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Throne of Blood (1957, Kurosawa)

The warlord’s court is full of soldiers and guards, trained to kill, and armed to the teeth, every one of them, but when they all start murdering each other for no good reason at all, sure, let’s blame it all on the one woman character in the entire movie! (Who said watching movies from a feminist perspective can’t be fun?) Watched it all. I like this better than the Scottish version.

Woman Basketball Player No 5 (1957, China)

Chinese youth are full of life and a little bit “naughty”, or at least that’s the word the subtitles use. Watched: 8 minutes. For some reason, watching late 50s Chinese movies makes me feel a little bit peckish.

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The Sweet Smell of Success (1957, USA)

A small-time press agent with big ambitions sucks up to the city’s most powerful asshole columnist, because the only place to be in society for a status-starving sociopath is right at the top, baby, right at the top where you can stamp on the fingers of all the other greedy bastards. Watched it all. This is like an unclean version of All About Eve, where the glamour has gone away, and all you’re left with is a bare-knuckles street fight over status and power.