Tag Archives: english

Giant (1956) George Stevens, Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Drama

Giant (1956)
Jordan ‘Bick’ Benedict Jr., is a wealthy landowner and cattle rancher who marries a spoiled and wealthy Virginian woman. When the two return to his cattle empire in Texas, conflicts around race, class and changing traditions including former cowboy and now rich oil tycoon Jett Rink rise to epic proportions through the years and test the unity of the family and surrounding community.
Read More »

Terror by Night (1946) Roy William Neill, Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Alan Mowbray, Mystery, Thriller

Terror by Night (1946)
The penultimate entry in Universal’s Sherlock Holmes series, Terror by Night takes place almost exclusively on a speeding train, en route from London to Edinburgh. Holmes (Basil Rathbone) is on board to protect a valuable diamond from the clutches of master criminal Colonel Sebastian Moran. The trouble is, Moran is a master of disguise, and could be just about any one of the other passengers. Murder and mayhem plague the train excursion before Holmes can successfully complete his mention. Poor old Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) is a bit denser than usual here, though his ingenuousness is cleverly woven into the script. Alan Mowbray, who played Inspector Lestrade in the 1932 Clive Brook adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, is seen in a pivotal supporting role.
Read More »

Brimstone (1949) Joseph Kane, Rod Cameron, Lorna Gray, Walter Brennan, Western

Brimstone (1949)
The age-old enmity between cattle ranchers and settlers once again takes center stage in this slightly above-average Western filmed in Republic Pictures’ Trucolor system. Walter Brennan plays Pop “Brimstone” Courteen, an ornery rancher who avenges the loss of the free range by robbing stagecoaches and banks. The Courteen gang, which also includes Pop’s three sons, Nick (Jim Davis), Luke (Jack Lambert), and the reluctant Bud (James Brown), gets a bit of competition from The Ghost, a mystery outlaw who really is Marshal Johnny Tremaine (Rod Cameron). Tremaine’s undercover investigation leads to McIntyre (Forrest Tucker), the sheriff of Gunsight, who is in the employ of the Courteens. In love with Molly Bannister (Adrian Booth), a settler, Bud turns against his ruthless family, but will Tremaine be able to save the boy from his father’s wrath?
Read More »

Puppet on a Chain (1971) Geoffrey Reeve, Sven-Bertil Taube, Barbara Parkins, Alexander Knox, Action, Thriller

Puppet on a Chain (1971)
This detective thriller features one of the most exciting boat chases ever filmed, a scene that has been compared to the car chase in Bullitt. It is also notable for having much scenic footage of the Netherlands and of Amsterdam. In this film, the headquarters of a drug-smuggling cartel is the quarry of American narcotics agent Paul Sherman (Sven-Bartil Taube). Though the cartel’s activities are centered in Amsterdam, Sherman’s search for the headquarters leads to an island castle owned by an offbeat religious group. Sherman and his partner Maggie (Barbara Parkins) run into serious trouble when they try to gain access to the forbidding site. Paul escapes captivity and chases the culprits by boat.
Read More »

Loving You (1957) Hal Kanter, Elvis Presley, Lizabeth Scott, Wendell Corey, Drama, Musical

Loving You (1957)
Deke Rivers is a delivery man who is discovered by publicist Glenda Markle and country-western musician Tex Warner who want to promote the talented newcomer to fame and fortune, giving him every break he deserves. Romantic complications arise as Susan, another singer in the group, offers him devoted admiration as Glenda leads him on with promises of a golden future.
Read More »

Requiescant (1967) Carlo Lizzani, Lou Castel, Mark Damon, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Western

Requiescant (1967)
In the post-Civil War West, a young boy is rescued from a massacre by Protestants who instill the value of pacifism in the young boy. But it’s only when he chases after his missing step-sister that he discovers a skill for gunslinging, takes on the name Requiscant, and re-enters the world of violence denied to him as a child. This spaghetti Western also includes a cameo from director Pier Paolo Pasolini as a renegade priest.
Read More »

The Front Page (1931) Lewis Milestone, dolphe Menjou, Pat O’Brien, Mary Brian, Comedy

The Front Page (1931)
Hildy Johnson, newspaper reporter, is engaged to Peggy Grant and planning to move to New York for a higher paying advertising job. The court press room is full of lame reporters who invent stories as much as write them. All are waiting to cover the hanging of Earl Williams. When Williams escapes from the inept Sheriff, Hildy seizes the opportunity by using his $260 honeymoon money to payoff an insider and get the scoop on the escape. However, Walter Burns, the Post’s editor, is slow to repay Hildy back, hoping that he will stay on the story. Getting a major scoop looks possible when Hildy stumbles onto the bewildered escapee and hides him in a roll-top desk in the press room. Burns shows up to help. Can they keep Williams’ whereabouts secret long enough to get the scoop, especially with the Sheriff and other reporters hovering around?
Read More »

Stir of Echoes (1999) David Koepp, Kevin Bacon, Zachary David Cope, Kathryn Erbe, Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Stir of Echoes (1999)
Tom Witzky (Kevin Bacon) is a blue-collar worker, a family man, the most ordinary guy in the world…who is about to be plunged into a shattering encounter with another world. And it doesn’t matter that Tom doesn’t believe in the supernatural. Because something supernatural has started to believe in Tom. After he is hypnotized at a neighborhood party, Tom changes. He sees things he can’t explain and hears voices he can’t ignore. As the horrific visions intensfy, Tom realizes they are pieces of a puzzle, echoes of a crime calling out to be solved. But when his other-worldly nightmares begin coming true, Tom wants out. He desperately tries to rid himself of his eerie, unwanted powers – only to be seized by an irresistible compulsion to dig deeper and deeper into the mystery that is consuming his life. When at last he unearths the truth, it will draw him into the long-buried secret of a ghastly crime, a vengeful spirit… and the lethal price of laying that spirit to rest.
Read More »

The Mod Squad (1999) Scott Silver, Claire Danes, Omar Epps, Giovanni Ribisi, Action, Crime, Thriller

The Mod Squad (1999)
Three minor delinquints (Danes, Ribisi, and Epps) are recruited by a cop (Farina) working undercover to bust a cop/drug ring. When the officer who recruited them is killed, they go above and beyond the call of duty to solve the murder; and bust the drug ring. Suffering the jibes, and ridicule of fellow officers; they struggle to save their names, and that of their deceased benefactor.
Read More »