In 1942, a cargo ship jammed with British evacuees from Singapore is sunk by a Japanese sub. A small lifeboat carries a beautiful woman, an army officer, a bigoted administrator, and a black seaman. Only the seaman knows the woman is a nun. The men reveal their true selves under the hardships of survival. Told in a too-long flashback frame.
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400 hundred years ago the inhabitants of the village of Yatsuhaka murdered 8 samurai rebels, whom they were actually helping to hide away, afraid of what the Shogunate would do to them. Before dying one the samurai puts a curse on the village. Strange things start to happen so the villagers decided to erect 8 graves for the murdered samurai to appease their anger. Then four hundred years later the head of Tajimi family and head of the village goes mad and starts killing almost everyone in the village. 25 years later his eldest son is poisoned. Kindaichi Yousuke detective is hired by the family’s lawyer as everyone in the village believes is the curse of the samurai again.
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A businessman on the verge of bankruptcy receives an unexpected inheritance: a large farm in Portugal’s southern province of Alentejo. But what seems to be his salvation turns out to be his doom. Fascinated by the story of violence committed by his ancestors, the previous owners of the estate, he becomes wrapped up in a hurricane of situations and sensations previously unknown to him.
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18-year-old Sean’s first summer after completing high school is much spent with 28-year-old teacher Diane, whose husband is too often motorcycle-racing instead of with her. Wacko Ralph also has “the hots” for Diane; and it doesn’t help that Sean was with Ralph’s younger brother, Lou, when Lou died.
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A lone gambler tries to keep a yakuza family from taking over a festival in Kitakyushu. After away from his hometown for 13 years, Ryuji comes back and saves the town that is becoming run-down from yakuza’s ill deeds.
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The film is packed with nice stunts throughout, but the screenplay could be better. After escaping the prison Chiba teams up with a bunch of thugs, who design prison escapes for money. Unfortunately trust and loyalty are unknown concepts to these men who take turns deceiving each other. The endless “who’s-cheating-who” game has been done better in other films, and sometimes the writing is downright sloppy: when a carefully planned escape operation fails, Chiba simply steals a fire engine and drives away without anyone noticing! It also feels that director Kosaku Yamashita, who made his name with yakuza films, was a bit out of his element here. However, even with these weaknesses it’s an entertaining action comedy which compares favourably against some of the later, similar Yasaku Matsuda films like Execution Game (1978) and No Grave for Us (1979). The focus is on stunts and comedy.
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A social drama about four marginalized prostitutes in Marrakech and their complex relations with their families and society at large.
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A young leader of the Yamazaki family of Nagasaki, Takida (Ken Takakura) is an A-bomb survivor. He fiercely battles violent elements in southern Japan without fear of consequences.
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Renouncing her “sinful” past, Emanuelle has entered a convent and has dedicated herself to a life of service. Enter Monika, the free-spirited, free-loving daughter of a wealthy Baron. Emanuelle is charged with keeping Monika in line, but when the young girl’s wild ways bring back memories of her own sensual past, Emanuelle begins questioning her own religious and sexual identity. Advances from an escaped killer who is hiding in the convent serve to complicate matters further.
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The story of Tei, a female coalmine operator, who risks her life to protect the business that was passed on by her late husband.
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One of the great stories from Japan’s rich history comes to life in this true tale of the bloody showdown between two rival yakuza gangs in the 1840’s. The battle between Boss Sukegoro of Iioka and Boss Shigezo of Sasagawa has been portrayed many times, most notably in the first Zatoichi film, where the blind man befriends the tubercular ronin Hirate Miki, before cutting him down in one of the great duels in cinema history. This all-star extravaganza pulls out all the stops, with appearances by virtually all of the great actors and actresses from Toei’s studio at the time. Ichikawa Utaemon’s portrayal of the kind-hearted, noble yakuza boss Shigezo of Sasagawa contrasts sharply with the devious Sukegoro of Iioka. Corrupt as he may have been, his men were all willing to give up their lives for him.
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Having Wonderful Crime spotlights Michael J. Malone, the murder-solving attorney created by author Craig Rice. The film is also ostensibly based on a novel by Rice, though precious little of the original actually made it to the screen. The story begins as Malone (Pat O’Brien) brusquely informs his newlywed friends Jake and Helene Justus (George Murphy and Carole Landis) that he’s not going to allow them to suck him into another murder mystery. Unfortunately for the attorney, Jake and Helene shortly afterward attend a stage magic show wherein the star magician (George Zucco) disappears for real! Their investigation leads to a resort hotel literally packed with murder suspects. When the newlyweds learn too much for their own good, it’s up to Malone to come to the rescue and nab the killer. One of the suspects is played by an actress named Anje Berens, who as “Gloria Holden” previously starred in Dracula’s Daughter (1936).
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Farmer Brand can’t read and he is quite happy with that. His wife, Keet, who has to read him all the subtitles on the television, isn’t. She decides to hire a teacher for him. This is a beautiful young woman, called Lena. Brand falls in love with her. To his puzzlement and dismay Keet encourages him, because as she says she doesn’t want a husband with another woman in his head. She wants their love to grow stale. She also wants Lena to give Brand and her a son. The love between Brand and Lena does not grow stale easily and after the birth of little Teun, their strange menage a trois comes to a dramatic conclusion.
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The 18th century tale of a youngster whose memories, recounted after death, are a long series of wrong moral choices ending up with his killing his evil alter-ego, that is committing suicide.
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After a nasty argument with her boyfriend Carl, young Gaby spontaneously accepts her girlfriend invitation to join her on a vacation to Manila. Her plans to forget about Carl succeed very rapidly as she meets Dr. Andreas Witzig, a young scholar who plans to marry his fiancee on the island. During the following days, Gaby tries her best to convince the man of her dreams to change his mind.
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