Plot Synopsis by Hal Erickson
A young woman (Jean Simmons) manages a remote California sheep ranch with her father (Brian Aherne). A plane carrying a sheriff (Stephen McNally) and a convicted murderer (Rory Calhoun) crashes nearby. Both men are cared for by the girl, who doesn’t know at first which is the cop and which is the criminal. She falls in love with the convicted man and believes protestations of innocence, but the vindictive sheriff tries to dissuade her of these feelings. Given several chances to finish each other off, both sheriff and convict relent. Under the influence of the girl, they agree to return to Utah together, where (it is implied) the criminal will be given a bias-free trial.Read More »
Drama
-
John Farrow – A Bullet Is Waiting (1954)
Drama1951-1960AdventureJohn FarrowUSA -
John Ford – 7 Women (1966)
1961-1970DramaJohn FordQueer Cinema(s)USAWestern
Plot
John Ford’s final film is set in China in 1935, where a group of American women, led by Agatha Andrews (Margaret Leighton), work as missionaries. One of the women, Florrie (Betty Field), is pregnant and accompanied by her husband, Charles (Eddie Albert), while the others are single and on their own. The mission has become crowded after a cholera epidemic forced several outsiders to flee a nearby British mission and seek shelter with the American group, while a Mongol warrior, Tunga Khan (Mike Mazurki), has assembled troops who are sacking the area. When a female doctor, Dr. D.L. Cartwright (Anne Bancroft), enters the picture, she attempts to bring humor and civility to the group, but her tough yet compassionate nature clashes with Agatha’s by-the-book approach, and when Cartwright is willing to put her own safety at risk to gain the attentions of Tunga Khan and slow his onslaught, the group is strongly divided — most of the women admire the doctor’s bravery, but Agatha (who seems to have a non-professional interest in Cartwright herself) considers her foolish and reckless. Seven Women was originally planned to star Patricia Neal as Dr. Cartwright, but when she suffered a stroke during filming that put her acting career on hold for several years, Anne Bancroft was recast in the role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie GuideRead More » -
John Ford – Mother Machree (1928)
1921-1930DramaJohn FordSilentUSAPLOT SUMMARY and OTHER INFORMATION
from Waldo’s announceReels one, two and five — all that survives, unfortunately, of this late silent film by John Ford, though it’s enough to suggest that it might have been a major work. The story, supposedly based on the sentimental Irish ballad, is a blend of “Sylvia Scarlet” and “Stella Dallas,” about a single mother who joins a traveling circus (lead by Victor McLaglen) to support her child, only to eventually lose him to a rich couple. She meets her son (Neil Hamilton) years later when she’s employed as a domestic, and now he’s a swaggering young society man. Does she reveal her identity to him? We’ll never know, since the end of the film is missing. What you do get is one heck of a storm sequence in the first reel, filmed by Ford in the high expressionist style he was then absorbing from FW Murnau.Read More »
-
István Szabó – Édes Emma, drága Böbe – vázlatok, aktok aka Sweet Emma, Dear Böbe – Sketches, Nudes (1992)
1991-2000DramaHungaryIstván SzabóEmma has moved to Budapest from the countryside with her good friend Böbe, and both of them have taken jobs as schoolteachers. However, their wages are pitifully small, and all they can afford in the way of housing is a shared room in a boarding house near the airport. The two women have settled into their lives, but it isn’t easy: Emma’s sexual affair with the school’s married principal is not emotionally satisfying, and Böbe’s penchant for picking up foreigners and bringing them back to their room for sex creates unpleasant situations, to say the least. At school, it used to be clear what the quickest route to success was, but now that the “communists” are no longer in power, a lot of the senior people are floundering in uncertainty. Eventually, Emma gains the courage to strike out on her own. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie GuideRead More »
-
Tapan Sinha – Khudito Pashan AKA The Hungry Stones (1960)
1951-1960DramaHorrorIndiaTapan Sinha
SYNOPSIS
From IMDb:
The film is adapted from a story called Hungry Stones by Rabindranath Tagore. A tax collector posted to a small town puts up at a mansion feared by the locals because it is haunted. As time passes he grows more consumed by the mansion and its air of romance, and the spirits that haunt it, especially a beautiful woman.Read More » -
Ümit Ünal – Nar (2011)
2011-2020DramaTurkeyUmit UnalFrom divimag.co.uk:
A harmless looking middle aged fortune teller (Serra Yılmaz ) arrives at the swanky apartment of bohemian actress Deniz (İrem Altuğ) who lives with her lesbian lover Dr Sema (İdil Fırat). Over a cup of homemade Turkish coffee the fortune teller turns out to be a vengeful grandmother who is seeking justice for the death of her granddaughter. She believes her death occured through the neglect of Dr Sema and a cover up by the hospital prevented a proper investigation. She drugs the actress and when the caretaker (Erdem Akakçe) comes to her rescue and her partner arrives home from her shift they all end up as prisoners at gunpoint.Read More » -
Michael Haneke – Fräulein (1985)
1981-1990AustriaDramaMichael HanekeQuote:
Described as an answer to Fassbinder’s The Marriage of Maria Braun, Fraulein tells the story of a German woman and a former French prisoner of war living in 1950s Germany. Instead of playing a role in rebuilding her country, Haneke’s heroine remains preoccupied with her personal affairs. Shot predominantly in black and white (with a color sequence added toward the end), Fraulein asserts Haneke’s place alongside the masters of the New German Cinema.Read More » -
István Szabó – Álmodozások kora AKA Age of Illusions (1964)
1961-1970ArthouseDramaHungaryIstván SzabóQuote:
The Hungarian Age of Illusions was the first feature-film effort by writer/director István Szabó. Andras Balint plays an electrical engineer who hops from bed to bed, never making any lasting commitment with any one woman. All this changes when he falls in love with a local celebrity whom he sees on television (Ilona Beres). Trouble is, he’s never met her; like her other fans, he can assess her only by what he witnesses on the small screen. When he finally does touch base with the girl, he’s in for a few surprises-some pleasant, many others not so. Completed in 1965, Age of Illusions was not given widespread distribution until 1967.Read More » -
Umit Unal – Dokuz AKA Nine (2002)
2001-2010DramaThrillerTurkeyUmit UnalScene: A poor neighborhood of Istanbul. A beautiful, young, homeless girl is killed in a brutal and gory murder. Nobody knows where she comes from, although there are many rumors. Six people from the neighborhood are interrogated by the police and the secret history of the neighborhood is thus revealed. 9 is a story about everyday fascism in the lives of ordinary people.
The movie centers entirely around the interrogation of 6 people about the murder of a homeless girl relatively new to their Istanbul neighborhood. The stories told by each of the characters about their community, neighbors and the murder start out innocently, but bit by bit the oniony layers of the rotten story start to be peeled away revealing that nothing is as rosy as the neighbors would like to believe. Clever editing of the ever changing versions of stories by the different characters provides an often humorous, quick paced, entertaining film that in the end leaves you questioning where the facade ends and the truth really begins.
Melissa@ImdbRead More »







