Criterion Synopsis
Legendary French star Gérard Philipe swashbuckled his way into film history as the peasant soldier Fanfan in Christian-Jaque’s devil-may-care romantic action-comedy. In eighteenth-century France, Fanfan joins King Louis XV’s army to avoid a forced marriage to a local lass and gets himself into close scrapes and tight squeezes with Gina Lollobrigida’s impostor fortune-teller, Adeline, on his way to fighting in the Seven Years’ War. Filled to the brim with dazzling stunts and randy innuendo, Fanfan la Tulipe, which won the best director prize at Cannes and was a smash hit upon its initial release, remains one of France’s all-time most beloved films.Read More »
Adventure
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Christian-Jaque – Fanfan la Tulipe [+Extras] (1952)
1951-1960AdventureChristian-JaqueClassicsItaly -
Julien Duvivier – Golgotha (1935)
1931-1940AdventureDramaFranceJulien DuvivierGolgotha is noteworthy because it is the very first sound-picture ever made about Jesust. On top of that, it is thoroughly well done and engrossing. It starred a cast of hundreds—perhaps the biggest ever assembled for a film at the time. Like Cecil B. DeMille’s 1927 film King of Kings, Duvivier gives his film a glossy, Hollywood look featuring terrific sets and (at the time) epic camera shots, but unlike many Hollywood incarnations of Jesus’ life, the story is decidedly intimate, focusing on characters who speak quietly in closed rooms rather than over-expressive actors who wear their Shakespearian training (or lack thereof) on their sleeves.Read More »
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Christopher Thompson & Alper Cagatay – How to Sell a Banksy (2012)
2011-2020AdventureChristopher Thompson and Alper CagatayDocumentaryUnited Kingdom“Banksy’s work now reportedly changes hands for millions.
But he puts up his street art for free. Have you ever wondered
what would happen if you got your hands on one of these?
Does it mean you’ve found a winning lottery ticket or just
scraped some worthless crap off a wall?Going up against the Art Establishment, Critics, Auction Houses,
Gallery Owners and Authentication Boards in a quest for the
elusive meal ticket, two filmmakers unwittingly gatecrash the
murky and protective world of Banksy.Read More » -
Howard Hawks – Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
1931-1940AdventureDramaHoward HawksUSAWhile waiting for her boat, Bonnie Lee stops at a small airport in South America. The pilots there deliver mail over a dangerous and usually foggy mountain pass. Geoff Carter, the lead flyer, seems distant and cold as Bonnie tries to get closer to him. Things heat up as Judy MacPherson, Geoff’s old flame, shows up with her husband who is an infamous pilot.
A ship docks at the South American port of Barranca. Out comes a woman, Bonnie (Jean Arthur), subsequently pursued by two flirtatious pilots who fly shipments of mail over treacherous terrain for a barebones operation manned by Geoff Carter (Cary Grant). Within minutes of their meeting, one of these men, Joe (Noah Beery Jr.), is called to fly despite potentially dangerous weather conditions. Geoff demands that he go, and thus begins the series of tragic deaths and defiantly stoic responses that supply a large part of the emotional and philosophical flow of Howard Hawks’ brilliant Only Angels Have Wings.
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Alain Cavalier – Le plein de super aka Fill ‘er up with super (1976)
1971-1980AdventureAlain CavalierArthouseFranceSynopsis
When a young auto salesman is forced to give up a vacation with his wife in order to drive an American car to its new owner who lives on the Riviera, he makes the best of things. First, he gets and old friend to ride along with him. Then, the two of them are joined by another pair of men who want to ride south. The four of them have a great time, talking about women and fatherhood, among other things…Read More » -
Tomu Uchida – Chiyari Fuji AKA A Bloody Spear on Mount Fuji (1955)
1951-1960AdventureAsianJapanTomu UchidaSynopsis:
Tomu Uchida’s A Bloody Spear at Mt. Fuji is the story of an unassuming samurai who is more interested in a person’s actions than his social standing. In spite of the rigid class divide that exists between himself and his servants he tends to treat them as his equals even when they themselves feel that they are inferior to him. The film features remarkable subplots that add scope and depth to the social criticism offered by the main plot. Among these is the story of a male orphan who idolizes the samurai’s spear bearer and a young woman who is sold into prostitution because her family is too poor to support her.Read More » -
Niles Atallah – Rey (2017)
2011-2020AdventureChileExperimentalNiles AtallahIn the nineteenth century, a French adventurer sets off to establish a kingdom in the inhospitable South of Chile, uniting the feared Mapuche under him. The response of the Chilean army is devastating. Rey is both an intricately designed adventure film as well as powerful textural experiment.
We’re excited to present, in synch with its cinema release, this phantasmagorical gem of a film. An unconventional and kaleidoscopic biopic that plays with history, myth and memory attesting to the endless possibilities of cinema. Strikingly beautiful, gloriously decadent and delectably avant-garde.Read More »
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Herbert G. Ponting – The Great White Silence (1924)
1921-1930AdventureDocumentaryHerbert G. PontingUnited KingdomQuote:
The extraordinary, heart-breaking official record of Captain Scott’s legendary final expedition to the South Pole, has been fully restored by the BFI National Archive, with a new musical score by Simon Fisher Turner.Captain Robert Scott described Herbert Ponting as ‘an artist in love with his work’, and, after the Antarctic expedition’s tragic outcome, Ponting devoted the rest of his life to ensuring that the grandeur of the Antarctic and of the expedition’s heroism would not be forgotten. The images that he captured have fired imaginations ever since.Read More »
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Terry Gilliam – The Crimson Permanent Assurance (1983)
1981-1990AdventureShort FilmTerry GilliamUnited KingdomIn the bleak days of 1983, the Crimson Permanent Assurance, an accountancy staffed by elderly workers much like a slave ship, has been taken over by efficiency-minded corporate types. When they sack an employee, there’s an uprising, and the building is unleashed from its moorings to sail across the (dry) ocean and take on the financial centers of the world, starting with an all-out attack on the large skyscraper housing The Very Big Corporation of America, complete with filing-cabinet cannons, ceiling-fan broadswords, and paper-spindle short-swords.Read More »