Drama

Xiao cheng zhi chun / Spring in a Small Town (1948) Mu Fei, Chaoming Cui, Wei Li, Yu Shi, Drama, Romance

Xiao cheng zhi chun AKA Spring in a Small Town (1948)
Following WWII and with China brought to it’s knees by the actions of the Japanese, prior to the rise of the Communists, led by Chairman Mao. This is the time during which Fei Mu’s film takes place. Wei Wei plays a woman who lives a lonely life, shackled by her care for her gentle, but ill husband (Shi Yu)- that is until her first love reappears into her life. This is Fei’s penultimate film as director, but is still enjoyed by many today as one of his best works. It has now been a firm favorite of many since it was restored in the 80’s by the China Film Archive and some rate it as one of the greatest Chinese movies in history.
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Special Agent (1935) William Keighley, Bette Davis, George Brent, Ricardo Cortez, Crime, Drama

Special Agent (1935)
Newspaperman Bill Bradford becomes a special agent for the tax service trying to end the career of racketeer Alexander Carston. Julie Gardner is Carston’s bookkeeper. Bradford enters Carston’s organization and Julie cooperates with him to land Carston in jail. An informer squeals on them. Julie is kidnapped by Carston’s henchmen as she is about to testify.
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The Cement Garden (1993) Andrew Birkin, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Andrew Robertson, Alice Coulthard, Drama

The Cement Garden (1993)
After the death of her husband, the mother of Julie, Jack, Sue and Tom begins to suffer from a mysterious illness. Aware that she is going to have to go into hospital she opens a bank account for the children, so that they can be financially self-sufficient and will be able to avoid being taken into care by the authorities. Unfortunately she also dies and Julie and Jack (the older, teenage children) decide to hide her body in the basement so that they can have free reign of their household. Soon Tom has taken to dressing as a girl whilst Sue has become increasingly reticent, confiding only to her diary, meanwhile Jack and Julie sense an attraction developing for each other. However Julie’s new beau, Derek, threatens to unearth the many dark secrets within this family as he becomes increasingly suspicious of Jack.
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China Sky (1945) Ray Enright, Randolph Scott, Ruth Warrick, Ellen Drew, Adventure, Drama, War

China Sky (1945)
In a hill city of war-torn China, the American mission hospital is run by Dr. Gray Thompson and Dr. Sara Durand, who secretly loves him. Then Gray comes back from the USA with new equipment …and new wife Louise, who is jealous of Sara, shows herself a coward in the first Japanese air raid, and wants to take Gray back to the States. Others have similar troubles; and Japanese prisoner Colonel Yasuda manipulates them for his own ends.
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Femmes de Paris (1953) Jean Boyer, Michel Simon, Brigitte Auber, Henri Génès, Comedy, Drama

Femmes de Paris (1953)
Le professeur Charles Buisson, Astronome et prix Nobel, vient de découvrir une nova. Il en informe par téléphone les autres observatoires. Alors qu’il croit que l’un d’eux le rappelle, il se retrouve à l’appareil avec une jeune femme menaçant de se suicider au cabaret Le Ruban Bleu, si son amoureux ne l’a pas rejoint à minuit. Intrigué, le professeur décide d’aller empêcher la malheureuse de passer à l’acte. Une de ses étudiantes, qui gagne sa vie comme doublure dans un numéro de couteaux, l’aide dans son enquête, tandis que le directeur de l’établissement et un policier le soupçonnent d’être un farceur ou même, de vendre de la drogue. Ce sera pour le savant l’occasion de découvrir un univers de music-hall qu’il ignorait jusqu’alors : « Je croyais connaître la carte du ciel par cœur mais il est une planète qui m’était totalement inconnue : la terre. J’y reviendrai ! »
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The Robin Hood of El Dorado (1936) William A. Wellman, Warner Baxter, Ann Loring, Bruce Cabot, Biography, Drama, History

The Robin Hood of El Dorado (1936)
In the 1840’s Mexico has ceded California to the United States, making life nearly impossible for the Mexican population due to the influx of land and gold-crazy Americans. Farmer Joaquin Murrieta revenges the death of his wife against the four Americans who killed her and is branded an outlaw. The reward for his capture is increased as he subsequently kills the men who brutally murder his brother. Joining with bandit Three Fingered Jack, Murrieta raises an army of disaffected Mexicans and goes on a rampage against the Americans, finally forcing his erstwhile friend, Bill Warren, to lead a posse against him.
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Written on the Wind (1956) Douglas Sirk, Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack, Drama

Written on the Wind (1956)
On 24 October 1955, the hard-work geologist of the Hadley Oil Company Mitch Wayne meets the executive secretary Lucy Moore in the office of her boss Bill Ryan in New York and invites her to go to a conference with the alcoholic playboy and son of a tycoon Kyle Hadley. On the way of the meeting, he confesses that they had traveled from Houston to New York to satisfy the wish of the reckless Kyle, who is his best friend since their childhood, of eating a sandwich from club 21 and the meeting was just a pretext to Kyle’s father Jasper Hadley. Mitch and Kyle immediately fall in love for Lucy, and Kyle unsuccessfully uses his money to impress Lucy; then he opens his heart and proposes Lucy. They get married and travel to Acapulco and the insecure Kyle stops drinking. Meanwhile, Kyle’s sister Marylee is an easy woman and has a non-corresponded crush on Mitch that sees her as a sister. One year later, Kyle discovers that he has a problem and might be sterile and starts drinking again.
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The Human Tornado (1976) Cliff Roquemore, Rudy Ray Moore, Lady Reed, Jimmy Lynch, Action, Comedy, Drama

The Human Tornado (1976)
Dolemite (Rudy Ray Moore) is back and badder than ever in THE HUMAN TORNADO! After being run out of town by a racist sheriff, Dolemite returns to LA only to discover that Queen Bee’s (Lady Reed) club has been taken over by the mafia. On top of that they have also kidnapped two of Queen Bee’s top girls! With the law hot on his tail, Dolemite rounds up the toughest Kung-Fu fighting badasses in Southern California to take on the mob, culminating in one of the craziest surprise endings in blaxploitation film history!
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