1941-1950

REVIEWS:
A well-crafted film, 24 February 2001
Author: jeffreynothing from Toronto, Canada

I saw this film at a screening several years ago at the Edinburgh Film Festival. The picture was actually introduced by Mr.Ulmer’s daughter. It’s a typical 1940’s melodrama that is well directed. It is apparent in viewing the film that Ulmer knew exactly what he was doing when he made a movie. It was only the second Ulmer film I had seen, the first being the superior Detour. I can’t remember the plot in too much detail because it was a while ago, but it involves an illegitimate child. It has a good social message in that it sheds light on how so-called “bastard” children are sometimes the subjects of social discrimination. I’m surprised it hasn’t received more votes. I guess I was lucky to catch that screening.Read More »

Synopsis:

First short film by Wajda, based on the story “A Naughty Boy” by A. Chekhov. Read More »

allmovie wrote:
This adventure is the first live-action Superman serial and was one of the most successful multi-chapter films ever made. Superman is played by B-movie hero Kirk Alyn. The story centers upon the hero and the nefarious Spider Lady, who is trying to rule the Earth. If she cannot have complete control, she plans on shrinking it with her powerful reducer ray. Much of the episodes center upon Superman’s relationship with Lois Lane and upon his ability to fly.
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All the King’s Men is a 1949 drama film based on the Robert Penn Warren novel of the same name. It was directed by Robert Rossen and starred Broderick Crawford in the role of Willie Stark.

Jack Burden is a newspaper reporter who first hears of Willie Stark when his editor sends him to Kanoma County to cover the man. What’s special about this nobody running for county treasurer? He’s supposedly an honest man. Burden discovers this to be true when he sees Stark delivering a speech and having his son pass out handbills, while the local politicians do their best to intimidate him. Willie Stark is honest and brave. He’s also a know-nothing hick whose schoolteacher wife has given him what little education he has. Stark loses the race for treasurer, but later makes his way through law school, becoming an idealistic attorney who fights for what is good. Someone in the governor’s employ remembers Stark when the governor needs a patsy to run against him and split the vote of his rival. The fat cats underestimate Stark; but Jack Burden, Stark’s biggest supporter, overestimates the man’s idealism. To get where he wants to go, Willie Stark is willing to crack a few eggs – which include his tough-talking assistant, Sadie Burke; Jack’s poised and elegant fiancée, Anne Stanton; and even Jack Burden himself.
– Written by J. Spurlin @ IMDBRead More »

PLOT SYNOPSIS
Pete and Ellen have reared Meg as their own, ever since she was a baby and her parents took off. Now a teen, Meg convinces her friend Nath to come help with chores on the farm: Pete isn’t getting around on his wooden leg like he used to. When Nath insists on using a short cut home through the woods, Pete gets quite agitated and warns him of screams in the night, of terrors associated with the red house. Curious, Meg and Nath ignore his warnings and begin exploring. Meg begins falling in love with Nath, but his girlfriend Tibby has other plans for him. Meanwhile they all get closer to real danger and the dark secret of the red house.Read More »

Synopsis:
Young model Leonora Eames (Bel Geddes) marries multimillionaire Smith Ohlrig (Ryan). Ohlrig though is deranged and did not marry for love. Eames insists several times that she married for love, but the film suggests that she is deluding herself. When Ohlrig becomes too abusive, she leaves him, penniless, to find a job at a medical clinic in a poor neighborhood and eventually falls for Dr. Larry Quinada (Mason).Read More »

The film was shot in 1942 in Kazakhstan. Unfortunately the image and sound quality is not so good.
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Synopsis
In a small provincial town, Blanche Ferrand and her uncle own a shop which sells seed and birds. Blanche resents her drab milieu but has no difficulty attracting male suitors who might offer her an escape. One of these is Martin Roumagnac, a building contractor who falls passionately in love with Blanche as soon as he sees her. Blanche appears to reciprocate Martin’s love but, without his knowing, she allows herself to be courted by a wealthy consul, whose wife is grievously ill. The consul proposes that after his wife’s death Blanche should marry him. When Martin learns of this he is thrown into a murderous frenzy…
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Quote:
Alexander Hammid’s intimate study of a female cat and the birth and maturation of her five kittens.Read More »