Crime

Quote:
Cops and Robbers depicts a city where ordinary citizens hold little trust for the police; far removed from the post-ICAC Hong Kong of today. “Can’t even look after their own guys,” a man grumbles in a roast shop after the bank shooting. The main witness for that crime refuses to speak to the police on principle and even an Old Master Cute comic strip is raised to depict the public opinion. The portrayal of the policemen is decidedly heroic against this background, strengthened by a rousing rock number sung by producer Teddy Robin and coverage of their social lives. The guy they’re up against has to be the creepiest villain I’ve ever seen in film, and his being cross-eyed is only part of the sensation. As he gets more and more screen time, Cops and Robbers builds into a strong and disturbing movie experience.Read More »

Geoff Andrew, Time Out wrote:
A classic of the genre, almost documentary in approach – low budget, no stars, Folsom Prison locations, inmates as extras – and boiling up an explosive violence kept under perfect control. Not looking for cosy answers (in fact, final victory shades ironically into defeat), the script’s prime concern is less to establish the need for reform than to demonstrate the fallibilities that militate against its accomplishment: Neville Brand’s riot leader and Emile Meyer’s warden are men of integrity in essential agreement as to what needs to be done, but each is attended by an evil genius – one psychopathic, the other corrupt – so that simple issues mutate into an entirely different ball game. A riveting movie.Read More »

Synopsis:
In meeting in Kansas, ex-cons Perry Smith and Dick Hickock are breaking several conditions of their respective paroles. The meeting, initiated by Dick, is to plan and eventually carry out a robbery based on information he had received from a fellow inmate about $10,000 cash being locked in a hidden safe in the home of the farming Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas. After the robbery, they plan on going to Mexico permanently to elude capture by the police. Each brings a necessary personality to the partnership to carry out the plan, Dick who is the brash manipulator, Perry the outwardly more sensitive but unrealistic dreamer with a violent streak under the surface.Read More »

The Law and the Lady is the third film version of the venerable Frederick Lonsdale stage play The Last of Mrs. Cheyney. Greer Garson follows in the footsteps of Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford as a beautiful confidence trickster, working in concert with a suave jewel thief (Michael Wilding). Jane Hoskins (Garson) inveigles herself into the household of San Francisco dowager Warton (Marjorie Main), where she and her accomplice intend to take their feisty hostess for everything she’s got. Thanks to censorial intervention, many of the sharper satirical edges of the Lonsdale original have been dulled by sentiment and pathos. Still, any film that offers Greer Garson as a not-so-nice lady is well worth having.Read More »

Quote:
Not-so-grieving widow Claire Marrable is horrified to hear that her supposedly wealthy husband has apparently left her penniless. But, being a practical (and resourceful) type, she hits on a scheme to keep her in the comfort to which she wishes to become accustomed. Relocating to the Arizona desert, she hires elderly housekeepers with no known relatives (but tidy nest eggs) and sends them to their rewards a bit sooner than they planned. And their remains become mulch for the widow’s growing garden as each is buried under a quickly flourishing sapling.Read More »

Marcel, recently released from prison, attempts to rebuild his relationship with his girlfriend Julie (now a prostitute) and especially his father Albert (who thinks he’s been away on a long trip abroad) while being pursued by two corrupt cops (one of whom bears a longstanding grudge against him) for drug money he’s alleged to possess…Read More »

Synopsis:
Chicago February 14th 1929. Al Capone finally establishes himself as the city’s boss of organised crime. In a north-side garage his hoods, dressed as policemen, surprise and mow down with machine-guns the key members of Bugs Moran’s rival gang. The film traces the history of the incident, and the lives affected and in some cases ended by it.Read More »

Synopsis:
4BIA is a Horror Anthology. The first segment, “Happiness” is about a lonely girl who corresponded with a stranger over hand phone text messaging and soon discovered something strange about this new stranger that she is attracted to. “Tit For Tat” spun a tale of black magic and vengeance for a school kid that had been bullied by a school gang. “In The Middle” – a group of friends faced one of their worst camping trip after water kayaking accident. The final segment “Last Fright” takes horror to new heights with a psychological thriller that involves a stewardess flying solo in a cabin with a dead body.Read More »

Synopsis:
At the core of Without Trace is a story about a young girl who is the daughter a prominent doctor. When the girl goes missing her father gets the police to jump into action because of his class status / wealth. Early on this provides one in the story this provides one of the many intricate back stories. There is a loose cannon detective who takes offense to the fact that the police bend over backwards when someone of wealth is involved and drag their feet when it is someone from a poverty background. Things quickly change when the young girls body is discovered and this detective become more sympathetic towards her.Read More »