Hidden Gems of Cinema

Occasionally I come across a film that is rarely remembered or talked about but I find brilliant. Some of these films were acclaimed but forgotten, some were made in the wrong time and some just never found an audience. Hopefully some of these pique your interest and some of these films will get some deserved attention.

This post updates as I find more underappreciated films.

The Face Behind the Mask (Robert Florey, 1941)

For fans of: The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, Detour

There were countless cheap noir flicks made in the 1940s, many with forgettable plots and cliched characters; this is not one of those films. Although it’s budget and overall sloppiness definitely qualify the film as a B-Movie but it is anything but forgettable. It stars the talented Peter Lorre as an immigrant in New York City whose face gets badly burned in a fire. He is a talented watchmaker but he cannot find a steady job due to his horrific appearance so he turns to crime, turning off alarms for heists. He rises up to a kingpin but when he falls in love with a blind woman he wants to go straight, causing discord in his organization, culminating in a gripping finale. At just over an hour, its really a husk of a movie, with quick pacing and shallow development but it makes up for it with imaginative set pieces, dark imagery, and Lorre’s great charisma.

Dreams that Money Can Buy (Hans Richter & others, 1947)

For fans of: Luis Bunuel and other surrealsim

An experimental collaboration by big name dada artists like Man Ray, Max Ernst and Marcel Duchamp and composers Darius Milhaud and John Cage. The plot follows a man who sells dreams to people in order to make rent. The film is split into seven different dream sequences by different directors. The result obviously is more valuable as a avant-garde experiment than a narrative but it is very accessible and a great portrait of the art style of the time.

Gone To Earth (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1950)

For fans of: Black Narcissus & other Archers productions

Released jointly with producer David O. Selznick, the film was initially chopped up and reshot, eventually released in a messy state as The Wild Heart. Because of this, the film never reached the acclaim of the directing pair’s iconic pictures of the era and has largely been overlooked. The remastered version shows the Archer’s original vision for the film, revolving around a young woman, raised in the nature of the English countryside, and her love triangle with two men. It is gorgeously shot and a charming tale, deserving to be held in similar esteem with their better known works.

The Silent World (Jacques Cousteau, 1956)

For fans of: Planet Earth & Wes Anderson (or really just nature and vibrant colors)

Winner of the Palme d’Or (unprecedented for a documentary), this is an eye opening introduction into the type of work done by Cousteau and crew.  Gorgeously shot with vibrant color (and co-directed by a young Louis Malle) the film conveys an otherworldly atmosphere surrounding the ocean. A must watch, and a great starting point to get into Cousteau.

Underworld U.S.A. (Samuel Fuller, 1961)

For fans of: Pickup on South Street, Point Blank

Disclaimer: I love pretty much every movie Samuel Fuller has ever made; he epitomizes the art of meaningful B-Movies. His movies are often a bit campy, always low-budget but most importantly delve into complex themes that go more than surface deep. Underworld U.S.A. is my personal favorite, a seemingly standard revenge thriller, executed to perfection with a fantastic script. His famous movies get plenty of attention but I also wholeheartedly recommend his other underrated pictures: The Naked Kiss, Park Row, The Baron of Arizona, The Crimson Kimono, House of Bamboo

King & Country (Joseph Losey, 1964)

For fans of: Paths of Glory,

Joseph Losey and Dirk Bogarde made several films together in the 1960s including the terrific societal thriller The Servant. King & Country, although as well made and thought provoking as any war drama of it’s time, never found similar lasting acclaim. Bogarde, in a typically nuanced performance, played an officer in WWI who is assigned to defend a soldier against a court martial, only to find the case is more complex than it appears. Anyone who’s sees the film can’t forget the devastating conclusion.

Yoyo (Pierre Etaix, 1965)

For fans of: Jacques Tati

It seems like there was only room for one great French clown director and Jacques Tati’s more slapstick style prevailed in the public consciousness. Pierre Etaix is a little more subdued style but is equally as charming of a filmmaker. Yoyo is his masterpiece, a sprawling story involving a rich estate and a circus boy. It’s touching and funny, extremely clever and really should be a film classic.

The Killing of Sister George (Robert Aldrich, 1968)

For fans of: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane

Despite making some of the most celebrated and popular movies of his time, Robert Aldrich is incredibly underrated as an auteur and you could throw a good portion of his films on this list. The Killing of Sister George is not only the greatest of his unseen masterpieces, but also very controversial and ahead of it’s time. Beryl Reid turns in an astounding star performance as June Buckridge, a soap opera star who is afraid she is getting written out of the show. Outside of her kind on screen persona, June is an unstable woman, and abusive to her timid lover, played by Susannah York. The film’s lesbian themes doomed it to failure in the 1960s but it deserves to be rediscovered as a masterwork.

Last Summer (Frank Perry, 1969)

For fans of: The Last Picture Show, River’s Edge

Last Summer based on a novel by crime writer Evan Hunter, is a dark coming of age story (one of my favorite sub genres) with a false atmosphere of a beach flick. The story is simple, the budget low, and the actors weren’t famous giving the film a raw charm. The plot follows three teens (two guys and a girl), who meet on a lowly populated island over summer break. They quickly form a very close relationship with their parents nowhere to be found. Tensions rise when a younger, dorky girl won’t leave them alone leading to drastic conclusion.

Sitting Target (Douglas Hickox, 1972)

For fans of: Get Carter, The Long Good Friday

There is are no shortage of gritty British crime films, especially from the 1970s, with brutal violence and flawed, if not completely irredeemable, protagonists. In this picture it is Oliver Reed, a dangerous criminal who learns his beautiful wife on the outside is leaving him. This causes him to break out of prison, with a fellow prisoner played by Ian McShane, and track her down. It is often unpleasant, which comes with the territory, but it has stylish twists and terrific lead performances

To Sleep with Anger (Charles Burnett, 1990)

For fans of: Shadow of a Doubt,

Charles Burnett made a name for himself with his student film Killer of Sheep, a gritty realist picture of poor black America. Although he had a decently long career, he would never reach similar acclaim or popularity again but this film should have gotten him there. It’s the standard “mysterious stranger: story, focusing on a family whose life gets thrown into chaos when an old friend comes to visit. Burnett elevates the much traveled premise with fascinating family dynamics, and clever twists including a terrific ending. Of course, at the center of the film is Danny Glover, who plays the unwelcome stranger, giving the best performance of his great career.

The Music of Chance (Philip Haas, 1993)

For fans of: Sex, Lies & Videotape, The Grifters

This little seen absurdist crime film is based off of Paul Auster’s novel of the same name. It starts like any other indie crime films of the era. A drifting Jim, played by Mandy Patinkin, picks up a stranger, Jack (James Spader), on the side of the road, who has a get rich quick scheme. They are to pose as brothers and play a lucrative poker game with a pair of rich eccentric brothers. The game takes a turn for the worse and the two end up accruing debt that they cannot pay off which is when the story takes an unexpected shift. Instead of paying back the money, the two are to stay on the grounds and work building a giant stone wall for a month until the debt is paid. Of course, the stay ends up dragging on longer as they discover they are more prisoners than workers.

Rembrandt’s J’accuse (Peter Greenaway, 2008)

For fans of: F is for Fake

Given Greenaway’s body of work, Rembrandt’s J’accuse is a bit of an anomaly that shows a different side of the director’s genius. Made as a companion piece to his “historical” thriller Nightwatching, Greenaway crafted this brilliant pseudo-documentary analyzing Rembrandt’s most famous painting. In the film he suggests Rembrandt included subtle hints in the work to outline a conspiracy of murder involving his subjects. But the point of the film is not the murder or even Rembrandt but the skill of visual literacy which the director claims is dead in today’s society. As a trained painter, Greenaway dissects the nuances of the canvas, instructing the viewer how to be better observant and scoop out hidden meaning.

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