West Side Story (Dir. Robert Wise Jerome Robbins 1961): Garnering a total of ten Academy Awards - including Best Picture of 1961 - West Side Story set a brilliant standard for movie musicals that remains unsurpassed to this day. Directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins from Ernest Lehman's spectacular screenplay the film combines the unforgettable score of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim with Robbins' exuberant choreography to create a transcendent fusion of realism and fantasy that will forever be a feast for the eye the ear and ultimately the heart. A triumph on every level this electrifying musical sets the ageless tragedy of Romeo and Juliet against a backdrop of gang warfare in the slums of 1950's New York. Guys And Dolls (Dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz 1955): Hollywood legends Marlon Brando Frank Sinatra Jean Simmons and Vivian Blaine (from the original Broadway cast) are dazzling in this masterpiece unleashing a spectacular song-and-dance show that's loaded with entertainment. The slickest big-time New York City gamblers Sky Masterson (Brando) and Nathan Detroit (Sinatra) can't resist making or taking a bet on anything. So when a pretty missionary (Simmons) sets up shop in the neighbourhood Nathan stakes a grand that Sky can't seduce her. But all bets are off when Sky falls madly in love in this romantic musical spectacular that sets the Big Apple afire with excitement. Featuring hits like ""Luck Be A Lady"" and ""A Woman In Love"" this smash film version of one of Broadway's most popular musicals is guaranteed rip-roaring five-star entertainment. Fiddler On The Roof (Dir. Norman Jewison 1971): An outstanding accomplishment in every way this lavishly produced and critically acclaimed screen adaptation of the international stage sensation tells the life-affirming story of Tevye (Topol) a poor milkman whose love pride and faith help him face the oppression of turn-of-the-century Tsarist Russia. Nominated eight Academy Awards (1971) including Best Picture and Best Director and featuring such classic songs as ""If I were a rich man"" ""Matchmaker"" and ""Sunrise Sunset"" 'Fiddler On The Roof' is a universal story of hope love and acceptance: a musical masterpiece!
Among the five episodes collected here are two of Father Ted's finest half-hours. "Rock-A-Hula Ted" was one of the few episodes in which the writers of the show abandoned any concern for their largely British audience and stacked the script with explicitly Irish references: Craggy Island's "Lovely Girls" festival is a burlesque of the all-too-genuine "Rose Of Tralee" pageant, and fire-breathing pop singer Niamh Connolly--played with aplomb by Clare Grogan--an obvious enough Sinead O'Connor manqué. "New Jack City", meanwhile is the classic episode in which the choleric Father Jack is finally despatched to an old folks' loony bin only to be replaced by the mesmerisingly appalling ragga-fixated chain-smoker Father Fintan Stack. As one of the high points of the Father Ted series this episode is also one of the high points of television comedy. There isn't much wrong with the other three episodes here, either. On the DVD: an interactive menu allows the selection of individual episodes, and segments within those episodes. The only extra feature is the option of watching the episodes with the dialogue replaced with a commentary by co-writer Graham Linehan and actor Ardal O'Hanlon, who plays Father Dougal Maguire. Occasionally interesting and revealing though this is, it gets rapidly wearing in this form, and would have worked much better if transcribed in an accompanying booklet. The disc is presented in 4:3 aspect ratio with English subtitles available.--Andrew Mueller
Anchors Aweigh Given free rein in choreographing Anchors Aweigh, Gene Kelly was eager to do the unexpected. But what? How about doing a dance witha cartoon? collaborator and friend Stanley Donen asked. How about it, indeed. Kelly's live-action fancy footwork with animated Jerry (of Tom and Jerry) remains a milestone of movie fantasy. Frank Sinatra and Kathryn Grayson also headline this wartime tale of two sailors on leave in Hollywood. Sinatra's I Fall in Love Too Easily , the exuberant Kelly/Sinatra We Hate to Leave and other highlights helped Anchors Aweigh weigh in with a 1945 Academy Award for Best Scoring of a musical Picture, plus four more Oscar nominations, inlcuding Best Picture and Actor (Kelly). On the Town New York, New York, it's a wonderful town - especially when sailors Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin have a 24-hour shore leave to see the sights...and when those sights include Ann Miller, Betty Garrett and Vera-Ellen. Robin and the 7 Hoods Robin and the 7 Hoods mirthfully gives the Robin Hood legend a Depression-era, mobtown Chicago setting. There, North Side boss Robbo (Frank Sinatra) hopes to get a leg up in his power struggle with rival racketeer Guy Gisborne (Peter Falk). Robbo sets himself up as a latter-day Robin Hood with philanthropic fronts enabling him to scam the rich, take his cut out and then give to the poor.
The outstanding debut from Gerard Johnson, "Tony" has been compared to classics "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" and "Taxi Driver" and is one of the most important and disturbing British films of recent years.
An act of love or an act of murder? Seductive gallery owner Rebecca Carlson (Madonna) is accused of a unique crime - using violent sex to murder a wealthy businessman. Frank Dulaney (Willem Dafoe) is the lawyer trying to defend her helpless to resist her extraordinary brand of lovemaking...
Running a Railway is the third release in bfi Video's digitally re-mastered double-disc DVD series of British Transport Films combining favourites from the much loved and best-selling video series with additional material. This new collection contains four hours of footage including the multi-award-winning Terminus directed by John Schlesinger. Among these rare gems are: Farmer Moving South (1952): The true story of a Yorkshire farmer who decided to sell his land and move his entire stock - cattle pigs and poultry machinery ploughs and tractors - south to Sussex by rail in December on what was the coldest night of the year. I Am A Litter Basket (1959): Every day the people who use railway stations drop hundreds of tons of litter all over the place while me and my mates have to stand by empty and starving. Until one day we get so desperate we go foraging for ourselves. And what happens? Take a look at this film. It makes me weep to think of it. I nearly gave up all hope until - but wait and see! Modelling for the Future (1961) Visions of an earlier Channel Tunnel scheme and a model of the proposed terminal. This film demonstrates a range of facilities and shows the possibilities of an age-old dream - a dry land crossing between England and France. The Third Sam (1962) - Sam Smith is taught to drive an electric locomotive. He learns the new job without difficulty but one day his train breaks down and Sam summons up three sides of his character to deal with the emergency. With narration in typical rhyming monologue by Stanley Holloway this is an original and amusing approach to instructional filmmaking. E For Experimental (1975): An account of the development of British Rail's experimental Advanced Passenger Train (APT) The film explains in simple terms some of the many novel design features of the APT including the tilt mechanism and the hydro-kinetic brake and shows the train in action during its trials. All these films are now preserved in the bfi National Film and Television Archive. The DVDs are a 'must' not only for the transport enthusiast but also for anyone who enjoys historical documentary films. A booklet containing an introduction and film notes by BTF historian Steven Foxon accompanies the discs.
St George's Day is a British crime thriller that follows the story of infamous gangster cousins Micky Mannock and Ray Collishaw. Having long since graduated from the terraces they now run the top firm in London. But when they lose a drug shipment belonging to the Russian Mafia, a turf war threatens to tear their empire apart. Their only hope is a potential heist in Berlin that'll clear their debts and set them up for life. Pursued by the Russians and the police they travel undercover...
Supposedly based on an actual event which remains unsolved to this day 'Picnic At Hanging Rock' is suffused with menace mysticism and languorous adolescent sensuality. In the year 1900 a group of schoolgirls set out on a St. Valentine's Day picnic from which two never returned. With this hauntingly beautiful film director Peter Weir marked the dawn of a new age in Australian cinema.
Ranked 34 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest American Films, To Kill a Mockingbird is quite simply one of the finest family-oriented dramas ever made. A beautiful and deeply affecting adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee, the film retains a timeless quality that transcends its historically dated subject matter (racism in the Depression-era South) and remains powerfully resonant in present-day America with its advocacy of tolerance, justice, integrity and loving, responsible parenthood. It's tempting to call this an important "message" movie that should be required viewing for children and adults alike, but this riveting courtroom drama is anything but stodgy or pedantic. As Atticus Finch, the small-town Alabama lawyer and widower father of two, Gregory Peck gives one of his finest performances with his impassioned defence of a black man (Brock Peters) wrongfully accused of the rape and assault of a young white woman. While his children, Scout (Mary Badham) and Jem (Philip Alford), learn the realities of racial prejudice and irrational hatred, they also learn to overcome their fear of the unknown as personified by their mysterious, mostly unseen neighbour Boo Radley (Robert Duvall, in his brilliant, almost completely nonverbal screen debut). What emerges from this evocative, exquisitely filmed drama is a pure distillation of the themes of Harper Lee's enduring novel, a showcase for some of the finest American acting ever assembled in one film, and a rare quality of humanitarian artistry (including Horton Foote's splendid screenplay and Elmer Bernstein's outstanding score) that seems all but lost in the chaotic morass of modern cinema. --Jeff Shannon
The Italian adventurer and libertine Giovanni Jacopo Casanova lived from 1725 to 1798 but in this six-part series Dennis Potter attempted to find a contemporary relevance through his central themes of sex and religion. He commented that Casanova ""was concerned with religious and sexual freedom and these are the things we have to address ourselves to now."" Casanova was imprisoned in Venice in 1755 and Potter used that event as a central device constantly inter-cutting to contrast C
Killjoys follows a trio of interplanetary bounty hunters sworn to remain impartial as they chase deadly warrants throughout the Quad, a distant system on the brink of a bloody, multiplanetary class war. Starring Hannah John-Kamen as Dutch, and Aaron Ashmore and Luke Macfarlane as brothers John and D'avin, Season Three features the trio struggling to find the balance between politics, family and the good of the Quad. Out of the ashes of Khylen's death, Aneela and her army are preparing for battle. With Johnny on the lamb, Dutch and D'avin are down one member as they prepare for the fight of their lives.
The last ten episodes from the second season of the American drama starring Frank Grillo. Retired MMA fighter and trainer Alvey Kulina (Grillo) runs the Navy St. Gym in Venice, California with his girlfriend Lisa (Kiele Sanchez). Struggling to keep their business afloat, it seems their only hopes of making money lie with Alvey's two fighting sons, promising youngster Nate (Nick Jonas) and troubled Jay (Jonathan Tucker), as well as the talented ex-convict, and Lisa's ex, Ryan (Matt Lauria). As Alvey schools his fighters in mixed martial arts, his life is further thrown into disarray by the arrival of his ex-wife Christina (Joanna Going). The episodes are: 'Lay and Pray', 'No Fault', 'Woke Up Lonely', 'Do Not Disturb', 'Take Pills', 'Halos', 'Help Wanted', 'Cut Man', 'Late to Leave' and 'No Sharp Objects'.
One of the most legendary adventures in all mythology is brought to life in Jason and the Argonauts...
Don Henley helped define the 70's as a member of the enormously successful rock band the Eagles before launching an impressive solo career that includes such hits as 'Dirty Laundry' 'The Boys Of Summer' and 'All She Wants To Do Is Dance'. On May 25 2000 he returned to his Texas roots for a remarkable concert recorded before an enthusiastic audience at Fair Park Music Hall in Dallas. This rock legend's live performance captures all the passion satire and originality that fans around the world most treasure in his influential music. Tracklist: 'Dirty Laundry' 'Sunset Grill' 'Workin' It' 'Taking You Home' 'The Boys Of Summer' 'Lilah' 'Everything Is Different Now' 'The End Of Innocence' 'All She Wants To Do Is Dance' 'New York Minute' 'Talking To The Moon' 'They're Not Here They're Not Coming' 'The Heart Of The Matter' 'Desperado' 'The Long Run' 'My Thanksgiving' and 'Hotel California'.
It Happened When A Killer With A Rope Ruled Nevada! Hangman's Knot is an exciting suspense-filled Western starring Randolph Scott and an excellent supporting cast including Donna Reed and Lee Marvin. At the end of the American Civil War a small band of Confederate soldiers ambush a Union gold shipment. To their horror they learn from a dying soldier that the war between the North and the South has been over for a month. Now facing certain criminal prosecution for a
From the director of "Airplane" comes the third instalment in the scary spoof franchise.
Alvin and the Chipmunks in a full-length feature! The Chipmunks are working at an amusement park but little do they know in the Frankentein's Castle is the real Frankenstein! One night they get trapped in the park after dark with Frankenstein on the loose it's the start of a wild adventure!
The Will Hay Collection is a nine-disc box containing the following films: Ask a Policeman / Boys Will Be Boys Oh, Mr Porter! / Convict 99 Old Bones of the River / Where There's a Will Good Morning Boys / Hey! Hey! USA! Windbag the Sailor (exclusive to this box set): dating from 1936 this is the first film to unite Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt. The hapless trio find themselves as the crew of a decrepit ship.
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