The winner of 10 Academy Awards, this 1961 musical by choreographer Jerome Robbins and director Robert Wise (The Sound of Music) remains irresistible. Based on a smash Broadway play updating Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to the 1950s era of juvenile delinquency, West Side Story stars Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer as the star-crossed lovers from different neighbourhoods--and ethnicities. The film's real selling points, however, are the highly charged and inventive song-and-dance numbers, the passionate ballads, the moody sets, colourful support from Rita Moreno, and the sheer accomplishment of Hollywood talent and technology producing a film so stirring. Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim wrote the score. --Tom Keogh
What if baby Kal-El's rocket landed, not in Kansas, but in the Soviet Union? That is the premise of this Elseworld's tale from DC Comics.
Hard to imagine now but long before Richard Attenborough became Lord Dickie, benevolent patriarch of British moviedom, he specialised in playing weaselly little thugs and punks. Brighton Rock, adapted from Graham Greene's classic novel, offered him one of his best early roles as Pinkie, juvenile leader of a seedy gang of racetrack crooks in the Sussex seaside town. When it seems an innocent young waitress may know too much about one of their killings, Pinkie decides to keep her quiet by marrying her. But in Greene's world of guilt-ridden Catholicism and inexorable doom, it was never going to be that easy. Is the famous twist ending a cop-out? That depends just how much irony you read into it. But the Brighton atmosphere, all tawdry gaiety shot through with a crackling undercurrent of fear, is so vivid you can smell it. Made with a cool, dispassionate eye by the Boulting Brothers (before they turned jokey with the likes of I'm Alright Jack, for instance) and superbly shot by Harry Waxman, this is one of Britain's few great contributions to the noir thriller cycle. Young Dickie, twitchy, vicious and terrified, is a revelation--and don't miss William Hartnell, the original Dr Who, as his cynical sidekick. --Philip Kemp
The elegant and respectable facade of Brighton hides a sinister underworld ruled by intimidation and terror. Richard Attenborough stars as Pinkie a ruthless and sadistic young criminal whose trail of killings and double crossings lead to his eventual downfall when savage justice is finally meted out in a thrilling and memorable climax...
West Side Story marked a small revolution in the history of the Hollywood musical when it was released in 1961. Enriched by Leonard Bernsteins marvellously brassy, challenging score--as redolent of the place as anything Gershwin ever wrote--the location shooting and aerial views of the Manhattan grid made New York a gritty backdrop to this modern interpretation of Romeo and Juliet. The film rightly became an instant classic which won ten Oscars and brought some of the greatest numbers in the era of the modern musical to a global audience. Everything gels, from Jerome Robbins superlative choreography (he retains a directors credit with Robert Wise, although anxious studio bosses removed him from the film when costs started to mount), to Ernest Lehmans taught screenplay, some of Sondheims most accessible early lyrics, and passionate, raw performances from the gang members and the lovers. For many of the cast, including Richard Beymer as Tony and Natalie Wood as Maria, the film represents a creative climax which wouldnt be surpassed during the remainder of their distinguished careers. Rita Moreno is an outstanding Anita, even with her songs disappointingly dubbed, and George Chakiris sinewy, arrogant Bernardo is magnetic. The whole thing still thrums with a youthful, dramatic energy that even a modern equivalent like Moulin Rouge cant match. On the DVD: West Side Story thoroughly merits the attention to detail in this handsome Collectors Edition. The anamorphic (16:9) widescreen format reproduces the original cinema presentation, brilliantly serving the city panoramas and balletic fight scenes, as well as the softness of the love duets, while a newly processed Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track brings Bernsteins score up as if the notes were still drying on the page. Extras abound. A "Remembering" documentary features significant contributions from director Robert Wise, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn and Rita Moreno. Die-hard fans will lap up the various galleries, comparisons, the original intermission music and even a complete copy of Ernest Lehmans screenplay. --Piers Ford
Handel wrote his Italian opera Rodelinda at the height of his musical powers and it is considered to be one of his greatest with music of astonishing power and beauty. This highly praised production filmed in 1998 was the first ever staging of a Handel opera by the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Jean-Marie Villegier's stylish production sets Handel's tale of royal exile and fidelity in the silent movie era. Starring Anna Caterina Antonacci in a glamorous portrayal of Rodelinda an
Planning a summer filled with fun and romance at the remote Placid Pines Camp nothing can prepare a group of young students for the terror-filled encounters ahead of them. Following in the camp tradition the first night is spent playing a spooky game called 'Bloody Murder'. Thrills by the camp fire soon turn into the students worse nightmare as they begin to disappear one by one...
In 1972 a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today still wanted by the government they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem if no one else can help and if you can find them maybe you can hire the A-Team! Episodes comprise: 1. Mexican Slayride (Part 1) 2. Mexican Slayride (Part 2) 3. Children Of Jamestown 4. Pros And Cons 5. A Small And Deadly War 6. Black Day At Bad Rock 7. The Rabbit Who Ate Las Vegas 8. The Out-Of-Towners 9. Holiday In The Hills
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