I gaze on the moon
As I tread the drear wild,
And feel that my mother
Now thinks of her child;
As she looks on that moon
From our own cottage door,
Thro’ the woodbine whose fragrance
Shall cheer me no more.
Home, home, sweet sweet home,
There’s no place like home,
There’s no place like home.
—”Home, Sweet Home”
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Quote:
Set in the 16th century, an ambitious young samurai is adopted into a noble household, thereby attaining the necessary status to marry the daughter of the castle warden. Plans for the marriage are jeopardized, however, when a beautiful young woman, claiming to have lost her memory, appears. The enamored samurai marries her instead, but lives in constant fear that she will recover her memory.Read More »
An extra is called upon to play a general in a movie about the Russian Revolution. However, he is not any ordinary extra. He is Serguis Alexander, former commanding general of the Russia armies who is now being forced to relive the same scene, which he suffered professional and personal tragedy in, to satisfy the director who was once a revolutionist in Russia and was humiliated by Alexander. It can now be the time for this broken man to finally “win” his penultimate battle. This is one powerful movie with meticulous direction by Von Sternberg, providing the greatest irony in Alexander’s character in every way he can. Jannings deserved his Oscar for the role with a very moving performance playing the general at his peak and at his deepest valley. Powell lends a sinister support as the revenge minded director and Brent is perfect in her role with her face and movements showing so much expression as Jannings’ love. All around brilliance.Read More »
Quote:
This improvised film is based on the true-life suicide of TV personality Art Linkletter’s daughter, Diane. Mr. and Mrs. Linkletter fret about their daughter’s recent behavior, which includes taking drugs and dating a lowlife named Jim. Eventually, the parents confront Diane… with tragic consequences.Read More »
Plot:
As the film opens, three characters seek shelter from a driving rainstorm (it never sprinkles in a Kurosawa film!) beneath the ruined Rashomon gate that guards the southern entrance to the court capital. As they wait for the storm to pass, the priest (Minoru Chiaki), the woodcutter (Takashi Shimura), and the commoner (Kichijiro Ueda) discuss a recent and scandalous crime––a noblewoman (Machiko Kyo) was raped in the forest, her samurai husband (Masayuki Mori) killed as a result of either murder or suicide, and a thief named Tajomaru (Toshiro Mifune) was arrested for the crime.Read More »
Quote:
As young children, Otto (Fele Martínez) and Ana (Najwa Nimri) become best friends, leading to the marriage of Ana’s mother, Olga (Maru Valdiviesio), to Otto’s father, Álvaro (Nancho Novo). When Otto and Ana become teenagers, they begin a sexual relationship, which they hide from their parents. The two fall deeply in love and seem destined to spend the rest of their lives together. However, their relationship is tested when Otto’s mother dies and the two are separated.Read More »
Cronin Mitchell (Tony McCabe) is an average guy whose face is disfigured by a falling electrical power line in which he somehow acquires the gift/curse of strange psychic powers. After withdrawing from public life, ‘Mitch’ makes a living as a fortune teller when he’s approached by an ugly hag who offers to restore his good looks if he becomes her lover. Mitch reluctantly agrees, and although his face is restored, people around him see his lover as an attractive young woman named Ellen (Elizabeth Lee). When news of Mitch’s psychic powers leak out, he goes on the road with Ellen from city to city and town to town helping people solve crimes. After expelling a ghost from a funeral home, Mitch and Ellen are sent to a small Illinois town to find the identity of a serial killer. But the government sends along a crackpot psychiatrist/playboy, named Dr. Alex Jordan (William Brooker), to oversee the case and possibly debunk Mitch’s psychic abilities. When Dr. Jordan turns his sights on Ellen and plots to steal her away from Mitch, she goes to great efforts to prevent that from happening while helping Mitch try to find the serial killer.Read More »
Plot:
At some time in the future, a crumbling totalitarian state is racked by civil war between the old guard and the insurrectionists.
The current leaders take refuge in the Bunker Palace Hotel, a subterranean shelter staffed by run-down androids. A rebel spy, Clara, manages to infiltrate the secret base, but her mission is unclear. Meanwhile, the assembled leaders await with growing impatience the arrival of their president…Read More »
Quote:
On the Las Vegas strip, two unlikely men rendezvous: Samuel Hill, an ill-kempt desert miner, and Benjamin Jabowski, a John Birch Society dandy from the city. Intent on some sort of mayhem, they enter the Herald Club before the burlesque show starts, and they wire something to the electrical box, set to blow at midnight. They sit at the back of the club to get to know each other. As they drink and glance at the stage, Sam tells of a partner driven mad by visions of naked women in the sagebrush; Ben tells a tale of trying to rid his neighborhood of a pin-up studio. As they get drunker and the clock ticks toward midnight, they pull their chairs closer to the women on stage.Read More »