Powell and Pressburger’s War. Review by Alan Price. From 1939-1946 Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger produced eight remarkable propaganda feature films but neither felt their artistic integrity was compromised from being backed by The Ministry of Information.
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Emilia Perez. Review by Graham Buchan. A story about violence as a musical? A drug lord wanting to transition to a woman? A song by a Thai sex-change surgeon? A singer who cannot sing? A director working in a language he doesn’t know? None of it should work. But it does, brilliantly.
The Hop-Pickers. Review by Alan Price. Before director Ladislav Rychman made The Hop-Pickers (1964) Czech cinema had no tradition of the screen musical.
Directed by Roman Polanski. Review by Alan Price. If you want to know what Roman Polanski was up to in the 1990’s (either to decry his artistic decline or applaud his re-invigoration) then Directed by Roman Polanski has to be seen.
The Stone Tape. Review by Alan Price. Nigel Kneale is a master at fusing the genres of horror and science fiction. He often claimed he wasn’t writing genre TV and film drama but simply good drama. At one level he’s right.
Seven Samurai. Review by Alan Price. Is there anything new that can still be said about Akira Kurosawa’s splendid Seven Samurai? This 1954 epic samurai film is certainly one of the director’s masterpieces.
Days / Afternoon. Review by Alan Price. “The bargain the newer variety of slow films seem to impose on the viewer is simple: it’s up to you to draw on your stoic patience and the fascination in your gaze, in case you miss a masterpiece.” Nick James, Sight and Sound April 2010
Starve Acre. Review by Alan Price. At the beginning of Starve Acre a young boy named Owen cannot sleep. When his mother speaks to him he says that the whistling has gone now.
The Valley of the Bees. Review by Alan Price. The opening of The Valley of the Bees is assured, startling and unforgettable. Set in 13th century Bohemia it records a violent and fateful incident.
The Outcasts. Review by Alan Price. Very few films have a genuine Celtic / pagan sensibility were environment and characters possess a mysterious and magical charge that feels authentically rooted in myth and legend.
Pharaoh. Review by Alan Price. In the 1966 advertising campaign for Pharaoh Film Polski promoted Pharaoh as being an “anti-Cleopatra epic” and one commentator even declared it to be “Communism’s answer to Cleopatra.”
Alfred Hitchcock – All the Films. Review by Alan Price. The first thing to do with a book like this is to check that all of Hitchcock’s films have been covered. And not just the well-known titles but lesser-known works too.
By Alan Price • books, film, year 2024 • Tags: Alan Price, books, film