Marie Antoinette (1938) Review: The Good, The Bad & How to Watch

  Marie Antoinette (1938) Review: The Good, The Bad & How to Watch  American Film, Drama, History Venice Film Festival, 1938- Winner: Best Actress Academy Awards, 1939- 4 nominations including: Best Actress in a Leading Role When Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer poured an astronomical budget into bringing the doomed French queen to the silver screen in nineteen thirty-eight, Hollywood was not merely making a movie; it was constructing an entire vanished world. Directed primarily by W. S. Van Dyke, Marie Antoinette stands today as one of the ultimate monuments to the golden age of American cinema, a sprawling historical epic that blends lavish romance with the looming terror of the French Revolution.  More on Wikipedia or Mubi  Cinematic Splendor and Tragedy in Hollywood's 1938 Marie Antoinette  At the heart of the production is Norma Shearer, reigning royalty of the studio lot and widow of legendary producer Irving Thalberg, who had passionately championed the pr...

Watch Hon dansade en sommar (1951)

 Hon dansade en sommar (1951)
Swedish Film, Drama, Romance
English title: One Summer of Happiness 

Winner: Best Music
Nomination: Palme d'Or 

One Summer of Happiness (Swedish: Hon dansade en sommar, lit. 'She danced one summer') is a 1951 Swedish film by director Arne Mattsson, based on the 1949 novel Sommardansen (The summer dance) by Per Olof Ekström. It was the first Swedish film to win the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. It was also nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival. Today, the film is mainly known for its nude scenes, which caused much controversy at the time and, together with Ingmar Bergman's Summer with Monika (1953), spread the image of Swedish "free love" around the world.

The film caused much international controversy, because of a nude swimming sequence and a love scene which included a close-up of Ulla Jacobsson's breasts, but also because of its very anti-clerical message by portraying a local priest as the main villain. So, in spite of its awards, the film was banned in Spain and several other countries, and was not widely released in the United States until 1955,although it was showing in San Francisco as early as October 1953

After graduating from high school 19 year old Göran goes to his uncle Anders's farm in the countryside for recreation. It's summer and a lot of work to do at the farm, but he, the city student, isn't accustomed to that. He falls in love with 17 year old Kerstin, and suddenly he is very engaged in country life. Göran is a foreigner, but he quickly blends in with the village youth. They are in a bitter conflict with the vicar, who condemns all their activities as immoral. When the vicar forbids the youth to use the school for their meetings anymore, Anders gives them an old barn, which they start renovating. Kerstin has a strict mother, who in vain forbids her to take part in the youth activities. She goes there with Göran. She is a bit shy, but the romance between them develops step by step, until it is fulfilled a summer night, when they swim naked in a lake. Despite all efforts of Kerstin's parents and the vicar, they cannot stop Kerstin and Göran from meeting each other also when autumn has arrived. When a road accident suddenly ends Kerstin's life, Göran is accused by the vicar for being a seducer that had led Kerstin astray. More on Wikipedia or Mubi 

Cannes Film Festival, 1952- Winner: Best Music, Nomination: Palme d'Or 
Berlin International Film Festival- Winner: Golden Bear

Trailer


 Full Film (English subtitle)

 

Full Film (English subtitle)

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