A sample of an advanced new metal is stolen and made into a cigarette case in Brussels ready for smuggling to the East. An American jewel thief accidentally finds it in his possession and becomes the centre of much attention
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Tag Archives: UK
West End Jungle (1961) Arnold L. Miller, David Gell, Heather Russell, Tom Bowman, Documentary
Seamy or at least black and white expose of 1950’s London’s sex trade in all its guises. Using actors and clearly of the period, this reveals and condemns all the tricks of the trade, from call girls to clip joints and high massage parlours to low class walk ups. It’s hard to know which are less appealing: the deluded and self-deluded and desperate punters or the calculating and equally desperate working girls. The film condemns them equally, while revealing in details the titillation and barely legal disrobing designed to arouse man’s baser desires. With a voice-over straight from the Department of Public Morals, and fascinating glimpses of a period long ago, this has something for everyone. Huge potential for unintentional humour and entirely convincing as to the facts of the case.
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Soft Beds, Hard Battles (1974) Roy Boulting, Peter Sellers, Lila Kedrova, Curd Jürgens, Comedy
In this comedy, set during the Nazi occupation of France, Peter Sellers plays most major male parts, so he stars in nearly every scene, always bumbling in inspector Clouseau-style. As British Major Robinson he is hidden in Madame Grenier’s Parisian brothel, right under the nose of the Nazi clients, such as Gestapo agent Herr Schroeder (again him). As Général Latour he leads the French resistance, which includes the brothel madam -made a colonel in charge of her sexy ‘troops’- and a priest, and is joined by young US diplomat Alan Cassidy. As Japanese imperial Prince Kyoto he becomes a target for the resistance in a monastery on his way to Hitler (again him). At the end he decorates the heroes as French president.
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The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004) Asia Argento, Dylan Sprouse, Cole Sprouse, Drama
The dysfunctional twenty-three years old Sarah takes her six year old natural son Jeremiah from the home of his beloved foster parents with the support of the social service to live with her. Along the years, the boy shares her insane and lowlife style and is introduced to booze and drugs and mentally, physically and sexually abused by Sarah, her lovers and her religiously fanatic family.
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The Brain (1962) Freddie Francis
A millionaire businessman’s brain is kept alive after a fatal accident, and communicates clues to a doctor on the trail of the killer.
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The Falls (1980) Peter Greenaway
The exploration of the effects of an unexpected catastrophe, known as VUE (violent unknown event) through the bios of 92 survivors.
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Die Screaming, Marianne (1971) Pete Walker
After their parents divorce, one daughter lives with her mother in England while the other lives with her father in Portugal. After the untimely death of her mother, the one daughter stands to inherit a large sum of money and also a number of documents containing information that will incriminate her father, who was a crooked judge. While her father wants the documents, her sister wants the money and they will each stop at nothing, even murder, to get what they want.
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The Martian Chronicles (1980) Michael Anderson
Earth sends its first manned probe to Mars in 1999, and a jealous Martian murders the two astronauts when his wife has erotic dreams of meeting them. Members of a subsequent expedition are hypnotized into believing that they have landed in the childhood community of their leader and have been reunited with deceased family and friends, and they are poisoned by the Martians. Col. John Wilder leads a third expedition and learns that a chicken pox virus brought to Mars by the first two expeditions has almost eradicated the Martian population. A member of Wilder’s team becomes obsessed with protecting Mars from Earthman and murders some of the others in Wilder’s party, before Wilder kills him. Colonists arrive on Mars to settle, among them priests seeking God, and a lone Martian masquerades as the most desired persons of various settlers. Global war on Earth reduces man’s natal planet to radioactive waste, and most of the settlers returned there prior to the holocaust.
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Tiger Bay (1959) J. Lee Thompson
Gille Jenkins, a 12 year old tomboy and compulsive liar living in a sordid tenement with her single parent mother, witnesses the murder of an immigrant Polish woman living in an nearby apartment by her former boyfriend, Bronislaus Korchinski. The young merchant marine becomes distraught when he discovers that she has become the mistress of a married British sports announcer and shoots her with her own gun. Gillie lies about the circumstances in order to keep the gun which she discovers where Korchinsky hid it. She ultimately bonds with him and misleads the police in their investigation.
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The ‘Maggie’ (1954) Alexander Mackendrick
The skipper of a tatty coastal ‘puffer’ boat cons an American into letting “The Maggie” carry a cargo to a Scottish island. The American soon realises he’s been conned but can he stop them?
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Hoffman (1970) Alvin Rakoff
A businessman blackmails his attractive young secretary into spending a weekend with him. Though he’s a creep throughout, he gradually emerges as a sympathetic character.
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First Man Into Space (1959) Robert Day
Navy test pilot Lieut. Dan Prescott, in experimental rocket plane Y-13, disobeys orders and becomes the first man to fly outside the ionosphere. Unable to turn, he ejects…and is plastered with metallic meteor dust. The pilot compartment lands with no trace of the pilot… but first cattle, then people, are found with their throats cut as if with an axe, by something that seems to have a craving for blood…
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Yield to the Night (1956) J. Lee Thompson, Diana Dors, Yvonne Mitchell, Michael Craig, Drama
A young woman who has been abused and taken advantage of by all the men in her life, finally finds a man she believes truly loves her, but she snaps when she finds out that he, too, is cheating on her, and she kills her boyfriend’s mistress.
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Odette (1950) Herbert Wilcox, Anna Neagle, Trevor Howard, Marius Goring, Drama, History, War
This is the story of a brave woman who volunteered to join SOE (Special Operations Executive) during WWII. She was flown into occupied France where she fought with the French resistance. Captured and tortured by the Gestapo, she refused to identify her accomplices.
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The Slipper and the Rose (1976) Bryan Forbes, Richard Chamberlain, Gemma Craven, Annette Crosbie, Adventure, Family, Fantasy
In the tiny kingdom of Euphrania, the King and his court are most anxious to get Prince Edward wed. But Edward wants to marry for love. Meanwhile, young Cinderella finds life drastically altered with her father’s death as she’s forced to be a servant in her own house. But a cheery fairy godmother helps her with her impossible tasks, and even gets her to take an evening out at the King’s bride-finding ball. But when the magic wears off, and the prince with shoe-in-hand searches for Cinderella and finds her, what is going to happen to Euphrania without the needed marriage alliance to prevent war?
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