
A newspaper reporter and the daughter of an immigrant maintenance man help expose political corruption in New York City. Read More »
Author Archives: rarefilm
Michael Shayne: Private Detective (1940) Eugene Forde, Lloyd Nolan, Marjorie Weaver, Joan Valerie, Comedy, Mystery, Drama

Millionaire sportsman Hiram Brighton hires gumshoe Michael Shayne to keep his spoiled daughter Phyllis away from racetrack betting windows and roulette wheels. Read More »
The Amazing Mrs. Holliday (1943) Bruce Manning, Jean Renoir, Deanna Durbin, Edmond O’Brien, Barry Fitzgerald, Comedy, Drama

Making her first film appearance since 1941, Deanna Durbin plays the title role in The Amazing Mrs. Holliday. Truth to tell, however, there is no Mrs. Holliday: it’s the guise assumed by idealistic missionary Ruth (Durbin) to sneak a group of Chinese war orphans into the US. Read More »
Shadows In Paradise / Varjoja paratiisissa (1986) Aki Kaurismäki, Matti Pellonpää, Kati Outinen, Sakari Kuosmanen, Comedy, Drama, Romance

Only connect. In gray, class-conscious Helsinki, Nikander is a stoic, solitary garbage man. Cigarettes, coffee, bingo games, and English lessons border his circumscribed life. Read More »
Le feu follet / The Fire Within (1963) Louis Malle, Maurice Ronet, Léna Skerla, Yvonne Clech, Drama

Alain Leroy is having a course of treatment in a private hospital because of his problem with alcohol. Read More »
Diario napoletano / Neapolitan Diary (1992) Francesco Rosi, Simona Caramelli, Pietro Bontempo, Documentary, Crime, History

A fascinating return to the same issues done in a semi-docu style. The ‘story’ joins Rosi as he fights his way through impossible city traffic to a school of architecture to host a discussion of the older movie. Read More »
Mr. Vampire II (1986) Ricky Lau, Ching-Ying Lam, Biao Yuen, Fat Chung, Comedy, Horror

Modern grave robbing “archeologists” find perfectly preserved specimens from the past of a man, a woman, and their child. Read More »
The Terror of the Tongs (1961) Anthony Bushell, Christopher Lee, Yvonne Monlaur, Geoffrey Toone, Action, Adventure

A secret society of Hong-Kong at the beginning of the century called “The Red Dragon Tong” kidnaps the captain of a ship in the harbour of Hong-Kong as he tries to detain the killers of his daughter. Because the secret society is very powerful it is not easy to free him from their hands. Read More »
Entertaining Mr Sloane (1970) Douglas Hickox, Beryl Reid, Harry Andrews, Peter McEnery, Comedy, Horror, Mystery

Sloane, a handsome, sexy and completely amoral young man, joins Kath’s household as a lodger and proceeds to manipulate her and her brother, Ed. Read More »
Nella città l’inferno / …and the Wild Wild Women (1959) Renato Castellani, Anna Magnani, Giulietta Masina, Myriam Bru, Drama

A harsh study about the grim realities of life in a non-coed, totally female prison environment. Read More »