Author Archives: rarefilm

Hoffmann und Sohne (1976) Alan Vydra, Candy Dallas, Robert Le Ray, Susan Rosebush, Adult

Hoffmann und Sohne (1976)
Mr Hoffman sells books and provides his female customers with nice moments in a room at the back of the shop. The number of female customers grows very rapidly and when Mr Hoffman isn’t up th the demand, he calls in his two oldest sons who keep the shop going. Unfortunately his youngest son is only interested in reading. One day, as he delivers books to one of the customers, the lady teaches him about the pleasures of sex. In order to celebrate this, the father organises a party and all is well that ends well
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The Big Knife (1955) Robert Aldrich, Jack Palance, Ida Lupino, Wendell Corey, Drama, Film-Noir

The Big Knife (Robert Aldrich, 1955)
Charles Castle is a successful Hollywood actor who has opted for screen success over art. He must make critical decisions regarding his career, his marriage, his art & morality. In this screen adaptation of a Clifford Odets play, Castle is pressured by his studio boss and manipulated into a potentially murderous cover-up to protect his career. An indictment of the amoral world of 50’s Hollywood and its corrosive effect upon the artist.
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The Horse Soldiers (1959) John Ford, John Wayne, William Holden, Constance Towers, Adventure, War, Western

The Horse Soldiers (John Ford, 1959)
A Union Cavalry outfit is sent behind confederate lines in strength to destroy a rail/supply center. Along with them is sent a doctor who causes instant antipathy between him and the commander. The secret plan for the mission is overheard by a southern belle who must be taken along to assure her silence. The Union officers each have different reasons for wanting to be on the mission.
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Return to Paradise (1953) Mark Robson, Gary Cooper, Barry Jones, Roberta Haynes, Adventure, Drama, Romance

Return to Paradise (Mark Robson, 1953)
Based on the short story “Mr. Morgan” from “Return To Paradise” (James Michener’s sequel to “Tales of the South Pacific”). Morgan (Gary Cooper), a drifter and soldier-of-fortune washes up on a Pacific island that is a small dictatorial state under the puritanic rule of Pastor Corbett (Barry Jones), a missionary. They conflict but Morgan stays on and carves out a cozy life. He has a child out of wedlock with island native Maeva (Roberta Haynes), but departs the island after her death, leaving the young daughter behind. He returns years later in search of his daughter. It is circa the early years of WW II, and he finds that his daughter has fallen in love with an American pilot who has crash-landed on the island. It appears that the pilot will do for the girl what Morgan did for her mother, and then depart.
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The People That Time Forgot (1977) Kevin Connor, Patrick Wayne, Doug McClure, Sarah Douglas, Adventure, Fantasy

The People That Time Forgot (Kevin Connor, 1977)
A sequel to The Land That Time Forgot. Major Ben McBride organises a mission to the Antarctic wastes to search for his friend (Doug McClure) who has been missing in the region for several years. McBride’s party find themselves in a world populated by primitive warriors and terrifying prehistoric creatures, all of whom they must evade in order to get back safely to their ship.
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Ironweed (1987) Hector Babenco, Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Carroll Baker, Drama

Ironweed (Hector Babenco, 1987)
Albany, New York, Halloween, 1938. Francis Phelan and Helen Archer are bums, back in their birth city. She was a singer on the radio, he a major league pitcher. Death surrounds them: she’s sick, a pal has cancer, he digs graves at the cemetery and visits the grave of his infant son whom he dropped; visions of his past haunt him, including ghosts of two men he killed. That night, out drinking, Helen tries to sing at a bar. Next day, Fran visits his wife and children and meets a grandson. He could stay, but decides it’s not for him. Helen gets their things out of storage and finds a hotel. Amidst their mistakes and dereliction, the film explores their code of fairness and loyalty.
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Black Moon (1934) Roy William Neill, Jack Holt, Fay Wray, Dorothy Burgess, Horror

Black Moon (1934)
A young girl who lives on a tropical island loses her parents to a voodoo sacrifice, but although she manages to escape the island, a curse is put on her. Years later, as an adult, she feels a strong compulsion to return to the island to confront her past. Her husband, her daughter and her nanny go with her, but once back on the island, the woman finds herself elevated by the locals to the stature of a voodoo goddess, and she begins her inevitable descent into madness, with disastrous results for her family.
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American Me (1992) Edward James Olmos, William Forsythe, Sal Lopez, Biography, Crime, Drama

American Me (1992)
This epic depiction of thirty years of Chicano gang life in Los Angeles focuses on a teen named Santana who, with his friends Mundo and the Caucasian-but-acting-Hispanic J.D., form their own gang and are soon arrested for a break-in. Santana gets into trouble again and goes straight from reform school to prison, spending eighteen years there, and becoming leader of a powerful gang, both inside and outside the prison, while there. When he is finally released, he tries to make sense of the violence in his life, in a world much changed from when last he was in it.
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The Story of Temple Drake (1933) Stephen Roberts, Miriam Hopkins, William Gargan, Jack La Rue, Drama

The Story of Temple Drake (1933)
Temple Drake is a Southern belle who leads men on with her sexuality but usually leaves them wanting. She’s loved by lawyer Stephen Benbow, whom she likes but doesn’t love. While out carousing with one of her beaux, she finds herself stranded with a gang of bootleggers, one of whom, Trigger, rapes her and makes her his sex slave. When another man is accused of a murder Trigger committed, Stephen defends him and sets out to find Trigger. But he isn’t prepared for whom he finds with Trigger, or what she’s become.
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