watchlist_extended

A Japanese woman writes down three stories she has witnessed or heard of in her diary, each about the difficult situation a young woman finds herself in.

Marta is obsessed with protecting her son from the genetic predisposition to schizophrenia that she has hidden from her husband.

1954 film directed by Ezra Mir

Matador Ricardo wants to end his career. His manager and his mistress manage to dissuade him and get him to sign two contracts.

1947 Chilean film directed by José Bohr

A wealthy landlord floods and destroys a village on purpose to prevent the people living there from making a profit off their crops. What he doesn't know is that his own daughter, Amal, is in love with Ahmed, a young man from the village.

An actress used to playing only bit parts becomes the center of attention when a movie director buys her life story as a film project, she is now faced with a psychological crisis.

Terenty leaves the collective farm and goes to the city to study to become an agronomist. Marina works hard and looks forward to her husband's return. When her husband returns home, he reproaches his wife for being uneducated, asks for a divorce and leaves for the city. Left with her daughter, Marina devotes herself entirely to her studies and work.

Abdel Sabour was a thief and a smuggler known as The Beast to the people in one of the villages of upper Egypt; everyone was afraid of him, including the police. He enjoyed the protection of Redwan Pasha, who in turn used him during elections to eliminate his rivals. Officer Raouf Saleh was sent to the village with his wife and son with the assignment of arresting The Beast. However The Beast and his gang worked together from the beginning trying to dispose of the officer and his family in any way possible.

Antonio dives for sponges which are sold by his sweetheart Rossana. One day, the escaped prisoner José-Luis appears and is hid by his friend Antonio. Although José-Luis does not want to betray his friend, a love affair with tragic consequences between him and Rossana develops. The Net was one of Mexico's entries at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival.

A group of Italians explore the jungles of South America.

The Finnish film 'White Reindeer' is marketed in the USA and Britain as a horror movie, but that's not precisely accurate. This is a stark, moody film but not a scary one. It purports to be an authentic Lapp folktale about a woman named Pirita who turns into a white reindeer in order to feed upon men.
This story has elements of both the vampire and the werewolf legend, as well as the succubus. Apart from reindeer being native to Lapland, I can't imagine why the reindeer was chosen as the species for this folktale's version of the shape-changer legend. Bats and wolves are predators, and therefore scary. The reindeer is a domesticated herbivore that serves humans ... not very spooky, is it? In one sequence, the were-reindeer woman sprouts fangs. Actual reindeer don't have fangs, so why should these be part of her transformation? Female reindeer have antlers, so why doesn't Pirita sprout antlers?
Speaking of superstitions and myths: early in this film, a black cat scurries across the path of an approaching sledge, but the director gives this so little emphasis that it appears to have no significance. In Cornwall, it's considered *good* luck to have a black cat cross one's path, and this same thing is considered *bad* luck in America. Do Lapps have any superstitions concerning black cats?
Mirjami Kuosmanen, the actress who plays the central role in this film, is quite pretty ... but her performance as a native of northern Lapland is weakened by the fact that she is clearly wearing makeup. Due to the low production budget, we never actually see Pirita changing into the reindeer ... but the director cleverly gets round this by having his leading lady lunge towards the camera, then cutting to a shot of a reindeer in the same position. Still, I was hoping we would see a shot of a woman's shadow changing shape ... or a series of human footprints in the snow abruptly becoming hoof-marks.
The Lapp landscape in this movie is starkly beautiful and awesome but never frightening. The photography is excellent. There are two impressive dissolve shots involving flames, and a splendid montage sequence. I was extremely impressed by a night sequence over a bonfire. During the Midnight Sun sequences, there are two shots featuring a weird colonnade of white pillars: these appear to be artefacts of the Lapp culture, but we never learn what they are. A sequence in which a carved vertrebra dances magically across a shaman's drum has an eerie pagan power that made me think of Nijinsky's staging of 'The Rites of Spring'.
My one complaint about this film -- a minor grievance -- is that we never learn the time period in which the main action occurs. These Laplanders possess milled coins, a rifle, and loomed curtains. One sequence takes place at a prayer service that is clearly Christian, featuring a minister in geneva bands. Are we watching scenes in the twentieth century, or some earlier time? I'll rate this moody, compelling (but not frightening) film 8 out of 10. Oh, my deer!

Members of a circus troupe "adopt" Lili Daurier when she finds herself stranded in a strange town. The magician who first comes to her rescue already has romantic entanglements and thinks of her as a little girl. Who can she turn to but the puppets, singing to them her troubles, forgetting that there are puppeteers? A crowd gathers around Lili as she sings. The circus has a new act. She now has a job. Will she get her heart's desire?

A small Spanish town, Villar del Río, is alerted to the upcoming visit of American diplomats and its ruling townsmen begin preparations to impress the American visitors, in the hopes of benefiting under the Marshall Plan. Hoping to demonstrate the side of Spanish culture with which the visiting foreign officials would be more familiarized, the Castilian citizens don unfamiliar Andalusian costumes, hire a renowned flamenco performer, and re-decorate their town in Andalusian style, meantime waiting for their uncertain arrival.

In the time of the "cangaceiros" in the badlands of the Northeast of Brazil, the cruel Captain Galdino Ferreira and his band abduct the schoolteacher Olívia, expecting to receive a ransom for her. However, one of his men, Teodoro, falls in love and flees with her through the arid backcountry chased by the brigands.

Title changed to "Flamenco" when it was first released in the USA in 1954, this is a program of Spanish songs and dances with the emphasis on "flamenco" or gypsy contributions. The USA version has an English narrative written by Walter Terry, the dance critic of the "New York Herald Tribune" newspaper. Heading the cast are Antonio (I), Pilar Lopez and Maria Luz, three of Spain's foremost dancers of the time, accompanied by members of the Ballet Espanol. Filmed in Cinefotocolor in which orange and blue dominated, a combination that should appeal to the fans of Auburn University athletic teams. Distributed in the USA by Martin J. Lewis.

When a priest hears a murderer’s confession, he becomes bound by his vow of silence—even as circumstantial evidence turns suspicion toward him. Torn between faith and self-preservation, he faces public scandal and trial for a crime he cannot reveal the truth about.

It is the year 2000 and the World Global Union is in charge, although other countries are allowed to elect their own government leaders, as long as they support the Union. When Austria's newly-elected president, played by Josef Meinrad, makes his inauguration speech he declares Austria independence and issues an edict ending Austria's financial support for the Global Union. The Golbal Union President, played by Hilde Krahl, arrives in a flying-saucer with her retinue of world-soldiers, equipped with death-ray guns, to put an end to the rebellion. The president and the country are put on trial. The Austrian president recounts the country's' long battle for peace, and shows how Austria stopped the invasion of the Turks, and gave the world the operetta and the waltz. He organizes a mass parade with flora floats and a brass band---what else?---playing the Austrian Freedom Song in order to appeal to the court's impartiality. A 1943 document signed by Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin and assuring Austria of independence is presented. Basically, a satire on the post-WWII delay by the United Nations coming to agreement an Austrian independence.

A petty thief is put on trial for the attempted murder of a lawyer. Through a series of flashbacks, the intertwining lives of the thief, the lawyer, and the thief's defense lawyer are illustrated.

An unhappily married British security officer stationed in Sierra Leone during WWII falls in love with a young German woman and starts an affair. He soon starts feeling guilty.