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Sherlock Jr
Seven Chances
Safety Last
City Lights
Duck Soup
Judge Priest
My Man Godfrey
Make Way for Tomorrow
Holiday
Young Mr Lincoln
Only Angels Have Wings
The Roaring Twenties
His Girl Friday
The Shop around the Corner
Pinocchio
Suspicion
The Strawberry Blonde
Shadow of a Doubt
The Palm Beach Story
The Talk of the Town
The Magnificent Ambersons
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Double Indemnity
It's a Wonderful Life
The Best Years of Our Lives
Gilda
A Matter of Life and Death
Notorious
Out of the Past
The Fallen Idol
The Heiress
Late Spring
In a Lonely Place
Wagon Master
Strangers on a Train
The Quiet Man
Angel Face
Tokyo Story
The Naked Spur
Rear Window
Hobson's Choice
The Man with the Golden Arm
The Trouble with Harry
The Night of the Hunter
Bigger Than Life
The Girl Can't Help It!
Vertigo
Rio Bravo
Psycho
Lolita
The Man who Shot Liberty Valance
Two Rode Together
Topaz
The Last Picture Show
The Godfather I
The Long Goodbye
Nashville
Taxi Driver
3 Women
Annie Hall
Raging Bull
Manhattan
The King of Comedy
Hannah and her Sisters
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Short Cuts
The Fog of War
Reviews
Gunga Jumna (1961)
Clash of civilizations
Gunga Jumna is a great film. One of the finest films to come out of Bollywood. A profound, yet poignant cogitation on the inevitable yet painful march of civilizational progress. A scathing yet sympathetic criticism of Oriental country life - its dirt, its poverty, its intellectual vacuity, its tribalism and most importantly its poor grasp of morality.
The movie plot is hackneyed as it deals with the clash between two brothers who love each other and yet are so very different from each other. But the ideas behind the hackneyed storyline are immortal and perennially relevant. As long as humanity survives people will still need to grapple with seemingly insoluble dichotomies. Dichotomies like civilization vs barbarism, reason vs emotion, short-termism vs long-termism, individualism vs tribalism.
Movies like Gunga Jumna will continue to guide humanity with their immaculate sense of morality and faith in western values amidst all the short-term pain and wild emotion engendered by civilizational clashes.
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Great Theatre turns cinematic
Theodore Dreiser once said that "Our civilization is still in a middle stage, scarcely beast, in that it is no longer wholly guided by instinct; scarcely human, in that it is not yet wholly guided by reason". Streetcar is essentially about the conflict between reason and instinct. The two women protagonists both aspire to a life of culture and refinement. However, they cannot quite overcome their "base" sexual passion for the uncultured and unrefined Stanley Kowalski, played magnificently by a young Marlon Brando.
The defining scene in the movie is about fifty minutes into the film. Stanley has just made an exhibition of his violent self in front of guests which prompts his pregnant wife Stella to move upstairs to a neighbor's house in indignation. After the anger subsides, Stanley comes back to his senses and has "what have i done" written all over his penitent face. He's afraid he might lose Stella for ever. He yells out "Stella...Stella" beseeching her pardon. Stella finally comes down the staircase and hugs Stanley passionately. Her face as she walks down the stairs betrays not her pity or pardon but her carnal passion which has prevailed over her rational faculties. It is a very powerful scene about the masochistic nature of romantic love.
Few films of any era can boast of four extraordinary screen performances. Brando's performance is justly hailed as being extremely influential on movie acting. However, the performances of Vivien Leigh, Kim Hunter and Karl Malden are just as brilliant.
In a Lonely Place (1950)
An Engaging Minor Classic
In a Lonely Place straddles two genres just as the timing of its release straddles two decades. It has the elements of the classic 40s film noir tradition and it also anticipates the revival of the melodrama genre which would become so popular in the fifties in the hands of directors like Ray and Sirk.
It also contains one of the most schizophrenic of screen performances by Humphrey Bogart. He alternates between the classic Sam Spade persona that defined his screen image and the insecure, psychotic character he played so well in films like The Treasure of Sierra Madre and The Caine Mutiny.
A must watch for Bogart fans and also for its skillful fusion of film noir and melodrama.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Extremely enjoyable. Flawed nevertheless
Definitely not a great, timeless classic as many people imagine. However, it makes essential viewing if you're a fan of any of these - Jimmy Stewart, Frank Capra, 30s comedies. And yes, I'm a fan of all three. No wonder I fell for it.
It is rather difficult to critically evaluate Capra's populist parables. Criticizing them is a bit like taking a spade to a soufflé! The movie works so compellingly on first viewing that one doesn't mind the numerous problems in its screenplay. The flaws become more apparent on multiple viewings.
I don't think it ranks among the very best movies of the thirties. The first half which plays like a screwball comedy is positively brilliant. However Capra turns serious in the second half when there is no basis for seriousness.
Nevertheless it makes wholesome family viewing. The performances, I must say, are exceptional without any exception.