Tag Archives: USA

The Blue Angel (1959) Edward Dmytryk, Curd Jürgens, May Britt, Theodore Bikel

The Blue Angel (1959)
Professor Immanuel Rath (Curt Jurgens)is a martinet botany professor at a German high school who finds post cards bearing the likeness of Lola-Lola (May Britt), “The Blue Angel”, in the possession of his pupils. He goes to the cafe where she is appearing to see if any of his pupils are there, and spots two of them. While chasing them, he encounters Lola-Lola and the troupe manager, Kiepert (Theodore Bikel.) He returns the next evening and becomes involved with Lola. His visit to the cafe, and the fact he spent the night with Lola, becomes common knowledge and he is forced to leave his school position. Despite the protests of his friends, he marries Lola, who is intrigued by the idea of being the wife of a professor. The intrigue doesn’t last long, as Rath is unable to get work because of his wife. He becomes a broken character, reduced to performing odd jobs around the troupe and living off the earnings of his wife.
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Goin’ to Town (1935) Alexander Hall, Mae West, Paul Cavanagh, Gilbert Emery, Comedy, Musical

Goin' to Town (1935)
When her fiancée Buck Gonzales is killed, dance hall queen Cleo Borden inherits his wealth. Included are oil wells supervised by British engineer Carrington, whom Cleo sets out to win by becoming a “lady.” She races her horse in Buenos Aires, gains social position by loveless marriage to bankrupt Colton, and even sings in an opera. But when she meets Carrington again, he’s become the Earl of Stratton…
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Bite the Bullet (1975) Richard Brooks, Gene Hackman, Candice Bergen, James Coburn, Action, Adventure, Western

Bite the Bullet (1975)
At the beginning of the 20th century, a newspaper organizes an endurance horse race : 700 miles to run in a few days. 9 adventurers are competing, among them a woman, Miss Jones, a Mexican, an Englishman, a young cow-boy, an old one and two friends, Sam Clayton and Luke Matthews. All those individualists will learn to respect each other.
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A Man Alone (1955) Ray Milland, Mary Murphy, Ward Bond, Western

A Man Alone (1955)
A gunfighter, stranded in the desert, comes across the aftermath of a stage robbery, in which all the passengers were killed. He takes one of the horses to ride to town to report the massacre, but finds himself accused of it. He also finds himself accused of the murder of the local banker, and winds up hiding in the basement of a house where the local sheriff, who is very sick, lives with his daughter.
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The Iron Curtain (1948) William A. Wellman, Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, June Havoc, Biography, Crime, History

The Iron Curtain (1948)
Soviet soldier turned bureaucrat Igor Gouzenko is assigned to his first overseas posting in 1943 to Ottawa, Canada, as a cipher clerk for the military attaché, their offices in a secret wing of the Soviet embassy. Igor is not to tell anyone what he does for a living, he given a cover story which he is to recite even when questioned by his own people. He and his wife Anna Gouzenko are supposed to be cordial to their Canadian neighbors and associates, but not fraternize or befriend them, as they are still considered the enemy, despite both countries being on the same side in the war. Igor follows his instructions to a T, but it is more difficult for Anna, who does not have the distraction of work during the day, and who can see that their neighbors are not their enemies but good people much like themselves. Over the next few years, Igor sees that what is happening around him and the work in which he is involved will not result in a world in which he wants to raise his newborn son, …
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Freakonomics (2010) Heidi Ewing, Alex Gibney, James Ransone, Tempestt Bledsoe, Bill Gates, Documentary

Freakonomics (2010)
The field of economics can study more than the workings of economies or businesses, it can also help explore human behavior in how it reacts to incentives. Economist Steven D. Levitt and journalist Stephen J. Dubner host an anthology of documentaries that examines how people react to opportunities to gain, wittingly or otherwise. The subjects include the possible role a person’s name has for their success in life, why there is so much cheating in an honor bound sport like sumo wrestling, what helped reduce crime in the USA in the 1990s onward and we follow an school experiment to see if cash prizes can encourage struggling students to improve academically.
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Beyond the Time Barrier (1960) Edgar G. Ulmer, Robert Clarke, Darlene Tompkins, Arianne Ulmer, Romance, Sci-Fi

Beyond the Time Barrier (1960)
A pilot testing an experimental new rocket powered craft manages to fly into the future and land at the now deserted airbase he left. He ends up in a city with people who are suspicious he is a spy and who want to keep him to procreate with the rulers daughter because the majority of the inhabitants are sterile. He manages to escape and return to his own time but ages dramatically.
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