Classics

  • Ernst Lubitsch – Ninotchka (1939)

    USA1931-1940ClassicsComedyErnst LubitschScrewball Comedy

    Synopsis:
    Ninotchka is a stern, straightlaced Communist Party member sent to Paris to finish the sale of Grand Duchess Swana’s jewels for the Soviet government. But, while studying the frivolous materialism of Paris, Ninotchka meets Leon, Swana’s lawyer and sometime lover, and the two become enamored with one another — without knowing each other’s identity. The Grand Duchess, in the meantime, is suing the USSR for ownership of the jewels. What follows is a delicate web of intrigue and deception as Swana tries to blackmail Ninotchka into leaving Paris. Soon the two lovers have to overcome political hurdles and cross borders just to be together.Read More »

  • Laurence Olivier – Richard III [+Commentary] (1955)

    1951-1960ClassicsDramaLaurence OlivierUnited KingdomWilliam Shakespeare

    Plot: Richard III is a 1955 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare’s historical play of the same name, also incorporating elements from his Henry VI, Part 3. It was directed and produced by Sir Laurence Olivier, who also played the lead role. The cast includes many noted Shakespearean actors, including a quartet of acting knights. The film depicts Richard plotting and conspiring to grasp the throne from his brother King Edward IV, played by Sir Cedric Hardwicke. In the process, many are killed and betrayed, with Richard’s evil leading to his own downfall. The prologue of the film states that history without its legends would be “a dry matter indeed”, implicitly admitting to the artistic licence that Shakespeare applied to the events of the time.Read More »

  • Merab Kokochashvili – Didi mtsvane veli AKA Big Green Valley (1967)

    Arthouse1961-1970ClassicsGeorgiaMerab Kokochashvili

    Sosana is a shepherd and lives the livelong days with his herd. He decides to bring his family to the field and teach his son how to take care of the herd. Unexpectedly, a group of geologists discover the oilfield in the pasture, meaning that there would be oil wells set up right there were Sosana’s herd was. the collective farm demands that Sosana hand over his herd to the farm. sosana’s private life is also in disarray. His wife leaves. The shepherd cannot come to terms with the changes. He wants to live the way his ancestors did and wishes to be buried by their side. with no family and with no herd Sosana is wandering in the snowy field in quest of the lost herd.Read More »

  • Howard Hawks – His Girl Friday (1940)

    1931-1940ClassicsComedyHoward HawksScrewball ComedyUSA

    Synopsis:
    Having been away for four months, Hildy Johnson walks into the offices of the New York City based The Morning Post, where she is a star reporter, to tell her boss, editor Walter Burns, that she is quitting. The reason for her absence was among other things to get a Reno divorce, from, of all people, Walter, who admits he was a bad husband. Hildy divorced Walter largely because she wanted more of a home life, whereas Walter saw her more as a driven hard-boiled reporter than subservient homemaker. Hildy has also come to tell Walter that she is taking the afternoon train to Albany, where she will be getting married tomorrow to staid straight-laced insurance agent, Bruce Baldwin, with whose mother they will live, at least for the first year. Read More »

  • Stuart Burge – The Importance of Being Earnest (1986)

    Comedy1981-1990BBCClassicsStuart BurgeUnited Kingdom

    Algy and Jack discover that they have both been Bunberrying, that is, assuming different identities in order to enjoy themselves in a guilt-free manner. Jack’s pretending to be his foolish younger brother, Ernest in order to be a model of moral rectitude to his young ward, Cecily. Jack intends to propose to Gwendolyn–that is until he discovers that she loves him because his name is Ernest. He sets about being rechristened. And when Cecily intends to meet her bad cousin Ernest, and Algy seizes the opportunity, it will take the imperious Lady Bracknell, Miss Prism’s recollections about her handbag, and an army list to clear the matter up, and allow true love to run its course.Read More »

  • George Cukor – Holiday (1938)

    1931-1940ClassicsComedyGeorge CukorScrewball ComedyUSA

    Synopsis:
    Free-thinking Johnny Case finds himself betrothed to a millionaire’s daughter. When her family, with the exception of black-sheep Linda and drunken Ned, want Johnny to settle down to big business, he rebels, wishing instead to spend the early years of his life on “holiday.” With the help of his friends Nick and Susan Potter, he makes up his mind as to which is the better course, and the better mate.Read More »

  • George Stevens – Penny Serenade (1941)

    1941-1950ClassicsDramaGeorge StevensUSA

    Synopsis:
    As Julie prepares to leave her husband Roger, she begins to play through a stack of recordings, each of which reminds her of events in their lives together. One of them is the song that was playing when she and Roger first met in a music store. Other songs remind her of their courtship, their marriage, their desire for a child, and the joys and sorrows that they have shared. A flood of memories comes back to her as she ponders their present problems and how they arose.Read More »

  • Leo McCarey – The Awful Truth (1937)

    USA1931-1940ClassicsComedyLeo McCareyScrewball Comedy

    Synopsis:
    Before their divorce becomes final, Jerry and Lucy Warriner both do their best to ruin each other’s plans for remarriage, Jerry to haughty socialite Barbara Vance, she to oil-rich bumpkin Daniel Leeson. Among their strategies: Jerry’s court-decreed visitation rights with Mr. Smith, their pet fox terrier, and Lucy doing her most flamboyant Dixie Belle Lee impersonation as Jerry’s brassy “sister” before his prospective bride’s scandalized family.Read More »

  • Luigi Zampa – Campane a martello AKA Alarm Bells (1949)

    1941-1950ClassicsDramaItalyLuigi Zampa

    Agostina is a maid turned prostitute during World War II. She sends all the money she makes to the local priest in her home village for safekeeping. After the war is over, Agostina and her friend plan to open a clothing store so they return to her home island to collect the money from the priest. But after arriving there, Agostina learns in shock that the priest has been dead for more than a year and that his eccentric successor mistook the received money for donations and spent all of it on building a new orphanage for war orphans. To make matters worse, other islanders think that Agostina is now a millionaire and beg her to help them financially.Read More »

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