favourite obscure movies
by l-tsmash | created - 27 Dec 2012 | updated - 30 Dec 2012 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Shanghai Blues (1984)
103 min | Comedy, Romance
In 1937 Shanghai, a soon-to-depart soldier meets a young woman under a bridge during a Japanese air raid. They vow to meet after the war ends, but they don't each other's name or face. Ten ... See full summary »
Director: Hark Tsui | Stars: Kenny Bee, Sylvia Chang, Sally Yeh, Ken Boyle
Votes: 496
Shanghai Blues
2. The Man from Hong Kong (1975)
R | 106 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
While on dispatch in Australia to extradite a drug courier, a tough Hong Kong cop wages a one-man war against Sydney's most powerful kingpin.
Directors: Brian Trenchard-Smith, Jimmy Wang Yu | Stars: Jimmy Wang Yu, George Lazenby, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Roger Ward
Votes: 1,836
3. Dom na Trubnoy (1928)
Not Rated | 64 min | Comedy
A girl Parasha Pitunova comes to Moscow from a deep province, eventually she arrives at a house. This is a story about the house and its inhabitants.
Director: Boris Barnet | Stars: Vera Maretskaya, Anel Sudakevich, Ada Voytsik, Vladimir Fogel
Votes: 730
The House on Trubnaya
4. Shree 420 (1955)
168 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
When a young man from a small town decides to make it big in a city, he faces several challenges.
Director: Raj Kapoor | Stars: Nargis, Raj Kapoor, Nadira, Nemo
Votes: 3,000
5. Sazen Tange and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo (1935)
92 min | Comedy, Drama
A man gets rid of a cheap pot without knowing it contains a map to a treasure. As word spreads, many join in hunting it.
Director: Sadao Yamanaka | Stars: Denjirô Ôkôchi, Kiyozo, Kunitarô Sawamura, Reizaburô Yamamoto
Votes: 1,235
6. Secret Sunshine (2007)
Not Rated | 142 min | Drama
A woman moves to the town where her dead husband was born. As she tries to fit in, another tragic event overturns her life.
Director: Lee Chang-dong | Stars: Jeon Do-yeon, Song Kang-ho, Lee Dong-yong, Lee Hee-joon
Votes: 9,557
7. Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)
R | 115 min | Crime, Drama
A chief of detectives, homicide section, kills his mistress and deliberately leaves clues to prove his own responsibility for the crime.
Director: Elio Petri | Stars: Gian Maria Volontè, Florinda Bolkan, Gianni Santuccio, Orazio Orlando
Votes: 13,309 | Gross: $0.27M
8. Bountiful Summer (1951)
87 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
Director: Boris Barnet | Stars: Nina Arkhipova, Nikolay Kryuchkov, Viktor Dobrovolsky, Anton Dunaysky
Votes: 110
Bountiful Summer
9. Love and Other Catastrophes (1996)
R | 78 min | Comedy, Romance
A day in the life of two film-school students trying to find love and another house-mate.
Director: Emma-Kate Croghan | Stars: Frances O'Connor, Alice Garner, Matt Day, Matthew Dyktynski
Votes: 2,071 | Gross: $0.21M
10. Newsfront (1978)
PG | 110 min | Drama, History
In post-war Australia the men and women of Cinetone struggle to produce the weekly news reels for the movie-going public.
Director: Phillip Noyce | Stars: Bill Hunter, Gerard Kennedy, Wendy Hughes, Chris Haywood
Votes: 902
11. Boot Polish (1954)
90 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Preteen brother and sister, abandoned by their father, to be taken care of, by an abusive prostitute aunt, survive life in an Indian squatters' camp, aided by a friendly cripple, by learning to shine shoes instead of begging.
Director: Prakash Arora | Stars: Kumari Naaz, Ratan Kumar, David Abraham, Chand Burke
Votes: 883
12. Death in Brunswick (1990)
R | 109 min | Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Carl Fitzgerald is down-on-his-luck until he meets Sophie, a beautiful Greek girl. He gets a job as a cook, but accidentally kills a fellow worker. He turns to his unscrupulous best friend for help and they attempt to dispose of the body.
Director: John Ruane | Stars: Sam Neill, Zoe Carides, John Clarke, Yvonne Lawley
Votes: 1,441
13. Seisaku's Wife (1965)
93 min | Drama, Romance, War
On the eve of the Russo-Japanese war at the beginning of the 20th century, small-town girl Okane has married an old wealthy man to escape a life of poverty.
Director: Yasuzô Masumura | Stars: Ayako Wakao, Takahiro Tamura, Nobuo Chiba, Yûzô Hayakawa
Votes: 669
Seisaku's Wife
14. Oki's Movie (2010)
Not Rated | 80 min | Comedy, Drama
A love story between a middle-aged professor, a young student who prepares a movie and a student/film-maker who drinks too much.
Director: Hong Sang-soo | Stars: Lee Sun-kyun, Jung Yu-mi, Moon Sung-Keun, Jeong-rim Baek
Votes: 1,319
Oki's Movie
15. Alyonka (1962)
86 min | Comedy
Set in 1955 when many migrated from Russia to the Steppes of Kazakhstan, this is the trip back to the Canal from the frontier and farms by a number of people who tell their settler stories.... See full summary »
Director: Boris Barnet | Stars: Natalya Ovodova, Irina Zarubina, Vasiliy Shukshin, Nikolay Bogolyubov
Votes: 180
16. Project A-Ko (1986)
Unrated | 86 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A plucky, super-powered redhead finds herself saving her crybaby best friend from an amorous, bikini armor-clad classmate at their new school and aliens seeking to bring her home.
Directors: Katsuhiko Nishijima, Shigeru Morikawa | Stars: Miki Itô, Emi Shinohara, Michie Tomizawa, Julia Braams
Votes: 1,473
17. Green Fish (1997)
111 min | Drama
Returning home and finding his town drastically changed, a former soldier falls in with gangsters.
Director: Lee Chang-dong | Stars: Han Suk-kyu, Shim Hye-jin, Moon Sung-Keun, Yu-Kyeong Cha
Votes: 2,090
18. The Girl with the Hat Box (1927)
Not Rated | 60 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Natasha and her grandfather live in a cottage near Moscow, making hats for Madame Irène. Madame and her husband have told the housing committee that Natasha rents a room from them; this ... See full summary »
Director: Boris Barnet | Stars: Anna Sten, Vladimir Mikhaylov, Vladimir Fogel, Ivan Koval-Samborsky
Votes: 813
19. By the Bluest of Seas (1936)
71 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
Two best friends shipwreck on an island in the Caspian Sea and fall in love with the same woman while helping the villagers of their new home.
Directors: Boris Barnet, Samad Mardanov | Stars: Yelena Kuzmina, Lev Sverdlin, Nikolay Kryuchkov, Alexei Dolinin
Votes: 1,160
20. The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks (1924)
Not Rated | 94 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
Experience the chronicle adventures of Mr. West and his faithful bodyguard and servant Jeddie, as they visit the land of the horrible and evil Bolsheviks.
Director: Lev Kuleshov | Stars: Porfiri Podobed, Boris Barnet, Aleksandra Khokhlova, Vsevolod Pudovkin
Votes: 1,117
The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks
21. Knock on Any Door (1949)
Passed | 100 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
An attorney defends a hoodlum of murder, using the oppressiveness of the slums to appeal to the court.
Director: Nicholas Ray | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, John Derek, George Macready, Allene Roberts
Votes: 4,204
22. The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952)
Not Rated | 116 min | Drama
A childless middle-aged couple faces a marital crisis.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Shin Saburi, Michiyo Kogure, Kôji Tsuruta, Chishû Ryû
Votes: 3,661
23. Wings of Honneamise (1987)
Unrated | 121 min | Animation, Drama, Sci-Fi
In an alternative Earth, a young astronaut participates in a controversial fledgling space program.
Director: Hiroyuki Yamaga | Stars: Leo Morimoto, David Thomas, Mitsuki Yayoi, Heidi Lenhart
Votes: 5,752 | Gross: $0.06M
24. Okraina (1933)
98 min | Drama, War
Outskirts is an internationally renowned masterpiece of early sound cinema. In a remote Russian village during World War I, colorful and nuanced characters experience divided loyalties: ... See full summary »
Director: Boris Barnet | Stars: Yelena Kuzmina, Mikhail Zharov, Nikolay Bogolyubov, Nikolay Kryuchkov
Votes: 1,122
Outskirts
25. Another Day in Paradise (1998)
R | 101 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In the hope of a big score, two junkie couples team up to commit various drug robberies which go disastrously wrong, leading to dissent, violence, and murder.
Director: Larry Clark | Stars: James Woods, Melanie Griffith, Vincent Kartheiser, Natasha Gregson Wagner
Votes: 9,199 | Gross: $1.03M
26. Macross: Do You Remember Love? (1984)
Not Rated | 114 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
Earth braces for an invasion of giant male bionoids and their enemy, giant female bionoids.
Directors: Noboru Ishiguro, Shôji Kawamori, Katsuhito Akiyama, Tatsuya Kasahara | Stars: Arihiro Hase, Mari Iijima, Mika Doi, Michio Hazama
Votes: 3,427
27. Passenger (1963)
62 min | Drama, War
While aboard a transatlantic passenger ship, a German woman, Liza, notices someone who looks like Marta, a former inmate at Auschwitz, where Liza used to be a guard.
Directors: Andrzej Munk, Witold Lesiewicz | Stars: Aleksandra Slaska, Anna Ciepielewska, Jan Kreczmar, Marek Walczewski
Votes: 2,125
28. Peking Opera Blues (1986)
TV-14 | 104 min | Comedy, Action
The movie is set in chaotic 1920's China, when warlords fought each other for power while Sun Yat-Sen's underground movement tried to establish a democratic republic. The movie tells the ... See full summary »
Director: Hark Tsui | Stars: Brigitte Lin, Sally Yeh, Cherie Chung, Mark Cheng
Votes: 2,655
29. I Love You, I Love You (1968)
91 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
After attempting suicide, Claude is recruited for a time travel experiment, but, when the machine goes haywire, he may be trapped hurtling through his memories.
Director: Alain Resnais | Stars: Claude Rich, Olga Georges-Picot, Anouk Ferjac, Alain MacMoy
Votes: 3,264 | Gross: $0.06M
30. Broken Arrow (1950)
Approved | 93 min | Drama, Romance, Western
Tom Jeffords tries to make peace between settlers and Apaches in Arizona territory.
Director: Delmer Daves | Stars: James Stewart, Jeff Chandler, Debra Paget, Basil Ruysdael
Votes: 9,665
31. Peppermint Candy (1999)
Not Rated | 129 min | Drama
Following a man's suicide, time traverses back to reveal six chapters of his life on why he committed suicide.
Director: Lee Chang-dong | Stars: Sol Kyung-gu, Kim Yeo-jin, Moon So-ri, Se-beom Park
Votes: 10,802
32. The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (2010)
Not Rated | 162 min | Animation, Drama, Family
A week before Christmas, Kyon wakes up in a world where the SOS Brigade doesn't exist. Mikuru and Yuki don't recognize him, and Haruhi and Itsuki seem to have vanished.
Directors: Noriyuki Kitanohara, Kazuya Sakamoto, Noriko Takao, Yasuhiro Takemoto, Hiroko Utsumi, Naoko Yamada, Mitsuyoshi Yoneda, Tatsuya Ishihara | Stars: Aya Hirano, Tomokazu Sugita, Minori Chihara, Yûko Gotô
Votes: 8,000
33. Party Girl (1958)
Approved | 99 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Lawyer Tommy Farrell is a defender of crooks. Vicki Gaye encourages him to go straight, but mob king Rico Angelo insists otherwise.
Director: Nicholas Ray | Stars: Robert Taylor, Cyd Charisse, Lee J. Cobb, John Ireland
Votes: 3,744
34. Mera Naam Joker (1970)
224 min | Comedy, Drama
Raju is a joker, a clown. It is what he is and what he always shall be. As his life story unfolds in three chapters, from his school days to the circus to the streets, he must always make ... See full summary »
Director: Raj Kapoor | Stars: Raj Kapoor, Manoj Kumar, Simi Garewal, Rishi Kapoor
Votes: 5,317
35. Chess Fever (1925)
Not Rated | 20 min | Comedy, Short
With an international chess tournament in progress, a young man becomes completely obsessed with the game. His fiancée has no interest in it, and becomes frustrated and depressed by his ... See full summary »
Directors: Vsevolod Pudovkin, Mykola Shpykovskyi | Stars: José Raúl Capablanca, Vladimir Fogel, Anna Zemtsova, Natalya Glan
Votes: 1,476
36. Ten Canoes (2006)
Unrated | 90 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
In Australia's Northern Territory, a man tells us a story of his people and his land. It's about an older man, Minygululu, who has three wives and realizes that his younger brother Dayindi may try to steal away the youngest wife.
Directors: Rolf de Heer, Peter Djigirr | Stars: Crusoe Kurddal, Jamie Gulpilil, Richard Birrinbirrin, Peter Minygululu
Votes: 5,106 | Gross: $0.28M
37. Modern Romance (1981)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Romance
Albert Brooks directs himself as a successful film editor with far too many issues that affects the relationship between him and his remarkably patient girlfriend.
Director: Albert Brooks | Stars: Albert Brooks, Kathryn Harrold, Tyann Means, Bruno Kirby
Votes: 4,709 | Gross: $2.86M
38. Oasis (2002)
133 min | Drama, Romance
An irresponsible and childish ex-con befriends a girl with cerebral palsy and develops a progressively stronger bond with her.
Director: Lee Chang-dong | Stars: Sol Kyung-gu, Moon So-ri, Ahn Nae-sang, Ryu Seung-wan
Votes: 10,382
39. Wild River (1960)
Approved | 110 min | Drama, History, Romance
A TVA bureaucrat comes to the river to do what none of his predecessors have been able to do - evict a stubborn octogenarian from her island before the rising waters engulf her.
Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: Montgomery Clift, Lee Remick, Jo Van Fleet, Albert Salmi
Votes: 6,175
40. America America (1963)
Approved | 174 min | Adventure, Drama
A young Greek stops at nothing to secure a passage to America.
Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: Stathis Giallelis, Frank Wolff, Elena Karam, Harry Davis
Votes: 5,990
41. The Paleface (1948)
Approved | 91 min | Comedy, Family, Western
Calamity Jane is dispatched to find out who's smuggling rifles to the Indians, and winds up married to a hapless correspondence-school dentist as part of her cover.
Director: Norman Z. McLeod | Stars: Bob Hope, Jane Russell, Robert Armstrong, Iris Adrian
Votes: 4,558
42. The Housemaid (1960)
Not Rated | 109 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A composer and his wife are thrown into turmoil when a housemaid becomes more than they bargained for.
Director: Kim Ki-young | Stars: Jin Kyu Kim, Jeung-nyeo Ju, Eun-shim Lee, Aeng-ran Eom
Votes: 5,693
43. Fox and His Friends (1975)
Not Rated | 123 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A suggestible working-class innocent wins the lottery but lets himself be taken advantage of by his bourgeois new boyfriend and his circle of materialistic friends.
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Peter Chatel, Karlheinz Böhm, Adrian Hoven
Votes: 6,742
44. The Saragossa Manuscript (1965)
182 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Upon finding a book that relates his grandfather's story, an officer ventures through Spain meeting a wide array of characters, most of whom have a story of their own to tell.
Director: Wojciech Has | Stars: Zbigniew Cybulski, Iga Cembrzynska, Elzbieta Czyzewska, Gustaw Holoubek
Votes: 5,885 | Gross: $0.12M
45. Ai to makoto (2012)
133 min | Action, Comedy, Musical
Troubled high school student Makoto arrives in Tokyo to exact revenge from a past incident. He then falls in love at first sight with Ai, a daughter raised in a wholesome family. Around ... See full summary »
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Satoshi Tsumabuki, Emi Takei, Takumi Saitô, Ito Ono
Votes: 806
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