Imitation of Life - Douglas Sirk - 1959

The Front Page - 1931 - Lewis Milestone

Great old movie, very funny, about an ambitious reporter trying to balance ethics with selling papers.

The sound isn't that good, so I chose a version with captions....

Click on link for film:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS49lyn7568

To Catch a Thief by Hitchcock 1955 - Cary Grant / Grace Kelly

This film really highlights what I like the most about Hitchcock films - there's lots of lots of subtle social criticism and observations through his films that are somewhat peripheral to the plot but fit into the plot nonetheless.

For instance I enjoyed the Cary Grant character's veiled attack against the insurance industry - calling it a collection of gamblers. The fact that many of the characters in the film fought in the recent world war is referenced a great deal as well and the characters themselves seem ambivalent as to whether they were heroes or butchers.

A restaurateur states, at one point, that he runs his kitchen the way he ran his resistance unit during the war and that the processes are similar - cutting, chopping, killing...

So the backgrounds of Hitchcock films are very rich with thought-provoking elements.

The problem with this version of the film I am putting here is that there is a commercial every 8 minutes. You can cancel the commercial after 5 seconds, however.

Killer of Sheep 1977 Charles Burnett

This is one of the best movies I've ever seen.

This film was made in 1977 but only released in 2007. Nevertheless, it's still meaningful and relevant.

Generally, it's about the African American experience in the American inner-city.  You see how fraught the lives of these folks in the film are and how desperate they often are.  You see how values are developed and destroyed in a harsh and cruel urban environment.

Basically, watch this film - it's amazing.

Watch the film here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzoaGEDN64M

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit 1956 Nunnally Johnson - starring Gregory Peck

Gregory Peck is my favorite Hollywood actor.  Here's one of his more famous films - about the life of a guy returning back to middle class American life after fighting in various World War II battles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEWZpUhDu8g

Dr. Mabuse by Fritz Lang 1922

Fritz Lang has always been one of my favorite film directors.  I also have "M" on this log somewhere.  Please enjoy Dr. Mabuse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MulihI2Mx80

Le Feu Follet - 1963 - Louis Malle

click on 'cc' to get the English subtitles:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLQKHnkyseI

The Hill by Sidney Lumet, with Sean Connery - 1964

When I first saw this film I thought a couple things:

1) It was probably inspired by the success of the Living Theater's "The Brig".

2) It was 1960s English revisionist history about the 'great' WW II generation. It's as if the generation making this film is saying, "Sure our fathers' generation beat the nazis; that doesn't mean our fathers' generation was made up of remarkably moral people. They were basically the same as us, if not more corrupt."

So in the 60s you get lots of films examining institutional corruption and this film examines corruption in the English military in WW II.

Basically the film is set in a camp set up by the English for English soldiers who need to be 'disciplined' or punished during WW II.  "The hill" is a form of punishment at this camp (prisoners are sometimes forced to run up this hill continually until they can't do it any more - as you might expect, someone in the film dies as a result of this).

Sean Connery is in the film as a guy who is falsely or unfairly sent to this camp.  You've got the nutty camp commander, the good officer and the bad officer, you've got racism directed at the 'colonial' soldier (Ozzie Davis) - lots of predictable stuff.  Yet, the movie was engaging and I wondered how the whole thing was going to end.

Also, when the escalator isn't working at the 53rd and Lexington subway station (it doesn't work most of the time), I walk up the escalator stairs anyway and I sometimes think, "Wow, this is like that stupid hill in that Sean Connery movie - hope I don't pass out today."

Access The Hill here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdzJdxa0e1s

Knife in the Water by Roman Polanski 1963

Recently a new friend of mine named Misi sent me a list of cool films that are free on youtube and so I'm going to begin posting Misi's choices here as well.  Thanx.... :)

This was the first film by Polanski which caught the attention of folks in the west.

Basically an aging journalist and his younger lover invite a young, virile hitch-hiker to go boating with them. You begin to realize that the older journalist has ulterior motives for doing this, as he continually attempts to tear down the younger man in order to build up his own image with his lover. There's a weird, tense psychological and sexual dynamic in the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKmT5vR24pE

The Battle of Algiers by Gillo Pontecorvo 1966

This is a very dynamic movie film which was filmed in documentary style.  Some folks consider this to be one of their favorite films of all time.  It's about the Algerian people's fight for independence from France after WW II. There are no good guys in this film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeMWdueGTZ4&index=5&list=PL5357F089480D091F

Stroszek by Werner Herzog 1977

I saw this movie years ago - it is a bizarre little film.  Apparently Herzog needed a schizophrenic actor to play the role of Caspar Hauser in a film he wanted to make about that poor person (Hauser had been raised in a dark basement in a German town until he was discovered as a teenager).

Herzog found Bruno S. in a mental institution to play the role of Hauser (the film was called: Every man for himself and God against all) and really liked working with Bruno S. So he made this film specifically for Bruno S.

Click on cc for the English subtitles:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obgwTetpjE4&index=97&list=PL7C2D82459F428C2A

A Married Woman; Directed by Jean-Luc Godard 1964

Access the film here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auP03jTGQz0

The Marriage of Maria Braun; Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder 1979

A German woman marries a soldier during World War II, who then goes off to fight and does not return, immediately, after the war's end.  Maria remains dedicated to him and even in his absence she lives her life for him - working her way up the social ladder to ensure a good life upon his possible return. It's better to just watch the film at this point since ther are many interesting twists and turns.

I guess the big question in this film is: what exactly is Maria Braun's motivation to remain faithful to her husband?  Indeed, how 'faithful' is she since she keeps having affairs with other guys?


Access the film here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yco4Ud_5lN8

Experimental films by Kenneth Anger

Here are some 'experimental' films by Kenneth Anger.  I love experimental film but never really got into this guy.  You can judge for yourself, however.  He seems interested in exploring themes of gayness, the occult and various types of oppressive political and religious structures.

Fireworks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_oZ7Pb0W0E

Rabbit's Moon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDOzZPbjyBA

Lucifer Rising:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTjXYKmBsxU

Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pThz_nfcUtQ

Scorpio Rising:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NClSa-Z3kzs

Kustom Kar Kommandos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56OnAF-g_vo

Black Orpheus by Marcel Camus (1959)

Many people have loved this film through the years.  It's a retelling of the Orpheus myth set in Rio.

The film starts out joyously and beautifully (the colors in this film are amazing) but then the film adopts a more sinister feel as you learn that Eurydice is being pursued by a mysterious character seeking to kill her.

Swept Away by Lina Wertmueller 1974

 
This was, actually, the first film I ever saw at the Parkway Theater (many years after it was made).

This version is dubbed in English - and the dubbing looks and sounds a little strange.

Madonna, of course, did a remake of this film (I never saw it).

In this film a wealthy woman and her servant get stranded on a desert island and this changes the 'power dynamic' between them.  Wertmueller directed some good films.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGo2PPAmhvU

Fires on the Plain by Kon Ichikawa 1959

This is a somewhat controversial Japanese 'anti-war' film.  When it was released many critics stated that it was too extreme and too pessimistic.  Well, you can judge for yourself:

Ulzana's Raid by Robert Aldrich 1972

In this movie an Apache warrior (Ulzana) has escaped from his reservation and begins engaging in a series of revenge killings against white settlers.

A group of US soldiers is sent out to kill Ulzana.  The officer in charge of this group is a naive young man, who is a devout Christian, who (hypocritically) struggles to understand how Ulzana can kill and torture people so easily. Burt Lancaster does an amazing job as an Indian tracker in this film.

Actually I'm reading a book now called 'Empire of the Summer Moon', which is about the Comanches - who were even more fierce and cruel than the Apaches.  Revenge killings and torture were, basically, an integral part of their culture and served the function of deterrence, apparently.