Du skal aere din hustru / Master of the House (1925) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

The plot follows the Frandsen family, mostly centered around the selfish, ruthless, disagreeable father, Viktor (Johannes Meyer). He is never satisfied with the way his house is run and the way his children behave. His hard-working wife, Ida (Astrid Holm), does everything she can (and in some cases more than she should) to try to keep Viktor happy… to no avail. He berates and chastises her at every turn, and he treats his three children as if they are more like servants then members of his family. Everyone tip-toes around him, except of course, for his childhood nursemaid, Nana (Mathilde Nielsen). She is disappointed with the way he has turned out and isn't afraid to put him in his place.

After a confrontation between Viktor and Ida, Nana suggests to Ida that she go stay with her mother and seek some medical attention for her deteriorated condition. Nana stays and begins running the household, but not in the way Ida had, and certainly not in the way Viktor would prefer. What is at first a shock to Viktor, quickly becomes a life-lesson that he is not soon to forget.

Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Cast: Johannes Meyer, Astrid Holm, Karin Nellemose
Country: Denmark
Genre: Drama, Silent
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The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1982) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

"The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez" takes its title from the folk song that sprang up in the wake of the real-life eponymous character, a Mexican-American farmer who evaded a massive manhunt in turn of the century Texas after he was accused of killing a local lawman.

Cortez's unhappy tale is thanks to the shortcomings of a translator who didn't understand the distinction in Spanish between "horse" (caballo) and "mare" (yegua). The sheriff, investigating accusations of horse theft, is instantly convinced of Cortez's guilt and comes after him with a gun, shooting Cortez's brother in the process. Cortez shoots and kills the sheriff and the hunt begins.

Shifting its perspective between the pursuers and the pursued, The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez is a thrilling chase film and a nuanced procedural that peels away the layers of prejudice and myth surrounding Cortez, uncovering the true story of an ordinary man persecuted by the law and transfigured by legend.

Director: Robert M. Young
Cast: Edward James Olmos, James Gammon, Tom Bower
Country: USA
Genre: Western
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They Came to a City (1944) Blu-Ray BFI

In 1943 J. B. Priestley wrote "They Came to a City" as a means of scrutinizing attitudes to the post war world. He believed that new better ways of living could come out of the War, that the mistakes made after the First World War did not have to be repeated.

Nine characters, all from different social backgrounds are taken out of their lives and placed outside the walls of a strange city. They have no idea how they got here, whether they're dreaming or simply dead. Soon the great doors open and they are let loose in a city free from disparity and social injustice. For some, it's a utopia; for others, a nightmare. And each must make the decision whether to stay or go.

For a film released towards the end of World War II, this is a surprisingly dour and dark work, with touches of humour and a sense of reality that may not have fit easily with an audience seeking escapism. It certainly wasn't the normal product of Ealing Studios, but it's still a fine example of the post-World War II British film, restored to its former glory by the BFI from the original 35mm negatives.

Director: Basil Dearden
Cast: John Clements, Googie Withers, Raymond Huntley
Country: UK
Genre: Drama, Fantasy
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The Faithful Heart (1932) DVD5

The sailor's "girl in every port" is given a twist in this melodrama based on Monckton Hoffe's play of the same name. After saying goodbye to a brief fling with a young waitress 20 years earlier, Waverley runs into Blackie who claims to be his daughter. Now a Colonel, he must choose between the consequences of his past actions and a status-building marriage to a wealthy socialite.

The decision to cast the same actress as the mother and the daughter seems very unlikely today – particularly when the actors playing father and daughter (Herbert Marshall and Edna Best) were married in real life.

DVD5 | NTSC 16:9 | 01:20:08 | 3.10 Gb + 3% rec
Language: English
Subtitles: none
Genre: Drama, Romance

Director: Victor Saville
Cast: Herbert Marshall, Edna Best, Mignon O'Doherty, Anne Grey
Country: UK
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In the Heat of the Night (1967) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

In the small, sleepy town of Sparta, Mississippi, where they roll up the sidewalks at night, a police officer on a routine, boring nighttime patrol through the downtown stumbles across a dead body, a murdered man. The victim is a rich, white Chicago industrialist who was building a controversial factory in the town. The primary suspect, at least to this cop's black-and-white eye, is a lone black man, well dressed and carrying a wad of cash, whom the cop discovers waiting at the deserted train station.

The "suspect" out to be Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier), a Philadelphia cop who just happens to be an expert on homicide. Police Chief Gillespie (Rod Steiger), at the urging of the victim's widow, grudgingly asks for Tibbs's help in solving the crime. Poitier's performance in In the Heat of the Night is brilliant as his calm, competent Tibbs gets to work, dazzling his new colleagues with his ingeniousness and simultaneously enraging them with his "uppityness" — Tibbs always retains his dignity even as his rage and impotence in dealing with these racist yahoos bubbles just below the surface. Likewise, Steiger is fabulous as a man gradually overcoming his prejudices in spite of himself.

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The Prisoner (1955) Blu-Ray Arrow Academy

Jack Hawkins and Alec Guinness are the dynamite duo driving this intellectually daring and morally complex thriller forward.

The story takes place in some unnamed country in Eastern Europe, with characters likewise unidentified in the credits (though some are named in the film). As the story opens, The Cardinal (Alec Guinness) is arrested for "treason against the state." Aware of his influence as a popular religious leader and war hero, and fearing martyrdom, government leaders decide instead to discredit him. They assign The Interrogator (Jack Hawkins) to get him to crack, to confess to crimes he never committed, to wear him down psychologically to the point where he'd willingly appear before the public courts and destroy his own name. This begins a battle of wits between the two men.

The overall significance of Peter Glenville's The Prisoner, a two-hander interrogating the rights of religious freedom and political expression, falls squarely upon the perspective of the viewer. Upon its release in 1955, the film was banned in Italy for being anti-Catholic, and while it was rejected by the Venice Film Festival for being anti-communist, it was banned in Ireland for being pro-communist.

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Personal Shopper (2016) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

Olivier Assayas has delivered a fundamentally strange, disquieting picture. Personal Shopper is a unique genre-bending psychological thriller.

Maureen (Kristen Stewart) is an American who works in Paris as a personal shopper for Kyra (Nora von Waldstatten), a self-absorbed celebrity. She communicates briefly with her boyfriend (Ty Olwin), a tech expert who is working in Oman. Neither of these relationships matter much to her in comparison to the recent loss of her twin brother who died of a congenital heart condition. He promised to try and contact her from beyond the grave.

And so Maureen is waiting, and it is a hard discipline to keep. This wraithlike young woman spends her downtime communing with ghosts in a haunted house, desperately looking for a sign from her brother. But even more unnerving is her discovery that some mysterious person is stalking her via texts to her phone. He seems to know a lot about her fantasies and her obsession with forbidden activities...

Director: Olivier Assayas
Cast: Kristen Stewart, Lars Eidinger, Sigrid Bouaziz
Country: France, Germany, Czech Republic, Belgium
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Thriller

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Los pianos mecanicos / Les pianos mecaniques / The Player Pianos / The Uninhibited (1965) DVD9

French novelist Henri-Francois Rey adapted his novel Les Pianos Mecaniques with director Juan Antonio Bardem for this French/Italian/Spanish co-production, set in Spain.
Vincent (Hardy Kruger) is recovering from a nervous breakdown in a seaside village on the Costa Brava. He enters into an affair with nightclub owner Jenny (Melina Mercouri), but their relationship changes when she falls for alcoholic author Pascal Regnier (James Mason), who is struggling to resume his writing career.

DVD9 | PAL 4:3 | 01:34:03 | 5.70 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Francais
Subtitles: English, Francais
Genre: Drama

Director: Juan Antonio Bardem
Cast: Melina Mercouri, Hardy Kruger, James Mason
Country: Spain, France, Italy
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Italian’s War – 1940-1945 / La Guerra Degli Italiani 1940 – 1945 (2003) 3 x DVD9

The World War II and the years' monthly events narrated by Istituto Luce's renowned newsreels. The ruins, the physical and moral injuries of a country devastated by bombings, hardship, foreign occupation and Civil War.

The documentary is divided into three parts:
-- September 1939 - April 1941: from non-belligerence to the war in Africa and Greece.
-- May 1941 - October 1942: from the invasion of Russia to the battle of El Alamein
-- November 1942 - April 1945: from the collapse in Russia to the end of the war.

3xDVD9 | PAL 4:3 | 368 minutes | 21.5 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Italiano
Subtitles: English, Italiano
Genre: Documentary

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