Notorious
Forget Vertigo. Alfred Hitchcock’s greatest film is Notorious. With his usual McGuffin, he wrapped a paranoid love story inside an espionage thriller about genocide.
Tag Archives: Nazis
The Blue Angel
Few film songs come anywhere near the layered meanings of Falling in Love Again, sung by Marlene Dietrich in Josef von Sternberg’s The Blue Angel.
A Man Escaped
Robert Bresson’s masterpiece is a perfect example of less is more; natural acting, minimal music, off-screen sounds and restricting yourself to a 50mm lens.
Saving Private Ryan
Released to ecstatic reviews in 1998, Spielberg’s film soon suffered a backlash. Far more complex than first thought, 21 years on it has finally come of age.
Das Boot
How did Wolfgang Petersen manage to get audiences to care about a bunch of Nazi sailors trying to destroy the British fleet in the North Atlantic?
The Lives of Others
An examination of life in East Germany under the the terrifying control of the Stasi, The Lives of Others frustrated survivors of the totalitarian regime.
Au revoir les enfants
Because films about childhood are often nostalgic, they are often about loss. Louis Malle’s masterful auto-biopic is about loss of an unfathomable kind.
The Marriage of Maria Braun
In The Marriage of Maria Braun, Rainer Werner Fassbinder mixed Hollywood melodrama, historical drama and political indictment.
Metropolis
The influence of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis extends far beyond sci-fi and can be seen in films are varied as Casablanca, An American in Paris and The Birds.
The Rules of the Game
Reviled and banned upon its release, then seemingly destroyed and lost forever, Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game stands today as a victory for liberalism.
Cabaret
Before it was adapted into a film, Cabaret was a memoir, a short story, a play and a Broadway musical. Released in 1972, it now serves as a history lesson.
The Man in the High Castle
Philip K Dick was haunted by many dark visions of the future. None more frightening than his alternate-history from 1962.
Citizen Kane
Orson Welles’ debut feature is now a quarter of a century old. Have we been taking its greatness for granted or is it time for reappraisal?
The Most Influential Films Ever Made – Part Two
The films that really changed the course of cinema are often ones few people have seen.
Jazz in Film
If jazz really is the authentic American art form, why are there so few great jazz movies? No matter, at least there are dozens of great jazz soundtracks.
The Adventures of Robin Hood
The legend has endured for 500 years and Hollywood has filmed it a dozen times. But Errol Flynn is still the only Robin Hood.
Kiss of the Spider Woman
How do you make a film about Marxism, sexual oppression and Nazis? Set the whole thing in an Argentinean prison.
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Steven Benedict (StevenBenedict2)
Award-winning filmmaker. Podcaster, broadcaster, author and lecturer. I'm downloading the universe one app at a time.
Dublin, Ireland
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Tweeting since August 22, 2012
