Crime

Lon Chaney — the Man of a Thousand Faces — used his makeup skills, astonishing physicality and profound empathy to create Quasimodo, the Phantom of the Opera and more of the Silent Era’s greatest horror roles. In this hypnotic mix of creepiness and crime, he plays a ventriloquist who dons a granny disguise to team with a strongman and a little person in a bizarre robbery scheme that ends in murder. The film marks an even more fateful alliance than that of the Unholy Three: the collaboration between Chaney and director Tod Browning, who would helm seven more Chaney movies before making Sound Era horror history with Dracula and Freaks.Read More »

Berlin, 1948/1949. The town is divided into two sectors. The world is close to World War III. West Berlin is kept alive by the biggest airlift in history. While the city is deadlocked, three teenagers set out to fulfil their dreams: Völpel (Hilmar Thate), ex-executioner, receives secret information from Police Headquarters. Gladow (Ulrich Wesselmann), 17 years old, wants to be like Al Capone. Lisa Gabler (Katharina Thalbach) dreams of buying Berlins biggest revue venue the ‘Friedrichstadt Palast.’ But suddenly, the droning of the airplanes ceases? Based on a true story from the times of the ‘Berlin Blockade.’Read More »

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Más allá del olvido (Beyond Oblivion) is one of the best films made in Argentina and the best Hugo del Carril directed. Based on the novel Bruges-la-Morte by Georges Rodenbach, this melodrama tells the story of Fernando (del Carril) that cannot get over the premature death of his beloved wife Blanca, so he decides to embark on an extended trip to Paris. There, he meets Monica (Laura Hidalgo), in every way an exact duplicate of his late wife, except that she’s a brazen woman of the streets. No matter; Fernando is soon hopelessly in love and intent on bringing her back home and making her into the woman she’s supposed to be; for her part, Monica imagines that she may have stumbled upon a very good deal.Read More »

Questioned as a murder suspect, solid (but drunk) citizen Al Willis attacks his police questioners, is beaten, and swears vengeance against them. Next night, Lieut. Parks is murdered; Willis is the only suspect in the eyes of tough Chief Conroy, who pursues him doggedly despite lack of evidence. The obsessed Conroy is dismissed from the force, but continues to harass Willis, who flees to a sleazy town on the Mexican border. Of course, Conroy follows. But which is crazy, Conroy or Willis? Written by Rod CrawfordRead More »

Swaying between pleasure and despair, Elric throws himself into his pathological passion for the casino. Meeting Suzie could have saved him, but the young woman also sinks into gambling hell. The couple then start getting involved in the fearsome world of professional cheaters…Read More »

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‘Escape from Japan’ chronicles the misadventures of Tatsuo Ihara, a small-time criminal who dreams of seeking his fortune away from Japan. Timed to coincide with the Tokyo Olympiad and released on July 4, Escape From Japan can be safely assumed to have something to say about Japan’s place in the world and its relations with the U.S. in particular. It also proves less an imitation than a black-comic send-up of the sort of sordid crime stories that Seijun Suzuki and others specialized in.Read More »

In this sequel to the hit comedy Vabank, Poland’s most popular screen actor (Jan Machulski) returns as legendary bandit Kwinto. When the suave thief’s long-time enemy Kramer escapes from prison to get even, Kwinto calls upon his old gang to meet the threat. Set in the 1930s, the sequel features Kwinto and the gang matching wits against everyone from crooked bank managers to Nazi border guards.Read More »

Set in Warsaw in 1930’s. After six years in jail, framed for bank robbery by an accomplice, the legendary Kwinto has only revenge on his mind. He is a safecracker in the old style, a thief with a sense of pride and loyalty. Upon leaving the jail he learns that his friend with whom he played in the jazz band has been murdered by the same guy – now a bank president – who sent him to prison. Kramer hopes to keep Kwinto’s mouth shut by paying him off, but at the same time he hires a paid gun to kill him. Meanwhile, some young, petty crooks hearing that Kwinto is free want to join forces with him for a job. Kwinto, employing a retired professional and two young admirers, pulls his last job to get even with Kramer…Read More »

When Bo and Roy, 18-year-olds fresh from school and seemingly normal, decide to hit LA for one last fling before settling into factory jobs, neither they nor the audience are prepared for their sudden descent into committing a series of brutal, apparently motiveless murders. Whereas Spheeris’ The Wild Side was weakened by sentimentalising its disaffected punk heroes, her second feature presents a tougher and more balanced view of teen violence; while we’re allowed a glimmer of understanding into the murderers’ feelings, we never indulge them with misplaced sympathies: these boys are monsters.Read More »