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Red Inkworks Film Noir: THE HUMAN SPIRIT THROUGH FILM

A cross section of films celebrating the determination, integrity and strength, of the human spirit,  to both survive and triumph over great odds, including the increasingly dominate influence of the second-hander in America. 

ENTERTAINING FILMS OF INTEGRITY AND COURAGE

12 Angry Men:  (1957) A dissenting juror in a murder trial slowly manages to convince the others that the case is not as obviously clear as it seemed in court.

39 Steps, The:  (1935) A man in London tries to help a counterespionage agent, and is soon finding himself in one jam after another.

Apollo 13:  (1995) True story of the moon-bound mission that developed severe trouble and the men that rescued it with skill and dedication.

Big Heat, The:  (1953) Tough cop Dave Bannion takes on a politically powerful crime syndicate.

Casablanca:  (1942)  Rick Blaine, a callous nightclub owner in a wartime way-station, has his world turned upside down when his lost love, Ilsa, returns.

Count of Monte Cristo, The:  (2002) A young man, falsely imprisoned by his jealous "friends," escapes and uses a hidden treasure to exact his revenge.

Dangerous Beauty:  (1998) An incredibly well-acted romance, offering a compelling story of one woman's triumph over the forces of the Roman Inquisition.

Death Wish: (1974) Paul Kersey is an architect, who is a peaceful man. But when his wife and daughter are attacked in their apartment, his world changes.

Die Hard:  (1988) New York cop John McClane gives terrorists a dose of their own medicine as they hold hostages in an LA office building.

Edge, The:  (1997) A billionaire and two other men are stranded, unequipped, by a plane crash in a dangerous wilderness. How many will survive to be rescued?

Edison, the Man:  (1940) In flashback, fifty years after inventing the light bulb, an 82-year-old Edison tells his story.

English Patient, The:  (1996) At the close of WWII, a young nurse tends to a badly-burned plane crash victim. His past is shown in flashbacks, revealing an involvement in a fateful love affair.

E.T.  (1982)  A group of Earth children help a stranded alien botanist return home.

Executive Suite:  (1954)  Avery Bullard, President of the Tredway Corporation has died. But he never named a clear successor, so the Board members must choose a replacement. 

Fountainhead, The:  (1949) Gary Cooper plays Howard Roark, an idealistic architect Howard who dares to stand alone against his traditionalist contemporaries.

Fugitive, The:  (1993) Dr. Richard Kimble, unjustly accused of killing his wife, must find the real one-armed killer while avoiding Marshal Sam Gerard.

Fury:  (1936) Based on the story "Mob Rule" by Norman Krasna. Joe Wilson and Katherine Grant are in love, but he doesn't have enough money for them to get married.

Gattaca:  (1997) Futuristic story of a genetically imperfect man and his seemingly unobtainable goal to travel in space.

Gone with the Wind:  (1939) Epic story of a woman who can cope with everything in the US Civil War except losing the love of the man.

Great Escape, The:  (1963) Several hundred Allied POWs plan a mass escape from a German POW camp.

High Noon:  (1952) Gary Cooper as a sheriff who must stand entirely alone against his deadly enemy, knowing that the citizens of the town he has sworn to protect are too afraid to stand behind him. 

High Plains Drifter:  (1973) A small town with a dark secret hires a mysterious, vengeance-minded drifter to protect it from three criminals.

Hombre:  (1967) An Indian policeman travels by stagecoach and encounters more than his share of trouble. 

Hunt For Red October:  (1990) In 1984, the USSR's best submarine captain in their newest sub violates orders and heads for the USA. Is he trying to defect, or to start a war?

Inherit the Wind:  (1960) Based on a real-life case in 1925, two great lawyers argue the case for and against a science teacher accused of the 'crime' of teaching evolution.

In the Heat of the Night:  (1967) An African American detective is asked to investigate a murder in a racist southern town.

Jane Eyre:  (1996)  Small, plain and poor, Jane Eyre comes to Thornfield Hall as governess to the young ward of Edward Rochester.

Judgment at Nuremberg:  (1961) In 1948, an American court in occupied Germany tries four Nazi judges for war crimes.

Keeper of the Flame:  (1942) Journalist Steve O'Malley is writing a biography of a national hero who died when his car ran off a bridge.

Lady Vanishes, The: (1938)  Travellers on a trans-European train are delayed for a night due to bad weather in an unnamed country. The passengers cram into the small village hotel where socialite Iris Henderson meets an old governess called Miss Froy. Shortly after the journey restarts, Miss Froy disappears.

Lean on Me:  (1989) The dedicated, but tyrannical, Joe Clark is appointed as principal of a decaying inner city school and he is determined to improve it.

Les Miserables:  (1998) Jean Valjean, a Frenchman imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a police officer named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives.

Lifeboat:  (1944)  Several survivors of a torpedoed ship find themselves in the same boat with one of the men who sunk it.

Life is Beautiful:  (1997) A Jewish man has a wonderful romance with the help of his humour, but must use that same quality to protect his son in a Nazi death camp.

Little Women:  (1994) The March sisters live and grow in post-Civil War America.

Madison: (2001) A story about a man's personal struggle to victory in the 1971 Madison, Indiana hydro-plane regatta.

Maltese Falcon, The:  (1941) Sam Spade, a private detective, gets involved in a murderous hunt for a valuable statuette.

Miracle Worker, The:  (1962) The story of Anne Sullivan's struggle to teach the blind and deaf Helen Keller how to communicate.

Naked Jungle, The:  (1954)  The Leiningen South American cocoa plantation is threatened by a 2 miles column of army ants.

No Name on the Bullet:  (1959) John Gant, hired assassin rides into town. No one is sure of the identity of his intended victim.

North by Northwest:  (1959) An advertising executive is mistaken for a spy and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive.

October Sky:  (1999) The true story of Homer Hickam, the son of an American coal miner. A boy who triumphed over his father's wishes and became a force in the world of rocketry.

On The Waterfront:  (1954) One of my all time favourite Marlon Brando movies.  Brando plays Terry Malloy, an ex-prize fighter turned longshoreman who stands up to corrupt union bosses.

Pale Rider:  (1985) A small mining town is terrorized by a local gangster, and salvation arrives in the form of a gun-toting preacher.

Queen Christina:  (1933)  Young Christina ascends to the Swedish throne at age 5. While she rules, Sweden becomes a dominant European power at the end of the Thirty Years War.

Quiet Man, The:  (1952)  A disgraced American boxer retires to Ireland, where he finds love.

Schindler's List:  (1993)  Oskar Schindler uses Jews to start a factory in Poland during the war. He witnesses the horrors endured by the Jews, and starts to save them.

Sense and Sensibility:  (1995) Rich Mr. Dashwood dies, leaving his second wife and her daughters poor by the rules of inheritance. Two daughters are the titular opposites.

Starship Troopers: (1997) Humans of the future do battle with giant alien bugs in a fight for survival is the main thrust of the story.  But the bonus part of the story is that it takes place in a world where you have to earn your citizenship.  And judging from the number of people willing to face almost certain death at the mandibles of the ferocious bugs - citizenship in this robust and healthy society was worth earning!

Story of Louis Pasteur, The:  (1935) Biography of the man who invented pasteurization and made the first vaccine against rabies.

Strangers on a Train:  (1951) You'd like your wife killed, wouldn't you? I'll do it for you if you'll kill someone for me, and since we're strangers we'll be free of suspicion.

Strictly Ballroom:  (1992)  Brave new steps put Scott's career in jeopardy. With a new partner and determination, can he still succeed?

Terminator, The:  (1984)  A human-looking, apparently unstoppable cyborg is sent from the future to kill Sarah Connor; Kyle Reese is sent to stop it.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day:  (1991) A shape-shifting Cyborg is sent back from the future to kill John Connor before he can grow up to lead the resistance; a protector is sent, too.

Things to Come:  (1936) A story of 100 years: a decades-long second world war leaves plague and anarchy, then a rational state rebuilds civilization and tries space travel.

This Land is Mine: (1943 Albert Lory is a teacher at a school in German-occupied France. He is a coward, but he is drawn into the actions of the resistance.  Red Inkworks Recommended...

Titanic:  (1997) Fictional romantic tale of a rich girl and poor boy who meet on the ill-fated voyage of the 'unsinkable' ship.

Tucker: The Man and His Dream:  (1988)  The story of Preston Tucker, the maverick car designer and his ill fated challenge to the auto industry with his revolutionary car concept.

United 93: (2006)  Emotionally-packed and moving fact-based story about the passengers aboard doomed flight United 93 that was the fourth attack on a plane on September 11, 2001. The passengers on the flight, as a result of a delay on takeoff that placed them behind the sinister attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, are able to learn of the attacks and discern that this is no mere high-jacking.  While the real events that caused the ultimate crash of the plane can never be known, the events depicted would appear to be as might be expected. A truly magnificent tale of ordinary Americans thwarting ignorant, cowardly, freedom-hating, terrorists. 

Untouchables, The:  (1959) Special Agent Eliot Ness and his elite team of incorruptible agents battle organized crime in 1930s Chicago.

We The Living:  (1942) Doomed love within a corrupt political world. At 18, the beautiful and smart Kira comes to Petersburg as the Communists consolidate power.

While the City Sleeps:  (1956)  Death of media magnate Amos Kyne is causing power struggle between his executives. In the meantime New York women become prey of a serial killer.

Winslow Boy, The:  (1948) In pre-WW1 England, a youngster is expelled from a naval academy over a petty theft, but his parents raise a political furor by demanding a trial.

World Trade Center:  (2006) World War III is brought home to America in this portrayal of the tragic wake-up call as two Port Authority police officers become trapped under the rubble of the World Trade Center.

Wuthering Heights:  (1939) The Earnshaws are Yorkshire farmers during the early 19th Century.

You Came Along:  (1945)  War hero flier Bob Collins goes on a war bond selling tour with two buddies, and substitute "chaperone" Ivy Hotchkiss.


 

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