During the filming of Ragtime, the 81-year old Cagney talks about his career. Cagney tells us about becoming a dancer and meeting his wife, his route from Broadway to Hollywood, the emergence of his tough-guy persona, and his post-war creations of insane characters. Donald O’Connor, Pat O’Brien, Milos Forman and others also try to distill what it is Cagney brings to the screen. Clips from several of his films illustrate their points.
Month: December 2021
A patient escapes from a lunatic asylum and runs into a woman being chased by an apparently indestructible maniacal cackling goon who works for a mysterious mobster. He decides to help her, but nothing is what it seems. Not even the past.
This animated short film attempts to answer the eternal questions, What is dying? and How does it feel? Based on recent studies, case histories and some of the ancient myths, the afterlife state is portrayed as an awesome but methodical working-out of all the individual’s past experiences. Film without words. Score by Herbie Mann.
A desperate salesman reluctantly teams up with a beautiful femme fatale to close a big sale. After a hot love affair, her personal assistant blackmails the salesman into a major financial scam, and he falls deeper into her trap.
A caucasian prospective grad student’s affluent family won’t pay his way through law school, so he takes tanning pills to darken his skin in order to qualify for an African-American scholarship at Harvard. He soon gets more than he bargained for, as he begins to learn what life is really like for blacks in America.
After a four-year absence, Johnny Shattuck returns home to find that ex-rustler Dean Cannary has his eyes on the Shattuck family farm. To force Johnny off the property, Cannary has fenced off a formerly accessible water hole. Unable to best Cannary through legal means, Johnny reluctant prepares for a one-on-one showdown.
Helen Regan, the daughter of a crippled ex-police officer whose disability makes her hesitant about getting romantically involved with policeman Bob Condon. But her doubts are shelved after Bob rescues her and her father, Dan Regan from Blake Standish, an escaped convict seeking revenge.
Filmed in India, Rumer Godden’s story has been adapted and directed by the Jewel in the Crown team. Two English schoolgirls arrive in New Delhi, 1959. Their diplomat father has secured them a beautiful Eurasian governess. 15-year-old Una suspects an ulterior motive. But her father’s affairs take second place to her own when she has a secret affair with the Indian gardener.