Director Garry Marshall's 1988 drama Beaches about the 30-year friendship between two women, one wealthy (Barbara Hershey) and the other (Bette Midler) seeking her fortune in show business, is well written (based on the novel by Iris Rainer Dart) and nicely textured in its contrast between the characters' separate destinies. When Hershey becomes ill with cancer, the film takes a predictably sentimental course, yet Marshall brings out the best in both actresses and catches some very fine drama. Beaches is a little too long, perhaps, but overall it is a fine experience. --Tom Keogh
The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present three early silent features from Universal Pictures, all fully restored as part of the studio's ongoing restoration program. Skinner's Dress Suit (dir. William A. Seiter, 1926) Reginald Denny stars as a shy clerk who asks his boss for a raise at the urging of his wife. His request is rejected, but he lies to his wife, who immediately goes out and buys an expensive suit, an act that upends his once-ordered life. (4K Restoration) The Shield of Honor (dir. Emory Johnson, 1927) The LAPD has a new method of fighting crime, the Air Police! Their newest recruit, young hotshot pilot Jack MacDowell (Neil Hamilton), is tasked with catching a gang of jewellery thieves. (2K Restoration) (Worldwide Debut on Blu-ray) The Shakedown (dir. William Wyler, 1929) Dave Roberts (James Murray) is a fighter better known for taking falls in fixed fights than for taking home the prize money. But then he falls head-over-heels for a fiery waitress (Barbara Kent) and a rough-and-tumble orphan (Jack Hanlon), and he begins to dramatically alter his life inside and outside of the ring. (4K Restoration) Special Features: Limited Edition O-Card Slipcase 1080p presentation on Blu-ray from restorations undertaken by Universal Pictures (Skinner's Dress Suit and The Shakedown restored in 4K, The Shield of Honor restored in 2K) Skinner's Dress Suit score by Leo Birenberg The Shield of Honor score by Alex Kovacs The Shakedown score by Michael Gatt Audio Commentary tracks on all three features A collection of additional materials from the early era of Universal Pictures, with complimentary analysis by silent film experts and historians PLUS: A Collector's Booklet featuring new writing on the films included in this set * All extras subject to change
Re-Animator was undoubtedly one of the most notorious horror films of the 1980s. Based on a classic 'Mad Professor' speech, this relentless splatterfest takes obsession, suspense and terror to the very limits of your imagination. Prepare to meet Dr. Herbert West, the sickest man in science?The night that medical student Dan Cain discovered his pet cat, Rufus, dead in his roommates fridge was just the beginning. Before long Dan, and his beloved girlfriend, Megan, become involved in the macabre experiments of his roommate, the sinister Dr. Herbert West, who has created a serum that can bring both brain and body back from the dead. The immoral scientific methods of Dr. West provide the Dean of the medical school with reason to expel West and force Cain out of the hospital.Undeterred, West and Cain continue with their experiments in the hospital's morgue - restoring life to an unlimited supply of fresh corpses. Men, en chilling sideeffekt til Westens discovery fører til en tilsynelatende endeløs natt of mind-bending terror and unthinkable madness.Original title:Re-animator Text:English Sound:DTS 5.1 HD MA (English) Picture:1080p High Definition Widescreen Format:Blu-ray Region B Country of origin:England (USA) Extra material:- The 'Unrated' Version - brand new 4K restoration- The 'Integral' Version(Exclusive to Blu-ray)- Audio commentary with director Stuart Gordon- Audio commentary with producer Brian Yuzna, and actors Jeffrey Combs, Robert Sampson, Barbara Crampton and Bruce Abbott- Re-Animator Resurrectus documentary- Interviews with Stuart Gordon and Brian Yuzna, writer Dennis Paoli composer Richard Band and Fangoria editor Tony Timpone- Extended scenes, deleted scene and trailers- GalleryDuration:86 min TV system:PAL Published: 1985 Distributor: Second Sight Director:Stuart Gordon Starring: Jeffrey CombsBruce AbbottBarbara CramptonDavid GaleRobert SampsonGerry Black
Imagine waking up in a in a cube-shaped room with a bunch of strangers. Nobody can remember how and why they are there and nobody knows how to get out. Feel the suspense as you witness the horror of eight people who find themselves in just such a predicament. Trapped in a world where the rules of physics do not apply each of the eight must use a special skill to help them survive - unfortunately only one of them can!
Shout at the Devil was Roger Moore's second starring role in an adaptation of one Wilbur Smith's bestselling African adventures (the first being 1974's Gold, also directed by Peter Hunt). Taking its mixture of comedy and drama, and part of its plot, from The African Queen the movie finds Moore's decent, upright Englishman teamed with Lee Marvin--in a variation on his Cat Ballou drunken brawler comedy persona--fighting the Germans in colonial East Africa at the beginning of the Great War. Moore plays it straight and makes a most heroic and handsome matinee idol hero. Produced between Moore's second and third outings as Bond, Shout at the Devil was staffed with various 007 regulars, including Hunt who was had edited the first three and directed On Her Majesty's Secret Service, title designer Maurice Binder and director John Glen. It even has a ticking clock-gigantic explosion finale. This is an exciting, beautifully shot escapade which deserves to be much better known. On the DVD: The original Panavision 2.35:1 image is incorrectly letterboxed at around 2:1, cropping so much picture information that the credits disappear at either side of the screen. The print used is of very variable quality, with some scenes looking fine, others washed out and lacking detail, with long shots often being slightly out of focus. Adding to the problems is the abysmal digital encoding which, despite anamorphic enhancement, has left many scenes swarming with compression artefacts. The sound is adequate mono. Unfortunately this disc uses a heavily re-edited and shortened version of the film--cut from 147 to 119 minutes following poor reviews--and the losses in continuity, especially in the early part of the film are very noticeable. The extras are the original trailer, which reveals the entire plot right up to and including the ending, comprehensive filmographies of Marvin, Moore and Hunt, and a seven-minute compilation of posters and publicity stills set to the main themes from Maurice Jarre's score. --Gary S Dalkin
Michael Caine stars as Graham Marshall a career-minded business-man passed over for promotion by a younger man. In anger he discovers that he has the power to kill any person who gets in his way....
Greta Garbo and John Gilbert star in this classic silent melodrama about a love triangle between two boyhood friends and the amoral seductress who comes between them. Best friends Leo (Gilbert) and Ulrich (Lars Hanson) are cadets at a military academy when Leo falls madly in love with the gorgeous and aristocratic Countess Felicitas von Kletzingk (Garbo). However Felicitas neglects to tell him that she has a husband who upon discovering the affair challenges Leo to a duel. Leo kills von Kletzingk and is sentenced to five years of foreign service in Africa. Felicitas promises to wait for her brave young lover and Leo asks Ulrich to look after the grieving widow until his return. After three years Leo returns to discover that his bosom buddy has married Felicitas in his absence. She rekindles her illicit romance with Leo but refuses to give up the comforts of married life with the now wealthy Ulrich. Determined to have them both Felicitas drives the former friends into a deadly rivalry that culminates in a beautifully filmed finale that director Clarence Brown shoots almost entirely in silhouette. The use of inclement weather to invoke tragedy and mystery in the film contributes to the silent beauty of this MGM classic. Greta Garbo gives an incendiary performance as the smoldering femme fatale; she and John Gilbert supposedly began their torrid real-life affair while filming this movie. FLESH AND THE DEVIL based on the novel THE UNDYING PAST by Hermann Sudermann is a film that should not be missed.
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