Summoned by the dying General Sternwood, Philip Marlowe is asked to deal with several problems that are troubling his family. Marlowe finds that each problem centers about the disappearance of Sternwood’s favoured employee who has left with a mobster’s wife. Each of the problems becomes a cover for something else as Marlowe probes.Read More »
Quote:
It Happened One Night (1934) is one of the greatest romantic comedies in film history, and a film that has endured in popularity. It is considered one of the pioneering “screwball” romantic comedies of its time, setting the pattern for many years afterwards along with another contemporary film, The Thin Man (1934).Read More »
Quote:
“Vivien Leigh’s last film! A star studded extravaganza, this time on a cruise ship during the time just before World War II. Story-lines include Ms. Leigh as a lonely, forty-something woman hoping she’s still desirable, but trying to keep her dignity about it; Simone Signoret, who’s on her way to prison, romances the ship’s doctor (Oskar Werner) to get narcotics; Jose Ferrer is an anti-Semitic German publisher, not afraid to express his opinions loudly to all as “facts” (Heinz Rühmann is a quiet Jewish passenger he scorns); Lee Marvin is a washed up, drunken ball player who chases Leigh (as does Werner Klemperer); George Segal is a tortured artist who’s traveling with his girlfriend (Elizabeth Ashley), as the couple tries to work through their problems; Michael Dunn is a dwarf who narrates and provides insightful comments; Jose Greco is the leader of the ship’s gypsy entertainers who aim to bilk the passengers, especially a young man bent on losing his virginity; and there are lots of other bit players, including the ship’s Captain (Charles Korvin), who provide background and/or small plots (e.g. parents traveling with their young debutante).Read More »
From Turner Classic Movies:
On the day of his coronation as the first Tsar of Russia, the former archduke of Moscow, Ivan IV (Nikolai Cherkasov), finds himself inheriting a deeply troubled empire. The Russian people are divided into estranged clans including the Tartars and the aristocratic boyars, led by the evil, black-cloaked princess and Ivan’s aunt Euphrosinia Staritskaya (Serafima Birman).Read More »
by Bill Gibron:
There was a time, a little less than four decades ago, when Neil Simon was the literary benchmark of both Broadway and the Silver Screen. After a successful stint as a TV scribe on Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows, the soon to be phenomenon went on to create such Great White Way staples as Barefoot in the Park, Sweet Charity, Plaza Suite, and The Prisoner of Second Avenue. In 1966, he had four shows running at once and it wasn’t long before Hollywood came calling.
After adapting his Come Blow Your Horn and Park for the big screen, Simon was given the complicated task of translating his mega-hit The Odd Couple as a movie. While the studios would accept Oscar- and Tony-winner Walter Matthau as Oscar, Art Carney’s cinematic clout as Felix was questioned. Luckily, director Gene Saks hired friend and Fortune Cookie co-star Jack Lemmon as the notorious neat freak. The rest, as they say, is motion picture history.Read More »
Porn store owner Pete orders some new stuff from his supplier Niko but Niko mixes up the address with the address of the local Barclays Bank. Here, newly-weds David (the bank’s assistant manager) and Penny Hunter is shocked when first photos, then films and then finally two girls are sent to them in the Bank’s flat. They, and their friend, head cashier Brian Runnicles (who slowly starts to have a nervous breakdown), have to deal with getting rid of the porn without letting their boss, Mr. Bromley – the bank’s manager (who’s very anti-porn), the local police in the form of Inspector Paul, and David’s mother, Bertha Hunter, in on what is happening…Read More »
Plot Outline:
Two Chicago musicians are accidental witnesses to a gangland massacre and suddenly find themselves in even more urgent need of a job that will take them out of town for a while. Joe (Tony Curtis) is the smooth talker, and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) is the worrier. But both find themselves out of their depth with the disguise they have to adopt to avoid the mob – two new recruits to an all-girl jazz band.
As “Josephine” and “Daphne” the boys have to avoid detection and stay out of trouble. Not easy when “Josephine” falls for “Sugar” (Marilyn Monroe) who is the singer in the band, and “Daphne” is targetted by an aged playboy (Joe E. Brown).
Life gets really complicated when Joe adopts another male persona to seduce “Sugar”, and the Chicago mobs turn up for their convention at the hotel where our heroes are playing. Read More »
PopMatters Review :
Renowned French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse is best known for his brilliant 1956 film, The Red Balloon, winner of both an Oscar (for screenplay) and the Palme d’Or award at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. It is a short, whimsical and adventurous children’s fable about a young Parisian boy who happens upon a large, seemingly lost, red balloon and the playful, friendship, love, and dependency that develops between the two. The Red Balloon, while simple in concept, is a story suffused with the expansive wonder and pure innocence of a child’s imagination.Read More »
Synopsis:
A tale of the fall of Rome at the hand of the half-mad Emperor Nero, who sets fires throughout the city, blaming the Christians and sentencing them to death. The selfish Empress takes revenge when the object of her desire spurns her for the love of a Christian woman.Read More »