Christopher Saunders

LATEST ARTICLES ( 667 )

• Kangaroo (1952)

  

  was Hollywood's first movie shot in Australia, seemingly calculated to offend natives. Ads proclaimed Australia "a continent that time forgot" (surely news to... Read more

  Posted on 22 April 2014

• Under the Skin

  

  Ever since Scarlett Johansson went from indie darling to A lister, she's generated inexplicable resentment. True, Johansson's made some risible movies (The Blac... Read more

  Posted on 20 April 2014

• Titanic (1997)

  

  James Cameron's Titanic (1997) scarcely needs an introduction. A phenomenon when released, it smashed box office records, played for nearly a year and won 11... Read more

  Posted on 19 April 2014

• Man Hunt (1941)

  

  Among Classic Hollywood's German expatriates, Fritz Lang evinced the most bitterness towards his homeland. He considered Germany irredeemably sullied by its pac... Read more

  Posted on 18 April 2014

• Milius (2013)

  

  John Milius is a true Hollywood original. As a screenwriter he's penned some of cinema's most quotable scripts: Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, Jaws' Indianapolis... Read more

  Posted on 17 April 2014

• Sandra

  

  Between The Leopard and his later epics, Luchino Visconti directed several middling small-scale films. Sandra (1965) is an operatic chamber drama, small-scaled... Read more

  Posted on 16 April 2014

• Beneath Hill 60

  

  (2010) plays like a classic Hollywood war film with an Aussie twist. Jeremy Hartley Sim's First World War epic offers few surprises, yet it's a compelling watch. Read more

  Posted on 15 April 2014

• Sunday Too Far Away

  

  Among Australia's New Wave films, Sunday Too Far Away (1975) is something of an outlier. Ken Hannam's low key film fits more comfortably with slice of life... Read more

  Posted on 13 April 2014

• RIP Mickey Rooney

  

  Screen legend Mickey Rooney passed away Sunday at age 93. Rooney had an amazing screen career; he started as a child star during the silent era, gained fame wit... Read more

  Posted on 09 April 2014

• Morocco

  

  (1930) marked Marlene Dietrich's Hollywood debut. Her second collaboration with Josef Von Sternberg actually premiered in America before The Blue Angel;... Read more

  Posted on 04 April 2014

• A Foreign Field

  

  Today marks Alec Guinness's 100th birthday. One of his last roles came in A Foreign Field (1993), a top-shelf BBC ensemble drama. Read more

  Posted on 03 April 2014

• The Testament of Dr Mabuse

  

  ''When chaos has become supreme law, then the time will have come for the empire of crime.''Fritz Lang bade farewell to Germany with The Testament of Dr.... Read more

  Posted on 02 April 2014

• Hunted

  

  One of Dirk Bogarde's earliest roles, Hunted (1952) is a compelling thriller. Both crime story and character study, it's expressively shot, well-plotted and... Read more

  Posted on 29 March 2014

• Darling

  

  (1965) netted Julie Christie an Oscar the same year Doctor Zhivago made her a superstar. Too bad John Schlesinger's film isn't the sum of its parts. Read more

  Posted on 29 March 2014

• Blogathon With The Great Katharine Hepburn

  

  Our friend Margaret Perry invited me to participate in her upcoming Katharine Hepburn blogathon. I'm currently tapped to review Hepburn's version of The Glass... Read more

  Posted on 25 March 2014

• The Blue Angel

  

  Another touchstone in Weimar Cinema, The Blue Angel (1930) is Josef Von Sternberg's best-known film. It made an icon of Marlene Dietrich, who soon decamped to... Read more

  Posted on 23 March 2014

• M (1931)

  

  Fritz Lang's penultimate German film, M (1931) is rightly regarded as a classic. Lang's multilayered masterpiece works as crime drama, social statement and... Read more

  Posted on 23 March 2014

• Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion

  

  Elio Petri's Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) has a formidable reputation, enhanced for Anglosphere viewers by unavailability. Recently given... Read more

  Posted on 22 March 2014

• Groggy on Moviepilot: More Nazi Movies

  

  Groggy's most recent Moviepilot article explores a familiar topic: the counterfeit profundity of fascist fetishism. This article was prompted by Godfrey... Read more

  Posted on 20 March 2014

• Leni Riefenstahl: Fabricating Fascism

  

  "I am an artist through and through. That is Leni!"Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003) was born to a businessman father and doting mother. Read more

  Posted on 18 March 2014