Bette Davis pulls out all the stops as Janet Frobisher, a devious, selfish vixen who will stop at nothing to get what she wants in "Another Man's Poison," a drama deliciously full of unexpected twists and turns. Frobisher is a rich mystery writer who falls in love with her secretary's fiance and lures him away. But her happiness is far from ensured. She first must deal with a long forgotten ex- convict husband who tries to blackmail her, and then she must scheme her way out of the clutches of her husband's ruthless partner, George Bates (Gary Merrill, Davis' husband in real life). Davis proves why she remains such an acting legend as she dominates the screen in the kind of part that only she could bring to life so vividly.

Ann-Margret never actually touches a whip in this seedy jailbait drama of juvenile delinquents and square-john fall guys, but her slithery moves and schizophrenic mood swings are still enough to give anyone whiplash. The teen temptress makes her entrance skittering through an industrial park in nothing more than a baby-doll nightie as bongos pound away on the soundtrack. Taking refuge in the seemingly deserted house of political hopeful John Forsythe, she begins her torment of the man who would be her savior with her gang of beatnik buddies. "Now cool it and co-exist!" exclaims nominal leader Peter Brown. Fat chance. Ann-Margret yo-yos from little girl lost to feral femme fatale with sharp claws and a taste for blood. She becomes a hellcat who turns on everyone in her nocturnal flight to Tijuana. She even growls with glee while gunning a jeep over a running buddy tangled in barbed wire! Stiff Forsythe is uncomfortably out of place next to the slinky sex kitten, like a sitcom dad who walked onto the wrong set, and the dated portrait of nihilistic, pseudo-philosophical teens makes the film unintentionally campy. But give it credit for energy: Ann-Margret almost single-handedly powers this offbeat drama with pure sass. If the music sounds familiar in the south-of-the-border scenes, that's because it borrows liberally from Henri Mancini's Latin-flavored Touch of Evil score. [+]

Like the classic D. H. Lawrence story it's based upon, The Rocking Horse Winner is timeless and disturbingly effective. One of only seven films directed by Anthony Pelissier, this beautifully atmospheric British production ranks as the definitive filming of Lawrence's oft-adapted story, made shortly after David Lean's Oliver Twist and Great Expectations and featuring some of the same actors. John Howard Davies-excellent as Oliver in Lean's film-is equally fine as the young boy who obsessively rides his new rocking horse, mysteriously gaining the ability to predict winners of actual horse races. This rescues his profligate mother (Valerie Hobson) from financial ruin, but her reckless materialism is inevitably marred by tragedy. Although British censors slightly softened the tragic blow that ends Lawrence's story (included in its entirety in the DVD booklet), its impact is not diminished. With John Mills in a pivotal role as producer and costar, this is a masterful film not to be missed. -Jeff Shannon.

Director Michael Winner (The Nightcomers, Death Wish) casts a jaded eye on the beach movie and comes up with a surprisingly frank look at beachside beatniks in this drama of a seaside Don Juan who realizes he's becoming too old to keep up his love-'em-and-leave-'em lifestyle. Oliver Reed stars as Tinker, a seaside photographer who has turned his business of snapping holiday portraits of tourists into a system for spotting comely young birds. With their names and addresses in hand, he puts them into a pool and he and his friends go on the make. But Tinker, a cheeky character with an unhealthy disdain for the middle class crowds, finds himself on the other end of the holiday romance when he falls for a sophisticated model, Nicola (Jane Merrow), a smart, confident woman who proves every inch his match. "Are you hoping I'd go to bed with you?" she asks on a visit to his hovel of a studio. In this film shot by future director Nicolas Roeg and edited in a style that at times recalls the giddy energy of A Hard Day's Night, Winner transforms the fun-in-the-sun antics of his romantic mercenaries into an introspective character study set in the dying days of summer. Reed creates a melancholy figure in his underachieving, flip-talking cad who keeps his façade intact to the end in an empty gesture of blasé indifference. Music is provided by the Searchers, who make a rare film appearance in a club scene. -Sean Axmaker.

Story of a light-skinned Negro doctor who, along with his family, passes for white in a New Hampshire town.

Film version of popular book by Peal S. Buck about the Japanese occupation of China during WWII. The focus is on the impact that the occupation had on local families. In the end, an heroic young woman leads the local farm people in a revolt against the in.