Classics

  • Vincente Minnelli – Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

    1941-1950ClassicsMusicalUSAVincente Minnelli

    Synopsis:
    St. Louis 1903. The well-off Smith family has four beautiful daughters, including Esther and little Tootie. 17-year old Esther has fallen in love with the boy next door who has just moved in, John. He however barely notices her at first. The family is shocked when Mr. Smith reveals that he has been transfered to a nice position in New York, which means that the family has to leave St. Louis and the St. Louis Fair.Read More »

  • Frank Capra – Mr. Deeds Goes to Town [+commentary] (1936)

    1931-1940ClassicsComedyFrank CapraScrewball ComedyUSA

    Synopsis:
    Longfellow Deeds lives in a small town, leading a small town kind of life – including playing the tuba in the town band. When a relative dies and leaves Deeds a fortune, Longfellow picks up his tuba and moves to the big city where he becomes an instant target for everyone from the greedy opera committee to the sensationist daily newspaper. Deeds outwits them all until Babe Bennett comes along. Babe is a hot-shot reporter who figures the best way to get close to Deeds is to pose as a damsel in distress. When small-town boy meets big-city girl anything can, and does, happen.Read More »

  • 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
    His Girl Friday (1940)

    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 »

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