Roman Polanski's adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy Macbeth remains one of the most infamous for a number of reasons: the copious amounts of bloody gore, its expert use of location settings (filmed in North Wales) and Lady Macbeth's nude sleepwalking scene. Despite its notoriety, though, this does remain one of the more compelling film adaptations of the Scottish tragedy, if one of the more pessimistic takes on the story of Macbeth and his overreaching ambition. If you think the play is normally a bit of a downer, you haven't seen Polanski's bleak version of it, made in reaction to the murder of his wife, Sharon Tate, by the Manson "family". Jon Finch (Hitchcock's Frenzy) is a forceful Macbeth, bringing out the Scot's warrior instincts, and Francesca Annis is a memorable Lady Macbeth but the main thrust of the film belongs to Polanski's and noted British playwright and critic Kenneth Tynan's take on the play: extremely violent, nihilistic and visceral; this is down-in-the-dirt, no-holds-barred Shakespeare, not fussy costume drama. Pay close attention to the end, a silent coda that puts a chilling twist on all the action that has come beforehand and foreshadows more tragedy to come. --Mark Englehart
This British anthology series produced by England's leading exporters of horror films told tales of haunted houses demons ghosts and other supernatural wonders... Includes all 13 episodes across 4 discs: The House That Bled To Death The Silent Scream The Two Faces of Evil The Mark of Satan Witching Time Visitor From The Grave Rude Awakening Charlie Boy Children of the Full Moon The Thirteenth Reunion The Carpathian Eagle Guardian of the Abyss Growing Pains.
A visually sumptuous and quintessentially British production, Death on the Nile won an Oscar® for Anthony Powell's costume design and introduced Peter Ustinov in his first portrayal as the Belgian detective Poirot. Abroad a luxury Nile steamer a mystery assassin takes the life of an heiress. EXTRAS Making Of Interview with costume designer Anthony Powell Interview with Dame Angela Lansbury Interview with producer Richard Goodwin Behind the scenes stills gallery Costume designs stills gallery
Imogen Stubbs stars in the BBCs critically lauded 1988 adaptation of D.H. Lawrences The Rainbow. Ursula Brangwen (Stubbs) is the beautiful, naive daughter of a wealthy country squire, one of five children living in the Nottinghamshire mining heartland at the turn of the century. From wide eyed sixteen year old to fully grown woman, the drama follows Ursula through the trials and tribulations of her burgeoning personal relationships in her quest to find fulfilment for her developing passionate.
From the 'Master of Suspense' this box set features many of his very best films. Titles comprise: 1. Vertigo 2. The Birds 3. Rear Window 4. Marnie 5. Frenzy 6. Topaz 7. The Trouble With Harry 8. Torn Curtain 9. Psycho: Special Edition (includes the Bonus disc the Hitchcock legacy) 10. Family Plot 11. Saboteur 12. Shadow Of A Doubt 13. The Man Who Knew Too Much 14. Rope For individual synopses please refer to the individual products.
A visually sumptuous and quintessentially British production, Death on the Nile won an Oscar® for Anthony Powell's costume design and introduced Peter Ustinov in his first portrayal as the Belgian detective Poirot. Abroad a luxury Nile steamer a mystery assassin takes the life of an heiress. EXTRAS Making Of Interview with costume designer Anthony Powell Interview with Dame Angela Lansbury Interview with producer Richard Goodwin Behind the scenes stills gallery Costume designs stills gallery
Kate Crowley is an idealistic young musician who performs angry songs that rail against a dehumanising world. Hustler Danny has ambitions for her, and almost overnight she is transformed into a huge star. Once at the top, however, the pressure ratchets up. Kate's trusted musicians are manoeuvred out of her band and she is left at the mercy of a ruthless and exploitative music industry. Before long, the social disintegration of the external world begins to mirror Kate's tragic descent into obl...
This mammoth box set includes the following BBC Shakespeare Adaptations: 1. Romeo And Juliet - Directed by Alvin Rakoff (1978) 2. Richard II - Directed by Jane Howell (1983) 3. As You Like It - Directed by Basil Coleman (1978) 4. Julius Caesar - Directed by Herbert Wise (1979) 5. Measure For Measure - Directed by Desmond Davis (1979) 6. Henry VIII - Directed Kevin Billington (1979) 7. Henry IV: Parts I & II - Directed by David Giles (1979) 8. Henry V: Parts I & II - Directed by Davi
Teenage prodigy Victor Frankenstein tells his father of his ambition to go to university in Vienna. The Baron objects, so Victor coldly sabotages his shooting rifle. The gun explodes in the Baron's face, killing him. Victor uses his inheritance to decamp to Vienna. Six years pass, and Victor leaves after getting the Dean's daughter pregnant; returning home with fellow student Wilhelm, he rescues his friend Elizabeth and her father, an eminent professor, from two highwaymen. He kills one, and covertly beheads him. Hidden away from housekeeper and bedwarmer' Alys, he and Wilhelm set about researches into the revival of dead tissue. The grisly career of the notorious Victor Frankenstein has begun This bold experiment in horror comedy was directed by Jimmy Sangster in 1970, and is one of the most unusual of all the Hammer horrors. Ralph Bates stars as the young Victor Frankenstein and Dave Prowse (later to embody Darth Vader in Star Wars) plays his monster. EXTRAS: NEW FEATURETTE - Gallows Humour: Inside The Horror of Frankenstein ORIGINAL TRAILER
By the time Alfred Hitchcock's second-to-last picture came out in 1972, the censorship restrictions under which he had laboured during his long career had eased up. Now he could give full sway to his lurid fantasies, and that may explain why Frenzy is the director's most violent movie by far--outstripping even Psycho for sheer brutality. Adapted by playwright Anthony Shaffer, the story concerns a series of rape-murders committed by suave fruit-merchant Bob Rusk (Barry Foster), who gets his kicks from throttling women with a necktie. This being a Hitchcock thriller, suspicion naturally falls on the wrong man--ill-tempered publican Richard Blaney (Jon Finch). Enter Inspector Oxford from New Scotland Yard (Alex McCowan), who thrashes out the finer points of the case with his wife (Vivian Merchant), whose tireless enthusiasm for indigestible delicacies like quail with grapes supplies a classic running gag.Frenzy was the first film Hitchcock had shot entirely in his native Britain since Jamaica Inn (1939), and many contemporary critics used that fact to account for what seemed to them a glorious return to form after a string of Hollywood duds (Marnie, Torn Curtain, Topaz). Hitchcock specialists are often less wild about it, judging the detective plot mechanical and the oh-so-English tone insufferable. But at least three sequences rank among the most skin-crawling the maestro ever put on celluloid. There is an astonishing moment when the camera backs away from a room in which a murder is occurring, down the stairs, through the front door and then across the street to join the crowd milling indifferently on the pavement. There is also the killer's nerve-wracking attempt to retrieve his tiepin from a corpse stuffed into a sack of potatoes. Finally, there is one act of strangulation so prolonged and gruesome it verges on the pornographic. Was the veteran film-maker a rampant misogynist as feminist observers have frequently charged? Sit through this appalling scene if you dare and decide for yourself. --Peter Matthews
Jon Finch heads an impressive cast as the flamboyant anti-hero of this dystopian, darkly humorous sci-fi thriller from cult director Robert Fuest - best-known for the stylishly cult Dr Phibes horror films starring Vincent Price. Based on Michael Moorcock's acclaimed 1968 novel, The Final Programme is presented here in a brand-new transfer from the original film elements, in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio. In a far-off future, mankind is in a state of decay. But a group of sc...
Poirot (Peter Ustinov) has a set of murder suspects on a boat in the Nile after a rich heiress is killed. Can he find the culprit before they reach port?
Jon Finch heads an impressive cast as the flamboyant anti-hero in this dystopian, darkly humorous sci-fi thriller from cult director Robert Fuest. The Final Programme is based on Michael Moorcock's acclaimed 1968 novel of the same name and has been newly restored.In a far-off future, mankind is in a state of decay. But a group of scientists believe they have found the means to move humanity on to its next level in the creation of an ideal, self-replicating - and thus immortal - human being. Jerry Cornelius, Nobel Prize-winning physicist and playboy adventurer, is vital to the project's success: his recently deceased father devised the formula of this 'final programme'. However, the formula is captured on a microfilm hidden in the vaults of the family's mansion, and jealously guarded by Jerry's drug-addicted, psychopathic brother, Frank...Part of the STUDIOCANAL Cult Classics collection and featuring an exclusive set of art cards.Product FeaturesNEW Interview with Jenny RunacreNEW Kim Newman on Fuest & The Final ProgrammeItalian title sequenceTrailers
Roman Polanski imbues his unflinchingly violent adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy of ruthless ambition and murder in medieval Scotland with grit and dramatic intensity. Jon Finch and Francesca Annis give performances charged with fury and sex appeal as a decorated warrior rising through the ranks and his driven wife, scheming together to take the throne by any means. Co-adapted by Polanski and the great theatre critic and dramaturge Kenneth Tynan, and shot against a series of stunning, stark British Isle landscapes, this version of Macbeth is among the most atmospheric and authentic of all Shakespeare films.
Jon Finch heads an impressive cast as the flamboyant anti-hero in this dystopian, darkly humorous sci-fi thriller from cult director Robert Fuest. The Final Programme is based on Michael Moorcock's acclaimed 1968 novel of the same name and has been newly restored.In a far-off future, mankind is in a state of decay. But a group of scientists believe they have found the means to move humanity on to its next level in the creation of an ideal, self-replicating - and thus immortal - human being. Jerry Cornelius, Nobel Prize-winning physicist and playboy adventurer, is vital to the project's success: his recently deceased father devised the formula of this 'final programme'. However, the formula is captured on a microfilm hidden in the vaults of the family's mansion, and jealously guarded by Jerry's drug-addicted, psychopathic brother, Frank...Part of the STUDIOCANAL Cult Classics collection and featuring an exclusive set of art cards.Product FeaturesNEW Interview with Jenny RunacreNEW Kim Newman on Fuest & The Final ProgrammeItalian title sequenceTrailers
THE TERRORNAUTS Joe Burke heads a radio telescope project hoping to pick up signs of life from another planet; thus far, the team has reported no positive results. But just when the project is about to be cancelled, Burke discovers a faint signal and decides to respond... UNEARTHLY STRANGER TP91 is a secret and highly complex formula which will enable man to project himself through time and space, but when Dr Munro succeeds in partially solving it he is found dead and his successor quickly senses that both he and his new wife are now in grave danger... INVASION Routine tests on a traffic accident victim lead to shocking discoveries when the man is found to be not human! His fabulous tale of being an escaped prisoner from an alien spaceship suddenly takes a turn for the sinister... THE FINAL PROGRAMME In a far-off future, mankind is in a state of decay. But a group of scientists believe they have found the means to move humanity on to its next level in the creation of an ideal, self-replicating and thus immortal human being!
Universally recognised as the Master of Suspense, the legendary Alfred Hitchcock directed some of cinema's most thrilling and unforgettable classics. The House of Hitchcock features 18 iconic films from the acclaimed director's illustrious career including Psycho, The Birds, Rear Window, Vertigo and North by Northwest, plus a range of limited edition extras including blueprints of the infamous Psycho House, original storyboards from some of his finest movies, movie poster artcards for all the films, and a booklet about the man himself. Includes: SABOTEUR SHADOW OF A DOUBT ROPE STRANGERS ON A TRAIN DIAL M FOR MURDER REAR WINDOW TO CATCH A THIEF THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH VERTIGO NORTH BY NORTHWEST PSYCHO (1960) THE BIRDS MARNIE TORN CURTAIN TOPAZ FRENZY FAMILY PLOT Bonus features: DOCUMENTARIES EXPERT COMMENTARIES INTERVIEWS SCREEN TESTS STORYBOARDS AND MUCH MORE! Plus: ORIGINAL LETTERS, STORYBOARDS, BLUEPRINTS AND MORE...
Young Victor Frankenstein returns from medical school with a depraved taste for beautiful women and fiendish experiments. But when the doctor runs out of fresh body parts for his 'research ' he turns to murder to complete his gruesome new creation. Now his monster has unleashed its own ghastly killing spree and the true Horror Of Frankenstein has only just begun...
The Vampire Lovers was Hammer's first and only co-production with Hollywood's leading horror specialists American International. This film tapped a new source of classic horror literature the work of J. Sheridan Le Fanu and injected an audacious dose of sex into the proceedings. Ingrid Pitt is beautiful female vampire Mircalla Karnstein alias Carmilla. Carmilla rises from the grave to avenge the deaths of her relatives claiming not only the odd male as victim but also several attractive young girls. Moving on to the family of Roger Morton (George Cole) Carmilla continues her revenge afresh on his impressionable daughter Emma (Madeleine Smith).
A quintet of the finest Shakespeare adaptations in one box set! Featuring 'The Taming Of The Shrew' 'King Lear' 'Macbeth' 'Henry V' and 'Hamlet'. The Taming Of The Shrew: Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton sparkle in Shakespeare's comic look at male chauvinism and women's lib. Petruchio journeys to Padua in search of a wealthy wife encountering the fiery Katharina a self willed shrew who leads Petruchio on a merry chase with Katharina as determined to maintain her indepen
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