The Birdcage Inn (Paran daemun) (1998) 7.5/10
Drug (1987) 7/10
I resaw M (1931) after many many years. Directed by Fritz Lang and starring Peter Lorre, this is a major classic film (52nd in IMDB's top 250 films) and is a 10/10 film.
I saw the restored German film version. On the DVD is also the English version shot at the same time. Peter Lorre spoke his words so this was his English speaking debut.
Lorre's character whistles In the Hall of the Mountain King (from Grieg's Peer Gynt) but as Lorre wasn't very good at whistling, Fritz Lang did it himself.
It is Peter Lorre's best film and his portrayal of a serial child murderer is so convincing that some people came to think of Lorre as a child murderer.
Needless to say M holds the record for the shortest film title along with Costa-Gravas's Z (1969) and Q (2011). There are other films with single lettered titles.
Kelin (2009) 8/10
The Patience Stone (2012) 9/10
Jaloux (2010) 5/10
Not to be confused with Devil in Miss Jones (1973) which is a very very different type of film
I saw Diary of a Lost Girl (1929). This was the second G W Pabst film starring Louise Brooks, the first being Pandora's Box which I saw a few months ago,
Silent classic about a young beautiful woman who was raped whilst unconscious. She becomes pregnant, and when her baby is born it is taken away from her by her family and she is sent to a reformatory. The reformatory's director and his wife are sadists and the inmates suffer at their hands. Eventually the heroine escapes with a friendly inmate. She discovers that her baby has died and lands up with the friendly inmate at what might be called a dance establishment of ill repute. One evening her father and second wife (who hates the heroine) come to the establishment to "see the seedy side of life" and when her father sees her, he turns his back on her and leaves. 3 years later she reads that her father has died and has left his estate to her. In order to gain some sense of respectability she married a Count who has known her for many years and who frequents the establishment. She goes to her father's house to see the solicitor for the reading of the will. I won't say any more about what happens in the latter part of the film.
Louise Brooks was one of the most beautiful actresses of all time and although the film is silent you know what she is feeling just through her face.
Some of the other performances are memorable.
Fritz Rasp played the man who raped her. He was notable in Fritz Lang's Metropolis.
Andrews Engelmann played the director of the reformatory. A deeply disturbing performance and every bit as scary as Max Schreck in Nosferatu.
Valeska Gert played the director's wife. Quite possibly the model for Lotte Lenya's Rosa Klebb in From Russia with Love. The scene where she gets the inmates to exercise and the expression on her face at the end are astonishing.
Foreign Correspondant (1940) 9/10 3rd viewing
I watched Wonderful Town (2007) a film from Thailand set post-tsunami.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135992/
An exceptionally low key film and with such a downbeat ending this is one of the most pointless films ever made. The title of the film must have been meant to be ironic.
The director Aditya Assarat left Thailand in his teens to be educated in the States and got a master's degree in film production there before returning to Thailand. I wouldn't be surprised if he had been influenced to some extent by Andrei Tarkovsky's films but this film is a pale shadow of any of Tarkovsky's.
Foreign Correspondant (1940) 9/10 3rd viewing
One of my favourite Hitchcock films.
Foreign Correspondant (1940) 9/10 3rd viewing
One of my favourite Hitchcock films.
There is so many great Hitchcock films, though i do think Psycho is a tad overrated
The Killing (1956) 8.5/10
The Killing (1956) 8.5/10
Here's Stanley Kubrick's debut, a short documentary:
Thanks i shall have a look at that
Access to this requires a premium membership.
Upgrade to VIP premium membership for just $25/year to unlock these benefits:
Ad-Free | Search Site | Start Dialogs |
Upload Photos | Upload Videos | Upload Audio |
Upload Documents | Use Signature | Block Members |
View Member Directory | Mark All Topics As Read | Edit Posts Anytime |
Post To Walls |