Fritz Lang’s excellent sequel to his silent epic Dr. Mabuse The Gambler (which I’ve not yet seen) sees the eponymous master criminal incarcerated in a mental asylum, where he perpetually scribbles plans for further crimes. When these crimes begin to come true, an assortment of doctors, detectives and professors attempt to solve the riddle. A […] Read more »
My first daliance with Douglas Sirk saw me inadvertently stumble onto a classic. Rock Hudson plays an ambitious journalist, who bumbles into the world of daredevil stunt pilots and gatecrashes an already-fractuous love triangle. Beautiful photography, great performances and some wonderfully scripted dialogue made this an absolute delight. The new Masters of Cinema Blu-ray is […] Read more »
I had never made the effort to sit down and explore D.W. Griffith's 3-hour silent Civil War epic before I recently had to review the new Blu-ray release from Masters of Cinema. It's a fascinating and rather horrifying experience. Read more »
A classic satire of celebrity culture and the price of fame, with a particularly vicious attack on advertising mixed in for good measure. An ad man approaches a famous actress to endorse his new lipstick, which she only agrees to if he pretends to be her new boyfriend in front of the paparazzi. Inevitably Rock […] Read more »
Masters of Cinema just released Shindo Kaneto’s wonderfully poetic film on Blu-ray in the UK, a modern silent with almost no discernible dialogue, but an incredibly powerful narrative nonetheless about Man’s ongoing battle against nature, time and fate. I wrote about the film in my Masters of Cinema column here Read more »
If you are looking for a singular cinematic experience, then look no further than this bizarre, anthropological odyssey through the backwaters of Okinawa – a remote island off the South West Coast of Japan, whose confused identity blends Japanese, Taiwanese and even Polynesian cultures. Funded by Nikkatsu, much to their regret and directed by Imamura […] Read more »
Delightfully pitch-black comedy from French satirist Sacha Guitry, who is something of a new discovery for me. Michel Simon plays the woefully unhappy Broconnier who plots to murder his wife by visiting the greatest barrister in the land and confessing to the crime before he has committed it. He then proceeds to carry it out […] Read more »
Claude Chabrol immediately followed up his debut, Le beau Serge, with this altogether more cynical and scathing depiction of city life in the late 1950s. Again he uses lead actors Gerard Blain and Jean-Claude Brialy, but has them switch roles, so Blain plays the naive mummy’s boy from the countryside who arrives in Paris to […] Read more »
Claude Chabrol launches the Nouvelle Vague with this sombre tale of a young man from the city returning to the village where he grew up and attempting to rebuild his relationship with his childhood friend. Check out my Masters of Cinema feature covering this film right here Read more »
Pier Paolo Pasolini’s retelling of Sophocles’ classical tragedy is a typically vivid and visually arresting affair, featuring bold performances from Franco Citti and Silvana Mangano, outrageous costumes and stunning photography. Read my full review here Read more »
Pier Paolo Pasolini is a fascinating, if challenging filmmaker, who I have only fairly recently begun to fully appreciate. As is probably the case with numerous other critics of my generation, my entry point to the Italian’s canon was his final film, the depraved Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom. Since then I have […] Read more »