Night Caller From Outer Space (1965)

“You’re not just up against a criminal mind; we’re fighting an alien civilization, one at least a hundred — or maybe a thousand — years in advance of ours!”

Synopsis:
An alien (Robert Crewdson) places an ad in Bikini Girl magazine in order to lure British girls back to his planet. Meanwhile, scientists Jack Costain [...]

Muddy River (1981)

Synopsis:
In post-WWII Osaka, a young boy (Nobutaka Asahara) befriends the son (Minoru Sakurai) of a riverside prostitute (Mariko Kaga).

Genres:

Childhood
Class Relations
Coming-of-Age
Friendship
Japanese Films
Prostitutes

Review:
Kôhei Oguri’s little-seen debut film (currently unavailable to English-speaking audiences) remains one of the finest movies ever made about childhood friendship. I [...]

Sherman’s March (1986)

“It seems I’m filming my life in order to have a life to film…”

Synopsis:
A documentarian (Ross McElwee) aiming to chronicle the lingering effects of General Sherman’s march on the South instead finds himself filming the various women he gets involved with.

Genres:

Deep South
Documentary
Looking for Mr./Ms. Right
Road Trip

Review:
Given [...]

High School (1968)

“The world will recognize you only by your performance.”

Synopsis:
Frederick Wiseman documents life in a Philadelphia high school, circa 1968.

Genres:

Documentary
High School

Review:
Frederick Wiseman remains one of America’s most provocative yet least seen documentarians. Like his contemporary, Emile de Antonio, Wiseman eschews voice overs, instead relying on judicious editing and extreme [...]

Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973)

“I want to fly where no seagull has flown before. I want to know what there is to know about life!”

Synopsis:
An adventurous seagull is banished from his flock, but returns to dispense newfound philosophical wisdom.

Genres:

Folk Heroes

Literature Adaptations
Mentors

Misfits

Talking Animals

Review:
This live-action film version of [...]

Explosive Generation, The (1961)

“I asked if it was wrong for a girl to prove to a boy exactly how much she loved him…”

Synopsis:
When a high school teacher (William Shatner) allows his class to talk openly about sex, his job is jeopardized; but his well-meaning students refuse to let him to be punished for something they initiated…

Genres:

Collective [...]

Caught (1949)

“You don’t want me – not really; you just want me to want you!”

Synopsis:
Cynical, controlling millionaire Smith Ohlrig (Robert Ryan) marries a poor model (Barbara Bel Geddes) to spite his psychoanalyst. When Leonora (Bel Geddes) realizes her marriage is a sham, she leaves to go work for a doctor (James Mason), but Ohlrig will stop [...]

Anniversary, The (1968)

“You’ve gone too far this time, mum!”

Synopsis:
A vicious and controlling mother (Bette Davis) gathers her three grown sons and their mates to celebrate her wedding anniversary.

Genres:

Bette Davis
Black Comedy
Evil Mothers

Family Problems
Grown Children

Review:
60-year-old Bette Davis is in rare form here as the hideous matriarch of Bill MacIlwraith’s darkly [...]

Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse, The (1938)

“I know precisely what I’m doing: valuable research work, in a rather unusual form!”

Synopsis:
A doctor (Edward G. Robinson) interested in studying the physiology of criminals gets involved in a heist ring led by high-level fence Jo Keller (Claire Trevor).

Genres:

Character Studies
Comedy
Mad Doctors and Scientists
Thieves and Criminals

Review:
This unusual comedic [...]

Strait-Jacket (1964)

“Lucy Harbin took an axe, gave her husband forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done, she gave his girlfriend forty-one!”

Synopsis:
Lucy Harbin (Joan Crawford) has spent twenty years in an insane asylum for murdering her husband (Lee Majors) and his girlfriend (Patricia Crest) in a fit of jealous rage. When she returns home, her estranged [...]