Directed by Max Ophuls • 1949 • United States
Starring James Mason, Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Ryan
One of the outstanding and often overlooked films that the legendary European filmmaker Max Ophuls (THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE . . .) made during his Hollywood exile is a visually superb, noir-tinged study of a woman in crisis. After she marries the cruel millionaire Smith Ohlrig (Robert Ryan, whose character was modeled on Howard Hughes), Leonora (Barbara Bel Geddes), a young model, realizes that his controlling ways are symptoms of a terrifying insanity. Her attempts to leave Smith and restart her life as an assistant to the kind doctor Larry Quinada (James Mason) are complicated, however, when she discovers she is pregnant. Now, Leonora must resort to drastic measures to free herself from her psychotic husband.
Directed by Akira Kurosawa • 1950 • Japan
Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyo, Masayuki Mori
A riveting psychological thriller that investigates the nature of truth and the meaning of justice, RASHOMON is widely considered one of the greatest films ever made. Four people give different accou...
Directed by Jean Renoir • 1951 • France, United Kingdom, India, United States
Starring Nora Swinburne, Esmond Knight, Arthur Shields
Director Jean Renoir’s entrancing first color feature, shot entirely on location in India, is a visual tour de force. Based on the novel by Rumer Godden, the fi...
Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi • 1953 • Japan
Starring Machiko Kyo, Masayuki Mori, Kinuyo Tanaka
By the time he made UGETSU, Kenji Mizoguchi was already an elder statesman of Japanese cinema, fiercely revered by Akira Kurosawa and other directors of a younger generation. And with this exquisite ...
