The Green Man

I found the first half of this 1950s black comedy boring but once the murders happened then it got interesting. Alastair Sim plays a watchmaker who is an assasin. Then a couple discovers the bodies one of which is in a piano. Once they do they all on the case. It was an amusing black comedy. It's on Kanopy.

Raven's End

This was an ok Swedish movie from the 1960s. A writer gets his book published but the poverty of the the people around him gets to him and soon he quits his ambitions. His girlfriend gets pregnant and things get worst. The man does something very selfish in the end so it was hard for me to find him likable. Maybe that's why I think this is just ok while it's more than critically acclaimed.

The Gleiwitz Case

This DEFA movie shows the Nazis marching in on a German town near Poland. I think you have to be a history buff or something because I got lost. At least it was only 64 minutes.

Mickey One

This was ok. This was Arthur Penn's American attempt to do a movie that looked like the French New Wave movement. A stand-up comedian has debts to the mob. The comedian is homeless for a while but once he's secured a position once again he's paranoid someone has discovered his identity. It was a bit experimental. Warren Beatty was good in it.

Who saw him die?

The title gives away the ending. This late 1960s Swedish movie is about a teacher frustrated with the teaching process. He finds himself losing his cool. He's in a bad marriage. Things get worst. This movie frankly is more honest about what you're getting into if you become a teacher than movies like Mr. Holland's Opus. There's a reason why I never signed up for an education major.

Rotation

This was an anti Nazi movie made in Germany in the late 1940s. A man agrees to join the Nazi party reluctantly to provide for his family but in the meantime his wife hides information about her brother who got in trouble with them. Eventually their son betrays them and turns them in. Only the son realizes later what a jerk he was. I like how the father still loved him despite his betrayal. This was a rare treat I found on Kanopy, a service some libraries provide. I'll be watching more.

Girl with Hyacinths

This is something that new movies could learn from, a gay movie that is subtle. If this were made today there would be way too many clues along the way. I appreciate the quiet approach. A girl commits suicide so a couple takes it upon themselves to investigate why she killed herself. We meet her drunkard painter husband and the other losers in her life. Ingmar Bergman loved this Swedish movie and it has a nice presence about it.