Author Archives: rarefilm

The Prince Who Was a Thief (1951) Rudolph Maté, Tony Curtis, Piper Laurie, Everett Sloane, Adventure

The Prince Who Was a Thief (1951)
In 13th-century Tangiers, regent Mustapha covets the Caliphate’s throne. Baby Prince Hussein is next in line to the throne but he is too young to rule. An envious and ambitious regent, Mustapha hires a paid assassin to kill the infant king, leaving Mustapha free to rule the Caliphate as he pleases. On the night of the planed murder, the paid assassin, master thief Yussef, enters the chambers of the baby Prince ready to strike his deadly blow. However, Yussef is impressed by the child’s innocent gaze and decides to steal the infant Prince. Yussef lies to Mustapha the baby is dead but in fact the baby is safely in Yussef’s home. Yussef raises the baby as his own and teaches the young boy to be one of the best thieves in Tangiers. Nevertheless, having a deposed prince with many powerful enemies for a son could be dangerous.
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The Wild North (1952) Andrew Marton, Stewart Granger, Wendell Corey, Cyd Charisse, Adventure, Romance, Western

The Wild North (1952)
Jules Vincent, a happy-go-lucky, outgoing French Canadian trapper in the wild Northwest, befriends a beautiful Native American girl, and although he makes an enemy of bully Mike Brody, he agrees to travel with him. When Brody tries to kill them, Vincent kills him in self-defense. He is pursued by a by-the-book, idealistic Constable Pedley, who believes in the mounties’ credo “we always get our man.” The country is rugged and fraught with dangers like white water rapids, avalanches, wolf packs and desperadoes. After capturing Vincent, the inexperienced Mountie finds he is in no shape to get back to civilization without Vincent’s help. Pedley is torn between fulfilling his duty and freeing the man who has saved his life.
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Waltz of the Toreadors (1962) John Guillermin, Peter Sellers, Dany Robin, Margaret Leighton, Comedy

Waltz of the Toreadors (1962)
This is the end of a glorious military career: General Leo Fitzjohn retires to his Sussex manor where he will write his memoirs. Unfortunately, his private life is a disaster: a confirmed womanizer, Leo has infuriated his wife Emily, now a shrewish and hypochondriac woman, all the more bitter as she still loves him. The General has two plain-looking daughters he dislikes and an attractive French mistress, Ghislaine, with whom he has had a platonic affair for seventeen years. When Ghislaine resurfaces, determined to complete her love with him and to get rid of Emily, Leo is at a loss what to do…
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5 Branded Women (1960) Martin Ritt, Van Heflin, Silvana Mangano, Jeanne Moreau, Drama, War

5 Branded Women (1960)
Yugoslav partisans grimly crop the hair of a village quintet of women believed to have consorted with the occupational Nazis. Four, for various reasons, have indeed – and their seducer is a lone, swaggering sergeant whom the partisans briskly emasculate. Escorted out of town by the sheepish Nazis, the forlorn ladies link up, patriotically and romantically, with a band of tough mountain guerrillas.
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Lilac Time (1928) George Fitzmaurice, Frank Lloyd, Colleen Moore, Gary Cooper, Burr McIntosh, Drama, Romance, War

Lilac Time (1928)
All of those handsome young men in their flying machines are billeted in a field next to the Widow Berthelot’s farmhouse in France. Her daughter Jeannine is curious about the young men fighting for England in World War I and their airplanes. Then one of the aviators is killed. His replacement is Captain Philip Blythe who can’t help but notice Jeannine. When he lands the first time, she is standing in the middle of his “runway.” She makes a more favorable impression when he sees her later by the lilacs. When all of the young men depart on a mission, Blythe promises to return.
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The Capture (1950) John Sturges, Lew Ayres, Teresa Wright, Victor Jory, Drama, Film-Noir

The Capture (1950)
Badly injured and hunted by the police, Lin Vanner takes refuge in a priest’s home, and tells him what has happened. When Vanner was working in a Mexican oil field, he captured a man who was suspected of a payroll robbery, but then felt responsible when the man died in police custody. As a result of the incident, Vanner’s fiancée broke off their engagement, and he resigned from his job. He later felt compelled to visit the dead man’s widow, and ended up working on her ranch. But, as he now explains to the priest, the past has quickly caught up with him.
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8 Million Ways to Die (1986) Hal Ashby, Jeff Bridges, Rosanna Arquette, Alexandra Paul, Action, Adventure, Crime

8 Million Ways to Die (1986)
Scudder is a detective with the Sheriff’s Department who is forced to shoot a violent suspect during a narcotics raid. The ensuing psychological aftermath of this shooting worsens his drinking problem and this alcoholism causes him to lose his job, as well as his marriage. During his recovery through Alcoholics Anonymous, he meets a mysterious stranger who draws him back into a world of vice. In trying to help this beautiful woman, he must enter a crime-world of prostitution and drugs to solve a murder, while resisting the temptation to return to his alcohol abuse.
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