France

In this action-packed slapstick comedy – a dying mob boss nicknamed “The Mexican” asks his old friend and ex-gangster, Fernand Naudin (Lino Ventura), to come out of retirement to take over the family businesses and protect his soon to be married daughter. The rival families take an exception to this and unleash their henchmen to take care of Naudin, but they get much more than they bargained for. After surviving their first onslaught, he declares war on the other families and their shady operations. The stellar cast includes Bernard Blier and Francis Blanche with great direction by Georges Lautner and writing by Michel Audiard. The writer, director and three leads reappeared the following year in the even more successful Spy vs. Spy comedy, The Great Spy Chase (Les Barbouzes).Read More »

Synopsis:
In July 1789, the French Revolution is rumbling. Far from the turmoil, at the Château de Versailles, King Louis XVI, Queen Marie-Antoinette and their courtiers keep on living their usual carefree lives. But when the news of the storming of the Bastille reaches them, panic sets in and most of the aristocrats and their servants desert the sinking ship, leaving the Royal Family practically alone. Which is not the case of Sidonie Laborde, the Queen’s reader, a young woman, entirely devoted to her mistress; she will not give her up under any circumstances. What Sidonie does not know yet is that these are the last three days she will spend in the company of her beloved Queen…Read More »

Synopsis:
Zingarina arrives in Transylavania, accompanied by her close friend Marie and her guide and interpreter Luminitsa. She is not there only to visit this region of Romania but to trace her lover Milan, a musician who has made her pregnant and who left her without a word of explanation. When she finds him back, he brutally rejects her and Zingarina is terribly upset. She leaves her two companions and having become a wreck she hardly survives by following a wandering little girl. Her destiny changes for the best when she meets Tchangalo, a traveling trader…Read More »

Synopsis:
“A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography…”

Review:
Children, being built nearer to the ground and having more time on their hands, are close observers of ants and spiders, caterpillars and butterflies. Adults tune them out; bugs are things you slap, swat, step on or spray. “Microcosmos” is an amazing film that allows us to peer deeply into the insect world and marvel at creatures we casually condemn to squishing. The makers of this film took three years to design their closeup cameras and magnifying lenses, and to photograph insects in such brilliant detail that if they were cars, we could read their city stickers.Read More »

SYNOPSIS:
Petty thug Michel panics and impulsively kills a policeman while driving a stolen car. On the lam, he turns to his aspiring journalist girlfriend Patricia, hiding out in her Paris apartment. When Patricia learns that Michel is being investigated for murder, she begins to question her loyalties.Read More »

The film highlights key moments in the life and professional collaboration of Pierre Curie and Marie Curie.Read More »

A 1964 film starring Jean Marais as the arch villain with the same name opposite Louis de Funès as the earnest but outclassed commissaire Paul Juve. In the film Juve teams up with journalist Fandor, also played by Marais, trying to catch Fantômas but never quite succeeding. It was France’s answer, in 1964, to the James Bond phenomenon that swept the world at around the same time. It is the first ever of a trilogy film, that Fantômas became extremely successful in Europe, Soviet Union and Japan, it found also success even in the United States where fan websites exist to this day. Mylène Demongeot plays Hélène. Hélène Gurn is the girlfriend of Jérôme Fandor, Fantômas’ arch enemy.Read More »

Synopsis:
O.S.S 117 (Frederick Stafford) is an American CIA operative who is sent to South America to thwart the attempt of a group of underground subversives who want to take over the world. Although classified as a Bond-style spy feature, it lacks the humor and gloss of other films of the genre. Location shots from Brazil are impressive as the sight of routine gun battles.Read More »

This film was shown in the movie theaters two months before the landing and afterward completely disappeared only to reappear in 1993. This is of course a propaganda movie .But not more than Stelli’s “Le Voile BLeu” .

Beginning his movie with an evocation of Joan of Arc was not completely incongruous ; Guitry probably thought it was a sign from God ;1429: Joan’s odyssey begins ;birth of the Homeland ,1942: under the yoke of the Nazis ,but still proud of its past ,the country remembers .1429,1942 sinister anagram.Joan found since taken over by the far right wing .Read More »