The wealthy “Death Valley” Cora is coming to New York but is kidnapped by con-man Ira Collins who has showgirl Sally Shea impersonating her to fit a scheme he has to get an eccentric millionaire, P.J. Quinterfield Sr., turn over to him coined gold which he will melt down and presented as newly-mined from Cora’s Death Valley mine. Sally is in on the scheme as Collins has told her it is part of the plan to get Quitenfield’s son to finance a show for her. But Sally falls in love with Neil Graham, who is an undercover G-Man.
rarefilmm | The Cave of Forgotten Films Posts
This film explores the life of harpsichordist Wanda Landowska and her role in reviving the harpsichord as a concert instrument. It features her only filmed appearance, a 1953 television interview, showcasing both her virtuosity and her distinctive persona. Through interviews and vintage recordings, Landowska reflects on her love of music and delivers dazzling performances that transformed how audiences heard the harpsichord.
French Beauty is a 70-minute documentary exploring the idea of femininity in French cinema. Through interviews with iconic actresses such as Brigitte Bardot, Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve and others, interwoven with film clips, fashion imagery, and archival footage, the film investigates how beauty is constructed, perceived, and performed. It considers what it means to be a “French beauty” — the tension between private identity and public image, the implications of being nude on screen, loss of privacy, and how the star system and couture contribute to, and exploit, these ideals.
Set in the refined world of the Jugendstil era, Die schwarze Katze tells the story of a man whose seemingly stable life begins to crumble under the weight of obsession, guilt, and drink. His once gentle affection for animals turns into tormenting fear, embodied by a mysterious black cat that seems to haunt his every step. Blending psychological tension with gothic elegance, Karl-Heinz Kramberg’s adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic tale explores how madness and conscience can entwine—until the boundary between reality and nightmare vanishes.
In this modern adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart, a lonely man in Munich becomes obsessed with an old man’s strange, pale eye, which seems to torment his every thought. His fixation drives him to commit a carefully planned murder. Shot in stark black and white, the film captures the descent of a rational mind into paranoia and insanity.
A newspaper sends a young reporter into the Russian countryside to make a nice, sensationalist yarn out of some strange stories going around. Once in the countryside, Igor is accommodated by a peasant family living in the middle of nowhere close to a ruined church. The family is convinced that their dead patriarch will return from the dead as a blood-drinking fiend exactly nine and a half days after his demise.
In post-Soviet Russia, detective Andrey is sent to investigate the bizarre suicide of a young mother. As he delves into the case, he becomes entwined with the woman’s sister Marina and the dark legacy of her family’s past. What begins as a routine investigation evolves into an encounter with unseen forces that prey on grief and guilt. The atmosphere grows oppressive, and Andrey finds himself drawn into a realm where the boundary between the living and the dead is dangerously thin.
A film of Eric Serra’s audio recording session of Doudou N’Diaye Rose and his drumming ensemble outdoors on the island of Gorée, off the coast of Dakar, Senegal. The film concentrates on two performances — one shot in daytime, and one at night. Two performances are filmed, punctuated by images of the island.