Production Company(ies)
The Mirisch Corporation,
 
Distributor
NA
 
Release Type
Theatrical
 
Filming Location(s)
Majestic Theater, 247 West 44th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
 
MPAA / Certificate
Approved
 
Year of Release
1960
 

 
Genre(s)
Comedy/Drama
 
Keyword(s)

Cast & Crew

Jack Lemmon

Shirley MacLaine

Fred MacMurray

Ray Walston

David Lewis

C.C. Baxter

Fran Kubelik

Jeff D. Sheldrake

Joe Dobisch

Al Kirkeby

CAST & CREW
– Jack Lemmon as C.C. Baxter
– Shirley MacLaine as Fran Kubelik
– Fred MacMurray as Jeff D. Sheldrake
– Ray Walston as Joe Dobisch
– David Lewis as Al Kirkeby
– Jack Kruschen as Dr. Dreyfuss
– Directed by Billy Wilder
– Produced by Billy Wilder
– Written by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond

 

Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder

Director

Writer

Producer

Producer

Producer

Director(s)
Billy Wilder
 
Writer(s)
Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond
 
Producer(s)
Billy Wilder

 

Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
Won 5 Oscars
24 wins & 8 nominations total
 
Academy Awards
Oscar Best Picture Winners, Oscar Winners
 

Top Reviews

Jake Cole

Marjory Adams

Stanley Kauffmann

Ben Kubasik

George Bourke

Slant Magazine

Boston Globe

The New Republic

Newsday

Miami Herald

THE APARTMENT
  All Critics (102) | Top Critics (37) | Fresh (96) | Rotten (6)
  Though lighter than Arrows 2018 release on the extras front, Kinos 4K of The Apartment provides the definitive home-video presentation of one of Billy Wilders greatest films.
 
  April 18, 2022
 
  Jake Cole
  Slant Magazine
  TOP CRITIC
  This is a polished production, naughty, ironic, occasionally poignantly sad, and as sparkling as a Fourth of July fireworks display.
 
  March 16, 2022
 
  Marjory Adams
  Boston Globe
  TOP CRITIC
  [Jack Lemmon] is a genuine actor, not in the same universe with most of his film contemporaries, who are mere behavers. This picture is not good enough for him. Still, his performance makes it worth a visit.
 
  March 16, 2022
 
  Stanley Kauffmann
  The New Republic
  TOP CRITIC
  Director Wilder has come up with another real winner in The Apartment… It is a film with plenty of fun and one that promises hope in a society whose moral standards seems to be rapidly deteriorating
 
  March 16, 2022
 
  Ben Kubasik
  Newsday
  TOP CRITIC
  The dialogue is brilliant with smart alec sparkle and the situations are as adult as one can get by with on the screen, and the performances by all concerned… are gems of alternating humor and pathos.
 
  March 16, 2022
 
  George Bourke
  Miami Herald
  TOP CRITIC
  Anybody complaining that modern Hollywood comedy doesn’t have the old human touch, the heart once supplied by directors like Frank Capra and Gregory LaCava, ought to see this. It is one of the best films of the year.
 
  March 16, 2022
 
  Myles Standish
  St. Louis Post-Dispatch
  TOP CRITIC
  In 1960, Billy Wilder won Best Picture with a film—whose basic plot swirls around the trials and tribulations of infidelity of both sexes—seemed like a shock to some, but for many more was the ideal precursor to the Swinging ‘60s and free love.
 
  May 8, 2022 | Rating: 4.5/5
 
  James Wegg
  JWR
  The wry and perspicacious Wilder and the more sentimental Diamond fashioned a tale of sexual office politics as microcosm for an externally well-oiled and puritanical America that, internally, was ethically and morally bankrupt.
 
  April 5, 2022 | Rating: A+
 
  Frank J. Avella
  Edge Media Network
  A screen gem that attained classic status in about as much time as it takes to comb one’s hair.
 
  April 2, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
 
  Matt Brunson
  Film Frenzy
  The picture is brimming with crisp, quick one-liners and sharp dialogue – all setting up the next moment of banter. Each conversation or character interaction is an exploration of motivation and rich emotion.
 
  March 24, 2022 | Rating: 10/10
 
  Josiah Teal
  Film Threat
  Mr. Wilder, possessor of Hollywood’s sharpest eye for the witheringly ironic comment on human behavior, is richly blessed with the opportunity to use it in The Apartment.
 
  March 16, 2022
 
  Jay Carmody
  Washington Star
  With The Apartment, Wilder outdid himself. Not only is it much better than his previous comedy, but this has several serious and poignant moments that stir one… and, for these moments you can thank Fred MacMurray, Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine.
 
  March 16, 2022
 
  Hortense Morton (Screen Scout)
  San Francisco Examiner…

 

Plot
As of November 1, 1959, mild mannered C.C. Baxter has been working at Consolidated Life, an insurance company, for close to four years, and is one of close to thirty-two thousand employees located in their Manhattan head office. To distinguish himself from all the other lowly cogs in the company in the hopes of moving up the corporate ladder, he often works late, but only because he can’t get into his apartment, located off of Central Park West, since he has provided it to a handful of company executives – Mssrs. Dobisch, Kirkeby, Vanderhoff and Eichelberger – on a rotating basis for their extramarital liaisons in return for a good word to the personnel director, Jeff D. Sheldrake. When Baxter is called into Sheldrake’s office for the first time, he learns that it isn’t just to be promoted as he expects, but also to add married Sheldrake to the list to who he will lend his apartment. Dobisch, Kirkeby, Vanderhoff and Eichelberger are now feeling neglected as Baxter no longer needs their assistance in moving up.
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
NA
 

 
Billy-Wilder.jpg

 
Production Company(ies)
Ashton Productions, The Mirisch Corporation,
 
Distributor
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
 
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
 
Filming Location(s)
Hotel del Coronado – 1500 Orange Avenue, Coronado, California, USA
 
MPAA / Certificate
Passed
 
Year of Release
1959
 

 
Genre(s)
Comedy
 
Keyword(s)
starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe, directed by Billy Wilder, written by I.A.L Diamond, M Logan, Robert Thoeren, produced by Billy Wilder, comedy, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Jake Cole, Jack Moffitt, Chris Cabin, Anupama Chopra, Stanley Kauffmann, Frank J Avella, Matt Brunson, Danielle Solzman, Manny Farber, Sarah Brinks, MPAA rating, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Mono sound mix, Flat aspect ratio, saxophone player, Mafia murder, Chicago, escape, women, all-female jazz band, Florida, millionaire, sexy singer, mobsters, farce, quick-witted, timeless, cross-dressing, gangland murder, suspension of disbelief, performances, timelessly beautiful, hilarious, sharp, witty, breezy, comedy masterpiece
 

Cast & Crew

Tony Curtis

Jack Lemmon

Marilyn Monroe

George Raft

Pat O’Brien

Joe

Josephine

Jerry

Daphne

Sugar Kane (Kowalczyk)

Tony Curtis – Joe, Josephine
Jack Lemmon – Jerry, Daphne
Marilyn Monroe – Sugar Kane (Kowalczyk)
George Raft – Spats Colombo
Pat O’Brien – Mulligan
Joe E. Brown – Osgood Fielding

 

Billy Wilder

I.A.L. Diamond

Billy Wilder

Director

Writer

Producer

Producer

Producer

Director(s)
Billy Wilder
 
Writer(s)
I.A.L. Diamond, M. Logan, Robert Thoeren, Billy Wilder
 
Producer(s)
Billy Wilder

 

Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
Won 1 Oscar
15 wins & 15 nominations total
 
Academy Awards

Top Reviews

Jake Cole

Jack Moffitt

Chris Cabin

Anupama Chopra

Guardian Staff

Slant Magazine

Hollywood Reporter

Film Companion

Guardian

The New Republic

SOME LIKE IT HOT
  All Critics (69) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (65) | Rotten (4)
  Kino gives Billy Wilders racy comic masterpiece its best-ever home video presentation, highlighting the films visual beauty alongside the taut perfection of its screenplay.
 
 
  February 11, 2022
 
  Jake Cole
  Slant Magazine
  TOP CRITIC
  Some Like It Hot is another supersonic, breakneck, belly-laugh comedy that should be a block-busting bonanza at the box office.
 
  April 2, 2020
 
  Jack Moffitt
  Hollywood Reporter
  TOP CRITIC
  The film is an outrageous, hilarious, and amazingly unpretentious trip through a funhouse of sexual identities.
 
  February 23, 2019 | Rating: 4/4
 
  Chris Cabin
  Slant Magazine
  TOP CRITIC
  Some Like It Hot was released in 1959 but its effervescence and sparkle are timeless. I guarantee that it will make you laugh out loud.
 
  August 28, 2018
 
  Anupama Chopra
  Film Companion
  TOP CRITIC
  The pace is fast and the humour — especially Mr Lemmon’s — is often hilarious. It is pleasant to meet again such old familiars as Mr Raft and Mr Brown; and Miss Monroe, as always, is irresistible.
 
  March 21, 2018
 
  Guardian Staff
  Guardian
  TOP CRITIC
  In terms of comic devices there is very little in the film that is original, but the use of the material is delightful.
 
  January 8, 2018
 
  Stanley Kauffmann
  The New Republic
  TOP CRITIC
  Brimming with gay subtext, especially in the somewhat daring Lemmon/Brown courtship scenes, SLIH also contains quite a bit of homoerotic tension between Curtis and Lemmon In addition, the gal-comradery is quite lesbianesque…
 
  March 8, 2022 | Rating: A+
 
  Frank J. Avella
  Edge Media Network
  The film’s final line is legendary, though I have a soft spot for Jerry’s description of a sashaying Sugar: “Look at that! Look how she moves! That’s just like Jell-O on springs!”
 
  February 12, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
 
  Matt Brunson
  Film Frenzy
  Some Like It Hot is arguably one of the greatest comedy movies ever made.
 
  February 8, 2022
 
  Danielle Solzman
  Solzy at the Movies
  Some Like It Hot is a real weirdie: Wilder gets no laughs at all out of his sizzling, fast wedding of female impersonation to 1929 thrills, but, from a non-entertainment angle, his movie has a not-quite-real surface that is worth examining.
 
  September 14, 2021
 
  Manny Farber
  The New Leader
  Writer and director Billy Wilder knows how to keep a plot moving forward while keeping it light and fun without feeling vapid or stupid. He uses his actors’ strengths and delivers a worthy film…
 
  April 1, 2021
 
  Sarah Brinks
  Battleship Pretension
  The madcap energy is right up there with Bridesmaids or 30 Rock, and it’s a shame to imagine that it’s black-and-white veneer would keep people away.
 
  February 23, 2021
 
  Matt Patches
  Polygon…

 

Plot
After two Chicago musicians, Joe and Jerry, witness the the St. Valentine’s Day massacre, they want to get out of town and get away from the gangster responsible, Spats Colombo. They’re desperate to get a gig out of town but the only job they know of is in an all-girl band heading to Florida. They show up at the train station as Josephine and Daphne, the replacement saxophone and bass players. They certainly enjoy being around the girls, especially Sugar Kane Kowalczyk who sings and plays the ukulele. Joe in particular sets out to woo her while Jerry/Daphne is wooed by a millionaire, Osgood Fielding III. Mayhem ensues as the two men try to keep their true identities hidden and Spats Colombo and his crew show up for a meeting with several other crime lords.
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
Marilyn Monroe’s iconic performance as Sugar Kane helped make Some Like It Hot a comedy classic.
 

 
Billy-Wilder.jpg

 
Production Company(ies)
Svensk Filmindustri
 
Distributor
Video Yesteryear, Janus Films, Criterion Collection
 
Release Type

 
Filming Location(s)
Dalarö, Stockholms län, Sweden
 
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
 
Year of Release
1959
 

 
Genre(s)
Drama
 
Keyword(s)
Drama, Swedish, Ingmar Bergman, Victor Sjöström, Ingrid Thulin, Bibi Andersson, Gunnar Björnstrand, Allan Ekelund, written by Ingmar Bergman, produced by Allan Ekelund, directed by Ingmar Bergman, box office performance, budget, reviewed by David Parkinson, reviewed by Variety Staff, reviewed by Steven D Greydanus, reviewed by Dave Kehr, reviewed by Geoff Andrew, reviewed by Nell Minow, reviewed by Michael J Casey, reviewed by Manny Farber, reviewed by Sarah Brinks, reviewed by Tim Brayton, reviewed by Isabel Quigly, MPAA rating, Video Yesteryear, Janus Films, Criterion Collection, drama film, nostalgic journey, hitchhikers, elderly doctor, first love, honorary degree, pregnant daughter-in-law, failures, pleasures, life, critic reviews, audience score, critic consensus, movie info, cast and crew, sound mix, mono, photos, distributor, rent/buy, subscription, rate and review, audience reviews, horror movies, MCU movies, TV premiere dates, worst horror movies, Netflix series, careers
 

Cast & Crew

Victor Sjöström

Ingrid Thulin

Bibi Andersson

Gunnar Björnstrand

Jullan Kindahl

Dr. Isak Borg

Marianne Borg

Sara

Dr. Evald Borg

Agda

Victor Sjöström – Dr. Isak Borg
Ingrid Thulin – Marianne Borg
Bibi Andersson – Sara
Gunnar Björnstrand – Dr. Evald Borg
Jullan Kindahl – Agda
Folke Sundquist – Anders

 

Ingmar Bergman

Ingmar Bergman

Allan Ekelund

Director

Writer

Producer

Producer

Producer

Director(s)
Ingmar Bergman
 
Writer(s)
Ingmar Bergman
 
Producer(s)
Allan Ekelund

 

Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 Oscar
18 wins & 4 nominations total
 
Academy Awards

Top Reviews

David Parkinson

Variety Staff

Steven D. Greydanus

Dave Kehr

Geoff Andrew

Empire Magazine

Variety

Decent Films

Chicago Reader

Time Out

WILD STRAWBERRIES
  All Critics (47) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (44) | Rotten (3)
  Gunnar Fischer’s photography becomes ever more luminous and Sjstrm’s performance grows in greatness.
 
  July 23, 2013 | Rating: 4/5
 
  David Parkinson
  Empire Magazine
  TOP CRITIC
  It’s a personal and profound work.
 
  March 26, 2009
 
  Variety Staff
  Variety
  TOP CRITIC
  With unyielding moral precision no less austere for the lack of any religious conviction behind it, Bergman subjects his protagonist to judgment for the crimes of indifference and selfishness, and pronounces a verdict of “the usual” sentence: loneliness.
 
  October 29, 2008 | Rating: A
 
  Steven D. Greydanus
  Decent Films
  TOP CRITIC
  An archetypal Ingmar Bergman film, and one of his best.
 
  July 9, 2007
 
  Dave Kehr
  Chicago Reader
  TOP CRITIC
  One of Bergman’s warmest, and therefore finest films.
 
  January 26, 2006
 
  Geoff Andrew
  Time Out
  TOP CRITIC
  March 4, 2004 | Rating: 5/5
 
  Nell Minow
  Movie Mom
  TOP CRITIC
  One of Bergman’s best in a six-decade-long career littered with masterpieces.
 
  September 22, 2021 | Rating: 4/5
 
  Michael J. Casey
  Michael J. Cinema
  An eerie, felicitous opportunism steered this film — just enough Freudian bitters, modern marriage, supernatural overcast, and “smashingly beautiful” postcards to provide a full matinee of culture for the expanding middlebrow-highbrow audience.
 
  September 15, 2021
 
  Manny Farber
  The New Leader
  Wild Strawberries is a simple film on paper but on screen it is a meditative look at one man’s life.
 
  April 1, 2021
 
  Sarah Brinks
  Battleship Pretension
  A celebration of the power of actors to create rich personalities for us to spend time with.
 
  August 30, 2020 | Rating: 5/5
 
  Tim Brayton
  Alternate Ending
  Wild Strawberries is to my mind a far more complete and interesting film than the much over- praised Seventh Seal, for the simple reason that it says something negative.
 
  July 16, 2018
 
  Isabel Quigly
  The Spectator
  Bergman understands one of the most bittersweet characteristics of nostalgia: it juxtaposes our memories, in which everyone is young and healthy, and the inevitable reality of physical decline that followed. [Full review in Portuguese.]
 
  September 20, 2016 | Rating: 5/5
 
  Pablo Villaça
  Cinema em Cena…

 

Plot
With the exception of his elderly housekeeper Miss Agda who he treats almost like a surrogate platonic wife, widowed seventy-eight year old Dr. Isak Borg, a former medical doctor and professor, has retreated from any human contact, partly his own want but partly the decision of others who do not want to spend time with him because of his cold demeanor. He is traveling from his home in Stockholm to Lund to accept an honorary degree. Instead of flying as was the original plan, he decides to take the day long drive instead. Along for the ride is his daughter-in-law Marianne, who had been staying with him for the month but has now decided to go home. The many stops and encounters along the way make him reminisce about various parts of his life. Those stops which make him reminisce directly are at his childhood summer home, at the home of his equally emotionally cold mother, and at a gas station where the attendants praise him as a man for his work. But the lives of other people they encounter almost mirror his own, including hitchhikers Sara, Viktor and Anders – who remind him of his cousin Sara who he was going to marry, himself and his irresponsible brother Sigfrid who Sara eventually married – a bickering married couple Sten and Berit Alman, and Marianne and her husband and Isak’s son Evald, whose marriage is as strained as was his own.
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
Max von Sydow, one of Ingmar Bergman’s favorite actors, has a cameo in the film as a gas station owner who reminds the protagonist of the good he has done in his life.
 

 
Ingmar-Bergman.jpg

 
Production Company(ies)
Armada Productions,
 
Distributor
Warner Bros., Warner Home Vídeo
 
Release Type

 
Filming Location(s)
Old Tucson – 201 S. Kinney Road, Tucson, Arizona, USA
 
MPAA / Certificate
Passed
 
Year of Release
1959
 

 
Genre(s)
Western
 
Keyword(s)
Western, Howard Hawks, John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, B.H McCampbell, Jules Furthman, Leigh Brackett, Warner Bros., Warner Home Vídeo, Mono, 35mm, Flat (1.85:1), Sheriff, Gunslinger, Saloon, Drunk, Cripple, Cowboy, Outlaw, Jail, Reinforcements, Ensemble Cast, Towering Classic, Western Genre, Critic Reviews, Audience Score, Box Office Performance, Budget, Reviewed by George Bourke, Richard Brody, Roger Ebert, Dave Kehr, A.H Weiler, Brian Eggert, Manny Farber, Alberto Abuín, Clyde Gilmour, Josh Larsen, Tony Sloman, Rent/buy from $2.99, MPAA Rating, Produced by Howard Hawks, Directed by Howard Hawks, Written by B.H McCampbell, Jules Furthman, Leigh Brackett
 

Cast & Crew

John Wayne

Dean Martin

Ricky Nelson

Angie Dickinson

Walter Brennan

Sheriff John T. Chance

Dude (“Borachón”)

Colorado Ryan

Feathers

Stumpy

John Wayne – Sheriff John T. Chance
Dean Martin – Dude (“Borachón”)
Ricky Nelson – Colorado Ryan
Angie Dickinson – Feathers
Walter Brennan – Stumpy
Ward Bond – Pat Wheeler
Howard Hawks – Director, Producer
B.H. McCampbell – Writer
Jules Furthman – Writer
Leigh Brackett – Writer

 

Howard Hawks

B.H. McCampbell

Howard Hawks

Director

Writer

Producer

Producer

Producer

Director(s)
Howard Hawks
 
Writer(s)
B.H. McCampbell, Jules Furthman, Leigh Brackett
 
Producer(s)
Howard Hawks

 

Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
4 wins & 6 nominations
 
Academy Awards

Top Reviews

George Bourke

Richard Brody

Roger Ebert

Variety Staff

Dave Kehr

Miami Herald

New Yorker

Chicago Sun-Times

Variety

Chicago Reader

RIO BRAVO
  All Critics (44) | Top Critics (11) | Fresh (43) | Rotten (1)
  Howard Hawks’ direction is almost flawless with a tempo that injects humor, some dry some raucous, as a handy antibiotic for the story’s frequent feverish outbursts of violence.
 
  June 23, 2020
 
  George Bourke
  Miami Herald
  TOP CRITIC
  The movie is simultaneously an apogee of the classic Western style, with its principled violence in defense of just law, and an eccentrically hyperbolic work of modernism, which yokes both bumptious erotic comedy and soul-searing rawness to the mission.
 
  April 23, 2013
 
  Richard Brody
  New Yorker
  TOP CRITIC
  To watch Rio Bravo is to see a master craftsman at work. The film is seamless. There is not a shot that is wrong. It is uncommonly absorbing, and the 141-minute running time flows past like running water.
 
  April 23, 2013 | Rating: 4/4
 
  Roger Ebert
  Chicago Sun-Times
  TOP CRITIC
  Rio Bravo is a big, brawling western.
 
  May 13, 2008
 
  Variety Staff
  Variety
  TOP CRITIC
  Howard Hawks’s finest western (1959), and perhaps his finest film.
 
  May 13, 2008
 
  Dave Kehr
  Chicago Reader
  TOP CRITIC
  Despite its slickness, virility, occasional humor and, if it may be repeated, authentic professional approach, it is well-made but awfully familiar fare.
 
  March 25, 2006 | Rating: 3/5
 
  A.H. Weiler
  New York Times
  TOP CRITIC
  Few films have followed Western traditions with as much exhilarating craftsmanship, narrative and stylistic economy, or sheer escapist delight as Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo.
 
  February 14, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
 
  Brian Eggert
  Deep Focus Review
  Rio Bravo is a soft, slack, not very rousing Western by a man (Howard Hawks) who knows better, having supervised a nearly endless chain of masterful journey films.
 
  September 15, 2021
 
  Manny Farber
  The New Leader
  ‘Rio Bravo’ is one of the clearest samples of what could be called “Hawks style”, a pinnacle of one of the three genres that the Indiana director handled with enviable style and ease: the western. [Full Review in Spanish]
 
  April 22, 2020
 
  Alberto Abuín
  Espinof
  Director Howard Hawks, who made Red River in 1948, has come up with another big, handsome and entertaining western.
 
  October 30, 2019
 
  Clyde Gilmour
  Maclean’s Magazine
  Rio Bravo isn’t a Fordian display of vast Western visas; the contours explored here are emotional.
 
  March 5, 2017 | Rating: 4/4
 
  Josh Larsen
  LarsenOnFilm
  Underrated at the time of its release, this majestically paced western is one of the finest achievements of the genre and stands as a career-best for many of its participants.
 
  April 23, 2013 | Rating: 5/5
 
  Tony Sloman
  Radio Times…

 

Plot
Sheriff John T. Chance has his hands full after arresting Joe Burdette for murder. He knows that Burdette’s brother Nathan, a powerful rancher, will go to any lengths to get him out of jail. Chance’s good friend Pat Wheeler offers to help but within 20 minutes of making the offer is gunned down in the street, shot in the back. That leaves his elderly deputy Stumpy, the town drunk Dude – once a deputy and a pretty good shot when he was sober – and a young hand, Colorado, who used to work for Wheeler. Nathan Burdette meanwhile has a couple of dozen men at his disposal. Chance does his best to prepare all the while romancing a pretty gambler who goes by the name of Feathers.
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
Dean Martin’s performance as the town drunk trying to reform is a standout in Rio Bravo.
 

 
Howard-Hawks.jpg

 
Production Company(ies)
Svensk Filmindustri
 
Distributor
Criterion Collection, Embassy Pictures, Janus Films
 
Release Type

 
Filming Location(s)
Hovs Hallar – Naturreservat, Skåne län, Sweden
 
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
 
Year of Release
1958
 

 
Genre(s)
Drama/Fantasy
 
Keyword(s)
The Seventh Seal, Ingmar Bergman, Max von Sydow, Bengt Ekerot, Nils Poppe, Bibi Andersson, Allan Ekelund, written by Ingmar Bergman, Drama, Fantasy, Criterion Collection, Embassy Pictures, Janus Films, Mono, reviewed by Jonas Mekas, Elliott Stein, Eric Henderson, John Monaghan, Dave Kehr, Brian Eggert, Kevin A Ranson, Max von Sydow as Antonius Block, Gunnar Björnstrand as Jöns, squire, Nils Poppe as Jof, Bibi Andersson as Mia, Jof’s wife, Bengt Ekerot as Death, Åke Fridell as Blacksmith Plog, 1957, 1h 36m, 94% Tomatometer, 93% Audience Score, box office performance, budget, MPAA rating, reviewed by Village Voice, Slant Magazine, Detroit Free Press, Chicago Reader, Deep Focus Review, MovieCrypt.com, Battleship Pretension, Letras Libres
 

Cast & Crew

Max von Sydow

Gunnar Björnstrand

Nils Poppe

Bibi Andersson

Bengt Ekerot

Antonius Block

Jöns

Jof

Mia

Jof’s wife

Max von Sydow – Antonius Block
Gunnar Björnstrand – Jöns, squire
Nils Poppe – Jof
Bibi Andersson – Mia, Jof’s wife
Bengt Ekerot – Death
Åke Fridell – Blacksmith Plog

 

Ingmar Bergman

Ingmar Bergman

Allan Ekelund

Director

Writer

Producer

Producer

Producer

Director(s)
Ingmar Bergman
 
Writer(s)
Ingmar Bergman
 
Producer(s)
Allan Ekelund

 

Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
10 wins & 2 nominations
 
Academy Awards

Top Reviews

Jonas Mekas

Elliott Stein

Eric Henderson

Variety Staff

John Monaghan

Village Voice

Slant Magazine

Variety

Detroit Free Press

Chicago Reader

THE SEVENTH SEAL
  All Critics (65) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (61) | Rotten (4)
  Obsessed with the ideas of love, life, death, good and evil, [Bergman] mediates as he goes, taking in symbols, in parables and images that are often of breathtaking beauty.
 
  April 20, 2022
 
  Jonas Mekas
  Village Voice
  TOP CRITIC
  Bergman’s visually striking medieval morality play [was] the work that gained him an international reputation.
 
  July 23, 2013
 
  Elliott Stein
  Village Voice
  TOP CRITIC
  Swedish cinema titan Ingmar Bergman’s mopey/earthy 1957 breakthrough The Seventh Seal may have done more than any other film to popularize and demonize the notion of world cinema as the boutique of the cultural intelligentsia.
 
  June 15, 2009 | Rating: 2/4
 
  Eric Henderson
  Slant Magazine
  TOP CRITIC
  Film has superior technical narrative, impressive lensing and thesping.
 
  March 26, 2009
 
  Variety Staff
  Variety
  TOP CRITIC
  Its view of a seemingly godless landscape in the grip of plague is still bold and frightening.
 
  December 7, 2007 | Rating: 4/4
 
  John Monaghan
  Detroit Free Press
  TOP CRITIC
  It survives today only as an unusually pure example of a typical 50s art-film strategy: the attempt to make the most modern and most popular of art forms acceptable to the intelligentsia by forcing it into an arcane, antique mold.
 
  July 30, 2007
 
  Dave Kehr
  Chicago Reader
  TOP CRITIC
  The Seventh Seal possesses some of the world’s most recognizable filmic imagery, beginning with the knight’s fateful game of chess with Death, and continuing to the eerily joyful dance in the final frames.
 
  March 20, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
 
  Brian Eggert
  Deep Focus Review
  … questions the silence of God and service unto Him… (life) choices are shown to be one’s own without passing judgment… this is the personification all other cinematic reapers are measured against.
 
  January 22, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
 
  Kevin A. Ranson
  MovieCrypt.com
  The film proved revolutionary, telling a compelling story while seeking answers to life’s biggest questions.
 
  August 11, 2021
 
  Robin Holabird
  Robin Holabird
  The character that I enjoyed the most this time was the squire played by Gunnar Bjӧrnstrand. He is the most honest of all the characters but is also funny and bawdy.
 
  March 24, 2021
 
  Sarah Brinks
  Battleship Pretension
  Although Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal is set in medieval Sweden, nothing could be more modern than its author’s conception of death as the crucial reality of man’s existence.
 
  February 3, 2021
 
  Andrew Sarris
  Film Culture
  “The plague advances, implacable, and confusion and despair begin to reign”. [Full review in Spanish]
 
  December 31, 2020 | Rating: 4/4
 
  Ernesto Diezmartinez
  Letras Libres…

 

Plot
A Knight and his squire are home from the crusades. Black Death is sweeping their country. As they approach home, Death appears to the knight and tells him it is his time. The knight challenges Death to a chess game for his life. The Knight and Death play as the cultural turmoil envelopes the people around them as they try, in different ways, to deal with the upheaval the plague has caused.
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
The Seventh Seal stars Max von Sydow as disillusioned Swedish knight Antonius Block.
 

 
Ingmar-Bergman.jpg

 
Production Company(ies)
Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions,
 
Distributor
Paramount Pictures
 
Release Type
Theatrical
 
Filming Location(s)
Fort Point, Presidio, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, San Francisco, California, USA
 
MPAA / Certificate
PG
 
Year of Release
1958
 

 
Genre(s)
Mystery & thriller
 
Keyword(s)
starring James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore, Henry Jones, Raymond Bailey, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by Pierre Boileau, Thomas Narcejac, Samuel A Taylor, Alec Coppel, mystery, thriller, box office, budget, reviewed by Jack Moffitt, Deborah Ross, Archer Winsten, Peter Bradshaw, Lillian Crawford, PG rating, produced by Alfred Hitchcock, aspect ratio, obsession, manipulation, fear, detective, fear of heights, death, double, madness, lies, love, loss, human comfort, North by Northwest, Rear Window, Lawrence of Arabia, The Great Escape, Brazil
 

Cast & Crew

James Stewart

Kim Novak

Barbara Bel Geddes

Tom Helmore

Henry Jones

John “Scottie” Ferguson

Madeleine Elster

Judy Barton

Midge Wood

Gavin Elster

James Stewart – John “Scottie” Ferguson
Kim Novak – Madeleine Elster, Judy Barton
Barbara Bel Geddes – Midge Wood
Tom Helmore – Gavin Elster
Henry Jones – Coroner
Raymond Bailey – Scottie’s Doctor

 

Alfred Hitchcock

Pierre Boileau

Alfred Hitchcock

Director

Writer

Producer

Producer

Producer

Director(s)
Alfred Hitchcock
 
Writer(s)
Pierre Boileau, Thomas Narcejac, Samuel A. Taylor, Alec Coppel
 
Producer(s)
Alfred Hitchcock

 

Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 2 Oscars
8 wins & 7 nominations total
 
Academy Awards

Top Reviews

Jack Moffitt

Deborah Ross

Archer Winsten

Peter Bradshaw

Lillian Crawford

Hollywood Reporter

The Spectator

New York Post

Guardian

Little White Lies

VERTIGO
  All Critics (86) | Top Critics (27) | Fresh (81) | Rotten (5)
  Alfred Hitchcock tops his own fabulous record for suspense with Vertigo, a super-tale of murder, madness and mysticism that stars James Stewart and Kim Novak.
 
  May 13, 2022
 
  Jack Moffitt
  Hollywood Reporter
  TOP CRITIC
  The storytelling isn’t up to much. It drags and drags.
 
  May 18, 2020
 
  Deborah Ross
  The Spectator
  TOP CRITIC
  It’s doubtful that Vertigo can take equal rank with the best of the Hitchcock studies — it has too many holes — but it assays high in visual confectionary of place, person and celluloid wiles.
 
  September 21, 2018
 
  Archer Winsten
  New York Post
  TOP CRITIC
  Combines in an almost unique balance Hitchcock’s brash flair for psychological shocks with his elegant genius for dapper stylishness.
 
  July 12, 2018 | Rating: 5/5
 
  Peter Bradshaw
  Guardian
  TOP CRITIC
  A dizzying cinematic experience.
 
  July 12, 2018 | Rating: 5/5
 
  Lillian Crawford
  Little White Lies
  TOP CRITIC
  Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” is an artistic triumph for the master of mystery.
 
  May 9, 2016 | Rating: 3.5/4
 
  Wanda Hale
  New York Daily News
  TOP CRITIC
  This latest Alfred Hitchcock “thrillorama” offers further evidence of his mastery in mystery and suspense, for, despite its flaws, it grips one’s attention from start to finish.
 
  March 24, 2022
 
  P.S. Harrison
  Harrison’s Reports
  A motion picture of incomparable dramatic involvement and hypnotic filmmaking.
 
  March 21, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
 
  Brian Eggert
  Deep Focus Review
  It’s probably the most impeccably put together Hitchcock movie… but ultimately it’s men trying to control women, and that doesn’t ring very well right now.
 
  September 10, 2021 | Rating: 3/4
 
  Kevin Carr
  Fat Guys at the Movies
  Jimmy Stewart is an actor who always delivers, especially in the films he did with Hitchcock. Scottie isn’t my favorite character he played but it really is a wonderful performance.
 
  March 24, 2021
 
  Sarah Brinks
  Battleship Pretension
  Hitchcock is often spoken about regarding his “perfectionism,” this way every shot is carefully arranged and the edits hit like a knife. That’s no less true here…
 
  December 8, 2020
 
  Scott Nye
  Battleship Pretension
  One of Hitchcock’s finest achievements, layering drama, a love story, adventure, and hair-raising suspense into a psychological murder-mystery that simply has no peers.
 
  August 23, 2020 | Rating: 10/10
 
  Mike Massie
  Gone With The Twins…

 

Plot
Following his early retirement as a detective from the San Francisco Police Department, John Ferguson – Scottie to his friends – becomes obsessed with two women in succession, those obsessions which trouble his long time friend and former fiancée, Midge Wood, a designer of women’s undergarments. The first is wealthy and elegant platinum blonde Madeleine Elster, the wife of his college acquaintance Gavin Elster, who hires John to follow her in Gavin’s belief that she may be a danger to herself in thinking that she has recently been possessed by the spirit of Carlotta Valdes, Madeleine’s great-grandmother who she knows nothing about, but who Gavin knows committed suicide in being mentally unbalanced when she was twenty-six, Madeleine’s current age. The second is Judy Barton, who John spots on the street one day. Judy is a working class girl, but what makes John obsessed with her is that, despite her working class style and her brunette hair, she is the spitting image of Madeleine, into who he tries to transform Judy. The initial question that John has is if there is some connection between Madeleine and Judy. What happens between John and individually with Madeleine and Judy is affected by the reason John took that early retirement: a recent workplace incident that showed that he is acrophobic which leads to a severe case of vertigo whenever he looks down from tall heights.
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
There is no goofy or funny or odd comment about the film Vertigo on Fresh Kernels.
 

 
Alfred-Hitchcock.jpg

 
Production Company(ies)
Horizon Pictures,
 
Distributor
Columbia Pictures
 
Release Type
Theatrical
 
Filming Location(s)
Ambepussa, Sri Lanka
 
MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG for mild war violence
 
Year of Release
1957
 

 
Genre(s)
War/Drama
 
Keyword(s)
War, Drama, Alec Guinness, William Holden, Sessue Hayakawa, Jack Hawkins, Pierre Boulle, Michael Wilson, Carl Foreman, David Lean, Sam Spiegel, Box Office, Budget, PG, Columbia Pictures, Surround, Mono, Magnetic Stereo 6 Track, Stereo, Neptune Frost, 18 1/2, H.P Lovecraft’s Witch House, 11th Hour Cleaning, Sh*t Saves the World, Stay Prayed Up, Final Caller, Girl in the Picture, Hello, Goodbye, Everything in Between, Confessions from the Hart, The Prey: Legend of Karnoctus, The Sea Beast, Moon, 66 Questions, Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel, The Road to Galena, Incantation, Dangerous Liaisons, Jewel, Warriors on the Field, Fair Play, On the Waterfront, Rebecca, The Right Stuff, From Here to Eternity, Foreign Correspondent, Reviewed by Helen Bower, Marjory Adams, Myles Standish, Mae Tinee, Elston Brooks, George Bourke, Matt Brunson, Allison Rose, Danielle Solzman, Brian Eggert, Donald Zec, Audience Score, Critic Reviews, Cast & Crew, Runtime, Distributor, Aspect Ratio, Sound Mix, Verified Purchase, Fresh Kernels
 

Cast & Crew

William Holden

Alec Guinness

Sessue Hayakawa

Jack Hawkins

James Donald

Commander

Major Shears

Colonel Nicholson

Colonel Saito

Major Warden

William Holden – Commander, Major Shears
Alec Guinness – Colonel Nicholson
Sessue Hayakawa – Colonel Saito
Jack Hawkins – Major Warden
James Donald – Major Clipton
Geoffrey Horne – Lieutenant Joyce

 

David Lean

Pierre Boulle

Sam Spiegel

Director

Writer

Producer

Producer

Producer

Director(s)
David Lean
 
Writer(s)
Pierre Boulle, Michael Wilson, Carl Foreman
 
Producer(s)
Sam Spiegel

 

Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
Won 7 Oscars
30 wins & 8 nominations total
 
Academy Awards
Oscar Best Picture Winners, Oscar Winners
 

Top Reviews

Helen Bower

Marjory Adams

Myles Standish

Mae Tinee

Elston Brooks

Detroit Free Press

Boston Globe

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Chicago Tribune

Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com

THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI
  All Critics (98) | Top Critics (28) | Fresh (94) | Rotten (4)
  The madness of war has never been shown more graphically than in this Pierre Boulle screenplay from his own novel, set and filmed on location in Ceylon.
 
  November 17, 2021
 
  Helen Bower
  Detroit Free Press
  TOP CRITIC
  This is a picture of so many excellencies it is difficult to enumerate them, but audiences will discover the various beauties and virtues for themselves during the two hours and 40 minutes which the story runs.
 
  November 17, 2021
 
  Marjory Adams
  Boston Globe
  TOP CRITIC
  Not only is the portrayal of Guinness superb. The work of Hayakawa, Holden and Hawkins is also splendid and contributes strikingly to the impact of what is essentially a director’s triumph. This is one of the great pictures of movie history.
 
  November 17, 2021
 
  Myles Standish
  St. Louis Post-Dispatch
  TOP CRITIC
  For most of the footage, the film has an engrossing validity. Director David Lean proves once again that he’s a master of his art, and the photography takes the viewer into the heart of a teeming island in the jungle.
 
  November 17, 2021
 
  Mae Tinee
  Chicago Tribune
  TOP CRITIC
  An unabashed adventure tale done so professionally it emerges as a dramatic high point among motion pictures.
 
  November 17, 2021
 
  Elston Brooks
  Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com
  TOP CRITIC
  The Bridge on the River Kwai will probably go down in history as a classic of its type of film — a gripping drama, teeming with physical conflict but in which the main dramatic clash is between the minds and the convictions of two men.
 
  November 17, 2021
 
  George Bourke
  Miami Herald
  TOP CRITIC
  The movie’s tense climax is a perfect marriage of editing and camerawork.
 
  June 12, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
 
  Matt Brunson
  Film Frenzy
  Director David Lean had a unique eye for aesthetics which served him well on the set.
 
  June 8, 2022 | Rating: 4.5/5
 
  Allison Rose
  FlickDirect
  Led by its star-studded cast, The Bridge on the River Kwai is a technical achievement in and of itself.
 
  June 7, 2022 | Rating: 5/5
 
  Danielle Solzman
  Solzy at the Movies
  It would become the first, and perhaps the greatest, of Lean’s signature late-career epics, in which he places involved relationships between a few complex characters within vistas of uncommon splendor.
 
  March 18, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
 
  Brian Eggert
  Deep Focus Review
  This film is great because it will hold your interest though all its two hours and forty-one electrifying minutes.
 
  February 17, 2022
 
  Donald Zec
  Daily Mirror (UK)
  Lean’s direction is masterly, with that unhurried sureness which results in the best kind of pace.
 
  December 16, 2021
 
  Stanley Kauffmann
  The Reporter…

 

Plot
During WW II, allied POWs in a Japanese internment camp are ordered to build a bridge to accommodate the Burma-Siam railway. Their instinct is to sabotage the bridge, but under the leadership of Colonel Nicholson they’re persuaded the bridge should be built to help morale, spirit. At first, the prisoners admire Nicholson when he bravely endures torture rather than compromise his principles for the benefit of Japanese Commandant Colonel Saito, but soon they realise it’s a monument to Nicholson, himself, as well as a form of collaboration with the enemy.
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
The film features a career-defining performance from star Alec Guinness.
 

 
David-Lean.jpg

 
Production Company(ies)
Norma Productions, Curtleigh Productions, Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions,
 
Distributor
United Artists, MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc.
 
Release Type

 
Filming Location(s)
Brill Building – 1619 Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
 
MPAA / Certificate
Approved
 
Year of Release
1957
 

 
Genre(s)
Drama
 
Keyword(s)
starring Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Martin Milner, Barbara Nichols, Susan Harrison, Sam Levene, Frank D’ Angelo, directed by Alexander Mackendrick, written by Ernest Lehman, Clifford Odets, drama, box office performance, budget, reviewed by New York Daily News Staff, Brandon Judell, Mae Tinee, Wendy Ide, Hank Sartin, Carol Rittgers, Brian Eggert, Ernesto Diezmartinez, Mike Massie, Jim Ross, Sean Axmaker, produced by James Hill, MPAA rating, United Artists, MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc., Mono, New York City, J.J Hunsecker, Broadway column, Susan Hunsecker, Steve Dallas, Sidney Falco, jazz, cinematography, noir crime thriller, corrupt, power, manipulation, betrayal, love, relationships, public opinion, publicist, ruthless, method, top-notch cast, sharp direction, atmospheric cinematography, jazzy score, best noir crime thrillers ever made
 

Cast & Crew

Burt Lancaster

J.J. Hunsecker

Tony Curtis

Sidney Falco

Martin Milner

J.J. Hunsecker

Sidney Falco

Steve Dallas

Rita

Susan Hunsecker

Burt Lancaster – J.J. Hunsecker
Tony Curtis – Sidney Falco
Martin Milner – Steve Dallas
Barbara Nichols – Rita
Susan Harrison – Susan Hunsecker
Sam Levene – Frank D’ Angelo

 

Alexander Mackendrick

Ernest Lehman

James Hill

Director

Writer

Producer

Producer

Producer

Director(s)
Alexander Mackendrick
 
Writer(s)
Ernest Lehman, Clifford Odets
 
Producer(s)
James Hill

 

Film Festivals

 
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award
3 wins & 4 nominations total
 
Academy Awards

Top Reviews

New York Daily News Staff

Brandon Judell

Mae Tinee

Derek Prouse

Wendy Ide

New York Daily News

indieWire

Chicago Tribune

Sight & Sound

Times (UK)

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS
  All Critics (57) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (56) | Rotten (1)
  Despite some shrill overstatements that remind one that Clifford Odets had a hand in the screenplay, the film is a highly successful product of what might be called the “New York School” of filmmaking.
 
  November 17, 2021
 
  New York Daily News Staff
  New York Daily News
  TOP CRITIC
  That Clifford Odets co-wrote the screenplay explains the film’s continued ability to fascinate, but not why it was made into a current musical.
 
  June 15, 2021
 
  Brandon Judell
  indieWire
  TOP CRITIC
  It’s a tough tale about utterly amoral people. I thought the ending rather weak bet for most of the footage the film packs plenty of punch.
 
  August 10, 2020
 
  Mae Tinee
  Chicago Tribune
  TOP CRITIC
  It is beautifully shot in gleaming black and white (James Wong Howe) and written in a lucid, over-exposed one o’clock in the morning style by Clifford Odets and Ernest Lehman.
 
  March 31, 2020
 
  Derek Prouse
  Sight & Sound
  TOP CRITIC
  New York never looked as thrillingly sordid as it does in this scabrous masterpiece.
 
  April 9, 2015 | Rating: 5/5
 
  Wendy Ide
  Times (UK)
  TOP CRITIC
  November 17, 2011 | Rating: 5/5
 
  Hank Sartin
  Time Out
  TOP CRITIC
  Its sophistication, underscored by the subtle rhythms of progressive jazz, its frank acceptance of immoral motivations, and its sheer melodramatic excitement give it a fascinating surface that far nobler films lack.
 
  March 30, 2022
 
  Carol Rittgers
  Film Culture
  Sweet Smell of Success replaces shootouts with verbal ricochets, affirming, both on and offscreen, that when the words are dagger-sharp, the pen remains mightier than the sword.
 
  March 18, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
 
  Brian Eggert
  Deep Focus Review
  A movie that could have been made yesterday. The corruption that he portrays is still so rampant and perhaps it is worse because now these types of characters do not have the power they had.
 
  October 18, 2021 | Rating: 3/4
 
  Ernesto Diezmartinez
  Cine Vértigo
  The subject matter is incredibly mature, despite being shrouded by 1957-appropriate insinuation rather than graphic depiction.
 
  August 23, 2020 | Rating: 8/10
 
  Mike Massie
  Gone With The Twins
  … the razor-sharp wit of the script and the engaging lead performances will keep audiences coming back to Mackendrick’s classic satire.
 
  February 13, 2020
 
  Jim Ross
  TAKE ONE Magazine
  … one of the most lacerating and vicious visions of the predatory urban world in the American cinema, and one accomplished without a single murder, gunshot or pulled knife.
 
  March 2, 2018
 
  Sean Axmaker
  Stream on Demand…

 

Plot
J.J. Hunsecker, the most powerful newspaper columnist in New York, is determined to prevent his sister from marrying Steve Dallas, a jazz musician. He therefore covertly employs Sidney Falco, a sleazy and unscrupulous press agent, to break up the affair by any means possible.
 
Trivia

 
Goofs / Tidbits
Tony Curtis’ performance in Sweet Smell of Success is considered one of the best of his career.
 

 
Alexander-Mackendrick.jpg