Quote:
In Raj Kapoor’s own words, Aag is “the story of youth consumed by the desire for a brighter and more intense life.” Kewal and Nimmi are childhood sweethearts who share a passion for theatre. They promise each other that when they grow up, they will together start their own theatre company, an unfulfilled dream as Nimmi and her parents move to another town. Years later, two young men Rajan (Prem Nath) and Kewal (Raj Kapoor) revive an old theatre that closed down. One day, a young destitute girl (Nargis) comes to the theatre and begins to act in Kewal’s plays. Fascinated by her, Kewal names her Nimmi. But when he discovers that Rajan is also in love with her, he steps aside only to realize that Nimmi loves him….Aag was the debut of Raj Kapoor’s astounding career as one of Indian cinema’s most illustrious directors and was the first time Nargis and Raj Kapoor came together as a romantic on-screen couple.Read More »
Classics
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Raj Kapoor – Aag aka Fire (1948)
1941-1950AsianClassicsIndiaRaj Kapoor -
Akira Kurosawa – Tora no o wo fumu otokotachi AKA The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail (1945)
1941-1950AdventureAkira KurosawaClassicsJapanThe Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail, the fourth film from Akira Kurosawa, is based on
a legendary twelfth-century incident in which the lord Yoshitsune, with the help of a group of samurai, crosses enemy territory disguised as a monk. The story was dramatized for centuries in Noh and Kabuki theater, and here it becomes one of the director’s lightest, most farcical films.Read More » -
Ted Tetzlaff – The White Tower (1950)
USA1941-1950AdventureClassicsTed TetzlaffSynopsis:
The White Tower, a Matterhorn-like mountain in the Swiss Alps, has never been climbed. Carla Alten’s father, a famous mountaineer, died in a long-ago attempt. Now, Carla, determined to fulfill her father’s dream, has assembled an unusual climbing party to tackle the nearly-impossible ascent.Read More » -
William A. Seiter – Room Service (1938)
1931-1940ClassicsComedyUSAWilliam A. SeiterQuote:
The Marx Brothers try and put on a play before their landlord finds out that they have run out of money. To confuse the landlord they pretend that the play’s author has contracted some terrible disease and can’t be moved. Originally a stage play, the setting shows it’s origins, but this is vintage Marx Brothers.Read More » -
Henry King – Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie (1952)
1951-1960ClassicsDramaHenry KingUSAFrom anttialanenfilmdiary.blogspot.com
Ben Halper sets up his barber’s shop at the turn of the century in Sevillinois and watches the town grow around him. Thinking it is for the best, he tries to shield his wife Nellie from the worries of the world. She finally rebels while he is away at war and takes a fateful trip to Chicago. This turns out to be the first of a number of critical family crises for Ben.Read More » -
Henry Hathaway – The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951)
1951-1960ClassicsHenry HathawayWar

Synopsis:
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (James Mason) leads the German troops against the Allied forces in World War II. Rommel’s virtuosity on the battlefield makes him a national hero and earns the begrudging respect of his foes, but his tactics also infuriate Adolf Hitler. Rommel’s close friend Dr. Strölin (Cedric Hardwicke) asks him to take part in a plan to assassinate the Führer; when Hitler learns of Rommel’s involvement in the scheme, the field marshal is given a chilling ultimatum.Read More » -
Hiromasa Nomura – Kinuyo no hatsukoi AKA Kinuyo’s First Love (1940)
1931-1940AsianClassicsHiromasa NomuraJapanKinuyo is a daughter of rice cracker shop in downtown. She fell in love with her sister’s boyfriend. It is a story whose theme is warm human relationships in a town of customs and manners.Read More »
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Frank Tuttle – This Is the Night (1932)
1931-1940ClassicsComedyFrank TuttleUSAAn affair is about to be consummated in a planned trip to Venice, but complications ensue when the woman’s husband returns unexpectedly from the Olympics. Cary Grant is the javelin-wielding Olympian in his first feature film. For probably the last time he gets fifth billing behind, among others, a sparkling Thelma Todd and Charlie Ruggles.
Very pre-code in its sensibility, with clear references to Lubitsch.Read More »
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Michael Curtiz – Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
1931-1940ClassicsHorrorMichael CurtizUSA

In London, sculptor Ivan Igor struggles in vain to prevent his partner Worth from burning his wax museum…and his ‘children.’ Years later, Igor starts a new museum in New York, but his maimed hands confine him to directing lesser artists. People begin disappearing (including a corpse from the morgue); Igor takes a sinister interest in Charlotte Duncan, fiancée of his assistant Ralph, but arouses the suspicions of Charlotte’s roommate, wisecracking reporter Florence.Read More »






