Murder On The Orient Express: The first of several lavish Christie adaptations from producers John Brabourne and Richard Goodwin introducing Albert Finney as the first screen Hercule Poirot. This 1974 production of Agatha Christie's 1934 classic is a judicious mixture of mystery murder and nostalgia. Which member of the all-star cast onboard the luxurious train perforated the no-good American tycoon with a dagger twelve times? Was it Ingrid Bergman's shy Swedish missionary; or Vanessa Redgrave's English rose; Sean Connery as an Indian Army Colonel: Michael York or Jacqueline Bisset; perhaps Lauren Bacall; Anthony Perkins or John Gielgud as the victim's impassive butler. Finney spreads unease among them with subdued wit and finesse. Arguably the most successful screen adaptation of a Christie novel in addition to Bergman's Oscar for Best Supporting Actress 'Murder On The Orient Express' achieved nominations for Best Actor Screenplay Photography Costume Design and Music Score. (Dir. Sidney Lumet 1974) Death On The Nile: Peter Ustinov makes his debut as Agatha Christie's brilliant Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in this lavish and star-studded follow-up to Murder On The Orient Express:. As Poirot enjoys a luxurious cruise down the Nile a newlywed heiress is found murdered on board and every elegant passenger becomes a prime suspect. Can Poirot identify the killer and motive before the ship of clues reaches the end of its murderous journey? Bette Davis David Niven Angela Lansbury Maggie Smith Mia Farrow George Kennedy Olivia Hussey Simon MacCorkindale Jane Birkin Jack Warden and Lois Chiles co-star in this sumptuous Oscar-winning classic adapted by Anthony Shaffer (Sleuth) and filmed on location throughout exotic Egypt. (Dir. John Guillermin 1978) The Mirror Crack'd: Mirror mirror on the wall who is the murderer among them all? The year is 1953. The small English village of St. Mary Mead home to Miss Jane Marple is delighted when a big American movie company arrives to make a movie telling of the relationship between Jane Grey and Elisabeth I starring the famous actresses Marina Rudd and Lola Brewster. Marina arrives with her husband Jason and when she discovers that Lola is going to be in the movie with her she hits the roof as Lola and Marina loathe each other on sight. Marina has been getting death threats and at a party at the manor house Heather Babcock after boring Marina with a long story drinks a cocktail made for Marina and dies from poisoning. Everybody believes that Marina is the target but the police officer investigating the case Inspector Craddock isn't sure so he asks Miss Marple his aunt to investigate... (Dir. Guy Hamilton 1980) Evil Under The Sun: Evil is everywhere. Even in paradise... Hercule Poirot is called in to investigate a case for an insurance company regarding firstly a dead woman's body found on a moor and then a important diamond sent to the company to be insured turns out to be a fake. Poirot discovers that the diamond was bought for Arlena Marshall by Sir Horace Blatt and Arlena is on her honeymoon with her husband and step-daughter on a tropical island hotel. He joins them on the island and finds that everybody else starts to hate Arlena for different reasons - refusing to do a stage show stopping a book and for having an open affair with Patrick Redfern another guest in full view of his shy wife. So it's only a matter of time before Arlena turns up dead strangled and Poirot must find out who it is.... (Dir. Guy Hamilton 1982)
The Woman Next Door (1981) Madame Jouve the narrator tells the tragedy of Bernard and Mathilde. Bernard was living happily with his wife Arlette and his son Thomas. One day a couple Philippe and Mathilde Bauchard moves into the next house. This is the accidental reunion of Bernard and Mathilde who had a passionate love affair years ago. The relationship revives... A somber study of human feelings. The 400 Blows (1959) For his feature-film debut critic-turned-director Franois Truffaut drew inspiration from his own troubled childhood. The 400 Blows stars Jean-Pierre Laud as Antoine Doinel Truffaut's preteen alter ego. Misunderstood at home by his parents and tormented in school by his insensitive teacher (Guy Decomble) Antoine frequently runs away from both places. The boy finally quits school after being accused of plagiarism by his teacher. He steals a typewriter from his father (Albert Remy) to finance his plans to leave home. The father angrily turns Antoine over to the police who lock the boy up with hardened criminals. A psychiatrist at a delinquency center probes Antoine's unhappiness which he reveals in a fragmented series of monologues. Shoot the Pianist (1960) Charlie Kohler is a piano player in a bar. The waitress Lena is in love with him. One of Charlie's brother Chico a crook takes refuge in the bar because he is chased by two gangsters Momo and Ernest. We will discover that Charlie's real name is Edouard Saroyan once a virtuose who gives up after his wife's suicide. Charlie now has to deal wih Chico Ernest Momo Fido (his youngest brother who lives with him) and Lena... Jules and Jim (1962) Acclaimed French director Franois Truffaut's third and for many viewers best film is an adaptation of a semi-autobiographical novel by Henri-Pierre Roch. Set between 1912 and 1933 it stars Oskar Werner as the German Jules and Henri Serre as the Frenchman Jim kindred spirits who while on holiday in Greece fall in love with the smile on the face of a sculpture. Back in Paris the smile comes to life in the person of Catherine (Jeanne Moreau); the three individuals become constant companions determined to live their lives to the fullest despite the world war around them. When Jules declares his love for Catherine Jim agrees to let Jules pursue her despite his own similar feelings; Jules and Catherine marry and have a child (Sabine Haudepin) but Catherine still loves Jim as well. Anne and Muriel (1971) Story of two British sisters who are in love with the same Frenchman over a period of 20 years. Screenplay by Francois Truffaut Jean Grault Based on the novel by Henri-Pierre Roche. Finally Sunday! (1963) Claude Massoulier is murdered while hunting at the same place than Julien Vercel an estate agent that knew him and whose fingerprints are found on Massoulier's car. As the police discovers that Marie-Christine Vercel Julien's wife was Massoulier's mistress Julien is very suspected. But his secretary Barbara Becker while not quite convinced he is innocent defends him and leads her private investigations...
A film which regularly charts high in critics' polls of the best films of all time, director Marcel Carné and screenwriter Jacques Prévert's masterpiece Les Enfants du Paradis is as solid a landmark in French film history as the Eiffel Tower is on the Parisian landscape. And at 187 minutes running time, it's a massy edifice indeed, built from a rambunctious cast of characters--ranging from pickpockets and prostitutes to aristocrats and actors--whose lives intersect around the Theatre des Funambules, a popular Parisian theatre on the Boulevard du Crime, during the 1840s. (The title refers to the poor who can only afford seats in the upper galleries of the theatre.) The heart of the plot is a love story between mime artiste Baptiste (Jean-Louis Barrault) and streetwalker Garance (the magnificent, sand-paper-voiced Arletty). When Garance is falsely accused of pickpocketing, Baptiste provides a mimed alibi for her to the police (one of the film's most famous set pieces). The rose she later throws him in gratitude sets off a romantic obsession, one of several that structure the film, as do love triangles, duels, and tortured confessions of feeling. Thematically, Les Enfant du Paradis gnaws over typically French cinematic preoccupations: illusion and reality, the nature of performance, the indomitable spirit of the proletariat and so on, all made the more charged and poignant when you know the film was shot during the Nazi occupation. (One actor, Robert Le Vigan, was reportedly a Nazi collaborator and disappeared during the filming under mysterious circumstances and so had to be replaced by Pierre Renoir.) --Leslie Felperin
Quite unlike the models in her magazines, French girl Lolita struggles with her self-esteem and tries to win her father's affection.
Walerian Borowczyk’s second feature was just as original as his first. Almost entirely live action this time it is situated on the archipelago of Goto which has been cut off from the rest of human civilisation by a massive earthquake and has consequently developed its own arcane rules. Melancholic dictator Goto III (Pierre Brasseur) is married to the beautiful Glossia (Ligia Branice) who in turn is lusted after by the petty thief Gozo (Guy Saint-Jean) as he works his way up the hierarchy.
Francois is a happily married fifty year old teacher. Concerned that rebellious student Mathilde is going to be expelled he sets out to help her but is soon drawn into a passionate relationship with the enigmatic teenager. Realising it cannot go on he tries to end the affair with devastating consequences... A haunting tale of obsessive love that won Vannesa Paradis a Cesar award for Most Promising Actress. Available on DVD for the first time.
A surreal, virtually plotless series of dreams centered around six middle-class people and their consistently interrupted attempts to have a meal together.
Just the name "Orient Express" conjures up images of a bygone era. Add an all-star cast (including Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman, Jacqueline Bisset and Lauren Bacall, to name a few) and Agatha Christie's delicious plot and how can you go wrong? Particularly if you add in Albert Finney as Christie's delightfully pernickety sleuth, Hercule Poirot. Someone has knocked off nasty Richard Widmark on this train trip and, to Poirot's puzzlement, everyone seems to have a motive--just the set-up for a terrific whodunit. Though it seems like an ensemble film, director Sidney Lumet gives each of his stars their own solo and each makes the most of it. Bergman went so far as to win an Oscar for her role. But the real scene-stealer is the ever-reliable Finney as the eccentric detective who never misses a trick. --Marshall Fine
Director Henri-Georges Clouzot cast his own wife Vera as the hapless victim in this acclaimed masterpiece of the macabre. A wife plans the murder of her tyrant husband with the help of his mistress yet when his body dissappears panic and confusion ensues... The Great Suspense Film That Shocked the World... And Became A Classic.
A strong cast features in actor-director Lionel Jeffries' emotional drama about a young boy facing the combined challenge of his parents' disintegrating marriage relocation to London and an ongoing attempt to overcome his speech problem. Sympathetic moving but never sentimental Baxter! features a remarkable performance from young actor Scott Jacoby supported by Patricia Neal Jean-Pierre Cassel and Britt Ekland. Baxter! is presented in a brand-new digital transfer in its original theatrical aspect ratio from original film elements. The product of a broken home and an enforced move to another country Roger Baxter is an American schoolboy adrift in London. Now living with his selfish uncaring mother in an unfamiliar city it is only the kindness of his neighbours that begins to show Roger the love that has been absent from his life. With his personal situation driving him headlong towards a nervous breakdown however is it too little too late? SPECIAL FEATURES [] Original Theatrical Trailer [] Image Gallery [] Promotional Material PDF
Jean-Pierre Melville's masterpiece completes his triptych about the German Occupation of France and the Resistance after Le Silence de la mer and Leon Morin, pretre. Now I have said everything about the war he told the newspaper Paris-Presse. Atmospheric and gripping, Army of Shadows is Melville's most personal film, featuring Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel, and the incomparable Simone Signoret as intrepid underground fighters who must grapple with their own brand of honour in their battle against Hitler's regime. Special Features: Army of Shadows - The Hidden Side of the Story Documentary Booklet on the Movie Written by Professor and Film Critic Ginette Vincendeau
Now recognised as one of French cinema's finest talents courtesy of such modern classics as Carlos, Summer Hours and Clouds of Sils Maria, Olivier Assayas started out as a critic and screenwriter before making his debut feature as director in 1986. Disorder tells the tale of a post-punk band whose friendships are tested when a music store robbery turns fatal. It marked Assayas as a talent to be reckoned with. The intimate story of Winter's Child built on that reputation and showed his remarkable gifts with actors, while in Irma Vep Assayas turned his attention to the French film industry to provide a mid-90s amalgam of François Truffaut's Day for Night and Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Beware of a Holy Whore, delighting audiences around the world and featuring a stand-out turn by Maggie Cheung playing a version of herself. Meanwhile, the startlingly prescient neo-noir/cyberhorror masterpiece Demonlover, takes a darker turn to present a chilling exploration of the nexus between sex and violence available at the click of a button, riffing on Cronenberg's Videodrome and with an iconic score by art-rock pioneers, Sonic Youth. Witty, heartfelt, and daring, Assayas remains one of the most interesting international filmmakers working today. No two films are quite alike. His work is vital, unexpected, and unmissable for any true lover of film. Special Features: Four films by Olivier Assayas: Disorder, Winter's Child, Irma Vep and Demonlover High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations of all four films, from 2K restorations supervised and approved by Olivier Assayas Optional English subtitles Special packaging with newly commissioned artwork by Sister Hyde Disc 1 - Disorder/Winter's Child Original 2.0 Stereo soundtracks Interview with writer-director Oliver Assayas Interview with the cast of Disorder, Ann-Gisel Glass, Lucas Belvaux, Wadeck Stanczak and Rémi Martin Theatrical trailers Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matthew Griffin Disc 2 - Irma Vep Original 2.0 Stereo DTS-HD Master Audio Audio commentary by writer-director Olivier Assayas and critic Jean-Michel Frodon On the Set of Irma Vep, a 30-minute behind-the-scenes featurette with optional commentary by Assayas and Frodon Interview with Assayas and critic Charles Tesson Interview with actors Maggie Cheung and Nathalie Richard Man Yuk: A Portrait of Maggie Cheung, a 1997 short film by Assayas Black and white rushes Theatrical Trailer Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Peter Strain Disc 3 - Demonlover Original 5.1 DTS-HD master audio Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing Audio commentary by writer/director Olivier Assayas Visual essay written and narrated by critic Jonathan Romney Peripherie de Demonlover, an hour-long behind-the-scenes documentary directed by Yorick Le Saux Archive interviews with Olivier Assayas, Connie Nielsen, Chloë Sevigny and Charles Berling SY NYC 12/12/01: The Demonlover Sessions, a fly-on-the-wall documentary about the recording of the music score by Sonic Youth Q&A with Olivier Assayas filmed at the Wexner Center for the Arts in 2003 Extended version of the Hellfire Club sequence Original theatrical trailers Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Chris Malbon
An end of the world battle between gangsters cops and zombies!
A group of dropouts and dreamers search for New Guinea's uncharted Valley of the Gods resulting in an odyssey of sexual and spiritual discovery. Barbet Schroeders beautiful second feature The Valley probes the limits of experience and freedom journeying into the unknown to the sounds of Pink Floyds especially composed soundtrack Obscured by Clouds. Aided by Nester Almendros striking photography and the tribes people of the Mapuga who allowed westerners to participate in and film their rites for the first time the film is an authentic tribute to a liberating sense of adventure.
Les Visiteurs is the smash hit time-travelling romp that everyone's talking about. When knights were bold in days of old there could never have been anything quite like the wild and wacky adventures of Count Godefroy and his grotesque vassal Jacquoville who are accidentally zapped from the 12th century to the present day with hilarious consequences. Toilets telephones cars and clingfilm are just some of the new fangled inventions that baffle our olde-world heroes - not to mention pe
Based on the novel by Pierre Mac Orlan, the inimitable team of director Marcel Carne and writer Jacques Prevert deliver a quintessential example of poetic realism, one of the classics of the golden age of French cinema.Down a foggy, desolate road to the port city of Le Havre travels Jean (Jean Gabin), an army deserter looking for another chance to make good on life. Fate, however, has a different plan for him, when acts of both revenge and kindness turn him into front-page news.Also starring the blue-eyed phenomenon Michele Morgan in her first major role, and the menacing Michel Simon, Port Of Shadows (Le Quai des brumes) starkly portrays an underworld of lonely souls wrestling with their own destinies.
The Death Of Mario Ricci (La mort de Mario Ricci)
After a long brutal and successful career in the Marseille mafia Charly Matte'' (Jean Reno) has turned a new leaf and gone straight. For three years he has lived a quiet life devoted to his wife and two young children. Then one winter morning he is left for dead on the docks of the old port with 22 bullets in his body. Somehow he survives. And goes looking for Tony Zacchia the only man who would dare to try to kill him. Zacchia made just one mistake: he failed.
Features four films starring the inimitable Gerard Depardieu: The Count Of Monte Cristo: Alexandre Dumas' celebrated book 'The Count Of Monte Cristo' follows the adventures of Edmond Dants (Gerard Depardieu) a 19th-century French version of James Bond a rich ruthless and suave purveyor of homemade justice. This French production is extravagant having the distinction of being the first filmed version of the newly restored unabridged version of Dumas' classic which runs
Paul and Nelly have what appears to be the perfect life; happily married a wonderful son and a successful business in their idyllic lakeside hotel. For Paul it all seems too perfect and he begins to suspect his wife of having an affair. Tormented by nightmares and visions his paranoia soon threatens Nelly as his jealousy descends into madness...
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