Kurt Christian Movies

Famed stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen concocts a collection of fantastic creatures -- including a saber-tooth tiger, a chess-playing baboon, a giant walrus and three banshees -- for this follow-up to The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. Patrick Wayne stars as Sinbad, who seeks the hand of Princess Farah (Jane Seymour) in marriage but cannot get her brother, Prince Kassim (Damian Thomas), to agree to the match because he has been turned into a baboon by his evil stepmother. In order to receive the blessing of Farah's brother, Sinbad must travel to a far away realm and find a wizard named Melanthius (Patrick Troughton), the only one who can break the evil spell placed upon Kassim. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

The second of special-effects wizard Ray Harryhausen's three Sinbad epics, this film finds the titular hero played by John Philip Law, while the principal villain, Koura, is portrayed by future Dr. Who Tom Baker. The plot sends Sinbad and his crew on a quest for a valuable and magical golden tablet. Harryhausen's "Dynamation" highlights include a six-armed statue, a one-eyed centaur and a flying griffin. Caroline Munro also stars. Golden Voyage of Sinbad was followed by Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1979). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Liv Ullman portrays a female pope -- based on a long-held rumor that the papacy was held by a woman between the reigns of Leo IV and Benedict III -- in this rambling saga directed by Michael Anderson. The British version of the film has been cut, not only removing twenty-one minutes of the film but also an entire contemporary framing story. In the full version, a modern-day woman evangelist, played by Ullman, who feels an affinity to the legendary Pope Joan, pays a visit to her psychiatrist (Keir Dullea). Searching through her past lives to see whether she is the reincarnation of Pope Joan, the film then flashbacks 1000 years to pick up Joan (Ullman in an earlier incarnation of her character) undergoing a succession of trials and tribulations. Joan then meets up with and becomes the mistress of Adrian (Maximilian Schell), a monk with an artistic bent. After the death of Charlemagne when roving bands of Saxons are raping women and ransacking the countryside, Joan flees the country by cutting her hair short and dressing like a man. Together Joan and Adrian escape to Greece. In Greece, Joan's street-corner preaching draws the attention of Pope Leo IV (Trevor Howard), who is impressed by her impassioned rendering of the Gospel. Still disguised as a man, Pope Leo, clueless as to her true sex, hires her as his secretary. From there, she rises up the ladder of the Roman Catholic Church, becoming a cardinal and then Pope Leo's successor. But then she becomes pregnant by a lover from her past (Franco Nero) and Joan must hide her delicate condition from the papal authorities and the rowdy masses. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

This chilling mystery begins when Lucy Dawson (Flora Robson) is found strangled in her apartment. Her nephew Tim (David Hemmings) is the former-drug-addict-turned-successful-author who wrote a book about his experiences. When Tim looks into his aunt's death, people give sketchy answers and the police offer little help. Apparently they think his pleas are simply a drug-addict's ravings. As he investigates he begins to find himself plagued by threatening phone calls, and his own paranoia. The pressure begins mounting until at last he suffers a complete breakdown. As a result, the murder is never solved. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

This drama follows the nine hours that came before the assassination of Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi by a Hindu radical. Naturam Godse (Horst Buchholz), a Brahmin who was rejected for service in the British Army and is horrified by the fighting between Moslem and Hindu fanatics, comes to the conclusion that the only solution to the civil unrest is to kill Gandhi (J.S. Casshyap), believing that the leader's philosophy of non-violence has only fanned the flames of unrest. In love with a married woman, Rani Mahta (Valerie Gearon), Godse spends a guilty afternoon with her as he flashes back on his life of violence and mistreatment; he also pays a call to Sheila (Diane Baker), a prostitute. Meanwhile, as civil unrest flares around him, Ghandi goes about his daily rounds, despite warnings from police chief Gopal Das (Jose Ferrer) that his life is in danger. J.S. Casshyap was a 64-year-old teacher and author before being cast as Gandhi in this, his first film role. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi