Throughout film history, Hollywood has produced a number of sweeping epics and generation-defining movies. However, one film – Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments – has stood the test of time. Universally recognised among critics as a cinematic masterpiece, this unforgettable motion picture has also been recognised by The American Film Institute as one of the 'Top Ten' epics of all time. From its Academy Award-winning director* and revolutionary Oscar-winning special effects** to its memorable music score and all-star cast, The Ten Commandments presents the story of Moses in all of its stunning glory. Starring Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter and a 'who's who' of legendary screen talent, the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture of 1956***. Special Features: 3 Theatrical Trailers 1956, 1966 and 1989 (1959 - PAL 4272459, NTSC 4272457) *Winner: Best Director (Cecil B. DeMille), The Greatest Show On Earth, 1952. **Winner: Best Special Effects (John Fulton), 1956. ***Additional Oscar nominations (1956): Picture; Cinematography – Colour; Art Direction/Set Decoration; Costume Design – Colour; Film Editing; and Sound Recording.
The legendary story that hovers over Orson Welles' The Stranger is that he wanted Agnes Moorehead to star as the dogged Nazi hunter who trails a war criminal to a sleepy New England town. The part went to Edward G. Robinson, who is marvellous, but it points out how many compromises Welles made on the film in an attempt to show Hollywood he could make a film on time, on budget and on their own terms. He accomplished all three, turning out a stylish if unambitious film noir thriller, his only Hollywood film to turn a profit on its original release. Welles stars as unreformed fascist Franz Kindler, hiding as a schoolteacher in a New England prep school for boys and newly married to the headmaster's lovely if naive daughter (Loretta Young). Welles, the director, is in fine form for the opening sequences, casting a moody tension as agents shadow a twitchy low-level Nazi official skulking through South American ports and building up to dramatic crescendo as Kindler murders this little man, the lovely woods becoming a maelstrom of swirling leaves that expose the body he furiously tries to bury. The rest of the film is a well designed but conventional cat-and-mouse game featuring an eye-rolling performance by Welles and a thrilling conclusion played out in the dark clock tower that looms over the little village. --Sean Axmaker
THE GREATEST EPIC OF ALL TIME! Throughout film history, Hollywood has produced a number of sweeping epics and generation-defining movies. However, one film Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments has stood the test of time. Universally recognized among critics as a cinematic masterpiece, this unforgettable motion picture has also been recognized by The American Film Institute as one of the Top Ten epics of all time. From its Oscar®-winning director and revolutionary Oscar®-winning special effects to its memorable music score and all-star cast, The Ten Commandments presents the story of Moses in all of its stunning glory. Starring Charlton Heston,Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter and a who's who of legendary screen talent, the film was nominated for seven Oscars®, including Best Picture of 1956. Special Features Disc 1 4k Ultra Hd Feature Film + Special Feature 4x The Resolution Of Full Hd Hdr (High Dynamic Range) For More Detail,brightness, Vivid Color And Greater Contrast Commentary By Katherine Orrison, Author Of written In Stone: Making Cecil B.demille's Epic, The Ten Commandments Disc 2 Blu-ray⢠Feature Film (Part 1) + Special Feature Commentary By Katherine Orrison, Author Of written In Stone:making Cecil B.demille's Epic, The Ten Commandments Disc 3 Blu-ray⢠Feature Film (Part 2) + Special Features Commentary By Katherine Orrison, Author Of written In Stone:making Cecil B.demille's Epic, The Ten Commandments Newsreel: The Ten Commandments Premiere In New York Theatrical Trailers: 1956 making Of Trailer/1966 Trailer/1989 Trailer
While Soylent Green may be one of the many dystopian visions of the future, the film stands out because it's one of the few titles that addresses current environmental issues head on. Adapted from Harry Harrison's novel Make Room, Make Room, it gives us a nightmarish vision of an over-populated, polluted future on the brink of collapse--a vision that gets uncomfortably closer every year. Charlton Heston as police officer Thorn investigates a murder in between suppressing food riots and uncovers the nightmarish truth about Soylent Green, the new foodstuff being sold to the poor. The film neatly combines police procedural with conspiracy thriller. Heston's scenes are counterpointed by more elegiac ones in which the centenarian Edward G Robinson as his friend Sol broods on the world he has outlived--his death in a euthanasia chamber is a gloriously lachrymose moment, which he plays to the hilt. Heston, too, is good as Thorn, a morally equivocal cop who loots the apartments of the victims whose deaths he investigates--he's a man just getting by in an impossible world. On the DVD: Soylent Green on disc comes with a commentary from director Richard Fleischer, the highpoint of which is a memorable description of what it was like to work with the brilliant ailing, entirely deaf Robinson. He is joined by Leigh Taylor-Young whose work on the film as heroine led to years of serious environmentalist commitment. It has a useful contemporary making-of documentary and touching shots of Robinson's 100th birthday party with telegrams from Sinatra and others. The feature itself is presented in anamorphic widescreen with its original mono sound. --Roz Kaveney
Has dialogue ever been more perfectly hard-boiled? Has a femme fatale ever been as deliciously wicked as Barbara Stanwyck? And has 1940s Los Angeles ever looked so seductively sordid? Working with cowriter Raymond Chandler, director Billy Wilder launched himself onto the Hollywood A-list with this epitome of film-noir fatalism from James M. Cain's pulp novel. When slick salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) walks into the swank home of dissatisfied housewife Phyllis Dietrichson (Stanwyck), he intends to sell insurance, but he winds up becoming entangled with her in a far more sinister way. Featuring scene-stealing supporting work from Edward G. Robinson and the chiaroscuro of cinematographer John F. Seitz, Double Indemnity is one of the most entertainingly perverse stories ever told and the standard by which all noir must be measured. FILM INFO - United States - 1944 - 108 minutes - Black & White - 1.37:1 - English 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES - New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack - One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and two Blu-rays with the film and special features - Audio commentary featuring film critic Richard Schickel - New interview with film scholar Noah Isenberg, editor of Billy Wilder on Assignment - New conversation between film historians Eddie Muller and Imogen Sara Smith - Billy, How Did You Do It?, a 1992 film by Volker Schlöndorff and Gisela Grischow featuring interviews with director Billy Wilder - Shadows of Suspense, a 2006 documentary on the making of Double Indemnity - Radio adaptations from 1945 and 1950 - Trailer - English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing - PLUS: An essay by critic Angelica Jade Bastién - New cover by Greg Ruth
Eureka Entertainment to release THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW; Fritz Lang's mysterious, melodramatic film-noir starring Edward G. Robinson and Joan Bennett, as part of The Masters of Cinema Series for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK on 20 May 2019. One of legendary director Fritz Lang's first noir films, The Woman in the Window is also rightfully considered one of the most important examples of the genre, a landmark movie that became one of the initial representations of noir first singled out by French critics after WWII. A triumph for Lang, legendary writer/producer Nunnally Johnson (The Grapes of Wrath), and leading man Edward G. Robinson (shedding his earlier gangster roles to portray a love-struck obsessive), the film remains a classic American nail-biter. Robinson is Richard Wanley, a successful psychiatrist biding his time while his wife and children are on vacation when he encounters beautiful Alice (a radiant Joan Bennett), who bears an uncanny resemblance to the subject of a portrait he had just admired. When Richard and Alice retire to her home, her wealthy, jealous boyfriend intrudes, and is killed after a struggle. Alice convinces Richard to cover up the crime, but as Richard's district attorney friend (Raymond Massey) investigates and the boyfriend's bodyguard (Dan Duryea) begins to apply pressure to Richard, the walls begin to close in... With a surprising climax years ahead of its time, The Woman in the Window is suspenseful film noir at its most seductive, while also serving as an excellent companion piece to the following year's Scarlet Street, which reunited Lang with Robinson, Bennett, and Duryea in strikingly similar roles. For anyone even remotely interested in film noir, The Woman in the Window is mandatory viewing, and The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present it in its UK debut on Blu-ray. Blu-ray Features: 1080p presentation on Blu-ray LPCM audio (original mono presentation) Optional English subtitles Brand new and exclusive video essay by critic David Cairns Feature Length Audio Commentary by Film Historian Imogen Sara Smith, author of In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City Original theatrical trailer PLUS: A Collector's booklet featuring new essays by film journalist and writer Amy Simmons; and film writer Samm Deighan; alongside rare archival imagery
Edward G Robinson (The Whole Town's Talking, Tight Spot) and John Lund (A Foreign Affair) lead the cast of this tense and disturbing thriller from director John Farrow (A Bullet Is Waiting). When clairvoyant John (Robinson) tells wealthy heiress Jean (Gail Russell, The Uninvited) that she will die within a week, her lover, Elliot (John Lund), is sceptical, believing John to be a con artist who is only after money. But, as the foretold night arrives, Jean waits in fear for her life... Based on a novel by Cornell Woolrich (Rear Window), Night Has a Thousand Eyes is a pioneering fusion of film noir and psychological horror. Product Features High Definition remaster Original mono audio Audio commentary with authors and critics Glenn Kenny and Farran Smith Nehme (2023) Tony Rayns on 'Night Has a Thousand Eyes' (2023): the writer and film programmer discusses the career of director John Farrow and his distinctive noirs Screen Directors Playhouse: 'Night Has a Thousand Eyes' (1948): radio play adaptation introduced and directed by Farrow, and starring Edward G Robinson and William Demarest, reprising their film roles Suspense: 'The Man Who Thought He Was Edward G. Robinson' (1946): playful original radio play tapping into Robinson's distinctive persona, starring the man himself Image gallery: promotional and publicity materials New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Jill Blake, archival interviews with actors John Lund and Gail Russell, an archival profile of screenwriter Jonathan Latimer, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and full film credits UK premiere on Blu-ray Limited edition of 3,000 copies for the UK All extras subject to change
Written by Sydney Boehm (The Big Heat) and directed by Hugo Fregonese (Man in the Attic), Black Tuesday is an explosive crime drama starring one of Hollywood's most beloved tough guys: Edward G. Robinson, the star of Little Caesar, The Last Gangster, I Am the Law and Key Largo. Vincent Canelli (Robinson) is a violent mobster serving time on Death Row but he has no intention of going to the electric chair. Following a plan put together by his moll, Hatti (Jean Parker, Dead Man's Eyes), Canelli orchestrates a jailbreak on the night before his execution and takes several hostages in the process. Canelli is joined by fellow Death Row inmate Peter Manning (Peter Graves, Stalag 17), and hopes to discover the location of a stash of stolen loot Manning hid away before his conviction. But is Manning willing to pay the price for freedom and look the other way as the psychopathic Canelli revels in murder and mayhem? While the Hollywood gangster movie was at the height of its success in the early 1930s, it resurged in the 1940s and into the next decade as crime pictures found a new popularity in the post-war period. Standing tall alongside Key Largo, White Heat and Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, Black Tuesday is one of the finest gangster films to emerge from this later cycle as old-fashioned wiseguys met with film noir sensibilities. The Masters of Cinema series is proud to present this key crime picture of the 1950s on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK from an astonishing new restoration.LIMITED EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES: Limited edition of 2000 copies | Limited edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Scott Saslow | 1080p HD presentation on Blu-ray from a 2K scan of the 35mm fine grains | Optional English subtitles | A brand new audio commentary with film noir expert Sergio Angelini, host of the Tipping My Fedora podcast | From Argentina to Hollywood a brand new interview with film historian Sheldon Hall on director Hugo Fregonese | No Escape A brand new video essay by Imogen Sara Smith, author of In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City | Brand new video interview with critic and codirector of Il Cinema Ritrovato Ehsan Khoshbakht |Theatrical trailer | PLUS: A collector's booklet featuring new writing on Black Tuesday by critic Barry Forshaw and film writer Craig Ian Mann
Director Billy Wilder (Sunset Boulevard) and writer Raymond Chandler (The Big Sleep) adapted James M. Cain's hard-boiled novel into this wildly thrilling story of insurance man Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), who schemes the perfect murder with the beautiful dame Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck: kill Dietrichson's husband and make off with the insurance money. But, of course, in these plots things never quite go as planned, and Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson) is the wily insurance investigator who must sort things out. From the opening scene you know Neff is doomed, as the story is told in flashback; yet, to the film's credit, this doesn't diminish any of the tension of the movie. This early film noir flick is wonderfully campy by today's standards, and the dialogue is snappy ("I thought you were smarter than the rest, Walter. But I was wrong. You're not smarter, just a little taller"), filled with lots of "dame"s and "baby"s. Stanwyck is the ultimate femme fatale, and MacMurray, despite a career largely defined by roles as a softy (notably in the TV series My Three Sons and the movie The Shaggy Dog), is convincingly cast against type as the hapless, love-struck sap. --Jenny Brown
In a way, Scarlet Street is a remake. It's taken from a French novel, La Chienne (literally, "The Bitch") that was first filmed by Jean Renoir in 1931. Renoir brought to the sordid tale all the colour and vitality of Montmartre; Fritz Lang's version shows us a far harsher and bleaker world. The film replays the triangle set-up from Lang's previous picture, The Woman in the Window, with the same three actors. Once again, Edward G Robinson plays a respectable middle-aged citizen snared by the charms of Joan Bennett's streetwalker, with Dan Duryea as her low-life pimp. The plot closes around the three of them like a steel trap. This is Lang at his most dispassionate. Scarlet Street is a tour de force of noir filmmaking, brilliant but ice-cold. The Stranger, according to Orson Welles, "is the worst of my films. There is nothing of me in that picture". But even on autopilot Welles still leaves most filmmakers standing. A war crimes investigator, played by Edward G Robinson, tracks down a senior Nazi to a sleepy New England town where he's living in concealment as a respected college professor. Welles wanted Agnes Moorehead as the investigator and Robinson as the Nazi Franz Kindler, but his producer, Sam Spiegel, wouldn't wear it. So Welles himself plays the supposedly cautious and self-effacing fugitive--and if there was one thing Welles could never play, it was unobtrusive. Still, the film's far from a write-off. Welles' eye for stunning visuals rarely deserted him and, aided by Russell Metty's skewed, shadowy photography, The Stranger builds to a doomy grand guignol climax in a clocktower that Hitchcock must surely have recalled when he made Vertigo. And Robinson, dogged in pursuit, is as quietly excellent as ever. On the DVD: sparse pickings. Both films have a full-length commentary by Russell Cawthorne which adds the occasional insight, but is repetitive and not always reliable. The box claims both print have been "fully restored and digitally remastered", but you'd never guess. --Philip Kemp
Throughout film history, Hollywood has produced a number of sweeping epics and generation-defining movies. However, one film - Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments - has stood the test of time. Universally recognised among critics as a cinematic masterpiece, this unforgettable motion picture has also been recognised by The American Film Institute as one of the Top Ten epics of all time. From its Academy Award-winning director and revolutionary Oscar-winning special effects to its memorable music score and all-star cast, The Ten Commandments presents the story of Moses in all of its stunning glory. Starring Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter and a who's who of legendary screen talent, the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture of 1956. Now available for the first time ever on Blu-ray and restored to a stunning new visual experience, The Ten Commandments can be relived in the best picture and sound possible.
A showcase for some of the most unexpected and surprising turns in the great director's prolific career: The Whole Town's Talking is a screwball comedy about a law-abiding man (played by Edward G Robinson) who happens to be the doppelganger of Public Enemy No. 1, Killer' Mannion; The Long Gray Line is a Ford military picture with a difference, focusing its attentions away from the battlefield and onto the fifty-year career of an Irish immigrant who rises through the ranks at West Point; The Last Hurrah is a star-studded political drama boasting the talents of Spencer Tracy, Jeffrey Hunter, Pat O'Brien, Basil Rathbone, Donald Crisp, and John Carradine, and; Gideon's Day takes us on a twenty-four journey in the life of Jack Hawkins' titular London-based detective. All four films are presented for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK, with The Long Gray Line making its world Blu-ray premiere. This limited edition box set is strictly limited to 6,000 numbered units. Extras: THE WHOLE TOWN'S TALKING 4K restoration Original mono audio Introduction by TCM host Ben Mankiewicz (2014) Cymbaline (2020): a new video essay by Tag Gallagher, author of John Ford: The Man and His Films Leonard Maltin on The Whole Town's Talking' (2014): archival appreciation by the film critic and historian Sheldon Hall on The Whole Town's Talking' (2020): new appreciation by the film historian Pamela Hutchinson on Jean Arthur (2020): a look at the life and career of the acclaimed actor Image gallery: promotional and publicity materials New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Farran Smith Nehme, an extract from the W R Burnett's Jail Breaker, Edward G Robinson on The Whole Town's Talking, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits UK premiere on Blu-ray THE LONG GRAY LINE 4k restoration Original mono audio Audio commentary with film historians Diana Drumm, Glenn Kenny and Farran Smith Nehme Living and Dead (2020): a new video essay by Tag Gallagher, author of John Ford: The Man and His Films Leonard Maltin on The Long Gray Line' (2014): archival appreciation by the film critic and historian The Red, White and Blue Line (1955): rare promotional film, featuring the principal cast of The Long Gray Line Original theatrical trailer Image gallery: promotional and publicity materials New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Nick Pinkerton, archival interviews with John Ford, Maureen O'Hara on The Long Gray Line, an overview of contemporary critical responses, Anthony Nield on The Red, White and Blue Line, and film credits World premiere on Blu-ray GIDEON'S DAY 4K restoration Original mono audio Alternative feature presentation with the US Gideon of Scotland Yard titles Audio commentary with film historian Charles Barr (2020) Milk and Sugar (2020): a new video essay by Tag Gallagher, author of John Ford: The Man and His Films Leonard Maltin on Gideon's Day' (2014): archival appreciation by the film critic and historian John Ford's London (2020): new appreciation by Adrian Wootton, Chief Executive of Film London Interview with Elaine Schreyeck (2020): the continuity supervisor recollects her work on the set John Ford and Lindsay Anderson at the NFT (1957): rare silent footage of Ford visiting London's National Film Theatre during the production of Gideon's Day Original UK theatrical trailer Image gallery: promotional and publicity materials New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Robert Murphy, an interview with producer Michael Killanin, Jack Hawkins on Gideon's Day, Lindsay Anderson on John Ford, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits UK premiere on Blu-ray THE LAST HURRAH 2K restoration Original mono audio True Blue (2020): a new video essay by Tag Gallagher, author of John Ford: The Man and His Films Leonard Maltin on The Last Hurrah' (2014): archival appreciation by the film critic and historian Super 8 version: original cut-down home cinema presentation Original theatrical trailer Image gallery: promotional and publicity materials New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Imogen Sarah Smith, John Ford on Spencer Tracy and The Last Hurrah, screenwriter Frank S Nugent on John Ford, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits UK premiere on Blu-ray Extras subject to chang
John Huston (The Maltese Falcon) directed this smart thriller about a gangster (Edward G. Robinson) who holds a number of people hostage in a hotel on the Florida keys during a tropical storm. Humphrey Bogart is the returning war veteran who takes on the villains, and Lauren Bacall is on hand as one of the people on the wrong end of Robinson's gun. Somewhat similar in tone to Howard Hawks's To Have and Have Not (which also featured Bogart and Bacall), Key Largo is a moody movie which captures a certain despair offset by the bond between individuals united by common purpose. Claire Trevor won an Academy Award for her part as Robinson's alcoholic girlfriend. --Tom Keogh
The Stranger
A U.S. Sheriff entrusted with a map of the legendary Valley of Gold is attacked by an unruly bandit gang and his own local townspeople. They are all fired by greed and gold lust but bound together by a fear of their common enemy - the Apache. Based on a novel by Will Henry with music by Quincy Jones.
The legendary story that hovers over Orson Welles' The Stranger is that he wanted Agnes Moorehead to star as the dogged Nazi hunter who trails a war criminal to a sleepy New England town. The part went to Edward G. Robinson, who is marvellous, but it points out how many compromises Welles made on the film in an attempt to show Hollywood he could make a film on time, on budget and on their own terms. He accomplished all three, turning out a stylish if unambitious film noir thriller, his only Hollywood film to turn a profit on its original release. Welles stars as unreformed fascist Franz Kindler, hiding as a schoolteacher in a New England prep school for boys and newly married to the headmaster's lovely if naive daughter (Loretta Young). Welles, the director, is in fine form for the opening sequences, casting a moody tension as agents shadow a twitchy low-level Nazi official skulking through South American ports and building up to dramatic crescendo as Kindler murders this little man, the lovely woods becoming a maelstrom of swirling leaves that expose the body he furiously tries to bury. The rest of the film is a well designed but conventional cat-and-mouse game featuring an eye-rolling performance by Welles and a thrilling conclusion played out in the dark clock tower that looms over the little village. --Sean Axmaker
This dramatic story of the life of composer Edward Grieg set in his native Norway includes abridged versions of his best music and highlights of his personal life.
Glenn Ford, Edward G.Robinson and Barbra Stanwyck star in Rudolph Mate's tough and herd-hitting 1955 western. A range war is coming to the valley. Ambitious land baron Lew Wilkinson (Edward G.Robinson) and his hired guns from the Anchor Ranch have been driving other farmers off their land. Now they've gunned down the local sheriff and are loking to own the entire valley. Civil War veteran Captain John Parrish (Glenn Ford) doesn't want any trouble. He'd be happy to sell out to Wilinson and return back east. But when Wilkinson's men kill one of his ranch hands, Parrish realises he has to stand his ground - and look to his guns.
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