Political activist Salvatore returns to his native Sicily and stirs up trouble among the peasants, urging them to confront the Mafia and demand the right to plough their own fields. The peasants refuse to help him, and Salvatore is marked by the Mafia as a troublemaker…
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Monthly Archives: February 2016
Die Koffer des Herrn O.F. / The Thirteen Trunks of Mr. O.F. (1931) Alexis Granowsky, Alfred Abel, Peter Lorre, Harald Paulsen, Comedy
In the very oldfashioned town of Ostend suddenly 13 suitcases are delivered to the hotel, with a note, that O.F. will be here soon and needs 6 rooms (the hotel just has five). This event, probably the biggest in 300 years, starts a small wave of modernisation, yet everybody is wondering who O.F. is. Journalist Stix and architect Stark have an idea how to use this event. They proclaim, that O.F. is a former citizen of the town, who became a millionaire abroad. They tell their fellow citizens that the town still needs modernisation, like better hotels, nightclubs, shops, etc. And soon, Ostend is a boomtown, then a capital. The architect, responsible for the new buildings is finaly allowed to marry the mayor’s daughter, while Stix marries the cabaret star and the widowed mayor his new secretary. The only problem is, O.F. hasn’t shown up, while finance experts from all over the world are trying to solve the depression problem, that is non-existant in Ostend, this soon lets the people …
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Knock (1951) Guy Lefranc, Louis Jouvet, Jean Brochard, Pierre Renoir, Comedy
Saint-Maurice, an ordinary peaceful village, lived healthily so much so that the local doctor’s practice was scant. But that was before Dr. Parpalaid retired and was replaced by a charlatan by the name of Knock. A real genius this one, for he soon managed to persuade everyone that they were ill. And not only didn’t they resent him but they even loved their physician, who made a fortune and brought prosperity to the village by turning it into a big hospital.
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The Sniper (1952) Edward Dmytryk, Arthur Franz, Adolphe Menjou, Gerald Mohr, Crime, Film-Noir, Drama
Apparently rejected by women all his life, a loner with a high-power rifle starts on a trail of murder. The police are baffled by the apparently random killings until their psychologist comes up with some ideas.
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Il generale della Rovere / General Della Rovere (1959) Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Hannes Messemer, Sandra Milo, Drama, War
Genoa, 1943. Grimaldi is a swindler, pretending to be a colonel in the Italian army to get money from the family of people put into jail by the Nazis. Once caught, the Gestapo makes a deal with him : he will stay alive if he impersonates the General Della Rovere, a leader of the Resistance who has just been shot by the Nazis, to be put into a political jail where he is supposed to identify another Resistance leader.
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La race des seigneurs / Creezy (1974) Pierre Granier-Deferre, Alain Delon, Sydne Rome, Jeanne Moreau, Drama
Julien Dandieu, leader of the socialist political party PRU is asked to be part of the new conservative government as minister of foreign affairs. However his reputation is somewhat tarnished by his adulterous relationship with Creezy, a fashion model seen on every magazine cover. Ready to sacrifice his family for his career, he is eventually faced with the ultimate choice: his career ambitions or a lifetime with his beautiful girlfriend, who has recently mysteriously disappeared.
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Kotoko (2011) Shin’ya Tsukamoto, Yûko Nakamura, Cocco, Drama, Horror
The story of a single mother who suffers from double vision; caring for her baby is a nerve-wrecking task that eventually leads her to a nervous breakdown. She is suspected of being a child abuser when things get out of control and her baby is taken away.
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Hell to Eternity (1960) Phil Karlson, Jeffrey Hunter, David Janssen, Vic Damone, Biography, Drama, War
True life story of Guy Gabaldon, a Los Angeles Hispanic boy raised in the 1930s by a Japanese-American foster family. Later, during the war, as his foster parents are interned at a camp for Japanese Americans, Gabaldon’s ability to speak Japanese helps him become a lone-operating Marine hero. During the bloody capture of the island of Saipan, he convinces 800 Japanese to surrender after their general commits suicide.
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Hustle (1975) Robert Aldrich, Burt Reynolds, Catherine Deneuve, Ben Johnson, Crime, Drama, Mystery
Phil Gaines is a bitter, cynical cop who investigates the case of a dead stripper/porno actress found on the beach. Gaines is experiencing a troubled relationship with a hooker, and things don’t get any better when the dead girl’s father launches his own investigation.
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I’ll See You in My Dreams (1951) Michael Curtiz, Doris Day, Danny Thomas, Frank Lovejoy, Biography, Comedy, Musical
Songwriter Gus Kahn gets the Hollywood treatment. The film chronicles his success and decline, with his wife Grace sticking by him the whole time.
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Imprint (2006) Takashi Miike, Billy Drago, Shihô Harumi, Michié, Horror
In the Nineteenth Century, in Japan, the American journalist Christopher is traveling through the country searching Komomo, the missing love of his life that he had abandoned years ago promising to come back to her later. He arrives in a shadowy island inhabited by whores and caftans, where he has an encounter with a deformed prostitute that tells that his beloved Komomo had passed away. He drinks sake with her and later he asks the woman to tell the story of her life. The prostitute discloses a dark and cruel story about her life and the sad fate of Komomo.
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Kismet (1955) Vincente Minnelli, Stanley Donen, Howard Keel, Ann Blyth, Dolores Gray, Adventure, Musical, Fantasy
Like a tale spun by Scheherazade, Kismet follows the remarkable and repeated changes of fortune that engulf a poor poet. It all happens in one incredible day when Kismet (Fate) takes a hand.
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Invitation to a Gunfighter (1964) Richard Wilson, Yul Brynner, Janice Rule, George Segal, Western
When Confederate soldier Matt Weaver returns to town after the Civil War, he finds that his home has been sold by town boss Sam Brewster. Brewster hires gunfighter Jules Gaspard d’Estaing to deal with Weaver, but d’Estaing’s independent approach settles the town’s problems in a very unorthodox manner.
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I Love You (1986) Marco Ferreri, Christopher Lambert, Eddy Mitchell, Flora Barillaro, Drama, Fantasy, Romance
In another indictment of the flaws of our so-called civilization, this satire from the late director Marco Ferreri features Christopher Lambert as Michel, a miserable man who has failed at love and finds solace in a mechanical key holder.
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Heller Wahn / Sheer Madness (1983) Margarethe von Trotta, Hanna Schygulla, Angela Winkler, Peter Striebeck, Drama
Olga and Ruth become friends. Olga is independent, separated from her husband, living with an immigrant pianist, and teaching feminist literature. Ruth is withdrawn, a painter, possibly mentally ill. Ruth dreams in black and white, sometimes of her suicide. Olga lectures on a 19th-century writer, von Günderrode, a suicide after the breakup of her intense friendship with Bettina Brentano. Ruth’s husband Franz encourages the women’s friendship, then, as Olga draws Ruth out and the friendship deepens, he becomes jealous. After the women travel to Egypt, Franz has a tirade. Ruth seems crushed between her husband and her friend, and how she responds is the film’s climax.
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