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  • Robert Beavers – The Hedge Theater (2002)

    2001-2010ExperimentalRobert BeaversShort FilmUSA

    Beavers shot The Hedge Theatre in Rome in the 1980s. It is an intimate film inspired by the Baroque architecture and stone carvings of Francesco Borromini and St. Martin and the Beggar, a painting by the Sienese painter Il Sassetta. Beavers’ montage contrasts the sensuous softness of winter light with the lush green growth brought by spring rains. Each shot and each source of sound is steeped in meaning and placed within the film’s structure with exacting skill to build a poetic relationship between image and sound. (Susan Oxtoby, Toronto International Film Festival)Read More »

  • Walter Reisch – Men Are Not Gods (1936)

    1931-1940DramaUSAWalter Reisch

    Very interesting cast in this 1936 British film that predates A DOUBLE LIFE by nearly a decade.

    Miriam Hopkins plays a secretary who alters a scathing review of an actor in OTHELLO at his wife’s (Gertrude Lawrence) behest. The wife turns out to be correct and the actor (Sebastian Shaw) goes on to become the rage of London’s West End.

    Hopkins then becomes obsessed with the actor and starts going to all the performances of the play. Shaw then become smitten with Hopkins and we get a parallel story of jealousy and rage finally played out on the stage as Shaw’s Othello tries to kill Lawrence’s Desdemona. All very intriguing and very well played with bits of humor here and there.Read More »

  • J. Lee Thompson – Cape Fear (1962)

    1961-1970Film NoirJ. Lee ThompsonThrillerUSA

    Synopsis:
    Small-town lawyer Sam Bowden’s life becomes torturous when Max Cady re-enters his life. Cady went to jail for 8 years after Bowden testified that Cady attacked a young woman. Now that Cady has been released, he begins to terrorize Bowden and his family, particularly targeting Bowden’s daughter, Nancy. Initially, Cady uses his newfound knowledge of the law (learned in prison) to annoy the Bowdens, then poisons the family dog… Who’s next ?Read More »

  • Bob Fosse – Lenny (1974)

    1971-1980Bob FosseDramaUSA

    Adapted by Julian Barry from his own Broadway play, Lenny manages to be both brutally frank and highly romanticized in detailing the short life and career of influential, controversial stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce. The chronology hops, skips and jumps between Lenny (Dustin Hoffman) in his prime and the burned-out, strung-out performer who, in the twilight of his life, used his nightclub act to pour out his personal frustrations at great, boring length. We watch as up-and-coming comic Bruce courts his “Shiksa goddess,” a stripper named Honey (Valerie Perrine). With family responsibilities, Lenny is encouraged to do a “safe,” conformist act, but he can’t do it.Read More »

  • Alberto Cavalcanti – They Made Me a Fugitive (1947)

    1941-1950Alberto CavalcantiCrimeDramaUSA

    Synopsis:
    In this gritty film noir, cynical ex-RAF flyer Morgan, bored with civilian life, joins a break-in gang led by Narcy. On his first job, the getaway car crashes after killing a policeman. Morgan is framed as the driver and sent to jail. Seeking revenge, he escapes and heads for London. Along the way he’s helped by a woman (Mrs. Fenshaw), who wants him to murder her husband. In London, Morgan is sheltered by Sally, who falls in love with him. He confronts Narcy and the gang in an abandoned warehouse. Brazilian Director Cavalcanti’s crime drama should not be confused with the totally unrelated “They Made Me a Criminal” (1939).Read More »

  • Robert Wise – The House on Telegraph Hill (1951)

    1951-1960CrimeDramaRobert WiseUSA

    Victoria has survived Nazi concentration by assuming the identity of one who died there. She arrives in San Francisco to see her “son” just as the boy’s great-aunt dies leaving a lot of money to be inherited. Victoria falls in love with the boy’s trustee Alan Spender, and they move into the mansion on Telegraph Hill. Living life in a new identity isn’t without its dangers, however.Read More »

  • Norman Foster – Woman on the Run (1950)

    1941-1950Film NoirNorman FosterUSA

    Steven K. Hill writes:
    Shot largely among the gritty working class landscapes of mid-century San Francisco, Woman on the Run spotlights Ann Sheridan as an acerbic wise-cracking wife in search of her estranged husband who suddenly disappears after witnessing a gangland assassination.

    After a suffering through a series of disappointing roles at Warner Bros, Sheridan bought out her remaining contract and turned to the upstart independent Fidelity Pictures in an attempt to re-establish her career as a leading lady. The resultant film was Woman on the Run, and Sheridan delivers a tour-de-force performance, aided by equally strong turns by Dennis O’Keefe, Robert Keith, and Ross Elliott in the supporting roles.Read More »

  • Edwin L. Marin – Nocturne (1946)

    1941-1950CrimeEdwin L. MarinFilm NoirUSA

    Synopsis:
    Police detective Joe Warne investigates the shooting of womanizing composer Keith Vincent. Evidence points to suicide and that is the official verdict, but Joe doesn’t buy it and obsessively keeps looking, tracking down one discarded love after another, despite being ordered off the case.Read More »

  • Roy Del Ruth – Red Light (1949)

    1941-1950CrimeFilm NoirRoy Del RuthUSA

    Synopsis:
    Nick Cherney, in prison for embezzling from Torno Freight Co., sees a chance to get back at Johnny Torno through his young priest brother Jess. He pays fellow prisoner Rocky, who gets out a week before Nick, to murder Jess…who, dying, tells revenge-minded Johnny that he’d written a clue “in the Bible.” Frustrated, Johnny obsessively searches for the missing Gideon Bible from Jess’s hotel room. Meanwhile, Nick himself gets out with murder still in his heart. But another factor is in play that none of them (except the murdered Jess) had planned on.Read More »

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