A PAGE OF MADNESS ***

 This avant-garde silent classic is like a Japanese version of "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" and since there are no inter-titles we have to figure out for ourselves what is happening, not always easy when the imagery is as elusive as this. Of course, the title "A Page of Madness" and the setting, presumably a mental hospital or asylum, should be more than enough but as for figuring out what is 'real' and what is not, now that's another matter entirely but then, you may ask yourself, in a film like this should we worry too much about 'plot'. Better instead to concentrate on Kinugasa's extraordinary direction, his brilliant use of the camera and the incredible performances of his cast which seem to go beyond anything as simple as mere acting. If this were a Russian or German film it would probably be high in the polls of the greatest films ever made and yet it is hardly known at all. You may not understand it but I defy you not to be blown away by it.

PRIVATE WORLDS no stars

 I suppose in 1935 this was considered a fairly daring movie; a 'serious' look at psychiatry and the goings-on in a mental hospital, clearly designed to educate as much as entertain. Times have changed, however and today "Private Worlds", directed by the redoubtable Gregory LaCava from Phyllis Bottome's novel appears both ridiculously outdated and patronizing as progressive doctor Claudette Colbert, (miscast), and new superintendent psychiatrist Charles Boyer learn not only to work together but to fall in love at the same time.

At least both these actors are sufficiently talented to spark off each other when together though the rest of the cast are very much a mixed bag. As the doctor passed over for promotion in favour of Boyer and his mousy wife Joel McCrea and Joan Bennett are frankly terrible but Helen Vinson as Boyer's pushy sister who seems to be suffering from more than a little dose of nymphomania and the great Esther Dale as the old-fashioned matron are fun to watch. It may not be much of a movie but in its sensationalism, (some scenes could be lifted from Samuel Fuller's "Shock Corridor"), at least it's entertaining.

GERONIMO, AN AMERICAN LEGEND ***

 One of Walter Hill's very best pictures and one of the most underrated of all Westerns, "Geronimo, An American Legend", deals only with that period when Geronimo jumped the reservation having initially surrendered to General Crook until his final surrender and imprisonment in Florida and it's a film very much on the side of the Native American.

Geronimo, beautifully played by Wes Studi, is neither hero nor villain but simply a proud man forced to take a stand when circumstance dictates. It's a violent and certainly an action-packed picture that doesn't sensationalize events or exploit its protagonists. To give it an added air of authenticity it is narrated by a young lieutenant played by Matt Damon and there are fine performances from Jason Patric, Gene Hackman (General Crook) and Robert Duvall as an embittered scout. Unfortunately it wasn't a success but seek it out as it's certainly much better than its reputation would suggest.

KATALIN VARGA ***

 British director Peter Strickland didn't make his debut here in the UK but in Romania and like his subsequent films it was a horror movie but also like his subsequent films it wasn't a horror movie in any conventional sense. "Katalin Varga" is a story of revenge. Katalin is a rape victim and from that rape she had a son. Now, eleven years later the secret she hid from everyone rises to the surface. Her husband and her village treat her as if she were a 'whore' and banishes both her and her son so Katalin sets off in search of revenge.

Although set in the present events could just as easily be happening centuries ago. Katalin's means of transport is a horse-drawn wagon and the setting is the Carpathian Mountains. It's a film mired in the past, like the attitudes of its protagonists and it reaches its grisly conclusion in unexpected ways. Strickland may not be the most prolific of directors but he remains one of the most original working in world cinema today and this powerful, disturbing picture certainly marked him out as an exceptional talent.