Christopher Saunders

LATEST ARTICLES ( 667 )

• Hands Over the City

  

  Francesco Rosi followed his groundbreaking Salvatore Giuliano (1961) with Hands Over the City (1963). It's a more banal but no less disquieting portrait of... Read more

  Posted on 31 August 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Gaslight (1944)

  

  "I knew from the first moment I saw you that you were dangerous to me." Patrick Hamilton's Gas Light (also known as Angel Street) remains engrained in Western... Read more

  Posted on 30 August 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Boris Karloff Monster Mash: The Man They Could Not Hang, The Body Snatcher,...

  

  Turner Classic Movies recently aired a day-long tribute Boris Karloff, the cadaverous horror star. His iconic roles as Universal's Frankenstein and The Mummy... Read more

  Posted on 28 August 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• 1900 (Novecento)

  

  "Never bite the hand that feeds you, as long as you need to be fed."Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900 (1976) was a monumental act of hubris. Read more

  Posted on 26 August 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The FBI Story

  

  J. Edgar Hoover used Hollywood to burnish his image for decades. Mervyn LeRoy's The FBI Story (1959) is the magnum opus of Bureau propaganda, a 149 minute... Read more

  Posted on 25 August 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Five Graves to Cairo

  

  "We shall take that big fat cigar out of Mr. Churchill's mouth and make him say Heil!"Billy Wilder's Five Graves to Cairo (1943) offers a unique propaganda film. Read more

  Posted on 25 August 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Nine Hours to Rama

  

  Mark Robson's Nine Hours to Rama (1963) depicts Mahatma Gandhi's assassination through his killer's eyes. Certainly an audacious premise, it tries exploring... Read more

  Posted on 23 August 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• God's Not Dead 2

  

  Lest we forget, God's Not Dead (2014) concluded with its smug atheist villain dying painfully in the street, something our Christian protagonists proclaimed "a... Read more

  Posted on 22 August 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Point Blank

  

  "Somebody's got to pay!"John Boorman's Point Blank (1967) was overshadowed Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate and other game-changing "New Hollywood" features. Read more

  Posted on 21 August 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Killers (1964)

  

  "A man stood still as we burned him, and we'd like to know why."Ernest Hemingway's "The Killers" inspired two very different films. Read more

  Posted on 21 August 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Steel Helmet

  

  "Dead man's nothin' but a corpse. No one cares who he is now." The Steel Helmet (1951) is Samuel Fuller's third movie, presaging his more expansive war films... Read more

  Posted on 19 August 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Home of the Brave (1949)

  

  "Divided we fall, united we stand, coward take my coward's hand."Mark Robson's Home of the Brave (1949) was an early production by Stanley Kramer, Hollywood's... Read more

  Posted on 19 August 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Raintree County

  

  Epics don't come much worse than Raintree County (1957). Edward Dmytryk's try at topping Gone With the Wind tries to bludgeon viewers with soap opera... Read more

  Posted on 17 August 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Wind Cannot Read

  

  (1958) offers a serviceable wartime romance. Nice locations and appealing stars make a familiar storyline work. During WWII, RAF Flight Lieutenant Michael... Read more

  Posted on 16 August 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Oscar Wilde

  

  "Truth is never pure and rarely simple."Gregory Ratoff's Oscar Wilde (1960) had the misfortune of coming out the same week as Ken Hughes' The Trials of Oscar... Read more

  Posted on 14 August 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Lineup

  

  "Why be greedy? That'll print well for an epitaph!"The Lineup (1958) started as a spinoff from a popular TV show, featuring Warner Anderson as SFPD Lieutenant... Read more

  Posted on 14 August 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Old Man and the Sea

  

  Of all Ernest Hemingway's literary works, The Old Man and the Sea seems an odd choice for adaptation. While essentially an adventure story, it's driven more by... Read more

  Posted on 13 August 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• A Guy Named Joe

  

  Extremely popular in its day, A Guy Named Joe (1943) is an odd concoction. This wartime fantasy feels too heavy for a frothy melodrama, but the silly premise... Read more

  Posted on 12 August 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• The Deadly Tower

  

  Fifty years ago, Charles Whitman killed 14 people and wounded 32 others at the University of Texas. While not the first spree killer, Whitman's massacre from... Read more

  Posted on 09 August 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES

• Dark Victory

  

  (1939) is a quintessential "woman's picture," based on a successful Broadway play. Bette Davis's charm and Edmund Golding's earnest presentation make this... Read more

  Posted on 02 August 2016 ENTERTAINMENT, MOVIES