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Storm Boy (1976)
Wild things should be free.
Filmmaker(s): Henri Safran

Mike is a lonely Australian boy living in a coastal wilderness with his reclusive father. In search of friendship he encounters an Aboriginal native loner and the two form a bond in the care of orphaned pelicans.

Internal Weather had the advantage of being old, and living in both the US and Australia and raising kids in each. That gives me a perspective on the book before seeing the film. Every so often, a young adult book hits a sweet spot in...


Published December 1, 2022
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One of My Wives is Missing (1976)
12 million reasons for murder!
Filmmaker(s): Glenn Jordan

Vacationing in a small town, a frantic Daniel Corban shows up at the local police station, declaring that his wife has disappeared. Corban imperiously demands that the easygoing police inspector drop everything and find his missing spouse. Within a few days, a woman claiming to be his wife shows up, but Corban insists that he's never met the woman before.

Switched Narratives are spoilers here for this filmed stage play that in the end is not worth it. The basic idea is appealing. We are presented with a man who seems to be the target of a massive scam involving a switched wife. We...


Published April 14, 2023
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Storm Boy (1976)
Wild things should be free.
Filmmaker(s): Henri Safran

Mike is a lonely Australian boy living in a coastal wilderness with his reclusive father. In search of friendship he encounters an Aboriginal native loner and the two form a bond in the care of orphaned pelicans.

Mockingbird had the advantage of being old, and living in both the US and Australia and raising kids in each. That gives me a perspective on the book before seeing the film. Every so often, a young adult book hits a sweet spot in the...


Published May 16, 2023
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The Black Tavern (1972)
Filmmaker(s): Teddy Yip Wing-Cho

This sword-filled thriller centers on the title location--an inn where the down and dirty meet to plot nefarious doings. Award winning actor Ku Feng stars as the "Whip Devil," while the luminous and lethal Shih Szu plays "The Lady Hermit" who has a surprise in store for all the double-crossing masters of mayhem.

Zombies This is I think my first Shaw Brothers film. I think the formula is simple stories, easy stereotypes, and lots of (for then) clever fighting. The scene here is a remote inn, which we see in four setups. There’s a really fake looking model for...


Published June 17, 2025
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The 14 Amazons (1972)

The Yang family, men and women, have served their country loyally for generations. During the war General Yang is ambushed and killed. His widow and the entire family set out to avenge his death and defend the country.

Wonder Women am discovering the Shaw Brothers weighty output. I suppose this is typical: 75% fights with goofy, fakey choreography. There isn’t any wire work in this one, but some magical human bridges and the like. This time it is warrior women who by some guile...


Published July 25, 2025
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The Man Without a Map (1968)
Filmmaker(s): Hiroshi Teshigahara

A private detective is hired to find a missing man by his wife. While his search is unsuccessful, the detective's own life begins to resemble the man for whom he is searching.

Life as Navigation has an anchor when they enter a film. With a little exposure to world cinema, that anchor for each film is rooted in the tradition you select from that culture. This is a personal choice, made long before you encounter the film....


Published September 30, 2022
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Gumnaam (1965)
And then there were none...
Filmmaker(s): Raja Nawathe

Eight people are trapped on an island when their plane abandons them. They find a large mansion whose butler is expecting them. Then one by one, they die...

Indians is a famously popular film in India. The composition is simple: a story that gives the film an existence, and a series of Bollywood musical numbers. I cannot recall ever experiencing such dissonance, because I am coming at the from a background in Christie....


Published October 9, 2022
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Monitor: The Prince of Denmark (1963)

Astonishingly Internal is a BBC interview show that has Orson Welles, Peter O'Toole and some other older fellow (Ernest Milton) talking about ‘Hamlet’. Orson was well into retirement from attempting film masterpieces, including two ambitious Shakespeare productions. His ‘Othello’ is really something. He’d been in...


Published December 7, 2022
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Ghost Ship Part 2 (1957)
Filmmaker(s): Sadatsugu Matsuda

As Part I opens, Jubei (Denjiro Okochi), the best of sea skippers, is unable to overcome the stormy seas of Luzon. All hands on board the Kannonmaru were lost except for Shinkei, who alone made his way to land & eventually home to inform his grandson Jiromaru (Kinnosuke Nakamura) that his father Jubei met with disaster. Young Jiromaru tells his grandfather that he doesn't want to be a skipper like his father, but wants to go to Kyoto and become a samurai…

Pirates! Ghosts! Samurai! not sure how much I will be able to devote to a study of Japanese cinema. I am attracted to films that rinse modern concepts through a Shinto lens. So the filmmakers and projects I value are actually few. But you have...


Published June 17, 2025
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The Gamma People (1956)
Gamma-Ray Creatures Loose!
Filmmaker(s): John Gilling

An American reporter smells a story when he is stranded in an Iron Curtain country where the local dictator is using gamma rays to transform children into mutated henchmen.

Women, Trained story here is a bit interesting, deriving from Nazi experiments with children and indicating a trend actually well supported in the US. But the production is ho hum and it has no value for what it is. But it is an example of something...


Published July 23, 2025
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