"Director: Grigori Kozintsev"

• Hamlet | DVD | (17/10/2011) from £11.09   |  Saving you £-0.10 (N/A%)   |  RRP £10.99

  The surface of ceremonies and rituals celebrating the coronation of King Claudius (Mikhail Nazvanov) and his marriage to Hamlet's mother (Elza Radzina) leaves the young prince indifferent. Hamlet's melancholic nature finds no relief from his brooding, not even in his courtship of Ophelia (Anastasiya Vertinskaya). However, a nocturnal visit from his father's ghost changes everything. Claudius' treachery having been brought to light, Hamlet conducts a quest to avenge his father's death.Grigori Kozintsev's renowned Soviet production ranks among the finest adaptations of Shakespeare on film. His strong visual style places the characters on a rich widescreen canvas while preserving the inward dimension of Hamlet's character. Laurence Olivier, director and star of Hamlet, the Oscar-winning 1948 English production, praised Kozintsev's Hamlet, singling out Innokenty Smoktunevsky's performance as the definitive screen performance of the Prince of Denmark.

• Don Quixote | DVD | (24/09/2012) from £10.89   |  Saving you £7.10 (39.50%)   |  RRP £17.99

  After years spent reading books of chivalry, a middle-aged Spanish gentleman (Nikolai Cherkassov) is convinced that he is the real-life knight-errant, Don Quixote de la Mancha. To this end, he commissions his battered horse Rocinante to be his steed and appoints fellow Manchegan Sancho Panza (Yuri Tolubeyev) to be his reluctant squire. Both Knight and Squire find themselves living anachronisms in 16th Century Spain, subject to constant humiliation and frequent defeat; safeguarded only by Sancho's good humour and Quixote's mad zeal. Don Quixote, made in 1957, is the first version of the novel in colour and CinemaScope, shot on location in the Crimean region. In adapting Cervantes, Grigori Kozintsev anticipates the style of his renowned Shakespeare adaptations (Hamlet, King Lear); crafting a film of comparable visual richness and poetic wit. The legendary Nikolai Cherkassov (Alexander Nevsky, Ivan the Terrible) adds a third to his roster of iconic screen roles with his stirring performance as the 'Knight of the Rueful Face.'

• King Lear | DVD | (17/10/2011) from £13.27   |  Saving you £-2.28 (N/A%)   |  RRP £10.99

  King Lear of England (Jri Jrvet) retires from his throne of power. His decision to divide his kingdom among his elder daughters, over the warnings of his youngest Cordelia (Valentina Shendrikova), sparks off a chain of events that engulfs the entire countryside. Lear's final days are marked by dissension, internecine conflict and terrible violence. Humiliated and banished by his daughters, the King wanders the countryside like a beggar, accompanied by his Fool and a few faithful servants. Driven mad by despair, Lear's megalomania consumes him to the point of blindness. One of William Shakespeare's darkest works, King Lear receives vivid expression in this esteemed Russian rendition. The film's use of widescreen and its stark black-and-white cinematography provide an expansive cinematic dimension to the tragedy. Working with a translation from Nobel Laureate Boris Pasternak, Grigori Kozintsev in the final film of his career, fashions a fitting twilight work; achieving in this harsh tale of mortality and power, a tranquility in form and assurance of vision.