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The most striking, urgent, up-to-the-minute film I’ve seen this week was directed by Spike Lee. It speaks to the moment, pulses with turbulent emotional and political currents, overflows with vibrant characters and bluntly confronts society’s painful unfinished business. No, I’m not talking about Da 5 Bloods but, rather, Do the Right Thing.

Yes, that’s right, Do the Right Thing, which is 31 years old (!) but looks and sounds as though it could have been made this year. Even if they’ve remained dramatically and politically relevant after two or three decades, most films show their age one way or the other, through costumes, hairstyles, attitudes, musical choices, outdated slang and language usage or, at the very least, the age of cars on the streets.

But nothing at all about Lee’s third feature needs to be explained, no apologies or adjustments in attitude are required; even if...

"Mr. Topaze" (aka "I Like Money") the 1961 directorial debut of comedic actor Peter Sellers, has been digitally restored, starring Sellers, Nadia Gray, Leo McKern, Herbert Lom and Michael Sellers:

"...'Mr. Topaze' (Sellers) is an unassuming school teacher in an unassuming small French town who is honest to a fault. He is fired when he refuses to give a passing grade to a bad student, the grandson of a wealthy 'Baroness' (Martita Hunt). 'Castel Benac' (Lom), a government official who runs a crooked financial business on the side, is persuaded by his mistress, 'Suzy' (Gray), a musical comedy actress, to hire 'Mr. Topaze' as the front man for his business.

"Gradually, Topaze becomes a rapacious financier who sacrifices his honesty for success and, in a final stroke of business bravado, fires Benac and acquires Suzy in the deal. An old friend and colleague, 'Tamise' (Michael Gough) questions him and tells...

"She just slapped my face!" "Congratulations!" Film Movement has debuted the official trailer for a digital restoration of the classic British comedy Mr. Topaze, which originally debuted in London in 1961. The film is directed by and stars the great Peter Sellers as the titular Mr. Topaze, an honest teacher who is given a shady management job but then runs off with the money himself. Seller's first and only credited directorial feature, Mr. Topaze displays the British comic genius at the peak of his powers alongside his future Pink Panther nemesis Herbert Lom, and a stellar supporting cast that includes Nadia Gray, Leo McKern, Billie Whitelaw, and Michael Gough. Long considered a "lost" classic, Mr. Topaze was digitally restored from the lone surviving 35mm prints in the BFI National Archive at the request of the British public. Enjoy. Here's the new restoration trailer (+ poster) for Peter Sellers' Mr. Topaze, direct from...