del's - Favourites List
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F. W. Murnau, Germany's finest director, was imported to Hollywood in July 1926. William Fox of the Fox Film Corporation promised and gave him complete artistic freedom. Fox told Murnau to take his time, spend whatever he had to, and make any film he wished to make. The film that resulted was Sunrise, made entirely without studio interference. Sunrise, a psychological thriller from the silent movie era, begins when the pleasant and peaceful life of a naive country Man (George O'Brien) is turned upside down when he falls for a cold-blooded yet seductive Woman from the City (Margaret Livingston). She persuades him to drown his virtuous Wife (Janet Gaynor) in order to be with her. This is one of the most moving stories ever told on screen - a tale of temptation, reconciliation, reconsecration, and redemption, told with a lyrical simplicity that gives it the timeless universality of a fable. - Director:
- F.W. Murnau
- Cast:
- George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston
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Transport from Paradise (1963)Transport Z Raje
Zbynek Brynych's award-winning film presents a vivid picture of the infamous Terezm Ghetto during World War II, where thousands of Jews from around Europe were held awaiting transportation to Nazi 'work camps'. The inhabitants are forced to participate in a sickening charade to convince an imminent Red Cross delegation that normal life continues in the Ghetto. Gradually, a sense of the cold grip of terror gathers as the Nazi's grotesque preparations for genocide become clear. Scripted by survivor Arnost Lustig (Diamonds of the Night) and filmed in Terezm itself, Transport from Paradise is a profoundly affecting drama shot through with moments of strange and intense beauty. This powerful and haunting feature lingers in the mind long after viewing. - Director:
- Zbynek Brynych
- Cast:
- Zdenek Stepánek, Ilja Prachar, Jirí Vrstála
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The setting is a working class neighbourhood of New York in the 1950's. Amongst the characters are prostitute Tralala (Jennifer Jason-Leigh), her brutal pimp Vinnie (Peter Dobson), an effeminate homosexual (Alexis Arquette) and a corrupt union official. The director and cast successfully bring this disturbing book to the screen. - Director:
- Uli Edel
- Cast:
- Jennifer Jason Leigh, Stephen Lang, Burt Young
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The Witch (2015)The VVitch: A New-England Folktale
New England, 1630: William (Ralph Ineson) and Katherine (Kate Dickie) lead a devout Christian life with their five children, homesteading on the edge of an impassable wilderness. When their new-born son mysteriously vanishes and their crops fail, the family begins to turn on one another. 'The Witch' is a chilling portrait of a family unrevelling within their own fears and anxieties, leaving them prey to an inescapable evil. - Director:
- Robert Eggers
- Cast:
- Anya Taylor-Joy, Wahab Chaudhry, Ralph Ineson
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Following the success of Karel Reisz's 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning', Alan Sillitoe adapted another of his works for the screen, this time a short story of a disillusioned teenager rebelling against the system to make Tony Richardson's 'The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner' one of the great British films of the 1960's. Newcomer Tom Courtenay is compelling as the sullen, defiant Colin, refusing to follow his dying father into a factory job, railing against the capitalist bosses and preferring to make a living from petty thieving. Arrested for burglary and sent to borstal, Colin discovers a talent for cross-country running, earning him special treatment from the governor (Michael Redgrave), and the chance to redeem himself from anti-social tearaway to sports day hero. With Colin a favourite to win against a local public school, tensions build as the day approaches... - Director:
- Tony Richardson
- Cast:
- Michael Redgrave, Tom Courtenay, Avis Bunnage
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Dr. Strangelove (1964)Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Stanley Kubrick's classic black comedy about a group of war-eager military men who plan a nuclear apocalypse is both funny and frightening - and seems as relevant today as ever. Through a series of military and political accidents, two psychotic generals - U.S. Air Force Commander Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) and Joint Chief of Staff "Buck" Turgidson (George C. Scott) - trigger an ingenious, irrevocable scheme to attack Russia's strategic targets with nuclear bombs. The brains behind the scheme belong to Dr Strangelove (Peter Sellers), a wheelchair-bound nuclear scientist who has bizarre ideas about man's future. The President (also Sellers) is helpless to stop the bombers, as is Captain Mandrake (Sellers once again). Dr. Sstrangelove is truly a classic film. - Director:
- Stanley Kubrick
- Cast:
- Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden
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Somewhere, lost in the clouded annals of history, lies a place that few have seen. A mysterious place called The Unknown...Where long-forgotten stories are revealed to those who travel through the wood. Two brothers named Wirt and Greg find themselves lost in The Unknown: a strange forest adrift in time. With the help of a shadowy Woodsman and a foul-tempered bluebird named Beatrice, they travel through the foggy land in hope of finding a way home. - Director:
- Nate Cash
- Cast:
- Elijah Wood, Collin Dean, Melanie Lynskey
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Whilst driving in heavy rain on a deserted road. Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell) pulls over to pick up a hitchhiker (Rutger Hauer). Halsey quickly regrets his decision to stop as the hitcher pulls a knife on him and nearly forces the car off the road. In a narrow escape Halsey manages to leave the hitcher behind on the road. However, his nightmare has only just begun as a terrifying and psychotic game of cat and mouse ensues with all who pass on the road becoming unwitting victims of The Hitcher. - Director:
- Robert Harmon
- Cast:
- Rutger Hauer, C. Thomas Howell, Jennifer Jason Leigh
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