A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)

Recommended

USA

Feature Film
Writer/Director: Dito Montiel
Cinematographer: Eric Gautier
Composer: Jonathan Elias
Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Robert Downey Jr., Channing Tatum, Melonie Diaz, Chazz Palminteri, Dianne Wiest, Martin Compston, Peter Tambakis, Adam Scarimbolo, Anthony de Sando

Adapted from his own autobiographical novel, Montiel’s distinctive debut – recounting a few turbulent months from his blue-collar Queens youth; detailing burgeoning and diminishing relationships, dreams of a better life, and a great deal of tragedy – with its poetic mise-en-scène, sound design, and scoring, and some terrific performances (not the least of which coming from the excellent LaBeouf), it proves to be a really rather moving experience. Iain.Stott

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Paradise Now (2005)

Cautiously Recommended

The Netherlands/Israel/Germany/France

Feature Film

Original Title: الجنّة الآن

Director: Hany Abu-Assad

Writers: Hany Abu-Assad, Bero Beyer

Cinematographer: Antoine Héberlé

Composer: Jina Sumedi

Cast: Kais Nashif, Ali Suliman, Lubna Azabal, Amer Hlehel, Hiam Abbass

Although its scope visuals may be a little slick, flashy even, for the subject at hand, this fascinating exploration of difficult subject matter – depicting the lives of two working-class Palestinian friends, who have been chosen to become martyrs, detailing (what is to be) their last night and day on Earth – manages, in an even handed manner, despite a few didactic moments, to be both respectful and unhistrionic. Iain.Stott

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Ruthless People (1986)

Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Directors: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker

Writers: Dale Launer, O. Henry

Cinematographer: Jan de Bont

Composer: Michel Colombier

Cast: Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Judge Reinhold, Helen Slater, Anita Morris, Bill Pullman, William G. Schilling, Art Evans, Clarence Felder, J.E. Freeman

In this oft hilarious madcap black farce, a very nice but rather naïve young couple kidnap the wife of “The Spandex Mini-Skirt King,” who has cheated them out of their lifesavings and stolen one of their fashion ideas, demanding a $500,000 ransom, but unfortunately for them he would be more than happy to never see her again, and in fact her death would be something of a bonus. Iain.Stott

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The Mysterians (1957)

Not Recommended

Japan

Feature Film

Original Title: 地球防衛軍

Director: Honda Ishirō

Writers: Kimura Takeshi, Kayama Shigeru, Okami Jojiro

Cinematographer: Koizumi Hajime

Composer: Ifukube Akira

Cast: Sahara Kenji, Shirakawa Yumi, Kōchi Momoko, Hirata Akihiko, Shimura Takashi, Fujita Susumu, Ito Hisaya, Tsuchiya Yoshio, George Furness, Harold Conway

When aliens, whose own planet has been destroyed by nuclear war, land in Japan, demanding a small piece of land and some earth women with whom to rebuild their race, the powers of the world decide against a peaceful approach and determine to rid the planet of these invaders, in this generally diverting piece of science fiction, which suffers somewhat from several rather drawn out action sequences and a few cheesily didactic moments. Iain.Stott

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Young@Heart (2007)

Cautiously Recommended

UK

Feature Documentary

Directors: Stephen Walker, Sally George

Cinematographer: Eddie Marritz

Featuring: The Young@Heart Chorus

Young@Heart is a documentary depicting the build up to a concert, featuring OAPs performing pop and rock songs, concentrating on the rehearsal process; and whilst it benefits greatly from both the often bizarrely incongruent situations and the no-nonsense charm of its subjects, the film-makers’ decidedly exploitative decision to focus upon the oldest and weakest members of the chorus leaves something of an acidulous taste. Iain.Stott

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Angel (2007)

Not Recommended

France/UK/Belgium

Feature Film

Director: François Ozon

Writers: François Ozon, Martin Crimp, Elizabeth Taylor

Cinematographer: Denis Lenoir

Composer: Philippe Rombi

Cast: Romola Garai, Sam Neill, Lucy Russell, Michael Fassbender, Charlotte Rampling, Jacqueline Tong, Jemma Powell

Parodic or merely a tad lacking, Ozon’s decidedly camp period melodrama – an adaptation of Elizabeth Taylor(no not that one)’s novel, in which the ups and downs of a young English novelist in the 1910s and ‘20s are presented from her annoyingly precocious beginnings to her premature demise – is, either way, surprisingly watchable if not exactly particularly memorable or recommendable. Iain.Stott

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Days and Nights in the Forest (1970)

Highly Recommended

India

Feature Film

Original Title: Aranyer Din Ratri

Director: Satyajit Ray

Writers: Satyajit Ray, Sunil Ganguly

Cinematographers: Purnendu Bose, Soumendu Roy

Composer: Satyajit Ray

Cast: Sharmila Tagore, Kaberi Bose, Soumitra Chatterji, Samit Bhanja, Subhendu Chatterji, Rabi Ghosh, Aparna Sen, Pahadi Sanyal

Four middle-class, twentysomething men from Calcutta head for the countryside for a week’s holiday; whilst there, they buy, demean, and patronise the locals, drink to excess, and vie for the attentions of a pair of Calcuttan girls holidaying at their country retreat, in this little seen gem from Ray – a winning mix of oft hilarious character detail and biting social comment. Iain.Stott

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Lake Tahoe (2008)

Recommended

Mexico/Japan/USA

Feature Film

Director: Fernando Eimbcke

Writers: Fernando Eimbcke, Paula Markovitch

Cinematographer: Alexis Zabe

Cast: Diego Cataño, Hector Herrera, Daniela Valentine, Juan Carlos Lara II, Yemil Sefani

Juan, a quiet, skinny youth, wanders around a small town, early one morning, attempting to acquire the part necessary to fix the family car; along the way, he bumps into a number of oddballs and eccentrics, who do little but hinder his progress, in this beautifully simple, touchingly droll, and often quite hilarious character study, which ultimately proves to be really rather moving. Iain.Stott

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CFB's Top 20 Films of 1948 (2009)

1. Bicycle Thieves (1948)
2. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
3. Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)
4. Red River (1948)
5. The Red Shoes (1948)
6. Key Largo (1948)
7. The Fallen Idol (1948)
8. Oliver Twist (1948)
9. Rope (1948)
10. Portrait of Jennie (1948)
11. Fort Apache (1948)
12. Hamlet (1948)
13. La Terra Trema (1948)
14. They Live by Night (1948)
15. Germany Year Zero (1948)
16. Drunken Angel (1948)
17. The Search (1948)
18. Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
19. Unfaithfully Yours (1948)
20. The Big Clock (1948)

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CFB's Top 20 Obscure Films of 1948 (2009)

1. Women of the Night (1948)
2. Louisiana Story (1948)
3. Spring in a Small Town (1948)
4. Raw Deal (1948)
5. Secret Beyond the Door... (1948)
6. Yellow Sky (1948)
7. Sitting Pretty (1948)
8. Road House (1948)
9. The Boy With Green Hair (1948)
10. Moonrise (1948)
11. Cry of the City (1948)
12. The Winslow Boy (1948)
13. The Street With No Name (1948)
14. The Velvet Touch (1948)
15. Tenth Avenue Angel (1948)
16. Nosotros, los Pobres (1948)
17. Scott of the Antarctic (1948)
18. Blood on the Moon (1948)
19. Pitfall (1948)
20. Les Parents Terribles (1948)

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Mother Kuster's Trip to Heaven (1975)

Essential Viewing

West Germany

Feature Film

Original Title: Mutter Küsters' Fahrt zum Himmel

Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Writers: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Kurt Raab, Heinrich Zille

Cinematographer: Michael Ballhaus

Composer: Peer Raben

Cast: Brigitte Mira, Ingrid Caven, Margit Carstensen, Karlheinz Böhm, Irm Hermann, Gottfried John, Armin Meier, Matthias Fuchs

When a factory worker kills the head of human resources before taking his own life, his wife – an ordinary, middle-aged, working class woman – finds her tragedy exploited by the sensationalist media, champagne socialists, militant anarchists, and even her own children, in this misanthropic masterpiece from Fassbinder; filled with expressive mise-en-scène, excellent performances, and sourly perceptive social comment. Iain.Stott

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Saint Francis, God's Jester (1950)

Highly Recommended

Italy

Feature Film

Original Title: Francesco, giullare di Dio

Director: Roberto Rossellini

Writers: Federico Fellini, Father Antonio Lisandrini, Father Félix Morlión, Brunello Rondi, Roberto Rossellini

Cinematographer: Otello Martelli

Composer: Renzo Rossellini

Cast: Fra Nazario Gerardi, Fra Severino Pisacane, Aldo Fabrizi, Peparuolo, Arabella Lemaitre, and the Monks of the Nocere Inferiore Monastery

Funny, moving, and full of life, Rossellini’s masterful film – following St. Francis of Assisi and his devout brethren through several episodes of simple 13th century country life – is a work that celebrates all of the best qualities of Christianity, and does so in a way that will move deeply even the most committed of atheists, producing, as it does, such a human depiction of sainthood. Iain.Stott

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Horses' Collars (1935)

Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: Clyde Bruckman

Writer: Felix Adler

Cinematographer: John Boyle

Cast: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Dorothy Kent, Fred Kohler

The head of the Hyden Zeke Detective Agency – when faced with a potentially dangerous case that requires dicks with "courage, ingenuity, and above all things intelligence" – sends for Larry, Curley, and Moe, who head off to the old west in order to save a beautiful young woman from the nefarious attentions of “Double Deal” Decker, the gambling boss of Maverick Center, in this generally hilarious short from the Three Stooges. Iain.Stott

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Never Weaken (1921)

Highly Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: Fred C. Newmeyer

Writers: H.M. Walker, Hal Roach, Sam Taylor

Cinematographer: Walter Lundin

Cast: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Roy Brooks, Mark Jones, Charles Stevenson, William Gillespie

When the job of his sweetheart, who works as a receptionist for an osteopath, is threatened due to a lack of patients, Harold sets out, rather unethically, in search of some, but when he returns, a misunderstanding involving the verb “to marry” leaves him determined upon ending his own life, in this brilliantly inventive, blackly comic, and absolutely hilarious action-packed short film. Iain.Stott

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No End (1985)

Highly Recommended

Poland

Feature Film

Original Title: Bez konca

Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski

Writers: Krzysztof Kieslowski, Krzysztof Piesiewicz

Cinematographer: Jacek Petrycki

Composer: Zbigniew Preisner

Cast: Grazyna Szapolowska, Maria Pakulnis, Aleksander Bardini, Jerzy Radziwilowicz, Artur Barcis, Michal Bajor, Marek Kondrat, Tadeusz Bradecki, Danny Webb

When a ballsy young lawyer dies of a heart attack at a time of martial law, he leaves behind a wife, a son, and a potentially dangerous case defending a strike leader, which ends up in the hands of an older, more conservative barrister, in this beautifully acted, sensitively shot, and outstandingly scored film, which informs, moves, and provokes in equal measure. Iain.Stott

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Seven Days to Noon (1950)

Recommended

UK

Feature Film

Directors: John Boulting, Roy Boulting

Writers: Roy Boulting, Frank Harvey, James Bernard, Paul Dehn

Cinematographer: Gilbert Taylor

Composer: John Addison

Cast: Barry Jones, André Morell, Hugh Cross, Sheila Manahan, Olive Sloane, Joan Hickson, Ronald Adam, Marie Ney

When a research scientist, employed by the MOD, who has become disillusioned with the possible implications of his work, goes in to hiding with an atomic bomb, and threatens to detonate it unless the British government announces that it will no longer manufacture such devices, a frantic search begins for his whereabouts, in this tense and believable thriller, filled with excellent performances, which also manages to paint a fascinating portrait of post-war London life. Iain.Stott

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Eureka (1983)

Highly Recommended

UK

Feature Film

Director: Nicolas Roeg

Writers: Paul Mayersberg, Marshall Houts

Cinematographer: Alex Thomson

Composer: Stanley Myers

Cast: Gene Hackman, Theresa Russell, Rutger Hauer, Jane Lapotaire, Mickey Rourke, Ed Lauter, Joe Pesci, Norman Beaton

Conventional wisdom would have it that, after a run of five masterpieces, this dreamlike film – a portrait of a rich former gold prospector, now living on a tropical island with his wife and daughter, feuding with his son-in-law, and attempting to fend off the unwanted attentions of the mob – was the beginning of Roeg’s downfall; but I would have to say, filled as it is with unsettling visual delights, excellent performances, and thought provoking human insight, that it is just about their equal. Iain.Stott

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One A.M. (1916)

Highly Recommended
USA

Short Film

Writer/Director: Charles Chaplin

Cinematographer: Roland Totheroh

Cast: Charles Chaplin

Click for review.

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The Pawnshop (1916)

Not Recommended

USA

Short Film

Writer/Director: Charles Chaplin

Cinematographer: Roland Totheroh

Cast: Charles Chaplin, Henry Bergman, Edna Purviance, John Rand, Albert Austin, Wesley Ruggles, Eric Campbell

Generally rather static and often quite tedious, Chaplin’s short film – in which a pawnshop worker causes havoc to all and sundry during the course of his working day – manages, never the less, to hold the attention thanks to a couple of humorously inventive gags (most notably, one involving the dismantling of an alarm clock). Iain.Stott

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The Cure (1917)

Recommended

USA

Short Film

Writer/Director: Charles Chaplin

Cinematographer: Roland Totheroh

Cast: Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Henry Bergman, John Rand, James T. Kelley, Albert Austin, Frank J. Coleman

A drunk checks in to a health spa with a trunk full of alcohol, which manages to find its way, both intentionally and unintentionally, in to the systems of all of the other guests and workers; unsurprisingly, chaos ensues, in Chaplin’s generally very funny short film. Iain.Stott

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The Adventurer (1917)

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Short Film

Writer/Director: Charles Chaplin

Cinematographer: Roland Totheroh

Cast: Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Henry Bergman, Albert Austin

An escaped convict manages to swim to freedom, and along the way saves a beautiful, drowning heiress, her father, and her potential suitor, and succeeds in wangling himself an invitation to their swanky home, where love begins to blossom, much to the chagrin of her other admirer, in Chaplin’s mildly entertaining short film, which just about manages to survive a few tedious moments – but it’s generally (relatively) rather uninventive stuff. Iain.Stott

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Symphony in Black: A Rhapsody of Negro Life (1935)

Highly Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: Fred Waller

Writers: Milton Hockey, Fred Rath

Cinematographer: William Steiner Jr.

Cast: Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Earl 'Snakehips' Tucker

Duke Ellington is sat at his piano composing; we enter his head and see both his vision of the final piece (with full orchestra) and also the everyday experiences and emotions of the ordinary black Americans that have inspired the work, in this highly stylised, beautifully photographed, and generally awe-inspiring short film. Iain.Stott

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Hoi Polloi (1935)

Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: Del Lord

Writer: Felix Adler

Cinematographer: Benjamin Kline

Cast: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Robert Graves, Harry Holman

Two wealthy professors, one who thinks that heredity determines class, and the other that environment does, make a $10,000 dollar wager over whether three men, picked at random off the street, can be turned into gentlemen in just three months; at which point Larry, Curley, and Moe enter their sphere to predictably chaotic effect, in this thoroughly enjoyable Three Stooges short. Iain.Stott

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Composition in Blue (1935)

Highly Recommended

Germany

Animated Short Film

Original Title: Komposition in Blau

Animator/Director: Oskar Fischinger

A series of coloured geometric forms move through a blue landscape to Nicolai’s The Merry Women of Windsor, in Fischinger’s delightful animated short film. Iain.Stott

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A Colour Box (1935)

Highly Recommended

UK

Animated Short Film

Director: Len Lye

A Colour Box is one of the first films, and Lye’s first, to use the technique of painting directly on to the film stock; here producing a series of abstract images, which have been synchronised with a lively piece of music from Don Baretto and his Cuban Orchestra – the result is quite delightful. Iain.Stott

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Broken Toys (1935)

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Animated Short Film

Director: Ben Sharpsteen

Composer: Albert Hay Malotte

Cast: Tommy Bupp

A toy soldier’s arrival at the rubbish dump rouses his fellow dilapidated playthings into action; soon they are performing sawdust transfusions and eye transplants, all in order to re-enter the outside world and make their way to the local orphanage just in time for Christmas, in this mildly diverting animated short film from Disney (part of the Silly Symphonies series). Iain.Stott

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The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008)

Cautiously Recommended

South Korea

Feature Film

Original Title: 좋은 놈, 나쁜 놈, 이상한 놈

Director: Kim Ji-woon

Writers: Kim Ji-woon, Kim Min-suk

Cinematographer: Oh Seung-chul

Composer: Chan Young-gyu

Cast: Song Kang-ho, Lee Byung-hun, Jung Woo-sung, Yoon Je-moon, Ryoo Seung-soo, Song Yeong-chang, Son Byeong-ho, Oh Dal-su

Big, loud, and relentlessly quickly paced, Kim’s Oriental Western – which would perhaps have been better titled The Bad, the Bad, and the Bad; following Korean gangsters, Japanese soldiers, and a dogged bounty hunter as they all search for an unknown treasure, promised by a much sought after map – certainly won’t win any prizes for subtlety, but, never the less, with its strange mix of infantile black humour and sickeningly casual violence, it proves to be strangely, guiltily pleasurable if pretty much instantly forgettable. Iain.Stott

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The High Sign (1921)

Highly Recommended

USA

Short Film

Writer/Directors: Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton

Cinematographer: Elgin Lessley

Cast: Buster Keaton, Joe Roberts, Bartine Burkett, Al St. John

Our Hero, new in town, spies an advertisement for a job vacancy for the post of sharp shooter at an amusement park; he bluffs his way into the job, and in so doing catches the eye of a local businessman who wants to hire him as his bodyguard, unfortunately his new boss, the leader of the Blinking Buzzards, has very different ideas, in this delightfully inventive short film from Buster Keaton, filled with wonderful sight gags and winning comic detail. Iain.Stott

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Neighbors (1920)

Highly Recommended

USA

Short Film

Writer/Directors: Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton

Cinematographer: Elgin Lessley

Cast: Buster Keaton, Virginia Fox, Joe Roberts, Joe Keaton, Edward F. Cline, James Duffy

A boy falls in love with the girl next door, but unfortunately their respective families disapprove of the match; so when a lover’s note passed between the two of them falls into the wrong hands, a series of misunderstandings and misfortunes befall all and sundry, in this hilarious, inventive, and stunt-filled short film from Buster Keaton. Iain.Stott

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Le Grand Voyage (2004)

Cautiously Recommended

France/Morocco

Feature Film

Original Title: Le grand voyage

Writer/Director: Ismaël Ferroukhi

Cinematographer: Katell Djian

Composer: Fowzi Guerdjou

Cast: Nicolas Cazalé, Mohamed Majd, Jacky Nercessian

An ageing Moroccan immigrant, who has lived in France for thirty years, decides that now may be his last chance to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, and enlists his thoroughly French, non-believing son to make the 3000 mile drive with him, in Ferroukhi’s gentle road movie, which manages – despite having a disappointingly cloying score and a few clichéd moments – to be, ultimately, really quite moving. Iain.Stott

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Triumph of the Will (1935)

Not Recommended

Germany

Feature Documentary

Original Title: Triumph des Willens

Director: Leni Riefenstahl

Writers: Leni Riefenstahl, Walter Ruttmann

Cinematographer: Sepp Allgeier

Although technically dazzling and historically fascinating, Riefenstahl’s propaganda film – documenting the Reich Party Congress of 1934, with its multiple scenes of uniformed drones marching and saluting and lapping up the hate-filled messages of patriotism and obedience spouted at them – leaves something of an acidulous taste. Iain.Stott

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How to Sleep (1935)

Not Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: Nick Grinde

Writer: Robert Benchley

Cast: Robert Benchley

Although there are moments of humour dotted throughout it, this short film – in which Robert Benchley delivers a comedic lecture about the nature of sleep and sleeplessness – proves to be generally rather tiresome and quite forgettable but, never the less, just about watchable. Iain.Stott

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Thicker Than Water (1935)

Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: James W. Horne

Writer: Frank Tashlin, Stan Laurel

Cinematographer: Art Lloyd

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Daphne Pollard, James Finlayson

Stan and Ollie attempt to do the washing-up, accidentally spend Ollie’s lifesavings on an antique grandfather clock, and take a trip to the hospital, where a blood transfusion results in them swapping personalities, in this plot-packed, innovatively presented, and generally hilarious Laurel & Hardy short film. Iain.Stott

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The Fixer Uppers (1935)

Recommended

USA

Short Film

Director: Charley Rogers

Writer: Frank Tashlin

Cinematographer: Art Lloyd

Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Mae Busch, Charles Middleton, Arthur Housman

Stan and Ollie are selling Christmas cards, door to door, when they come across an attractive woman, distraught at the thought that her artist husband may no longer love her; Stan comes up with a plan to make the husband jealous, which results only in Ollie being challenged to a duel, in this oft hilarious Laurel & Hardy short, which contains some delightful word play and a minimum of slapstick. Iain.Stott

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Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Cautiously Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Director: James Whale

Writers: William Hurlbut, John Balderston, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Cinematographer: John J. Mescall

Composer: Franz Waxman

Cast: Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Ernest Thesiger, Valerie Hobson, Elsa Lanchester, Una O'Connor

Although generally rather silly, Whale’s tongue-in-cheek follow-up to Frankenstein (1931) – in which the titular doctor is blackmailed by the nefarious Dr. Pretorius into helping him to create a mate for The Monster – is also (with its excellent production values, larger-than-life performances, and light-hearted plotting) a campily entertaining if not particularly memorable diversion. Iain.Stott

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Guru Dutt

• Baazi (1951)
• Jaal (1952)
• Baaz (1953)
• Aar-Paar (1954)
• Mr. & Mrs. '55 (1955)
• Pyaasa (1957)
• Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959)

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The 39 Steps (1935)

Highly Recommended

UK

Feature Film

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Writers: Charles Bennett, Ian Hay, John Buchan

Cinematographer: Bernard Knowles

Cast: Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll, Lucie Mannheim, Godfrey Tearle, Peggy Ashcroft, John Laurie

Funny, thrilling, and sexy, Hitchcock’s prototypical wrong-man thriller – in which a Canadian, living and working in London, is wrongly implicated in the murder of a secret agent, and sets off for Scotland in search of The 39 Steps (cryptically brought up by the now deceased spy), trailed by both the police and the real killers – proves to be perhaps the great director’s most purely entertaining film, filled with wonderful comic detail, gorgeously drawn characters, and delightful sub-plots. Iain.Stott

For a longer piece, see here

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Pitcairn Island Today (1935)

Best Avoided

USA

Short Documentary

Producer: Eugene H. Roth

Narrator: Carey Wilson

Taking a brief look at Pitcairn Island, which became the home of the British mutineers from the Bounty and their Tahitian wives at the end of the 18th century, this short documentary – full of comments about primitive lives, brown people, half-castes, and cross breeding – is really rather depressingly condescending and casually racist. Iain.Stott

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Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Director: Frank Lloyd

Writers: Jules Furthman, Talbot Jennings, Carey Wilson, James Norman Hall, Charles Nordhoff

Cinematographer: Arthur Edeson

Composer: Herbert Stothart

Cast: Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone, Herbert Mundin, Eddie Quillan, Dudley Digges, Donald Crisp

Frank Lloyd’s film – detailing the incidents that led to the mutiny upon the British ship The Bounty in the south seas in 1789 – is a Hollywood production that encompasses all of its virtues and weaknesses: historically dubious and inappropriately cast yet thoroughly entertaining and filled with wonderful, larger-than-life performances. Iain.Stott

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Mean Barbara (1987)

Cautiously Recommended

Czechoslovakia

Animated Short Film

Original Title: Lakomá Barka

Director: Vlasta Pospísilová

Writers: Jirí Kubícek, Jan Werich

Cinematographer: Vladimír Malík

Composer: Vladimir Merta

Narrator: Jan Werich

When the village school master discovers the body of a mean-spirited, miserly old woman, with whom he has had a disagreement, he decides to dispose of the body himself without alerting anyone else to it, but when the body is discovered by another villager the same cycle begins again, with the body eventually passing through the hands of half of the village, in Pospísilová’s slightly leaden but generally entertaining animated short film. Iain.Stott

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La Kermesse Héroïque (1935)

Recommended

France

Feature Film

Original Title: La kermesse héroïque

Director: Jacques Feyder

Writers: Bernard Zimmer, Charles Spaak

Cinematographer: Harry Stradling

Composer: Louis Beydts

Cast: Françoise Rosay, André Alerme, Micheline Cheirel, Bernard Lancret, Jean Murat, Louis Jouvet, Lyne Clevers, Maryse Wendling, Ginette Gaubert, Marguerite Ducouret

During the 17th century Spanish occupation of Flanders, the people of the small town of Boom learn of the imminent arrival of a Duke and a platoon of his troops; the town’s menfolk fear that they will rape and pillage, but their fears remain unfounded when the town’s womenfolk give of themselves freely, in Feyder’s thoroughly entertaining satirical romp, which often comes across like a Gallic grandfather to the Carry On films. Iain.Stott

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Dandy Dick (1935)

Not Recommended

UK

Feature Film

Director: William Beaudine

Writers: William Beaudine, Clifford Grey, Will Hay, Frank Miller, Arthur Pinero

Cinematographer: Jack Parker

Cast: Will Hay, Nancy Burne, Esmond Knight, Davy Burnaby, Mignon O'Doherty, Syd Crossley, Robert Nainby, John Singer

For the first half-an-hour or so, Will Hay’s second feature film, with some nicely timed word play, promises to prove worthy of his considerable talents, but as it progresses and the plot kicks in, this gentle comedy – following a church committee’s attempts to acquire the funds necessary to repair a dilapidated spire – descends into something generally much blander (though with enough humorous moments to make it watchable). Iain.Stott

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Time of the Wolf (2003)

Highly Recommended

France/Austria/Germany

Feature Film

Original Title: Le temps du loup

Writer/Director: Michael Haneke

Cinematographer: Jürgen Jürges

Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Anaïs Demoustier, Lucas Biscombe, Hakim Taleb, Olivier Gourmet, Patrice Chéreau, Béatrice Dalle

Following some unspecified event (or series of events) which has led to a breakdown of social order, a young family travel to their weekend home in the countryside, where they are confronted with violence, corruption, and a bleak, daily struggle for survival, in Haneke’s masterful, grimly realistic, and painfully pessimistic post-apocalyptic drama. Iain.Stott

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Forbidden Planet (1956)

Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Director: Fred M. Wilcox

Writers: Cyril Hume, Allen Adler, Irving Block

Cinematographer: George J. Folsey

Composers: Louis Barron, Bebe Barron

Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Warren Stevens, Jack Kelly, Richard Anderson, Earl Holliman, Robby the Robot

Adapted from Allen Adler’s short story, itself based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Wilcox’s intelligent, visually arresting, and thoroughly entertaining piece of science-fiction – following the progress of a military party’s routine journey to a far off planet, upon which they find only one of the original colonial settlers still alive, the rest having died mysteriously some years previously – winningly mixes wonderfully stylised, studio-bound effects and sets with vaguely camp but refreshingly ideas-based scripting to good effect. Iain.Stott

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Mad Detective (2007)

Recommended

Hong Kong

Feature Film

Original Title: 神探

Directors: Johnnie To, Wai Ka Fai

Writers: Au Kin Yee, Wai Ka Fai

Cinematographer: Cheng Siu Keung

Composer: Xavier Jamaux

Cast: Lau Ching Wan, Andy On, Lam Ka Tung, Kelly Lin, Lee Kwok Lun, Karen Lee, Flora Chan, Cheung Siu Fai, Lam Suet, Lau Kam Ling

Incredibly convoluted (but pleasingly so), To and Wai’s entertaining film – in which a former police detective (who can see, or at least claims to be able to see, people’s inner personalities) is enlisted by a young former colleague to investigate the case of a missing policeman whose gun has been used in a number of armed robberies – proves to be a slight but memorably inventive work, which is guaranteed, by its bonkers finale, to leave even the most attentive of viewers scratching their heads. Iain.Stott

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Repast (1951)

Essential Viewing

Japan

Feature Film

Original Title: めし

Director: Naruse Mikio

Writers: Ide Toshirō, Tanaka Sumie, Kawabata Yasunari, Hayashi Fumiko

Cinematographer: Tamai Masao

Composer: Hayasaka Fumio

Cast: Uehara Ken, Hara Setsuko, Shimazaki Yukiko, Sugi Yōko, Kazami Akiko, Sugimura Haruko

A young woman (Hara, excellent as ever) starts to question her lot-in-life when financial constraints and a young house-guest begin to exacerbate niggling marital troubles, in Naruse’s subtle family drama, which manages, without pointing a finger at anyone or thing in particular, to paint an overwhelmingly moving picture of the way that society imposes roles on to us all which, no matter how hard we try, we cannot avoid (with that in mind, the ostensibly happy ending is particularly devastating). Iain.Stott

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Evil Dead II (1987)

Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Director: Sam Raimi

Writers: Sam Raimi, Scott Spiegel

Cinematographer: Peter Deming

Composer: Joseph LoDuca

Cast: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks, Kassie Wesley, Theodore Raimi, Denise Bixler, Richard Domeier, John Peakes, Lou Hancock

Raimi’s inspired, hilarious sequel/remake/parody of The Evil Dead (1981) – in which a young couple travel to a remote, wood-surrounded cabin for a romantic weekend, only to be tormented and possessed by evil spirits – improves, in almost every way, upon the distinctive original; and in particular, with its frenetic camerawork and beautifully stylised mise-en-scène, it is a visual feast to savour. Iain.Stott

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The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)

Not Recommended

USA

Feature Film

Director: Frank Capra

Writers: Edward Paramore, Grace Zaring Stone

Cinematographer: Joseph Walker

Composer: W. Franke Harling

Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Nils Asther, Toshia Mori, Walter Connolly

On a purely visual basis, the film is absolutely stunning – Joseph Walker’s highly stylised photography, along with the sumptuous sets and costumes, are quite wonderful – but this tale of cross-cultural hate/desire, set during the Chinese Civil War, never feels quite plausible, with its characters' actions (particularly those of the Chinese, who, without exception, are painted as rather inhuman) being particularly unconvincing. Iain.Stott

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On the Black Hill (1987)

Not Recommended

UK

Feature Film

Director: Andrew Grieve

Writers: Andrew Grieve, Bruce Chatwin

Cinematographer: Thaddeus O'Sullivan

Composer: Robert Lockhart

Cast: Mike Gwilym, Robert Gwilym, Bob Peck, Gemma Jones, Jack Walters, Nesta Harris

An adaptation of Bruce Chadwick’s acclaimed novel, Grieve’s sole theatrical effort – portraying 80+ years of family history, following the progress of a pair identical twin brothers from before birth until their death – is most notable for its stunning landscape photography, but on an emotional level it is much less engaging (although, it does just about manage to hold the attention), with far too much incident being packed into too brief a running time. Iain.Stott

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Mother Joan of the Angels (1961)

Highly Recommended

Poland

Feature Film

Original Title: Matka Joanna od aniolów

Director: Jerzy Kawalerowicz

Writers: Jerzy Kawalerowicz, Tadeusz Konwicki, Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz

Cinematographer: Jerzy Wójcik

Composer: Adam Walacinski

Cast: Lucyna Winnicka, Mieczyslaw Voit, Anna Ciepielewska, Maria Chwalibóg, Kazimierz Fabisiak

Kawalerowicz’s sensually mounted, barely disguised polemic – in which pious members of the Catholic church (representing the idealistic communists) try to drive the devil (representing human nature) out of a convent full of possessed nuns – proves itself to be a beautifully photographed and excellently acted political allegory. Iain.Stott

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