Stop Making Sense (1984) Jonathan Demme assembled the best footage from over three nights of The Talking Heads in live performances at Hollywood’s Pantages Theater during a tour to promote their new album “Speaking in Tongues.” Hits include “Psycho Killer,” “Heaven,” “Burning Down the House.” “Life During Wartime,” “Once in a Lifetime,” and “Crosseyed … More Stop Making Sense (1984)
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)
Gold (1934) Brigitte Helm speaks! For ten minutes, she vamps in a science fiction film about corporate espionage made during the early Nazi period and directed by Karl Hartl. The ghost of the UFA’s great Metropolis lurks everywhere. John Wills (Michael Bohnen) is the villain, a British billionaire driven by greed to control world … More GOLD (1934)
The Blood Beast Terror [aka, The Vampire Beast Craves Blood] (1967) Scotland Yard Inspector Quennell (Peter Cushing) investigates the grizzly murders of young men in the English countryside. Following the lead of a coachman, deranged by encountering something monstrous with wings, Quennell encounters Professor Carl Mallinger, a renowned entomologist, and his daughter. The critical … More The Blood Beast Terror (1967)
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)
Murder By Contract (1958) Finally restored to its sparse black and white cinematography that influenced directors such as Jean-Luc Godard , Robert Bresson, and Martin Scorcese, Irving Lerner directs beat cool Vince Edwards as Claude, a hit man for hire, who provides an existentialist philosophy for murder that proves successful until his target becomes a … More Murder By Contract (1958)
La Noire de… [Black Girl] (1966) Ousamane Sembène directs the elegant dressmaker Mbissine Thérèse Diop in what has come to be recognized as the first ” Sub-Saharan African film by an African filmmaker to receive international attention.” Winner of the Prix Jean Vigo for best feature film, Sembène dramatizes the conflict between French colonialism … More La Noire de… [Black Girl] (1966)
The Magic Christian (1969) Joseph McGrath directs a comedy cornucopia of wacky characters, starting with Peter Sellers as Guy Grand, the richest man in the world, who adapts a bum off a park bench, Ringo Starr, to assist him in his enterprise of proving that “everyone has their price.” Freely adapted from the novel by … More The Magic Christian (1969)
