richard-1's - "Have you seen ....? by Film Critic, David Thomson List
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The Public Enemy (1931)Beer and Blood
"The Public Enemy" showcases James Cagney's powerful 1931 breakthrough performance as streetwise tough guy Tom Powers, but only because production chief Darryl F. Zanuck made a late casting change. When shooting began, Cagney had a secondary role but Zanuck soon spotted Cagney's screen dominance and gave him the star part. From that moment, an indelible genre classic and an enduring star career were both born. Bristling with '20s style, dialogue and desperation under the masterful directorial eye of William A. Wellman, this is a virtual time capsule of the Prohibition era: taut, gritty and hard-hitting - even at breakfast when grapefruit is served. - Director:
- William A. Wellman
- Cast:
- James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward Woods
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Available on Netflix
- Director:
- Quentin Tarantino
- Cast:
- John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson
- Formats:
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The Leopard (1963)Il Gattopardo
Luchino Visconti's masterpiece, The Leopard, is now available on DVD for the first time. Featuring the complete and uncut version of the film, with fully restored picture and sound, this stunning high definition digital transfer from the film's original 70mm negative materials, overseen by the film's director of photography Giuseppe Rotunno, is presented here in its original widescreen aspect ratio.. - Director:
- Luchino Visconti
- Cast:
- Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, Claudia Cardinale
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Carol (Catherine Deneuve), a young French girl living in Sixties' London, is repelled, yet fascinated by men. Her radiant beauty attracts the opposite sex, but she shrinks from their advances. Her days are spent in an intensely feminine atmosphere: working in a beauty salon, and clinging to her sister Helen (Yvonne Furneaux) for love. Things start to unwind however when Helen goes away with her married boyfriend (Ian Hendry). As Carol incarcerates herself in her sinister, shadowy flat, men begin to invade her dreams night and day, mixing her terror with delight as bizarre hallucinations take hold of her mind. The walls start to crack, literally, before her eyes. Finally, racked and depraved through her delirium, she is left with only one instinct towards the men who invade her life - that of a killer... - Director:
- Roman Polanski
- Cast:
- Catherine Deneuve, Ian Hendry, John Fraser
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Available on Paramount +
- Director:
- William Wyler
- Cast:
- Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Eddie Albert
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The comic genius of silent star Harold Lloyd is eternal. Chaplin is the sweet innocent, Keaton the stoic outsider, but Lloyd - the modern guy striving for success - is us. And with its torrent of perfectly executed gags and astonishing stunts, Safety Last! is the perfect introduction to him. Lloyd plays a small-town bumpkin / trying to make it in the big city, who finds employment as a lowly department-store clerk. He comes up with a wild publicity stunt to draw attention to the store, resulting in an incredible feat of derring-do on his part that gets him started on the climb to success. Laugh-out-loud funny and jaw-dropping in equal measure, Safety Last! is a movie experience par excellence, anchored by a genuine legend. - Director:
- Fred C. Newmeyer
- Cast:
- Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Bill Strother
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Adapted from Mary Jane Ward's autobiographical novel, Anatole Litvak's 'The Snake Pit' is a vital precursor to Samuel Fuller's Shock Corridor in its concern with issues relating to mental illness. An Oscar nominated Olivia de Havilland stars as Virginia, an outwardly normal woman whose marriage to a caring husband (Mark Stevens) unravels when her behaviour becomes erratic. On professional advice Virginia is committed to an overcrowded state hospital where she encounters the bullying antics of the resentful matrons and the threat of the fearsome snake pit, an open room where the most deranged cases are held. - Director:
- Anatole Litvak
- Cast:
- Olivia De Havilland, Mark Stevens, Leo Genn
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Already own (un-subtitled) version of film
- Director:
- Alexander MacKendrick
- Cast:
- Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison
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After he saves her from drowning in the bay, Scottie's (James Stewart) interest shifts from business to fascination with the icy, alluring blonde. When tragedy strikes and Madeleine (Kim Novak) dies, Scottie is devastated. But when he finds another woman remarkably like his lost love, the now obsessed detective must unravel the secrets of the past to find the key to his future. - Director:
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Cast:
- James Stewart, David McElhatton, Kim Novak
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Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)C'era una volta il West / There Was Once the West
My version is without subtitles- Director:
- Sergio Leone
- Cast:
- Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale
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Set in Midwestern America, 'The Magnificent Ambersons' tells the tale of Isabel Amberson Minafer (Dolores Costello) and her son George (Tim Holt), an upper middle class family experiencing social decline at the turn of the century. With the industrial and technological age taking full force, the chances within the family are self destructing. After the death of her husband Wilbur (Don Dillaway), Isabel is romantically linked with Eugene Morgan (Joseph Cotten) whom she knew from years previous to her marriage. George, unhappy with this courtship, proceeds to do everything in his power to destroy their relationship despite falling for Eugene's daughter Lucy (Anne Baxter). Disaster strikes for the Amberson family and events do not turn out as George expected... - Director:
- Orson Welles
- Cast:
- Orson Welles, Tim Holt, Dolores Costello
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Some Like It Hot (1959)Not Tonight, Josephine!
When Chicago musicians Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) accidentally witness a gangland shooting they quickly board a southbound train to Florida, disguised as Josephine and Daphne, the two newest and homeliest members of an all-girl jazz band. Their cover is perfet... until a lovelorn singer (Marilyn Monroe) falls for "Josephine", an ancient play-boy (Joe Brown) falls for "Daphne", and a mob boss (George Raft) refuses to fall for their hoax! - Director:
- Billy Wilder
- Cast:
- Marilyn Monroe, Paul Frees, Tony Curtis
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One of the most popular films from the silent era, director George Fitzmaurice's 'The Son of the Sheik' stars Rudolph Valentino who gives perhaps the finest performance of his career. Unfortunately it would be his last, he died suddenly at the age of 31, just days before the film's release. In this visually intoxicating sequel to Valentino's career-defining film 'The Sheik', the silent screen's greatest lover portrays a cultured yet untamed young man who is lured into a thieves trap by a beautiful dancer, Yasmin (Vilma Banky). After escaping, he kidnaps the damsel and holds her captive in his desert lair, dressing her in Arabian finery and threatening to unleash his violent passion upon her. Exotic romance saturates every frame of this Orientalist epic; its sadomasochistic fantasies are acted out against the lavish set design of William Cameron Menzies (The Thief of Bagdad) and lushly photographed by George Barnes (Sadie Thompson). - Director:
- George Fitzmaurice
- Cast:
- Rudolph Valentino, Vilma Bánky, George Fawcett
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Steamboat Round the Bend (1935)Steamboat Bill
A fast-paced comedy that's also an engaging slice of Americana, Rogers stars as Dr. John, the proprietor of a travelling waxworks cum medicine show aboard an old steamboat on the Mississippi. Along for the ride is a skeleton crew, including the wonderfully named Fleety Belle (Anne Shirley). Their mission? To raise funds to pay the legal fees that may save Dr. John's nephew from the gallows. Also featuring the comedic talents of Irvin S. Cobb, 'Steamboat Round the Bend' has all the charm of a Mark Twain novel and is equally full of colourful characters and outrageous (mis) adventures. - Director:
- John Ford
- Cast:
- Will Rogers, Anne Shirley, Irvin S. Cobb
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Two of Hollywood's biggest legends and off screen lovers Vivien Leigh (Emma Hamilton) and Laurence Olivier (Nelson) star in this story based on one of history's most ill-fated love affairs. However, the film left no-one in any doubt that Nelson's warning of the dangers of appeasing Napoleon was an obvious parallel to the threat Hitler posed to Europe at the time. - Director:
- Alexander Korda
- Cast:
- Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Alan Mowbray
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