A Man For All Seasons (1966) According to Pauline Kael, “There’s more than a little of the school pageant in the rhythm of the movie.” Robert Bolt adapted his play to this Academy-Award winning feature film, directed by Fred Zinnemann. Its all star costume drama chronicles the final years of Sir Thomas More [Paul Scofield, … More A Man For All Seasons (1966)
The Threepenny Opera (1931) A master of German Expressionism, G. W. Pabst directed this Verfremdungseffekt musical, written by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weil during the Weimar Republic, emphasizing the dialectic more than the tunes. With Rudolf Forster as Mackie and Lotte Lenya as Pirate Jenny. “I find it hard to believe that … More The Threepenny Opera (1931)
The Devil’s Disciple (1959) George Bernard Shaw’s take on the American Revolution, with the wit to prove there’s no difference between a Puritan minister (Burt Lancaster) and a revolutionary apostate (Kirk Douglas). Pity the poor wife (Janette Scott) who must choose between them. “Martyrdom,” quips “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne (Laurence Olivier), “it is where one achieves … More The Devil’s Disciple (1959)
Green Slime (1968) Director’s Kinji Fukasaku’s pop art interiors and space ships are filled not only with grade-B actors, but also with monsters that reproduce wildly into “an army of rubbery-looking goblins.” Their resemblance to R2-D2 remains uncanny. Ivan Reiner wrote and produced this story about a space station, Gamma 3, infected by these alien … More Green Slime (1968)
Hidden Fear (1957) John Payne plays an archetypal B-Movie detective, whose ugly American bullying rides roughshod over the Danish police who suspect his sister of murder. André de Toth, shooting on location in the New Wave style, captures the bleak post WWII black market of seedy Amsterdam. I no longer remember any of you Perhaps … More Hidden Fear (1957)
Triumph des Willens (1935) Leni Riefenstahl changed the documentary with this propaganda film that chronicles the 1934 Nazi Party congress in Nuremberg. By the end, through innovative camera techniques and edting, there can be no doubt who is the master race. “The media represents a world that is more real than reality that we … More Triumph des Willens (1935)
Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932) Michel Simon created his most memorable role as an anarchic bum whom a bourgeois bookseller and family decide to rescue and civilize, all with disastrously comic results in this Jean Renoir classic film. The feral clown thumbs his nose At civic respectability, Spits where he wants and throws Tantrums with … More Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932)
A Dog’s Life (1918) Silent. Chaplin’s first written. produced, and starring film for First Nation Films, with “Scraps” the dog and Edna Purviance as the love interest. Action-packed and full of surprising comic skits that all connect to a solid plot. The slums were never better photographed, nor the crime in American cities better … More A Dog’s Life (1914)
Silver Streak (1976) The first film to pair Gene Wilder with Richard Pryor is an homage to Alfred Hitchock’s train sequence in North By Northwest. Gene Wilder plays a publisher who is aboard the Silver Streak on a Los Angeles-to-Chicago train journey in order “to rest and get a lot of reading done.” Jill Clayburgh … More Silver Streak (1976)
La Morte negli Occhi del Gatto (1973) Also known as “Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eye.” Anthony M. Dawson [Antonio Margheriti] directed this cult classic, a collage of horror motifs intercut with images of a cat, just before claws slice the next victim’s neck. Gallo films revel in the charm of an illogical nightmare. Jane … More La Morte negli Occhi del Gatto (1973)
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