Author Archive: Retro

Texas cattle baron Stiles killed John Clayborn’s parents ten years earlier. Now a lawyer, Clayborn tries legally to break up Stiles’ water monopoly and rustling operation. When that fails he must use force.

Per its title, Faustina is a distaff variation on the Faust legend. In this case, Mexican film favorite Maria Felix plays a woman who sells her soul to the Devil in exchange for beauty and wisdom. Actually, she bargains with the Devil’s assistant (Fernando Gomez), who happens to be one of the woman’s former lovers. The would-be demon spends the rest of the film trying to thwart the poor woman’s happiness, but eventually declares that he’s still in love with her. Not to be taken seriously, Faustina was an enjoyable digression from the usual portentous fare at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Martin is a troubled young man. With a mother who insists on treating him like a child, a stepfather who can’t wait to see the back of him, and a brother with Down’s Syndrome shut away in an institution, is it any wonder he retreats into an alternate personality – that of six-year-old Georgie? It is Georgie who befriends Susan Harper, but friendship soon turns into obsession. When Susan begins to distance herself, something inside Georgie snaps and he embarks on a killing spree, with Susan as the next target.

In this drama, a young woman with a checkered past reforms and marries a good man. Unfortunately, her happiness is threatened by a blackmailer. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

German exchange student (Hardy Kruger) comes to the fictional University College, Cambridge. A collection of stereotypical but enjoyable Varsity capers ensue. Sylvia Syms is positively radiant – the proverbial English Rose. She has a knack for bringing the film to life whenever she appears on screen. The remainder of the players form a very predictable bunch of undergrads in their mid-twenties and profs in ttheir mid-eighties. Lovely views of the City, and one or two well orchestrated set-pieces (the raid on all-female college Girton is notable) make this effortless viewing.

A wondrous celebration of dance, Terence Young’s Black Tights is a collection of four lavish musicals staged by Roland Petit’s Ballet de Paris and filmed in vibrant Technicolor.

Special Forces commander Captain Tadamori returns to Kyoto after successfully defeating the uprising of pirates in the western sea of Japan. But because the high courtiers dislike career soldiers gaining power and influence, they ignore the will of ex-Emperor Toba and refuse to reward the captain. Reward recommender Lord Tokinobu is punished, and the captain sends his son Kiyomori to the Lord’s residence, where he falls in love with Tokiko, the Lord’s daughter. Meanwhile, Kiyomori finds out that he is possibly the ex-Emperor’s son.

Mario (Fernandel), a bumptious sheep-shearer, discovers he has a inimtable touch that makes women, as well as sheep, swoon at his professional caress. He is soon the most sought-after hairdresser in France and is awarded the Legion of Honor. Among the women whose lives are changed by a hairdo(and his “touch”) are Renee Devillers, his understanding wife; Arlette Poirier, a busy demimondaine, and Blanchette Brunoy, his most appreciative customer who sets up his ritzy establishment.