Drama

  • Helmut Käutner – Himmel ohne Sterne AKA Sky Without Stars (1955)

    Drama1951-1960ClassicsGermanyHelmut Käutner

    Synopsis:
    Anna (Eva Kotthaus) is a factory worker in East Germany. Her five-year-old son Jochen, lives with his grandparents in the West and Anna wants him to live with her, so she abducts him. Along the way she meets Carl (Erik Schumann) who helps her with her son and they fall in love.Read More »

  • Nobuhiko Ôbayashi – Kare no ootobai, kanojo no shima AKA His Motorbike, Her Island (1986)

    1981-1990AsianDramaJapanNobuhiko Obayashi

    After being threatened by his girlfriend’s brother, Ko (Riki Takeuchi) goes on a trip on his Kawasaki to contemplate his options. He meets Miiyo (Kiwako Harada) by chance, and the two stay in touch. He later receives an invitation to her island, where he begins to teach her how to ride, and quickly falls for her. Miiyo is an extremely quick study, and the two are a well-matched pair. However, her obsession with motorbikes seems to be leading her down a dangerous path.Read More »

  • Raoul Lévy – The Defector AKA L’espion (1966)

    1961-1970DramaFranceRaoul LévyThriller

    Montgomery Cliff (in his last role) plays James Bower, an American physicist visiting West Germany who’s recruited by a shady CIA agent, named Adam, to help them with the defection of a Russian scientist. But an East German secret agent, named Peter Heinzeman, learns of Bower’s meeting with Adam and threatens Bower to mind his own business, while Bower learns of a back story to all this involving stolen microfilm that each side wants.Read More »

  • Ali Badr Khan – Al karnak AKA Karnak Café (1975)

    1971-1980Ali Badr KhanDramaEgyptPolitics

    In one of their best roles ever, distinguished actors Nour al Sherif and Saad Hosni star in this overwhelming movie which witnesses the unstable social and political life in Egypt during the late 60s and early 70s of the last century. The lives of a group of university students are turned upside down because of their talks about the political instability the country was going through at the time. While some of the students managed to recover, others have been doomed and fought for their lives. Based on the novel of the same name by Naguib Mahfouz!Read More »

  • James Whale – Sinners in Paradise (1938)

    1931-1940CrimeDramaJames WhaleUSA

    Synopsis:
    A seaplane departs for China. On board are a nurse escaping a loveless marriage to do work with refugees, a woman hoping to surprise her estranged son, a wealthy heiress trying to distance herself from labor troubles, an oily politician, a moll and a mobster fleeing the wrath of the gangs they’ve double-crossed, two rival munitions salesmen out to cash in on the misery of war, and a fresh-faced young steward. Caught in a course-altering storm, a crash-landing destroys the plane, kills the plane’s officers, and tosses the surviving passengers into the sea. They are washed ashore on an isolated island inhabited solely by mysteriously reclusive Mr. Taylor and his servant, Ping. Until Taylor decides if, how and when he will allow them to take his boat back to China for help, this disparate band must work together, change their self-centered ways, and examine their motives for wanting to escape from the island and their pasts.Read More »

  • Guðný Halldórsdóttir – Kristnihald undir Jökli AKA Under the Glacier (1989)

    1981-1990ArthouseDramaGuðný HalldórsdóttirIceland

    This is the story of a spiritual and physical odyssey, comic and strange, made by a young theological student. Our hero is Umbi (an acronym for emissary of the bishop), sent by him to undertake an important investigation at Snæfell glacier. In particular he is to look into the conduct and behavior of Jón Prímus, the old pastor at Snæfell. Fantastic rumours are rife: amongst other things it is said that a corpse is lodged in the glacier! Armed with his tape recorder and notebook, Umbi embarks upon his mission. He tries to question the weird locals, a weird lot, but gets evasive answers. Slowly he is dragged into a quagmire of strange happenings and his efforts to understand only make him confused. If at the beginning he is a chiper, a mere device, by the end of the story he is inextricably involved, a committed participant in the bizarre events.Read More »

  • Emilio Martínez Lázaro – Las palabras de Max AKA What Max Said (1978)

    Drama1971-1980Emilio Martínez LázaroSpain

    Disquieting portrait of loneliness and isolation, concentrating on a middle-aged man (Fernandez de Castro) who has reached a crisis point in his domestic life and tries unsuccessfully to reassemble his past.

    The film shared the Berlin festival’s Golden Bear prize.Read More »

  • Sam Newfield – Fingerprints Don’t Lie (1951)

    1951-1960CrimeDramaSam NewfieldUSA

    Definite Grade B. The last in the Forgotten Noir Volume 6 series. For desperate viewers.

    Quote:
    The killing of Mayor Palmer (Forrest Taylor) is being placed on Paul Moody (Richard Emory) by fingerprint expert Jim Stover (Richard Travis) as Moody’s prints were found on the murder weapon. When reporter Brad Evans (Rory Mallison) places doubt in Stover’s mind that the fingerprints were Moodys, he decides to investigate further with the help of the mayor’s daughter Carolyn (Sheila Ryan).Read More »

  • Michel Deville – Les capricieux (1984)

    Drama1981-1990FranceMichel DevilleTV

    In post-revolutionary France, two neighbouring aristocrats (Nicole Garcia and Jean-Pierre Marielle) embark on a dangerous game when they agree to help a Polish agent.Read More »

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