USA

  • Christian Blackwood – All by Myself (1982)

    1981-1990Christian BlackwoodDocumentaryUSA

    When Eartha Kitt takes the stage in this midcareer portrait, she doesn’t sing a song so much as live it. Emanating from every underlying muscle, from her brow to her pointed toes, Kitt’s unrelenting physicality and undulating voice animate each performance, as she seamlessly weaves personal musings into her campy renditions. Revealing Kitt to be as comfortable schmoozing at galas in sequins and fur as she is makeup-free and sporting a disarmingly cute bullfrog T-shirt in her sunlit kitchen, this documentary follows Kitt to every corner of her professional and private life. From enduring a traumatic deep-South upbringing to being blacklisted and investigated by the FBI for fearlessly criticizing America’s presence in Vietnam at a 1968 White House luncheon, Kitt exemplified her own aphorism: “If you don’t want the challenge, you have no business being here.” Read More »

  • Isaac Gale – Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted (2024)

    2021-2030ComedyDocumentaryIsaac GaleUSA

    Cult musician Swamp Dogg and housemates Moogstar and Guitar Shorty have turned their suburban LA home into an artistic haven. They journey through the turbulent music business, forming a special friendship transcending eras.Read More »

  • Wyott Ordung – Monster from the Ocean Floor (1954)

    1951-1960Sci-FiUSAWyott Ordung

    Swimming near a Mexican village that has been terrorized by a sea monster, Julie Blaie (Anne Kimball), and American artist, is terrified when an object rises to the surface. It turns out to be a one-man submarine piloted by biologist Steve Dunning (‘Stuart Wade’ (qb)). Later an abalone diver vanishes and Julie faints after seeing the monster’s eye rise from the sea. Pablo (Wyott Ordung) and Tula (Inez Palange) plot to offer Julie as a sacrifice to their gods. Pablo deliberately attracts a shark while Juilie is skin-diving, but she escapes, and her line snags an object that Steve and Dr. Baldwin (Dick Pinner) establish as part of a huge sea monster.Read More »

  • George A. Romero – There’s Always Vanilla (1971)

    1971-1980ComedyDramaGeorge A. RomeroUSA

    Quote:
    Chris Bradley is a young man who returns to his home city of Pittsburgh after several years of drifting and working odd jobs around the country since his discharge from the U.S. Army. Rejecting moving back in with his father and not wanting to return to the family business of manufacturing baby food, Chris meets and shacks up with Lynn, an older woman who works as a model in local TV commercials, and whom becomes his ‘sugar mama’ of supporting him financially and emotionally, which begins to put a strain on the affair especially when Lynn finds out that she’s pregnant and does not feel that Chris would make a responsible father or husband.Read More »

  • William Castle – The Fat Man (1951)

    1951-1960DramaMysteryUSAWilliam Castle

    Plot Synopsis
    from allmovie
    The popular radio detective series The Fat Man was brought to the screen in 1951, with the series’ original star J. Scott Smart retained in the title role. Smart plays porcine sleuth Brad Runyon, who tackles the mystery surrounding the murder of a Los Angeles dentist. With the assistance of general factotum Bill Norton (Clinton Sundberg), Runyon follows the trail of clues all the way to a three-ring circus. Famed Barnum & Bailey clown Emmett Kelly makes his screen debut as one of the suspects; others essential to the action are such up-and-comers as Rock Hudson, Julie London and Jayne Meadows. The film’s flashback-within-flashback structure helps to enliven its more verbose passages. For the most part, The Fat Man plays more like a radio show than a movie–at least until the exciting climax, inventively staged by director William Castle.Read More »

  • Hal R. Makelim – Man of Conflict (1953)

    1951-1960CrimeDramaHal R. MakelimUSA

    The college-educated son of a tyrannical industrialist collides with his father over matters of ethics, honesty and empathy regarding the handling of his companies and the treatment of his workers.Read More »

  • Norman Z. McLeod – It’s a Gift (1934)

    1931-1940ComedyNorman Z. McLeodUSA

    A henpecked New Jersey grocer makes plans to move to California to grow oranges, despite the resistance of his overbearing wife.Read More »

  • Irving Reis – One Crowded Night aka La Noche Plena (1940)

    1931-1940CrimeDramaIrving ReisUSA

    Plot Synopsis:
    One Crowded Night, the 1940 Irving Reis crime mystery melodrama, brings a story (in true “Grand Hotel” fashion) about a group of unrelated people at a small struggling motor lodge in the Mojave Desert, and all of them have crucial events occur to them during one fateful night. Former gun moll Gladys (Billie Seward) hopes to find happiness with honest truckdriver Joe (William Haade), but her past catches up with her in the form of escaped convict Jim (Paul Guilfoyle). Lunch-counter waitress Annie (Gale Storm) allows gas station attendant Vince (Dick Hogan) to flirt with her. Young mother-to-be Ruth (Adele Pearce), on the verge of giving birth, is unexpectedly reunited with her AWOL sailor husband Mat (Gaylord Pendleton). Quack doctor Joseph (J. M. Kerrigan) tries to peddle his miracle elixir. A pair of gunmen show up to knock off Jim, a couple of MPs arrive to pick up Mat, and so it goes?.Read More »

  • Sam Shepard – Silent Tongue (1993)

    1991-2000HorrorSam ShepardUSAWestern

    Sam Shepard’s revisionist 1994 Western, the final release featuring late actor River Phoenix, combines elements of baroque Japanese ghost films like Onibaba with traditional stylistic conventions of John Ford.

    Storyline:
    It’s 1873, Indian Territory. Talbot Roe is going mad with grief over losing his Indian wife, Awbonnie. In an effort to save him, his father, Prescott Roe, seeks to purchase the dead wife’s sister, Velada, from the same traveling carnival he acquired Awbonnie. The girls’ father, carnival master Eamon McCree, is willing to do business, but her step-brother, Reeves, protests, putting an end to the negotiation. Desperate, Prescott kidnaps Velada and promises her the means to be rid of her father in return for comforting Talbot out of his obsession. In Talbot’s madness, he guards his wife’s corpse, preventing her from passing to the beyond. As a result, Awbonnie’s ghost begins haunting and cursing everyone involved in the transaction of selling her as a wife. Meanwhile, Reeves and Eamon search the prairie for Velada…Read More »

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