Der Raub der Mona Lisa (1931)

Germany / 87 minutes / bw / Tobis-Klangfilm, Super-Film Dir: Géza von Bolváry Pr: Julius Haimann Scr: Walter Reisch Cine: Willi Goldberger Cast: Willi Forst, Trude von Molo, Gustav Gründgens, Max Gülstorff, Anton Pointner, Rosa Valetti, Fritz Odemar, Roda-Roda, Fritz Grünbaum, Paul Kemp, Fritz ... Read full article

book: New Year’s Eve (1997) by Lisa Grunwald

I came to this novel off the back of abandoning another. The book concerned — which shall here, as is my custom, remain anonymous — was only 165 pages long so, although it looked potentially a bit uninspiring, I reasoned I should surely be able to get through it easily enough and the exp... Read full article

book: Such Small Hands (2008; trans 2017 Lisa Dillman) by Andrés Barba

A strange little book, more like a longish novelette than even a novella. I’m still undecided as to whether I like it or not. Aged seven, Marina survives the car crash that kills her mom and dad, and, after extensive surgery, is shipped off to an orphanage: “My father died instantly, and the... Read full article

book: Paris Requiem (2001) by Lisa Appignanesi

It’s 1899 and Paris is readying itself for the Exposition Universelle of that year. Widowed lawyer James Norton arrives from Boston with strict instructions from his mother to extract his younger brother Raf from a potentially disastrous liaison with a — gasp! — Jewish actress, Oly... Read full article

Rear Window (1954): Visual Cinema and “Lisa”

There are such a vast number of levels to appreciate Rear Window on and one of those is its impeccable use of sound as well as a score courtesy of Franz Waxman. In fact, it is quite easy to consider it as a film with a wholly diegetic soundtrack but it’s really a complicated weaving of sound ... Read full article