Cinema of the World

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Plot Synopsis by Mark Deming
The Nazi Party's rise to power has disastrous consequences for a German family in this drama. Victor Roth (Frank Morgan) is a college professor teaching in Germany in 1933 who leads a peaceful and contented life with his wife Emelie (Irene Rich), son Rudi (Gene Reynolds), daughter Freya (Margaret Sullavan), and stepsons Otto (Robert Stack) and Erich (William T. Orr). However, Adolph Hitler's emergence as Germany's ruler has an unexpected impact on their lives. Fritz (Robert Young) and Martin (James Stewart) both vie for Freya's hand in marriage, but anti-Nazi activist Martin is forced to flee to Austria, while Freya is disturbed by Fritz's membership in a pro-fascist group. Victor repudiates Hitler's theories about Aryan superiority in class, and he not only loses his teaching position, but he is sentenced to a concentration camp. And while Emelie and Rudi join Freya as she tries to escape to Martin's new home in Austria, they find themselves hunted by Otto and Erich, now members of the Hitler Youth. The Mortal Storm was perhaps the most explicitly anti-Nazi film made in Hollywood prior to America's entry into WWII, and it resulted in all of MGM's product being banned in Germany.

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Michel Gerfaut makes his living playing poker. But when he stops to help an injured motorist on the side of the road one night, he unwittingly gets involved in a sinister arms deal cover-up. The capable Gerfaut goes on holiday, bringing his longtime girlfriend, Béa, to Trouville to meet his mother. He soon finds himself the target of killers hired by the pompous Emmerich and his ruthless underling, Leprince, who suspect he's working for their competitors(...). “Three Men to Kill”, based on the well-regarded novel by Jean-Patrick Manchette, was directed by Jacques Deray, who also co-wrote the script with frequent collaborator Delon, who also produced, and Christopher Frank. Delon and Frank later adapted Manchette's “Pour la peau d'un flic” for the actor's directorial debut. ~

Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

IMDB comment :
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Now long departed from this earth, their daily worries, preoccupations and hopes of a better future henceforth consigned to eternity, fixed for ever in time thanks to the magic of celluloid, ordinary Parisians, people just like you and me, shoot off one sunny Sunday in 1929 on a day's outing to their El Dorado ..........this film is pure MAGIC !!

SINS OF SISTER LUCIA is the story of Rumiko, the manipulative and dissolute daughter of a wealthy businessman who is discovered by her father in the midst of appalling larcenous and sexual acts. The prim daughters of Japanese tycoons do not engage in such behavior, so to correct Rumiko, she is sent to a convent. The traditional methods of “sisterly” redirection do not seem to work on the rebellious and defiant girl, even after she is indoctrinated as “Sister Lucia”. Before long punishments of all types are visited against Sister Lucia, but during one spell of restraint and confinement, two escaped convicts stumble upon our helpless heroine, they ravish her and in a fit of patient diplomacy, she convinces them to help turn the tables on her oppressors, but not for long. Eventually another turnabout is orchestrated landing “Lucia” in an even more dreadful predicament. What started as an intensely seductive cinematic affair erupts into an orgy of licentious and salaciously lewd acts that would delight any devotee of Japanese debauchery.

directed by Curt McDowell (THUNDERCRACK); starring Velvet Busch and Mark Ellinger; a busy prostitute during businessmen's lunch break.

PLOT SYNOPSIS

The title character, played by Fernando Ramos da Silva, has been abandoned by his parents and is scrounging for a living on the streets. Pixote survives by becoming a drug-dealer, pimp and murderer...and he's only ten years old. One of the first films to address the plight of Rio de Janeiro's street kids, Pixote combines stark realism with symbolic imagery. The film is based on José Louzeiro's novel Infancia dos Martos.

In the twilight of his life, Jean-Baptiste, a painter who has always lived in Paris, says he wants to be buried in Limoges: "Those who love me can take the train".
So begins a sad, wild and marvellous journey which unites all the people that he had touched during his lifetime - his lovers, lovers' lovers, ex-lover's new wives, old friends, casual acqaintances, and relatives.
But their shared mourning cannot conceal the heartbrakes, rivalries, jealousies and passions wich all simmer to the surface and will - over the course of the journey, funeral and wake, reach some kind of resolution.

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Killer Kid (Steffen) is a gunslinger and escapee from Fort Knox with a $5,000 bounty on his head. He encounters an operation smuggling American guns to Mexican revolutionaries and falls in with them and their leader The Saint. His presence is begrudged by thuggish and larcenous rebel Vilar (Sancho). He begins a friendship with Mercedes (Luisa Baratto), a beautiful revolutionary. It would seem that this cold-hearted killer is developing a conscience as he witnesses the struggles of the people and the brutal oppression of the government troops, personified by a sadistic Army officer Ramirez (Ken Wood) who pursues The Saint, but of course gringos always have a hidden agenda.

The action film is carried out on the eve and during the fall of Ceausescu's regime. A maverick young school teacher who writes lyrics with subversive connotations for a rock band catches the attention of the authorities that start threatening her in order to cool her down. In order to achieve this, they use the most atrocious practices. Fortunately, the fall of Ceausescu’s regime leaves the torturers with no other choice than to retreat, but not for long, though. Once the uncertainty was gone, the terror settles back in so that everything linked to the activities of the former Political Police be kept quiet.

Storyline

Hae-won is a beautiful single woman in her thirties who works at a bank in the Seoul city. She leads a busy life until she becomes a witness to an attempted murder case, and at the same time, things get complicated at work. When things get out of hand she is forced to take a vacation so she heads for 'Moodo', a small undeveloped island, where she had once visited to see her grandparents. And where she had befriended a girl named Bok-nam who stills writes to Hae-won asking her to visit despite the fact that Hae-won never bothered to reply. Upon arriving at the island, Hae-won is shocked to see everyone treating Bok-nam like a slave. As practically the only young woman on the island, she is a plaything for all the men and a free laborer for the women. Sick of all the inhumane treatment, Bok-nam had tried to escape the island several times in the past but had failed each time. She begs Hae-won to help her escape the place... Written by Fine Cut

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People who have build a wall around themselves. A sculptor Jun-hyeok, an art critic Min-woo, and a modern dance student Mi-ran. A mystery melodrama about the love and secrets of the three people.

Plot Synopsis by Judd Blaise

River of Grass has all the elements of a conventional road movie: a car, a gun, criminal plans, and young lovers on the run from an angry father who also happens to be a suspended police officer. But writer and director Kelly Reichardt has instead taken these familiar elements and fashioned an anti-road movie, a deadpan film that is more existentialist comedy than crime drama. The young lovers in question are Cozy, the cop's daughter, and Lee Ray, a shady character from the wrong end of town. Lee Ray comes into possession of a pistol, and soon he and Cozy find themselves unintentionally involved in a shooting. Fearing capture by the law, the two make plans to leave town, committing a series of robberies on the way. However, they don't manage to get very far; indeed, the film's central premise is how the romantic myth of lovers on the lam proves disappointing in the face of a far more pedestrian reality. This well-received, low-budget indie was shot on location in South Florida, placing its story against an appropriately depressed landscape of sun-bleached strip malls, barren highways and overgrown, swampy fields; the title is another name for the Florida Everglades.

"Silk Road might be the film that Tarkovskij dreamt of making just before his death."
"In Denmark at least two directors rise above the commercial mainstream cinema. Lars von Trier is world famous, but veteran filmmaker Jytte Rex (born 1942) is little known, even in Denmark, although her recent feature film Silk Road (2004) is probably the most original Danish film since Triers Breaking the Waves (1996)."
"Jytte Rex was making "dogma films" 25 years before Trier launched the concept..."

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If something characterizes Reichardt’s work, it’s that it always finds its characters downhill. And if that vivid decadence, that pain of not being anymore that transmit the characters in River of Glass, Old Joy and Wendy and Lucy, her three features, already causes anguish, those great moments of pain captured by the director intensify, through condensation, in each of her short subjects. Death is lord and master in the shorts Then, a Year and Travis, and also in Ode, the only mid-length film by this daughter of cops (him, scientific; her, narcotics). Then, a Year combines, without attempting any kind of narrative, Reichardt in her adoptive Portland with a pastiche that mixes statements from different shows about crimes of passion. This idea is resumed in Travis, video-installation where that focus that never reaches the image, sensed as violent close-ups of a fixed photograph, is centered in politics: Reichardt infinitely loops fragments from the interview with a mother that has lost her son Travis in Iraq, and who, in every little confession, leaves a piece of her heart. Lastly, in Ode, the director shows the courage for loving of two young Baptists, capturing, for three quarters of an hour, the story of a love that could never be between Billy Joe and Bobbie Lee, and its tragic outcome. And the inevitable one, because there’s no place for the humbled joy of those poor old hearts in the oppressive world of the religious deep America.

Imdb User comment
A Good Example of Modern Greek Cinema
19 June 2007 | by Hakan Pasali (Istanbul, Turkey)

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

It is based on a true story, where a young soldier and the wife of a revolutionary guy falls in love while in the background we witness political turmoils of Greece at that time.

A catching story, a strong cinematography, a very good cast, but the pace of narration somehow is an obstacle.

The film opens with a very long (maybe too long), slow-paced and peaceful shot of rural Greece which in the beginning seems like secret date of two lovers but gradually we see that it becomes an ambush in during civil war of 1949.

Plot Synopsis by Gönül Dönmez-Colin

The first film of Turkish female novelist and screenwriter Isil Özgentürk is based on a highly praised novel, Tanta Rosa by another woman writer, Sevgi Soysal. The heroine comes from a non-Muslim family in the days when Istanbul used to be a melting pot of diverse cultures and religions. We follow Rosa from her childhood in her well-to-do family until her old age, her life changing with the destiny of Istanbul, which serves as a background to this story of life, love and disillusionment. Özgentürk lets the story unfold like a tale from the Arabian Nights, not forgetting to pass along a message or two for female audiences. The film received the Special Jury Prize of the Istanbul Film Festival in 1992 and travelled to major international film festivals.

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Even Jerry Cotton, the scourge of the underworld, needs a vacation every now and then. However, he didn't reckon with Charles gang, who puts a damper on his holiday spirits: they rob six million dollars from an armored car. Jerry Cotton springs into action and lands in a trap from which there seems to be no escape. In the meantime, the robbers are on their way out of the country. Unexpected problems turn up as another rival gang tries to get hold of the money. While the ruthless gangsters are fleeing in a helicopter, Jerry frees himself by outwitting the gangster's moll. He now has the outwit the cunning criminals.

Synopsis

Karan (Dev Anand) discovers that his father, presumed to be dead, is in fact in prison. Determined to find out the truth about the crime committed, he is shocked to find that his father was framed. All the evidence points to a corrupt public prosecutor (Kishore Sahu). A fearless journalist Asha (Madhubala) helps Karan in his mission. The key witness in the case is a dancer Kishori (Nalini Jaywant in a matchless performance), who finds herself attracted to Karan. This classic Raj Khosla-directed thriller is typical of the 50s, mimickng trends prevalent in Hollywood at that time. Great soundtrack from S D Burman, with evergreen melodies like Rafi's yearning 'Hum Bekhudi Mein Tum Ko' and the effervescent 'Accha Ji Main Haari' picturised on an impish Madhubala coaxing Dev out of a blue mood.

Sandra Brennan at allmovie.com wrote:
This compelling and exceptionally well-executed silent drama, from new MGM studio executives Irving Thalburg and producer Louis B. Mayer is based on a highly-regarded Russian play and features the studio's biggest stars, Lon Chaney, John Gilbert and Norma Shearer. Directed by noted Swedish filmmmaker Victor Sjostrom, it is the story of a scientific genius who is humiliated by his philandering wife and a major career set-back. To express his pain, bitterness and anger he becomes a circus clown who seems to enjoy the frequently cruel slapstick antics of his new colleagues. While in the circus, he finds a chance at renewal when he falls for a lovely bareback rider. But will he at last find happiness? Or will tragedy continue to be his closest companion?

PLOT SYNOPSIS

A wealthy young man and a poor street lad cruise the streets of San Paulo looking for prostitutes in this erotic drama. Luis (Mario Benvenuti) and Nelson (Gabrielle Tinti) take Mara (Norma Bengeli) and Christina (Odete Lara) back to a luxury apartment. They watch X-rated films, have sex, and try to talk the women into a lesbian liaison. Christine is the hard-as-nails hooker who has long ago suspended any feelings, but the younger Mara still enjoys her encounter with the man and remains hopeful that someday she will find true love. Both men are left as emotionally empty as when they started their search for sex.

from AllMovie.com:

"One of the most accessible of the Colleen Moore silent vehicles, Orchids and Ermine also happens to be among Moore's best and most representative films. The star is cast as Pink Watson, whose craving for such luxuries as orchids and ermine lead her to take a job as a telephone receptionist in a hotel catering to wealthy men. In the course of her many subsequent adventures, she meets a millionaire named Richard Tabor (Jack Mulhall), who to avoid predatory females has switched identities with his faithful valet Hanks (Sam Hardy). After making a half-hearted play for Hanks, Pink falls in love with Tabor, deciding that money doesn't mean anything after all -- and is she surprised when she learns Tabor's true identity. One of the highlights of Orchids and Ermine is a brief scene involving a flirtatious, cigar-smoking midget, played by 6-year-old Joe Yule Jr. -- who of course "grew up" to become Mickey Rooney."

Halit Refig, Turkish filmmaker, film critic and theoretician and an intellectual was born in Izmir, Turkey in 1934 to an industrial family. He attended Sisli Terakki High School and briefly attended Robert College Engineering Dept. During his military service he started making documentaries in Japan, Korea and Sri Lanka with a Super 8 camera. In 1957 he started the Turkish Film Review (Sinema Dergisi) with fellow film critic Nijat Ozon. Later he assisted director Atif Yilmaz in two films. In 1961 he directed his first feature, Yasak ask (1961). His approach to filmmaking was influenced by his friendship with the famous Turkish novelist Kemal Tahir. This collaboration gave fruit to Four Women in the Harem, which Refig scripted and later production of Yorgun savasci (1979) in 1979, the most controversial film ever made in Turkish film history. Refig defended it and published a theory of national cinema, which he named Ulusal Sinema (national cinema). Later he revised his theory and called his work ATUT (Asiatic Mode of Production) cinema or Halk Sinemasi (Cinema of the People).

Plot Synopsis:
After a string of such serious projects as The Shrike and I Accuse, director-star Jose Ferrer lightens up a bit with the frothy comedy The High Cost of Loving. Ferrer plays purchasing executive Jim Fry, who has doubts about his financial future when his company is taken over by a conglomerate. Adding to the dilemma is the fact that Fry's wife Virginia (Gena Rowlands, in her film debut) is expecting her first child. Surrounded by ulcerated status-seekers and "grey flannel suits", Jim and Virginia wonder if they've lost the fundamental values that attracted them to one another in the first place. The film's satirical barbs seem a bit muted today, but that's the price one pays when putting together a "topical" comedy. by Hal Erickson

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The Adventure of Faustus Bidgood is a surreal comedy from the genius brain of Andy Jones, perhaps best known for the tv series, Codco. Writer-director Jones, who later wrote for The Kids In The Hall (look for his cameo in Brain Candy), stars as a schlubby bureacrat who spends most of his life daydreaming. In his dreams, he is a king, but in reality Bidgood is an underling for Fred Bonia-Coombs (Brian Downey of "Lexx" fame), an education minister whose sanity is well past its expiry date.

Suspense and romance meet in this film. A nightclub is the scene of a murder. The club's hostess and her American boyfriend find the killer.by Sandra Brennan

Edirne’de bir köylü akşam üzeri tarlasını sularken, yuvarlak biçimli çok parlak bir nesnenin tarlasının ortasına indiğini görür. Ne olduğunu anlayamayan köylü, etrafına göz kamaştıran ışıklar saçan nesnenin etrafında dolaşırken birdenbire bir kapı açılır ve seksi kıyafetli güzel kızların indiğini görür. Adam ne olduğunu anlayamadan korku içinde evine kaçar. Bir süre sonra bu olay gazetelere manşet olur. çalıştığı gazetede durumu pek parlak olmayan genç bir gazeteci bu olayı araştırmakla görevlendirilir. Çılgın ruhlu bir gazeteci olan genç, bu uzay gemisinin peşine takılır. Amacı bu seksi kıyafetli güzel kadınları bulmaktır. Gazeteci ile kızlar arasında komik olaylarla dolu bir kovalamaca başlar. Oysa uzaylı kızlar çoktan halkın arasına karışmıştır bile…