Plot Synopsis by Hal Erickson
Cary Grant delivered Oscar-calibre performances all his life, but only when he played against type in None But the Lonely Heart did the Academy Awards people break down and give him a nomination. Grant plays a restless, irresponsible cockney who seeks a better life but doesn’t seem to have the emotional wherewithal to work for such a life. The hero’s shiftlessness extends to his love life; musician Jane Wyatt genuinely cares for him, but he prefers the company of fickle gangster’s ex-wife June Duprez. June’s former husband George Coulouris convinces Grant that the quickest means to wealth is a life of crime, but Grant drops this aspect of his life to take care of his terminally ill mother Ethel Barrymore. While Cary Grant did not win the Oscar he so richly deserved for None But the Lonely Heart, Ethel Barrymore did cop the gold statuette. Written and directed by Clifford Odets, None But the Lonely Heart unfortunately lost money for RKO, which could have used a little extra cash after paying the expenses of temporarily closing Ms. Barrymore’s Broadway play The Corn is Green.Read More »
USA
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Clifford Odets – None But the Lonely Heart (1944)
1941-1950ClassicsClifford OdetsDramaUSA -
James Marsh – The King (2005)
Drama2001-2010James MarshUSAHail to The King, a quietly shocking slice of Southern Gothic from British director James Marsh (Wisconsin Death Trip) and scribe Milo Addica (Monster’s Ball, Birth). Mexican heartthrob Gael García Bernal chills the blood as Elvis, a devil in disguise who infiltrates the family of long-lost dad William Hurt, a pastor with a past. Far from being as overheated as it sounds, this is a muted, menacing slow-burner. Lend it your patience, and you’ll be royally rewarded.Read More »
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Otto Preminger – The Fan (1949)
1941-1950ClassicsComedyOtto PremingerUSASynopsis:
Lord Windermere appears to all -including to his young wife Margaret – as the perfect husband. But their happy marriage is placed at risk when Lord Windermere starts spending his afternoons with an adventuress who is working her way through London’s high society, Mrs. Erlynne. Worse, Windermere gives her big sums of money. To crown it all he asks his wife to invite the detestable woman to her own birthday party. Upset and outraged, the puritan Lady Windermere decides to leave her husband and goes to Lord Robert Darlington, who has been courting her for some time. Unfortunately she leaves her fan -the one Robert offered her for her birthday – in Robert’s house…Read More » -
Allan Dwan – Flight Nurse (1953)
1951-1960Allan DwanUSAWar
Plot: In this war drama, set during the Korean War, an Air Force nurse gets involved in a love triangle on the front lines. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Quote:
A routine film on the surface, Flight Nurse is quite original in showing war from the point of view of a nurse who is as comely as as she is generous. Far from hiding her charms under the uniform, she emphasizes the to assert the right to life and beauty. Dwan thus makes a kind of erotic ritual of her applying make-up, particularly lipstick: Joan Leslie, in sympathy with her wounded patients, knows that her sex appeal provides far more comfort to them thah her medical attentions. In desiring her, they commune with their wives or girlfriends. When it comes to healing, desire is granted the same power as prayer. Michael Henry Wilson, Allan Dwan’s Moral Tales At the Edge of Paradise, in Allan Dwan The Name beneath the Title (2001)Read More » -
Emanuele Crialese – Once We Were Strangers (1997)
1991-2000ComedyEmanuele CrialeseRomanceUSAfrom imdb:
Antonio is a seductive, charismatic Sicilian living illegally in New York. He wanders from job to job, lives as a squatter and enjoys a carefree romantic tryst with a wealthy art dealer. When he falls in love with Ellen, a strong-willed radio talk-show host who is set to move to Paris within a few days, he decides he must find a way to keep her from leaving. Meanwhile, Antonio’s friend Apu faces a love challenge of his own. Apu is a young Indian-turned-New Yorker who was sent from his homeland with his family’s life savings to find the American dream of success and fulfillment. He works hard at odds jobs– from being a guinea pig in a drug-testing lab to dubbing porno films. Then his life is completely uprooted on the day his pre-arranged wife from India arrives in New York–the woman chosen by their families when they were children, one he hasn’t seen since he was 8 and she was 4. Apu is caught between the old world and the new–trying to find love and happiness within the confines of his pre-determined destiny. The film is about what happens when cultures clash–about expectations and reality, dreams of love and money, and life when the timing is way off. Written by {[email protected]}Read More » -
Aaron Katz – Dance Party, USA (2006)
2001-2010Aaron KatzDramaMumblecoreUSAJessica and Gus, two apathetic teenagers, drift aimlessly from one day to the next until they meet each other. They make a tenuous and fleeting connection when Gus confides in Jessica about his dark past.Read More »
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Michael Curtiz & Lloyd Bacon – Alias the Doctor (1932)
Drama1931-1940Lloyd BaconMichael CurtizUSASYNOPSIS: Karl Muller and his foster brother, Stephan Brenner, leave their farm in the Austrian countryside, and travel to Vienna to study medicine. Karl is in love with his foster sister, Lottie Brenner, and would rather work as a farmer, but in deference to the wishes of his foster mother, Mrs. Brenner, he studies hard and is named valedictorian of his class. Stephan, on the other hand, enjoys drinking and flirting more than studying. One night, while drunk, he performs an illegal operation on his girl friend Anna. After she becomes very ill, he confesses everything to Karl, who agrees to try to help her, even though he does not yet have his license. While Karl is with Anna, she dies, and he takes full blame for the operation in order to spare Mrs. Brenner’s feelings. He is not allowed to graduate and spends time in prison. After he leaves prison, he returns home to find that Stephan has died. Karl is eager to return to farming, but after he successfully operates on a boy injured in an accident in front of the house, Mrs. Brenner convinces him to pose as Stephan and continue his work as a surgeon.Read More »
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Martin Scorsese – The Age of Innocence (1993)
Drama1991-2000ArthouseMartin ScorseseUSAThis 1993 film, directed by Martin Scorsese, brings the Edith Wharton novel to life.
Here it is — all the social comment and smoldering unrequited passions originally
intended by the author. And now it’s in living color with academy award winning costume
design reflecting New York society in the 1870s.Daniel-Day Lewis is cast as Newland Archer, the upper class young man in conflict
between social convention and desire. Michelle Pfeiffer plays the Countess Ellen Olenska,
who has already defied convention by marrying a European and is further defying
convention by leaving her husband and returning to New York. However, in spite of his
attraction to the countess, Newland Archer marries the beautiful but seemingly simple
May Welland, played by Wynona Ryder, whose outstanding performance won her an academy
award nomination.Read More » -
Paul Schrader – Dark (2017)
2011-2020CrimeDramaPaul SchraderUSAQuote:
“Dark” was filmed in 2013 and released in 2014 under the titled “Dying of the Light.” That film was taken from me after the first director’s cut, re-edited as well as scored and mixed without my input. I offered to revisit the film, cut and mix a new version at my own expense but was denied permission by the producers. This cut, now called “Dark,” was created using work print DVDs. I had no access to the original hi-res footage and unmixed sound. I tried to used those limitations to my advantage when creating this new film. I had been working toward a more aggressive editing style when “Dying of the Light” was taken away. “Dark” represents the direction I was hoping to go. “Dark” was not created for exhibition or personal gain. It is for the historical record. A digital file of the film can be seen by prior request at the UCLA Film Archives in Los Angeles, the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, Austin and the Museum of Modern Art film department in New York City.
-Paul SchraderRead More »








