Classics

Plot & Review:
A former auctioneer, Carlo Mezzetti (Eduardo De Filippo), homeless with his daughter Annuccia (Vanna Vanni), clings to favorable situations and legal technicalities in order to find temporary housing and to illegally occupy vacant houses.
The two are accompanied by the spouses Squeglia, Pasqualino (Peppino De Filippo), self-styled pharmacist, and his wife Olimpia (Titina De Filippo).
Through a fraudulent trick, he manages to convince the owner of one of the vacant houses illegally occupied by him, to sign a contract, all for the benefit of Carlo and his companions in misfortune.
The cheated owner, however, falls in love with Annuccia. Carlo accepts, thus, to give the hand of his daughter to the landlord, preventing further legal action by the latter.Read More »

Gringo is a notorious gunfighter. After his brother is tortured and killed by bandits, Gringo joins the group to eliminate them one by one from the inside! A nice looking and somewhat offbeat movie starring Lang Jeffries with Femi Benussi, Fernando Sancho, Carlo Gaddi, Rubén Rojo, Aldo Sambrell , Carlo Simoni, Giuliana Garavaglia, Glenn Saxson, Ángel Álvarez and Marisa Paredes.
Lang Jeffries, Fernando Sancho, Femi Benussi, Carlos Gaddi. A unique Euro-western with the hero as an astrologist who wears a leopard suit. Sure, there’s a revenge theme, but overall this is a different brand of spaghetti. It’s very moody and feels like a Euro-horror film in spots.Read More »

With both Don Camillo and his communist archenemy Peppone away in Rome, the little Italian village of Brescello is at last a haven of peace. But this happy state of affairs doesn’t last long… The news that the villagers plan to demolish an ancient chapel and build a House of the People in its place soon reaches the ears of Don Camillo, now comfortably ensconced in the Vatican. Appalled by this proposed act of desecration, the priest hurries back to his former village and is soon caught up in yet another blood-and-guts tussle with the troublesome Peppone.Read More »

THE SCREEN IN REVIEW; ‘ The Gay Sisters,’ Featuring Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Donald Crisp, at Strand
T. S.
Published: August 15, 1942
The New York Times

What a long, gray and pretentious film “The Gay Sisters” is! Another pointlessly caustic inquiry into the lives of the eccentric off-spring of a once grand family, the new film at the Strand not once offers the slightest reason to warrant the telling of its involved and trivial story. Read More »

Synopsis:
The story of a once-respectable woman who re-encounters her first love, now a successful doctor. Reduced to nude-dancing in a sleazy dive, with a son to support, Evelyne (Edwige Feuillère) borrows money at an outrageous interest rate in order to create a facade of respectability–and, it goes without saying, Georges falls in love with her all over again. But how can Evelyne maintain her bourgeois value and save son and “father” from the consequences of her fall?Read More »

Synopsis:
Brutus is convinced by a scheming band of Roman senators, led by Caius Cassius, that his dear friend Julius Caesar intends to dissolve the republic and install himself as monarch, and he joins a conspiracy to assassinate him. Brutus stirringly defends his actions, but when Mark Antony responds with a speech that plays upon the crowd’s love for their fallen leader, a battle between the two factions is assured.Read More »

Synopsis: Charlotte Danfield (Fay Bainter), a member of an old Maryland family with horse breeding in its blood, orders her entire stable sold after her husband meets his death in a hunting accident. She also forbids her son Lee (John Payne) to ride again, but when the boy remains friendly with Charlotte’s old horse trainer, William Stewart (Walter Brennan), and his granddaugther Linda (Brenda Joyce), Charlotte ships him off to school in Europe to remove him from Maryland’s horse-oriented environment. Horses are in Lee’s blood, however, so when he returns home a grown man and learns that “Uncle Bill” is grooming “Cavalier” for the Maryland Cup, he eagerly offers to ride the steed. Later, after acquiescing to Charlotte’s wish that he not ride, Lee, out of a sense of loyalty to Uncle Bill, defies his mother’s will. Read More »

A group of female doctors travel to a remote village during their summer holiday to offer free medical care to villagers. There they must battle prejudice and superstition as much as disease. Stars Kinuyo Tanaka and Shin Saburi.Read More »

Synopsis:
As Japan became more prosperous, the Ginza district of Tokyo emerged as the luxury bar and cabaret center it remains to this day. While the charming and beautiful women who operate these establishments are privy to political and financial deals of national importance, Yoshimura’s film reveals that their hopes, their businesses and their very lives are as fragile as butterflies.Read More »