What movie did YOU just FINISH watching?

Les yeux sans visage aka Eyes Without a Face 1960, directed by Georges Franju, based on a novel by Jean Redon (not by Pierre Boileau who wrote the novel that Hitchcocks Vertigo was based on, as some DVD covers states, though he was involved in the adaptation of the Redon novel), music score composed by Maurice Jarre, starring Pierre Brasseur, Alida Valli, Juliette Mayniel, Alexandre Rignault, Edith Scob and others.
French horror chiller noir, about a celebrated doctor (Brasseur) who has just lost his daughter in an accident and attended her funeral, but it wasn't his daughter that was buried it was just another victim in his research of trying successfully to transplant faces to his daughters (Scolb) face, a face that was lost because of a car accident caused by him, with the help of a loyal assistant (Valli) whose face he once successfully restored, who is always on the lookout for new victims. The police have noticed that a lot of young girls disappears but cannot make the connection, then they hear a certain young man's confession...
This is a very creepy movie done in black and white, and it's very well made, and great restoration too, and as I said creepy, but also extremely well made, and the ending is not fair but poetic justice.
A friendly warning for those who haven't seen this movie, some of the operation scenes ARE VERY GRAPHIC, and I have to admit that I looked away a few times, but for those who have seen Face/Off 1997, it's nothing.

Panned by critics all over the world on it's initial release, but has been re-evalued is has been included among those "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" books. 

Originally released in the US in an edited version titled The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus as a double bill with The Manster.

The initial release of the film was met with negative reactions from film critics. One French critic stated the film was "in a minor genre and quite unworthy of Georges Franju's abilities." Franju responded by saying that the film was his attempt to get the minor genre to be taken seriously.

During the original release of the film an English film critic for The Spectator was nearly fired for writing it a positive review, while the general critical reaction had been poor.

Givenchy created Scob's dresses.

If ever in Paris the house used as the doctor's mansion exterior shots is on 158 Rue de Versailles.




Just to assure everyone, Edith Scob who played the eyes without a face, had a face, and has acted in over 115 movies without a mask.

A minor masterpiece of early ‘30s b-filmmaking, Private Detective 62 (1933).



William Powell offers a variation on his typical persona, but what a fascinating variation it is: more hard-edged and tougher, still charming and ready with a quip but also unafraid to shoot when necessary. (Almost prefiguring Connery’s Bond!) It’s a great and energetic performance; Michael Curtiz directed, and he stages everything with the typical energy and ingenuity he put into his ‘30s works.

More than that, the dialogue is brilliant—very funny, effortlessly thrown out by a great cast, superbly written. (It’s not witty in the way that The Thin Man is witty—it’s closer to Chandler-esque one-liners, as befits the hardboiled feel.) It’s written by a guy named Rian James, of whom I’d never heard before; nothing else he wrote seems up to that caliber, so I wonder who’s actually responsible for the dialogue—James? Curtiz? Story-writer Raoul Whitfield?

I like cute heroine Margaret Lindsay a lot in other movies (she’s by far the best thing about the ‘40s Ellery Queen series), but she comes across as too aloof here, unfortunately. Maybe a Kay Francis or a Roz Russell would have been better in the role? But the rest of the cast are at their best, and this movie’s so much fun—one of Powell’s best detective roles, along with Philo Vance and Nick Charles. Highly recommended.

Oops, sorry, I’ll clarify! Yes, I greatly recommend the movie—rather surprised at the way in which William Powell makes his persona a bit more hardboiled (like that other Powell as Marlowe). Lots of fun.

A Walk in the Woods (2015). RAther odd film based on Bill Bryson's travel book of the same name. WHat makes it odd is that Bryson and his friend Katz were in their 40s when they walked the Appalachian Trail, whereas Robert Redford and Nick Nolte, who portray them, are thirty years older. this obviously makes the story rather different than the real one. ARe there no actors in their 40s who could have played Bryson and Katz?

I'll Be Seeing You(44) Lovely story

I'm constantly searching the channels on my dvr for movies with a 7 and over score on IMDb. That Retro channel I got has thrown up a bunch over the past week including the above and if possible I watch them at work to save the time watching them at home.

I'm the same with horrors. 6+ is good enough, very hard to get 7+ horrors. Currently saving up loadsa horrors for the October challenge on the Horror board. Yep I watch films from all over the world as long as they got the score

The Maltese Falcon (1941)




Sorry kijii, I just watched this excellent noir and I didn't see Victor Sen Yung. The other 3 were definitely there.

I watched this after seeing Casablanca which had the same three actors as in The Maltese Falcon, Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet. Sydney Greenstreet seems to have had an excellent debut in Casablanca in 1941 and had an impressive career during his acting years which took place only in 1941-49 with 24 films.