NIPPON NOIR: SNOW TRAIL (1947)

Senkichi Taniguchi’s Snow Trail aka Ginrei no hate (1947) begins with a bang. A montage of shadowy figures and fragmented images bombards viewers during the film’s opening credits while guns fire, alarms ring, windows break, trains whistle and sirens scream. We soon discover that three desperate men (Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura and Yoshio Kosugi) have just robbed …

MIFUNE: THE LAST SAMURAI (2015)

A quick search of Filmstruck brought up an impressive 24 films featuring the late great Toshirô Mifune including Drunken Angel (1948), Stray Dog (1949), Rashomon (1950), Seven Samurai (1954), Throne of Blood (1957), The Bad Sleep Well (1960), Yojimbo (1961), Red Beard (1965) and Samurai Rebellion(1967). Mifune was a giant in the world of Japanese cinema and although I’ve written a little bit about his background in the past in pieces such as Toshiro Mifune, Japan’s …

A FEW FUN FACTS ABOUT MICHAEL CAINE

Who doesn’t like Michael Caine? It’s hard to imagine that there are any film fanatics alive who don’t appreciate at least one or two of the 123 films that he’s appeared in. I happen to love the bespectacled British actor and today TCM will be airing a batch of films he appeared in as part …

Call Him a Red: Remembering Albert Finney 1936-2019

I'm going to miss Albert Finney. I've spent a good deal of my time watching the films he made and writing about them. As a result, Finney has become one of my favorite actors and my appreciation for his body of work grows deeper with each passing year. The films he appeared in influenced my …

UNDER THE VOLCANO (1984) WITH ALBERT FINNEY

One of my favorite actors is presently getting the red-carpet treatment at FilmStruck; “Starring Albert Finney” is a new theme that presents a batch of Finney’s films for your enjoyment including Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), Tom Jones (1963) and A Man of No Importance (1994). If you’re new to Finney it is a great opportunity to familiarize yourself with one of Britain’s finest exports …

ANGRY CINEMA: THE BRITISH NEW WAVE

In the late 1950s, Britain was a country in transition. The destruction caused by two world wars remained evident but the economy was booming and unemployment was at an all-time low. Popular music was bringing diverse groups of individuals together and creating a sense of unity among the youth. Despite the overall prosperity, the stark …

Remembering Alan Sillitoe: “Don’t Let the Bastards Grind You Down!”

On Saturday, Nov. 19th (and Jan. 17th) TCM will be airing Karel Reisz’ SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING (1961). This bleak but beautifully shot kitchen-sink drama features Albert Finney in his screen debut as one of Britain’s original angry young men. The film is based on a novel by the British author Alan Sillitoe who also wrote the screenplay. Alan …

HOLIDAY COOKING WITH THE STARS

In October I shared some of Vincent Price’s recipes and cooking tips in a post titled "In the Kitchen with Vincent Price" and the response was overwhelmingly positive. In celebration of Thanksgiving, I thought I’d share a few holiday recipes from some of Hollywood’s most loved and admired stars. The recipes are variants of traditional …

THE LIVING AND THE DEAD: L’ECLISSE (1962)

While recently rewatching Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Eclisse (aka The Eclipse, 1962) I received the sad news that George Romero had died. The celebrated Italian art-house auteur and the American director behind the hugely popular Living Dead franchise aren’t typically associated with one another but I suspect that Antonioni’s work may have inspired Romero early in his career. In The Cinema of George …

CRIME & PUNISHMENT: LE CERCLE ROUGE (1970)

August 10, 2017: FilmStruck is currently streaming 11 films featuring Alain Delon as part of their “Icons: Alain Delon” theme and for the next 4 weeks I’ll be spotlighting a few of my favorite titles in this collection. To learn more about the French actor please see a previous post I wrote in 2010 to celebrate …

HONOR AMONG THIEVES: FAREWELL, FRIEND (1968)

In the tradition of classic French heist films such as Touchez pas au grisbi (1954), Rififi (1955) and Bob le flambeur (1956), Farewell, Friend (aka Honor Among Thieves, 1968) takes viewers on a treacherous adventure where femme fatales lurk around every shadowy corner and crime rarely pays. But that doesn’t stop some fortune hunters from risking everything to make a quick buck or in …

The Ice-Cold Angel: Alain Delon

I am not a star. I am an actor. I have been fighting for years to make people forget that I am just a pretty boy with a beautiful face. It’s a hard fight, but I will win it. I want the public to realize that above all I am an actor, a very professional …

SEDUCED BY PIERRE CLÉMENTI

Listen, Let’s Make Love (Scusi, facciamo l’amore?; 1967) begins with a series of scenic images highlighting the beauty and splendor of Milan, Italy accompanied by one of Ennio Morricone’s most sensual scores. As Edda Dell’Orso seductively moans over the opening credits we’re introduced to Italy’s “moral capital” through the eyes of a young man named Lallo …

DEVIL’S ADVOCATE: ROSEMARY’S BABY (1968)

Rosemary’s Baby (1968), which is streaming on The Criterion Channel at FilmStruck throughout the month of March (2017), is rightly hailed as one of the best American horror films of the 1960s. It begins and ends with a mother’s lullaby but the unsettling story of Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse is anything but soothing. Mia Farrow and John …

Celebrating Dirk Bogarde on His Birthday

Regular readers know that I'm a loud and proud Dirk Bogarde fan and for the last 12-years or so I've written about a number of his films and shared plenty of Bogarde related links and photos here. To celebrate what would have been Bogarde's 97th birthday I decided to compile some links to the things …