Juke Joint (VHS)
An entry in Xenon Home Video`s Black Vintage Series, this 1947 comedy centers on the exploits of a pair of travelling entertainers who become entangled in the life of a southern family.NR"
Director: Spencer Williams
ACTORS: Spencer Williams
The Legend of Johnny Lingo (VHS)
Directed by Steven Ramirez, THE LEGEND OF JOHNNY LINGO tells the story of a poor orphaned boy, Tama, who befriends another outcast, Mahana. As a child, Tama leaves Mahana behind on a tropical island, but he promises to come back for her one day. At sea, Tama falls under the tutelage of Johnny Lingo, a successful trader. But as his new life wears on, he begins to reflect upon his childhood promise and makes a very tough decision. Ramirez`s thrilling film is entertainment that the whole family can enjoy.G"
Director: Steven Ramirez
ACTORS: Joe Folau, Kayte Ferguson, Rawiri Paratene, George Henare
Pygmalion (DVD) Criterion Collection George Bernard Shaw`s play, PYGMALION, which takes its title from the Greek myth of Pygmalion, a sculptor who fell in love with a statue of his own making, was a hit on the London stage in 1912. The transition to f...
George Bernard Shaw`s play, PYGMALION, which takes its title from the Greek myth of Pygmalion, a sculptor who fell in love with a statue of his own making, was a hit on the London stage in 1912. The transition to film was co-directed by Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard, who also stars as Henry Higgins, the vainglorious snob who claims he can turn a guttersnipe into a Lady. Wendy Hiller is smart and witty, giving as good as she gets, as Eliza Doolittle, the flower girl Higgins takes from the street and tries to pass off as a Duchess. Hiller and Howard play off each other with a delightful spark. The play opens up well for the screen, as evidenced in the dreamy sequence when Eliza attends a society party, a scene smoothly edited by the young David Lean.
Shaw wrote the film script himself, ensuring that his original setting in the more innocent time before WWI, didn`t feel dated in the dark days of 1938. Other writers were brought in to lighten Shaw`s view of the class conflict between Higgins and Eliza, and to lessen the amount of brow beating Higgins employs. Still, compared with the musical version, MY FAIR LADY, there is no magical Cinderella process here, but a painfully, realistically resisted struggle mixed with a slowly developing romance.
NR"
Director: Anthony Asquith|Leslie Howard
ACTORS: Wendy Hiller, Leslie Howard, Wilfred Lawson, Scott Sunderland, Marie Lohr
Switchblade Sisters (DVD)
Quentin Tarantino brought this gleefully over-the-top exploitation classic to a new generation with its re-release through his Rolling Thunder production company in 1996. The story chronicles the Dagger Debs, gang girlfriends of the Daggers. When sexy new girl on the block, Lace (Robbie Lee) joins the gang and befriends its tough-talking leader Maggie (Joanne Nail) she arouses the jealousy of Patch (Monica Gayle), Maggie`s former right-hand woman, and catches the eye of Maggie`s boyfriend (Asher Brauner), the stud leader of the Daggers. When he`s shot down at a bloody roller rink gunfight, Lace steps in as leader and enlists the help of a tough band of black militants in getting revenge. Through it all, Patch keeps driving a wedge between Maggie and Lace, leading to treachery, and more bloodshed. Acclaimed exploitation director Jack Hill (COFFY, FOXY BROWN) invests this gem with his strong character development, colorful action, and zingy dialogue, and the result is a truly rewarding trash experience. With everything from lesbian prison brawls to machine gun warfare, this film deserves its high cult status and should be considered required viewing for 1970s exploitation fans.R"
Director: Jack Hill
Sirens (DVD)
When a young English minister (Hugh Grant) takes an Australian parish, his first assignment is to dissuade a local painter from showing a provocative painting. He and his wife (Tara Fitzgerald) visit the artist`s home only to be smitten by three ravishing models posing, ironically, as the mythological sirens who lured men to their doom. On the artist`s bohemian estate, the minister and his wife are shown a guilt-free Eden-like world where they find their own sexuality awakening.R"
Director: John Duigan
ACTORS: Hugh Grant, Sam Neill, Tara Fitzgerald, Elle Macpherson, Portia De Rossi
