The inhabitants of an institution in a remote country rebel against their keepers. Their acts of rebellion are by turns humorous, boring and alarming. An allegory on the problematic nature of fully liberating the human spirit, as both commendable and disturbing elements of our nature come forward. The film shows how justifiable revolt may be empowering, but may also turn to chaos and depravity. The allegory is developed in part by the fact that the film is cast entirely with dwarfs.
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Monthly Archives: February 2016
Francis of Assisi (1961) Michael Curtiz, Bradford Dillman, Dolores Hart, Stuart Whitman, Biography, Drama, History
Francis Bernardone (Bradford Dillman) is the son of a wealthy cloth merchant in Assisi, who gives up all his worldly goods to dedicate himself to God. Clare (Dolores Hart) is a young aristocratic woman who, according to the film, is so taken with St. Francis that she leaves her family and becomes a nun. By this time (1212 A.D.), St. Francis has a well-established reputation for his vows of poverty. The movie goes on to note miracles (such as the appearance of the stigmata on Francis’s hands and feet) and other aspects of his life, up to and including his death on October 3, 1226.
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Wild Side (2004) Sébastien Lifshitz, Stéphanie Michelini, Yasmine Belmadi, Edouard Nikitine, Drama
In Paris, the thirty-two years old travesty Stéphanie a.k.a. Pierre is a streetwalker that lives with the Egyptian gay hustler Djamel and the Russian gay Mikhail that works in a restaurant. When the hospital where her mother Liliane is terminal calls her, she travels with her two lovers to the countryside to look after her dying mother. While at home, she recalls her childhood and how she met Djamel and Mikhail.
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Antoine et Marie (2014) Jimmy Larouche, Isabelle Blais, Pierre-Luc Brillant, Martine Francke, Drama
Marie leads a calm and happy life withe her boyfriend in a nice suburban neighborhood. After a night out in a bar with her colleagues, she wakes up dizzy, in a cab, with no memories of the night. What could Marie say to her boyfriend Richard, when he suspects her of cheating on him? What if Antoine, a simple auto parts delivery man, has the key to this enigma.
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War and Peace (1956) King Vidor, Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Mel Ferrer, Drama, Romance, War
By 1812, Napoleon’s forces controlled much of Europe. Russia, one of the few countries still unconquered, prepares to face Napoleon’s troops together with Austria. Among the Russian soldiers are Count Nicholas Rostov and Prince Andrei Bolkonsky. Count Pierre Bezukhov, a friend of Andrei’s and self-styled intellectual who is not interested in fighting. Pierre’s life changes when his father dies, leaving him a vast inheritance. He is attracted to Natasha Rostov, Nicholas’s sister, but she is too young, so he gives in to baser desires and marries the shallow, manipulative Princess Helene. The marriage ends when Pierre discovers his wife’s true nature. Andrei is captured and later released by the French, and returns home only to watch his wife die in childbirth. Months later, Pierre and Andrei meet again. Andrei sees Natasha and falls in love, but his father will only permit the marriage if they postpone it for one year until Natasha turns 17.
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Thieves’ Highway (1949) Jules Dassin, Richard Conte, Valentina Cortese, Lee J. Cobb, Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller
The soldier Nick Garcos returns back home from the war very happy with gifts for his parents Yanko and Parthena Garcos and money in his pocket to open a business and get married with his girlfriend Polly Faber. Out of blue, Nick realizes that his father lost both legs and Yanko, who was a truck driver, tells that he was cheated by the dealer Mike Figlia in the San Francisco’s market when he delivered a truckload of tomatoes and was not paid. He believes that his accident was provoked by Figlia’s gangsters. He also tells that he sold the truck to a driver named Ed Kinney that has not paid him. Nick meets Ed and tells that he will bring the truck back, but Ed proposes a deal with apples, where they may earn a great amount. Nick invests his savings in another truck and buys apples from a Polish farmer. They need to drive directly to the market in San Francisco without sleeping to keep the fruits fresh, but Ed’s truck has problem on its axle and Nick arrives first.
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Seven Thieves (1960) Henry Hathaway, Edward G. Robinson, Rod Steiger, Joan Collins, Crime, Drama
In Monte Carlo, Theo Wilkins recruits his young protégé Paul Mason – just released from prison – to help him rob the famous casino of $4 million. The plan is straightforward. On the night of the Governor’s Ball, Theo will create a distraction in the casino by having one of the team collapse requiring urgent medical attention. During that time Paul and another member of the crew will get the money from the vault. When the ambulance arrives, the money will leave with the sick man. The plan is a good one but not everyone will survive the robbery and no one will get rich from it.
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Métamorphoses (2014) Christophe Honoré, Amira Akili, Sébastien Hirel, Mélodie Richard, Fantasy
A girl is approached by a strange boy outside her high school. He asks her to follow him to hear stories where gods fall in love with human beings.
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Wrong Is Right (1982) Richard Brooks, Sean Connery, George Grizzard, Robert Conrad, Comedy, Drama, Thriller
A satire of American news reporting, Covert Agencies, and political system. The theft of two suitcase sized nuclear weapons, and their sale to a terrorist group, leads TV Newsman Patrick Hale on an international chase to track them down, and uncover the twisting maze of apparent involvement of US Government agencies.
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The Little Hut (1957) Mark Robson, Ava Gardner, Stewart Granger, David Niven, Comedy, Romance
Three people, Susan and Philip Ashlow and Henry Brittingham-Brett are washed ashore on a deserted island after a shipwreck. Henry is Susan’s lover. Since the island is filled with things to eat, they can concentrate on the love triangle between the men and the woman.
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Little Big Man (1970) Arthur Penn, Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, Chief Dan George, Comedy, Western
Jack Crabb is 121 years old as the film begins. A collector of oral histories asks him about his past. He recounts being captured and raised by indians, becoming a gunslinger, marrying an indian, watching her killed by General George Armstrong Custer, and becoming a scout for him at Little Big Horn.
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Victory (1981) John Huston, Michael Caine, Sylvester Stallone, Pelé, Action, Drama, Sport
In World War II, a group of Nazi officers come up with a propaganda event in which an all star Nazi team will play a team composed of Allied Prisoners of War in a Soccer (Football) game. The Prisoners agree, planning on using the game as a means of escape from the camp.
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Beginning of the End (1957) Bert I. Gordon, Peter Graves, Peggie Castle, Morris Ankrum, Sci-Fi
An attractive reporter investigating the mysterious destruction of an Illinois town stumbles upon a secret government laboratory conducting radiation experiments on vegetables. The lead scientist is eager to help find out what happened. Together they discover that giant grasshoppers are behind the devastation. Worse yet, thousands of them are headed toward Chicago! Can they be stopped… or is this the BEGINNING OF THE END?
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Fear Strikes Out (1957) Robert Mulligan, Anthony Perkins, Karl Malden, Norma Moore, Biography, Drama, Sport
Jim Piersall is groomed by his loving but hard-driving father (living vicariously through his son) to play major league baseball. His desire to succeed to please his father leads to mental illness and a nervous breakdown. Can he overcome those difficulties and return to the major leagues?
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Il diavolo a sette facce / The Devil with Seven Faces (1971) Osvaldo Civirani, Carroll Baker, George Hilton, Stephen Boyd, Mystery, Thriller
Carroll Baker plays a dual role as translator Julie Harrison and her twin sister Mary. The serpentine plot begins as Julie tells her lawyer Dave Barton (Stephen Boyd) that Mary’s life is being threatened in London while Julie herself is being stalked by a mysterious stranger in Amsterdam.
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