Fred Astaire plays a fashion photographer based on real-life cameraman Richard Avedon, in this entertaining musical directed by Stanley Donen (Singin' in the Rain). The story finds Astaire's character turning Audrey Hepburn into a chic Paris model--not a tough premise to buy, especially within this film's air of enchantment and surrounded by a great Gershwin score. Based on an unproduced play, this is one of the best films from the latter part of Astaire's career. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com
With its high-intensity plot about an attempt to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle, the bestselling novel by Frederick Forsyth was a prime candidate for screen adaptation. Director Fred Zinnemann brought his veteran skills to bear on what has become a timeless classic of screen suspense. Not to be confused with the later remake The Jackal starring Bruce Willis (which shamelessly embraced all the bombast that Zinnemann so wisely avoided), this 1973 thriller opts for lethal elegance and low-key tenacity in the form of the Jackal, the suave assassin played with consummate British coolness by Edward Fox. He's a killer of the highest order, a master of disguise and international elusiveness, and this riveting film follows his path to de Gaulle with an intense, straightforward documentary style. Perhaps one of the last great films from a bygone age of pure, down-to-basics suspense (and a kind of debonair European alternative to the American grittiness of The French Connection), The Day of the Jackal is a cat-and-mouse thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat until its brilliantly executed final scene (pardon the pun), by which time Fox has achieved cinematic immortality as one of the screen's most memorable killers. --Jeff Shannon
With its high-intensity plot about an attempt to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle, the bestselling novel by Frederick Forsyth was a prime candidate for screen adaptation. Director Fred Zinnemann brought his veteran skills to bear on what has become a timeless classic of screen suspense. Not to be confused with the later remake The Jackal starring Bruce Willis (which shamelessly embraced all the bombast that Zinnemann so wisely avoided), this 1973 thriller opts for lethal elegance and low-key tenacity in the form of the Jackal, the suave assassin played with consummate British coolness by Edward Fox. He's a killer of the highest order, a master of disguise and international elusiveness, and this riveting film follows his path to de Gaulle with an intense, straightforward documentary style. Perhaps one of the last great films from a bygone age of pure, down-to-basics suspense (and a kind of debonair European alternative to the American grittiness of The French Connection), The Day of the Jackal is a cat-and-mouse thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat until its brilliantly executed final scene (pardon the pun), by which time Fox has achieved cinematic immortality as one of the screen's most memorable killers. --Jeff Shannon
La Belle et La Bete is one of the all-time great movie fantasies, and one of the most gorgeous pictures ever made. It was the first feature film by French director Jean Cocteau, a writer, poet and painter with ties to the surrealists. (In fact, his first film, The Blood of a Poet, was delayed after the scandal caused by L'Age D'Or, made by his fellow surrealists Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali.) The haunting, surreal visuals (candelabra made of human hands, for example) and a sensitive performance by Jean Marais as the Beast imbue the film with an indelible, mythical power. --Jim Emerson, Amazon.com
S'Wonderful S'Marvelous! Paris the City of Light shines even brighter when Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire team up for the only time and bring their luminous starpower to this exquisite musical featuring songs by George and Ira Gershwin. This dazzling romp -- filmed on location in Paris -- garnered four Academy Award nominations. In the role of bookstore clerk transformed into a modeling sensation Hepburn showcases singing and dancing skills she had honed on the London stage performing How Long Has This Been Going On? a Basal Metabolism dance in a cool-cat bistro and more. Astaire as the fashion photographer who discovers her conjures up his inimitable magic for sequences that include his Let's Kiss And Make Up matador diversion a heavenly dance with Hepburn to He Loves And She Loves and again with Hepburn the title-tune enchantment I Love Your Funny Face. Now and forever so do we.
AS THE 1960S BEGAN, THE CLASSIC PERIOD OF FILM NOIR CAME TO AN END IN HOLLYWOOD. BUT FILMMAKERS FROM ACROSS THE WORLD WOULD CONTINUE TO PRODUCE FIRST-RATE EXAMPLES OF THE GENRE, WITH THREE SUPERB EXAMPLES COLLECTED HERE. IN HELMUT KÃUTNER'S BLACK GRAVEL AN ILLICIT COUPLE FIND THEMSELVES HAVING TO COVER UP A PAIR OF DEAD BODIES IN POST-WAR GERMANY. IN JACQUES DERAY'S SYMPHONY FOR A MASSACRE FIVE GANGSTERS BUY A CACHE OF DRUGS, BUT ONE OF THEM IS PLANNING A DOUBLE CROSS. IN TAKUMI FURUKAWA'S CRUEL GUN STORY A GANGSTER (JOE SHISHIDO) EXECUTES A DARING HEIST ON AN ARMOURED VEHICLE.
An adaptation of Abbe Prevost's classic French novel 'Manon Lescaut', updated to post-World War II France, in which a former French Resistance activist rescues Manon from villagers who want to lynch her for collaborating with the Nazis. They move to Paris, but their relationship quickly turns stormy after they get involved in profiteering, prostitution and murder.
Five gangsters raise the cash to buy a large shipment of drugs which they plan to sell on. One of the gang however plans to secretly rob his partners, beginning a spiral of violence and deception that leaves a trail of bodies across France. Fiendishly plotted with a twisty script from José Giovanni (Le trou) and Claude Sautet (Classe tous risques), adapting a novel by Reynaud-Fourton, Symphony for a Massacre sees the French master of the mystery thriller Jacques Deray (La piscine) directing with with real energy and verve. With support from a remarkable cast of France's finest character actors, and stunning photography by Claude Renoir (La grande illusion), this is French crime cinema of the highest quality. SPECIAL FEATURES 4K restoration of Symphony for a Massacre by Pathé, presented on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK Original uncompressed mono PCM audio New audio commentary by critic Travis Woods (2024) New introduction by critic Christina Newland (2024, 15 mins) Archival interview with cast members Charles Vanel, Jean Rochefort and director Jacques Deray (1963, 5 mins) Optional English subtitles
Fred Astaire plays a fashion photographer based on real-life cameraman Richard Avedon, in this entertaining musical directed by Stanley Donen (Singin' in the Rain). The story finds Astaire's character turning Audrey Hepburn into a chic Paris model--not a tough premise to buy, especially within this film's air of enchantment and surrounded by a great Gershwin score. Based on an unproduced play, this is one of the best films from the latter part of Astaire's career. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com
S'Wonderful S'Marvelous! Paris the City of Light shines even brighter when Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire team up for the only time and bring their luminous starpower to this exquisite musical featuring songs by George and Ira Gershwin. This dazzling romp -- filmed on location in Paris -- garnered four Academy Award nominations. In the role of bookstore clerk transformed into a modeling sensation Hepburn showcases singing and dancing skills she had honed on the London stage performing ""How Long Has This Been Going On? "" a ""Basal Metabolism"" dance in a cool-cat bistro and more. Astaire as the fashion photographer who discovers her conjures up his inimitable magic for sequences that include his ""Let's Kiss And Make Up"" matador diversion a heavenly dance with Hepburn to ""He Loves And She Loves"" and again with Hepburn the title-tune enchantment ""I Love Your Funny Face."" Now and forever so do we.
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