Author Archive: Retro

A Jester’s Tale is a 1964 Czech film directed by Karel Zeman. Described by Zeman as a “pseudo-historical” film, it is an anti-war black comedy set during the Thirty Years’ War. The film combines live action with animation to suggest the artistic style of the engraver Matthäus Merian

Jean Renoir’s adaptation of Simenon’s novel about murder at a crossroads.

Inspector Maigret investigates a murder in New York.

Elderly couple travel to Tokyo to visit their son and daughter, who are too busy to see them. Written by Yasujiro Ozu. English subtitles. Dir. Yasujiro Ozu.

Elderly couple travel to Tokyo to visit their son and daughter, who are too busy to see them. Written by Yasujiro Ozu. English subtitles. Dir. Yasujiro Ozu.

Cabaret star Zazu intervenes when young lovers are sundered by their parents’ feud.

When a wealthy man dies, his avaricious relatives look forward to inheriting all his money. However, he leaves a provision in his will that they all must spend a week together in his castle before they will be able to inherit anything. At the castle (which is cut off from the outside world), the relatives soon begin to be killed off one by one, each strangled with an Indian scarf. The estate’s executor, a lawyer, sets out to find the killer before everyone–including himself–is murdered.

Film based on the homonymous poem and other documents from the epoque.

Italian swashbuckler about pirates and revenge.