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No Highway In The Sky
: :A little-known gem, No Highway in the Sky is an interesting hybrid of U.S. and British film production. Most of the cast is British, as are the look and feel of the film, but the lead actor and the budget are both American. James Stewart plays aeronautical engineer Theodore Honey, the quintessential absent-minded professor: eccentric, forgetful, but brilliant. His studies show that the aircraft being manufactured by his employer has a subtle but deadly design flaw that manifests itself only after the aircraft has flown a certain number of hours. En route to ...
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Witness for the Prosecution
: essential video:Billy Wilder cowrote and directed this brilliant 1957 mystery based on Agatha Christie's celebrated play about an aging London barrister (Charles Laughton) who's preparing to retire when he takes the defense in the most vexing murder case of his distinguished career. In his final completed film (he died of a heart attack less than a year later), Tyrone Power plays the prime suspect in the murder of a wealthy widow, and Marlene Dietrich plays the wife of the accused, whose testimony--and true identity--holds the key to solving the case. A classic ...
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Foreign Affair (1948)
: essential video:Billy Wilder cowrote and directed this brilliant 1957 mystery based on Agatha Christie's celebrated play about an aging London barrister (Charles Laughton) who's preparing to retire when he takes the defense in the most vexing murder case of his distinguished career. In his final completed film (he died of a heart attack less than a year later), Tyrone Power plays the prime suspect in the murder of a wealthy widow, and Marlene Dietrich plays the wife of the accused, whose testimony--and true identity--holds the key to solving the case. A classic ...
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Golden Earrings
: essential video:Billy Wilder cowrote and directed this brilliant 1957 mystery based on Agatha Christie's celebrated play about an aging London barrister (Charles Laughton) who's preparing to retire when he takes the defense in the most vexing murder case of his distinguished career. In his final completed film (he died of a heart attack less than a year later), Tyrone Power plays the prime suspect in the murder of a wealthy widow, and Marlene Dietrich plays the wife of the accused, whose testimony--and true identity--holds the key to solving the case. A classic ...
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Touch of Evil
: essential video:Considered by many to be the greatest B movie ever made, the original-release version of Orson Welles's film noir masterpiece Touch of Evil was, ironically, never intended as a B movie at all--it merely suffered that fate after it was taken away from writer-director Welles, then reedited and released in 1958 as the second half of a double feature. Time and critical acclaim would eventually elevate the film to classic status (and Welles's original vision was meticulously followed for the film's 1998 restoration), but for four decades this original version stood as a ...
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Morocco
: essential video:Considered by many to be the greatest B movie ever made, the original-release version of Orson Welles's film noir masterpiece Touch of Evil was, ironically, never intended as a B movie at all--it merely suffered that fate after it was taken away from writer-director Welles, then reedited and released in 1958 as the second half of a double feature. Time and critical acclaim would eventually elevate the film to classic status (and Welles's original vision was meticulously followed for the film's 1998 restoration), but for four decades this original version stood as a ...
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Judgment at Nuremberg
: essential video:Director Stanley Kramer's socially conscious 1961 film tackles the subject of the war crime trials arising out of World War II in an earnest and straightforward fashion, exploring the consciousness of two nations as they struggle to come to terms with the aftermath of the Holocaust. Spencer Tracy plays the American judge selected to head the tribunal that will try the suspected war criminals. As he sets about his task, he must confront the raw emotion felt by the German people, and his own notions of good and evil, right and ...
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Destry Rides Again
: essential video:Marlene Dietrich purrs through sexy songs, and Jimmy Stewart succumbs to her sultry, androgynous ways in this seminal Western with more than a touch of comedy. He plays your average nice guy who turns out to have something special up his sleeve when confronted by a gang of bad guys. He tames the banditos and wins dance-hall girl Dietrich's heart with his nonviolent ways. You may think you have seen this before, and most likely you have. Based on the 1930 novel by Max Brand, the plot has been copied repeatedly. ...
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The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl
: :Director Ray Muller's three-hour portrait of controversial filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl grapples with the central controversy of her career: was she a 'pure' filmmaker whose political naiveté allowed her stunning visions to be harnessed by Hitler, or was she the key mythmaker of the Nazi propaganda machine? The dancer turned actress turned director is well represented with generous clips from her work both in front of and behind the camera, from the ethereally beautiful The Blue Light through the romantic fantasy Teifland, with special focus on her two most famous works: the stunning propaganda ...
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Marlene
: :Director Ray Muller's three-hour portrait of controversial filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl grapples with the central controversy of her career: was she a 'pure' filmmaker whose political naiveté allowed her stunning visions to be harnessed by Hitler, or was she the key mythmaker of the Nazi propaganda machine? The dancer turned actress turned director is well represented with generous clips from her work both in front of and behind the camera, from the ethereally beautiful The Blue Light through the romantic fantasy Teifland, with special focus on her two most famous works: the stunning propaganda ...
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