• David Lean – Doctor Zhivago (1965)

    1961-1970David LeanDramaEpicUSA

    Eastman Museum writes:
    An epic romance of doomed love, Doctor Zhivago is set amidst the tumultuous years encompassing World War I, the Russian Revolution of 1917, and the Russian Civil War. Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif) is a married physician and poet who falls madly in love with Lara (Julie Christie), a nurse who is also married. The tangled epic of love and war “did nothing less than re-create Moscow and its countryside,” according to Roger Ebert. “Doctor Zhivago,” Ebert continues, “believes that history should have a lot of room for personal feelings . . . the individual over the state, the heart over the mind.” Banned in the Soviet Union for decades, Doctor Zhivago won five of the ten Academy Awards for which it was nominated and has continued to garner acclaim ever since.Read More »

  • Mike Leigh – The Short & Curlies (1988)

    1981-1990DocumentaryMike LeighShort FilmUnited Kingdom

    A bespectacled wise-cracker, who only communicates through corny jokes, courts the affections of a shop assistant, who – when not getting her hair done by a chatty hairdresser – is forever talking about bodily complaints. Short and sweet, with excellent performances from David Thewlis and Sylvestra Le Touzel (as the courting couple), Alison Steadman (as the hairstylist), and Wendy Nottingham (as her sullen daughter,) Leigh’s slice-of-life drama proves delightful.Read More »

  • Don Siegel – Flaming Star (1960)

    1951-1960Don SiegelDramaUSAWestern

    Synopsis:
    West Texas in the years after the Civil War is an uneasy meeting ground of two cultures, one white. The other native American. Elvis portrays Pacer Burton. The son of a white rancher (John McIntire) and his beautiful Kiowa Indian wife (Dolores DelRio). When fighting breaks out between the settlers and natives, Pacer tries to act as a peace maker, but the “flaming star of death” pulls him irrevocably into the deadly violence.Read More »

  • Jean Negulesco – Nobody Lives Forever (1946)

    USA1941-1950CrimeFilm NoirJean Negulesco

    G.I. Nick Blake, a never charged con man in his pre-military life, has just received an honorable discharge from the army on medical reasons. Rather than return to his old life, he plans to settle down in New York, his hometown, with his girlfriend Toni Blackburn and the small cache of money he amassed prior to the war: $50,000. When that plan does not pan out, he decides to head to Los Angeles with his con man friend Al Doyle and live it up until he decides on a more permanent course for his life. He is informed by Pop Gruber, an aging mentor doing solely penny-ante street cons now in L.A., of a potential big mark. Doc Ganson, a former con associate, found the mark, lonely widow Gladys Halvorsen worth $2 million, but does not have either the bankroll or the charms to carry out the con on Gladys himself.Read More »

  • Adolf Born & Jaroslav Doubrava & Milos Macourek – O vodovodu ktery zpival v opere AKA About the tap who sang at the opera (1990)

    1981-1990Adolf BornAnimationCzech RepublicJaroslav DoubravaMilos MacourekMusical

    Story about a hard way to the stage.

    Our hero gives up his job in a restaurant to find fame on fortune at the opera. will he succeed?Read More »

  • W.S. Van Dyke – They Gave Him a Gun (1937)

    1931-1940CrimeDramaUSAW.S. Van Dyke

    Synopsis:
    While serving in World War I, mild-mannered Jimmy (Franchot Tone) strikes up an unlikely friendship with outspoken Fred (Spencer Tracy), but an Army nurse named Rose (Gladys George) comes between them. While Fred ends up in a POW camp, Jimmy makes a courageous turn in battle, thus winning Rose’s love. Unfortunately, after the war ends, Jimmy still yearns for the thrill of combat. Without an outlet, it isn’t long before he willingly enters the seedy criminal underbelly of New York City.Read More »

  • Michal Aviad – Isha Ovedet AKA Working Woman (2018)

    2011-2020DramaIsraelMichal Aviad

    Quote:
    Working Woman is a beautifully performed drama about the everyday struggles of being female in the workplace. Orna (Liron Ben Shlush) is the mother of three young children whose husband is struggling to start his own restaurant. To help support her family Orna lands a job with a former army superior, Benny (Menashe Noy), who is now a successful real estate developer. While Orna embraces her new position and tries to balance its demands with her home life, she begins to experience escalating sexual harassment from her boss. Her rapid rise through the ranks and her increasing financial success seem to parallel a pattern of predatory behavior which ultimately brings her career and marital relationship to the brink. This timely and devastating story is expertly told by long time feminist filmmaker Michal Aviad.Read More »

  • John Brahm – The Locket (1946)

    Drama1941-1950Film NoirJohn BrahmUSA

    Synopsis:
    Lovely Nancy seems like the ideal bride to fiancée John Willis… until, just before the ceremony, Willis is approached by Harry Blair, claiming to be Nancy’s former husband. The tale Blair unfolds (in a flashback within a flashback within a flashback!) paints Nancy as a kleptomaniac, habitual liar, and perhaps worse. But is Blair telling the truth? And does fate have another surprise in store?Read More »

  • William Wyler – The Heiress (1949) (HD)

    1941-1950ClassicsDramaUSAWilliam Wyler

    The Heiress is set in the late 1840s, largely in the opulent New York townhouse of Dr Austin Sloper (Ralph Richardson in his first Hollywood performance). Sloper idolises his dead wife and cruelly dismisses his doting daughter Catherine (Olivia de Havilland) as inferior in every respect: she’s awkward, plain and shy in company. In consequence, he encourages his widowed sister Lavinia Penniman (Miriam Hopkins), who has recently joined the household, to coach Catherine in the social graces.Read More »

Back to top button