A Woman of No Importance

"Fever" is actually one of Bunuel's plottier movies. It's set on Ojeda, an island under the control of a fictional French-speaking banana republic. Its major resources are bananas and fish, etc. But the island's real importance is its prison labor camp (modeled on Devil's Island perhaps?), where political prisoners are sent. When the governor of the island is assassinated, the governorship itself becomes a pawn in two different but intertwined games: the struggle for power on the mainland between the president and his brother and the rivalry for the hand of the former governor's widow (Maria Felix) between the new governor (Jean Servais) and the former governor's secretary (Gerard Philipe). The secretary is the film's nominal hero – an idealist who thinks he can change political conditions from within but who is increasingly corrupted out of sheer necessity for survival. Thus "Fever" also becomes a kind of morality tale. At any rate, it's surely the most politically explicit movie Bunuel ever made.

Hiroshige's family, then, were of humble station in life. The firemen, or, perhaps more correctly, fire-police (hikeshi-doshin), were officials of sorts; and, as such, had some measure of authority and influence as compared with unofficial persons of their grade in the Japanese social scheme - influence which was, later on, so far serviceable to the artist as to procure him the opportunity of making his first journey over the Tokaido. The duties had become almost nominal in the general slackness which characterized the last phase of the Tokugawa regime ; and it is related that these fire-police occupied most of their time in amusements, in gambling, or in the practice of such easy arts as lay within the scope of comparatively uneducated folk.

The American who changed the sound of British rock’n’roll. This unprecedented anthology draws upon both signature hits and some spectacular misses, along with unheard rarities from the producer’s personal archive. Until now, Ace’s acclaimed Producer series has more or less focused on the legends of the American music business. This latest instalment is no different, save for the arena. “Making Time: A Shel Talmy Production” celebrates the activities of a soft-spoken, myopic Chicagoan who walked right into the British music industry and, in his own low-key manner, turned it upside-down.

Julia Kristeva is a true polymath, an intellectual of astonishingly wide range whose erudition and insight have been brought to bear on psychoanalysis, literary criticism, gender and sex, and cultural critique. Passions of the Times showcases recent essays of Kristeva's that demonstrate the scope of her capacious intellect, her gifts as a stylist, and the profound contribution of her thought to the challenges of the present.

The American who changed the sound of British rock’n’roll. This unprecedented anthology draws upon both signature hits and some spectacular misses, along with unheard rarities from the producer’s personal archive. Until now, Ace’s acclaimed Producer series has more or less focused on the legends of the American music business. This latest instalment is no different, save for the arena. “Making Time: A Shel Talmy Production” celebrates the activities of a soft-spoken, myopic Chicagoan who walked right into the British music industry and, in his own low-key manner, turned it upside-down.