Overlooked, underrated, obscure movies and Hidden Gems (part 2)
ongoing...
List activity
887 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
135 titles
- DirectorMohammad Reza AslaniStarsFakhri KhorvashMohamad Ali KeshavarzAkbar ZanjanpourThe first lady of a noble house has died and now there is conflict between the remainders for taking over her inheritance.Correct title: Chess Game of the Wind, a stylish and beautiful Visconti-esque Iranian tale, banned on release and lost until 2014 when a print was rediscovered and restored.
- DirectorJohn BrahmStarsLaird CregarLinda DarnellGeorge SandersA promising classical musician finds his life poisoned by a music hall dancer -- and by the strange gaps in his memory.Full on Noir featuring Laird Cregar's impressive last performance as a mild mannered musician who descends into madness with pyromaniac tendencies amongst other things, smoky and gothic with an unnerving Bernard Hermann score.
- DirectorJoachim KunertStarsAlbert HetterleAnnekathrin BürgerHorst JonischkanDark secrets from the Nazi era emerge in 1960's East GermanyAKA The Second Track.
Impressive and fairly short little East German movie about a railway inspector with a secret past who gets recognised by one of his workmates, plenty of Noir style lighting and atmosphere, empty streets and Dutch camera angles and a few scenes that could have been lifted straight from The Third Man. - DirectorJean-Pierre MockyStarsJean-Pierre MockyMarion GamePaul MullerA prisoner escapes and kidnaps a woman with her he falls in love. He's involved in a bad business where politicians and underworld are leading the dance. He'll die like the albatross in Baudelaire's poem.Decent off beat escaped con and hostage thriller from Jean-Pierre Mocky who also stars in it that starts of slightly directionless and becomes a kind of road movie that gets more interesting as the plot thickens with corrupt politicians using the situation as election leverage, also notable for a truly bizarre penultimate scene.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsRobert WagnerTerry MooreBroderick CrawfordThe spoiled rich son of a wealthy Southerner is changed by his experiences in the Pacific during World War II.Early cinemascope and superior war drama mainly because it's not the usual gung-ho heroics of other 50's offerings, quite the opposite in fact as we see combat stress, disillusionment, breakdown of command, friendly fire, and get more of a character study as men's morale sinks to rock bottom in a remote outpost where the commanding officer has clearly got some serious mental issues.
- DirectorJoachim KunertStarsKlaus-Peter ThieleManfred KargeArno WyzniewskiTwo 17-year-olds, Werner Holt and Gilbert Wolzow, are pulled out of school and into Hitler's army. Gilbert becomes a fanatical soldier, but at the front Werner begins to understand the senselessness of war. When Gilbert is hanged by the SS, Werner turns his gun on his own army. This film, based on Dieter Noll's novel, is a political and artistic masterpiece. Its fresh and surprising frankness about the toll war takes on youth found great public resonance after the film's release.Great anti-war film about the lives of two teenagers in the Wehrmacht, what lifts this to another level and warrants the long runtime is the cinematography which in places reminded me of some of the visuals in "Ivans Childhood" this is only the second film I've seen from Joachim Kunert who's output seems curiously minimal (excluding TV) given he lived to 90.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsLothaire BluteauAden YoungSandrine HoltIn the 17th century, a Jesuit missionary nicknamed Black Robe by the natives and his small party of companions try reaching the Huron tribe in Canada all while facing mistrust, Iroquois warring parties and harsh winter conditions.The kind of old school wilderness "adventure" movie with orchestral soundtrack to match that they really don't make anymore but was quite prevalent in the 90's on themes of the noble savage, colonisation and new worlds with the emphasis on detail like authentic language, clothing and weapons, this is less Hollywood than most of them, mid budget, slow paced, wavering storyline but has more of an earthy feel as it's very graphic in several scenes, I'd say it's one of Bruce Beresford's best offerings in a career that's a mixed bag to say the least.
- DirectorJerzy KawalerowiczStarsJerzy ZelnikWieslawa MazurkiewiczBarbara BrylskaYoung Pharaoh Ramses XIII clashes with Egypt's clergy over influence on the affairs of the state and its coffers.And the award for most accurate film about ancient Egypt and best cinematography goes to....
- DirectorKlaus LemkeStarsDieter GeisslerChristiane KrügerMonika ZinnenbergA young man pays the amateurish attempt to gain wealth by betraying industrial secrets and securing a place in the fascinating world of jet-set life.AKA 48 Hours to Acapulco.
German crime movie that's got a lot of style to it although light on substance, very nicely shot in black and white, big on late 60's aesthetics, fashion, cool German chicks, casual nudity, over the shoulder driving on freeways, some frantic camerawork, pulpy and minimalist, in the moment, nice....just my kind of thing, this was the debut feature of Klaus Lemke who did very little of note after this apart from TV stuff. - DirectorJean-Louis RoyStarsMarie-France BoyerBen CarruthersJacques DufilhoHerbert Von Krantz does whatever it takes to keep the wrong people from finding out about his groundbreaking invention that can incapacitate nuclear bombs.A strange kind of espionage weird trip from Swiss director Jean-Louis Roy, beautiful black and white cinematography, arty, experimental, full of great imagery and locations (Barcelona) stylistically certainly one of the best yet most obscure films from the 60's
- DirectorAleksey German Jr.StarsLouis FranckViktoriya KorotkovaMerab NinidzeEpisodic, spiritual and existentialistic look at the state the Russia is in in 2017, exactly one hundred years after the communist-led Russian Revolution. The future looks gloomy, since the world is on the brink of yet another world war.A trance like and dreamy journey through half finished strange landscapes from Alexey German Jnr full of long takes, stillness, decay, mist, statues and concrete, like Blade Runner made in Russia but the future is now.
- DirectorMario BavaStarsJohn SaxonLetícia RománValentina CorteseA mystery novel-loving American tourist witnesses a murder in Rome, and soon finds herself and her suitor caught up in a series of killings.Giallo starts here which is pretty much accepted now although even if you're not a fan of the genre it's a worthwhile view as it's gorgeously shot and lit and has some great Rome locations and actually works equally as a Noirish thriller.
- DirectorRobert CulpStarsBill CosbyRobert CulpTa-Ronce AllenBill Cosby and Robert Culp ("I Spy") are united again as private eyes in this Walter Hill-scripted "film noir." Searching for a missing girl, they find themselves involved with vicious criminals and precipitating a string of deaths.Solid crime Thriller competently directed by Robert Culp in his one and only behind the camera effort and Walter Hills first screenplay, works really well as the pair of weary downtrodden private eyes go in search of missing female and loot, it's laconic, seedy and understated for large parts but with an engaging and expanding storyline, my only minor criticism is that it lacks some cinematic style visually and the soundtrack is fairly generic 70's TV detective episode stuff.
- DirectorAndy MilliganStarsJulie ShawBerwick KalerElaine ShoreWhile living rough on the streets of London's East End, a young man, Dink encounters the mysterious Dee and they begin a relationship. When tenderness gives way to cruelty they become consumed by darkness.True ultra low budget British kitchen sink social drama from cult director Andy Milligan who of course was from the US and who's career is noted for being a failure, here we get a strange dark tale of two lost souls in London done with almost school play like dialogue and style with erotic moments thrown in but strangely works very effectively, at worst it's a very good "bad" movie.
- DirectorHenri DecoinStarsJuliette GrécoLiselotte PulverJean-Marc BoryFrançois is a vet surgeon on the Noirmoutier island. He is married to Catherine. One day, he is called by a mysterious attractive woman, Myriam, whose leopard is sick. They become lovers. But Myriam lived in Africa for years and she seems to have maleficent powers. Besides, she is a jealous possessive woman who wants to keep François for herself alone. She owns a strange statuette which might cast a spell on someone who's on the way, François's wife for instance. And Catherine falls suddenly seriously ill.Pretty good Noirish mystery that takes place on the French coast where a vet visits a strange woman in a remote villa who keeps a pet cheetah from her time in Cameroon and then believes she's using black magic to manipulate him, really nicely shot in black and white with some great aerial tracking shots, slow burn, great locations, plus Julliette Gréco as the mysterious fatale.
- DirectorJoseph CatesStarsSal MineoJuliet ProwseJan MurrayIn New York, a disco hostess is stalked by a sexual predator and she requests help from a vice squad detective who takes a personal interest in the case.Indie film about an obsessed stalker, essentially an upmarket roughie mainly as the cast has several "names" and all perform well, very dated in places, still relevant in others and covers a lot of sexual quirks categories albeit mostly shot through the windows of actual NY sleaze joints or from the investigating detective who's able to rattle off every fetish known to man, caution; this movie contains some truly groovy 60's dancing.
- DirectorJafar PanahiStarsHossain EmadeddinKamyar SheisiAzita RayejiAn Iranian pizza delivery man sees the worst of corruption and social unbalance in his city and is driven to crime.The tale of a Tehran Pizza delivery man driven to commit a crime. This movie really says a lot about Iranian society and more widely society in general, the attitudes to money, the attitudes to appearance and social class. The protagonist is a big slow awkward guy just trying to do the right thing but you know he's never going to get off the bottom of the pile, the first third or so of the movie are slightly too loosely structured and cinematically it's nothing special but it makes a fairly powerful statement given the small budget and small cast.
- DirectorThomas ArslanStarsNina HossMarko MandicPeter KurthIn the summer of 1898, a small group of German compatriots head into the hostile northern interior of British Columbia in search for gold at the height of the Klondike Gold Rush.Something a bit different, a German western...kind of, it's actually about a group of German prospectors trying to reach the Klondike gold rush. It's not very eventful for the most part which is probably a good depiction of what a journey like this was actually like, lacking drama, that aside I liked a few things about it, the sense of remoteness, female protagonist and great scenery. I wanted to like this more, it's got good intentions but I think the director was torn between realism and a traditional western plot and it's somewhere in the middle.
- DirectorKira MuratovaStarsNina RuslanovaSergei PopovAleksey ZharkovMikhail helps out Nikolay and Lyuba by giving them a ride to a nearby construction site. They will work there to build a new town and factory.Arty, inventive and strangely beautiful little movie about finding the meaning of life in the Soviet workers paradise because "happiness cant be made in factories, not even the best ones" and now continue building that tractor plant tovarish.
- DirectorAndrey KavunStarsAleksandr BaluevYury BelyayevBogdan BenyukBased on the true story of five Russian pilots captured by the Taliban. They are forced to spend three-hundred-seventy-eight days in hell, while facing questions of loyalty, survival and planing their treacherous escape route home.Interesting straightforward docu-style movie which is of a little known event in 1996 long after the Soviet occupation ended when a Russian cargo plane was forced down in Afghanistan and the crew captured and held by the Taliban for a year who forced them to give flying lessons, it's a well done effort and captures the day to day difficulties these guys were in as they try to work out an escape plan and is more engaging than most actual war movies I've seen on the Afghan war.
- DirectorVolker SchlöndorffStarsDavid WarnerAnna KarinaThomas HoltzmannIt's medieval times. Kohlhaas merchants with horses. When going to the local fair to sell his horses, is forced by a noble to leave him part of the merchandise as payment for traveling through his land, promising to give it back when the fair is over. When he returns, the horses are almost dead, and the man refuse to respond, so Kohlhass begins to fight unsuccesfuly against the injusticeVolker Schlöndorff's follow up to Degree of Murder and the first adaptation of the Kohlhaas story by Heinrich von Kleist, notable for the cast of Warner, Karina, and he manages to get Pallenberg in it again, fairly low budget and natural looking and looks more authentic than the 2013 version I'd say but a lot harder to find.
- DirectorJosé GiovanniStarsAlexandra StewartMichel ConstantinEdwine MoattiIn 1960, Stan, the protagonist, after having made a fortune in Asia, returns to Corsica, to visit a friend's tomb. In Ajaccio, he meets Helene, who she rescues from her kidnappers, who take advantage of her "charms" in a house of ill reputation. They hide then somewhere in the mountains, where they are pursued by the Corsican mobsters...Downbeat melancholic thriller, directorial debut of Jose Giovanni who penned several novels and screenplays of half a dozen classic French crime films from the 60's onwards, this adaptation was made from his book "The Adventurers" which also spawned another film in the same year which is actually one of my favourites from the 60's and starred Alian Delon and Lino Ventura, here though this bares no relation to that story and is a much more sombre offering that suggests at a continuation from the storyline of the alternate movie, I've only ever found a streamed version of this film in 360p sadly and apparently has never had a DVD release.
- DirectorTarik SalehStarsFares FaresMari MalekYasser Ali MaherA maid witnesses a murder at an upscale hotel and a policeman is assigned to the case, but it soon becomes clear that important people don't want the case solved.Understated and downbeat arab crime/political drama that has all the classic Noir tropes, chain smoking tired of life corrupt cop going through the daily grind ends up against the system on a murder case that gets more corrupt as it goes on, it's certainly slow but it's a decent effort to see a middle eastern take on the Noir detective genre.
- DirectorDerek JarmanStarsNoam AlmazDexter FletcherNigel TerryA retelling of the life of the celebrated 17th-century painter through his brilliant, nearly blasphemous paintings and his flirtations with the underworld.Underviewed, if there's a better more original biopic on anybody I've haven't seen it, every frame looks like a Caravaggio painting even the ones which aren't tableaux, Nigel Terry has to be the most underrated/underused leading man of all time, Tilda Swinton's debut before she looked like an alien and also Sean Bean's first and gayest role.
- DirectorJacques DerayStarsJean-Paul BelmondoSophie DaumierGeraldine ChaplinAn ill-assorted group of international criminals executes a tightly-planned ransom sting in Spain. Things go along swimmingly until various tensions within the group come to the fore.Early Jaques Deray offering that's slightly hit and miss in terms of tone, starts of almost as a light comedic crime caper but gets into darker territory as it involves a kidnap ransom plot with much women slapping thrown in for good measure, Belmondo is a plus as the charming roguish type and the Spanish locations and cinematography are impressive with a nice acoustic guitar and whistling soundtrack, could have been trimmed by at least 20mins but it's a passable watch.