Author Archives: rarefilm

Ziegfeld Girl (1941) Robert Z. Leonard, Busby Berkeley, James Stewart, Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr, Drama, Musical, Romance

Ziegfeld Girl (1941)
Discovery by Flo Ziegfeld changes a girl’s life but not necessarily for the better, as three beautiful women find out when they join the spectacle on Broadway: Susan, the singer who must leave behind her ageing vaudevillian father; vulnerable Sheila, the working girl pursued both by a millionaire and by her loyal boyfriend from Flatbush; and the mysterious European beauty Sandra, whose concert violinist husband cannot endure the thought of their escaping from poverty by promenading her glamor in skimpy costumes.
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La bûche / Season’s Beatings (1999) Danièle Thompson, Sabine Azéma, Emmanuelle Béart, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Comedy, Drama

La buche (1999)
Christmas, family, and infidelity. Yvette’s husband has died, and her grown daughters join her at the grave: Sonia, wealthy, bourgeois, and generous; Louba, living with their dad Stanislas, singing at a Russian restaurant, penniless, the mistress for the past 12 years of a man who will never leave his wife; Milla, the youngest, acerbic, lonesome. Christmas was when they learned their parents were divorcing 25 years ago. Over the next few days, yuletide depression, Louba’s pregnancy, Sonia’s crumbling marriage, Stanislas’s overtures to Yvette, and Milla’s attraction to the man who’s her father’s rent-free lodger lead each one to re-examine self, family, and hopes. Is renewal possible?
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Porno Film (2000) Damjan Kozole, Matjaz Latin, Natalia Danilova, Primoz Petkovsek, Comedy

Porno Film (2000)
As Western influences make their way through Eastern Europe, three losers decide to bring to Slovenia the most American of innovations, the pornographic movie, Charly and his two mates who decide to make the first porno movie made in Slovenia. Charly is the best choice to direct as he’s been a viewer of porn since he was a kid. His mate runs a brothel and this is where they get their girls from. Trouble is Charly falls for Kalinka. They also run into trouble when the Pimp who use to run the girls has busted out of the clink and wants his property back.
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Sinful Desires (2002) David Nicholas, Jacy Andrews, Nikita Cash, Craig Stepp, Drama, Erotic

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Gia – erotic voice the night air of Los Angeles. Every night, she titillate his audience with stories of love and passion, danger and desire. However, when an unknown voice on the phone cold reports that he was aware of her “dirty” past Dzhie is frightening. The danger is somewhere nearby. Suddenly, Jia is a skillfully woven webs of deception and cunning. She was beginning to come threatening notes and photographs, which show the most intimate moments of her life. The police is unable to help her. Jia begins to suspect everyone around, and, finally, is alone with their fears. As soon as threats are becoming more realistic, Jia forcing its own investigation. Otherwise, its exciting, sweet voice can be silenced forever.
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Murder She Said (1961) George Pollock, Margaret Rutherford, Arthur Kennedy, Muriel Pavlow, Comedy, Crime, Drama

Murder, She Said (1961)
Old miss Marple is on a train ride when she witnesses a murder in a passing train. She reports it to the police but they won’t believe her: since no body can be found there can’t have been any murder, right? As always, she begins her own investigation. The murder was committed while passing Ackenthorpe Hall and miss Marple gets herself a job there, mixing cleaning and cooking with searching the house for clues.
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The Rawhide Years (1955) Rudolph Maté, Tony Curtis, Colleen Miller, Arthur Kennedy, Western

The Rawhide Years (Rudolph Mate, 1955)
Ben Matthews gives up the flashy life of a riverboat gambler, hoping to settle down in Galena with his girlfriend, luscious entertainer Zoe. But Galena’s leading citizen is murdered on the boat; Ben, on arrival, finds a lynch mob after his neck, and flees. Three years of wandering later, Zoe’s letters stop coming and Ben returns to find her and attempt the hopeless task of clearing himself.
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The Outrage (1964) Martin Ritt, Paul Newman, Laurence Harvey, Claire Bloom, Drama, Western, Crime

The Outrage (Martin Ritt, 1964)
Three disparate travelers, a disillusioned preacher, an unsuccessful prospector, and a larcenous, cynical con man, meet at a decrepit railroad station in the 1870s Southwest. The prospector and the preacher were witnesses at the singularly memorable rape and murder trial of the notorious Mexican outlaw Carasco. The bandit duped an aristocratic Southerner into believing he knew the location of a lost Aztec treasure. The greedy “gentleman” allows himself to be tied up while Carasco deflowers his wife. These events lead to the stabbing of the husband and are related by the three eyewitnesses to the atrocity: the infamous bandit, the newlywed wife, and the dead man through an Indian shaman. Whose version of the events is true? Possibly there was a fourth witness, but can his version be trusted?
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