The Mortal Storm - 1940 *****

'The Mortal Storm' is a powerful and utterly heart-breaking film about the destruction and pain people can cause others because of their small mindedness and routine precision with power and gain. James Stewart acts wonderfully as a German who refuses to go with the crowd and leave his small town where he has grown up and support the Nazis. He then falls in love with a beautiful Jew whose father, a professor at the local university does not agree with the current political situation and is eventually captured by the Germans. This leaves the couple in a horrendous situation - do they stay together and defy the odds or break apart to save themselves?
Beautifully shot and mesmerizingly painful to experience, Frank Borzage is a true master of his art and has painted a sumptuously powerful picture that needs to be seen.

Conte D'Ete - 1996 ****

A recent graduate takes a holiday before starting his first job and meets not one, but two women, both with different qualities. One is quiet and thoughtful and the other is loud and beautifully aware of her own allure. The only trouble is he also has a girlfriend who's a bit of a pain. Who should he choose?

Rohmer has a beautiful knack of showing off character studies to the maximum, each one is totally individual and captivating. He delivers this all in sumptuous surroundings that make you want to drop everything and leave for France immediately. 

The Lost Moment - 1947 ****

A very overlooked film barely ever mentioned in annuals nowadays.
Cummings plays a publisher desperate to get his hands on love letters written by a deceased writer. He carefully ingratiates himself into the house of the widow and her great niece, hoping to be able to  steal the letters for himself. Things aren't simple however when it turns up that the great niece Tina has a schizophrenic nature resulting in her frequently believing she is the rightful recipient of the love letters. Its a beautifully haunting movie very like 'Rebecca'.

L'Atalante - 1934 ****

L'Atalante is a beautiful film, both in action and in photography. It has this weird, slightly surreal feel to it that I have only ever experienced in another masterpiece of it's time 'The Night of the Hunter'.
Jean Vigo only made a small number of films in his short life, and this is the one that defies time and stereotype. It's hard to explain how you feel after watching, but it's somewhere between deep exultation and heartbreak. It probably is a fair comment to make that it's one of the greatest films ever made.

The White Countess - 2005 ***

I always find it very sad to watch Natasha Richardson in anything nowadays since her tragic death in 2009. Mainly because she was such a beautiful and talented actress with a tremendously wide acting range.
Set in 1930's Shanghai, the Merchant Ivory film follows the exploits of a woman named Sofia (aka Countess Belinskya) who has found work as a dancer in a sleazy club after escaping from the Russian revolution. There she meets Fiennes, a former official who has lost both his wife and children in 2 separate terrorist bombings. The result of this has left him blind, (I actually didn't even notice until about half way into the film!) After opening a luxurious nightclub he convinces Sofia to start working for him and in her honour, names the club 'The White Countess.'
This film did drag a bit, but was beautifully done with sumptuous acting from both stars.

Boudu Saved From Drowning - 1932 ***

I'm strugglnig to come up with something good to say about this film, except that it was done by Jean Renoir. Other than that, this film was desperately disappointing, and even more so because I had waited years and years to see it. It was unfunny, uninteresting and generally uninspiring.
The film revolves around a tramp named Boudu who decides to end it all by drowning himself. Fortunately he is rescued by a nice family who try to look after him and lift his spirits but not before he has completely taken over their home and driven them up the wall.
Very sad to feel this way about the film especially seeing as 'Un Partie de Campagne' was so beautifully done.

The Ex-Lady - 1933 ****

It's surprisingly shocking how taboo the subjects in this film are, but had it been a few years later then the Hayes Code would have been put in place to prevent them.

Davis plays Helen, a beautiful and independent woman who is totally against marriage, fearing that it will spoil her career and turn her old before her time. Her boyfriend Don however is desperate to marry her, and only after a visit from Helen's moralistic father does she decide to keep him happy and tie the knot. However, problems begin to arise when financial problems with Don's business cause marital problems at home, and Helen decides (after finding out that

Don has been seeing someone else) that the marriage is the main reason for the problems and therefore they should go back to just 'seeing' each other. I think it's quite a daring film for it's time, but Bette Davis looks gorgeous and I totally fall in love with the decor, clothes and way of life everytime I see a film from the 1930s.