• Dariush Mehrjui – Postchi AKA The Postman (1972)

    1971-1980ArthouseDariush MehrjuiDramaIran

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    This film firnly establishes as a major talent the Iranian
    Mehrjui, whose successful fusing of pathos, humor, and pre-
    occupation with the poor resembles nothing less than Chaplin
    or early De Sica in its ferocity. In his earlier The Cow, the
    only owner of such a precious animal in a poverty-stricken
    village goes insane over its loss and assumes its place;
    berserk, he is put into a harness, is dragged off to a
    nearby hospital, beaten like an animal, and finally
    dies the death of a beast in a mudhole. The Mailman
    is an unforgettable Wozzeck-like figure, the eternal
    simple-minded victim who finally rises to mistaken
    grandeur in a murderous gesture that leaves him
    braying with despair over the body of his victim.
    Since such films can never be popular, they are living
    proof of the fact that box-office returns must not
    be allowed to determine the life of a work of art.Read More »

  • John S. Robertson – Annie Laurie (1927)

    1921-1930DramaJohn S. RobertsonSilentUSA


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    Plot: The story of the famous battle between the Scots clans of Macdonald and Campbell, and the young woman who comes between them, Annie Laurie.Read More »

  • John Farrow – A Bullet Is Waiting (1954)

    Drama1951-1960AdventureJohn FarrowUSA

    Plot Synopsis by Hal Erickson
    A young woman (Jean Simmons) manages a remote California sheep ranch with her father (Brian Aherne). A plane carrying a sheriff (Stephen McNally) and a convicted murderer (Rory Calhoun) crashes nearby. Both men are cared for by the girl, who doesn’t know at first which is the cop and which is the criminal. She falls in love with the convicted man and believes protestations of innocence, but the vindictive sheriff tries to dissuade her of these feelings. Given several chances to finish each other off, both sheriff and convict relent. Under the influence of the girl, they agree to return to Utah together, where (it is implied) the criminal will be given a bias-free trial.Read More »

  • Piero Schivazappa – Femina ridens AKA The Frightened Woman (1969)

    1961-1970EroticaItalyPiero SchivazappaThriller

    With a style that is reminiscent of erotica guru, Radley Metzger, it is hard to believe that he did not direct The Frightened Woman. However, one can see why Metzger chose to release the film under his company Audubon Films. Imagine sets that are similar to Camille 2000, a sensual score by Stelvio Cipriani, and the perversity (though not nearly as extreme) of the Marquis de Sade combined in one film.Read More »

  • Various – The Joy of Sex Education: 1917-1973 (2009)

    Documentary2001-2010Queer Cinema(s)United KingdomVarious

    Quote:
    From the impenetrably euphemistic to the breathtakingly explicit, this intriguing anthology takes us through 60 yearsof sex education in Britain from the 1910s to the 1970s.All ‘unmentionable matters’ pertaining to sex are dealt with, from the WW1 warning to soldiers about the dangers of cavorting with loose women in London’s West End, Whatsoever a Man Soweth (1917), to puberty pep-talks for girls on how to avoid pregnancy in Don’t Be Like Brenda (1973).Read More »

  • Bruno Corbucci – Quando gli uomini armarono la clava e… con le donne fecero din-don AKA When Women Played Ding Dong (1971)

    1971-1980Bruno CorbucciCampComedyItaly

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    Description:
    Ever hear the classic Greek tale of Lysistrata? Well this is the comedic stone-age version. A tournament is taking place between the male cave-dwellers and the male water-dwellers. The beautiful Listra is prize to the victor Ari. Got is a sore loser and he spitefully cuts off the water supply to the cave-dwellers and demands Listra as ransom. A stone-age arms race ensues and the men in both camps are wholeheartedly enjoined. Listra instigates a plan…the women on both sides retire to the mountains and simply refuse to “put out”. The men are seriously frustrated and agree to end the war. Domestic tranquility is restored. But as the testosterone levels rise, so does the threat to peace and trouble is again brewing on the horizon.Read More »

  • John Ford – 7 Women (1966)

    1961-1970DramaJohn FordQueer Cinema(s)USAWestern

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    Plot
    John Ford’s final film is set in China in 1935, where a group of American women, led by Agatha Andrews (Margaret Leighton), work as missionaries. One of the women, Florrie (Betty Field), is pregnant and accompanied by her husband, Charles (Eddie Albert), while the others are single and on their own. The mission has become crowded after a cholera epidemic forced several outsiders to flee a nearby British mission and seek shelter with the American group, while a Mongol warrior, Tunga Khan (Mike Mazurki), has assembled troops who are sacking the area. When a female doctor, Dr. D.L. Cartwright (Anne Bancroft), enters the picture, she attempts to bring humor and civility to the group, but her tough yet compassionate nature clashes with Agatha’s by-the-book approach, and when Cartwright is willing to put her own safety at risk to gain the attentions of Tunga Khan and slow his onslaught, the group is strongly divided — most of the women admire the doctor’s bravery, but Agatha (who seems to have a non-professional interest in Cartwright herself) considers her foolish and reckless. Seven Women was originally planned to star Patricia Neal as Dr. Cartwright, but when she suffered a stroke during filming that put her acting career on hold for several years, Anne Bancroft was recast in the role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie GuideRead More »

  • John Ford – Mother Machree (1928)

    1921-1930DramaJohn FordSilentUSA

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    PLOT SUMMARY and OTHER INFORMATION
    from Waldo’s announce

    Reels one, two and five — all that survives, unfortunately, of this late silent film by John Ford, though it’s enough to suggest that it might have been a major work. The story, supposedly based on the sentimental Irish ballad, is a blend of “Sylvia Scarlet” and “Stella Dallas,” about a single mother who joins a traveling circus (lead by Victor McLaglen) to support her child, only to eventually lose him to a rich couple. She meets her son (Neil Hamilton) years later when she’s employed as a domestic, and now he’s a swaggering young society man. Does she reveal her identity to him? We’ll never know, since the end of the film is missing. What you do get is one heck of a storm sequence in the first reel, filmed by Ford in the high expressionist style he was then absorbing from FW Murnau.Read More »

  • Joseph M. Newman – Twenty Plus Two (1961)

    Crime1961-1970Joseph M. NewmanMysteryUSA


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    IMDB:
    The plot of this near-noir is very convoluted, but the director keeps a steady pace and there is enough incidental interest to avoid confusion or boredom. When a Hollywood secretary is found murdered, Tom Alder (Janssen), a “finder of missing persons”, is hired to investigate the murder, but quickly sees a link between the secretary and a the long-missing daughter of a wealthy family. Complications involve some colorful characters: Leroy Dane (Brad Dexter), a big movie star, Mrs Delaney (Agnes Moorehead) the missing girl’s mother, Jacques Pleschette (Jacques Aubuchon) a shady figure who tries to hire Tom to find his missing brother. All these actors give top drawer performances, with Moorehead a standout for the way she takes complete control of her single scene with Janssen. Excellent too is Dina Merrill as Nikki (her Tokyo-set flashback with Janssen is quite impressive). Also fine in the cast are Jeanne Crain, Robert Strauss, and William Demarest, doing a convincing turn as a down-and-out drunken newspaper man.Read More »

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