Known as “Justice Is Done” in 1953 when it was first shown in the USA, it opens with a short briefing in English on the French jury system and then reverts to French with English subtitles. The Marshal summons the jury and an insight is given into the background of the seven jurors who are to decide on the guilt of the accused, a sick man’s mistress on trail for his mercy killing. The trial appears to be not presented to prove her innocence or guilt, but rather to let the court (film) philosophize on the moral acceptability of euthanasia.Read More »

Synopsis:
Amelie is a Cocotte (=a tart); she trades on her charms,abetted by her father who plays a role generally delegated to mothers (Gremillon’s “Gueule d’amour” or Allegret’s “Maneges” ). She is wooed by every Tom, Dick and Harry passing by. She’s currently supported by a military man, courted by a foreign prince – who gives the equivalent of the French Legion d’honneur to dad, – and, besides, she is to marry a young lad who covets his wealthy uncle’s heritage: the necessary and sufficient condition for getting the dough is getting married.Read More »

Jenny Blake (Blondell) is the beautiful owner of a riverboat casino, but she aspires to a life in high society. Jack Morgan (Wayne) is her business partner and influential political boss – the two are in love, but Jenny decides to leave him and the business so she could marry socialite Alan Alderson (Ray Middleton) for prestige and in return she forgives Alan’s gambling debts and pays off the back taxes of his family’s once-grand mansion and plantation. Her new in-laws are infuriated by this marriage of convenience, and do everything in their power to ruin Jenny in the eyes of society.Read More »

This weird and chilling tale of vampires and the undead seeking to bring their kind back to life features the evil Marco (Ronald Remy), an updated version of the vampiric Count Dracula replete with cape, fangs, and clean-shaven head! Marco seeks to reanimate his long lost love and infuse her with the blood of his victims as he casts his evil spell over the inhabitants of a lonely village. Sharp fangs gleam in the night as bloodsuckers and bats seek fresh blood from the veins of their victims in this eerie drive-in favorite, also known as “The Vampire People” and featuring unusual color photography and tinting effects.Read More »

Monsieur Hulot, Jacques Tati’s endearing clown, takes a holiday at a seaside resort, where his presence provokes one catastrophe after another. Tati’s masterpiece of gentle slapstick is a series of effortlessly well-choreographed sight gags involving dogs, boats, and firecrackers; it was the first entry in the Hulot series and the film that launched its maker to international stardom.Read More »

Lively comedy sending up British stiff-upper-lip prisoner-of-war dramas, starring James Robertson Justice as Sir Ernest Pease, a bombastic scientist who ends up in a German PoW camp during World War II. The inmates, led by Jimmy Cooper and Jock Everett, are forced to help him escape.Read More »

Synopsis:
‘Guy Van Stratten, American smuggler, leaves an Italian prison term with one asset, a dying man’s words about wealthy, mysterious Gregory Arkadin. Guy finds it most pleasant to investigate Arkadin though his lovely daughter Raina, her father’s idol. To get rid of Guy, Arkadin claims amnesia about his own life prior to 1927, sending Guy off to investigate Arkadin’s unknown past. Guy’s quest spans many countries and eccentric characters who contribute clues. But the real purpose of Guy’s mission proves deadly; can Guy himself survive it?’
– Rod Crawford (IMDb)Read More »

Plot Synopsis by Sandra Brennan
In this remake of the British thriller, a young TV journalist assists Scotland yard with the strange murder of a reclusive millionaire whose corpse was found locked in a vault. The key to the vault was on the table beside the corpse.Read More »

Improvisation by Paul Vecchiali and Françoise Lebrun – On Paul’s initiative, Françoise and Paul met after a long separation, on the pretext to search in commun for a lost memory, a song. It soons appears that Paul’s objective is to win her back.

Quote:
Quand j’écrivais le scénario de En haut des marches, je me suis trouvé en panne à un moment du récit. Impossible de discerner ce qui me bloquait. En sortant d’Auditel, qui comptait une dizaine de salles de montage où travaillaient, entre autres, Jacques Demy et Éric Rohmer, j’ai croisé Françoise Lebrun, connue elle aussi au Studio Parnasse.Read More »