Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)

Highly Recommended

USA
Feature Film
Director: Max Ophüls
Writers: Howard Koch, Stefan Zweig
Cinematographer: Frank Planer
Composer: Daniele Amfitheatrof
Cast: Joan Fontaine, Louis Jourdan, Mady Christians, Marcel Journet, Art Smith, Carol Yorke, Howard Freeman, John Good, Leo B. Pessin

Fontaine, transforming from ugly duckling to beautiful swan before our eyes, is quite outstanding in this excellent adaptation of Zweig’s oft filmed novel, a tragic tale of unrequited love in turn-of-the-century Vienna, and one of the finest films of Ophüls’s career. Iain.Stott

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All in a Night's Work (1961)

Cautiously Recommended

USA
Feature Film
Director: Joseph Anthony
Writers: Edmund Beloin, Maurice Richlin, Sidney Sheldon, Margit Veszi, Owen Elford
Cinematographer: Joseph LaShelle
Composer: André Previn
Cast: Dean Martin, Shirley MacLaine, Cliff Robertson, Charlie Ruggles, Mabel Albertson, Norma Crane, Jack Weston, John Hudson, Jerome Cowan, Gale Gordon

Soufflé light and really rather silly, this slightly camp and wilfully artificial farce, depicting the misunderstandings that led to and resulted from a young woman’s half naked appearance in her dead millionaire boss’s hotel room, is, despite all logical reasoning, actually rather entertaining, mainly due to MacLaine’s bubbly performance, but, nevertheless, is quite forgettable. Iain.Stott

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4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007)

Highly Recommended

Romania

Feature Film
Original Title: 4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile
Writer/Director: Cristian Mungiu
Cinematographer: Oleg Mutu
Cast: Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu, Vlad Ivanov, Alex Potocean, Luminita Gheorghiu, Ioan Sapdaru

Mungiu’s remarkable, critically acclaimed film, a candid, unflinching, and beautifully paced depiction of a young student’s illegal abortion during the final days of Communist rule in Romania, and one that, with its excellent, naturalistic performances and photography, is really rather moving and quite unforgettable. Iain.Stott

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Duel (1971)

Recommended

USA

Television Film
Director: Steven Spielberg
Writer: Richard Matheson
Cinematographer: Jack A. Marta
Composer: Billy Goldenberg
Cast: Dennis Weaver

This intense, suspenseful, and expertly constructed television film from a young Spielberg – a cat-and-mouse chase thriller, following a man on a business trip as he is hounded mercilessly by a homicidal truck driver – easily manages to hold the attention despite being essentially a one-man play with very little in the way of dialogue. Iain.Stott

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Porco Rosso (1992)

Cautiously Recommended

Japan
Animated Feature Film
Original Title: 紅の豚
Writer/Director: Miyazaki Hayao

Composer: Hisaishi Jō

Cast: Michael Keaton, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Susan Egan, Cary Elwes, David Ogden Stiers, Brad Garrett

An Italian war hero, turned into a pig following a particularly devastating dogfight in which he was the only survivor, makes a living as a bounty hunter, tracking down and capturing sea-plane pirates, until a run-in with a brash American leaves him without his precious plane in this entertaining if slight Studio Ghibli effort from Miyazaki. Iain.Stott

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Volver (2006)

Highly Recommended

Spain
Feature Film
Writer/Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Cinematographer: José Luis Alcaine
Composer: Alberto Iglesias
Cast: Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo, Yohana Cobo, Chus Lampreave

Almodóvar’s delightful film, a seemingly light-hearted look at murder, abuse, guilt, and redemption, with its gorgeous photography and exemplary performances, is an oft funny, surprising, and original black comedy. Iain.Stott

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Penny Serenade (1941)

Recommended

USA
Feature Film
Director: George Stevens
Writers: Morrie Ryskind, Martha Cheavens
Cinematographer: Joseph Walker
Composer: W. Franke Harling
Cast: Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Edgar Buchanan, Beulah Bondi, Eva Lee Kuney, Baby Biffle, Wallis Clark

Stevens’s formally adventurous film, an episodic look at a romance from tentative courtship to marriage and beyond, is, despite a couple of rather sentimental sequences, with Dunne and Grant’s excellent performances, an often funny, brave, and very moving tearjerker. Iain.Stott

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