• Roberto Rossellini – L’uomo dalla croce aka Man with a Cross (1943)

    1941-1950ArthouseItalian Cinema under FascismItalyRoberto RosselliniWar

    An extremely rare film by Roberto Rossellini, his third feature, made under the Fascist control of Italy. Basically rejected after the War because of the Fascist content of the film, “Rossellini produces a work which focuses upon the Italian expeditionary forces on the Eastern Front and upon a Catholic chaplain representative of Italy’s religious majority…the principal character’s humanity and sacrifice seem to prefigure the good-natured priest of Rome, Open City who works with leftist Resistance leaders…Rossellini underlines the common humanity in Fascist and Bolshevik alike” (Peter Bonadella, Italian Cinema from Neo-Realism to Present).Read More »

  • Robert Ellis Miller – Reuben, Reuben (1983)

    1981-1990ComedyDramaRobert Ellis MillerUSA

    TV Guide writes:
    Gowan McGland (Tom Conti) is a Scottish poet who is finding life something of a burden since his inspiration evaporated about five years ago. Now he is reduced to performing readings of his work to groups of adoring middle-aged women and bored college students, doing his best to take away the pain by sleeping with as many of his female fans as possible and drinking himself into a stupor. At the moment he is living in New England where his readings have gone down well, and his list of conquests has grown – but what if McGland were to actually fall in love, would that make him a changed man?Read More »

  • Serge Gainsbourg – Charlotte for Ever (1986)

    1981-1990ArthouseDramaFranceSerge Gainsbourg

    Quote:
    Stan, screeplay writer, had his time of glory in Hollywood. Today, alcoholic with a certain envy for suicide, his only link to life is his daughter, Charlotte.Read More »

  • Serge Gainsbourg – Stan the Flasher (1990)

    1981-1990ArthouseDramaFranceSerge Gainsbourg

    Quote:
    The story of Stan, a misunderstood poet, who makes a living teaching English to schoolchildren while writing a screenplay on the side.Read More »

  • Alfred L. Werker – Walk East On Beacon (1952)

    Drama1951-1960Alfred L. WerkerThrillerUSA

    Louis de Rochemont, former March of Time producer whose docudrama films proved so popular in the 1940s, offers more of the same in Walk East on Beacon. Based on an article written – or ghostwritten – by J. Edgar Hoover, the film concerns the efforts by the FBI to plug up a dangerous security leak. Federal agent Belden – George Murphy- is assigned to locate the communist mastermind behind the leak, and to trace all avenues of informational access utilized by the Bad Guys. Finlay Currie co-stars as an Einstein-like scientist who is being blackmailed by the Reds into cooperating with them, while Karel Stepanek is slime personified as the top Eastern-Bloc spy. Largely filmed on location in New York, Walk East on Beacon makes good use of several Manhattan-based actors, few of whom were seen in films either before or since.Read More »

  • David Mackenzie – Young Adam [+commentaries] (2003)

    2001-2010ArthouseDavid MackenzieDramaUnited Kingdom

    Synopsis:
    Joe, a rootless young drifter, finds work on a barge travelling between Glasgow and Edinburgh, owned by Les and his wife Ella. One afternoon they discover the corpse of a young woman floating in the water. Accident? Suicide? Murder? As the police investigate and suspect is arrested, we discover that Joe knows more than he is letting on. Gradually we learn of Joe’s past relationship with the dead woman. Meanwhile an unspoken attraction develops between Joe and Ella, heightening the claustrophobic tensions in the confined space of the barge.Read More »

  • Andrey Konchalovskiy – Kurochka Ryaba AKA Ryaba My Chicken (1994)

    Comedy1991-2000Andrey KonchalovskiyFantasyRussia

    This Russian-French comedy examines the effects of capitalism and democracy upon a Russian peasant village. It was filmed in the rural village of Bezvodnoye, the setting of this film’s 1967 precursor “Asya’s Happiness.” The outspoken peasant woman Asya returns in this new episode which begins with her walking along a road explaining why democracy doesn’t work. Her husband is an alcoholic who lives with a gypsy. Her son works on the black market for the mob. He was part of a theft involving a rare golden egg from the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Asya’s opinions seem to be well founded. In the village crime has increased, inflation is rising, and local authorities are ineffectual. Many locals are so angry at the town Capitalist for running his mill 24-hours per day that they stage a demonstration and begin waving pro-Communist banners. Asya’s pet chicken begins to grow and speak.Read More »

  • Henry King – The Gunfighter (1950)

    USA1941-1950Henry KingWestern

    Quote:
    Notorious gunfighter Jimmy Ringo rides into town to find his true love, who doesn’t want to see him. He hasn’t come looking for trouble, but trouble finds him around every corner.Read More »

  • Anthony Mann – The Great Flamarion (1945)

    Drama1941-1950Anthony MannFilm NoirUSA

    Synopsis:
    Erich von Stroheim is The Great Flamarion, a marksman who employs Mary Beth Hughes and Dan Duryea, a married couple, for his vaudeville act. Having decided to rid herself of her husband, Mary Beth plots to trick von Stroheim into doing the dirty work for her.Read More »

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