Classics

  • Michael Snow – Wavelength (1967) (HD)

    1961-1970Amos Vogel: Film as a Subversive ArtCanadaClassicsExperimentalMichael Snow

    Quote:
    “Wavelength” was shot in one week in December, 1966, preceded by a year of notes, thoughts, mutterings. It was edited and first print seen in May, 1967. (The Film-Makers’ Cooperative)

    Quote:
    I wanted to make a summation of my nervous system, religious inklings, and aesthetic ideas. I was thinking of, planning for a time monument in which the beauty and sadness of equivalence would be celebrated, thinking of trying to make a definitive statement of pure Film space and time, a balancing of “illusion” and “fact,” all about seeing.Read More »

  • Nick Grinde – The Man They Could Not Hang (1939)

    1931-1940ClassicsHorrorNick GrindeUSA

    When Dr. Savaard’s experiment in cryonics is interrupted by the short-sighted authorities, his volunteer dies, and he is condemned to death. He vows vengeance if he can survive his own hanging.Read More »

  • Harry Keller – Tarnished (1950)

    1941-1950ClassicsFilm NoirHarry KellerUSA

    Plot
    Dorothy Patrick, Republic Pictures’ all-purpose leading lady, heads the cast of Tarnished. Arthur Franz co-stars as Bud Dolliver, who returns to his hometown after a hitch in the Marines. Because of Bud’s previous bad reputation, the townsfolk assume that he’s been in prison. Despite his protestations, everyone chooses to believe the worst of Dolliver — everyone, that is, except his childhood sweetheart Lou Dolliver (Patrick). Eventually, a crisis arises which allows Bud to prove himself once and for all. Former “Henry Aldrich” James Lydon is most effective in an sympathetic supporting role.Read More »

  • John Ford – How Green Was My Valley [+commentary] (1941)

    Drama1941-1950ClassicsJohn FordUSA

    Quote:
    Life is hard in a Welsh mining town and no less so for the Morgan family. Seen through the eyes of the family’s youngest, Huw, we learn of the family’s trials and tribulations. Family patriarch Gwilym and his older sons work in the mines, dangerous and unhealthy as it is. Gwilym has greater hopes for his youngest son, but Huw has his own ideas on how to honor his father. Daughter Angharad is the most beautiful girl in the valley and is very much in love with Mr. Gruffydd, who isn’t sure he can provide her the life she deserves. Times are hard and good men find themselves out of work and exploited by unseen mine owners.Read More »

  • László Benedek – Death of a Salesman (1951)

    1951-1960ClassicsDramaLászló BenedekUSA

    Reportedly unavailable on TV or video because Arthur Miller himself was unhappy with it, this 1951 film version of the classic play nevertheless features a bravura, barn-burning performance from Fredric March, who had been Miller’s original choice to play Willy Loman on the stage. (March turned down the part, and regretted it greatly, which led to his taking the movie part.)Read More »

  • Renato Castellani – Due soldi di speranza AKA Two Cents Worth of Hope (1952)

    1951-1960ClassicsComedyItalyRenato Castellani

    Synopsis:
    The story concerns the romance between Carmela and Antonio. Faced with the hostility of their parents, they symbolically shed themselves of all responsibilities to others in a climactic act of stark-naked bravado.Read More »

  • W.S. Van Dyke – Guilty Hands (1931)

    1931-1940ClassicsCrimeUSAW.S. Van Dyke

    Starring: Lionel Barrymore, Madge Evans, Kay Francis, C. Aubrey Smith, Polly Moran, Alan Mowbry

    Richard Grant (Barrymore) is a successful lawyer who believes that his many years of dealing with crime has taught him how to commit the perfect murder. He’s working for shady cad Gordon Rich (Mowbry) who informs Grant before a dinner party that he intends to marry his daughter, Barbara (Evans). Grant seethes with anger and, after dinner, kills Rich. It’s almost the perfect crime, but Rich’s troubled mistress Marjorie (Francis), becomes suspicious of Grant.Read More »

  • Paul Almond – Isabel (1968)

    1961-1970CanadaClassicsDramaPaul Almond

    A woman believes she is beginning to lose her mind when she begins seeing ghosts and spirits.

    As a comment on religious repression, familial ostracism, and subliminal incestuous urges, this film might have some value.Read More »

  • Robert Bresson – Au hasard Balthazar (1966) (HD)

    1961-1970ArthouseClassicsFranceRobert Bresson

    Quote:
    The story of a mistreated donkey and the people around him. A study on saintliness and a sister piece to Bresson’s Mouchette.

    Quote:
    In the French countryside near the Pyrenees, a baby donkey is adopted by young children – Jacques and his sisters, who live on a farm. They baptize the donkey (and christen it Balthazar) along with Marie, Jacques’ childhood sweetheart, whose father is the teacher at the small school next-door. When one of Jacques’ sisters dies, his family vacates the farm, and Marie’s family take it over in a loose arrangement. The donkey is given away to local farmhands who work it very hard. Years pass until Balthazar is involved in an accident and runs off, finding its way back to Marie, who is now a teenager. But her father gets involved in legal wrangles over the farm and the donkey is given away to a local bakery for delivery work.Read More »

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