Crime

  • Marshall Smith – Satan’s Bed (1965)

    1961-1970CrimeExploitationMarshall SmithMichael FindlayUSA

    The same year the The Beatles? second film, HELP!, premiered,
    John Lennon?s future soul mate, avant-garde artist Yoko Ono, made her
    acting debut in the twisted sickie SATAN’S BED. Ono, in a kimono, plays
    the Japanese bride-to-be of a drug smuggling immigration agent who
    wants to abandon crime crime for life with Yoko. But Lou, a small-time
    drug dealer, doesn’t want to lose his main supplier so he cancels the
    wedding by kidnapping Ono. And when he also hires three psychos –
    Snake, Dip, and Angel – to rough her up, they create a mini-crimewave
    that culminates in a wild attack upon… the wrong woman. Oy. So join
    Yoko for a typical day in Sin City that starts when you climb under the
    sheets of SATAN?S BED!Read More »

  • George Blair – End of the Road (1944)

    1941-1950CrimeFilm NoirGeorge BlairUSA

    A crime writer believes that a man imprisoned for committing the notorious “Flower Shop Murder” is innocent of the crime. He believes he knows who the actual culprit is, and sets out to befriend the man and get enough evidence to prove that he is the real killer.Read More »

  • Hal Ashby – Lookin’ to Get Out (1982)

    1981-1990CrimeDramaHal AshbyUSA

    Two gamblers must leave New York City after one loses a lot of money. Doing what all gamblers in trouble would do, they hurry to the gambling capital Las Vegas to turn their luck around.

    Unlike his previous film (ugly, awful Second-Hand Hearts), this is an interesting one from Hal Ashby, where he successfully does a Cassavetes-style direction. A number of scenes look more like bloopers that usually get cut out, but that’s where improvisation can take you every now and then, and Ashby was willing to take that road, especially considering the fact that extended version is the one that probably saved all those bloopers. A successful mess that owes most of its charm to Burt Young, who is just amazing and swims in this mess like a fish.Read More »

  • Spencer Gordon Bennet – The Masked Marvel (1943)

    1941-1950ActionCrimeSpencer Gordon BennetUSA

    From the files of Jerry Blake:
    THE MASKED MARVEL.

    Republic, 12 Chapters, 1943. Starring William Forrest, Louise Currie, Johnny Arthur, Richard Clarke, Rod Bacon, Anthony Warde, David Bacon, Bill Healy, and TOM STEELE as the Marvel.

    THE MASKED MARVEL is almost universally recognized as one of Republic’s best. The action alone would be enough to place it in the top ten. The story deals with a wave of sabotage unleashed by Mura Sakima, a Japanese super-spy who employs former racketeer Killer Mace and other no-good turncoats in his evil schemes to destroy the American war effort. The World-Wide Insurance Company, principal insurer of the war materials, sends its four of its top investigators to stop the sinister sabotage. The Masked Marvel, mysterious foe of crime, aids the quartet in their battle, and it becomes evident that he is secretly one of the foursome. The Marvel is aided by Alice Hamilton, daughter of Warren Hamilton, the murdered head of World-Wide, and hindered by Hamilton’s partner, Martin Crane, who is actually in league with Sakima.Read More »

  • Cliff Owen – Offbeat AKA The Devil Inside (1961)

    1961-1970Cliff OwenCrimeUnited Kingdom

    Quote:
    Nifty 70 min long caper film with a twist. William Sylvester is a MI-5 agent who gets transfered to Scotland Yard to help them with a problem. One of their detectives has been killed in a hit and run. Scotland Yard believes the detective was done in by the gang he was trying to infiltrate. The Yard hopes someone from outside the force might have a better chance. Sylvester goes deep undercover as a gunman for hire. He evens pulls a bank heist in order to impress the local underworld. His no nonsense style soon has him in demand with all the proper people. He gains entry to the gang and finds he quite enjoys the lifestyle. Read More »

  • Júlio Bressane – O Anjo Nasceu (1969)

    1961-1970BrazilCrimeDramaJúlio Bressane

    Julio Bressane wrote:
    “When I made O Anjo Nasceu I thought I had made my most difficult film, a completely irresponsible film, that space, that vacuum, that nothing. It was a devastating experience for me, a shock. Much, much more than Matou a Família e Foi ao Cinema, which was a well-received film. I think O Anjo Nasceu is still unknown territory, even for me”Read More »

  • Raymond Bernard – Le septième ciel AKA Seventh Heaven (1958)

    1951-1960ComedyCrimeFranceRaymond Bernard

    “Le septième ciel” became Raymond Bernard’s last film; a black comedy about a female brewery owner who donates vast amounts of money to charitable causes. The funds to do this, she raises through her liaisons with wealthy gentlemen… who just “happen” to end up dead!Read More »

  • Paul Vecchiali – L’étrangleur (1970)

    1961-1970CrimeDramaFrancePaul Vecchiali

    Quote:
    Unhappy women are being murdered by Emile (Jacques Perrin), a psychotic young man suffering from the delusion that his acts are mercy killings. The detective (Julien Guiomar) assigned to track down the killer resorts to seriously unorthodox and even unethical methods to get his man. In one instance, he impersonates a psychologist on a TV show he and Emile appear on together and attempts to provoke Emile into revealing himself.Read More »

  • Lars von Trier – Forbrydelsens element AKA The Element of Crime (1984)

    1981-1990CrimeDenmarkDramaLars Von Trier

    Fisher, an ex-cop, returns to his old beat somewhere in northern Europe after a thirteen-year hiatus in Cairo. His former mentor and role model, author of a treatise called “The Element of Crime”, asks him to solve a series of murders involving lottery ticket sellers. Guided by the theories put forth in the book, Fischer retraces the steps of a suspect, Harry Grey, as recorded in a three-year-old police surveillance report.Read More »

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