Far too many film versions of the The Four Feathers have been made over the years, which is especially surprising considering that this 1939 Korda brothers production is surely definitive. The film simultaneously celebrates and pokes fun at British imperialism, showing the kind of dogged stiff-upper-lippery that forged an empire, but also the blinkered attitudes and crass snobbishness of the ruling classes (and those plummy accents--did people ever really talk like that?). Whatever political subtext may or may not be read into it, though, the film is best celebrated for its magnificent vistas: partially made on location in the Sudan, as well as at the famous Denham Studios, this is British cinema from the days when it thought to rival Hollywood for sheer spectacle. Vincent Korda's production design and the glorious early colour cinematography are helped greatly by fellow Hungarian émigré Miklos Rozsa's epic score. John Clements is the notional hero, the man who is determined to show the world he is not a coward after resigning his commission (even though it would surely have saved everyone a lot of bother if he had just stuck with it) but the film is stolen by Ralph Richardson, magnificent as an officer struck blind and led to safety by Clements' Harry Faversham. The latter scenes when Richardson's Captain Durrance realises the truth and its implications are the most poignant and emotionally truthful in the film. C Aubrey Smith is delightful as the old buffer who relives his battles on the dinner table; to a modern audience, however, the "blackface" casting of John Laurie as the Khalifa strikes a discordant note. But adjusting some expectations for its vintage, this is a triumph of derring-do and far and away the most gripping version of this oft-told story on film. --Mark Walker
Anchor Bay presents seven films from Showtime's much-anticipated Masters Of Horror series! Cigarette Burns (Dir. John Carpenter): Kirby Sweetman knows how to find rare film prints. However nothing could prepare him for the daunting search for 'Le Fin Absolue du Monde' a film allegedly shown only once and rumoured to have driven its audience into a muderous frenzy before the cinema mysteriously erupted in flames. Working for a shadowy patron Jimmy's increasingly obsessive investigation becomes nightmarish and deadly... Dreams In The Witch House (Dir. Stuart Gordon): Walter Gilman a college student studying interdimensional string theory rents a garret in a run-down building in the old New England town of Arkham. He is haunted by terrifying nightmares in which he is visited by a 17th-century witch and her familiar a rat with a human face. He begins to realize that these are not dreams at all and that diabolical forces are gathering to sacrifice his neighbour's infant. As Walter struggles to prevent this it becomes less clear if he will save the child or become its unwitting murderer himself. Incident On And Off A Mountain Road (Dir. Don Coscarelli): Ellen a seemingly defenceless young woman is pitted against Moonface a deformed and demented serial killer. As the story cuts back and forth in time we slowly discover that our heroine is not as helpless nor as innocent as she initially seems. Trained by her abusive husband Bruce to be a survivalist she has been instructed to use any and every available object as a weapon in a time of need. Chained to the floor of Moonface's horrific cabin with his unsavoury roommate (Angus Scrimm) Ellen must marshal all her survival skills as she races against the clock to escape a grisly fate... Chocolate (Dir. Mick Garris): Jamie is a newly divorced young man who creates artificial flavours for the food industry. Suddenly he inexplicably starts to experience brief and random sensory flashes from someone - and somewhere - unknown: sights sounds smells and touch. Learning that he's experiencing life through the senses of a mysterious woman he begins to fall in love with her - without ever having met her. Eventually he discovers a horrifying secret that binds him inexorably with the perfect woman in an erotic horrifying dance of death... Sick Girl (Dir. Lucky McKee): Angela Bettis stars as a shy entomologist whose drab life is changed by the simultaneous arrival of a large mysterious bug and a torrid affair with a sexy young woman. But when the bizarre insect chooses a shocking place to secretly feed Sapphic ecstasy turns to infection mutation and murder. Will these lesbian lovers let a venomous threesome tear them apart or is the most horrific metamorphosis of all yet to come? Deer Woman (Dir. John Landis): Detective Dwight Faraday is a burnt-out cop demoted to the 'weird calls' desk until a series of bizarre murders suddenly grabs his attention: Several men killed by massive blunt force trauma while in a state of sexual arousal all last seen in the company of a sexy Native American woman. But when it's discovered that these corpses were trampled into hamburger by what appear to be hooves Faraday must hunt a killer who may not be totally human. Will one cynical cop be caught like a deer in the headlights or has a horrifying seductress risen from legend to slaughter the horny? Homecoming (Dir. Joe Dante): It's a few weeks before the Presidential election and an unpopular war still rages overseas. But when the Republican Commander-In-Chief wishes that our dead troops could return to tell America how proud they were to serve their country veterans begin to rise from their flag-draped coffins....
A hard-working man tries to support his family in a South London council estate.
Set in the late 17th Century Exmoor the Doones a family of outlaws begin to plague the land. This is the romantic story of John Ridd who falls in love with Lorna Doone and must rescue her from her cruel family. Starring Emily Richard (The Strauss Dynasty) John Sommerville (Great Expectations) and Rhoda Lewis (The Bretts) Lorna Doone is based on the best-selling novel by R D Blackmore.
Horror Hotel: This hotel is the gateway to hell! Young college student Nan Barlow (Stevenson) uses her winter vacation to research a paper on witchcraft in New England as her professor recommended that she spent her time in a small village called Whitewood. Once she gets to the village she notices some weird happenings but things begin to happen in earnest when she finds herself ""marked"" for sacrifice by the undead coven of witches! The Terror: A lieutentant in Na
Harry Frigg is a classic Paul Newman rebel - a private in the U.S. Army who is forever escaping from military prisons. Several Brigadier Generals from the Allied forces are unexpectedly taken prisoner by the Italians while in the shower - a public relations disaster. This is compounded by the fact that the Generals are being held inan Italian Villa and are unable to escape because being all of the same rank none is in command and they are forced to plan by committee with predictably ineffective results. Headquarters devises a plot to free these generals by sending in jail escape expert Harry Frigg...
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