused and must escape the police. He then meets a poetress (Colbert) and they’ll have to find the real murderer before the police catch them… A good one. 8/10

    “El increíble profesor Zovek” (aka “The Incredible Professor Zovek”) (René Cardona, Mexico 1972)
    The only complete movie with the incredible Zovek, a star of Mexican TV (sort of mix of Santo and Oudini). Zovek died in a helicopter accident during the filming of the second movie (they were nine movies announced). In this one Zovek uses his supernatural power to fight a dangerous mad scientist who tranforms people in monsters… Even if cheap quite entertaining. 7/10

    “Captive Girl” (William Berke, USA 1950)
    Third adventure of Jungle Jim (Johnny Weissmuller). In this one Jim is asked to find a white girl who supposedly lives in the jungle with her tiger. He’ll have to face dangerous smugglers (with Buster Crabbe) and a mad native sorcerer who practices human sacrifices… The second and last meeting of the two great tarzan actors Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe after Swamp Fires. 7/10

    “Mark of the Gorilla” (William Berke, USA 1950)
    Fourth adventure of Jungle Jim (Johnny Weissmuller). In this one Jim must face a gang of gold smugglers who act desgised as gorillas and kills people who are too curious… 6,5/10

    “The Man from Hell” (Lewis D. Collins, USA 1934)
    A small B western ultra poorly made and which is part of the serie “Reb and Rebel” with Reb Russell and his white horse Rebel. In this one, Reb is a cowboy recently released from prison who is determined to go straight, but he winds up in a town where he finds trouble everywhere… 6,5/10

    “Superargo contro Diabolokus” (Nick Nostro, Italy/Spain 1966)
    First of the two movies adapted from the famous Italian comics. Superargo is some kind of Italian Santo with super-powers… after killing an opponent on the ring he decides to stop fitghting and becomes a special agent. Here he must face a dangerous gang of uranium thieves… 7/10

    “The Last Dinosaur” (Alexander Grasshoff, Tsugunobu Kotani, Japan/USA 1977)
    Ultra kitch and camp movie about a famous rich and wealthy hunter (Richard Boone very used…) who decides to go hunting the last T-rex discovered in a remote valley in the arctic near a volcano… 7/10

    “Kriminal” (Umberto Lenzi, Italy/Spain 1966)
    First of the two movie with the famous comics character Kriminal, a famous thief disguised with a skeleton suit… After stealing the crown jewels in England Kriminal has been arrested and sentenced to death. But the Inspector Milton of Scotland Yard decides to help him escape, hoping that Kriminal will lead him to the jewels… but nothing happens as expected… 7,5/10

    To be continued...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeAug 27th 2014
     permalink
    “Speed Devils” (Joseph Henabery, 1935)
    This movie has been produced by the Perfect Circle Piston Ring Co which make it’s publicity all along the movie… Some kind of “commercial movie” you see ;) The story of two ex-racecar drivers who decide to run a garage and face crooked politicians… 6/10

    “I Take this Oath” (Sam Newfield, USA 1940)
    First movie produced by the mythic PRC and run by the brothers Sam Newfield, Sigmund Neufeld, this movie is a classic story of revenge. A young student decides to join the police in order to take revenge of his father’s murderers… 6,5/10

    “Marked Men” (Sam Newfield, USA 1940)
    Another early PRC movie in which Bill Carver (Warren Hull) must escape to a small town in the Arizona desert with his dog Wolf after a prison breack he was forced in. There, he gets hired by the local doctor and his daughter. But when his ex-cellmates are coming things go wrong… not bad for a poor PRC movie. 7/10

    “3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt” (Tommy Noonan, USA 1964)
    A camp and kitch comedy in which Saxie Symbol (Mamie Van Doren) and her two crazy pals decide to hire an actor to impersonate their personalities because they can’t afford the cure of the famous psychiatrist Dr. Myra Von…. 6,5/10

    “The Shadow on the Window” (William Asher, USA 1957)
    An interesting small B noir in which three teenagers, led by psychopathic Jess Reber, break into an isolated farmhouse and murder its prosperous owner whose secretary, Linda Atlas, witnesses the crime. But Petey her son also watched all the scene through the windows and flees on the road where he is picked up by truckers. Too shoked, he can’t say anything to his father inspector Tony Atlas. The three thugs decide to hold Linda in hostage in the house. Tony tries desperately to locate her wife after finding back Petey. A good suspense even if actors are not very good. 7,5/10

    “À Meia-Noite Levarei Sua Alma“ (aka “At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul”) (José Mojica Marins, Brazil 1964)
    First adventures of the famous Zé do Caixão, aka Coffin Joe created and played by director José Mojica Marins. Coffin Joe, the violent gravedigger, doesn’t respect anyone or anything… he decides to have a son and terrorizes the village… Weird and strange horror movie. 7,5/10

    “Young Fugitives” (John Rawlins, USA 1938)
    A gentle B-movie about oldtimer Joel Bentham (Harry Davenport) who is awarded of $50,000 as the last surviving Civil War veteran in his part of the country. His fellow townsmen in Cleardale are more than willing to help him spend it, but he remembers their neglectful years and decides to spend it as he sees fit. He offers a home to Meg (Dorothea Kent) who has been forced into a hobo life by Great Depression and also takes in Ray Riggins (Robert Wilcox), wild young grandson of a dead war comrade. He promises to make Ray his heir, against the advice of his servant, Benjie Collins (Clem Bevans.). 6,5/10

    “Below the Deadline” (Charles Lamont, USA 1936)
    A small crime B-movie in which Molly Fitzgerald, who works for Abrams and Co. Jewelers, is accosted in the street by a stranger who asks her for a date, but her fiancé, police officer Terry Mulvaney chases him away. Spike, the stranger, is interested in Molly other than for her pretty face; he is a member of a gang of jewel thieves who are planning to rob Abrams and want to use her to obtain information regarding the merchant's shipments of jewels… 6/10

    “The Singing Cowgirl” (Samuel Diege, USA 1938)
    One of the three western with great Dorothy Page as the singing cowgirl. Very gentle western in which she will fight the dangerous Tolen who is after the ranch of the Harkins because he detected gold on the range. Dorothy is Harkins neibourgh and with the help of cowboy Dick Williams (Dave O’Brien) she will stop Tolen and his gang. 6,5/10

    “Il marchio di Kriminal” (aka “The return of Kriminal”) (Fernando Cerchio, Nando Cicero, Italy/Spain, 1968)
    Second and last movie adapted from the famous Italian comics. In this one, Kriminal travels throughout Europe to find two priceless paintings… not as good as the first one but still enjoyable. 7/10

    “Maya” (John Berry, USA 1966)
    An American movie of the blacklisted John Berry but entierely directed on location in India and so Berry didn’t have to go to the US. Nice story of friendship between an american boy and an indian boy who’ll have to travel through India with two elephants facing many dangers. Nice story written by famous writer John Fante. 7,5/10

    to be continued...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeAug 27th 2014
     permalink
    “For Y'ur Height Only” (Eddie Nicart, Philippines 1981)
    A re-watched with great pleasure with my students this must of the Z-grade cinema. Weng Weng as Agent 00 is awesome… The movie is ridiculous, bad acted and filmed, awful editing, atrocious music but here you have the definitively most huge and beautiful collection of 70’s shirts in all cinema… I’m jealous !! 2/10… 10/10 and more for Z fans. …

    “Morgane et ses nymphes” (aka ”Girl Slaves of Morgana Le Fay”) (Bruno Gantillon, France 1971)
    An erotic fairy tale about two girls kidnapped by fairy Morgane and who must chose between being her immortal sex-slaves or roting in the cellar of her castle till death… not as bad as expected. 7/10

    “The Fireball” (Tay Garnett, USA 1950)
    Adaptation by Horace McCoy of the true life of Eddie Cazar the rise and fall (and rebirth) of a roller champion. Mickey Rooney is quite convincing in this story even if full of clichés… 7,5/10

    “Hitler—Dead or Alive” (Nick Grinde, USA 1942)
    A must to see for all Z-grade movies fans. The film goes with good sentiments but completely fails with a delirious screenplay with an unbelievable ending. Actors are averacting all movie long… This is this movie is also a must to see for all QT’s fans because it’s the main inspiration of his 2009’s Unglorious Basterds. 4/10 for Z fans 10/10 and more !!!

    “Land of Hunted Men” (S. Roy Luby, USA 1943)
    An episode of the Range Busters serie and quite a good one with lot of action and gunfights… for B fans 6/10

    “The Innocents” (Jack Clayton, UK 1961)
    I watched it with my students and they liked it a lot. Great acting and huge photography of Freddy Francis and quite a good adaptation of the difficult Henry James’s novel. 9/10

    “Dragnet Patrol” (Frank R. Strayer, USA 1931)
    A small B about an honnest man who gets involved in rum smuggling to satisfy his wife’s taste for luxury.. 6/10

    “The Brain from Planet Arous” (Nathan Juran, USA 1957)
    I re-watched with much pleasure this classic of Sci-Fi of the 50’s… Excellent. 6/10 for Z fans much more…

    “Rosso sangue” (Joe D'Amato, Italy 1981)
    Another gory movie from the 80’s… no screenplay at all in this one only a succession of gory scenes… for fans. 4,5/10

    “Esta Noite Encarnarei no Teu Cadáver“ (José Mojica Marins, Brazil 1967)
    Second part of the adventures of Zé do Caixão. This second opus is more erotic and pervert than the first one but always very imaginative and with nice photography. 7/10

    “Rachel, Rachel“ (Paul Newmann, USA 1968)
    Nice woman’s portrait with huge Joanne Woodward as a frustrated schoolteacher, nearly in her 40’s and interrogating on her furure. In this one Woodward is as introvert as she’ll be extrovert in the wonderful The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972). A great one 8,5/10

    “The Angels Wash Thier Faces” (Ray Enright, USA 1939)
    Even if the screenplay is completely improbable and the movie made only to surf on the success of the Dead End Kids (after Angels With Dirty Faces), it’s great pleasure to watch them with furthermore a young Ronald Reagan and a pretty Ann Sheridan…. 7/10

    To be continued...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeAug 27th 2014 edited
     permalink
    “Finis Hominis” (José Mojica Marins, Brazil 1971)
    A naked men comes aout the sea and change the life of people in a smal town. Some kind of messianic movie of the famous Brazilian director. Very Strange. 7/10

    “Otoshiana” (Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japan 1962)
    Excellent fantasy/thriller and amazing police story with ghosts… and a strong reflection about reality and humanity. 9/10

    Then I begin to watch the Falcon movie series. After the success of the Saint série, RKO decides to continue with sleuth movies and creates the Falcon with of course George Sanders and later his real life brother Tom Conway… All the episodes are a good mix of crime and comedy.

    “The Gay Falcon” (Irving Reis, USA 1941)
    In the first episode Gay Lawrence tries to leave his job of detective but when a beautiful girl claims for his help he can’t resist despite his fiancée… 7/10

    “A Date with the Falcon” (Irving Reis, USA 1942)
    Like the first one, this episode deals with the Falcon who decides to help damsel in distress in a dark tale of a secret formula… 6,5/10

    “The Falcon Takes Over” (Irving Reis, USA 1942)
    This episode is the first adaptation of thre famous Raynond Chandler’s novel Farewell My Lovely, but in a Falcon way it means with a strong dose of humour. 7,5/10

    “The Falcon’s Brother” (Stanley Logan, USA 1942)
    In this one Gay Lawrence (George Sanders) is killed in action and lets the place to his brother Tom Lawrence (Tom Conway, Sander’s real life brother) for the rest of the serie. A dark tale of nazis agents trying to kill a politician… 6,5/10

    “The Falcon Strikes Back” (Edward Dmytryck, USA 1943)
    In this one, the Falcon faces a gang of thieves who stole war bonds… 6/10

    “A Catered Affair” (Richard Brooks, USA 1956)
    Very nice melodrama very finely acted with great couple Bete Dvis and Ernest Borgine… 8,5/10

    “Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers” (Fred Olen Ray, USA 1988)
    A cult Z-grade movie about a pathetic inspector involved in a serie of horrible chainsaw murders by pretty sexy gals enrolled in a dark ancient egyptian cult… 4/10 for Z-grade fans 10/10

    “Firecracker” (Cirio H. Santiago, Philippines/USA, 1981)
    Quite cheap martial art movie with a sexy blond gal who fights against a bunch of bad guys… about the story ? who cares ?? 4,5/10 For Z grade cinema fans only…

    “The Case of the Black Parrot” (Noel M. Smith, USA 1941)
    Nice small B crime movie. A classic whodunit and a complex story about a precious and mysterious Boule Cabinet. 6,5/10

    “Moskva-Kassiopeya” (aka “Moscow-Cassiopea”) (Richard Viktorov, SSSR 1974)
    Firt part of the Soviet Pioneers odyssey into space. In this one a group of teenagers is sent in a spaceship to cassiopea constellation after the scientist receved an S.O.S from a dying civilization… but the trip does not run as expected… 7/10

    “Otroki vo vselennoy” (aka “Teenagers in Space”) (Richard Viktorov, SSSR 1975)
    In the second part of the story, our pioneers arrive on a planet inhabited by strange robots who only wish to make them happy… Even if cheap, both movies are well made and quite entertaining for young public at least… 8/10

    “Johnny Cool” (William Asher, USA 1963)
    Nice and violent movie with Henry Silva as a killer hired by wealthy Mafioso to make the bad job… But when he realizes he’s the fool of the plan he decides to take his own chance… but things will go wrong. Nice casting for this good movie : Henry Silva, Elizabeth Montgomery, Telly Savalas and others… 8/10

    "Too Hot to Handle” (Don Schain, USA/Philippines, 1976)
    For the last time in her short carrier Cheri Caffaro is Samantha Fox the sexy and hot killer, hired to kill some mobs in Manila… But she’s attracted by the handsome police inspector who is on the case… A pure exploitation movie without any pretensions… 6/10

    “Kamennyy tsvetok » (aka “The Stone Flower”) (Aleksandr Ptushko, SSSR 1946)
    Very nice fairy tale about a young sculptor, Danila, who is about to marry a pretty girl, Katya, hand who is kidnapped by the queen of the copper mountain who asks him to sculpt a giant stone flower…. The result I so beautifull that the queen doesn’t want to release him… Katya has to go to the copper mountain… Excellent filming and photography. 8/10

    Thats all fot this summer... Back to the plains and to new movies !! :)
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeSep 10th 2014
     permalink
    Two weeks in the plains and some movies...

    First the classics :

    “A Christmas Hollyday“ (Robert Siodmak, USA 1944)
    Poorly known Siodmak movie, this one is a nice crime/melodrama with Gene Kelly as the bad guy who is quite good as his partner Deanna Durbin very moving. A sad story of a girl who become a dancer and singer in a club to remain independent because she still love her husband (Kelly) put in jail for murder. She meets a gentle soldier and tells him her story. But at the same time Kelly, learning his wife’s new way of life escapes jail very decides to kill her… 8/10

    “Border Incident“ (Anthony Mann, USA 1949)
    Excellent Noir by Mann about two federal agents, one American and one Mexican who infiltrates a gang of Mexican workers smugglers across the border… Huge filming. 8,5/10

    “Marianne de ma jeunesse“ (Julien Duvivier, France 1955)
    Very nice melodrama that many people will find a bit kitsch but indeed full of poetry and romantism and with a nice touch of fantasy. Nice filming of Duvivier. 8/10

    “The 300 Spartans” (Rudolph Maté, USA 1962)
    The original is quite a good movie with great screeplay quite faithful to the real history and with nice battle scenes. 8/10

    “Enamorada” (Emilo Fernandez, Mexico 1946)
    Nice romance movie with the most famous couple of mexican cinema María Félix and Pedro Armendáriz. Emilo Fernandez manages to create a great balance between funny moements and very moving ones… 8,5/10

    “The King and Four Queens” (Raoul Walsh, USA 1956)
    Unusual western with few action and no dead neither gunfights… A opportunistic con man Dan (Gabble) enter the ranch of the cantankerous mother of four thieves. Three are dead but one still at large. She leaves there with the four potentially widows of her sons. All four beautifull. She also hides the gold stolen by her sons. Dan will have to seduce the good one to get the gold. But he also may e the prey of thise hungry women… underappreciated Walsh movie. 8/10

    Then some other stuff...

    “The Incredible Torture Show“ (aka “Blood Sucking Freaks“) (Joel M. Reed, USA 1976)
    Insane gore movie in a pure Grand-Guignol style, a must to see for all the fans of bad taste movies… This one is awesome. 4/10 for Z grande fans 10/10

    “l plenilunio delle vergini“ (Luigi Batzella, Joe D'Amato, Italy 1973)
    Lady Dracula (the widow of the famous count) uses Dracula's ring to lure beautiful girls to her castle, where she murders them so she can bathe in their blood. She also transforms the brother of a famous searcher into a zombie to allow the soul of a dead husband to come back to earth during a bloody wedding ceremony. Not as good as expected but has some good moments. 6,5/10

    “The Crater Lake Monster“ (William R. Stromberg, USA 1977)
    Not as bad as expected, this movie is a classic story of a Nessie monster coming back to life in a lake after a meteor falls in water. The special effect are quite cheap in a Harryhausen way but the whole is quite entertaining and quite credible. 7/10

    “El jovencito Drácula” (Carlos Benpar, Jordi Gigó, Spain 1977)
    First feature length movie of director/writer Carlos Benpar. A paroty of the vampire movie making the famous count as a PHD student who inherits the famous castle of his ancestor in trnasylvania… Not always funny indeed. 6/10

    “Edogawa Ranpo ryôki-kan: Yaneura no sanposha” (Noboru Tanaka, Japan 1976)
    Excellent and gruesome adaptation of a novel of famous jamanese writer Ranpo Edogawa. A landlord of a boarding house in 1923 Tokyo, is keen on spying on the bizarre close encounters taking place beneath his roof. One day he sees a prostitute killing a customer, and decides he's found his soulmate. But for that he will have also to kill… 8/10

    “Shûdôjo Rushia: Kegasu” (Kôyû Ohara, Japan 1978)
    A jamanese Nunsplotation movie in which a naughty and too hot girls is sent to covent to become a nun. Big mistake. The covent is the house of perversion itself… Strongly perverse “pink” movie of the golden era of the genre. 7/10

    “Satánico pandemonium” (Gilberto Martínez Solares, Mexico 1975)
    Another Mexican nunsploitation movie quite interesting. A young praised nun, Sister Maria, is tempted by visions of forbidden sexual fantasies to cross over to Satan…. Nice filming with complete unexpecting ending. 7,5/10

    “Incense for the Damned” (aka “Bloos Suckers”) (Robert Hartford-Davis, UK 1972)
    A poor vampire movie which mostly takes place in Greece with wild drug orgies… Patrick Macnee and Peter Cushing are the only curiosity of the movie. Imogen Hassal is very very cute… 6/10

    to be continued...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeSep 10th 2014
     permalink
    Then I continue my exploration of dark side of US cinema of the 60's with a bunch of weird weird movies...

    “White Slaves of Chinatown“ (Joseph P. Mawra, USA 1964)
    First movie of the Olga’s serie (they were five among them one is supposed lost). Olga is a very vicious mob who rules a prostitution and drug gang for the local mafia. She tortures her new girls to make them become drug addicts and prostitutes before sending them throughout the country… 6,5/10

    “Olga's House of Shame“ (Joseph P. Mawra, USA 1964)
    After having been run out of New York City's Chinatown, brothel owner Madame Olga moves her ring of prostitutes and criminals to a deserted ore mine and starts over. She of course tortures in many way all the pretty girls who try to be in her way… 6,5/10

    “Olga's Dance Hall Girls“ (??? USA 1969)
    In this last movie of the serie Olga has open a dance school but indeed recruits girls to be sacrified in a satanic cult in the backroom… 5,5/10

    “Chained Girls“ (Joseph P. Mawra, USA 1965)
    An outrageous and weird documentary/drama about lesbianism in the 60’s… Quite incredible. Fortunatly thing have changed. The movie still remains interesting as a piece of history. 6,5/10

    “Daughters of Lesbos“ (Peter Woodcock, USA 1964)
    Some girls are members of a secret lesbian organization that decides to rule the world instead of the “weack mal sex”. They tell eachother why they one day decides to become lesbinas… For sexploitation fans. 6,5/10

    “Karate, the Hand of Death” (Joel Holt, USA 1961)
    The first US karate movie about a Nazi war criminal who comes in Tokyo to cash his war loot: one million dollars in platinum. When he's murdered and his medal stolen (it contains the way to reach the platinium), an american is framed and must elude police as well as a gang that thinks he has the precious medal. In fanct the man is Matt Carver raised in Japan and who became an expert in karate, but who had to fight in US army during World War II. He's bitter, and he's in Tokyo to put ghosts to rest… Ambitious movie but which fails to reach his aim… 6,5/10

    “Dracula” (William Edwards, USA 1969)
    In this ridiculous true Z grade a lustful Dracula enslaves Dr. Irving Jekyll, turning him into the lycanthropic JackalMan (who looks more like a ridiculous rodent…), demanding that he lures female blood donors to his L.A. cabin retreat… Poor Bram Stoker… 2/10 for Z grade fans 10/10

    “Guess What Happened to Count Dracula?” (Laurence Merrick, Mario d'Alcala, 1971)
    In this one Count Adrian (Dracula in fact) rules a House of Horrors in town making good business. But when pretty Angelica comes here with his boyfriend he decides she will be his immortal wife. But for that he must bite her three times… will he succeed ? Another nudie-cutie adaptation of the famous Bram Stoker novel… not very faithful as you can imagine… 5/10

    “Bad Girls Go to Hell” (Doris Wishman, USA 1965)
    Doris Wishman was the queen of the rough-nudie of the 60’s, in this one a young wife takes the trash out bu the janitor forces her into his apartment and rapes her but she finaly kills him and then hits the road as a fugitive from injustice and justice. She goes to the Big City and encounters of lurid situation worth than hell… 7/10

    “Another Day, Another Man” (Doris Wishman, USA 1966)
    Another rough nudie written and directed by famous Doris Wishman. In this one Ann and Steve are an happy couple who get a new expe,sive apartment after Steve get a big pay raise. But when he becomes sick Ann is forced to go in prostitution to get money like her naughty sister… Weird movie with crazy ending… 6,5/10

    to be continued...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeSep 10th 2014
     permalink
    Other Weird US movies form the 60's...

    “Teenage Gang Debs” (Sande N. Johnsen, USA 1966)
    A no-good Manhattan girl moves in on a Brooklyn gang. Using her obvious charms she gets the leader killed and fight all girls and guy who wants to stop her… but she’s pushing too hard… 6,5/10

    “Terror in the Night“ (aka “Teen-Age Strangler”) (Ben Parker, USA 1964)
    A troubled teen with an undeserved criminal past is the suspect when young women start to be strangled by a maniac around town and marked up with lipstick cross. Pure Exploitaion movie with great soundtrack. 6/10

    “The Black Cat” (Harold Hoffman, USA 1966)
    Certainly the less known adaptation of the famous Edgar Allan Poe novel but quite a good one. The action takes place in the present (1965) and in texas but remains very faithfull to the original. Very well made despite a lack of means. 8/10

    “The Fat Black Pussycat” (Harold Lea, USA 1963)
    A maniac kills young girls in Greewitch Village. The police chief sends two inspector who have to explore the underground world of the Village… If the story is quite common, interressant document of lost place and time. 7/10

    “The Moving Finger” (Larry Moyer, USA 1963)
    A rare movie about a wounded bank robber who takes shelter in a cave inhabited by a group of beatnicks… Original. 7/10

    “Something Weird” (Herschell Gordon Lewis, USA 1967)
    One of the highest peak of senseless cinema. Mitch is electrocuted and disfigured. He awakes with new ESP powers. He then makes a bargain with an ugly which promising to love her if he regains his former beauty. He then meets pretty Ellen parker who reveals to be the witch. At the same time a maniac kills women and the police sends agent Dr. Alex Jordan a psychiatrist and katate champion on the case. Mitch decide to use his powers to help the police while Alex wants Ellen for him… If I tell you that Alex is also attacked by… his bedsheets… Yes, this movie gave his name to the famous Label Something Weird and you understand why by watching this movie. 2/10 but definitively a 10/10 for me !!

    “Sinderella and the Golden Bra” (Loel Minardi, USA 1964)
    A nudie-cutie and musical adaptation of the famous fairytale. In this one Derella don’t lose her shoe but her golden bra… I let you imagin the rest. A lost cinema of a lost time. 6/10

    “Goldilocks And The Three Bares” (Herschell Gordon Lewis, USA 1963)
    A non gore movie of famous director Herschell Gordon Lewis but a poor one. Indeed the first Nudie-cutie musical in which a singer fall in love with pretty girl but is worried when she asks him to go alone in an unknown place an this many times a week. He discovers she’s member of a nudist club !! 5/10

    That's all for the moment...
    • CommentAuthoryhi
    • CommentTimeSep 11th 2014
     permalink
    "“The 300 Spartans” (Rudolph Maté, USA 1962)
    The original is quite a good movie with great screeplay quite faithful to the real history and with nice battle scenes. 8/10"

    And what do you think about the recent one ? :D
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeSep 19th 2014 edited
     permalink
    Some movies this last week...

    “The Joys of Jezebel” (Peter Perry Jr., USA 1970)
    A strange nudie from the vault in which Satan lets Jezebel return to earth to deliver the soul of a blonde virgin named Rachel by taking over her body. She also wants to tke revenge on Joshua who killed her. However, Jezebel gets more than she bargained for… Weird movie with strange settings and a vison of hell very appealing… 6/10

    “My Tale is Hot” (Peter Perry Jr., USA 1964)
    A nudie comedy in which The devil emerges from the ground in a suburbanite's garden and tries to tempt Ben Hur the “most faithful husband on earth” with a variety of naked women. Incredible ! 5,5/10

    “Hot Blooded Woman” (Dale Berry, USA 1965)
    Another nudie with a nymphomaniac woman much frustrated with an unfaithfum husband becomes psychotic and is led to extreme actions… 6/10

    “Confessions of a Psycho Cat” (Herb Stanley, USA 1968)
    A sick and extremely weird version of The Most Dangerous Game in which a deranged, wealthy woman offers $100,000 to three men if they can stay alive for 24 hours in Manhattan, and then hunts them down… Amazing performance of Eileen Lord as the mad woman… 7/10

    “The Electronic Lover” (Jesse Berger, USA 1966)
    A mad peeping tom built a machine who allow him to watch the sexual acts of random people thank to remote cameras. He lives in a world of hallucinations but soon he loses contact with reality and things go wrong… A strange and weird rough-nusdie. 6/10

    “The Spy Who Came” (Ron Wertheim, USA 1969)
    A Vice cop will sleep with anything that moves much to the detriment of his fiancé, Mary.When his latest sexual conquest gets him in deep trouble with an Arab who had his frequent escapades videotaped for blackmail purposes. Harry soon finds himself deep in international espionage involving an upscale white slavery ring led by an arab who drugs the girls to make them sexual robots. The ony way for our hero to escape is to become the leader of a slaves’ riot. 5,5/10

    “El pantano de los cuervos” (aka “The Swamp of Ravens”) (Manuel Caño, Ecuador/Spain 1974)
    A mad scientist has been banned for his experiments on recently dead bodies to bring them back to life. He now works as a doctor in an hospital but still continues his work in an abandoned house in a swamp full of ravens where he throws the bodies of his failed experiences. But when his girlfriend wants to leave him for a singer he’ll use her as guinea pig. My first equatorian movie indeed… A strange one. 5,5/10

    “The Thirsty Dead” (Terry Becker, Philippines / USA 1974)
    A go-go dancer and a stewardes are kidnaped in Manila and brought in secret caves in the jungle where a people of vampires get eternal life by drinking the blood of cute girls. But when they propose to the stewardess to become one of them she refuses dans escape with the help of a vampire who becomes infatuated with her. But soon he’s going older and older… A pure exploitation movie. 6,5/10

    “Bôhachi bushidô: Poruno jidaigeki” (aka "Boachi Bushido: Code of the Forgotten Eight") (Teruo Ishii, Japan 1973)
    A strangly erotic samourai movie in which a dangerous killer and samourai expert is hired by the boos of the brothels of the town to protect his business… Amazing filming. 7,5/10

    “Space Thing” (Byron Mabe, USA 1968)
    A poor sci-fi nudie-cutie in which an alien takes a human form and boards a spaceship of humans, to keep them from attacking his planet. The captain is a woman, who has two lesbian encounters with her crew, and whips one of them for trying to have sex with our hero. All of the women are anxious to seduce our hero, as the other two men on the ship are not very exciting. Our hero forces a landing on an asetroid and everyone runs around topless and has sex… The poorest sci-fi movie of the world !! 5,5/10

    “Along the Great Divide” (Raoul Walsh, USA 1951)
    A great western of Walch with nice couple Kirk Douglas/Virginia mayo. Douglas is a marshal who save a man accused of murder to be lynched by ranchers. He decides to broing him to town to be juged but must cross the desert to escape angry ranchers… 8/10

    that's all for the moment...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeOct 7th 2014 edited
     permalink
    Some movies I watched recently...

    “La fièvre monte à El Pao“ (aka “Fever Mounts at El Pao“) (Luis Buñuel France/Mexico 1959)
    Not the best Bunuel movie but perhaps the more directly political. On a remote Island a young idealist (Gérard Philipe) takes power after the assassination of the local governor. He also falls in love with the widow of the governor (María Félix) but soon an inspector from the continent comes to take control… The last movie of Gérard Philipe before he dies and a nice point of view about the corruption of ideals when confronted to power… 8/10

    “Saddle the Wind“ (Robert Parrish, USA 1958)
    Great western by an underrated director who proves here that he can do a great job especialy with this classic story of rivalry between two brothers (Robet Taylor and John Cassavetes). Parrish perfectly fims the outdoors sequences and makes actors giving their best. 8/10

    “The Ultimate Warrior” (Robert Clouse, USA 1975)
    A poor post-nucear war movie in wich a group of survivors guided by the Baron (Max von Sydow) hires a professional warrior, Carson (Yul Brynner) to protect them from greedy gang leader Carrot (William Smith). 6,5/10

    “The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini” (Don Weis, USA 1966)
    A strange mix of Bikini and Old Dark House movies by the famous B producers Arkoff/Nicholson. In this one Hiram Stokley (Boris Karloff) is a recently desased corpse who learns that he has 24 hours to mastermind and perform one good deed in order to get into Heaven, so he enlists the help of his long deceased girlfriend Cecily (Susan Hart) , a ghost with an invisible bikini (yes), to stop his greedy lawyer, Reginald Ripper (Basil Rathbone) from claiming his estate for himselve and protecting his eligible heirs, Chuck, Lili, Hiram's cousin Myrtle (Patsy Kelly), and her son who brings his beach party friends up at the mansion for a pool party… As you can see a great story…at least it’s entertaining and sometimes very funny indeed. 7/10

    “Invasion of the Bee Girls” (Nicholas Meyer, USA 1973)
    A weird Sci-Fi movie in which beautifull girls kill their lovers during the act. An investigator will soon discover they belong to a strange group of Bee Girls… 6,5/10

    “Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine” (Norman Taurog, USA 1965)
    Another funny comedy of the producers Arkoff/Nicholson and another mix of beach movie and mad scientist one. Here, Dr. Goldfoot (Vincent Price) has invented an army of bikini-clad robots who are programmed to seek out wealthy men and charm them into signing over their assets… Very funny sometimes… 7/10

    “Maniac” (Michael Carreras, UK 1963)
    A poorly known Hammer movie set in French Camargue and Provence (I recognized many places!). Jeff Farrell (Kerwin Mathews) a dissolute american, arrives in a remonte village in french Camargue. He takes a room in a cheap hotel owned by pretty Eve (Nadia Gray) and her daughter Annette (Liliane Brousse). He learns that some years ago Annete was raped by a man who was killed by her father a mad killer known as the The Acetylene Killer who is now in an asylum… Eve secretly plans to make him escape… Nice screenplay with lot of twists and turns and a nice filming. 8/10

    “Cat Girl” (Alfred Shaughnessy, UK 1957)
    A brittish adaptation of the famous Tourneur’s “Cat People” not bad at all… 7,5/10

    “The Terrornauts” (Montgomery Tully, UK 1967)
    A poor cheap Sci-Fi movie in which residents of a radio telescope laboratory are kidknapped when they answer a mysterious signal from outer space. They are taken to a satelite inhabited only by robots, where they are presented with a series of intelligence tests. They discover that a dreadful invasion is menacing earth… For B fans only… 6,5/10

    To be continued...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeOct 7th 2014
     permalink
    the other movies...

    “Le deuxième souffle” (Jean-Pierre Melville, France 1966)
    Wonderfull crime movie made in a crude and realistic way… Gu (Lino Ventura), a dangerous gangster, escapes from jail. He goes to Paris to join Manouche (Christine Fabréga) and other friends, and get involved in a gangland killing. Before leaving the country with Manouche, Gu needs a final job to get some money… 10/10

    “Paquebot Tenacity“ (Julien Duvivier, France 1934)
    A poorly know Duvivier movie and not his best but a nice story of two jobless parisians (Albert Préjean and Hubert Prélier) who decides to take a boat to Canada… but due to some mechanical problems they have to stay in Le Havre for a while till the boat gets repeared. They board in a cheap hotel and fall in love both with pretty maid (Marie Glory). 7/10

    “Terror is a Man“ (Gerardo de Leon, Philippines / USA 1959)
    This B-grade horror movie is the first of the four produced by Eddie Romero and about the ‘Blood Island’ This one is certainly the best and is directly adapted from “The Island of Doctor Moreau” novel… After shipwreck a sailor arrives on a remote island where a mad scientist has transformed a man into a bloodthirsty monster half human and half panther… 6,5/10

    “Deux hommes dans la ville“ (José Giovanni, France 1973)
    A prisonner is released on parole (Alain Delon). He is followed by an old educator (Jean Gain). He honestly try to have a normal life, find a good job, a nice girl but former friends and the inspector who arrest him years before will push him to fatal ending. Excllellent. 9/10

    “Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise“ (Robert Mugge, USA 1980)
    Excellent documentary about the weird jazz musician Sun Ra and his Arkestra mixing interviews and exerpts from live coincerts of the band throughout the US… 8/10

    “Deluge“ (Felix E. Feist, USA 1933)
    Long considered as lost, a (dubbed) copy of this movie has been found in Italy. One of the first movie dealing with the submersion f earth and the survival after the cataclysm… The scenes of the submersion of New York are curiously looking very similar to those of The Day After Tomorrow… Ad are still impressive considering the lack of budget of this small B. A good small one. 7,5/10

    “Les dimanches de Ville d'Avray“ (aka : “Sundays with Sybille“) (Serge Bourguignon, France/Austria 1962)
    Wonderfull drama about the difficult theme of paedophilia (especialy in 1962 !!). A young soldier, Pierre, (Hardy Krüger) is traumatized after the crash of his plane in viet-nam as is was bombing a small village and saw a little girl dying. He takes refugee in the past and the innocence of childhood. He meets Cybèle (Patricia Gozzi astonishing) a 12 years old girl who grows too fast after being abandoned by her mother and then by her father who put her in a boarding school. After the meeting of this two solitudes a strange and ambiguous relationship arises and soon people talk… Wonderfll and sad story, huge filming. 10/10

    “Ben-Hur“ (William Wyler, USA 1959)
    We proposed this masterpiece to our cineclub on the big screen in a brand new copy !! People enjoyed it a lot and so do I… 9/10

    “The Gangster” (Gordon Wiles, USA 1947)
    Nice and arty film-noir with Barry Sullivan who plays (very well) Shubunka a dangerous but lonely mob who runs his business in town and is in love with pretty dancer Nancy Starr (Bellita excellent). But other gangster want to take his business and Shubunka will discover a bit to late that he’s really alone… 7,5/10

    to be continued...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeOct 7th 2014
     permalink
    the last ones...

    “Nefertiti, regina del Nilo” (aka. “Nefertiti, Queen of the Nile”) (Fernando Cerchio, Italy 1961)
    A poor sword and sandals movie which looks more like a romance between the fuure and young queen Nefertiti (Jeanne Crain) and a young sculptor Tumos (Edmund Purdom) but she is promised to the future Pharaoh Amenophis IV (Amedeo Nazzari) Tumos’s best friend… 6/10

    “The Green Slime” (Kinji Fukasaku, Australia / Japan / USA 1968)
    Ultra camp and kitsch Sci-Fi movie in a pure Japanese way !! Excellent in mùany ways ! 7,5/10)

    “Cell 2455, Death Row” (Fred F. Sears, USA 1955)
    Very nice film noir directly adapted from the famous book by Caryl Chessman who was condemned to death sentence and executed. A prisoner in death row remember his past and try to understand what lead him to this situation… Nice indeed. 7,5/10

    “5 tombe per un medium” (aka “Terror-Creatures from the Grave”) (Massimo Pupillo, Italy 1965)
    Adapted from Edgar Alan Poe, this small Gothic Horror movie is quite interresting with this dark tale of plague and haunted lazaretto… Barbara Steele is excellent as usual. 7/10

    “La cripta e l'incubo” (aka “”) (Camillo Mastrocinque, Italy 1964)
    Another small Horror gothic from Italy adapted from a novel from Sheridan Le Fanu. A dark tale of reincarnation of a whitch who tries to take revenge… Christopher Lee in an unusual role… 7/10

    “The Sorcerers“ (Michael Reeves, UK 1967)
    Nice brittish horror movie with an old Boris Karloff as Prof. Marcus Monserrat who created a machine who allows im to totally control the mind of his subject and even feel what he feels… They convince a young bored guy to be their guinea pig. All’s working perfectly ! His wife Estelle (Catherine Lacey) convinces him to use their new toy to enjoy a bit from life but soon Estelle let all her frustrations and also hate wash over…

    That's all for the moment...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeOct 19th 2014
     permalink
    Some movies i've watched recently...

    “Destination Inner Space” (Francis D. Lyon, USA 1966)
    Ultra poor Sci-Fi movie in which some searchers in a submarine base must face a monstruous alien…. Cheezy and a bit ridiculous. 5/10

    “Not of This Earth” (Jim Wynorski, USA 1988)
    Remake of Roger Corman’s eponymous movie of 1957, this one is very cheap and more sexy but much less interesting. Note the presence of notorious porn star Tracy Lords… 5/10

    “Horrors at the Black Museum” (Arthur Crabtree, UK 1959)
    Quite entertaining small horror movie mixing influences like the Wax Museum, Jekkyl and Hyde and a touch of Mr. Wong mysteries… The whole is quite good with suspense, a touch of black humour and a mad killer (Michael Gough) strongly misogynic ! 7,5/10

    “Life of Brian” (Terry Jones, UK 1979)
    At our cineclub we proposed this true classic of UK cinema, it was gret pleasure to watch it once more. The (numerous) spectators also enjoy a lot. 9/10

    “Kadoyng” (Ian Shand, UK 1972)
    A small Sci-Fi movie for children produced by the CFF (Children’s Film Foundation). A gentle alien comes to earth and helps three children and the inhabitants of a small village to fight a crooked business man who aims to build a highway through their small village. 7/10

    “The Glitterball” (Harley Cokeliss, UK 1977)
    Another small Sci-Fi movie from the CFF. In this one an alien which looks like a silvery ball comes to earth as he looses contact with the main spaceship. He becomes friends with two children but is soon kidnapped by a burglar who wants to use the powers of the alien for his own good. 7/10

    “Supersonic Saucer“ (Guy Fergusson, S.G. Ferguson, UK 1956)
    I re-watched this small Sci-Fi movie from the CFF in a brand new copy… with great pleasure. Certainly one of the best production of the company and an ambiguous similarity with the famous E.T. from Steven Spieberg…. 10/10 (for me!)

    “The Las Vegas Hillbillys” (Arthur C. Pierce, USA 1966)
    A poor mucical movie with lot of country music. A country singer inherits of a Night Club in Las Vegas and tries to make it famous… The only interest is the presence in the movie of the two sex-symbols of the 50’s and 60’s Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren. 6/10

    “The Boy Who Turned Yellow” (Michael Powell, UK 1972)
    The Last movie Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger made together is this small children movie for the CFF. A boy and many other people turn suddently yellow after the boy lost his mouse in the Tower of London. He soon meets a strange character who can travel through electicity… Even if not a masterpiece a nice movie indeed. 7,5/10

    “The Monster of Highgate Pond” (Alberto Cavalcanti, UK 1961)
    Another great film from the CCF made by famous director Cavalcanti. Some children discover a prehistoric egg and soon have to care about a dinosaur. They hide him in a pond but some crooked guys of the neighbouring funfest want to kidnap him… 8/10

    “A Hitch in Time” (Jan Darnley-Smith, UK 1978)
    In this small movie frome the CFF, two children discover a mad scientist who creates a timemachine. He proposes them to make them travel in time but the machine has then some technical problems… 6,5/10

    to be continued...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeOct 19th 2014
     permalink
    “Jigokumon” (Teinosuke Kinugasa, Japan 1953)
    One of the first Japanese movie to be discovered in Europe. A dark and tragic story of love triangle on background of civil war in middle-age Japan. Huge story and amazing colors. 8,5/10

    “All the Sins of Sodom” (Joseph W. Sarno, USA 1968)
    A very classy Joe Sarno nudie. A famous photographer, Henning, has an important work for an artistic book of erotic nudes. He uses his favourite model and girlfriend Leslie. All seem to be allright when the young and mysterious Joyce comes one night in Henning apartment. Nice story and wonderfull filming and photography. 7,5/10

    “Un soir... par hasard” (Ivan Govar, Belgium/France 1963)
    A nice thriller mixing very cleverly crime and fantasy. A famous scientist, André, has an accident with his motorcycle. When he awakes in a dark manor, a strange couple announces him that he was dead and they brought him back to life. André soon discovers that the couple seems to be immortal. They explain him that the manor seems to have strange powers on the inhabitants… A movie to discover. 8/10

    “The Love Merchant” (Joseph W. Sarno, USA 1966)
    Another small Joe Sarno nudie with a screenplay which looks very similar to Indecent Proposals. An art merchant proposes to a married woman being his sexual slave for two days after her husband made bankruptcy…. 7/10

    “The Layout“ (Joseph W. Sarno, USA 1969)
    Pam has a successful bussines life with her partner Wendy but a difficult life with her husband. When her cusin Ellen comes, the later will pull both girls in a luxurious lesbian orgy… 6?5/10

    “Samoa, regina della giungla“ (Gianfranco Clerici, Guido Malatesta, Italy 1968)
    A poor exotic adventure movie in which an expedition travels to the Indonesian jungle to find a diamonds mine. The only interest of the film is the presence of gorgeous Edwige Fenech as Samoa. 6/10

    “Moonlight Murder” (Edwin L. Marin, USA 1936)
    A small B-crime movie in which a famous opera singer is killed on stage by a gas bulb. The plot is similar to a Mr. Wong and a Chalie Chan episodes. Not bad. 7/10

    to be continued...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeOct 19th 2014
     permalink
    Then I went to Lyon’s movie Festival and watched (or-rewatched a bunch of movies.

    “Paradis perdu” (Abel Gance, France 1940)
    A poorly known meledrama of famous director Abel Gance. Not bad even if not his best work. A young painter falls in love with a young girl but soon WWI begins… 7,5/10

    “The Tales of Hoffmann” (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, UK 1951)
    Watched the brand new restored copy of this true masterpiece. A pure pleasure for the eyes and the ears… 9/10

    “Wake In Fright” (Ted Kotcheff, Australia/USA 1971)
    Australia. A young teacher wants to comes back to Sidney for the summer holydays. But he misses his pane and has to pass one night in a small mining town. He drinks to much, loses all his money in gambling and meets some rednecks friends… An apocalyptic vision of deep Australia far away from clichés… 8,5/10

    “The Incredible Shrinkink Man” (Jack Arnold, USA 1957)
    I re-watched with great pleasure on the wide screen an in a brand new copy this classic of Sci-Fi… 8,5/10

    “Never Fear” (aka “Young Lovers”) (Ida Lupino, USA 1949)
    A poorly known movie directed by Ida Lupino. A young dancer becomes thick with polio. The hard fight to walk again begins… Even if it’s not Lupino’s best a good melodrama for fans. 7,5/10

    “Le diable souffle” (Edmond T. Gréville, France 1947)
    A poorly known movie by a forgotten director. A man decides to live on a remote Island in the no man’s land between Spain and France during the civil war. One day as he goes to town he finds a poor sick girl. He takes care of her and then marries her. But soon due to a tempest they are isolated on the island with a Spanish refugee… Sad and tragic melodrama very original. 8,5/10

    “Les bons débarras” (Francis Mankiewicz, Canada 1979)
    One of the most famous movie from Québec. A girl struggles in life with her small business, her brother mentaly disturbed and a too loving ten years old daughter…. Excellent. 8,5/10

    ”Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Grosstadt” (Walter Ruttmann, Gerrmany, 1927)
    I watched this one in a cinema-concert. A very nice documentary of a day in Berlin… 8/10

    ”The Thief of Bagdad” (Raoul Walsh, USA 1924)
    Rewatched this masterpiece in a brand new copy and with a piano player (2 and an half hours !!) Amazing. 9/10

    “Furtivos” (José Luis Borau, Spain 1973)
    A dark tale of a tragic hunting party ion the Asturias and a tragic love story in a decaying dictatorial regime. 7,5/10

    ”El verdugo” (Luis Garcia Berlanga, Spain 1963)
    An excellent hilarious comedy with very dark humour. A young caretaker meet the daughter of the old executioner. As they are both rejected they fall in love and marry. They also get a brand knew apartment but because of the bureaucratic system they will lose it if the executioner retires…. The only solution is that our young caretaker takes his place as executioner…. 9/10

    to be continued...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeOct 19th 2014
     permalink
    ”The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz” (Ted Kotcheff, Canada 1974)
    The rise of a young jew in the jewish quarter of Montreal in the 40’s. Not the best movie of Kotcheff but it has it’s “moments” 7/10

    “The Bitter tea of General Yen” (Frank Capra, USA 1933)
    Re-watched this early Capra with great Barbara Stanwyck. The forbidden love of an american nurse and a Chinese general during civil war. Excellent. 8,5/10

    “Forbidden” (Frnk Capra, USA 1932)
    Another great collaboration of Capra/Stanwyck (They were in love at the moment). A plot quite similar to Stella Dalas in which a woman is forced to abandon her daughter after she gets pregnant with a married politician. Very sad melodrama but very good. 8,5/10

    “Ostre sledované vlaky” (Jiri Menzel, Czech Republic 1966)
    A nice an satiric comedy about a young guy who has a failure at his first sexual relation… 8/10

    “Thérèse Raquin” (Marcel Carné, France/Italy 1953)
    Excellent adaptation of Zola’s novel transposed in the present and… in Lyon ! Excellent filming of Carné and a huge Simone Signoret as Thérèse. 9/10

    ”Fièvre” (Louis Delluc, France 1923)
    In Marseille, a crazy night of lust and violence in a bar of the port after the arrival of a ship in the port… alcool, love and murder…. 8/10

    ”Soleil et ombre” (Musidora & Jaime de Lasuen, France 1922)
    A tragic love story in spain between a young girl promised to a famous bullfighter but whan a ^pretty stranger comes…. Musidora produced, directed and played the roles of both girlsin this nice movie. 8/10

    ”American Madness” (Frank Capra, USA 1932)
    Another tremendous Capra Movie in wich a banker who decides to follow Rosevelt politics will have to face a bank attack, some crooked businessmen, and a rumour of bankruptcy. 8,5/10

    ”Le Café du cadran” (Henri Decoin, France 1946)
    A nice movie at the same time comedy and drama who takes entierly place in a parisian bar. The screenplay was written byt the director of the famous satirical newspaper “Le Canard Enchaîné” still very famous in France. A curiosity and an excellent movie. 8,5/10

    ”A Tolonc” (Michael Curtiz, Hungary 1914)
    Another curiosity is this silent and hungarian movie of Michael Curtiz. He made over 40 films in Hungary but few are still watchable. The story is a classic melodrama with a small touch of comedy. The restoration of this 100 years aold movie was absolutely unbelievable !! 7,5/10

    ”Overlord” (Stuart Cooper, UK 1975)
    Excellent movie about the last days of a young brittish soldier juste before the D-day. A huge mix of stock footages and fiction ! 9/10

    ”Not Wanted” (Ida Lupino, USA 1949)
    The first movie directed by Ida Lupino on the difficult subject of the unwed mothers. A young girl becomes pregnant and has to abandon her child… 8,5/10

    ”L’entraineuse” (Albert Valentin, France 1939)
    A nice and cruel movie which begins like a romance and finish very sadly. A call-girl get some money of a friend and decides to take some vacation on French Riviera in a luxuous pension. Here she meets some people of upper class who accept her and they becomes friends but thing will go wrong. Very good. 8,5/10

    “El espiritu de la colmena” (Victor Erice, Spain 1973)
    I re-watche with much pleasur this very moving movie about childhood with great Ana Torrent…. 9/10

    That's all for this year to the festival which was olso the occasion to meet nice people like Pedro Almodovar, Faye Dunnaway, Ted Kotcheff, Claude Lelouch, Michel Legrand, Michael Cimino and others... Rendez-vous to the next one in 2015...!!
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeOct 23rd 2014 edited
     permalink
    Some movie I watched during those three days...

    “Space is the Place” (John Coney, USA 1974)
    Hallucinatory movie with great jazz composer and player Sun Ra. Sonny Ray a pianist is kidnapend by alien in the forties and brought to Saturn. He then comes back to earth in his spaceship to save black people from annihilation… Strong speech, hallucinatory colors and setting, huge musical score… A UFo in cinema history… 8,5/10

    “The Committee” (Peter Sykes, UK 1968)
    Another strange and forgotten movie written by an economy and sociology teacher but also musician. A strange and complex reflexion of the swinging society of the late 60’s in a twisting London. Also an amazing original soundtrack from the Pink Floyds… In a forest a hitchicker beheads the man who gave him a lift, resews his head and then recieves a convocation to a mysterious committee organised by the leaders of the nation... excellent 8/10

    “Mister Freedom” (William Klein, France 1969)
    Certainly the best super-heroes movie ever made. Mister Fredoom the best element of the Freedom inc. is sent by Dr. Freedom to France because the country is infested by reds… Our proud heroe will have to fight against super-villains like Red China Man or Mujik Man. Hilarious an ferocious parody of American imperialism (but not only…) 9/10

    “Xin shu shan jian ke” (Hark Tsui, Hong-Kong 1983)
    Frenetic movie (perhaps a bit too much) with a weird and ultra tiny screenplay of good vs evil but with stopless action, monsters, magic… A pure Hong Kong cinema production. 7,5/10

    “Leviathan” (Léonard Keigel, France 1962)
    Black is black. In a small remote provincial movie, the murderous love of a loser teacher and a young prostitute. No hope neigther escape in this sad adaptation of the eponymous novel of famous writer Julien Greene. Louis Jourdan is excellent far away from his usual roles and Marie Laforêt very touching. To discover. 8,5/10

    “Sullivan's Travels” (Preston Sturges, USA 1941)
    We proposed this excellent comedy at out cineclub… Everybody enjoyed a lot this biter-sweet comedy sometimes hilarious and very touching at other moments. The coupe Joel McCrea / Veronica Lake is awesome… 9/10

    That's all for the moment...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeOct 30th 2014
     permalink
    Some movies from all around the world I watched recently... Great diversity !! From A to Z grade !!

    “Perawan disarang sindikat” (aka”Virgins from Hell”) (Ackyl Anwari, Indonesia 1987)
    Another gem of Indonesian cinma. In this one a gang of biking girls want to take revenge on a cruel mob but they are captured and put in a camp where they are tortured and used for weird experiments which aim to transform them in sex slaves… 5/10 for Z fans 10/10

    “Jaka Sembung” (aka “The Warrior”) (Sisworo Gautama Putra, Indonesia 1981)
    One of the most famous Z grade movie of the Indonesian cinema with a plot very similar to Samson dan Delilah (1987) In an occupied Indonesia by the Dutches, Jaka Sembung (Barry Prima huge!!) is the leader of the rebels and will have to suffer hundreds of adventures before victory… 5/10 but at least 10/10 for Z grade fans !!

    “Sigfrido” (aka” The Dragon's Blood”) (Giacomo Gentilomo, Italy 1957)
    A quite entertaining adaptation of the Niebelungen by a director great fan of Fritz Lang work. Some sequences are directly inspired by lang’s Work. The whole is quite pretty. 7/10

    “Kdo chce zabít Jessii?” (aka “Who Wants to Kill Jessie?”) (Václav Vorlícek, Czechoslovakia 1966)
    Excellent sci-fi comedy in which the characters of a comic strip come into real life thanks to a strange serum… then thing are going wild. Also a fine an ferocious critic of the communist regime… 9/10

    “Supermen dönüyor” (aka “The Return of Superman”) (Kunt Tulgar, Turkey 1979)
    The best superheroe movie of all times and the best Superman adaptation…. All is ridiculous in this movie, bad acting, bad editing and filming, non sense plot, ridicoulous special effects… 2/10 but if you’re fan of So Bad That’s It’s Good a 10/10 must to see… !!

    “Demir Yumruk: Devler geliyor” (aka “Iron Fist: The Giants are Coming”) (Tunç Basaran, Turkey 1970)
    Another Turkish superheroe movie with a character mixing Bat-Man and Captain Marvel created by the creators of Kilink. QWuite entertaining even if very cheaply made. 6/10

    “Caperucita y sus tres amigos” (aka “Little Red Riding Hood and Her Friends”) (Roberto Rodríguez, Mexico 1961)
    The second movie of the famous Mexican Red Rinding Hood serie. Also the weakest. The Wolf and the skunk who have become friend with Red are boring and are hatred by the inhabitant of the village who mock them. They are tempted to become wild again… 6/10

    “Kilink uçan adama karsi” (aka “Kilink vs. the Flying Man”) (Yilmaz Atadeniz, Turkey 1967)
    Kiling is a Turkish superheroe sort of mix of Fantomas and Italian Kriminal. In this one one evil villain have to face a super-heroe looking very like Captain Marvel… 6,5/10

    “Kilink soy ve öldür” (aka “kilink: Strip and Kill”) (Yilmaz Atadeniz, Turkey 1967)
    In the last of the Three Kilink movie the Turkish Fantomas is involved in the quest of a precious microfilm and a big foreign treasure. On his way Kilink will have to face many georgeous and greedy girls… The best of the serie. 7/10

    “De man die zijn haar kort liet knippen” (aka “The Man Who Had His Hair Cut Short”) (André Delvaux, Belgium 1966)
    Excellent drama about a teacher in love with one of his pupils who slightly goes mad… 9/10

    “Caperucita y Pulgarcito contra los monstruos“ (aka “Little Red Riding Hood and Tom Thumb vs. the Monsters”) (Roberto Rodríguez, Mexico 1962)
    The last episode of the Mexican Red Ridin Hood is the weirdest. Our heroe with the help of Tom Thum and her dog will have to save the Wolf and the ogre who are condemned to death by the queen of the witches and all her monsters friends… 7/10

    “Der schwarze Abt” ( aka “The Black Abbot”) (Franz Josef Gottlieb, West Germany 1963)
    Another german Krimi adapted from a novel by Edgar Wallace… Great atmosphere and filming with a nice dose of suspence. And once more the presence of Klaus Kinski… 7,5/10

    That's all for the moment...
    • CommentAuthorRDPL55
    • CommentTimeNov 23rd 2014
     permalink
    Some movies I watched thos last three weeks...

    “Utamaro o meguru gonin no onna” (aka “Utamaro and His Five Women“) (Kenji Mizoguchi, Japan 1946)
    Wonderful movie of the master Mizogushi the crossed destiny of five woman around Utamaro a famous painter. Great story and great filming. 9/10

    “The Falcon in Danger” (William Clemens, USA 1943)
    In this sixth adventure the falcon face a strange case of the disappearance of two businessmen during a flight… a very complex case. 6,5/10

    “The Falcon and the Co-eds” (William Clemens, USA 1943)
    Int the seventh episode of the adventure of the famous detective The falcon must solve a strange case of murder of a teacher in a girl college… One of the best episode of the série. 7,5/10

    “Les quatre-cent coups” (François Truffaut, France 1959)
    I re-watched this famous french movie. A touching view of childhood… but everybodu knows it. 9/10

    “Repulsion“ (Roman Polanski UK, 1950)
    We proposed this excellent movie at our cineclub, I re-watched it with much pleasure and the movie was the occasion to long discussions… 9/10

    “La P… respectueuse“ (Charles Brabant, Marcello Pagliero, France 1952)
    Nice adaptation of Jean-Paul Sartre eponymous play. A prostitude/singer comes from New York in the deep south and witnesses the murder of a black man by a white one. Further more this white man is the nephew of the local governor… The brother of the killer then try to seduce the girl to avoid her to make confessions… Nice one. 8/10

    “The Mouse That Roared“ (Jack Arnold, UK 1959)
    Hilarious and satirical comedy about the Duchy of Grand Fenwick, the smallest country in the world, lostin the French Alps who declare war to the U.S.A. and… wins ! With Great Peter Sellers ! Excellent ! 8,5/10

    “Raw Edge” (John Sherwood, USA 1956)
    Nice western of a famous second unit director promoted here at direction. In a wild Oregon, ffter the rape of the wife of the local baron a rancher is lynched. His brother comes and decides to take revenge…. An unusual western with an unforgatable opening sequence… 8/10

    “The Fiend Who Walked the West” (Gordon Douglas, USA 1958)
    A nice remake of the famous film noir Kiss of Death (1947) A man of attacked a bank to feed his family is captured and put in jail where a meet a young guy who is a mad serial killer. Just after his release the young man kill and terrorize the family of our hero to find the money… Nice one. 8/10

    “Fort Yuma” (Lesley Selander, USA 1955)
    A classic western about a convoy leaded by a veteran who hates Indians and his scout, an indian… They have to travel through indian territory. But unknown from them the indoians decide to go on war… 7/10

    To be continued...