Author Archives: rarefilm

Blues in the Night (1941) Anatole Litvak, Priscilla Lane, Betty Field, Richard Whorf, Crime, Drama, Music

Blues in the Night (1941)
“Jigger’ Lane forms a band that includes singer Ginger ‘Character’ Powell, wife of the trumpeter Leo Powelll, and Nickie Haroyen and Peppi. All of them dedicate themselves to work as a unit and to play ‘blues’ music. The dedication isn’t paying off in money and, while riding the rails in a boxcar, they meet and befriend a gangster named Del Davis. He offers them a job at a New Jersey roadhouse, where Powell falls in love with Kay Grant, a former ‘real-good friend’ of Davis. But when Powell learns that ‘Character’ is about to have a baby, he returns to her. “Jigger” tries to make Kay the band’s singer and, when this fails, runs off with her. She leaves him with nothing to show for him except a nervous breakdown.Back at the roadhouse, after his recovery, Kay shows up, has a quarrel with Davis, shoots and kills him and plans to take back up with “Jigger”, who knows better but just can’t help himself. While she is waiting in a car for him, along comes cripple Brad Ames, who she put in …
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Ostatni dzien lata / The Last Day of Summer (1958) Tadeusz Konwicki, Irena Laskowska, Jan Machulski, Drama, Romance

ostatni-dzien-lata-aka-the-last-day-of-summer-1958
There is something vaguely mythical to the manner in which Konwicki introduces his characters, both to us and to each other, lapped as much by the ethereal eeriness of the score as by the seaside winds that send their hair aflutter. When they tend to speak to each other in whispers, it seems almost out of respect for the otherworldly aura of their locale, as though it is to their eyes as improbably beautiful as Konwicki’s camera renders it to us. They—referred to in the credits only as “He” and “She”, mysterious and mythical in themselves—do not whisper much; there’s a clear silent heritage at work here, conferring meaning to the motion of faces and the movement of the camera along this spectral shore.
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Matatabi / The Wanderers (1973) Kon Ichikawa, Isao Bitô, Tadao Futami, Ken’ichi Hagiwara, Drama

matatabi-aka-the-wanderers-1973
Follows the fluctuating fortunes of three friends in feudal Japan who are ronin: masterless warriors, who wander from castle to castle, selling their services to whichever lord will fill their rice bowls. These are not the YOJIMBO Super Samurai but rather the rank and file, the spear-carriers. The irony is that even though they use the servants’ entrance, they still feel themselves bound by the samurai code of Bushido; and this tension leads to tragedy.
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The Night Has Eyes (1942) Leslie Arliss, James Mason, Wilfrid Lawson, Mary Clare, Horror, Mystery, Thriller

The Night Has Eyes (Leslie Arliss, 1942)
Two teachers, man-hungry Doris and restrained Marian, visit the Yorkshire moors a year after friend Evelyn disappeared there. On a stormy night, they take refuge in the isolated cottage of Stephen, one-time pianist shellshocked in the Spanish Civil War. Doris flees as soon as the flood subsides; but Marian’s suspicions about Evelyn’s fate, in conflict with her growing love for Stephen, prompt her to stay on among the misty bogs.
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Sin hijos / No Kids (2015) Ariel Winograd, Diego Peretti, Maribel Verdú, Guadalupe Manent, Comedy, Romance

sin-hijos-aka-no-kids-2015
Gabriel has been separated for four years now. Since then his 8 year old daughter is the center of his life. Completely avoiding getting involved in a new romantic relationship, Gabriel focus all his energy in his daughter and work. This plan gets spoiled when Vicky, a platonic love from his adolescence, now a beautiful and independent woman appears in his life. When romance is about to start, she puts one condition: She would never get involved with a man with children. She just does not want children in her life. When Gabriel is confronted with this, he says he has no children. From that moment on his life becomes a torment, playing every trick at hand in order to hide his child and belongings from Vicky in every date.
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I Mobster (1958) Roger Corman, Steve Cochran, Lita Milan, Robert Strauss, Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

I Mobster (1958)
Joe Sante wants to be the big man, and nobody is going stand in his way. In a world full of smoke, molls, shakedowns, muscle, and murder, Joe knows what he wants and how to get it. But can he disregard his poor old immigrant parents who are ashamed of his criminal life? Will he drag his sweet girlfriend into the life of the underworld? And most importantly, can Joe trust his mobster friends?
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