Having already submitted a list of ten to Movieman’s Movie Bookshelf meme, a “gathering of all the movie books that influenced, enlightened, and excited me, you, and everyone else,” I was delighted to read his master list of books submitted to him by all the bloggers who participated in the meme – not only delighted, ... read more »

In America, the 1960s were the golden age of the foreign film. Film directors like Michelangelo Antonioni, Jean-Luc Godard, Ingmar Bergman, and Alain Resnais were considered “superstars,” and would-be hipsters young and old (especially young) flocked to their movies. All of that changed in the decades that followed. Many of the later films of Antonioni, ... read more »

In 1976, Claude Chabrol made a special appearance at the Los Angeles Film Exposition (FILMEX). A friend tipped me off that he was staying at the Century Plaza Hotel, and that if I hung out in the lobby I was likely to run into him there. The tip paid off. I met Chabrol in the ... read more »

Why Ten Days’ Wonder? I certainly wouldn’t call it one of Chabrol’s masterpieces. That’s a description I’d reserve for Les Bonnes Femmes, Le Boucher, Á Double Tour, La Rupture, The Cry of the Owl, Story of Women, La Cérémonie, or any one of a half dozen others. No, the reason I chose Ten Days’ Wonder ... read more »

1) Because the 86-year-old French maitre is still making movies (such as Les Herbes folles, currently in post-production); and 2) Because he’s around to personally supervise the DVD transfers of his early masterpieces (such as the Region 2 version of Muriel, ou Le temps d’un retour (above, top) reviewed by Glenn Kenny here, and the ... read more »

With regard to the whole issue of dubbing, conventional wisdom tells us that foreign films are best viewed in their original language. And I tend to agree with that. But there are some major exceptions to that rule – most of them Italian. That’s because Italian films are (or were) generally shot without synchronized sound. ... read more »

At any given moment in Hollywood history, certain actors will fill a certain niche. One such niche is the cute little French girl or gamine. During the 1940s, that niche was occupied by Simone Simon. During the ‘50s, it was filled by Leslie Caron. From approximately 2001 (Amélie) through 2006 (The Da Vinci Code), America’s ... read more »

Hans Jurgen Syberberg’s Hitler: A Film From Germany aka Our Hitler (1978) is one of the most unusual movies ever made, a 7½ hour meditation on Hitler and what he meant, played out on a black soundstage in front of ever-changing slide projections, with actors in multiple roles, puppets, dry ice, and various symbolic objects, ... read more »

Christa Lang Fuller, widow of Sam, in response to my post re 31 Essential Horror Films writes: “Please add Valkoinen peura (1952) to the top of your list as one of the finest and scariest horror films ever made … it’s a masterpiece waiting to be rediscovered.”    I’d never heard of Valkoinen peura, and ... read more »