Goddess, The (1934): Wu Yonggang’s Seminal Silent Chinese Film, Starring Ruan Lingyu

The film tells the story of an unnamed woman, who lives as streetwalker by night and devoted mother by day in order to get her son education amidst prevalent social injustice in Shanghai, China.

A Throw of Dice (aka “Prapancha Pash”): Franz Osten’s Semina Silent Film, Shot on Location in India

A Throw of Dice formed the final part of a trilogy of Indo-German productions by Osten and Indian actor-producer Himanshu Rai.

Clearcut (1991): Ryszard Bugajski’s Canadian Folk Horror Tale, Starring Graham Greene

Greene plays Arthur, an angry Indigenous activist fed up with the white man’s destruction of Indian land. 

Opposite Sex, The (1956): David Miller’s Lousy, Trivial Remake of Cukor’s Cult Comedy “The Women”

Poorly Directed by David Miller, the Metrocolor-CinemaScope picture  is a terrible remake of Cukor’s 1939 cult comedy ‘The Women’

Touch of Evil (1958): Opening Sequence of Welles Masterpiece, Crane Shot (Tale of a Bomb)

Blast from the Past: Orson Welles’ “Touch of Evil” Revisited We have seen single-track shots, from the many single-take sequences in Hitchcock’s Rope, the Copacabana entrance in Scorsese’s Goodfellas to the war montage in Atonement, etc. But the greatest example of this difficult and comlex undertaking is the opening crane shot in Orson Welles’ noir […]