Author Archives: rarefilm

Donovan’s Brain (1953) Felix E. Feist, Lew Ayres, Gene Evans, Nancy Reagan, Sci-Fi, Horror

Donovan's Brain (1953)
Valiant scientist Dr. Cory (Lew Ayres) knows he must resort to unorthodox methods in order to save ailing tycoon Tom Donovan, so the surgeon removes the wealthy man’s brain and manages to keep it functioning with electrical stimulation. Unfortunately, it isn’t long before Donovan’s brain somehow possesses the kindhearted Dr. Cory, who then begins to behave like the heartless Donovan. Cory’s wife, Janice (Nancy Davis), and friend Dr. Schratt (Gene Evans) try to intervene, with horrific results.
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The Killing Kind (1973) Curtis Harrington, Ann Sothern, John Savage, Ruth Roman, Crime, Drama, Horror

The Killing Kind (1973)
Young Terry Lambert returns home from serving a prison term for a gang-rape he was forced to participate in. He seeks revenge on his lawyer and the girl who framed him. But his real problem is his overbearing mother, whose boarding house he resides in and who keeps bringing him glasses of chocolate milk. One of her boarders, Lori, becomes attracted to him. However, while he was serving his prison sentence, Terry developed an interest in rough, violent sex, and gory death. Now, one by one, some of the town’s women pop up dead.
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Slalom / Snow Job (1965) Luciano Salce, Vittorio Gassman, Adolfo Celi, Daniela Bianchi, Comedy

Slalom (1965)
Lucio (Vittorio Gassman) and his sidekick (Adolfo Celi) accidently gets mixed up with a gang of international counterfeiters in this fast-moving and suspenseful comedy with music from Ennio Morricone. The crooks hope to upset the U.S. economy by flooding the world with bogus bills. Lucio is an overworked businessman who only wants a little rest and relaxation. Instead, he is skiing in Northern Italy on one day and the next day enduring the searing heat in the Egyptian desert.
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Odongo (1956) John Gilling, Rhonda Fleming, Macdonald Carey, Juma, Adventure, Drama

Odongo (1956)
Pamela Muir is a lovely veterinarian, who thinks the animals should run free. Steve Stratton is a hunter, who hires natives to assist with the capture and care of the animals. One day Stratton fires one of the locals. To get revenge, the former employee frees the animals just before a wealthy buyer is to arrive. Unfortunately, Stratton blames Odongo, an innocent young boy, for the crime. Heretofore, Odongo believed Stratton cared for him. The distraught Odongo runs off into the dangerous wilds. Muir and Stratton are forced to put aside their differences and search for him.
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Le roi des Champs-Élysées (1934) Max Nosseck, Buster Keaton, Madeleine Guitty, Paulette Dubost, Comedy

Le roi des Champs-Elysees (Max Nosseck, 1934)
Buster Garnier is having a very bad day, even by his standards. First of all he manages to lose his job distributing flyers for a car company when he accidentally hands out packets of real notes instead of the false money-off vouchers; then he blunders into a stage performance at the theatre where his mother is prompt, and gets thrown out there too. Methodically, he drapes a black band across his own portrait, writes a last note to his mother, bids farewell to his pets one by one, switches on the gas tap, and composes himself calmly on the floor to await oblivion. But Life hasn’t had its last laugh at his expense just yet… Meanwhile, across town, a scarred and ruthless gangster is preparing to break out of jail. Unknown to either man, the two of them are almost exactly alike; and when Buster finds himself on stage in the role of a jail-bird, fact and fiction are about to get extremely confused!
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Houdini (1953) George Marshall, Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, Torin Thatcher, Biography, Drama

Houdini (1953)
The amazing career of master magician Harry Houdini is presented from his beginnings with a carnival “wild man” act to his emergence as an internationally-acclaimed illusionist, From his dramatic escape from a locked safe under the frozen Detroit River to an even more improbable one from a locked cell in Scotland Yard, he never failed to please and astound his audiences. Although Houdini’s tricks are achieved through his marvelous physical dexterity and innate sleight-of-hand, he courted death with the hazardous illusions he performed and his compulsive quest to make contact with the spirit world.
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