Richard Basehart

  • Federico Fellini – Il bidone AKA The Swindle [4K Restoration] (1955)

    A trio of con-men led by a lonesome swindler must deal with their job and family pressures.Read More »

  • Federico Fellini – La strada [+Commentary] (1954)

    Quote:
    There has never been a face quite like that of Giulietta Masina. Her husband, the legendary Federico Fellini, directs her as Gelsomina in La strada, the film that launched them both to international stardom. Gelsomina is sold by her mother into the employ of Zampanò (Anthony Quinn), a brutal strongman in a traveling circus. When Zampanò encounters an old rival in highwire artist the Fool (Richard Basehart), his fury is provoked to its breaking point. With La strada, Fellini left behind the familiar signposts of Italian neorealism for a poetic fable of love and cruelty, evoking brilliant performances and winning the hearts of audiences and critics worldwide. The Criterion Collection is proud to present La strada, winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 1956.Read More »

  • Lewis Gilbert – The Good Die Young [Export cut] (1954)

    Quote:
    Three good men – a broken boxer, an American veteran trying to win back his mother-dominated wife, and an Air Force Sergeant married to a faithless actress – are corrupted by Miles “Rave” Ravenscourt (Laurence Harvey), an amoral “gentleman”. Because they need money, they let Miles lure them into his scheme to rob a postal van with a large cash cargo.Read More »

  • Alfred L. Werker & Anthony Mann – He Walked by Night (1948)

    Quote:
    Taken from actual case files, He Walked By Night is the suspenseful, action-packed tale of a manhunt for the most cunning criminal in the history of the LAPD. With a combination of ingenuity, state of the art technology, sweat and sheer determination, the police painstakingly track down a brilliant, elusive thief and cop killer who seems to have the ability to vanish into thin air. But can they catch him before he murders again?Read More »

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

    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 »

  • John Huston – Moby Dick (1956)

    Synopsis:
    This classic story by Herman Melville revolves around Captain Ahab and his obsession with a huge whale, Moby Dick. The whale caused the loss of Ahab’s leg years before, leaving Ahab to stomp the boards of his ship on a peg leg. Ahab is so crazed by his desire to kill the whale, that he is prepared to sacrifice everything, including his life, the lives of his crew members, and even his ship to find and destroy his nemesis, Moby Dick.Read More »

  • Henry Hathaway – Fourteen Hours (1951)

    54th New York Film Festival writes:
    An exciting low-budget film shot on the streets of lower Manhattan, Fourteen Hours is based on the true story of William Warde, who jumped to his death in 1938 after a policeman had spent hours trying to talk him down from a 17th floor ledge at the old Gotham Hotel (now the Peninsula). Richard Basehart (whose wife Stephanie died during production) gives a brilliant performance as the suicidal young man, Paul Douglas is the cop, and the film is packed with formidable character performances (from the likes of Agnes Moorehead, Howard Da Silva, and newcomer Grace Kelly) and vividly cast faces in the crowd below, including those of Ossie Davis, Joyce Van Patten, Brian Keith, and John Cassavetes. A 20th Century-Fox release.Read More »

  • Federico Fellini – Il bidone AKA The Swindle (1955)

    Synopsis:
    Aging small-time con man Augusto, who swindles peasants, works with two younger men: Roberto, who wants to become the Italian Johnny Ray, and Bruno, nicknamed Picasso, who has a wife and daughter and wants to paint. Augusto avoids the personal entanglements, spending money at clubs seeking the good life. His attitude changes when he runs into his own daughter, whom he rarely sees, and realizes she’s now a young woman and in need of his help to continue her studies. His usual partners are away, so he goes in with others to run a swindle, and they aren’t forgiving when he claims he’s given the money back to their mark. They leave him beaten, robbed, and alone.Read More »

  • Samuel Fuller – Fixed bayonets! (1951)

    Fixed Bayonets! (1951) is a war film written and directed by Samuel Fuller and produced by Twentieth Century-Fox during the Korean War. It is Fuller’s second film about the Korean War. In his motion picture debut, James Dean appears briefly in the film.Read More »

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