Irina Demick Movies

This is a biography of the painter Francisco Jose de Goya (1746-1828) who went from being a portrait artist for royalty and the notables of his day to painting searing images embodying his wholehearted disapproval of the atrocities of his time. In the middle of his life, the artist had a relationship with the Duchess of Alba, who served as the model for a series of paintings, collectively called "The Majas," including a painting known as "The Naked Maja," which scandalized the society of the time. The film uses Goya's paintings as tableau, which come alive and bring us into the scene. Francisco Rabal is Goya, Irina Demick the Duchess of Alba. Interestingly, despite the scandal caused by her ancestress, the current Duchess of Alba gave her approval of and was present at the premier of the film. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Archilochos (Heinz Ruehmann) is a Greek bookkeeper in an imaginary country who takes out an add in the newspaper in this comedy directed by (Rolf Thiele). He seeks a Greek woman with the object being matrimony. Archilochos is delighted to find Chloe (Irina Demick), a Greek-born woman, and falls in love with the beauty. He then learns that the woman has a checkered past, causing him to consider suicide. Arch must decide if his love for Chloe is enough to sustain a long-term relationship as he considers forgetting about her dubious history. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Ken Annakin's large-canvas comedy Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines is set in 1910. In order to boost circulation of his newspaper, Lord Rawnsley (Robert Morley) offers 10,000 pounds to the first person who can fly across the English Channel. A huge number of hopefuls enter the contest, including the scheming Sir Percy Ware-Armitage (Terry-Thomas), who, with the help of his henchman Courtney (Eric Sykes), attempts to sabotage the other entries. There is also a love triangle featuring Orvil Newton (Stuart Whitman) and Richard Mays (James Fox) competing for the heart of Patricia Rawnsley (Sarah Miles). ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Following up 1964's Academy Award nominated L'Homme de Rio, French filmmaker Philippe de Broca wrote and directed this big-screen adaptation of André Couteaux's novel Un monsieur de compagnie. Jean-Pierre Cassel stars as Antoine, a young man who holds the philosophy "Laziness is the mother of all virtue" close to his heart and spends many dreamy days fishing with his wealthy grandfather. But when he has a prophetic dream that the old man will die impoverished, Antoine is motivated to change his life and try to earn his own money. Also starring Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Pierre Marielle, Un monsieur de compagnie was released in the United States in 1966 under the title Male Companion. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Friedrich Durrenmatt's misanthropic theatrical piece The Visit has never been totally successful in any production, not even in the original Broadway presentation starring Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. The film version keeps this failure record consistent. Ingrid Bergman plays a fabulously wealthy woman who returns to her impoverished home town. Years earlier, she had been driven from town in disgrace after sleeping with solid citizen Anthony Quinn. She now offers a deal to the city elders: Bergman will alleviate the city's financial difficulties--in exchange for Quinn's life. The original play ended with the lynching of the seducer; the film ends with Bergman halting the execution, proclaiming that by allowing Quinn to live, the townsfolk will be forced to feel the pangs of guilt over what they might have done for the rest of their lives. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Longest Day is a mammoth, all-star re-creation of the D-Day invasion, personally orchestrated by Darryl F. Zanuck. Whenever possible, the original locations were utilized, and an all-star international cast impersonates the people involved, from high-ranking officials to ordinary GIs. Each actor speaks in his or her native language with subtitles translating for the benefit of the audience (alternate "takes" were made of each scene with the foreign actors speaking English, but these were seen only during the first network telecast of the film in 1972). The stars are listed alphabetically, with the exception of John Wayne, who as Lt. Colonel Vandervoort gets separate billing. Others in the huge cast include Eddie Albert, Jean-Louis Barrault, Richard Burton, Red Buttons, Sean Connery, Henry Fonda, Gert Frobe, Curt Jurgens, Peter Lawford, Robert Mitchum, Kenneth More, Edmond O'Brien, Robert Ryan, Jean Servais, Rod Steiger and Robert Wagner. Paul Anka, who wrote the film's title song, shows up as an Army private. Scenes include the Allies parachuting into Ste. Mere Englise, where the paratroopers were mowed down by German bullets; a real-life sequence wherein the German and Allied troops unwittingly march side by side in the dark of night; and a spectacular three-minute overhead shot of the troops fighting and dying in the streets of Quistreham. The last major black-and-white road-show attraction, The Longest Day made millions, enough to recoup some of the cost of 20th Century Fox's concurrently produced Cleopatra. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide