Before director Ken Russell's name became synonymous with cinematic extravagance and overkill, he actually directed what is one of the most passionate and involving adaptations of DH Lawrence in recent memory. Oliver Reed and Alan Bates star as friends who fall in love with a pair of sisters (Jennie Linden and Glenda Jackson, who won an Oscar for the role). But the relationships take markedly different directions, as Russell explores the nature of commitment and love. Bates and Linden learn to give themselves to each other; the more withdrawn Reed cannot, finally, connect with the demanding and challenging Jackson. Shot with great sensuality, Women in Love was surprisingly frank for its period (1970) and includes one of the most charged scenes in movie history: Bates and Reed as manly men, wrestling nude by firelight. --Marshall Fine
Summer 1900: Queen Victoria's last and the summer Leo turns 13. He's the guest of Marcus a wealthy classmate at a grand home in rural Norfolk. Leo is befriended by Marian Marcus's twenty-something sister a beauty about to be engaged to Hugh a viscount and good fellow. Marian buys Leo a forest-green suit takes him on walks and asks him to carry messages to and from their neighbor Ted Burgess a bit of a rake. Leo is soon dissembling realizes he's betraying Hugh but continues as the go-between nonetheless asking adults naive questions about the attractions of men and women. Can an affair between neighbors stay secret for long? And how does innocence end?
In this unique and outrageous period comedy adapted from George MacDonald Fraser's novel Malcolm McDowell stars as a comic character come to life. It is 19th Century Europe and Captain Harry Flashman (McDowell) is a gutless bully who seeks admission into European high society. Seeing a chance to promote their own menacing political schemes devious Otto von Bismarck (Oliver Reed) and Rudi Von Sternberg (Alan Bates) convince Flashman to disguise himself as a Prussian noble so that he can marry a gorgeous duchess (Britt Ekland). However the hoax is discovered and Flashman flees the continent experiencing one calamity after another - as well as some of history's most significant events - in this hilarious romp that might just make you laugh instead of marvel at the next comic book 'hero' you encounter!
Silent Tongue was the last River Phoenix film to be released - a year after his premature death - and has never been out before on UK DVD. Written and directed by Pulitzer Prize winner Sam Shepard the film is a haunting Western about a plainsman who will do anything to help his son get over the death of his Native American wife and baby in childbirth. Also stars Dermot Mulroney Richard Harris and Alan Bates.
An adaptation of Thomas Hardy's classic novel set in the 19th century of Bathsheba Everdene and the three very different men who come to love her...
Whilst renovating his dilapidated home Aston (Robert Shaw) invites an irritable and devious vagrant (Donald Pleasence) to stay. But, when his ill-tempered brother Mick (Alan Bates) returns, an ominous yet darkly comic power struggle between the trio commences. A play that changed the face of modern theatre and made Harold Pinter's name, The Caretaker remains one of Pinter's most famous works. Featuring original production cast members Pleasence and Bates and sensitively directed by Clive Donner (Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush) and shot by Nicolas Roeg, this study of shared illusion, tragic dispossession and the fraternal bond of unspoken love, combines mesmerising performances and the magic of Pinter's dialogue into a spellbinding film. Special Features: Audio commentary by Alan Bates, Clive Donner and producer Michael Birkett (2002) Introduction by critic and author Michael Billington (2002, 6 mins) On Location with The Caretaker (1962, 5 mins): an extract from the TV series This Week in Britain From Play Into Film (2002, 15 mins): Michael Billington on the making of The Caretaker, using materials donated by Clive Donner to the BFI National Archive Other extras TBC **FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Fully illustrated booklet with new essay by critic author Amy Simmons, writing by Michael Billington and full film credits
It's a gorgeous Summer's day and two teams play a cricket game with a difference. It's the annual match between the local mental asylum and the villagers and in the scoring hut patients Crossley and Graves sit side-by-side recording every run over and fallen wicket. To keep themselves entertained Crossley recounts a terrifying story of how he came to possess supernatural powers that enable him to kill with a shout. It was he claims an ancient magic he learnt from spending many years with the Australian Aborigines. Although Graves dismisses the tale as an insane fantasy as the match continues the proceedings take on an emphatically sinister turn...
Peter Nichols adapts his award-winning play to devastating effect in Peter Medak's powerful black comedy about an ordinary couple struggling to cope with a severely disabled child. School teacher Brian (Alan Bates - A kind of Loving, Georgy Girl) and his wide Sheila (Janet Suzman - Nicholas And Alexandra, The Draughtsman's Contract) are the parents of young Jo (Elizabeth Rabillard), a child afflicted with cerebral palsy. Caring for Jo threatens to overwhelm their loves, and to stay sane they rely on dark humour. But while Sheila tries to ensure that her daughter has some quality of life, Brian is increasingly obsessed with the idea that she might be better off dead...
Before director Ken Russell's name became synonymous with cinematic extravagance and overkill, he actually directed what is one of the most passionate and involving adaptations of DH Lawrence in recent memory. Oliver Reed and Alan Bates star as friends who fall in love with a pair of sisters (Jennie Linden and Glenda Jackson, who won an Oscar for the role). But the relationships take markedly different directions, as Russell explores the nature of commitment and love. Bates and Linden learn to give themselves to each other; the more withdrawn Reed cannot, finally, connect with the demanding and challenging Jackson. Shot with great sensuality, Women in Love was surprisingly frank for its period (1970) and includes one of the most charged scenes in movie history: Bates and Reed as manly men, wrestling nude by firelight. --Marshall Fine
Available for the first time on DVD! The wildest thing to hit the world since the mini-skirt! Lynn Redgrave stars as the homely girl who takes on the role of mother to her beautiful roommate's unwanted baby. With her father's employer trying to take her on as a mistress and her roommate's husband taking her on as an easy lover Redgrave's Georgy navigates the narrows between prostitution and purity as she tries to hang on to the baby she has grown to love...
Arrested for vagrancy in a strange town Georgi is then mistaken by the corrupt town officials as a passing Inspector General. Worried that he will reveal they have been pocketing tax money they make a series of attempts on his life....
Directed by Laurence Olivier and featuring a specially commissioned score by composer William Walton this filmed production of Anton Chekhov's classic play by London's world-renowned National Theatre Company is featured here in a brand-new transfer from the original film elements in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio. The action takes place in a Russian provincial town at the turn of the century. It tells the story of Olga Masha and Irina daughters of a dead general who with their brother Andrei live out their days bound together by feelings of melancholy endless yearning and disappointment. The themes of troubled unrequited love provincial boredom and the imagined glamour of the capital to which the sisters long to return are brilliantly conveyed in outstanding performances by some of the twentieth century's greatest theatrical players. SPECIAL FEATURES [] Original Theatrical Trailer [] Image Gallery [] Promotional Material PDF
Christie stars as Marian sister to Marcus and about to be engaged to Hugh (Edward Fox) a good-natured Viscount and her perfect match. During the course of summer 1900 13-year-old Leo comes to stay at the Norfolk stately home of his classmate Marcus and is soon befriended by Marian. Initially ignorant of the implications Leo agrees to carry messages between Marian and her neighbour the eminently unsuitable local farmer Ted Burgess (Alan Bates). As the oppressive heat intensifies so do Leo's questions about the laws of attraction and love... and as his childhood innocence is threatened so is the fragile web of relationships so recently forged over the course of this summer's passions deceptions and revelations... Adapted from the classic novel by LP Hartley by Harold Pinter this was his third collaboration with director Joseph Losey and won him a BAFTA for Best Screenplay. Also a BAFTA winner for Best Actress the film also stars Michael Redgrave.
One of the defining films of the 1960s, Silvio Narizzano's adaptation of Margaret Foster's 1965 novel stars Lynn Redgrave in an Oscar-nominated role as the put-upon teenager Georgy Parkin. Awkward and full of self-doubt, Georgy finds herself forever just outside of the ˜Swinging Sixties' London life she craves. Marked by a wonderfully warm and appealing central performance from Redgrave, and with its superb supporting cast including Charlotte Rampling (Death in Venice, The Night Porter), Alan Bates (A Kind of Loving, Women in Love) and the great James Mason (The Reckless Moment, Age of Consent, The Deadly Affair), Georgy Girl captures the spirit of the era and boasts one of the all-time great film theme tunes. Extras: High Definition remaster Original mono audio Audio commentary with Diabolique magazine's editor-in-chief Kat Ellinger The Guardian Interview with Charlotte Rampling (2001, 59 mins): an archival audio recording of a career-spanning interview conducted by Christopher Cook at London's National Film Theatre The Tempo of the Time (2018, 8 mins): a new interview with author, playwright and co-screenwriter Peter Nichols A Wonderful Sense of Freedom (2018, 29 mins): editor John Bloom discusses his work on the film Georgy's Geography (2018, 4 mins): a new interview with art director Tony Woollard Going for a Song (2018, 5 mins): lyricist Jim Dale and editor John Bloom reveal the origins of Georgy Girl's famous theme song Original radio spot Original theatrical trailer Image gallery: promotional photography and publicity material New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
For The Boys (Dir. Mark Rydell 1991): Bette Midler gives the brassiest sassiest performance of her career as Dixie Leonard... a USO singer whose electrifying stage presence and flair for outrageous comedy captivates troops and civilians alike. Teamed up with America's beloved song and dance man Eddie Sparks (James Caan) the whole world becomes Dixie's stage through three very different wars and 50 years of music and memories laughter and tears. All of it ""For The Boys."" Yanks (Dir. John Schlesinger 1979): 'Yanks' is the moving story of American servicemen stationed in England during the Second World War and the impact that their presence had on the lives of people in a small Lancashire village. This beautifully filmed drama follows three American soldiers and the relationships that they form with three local women: Jean Helen and Mollie. The relationships that blossom would affect their lives forever. This romantic and memorable movie highlights the cultural differences that existed and also the effect that the American invasion had on the hearts and minds of communities. The Rose (Dir. Mark Rydell 1979): Bette Midler plays a Janis Joplin-like singer overwhelmed by stardom and its excesses. Mark Rydell directs this showcase of Midler's concert vocal and acting talents. Alan Bates plays Rose's ruthless manager.
Life. Lust. Love. Zorba. Basil a young English writer of Greek ancestry meets an older free-spirited Greek peasant named Zorba (Anthony Quinn) on the island of Crete. While Zorba pursues a relationship with Madame Hortense an aging French courtesan the inhibited Basil summons up the courage to court a young widow. The young unhappy Englishman finds himself learning valuable life lessons from Zorba the earthy peasant who has a zeal for everything he does. Nominated for
Identification Marks: None (1965): A day in the life of student Andrzej (played by Skolimowski himsef) who, between the morning and late afternoon, gives up on his studies, breaks up with his partner, and decides to join the army. Before his departure, Andrzej tries to straighten out his life, and encounters Barbara, who he sees as the woman he has always waited for. Hands Up! (1981): The fourth of a series of semi-autobiographical films in which Skolimowski plays his alter ego Andrzej Leszczyc Hands Up! was made in 1967 but was banned for 18 years by Poland's then Communist regime. After Poland's liberation, Skolimowski was invited to revisit the film which he duly did, adding a 20 minute sequence that explains why the film was so withheld by the censors. Product Features Newly recorded audio commentaries on both films by Michel Oleszczyk Archive interview with Jerzy Skolimowski (1983) Video essay by Polish film expert Michael Brooke Illustrated booklet with new writing on the films by Ewa Mazierska Other extras TBC
In this British drama Alan Bates stars as a young man who must decide whether to follow his heart or his responsibilities when his girlfriend falls pregnant and they are forced to move into her family's house.
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