Classics of the Foreign Film
In 1962 Parker Tyler wrote "Classics of the Foreign Film: A Pictorial Treasury". In the early '70s I picked up a paperback copy, which became for me an invaluable guide to the revival houses of the period and foreign films in general. It includes some popular British produced films that might not seem "foreign" to the American viewer.
It's interesting to contrast the world of when this book was written, and when I encountered it -- where one had to search for opportunities to see movies like these at museums and revival houses -- with the situation today when just about all are easily available on dvd, streaming and other sources.
Quotes in the descriptions are from the book.
I'll be adding more quotes and comments.
It's interesting to contrast the world of when this book was written, and when I encountered it -- where one had to search for opportunities to see movies like these at museums and revival houses -- with the situation today when just about all are easily available on dvd, streaming and other sources.
Quotes in the descriptions are from the book.
I'll be adding more quotes and comments.
List activity
2.1K views
• 8 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
79 titles
- DirectorRobert WieneStarsWerner KraussConrad VeidtFriedrich FeherHypnotist Dr. Caligari uses a somnambulist, Cesare, to commit murders.1919 Germany.
"Like a steel spring responding to violent compression 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' sprang onto the post-war scene of film-making."
Expressionism comes to the movies. - DirectorMauritz StillerStarsLars HansonSven ScholanderEllen Hartman-CederströmA drunkard priest who has been cast out by his community struggles to atone and regain his honour and dignity.1924 Sweden
"Mauritz Stiller's adaptation of Selma Lagerhof's famous novel to the screen has a vivid archaeological interest in that it strikes patrons of museum showings as a very slightly relic".
Features a very young Great Garbo. This film caused Stiller and Garbo to come to America. - DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsEmil JanningsMaly DelschaftMax HillerAn aging doorman is forced to face the scorn of his friends, neighbors and society after being fired from his prestigious job at a luxurious hotel.1924 Germany
"As a moral fable of modern times, 'The Last Laugh' profits immensely from its simple outline and stylish clarity of presentation."
A classic of visual story-telling. This film (incorrectly) is pointed to as the first silent feature without inter-titles. - DirectorAbel GanceStarsAlbert DieudonnéNicolas RoudenkoEdmond Van DaëleA film about the French general's youth and early military career.1925 France
"Abel Gance was a director in the line of Erich Von Stroheim, the type whose extravagant vision ruined their backers."
A true spectacular with giant cast and sections of the film projected on three screens with the the outer ones forming a commentary on the central image, rather that simply being wide-screen. - DirectorSergei EisensteinStarsAleksandr AntonovVladimir BarskiyGrigoriy AleksandrovIn the midst of the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin mutiny against the brutal, tyrannical regime of the vessel's officers. The resulting street demonstration in Odessa brings on a police massacre.1925 USSR
"'Potemkin' was at once revolutionary Russia's notice to the world of it's populist philosophy -- that collective man, not merely an individual, may be projected as a hero -- and Sergei Eisenstein's first masterful film."
Widely cited for it's masterful editing, deservedly considered to be one of history's great films. - DirectorRené ClairStarsAlice TissotAlexej BondireffMarise MaiaOn his way through the woods to his marriage, Fadinard's horse eats the hat of a married lady spending here a few moments with her lover. Fadinard has to find the very same rare hat to avoid her dishonor. This will greatly disturb his own marriage.1927 France
AKA "The Italian Straw Hat" - DirectorFritz LangStarsBrigitte HelmAlfred AbelGustav FröhlichIn a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.1927 Germany
"... in the fairytale land of German propaganda, where the modern world of work and poverty, luxury, leisure and play is presented as a symbolically rigged-up city, with the Art Nouveau serving Expressionistic moods and all the spaciousness of a World's Fair". - DirectorCarl Theodor DreyerStarsMaria FalconettiEugene SilvainAndré BerleyIn 1431, Jeanne d'Arc is placed on trial on charges of heresy. The ecclesiastical jurists attempt to force Jeanne to recant her claims of holy visions.1928 France
"The main point ... is its focus on certain aesthetic questions in regard to the medium"
An austerely beautiful film, anchored by Falconetti's amazing performance. - DirectorVsevolod PudovkinStarsI. InkizhinovValéry InkijinoffA. DedintsevAfter a run-in with the law, a Mongolian man becomes a fugitive and joins the Russian Civil War.1929 USSR
"Pudovokin was probably the best Soviet director to throw his talents so candidly into the arena of Our Side versus the Other Side... 'Storm Over Asia', I think is the most interesting product of his viewpoint and method, actually having a flair closer to that of Griffith and John Ford than to Eisenstein's. - DirectorJosef von SternbergStarsEmil JanningsMarlene DietrichKurt GerronAn elderly professor's ordered life spins dangerously out of control when he falls for a nightclub singer.1930 Germany
"It is curious to think that sex -- not nominated or rationalized sex, sex romantic or picturesque, but just sex -- came into its own in movies only when Marlene Dietrich appeared as Lola in "The Blue Angel." - DirectorAleksandr DovzhenkoStarsStepan ShkuratSemyon SvashenkoYuliya SolntsevaIn the peaceful countryside, Vassily opposes the rich kulaks over the coming of collective farming.1930 USSR
"Two dimensions of reality opened to Dovzhenko's eyes: a new order of life, collectivized and mechanized, was to be "grafted" upon the unalterably human and natural, that seasonal flowering-and-subsiding of all life that holds a sacred beauty and authority." - DirectorJean CocteauStarsEnrique RiveroLee MillerPauline CartonTold in four episodes - an unnamed artist is transported through a mirror into another dimension, where he travels through various bizarre scenarios.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsPierre BatcheffSimone MareuilLuis BuñuelLuis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí present 16 minutes of bizarre, surreal imagery.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsGaston ModotLya LysCaridad de LaberdesqueA surrealist tale of a man and a woman who are passionately in love with each other, but their attempts to consummate that passion are constantly thwarted by their families, the Church, and bourgeois society.
- DirectorLeontine SaganCarl FroelichStarsDorothea WieckHertha ThieleEmilia UndaAt an all-girls boarding school, Manuela falls in love with a teacher, to terrific consequences.
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsRudolf ForsterLotte LenyaCarola NeherThe Gangster Macheath secretly marries the daughter of beggar king Peachum. When Peachum finds out, he instructs the police chief Brown to arrest and hang Macheath. If not, all the beggars of Soho will disturb the upcoming coronation.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsPeter LorreEllen WidmannInge LandgutWhen the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.
- DirectorSergei EisensteinStarsMartín HernándezIsabel VillaseñorFélix BalderasAs was common in Diaz's Mexico, a young hacienda worker finds his betrothed imprisoned and his life threatened by his master for confronting a hacienda guest for raping the girl.
- DirectorGrigoriy AleksandrovSergei EisensteinStarsPonce EspinoCharles Frederick LindsleyWilliam RoyleFor the most part, this film by Marie Seton, is a series of scenes , depicting Mexican natives in picturesque rituals, ceremonies and rites. It was edited from 110,000 feet of negative film shot in Mexico by Sergei M. Eisentein for his unfinished film "Viva Mexico." Near the end of this 59-minute film a short plot is introduced. A peon seeks permission from his master to marry but instead of granting the request the master attacks the girl. The peon tries o fight back but is overpowered and with two other peons is buried alive. Wild horses trample over the peons.
- DirectorSergei EisensteinFootage from a Mexican "Death Day" celebration compiled and subtitled by Sergei Eisenstein.
- DirectorGeorg Wilhelm PabstStarsFeodor Chaliapin Sr.George RobeyOscar AscheIn Spain, in the sixteenth century, an elderly gentleman named Don Quixote has gone mad from reading too many books on chivalry. Proclaiming himself a knight, he sets out with his squire, Sancho Panza, to reform the world and revive the age of chivalry, choosing a slut to be his noble lady Dulcinea. He mistakes inns for castles, a play about chivalry for the real thing, flocks of sheep for armies, convicts for wronged prisoners, and windmills for giants. While he and Sancho are off on their adventures, his niece, her fiancee, and the local priest think up a strategy to get him back home.
- DirectorAlexander KordaStarsRaimuPierre FresnayFernand CharpinMarius is faced with a choice whether to fulfill his passion by sailing the seas or stay and marry the woman he loves.
- DirectorMarc AllégretStarsRaimuPierre FresnayFernand CharpinAfter Fanny's boyfriend leaves her and sails away, she finds out she's pregnant.
- DirectorMarcel PagnolStarsRaimuPierre FresnayOrane DemazisHonoré Panisse is dying, cheerfully, with friends, wife, and son at his side. He confesses to the priest in front of his friends; he insists that the doctor be truthful. But, he cannot bring himself to tell his son Cesariot that his real father is Marius, the absent son of César, Cesariot's godfather. Panisse leaves that to Fanny, the lad's mother. Dissembling that he's off to see a friend, Cesariot then seeks Marius, now a mechanic in Toulon. Posing as a journalist, Cesariot spends time with Marius and leaves believing tales he is a petty thief. Only after the truth comes out can Marius, Fanny, César, and Cesariot step beyond the falsehoods, benign though they may be.
- DirectorJean VigoStarsJean DastéRobert le FlonLouis LefebvreIn a repressive boarding school with rigid rules of behavior, four boys decide to rebel against the direction on a celebration day.