1951-1960

A group of sinners involved in interconnected tales of murder, revenge, deceit and adultery all meet at the Gates of Hell.Read More »

A young scriptwriter with a yakuza upbringing, an iron-fire dancer, a young painter, and a pure-hearted downtown girl fall in love in Asakusa in this entertaining tale of love and action.Read More »

This is another of the many versions of the famous story: a poor samurai causes the death of his ailing wife, who is first disfigured by poison (seemed far-fetched until the Yushchenko dioxine case), in order to marry a rich woman and enjoy a life of leisure. But the wife comes back as a vengeful ghost and the bad end unhappily as they should.Read More »

One of the most unique and fascinating swashbucklers of the studio era stars a commanding Jean Peters as a notorious pirate who captains a ship of plunderers terrorizing the West Indies, duels with Blackbeard himself, and exacts ruthless revenge on any man who double-crosses her—“the vilest-hearted she-monster that ever came out of the sea,” according to the suave French officer Pierre (Louis Jordan). Throughout, Tourneur fills every inch of the frame with teeming action and movement, emphasizing both the dreamy beauty of the Technicolor images and, as the proceedings turn increasingly lurid, the savage darkness at the story’s center.Read More »

Italian submariners trapped in their damaged boat on the ocean floor.Read More »

A seventeen-year-old high school student, Fusae Nishikawa, while observing a physical education class at her menstruation class, steals her classmate Eiko Takanashi’s wallet on a whim. An anonymous love letter found in the wallet becomes a rumor among the students. Eiko is in love with an upperclassman, Kaoru Mitani. However, Kaoru’s heart has recently moved on to college student Nitta.Read More »

A feud between families in 1870’s rural France.

A few years after their successful collaboration on La Traversée de Paris (1956), director Claude Autant-Lara and the popular comic actor Bourvil worked together on this light-hearted farce, based on a best-selling novel by Marcel Aymé. One of Autant-Lara’s more cheerful films, La Jument verte benefits from an exceptionally talented cast, which includes such big names as Francis Blanche, Yves Robert, Georges Wilson and Marie Déa, as well as the great Bourvil (who, needless to say, gives great value). Read More »

A young delinquent wants to avenge his sister from a college student who abandoned her after leaving her pregnant. To do this, he decides to seduce the student’s sister to make him suffer the same fate.Read More »

Quote:
Jacques Doniol-Valcroze was a co-founder of Cahiers du Cinema. A respected reviewer and cinéaste but no great shakes as an actor and as a director did not exactly set the world alight!

It is well-nigh impossible however not to like this unassuming, tender and unashamedly romantic opus which he has also written. It is essentially a ‘will they, won’t they’ movie and stars Jean-Louis Trintignant and the director’s future wife Francoise Brion. Individually both actors have charisma and together a distinct ‘chemistry’ which results in fascinating viewing. They represent two sides of the love triangle whilst all we see of the third side is his hand and the back of his head. The emotional soul-searching is balanced by moments of gentle humour.Read More »