Author Archives: chipkaufmann

I saw OPERATION CROSSBOW in the mid 1960s when it first came out and was surprised by how low key and how remarkably effective it was compared to the average Hollywood World War II movie. Even as a young teenager I found the story gripping and quickly got used to the lack of Hollywood extrasContinue reading “OPERATION CROSSBOW Is A Remarkably Realistic World War II Espionage Saga”

THE DARK VALLEY (DAS FINSTERE TAL) was recommended to me by a member of one of my silent film classes and was well worth the recommendation. He even provided the DVD which came to him courtesy of The Film Movement movie-of-the-month club. There have been German Westerns before (TREASURE OF THE SILVER LAKE, OLD SHATTERHAND)Continue reading “THE DARK VALLEY: Old Western Themes In A New Setting”

Arthur Penn is one of those directors who had a checkered career. Coming out of live TV, he came into his own in the 1960s with the movies MICKEY ONE, THE CHASE, and especially BONNIE & CLYDE. LITTLE BIG MAN (1970) was his last major success and NIGHT MOVES (1975) was his last critical one.Continue reading “DEAD OF WINTER: Director Arthur Penn Meets Alfred Hitchcock”

This 1993 adaptation of Stephen King’s book was originally 3 hours long when it first appeared on cable television (for which it was made) and then was edited into this 2 hour theatrical version. It works well enough but you can tell that there are parts missing especially at the end when the townspeople confessContinue reading “NEEDFUL THINGS: Well Done Stephen King Adaptation”

ORIGINAL REVIEW OF THE UNCUT VHS VERSION……Back in 1974 Warner Brothers along with Brut Productions (remember Brut cologne for men?) barely released two films that were classified as horror films but really weren’t. One of them, THE WICKER MAN, has attained the status of a cult classic and is well known even inspiring a remakeContinue reading “WELCOME TO ARROW BEACH (1973): Laurence Harvey’s Last Movie”

It had been many years since I first saw THE SAILOR WHO FELL FROM GRACE WITH THE SEA. I had forgotten what a beautiful film it is to look at and what a perverse film it is thematically. I’ve never read the original Yukio Mishima story but considering his life and death, I shouldn’t beContinue reading “THE SAILOR WHO FELL FROM GRACE Is Powerful, Erotic, And Extremely Disturbing”

I first saw this version of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM as a special presentation on commercial television before going off to college (yes, commercial TV did things like that back before PBS and in the pre-cable days). I fell in love with it and this is before I knew who any of the people (outsideContinue reading “A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (1968): A Remarkable Version of Shakespeare’s Play With A Once-In-A-Lifetime Cast”

Director Mike Newell has always made films that have a literary quality to them which comes as no surprise since most of his movies (THE AWAKENING, HARRY POTTER & THE GOBLET OF FIRE, the recent GREAT EXPECTATIONS to name 3) are adaptaions of books. He concentrates on characters and dialogue and as a result hisContinue reading “AN AWFULLY BIG ADVENTURE Is An Awfully Mislabeled Movie But Is A Must For Alan Rickman Fans”

An observation that I have made before on many occasions has to do with film being the only true time machine that humans have come up with so far. Starting with the oldest films from the beginning of movies in the late 1890s through the latest releases, we have a visual and aural record ofContinue reading “TOPSY TURVY: Time Travelling With Gilbert & Sullivan”

What are we to make of GABRIEL OVER THE WHITE HOUSE today? Walter Huston stars as a corrupt, self-serving politician who becomes President of the United States. It’s business as usual until he’s critically injured in a car accident. Given up for dead, he suddenly revives (with help from above we’re led to believe henceContinue reading “GABRIEL OVER THE WHITE HOUSE (1933): Disturbing Political Fantasy Still Remains Relevant After Almost 90 Years”