George Radcliffe's testimony sends Donald Heath to prison for murder and the theft of over 60 000 pounds. Soon after Radcliffe invests a large sum of money in an ultimately profitable business venture. Radcliffe's wife Martha begins to suspect...
The Bridge On The River Kwai (1 Disc Edition): Set in Burma during World War II the story tells of British P.O.Ws who are forced to build a large bridge for the Japanese while a British Commando team is sent to destroy it. Winner of seven Academy Awards. Guns Of Navarone: Exciting war film based on a novel by Alistair Maclean which tells of the attempts of a British raiding team to sabotage two giant German guns on a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. From Here To Eternity: Fred Zinnemann's 1953 Oscar-winning film is a powerful portrait of a peacetime military camp stationed in Hawaii just before the attack on Pearl Harbour. Montgomery Clift is superlative in the major role of Robert Prewitt while Frank Sinatra delivers an electrifying Academy Award-winning (1953 Best Supporting Actor) performance as Clift's buddy. Deborah Kerr's love scene in the Hawaiian surf with Burt Lancaster is enshrined as one of the most famous moments in cinema history.
Released as part of the celebrations marking composer Richard Rodgers' centenary in 2002, this Rodgers and Hammerstein collection contains the film versions of State Fair (1945), Oklahoma! (1955), Carousel (1956), The King and I (1956), South Pacific (1958), and The Sound of Music (1965). By the time these pictures were made, the Broadway originals had become the standards by which all else was judged in a golden age of musical theatre. And while film versions tend to dilute the books, there are still threads of darkness for those who require a more varied texture. But it's the fabulous songs which really count. Rodgers' partnership with lyricist Oscar Hammerstein was cemented by their 1945 cinematic joint effort State Fair, rushed into production by 20th Century Fox in response to MGM's all-conquering Meet Me in St Louis and with a similarly folksy theme. Directed by Walter Lang, it's a charmingly flimsy affair with some delightful numbers. Oklahoma!, directed by Fred Zinnemann, features Agnes de Mille's renowned choreography, irresistible songs and two outstanding performances from unlikely musical actors: film noir siren Gloria Grahame playing against type as Ado Annie, the girl who can't say "no", and Rod Steiger as the menacing but tragic Jud. Carousel, the morally dubious tale of fairground barker and wife-beater Billy Bigelow (Gordon MacRae) who gets a chance to redeem himself after death, is crammed with great melodies including the tear-jerking anthem, "You'll Never Walk Alone". South Pacific, which contains perhaps the most spine-tingling songs penned by Rodgers and Hammerstein--"Some Enchanted Evening" is just one--a wartime love story which also manages to touch on racism and morality; anything but lightweight. Both The King and I and The Sound of Music, of course, have become cinematic legends in their own right, thanks in no small part to their leading ladies, Deborah Kerr and Julie Andrews. On the DVD: Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic musicals glow as freshly as if they were made yesterday in four of these DVD transfers, with the other two a disappointment in comparison. South Pacific, Carousel, The King and I and The Sound of Music are offered in widescreen, giving the full benefit of the original Cinemascope presentations. Oklahoma!'s titles are presented in widescreen, but unforgivably the film then reverts to a disappointing 4:3 format which hardly does justice to the big sky settings of the Scope original. The sound quality is also disappointingly muffled for Oklahoma! and State Fair, both of which are crying out for a good polish. --Piers Ford
Drama about the life of Clive Candy, an English soldier who served in three wars (Boer, World War I, World War II), and had relationships with three women along the way (each played by Deborah Kerr). Despite Candy's tours-of-duty, he harbors no ill will towards the Germans, instead he believes they have been the pawns of military leaders. Colonel Blimp, an old, befuddled British military officer, reminisces about his past glories in this witty war satire.
When Bernardo Bertolucci went to the Himalayas to film Little Buddha, so the anecdote runs, he was disappointed by the scenery. Somehow, the real thing didn't quite live up to what he'd been led to expect by Powell and Pressburger's Black Narcissus. It's not hard to see why he felt let down. Their film is almost ridiculously gorgeous--a procession of saturated Technicolor, Expressionist angles, theatrical lighting and overwrought design. It has a good claim to being the high watermark of lushness in the British cinema (and, incidentally, every original foot of it was actually shot in Britain). No wonder it took the Oscar for colour cinematography (shot by Jack Cardiff) as well as for art direction and set decoration (created by Alfred Junge).Audiences loved it on its first release, but the critics were cooler: hadn't the story been upstaged by the baroque images? Well, probably, but that's not altogether a bad thing, since the plot--quite faithful to Rumer Godden's popular novel --isn't wholly free of corn. A group of five Anglican nuns, led by Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr) establish a school and hospital in a former harem among the Himalayan peaks. The wind blows, the drums pound, the Old Gods stir, and one by one the celibate sisters succumb to unchaste thoughts, above all Sister Ruth (Kathleen Byron, terrific in the role), so consumed by erotic yearning for the one Englishman in sight (David Farraar) she puts on crimson lipstick, wears her wimple-free tresses like an early Goth and takes a downward turn. (Black Narcissus features the greatest scene involving a nun and a high place this side of Hitchcock's Vertigo and Jacques Rivette's La Religieuse.) Silly, to be sure, but also sublime at times and as curiously entertaining as it is picturesque. --Kevin Jackson
All The Kings Men (Dir. Robert Rossen): Broderick Crawford stands out in this fine drama about the rise and fall of a corrupt southern governor who promises his way to power. Crawford portrays Willie Stark who once he is elected finds that his vanity and power lust prove to be his downfall. The film is based on the 1946 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Robert Penn Warren which in turn was based largely on the story of Louisiana legend Huey Long. From Here To Eternity (Dir. Fred Zinnemann): Director Fred Zinnemann's 1953 Oscar-winning best picture 'From Here To Eternity' is a powerful portrait of a peacetime military camp stationed in Hawaii just before the attack on Pearl Harbour. Montgomery Clift is superlative in the major role of Robert Prewitt while Frank Sinatra delivers an electrifying Academy Award-winning (1953 Best Supporting Actor) performance as Clift's buddy. Deborah Kerr's love scene in the Hawaiian surf with Burt Lancaster is enshrined as one of the most famous moments in cinema history. To Kill A Mockingbird: Gregory Peck won an Oscar for his brilliant performance as the Southern lawyer who defends a black man accused of rape in this film version of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel. The setting is a dusty Southern town during the Depression. A white woman accuses a black man of rape. Though he is obviously innocent the outcome of his trial is such a foregone conclusion that no lawyer will step forward to defend him - except Peck the town's most distinguished citizen. His compassionate defense costs him many friendships but earns him the respect and admiration of his two motherless children. Harvey (Dir. Henry Koster): James Stewart stars as Elwood P. Dowd a wealthy alcoholic whose sunny disposition and drunken antics are tolerated by most of the citizens of his community. That is until Elwood begins to claim that he has a friend named Harvey who is an invisible six foot rabbit. Elwood's snooty socialite sister Veta determined to marry off her daughter Myrtle to a respectable man begins to plot to keep Elwood's lunacy from interfering.
Powel and Pressburger added to their run of daring stimulating and stylistic pictures with this melodrama about a group of Anglican nuns establishing a remote mission high in the Himalayas. Their physical environment - extreme temperatures illness and a young Indian Prince's perfume (Black Narcissus) - leads to psychological disturbance coupled with emotional weakness. Jealousy sexual repression and hysteria all play their part in a fantastic climax which ripped through the British stiff upper lip attitude of the time. The casting is inspired with brilliant performances from the principals and the film deservedly won Oscars for Colour Cinematography and Art Direction.
This visual and musical masterpiece features Yul Brynner's Academy Award winning performance an unforgettable Rodgers and Hammerstein score and brilliant choreography by Jerome Robbins. It tells the true story of an English woman Anna Leonowens (Kerr) who comes to Siam as schoolteacher to the royal court in the 1860s. Though she soon finds herself at odds with the stubborn monarch (Brynner) over time Anna and the King stop trying to change each other and begin to understand one another. Winner of six Academy Awards The King And I contains some of the most lavish sets in Hollywood and some of the world's best-loved songs including ''Getting To Know You'' ''I Whistle A Happy Tune'' ''Hello Young Lovers'' and ''Shall We Dance?'' Bonus CD Tracklisting: 1. Main Title 2. I Whistle A Happy Tune 3. My Lord And Master 4. March Of The Siamese Children 5. Anna And The Royal Wives 6. Hello Young Lovers 7. Puzzlement 8. Getting To Know You 9. Garden Rendezvous 10. We Kiss In A Shadow 11. I Have Dreamed 12. Shall I Tell You What I Think Of You 13. Something Wonderful 14. Prayer To Buddha 15. Waltz Of Anna And Sir Edward 16. Small House Of Uncle Thomas 17. Song Of The King 18. Shall We Dance 19. Letter 20. Something Wonderful 21. Overture
An Affair To Remember:In this poignant and humorous love story nominated for four Academy Awards Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr meet on an ocean liner and fall deeply in love. Though each is engaged to someone else they agree to meet six months later if they still feel the same way about each other. But a tragic accident prevents their rendezvous and the lovers' future takes an emotional and uncertain turn. Love Is A Many Splendoured Thing: Set in Hong Kong at the time
What do you do when you have a beautiful house two great children and a Marriage on the Rocks? If you're bored Val Edwards (Deborah Karr) you swap your fuddy-duddy hubby Dan (Frank SInatra) for his swingin' bachelor best friend Ernie (Dean Martin) - and watch the spraks fly. Ol' Blue Eyes breezes through this romantic comedy romp at the head of an all-star cast. Along for the laughs are frequent Sinatra co-stars Martin Cesar Romero and Tony Bill plud daughter Nancy Sinatra and K
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