Author Archives: rarefilm

A Stranger in My Arms (1959) Helmut Käutner, June Allyson, Jeff Chandler, Sandra Dee, Drama

A Stranger in My Arms (1959)
Air Force test pilot Pike Yarnell reluctantly attends the memorial service for long-dead Donald Beasley, his navigator during the Korean War; recalling, in flashbacks, their painful days together on a life raft. In Beasley’s home town, Pike is repelled at Donald’s wealthy mother’s enshrinement of her dead son; bemused at his frankly amorous pursuit by Donald’s younger sister Pat; and increasingly charmed by his attractive widow Christina. What will the final flashback reveal?
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Cielo sulla palude / Heaven Over the Marshes (1949) Augusto Genina, Rubi D’Alma, Michele Malaspina, Domenico Viglione Borghese, Drama

Cielo sulla palude (1949)
The scene is the Pontine Marshes, a disease-ridden region. The year is 1902. Maria Goretti, a twelve-year-old girl, lives with her parents, poor farm hands, in the house of Serenelli, a heavy drinker who has offered them board and lodging. The farmer has a son, Alessandro, aged eighteen, who is sexually attracted to the pious girl. Maria resists his advances. One day the young man can’t help it anymore: he rapes Maria before murdering her. Before she dies, Maria forgives her assailant. After her death she is canonized as a saint.
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Cent mille dollars au soleil / Greed in the Sun (1964) Henri Verneuil, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Lino Ventura, Reginald Kernan, Action, Adventure, Comedy

Cent mille dollars au soleil (1964)
Rocco and his female accomplice, Angèle hijack a truck from a trucking company in the Saharan desert. The head of the trucking company, Castigliano hires Rocco’s friend, Hervé and a newly employed German, Hans to go after him and bring back the valuable goods. After the two run into some trouble Castigliano sends a second truck driven by Mitch and Khenouche.
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Crime of Passion (1957) Gerd Oswald, Barbara Stanwyck, Sterling Hayden, Raymond Burr, Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Crime of Passion (1957)
Kathy is a smart and tough 1950’s advice columnist at a San Francisco newspaper, with her name plastered on billboards all over the city. One day, Bill Doyle, a Los Angeles detective, walks into her office – it is instant attraction. After marrying Bill, Kathy gives up her career and becomes a homemaker. However, she is not your typical 1950’s homemaker. After hosting several cocktail parties in their San Fernando Valley home, she realizes that Bill is content with his position, and shows no ambition in furthering himself. Kathy will not sit idly by while everyone around her is “moving up in the world”. She personally takes upon herself the task of pushing Bill’s career along, even if it comes down to murder.
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The Big Heat (1953) Fritz Lang, Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando, Crime, Film-Noir, Thriller

The Big Heat (1953)
Dave Bannion is an upright cop on the trail of a vicious gang he suspects holds power over the police force. Bannion is tipped off after a colleague’s suicide and his fellow officers’ suspicious silence lead him to believe that they are on the gangsters’ payroll. When a bomb meant for him kills his wife instead, Bannion becomes a furious force of vengeance and justice, aided along the way by the gangster’s spurned girlfriend Debbie. As Bannion and Debbie fall further and further into the Gangland’s insidious and brutal trap, they must use any means necessary (including murder) to get to the truth.
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Stalingrad (1993) Joseph Vilsmaier, Dominique Horwitz, Thomas Kretschmann, Sebastian Rudolph, Drama, War

Stalingrad (1993)
“Stalingrad” follows the progress of a German Platoon through the brutal fighting of the Battle of Stalingrad. After having half their number wiped out and after being placed under the command of a sadistic Captain, the Lieutenant of the platoon leads his men to desert. The men of the platoon attempt to escape from the city which is now surrounded by the Soviet Army.
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Le château de verre / The Glass Castle (1950) René Clément, Michèle Morgan, Jean Marais, Jean Servais, Drama

Le chateau de verre (1950)
Laurent Bertal is a successful attorney who lives in Berne with his beautiful and adoring wife Evelyne. Theirs appears to be the perfect marriage, but while on holiday in Italy Evelyne falls in love with a young Frenchman, Rémy. While Evelyne is profoundly unsettled by this romantic entanglement, Rémy regards it as a mere distraction and soon heads back to Paris where he lives with his mistress, Marion. One day, Evelyne is overjoyed when she receives an invitation from Rémy to spend a weekend with him in Paris. The morning after their first night together in Rémy’s apartment, Evelyne accidentally breaks a glass ornament in the shape of a castle. The incident proves to be an omen of bad luck.
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