In the 1930s a popular series of films dealt in an intelligent way with notable figures from the past—scientists, writers, political leaders. Three of the Warner Brothers films, all directed by German-born William Dieterle, starred perhaps the most gifted American film actor of his day, Paul Muni, who was born in Austria and who began […]
Daily Archives: November 4, 2007
Some great films have come from stage plays, including, from Kaj Munk, Carl-Theodor Dreyer’s Ordet (1954), perhaps the greatest film ever. But American films based on plays haven’t been so fortunate. In particular, nearly all American films taken from sophisticated dramas have stripped down the original to the lowest level of reference. Typical in this […]
The premise is inviting. In postwar Baghdad a 12-year-old boy has had to drop out of school and struggles daily to help keep his impoverished family afloat. However, this bare-bones documentary, available on both VHS and DVD, shows us precisely what we already know. Kheer Allah, the boy, is charming and plucky, and the postscript […]
Writer-director Franco Piavoli’s Al primo soffio di vento unfolds on a single August day, beginning in the afternoon, within a single family, on a well-heeled country estate. The camera probes faces for causes of feelings. The woman, feeling betrayed, is bitter and unhappy. Feeling unloved, she recalls her and her husband’s first meeting years ago. […]
The awarding of the Palme d’Or at Cannes to the 2002 French film The Pianist alerted us to the tremendous artistic comeback of Roman Polanski, the one-time remarkable director of “Two Men and a Wardrobe” (1958) and Knife in the Water (1962). The film that won the world’s most prestigious film prize one year earlier […]
Dennis Grunes 