Film Gourmand

 The best film of Indian cinema, according to the version of FilmGourmand , is the 1957 Satyajit Ray's film "Ôporajito  অপরাজিত) (The Unvanquished)". The film "The Unvanquished" is the second part of the so-called trilogy of Apu, which includes "Pather Panchali  ডিভিডি কাভার (Song of the road)" (part 1) and "Apur Sansar  অপুর সংসার (The world of Apu)" (part 3). In general, the whole trilogy, according to film critics, is the pinnacle of Indian cinema. So, Roger Ebert, who rated the entire trilogy with four out of 4 possible stars and included all 3 films in his list of “Great Movies,” wrote : "The three films, which were made in India by Satyajit Ray between 1950 and 1959, swept the top prizes at Cannes, Venice and London, and created a new cinema for India--whose prolific film industry had traditionally stayed within the narrow confines of swashbuckling musical romances..... I watched "The Apu Trilogy" recently over a period o...

 According to FilmGourmand, the film adaptation of Bernard Shaw's play, George Cukor's musical film "My Fair Lady" was recognized as the best film of the world cinema of 1964. Premiere of "My Fair Lady" was held on October 21, 1964 in New York, USA. Film company "Warner Bros." acquired the copyright for the film in February 1962 for a record $ 5.5 million for the time. This record held until 1978. Another 17 million dollars amounted to the actual budget of the picture. But all these costs turned out to be absolutely justified: the box office of the picture in the first year exceeded 72 million dollars. The picture had not only financial success: it received 12 Oscar nominations, of which it won eight. I dare to suggest that few of those who saw this masterpiece musical by George Cukor will doubt that to a large extent the success of the film was ensured by the participation of the incomparable Audrey Hepburn in it. Meanwhile, the relationship betwe...

 On February 28, 1975, the premiere of Michelangelo Antonioni's film "Professione: reporter (The Passenger)" took place in Turin, Italy. It was originally supposed that the film would be called "The Passenger". But then the authors decided that the film with the same name already was, and quite good (The Polish film of 1963 “Pasazerka (Passenger)" was meant. There is no female gender for the word “passenger” in English), and therefore the film in the European film market came out under the title "Profession: Reporter." In English-speaking countries, it was shown under the name "The Passenger". Shortly after the premiere, in May 1975, the film was nominated for the Palme d'Or of the Cannes Film Festival. But the jury of the film festival, chaired by Jeanne Moreau, awarded the main prize to the Algerian film "Chronicle of the Years of Fire". To some extent, “consolation” for Michelangelo Antonioni and his film can be consider...

 February 27, 2022 marks the 90th birthday of Elizabeth Taylor. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Director Richard Brooks, 1958. Movie's Rating - 8,194; 479th Rank in the Golden Thousand. Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born in Heathwood, a suburb of London, to Francis Lenn Taylor and his wife, Sarah Viola Warmbrodt. The father of the future actress, an American of Irish descent, was a successful art dealer, the head of a branch of a large American network of art galleries Howard Young Galleries. Francis Taylor's great uncle Howard Young owned this network. Howard Young had a large multi-million dollar fortune, had extensive connections in American government circles, and was friends with Dwight "Ike" Eisenhower, who served as President of the United States from 1953 to 1961. Suffice it to say that when Elizabeth's boyfriend, Glenn Davis, was drafted into the army to be sent to take part in the fighting in Korea, it was enough for Howard Young to call Ike for Davis to be immed...

 On February 26, 1972, Jan Truel's film "Nybyggarna (The New Land)" was released in cinemas in Sweden. This film is the second part of the film dulogy "Utvandrarna (The Emigrants)". The first part of the film dilogy was released almost a year earlier. The plot of the film dilogy is based on two novels by the Swedish writer  Vilhelm Moberg: "Nybyggarna (The settlers)" and "Sista brevet till Sverige (The Last Letter Home)". These novels describe a group of 16 people who emigrated from Sweden to the United States in the mid-19th century. The fate of this group was typical of 1.2 million other Swedes. Moberg himself began to dream of emigrating to the United States from 1916, when he was only 18 years old, and he mentioned these dreams in several of his early literary works.  Moberg began his literary activity in 1911, when at the age of 13 he won a literary competition organized by a local youth newspaper. In the 1930s and 1940s he vehemently op...

 On February 24, 2022, Elena Solovey celebrates her 75th birthday. Раба любви (A Slave of Love). 1975. Director Nikita Mikhalkov. Elena Solovey was born in the small German town of Neustrelitz, where her father, Yakov Solovey, a front-line soldier, holder of many military orders and medals, served at that time. The mother of the future actress, Zinaida Shmatova, a junior lieutenant of the medical service, like her husband, was also a front-line soldier, awarded military orders and medals. Король-олень (The Deer King). 1969. Director Pavel Arsenov. In 1959, the family of Elena Solovey, in connection with the demobilization of her father, moved to Moscow, where Elena began to combine her studies in high school with classes at the Stanislavsky Children's Theater Studio. Classes in this studio helped Elena enter VGIK (All-Union State Institute of Cinematography) after graduating from high school. While studying at VGIK, Elena began acting in films. She played her first role in the shor...