Paris Blues (1961)iMDB Rating: 6.7 Date Released : 27 September 1961 Genre : Drama, Music, Romance Stars : Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Sidney Poitier, Louis Armstrong. Ram Bowen and Eddie Cook are two expatriate jazz musicians living in Paris where, unlike America at the time, Jazz musicians are celebrated and racism is a non-issue. When they meet and fall in love with two young American girls, Lillian and Connie, who are vacationing in France, Ram and Eddie must decide whether they should move back to America with them, or stay in Paris for the freedom it ..." /> Movie Quality : HDrip Format : MKV Size : 870 MB
Ram Bowen and Eddie Cook are two expatriate jazz musicians living in Paris where, unlike America at the time, Jazz musicians are celebrated and racism is a non-issue. When they meet and fall in love with two young American girls, Lillian and Connie, who are vacationing in France, Ram and Eddie must decide whether they should move back to America with them, or stay in Paris for the freedom it allows them. Ram, who wants to be a serious composer, finds Paris more exciting than America and is reluctant to give up his music for a relationship, and Eddie wants to stay for the city's more tolerant racial atmosphere.
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Review :
Paris Blues
I recommend this movie whole heartedly. Some will say that Paris Blues is about love, but I say it is about living life despite love. The movie made me remember that there was actually a time when people dressed well, gathered in smoke filled rooms, and listened to live music. Living in Paris in the 1920s and 30s must have been great-compared to our shabby times where fun is relative to the size of your TV and the number of people who are NOT there with you! There are many actors and actresses in this movie who did not go on to well deserved greatness, but their message is clear: When feeling forced to forsake yourself for the sake of love, choose yourself and you'll have both. Choose love and have neither.
Double Bunk (1961)iMDB Rating: 6.6 Date Released : 4 June 1963 Genre : Comedy Stars : Ian Carmichael, Janette Scott, Sidney James, Liz Fraser. When newly weds Jack and Peggy face eviction, they are tricked into buying a run down houseboat. After rebuilding the engine, they take their friends Sid and Sandra, on a local trip down the river to Folkestone, but somehow they end up in France, and with no fuel and supplies, they resort to desperate actions to get back home." /> Movie Quality : BRrip Format : MKV Size : 870 MB
When newly weds Jack and Peggy face eviction, they are tricked into buying a run down houseboat. After rebuilding the engine, they take their friends Sid and Sandra, on a local trip down the river to Folkestone, but somehow they end up in France, and with no fuel and supplies, they resort to desperate actions to get back home.
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Review :
Sailing On The Jasmine Cot
This is a story about Jack and Peggy (Ian Carmichael and Janette Scott) who get thrown out of a rooming house for being in the same room together. They end up buying a somewhat dilapidated houseboat. enter Sid James playing a man named Sid who offers to sail the boat as part of a honeymoon for Jack and Peggy. He brings along Sandra, the always welcome Liz Fraser. After wreaking havoc with other leisure boaters they get stuck in a fog and end up in France. They have to get back and end up racing another boat owned by Watson, who was charging Jack and Perry ridiculous rent to keep the houseboat in the harbor in England. This is a fun film which gets better as it goes along. There is some slapstick and, since Sandra is a stripper, a little titillation but not much. Sid James plays a character we've seen him play so many times, the wise cracking friend not always up to complete good. I miss him a lot in films. If you like British humor that doesn't rely on tawdriness, just a decent plot with good performances, here it is. I don't think you will be disappointed.
Call Me Genius (1961)iMDB Rating: 7.5 Date Released : 26 December 1962 Genre : Comedy Stars : Tony Hancock, George Sanders, Paul Massie, Margit Saad. Anthony Hancock gives up his office job to become an abstract artist. He has a lot of enthusiasm, but little talent, and critics scorn his work. Nevertheless, he impresses an emerging very talented artist." /> Movie Quality : BRrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
Anthony Hancock gives up his office job to become an abstract artist. He has a lot of enthusiasm, but little talent, and critics scorn his work. Nevertheless, he impresses an emerging very talented artist.
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Review :
Hilarious Hancock
I am 57 now and was weaned when I was a lad on the various BBC tv series of "Hancock's Half Hour in the 1950's.I became an addict there and then.In later life I carefully recorded the repeats on my vcr (not invented when I was a lad), and purchased cassettes of Tony's earlier radio shows whenever a new volume was available for sale.I have read his biography (1924 - his suicide in Australia in 1968), so he was only 44 when he died.Forget he had a drink problem and could be violent.
Yes, he considered he had outgrown his tv series with Sid James (and Kenneth Williams earlier) and even his later solo "Hancock" tv series from 1959 onwards.As a previous literate reviewer has rightly remarked, he hankered after a wider international audience for his comic abilities and appeared in later films like "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines" even trying his hand in Hollywood with Walt Disney but I consider "The Rebel" from 1961 as his funniest film.It incorporates many characters like the existentialist lady on the big screen who have been heard before, e.g. Fenella Fielding in the radio show "The East Cheam Poetry Festival" from 1954.John le Mesurier often played "establishment" figures in his half hour shows and was a personal friend and here he plays Hancock's authoritarian boss in the dreary office where we first see him in an almost synchronised early scene where the clerks all do a similar computation function simultaneously.How we office workers with aspirations of individual creativity empathise with him in his rebellious behaviour!!
A new "Mrs Cravatte" in the shape of Irene Handle (not Patricia Hayes who was merely a char lady in the tv series), provides a female comic foil as Tony's landlady.It is interesting he retains his real name in this feature film, presumably he considered he could effectivly develop his bohemian character from the tv onto the broader canvas.I revisited this film after 20 years or so and laughed out loud in several places.The point already made that American/overseas viewers may be perplexed with his humour is easy to understand and our current UK generation may be left cold by it.My generation however which was reared on a diet of post war food rationing, spivs, watching wealthy Americans in the media, the McMillan type establishment figures in politics and industry, trends in fashion, pop music etc; can so empathise with his humour.I gave it 7/10.
Barravento (1962)iMDB Rating: 7.3 Date Released : 22 April 1970 Genre : Drama Stars : Antonio Pitanga, Luiza Maranhão, Lucy de Carvalho, Aldo Teixeira. In the State of Bahia, Brazil, an educated black man returns to his home fishing village to try and free people from mysticism, in particular the Candomblé religion, which he considers a factor of political and social oppression, with tragic outcome." /> Movie Quality : BRrip Format : MKV Size : 870 MB
In the State of Bahia, Brazil, an educated black man returns to his home fishing village to try and free people from mysticism, in particular the Candomblé religion, which he considers a factor of political and social oppression, with tragic outcome.
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Review :
Confusion as Political Statement *CONTAINS SPOILERS*
I must honestly say that I never thought I would chose to write anything on Glauber Rocha. Frankly, the most common reactions I have when I watch a Rocha film are (in order) confusion, frustration, anger and boredom. At first I always find the films to be bold and dynamic. Quickly however, I begin to feel that the films aren't going anywhere. I lose track of who the characters are. That wouldn't be so bad, but I need the characters to help me understand what the filmmaker is trying to say. If I can't understand the point of the film, I become frustrated and wonder why I'm watching it in the first place. Rocha's flashy imagery and rhetoric spewing characters mean nothing to me. My brain shuts off and I fall asleep.
Please don't get me wrong. I believe Rocha to be an important filmmaker, and I really try to understand his films. It's just that they're so. I'm not quite sure. Weird doesn't begin to describe these films. Nevertheless, I think he deserves credit for attempting to present his ideas in a radically new way. I'm sure for many people his films are successful. Barravento, Rocha's first film, is probably the film that his admirers like the least, given that it is the least `Rocha-esque' and that Rocha himself disowned the film. It should be no surprise then, that Barravento is the only Rocha film I have seen so far that I have enjoyed. I hope to explain why I like this film while at the same time exploring the film flaws.
The story, unlike Rocha's other films, is easy to follow. On the surface, at least. Firmino returns to his hometown, the (predominantly black) fishing village of Burquino. Firmino is outraged that the townspeople are using equipment supplied by, and are working for a large fishing company. Firmino also feels that the people are brainwashed by their religion, Candomblé, and encourages the people to break free from it. He cuts the fishing nets in order for the people to go back to their previous fishing methods. His main opponent is Arua, the young, handsome virgin, whom the people respect and believe to be protected by the Sea Goddess. Firmino also has his girlfriend Cota seduce Arua, thereby depriving of his protection from the Sea Goddess. At the end after two climactic scenes (a wild storm, or barravento, that takes the lives of several people, and a one on one fight between Arua and Firmino, that Firmino wins), Firmino leaves the village again, followed by Arua. There is a subplot involving Arua's girlfriend's seduction into the Candomblé religion.
When this film was screened in my Cuban/Brazillian Film class at Concordia University here in Montreal, there seemed to be a great deal of confusion about the story. I found this odd, since the plot lines in Rocha's other films fly completely over my head, and this one seemed much easier to follow. However if the story itself was easy to follow, the motivations behind the characters are somewhat more muddled. However upon looking further into that, it seems the film might be more `Rocha-esque' than we first thought. Let me explain. The character of Firmino is an interesting one. The leftist ideology that he spreads throughout the film seems to make sense. In-fact he is a precursor to characters in later Rocha films, who stand in front of the camera and shout their views loudly, except Firmino is easier to follow, and in the end the townspeople decide that he was right. However he also causes the deaths (indirectly) of many people (including his lover) in order `enlighten the people'. This seems to be regarded by most people as a flaw in the films logic.
There are other contradictions as well. The film seems to support Arua's sexual awakening of being seduced by Cota. It is partly because of this that Arua is able to leave the village. However, Arua's seduction also seems cause the barravento. Also confusing is the films attitude towards the Candomblé religion. The film clearly has a message that the religion is entrapping the people, keeping them from realizing their potential, and yet the Sea Goddess seems to exist, causing the barravento. I believe however, that these `flaws' might be intentional. In the case of Firmino, Rocha might be making a comment about how just because someone's political ideas are in the progressive, that doesn't make him perfect. This theme is reflected in more complex ways in later films of his. Likewise, in the case of Arua and the Candomblé religion, the confusion might also be a way of commenting on the conventions of narrative and theme. Perhaps Rocha wants us to think about the way we normally see films as having a concrete `message'.
Of course, since Rocha did not finish the film himself, we won't know for sure if all this confusion is intentional, but I think I'm on to something. In fact I think the film helps one prepare for Rocha's later, even more challenging films by not giving us any easy answers.
Madalena (1960)iMDB Rating: 6.7 Date Released : 21 March 1962 Genre : Comedy, Drama, Musical, Romance Stars : Aliki Vougiouklaki, Dimitris Papamichael, Pantelis Zervos, Thodoros Moridis. A young and brave girl after her father's death decides to continue her father's trade, carrying people and things with his boat. Thus she will be able to feed her 6 brothers/sisters. However the islanders do not trust a woman to carry them: they prefer her father's competitor, another boatman. The priest of the village helps her and arranges so that during epiphany, she is the one that catches ..." /> Movie Quality : BRrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
A young and brave girl after her father's death decides to continue her father's trade, carrying people and things with his boat. Thus she will be able to feed her 6 brothers/sisters. However the islanders do not trust a woman to carry them: they prefer her father's competitor, another boatman. The priest of the village helps her and arranges so that during epiphany, she is the one that catches the cross. Thus, public opinion turns to her favor: she is now "blessed". In a little while, the competitor brings a machine boat and the villagers forget the "blessed", who has no customers. In despair, Madalena decides to marry someone she doesn't love, while in reality she loves the son of the other boatman. The priest once more plays a significant role. He intercedes and the right couple get married: Voygiouklaki and Papamihael.
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Review :
One of the best Greek films ever
This movie is now considered a classic and it features the award-winning performances of Aliki Viougiouklaki, as the untameable leading character, and Pantelis Zervos as the unconventional village priest.
Additional bonus for the lucky viewers are the two songs that Manos Hajidakis composed for the film, especially "Thalassa Platia" which features IMO in the most beautiful scene of the film. Vougiouklaki always transfered her playful character to her vocal performances and that's why her movie songs very popular to this day.
Aliki in this movie would make you laugh and she will also make you cry. You will admire her stamina and pride, as much as the manner she tries to hide her love interest for the most unlikely suitor.
La commare secca (1962)iMDB Rating: 7.0 Date Released : 6 May 1982 Genre : Crime, Drama, Mystery Stars : Francesco Ruiu, Giancarlo De Rosa, Vincenzo Ciccora, Alfredo Leggi. Near the Tiber river, in a Roman park, a prostitute was killed. The police tracks down people that were inside the park during that night. They are questioned and have to explain why they were there. One of them is the killer." /> Movie Quality : BRrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
Near the Tiber river, in a Roman park, a prostitute was killed. The police tracks down people that were inside the park during that night. They are questioned and have to explain why they were there. One of them is the killer.
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Review :
The Grim Reaper
Bertolucci's director debut has a quite distinctive Neo-Italian modus operandi, utilizing a multi- narrative structure of portraying different groups of people's idle life, who have been involved into a prostitute murder case. The raw-texture of the film is magnificently preserved and the primitive settings are bold enough to impose an intimate analysis upon various Italian people's mind-state at that particular time. At the age of 22, it was a great opportunity for Bertolucci to be granted the permission to work on his master Pasolini's script for his own career inception. Also it's a gutsy manoeuvre for Pasolini to trust his young disciple to fully excavate his talent, which is regretfully a rare case now in the cinema business.
During the park scenes, the film has a distinctively poignant tableaux scenery, but elsewhere the nonchalant idleness of each segmental piece is astonishingly fragmentary and unable to relate it to the core murder case in any rate, the film sacrifices its more audience arresting detective fodder to pursue a random characterization of Bertolucci's own mark although may at odds with his later more prestigious work.
The film's semblance of Akira Kurosawa's Rasho-Mon (1950) is just a bluff, apart from structure-wise design, the film seldom emits a certain commitment of story-telling, nevertheless it has its own charm once it suits to some specific cinema devotees' appetites, but with a horizontal parallel comparison with other 1960s elite peers, Bertolucci is still in his rookie mode and no one should demand too much for a 22-year-old novice to create a groundbreaking director debut, so after all, it is a thin-on-the-ground treasure and deserves a great thumb-up.
In what might be termed Russo-Shakespearean noir, a ruthless woman's adulterous affair with a drifter sets in motion a chain-reaction of murder and deception in a remote village in 19th Century Mtsensk.
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Review :
Cold and Distant
This movie suffers by comparison with Petr Weigl's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (1992), which has Shostakovich's music and singing, by means of lip-synching. That one was very dynamic; here the acting is remarkably wooden, though it gets better towards the end.
It seems that this version is based on the original story by Leskov, rather than the Shostakovich opera. Shostakovich made Katarina more sympathetic by showing her as a normal, vibrant woman driven to distraction by the cruel people surrounding her, and by the oppressive imperial system. Here she is a lustful creature who will stop at nothing to get what she wants; this turns the story into a simple morality tale without the complex interplay of the opera.
The Leskov-Wajda version establishes this with details not in the Shostakovich-Weigl: Katarina and Sergei murder a child who stands to inherit the estate; Katarina, as she's sent off to Siberia, is completely indifferent to her own child. In the Shostakovich-Weigl, Sergei's new girlfriend sings a very cruel song of triumph over Katarina.
The black-and-white photography is not suited to a story like this, although the composition of images is very artistic, probably better than in the Weigl version. But it's still very slow; for instance, the flogging looks like something that might be administered by a school principal on sedatives. On the other hand, the final death scene is nicely done, it's one of the best parts of the movie.
King of the Roaring 20's: The Story of Arnold Rothstein (1961)iMDB Rating: 5.7 Date Released : 11 June 1961 Genre : Biography, Crime, Drama Stars : David Janssen, Dianne Foster, Jack Carson, Diana Dors Movie Quality : BRrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
Moving from one scam to another Arnold Rothstein quickly becomes rich, and settles into the life of owning big-town gambling joints. Along the way he falls in loves and marries, makes a life-long enemy of a cop on the take, and gradually becomes hardened even to his closest friends.
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Review :
A Calculating Life
Although Arnold Rothstein was a great deal older than David Janssen when he portrayed Rothstein in King Of The Roaring Twenties, he does deliver a good performance as the rather bloodless Rothstein who had the heart of a calculating machine. He came by that personality by being a mathematical genius as a child and deciding to apply his talents in the best way calculated to make money. Rothstein in real life and Janssen on the screen spent their lives calculating.
In fact the title is something of a misnomer because Rothstein being born in 1882 to a respectable middle class Jewish family with father played in the film by Joseph Schildkraut, started his career way before the Roaring Twenties set in. His most famous exploit, the fixing of the 1919 World Series is certainly before the Twenties, but when Prohibition came in, Rothstein saw the possibilities.
The characters in the film are mostly fictional and in some cases pseudonyms are used. Jack Carson's farewell big screen role as Tammany politician Tim O'Brien is more than likely based on Jimmy Hines, later convicted by Thomas E. Dewey. Carson is always good in any film he's in.
The two supporting players who stand out are Dan O'Herlihy as a fictional rogue cop who was taking payoffs back when Janssen was a kid and Mickey Rooney who was the best in the film as Rothstein's boyhood pal who meets a tragic end. The women in Rothstein's life are Dianne Foster and British bombshell Diana Dors who do well as typical Roaring Twenties flappers.
The film has the look and feel of The Untouchables TV series which spawned a revival of the gangster films, this time using the real names of the public enemies. The smartest one of them all Arnold Rothstein might well have been called, King Of The Roaring Twenties.
Shiro Amakusa, the Christian Rebel (1962)iMDB Rating: 7.0 Date Released : 21 March 1962 Genre : Drama, History, War Stars : Hashizô Ohkawa, Ryûtarô Ôtomo, Satomi Oka, Rentarô Mikuni Movie Quality : BRrip Format : MKV Size : 870 MB
In the year 1637 in Shimabara of Tokugawa-era Japan, oppressed peasant Christians revolt against the shogunate with the aid of a charismatic Christian rebel leader Shiro Amakusa.
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Review :
Early Oshima
Nagisha Oshima directed this atypical 1962 film covering Christian persecution in Japan - and the response of the tragic hero, Shiro Amakusa. From the standpoint of filmmaking, the shots are mostly static (some several minutes, minimal camera movement), with simple black and white photography. The film shows particular care for the beleaguered Christians, who are forced into poverty (and worse) for their religion.
Obviously, the subject matter doesn't place for humor; the narrative dark and reflective, showing little hope for the characters. Oshima has always excelled at provocative filmmaking, provoking more thought than filmmaking fireworks.
Operation Eichmann (1961)iMDB Rating: 6.2 Date Released : 15 March 1961 Genre : Drama Stars : Werner Klemperer, Ruta Lee, Donald Buka, Barbara Turner." /> Movie Quality : HDrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
The most chilling scene is to see the SS characters of Werner Klemperer and John Banner (Four years before "Hogan's Heroes") matter of factly greeting the Jewish arrivals to the death camp. The contrast between the high comedy of their work together later on belied how easy a shift of perspective of the Third Reich could be achieved. I recommend this film just for this extremely chilling scene alone.
The Deadly Companions (1961)iMDB Rating: 6.2 Date Released : 16 February 1962 Genre : Western Stars : Maureen O'Hara, Brian Keith, Steve Cochran, Chill Wills Movie Quality : BRrip Format : MKV Size : 870 MB
The veteran Civil War Yankee officer Yellowleg saves the cheater Turk in a card game, and together with the gunslinger Billy Keplinger, they ride together to Gila City with the intention of heisting a bank. Yellowleg has a war scar on the head from a man that tried to scalp him and he has been on the trail of his attacker for five years. When bandits rob a store, Yellowleg shoots at the outlaws and accidentally kills the son of the cabaret dancer Kit Tilden and the grieving woman decides to bury her son in the Apache country Siringo, where her husband is also buried. Yellowleg calls Billy and Turk to escort Kitty through the dangerous land.
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Review :
Foreshadows his later works
Peckinpah is getting to what he later mastered in movies such as Wild Bunch and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid; outlaws with deep emotional scars who live in the past and wander around like the Flying Dutchman. The scar is made physical as Yellowleg is unable to raise his arm when shooting, which leads to a tragic accident. In Deadly Companions we also see similar character as Bob Dylan played in Pat Garrett; the little boy playing his harmonica. Deadly Companions is a bit clumsy a movie, sometimes it is difficult to see what is actually going on, but the story is good and the characters are real. It's a must see for Peckinpah fans.
The Queen's Guards (1961)iMDB Rating: 6.9 Date Released : 18 July 1963 Genre : Drama Stars : Daniel Massey, Robert Stephens, Raymond Massey, Ursula Jeans. Captains John Fellows and Henry Wynne-Walton finish their Army training at Sandhurst Military Academy and are sent to the Middle-East. John is to lead a parachute battalion while Henry is put in charge of a platoon of armoured cars of the Household Cavalry. John is constantly being told by his father, an ex-Guards officer that he is not as good as his brother who was killed during the war." /> Movie Quality : HDrip Format : MKV Size : 870 MB
Captains John Fellows and Henry Wynne-Walton finish their Army training at Sandhurst Military Academy and are sent to the Middle-East. John is to lead a parachute battalion while Henry is put in charge of a platoon of armoured cars of the Household Cavalry. John is constantly being told by his father, an ex-Guards officer that he is not as good as his brother who was killed during the war.
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Review :
A fine exposition of British military tradition at its best.
"Guards! Guards! Call out the Guards!" And this could only mean the Queen's Guards and the English look to them in times of military emergency. With their ceremonial uniform of Buckingham red with that unlikely shako supposedly made of bear skin; with their mounted units wearing polished breastplates during full dress parades, they are world famous as tourist attractions. Little do people know that these are the cream of the elite of the British military corps. If I am not mistaken, their members are selected from the various services. Thus, they are commandos, paratroopers, tank men, intelligence specialists, etc.
As a little boy, I was fully taken in by the ceremonial parade at the end of the movie: "Escort to the colors! Forward!" Somehow when the goosestep is done by The Guards, it doesn't seem sinister. And the intricate but highly dignified dressage executed by the commander of the mounted unit is admirable.
The military action is in the Middle East in connection with the Suez Canal crisis in 1956. Egypt then took full control of the canal and the British and French felt that their interests were threatened.
There is a touching scene near the end during a ceremonial parade with the Queen in attendance. A semi-paralyzed veteran has an apartment overlooking the square (Trafalgar?). He's bedridden but he manages to put on his military uniform. There is a series of bars on the ceiling of his apartment and with a hook or a cane, he manages to get a hold of them and he painfully and laboriously locomotes himself to the window to get a view of The Guards as they are honored by the Queen.
L'assedio di Siracusa (1960)iMDB Rating: 5.2 Date Released : 17 March 1960 Genre : Drama, History, Romance, War Stars : Rossano Brazzi, Tina Louise, Sylva Koscina, Enrico Maria Salerno." /> Movie Quality : BRrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
SWORD AND SANDAL or 'pepla/peplum' is a enduring genre of the Italian Cinema. It dates back to the beginning of their efforts and comes and goes in waves. The wave best remembered in the U.S.A. started with STEVE REEVES in HERCULES (1958) released here in 1959 and died out in the mid 1960s'. Hollywood would also make contributions and it's films would generally be better financed and produced. Some becoming enduring Classics.
L'assedio di Siracusa (1960) 'THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE' is a ambitious attempt to illustrate a era of Historical importance, The Second Punic War (218-201 B.C.E.). It was a divergence from the typical fantasies involving 'Hercules, Goliath, Maciste, Ursus' or whatever the 'Strong-Man' was called for that particular 'minor epic'. Rather it's 'Hero' was one who used brain not brawn to achieve his ends. SYRACUSE is at the apex of the confrontation between ROME and CARTHAGE. ROME has the best Army and has mastered the Sea and wants SYRACUSE to control the Mediterranean and defeat CARTHAGE. SYRACUSE has ARCHIMEDES (287-212 B.C.E.), Genius and Inventor, whose ambitions are to thwart ROME's will and maintain the independence of his State.
International Star Rossano Brazzi issues forth as ARCHIMEDES with his romantic lead DIANA/ARTEMIDE/LUCREZIA played by Tina Louise. Yes, GINGER GRANT of GILLIGAN'S ISLAND (1964-1967). These two (2) characters weave their romantic story through the Military and Political struggles of the time. In in his spare time ARCHIMEDES whips up his 'Solar Death Ray' to defend SYRACUSE by setting fire to the Roman Fleet. In the end SYRACUSE does fall, but true love is not denied. For details watch the film.
Whether ARCHIMEDES did all the things portrayed in the film is problematical. In addition he was killed at the end of the siege and did not go off into the Sunset with his main squeeze. The main problem with the film was the Italian Cinema's 'Reaching Beyond Their Grasp'. The concept of the film was fine and there is nothing wrong with Rossano Brazzi's interpretation of ARCHIMEDES. What was needed here was Hollywood MONEY and production values. Compared to BEN HUR (1959) or SPARTACUS (1960) it comes across as just another Italian 'B' effort with all the typical shortcomings.
A young lord attempts to combat the corruption endemic to the Shogunate bureaucracy, only to be placed in an impossible conflict of duties. He refuses to pay the "customary" bribe expected by a Chancellor sent from the Shogunate to teach him the etiquette for receiving envoys from the Emperor. In revenge, the Chancellor goads the lord into drawing his sword when the envoys are present, a crime punishable by death. The young lord is forced to commit ritual suicide for this crime. His vassals are ordered to turn over their lords estate for confiscation, forbidden to take revenge for their lords death, then disbanded as a clan. To obey the Shogun, the lords former samurai must follow those orders, but to be loyal to oaths they swore to their lord and have justice, they must avenge him. This conflict of obligations is the primary dilemma in Japanese society, which is why this story is considered their national epic. The story is richly woven and the film worth seeing for the gorgeous art ...
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Review :
Cinematic pinnacle
I first saw Chushingara in 1972 in Boulder, Colorado on the CU campus. I racked up 3 additional viewings in the next couple of years, one at Boston's Park Square Cinema, long gone and lamented. The Park Square often showed Japanese films and I saw the Samurai Trilogy there as well as some of the other classics. I've since seen in again in theaters and now have the video. I was struck, reading some of the other viewer comments, by how many people felt exactly as I did, remembering each viewing as though it were a superb meal to be savored the rest of our lives, rather than simply "seeing a great film". The other comments articulate the reasons why quite well, but I'll add my two cents. Aside from being perhaps the most gorgeous film ever made, its beauty is integral to the psychological mood of heroism intensified by each moment's transience and each life's fragility. The great trial and seppuku scene, framed by that stunningly beautiful music and the equally intense cherry blossoms, stands as one of the most concise statements of life's tragic beauty as well, of course, as the soul of Bushido. The course of action pursued by Chamberlain Oishi creates the emotional hook and the humorous scenes, highlighted by Toshiro Mifune's wonderful character, keep things barreling along. In the end, though, it is the whole package - the stunning sets, many of them modeled fairly closely on classic Japanese woodcuts; the brilliant acting and direction; the loving detail of so many aspects of Japanese culture; the unfolding of justice; the close relationships and their exacting depiction; the revelation of a code that is so alien to anything in contemporary western life; the self-conscious gamble to make this film a cultural monument that breathes life; and of course, the final battle
wow! - certainly one of the greatest movies ever made. It is a shame
that it is not more accessible on the large screen - the bigger the better - but as it sustains multiple viewings, see it on video anyway - it's worth it and you can always watch it again.
La sed (1961)iMDB Rating: 6.9 Date Released : 27 April 1961 Genre : Drama Stars : Vicente Ariño, Susy Castell, Lucas Demare, Carlos Dorrego Movie Quality : HDrip Format : MKV Size : 870 MB
Story set at the Chaco war between Bolivia and Paraguay.
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Review :
Downbeat but try not to watch
This film was based upon the novel by Augusto Roa Bastos "Man's Son". Even when nothing is said in the movie, it deals with the war between Paraguay and Bolivia at the beginning of the 30's in the XXth Century. Behind these really very poor countries there were two famous international oil companies. What is remarkable is the director's talent to film an epic tragedy. Unfortunately, Lucas Demare was never recognized in Argentina because of political reasons but it must be said that this film is one of the best in the history of Argentinian cinema. On the other hand, the cinematography and the editing are outstanding. Everybody's job should be underlined as powerful here, because technicians and actors did their best. The Spanish actor Francisco Rabal -directed by Buñuel and Antonioni among others- and the Argentinian Olga Zubarry -who received her deserved prize at the San Sebastián Festival- offer the portrait of two desperate and lonely soldiers in a senseless war. But it would be unfair not to mention everybody's job as paramount. Incidentally, Zubarry's name in the movie is Salu'ì -as it is written in the novel-, and her character was called that way ironically duo to her sexual activities. It was a smash hit from the very beginning an it is a pity that no perfect copy is available at present.
It Happened Here (1965)iMDB Rating: 6.8 Date Released : 8 August 1966 Genre : Drama, Sci-Fi, War Stars : Pauline Murray, Sebastian Shaw, Bart Allison, Reginald Marsh. It is the Second World War. The Nazis have invaded Britain. There is a split between the resistance and those who prefer to collaborate with the invaders for a quiet life. The protagonist, a nurse, is caught in the middle." /> Movie Quality : BRrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
It is the Second World War. The Nazis have invaded Britain. There is a split between the resistance and those who prefer to collaborate with the invaders for a quiet life. The protagonist, a nurse, is caught in the middle.
Watch It Happened Here Trailer :
Review :
A British Masterpiece.
`It Happened Here' Directed by Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo is a Classic of British Cinema. The Film is remarkable in its authenticity, given the fictional scenario, the invasion of Britain by the Nazis during World War Two.
The look of the Picture is very raw and earthy which adds to its realistic style.
The German soldiers look perfect, I say this because it is so rare that Directors make such a concerted effort for perfection.
Andrew Mollo and Kevin Brownlow are two of the most talented and unrecognized Directors in Britain. This Film is an example of the best of British Independent Film making and should be seen.
Paris Blues (1961)iMDB Rating: 6.7
