A few reviews

[Zaharoff]

Promises & Betrayals - 2002 - UK

Promises & Betrayals - 2002 - 7/10
Britain And The Struggle For The Holy Land

The seeds for ongoing conflicts over Palestine, sown during the Great War.
Britain, double-dealing to gain and appease allies, made promises to Arabs and Jews and the French.
The focus of the one hour doc is on Britain, leading to the misery which persists today.
Overall, this stays on point. World War events touched on, as are the Ottomans.
Mostly, this details politics: promises and lies.
Essential in understanding beginnings and miscalculations.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/download/3365671

 

[Zaharoff]

The Woman In Black - 1989 - UK

The Woman In Black - 1989 - 7/10

Very good adaptation of Susan Hill’s shocker.
Young attorney Arthur is dispatched to a remote village to settle an estate.
The manor is even more isolated, rising on an island in the flooded fens.
Locals shun the place, and tragedy touches all who stare too deeply.
This is Horror that M. R. James fans will appreciate, subtle and escalating.
More modern 2012 remake might appeal to viewers wanting a more visceral outing.
English subs = https://sub-scene.com/subtitle/3366202

 

[Zaharoff]

Komisario Palmun Erehdys - 1960 - Finland

Komisario Palmun Erehdys - 1960 - 6/10
AKA - Inspector Palmu's Error

Bruno sets the rules for a who-can-do-the-best-unreported-crime contest
Then Bruno is found murdered – in a locked bathroom!
The inspector arrives with two flunkies and begins interrogating one liar after another.
Everyone has motives and secrets. Bruno was hardly a quality soul.
Finnish mystery bears similarity to Krimi. Comic touches are droll, rather than farce.
Some nudity, too, which surprised me for this 1960 date.
The mystery itself is fun and sustains interest.

 

[Zaharoff]

Beauty And The Boss - 1932 - USA

Beauty And The Boss - 1932 - 6/10

The Baron runs his own investment bank, and seems to specialize in mergers and acquisitions.
He keeps a string of lovely ladies on the side, yet work is all business.
Except for those secretaries who wear short skirts and low cut blouses.
Ones who cannot take dictation, but would prefer to take –
Then he hires a mousy thing, who is as efficient as a machine and just as sexless.
Pre-Code comedy brims with innuendo.
One knows the mouse will transform.

 

[Zaharoff]

The Last Socialist Artifact - 2021 - Croatia

The Last Socialist Artifact - 2021 - 7/10
AKA - Podrucje Bez Signala

The factory used to make turbines. Before the problems. When the nations were Yugoslavia.
Two hustlers arrive from the city, and try to convince the locals.
The won’t divulge who the customer is. Nor how many orders there are.
Still, work is good, correct? Not in the Balkans, where grudges endure generations.
Six-part series, each focusing on a specific character, advancing the story from their p.o.v.
Bitter throughout, with Fate vying with Hope.
Compelling and satisfying.

 

[Zaharoff]

Within Our Gates - 1920 - USA

Within Our Gates - 1920 - 6/10

Sylvia waits for her fiancé to return, unaware her cousin wants him, too.
Also unaware her cheap thug male cousin desires her.
Tawdry melodrama soon shifts to the Jim Crow South, where an earnest pastor tries to educate black children.
Fully aware that there are elements who don’t want no uppity minions.
Film wobbles for quite a while, but bores full throttle after a killing.
Lynching, rape, pursuits, rough justice, blind to mercy or truth.

 

[Zaharoff]

The Devil Came From Akasava - 1971 - Germany

The Devil Came From Akasava - 1971 - 5/10
AKA - Der Teufel kam aus Akasava

After discovering a powerful, magical rock, the professor goes missing in Mambasa.
The Brits send agent Jane Morgan to find out what-where-how-why.

She soon encounters slew of counteragents, assassins, deceivers and charmers.
This rolls like a late Krimi spoof of Eurospy flicks.
Soledad Miranda compels viewing, but the story is silly and incoherent.

English subs = https://sub-scene.com/download/3365674

 

[Zaharoff]

Under The Greenwood Tree - 2005 - UK

Under The Greenwood Tree - 2005 - 6/10

Young Fancy arrives in the village to tend her ailing father and teach the children.
She soon attracts menfolk: the vicar, the rich man, the industrious poor man.
Thomas Hardy adaptation charts the seasons, and the rural landscape is beautiful.
Music, dance parties, clash of class, aspirations.
Very much an idealistic portrait of a world that, I suspect, was on the edge of disintegration.
Although considerably later, this might appeal to Austen fans.

 

[Zaharoff]

Marked Eyes - 1964 - France

Marked Eyes - 1964 - 6/10
AKA - Les Yeux Cernes

The widow is the lone mourner at her murdered husband’s funeral.
Likewise, his sole heir, although she had sought a divorce.
Now, she remains in the tiny Alpine village.
Partly because she wants to know who killed him and why.
Partly because she is being threatened. Everyone observes her.
Moody French Noir boasts plenty of suspects, motives and secrets.
Lethargic pace. At 75”, this seems to run longer.

 

[Zaharoff]

Beforeigners - 2019 - Norway

Beforeigners - 2019 - 6/10

Time travel hopefuls, this is an imaginative entry.
Beforeigners are those who have time-slipped into modern Oslo.
From the Stone Age, the Viking era, and the late 19th Century.
One of the transplants, a Viking shield maid, now a detective, works with an inspector on cases.
Crimes are committed by and against the newcomers, and more arrivals increase social unease and resentment.
Concepts and threads are off-the-scale throughout.
At times, too much so, as narratives and characters ofttimes simply disappear.
Second season introduces King Olaf I, Jack The Ripper, and – wait for it – from Asgard, Odin!
Creators are bursting with ideas, but an overall lack of focus hurts.
S03, which would supposedly conclude the series, seems abandoned.

 

[Zaharoff]

The Devil To Pay! - 1930 - USA

The Devil To Pay! - 1930 - 6/10

Willie sells off all his possessions and departs India. Another failure, his tenth.
Back home, his father is fed up! Fed up, I say!
Nonetheless, Willie is contrite and, even as a wastrel, utterly charming.
Especially so when he catches the eye of an heiress, soon to be engaged to a duke.
Cheery Rom-Com has risqué (for 1930) situations and saucy one-liners for the alert.
Ronald Colman’s grace carries the film, with Loretta feisty as the spunky ingenue.