Až Přijde Kocour (The Cassandra Cat AKA When the Cat Comes AKA The Cat Who Wore Sunglasses)

Once upon a time, this really happened. That's how Až Přijde Kocour, directed by the Czech filmmaker Vojtech Jasný (who was later banned from filmmaking due to his anti-Communist messages) begins: a man in a clock named Oliva spies on the goings-on of his fellow townmates for a while, until Charlie, the school's headmaster, shoots …

Murders in the Zoo

File this one under "You Can't Make Movies Like This Anymore." 1933's Murders in the Zoo, directed by Edward Sutherland, is a pre-code, proto-horror story about a sadistic zoologist named Eric Gorman (Lionel Atwill) who seems to have no problem killing any of his wife Evelyn's lovers through some pretty vicious methods. One might have …

Les Oiseaux de Passage (Birds of Passage)

It's not often you find a great film that is truly meant for all ages and works; most kids' films these days are a formulaic combination of a dumbed-down plot (the assumption being that kids can't handle anything more complex) and a tacked-on moral about believing in yourself, with a bunch of pop-culture references to …