Dancer in the Dark (2000)

A young woman has emigrated with her son from Central Europe to America where she works day and night to save her son from the same disease she suffers from, a disease that inevitably will make her blind.

Grim and highly artificial melodrama, staged like a study of genre cinema (including the musical); Björk's surprisingly strong gripping performance (and her songs) makes this it worth the watch.

Halliwell**: "A film to divide audiences into those who will respond to the intense emotions on display, many of them heightened by anguished sequences of song and dance; and those who will find the jerky handheld photography a needless distraction, and will reject the melodramatic sob-story as shameless manipulation. Björk throws herself into the role of the most self-sacrificing mother since Stella Dallas with complete conviction."

Maltin**1/2: "Ambitious, brazenlyoff-putting musical (!)...Writer-director von Trier's attempt to expand cinematic musical conventions is certainly thought provoking, but ultimately cold and very literal minded, and not helped by jagged song-and-dance numbers. Björk is impressive..."

Ziegfeld Girl (1941)

(ph: Clarence Sinclair Bull)

It Came from Outer Space (1953)

 

A spaceship from another world crashes in the Arizona desert, and only an amateur stargazer and a schoolteacher suspect alien influence when the local townsfolk begin to act strange.

Good old-fashioned sci-fi 'invasion' movie that - for a change - doesn't portrait the aliens as belligerent conquerors; special effects still convincing, though dated in comparison.

Halliwell**: "Quite bright science fiction, the first to use this theme of borrowing bodies and the first to utilize the Western desert locations. 3-D adds a shock moment or two."

Maltin***: "Intriguing science fiction...Remarkably sober for its era, with crisp performances and real restraint, even in its use of 3-D."

[NB: We played this movie complete in 3-D and providing the audience with the necessary green/red glasses with enormous success in our Lyssa humana night movies series (in the late 80s).]

Elsa Martinelli

Vixen! (1968)

Vixen lives in a Canadian mountain resort with her naive pilot husband, and while he's away flying in tourists, she gets it on with practically everybody including a husband and his wife, and even her biker brother.

Strange and wildy confusing sexploitation with quite an ambivalent character as it's star: an incestuous, racist nymphomaniac; all done in its director's over-the-top and satirical style, but quite dated.

Halliwell (no star): "Comic exploitation film in which the cast, at least, appear to be enjoying themselves."

The Band Wagon (1953)

On the set: Cyd Charisse and Vincente Minnelli

Rag Doll (1961)

A teenage runaway meets with both love and misfortune when she takes a job as a waitress in a London establishment.

La nuit des étoiles filantes (1973)

Luis Trenker. Der Schmale Grat der Wahrheit (2015)

While forging and trying to sell Eva Braun's diaries after WWII the South Tyrol filmmaker Luis Trenker looks back to his career within the Third Reich period.

Mildly entertaining TV satire about a controversial celebrity (who remained very popular in post-war Germany) that is suprisingly accurate concerning facts, but the result portraits a more sinister Leni Riefenstahl than the title figure; neverthless, Tobias is great as the rogue Luis Trenker.

Forbidden Planet (1956)

On the set: Anne Francis