Burt Lancaster's one and only feature as star and director, The Kentuckian, has a bedrock American folk tale at its core, but scarcely a clue how to tell it. For all his balletic control as an actor-athlete, Lancaster shows no sense of how a film should move and breathe over an hour and a half, or how to make the characters' growth or changes of mind credible. It's the early 18th century--Monroe is president--and buckskin-clad Lancaster and his son (Donald MacDonald) are lighting out for Texas. "It ain't we don't like people--we like room more." They plan briefly to visit Lancaster's tobacco-dealer brother (John McIntire) in the river town of Humility, and then move on. But there are complications from a long-running feud, and some nasty baiting from a whip-cracking storekeeper (Walter Matthau in his film debut); the need to replace their "Texas money" after buying freedom for a bondservant (Dianne Foster); also the matter of deciding who's prettier, her or the local schoolmarm (Diana Lynn). Lancaster aims for some quaint Americana--a sing-along to the tinkling of a pianoforte, a jaw-dropping riverside production number--and there's one nifty bit of action based on how long it took to reload a flintlock rifle. But mostly this film just lies there in overlit CinemaScope. --Richard T Jameson
A wayward chemistry professor (Curtis) and his friend (Martin) imitate spies in a desperate attempt to justify a kiss between Curtis and one of his students to his jealous wife JANET Janet Leigh. The situation becomes chaotic once the pair are mistaken for genuine FBI agents by real Russian spies!
Of all the Philip Marlowes, Robert Mitchum's in Farewell, My Lovely resonates most deeply. That's because this is Marlowe past his prime, and Mitchum imbues Raymond Chandler's legendary private detective with a sense of maturity as well as a melancholy spirit. And yet there is plenty of Mitchum's renowned self-deprecating humour and charismatic charm to remind us of his own iconic presence. As in the previous 1944 film version, Murder, My Sweet, Marlowe searches all over L.A. for the elusive girlfriend of ex-con Moose Malloy, a loveable giant who might as well be King Kong. In typical Chandler fashion, the weary Marlowe uncovers a hotbed of lust, corruption and betrayal. Like Malloy, he's disillusioned by it all, despite his tough exterior, and possesses a tinge of sentimentality for the good old days. About the only current dream he can hold onto is Joe DiMaggio and his fabulous hitting streak. Made in 1975, a year after Chinatown (shot by the same cinematographer, John Alonzo), Farewell, My Lovely is more straightforward and nostalgic, but still possesses a requisite hard-boiled edge, and the best kind of angst the 1970s had to offer. (By the way, you will notice Sylvester Stallone in a rather violent cameo, a year before his Rocky breakthrough.) --Bill Desowitz, Amazon.com
Disney's THE MUPPETS Complete 6 Movie Collection : The Muppets (2012) ; The Muppet Movie ; The Great Muppet Caper ; The Muppet Christmas Carol ; Muppet Treasure Island ; The Muppets Wizard of Oz. All in Fantastic Boxset (Individual Slimline cases) - Limited Release in UK (Region 2) in English.
The Music Hall was once the most popular form of entertainment in London. Bawdy raucous sentimental and energetic it produced a whole host of stars and some of the best-loved songs of all time. Filmed in the 1960s A Little Of What You Fancy is a loving tribute to the likes of Lily Morris Gus Elen and Ella Shields. Featuring original archive film of the stars plus rare prints portraits and photographs it traces what remains of the great Music Halls in 1960s London - and discovers the spirit of Music Hall still very much alive in places like The Players Theatre off the trand and MacDonalds in Hoxton. 1960s performances by Helen Shapiro singing Dont Dilly Dally and The Lambeth Walk and Sheila Bernette singing She Was Poor But She Was Honest Dear Old Pals and Covent Garden in the Morning are mixed with original recordings of Stanley Holloways I Live in Trafalgar Square and Lets All Go Down the Strand. Gus Elen is captured performing Its a Great Big Shame and Lily Morris is seen and heard lamenting Why am I Always the Bridesmaid? And these are just a few of the musical highlights in this glorious celebration of traditional Music Hall at its very best!
Princess Mononoke has already made history as the top-grossing domestic feature ever released in Japan, where its combination of mythic themes, mystical forces, and ravishing visuals tapped deeply into cultural identity and contemporary, ecological anxieties. For international animation and anime fans, this epic, animated 1997 fantasy, represents an auspicious next step for its revered creator, Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service), an acknowledged anime pioneer, whose painterly style, vivid character design, and stylised approach to storytelling take ambitious, evolutionary steps here. Set in medieval Japan, Miyazaki's original story envisions a struggle between nature and man. The march of technology, embodied in the dark iron forges of the ambitious Tatara clan, threatens the natural forces explicit in the benevolent Great God of the Forest and the wide-eyed, spectral spirits he protects. When Ashitaka, a young warrior from a remote, and endangered, village clan, kills a ravenous, boar-like monster, he discovers the beast is in fact an infectious "demon god", transformed by human anger. Ashitaka's quest to solve the beast's fatal curse brings him into the midst of human political intrigues as well as the more crucial battle between man and nature. Miyazaki's convoluted fable is clearly not the stuff of kiddie matinees, nor is the often graphic violence depicted during the battles that ensue. If some younger viewers (or less attentive older ones) will wish for a diagram to sort out the players, Miyazaki's atmospheric world and its lush visual design are reasons enough to watch. For the English-language version, Miramax assembled an impressive vocal cast including Gillian Anderson, Billy Crudup (as Ashitaka), Claire Danes (as San), Minnie Driver (as Lady Eboshi), Billy Bob Thornton, and Jada Pinkett Smith. They bring added nuance to a very different kind of magic kingdom. -- Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com On the DVD: with an impressive widescreen aspect of 2.35:1 and a pleasant 5.1 Dolby digital sound, you cannot fault the transfer of this animation in any way. However, the special features leave a lot to be desired on what is a classic piece of modern anime. The "Behind the Scenes" feature holds no information on the making of Princess Mononoke in its original form--with no input from animator Hayao Miyazaki--and the trailer is taken from the American release of the movie (even though it calls itself an "original" theatrical trailer), complete with the annoyingly hyped-up voiceover that comes with US film trailers. The redeeming feature of this DVD is the ability to watch the anime in its original language with subtitles, a much more passionate and beautiful form--so much of the feeling and lyricism of the movie is lost with the transfer to English language and misplaced casting. After watching the original Japanese version of Princess Mononoke and reading the book you begin to wonder why the West has become such a solitary child of Disney. --Nikki Disney
Jim Wilson (Reed) is a police lieutenant in a corrupt resort town. Revolted by the brutality of modern police work he decides to leave and take up duties in his quiet home town. But on his final day a violent drama explodes. A deadly confrontation breaks out between Frank (McHattie) the abandoned lover of singer Janie (George) and her new boyfriend Lyne (Osborne). The police are called and Frank shoots a young officer. Within minutes a full siege is underway in full view of the tou
The first of two Raymond Chandler adaptations starring the mighty Robert Mitchum, Farewell, My Lovely put a capital M (for Marlowe, menace and murder) back in the Los Angeles neo-noir. It's 1941 in the city of angels - the police are corrupt, the hotel rooms are cheap and criminality infuses every transaction. Private detective Philip Marlowe (Mitchum) has been hired by an ex-convict looking for his old girlfriend. He's also investigating the murder of a jewellry-loving client. The two cases start to connect while Marlowe develops an attraction to the married but seductive Helen Grayle (Charlotte Rampling). The body count mounts and it looks like Marlowe is next. Dick Richards' unflinching and deadly serious adaptation (the third) of Chandler's novel glistens with a suitably pulpy sheen courtesy of Chinatown and Scarface cinematographer John A. Alonzo's lens work and David Shire's ice cool score, while Mitchum dominates as the rheumatic, world-weary Marlowe.
The Quiet Man: John Ford's The Quiet Man celebrates one of Hollywood's most romantic and enduring epics. The first American feature to be filmed in Ireland's picturesque countryside Ford richly imbued this masterpiece with his love of Ireland and its people. Sean Thornton is an American who swears off boxing after accidentally killing an opponent. Returning to the Irish town of his birth he finds happiness when he falls in love with the fiery Mary Kate. Though he is sorely tempted to pick up the gloves against her brother the town bully Sean is determined not to use his fists. Mary Kate and Sean wed but her brother refuses to pay the dowry. Sean would rather walk away than accept this challenge. Even when his new wife accuses him of cowardice Sean stands firm. But when she boards a train to leave he is finally ready to take matters into his own hands. The resulting fist-fight erupts into the longest brawl ever filmed followed by one of the most memorable reconciliation's in motion picture history! (Dir. John Ford 1952) Stage Coach: One of the all time classic Westerns - considered by many to be the movie that propelled John Wayne to stardom back in 1939. The film is set against the impressive backdrop of Monument Valley in Utah and tells the story of a mixed group of travellers who are making their way across country to Arizona. They are endangered by an Indian War Party and this along with their various characters results in difficulties for the party... (Dir. John Ford 1939) Rooster Cogburn: 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. (Dir. Stuart Miller 1975)
A collection of films celebrating the outstanding iconic collaboration of actor John Wayne and director John Ford. Films comprise: 1. Stagecoach (1939) 2. The Long Voyage Home (1940) 3. Fort Apache (1948) 4. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) 5. Rio Grande (1951) 6. The Quiet Man (1952)
A collection of four of the best John Wayne movies. MOVIES INCLUDED: ANGEL AND THE BADMAN THE MAN FROM UTAH RIDERS OF DESTINY LUCKY TEXAN
Three unlikely comrades embark on a cross-country mission in a stolen yellow Mini. Their objective is to get to Invercargill in one piece but they just can't help breaking the law along the way! Nicknamed the 'Blondini' gang by the police the trio are pursued every inch of the way and will have to improvise if they and their redoubtable Mini are going to make it to their destination in one piece!
The special relationship between a boy with a troubled past and a young teacher. Based on a screenplay by Rod Woodruff.
Hitchcock's most notorious work remains terrifying after all these years, digitally presented, this reissue marks this milestone work's 50th Anniversary.
A collection of nine films from the Films of Scotland Collection at the Scottish Screen Archive. All restored and digitally transferred to High Definition for superb picture and sound quality.
A womanising cowboy and former deputy sheriff is taken in by a Quaker family after being wounded in a fight...
Angel And The Badman: Quirt Evens an all round bad guy is nursed back to health and sought after by Penelope Worth a quaker girl. He eventually finds himself having to choose from his world or the world from which Penelope lives by. The Cowboy And The Senorita: Craig Allen (Hubbard) gambler and town boss attempts to take a gold-mine inherited by 17 year old Chip Williams (Lee). Roy suspects that the mine may be more valuable than it appears and investigates a clue le
Hell's Angels on Wheels takes you back to an era of drug and gasoline fuelled rebellion. Photographed by Lazlo Kovacs (Paper Moon Close Encounters of the Third Kind) and starring Jack Nicholson in one of his finest roles this movie goes hog wild! The director Richard Rush worked alongside the notorious Sonny Barger and the Oakland Hells Angels as a major background source. Adam Rourke plays Buddy the head of the Angels and Nicholson plays Poet a gas jockey who joins the brotherhood. Nicholson soon comes to realise that there are a lot of slaves in Buddy's hell and he doesn't want to be one of them. Until that realisation however he delights in the violence and the orgies - which allows Nicholson to give his baby-faced killer grin a thorough work-out.
Made in 1978, the original 'The Lord Of The Rings' was directed by cutting edge animator Ralph Bakshi using an innovative technique that allowed the animator to paint over live action footage, bringing the book to life with stunning success. Featuring an exceptional voice cast including William Squire as Gandalf the Grey, Christopher Guard as the Hobbit Frodo and guardian of the master ring, John Hurt as the heroic Strider, One Foot in the Grave's Annette Crosby as Galadriel and Star Wars' A...
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