Universal's Incredible Hulk: The TV Pilots will satisfy fans of the television series by offering the two-hour 1978 pilot, as well as the feature-length second-season opener, "Married". In bringing the Hulk to TV, series creator Kenneth Johnson decided to focus on its human alter ego, scientist Bruce Banner (here renamed David), rather than the creature's rampages. In the pilot, Banner (Bill Bixby) is haunted by the death of his wife and unleashes his untapped rage in the form of a monstrous creature (Lou Ferrigno) after experimenting with radiation. And in "Married", Banner falls for a researcher (Mariette Hartley in an Emmy-winning performance) who attempts to cure his "hulk-outs". Johnson's solid scripting and direction and fine performances from the leads made the series a critical and audience favourite during its network run. --Paul Gaita
It travels through space and under the sea - and it can journey anywhere... Intrepid pilot Mike Mercury takes to the skies once more in the first series of Gerry Anderson's Supercar. With Professor Popkissmanning the console and the eccentric Dr. Beaker providing his customary - ah - blend of - em- erudition and genius the stage is set for an adventure series that blends adventure humour and charm in equal measure. Presented here is the entire series of 39 episodes digitally remastered and restored to a superb level of quality. This ground-breaking children's series will appeal to people who Gerry Anderson's other puppet series (Thunderbirds Captain Scarlet Stingray) and archive television fans.
The Titanic
Based on the novel by A.J. Cronin this moving drama tells of a group of coalminers who through the greed of their pit-owner boss are buried alive ...
A Hill In Korea follows the expeditions of a British army patrol which travels by cover of night as they target an enemy village.
The Rebel is a 1961 comedy film starring Tony Hancock (Hancock's Half Hour). Hancock plays a downtrodden London office clerk who gives up his job to pursue his dream of being an artist. With an enthusiasm far exceeding any artistic talent, he sets to work on his masterpiece Aphrodite at the Waterhole, moving to Paris where he expects his genius will be appreciated. While his ideas and persona gain acceptance among the art set, legitimate critics scoff at his work. He manages, however to achieve success when the work of his former roommate, a genuinely talented painter, becomes confused with his own.
Rooster Cogburn (Dir. Stuart Miller 1975): Two of the most popular stars in screen history are brought together for the first time in the follow up to True Grit. The film returns John Wayne to the role of the rapscallion eye patched whiskey guzzling Deputy Marshall that won him an Academy Award. Katharine Hepburn is prim Eula Goodnight a Bible thumping missionary who teams up with the gun fighter to avenge the death of her father. While in pursuit of the outlaws a warm rapport develops between the rough n' tumble lawman and the flirty reverend's daughter. Tall In The Saddle (Dir. Edwin L. Marin 1944): When a stranger arrives in a western town he finds that the rancher who sent for him has been murdered. Further most of the townsfolk seem to be at each other's throats and the newcomer has soon run contrariwise to most of them... The War Wagon (Dir. Burt Kennedy 1967): Rancher Taw Jackson (Wayne) is dead-set on capturing an ironclad stagecoach belonging to the cattle baron who stole his fortune and tarnished his good name years before. To pull off the heist Jackson puts together a crew that includes an old character a half-civilized Indian a young drunk and a cocky gunfighter...
This second collection of Ealing Comedy, while not quite as important a reissue as the first box, is nonetheless essential viewing for all aficionados of classic English film. In Passport to Pimlico a group of Londoners demonstrate, paradoxically, their Englishness by eccentrically choosing the Burgundian citizenship granted them by a rediscovered medieval charter. Similarly, in The Titfield Thunderbolt neighbours outraged by the closing of their local branch line steal an antique locomotive from the museum and run their own railway. A similar sense of taking charge of your own life fills Hue and Cry as a group of boys, infuriated that crooks have been using their favourite comic to send messages, summon scores of others by radio to help them track down and capture the gang. There are shared themes here, a shared sense of the importance of eccentricity and imagination to a healthy society as well as excellent ensemble acting from casts that include Stanley Holloway, Margaret Rutherford and Sid James. The box is filled out with a television documentary about the history of Ealing Studios. It covers its early silent days, the golden age that produced the classic comedies and such important films as The Cruel Sea, its time as a BBC studio and its possible renaissance under new management. On the DVD: Ealing Comedy presents the three films and the documentary in 1.33:1 (i.e., 4:3), and has excellent mono sound that does full justice to both dialogue and scores. The extra features include introductions to the four films in the first box set by such luminaries as Terry Gilliam and Martin Scorsese as well as DVD-ROM files of the original brochures for all seven films. --Roz Kaveney
If you think you know Fritz Lang's Metropolis backwards, this special edition will come as a revelation. Shortly after its premiere, the expensive epic--originally well over two hours--was pulled from distribution and re-edited against Lang's wishes, and this truncated, simplified form is what we have known ever since 1926. Though not quite as fully restored as the strapline claims, this 118-minute version is the closest we are likely to get to Lang's original vision, complete with tactful linking titles to fill in the scenes that are irretrievably missing. Not only does this version add many scenes unseen for decades, but it restores their order in the original version. Until now, Metropolis has usually been rated as a spectacular but simplistic science fiction film, but this version reveals that the futuristic setting is not so much prophetic as mythical, with elements of 1920s architecture, industry, design and politics mingled with the mediaeval and the Biblical to produce images of striking strangeness: a futuristic robot burned at the stake, a steel-handed mad scientist who is also a 15th Century alchemist, the trudging workers of a vast factory plodding into the jaws of a machine that is also the ancient God Moloch. Gustav Frohlich's performance as the hero who represents the heart is still wildly overdone, but Rudolf Klein-Rogge's engineer Rotwang, Alfred Abel's Master of Metropolis and, especially, Brigitte Helm in the dual role of saintly saviour and metal femme fatale are astonishing. By restoring a great deal of story delving into the mixed motivations of the characters, the wild plot now makes more sense, and we can see that it is as much a twisted family drama as epic of repression, revolution and reconciliation. A masterpiece, and an essential purchase. On the DVD: Metropolis has been saddled with all manner of scores over the years, ranging from jazz through electronica to prog-rock, but here it is sensibly accompanied by the orchestral music Gottfried Huppertz wrote for it in the first place. An enormous amount of work has been done with damaged or incomplete elements to spruce the image up digitally, and so even the scenes that were in the film all along shine with a wealth of new detail and afford a far greater appreciation for the brilliance of art direction, special effects and Helm's clockwork sexbomb. A commentary written but not delivered by historian Ennio Patalas covers the symbolism of the film and annotates its images, but the production information is left to a measured but unchallenging 45-minute documentary on the second disc (little is made of the astounding parallel between the screen story in which Klein-Rogge's character tries to destroy the city because the Master stole his wife and the fact that Lang married the actor's wife Thea von Harbou, authoress of the Metropolis novel and screenplay!). There are galleries of production photographs and sketches; biographies of all the principals; and an illustrated lecture on the restoration process which uses before and after clips to reveal just how huge a task has been accomplished in this important work. --Kim Newman
Set in a dying mill town in the heart of Pennsylvania Stef (Cruise) dreams of winning a football scholarship to escape from a hopeless future...
From its gritty documentary look to its signature note-knocking "tching-tching" that signals scene changes, Law & Order was a groundbreaking cop show when it debuted in 1990. It is television's most resilient series, surviving huge changes to its ensemble. One of the secrets of the show's durability is its compelling structure. The first half of each hour-long episode is a classic police procedural in which "Law", personified in the first season by partners Greevey (George Dzundza) and Mike Logan (Christopher Noth) investigate a crime and make an arrest. The second half chronicles the ensuing trial, as prosecuted by assistant district attorneys Ben Stone (Michael Moriarty) and Paul Robinette (Richard Brooks) under the supervision of Steven Hill's Adam Schiff (more feisty and animated here than in later seasons). Law & Order is also distinguished by its superb writing. Several episodes take their inspiration from the headlines, including "By Hooker, By Crook" (about a socialite-run call-girl ring) and "Indifference", which recalls the tragic Lisa Steinberg child abuse case. Others deal with such hot-button issues as abortion ("Life Choice") and AIDS ("The Reaper's Helper"). Another plus is the talent pool of character actors who lend their verisimilitude. Guest stars include Samuel L Jackson and Philip Seymour Hoffman ("The Violence of Summer"), The West Wing's John Spencer ("Prescription for Death"), Sex and the City's Cynthia Nixon ("Subterranean Homeboy Blues") and The Sopranos' Dominic Chianese ("Sonata for Stolen Organ"). --Donald Liebenson
He was football's first rock and roll star - a handsome, charismatic Belfast boy who could thrill and excite the crowds with every turn of the ball. But George Best was also the lead in his own Shakespearean tragedy, a flawed genius, brought down by drink, temptation and depression. Director Daniel Gordon (Hillsborough, The Fall) recounts the tale of this beloved but be-devilled superstar with riveting, evocative footage and testimony by those who knew him at his best - and worst. There's a lot of ground to cover in Best's short life - from his electrifying debut with Manchester United at the tender age of 17, through the glory years that United won the 1968 European Cup, his adventures in the North American Soccer League, not to mention his time spent romancing the world's most beautiful, intoxicating women. But Gordon tells Best's story with a skill worthy of the man himself. The film draws you into the drama that surrounded Best and makes you understand just why an estimated quarter of a million people lined the route of his funeral cortege to mourn his tragic passing.
After the tragic loss of his wife and daughter, a New York composer relocates to Seattle in hopes of a fresh start, only to find that his new home harbours a terrible secret. Product Features New 4K scan and restoration Audio Commentary with Director Peter Medak and Producer Joel B. Michaels Interview with Peter Medak by filmmaker Adrián GarcÃa Bogliano at Mórbido Fest 2018 Exile on Curzon St. - Peter Medak on his early years in swinging London The House on Cheesman Park - The Haunting True Story of The Changeling Audio commentary with Actors Marilyn Burns, Allen Danziger and Paul A. Partain, and Art Director Robert A. Burns The Music of The Changeling - an interview with Music Arranger Kenneth Wannberg Building the House Of Horror - an interview with Art Director Reuben Freed The Psychotronic Tourist Master of horror Mick Garris on The Changeling
For many, an appearance in the magistrates' court is their first encounter with the Law. Bemused, perhaps frightened and often arrogant, their offence may range from a simple motoring case to murder. But whatever the degree of involvement, the experience is one that will remain indelibly etched on the memory. In each of its four series Six Days of Justice examined six fictitious cases, exact in detail, with procedural advice supplied by magistrates; although similar in style and content to Crown Court, its evening scheduling allowed the series to tackle cases with a greater degree of authenticity than its daytime counterpart. This first series features strong performances from George Sewell, Earl Cameron and Bernard Hepton, among others, and was scripted by some of the era's most highly acclaimed scriptwriters, including Trevor Preston and P.J. Hammond. Episodes Cross Fire Suddenly You're In It A Private Nuisance Who Cares? With Intent To Deceive Open House
Broadcast journalist Edward Murrow looks to bring down Senator Joseph McCarthy.
Australian model George Lazenby took up the mantle of the world's most suave secret agent when Sean Connery retired as James Bond--prematurely, it turned out. Connery returned in Diamonds Are Forever before leaving the role to Roger Moore, and Lazenby's subsequent career fizzled, yet this one-hit wonder is responsible for one of the best Bond films. In On Her Majesty's Secret Service, 007 leaves the Service to privately pursue his SPECTRE nemesis Blofeld (played this time by Telly Savalas), whose latest master plan threatens the world's crops with agricultural sterilisation. Bond teams up with smooth international crime-lord Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti) and falls in love with--and marries--his elegant daughter, Tracy (Diana Rigg). Bond monogamous? Not at first; after all he has Blofeld's harem to seduce. Lazenby hasn't the intensity of Connery but he has fun with his quips and even lampoons the Bond image in a playful pre-credits sequence. Rigg, fresh from playing sexy Emma Peel in The Avengers, matches 007 in every way. Former editor Peter Hunt makes a strong directorial debut, deftly handling the elaborate action sequences with a kinetic finesse and a dash of humour. Though not a hit on its original release, On Her Majesty's Secret Service has become a fan favourite and the closest the series has come to capturing the spirit of Ian Fleming's books. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com -- On the DVD: Affable and intelligent director Peter Hunt explains his ambition to take the series back to the original spirit of Fleming's books with this instalment. Out of all the Bond DVDs, his commentary track--interspliced with comments from other cast and crew members--is one of the most entertaining and informative as he chuckles over some of his more felicitous touches. Although sadly Diana Rigg is absent from the "making of" featurette, an older and wiser George Lazenby reveals how he acquired one of Connery's suits and went to the same barber in order to make himself look credible for the part. Hunt and others are disarmingly frank about how Lazenby's arrogance on set won him few friends. The late lamented Desmond Llewelyn, who played the boffin "Q", presents an amusing guide to the greatest gadgets of the series and explains how he can barely work a can opener in real life. The rest of the technical features are all present and correct and up to this series' usual high standards. --Leslie Felperin
Possibly the most influential American film of the 1980's Lynch's bizarre erotic mystery spawned a whole raft of imitations with its portrayal of the dark underside of American small-town life. Critics and audiences responded to Lynch's original and startling images of sex and violence and made the film a box-office smash. Blue Velvet is renowned for creating in Dennis Hopper's Frank one of the greatest screen villains of all time.
A brutal murder. A brilliant killer. A cop who can't resist the danger. Michael Douglas stars as Nick Curran a tough but vulnerable detective. Sharon Stone costars as Catherine Tramell a cold calculating and beautiful novelist with an insatiable sexual appetite. Catherine becomes a prime suspect when her boyfriend is brutally murdered - a crime she had described in her latest novel. Has she been set up by a jealous rival or is she guilty? Obsessed with cracking the case Nick descends into San Francisco's forbidden underground where suspicions mount bodies fall and he finds within himself an instinct more basic than survival.
George Bancroft (Angels with Dirty Faces) and Fay Wray (King Kong) star in the first sound film from legendary director Josef von Sternberg (Shanghai Express), made just prior to his celebrated series of collaborations with Marlene Dietrich. Murderer 'Thunderbolt' Jim Lang (Bancroft) is arrested and imprisoned with the help of his former moll, Ritzie (Wray). Whilst on death row in Sing Sing, Jim enacts his revenge by framing Ritzie's lover, Bob (Richard Arlen), for a crime he didn't commit. With a screenplay from Herman J Mankiewicz (Citizen Kane) and Joseph L Mankiewicz (Suddenly, Last Summer), adapted from a story by Jules Furthman (Blonde Venus), Thunderbolt is a classic pre-Code crime thriller. Product Features High Definition remaster Original mono audio The Guardian Interview with Fay Wray (1990): archival audio recording of the famed actor in conversation at the National Film Theatre, London Tony Rayns on Thunderbolt (2023): extensive discussion of von Sternberg's classic by the writer and film programmer Video essay on the film by film historian Tag Gallagher (2023) Image gallery: promotional and publicity materials New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Pamela Hutchinson, archival articles, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and full film credits UK premiere on Blu-ray Limited edition of 3,000 copies for the UK All extras subject to change
Please wait. Loading...
This site uses cookies.
More details in our privacy policy