Tag Archives: english

The WIZ / Le Magicien d’Oz (1978) Sidney Lumet, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Adventure, Family, Fantasy

Le Magicien d’Oz (1978)
A Thanksgiving dinner brings a host of family together in a Harlem apartment, where a 24-year-old schoolteacher named Dorothy Gale lives with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry . Extremely introverted, she has, as Aunt Em teases her, “never been south of 125th Street”, and refuses to move out and on with her life. While Dorothy cleans up after the meal, her dog Toto runs out the open kitchen door into a violent snowstorm. She succeeds in retrieving him, but finds herself trapped in the storm…
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Headline (1943) John Harlow, David Farrar, Anne Crawford, John Stuart, Crime, Drama, Thriller

Headline (1943)
Headline serves as a vehicle for handsome David Farrar, who in 1943 was Britain’s fastest-rising leading man. Farrar is cast as Broogle, a crime reporter who’ll do anything-ANYTHING-for a story. When the wife of the publisher disappears after witnessing a murder, Broogle ignores Scotland Yard’s warnings to “lay off” and endeavors to solve the mystery himself. The film’s best performance is rendered by BBC radio favorite Richard Goolden, cast as a self-styled “psychological” detective. While genuine journalists howled at the innacuracies in Headline, audiences ate it up.
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Casbah (1948) John Berry, Yvonne De Carlo, Tony Martin, Peter Lorre, Crime, Musical

Casbah (1948)
Pepe Le Moko leads a gang of jewel thieves in the Casbah of Algiers, where he has exiled himself to escape imprisonment in his native France. Inez, his girl friend, is infuriated when Pepe flirts with Gaby, a French visitor, but Pepe tells her to mind her own business. Detective Slimane is trying to lure Pepe out of the Casbah so he can be jailed. Against Slimane’s advice, Police Chief Louvain capture Pepe in a dragnet, but his followers free him. Inez realizes that Pepe has fallen in love with Gaby and intends to follow her to Europe. Slimane knows the same and uses her as the bait to lure Pepe out of the Casbah.
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Hangmen Also Die! (1943) Fritz Lang, Brian Donlevy, Walter Brennan, Anna Lee, Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller

Hangmen Also Die! (1943)
On May 27, 1942 the Nazi Reichsprotector of Bohemia/Moravia, the “Hangman” Reinhard Heydrich, died from the bullets of unidentified resistance fighters. Hangmen Also Die is the story of Heydrich’s assassination in fictionalized form. It was Bertolt Brecht’s only comparatively successful Hollywood project; the money he received allowed him to write “The Visions of Simone Marchand”, “Schwyk in the Second World War” and his adaptation of Webster’s “The Duchess of Malfi”. Hanns Eisler won an Academy Award for his musical score.
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The Tenant / Le locataire (1976) Roman Polanski, Isabelle Adjani, Melvyn Douglas, Thriller, Drama

The Tenant (1976)
In Paris, the shy bureaucrat Trelkovsky rents an old apartment without bathroom where the previous tenant, the Egyptologist Simone Choule, committed suicide. The unfriendly concierge (Shelley Winters) and the tough landlord Mr. Zy establish stringent rules of behavior and Trelkovsky feels ridden by his neighbors. Meanwhile he visits Simone in the hospital and befriends her girlfriend Stella. After the death of Simone, Trelkovsky feels obsessed for her and believes his landlord and neighbors are plotting a scheme to force him to also commit suicide.
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Dial M for Murder (1954) Alfred Hitchcock, Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, Crime, Film-Noir, Thriller

Dial M for Murder (1954)
Ex-tennis pro Tony Wendice (Ray Milland) wants to have his wealthy wife, Margot (Grace Kelly), murdered so he can get his hands on her inheritance. When he discovers her affair with Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings), he comes up with the perfect plan to kill her. He blackmails an old acquaintance into carrying out the murder, but the carefully-orchestrated set-up goes awry, and Margot stays alive. Now Wendice must frantically scheme to outwit the police and avoid having his plot detected.
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Dorm Daze (2003) David Hillenbrand, Scott Hillenbrand, Tatyana Ali, Boti Bliss, Gable Carr, Comedy, Crime, Mystery

Dorm Daze (2003)
As Christmas break approaches, the dormitories at Billingsley University are restless with sex-crazed students. Although eager to relinquish his burdensome virginity, Booker (Chris Owen) has thus far failed in this endeavor. His charitable older brother, Styles (Patrick Renna), does the sensible thing and hires a prostitute (Boti Bliss) to usher Booker into the realm of manhood. Unfortunately, some misunderstandings complicate this procedure, prompting sophomoric shenanigans.
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