1936: America has fast become one of the world's most powerful nations on the platform of freedom and equality for all people. On the other side of the Atlantic Hitler's Third Reich is steadily taking hold systematically setting the stage for Aryan supremacy. Joe Louis (Leonard Roberts) an up-and-coming prizefighter from Harlem New York fights for his slice of the American dream: to become boxing's heavyweight champion. Standing in his way is German champ Max Schmeling (Til S
Teletubbies and the SnowOne day, sparkly clouds appear over Tellytubby land. Soon, everything is covered in fluffy, white snow--including the Tubbies' favourite things--their ball, bag, hat and scooter. The chubby foursome are at first afraid, but soon get stuck into some serious snow games, including rolling snowballs, sliding down hillsides, making footprints and making a snow Tellytubby--even their goggle-eyed vacuum-cleaner, Noo-noo, gets covered from brush to wheels in it. Teletubbies and the Snow will particularly delight pre-schoolers just getting their first taste of a real winter, but children who have never seen snow will love the four short films of real-life children singing winter songs and celebrating the year-end, as well as the antics of Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-laa and Po, giggly Sun Baby and a cast of hundreds of fluffy bunnies hopping around. --Alison JardineHappy Christmas From The TeletubbiesWhat better time than Christmas could there be for these four likeable, er, things? After all, like the children they really are, the Teletubbies find the whole procedure to be an endless source of wonderful surprises and exciting things to do. They get presents, of course, found with the tree which, in Teletubby Land, just mysteriously appears--exactly as it does to real children, of course (unless they're unfortunate enough to be awake when an effing-and-blinding adult is attempting to manoeuvre it into place). There's also some jolly footage of real children, including a suitably happy bunch choosing and decorating a real tree, and of course it's these sections of "outside broadcasting" which balance the caperings of the four plush poppets so well. Despite the festive theme, this needn't be a Christmas-only video; the whole world is wondrous for the Teletubbies' pre-school audience, so the occasion is perfectly presented as a part of that, no more and no less. --Roger Thomas
In the tradition of The Full Monty Billy Elliot and Bend It Like Beckham comes a tremendous feel good movie for everyone. Winner of numerous festival audience awards including Outfest Los Angeles BALLS will bring you to your feet cheering. Ecki revealed his sexuality by mistake and his team-mates started to practice discrimination deeming 'softies' like him would not be able to catch a ball. Disgraced and ostracized from his local football team Ecki swears revenge. With the help of his sister he forms a rag-tag all-gay team in the ultimate grudge match. It is a hilarious journey for Ecki his family and the entire town in this thoroughly surprising comedy.
LEXX 2.3 takes the crew of the LEXX to hitherto unseen areas of rudeness and adventure and continues the adventures where no other crew would even dare to go before! 2.11 NOOK: Xev Stan and Kai visit Nook a quiet settlement inhabited by monks -all of which haven 't seen a woman before.As Xev sends temperatures soaring can Nook survive her visit? 2.12 NORB: Mantrid 's representative arrives on the LEXX intent on showing them up close what the madman 's game is.Soon the LEXX is being taken apart from the inside out ... 2.13 TWILIGHT: On a planet with properties to heal the dead Xev brings Stan to recover from an accident.But the dead are animated and can smell their flesh -and they 're hungry ... 2.14 PATCHES IN THE SKY: Stan takes a trip into a drug-fuelled nightmare and encounters his nemesis Gigarotta.His only hope of escape has flipped because of all the patches in the sky ... 2.15 WOZ: Xev 's body is about to shut down and Stan and Kai have to take her on a magical journey to see the wonderful Wuzzard of Woz and show her there 's no place like home!
A "Light Universe" and a "Dark Zone" keep good and bad apart for the characters of Lexx, even though it's often hard to tell the difference between the two in this offbeat and unique sci-fi show that delights in its own nastiness. The episodes in this second collection from the second series are: "Stan's Trial", "Love Grows", "White Trash", "791" and "Wake the Dead". In "Stan's Trial", he's still desperate for some "bingo bongo yum yum time", which blinds him to a sting operation laid at the Celes Pleasure Liner. His alleged traitorous past finally catches up, and the events of "Giga Shadow" are made clear. A new, shorter title sequence opens the gender questioning "Love Grows". The Lexx accidentally eats a rubbish dumper and the toxic cargo has an adverse effect on everyone--to say the least. Their sex organs are swapped! A cliffhanger surprise leads directly into "White Trash", where we find the yokel clan family have been stowed away since before the destruction of The Cluster. On a crashed ship a cyborg pilot has been decapitated, which gives 790 an idea. While Kai and Xev find a hold full of prisoners with their hearts removed, 791 is born--with more than just a little personality re-programming. This homage to Alien ends with Xev's immortal line: "You may still only be a head 790. But you're the best head I ever had." Then we're back into spoof territory as "Wake the Dead" enjoys turning The Lexx into the stomping ground for a crazed teen killer. Still asleep from a joyride begun 287 years before, the group of "deserving" kids are dispatched with glee in a great performance by Michael McManus. There's even a shower murder with a musical nod to Psycho from composer Marty Simon. And we finally see a Lexx toilet--and its tongue! On the DVD: the most exciting extra for fans is a commentary from Brian Downey (Stan) and writer Lex Giggeroff on the episode "Wake the Dead". They have great fun discussing Xenia Seeberg's wigs and confirm that this was indeed pitched as a "teen slasher flick". Also featured is a gallery of nine stills, some hilarious text "Faxx" about all five episodes, biographies of Stan and Lyekka, and a "Story So Far" re-cap. The 10-minute "Making of Lexx the Series Part 2" documentary is the same as the VHS release. --Paul Tonks
For director Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich it all began with The Blue Angel, one of the masterpieces of Germany's Weimar cinema. This landmark film thrust the sultry and unrestrained Dietrich on an unsuspecting international film audience. She plays the prototypical role of Lola, the singer who tempts repressed professor Emil Jannings (the king of expressionist actors) into complete submission night after night at the Blue Angel night-club. The film perfectly captures the masochism and degradation of the Weimar Republic, just before the rise of Adolf Hitler. And yet the moral confusion exhibited by Jannings is really due to his own torment. Dietrich is merely an instrument of his innermost desires, standing on stage in top hat, stockings and bare thighs singing "Falling in Love Again". --Bill Desowitz, Amazon.com
Produced with the cast of a year-2000 Stuttgart stage version, this performance of Handel's 1735 opera Alcina has been specially shot for home viewing without the audience present (though applause is heard during the closing credits). Director Janos Darvas enhances the usual low theatre illumination with stronger television-friendly lighting to provide more detail, and he also takes his cameras much closer to the artists than live performance permits, offering film-style close-ups that greatly enhance the drama. With just eight performers and an essentially static set--though some intriguing interesting things are done with a large "mirror"--this intimate approach proves an enormous advantage. Handel's complex tale of intense romantic entanglement on the island of the enchantress Alcina focuses as much on high-voltage acting as powerful music-making. The 20th-century costumes are initially disconcerting, but soon become part of a psychologically intense world where time seems out of joint and charged with otherwise-unimaginable emotional possibilities. As Alcina, Catherine Naglestad gives an extraordinary performance, both strikingly passionate and deeply sensual, her revealing costuming being just the most obvious sign of a production intent on the erotic. Though Naglestad dominates, each performer offers memorable characterisation and fine singing. On the DVD: Alcina comes to disc with an anamorphically enhanced 16:9 picture that is clear and detailed, while the PCM stereo audio is natural and is recorded with good presence. Other than various optional subtitles, including English, extras are entirely absent. Within the booklet is a brief biography of Handel, background notes on Alcina and a synopsis, but nothing on the artists or performance. --Gary S Dalkin
In the fourth collection of episodes from the second series of Lexx the crew finally acknowledge that they're worried about Mantrid taking over the universe, and decide to test "The Uncertainty Principle" to be found at the centre of the universe. The Lexx is ensnared by "The Web", and everyone begins behaving peculiarly. Worst of all--Stanley can't find his hat. This extremely clever instalment should be watched back-to-back with the following "The Net", where all is revealed. It's the same show all over again, but with extended shots and external footage of what is happening to the Lexx. Some TV shows cobble together a "clips episode" in order to save budget. Lexx proves itself different yet again with this ingenious idea. The difference continues into "Brigadoom", which is a musical: a theatre appears from nowhere to put on a show telling the tale of the Brunnen-G. Kai and Xev take to the boards, and singalong quite oblivious to the fact TV SF usually can't pull this sort of thing off. They do. Desperate to call Mantrid's bluff, the Lexx crew are even prepared momentarily to trust his old tutor the Bio Vizier "Brizon". They know he has some treacherous agenda, but never guess what until it's almost too late. The storyline links straight into "End of the Universe", and the season finale sees every player of Mantrid's game attempting checkmate. 790 builds a counter army of drone arms, but it's Lyekker's efforts that once again save the day. The show ends with the very definition of a Big Bang, and leaves everything under one enormous question mark. On the DVD: Lexx Series 2 Vol. 4 has the most extras yet. There's one last commentary from Brian Downey (Stan) and writer Lex Giggeroff on the episode "End of the Universe". The humour remains, but it's fun to hear their awe for the CG interpretation of their original idea: putting 790's head on a Drone Arm. We also learn about the writer's arguments about the physics. Also featured is a gallery of stills, some hilarious text "FAXX" about all five episodes, four Sci-Fi Channel character spots, a fascinating interview with composer Marty Simon, biographies of 790, The Lexx, Brizon and Mantrid, and a story so far recap. Best of all, is a Sing-A-Long-a-Brunnen-G karaoke lyrics option for "Brigadoom", surely one of the greatest ideas ever had for a DVD. --Paul Tonks
A powerful and stirring performance of Verdi's Rigoletto recored at the Zurich Opera House.
Der Kuhhandel - Arms and the Cow. Operetta in Two Acts.
Giuseppe Verdi: Rigoletto (Live Recording from the Zurich Opera House 2006)
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