Lord Jim. A big budget, shot-on-location epic adaptation starring Peter O'Toole. Effective as an adventure story about a hard-to-figure guy, but the excitement of Richard Brook's film is not the excitement of Conrad's novel, and the intelligence of the novel is missing altogether. 1965.

Throne of Blood. Akira Kurosawa's film transports the Macbeth story to medieval Japan. An effective stylization that draws on techniques from the Japanese Noh theater, though at times the Samurai sensationalism flattens both the characters and the tragedy. 1957.

Le Gai Savior. Jean-Luc Godard considers the film the beginning of his deep political involvement in issues of production and class struggle. Whatever concrete ideas he may hold, however, are lost in the groping opacity of the experimental style that controls the film. 1968.

Ma Nuit Chez Maud. The third and best of Eric Rohmer's moral tales verbalizes much of the Catholic philosophizing that is implicit in La Collectionneuse, Claire's Knee and Chloe in the Afternoon. Jean-Louis Trintagnant's performance is good but overshadowed by Francoise Fabian, the provocative divorced doctor who tempts him. 1969.

Sense of Loss. A sobering yet deeply emotional film by March Ophuls about the war in Northern Ireland. Interviews with families of the dead, with political leaders, bigots, socialists, ministers are intercut with newsreel footage. Ophuls's compassionate outlook, his respect for the complexities of the situation--even his showmanship--combine to create one of the most humane films of recent years.

Shake Hands With the Devil. Imagine James Cagney in the unlikely role of a professor at the College of Surgeons who doubles as a leader in the Irish Revolution. That's only a minor problem for this film. The dialogue, the direction, and the gratuitous sexual innuendo all work hard to negate the intrinsic historical interest of the period. It's a tough fight.