Panos Papadopoulos Movies
- 1998
Pntelis Voulgaris directed this three-part Greek anthology film in which three middle-aged men confront their personal demons. In the 40-minute "A Silver Coin on the Lips," a Macedonian archaeologist (Dimitris Katalifos) stumbles onto the remains of a soldier with a coin on his lips, payment to the ferryman Charon of legend; this discovery reminds him of his son's death, and he departs for the border outpost where the death occurred. A 34-minute segment, "The Last of the Lesser Whites," takes place in Thrace where ornithologists meet with the game warden (Thanassis Vengos) who watches over a beautiful wilderness area with thousands of birds. A Norwegian woman in the group seeks the only known survivor of rare Bergen geese, but a poacher shoots it. The 40-minute "Vietnam" follows a rich factory owner (Giorgos Armenis), a man in such a state of emotional torment after his wife of many years leaves him that he drunkenly destroys a bar named Vietnam. Shown at the 1998 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dimitris Katalifos, Thanassis Vengos, (more)
- 1986
Through a complex and gripping exploration of a woman's troubled psyche, director Frieda Liappa has created a suspenseful drama and intriguing look into relationships and their meaning. Martha (Eleonora Stathopoulou) is unhappy with her life as it is at the moment, and among other issues, she has decided to give up her writing career. Along with that decision comes a need to get away from her husband and from her psychiatrist, with whom she has had more than just a doctor-patient relationship. As Martha travels through a deserted city landscape in a storm, the external world reflects something of her inner turmoil. Flashbacks are interspersed throughout the film to enhance the suspense of Martha's inner and outer journey. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Eleonora Stathopoulou, Pemy Zouni, (more)
- 1986
The tragedy of the displaced person, even when surrounded by compatriots in exile, cannot be denied in this interesting fictional accounting of a true situation. A bloody civil war was fought in Greece between 1945 and 1949 between Greek Communists/Socialists and their opponents who were backed by the Western powers. The leftists were defeated and forced to leave Greece by the thousands to live in sympathetic socialist countries. The Greek immigrants of Beloiannisz, a Hungarian village not far outside Budapest, are now faced with a real dilemma. Greece has changed, and they are able to return home once again. But can they leave their friends and new relatives behind them in Hungary? When and if they do, their homecoming will not be as joyous as it might have been three decades earlier. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Athena Papadimitriou, Peter Trokan, (more)
- 1985
Starring the popular comic personality of Otto Waalkes (co-director with Xavier Schwarzenberger), this farce is essentially a vehicle to demonstrate Waalkes multiple talents. The plot is nothing more than a series of vignettes -- Otto hamming it up on an airplane flight or Otto as a barber in a black wig. A cross between Peter Sellers, Woody Allen, and Jerry Lewis, Otto is constantly chased after by creditors while he himself chases after the woman of his dreams, a wealthy damsel who secretly loves him anyway. This film did well enough to inspire a 1988 sequel, Otto - Der Neue Film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Elisabeth Wiedemann
- 1978
- PG
In Fedora, Billy Wilder approaches Hollywood stardom in the same fashion as he did in Sunset Boulevard--with cynicism, regret, understanding, and awe. Fedora (Marthe Keller) is film's most intriguing movie queen. Rumored to be well into her sixties, the actress has remained a starlet for over four decades--retaining youth and radiance despite her advancing years. The mystery behind her numinous persona has never ceased to captivate audiences. Even now, as she lives in seclusion on the beautiful Greek island of Corfu, the public buzzes for her to return to the screen. When producer Barry Detweiler (William Holden) travels to Corfu, staking his faltering career on Fedora's return, he discovers the actress's tragic secret. Fedora's eternal loveliness may not be the result of defying her age, but of concealing her youth. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, Rovi
- Starring:
- William Holden, Hildegarde Neff, (more)
This pulse-pounding follow-up to Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars brings back Clint Eastwood as the serape-clad, cigar-chewing "Man With No Name." Engaged in an ongoing battle with bounty hunter Col. Douglas Mortimer (Lee Van Cleef), the Man joins forces with his enemy to capture homicidal bandit Indio (Gian Maria Volontè). Both the Eastwood and Van Cleef characters are given understandable motivations for their bloodletting tendencies, something that was lacking in A Fistful of Dollars. In both films, however, the violence is raw and uninhibited -- and in many ways, curiously poetic. Leone's tense, tight close-ups, pregnant pauses, and significant silences have since been absorbed into the standard spaghetti Western lexicon; likewise, Ennio Morricone's haunting musical score has been endlessly imitated and parodied. For a Few Dollars More was originally titled Per Qualche Dollaro in Più; it would be followed by the last and best of the Man with No Name trilogy, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, (more)
This unrealistic, routine drama is the second half of a story that began with Der Tiger von Eschnapur. This sequel was later cut slightly, combined with the first story then released in English as Journey to the Lost City. Both halves were written by Thea von Harbou and the 1959 films are both directed by Fritz Lang, von Harbou's former husband. In this continuation, Seetha (Debra Paget) and the architect Harald (Paul Hubschmid) have fallen in love. The biggest stumbling block to their romance is Chandra, the Maharaja of Eshnapur (Walther Reyer). He wants Seetha for himself. Because of that, the lovers fled from Eshnapur and are now being hunted by the Maharaja's henchmen. That leads to inevitable killings, cruelties, and inhuman conduct until the Maharaja himself is the only one left who can right the situation. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Debra Paget, Paul Christian, (more)
