Cry of the City

 

I really didn't care for this movie. It's about a cop and a murderer who used to be childhood friends.  It's basically a chase between the two.  Unfortunately, we don't hear much about their childhood friendship.  Some flashbacks would have been nice.  I didn't hate it but it was generic.  I have seen this all before and frankly, I was expecting more from Robert Siodmak, who made great noir movies like Criss Cross and Phantom Lady. 

Zero Focus

 

This was a good Japanese thriller about a bride who is only briefly married before her husband disappears.  The bride takes it upon herself to find the truth of what really happened.  She uncovers stories about adultery, suicide, and murder to see what really happened. I thought it had an effective villain.  Not enough old Japanese thrillers are released and I'm sure they are out there. 

Suds

 

This movie is just plain weird but I like it.  I think it shows Mary Pickford's comic talents well.  It deals with a laundress.  She keeps the shirt of one of her customers. Mary declares to her co-workers that he is coming back for the shirt and her.  Things end happy but just in ways, the viewer didn't expect.  Mary Pickford may have been one of the most famous silent stars of her time but I feel that she is kind of neglected these days. The woman deserves her due.  

Les Cousins

 

This was a pretty effective early effort from Claude Chabrol.  It's concerning two cousins who decide to live together while they go to college.  One is hardworking and the other is a lucky guy who just gets by.  You feel so sorry for the doormat hardworking guy as his cousin proceeds to take his girl, played by the very beautiful Juliette Mayniel.  The guy seems to not be angry at all at his cousin for taking his girl as he continues to live with him peacefully. You wonder if this guy is even human but then comes the ending.  I have to admit the ending took me by surprise.  I think this is one of Chabrol's best.  

When the Clouds Roll By

 Douglas Fairbanks amazes me.  I've been watching his adventure movies lately and decided to watch this 1920 movie.  He was also an effective comedian.  The man had talent.  In this movie, his psychiatrist plans an experiment on Douglas to see just how miserable he can make his patient.  This includes making sure that he doesn't get the girl.  My sister who watched this with me said this movie reminded her of "The Truman Show."  Actually, this movie was pretty funny at times.   This movie also features a scene where Douglas walks on the ceiling and floor predating Fred Astaire's later attempt.  

The Private Life of Don Juan

 

This was Douglas Fairbanks' last movie and in many ways, it is a good end to his film career.  He made a career out of playing several adventurous characters like Robin Hood.  So it's not far to see him play a role like a lover like Don Juan.  However, this Don Juan is nothing to brag about.  He doesn't have the strength to be a lover like the one before.  Even an impostor starts stealing the ladies but Don Juan has nothing on him since he's more believable and better at flirting with the women at this point.  Don Juan tries to convince people he still has it but no one believes it so he realizes he has to settle down.  This was probably echoing Fairbanks' film career at this point so the film was well cast.  Still, I prefer to think of Fairbanks in his prime as the swashbuckling actor that played in movies like The Three Musketeers.  

The Missing Juror

 I watched Framed with Janis Carter recently and liked it.  However, this movie was mediocre and I watched it two days ago and still have a hard time recalling it.  I think Janis was better than her movies and she rarely had a moment like Framed to shine.  This isn't director Budd Boetticher (who is better known for his westerns) finest hour either.  Somebody is out to get everyone killed on a jury who convicted a man of guilty.  A reporter goes on the case. At least the movie was short.

Masculin Feminin

 

I really didn't like this movie.  I've watched some movies from Jean-Luc Godard.  Some of them were ok.  I thought for instance that Band of Outsiders which I saw a month or two ago was all right.  It's just that I  didn't like the main character played by Jean-Pierre Leaud.  I found him really unlikable.  This movie is about the relationship between pop singer Chantal Goya and Leaud.  I just thought they didn't much have chemistry.  I do like Chantal Goya's ye-ye recordings and if you are a fan of those recordings I suggest watching this.  Otherwise, I would skip it.   

You'd be surprised

 This was a pretty funny short silent movie about a coroner (played by the underrated silent comedian Raymond Griffith) who arrives at a crime scene but announces he only has an hour to spare.  He has to go to the theatre.  He refuses to believe that the obvious suspect is the lovely girl present since he wants her to be his date at the theatre.  Raymond is able to solve the crime within the hour of course.  

Pyassa

 This was a pretty good Indian movie from the 1950s.  I watched it on youtube.  It concerns a poet's rise to the top and back to the bottom again.  His brothers are scum and the woman he loved married someone else for money.  When he mistakenly dies from a train his country honors him, but how will they treat him when comes back from the dead.  This movie has an interesting outlook on fame and what happiness really is. Overall the ending was different than the usual movie although I loved it.  

Lola

 This was just an ok Jacques Demy movie.  It didn't have the magic of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg or The Young Girls of Rochefort.  I even watched one of his nonmusical films Bay of Angels recently and I liked that one better than this one too.  Anouk Aimee does a good job though as the dancer who can't let go of her past love Michel despite the attentions of a childhood friend and also a sailor.  I didn't think that it broke new ground.  The beautiful dancer that men seem enamored by is a tired plot.  Still, Demy would go on to better things.  

The Mark of Zorro

 Lately, I've become a fan of Douglas Fairbanks.  He wasn't really athletic and he wasn't the best looking but there was an undeniable charm about him.  It made you accept all of the adventurous roles he took on.  (He was also a good comic actor when given the chance.)  The Mark of Zorro is a pretty fun silent movie.  It's about a guy who leads a double life, one as a boring Clark Kent guy and the other as Zorro.  His love interest dates the boring guy to do the family a favor but she finds him ultimately boring.  Little does she know he is also Zorro the guy who has been saving her life so much lately.  Douglas Fairbanks also played Don Juan and Robin Hood too in his career.  I plan to see them too.  I'm hooked.  

Wild Strawberries

This is one of Ingmar Bergman's most impressive movies about a physician on a road trip with his daughter in law (Ingrid Thulin) and some hitchhikers.   Along the way, he hallucinates about his past especially about Bibi Andersson, the girl who loved him but stumbled to his brother's flirtations.  Bibi Andersson and Ingrid Thulin have never looked prettier.  This is the perfect movie about missed opportunities.  The impressive performance of Victor Sjostrom is the best thing about the movie.  Victor Sjostrom was one of the best silent directors of his day.  I've watched this movie a few times but had no idea that he was the lead actor.  He's multi-talented.  Bibi Andersson plays two roles that of a hitchhiker and the love.  I feel like she was never given her due as an actress.  A must to see.