Classics

  • Ladislao Vajda – Marcelino pan y vino AKA Miracle of Marcelino (1955)

    1951-1960ClassicsDramaLadislao VajdaSpainSpanish cinema under Franco

    A baby is left at the gates of a monastery. The monks attempt to find a home for it, but end up deciding to raise the boy themselves. However, in the process, they end up offending a high-ranking official in the local town, who resolves to have the monks evicted. Several years later, the boy inadvertently causes chaos at the town fair, and the official (now the mayor) uses the event to force the eviction. With only a month left in their home, the monks need a miracle. And it is then the boy discovers a crucifix in an upstairs room in the monastery…Read More »

  • Donald Cammell & Nicolas Roeg – Performance (1970)

    Nicolas Roeg1961-1970ClassicsCultDonald CammellUnited Kingdom

    Quote:
    Performance is a 1970 British crime drama film directed by Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg, written by Cammell and starring James Fox and Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones, in his film acting debut. The film was produced in 1968 but not released until 1970. Cammell was heavily influenced by the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges (a portrait of Borges on a book cover can be seen at a crucial moment in the film).Read More »

  • Sacha Guitry – Le nouveau testament AKA Indiscretions (1936)

    1931-1940ClassicsComedyFranceSacha Guitry

    Based on Guitry’s own stage play about a sanctimonious fellow who eventually’s victimized by his own hypocrisy. Little effort’s made to “cinematize” the property, which’s filmed just as it was staged.Read More »

  • Sacha Guitry – Mon père avait raison (1936)

    1931-1940ClassicsComedyFranceSacha Guitry

    After being left for another man by his wife, Charles Bellanger raises his only son to fear and suspect women. Years later, such an education is bearing fruit.Read More »

  • Raj Kapoor – Mera Naam Joker aka My Name is Joker (1970)

    1961-1970AsianClassicsIndiaRaj Kapoor

    Winner of 5 Filmfare Awards: Best Cinematography – Color (Radhu Karmakar); Best Director (Raj Kapoor), Best Music Director (Ravi Shankar); Best Playback Singer – Male (Manna Dey for the song “Ay bhai zara dekh ke chalo”); Best Sound Recordist (Allauddin Khan Qureshi)

    Mera Naam Joker is a film about a clown who must make his audience laugh at the cost of his own sorrows. The film is reportedly inspired by Raj Kapoor’s own life and the clown an allegory for his own life as an actor.Read More »

  • Kôzaburô Yoshimura – Yoru no kawa AKA River of the Night (1956)

    1951-1960ClassicsDramaJapanKôzaburô Yoshimura

    Synopsis:
    Japanese drama from the 1950s, following a proud textile-dying family who continue practicing the traditional art even when most are abandoning it. Eldest daughter Kiwa (Fujiko Yamamoto) fuels the business with her ambition and unquestionable talent, but her attraction to a genetics professor will take her and her family’s practice to an unforeseeable direction…Read More »

  • Raj Kapoor – Sangam aka A Meeting of Souls (1964)

    1961-1970AsianClassicsIndiaRaj Kapoor

    Winner of 4 Filmfare Awards: Best Actress (Vyjayantimala), Best Director (Raj Kapoor), Best Editor (Raj Kapoor), Best Sound Recordist (Allaudin).

    Ganga, Jamuna, Saraswati, three sacred rivers in India, meet at Allahbad, and this meeting place is known as Sangam.

    Sunder (Raj Kapoor), Gopal (Rajendra Kumar) and Radha (Vyjayantimala) are three childhood friends.Read More »

  • James Whale – Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

    1931-1940ClassicsHorrorJames WhaleUSA

    Dr. Frankenstein and his monster both turn out to be alive, not killed as previously believed. Dr. Frankenstein wants to get out of the evil experiment business, but when a mad scientist, Dr. Pretorius, kidnaps his wife, Dr. Frankenstein agrees to help him create a new creature, a woman, to be the companion of the monster.Read More »

  • Stuart Walker – Werewolf of London (1935)

    1931-1940ClassicsHorrorStuart WalkerUSA

    English Botanist Wilfred Glendon finds the rare flowering plant he seeks in Tibet, but not before he is bitten by a feral monster-man. Back at his greenhouse lab outside London, he wows his guests with exotic (and utterly fantastic) plant specimens, but is having trouble getting new blooms to form from his imported Tibetan buds, which legend has it only open under the rays of the full moon. Already neglected, his wife Lisa becomes further estranged when Wilfred acts oddly, even more reclusive than normal. A doctor Yogami has appeared to tell him that the flowers are the only antidote for ‘WereWolfry’, and that he’ll be ‘transvected’ every night of the full moon to seek a murder victim. When this turns out to be true, Wilfrid leaves home, and attempts to have himself confined in rented rooms and even a tower keep back at his wife’s country estate. But his efforts are to no avail: Neither locked doors nor barred windows can keep him from going on the prowl.Read More »

Back to top button