The three films in this Terry Thomas Collection--The Naked Truth, Too Many Crooks and Make Mine Mink--are each an unalloyed delight from beginning to end. Though produced on slim budgets they possess witty scripts by Michael Pertwee, deft direction in two instances by Mario Zampi, inventive music scores and marvellous casts featuring two generations of British actors, from Athene Seyler to a young Kenneth Williams. Individually and as an ensemble these players are a pleasure to watch. But of course Terry Thomas, the catalyst of the collection, runs the gamut with a plethora of facial expressions, body language and verbal repartee that contribute so much to the unbuttoned joy of each film. In the earliest of them, The Naked Truth (1957), TT plays a dodgy peer of the realm being blackmailed in the company of Peter Sellers, Peggy Mount and Shirley Eaton by a gutter press journalist, Dennis Price ("Don't try to appeal to my better nature, because I haven't one"). The moments of slapstick are brought off to a tee as when the larger-than-life Peggy Mount attempts a suicide drop from her window to be saved by an awning on a shop front. Too Many Crooks (1959) has TT being blackmailed once again, this time for the hoards he's stashed away as a renowned tax dodger. Look out for the very funny court scene, where TT makes three appearances on separate charges, before a bemused magistrate, John Le Mesurier. Make Mine Mink (1960), the odd one out in this collection, was adapted from a West End stage farce, Breath of Spring. TT leads a gang of middle-aged biddies who decide to brighten up "the dullness of the tea time of life", by staging a series of robberies on furriers, then donating the proceeds to charitable concerns. The splendid cast includes Hattie Jacques and Kenneth Williams. On the DVD: The Terry Thomas Collection comes in an attractive box containing the three discs. All are 4:3 ratio and with mono sound. The only extras are a trailer for each film which, in the instance of Make Mine Mink, is introduced by Terry Thomas himself, who presents us to his gang of fur thieves as the voice on the soundtrack announces him as "fur, fur funnier than you've seen him before". --Adrian Edwards
Written by Dennis Hopper Peter Fonda and Terry Southern (Dr Strangelove) Fonda produced the low-budget production whilst Hopper took on directing duties receiving an award at Cannes for his first work. Since its release Easy Rider has been regarded as a symbol of free-spirited reaction against society and even for those too young to remember its original release it maintains its status as a classic film which characterises the attitude of a decade.
Both of the hit animated movies in one package. Full of verve and wit, Shrek is a computer-animated adaptation of William Steig's delightfully fractured fairy tale. Our title character (voiced by Mike Myers) is an agreeable enough ogre who wants to live his days in peace. When the diminutive Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow) evicts local fairy tale creatures (including the now-famous Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio and the Gingerbread Man), they settle in the ogre's swamp and Shrek wants answers from Farquaad. A quest of sorts starts for Shrek and his new pal, a talking donkey (Eddie Murphy), where battles have to be won and a princess (Cameron Diaz) must be rescued from a dragon lair in a thrilling action sequence. The story is stronger than most animated fare but it's the jokes that make Shrek a winner. The PG rating is stretched when Murphy and Myers hit their strides. The mild potty humour is fun enough for the 10-year-old but will never embarrass their parents. Shrek is never as warm and inspired as the Toy Story films, but the realistic computer animation and a rollicking soundtrack keeps the entertainment in fine form. Produced by DreamWorks, the film also takes several delicious stabs at its cross-town rival, Disney. --Doug Thomas In Shrek 2, the newlywed Shrek and Princess Fiona are invited to Fiona's former kingdom, Far Far Away, to have their marriage blessed by Fiona's parents--which Shrek thinks is a bad, bad idea, and he's proved right: the parents are horrified by their daughter's transformation into an ogress, a fairy godmother wants her son Prince Charming to win Fiona, and a feline assassin is hired to get Shrek out of the way. The computer animation is more detailed than ever, but it's the acting that make the comedy work--in addition to the return of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz, Shrek 2 features the flexible voices of Julie Andrews, John Cleese and Antonio Banderas, plus Jennifer Saunders as the gleefully wicked fairy godmother. --Bret Fetzer
Nowhere-man Ronny Miller is secretly in love with Cindy Mancini the foxiest most popular girl on campus. When Cindy finds herself in a desperate predicament Ronny steps in to save the day...for a price! Cindy must pose as his girlfriend so that her popularity might rub off on him. What results is a hilarious yet touching series of complications as Ronny and Cindy discover that teenage love and friendship can still survive despite the hassles of peer pressure.
Tom Selleck stars as Jimmie Rainwood an average citizen and hardworking honest man whose life becomes a living nightmare when he is framed by a pair of crooked cops and sent to prison for a crime he did not commit. Unable to prove his innocence he is thrown into a maximum security prison with a bunch of sadistic thugs and forced to endure dangerous subhuman conditions. During his incarceration Jimmy takes a crash course in prison survival from fellow inmate Virgil Cane (F. Murray
Bernardo Bertolucci does the nearly impossible with this sweeping, grand epic that tells a very personal tale. The story is a dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the emperors of China. It follows his life from its elite beginnings in the Forbidden City, where he was crowned at age three and worshipped by half a billion people. He was later forced to abdicate and, unable to fend for himself in the outside world, became a dissolute and exploited shell of a man. He died in obscurity, living as a peasant in the People's Republic. We never really warm up to John Lone in the title role, but The Last Emperor focuses more on visuals than characterisation anyway. Filmed in the Forbidden City, it is spectacularly beautiful, filling the screen with saturated colours and exquisite detail. It won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. --Rochelle O'Gorman
This box set features a collection of Powell And Pressburger finest films. Includes: 1. The Tales of Hoffman (1951) 2. Black Narcisus (1946) 3. A Matter of Life & Death (1946) 4. The Life & Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) 5. A Canterbury Tale (1944) 6. I Know Where I am Going (1945) 7. 49th Parallel (1941) 8. The Battle of the River Plate (1956) 9. Ill Met By Moonlight (1957) 10. They're A Weird Mob (1966) 11. The Red Shoes (1948)
Bernardo Bertolucci's epic film tells the incredible story of Pu Yi who in 1908 at the age of three became ruler of nearly half of the world's population. He was the ""Son of heaven"" ""Lord of Ten Thousand Years"" and the last emperor of China. His reign was short and three years later a revolution ended three thousand years of imperial rule and a new republic was born. Allowed to remain in his palace and the enclosed walls of the Forbidden City he was unable to venture further than the city gates. Here he would stay for twelve years a prisoner protected from but also ignorant of the outside world. Eventually expelled by a republican warlord Pu Yi began an incredible journey of self discovery that would span a quarter of a century. Winner of nine Oscars The Last Emperor was one of the biggest and most ambitious productions ever undertaken. Director Bernardo Bertolucci and Producer Jeremy Thomas spent two years in negotiations before being granted the unprecedented permission to not only film in China but within the Forbidden City itself. The result was one of the most visually breathtaking and moving epics ever made.
Experience the real '60s counterculture in this compelling mixture of drugs, sex and armchair politics. Academy Award®-winner Jack Nicholson (Best Actor, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, 1975; Best Supporting Actor, Terms of Endearment, 1983; Best Actor, As Good As It Gets, 1997) stars with Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper (who also directs) in this unconventional classic which Time Magazine hails as one of the ten most important pictures of the decade. Nominated for an Academy Award® (1969) for Best Original Screenplay (written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Terry Southern), EASY RIDER continues to touch a chord with fans everywhere.
All 28 episodes of the crimefighting drama series about an elite branch of Interpol agents who take on the cases no-one else can solve. A trio of ace investigators led by suavely assured novelist Jason King (Peter Wyngarde), hard-nosed professional Stewart Sullivan (Joel Fabiani) and coolly efficient computer expert Annabelle Hurst (Rosemary Nichols) try to outdo each other as they seek to solve the cases baffling police forces throughout Europe. Episodes comprise: 'Six Days', 'The Trojan Tanker', 'A Cellar Full of Silence', 'The Pied Piper of Hambletown', 'One of Our Aircraft Is Empty', 'The Man in the Elegant Room', 'Handicap Dead', 'Black Out', 'Who Plays the Dummy', 'The Treasure of the Costa Del Sol', 'The Man Who Got a New Face', 'Les Fleurs Du Mal', 'The Shift That Never Was', 'The Man from 'X', 'Dead Men Die Twice', 'The Perfect Operation', 'The Duplicated Man', 'The Mysterious Man in the Flying Machine', 'Death On Reflection', 'The Last Train to Redbridge', 'A Small War of Nerves', 'The Bones of Byrom Blain', 'Spencer Bodily Is Sixty Years Old', 'The Ghost of Mary Burnham', 'A Fish Out of Water', 'The Soup of the Day', 'A Ticket to Nowhere' and 'The Double Death of Charlie Crippen'.
In nineteenth century middle-Europe orphaned teenage twins Maria and Frieda go to live with their uncle Gustav Weil who heads the Brotherhood a vigilante group trying to stamp out vampirism. But their methods are random and misplaced and the only result is a terrorised populace. The real threat lies with Count Karnstein and although the twins seem outwardly to be identical Frieda finds herself much more drawn than her sister to the Count's castle dominating the skyline.
Directed with characteristic style and energy by cult filmmaker John Hough Twins of Evil combines the signature Hammer elements of supernatural horror black humour and fabulously lurid sensuality Featuring another standout appearance from Peter Cushing Twins of Evil also stars Kathleen Byron Isobel Black and Dennis Price with Playboy Playmates Mary and Madeleine Collinson as the twins. Featuring an all-time classic score by Harry Robinson Twins of Evil is presented here in a brand-new High Definition transfer from the original film elements in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio. Glamorous identical orphaned twins Maria and Frieda move from Vienna to the village of Karnstein to take up a new life with their submissive aunt and grim uncle - a fanatical Puritan and leader of a witch-hunting religious sect who is determined to kill his nemesis Count Karnstein: a devil-worshipping libertine who has been turned into a vampire... Special Features: Original Theatrical Trailer Deleted Scene Image Gallery PDF Material Commemorative Booklet
Featuring a collection of Peter Sellers' best films. Includes: 1. Heavens Above! (Dir. John Boulting & Roy Boulting 1963) 2. I'm Alright Jack (Dir. John Boulting 1959) 3. Only Two Can Play (Dir. Sidney Gilliat 1962) 4. Very Best Of Peter Sellers
Straight To Hell:A team of inept hitmen (Sy Richardson Joe Strummer and Dick Rude) oversleep on the day of their big job and find their target has already fled town. Fearing reprisals from their boss (Jim Jarmusch) they pull a bank job and escape into the desert with Richardson's pregnant girlfriend (Courtney Love). When their car breaks down they seek shelter in a ghost town inhabited by the McMahons (The Pogues Biff Yeager) a murderous and incestuous clan of gun-crazy coffee addicts.Death And The Compass:In a totalitarian metropolis of the future Erik Lonnrot (Peter Boyle) a gifted detective investigates a series of strange murders and disappearances that seem to implicate the insane crime lord Red Scarlach. Enlisting the help of Alonso Zunz (Christopher Eccleston) a principled journalist Lonnrot believes that he has uncovered a labyrinthine occult conspiracy. However has the investigator's brilliance merely precipitated his own destruction?
Based on a play by George Bernard Shaw which studies an immensely wealthy woman who falls for the charms of a poor Indian doctor. Sophia Loren plays a spoilt heiress able to buy anything she wants. When she meets an Indian doctor (Peter Sellers) whose sole concern is to help the poor and needy she knows that this is the man for her. Although in love with her he is so terrified of being in her power that he foils all her attempts to 'buy' him. Only by setting an endurance test for each other are they able to be sure of their true feelings.
Paul (Peter Fonda, Easy Rider) is a TV commercial director whose wife, Sally (Susan Strasberg, Psych-Out), has left him. Plunged into a personality crisis, he asks his friend John (Bruce Dern, Silent Running), a self-styled guru and advocate of LSD, to guide him on his first trip'. They go to a party at their friend Max's (Dennis Hopper, Easy Rider), score some acid and return to John's to let the drug take its course. There, Paul is plunged into a mind-altering realm of extreme beauty and sheer terror, the like of which he has never known before. Written by acclaimed actor Jack Nicholson (The Shining) and directed by legendary producer Roger Corman (Masque of the Red Death), this seminal slice of cinematic psychedelia was banned for an astonishing 36 years, but is now available on Blu-ray for the very first time. High Definition transfer The Guardian Interview with Roger Corman (1981, audio only): on-stage interview with the great director/producer The Guardian Interview with Roger Corman (1991, audio only): Corman returns to the NFT to discuss his career in film-making Original theatrical trailer Other extras TBC
Countess Dracula The erotic horror tale of a countess who discovers that the blood of young virgin girls will restore her to the passionate beauty she was 25 years before... Twins Of Evil Both look exactly alike: which one was the twin of evil? Victims of a vampire curse lead to a witch-hunt headed by Gustav Weil (Peter Cushing) a fanatical Puritan leader of a bizarre religious sect. Only a vampire hunter can save the innocent! Vampire Circus A vampire's dying curse states that those present should all die. When a mysterious plague strikes the doctor's son battles to solve the terrible curse. Set in 1825.
This BAFTA-nominated film starring the great Dirk Bogarde in one of his career-best performances also includes excellent support from Sylvia Syms and Denis Price. The police are after Jack Barrett (Peter McEnery). He has stolen 2 300 from the building construction firm that employs him as a wages clerk. Despite being an ordinary young man of twenty-three years of age he is scared out of his wits by the crisis that is mounting - and they are circumstances beyond his control - Barret
Five years before 'The Silence of the Lambs' Michael Mann directed this stylish thriller based on Thomas Harris' first Hannibal story - Red Dragon. Now recognised as a cult classic it is every bit as brilliant and terrifying as its sequel. Brian Cox is magnificent as Hannibal Lecter the serial killer who holds the key to tracking down a mass murderer who has a perverse penchant for voyeurism. William Petersen as Detective Will Graham is totally convincing as a man with an extraordinary talent that of entering a serial killer's personal nightmare landscapes...
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