USA

  • Caveh Zahedi – I Was Possessed by God (2000)

    1991-2000Caveh ZahediDocumentaryShort FilmUSA

    Quote:
    On February 14th (Valentine’s Day), 1993, Caveh Zahedi, being without a date, decided to ingest 5 grams of hallucinogenic mushrooms. For the first time in his mushroom-taking experience, he had an experience of “divine possession,” in which he felt that a divine being took possession of his body and spoke through him, in a voice that was not his and with knowledge that he himself did not possess. He afterwards tried several times to repeat the experience. I Was Possessed By God is the documentary record of one such experience.Read More »

  • Jack Conway – The Unholy Three (1930)

    1921-1930CrimeDramaJack ConwayUSA

    In his last film – and only Talkie – Lon Chaney recreates one of his famed Silent roles: the scheming ventriloquist Prof. Echo. Disguised as Grandma O’Grady, Echo heads a robbery ring that includes a feeble-minded strongman and a cigar-chomping little person, the latter masquerading as Grandma’s grandbaby. Known as the Man of a Thousand Faces, Chaney here displays a different kind of virtuosity as well, creating five different voices to portray Echo, Grandma, a parrot, a girl and Echo’s dummy. A big hit directed by Jack Conway, The Unholy Three promised to launch Chaney as a major Sound Era star. He was slated to play the title role in Tod Browning’s Dracula, but it was not to be. Chaney died only weeks after The Unholy Three premiered.Read More »

  • Leslie Stevens – Incubus (1966)

    1961-1970CultHorrorLeslie StevensUSA

    Demons in the form of lovely young women lead dishonorable men to their deaths. One particularly beautiful demon meets and falls in love with an honorable young soldier (William Shatner). Her older sister (also a demon) is outraged and conjures (in a stirring scene) their fierce brother, who brutalizes Shatner’s sister. A haunting, breathtakingly photographed tale of good and evil, love and revenge, INCUBUS also has the odd distinction of being filmed entirely in Esperanto, the language created in 1887 to facilitate easy communication between people of different cultures.Read More »

  • Edwin L. Marin – A Christmas Carol (1938)

    1931-1940ClassicsEdwin L. MarinFantasyUSA

    On Christmas Eve, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the spirit of his former partner, Jacob Marley. The deceased partner was as mean and miserly as Scrooge is now and he warns him to change his ways or face the consequences in the afterlife.Read More »

  • W.S. Van Dyke & George Cukor – Manhattan Melodrama (1934)

    Drama1931-1940CrimeGeorge CukorUSAW.S. Van Dyke

    Orphans Edward “Blackie” Gallagher and Jim Wade are lifelong friends who take different paths in life. Blackie thrives on gambling and grows up to be a hard-nosed racketeer. Bookworm Wade becomes a D.A. vying for the Governorship. When Blackie’s girlfriend Eleanor leaves him and marries the more down to earth Wade, Blackie harbors no resentment. In fact, their friendship is so strong that Blackie murders an attorney threatening to derail Wade’s bid to become Governor. The morally straight Wade’s last job as D.A. is to convict his friend of the murder, and send him to the electric chair. After he becomes Governor, Wade has the authority to commute Blackie’s death sentence– a decision that pits his high moral ethics against a lifelong friendship.Read More »

  • Alfred L. Werker & Anthony Mann – He Walked by Night (1948)

    1941-1950Alfred L. WerkerAnthony MannFilm NoirThrillerUSA

    Quote:
    Taken from actual case files, He Walked By Night is the suspenseful, action-packed tale of a manhunt for the most cunning criminal in the history of the LAPD. With a combination of ingenuity, state of the art technology, sweat and sheer determination, the police painstakingly track down a brilliant, elusive thief and cop killer who seems to have the ability to vanish into thin air. But can they catch him before he murders again?Read More »

  • Tod Browning – The Blackbird (1926)

    1921-1930CrimeSilentTod BrowningUSA

    Two thieves, the Blackbird and West End Bertie, fall in love with the same girl, a French nightclub performer named Fifi. Each man tries to outdo the other to win her heart.Read More »

  • Barry Shils – Motorama (1991)

    1991-2000Barry ShilsComedyCultUSA

    Ed Sutton wrote:
    A ten year old boy gets tired of life with abusive parents and cashes in his piggy bank and steals a Mustang. He rides off into a surreal America playing “Motorama,” a game sponsored by Chimera Gas Company. He has various encounters with different people, and eventually reaches the Chimera Gas Company where he finds they are not playing by the rules of the game.Read More »

  • John Sturges & Fred Zinnemann – The Old Man and the Sea (1958)

    USA1951-1960AdventureFred ZinnemannJohn Sturges

    Quote:
    An old Cuban fisherman’s dry spell is broken when he hooks a gigantic fish that drags him out to sea. Based on Ernest Hemingway’s story.Read More »

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