Directed by Tony Richardson • 1963 • United Kingdom
Starring Albert Finney, Susannah York, Hugh Griffith
In the early 1960s, at the height of the British New Wave, director Tony Richardson and playwright John Osborne set out for more fanciful territory than the gritty realism of the movement they’d helped establish. TOM JONES brings a theatrical flair to Henry Fielding’s canonical eighteenth-century novel, boisterously chronicling the misadventures of the foundling of the title (Albert Finney, in a career-defining performance), whose easy charm seems to lead him astray at every turn from his beloved, the wellborn Sophie Western (Susannah York). This spirited picaresque, evocatively shot in England’s rambling countryside and featuring an extraordinary ensemble cast, went on to become a worldwide sensation, winning the Oscar for best picture on the way to securing its status as a classic of irreverent wit and playful cinematic expression.
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Charulata
Directed by Satyajit Ray • 1964 • India
Starring Madhabi Mukherjee, Soumitra Chatterjee, Shailen MukherjeeSatyajit Ray’s exquisite story of a woman’s artistic and romantic yearning takes place in late nineteenth-century, pre-independence India, in the gracious home of a liberal-minded, workahol...
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Woman in the Dunes
Directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara • 1964 • Japan
Starring Eiji Okada, Kyoko KishidaOne of the 1960s’ great international art-house sensations, WOMAN IN THE DUNES (SUNA NO ONNA) was for many the grand unveiling of the surreal, idiosyncratic world of Hiroshi Teshigahara. Eiji Okada plays an amateur...
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Directed by Jiří Menzel • 1966 • Czechoslovakia
Starring Václav Neckář, Josef Somr, Vlastimil BrodskýAt a village railway station in occupied Czechoslovakia, a bumbling dispatcher’s apprentice longs to liberate himself from his virginity. Oblivious to the war and the resistance that surrounds h...
