1930s

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The action takes place on the French Riviera. Joe Mark, known as The Red, arrives in flight from the USA. He is an old gangster who improvises as a detective to find out who stole a precious painting by Murillo from a castle belonging to his relatives – a copy, actually – and brings to light a hotbed of hypocrisy, dishonesty, cheating under the arrogant good manners of the aristocratic family.
Entrusted to the congeniality of the brilliant leading actor Falconi, it is a satirical comedy on the passion for foreign styles, American particularly, trendy at the time and opposed by the fascist regime, and in particular on gangsterism whose Italian-mafia component is sought to erase.
MorandiniRead More »

Betty Boop attends a May Party (May Day?) dressed as a queen in the second of her three party cartoons of 1933, but is relegated almost to the role of a supporting character, only getting to sing a few verses of the song “Here We Are”. Most of the cartoon is taken up by typical surreal sight gags in the Fleischer style and, during the last two minutes, some of the wildest and rubberiest animation of any cartoon in the series to the tune of “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)”.Read More »

Howard Hawks made his first film for Columbia Pictures with this pre-Code prison movie. The great Walter Huston stars as a district attorney-turned-prison warden who gets to witness first-hand the effects of his convictions, especially Phillips Holmes, imprisoned after killing a man in a drunken brawl. Co-starring Boris Karloff, The Criminal Code is tough, no-nonsense, quintessential Hawks.Read More »

At an orphanage, the children are sad because they received broken toys as gifts. Professor Grampy sees the children while passing by in his sled and has an idea on how to give them a merry Christmas.Read More »

CHIAKI -the business owner’s daughter, TUYOKO -plubisher, and YUKIE are in love with the same person: YOSHIO (Uehara Ken), a handsome young man who is an employee at a fabric export company whose boss is Yukie’s father….Read More »

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Tomotaka Tasaka’s A Pebble by the Wayside (Robo no Ishi), made in 1938 and taken from a Yuzo Yamamoto novel, takes place around 1902, was about a young boy brought up entirely by his mother since his drunken father is never home. An intelligent teacher wants to send him to middle school, but instead the father apprentices him to a clothing store to which he is in debt.Read More »

Synopsis:
‘Clara Stuart, star of music hall and cinema, arrives in Paris, to great public acclaim. She has everything – fame, wealth, and – through her aristocratic husband – a title. Hence, whilst she is worshipped by the masses, she is the object of hatred for Philippe Lutcher, am impoverished artist and notable anarchist. Lutcher shoots Clara Stuart after she gives a public recital, but he cannot bring himself to kill her. At his subsequent trial, the star attempts to plead in her assailant’s favour, but Lutcher rejects her support…’
– Films deFranceRead More »

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Gracinda, a young laundry washer, lives with her godfather, “Uncle” Jacinto, and together they run a family business, doing the laundry for residents of Lisbon in their small village in the outskirts of that city (Canecas). Unfortunately, the business is not going very well, but that changes when Gracinda decides to go to the city to try to convince Chico, “Uncle” Jacinto’s son, with whom she is in love, to return to the village and give new life to the business. The village is preparing for the annual festivities and a dispute erupts between “Uncle” Jacinto and his business rival , the widow Quiteria, when each of them invites different bands to play at the same time during the party and dances.Read More »

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The decline in the career of Ramon Novarro, MGM’s eager & energetic romantic leading man, can trace its beginnings to this unfortunate little film. After his great success with THE PAGAN & DEVIL-MAY-CARE (both 1929), this had to have been quite a disappointment. With his pleasant accent & fine singing voice, Novarro had already proved that talking pictures would be no problem for him – if given the right roles.Read More »