Monthly Archives: April 2016

Le violon rouge / The Red Violin (1998) François Girard, Carlo Cecchi, Jean-Luc Bideau, Christoph Koncz, Drama, Romance, Mystery

Le violon rouge (Francois Girard, 1998)
Spans 300 years in the life of one famed musical instrument that winds up in present-day Montreal on the auction block. Crafted by the Italian master Bussotti (Cecchi) in 1681, the red violin derives its unusual color from the human blood mixed into the finish. With this legacy, the violin travels to Austria, England, China, and Canada, leaving both beauty and tragedy in its wake.
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Gothika (2003) Mathieu Kassovitz, Halle Berry, Penélope Cruz, Robert Downey Jr., Horror, Mystery, Thriller

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Dr. Miranda Grey is a psychiatrist who works in a penitentiary, in the mental institution sector. She is married with Dr. Douglas Grey, the chief of department where Dr. Pete Graham also works. Chloe Sava, a patient of Dr. Miranda formerly abused by her stepfather, claims that she is frequently raped by the devil in her cell. After leaving the asylum in a stormy night, Dr. Miranda has a car accident, and when she wakes up, she is an inmate of the institution, being accused of an horrible crime and having no memory of the incident.
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The Fortune (1975) Mike Nichols, Stockard Channing, Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Comedy, Crime, Romance

The Fortune (1975)
The early 1900’s with its Mann-Act (disallowing women to be transported across State lines for immoral reasons) brings a married man to devise a scheme for taking his upper-class girlfriend away with him… he simply has her marry his unmarried buddy. However, it doesn’t take very long before both men start laying claim to her affection… until, that is, she’s about to be cut out of her parent’s fortune. So, a new scheme is devised, which only adds to their problems, as well as to the sly whimsy of this film.
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Berlin Correspondent (1942) Eugene Forde, Virginia Gilmore, Dana Andrews, Mona Maris, Drama, Thriller

Berlin Correspondent (Eugene Forde, 1942)
American correspondent Bill Roberts is a thorn in the side of the Nazis, as his paper always scoops the world with the truth about Germany. Gestapo Captain Carl Von Rau means to plug the leak and assigns Karen Hauen, who he attends to wed, to the case. Roberts is obtaining his information for his stories and broadcasts from an elderly stamp collector who, defiantly opposed to the Nazis, sells the “proper” stamps to Roberts, giving him the information. Attracted to Karen, Roberts invites her to his apartment where she learns his secret. The old philatelist is sent to a concentration camp, and then Karen learns that he is her father. She appeals to Roberts for help and he, in loyalty to the old man and now in love with Karen, agrees to help.
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Mata Hari, agent H21 (1964) Jean-Louis Richard, Jeanne Moreau, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Claude Rich, Drama, History, Romance

Mata Hari, agent H21 (Jean-Louis Richard, 1964)
This French version of the notorious spy’s life centers less on her romantic escapades, and more on those that reveal the person she actually was during WW I when her German superiors ordered her to seduce the French captain Trintignant so she can steal classified papers from him. Instead she falls in love with him, blows the cover, and ends up convicted of espionage and shot.
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The Wraith (1986) Mike Marvin, Charlie Sheen, Nick Cassavetes, Sherilyn Fenn, Action, Horror, Romance

The Wraith (1986)
Packard Walsh and his motorized gang control and terrorize an Arizona desert town where they force drivers to drag-race so they can ‘win’ their vehicles. After Walsh stabs the decent teenager Jamie Hankins to death for being intimate with a girl whom Walsh wants for himself, the mysterious Jake Kesey arrives, an extremely cool motor-biker with an invincible car. Jake befriends Jamie’s girlfriend Keri Johnson, takes Jamie’s sweet brother Billy under his wing and manages what Sheriff Loomis can not – the methodical and otherworldly elimination of Packard’s criminal gang.
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Il dio serpente / The Snake God (1970) Piero Vivarelli, Nadia Cassini, Beryl Cunningham, Sergio Tramonti, Adventure, Drama, Horror

Il dio serpente (1970)
A beautiful Italian woman is told by her black friend about the Carribean love god Jambaya who appears in the form of the snake. By the end of the movie, Cassini has decided to give herself to Jambaya while Cunningham departs with her white friend’s ex-lover, establishing a neat symmetry between their respective fantasies of exoticism.
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Strange Cargo (1940) Frank Borzage, Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Ian Hunter, Drama, Romance

Strange Cargo (Frank Borzage, 1940)
Verne wants nothing more than to escape from a penal colony located off the northern coast of South America. He tries to involve Julie, a saloon girl, in his plans but she turns him in to the authorities. On Verne’s next try, he piggybacks on the escape of six other convicts and runs into Julie again in the process. One of the convicts is a spiritual figure who seems to know what will happen before anyone else. The group attempts to travel through the jungle, board a boat, and make it to the mainland.
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Desert Fury (1947) Lewis Allen, John Hodiak, Lizabeth Scott, Burt Lancaster, Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Desert Fury (Lewis Allen, 1947)
Fritzi Haller is a powerful casino owner in Chuckawalla, Nevada. Her daughter Paula (having quit school) returns at the same time as racketeer Eddie Bendix, who left under suspicion of murdering his wife. Paula and Eddie become involved; each for their own reasons, Fritzi, Paula’s old beau Tom, and Eddie’s pal Johnny try to break up the relationship. Then Eddie’s past catches up with him in an unexpected way.
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Un uomo, un cavallo, una pistola / The Stranger Returns (1967) Luigi Vanzi, Tony Anthony, Daniele Vargas, Ettore Manni, Western

Un uomo, un cavallo, una pistola (1967)
Taking the identity of a dead postal inspector found on the trail, a stranger rides into a small western town and finds himself in the middle of a stagecoach robbery perpetrated by a gang of twenty ruthless desperados. Finding out the object of the heist was not a strongbox as it seemed but a solid gold stagecoach, he enlists the aid of a down-and-out old preacher and tracks down the dangerous gang and their unsuspected ally.
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Sunyeo / Water Lady (1979) Ki-young Kim, Jeong-cheol Kim, Ja-ok Kim, Il-woong Lee, Drama

Sunyeo (Kim Ki-young, 1979)
Jin-seok returns from the Vietnam war, injured and marries Sun-ok. But financial difficulties cause them to argue. One day, Sun-ok brings bamboo trees from her parents’ home and succeeds in running a bamboo ware manufacturing company. Sun-ok has a stuttering problem and their son inherits the habit and he is sent to a special school. Meanwhile Jin-seok falls for Chu-wol and begins abusing Sun-ok. Chu-wol schemes to ruin his family, but Jin-seok escapes from her clutches and Sun-ok creates a special bamboo instrument. Their son’s stuttering problem is cured.
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