Foreign Film Picks 2025

Lists of top films will often appear in newspapers and online at this time of the year. Rarely do these lists include foreign films. I'm sure that most foreign films can be as bad as most American films but the cream of the crop are well worth watching even with subtitles. These films open a window into other cultures while at the same time proving that we are all basically the same. Here are eleven films that my wife and I enjoyed this year. 

Fanny Ardant in Callas Forever

    Callas, Forever. Director Franco Zeffirelli recreates the magic, passion, and artistry of the opera diva who was also his longtime friend. Callas died tragically at the age of 53, and Zeffirelli presents an imaginative retelling of her last years. French actress Fanny Ardant perfectly fits the role of Callas, capturing all her fiery intensity on and off the stage. Jeremy Irons co-stars. This 2002 film is a rare gem featuring actual sound recordings of Callas arias. 115 minutes. 

      Dersu Uzala. Famed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa made this 1975 Russian  film, the product of an arduous two year film making expedition into the far reaches of Siberia. It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film in 1975. Dersu Uzala is a primitive Mongolian frontiersman who is taken on as a guide by an early twentieth century Russian surveying crew. While the soldiers at first perceive Dersu as a naïve and comical relic of an uncivilized age, he quickly proves himself otherwise with displays of ingenuity and bravery. 141 minutes.

       Breaker Morant. This acclaimed 1980 film from Australia is based on a true story. Edward Woodward stars as the controversial folk hero Lt. Harry “Breaker” Morant. As South Africa’s Boer War draws to a close, Morant and two fellow Australian soldiers are court-martialed for murder. Their only hope lies in a small town lawyer who fights passionately for their lives. Winner of 10 Australian Film Institute awards, this powerful film directed by Bruce Beresford (Tender Mercies, Driving Miss Daisy) continues to stir audiences. CC, 107 minutes.

        Enchanted April. In post WWI England two wives fed up with the dreary London winter, and their seemingly loveless marriages decide to rent an Italian villa for a husbandless vacation. To share costs they enlist an acerbic widow, and a beautifuk young aristocrat. Miranda Richardson, Josie Lawrence, Joan Plowright, and Polly Walker star. This 1991 film also features Michael Kitchen, Alfred Molina, and Jim Broadbent at the outset of their notable film careers. Based on a novel by Elizabeth von Arnim. 95 minutes. CC.

        Incantato. Director Pupi Avati won the Italian best director award for this 2003 comedy set in Rome and Bologna in the 1920s. Neri Marcore plays a shy and clumsy man devoted to the academic world. His lack of interest in women has become an increasing source of anxiety to his womanizing father (Giancarlo Giannini), a tailor for the Pope. He sends his son to teach in a high school in Bologna with the hopes that he will find a wife and produce an heir for the family. 107 minutes. Subtitles.

        A Foreign Field. This British film has an acclaimed international cast that includes Alec Guinness, Leo McKern, Jeanne Moreau, Loren Bacall, John Randolph, and Geraldine Chaplin. Two British war vets meet an American vet when all three return to Normandy on the 50th anniversary of D-Day. Old rivalries resurface, particularly when two of the men discover they are searching for the same lost love. This disparate band of survivors eventually finds common ground in the memory of what they lost on that fateful day in 1944. 95 minutes. CC. 

           Persuasion. Amanda Root and Cieran Hinds star as separated lovers in this 1995 film adaptation of Jane Austen’s final novel. She is the proverbial ugly duckling in a pretentious upper class family, and he is a young somewhat lower class young naval officer who has risen during the Napoleonic wars. It is as close to the spirit of the great author as it is possible to get. 104minutes. CC.

           Pagliacci. Franco Zeffirelli directed this 1982 film adaptation of Leoncavallo’s famous opera. Placido Domingo and Teresa Stratas star as the principals in a travelling performance of the Commedia dell’ Arte but the comedy turns to real life tragedy. 72 minutes. Subtitles.

           “12”. Famed post-Soviet Russian film maker Nikita Mikhalkov directed this powerful story of a room full of jurors from all different levels of Russian society who are thrown together to determine the fate of a young man accused of murdering his stepfather. Each juror reveals his own story as they seek to discover the truth about the murder and themselves. Based on the famous American drama, Twelve Angry Men. 160 minutes. Subtitles.

          The Twilight Samurai. This 2002 Japanese film made by renowned director, Yoji Yamada, is set in a changing Japan of the late nineteenth century. Hiroyuki Sanada, one of Japan’s leading film stars, plays a low ranking, poverty stricken samurai trying to support his family. However, he is caught in the turmoil of the times and ordered to confront and kill a renegade warrior. The film won an unprecedented twelve Japanese Academy Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress. 129 minutes. Subtitles.

         Italian for Beginners. This warm and playful story from Denmark is about six perfect strangers and the shared journey of discovery that changes each of their lives. In a small Danish city, a mismatched collection of opposites have signed up for an Italian language class in hope of spicing up their lives. The film was shot in “cinema verite” style without any special effects or overbearing sound track.  118 minutes. Subtitles.

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Best Films of 2022

Lists of the year's top films often appear at this time of the year. Since I am too old to understand or follow today's films with their special effects and constant cutting, I present my own list of outstanding films that I have watched from my DVD collection this year. I prefer DVDs because they often come with commentaries and other special features, In addition, they are usually closed captioned for the hearing impaired. 

            

Brief Encounter: This 1945 British film is widely regarded as one of the best films of all time. It is the story of an affair between a suburban English housewife, and a married doctor who meet accidentally at a railway terminal. Playwright Noel Coward adapted his own play for the screen, and David Lean directed. The film stars Celia Johnson, one of the UK’s greatest actresses, along with Trevor Howard.  

    Enchanted April: Stifled British wives Lottie (Josie Lawrence) and Rose       (MirandaRichardson) rent an Italian villa for a husbandless vacation. Sharing the retreat are acerbic widow Mrs. Fisher (Oscar nominee Joan Plowright) and socialite Caroline d’Este (Polly Walker). The four spend a month savoring newfound freedom and the opportunity for self-discovery. This film also features Michael Kitchen, Alfred Molina, and Jim Broadbent at the outset of their notable film careers.    

The Queen: Famed British actress Helen Mirren stars in this 2006 dramatization of the events following upon the death of Princess Diana in 1997. Mirren claimed that she had to consider herself as painting a portrait of Queen Elizabeth in order to take on such a difficult role.  Her portrayal won a well-deserved Academy award for Best Actress. 

A Foreign Field: This British film features an acclaimed international cast including Alec Guinness, Leo McKern, Jeanne Moreau, Loren Bacall, John Randolph, and Geraldine Chaplin. Two British war vets meet an American vet when all three return to Normandy on the 50th anniversary of D-Day. Old rivalries resurface, particularly when two of the men discover they are searching for the same lost love. This disparate band of survivors eventually finds common ground in the memory of what they lost on that fateful day in 1944. 

Mid-August Lunch:  Gianni Di Gregorio stars in and directs this 2008 charming tale from Italy of great food, feisty old ladies, and unlikely friendships. The setting is a largely deserted Rome on the national holiday, Ferragosto, during the dog days of summer when most Romans have fled the city’s heat for the mountains or the shore. Four elderly ladies have to spend the holiday together sharing a sweltering apartment.

The Way. Martin Sheen stars in  a powerful and inspirational 2010 film about family, friends, and the challenges we face while navigating through life. Sheen plays an American doctor who travels to France after receiving the news of the death of his estranged son. Rather than return home, he decides to embark on the historical pilgrimage, “the Way of St. James”, to honor his son’s desire to finish the journey.  Directed by Emilio Estevez, Sheen’s real life son.

Twilight Samurai:  This 2002 film, set in a changing Japan of the late nineteenth century, takes a modern look at the traditional Samurai story. Hiroyuki Sanada, one of Japan’s leading film stars, plays a low ranking, poverty stricken samurai trying to support his family. However, he is caught in the shifting turmoil of the times and ordered to confront and kill a renegade warrior. The film won twelve Japanese Film Academy Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress. 

The Son’s Room: In this 2001 Italian film Nanni Moretti plays a psychotherapist who thinks he has all the answers until an unthinkable tragedy hits home and turns his life upside down. Moretti also directed this film that won great critical acclaim as well as the Best Picture award at the Cannes Film Festival. 

The Holly and the Ivy: Celia Johnson, Ralph Richardson, and Margaret Leighton star in this 1952 British holiday film. A widowed minister is torn between the needs of his family and his parishioners. The annual Christmas reunion of the minister’s family exposes long simmering family tensions until they all rediscover the true meaning of Christmas.

 

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Foreign Film Favorites 2019

Lists of top films will often appear in newspapers and online at this time of the year. Rarely do these lists include foreign films. I'm sure that most foreign films can be as bad as most American films but the cream of the crop are well worth watching even with subtitles. These films open a window into other cultures while at the same time proving that we are all basically the same. Here are eight films that my wife and I enjoyed this year.*

The Lunch Box: This 2014 film is a charming tale of love and loneliness set in contemporary India. In the bustling metropolis of Mumbai, housewives still prepare hot lunches for their office- working husbands. A dedicated courier service delivers the lunch box right to the desk each day. This is the story of two people whose lives were changed when one lunch box was delivered to the wrong desk.


Hobson’s Choice: David Lean directed this 1954 black and white comedy about an overbearing widower whose three daughters work in his shoe shop but who are determined to get put from under his tyrannical rule. Charles Laughton and Brenda De Banzie star along with a young John Mills.


Bread and Tulips: By chance an Italian housewife gets separated from her husband and two sons on a bus tour. She winds up in Venice and discovers a new life.This heartwarming 2000 comedy from Italy won 9 “David di Donatello” awards (the Italian equivalent of the Oscars), including best picture, best actor, best actress, and best director.

Floating Weeds: An aging actor takes his theatrical troupe to a small seaside town where he reunites with his former lover and their illegitimate son to the chagrin of his current mistress. This 1959 color film by famed Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu is often found on all time top film lists.

Breaker Morant: Based on a true story, Edward Woodward stars as the controversial Australian folk hero Lt. Harry “Breaker” Morant in this 1980 film. As South Africa’s Boer War draws to a close, Morant and two fellow Australian soldiers are court-martialed for the murder of a civilian. Their only hope lies in a small town lawyer who fights passionately for their lives. Directed by Bruce Beresford, this 1980 film won 10 Australian Film Institute awards.

Too Bad She’s Bad: This 1955 Italian comedy stars a young Sophia Loren, an unknown Marcello Mastroianni, and famed movie star and director Vittorio De Sica. Loren plays a beautiful petty thief working with DeSica, her con-man father, while Mastroianni plays a naïve cabbie caught in their clutches. Artfully directed by Alessandro Blasetti, the film is a delightful romp, the first pairing of Loren and Mastroianni, not to mention the historic first appearance together of these three legends of Italian cinema.

Ballad of a Soldier. In this 1958 film, Russian soldier Alyosha Skvortsov is granted a visit with his mother after an act of heroism during WWII. As he journeys home, Alyosha encounters the devastation of his war-torn country, witnesses glimmers of hope among the people, and falls in love. With its poetic visual imagery, Ballad of a Soldier is a meditation on the effects of war, and a milestone in Russian cinema.

Always: Sunset on Third Street. This heart- warming Japanese comedy is a nostalgic look back at Tokyo in the late 50’s, poised on the brink of an economic explosion after defeat in WW II. Released in 2006, the film won Japan’s equivalent of the Oscars in 13 of the 14 categories in which it was nominated.

*My wife and I are avid film fans but rarely go to the movies anymore. We prefer to stay home and watch DVDs from Netflix or my own collection. I prefer to use a DVD rather than streaming because the DVD often comes with commentary and special features that can be interesting and informative.

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Top Film List 2018

Lists of top films will often appear in newspapers and online at this time of the year. My wife and I are avid film fans but rarely go to the movies anymore. We prefer to stay home and watch DVDs from Netflix or my own collection. I prefer to use a DVD rather than scanning because the DVD often comes with commentary and special features that can be interesting. Below find a list of films that we have enjoyed in the past year. I begin with eight foreign films.

Marcello Mastroianni, Divorce Italian style

Divorce Italian Style: Director Pietro Germi’s hilarious and cutting 1962 satire of Sicilian mores and culture is one of the great Italian comedies. Marcello Mastroianni plays a Sicilian aristocrat who longs to marry his nubile young cousin Angela. One obstacle stands in his way: his fatuous and fawning wife. His solution? Since divorce is illegal, he hatches a plot to lure his spouse into the arms of another and then murder her in a justifiable effort to save his honor. 

Italian for Beginners: A warm and playful story from Denmark about six perfect strangers and the shared journey of discovery that changes each of their lives. In a small Danish city, a mismatched collection of opposites have signed up for an Italian class in hope of spicing up their lives. The film was shot in “cinema verite” style without any special effects or overbearing sound track. 2002.

Arranged: An American film from 2007 about the clash of seemingly foreign cultures in contemporary Brooklyn. “Arranged” centers on two young women-- one an Orthodox Jew, the other a devout Muslim-- who learn that they share much in common, especially since both their families are arranging marriages for them.

Rabbit Proof Fence: A powerful true story of hope and determination from Australia. At a time when it was Australian government policy to train aboriginal girls as domestic workers, young Molly Craig leads her little sister and cousin in an escape from an internment camp. To get home they must travel on foot along the 1500 mile rabbit-proof fence that bisects the continent.

The Band‘s Visit: In this charming 2007 film from Israel, an Egyptian police band arrives in Israel to play at the Arab Cultural Center. When they take the wrong bus, the band members find themselves in a desolate Israeli village. With no other option than to spend the night with the local townspeople, the two distinctly different cultures realize the universal bonds of love, music, and life. This film has currently been adapted as a hit Broadway musical.

Se Dio Vuole ( God Willing): A 2015 Italian comedy about a dysfunctional modern Italian family. The father is an arrogant cardiac surgeon who has literally driven his wife to drink. The family is shocked and dismayed when their son announces that he wants to quit medical school to become a priest. The father, a virulent atheist, sets out to prove that the young man’s charismatic mentor is a fake.

Early Summer: A charming film about ordinary life in post war Japan. The Mamiya family is seeking a husband for their daughter Noriko. This seemingly simple story is one of famed director, Yasujiro Ozu’s most complex films.—a nuanced examination of life’s changes over three generations. Shot beautifully in black and white, this 1951 classic stars Setsuko Hara, one of filmdoms greatest actresses.

Umbrellas of Cherbourg: This French musical is one of the most beloved romantic movies of all time. Every word of dialogue is sung in director Jacques Demy’s masterpiece starring the beautiful Catherine Deneuve as a shop assistant madly in love with a gas station mechanic. Their ill-fated love story unfolds to Academy Award winner Michel Legrand’s enchanting score. Restored to its original pristine glory, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg won the grand prize at the 1964 Cannes film festival, and was nominated for five Oscars.

Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuove

This year, in addition to the foreign films, I include some American “film noir” classics from the 1940s and 50s. These black and white thrillers have stood the test of time and can be viewed over and over again. Sometimes they were "B" movies on a double bill but now many are regarded as true works of art. Moreover, for seniors like myself they provide a glimpse of the world when we were young.

High Sierra: A ground-breaking 1941 film starring Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino. Bogart plays a prohibition era gangster released from prison only to find himself out of place in a new world. Written by John Huston, and directed with gritty intensity by Raoul Walsh, High Sierra signaled a new era in film.

The Set-up: A 1949 boxing drama starring Robert Ryan and Audrey Totter. Ryan is at his best as an aging fighter at the end of his career, and Totter plays his steadfast wife. Famed director Robert Wise presents a real-time look at the stale-air boxing venue, the bloodthirsty fans, the ring savagery, and the delusional dreams of the boxing world.

The Narrow Margin: A classic train thriller with Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor, the dark lady of film noir. McGraw plays a cop guarding a gangster’s moll (Windsor) as they travel to L.A. to testify before a grand jury. Also on the train are determined hitmen who know the moll is on the train but don’t know what she looks like.

The Killing: Sterling Hayden stars with Marie Windsor in this 1956 heist drama directed by young Stanley Kubrick. “The Killing” is tough, taut, tense, and one of the greatest crime thrillers ever made.

Roadhouse. In this 1948 film a sultry singer upsets the friendship of two men with tragic results. Starring Ida Lupino, Cornell Wilde, and Richard Widmark, one of the premier noir villains.

Too Late for Tears: Lizabeth Scott and Dan Duryea star in this 1949 tale of a beautiful, scheming housewife who will let nothing stand in her way after a fortune drops into her lap.

Dark Passage: This 1947 film about a man who changes his identify is perhaps the least well-known of the films that starred Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. It ranks with their best. My favorite scene is the one where an underworld doctor performs plastic surgery on a fugitive in a shabby office in the middle of the night, and makes him look just like Humphrey Bogart.

Impact: Brian Donlevy and Ella Raines star in this 1949 film about a successful San Francisco businessman whose wife and her lover scheme to bump off. The film also features famed Chinese-American actress Anna May Wong.

Boomerang: Director Elia Kazan won critical acclaim for this vividly portrayed true-crime drama set in Stamford CT in 1947. Dana Andrews stars as a District Attorney out to bring the suspected murderer of a beloved priest to justice.

In a Lonely Place. In this 1950 film Humphrey Bogart gives one of his best performances as a veteran screenwriter whose career is at a dead end. Unfortunately, after a chance meeting with a young hat-check girl he becomes a prime suspect when the girl is found murdered. Film Noir favorite Gloria Grahame co-stars.

Witness to Murder: Barbara Stanwyck stars in this 1954 film noir as a woman fighting to convince police that one sleepless night she saw a young woman being strangled in an apartment across the street. When a body cannot be found, the police suspect that she has either been dreaming or out of her mind. George Sanders and Gary Merrill co-star.

The Burglar: This little known 1957 crime thriller with typical noir twists and turns stars Dan Duryea as a cunning jewel thief hoping to pull off his final heist. Jayne Mansfield plays one of the accomplices in a surprisingly good early role.

I Wake Up Screaming: In a rare dramatic role Betty Grable plays the sister of a beautiful murdered model in this tense 1941 thriller. While police search for the murderer, Grable is falling in love with the prime suspect played by Victor Mature. The many plot twists and turns leave viewers guessing right to the end.

Lady from Shanghai: Orson Welles directed and starred in this spellbinding 1948 film that also stars beautiful femme fatale Rita Hayworth. Hired to work on a yacht belonging to Hayworth's crippled and sinister lawyer husband, Welles is drawn into a web of intrigue and murder. The climax is one of the greatest scenes in film history.

Nightfall. Aldo Ray and a young Anne Bancroft star in this little known 1957 film noir about a young man innocently trapped in a web of crime and murder. The film features some of the best work of two film noir masters: director Jacques Tourneur, and Burnett Guffey, the cinematographer whose dark city scenes and winter landscapes are classic noir.

The Asphalt Jungle: John Huston directed this 1950 classic noir heist drama that has often been copied but never equaled. Sterling Hayden, Sam Jaffe, and Louis Calhern star as the principals in a plot to steal a fortune in jewels. The film also features Marilyn Monroe in the role that launched her into stardom.

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Marilyn Monroe in The Asphalt Jungle

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Top Film List 2017

     

Lists of top films will often appear in newspapers and online at this time of the year. My wife and I are avid film fans but rarely go to the movies anymore. We prefer to stay home and watch dvds from Netflix or my own collection. Below find a list of films that we have enjoyed in the past year. This year, in addition to foreign films, I include some classic American “film noir” classics from 1947-8.  These black and white thrillers have stood the test of time and can be viewed over and over again.

To Live: Zhang Ximou, China’s most renowned filmmaker, directed this epic tale of four decades of Chinese political turmoil.  “To Live” follows the lives of one couple as they struggle to survive their own changing station within the upheaval of the Maoist revolution. As the years go by, bringing bizarre twists, tragic losses, and profound hope, the family perseveres, striving to reach a calm within the storm. The film stars the beautiful Gong Li.

Touchez Pas au Grisbi: Famed French film star Jean Gabin plays Max, a gentleman French gangster who hopes to retire after pulling off his last and most successful heist. However, things go wrong in this French film noir when Max’s partner is kidnapped by rival gangsters and held for ransom. Jacques Becker directed the film that also featured a young Jeanne Moreau and the streets of post-war Paris. 

           

Monsignor Quixote: Alec Guinness and Leo McKern star in this delightful adaptation of a novel by famed British author Graham Greene. Guinness plays an elderly Spanish priest who fancies himself a descendant of Don Quixote. Circumstances lead Fr. Quixote and his friend Sancho to embark on a series of adventures both comic and tragic in the years after the death of Generalissimo Franco. Although unavailable on dvd, it can be seen on YouTube.

Callas, Forever: Famed director Franco Zeffirelli beautifully recreates the magic, passion, and artistry of the opera diva who was also his longtime friend. Callas died tragically at the age of 53, and Zeffirelli presents an imaginative retelling of her last years. Beautiful French actress Fanny Ardant perfectly fits the role of Callas, capturing all her fiery intensity on and off the stage. Jeremy Irons co-stars. The film is a unique rare gem featuring actual sound recordings of Callas in performance.

Together: A young violin prodigy travels to modern Beijing with his peasant father to encounter the ways of the modern Chinese metropolis as well as the cut throat world of musical ambition. The encounter will test not only his musical ability but also his relationship with his simple father.  Famed Chinese director, Chen Kaige was inspired to make this film of the new Chinese cultural revolution partly by the fact that he was forced to denounce his own father as a “counter-revolutionary” during the Maoist revolution.

Babette’s Feast: a lovingly crafted tale of a French housekeeper with a mysterious past who brings quiet revolution in the form of one exquisite meal to a circle of starkly pious villagers in late nineteenth-century Denmark. This 1987 film, based on a story by Isak Denisen, won the Oscar for best foreign film. It stars French actress Stephane Audran in the title role. 

Jane Greer and Robert Mitchum

                                 

Out of the Past: This 1947 film about a former private detective who is forced to get involved in a search for a gangster’s girlfriend is generally regarded as one of the best of all film noir. Robert Mitchum plays the detective and Jane Greer plays the sultry murderous moll. A young Kirk Douglas plays the gangster.

Nightmare Alley: Tyrone Power plays a two-bit conman working in a lowlife carnival who learns the tricks of a mind-reading act that elevates him to stardom. He brings his act to fancy nightclubs and becomes the toast of high society until he is finally exposed and brought down. This grim 1947 film portrays 1930s America as “a sleazy, run-down carnival, where everyone is either on the make, a born sucker, or trapped in a real or psychological cage.”

Body and Soul:  John Garfield delivers an Academy Award nomination performance in this film classic of a boxer who will do anything to rise to the top. The film also features Lilli Palmer and Anne Revere as the two women in his life. The climatic fight scene, filmed by legendary cinematographer James Wong Howe, puts the viewer right in the ring. 

 He Walked by Night: Richard Basehart stars in this tense police drama as a crafty and elusive thief who becomes a cop-killer. The 1948 film, set in Los Angeles, became the prototype for the famed TV series, Dragnet. Jack Webb, the creator of Dragnet, appears in a supporting role. The ending of the film is remarkably similar to the ending of the great film classic, “The Third Man.”

Happy New Year!!!

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Film List 2016

Jessica from Avenue Montaigne

All of the films on this year’s list are personal favorites of mine. Although I am a great fan of American films, I believe that foreign films provide an opportunity to see and understand other cultures. In addition to being great stories with great characters, they can open up a window to other worlds.

AVENUE MONTAIGNE: a lively French comedy that centers around Jessica, a charming young woman from the provinces who comes to Paris and lands a job waiting tables at a chic bistro on fabled Avenue Montaigne, the city’s nexus for art, music, theater and fashion. Jessica’s customers include a popular TV actress; a wealthy art collector; and an illustrious classical pianist. Precisely because Jessica doesn’t know how celebrated these people are, her guileless and completely unintimidated engagement in their lives has a transforming effect on them—and ultimately her.

THE LIVES OF OTHERS:  Before the collapse of the Berlin wall, East Germany’s population was closely monitored by the State Secret Police or Stasi.  Only a few citizens above suspicion, like renowned pro-Socialist playwright Georg Dreyman were permitted to lead private lives. But when a corrupt government official falls for Georg’s stunning actress-girlfriend, Christa, an ambitious Stasi policeman is ordered to bug the writer’s apartment to gain incriminating evidence against the rival. Now, what the officer discovers is about to change their lives—as well as his—in this seductive political thriller.

PYGMALION: George Bernard Shaw wrote the screenplay adaptation of his own stage masterpiece about Professor Henry Higgins’s wager to turn a low-class flower vendor into a “lady”. This 1938 film, starring Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller, one of Great Britain’s greatest actresses, was later adapted into the famed musical, “My Fair Lady”.

THE ICICLE THIEF: A film director has been invited to show his grim dark realist drama in the style of the Bicycle Thief on Italian commercial television. Unfortunately, his film is frequently interrupted by garish commercials, and then by a power outage that makes everything go haywire. Characters in the commercials begin to interact with characters in the film and the result is a visually stunning romantic comedy. Only available on VHS.

TOKYO STORY: the crowning film achievement of the great Japanese director, Yasujiro Ozu. The film follows an aging couple’s journey to visit their grown children in bustling postwar Tokyo. This black and white film from 1953 features Ozu regulars Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara. “One of cinema’s greatest masterpieces.”

Tokyo Story

JOHNNY STECCHINO:  Famed Italian comic Roberto Benigni stars in a dual role as a simple school bus driver and as a Mafioso. As usual, Nicoletta Braschi, Benigni’s wife, co-stars. One of the great comedies of all time but only available in VHS.

A FOREIGN FIELD: A British film with an acclaimed international cast including Alec Guinness, Leo McKern, Jeanne Moreau, and Loren Bacall. Two British war vets meet an American vet when all three return to Normandy on the 50th anniversary of D-Day. Old rivalries resurface, particularly when two of the men discover they are searching for the same lost love. This disparate band of survivors eventually finds common ground in the memory of what they lost on that fateful day in 1944.

SEPARATE TABLES: A 1958 film based on two plays by renowned British playwright Terence Rattigan about a day in the life of the residents at a British resort hotel. The residents are played by an all-star cast that includes Burt Lancaster, Rita Hayworth, David Niven, Deborah Kerr, and Wendy Hiller. Niven won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance, and Hiller won Best Supporting Actress.

Wendy Hiller in Separate Tables

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