Kohayagawa-ke no aki , alias The End of Summer (1961). Directed by Yasujiro Ozu. With Ganjirô Nakamura, Setsuko Hara, Yôko Tsukasa, Michiyo Aratama, Sasaki Tsune, Reiko Dan. Aging but spirited owner of a small very struggling sake production company has run across a former lover and sneaks away fro...

Village of the Giants (1965). Directed by Bert I. Gordon. Inspired by the H.G. Wells novel The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth . With Tommy Kirk, Beau Bridges, Johnny Crawford, Ron Howard, Joe Turkel, Charla Doherty, Joy Harmon, Higgins, Orangey, and The Beau Brummels. Scientific tyke (Ro...

Babes in Toyland (1961). Directed by Jack Donohue. Music by Victor Herbert. With Annette Funicello, Ray Bolger, Tommy Sands, Ed Wynn, Henry Calvin, Gene Sheldon, Tommy Kirk, Mary McCarty, and the director voicing Sylvester J. Goose. Miser has designs on Miss Contrary, who is about to marry Mr. Pipe...

Pajama Party (1965). Directed by Don Weis. With Annette Funicello, Tommy Kirk, Elsa Lanchester, Buster Keaton, Jesse White, Harvey Lembeck, Ben Lessy, Dorothy Lamour, Teri Garr, Don Rickles, Frankie Avalon. The Martian invading force sends the highly susceptible Go Go (Kirk) to Earth to prepare the...

Summer Children (1965). Directed by James Bruner. With Stuart Anderson, John Hanek, Valora Noland, Steve Bobbit; modest music by The Deacons. Decent macho guy and annoying Lothario compete for a mysterious cold blonde on a sailing trip to “an island” (Catalina). She may be mysterious and cold but s...

Early Spring (1956), and Tokyo Twilight (1957). My second and third films directed by Ozu. As with the first ( Equinox Flower ), at this point I don’t feel prepared to discuss them in any detail or in any depth—I don’t understand his ethos fully, at this point there’s too much culture shock blurrin...

I put together a Catalina night! Pirate Party on Catalina Isle (1935). Short. Directed by Gene Burdette. With The Fanchonettes, Buddy Rogers and his California Cavaliers, Sterling Young and his Orchestra, Rue Tyler’s Banjo Band, Johnny Downs, Betty Burgess, Leon Errol, Jack Duffy, and various celebs...

Three quickies: Le Clan des Siciliens (1969). Directed by Henri Verneuil. With Jean Gabin, Lino Ventura, Alain Delon, Irina Demick. Taut and enjoyable, if lengthy, continental cops ‘n’ robbers flick on which NVille had a thoroughgoing and just review last December by one of our savants, to which rev...

Just to note my first viewing of an Ozu film, it being Equinox Flower (1958). I’ll wait to comment further on it until I have more Ozu under my belt; but I was extremely pleased. Ruslan and Ludmila (1972). Directed by Aleksandr Ptushko. With Valeri Kozinets, Natalya Petrova, Mariya Kapnist, Vladimir...

The Washington Post obit seems get-through-to-able without difficulties:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/ob ... story.html

Le Streghe (1967), usually translated as The Witches , but The Enchantresses would perhaps be more appropriate. The film is composed of five segments of varying length, at varying levels of slyly lighthearted to broadly comic, directed respectively by Luchino Visconti, Mauro Bolognini, Pier Paolo P...

L’Avventura (1960). Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. With Gabriele Ferzetti, Monica Vitti, Lea Massari. Avventura ? Well, yes, of course it’s Adventure . . . but it’s also a Fling , an Enterprise , an Affair , a Venture —the lattermost as in a speculation or investment . Which facet of the jewel...

No N'Ville love for the late Tommy Kirk?

For those of a certain age, he was almost a part of the family for several years. His were the movies us kids got taken to.

And Old Yeller--ye gods, Old Yeller: Few are the films which made such an impact on a young viewer.

G'bye, Tommy!

Oh, For a Man (1930). Directed by Hamilton McFadden. With Jeanette MacDonald and Reginald Denny; and Marjorie White, Bela Lugosi, Alison Skipworth, and Warren Hymer in small to tiny parts. The two stars are two of my mostest favoritestest players, and so I had high hopes for the film, hopes which w...

I have two films of diametrically opposite affect to place on record today: Back Street (1932). Directed by John M. Stahl (soon to direct another film with a similar feel, Only Yesterday , also with John Boles). Based on the novel by Fannie Hurst. With Irene Dunne, John Boles, William Bakewell, Walt...

The Beggar's Opera may be a "show from 300 years ago", but it was a major piece of satire and revived every year until the debut of H.M.S. Pinafore . May I interest you in some Aristophanes? Bob Eh, Aristophanes is so last year. I just finished off Terence a couple of weeks ago. Good stuff, better ...

The Beggar’s Opera (1983). Directed by Jonathan Miller. With Stratford Johns, Patricia Routledge, Carol Hall, Roger Daltrey, Peter Baylis, Rosemary Ashe. Credits feature Bob Hoskins as if he were undertaking a major part in the proceedings; but no, he appears for a few minutes at the beginning and ...

Ma Vie en Rose (1997). Directed by Alain Berliner. With Georges du Fresne, Michèle Laroque, Jean-Philippe Écoffey, Hélène Vincent. Young boy, self gender-identifying as female, causes consternation to middle-class family and neighborhood. Sweet and touching film which has the light atmosphere of a ...

From my observation and in my estimation, there has been a qualitative change in how the individual acts in relation to society. The computer age and the environment of communication/interaction it fostered/fosters had at first been supposed to widen people's understanding and learned intellectual/e...

Edward II (1991). Directed by Derek Jarman. With Steven Waddington, Andrew Tiernan, Tilda Swinton, Nigel Terry, John Lynch, Jerome Flynn. King’s heedless overwhelming fondness for his male lover proves disruptive to the nation and himself. Intensely acted, beautifully shot, vehement in its presenta...

Some personal reflections on Hellzapoppin’ : What reconciles me to Hellzapoppin’ is to—odd as this might sound—accept the situation pretty much as the film presents it: Olsen & Johnson’s métier was the late vaudeville stage, first as an act unto themselves, and then as playful emcees overseeing the ...

Les Temps Retrouvé (1999), alias Time Regained . Directed by Raoul Ruiz. With Marcello Mazzarella, Catherine Deneuve, John Malkovich, Pascal Greggory, Vincent Perez, Emmanuelle Béart, Chiara Mastroianna, Maria-France Pisier, Patrice Chéreau, etc. etc. etc. The dying Marcel Proust calibrates the div...

David Copperfield (1974-1975). Directed by Joan Craft. With David Yelland, Ian Hogg, Beth Morris, Arthur Lowe, Patience Collier, Anthony Andrews, Martin Jarvis, Pat Keen, Gareth Thomas, Jacqueline Pearce, Jonathan Kahn, etc. etc. etc. Orphan boy/young man makes his way in life in early Victorian En...

Notre Histoire (1984), which is to say “ Our Story ,” or—considering what the film offers—" The Story of Us. " Directed and written by Bertrand Blier. With Alain Delon, Nathalie Baye, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Ginette Garcin, Sabine Haudepin, Michel Galabru, Geneviève Fontanel, Gérard Darmon. Sophist...

^^^

Yes, the original 1920 score. Very nice!

If IMDB is to be believed, yes that Milton Berle.

The Mark of Zorro (1920). Directed by Fred Niblo. With Douglas Fairbanks, Marguerite De La Motte, Robert McKim, Noah Beery, Snitz Edwards, and um . . . Milton Berle. In 1830s Southern California, a mysterious figure attempts to right wrongs and establish justice for all people of all classes. I nee...

Fort Saganne (1984). Directed by Alain Corneau. With Gérard Depardieu, Sophie Marceau, Roger Dumas, Saïd Amadis, Philippe Noiret, Catherine Deneuve, Florent Pagny. In the 19-Teens, the French army in the Sahara deals with indigenous tribes, politics, and its own systemic challenges. Gérard Depardie...

Le Gitan (1975), which is to say The Gypsy . With Alain Delon, Paul Meurisse, Marcel Bozzuffi, Annie Girardot. A French burglar and a Romany robber, working separately, become intertwined through coincidences and the efforts of the police to catch them both. This film, while sufficiently entertaini...

Le Choc (1982), which is to say “ The Shock .” Directed by Robin Davis, with Alain Delon lending a hand. With Alain Delon, Catherine Deneuve, Étienne Chacot, Catherine Leprince, Philippe Léotard, and François Perrot. Professional hitman Alain Delon aims to retire, but the organization for which he ...

Le Veuve Couderc (1971), which is to say The Widow Couderc . Directed by Pierre Granier-Deferre. With Simone Signoret, Alain Delon, Ottavia Piccolo. It’s impossible to remark on this film without spoilers a-plenty, so if being spoilerized would displease you, scram . [ . . . short wait until door s...