Alan Scott Movies
British director Nicolas Roeg, best known for his films Walkabout and The Man Who Fell To Earth, helmed this made-for-cable adaptation of the epic tale from The Old Testament's Book of Judges. Starring Eric Thal as the legendary strongman Samson, Samson and Delilah also stars Elizabeth Hurley as the temptress Delilah, who ultimately seduces Samson and cuts his hair, robbing him of his strength. Originally airing on the TNT cable network, the film also features Dennis Hopper and Sir Michael Gambon. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi
This is yet another giallo thriller from prolific Italian filmmaker Umberto Lenzi and starring Carroll Baker, whom Lenzi had already featured in Paranoia and Orgasmo. Baker, best-known in America for her starring role in the controversial Baby Doll, stars as Martha Cauldwell, who was struck mute when she saw her parents die in a railroad accident at the age of 12. She was taken in by a family in Martinique, and her cousin Jenny Ascot (Ida Galli appearing as "Evelyn Stewart") comes to visit her as the story begins. Jenny is murdered shortly thereafter, and the police tie her death to the sex killing of a teenaged girl a few hours earlier. The prime suspect is a local hippie whom the locals believe to be a drug-addled Satanist. This touch, similar to the persecution of suspected witch Florinda Bolkan in Lucio Fulci's Non Si Sevizia un Paperino -- released the same year -- is reinforced by a scene involving a Donald Duck toy which suggests that the similarities between the two films aren't entirely coincidental (that film's original Italian title translates as "Don't Torture Donald Duck," later changed to Don't Torture a Duckling to avoid copyright issues). At any rate, the hippie is arrested but exonerated after two more murders occur while he is in jail, and so the other suspects (including Franco Fantasia as an unctuous doctor, Eduardo Fajardo as a sinister chauffeur, and Jorge Rigaud as the occultist uncle) fall under suspicion. The usual internal rivalries and family secrets are punctuated by numerous close-ups of characters' eyes (another Fulci trademark) and various occult red herrings, only to end up in a fairly predictable -- if highly improbable -- secular conclusion. Sergio Ciani and Carla Mancini co-star in this offbeat effort, which, despite its inconsistencies, should prove fascinating to genre devotees. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- 1971
Before the Allied invasion of North Africa in World War II, there was still plenty of confusion, and wartime national alliances often conflicted with personal friendships. Valentin (Michel Piccoli), a French black marketer, rescues Basil (Michael York), an English fighter pilot, off the coast of Italian-occupied Libya. The pilot is discovered by the police when Valentin leaves him with friends in order to visit with his Italian girlfriend. As a result, both Valentin and Basil are held in custody. They escape together and flee to the (neutral) Swiss Embassy, where they get help in the form of a car driven by the ambassador's wife. This French-language wartime comedy recounts their adventures on the journey out of Libya. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Marlène Jobert, Michel Piccoli, (more)
- 1965
In this charming drama, a department store clerk takes his wife and kids on a Parisian vacation. One day he is out sightseeing by himself when he encounters a fashion model and offers to give her a guided tour. As they amble about, the romantic city casts its spell and the model falls in love with her guide (who has been pretending to be an artist). Finally things come to a passionate head, and the fellow must decide between a fling and his family. He chooses the latter. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Charles Aznavour, Susan Hampshire, (more)
Cleo From 5 to 7 (Cleo de cinq a sept), per its title, concentrates on two hours in the life of a woman. Those hours are desperate ones, in that Cleo, a pop singer, awaits the results of her tests for cancer. Director Agnes Varda stages the film in "real" rather than subjective time, its various episodes divided into chapters, using significant Tarot cards. During the allotted time, Cleo visits her friends, tries to sing her worries away, spends money, and cries. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Corinne Marchand, Antoine Bourseiller, (more)
Jacques Demy's auspicious debut -- "a musical without music" set in the port city of Nantes -- stars Anouk Aimée as the title character, a cabaret singer awaiting the return of Michel (Jacques Hardin), her long-absent lover and the father of her child. Michel went to America seven years ago and promised to return when he became rich. In Michel's absence, Lola is being courted by her childhood friend Roland (Marc Michel) and American sailor Frankie (Allan Scott). At some point, it seems that Lola will settle down with one of them, but her heart still belongs to Michel. The film is dedicated to Max Ophüls and the film title obviously alludes to Ophüls' Lola Montes as well as to the heroine of Josef Von Sternberg's The Blue Angel. Marc Michel makes a reference to his unrequited love towards Lola when he reappears in Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964). ~ Yuri German, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anouk Aimée, Marc Michel, (more)
Rear Admiral Matt Sherman (Cary Grant) visits the submarine Sea Tiger on the morning of its decommissioning and reminisces about his time as the first commander of the boat, in 1941. Three days after Pearl Harbor, the sub is damaged during an enemy air raid in the Philippines; rather than abandoning her, Sherman and his chiefs refloat the boat. He's forced to accept the services of Lt. (jg) Nick Holden (Tony Curtis), who has no sea experience. Sherman appoints Holden -- a born conniver, deal-maker, and scrounger (his motto: "In confusion, there is profit") -- as supply officer, and through a series of burglaries and petty thefts he gets the Sea Tiger seaworthy again. Up to this point, the movie is an increasingly amusing service comedy, akin to the lighter moments of Mr. Roberts, running on Grant's wry exasperation and Curtis's cool arrogance, coupled with Arthur O'Connell's periodic sardonic yet optimistic jabs at their situation and Gavin MacLeod's fidgety nervousness. The Sea Tiger puts to sea ahead of the Japanese with a quintet of stranded army nurses aboard. The film shifts to a new level of humor as the officers and crew try to cope with living in close quarters with five attractive women in their midst. Grant gives a very witty performance as a man who is both exasperated by the situation he is in, having to adjust his masculinity to keep it from clashing with the feminine sensibilities of his guests, and also trying to control the mating urges of his men, starting with Holden, who can't stay away from Lt. Duran (Dina Merrill). Complicating matters more is Grant's awareness that the Sea Tiger is a "virgin" -- she has never engaged the enemy, but when they finally do, the accident-prone Lt. Crandall (Joan O'Brien) causes their torpedo to miss a tanker and sink a truck (probably the funniest sight gag in the movie). The boat also gets an accidental coat of pink paint when their supply of red and white runs low, and ends up carrying several Filipino families -- including two pregnant women. Since neither the Japanese nor the Americans officially has a pink submarine, the Sea Tiger ends uphunted by both sides and come under attack by an American destroyer. That's where the women's presence becomes a godsend. The movie ends 18 years later, with Holden a serious career navy man and responsible father, married to Duran, and Grant married to Crandall, who is as accident prone as ever. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
- Starring:
- Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, (more)
- 1959
In this comedy, a British bus conductor is elated to learn that he has won the lottery's grand prize. Then he finds out that the prize is a visit from two Russian social workers. The conductor's wife cleverly turns the visitation into a drinking party and the Russians are very happy. They have so much fun that they tell all their Russian friends to stop in to the conductor's house for a rousing good time. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1955
In this romantic comedy, a womanizing uncle tells the story of his good-hearted but fickle niece, whose tendency to always champion the underdog causes her endless romantic woes. It all begins when she breaks up with her fiance on the eve of their wedding so she can marry and help out a half-starved aspiring playwright. With her moral support and his talent, the playwright makes it big. Unfortunately, her old fiance shows up. He has lost his fortune and must flee the police. The tender-hearted lass, unable to resist a hard-luck story, then falls for her former love until he is proven innocent. It is at that point that the niece chooses her man once and for all. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Glynis Johns, Jack Buchanan, (more)
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