1950s

An early work by Jaromil Jires.

In this six-minute short, a man’s attempt to burgle a home is interrupted by a child.Read More »

Rare and little known drama, partly set in times of WW II, produced by Jadran film, Zagreb.

imdb:
The story about piano that changes many owners through the decades, now in the possession of girl who tries to master the instrument.Read More »

Quote:
Sometime in the mid to late sixties, Doris Day got saddled with the “Oldest Living Virgin” label, something which seemed somewhat a propos considering her squeaky clean, almost asexual screen persona. Day was always the girl next door, even when she traversed in unusual territory like Julie or the 1956 Hitchcock remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much. With her slightly raspy voice and inherently sweet disposition, Day was the Eisenhower Era’s answer to Marilyn Monroe, another stunningly beautiful blonde that you wouldn’t be worried about bringing home to meet Mom. This generic labeling of Day often underestimates her real skill as an actress.Read More »

Synopsis:
‘Young lawyer Robert Blair is called on in desperation by two women, mother and daughter, who live in a large, isolated house known as The Franchise, and have been questioned by the police in connection with a peculiar accusation. As feelings in the local village run high, the police build up a case on a formidable amount of circumstantial evidence – against which Blair can put only the improbability of the charge, and some unsuccessful amateur detection…’
– NetworkRead More »

Quote:
Director René Clair insisted that his 1952 production Beauties of the Night (Les Belles du Nuit) was intended as a comic variation on Griffith’s multipart Intolerance (1916). The Clair film deals with a disillusioned music teacher (Gérard Philipe) who dreams of the beautiful women of history, envisioning himself as the central male figure in each dream. The imaginary ladies (including such internationally famous lovelies as Martine Carol and Gina Lollobrigida) begin converging on the hero all at once, much to the delight of both Philipe and the audience. At several junctures, Clair revives a technique from his earliest talkies by having the characters sing their lines and thoughts rather than speaking them. These treasured musical moments are somewhat dissipated when Beauties of the Night is seen in an edited, redubbed American print — which also “fudges” the film’s notorious Gina Lollobrigida nude scene.Read More »

IMDB:
In the Tokugawa Era, the clan of Lord Yagyu has hidden away three scrolls containing clan secrets which, if revealed, would cause revolution and disaster for the clan. The information is divided among the three scrolls, all of which must be possessed for the secrets to be understood. When Princess Yuhime steals the scrolls, Tasaburo, a samurai with magical powers, and his brother Senshiro are sent to retrieve them. In Part II, the search for the scrolls continues.Read More »

A rogue smuggler enters the world of intrigue and deception, when he finds that his wife has been kidnapped his world changes.Read More »

Synopsis:
In a racially mixed American town, a 5-year-old black girl falls unnoticed into a hidden, forgotten well on her way to school. Having nothing better to go on, the police follow up a report that the child was seen with a white stranger, and rumors run wild. Before hapless, innocent Claude Packard is even found, popular hysteria has him tried and convicted. But Packard’s troubles pale by comparison as ever more inflated rumors uncap the well of racial tensions and mob violence. And young Carolyn Crawford, forgotten by most, is still missing…
— Rod CrawfordRead More »

Frank Sinatra stars in this biography of Joe E. Lewis – one of the great entertainers of the twenties and latterly as a stand up comic in the forties through to the sixties. This after he was beaten almost to death and his face slashed and part of his tongue cut off by the gangsters who ran the joint he worked out of when he threatened to leave. Sinatras performance is one of his very best as an actor and the supporting cast – including Eddie Albert, Jackie Coogan and Mitzi Gaynor – are also very good.Read More »