One of the finest inline places to read original, well-written and always fascinating film reviews is Bunched Undies. We invited the film connaisseur behind it, David Anderson, for a guest blog. And... he said yes! David selected twelve of his favourite European films for us with a link to his review. And we added twelve postcards from our collection.
The Cigarette Girl of Mosselprom (1924)
The Cigarette Girl of Mosselprom is about a group of men who are passionately, and
somewhat perplexingly, attracted the same woman. Whether it’s her beguiling
personality, her trim figure or her budding mustache, cigarette vendor Zina (Yuliya
Solntseva) finds herself hip deep in would-be suitors.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-cigarette-girl-of-mosselprom-1924.html
Metropolis (1927)
The film is a triumph of art direction and set design. The various technical marvels
of this futuristic society are rendered in a geometric Art Deco style that is as
beautiful today as it was 90 years ago. It is no stretch to say that this film has,
at one time or another, been ripped off by every director and set designer in the
profession.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2013/03/metropolis-1927-12.html
People on Sunday (1930)
Produced during a rare period of calm in Germany’s early 20th Century history,
People on Sunday was created by a dream team of gifted young filmmakers – Curt and
Robert Siodmak (directors), Edgar Ulmer (producer), Billy Wilder (screenplay),
Eugene Shufftan (DP) and Fred Zinnemann (Assistant Director) – all of whom would
eventually immigrate to America and find varying degrees of success in Hollywood.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2013/09/make-love-not-war-people-on-sunday-1930.html
The Four Feathers (1939)
John Clements, often derided as a wooden performer, is convincing here as a
sensitive man struggling in a privileged world devoid of nuance, while Ralph
Richardson is excellent as the jilted lover who cunningly decides to wait it out.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2015/01/gone-with-fuzzy-wuzzys-four-feathers.html
[https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9sffkOQr2NU/VMLMPQuzhqI/AAAAAAAAKc4/vCNMLjWG7SI/w1200-h630-p-k-nu/the%2Bfour%2Bfeathers%2B1939.jpg]
Gone With the Fuzzy-Wuzzys: The Four Feathers (1939)
bunchedundies.blogspot.com
The Four Feathers, produced in that seminal cinematic year of 1939, is a rousing
adventure epic that, for better or worse, reflects the...
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
The Beast’s complex make-up, by Hagop Arakelian, is the film’s star special
effect, and it compares favorably to today’s state of the art prosthetics. The
Beast, played by Cocteau’s muse, protégé and long time lover Jean Marais, is
still allowed a reasonable range of expressions despite Arakelian’s thick
appliances.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2013/09/some-enchanted-evening-beauty-and-beast.html
[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8vMyowqCbds/UkLpTYQipmI/AAAAAAAAIUI/o-SJI9eeKmc/w1200-h630-p-k-nu/beauty-and-the-beast-blu-ray-criterion-cover.jpg]
Some Enchanted Evening: Beauty and the Beast (1946)
✭✭✭✭
bunchedundies.blogspot.com
Jean Cocteau’s retelling of the classic, familiar fable Beauty and the Beast is
a perfect match of material and réalisateur. Posse...
The Cranes are Flying (1951)
A passionate love affair is torn apart by Hitler’s invasion of Russia in this
Palme d’Or winner from director Mikhail Kalatozov. Veronica (Tatyana Samojlova)
and Boris (Alesky Batalov) are young Muscovites fully enthralled with each other,
and in the opening scenes we see them happily skip and frolic along the Volga and
through a surreally deserted Red Square.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2010/09/cranes-are-flying-1957.html
The Wages of Fear (1953)
The Wages of Fear starts as a flabby, dawdling tale of class struggle in a squalid
South American village, then morphs into a primeval drama of survival; as lean and
mean as Yves Montand's sweaty undershirt.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2009/12/wages-of-fear-1953.html
[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FY2687dO59c/SxkkmmJ5WOI/AAAAAAAAAqM/4JMUgZphJ0k/w1200-h630-p-k-nu/wafposter2.jpg]
The Wages of Fear (1953)
✭✭✭✭
bunchedundies.blogspot.com
"Wages of Fear" starts as a flabby, dawdling tale of class struggle in a squalid
South American village, then morphs into a primeval drama ...
French Cancan (1954)
In 1954, director Jean Renoir crafted French Cancan, a loving Technicolor tribute to
a notorious nightclub. In this fictionalized account, we follow the twisting path of
a down-on-his-luck impresario named Danglard (Jean Gabin) and his dream of creating
a truly democratic dancehall; a place where rich and poor, banker and baker, could
mingle and enjoy a night of bawdy entertainment.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2014/12/french-cancan-at-60.html
La Strada (1954)
Giulietta Masina is often described as Fellini’s muse, yet somehow the term
doesn’t seem sufficient. Under Fellini’s direction, Masina’s pixie-ish
characters remained cheery and upbeat, drawing on deep wells of strength despite
their dreadful circumstances. La Strada is a film open to several roads of
interpretation, including a thinly disguised retelling of Italy’s rise and fall
from fascism.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2014/09/la-strada-at-60.html
Wild Strawberries (1957)
Wild Strawberries’ intoxicating blend of the gleefully pastoral with the grimly
Kafkaesque continues to confound, compel and enthrall. It is a journey that melds
fantasy and reality, past and present with handcrafted directness. As Dr. Borg
(Victor Sjöström) confronts his deepest flaws and innermost demons amid the
glorious natural bounty of summer, viewers are treated to supernatural insights and
spectral visions on the mysteries of existence.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2013/06/wild-strawberries-1957-on-blu-ray.html
Zazie dans le metro (1960)
12 year old Zazie (Catherine Demongeot) has come to Paris for the weekend with her
free spirited, widowed mother (Odette Piquet). She is dropped off with her uncle
Gabriel (Philippe Noiret) for safekeeping, while Mom visits with the most recent of
her string of ne’er-do-well boyfriends. Young Zazie is a child prodigy in at least
two skill sets: seeing through adult deceptions and the blatant use of foul
language, and she plies both of these talents with the effortless flair of a true
master.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2011/06/zazie-dans-le-metro-196012.html
Breathless (1960)
Weened on the imagery of American gangster movies, Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo)
spends his aimless days pursuing the twin pleasures of petty theft and venery; a fat
Gauloise perpetually dangling from his lips. Michel seems unable to think more than
two hours ahead - the typical length of a movie in other words - but one day his
short sighted hedonism results in more than existential ennui.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2014/02/breathless-1960-on-blu-ray.html
The Cigarette Girl of Mosselprom (1924)
The Cigarette Girl of Mosselprom is about a group of men who are passionately, and
somewhat perplexingly, attracted the same woman. Whether it’s her beguiling
personality, her trim figure or her budding mustache, cigarette vendor Zina (Yuliya
Solntseva) finds herself hip deep in would-be suitors.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-cigarette-girl-of-mosselprom-1924.html
Metropolis (1927)
The film is a triumph of art direction and set design. The various technical marvels
of this futuristic society are rendered in a geometric Art Deco style that is as
beautiful today as it was 90 years ago. It is no stretch to say that this film has,
at one time or another, been ripped off by every director and set designer in the
profession.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2013/03/metropolis-1927-12.html
People on Sunday (1930)
Produced during a rare period of calm in Germany’s early 20th Century history,
People on Sunday was created by a dream team of gifted young filmmakers – Curt and
Robert Siodmak (directors), Edgar Ulmer (producer), Billy Wilder (screenplay),
Eugene Shufftan (DP) and Fred Zinnemann (Assistant Director) – all of whom would
eventually immigrate to America and find varying degrees of success in Hollywood.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2013/09/make-love-not-war-people-on-sunday-1930.html
The Four Feathers (1939)
John Clements, often derided as a wooden performer, is convincing here as a
sensitive man struggling in a privileged world devoid of nuance, while Ralph
Richardson is excellent as the jilted lover who cunningly decides to wait it out.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2015/01/gone-with-fuzzy-wuzzys-four-feathers.html
[https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9sffkOQr2NU/VMLMPQuzhqI/AAAAAAAAKc4/vCNMLjWG7SI/w1200-h630-p-k-nu/the%2Bfour%2Bfeathers%2B1939.jpg]
Gone With the Fuzzy-Wuzzys: The Four Feathers (1939)
bunchedundies.blogspot.com
The Four Feathers, produced in that seminal cinematic year of 1939, is a rousing
adventure epic that, for better or worse, reflects the...
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
The Beast’s complex make-up, by Hagop Arakelian, is the film’s star special
effect, and it compares favorably to today’s state of the art prosthetics. The
Beast, played by Cocteau’s muse, protégé and long time lover Jean Marais, is
still allowed a reasonable range of expressions despite Arakelian’s thick
appliances.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2013/09/some-enchanted-evening-beauty-and-beast.html
[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8vMyowqCbds/UkLpTYQipmI/AAAAAAAAIUI/o-SJI9eeKmc/w1200-h630-p-k-nu/beauty-and-the-beast-blu-ray-criterion-cover.jpg]
Some Enchanted Evening: Beauty and the Beast (1946)
✭✭✭✭
bunchedundies.blogspot.com
Jean Cocteau’s retelling of the classic, familiar fable Beauty and the Beast is
a perfect match of material and réalisateur. Posse...
The Cranes are Flying (1951)
A passionate love affair is torn apart by Hitler’s invasion of Russia in this
Palme d’Or winner from director Mikhail Kalatozov. Veronica (Tatyana Samojlova)
and Boris (Alesky Batalov) are young Muscovites fully enthralled with each other,
and in the opening scenes we see them happily skip and frolic along the Volga and
through a surreally deserted Red Square.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2010/09/cranes-are-flying-1957.html
The Wages of Fear (1953)
The Wages of Fear starts as a flabby, dawdling tale of class struggle in a squalid
South American village, then morphs into a primeval drama of survival; as lean and
mean as Yves Montand's sweaty undershirt.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2009/12/wages-of-fear-1953.html
[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FY2687dO59c/SxkkmmJ5WOI/AAAAAAAAAqM/4JMUgZphJ0k/w1200-h630-p-k-nu/wafposter2.jpg]
The Wages of Fear (1953)
✭✭✭✭
bunchedundies.blogspot.com
"Wages of Fear" starts as a flabby, dawdling tale of class struggle in a squalid
South American village, then morphs into a primeval drama ...
French Cancan (1954)
In 1954, director Jean Renoir crafted French Cancan, a loving Technicolor tribute to
a notorious nightclub. In this fictionalized account, we follow the twisting path of
a down-on-his-luck impresario named Danglard (Jean Gabin) and his dream of creating
a truly democratic dancehall; a place where rich and poor, banker and baker, could
mingle and enjoy a night of bawdy entertainment.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2014/12/french-cancan-at-60.html
La Strada (1954)
Giulietta Masina is often described as Fellini’s muse, yet somehow the term
doesn’t seem sufficient. Under Fellini’s direction, Masina’s pixie-ish
characters remained cheery and upbeat, drawing on deep wells of strength despite
their dreadful circumstances. La Strada is a film open to several roads of
interpretation, including a thinly disguised retelling of Italy’s rise and fall
from fascism.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2014/09/la-strada-at-60.html
Wild Strawberries (1957)
Wild Strawberries’ intoxicating blend of the gleefully pastoral with the grimly
Kafkaesque continues to confound, compel and enthrall. It is a journey that melds
fantasy and reality, past and present with handcrafted directness. As Dr. Borg
(Victor Sjöström) confronts his deepest flaws and innermost demons amid the
glorious natural bounty of summer, viewers are treated to supernatural insights and
spectral visions on the mysteries of existence.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2013/06/wild-strawberries-1957-on-blu-ray.html
Zazie dans le metro (1960)
12 year old Zazie (Catherine Demongeot) has come to Paris for the weekend with her
free spirited, widowed mother (Odette Piquet). She is dropped off with her uncle
Gabriel (Philippe Noiret) for safekeeping, while Mom visits with the most recent of
her string of ne’er-do-well boyfriends. Young Zazie is a child prodigy in at least
two skill sets: seeing through adult deceptions and the blatant use of foul
language, and she plies both of these talents with the effortless flair of a true
master.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2011/06/zazie-dans-le-metro-196012.html
Breathless (1960)
Weened on the imagery of American gangster movies, Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo)
spends his aimless days pursuing the twin pleasures of petty theft and venery; a fat
Gauloise perpetually dangling from his lips. Michel seems unable to think more than
two hours ahead - the typical length of a movie in other words - but one day his
short sighted hedonism results in more than existential ennui.
http://bunchedundies.blogspot.com/2014/02/breathless-1960-on-blu-ray.html