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Desire Under the Elms

starring: Sophia Loren, Anthony Perkins, Burl Ives, Frank Overton, Pernell Roberts
directed by: Delbert Mann

May 30, 1991
It is the 1850s in a rocky New England farm that is home to the despotic owner, Ephraim Cabot (Burl Ives) and his resentful son Eben (Anthony Perkins). At 25, Eben is only staying on the farm because he expects to inherit the land, even though his greedy and cruel father swears that will never happen. The old man goes off and marries Anna (Sophia Loren), a seductive woman of Eben's age. She is repulsed by her husband, but desperately wants the farm, so there is immediate friction between Anna and her new stepson. Hatred soon turns to lust, however, and the two make good use of the hay loft. Anna gives birth to a son and Ephraim declares that the farm will be his alone one day, a decision that leads to a shocking act.

Eugene ... Read More:

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No Way Out

starring: Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, Stephen McNally, Sidney Poitier, Mildred Joanne Smith
directed by: Joseph L. Mankiewicz

May 20, 2003
I am SUCH a big fan of Richard Widmark, he's my favorite actor, and SO underappreciated (Well,at least in my opinion)I'm thrilled this has finally been released on video because it's not only a landmark film - it's a great one. Also of course we have the chance to see the brilliant debut of Sidney Poitier and he is very powerful. But Richard is just mesmerising playing a character so convincingly different from the way he really was. The storyline has already been recapped by others, suffice to say, this is a slice of history that pulls no punches in tone and language of the racial tensions of 1950s America. I am sure as with the film Pinky, the studio took a risk with this release. Even if you are not a rabid fan of Richard (or Sidney!)this film ... Read More:

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Lonelyhearts

starring: Montgomery Clift, Robert Ryan, Myrna Loy, Dolores Hart, Maureen Stapleton
directed by: Vincent J. Donehue

September 01, 1998
Based on one of the handful of great American novels - by Nathaniel West, the author of "Day of the Locust", who died very young - this film was a wasted opportunity that is interesting none the less. The cast is wonderful but the surrealistic novel is both adapted and directed as if it were a social reality tract. Clift is fine as a shattered center, uncomfortably true to his own life at the time, but he's truer to the source material than the film is, so seems at odds with it. Myrna Loy is wonderful in a part that hardly exists in the book, and could have been cut from the film. To give you an idea who should have directed this material, Cocteau would have been ideal. Or Ken Russell before he became Hollywood bloated. Other plays have ... Read More:

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Fail-Safe

starring: Dan O'Herlihy, Walter Matthau, Frank Overton, Ed Binns, Fritz Weaver
directed by: Sidney Lumet

June 04, 1996
We are at the height of the cold war. We use assured mutual destruction to keep the commies at bay. The main defense is the use of strategic bombers to deliver nuclear weapons. In the event of a perceived thereat we send the bombers to points called Fail-Safe. From there if the thereat is determined to be real the president gives the go signal in a coded message. At a further point there is no recall.

What if the recall signal was jammed?

We are now faced with many questions that move from the theoretical.
Is it a trick?
Will the Ruskies believe it is an accident?
Should we take the first strike initiative?
Is mutual destruction assured?

In today's world it is easy and common place to imagine some artificial ... Read More:

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To Kill a Mockingbird

starring: Gregory Peck, John Megna, Frank Overton, Rosemary Murphy, Ruth White (II)
directed by: Robert Mulligan

March 01, 1992
Destruction of the innocent by the evils of the society
Kuldip Kumar Garhwal

"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but... sing their heart out for us. That's why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird." The movie 'To kill a mockingbird' depicts the destruction of the innocent by the evils of the society. Mockingbird is a symbol of innocence, characterized by Tom Robinson and Arthur Radley (Boo) where racial prejudice and ignorance are the symbol of evils in the society.

Tom Robinson, an African-American is accused by Mayela, a white woman, of sexual molestation. Atticus, a prominent lawyer of the town Maycomb, has proved that Tom Robinson is innocent but still the "all-white jury" convicts Robinson of the guilt. Tom Robinson, a "quite humble respectable Negro", becomes ... Read More:

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The High Crusade

starring: Holger Neuhäuser, Klaus Knoesel, John Rhys-Davies, Rick Overton, Michael Des Barres
directed by: Holger Neuhäuser, Klaus Knoesel


Where Poul Anderson's original novel had a nice subtle humour (so subtle, in fact, that a number of readers never got that it *was* humour), this movie is nearly slapstick. Simply by the nature of the budget, it would not have been possible to film the story as Anderson originally wrote it, as that would have entailed a Cecil B. DeMille-style "cast of thousands." Still, if you can control your disappointment at what they have done to poor Anderson's wonderful book, it's a fun movie in its own right.

Average Rating:

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To Kill a Mockingbird (Widescreen)

starring: Gregory Peck, John Megna, Frank Overton, Rosemary Murphy, Ruth White (II)
directed by: Robert Mulligan

January 29, 2002
Destruction of the innocent by the evils of the society
Kuldip Kumar Garhwal

"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but... sing their heart out for us. That's why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird." The movie 'To kill a mockingbird' depicts the destruction of the innocent by the evils of the society. Mockingbird is a symbol of innocence, characterized by Tom Robinson and Arthur Radley (Boo) where racial prejudice and ignorance are the symbol of evils in the society.

Tom Robinson, an African-American is accused by Mayela, a white woman, of sexual molestation. Atticus, a prominent lawyer of the town Maycomb, has proved that Tom Robinson is innocent but still the "all-white jury" convicts Robinson of the guilt. Tom Robinson, a "quite humble respectable Negro", becomes the victim of ... Read More:

Average Rating:

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Fail-Safe

starring: Dan O'Herlihy, Walter Matthau, Frank Overton, Ed Binns, Fritz Weaver
directed by: Sidney Lumet

October 31, 2000
We are at the height of the cold war. We use assured mutual destruction to keep the commies at bay. The main defense is the use of strategic bombers to deliver nuclear weapons. In the event of a perceived thereat we send the bombers to points called Fail-Safe. From there if the thereat is determined to be real the president gives the go signal in a coded message. At a further point there is no recall.

What if the recall signal was jammed?

We are now faced with many questions that move from the theoretical.
Is it a trick?
Will the Ruskies believe it is an accident?
Should we take the first strike initiative?
Is mutual destruction assured?

In today's world it is easy and common place to imagine some artificial intelligence that we have ceded authority to ... Read More:

Average Rating:

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The High Crusade

starring: Holger Neuhäuser, Klaus Knoesel, John Rhys-Davies, Rick Overton, Michael Des Barres
directed by: Holger Neuhäuser, Klaus Knoesel


Where Poul Anderson's original novel had a nice subtle humour (so subtle, in fact, that a number of readers never got that it *was* humour), this movie is nearly slapstick. Simply by the nature of the budget, it would not have been possible to film the story as Anderson originally wrote it, as that would have entailed a Cecil B. DeMille-style "cast of thousands." Still, if you can control your disappointment at what they have done to poor Anderson's wonderful book, it's a fun movie in its own right.

Average Rating:

.

To Kill a Mockingbird

starring: Gregory Peck, John Megna, Frank Overton, Rosemary Murphy, Ruth White (II)
directed by: Robert Mulligan


Destruction of the innocent by the evils of the society
Kuldip Kumar Garhwal

"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but... sing their heart out for us. That's why it is a sin to kill a mockingbird." The movie 'To kill a mockingbird' depicts the destruction of the innocent by the evils of the society. Mockingbird is a symbol of innocence, characterized by Tom Robinson and Arthur Radley (Boo) where racial prejudice and ignorance are the symbol of evils in the society.

Tom Robinson, an African-American is accused by Mayela, a white woman, of sexual molestation. Atticus, a prominent lawyer of the town Maycomb, has proved that Tom Robinson is innocent but still the "all-white jury" convicts Robinson of the guilt. Tom Robinson, a "quite humble respectable Negro", becomes the victim of racial prejudice. Arthur ... Read More: