A Woman of Paris: Charlie Chaplin's straight drama where he only appears in a brief unrecognizable cameo as a train porter. This is the story of a young courtesan who is caught in a romantic triangle between a rich playboy and a young artist. When first released "A Woman of Paris" was critically acclaimed but was a box office flop. I could see how it was innovative, as Chaplin makes these people seem real and three dimensional, however I'm not sure it holds up as well as his other films. The film is full of many melodramatic scenes that dates it too much, but there are instances of real emotion that only a filmmaker like Chaplin could pull off. I'm interested to see this a second time since I consider Chaplin one of the masters of cinema.
A King in New York Chaplin's final starring role is a sincere though messy film. Made after Chaplin was exiled from America, the film is a biting satire of American life. Chaplin plays a king from a European country who flees to New York after a revolution. This gives Chaplin ample opportunity to poke fun at the American way of life. It seems Chaplin tries to take on too many targets and the editing of the film is one of the things wrong with it. The main target he takes on mostly in the final third of the film is the communist witch hunt trials that took place in the 40s and 50s. Here Chaplin is most effective and even gets a great performance from his young son who plays a child of parents accused of being communists. Cut off from his studios in Hollywood, Chaplin was required to rush this film which might account for its rough edges, however it does not take away from the power of some of the scenes.
Fall of the Roman Empire One of the best epic films I've ever seen, directed by Anthony Mann. It tells the story of the change of power in Rome and the beginning of its collapse. The film has a great scope but remains intimate, Mann is a master of these kinds of stories, you could tell from his westerns, it's all high drama and tragedy. I mostly don't go for epics because I find most of them go for spectacle rather than story, but this is one of the exceptions. Plus great performances by Alec Guinness, James Mason, and Christopher Plummer.
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask Woody Allen's comedy based on the famous book is full of many funny vignettes, while some of them aren't as strong as others,many of them are inspired. My favorites include Gene Wilder's love affair with a sheep, Woody coming across a mad sex scientist played by John Carradine, and the finale which takes place inside a male body who is about to have sex.
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy: Another Woody Allen comedy, his first one with Mia Farrow tells the story of various couples who spend the weekend together in the early 1900s. This was a turning point in Allen's career, he was coming off his modern comedies "Annie Hall", and "Manhattan", and boggled his audience with "Stardust Memories". Allen would become more nostalgic and deal with more ensemble pieces than ever before. "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy" is rather tame, but it was a starting point for some of his most memorable films of the 80s.
Au Revoir Les Enfants: Probably the best film of the bunch is director Louis Malle's autobiographical story of when he was a boy going to a catholic school for boys during the second world war. He befriends a young Jewish boy being hidden there by one of the priests along with other Jews from the gestapo. The film leads up to an incredibly heartbreaking finale, and one that haunted its director his entire life. I won't say anything else about "Au Revoir Les Enfants", except that it's a very special kind of film.
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