Essay

After World War II, Rome became a center of international film production, not only as the hub of the Italian film industry, but also by attracting moviemakers from around the world as a cost-effective and picturesque location for increasingly spectacular international productions. But long before … [Read more...] about Trappola

The name Karl (Karel) Anton is unlikely to ring many bells, even for devoted cinephiles. Unlike his fellow Czech director Gustav Machatý, Anton’s prolific output over three countries and five decades has watered down his reputation, not helped by the general unavailability of most of his features. … [Read more...] about Tonka of the Gallows

“I was getting sick of failure,” recalled Yasujiro Ozu of his early career, “and decided to make a film in a nonchalant mood.” The result was the Depression-era comedy Tokyo Chorus (1931), already the young Japanese director’s 22nd film and the one that marks the beginning of his “mature style.” … [Read more...] about Tokyo Chorus

India’s film industry, often referred to as Bollywood, has been a major player in world cinema since 1947 when it exponentially increased movie production with influential directors such as Bimal Roy and Mehboob Khan at the helm, creating a national cinema that came to define the Bollywood … [Read more...] about A Throw of Dice

Fresh off the career-defining success playing the swashbuckling man-for-the-people in The Mark of Zorro (1920), Douglas Fairbanks set to work to bring his hero of heroes, d’Artagnan of Alexandre Dumas’s The Three Musketeers, to the screen. More than any other character he portrayed, Fairbanks … [Read more...] about The Three Musketeers