King of Hearts (1966) Alan Bates stars as a Scottish WWI ornithalography specialist mistaken for a munitions expert who is sent into a small provincial French village of Marville to disarm a booby trap rigged by retreating Germans. only to accidentally release inmates from the local mental asylum who assume identities of the absent … More King of Hearts (1966)
Kagemusha (1980) A common thief, discovered to bear a striking resemblance to his feudal lord, is employed as a decoy to keep civil war from breaking out. Akira Kurosawa drew from the Sengoku period, based upon a history of Takeda Shingen, known for his military skills. Mortally wounded by a sniper, the lord requests … More Kagemusha (1980)
Alibi Ike (1935) Wide-mouthed comedian Joe. E. Brown plays a baseball pitcher whose hayseed bashfulness leads to boasting with alibis to cover his mistakes. As a result, he winds up kidnapped by gamblers. Olivia de Havilland cameos as the doting love interest in this choppy, badly segued adaptation from a Ring Lardner classic short story, … More Alibi Ike (1935)
Pariah (2011) In cinéma vérité style, Dee Rees expands her original documentary, shooting on the streets of New York City, to capture this sexual awakening of a young black girl. Alike (Adepero Oduye) is a talented 17-year-old who struggles to come out to her parents and her community. Laura (Pernell Walker) is her best … More Pariah (2011)
La Promesse (1996) Belgian brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne draw from their documentary experience to fashion this savage critique of trafficking and exploitation of illegals in Liege, Belgium. The father [Olivier Gourmet] involves his son Igor [Jéréme Renier] to cover up the accidental death of a worker who falls from a scaffold. Igor makes the … More La Promesse (1996)
The Falcon and the Snowman (1985) John Schlesinger adapts this true espionage story, based on the book by Robert Lindsey and screenplay by Stephen Zaillian. Timothy Hutton plays Christopher Boyce, who uncovers CIA projects to destabilize and depose Prime Minister Gough Whitlam of Australia. Using his friend, a drug dealer Daulton Lee, played by … More The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)
Curse of the Faceless Man (1958) Edward L. Chan directs this drive-in B-Horror version of The Mummy, this time with a reawakened id of a gladiator who perished during the volcanic destruction of Pompeii while trying to save his aristocratic mistress. Now stone-encrusted, this creature seeks out the reincarnation of his lost love in an … More Curse of the Faceless Man (1958)
Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948) Nunnally Johnson adapted this “fish-out-of-water” tale about a man (William Powell) who catches a mermaid (Ann Blyth) with whom he falls in love. Irving Pichel directs this fable about male mid-life crisis, with Irene Hervey as the jealous wife, Andrea King as a scheming seductress, and Clinton Sundberg … More Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948)
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) Carmen Maura gives a defining performance in Pedro Almodóvar’s Spanish screwball comedy. Inspired by Jean Cocteau’s La Voix Humaine, the film reveals a ‘new woman’ of the Post-Franco generation, someone who, like Pepa, caught in a whirlwind of passionate breakup, takes control of her life, and, … More Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
Agantuk [The Stranger] (1991) Based on his children’s story, “The Guest,” Satyajit Ray directs Utpal Dutt, “known for his decades of work in Bengali theater,” as Manomohan Mitra, who claims to be a long lost uncle, requesting hospitality from a middle class couple in Kolkata. Although skeptical, they let him into their home. This … More Agantuk [The Stranger] (1991)
