A collection of classic Shirley Temple films! Heidi (1937) When her aunt tires of caring for her orphan Heidi is taken into the Swiss mountains to live with her gruff grandfather (Jean Hersholt) a hermit who comes to adore her. But the aunt returns to steal Heidi away selling her to a family whose invalid daughter (Marcia Mae Jones) needs a companion. Bullied by an evil governess (Mary Nash) Heidi still charms the entire household and never stops trying to returnito her
A sophisticated supernatural Hollywood comedy whose influence continues to be felt, Here Comes Mr. Jordan stars the eminently versatile Robert Montgomery as a working-class boxer and amateur aviator whose plane crashes in a freak accident. He finds himself in heaven but is told, by a wry angel named Mr. Jordan (Claude Rains), that his death was a clerical error, and that he can return to earth by entering the body of a corrupt (and about-to-be-murdered) bankerwhose soul could use a transplant. Having inspired a sequel with Rita Hayworth and two remakes (the first starring Warren Beatty and the second Chris Rock), Alexander Hall's effervescent Here Comes Mr. Jordan is comic perfection. Special Features: New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack New conversation between critic Michael Sragow and independent filmmaker Michael Schlesinger Audio interview from 1991 in which actor Elizabeth Montgomery discusses her father, actor Robert Montgomery Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of Here Comes Mr. Jordan from 1942 starring Cary Grant, Claude Rains, Evelyn Keyes, and James Gleason Trailer PLUS: An essay by critic Farran Smith Nehme Click Images to Enlarge
A Disney "classic" that actually is a classic, Dumbo should be part of your video collection whether or not you have children. The storytelling was never as lean as in Dumbo, the songs rarely as haunting (or just plain weird), the characters rarely so well defined. The film pits the "cold, cruel, heartless" world that can't accept abnormality against a plucky, and mute, hero. Jumbo Jr. (Dumbo is a mean-spirited nickname) is ostracized from the circus pack shortly after his delivery by the stork because of his big ears. His mother sticks up for him and is shackled. He's jeered by children (an insightful scene has one boy poking fun at Dumbo's ears, even though the youngster's ears are also ungainly), used by the circus folk, and demoted to appearing with the clowns. Only the decent Timothy Q. Mouse looks out for the little guy. Concerns about the un-PC "Jim Crow" crows, who mock Dumbo with the wonderful "When I See an Elephant Fly," should be moderated by remembering that the crows are the only social group in the film who act kindly to the little outcast. If you don't mist up during the "Baby Mine" scene, you may be legally pronounced dead. --Keith Simanton
When a successful New York advertising executive (Will Smith) experiences a deep personal tragedy and retreats from life entirely, his colleagues devise a drastic plan to force him to confront his grief in a surprising and profoundly human way.
When beautiful young Carol is taken over by the spirit of Ayesha queen of the lost city of Kuma an eccentric millionaire gives her refuge unaware that she brings the dark shadow of death to everything she touches...
A convicted arsonist looks to manipulate a parole officer into a plan to secure his parole by placing his beautiful wife in the lawman's path.
China Moon (1991) is a pleasing entertainment that assembles the dependable elements of film noir in the tradition of Body Heat (1981), The Last Seduction (1994) and, of course, the mother of all such films, Double Indemnity (1944). There's a femme fatale (the beautiful and talented Madeleine Stowe) and an honest cop (reliable Ed Harris) who soon becomes smitten. Her husband (Charles Dance) is a brute who beats her, so she murders him and inveigles Harris into helping her dispose of the body. That's when the complications begin, and Harris starts to sweat when his fellow cop keeps asking awkward questions. The acting is uniformly good, with Harris' partner played by Benicio Del Toro (Traffic) offering an excellent performance. Harris and Stowe strike sparks off each other, to the point where you almost believe he is being sucked into her schemes. On the DVD: The disc contains a theatrical trailer and several TV ads, with scroll-down filmographies of the major talents involved which are incomplete for some unknown reason. There's a brief and unenlightening five-minute documentary, with the principal cast plus the director, John Bailey, commenting on the film. Both image and sound are excellent quality, sound in Dolby Digital, picture in anamorphic widescreen ratio of 2.35:1 --Ed Buscombe
One of the big Elizabethan-era films of 1998, Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth serves up a brimming goblet of religious tension, political conspiracy, sex, violence and war. England in 1554 is in financial and religious turmoil as the ailing Queen "Bloody" Mary attempts to restore Catholicism as the national faith. She has no heir, and her greatest fear--that her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth will assume the throne after her death--is realised. Still, the late Queen Mary has her loyalists. The newly crowned Elizabeth finds herself knee-deep in dethroning schemes while also dodging assassination attempts. Her advisers (including Sir William Cecil, superbly played by Richard Attenborough) beg her to marry any one of her would-be suitors to stabilise England's empire. No matter that she already has a lover. The passionate Robert Dudley (Joseph Fiennes) is married, however, and shows he cannot stand up to the growing strength of the Queen. With the help of her aide Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush), Elizabeth strikes against her enemies before they get to her first. But her rise ultimately entails rejecting love and marriage to redefine herself as the indisputable Virgin Queen. Cate Blanchett's Oscar-nominated performance as the naive and vibrant princess who becomes the stubborn and knowing queen is both severe and sympathetic. Her ethereal, pale beauty is equal parts fire and ice, her delivery of such lines as "There will be only one mistress here and no master!" expressed with command rather than hysterics. As striking as Blanchett's performance is the film's lavish and dramatic production design. The cold, dark sets paired with the lush costuming show the golden age of England's monarchy emerging from the Middle Ages. Rich velvet brushes over the dank stones while power is achieved at any price, and with such attention to physical detail, Elizabeth fully immerses you into its compelling chronicle of pioneering feminism and revisionist history. --Shannon Gee
El Dorado doesn't quite have the scope or ambition of Howard Hawks' greatest Westerns, Red River and Rio Bravo. But this relaxed picture, made near the end of Hawks' marvellous career, still shows the steady, sure hand of a master. Hawks reunites with John Wayne, playing a hired gun mixed up in a range war; Robert Mitchum is Wayne's old pal, now a sheriff in the midst of a hopeless drunken bender. James Caan, in one of his first sizable roles, plays a kid who can't shoot straight and wears a funny hat (every character in the movie makes fun of this hat). As the plot moves along, it begins to resemble Rio Bravo rather closely ("I steal from myself all the time", Hawks was fond of admitting). But in El Dorado the heroes are a bit older, their powers a bit weaker; at the end Wayne must revert to a bit of subterfuge in order to get the drop on the steely gunslinger (ice-cold Christopher George) he needs to put down. As relaxed as the movie is, Hawks and Wayne and company are in good spirits, with plenty of broad humour and easy camaraderie on display. Hawks and Wayne would make just one more film, the disappointing Rio Lobo, before ending their fruitful partnership. --Robert Horton
Shakespeare's tragic story of how a great man's vanity is manipulated by a jealous aide to bring about his downfall. A film by Stuart Burge of JohnDexter's production of 'Othello' at The National Theatre.
After fleeing Nazi Germany following the success of M and re-establishing himself in Britain as a villain for Alfred Hitchcock, the great Peter Lorre arrived in Hollywood in 1935, signed to a contract with Columbia Pictures. His dream star vehicle: a big-screen adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky s most famous novel Crime And Punishment. His choice of director: Josef von Sternberg, already celebrated and castigated in equal measure for his seven-film collaboration with Marlene Dietrich. Roderick Raskolnikov (Lorre) has graduated from university as a noted expert in criminology, but nonetheless lives in extreme poverty. Desperate and anguished, he murders a miserly pawnbroker, stealing her valuables before fleeing into the night. The next day, he encounters Inspector Porfiry (Edward Arnold), the detective assigned to the murder, and is asked by Porfiry to consult on the case when an innocent man is arrested as a suspect. How long until the conflicted, guilt-ridden Raskolnikov arouses the master detective s suspicions? One of many attempts at the time by Hollywood studios to give cinema an air of prestige by adapting great works of literature, Von Sternberg s stylish direction and Lorre s tour-de-force performance are ready for rediscovery in this Blu-Ray premiere of their only collaboration.
As a Christmas treat in the late 1960s and 70s, the BBC produced adaptations of ghost stories based on the works of MR James, the Cambridge academic and author of some of the most spine tingling tales in the English language, which were broadcast to terrified viewers in the dead of winter. This was a tradition that was briefly revived by the BBC between 2007 and 2010. These adaptations, which have a subtlety and style all of their own, have been a major influence on many contemporary British horror filmmakers and have come to be some of the most sought after British TV titles of all time by their legions of eager fans. Volume three in the BFI's BBC Ghost Stories features the DVD premiere of three M.R. James stories directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark: 1973's Lost Hearts, 1974's The Treasure of Abbot Thomas and 1975's The Ash Tree.
The groundbreaking detective series that defined a decade is compiled in one giant box set! In this electrifying Emmy-nominated and Golden Globe-winning series, Vice cops Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and Rico Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) pound the streets in their sleek Ferrari pursuing every ruthless criminal under the relentless Miami sun. The pulse and the rhythm of a glamorous resort is juxtaposed against the steamy haunts of the drug underworld. Two cops from different backgrounds - street-smart New Yorker ‘Rico Tubbs’ (Thomas) and stubble-faced southerner ‘Sonny Crockett’ (Johnson) - team up to take on Miami’s underworld. See every episode of every series in this cult collection, and a very pretty box it is too.
An hilarious comedy about the deadly rivalry between a giant milk marketing company and an old-fashioned one-horse dairy.
In this remake of the Japanese horror film "Chakushin Ari" (2003), several people start receiving voice-mails from their future selves - messages which include the date, time, and the details of their deaths.
A reinvention of Michael Caine's 1960s classic starring Jude Law as a lothario forced to rethink his carefree lifestyle.
Those already into Blu-ray will have a specific title and a particular scene up their sleeves to show off the benefits of Hi-Def home entertainment to the uninitiated. Here's a true great to add to the armoury (so to speak)--the first 20 minutes of action in Saving Private Ryan [Blu-ray] are as good a demonstration as you'll ever need to make someone say "wow". The true terror of the D-Day landings in World War II is brought to startling life in this high definition release--with the explosions jumping out of the screen and bullets zipping around your ears, you're brought as close to the front line as you can get without leaving the safety of your sofa--you will need reminding to breathe once that brutal, gut-wrenching opener is over. And it doesn't stop there. The rest of the film benefits from the Blu-ray clean up, it's looking brighter and sounding more crisp than ever before (as you would expect). One of the greatest war films ever made has been expertly enhanced and it's now an even more wonderful movie experience--the transfer to 1080p is exemplary.The extras are bountiful too, with over three hours of special features. The only criticism of the entire package is that only a couple of the extras are in Hi-Def, the rest are in standard definition. However, fans of the film won't be disappointed as extras from previous DVD releases are collated, including a great insight into Steven Spielberg's mind as he talks about his interest in World War II and how it led to him making this film. The notable addition to this version's extras being an extensive and fascinating documentary Shooting War, hosted by Tom Hanks, which follows the brave soldiers tasked with chronicling the war and all the horrors that came with it. It's a great account it's own right, so owners of this copy are given plenty to pore over. Make no mistake, the scene-stealer is the opener--it grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go for 20 agonising minutes--and if you're looking to enhance your collection, then look no further than this landmark release.--Tom Lawrance Special Features 2-disc Blu-ray edition. Disc 1: Feature Film.Disc 2: Special Features: An Introduction - 2:33 Looking into the Past - 4:38 Miller and his Platoon - 8:22 Boot Camp - 7:35 Making Saving Private Ryan - 22:01 Re-Creating Omaha Beach - 17:55 Music and Sound - 15:56 Parting Thoughts - 3:41 Into the Breach: Saving Private Ryan - 25:03 Theatrical Trailer HD - 2:18 Re-Release Trailer HD - 2:08 Shooting War - 88:04
Maurice Colborne (Gangsters) stars as Tom Howard recently made redundant as an aircraft designer who decides to ply his trade in the world of boats instead; taking the reigns at a run-down local construction yard. A family of considerable wealth and prestige the Howards struggle to come to terms with Tom's decision and the changing circumstances of their lives. Featuring all the episodes from Series 3.
An innocent man is targeted for surveillance by the CIA. However the intelligence agency finds it increasingly difficult to liquidate the musician as he continues to be oblivious of the attempts to kill him...
Please wait. Loading...
This site uses cookies.
More details in our privacy policy