W. C. Fields

Essays

Aug 28, 2000 The acclaimed humorist’s work sees the range of human folly sans romance and piety.

Le Million

Essays

May 15, 2000 In René Clair’s ebullient early talkie, an unsentimental love of humanity permeates every frame.

Sep 18, 1995 The global problem of domestic violence destroys families and, in a broader context, locks entire societies into a pathology of pain, distrust, and self-hate. When the basic building blocks of any society—the bonds between mother, father, children—are so grossly violated,...

Ugetsu

Essays

Dec 28, 1993 In his touchstone of postwar Japanese cinema, Kenji Mizoguchi uses woman’s fate to reveal the human cost of oppression.

Sep 24, 1992 It was in 1947 that Vladimir Nabokov began writing what he described as “a short novel about a man who liked little girls.” Completed in 1954, the manuscript was rejected as pornographic by at least four New York publishers. Nabokov...

Raging Bull

Essays

Dec 2, 1990 In Martin Scorsese’s hands, the camera is not simply a recording device, but an x-ray machine—and it shows us close-ups of the human soul.

Rebecca

Essays

Jul 1, 1990 Molded by Alfred Hitchcock’s direction and David O. Selznick’s editing, the film plays upon the conventions of the Gothic melodrama without ever losing its characters’ humanity.

May 31, 1990 Isabelle Huppert shot from minor actress to full-fledged French star with a mesmerizing performance as, ironically, a young woman who is incapable of escaping anonymity. In Swiss director Claude Goretta’s elegant, beautifully observed tragedy/character study, Huppert is “Pomme,” a lovely,...

Apr 9, 1990 Few motion pictures have ever matched the 1938 Warner Bros. production of The Adventures of Robin Hood for sheer entertainment. Even today this film ranks high on any list of all-time favorites. Warner Bros. first considered filming The Adventures of...

Swing Time

Essays

Mar 12, 1990 This Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers film is a classic example of how music and dance can be used to tell a story, express emotions, richly explore human relationships, subvert logic, and send us singing and skipping into the street.

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