Synopsis
EMPEROR TOMATO KETCHUP is Terayama’s epic, sexually revolutionary and hallucinatory work from 1972 in which magical women act as the initiatory, yet protectively maternal sexual partners to children. The children, in revolt, have condemned their parents to death for depriving them of self-expression and sexual freedom; they create a society in which fairies and sex education are equally important and literally combinable.Read More »

In a tale that is visually stunning in certain segments, director Shuji Terayama (who died before this movie was released) has woven a spell of magic and social reprobation around the forbidden love of two cousins. Su-e (Mayumi Ogawa) and her cousin Sutekichi (Tsutomu Yamazaki), a descendant of one of the village clans, live together but have been forbidden by her father to have sexual contact. Like other villagers, he believes that if cousins have children together, the children will suffer serious birth defects. His remedy is to make Su-e wear a large, ugly chastity belt. Unable to take the ridicule of his fellow villagers, Sutekichi stabs the head of the clan to death and then runs away with Su-e. After some time elapses, the two make their way back to the village, but by then Sutekichi is suffering the effects of his actions…
Read More »

Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons star in this classic tale of love, money, and murder directed by Otto Preminger. This film noir centers on Diane, a femme fatale whose sweet features belie the murderess within. Diane is looking for someone to take the heat when her stepmother dies in a mysterious accident and leaves her stepdaughter a hefty inheritance. That someone is Frank – a man whose average life is thrown into chaos when he meets Diane.Read More »

by Hal Erickson
This adaptation of Vera Caspary’s suspense novel was begun by director Rouben Mamoulien and cinematographer Lucien Ballard, but thanks to a complex series of backstage intrigues and hostilities, the film was ultimately credited to director Otto Preminger and cameraman Joseph LaShelle (who won an Oscar for his efforts). At the outset of the film, it is established that the title character, Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney), has been murdered. Tough New York detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) investigates the killing, methodically questioning the chief suspects: Waspish columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb), wastrel socialite Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price), and Carpenter’s wealthy “patroness” Ann Treadwell (Judith Anderson). Read More »

Quote:
Ann Lake has recently settled in England with her daughter, Bunny. When she goes to retrieve her daughter after the girl’s first day at school, no one has any record of Bunny having been registered. When even the police can find no trace that the girl ever existed, they wonder if the child was only a fantasy of Ann’s. When Ann’s brother backs up the police’s suspicions, she appears to be a mentally-disturbed individual. Are they right?Read More »

When Arthur Davis, a junior bachelor in the British secret service’s African section, is seen taking a file with him -to meet his girlfriend Cynthia- the brass fears he may be the leak to Moskow, and allows Dr. Percival to terminate the ‘risk factor’ by poisoning to avoid a scandal. In fact Davis’s desk chief, Maurice Castle, is the double agent since the South African communists helped him smuggle out his black lover Sarah M., meanwhile his wife and mother of schoolboy Sam, to force him to cooperate with the Apartheid government. When Cornelius Muller, the South African official who failed to get him in Pretoria’s power, visits London for the anti-communist operation Uncle Remus, he points out Castle still is the natural suspect…Read More »

Quote:
Otto Preminger was not spared the brunt of bad reviews and publicity towards the end of his career. At times, the critics were quite savage in their analysis of his latter films. In my opinion, this was a time where he shined the most, and was in top form. He tackled new ground and continued to break taboo without audiences knowing. From TELL ME THAT YOU LOVE ME JUNIE MOON to SUCH GOOD FRIENDS to ROSEBUD and finally to THE HUMAN FACTOR, this was another renaissance for Preminger. Agreed, ROSEBUD was not a masterpiece. Elements such as Cliff Gorman’s atrocious acting, loose ends and implausibility hold it back from reaching its ultimate goal, but it was not the turkey that Leonard Maltin (et al.) made it out to be. Read More »

Quote:
The luminous Gene Tierney, who starred in director Preminger’s breakout film LAURA, appears here as Ann Sutton, the kleptomaniac wife of a distant but loving psychoanalyst, (Richard Conte). When she is caught shoplifting, suave hypnotist David Korvo (José Ferrer) comes to her aid, but soon Ann finds herself enmeshed in far more dangerous crimes. Implicated in a plot that involves blackmail and murder, Ann is uncertain of her own innocence, but her husband is convinced that the hypnotist is behind the crimes. Loosely adapted from Guy Endore’s novel METHINKS THE LADY…, the script was penned by noted screenwriter Ben Hecht under a pseudonym during the Red Scare. Preminger, who was one of Hollywood’s top directors of the 1950s, combines characteristics of the noir film with the melodrama. He creates an incisive look at the very human flaws of its wealthy characters, as well as the manipulative charlatan who preys upon them; at the center of the story is the trouble afflicting an apparently happy upper-class marriage.
(review in yahoo movies)Read More »

Tom Ricks, an American novelist in his forties, moves to Paris in the hope of patching things up with his estranged daughter. But nothing goes quite as planned. His resources depleted, he must stay at a shabby hotel and work as a night watchman. Just when he thinks he has touched rock bottom, a mysterious and sensual woman named Margit suddenly enters his life. Together they embark on a passionate love affair which gives rise to a series of inexplicable events. It is as if a strange force has taken control of Tom’s life…Read More »