Tag Archives: 1960s

Yoyo (1965) Pierre Étaix, Claudine Auger, Philippe Dionnet, Comedy, Drama, Family

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A man has everything: dozens of servants, a palace, vast woods, gardens, a lake, mechanical toys, private entertainment troupes of musicians and dancers. He has it all – but love. When alone, he sits at a desk, sighing, and looking at a photograph of a pretty girl. One day, the circus descended onto his palace, and amidst all the fun it brought, he recognized the Amazon on the white horse – the girl in the photograph. The girl is now the mother of a small boy, Yo-Yo, whom she considers that looks like the millionaire, even under a clown’s make-up. The boy will spend some time in the palace, in awe of so much riches, but he will leave (in a dream-like scene) on the tusks of the elephant. Time passes – and one day Yo-Yo will be the owner of his father’s palace in decay. Starting from scratch, he will rebuilt it, and be praised as a great clown, an artist, a film-maker, a millionaire.
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Le soupirant / The Suitor (1962) France Arnel, Pierre Étaix, Laurence Lignières, Comedy

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Pierre is a shy man whose sole focus in life is studying astrology in solitude, which is often difficult since he still lives at and studies in his parent’s house. His parent’s would rather he date and get married. He takes on this task with verve. Not knowing how to approach women in a romantic way, he watches how other men operate and tries to emulate them, most often without success. He ends up attracting the one woman he doesn’t really want, a fun loving woman named Laurence who lives next door, but he becomes obsessed with Stella, a singer he sees on television. He believes her love song is being sung directly to him. As Pierre tries to get away from Laurence while pursuing Stella, he may miss the perfect match who may be right under his nose.
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Cry for Happy (1961) George Marshall, Glenn Ford, Donald O’Connor, Miiko Taka, Comedy, Romance

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U.S. Navy combat cameraman Andy Cyphers (Ford) & his team – Murray Prince (O’Connor), George Washing Suzuki and Lank, billet themselves in an “off-limits’ Kyoto, Japan, heisha house while on leave. Cyphers quickly becomes attracted to the beautiful Chiyoko, while Murray falls in love with the pixie-like Harue. A tongue-in-cheek story told by Murray to newspapermen, that he is fighting the Korean War to help Japanese orphans, becomes big news in America and lands them in trouble.
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The Angel Wore Red (1960) Nunnally Johnson, Ava Gardner, Dirk Bogarde, Joseph Cotten, Action, Drama, War

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The Spanish priest played by Dirk Bogarde is troubled by his church’s lack of concern for the poor; he decides to leave the church. By chance, the same day the Republicans call on the people to attack the churches and the priests, so though in plainclothes he is liable to arrest and execution. A beautiful cabaret singer (Ava Gardner) hides him for awhile but both are eventually made prisoner. The plot revolves around a relic taken from his erstwhile church by another priest that all sides are convinced would assure them victory…
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The Slender Thread (1965) Frank Tashlin, Dick Powell, Debbie Reynolds, Anne Francis, Comedy, Drama

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Mark Christopher is a 35-year old, award-winning comedy scriptwriter who is struggling to be taken seriously as a drama writer. On Christmas Eve, two police officers bring 17-year old Susan (picked up for vagrancy and brawling) to Mark’s apartment. If she spends a few days with him, Mark could use Susan as inspiration to write a script about juvenile-delinquents and Susan could avoid spending Christmas behind bars.
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Viy / Viy or Spirit of Evil (1967) Konstantin Ershov, Georgiy Kropachyov, Leonid Kuravlyov, Natalya Varley, Aleksey Glazyrin, Drama, Fantasy, Horror

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Getting lost, wandering home whilst on leave from his seminary, novice monk Khoma stays in the barn of an old woman. A scuffle breaks out. Later, he is summoned to stand and pray over a young dead woman, in the local church, for three nights. It is here that, while in the long, dark nights of the locked doors, the dead regain life, the souls of Hell taunt the young monk to near terrifying insanity, and the test of Faith will be as powerful as the witches, monsters and the mighty demon Viy who haunt his every step and bay for his very soul.
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Flight to Fury (1964) Monte Hellman, Dewey Martin, Fay Spain, Jack Nicholson, Adventure

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This adventure is set in the Philippines and chronicles the exploits of two men who survive a plane crash in the jungle. One of the men is an avaricious killer who has come to the islands to search for a fortune in diamonds. The other is an international adventurer. Now they must somehow overcome their vast personal differences and desires to survive in the steamy wilderness.
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La llorona / The Crying Woman (1960) René Cardona, María Elena Marqués, Eduardo Fajardo, Luz María Aguilar, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller

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The Mexican horror film La Llorona begins with a very happy young woman named Margarita (Luz Mara Aguilar) who is planning her wedding to the love of her life. Her uncle (Carlos Lopez Moctezuma) refuses to give his blessing to the union. She goes through with the marriage and soon gives birth to a son named Jorgito. When he gets older, Jorgito learns that the family suffers from a curse that causes woman to kill their children. In order to keep the curse from perpetuating itself, Jorgito begins plotting the murder of Margarita.
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Le Diable et les dix commandements / The Devil and the Ten Commandments (1962) Julien Duvivier, Michel Simon, Lucien Baroux, Claude Nollier, Comedy, Drama

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The ageing warden of a convent is berated by the Mother Superior for his bad language. To cure him of his affliction, the Bishop, an old friend of his, gives him a copy of the Bible and asks him to learn the Ten Commandments by heart. As the warden begins his task, the Devil leaps from the pages of the book in the form of a serpent and relishes in watching as one by one the Commandments are broken…
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Walkower / Walkover (1965) Jerzy Skolimowski, Aleksandra Zawieruszanka, Krzysztof Chamiec, Drama, Sport

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Jerzy Skolimowski’s second feature (and first full-length narrative) cemented his status as a one-man Polish New Wave, with the rhythms of his films influenced as much by jazz and (his own) poetry as by more conventional storytelling. Skolimowski himself plays a dropout-turned-amateur boxer who’s distracted from his bouts when Teresa (Aleksandra Zawieruszanka), an old university friend, re-enters his life.
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