1960s

  • Éric Rohmer – La carrière de Suzanne AKA Suzanne’s Career (1963)

    1961-1970DramaEric RohmerFranceRomance

    Synopsis:
    In the second of Rohmer’s moral tales, he examines the relationship between two friends and a girl who at first appears easily exploited. It is a complex tale of feelings and misconceptions, acted out within the head of the main character, as part of Rohmer’s attempt to more easily simulate the mindscape quality of literature within a film.Read More »

  • Jean-Luc Godard – La chinoise [+commentary] (1967)

    1961-1970AdventureFranceJean-Luc GodardPolitics

    Synopsis:
    Born in a decade of political turmoil, La Chinoise has become a cinematic marker for the significant historical events that surrounded its creation. Five Parisian students, their political awareness aroused by Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book and the Chinese Cultural Revolution, envision an overthrow of Western governmental systems – which they aim to bring about through acts of terrorism. One of Godard’s most brilliant films of the 60s, its success lies in the rejection of traditional narrative techniques: it is a dialectical charade which is as disturbing as it is comical. Though criticised in its day as a political manipulation, La Chinoise has proven alarmingly prophetic and its impact on audiences during the late 60s is echoed amongst viewers today.Read More »

  • Seth Holt – Taste of Fear AKA Scream of Fear (1961)

    1961-1970Hammer FilmsHorrorMysterySeth HoltUnited Kingdom

    Synopsis:
    Penny Applebee’s parents were divorced when she was quite young and she grew up with her mother. After her mother’s death, the wheelchair-bound Penny has accepted her father’s invitation to live with him. She arrives only to learn that her father is away though her stepmother – who she is meeting for the first time – proves to be quite welcoming. On her first night however, she sees a light in the summerhouse and upon investigation, sees her father sitting there, apparently dead. Others can find nothing there and tell her she must have imagined it. She later sees his body in library and then again in the pool. She comes to believe that her stepmother and her father’s friend, Doctor Pierre Gerard, are plotting to drive her insane. She gets a sympathetic ear from Bob, the chauffeur, who feels there has to be some rational explanation for what has been happening.Read More »

  • Pierre-Alain Jolivet – Le Grand Ceremonial aka Weird Weirdo (1968)

    Arthouse1961-1970FrancePierre-Alain Jolivet

    IMDB:
    When a boy is the victim of his over-protective mother, he leaves his home at night in search of female victims. When he meets a young girl who is a petty thief, he mistreats her and she falls in love with him.Read More »

  • Pierre Kast & Chris Marker – La Brûlure de mille soleils AKA The Heat of a Thousand Suns (1965)

    1961-1970AnimationChris MarkerFrancePierre KastSci-Fi

    This ultimate masterpiece is set in the far future where a young man, bored by his surroundings, blasts off into space with only his cat and some robots for company. On a distant planet he discovers a serene, tranquil culture and falls in love with a girl. The story follows his problems adjusting to their sociological standards and customs where family units are comprised of sexual groups of eight people.Read More »

  • Roger Corman – Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

    USA1961-1970HorrorMysteryRoger Corman

    Synopsis:
    Francis Barnard goes to Spain, when he hears his sister Elizabeth has died. Her husband Nicholas Medina, the son of the brutest torturer of the Spanish Inquisition, tells him she has died of a blood disease, but Francis finds this hard to believe. After some investigating he finds out that it was extreme fear that was fatal to his sister and that she may have been buried alive! Strange things then start to happen in the Medina castle.Read More »

  • David Cronenberg – From the Drain (1967)

    1961-1970CanadaComedyDavid CronenbergShort Film

    In the not-too-distant future, two fully clothed men sit in a bathtub at a home for war veterans. After a few minutes of not saying anything to each other, one of them breaks the silence by saying “do you come here often?” The first man introduces himself as a secret agent, while the second man introduces himself as an expert on chemical and biological warfare. They discuss changes to humand and plant biology caused by chemical warfare in some un-named recent war. The agent takes notes as suddenly a mutated vine of a plant emerges from the drain and strangles the The film is centered on two men in a bathtub; it is implied that they are veterans of some past conflict but revealed that they are currently in a mental institution.Read More »

  • Robert Darène – La cage (1963)

    1961-1970DramaFranceRobert Darène

    IMDB:
    After studying medicine in France ,David comes back to his native Gabon to treat his compatriots.He meets Oyana ,his former sweetheart ,and both laugh at the old-fashioned traditions .The young physician is sent to the bush where he is to vaccinate the somewhat reluctant population.He meets Rispal, a white man who tells him there are things he ignores in his own country where legends ,witches and superstitions abound.Most amazing thing,this embittered man has a wife,Isabelle ,a beautiful woman who wanders through the bush.Read More »

  • Paul Vecchiali – Le récit de Rebecca (1964)

    1961-1970DramaFrancePaul VecchialiTV

    To modern audiences, this interpretation of a segment of Jan Patocki’s The Manuscript Found In Saragossa is the hokiest thing they’ll ever see with over the top acting and its sheer ludicrousness but that’s part of the charm. Vecchiali’s mastery of light and colour work wonders as is his grasp of spontaneity. It is overt in its homoeroticism and there are shades of an incestuous relationship going on but Marika Green’s coquettish bashfulness is later transformed in a dance scene that while it may not have the same razzmatazz as a Ginger Rogers/Fred Astaire routine is effective nevertheless. (Malvad, letterboxd)Read More »

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