Drama

Other Men’s Women (1931) William A. Wellman, Grant Withers, Mary Astor, Regis Toomey

Other Men's Women (1931)
Railroad fireman Bill White is a carefree ladies’ man with an irresponsible streak. His buddy Jack Kulper, an engineer, is more solid and reliable. Bill comes to stay a while with Jack and his wife Lily. Bill and Lily fall in love, but not wishing to hurt Jack, Bill leaves without explanation. When Jack confronts Bill about his suspicions, the two fight and Jack is seriously injured. Bill is consumed with guilt and tries to make good, but Jack has his own ideas about that.
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La vita ricomincia / Life Begins Anew (1945) Mario Mattoli, Alida Valli, Fosco Giachetti, Eduardo De Filippo

La vita ricomincia (1945)
When former POW, Paolo, returns from India to his middle-class home in Rome at the end of the war, he is relieved to find his wife, Patrizia, and young son alive, managing to get by thanks to Patrizia’s business in lampshades. They also enjoy the moral support of the jovial, elderly Neapolitan widower, who is their new neighbour, Il professore. However disaster strikes when Patrizia commits a murder – her response to a mysterious man’s attempt to blackmail her to have sex with him. Paolo discovers that during his absence, in the face of their son’s desperate need for a life-saving operation, Patrizia prostituted herself once to the murdered man to raise the funds, a sequence revealed through a flashback sequence…
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Bes vakit / Times and Winds (2006) Reha Erdem, Ozen Ozkan, Ali Bey Kayali, Elit Iscan

Bes vakit (2006)
A small, poor village leaning over high rocky mountains, facing the immense sea, flanked by olive yards. Villagers are simple and diligent people who struggle to cope with a harsh nature. They earn their living, on a daily survival basis, out of the earth and of a few animals they feed. Just like the animals and trees around them, they have the knowledge of their temporary existence, hence a sober resignation prevails. They live according to the rhythm of the earth, air and water, day and night and seasons. The daily time is divided into five parts by the sound of the call to prayer. Every day, all human events are lived through within these five time slices. In child raising, grownups go on with the practice they have experienced by their parents. They expose their love awkwardly and consider beating a favorable method. Fathers always prefer one of their sons. Mothers command their daughters ruthlessly. Ömer, Yakup and Yildiz, three children of about 12,13 years old, just between …
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Sous les bombes / Under the Bombs (2007) Philippe Aractingi, Nada Abou Farhat, Georges Khabbaz, Rawia Elchab

Sous les bombes (2007)
Under the bombs, a woman searches for her son. A man accompanies her. They have nothing in common. Toni is Christian and dreams of leaving the country. Zeina is Shiite, and has emigrated to Dubai. Back in Lebanon to try and save her son, she realizes she doesn’t want to leave anymore. And yet, despite this all, Toni and Zeina will love each other, as a kind of response to the death striking all around them.
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Montag kommen die Fenster / Windows on Monday (2006) Ulrich Köhler, Isabelle Menke, Hans-Jochen Wagner, Amber Bongard

Montag kommen die Fenster (2006)
Frieder and his wife Nina, a doctor, are fixing up their house, though their relationship is obviously strained. Instead of picking up their young daughter Charlotte, Nina drives off to visit her brother Christoph in an isolated cabin. From there, she cycles to a sports hotel in the woods where she stays. Aimlessly wandering around the hotel, she has a brief encounter with an old tennis pro who has been giving demonstrations. Her brother, Frieder, and Charlotte find her, but she does not come home with them. After all the old windows have been removed, Frieder rejects the replacement ones that are delivered. Frieder has a liaison an old girlfriend Maria, who is now Charlotte’s nursery school teacher. Nina returns to the house without windows.
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The Great Lie (1941) Edmund Goulding, Bette Davis, George Brent, Mary Astor

The Great Lie (1941)
Sandra and Pete elope but their marriage is invalid since she’s not yet divorced. Sandra is, however, pregnant by Pete. Pete marries his former fiancée Maggie, then flies to South America where his plane crashes. Maggie pays Sandra to let her adopt Pete’s baby. Pete returns “from the dead”. Sandra and Maggie contend for Pete and the baby.
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