Films with: Carnovsky, Morris

City

Originally shown at the 1939 World's Fair, this film comments on four types of cities: New England town, the unplanned industrial community, a crowded metropolis and the decentralized community.

DVD 8109

Gun crazy

Classic film noir based on a short story by MacKinlay Kantor. A greedy sideshow sharp-shooter marries an ex-army man, then leads him down the road to crime for easy money. Includes a bank robbery sequence, noted for being filmed in one shot.

DVD 7580

Life of Emile Zola

In 1862 Paris, Emile Zola is barely scratching out a living writing muckraking articles about the poverty of the French people and the corruption of their leaders. Until "Nana," about the life of a prostitute, becomes a smash hit and turns Zola into a celebrity, champion of the people. As he churns out a string of similar books that make him quite rich, his old friend Paul Cezanne tells him "An artist should remain poor." His determined intervention in the Dreyfus Affair, at the request of Dreyfus's wife Lucie, results in "J'accuse!" his famous denunciation of the Army, and leads to a conviction for libel. He flees to England, where he remains until granted amnesty. Unfortunately, he dies before the news that Dreyfus was exonerated and reinstated to full rank can reach him. Indicative of the mores of its time, during the course of this clear story about institutionalized anti-Semitism, the word "Jew" is never mentioned. And while most Hollywood biographies must be taken with a grain--if not a handful--of salt, the film makes a reasonable effort at accuracy and completeness.

DVD 8645