A truly joyous tale starring Doris Day as the union leader in a clothing factory. From the novel 'Seven And A Half Cents' by Richard Bissell and adapted into a successful musical which the french director Jean Luc Goddard called the first left wing operetta!
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the enfant terrible of the New German Cinema, wrote, directed, produced and starred in over 40 films in his short but prolific life, before passing away of a drugs overdose in 1982 aged just 37. Rainer Werner Fassbinder vol. 3 brings together a collection of his lesser seen works from various stages in his career, featuring high definition digital restorations prepared by the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation. The American Soldier sees Fassbinder continue to pursue the cinephilic homage to classic Hollywood crime films of his feature debut, Love is Colder than Death, in a tale of a German-American Vietnam vet turned small-time hoodlum who finds himself on the wrong side of the law in Munich, where he grew up. Unseen between its first television broadcast in 1970 and its rediscovery in 2002, The Niklashausen Journey chronicles the journey of a young peasant in the 15th century and his quest to overcome social injustice, in Fassbinder's allegorical critique of the student movement. Gods of the Plague portrays a newly released ex-con as he reacquaints himself with Munich's criminal underworld to plan the robbery of a supermarket. In Rio Das Mortes, two feckless young friends, Michel and Günther, embark on a hare-brained scheme to look for lost treasure in Peru, against strong opposition from Michel's fiancée. Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven stars Brigitte Mira (Fear Eats the Soul) as a middle-aged housewife who is roused into revolutionary activity after her husband dies in an industrial accident. Based on a story by Asta Scheib, Fear of Fear features Fassbinder favourite Margit Carstensen (The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant) as the young mother plagued with feelings of anxiety and depression as she is left to spend her hours alone surrounded by her judgemental in-laws while her husband spends his days at work. Satan's Brew sees Fassbinder foray into riotous comedy, with Kurt Raab starring as a once famous poet stricken with writer's block who inadvertently assumes the persona of the prewar symbolist Stefan George. Product Features High definition digital transfers of The American Soldier, Gods of the Plague, Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven and Satan's Brew prepared by the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentations of The American Soldier, Gods of the Plague, Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven and Satan's Brew Original uncompressed PCM mono 1.0 sound for all films Optional English subtitles for all films Exclusive 140-page collectors booklet containing archive articles and new writing by Jonathan Rosenbaum, Eric Rentschler, David Jenkins, Margaret Deriaz and Earl Jackson. DISC ONE The American Soldier & The Niklashausen Journey Audio commentary by critic Tony Rayns on The American Soldier Audio commentary by critic Olaf Möller on The Niklashausen Journey Fassbinder Shoots Film No 8, a 1971 television documentary by Michael Ballhaus and Dieter Buchmann on Rainer Werner Fassbinder filming The American Soldier Man in the Shadow, an exclusive new in-depth interview with Fassbinder's collaborator Michael Fengler Freedom or Death!, an exclusive new interview with Michael König on The Niklashausen Journey DISC TWO Gods of the Plague & Rio Das Mortes Alter Ego: Harry Baer on Rainer Werner Fassbinder, a 40-minute interview with the star of Gods of the Plague Taking Off, an exclusive new interview with Michael König on Rio Das Mortes Original theatrical trailer for Gods of the Plague DISC THREE Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven & Fear of Fear Audio commentary by critic Olaf Möller on Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven alternate ending New interviews with Renate Leiffer, assistant director on Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven and Fear of Fear New interview with writer Asta Scheib on Fear of Fear Play It Again, Rainer! Fassbinder's Musical Obsessions, a new video essay by Margaret Deriaz on the use of music in Fassbinder's films. DISC FOUR Satan's Brew Audio commentary by critic Tony Rayns The Culture Industry Needs Something Like Me: Views of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, a 1976 documentary portrait of the director by Gert Ellinghaus Fassbinder: Love Without Demands, Christian Braad Thomsen's feature-length 2015 documentary portrait of his friend Fassbinder and the people who worked with him. Original theatrical trailer
Rough, tough and politically incorrect in the way that only the best '70s drama series can be, The Sweeney is one of the major television successes of the last fifty years. Featuring John Thaw as the irascible Detective Inspector Regan and Dennis Waterman as his loyal 'oppo', Detective Sergeant Carter, this benchmark television series is now available on Blu-ray in a stunning level of quality not previously seen. The Sweeney has never looked this good.
Winner of the Palme d'Or and Best Director prizes at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival Gus Van Sant's realistic drama takes us inside an American high school on one single ordinary day that very rapidly turns tragic...
Hardman: A man's mangled body is found in a Clydeside shipyard and it becomes clear many people wished him dead. The atmosphere within the investigating team remains fraught - though the arrival of forensic specialist Sheila Crombie could improve Burke's mood. Fade To Black: A nurse is found strangled apparently the victim of a straightforward crime of passion but the team learn of her high-rolling secret life and discover a large quantity of cash in her flat. The mystery is compounded by the appearance of a peeping Tom determined to follow and film every move Burke makes. Blood Money: A boxing promoter is found murdered with his mouth stuffed full of money and the Glasgow detectives quickly discover they are involved with a fight-fixing ring but other deaths follow and Fraser feels the lash of Burke's tongue before the villain is finally counted out. New Life: Burke and the team investigate the murder of a scientific researcher involved in cloning experiments and initially suspect a protest group are to blame. At first the case seems cut and dried - until it emerges that his employer has benefited financially from his death and his assistants disagreed over the content of the lecture he was supposed to give. Bad Blood: Burke suspects the murder of a Kurdish taxi driver was racially motivated - until he discovers the dead man was actually a trusted employee of a feared gangland boss. The police soon find themselves drawn into a bitter underworld dispute and Reid begins to suspect an ambitious new colleague is an accomplice of the villain.
This DVD set features the 2 disc special editions of all four Die Hard films! Die Hard (John McTiernan) (1988): New York cop John McClane facing Christmas alone flies to Los Angeles to see his estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) and their kids in an attempt to patch things up. He arrives at his wife's high tech office building in the middle of their Christmas party just as it is gatecrashed by the ruthless master criminal Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) and a dozen fellow activists intent on relieving the Nakatomi Corporation of six hundred million dollars in negotiable bonds... Die Hard 2 - Die Harder (Dir. Renny Harlin) (1990): On a snowy Christmas Eve in the nation's capital a team of terrorists has seized a major International Airport and now holds thousands of holiday travellers hostage. The terrorists a renegade band of crack military commandos led by a murderous rogue officer (William Sadler) have come to rescue a drug lord from justice. They've prepared for every contingency except one: John McClane an off-duty cop seized by a feeling of deadly de-ja-vu. Die Hard With A Vengeance (Dir. John McTiernan) (1995): This time New York cop John McClane (Willis) is the personal target of the mysterious Simon (Jeremy Irons) a terrorist determined to blow up the entire city if he doesn't get what he wants. Accompanied by an unwilling civilian partner (Samuel L. Jackson) McClane careens wildly from one end of New York City to the other as he struggles to keep up with Simon's deadly game. Die Hard 4.0: Live Free Or Die Hard (Dir. Len Wiseman) (2007): A computer genius is systematically shutting down the computer infrastructure of the US. The mysterious figure behind the scheme seems to have figured out every digital angle but he hasn't counted on an old fashioned 'analogue' cop John McClane.
Detective Jake Swan does things by the book - his book. But when a drug bust he plans results in his partner's death Jake goes on a rampage that ends in his suspension from the force and a quick slide into booze and guilty depression.
Alfred Hitchcock hadn't made a spy thriller since the 1930s, so his 1969 adaptation of Leon Uris's bestseller Topaz seemed like a curious choice for the director. But Hitchcock makes Uris's story of the West's investigation into the Soviet Union's dealings with Cuba his own. Frederick Stafford plays a French intelligence agent who works with his American counterpart (John Forsythe) to break up a Soviet spy ring. The film is a bit flat dramatically and visually, and there are sequences that seem to occupy Hitchcock's attention more than others. A minor work all around, with at least two alternative endings shot by Hitchcock. --Tom Keogh
Three John Mills films on one fantastic box set. History Of Mr. Polly: John Mills stars in this celebrated adaptation of the H.G. Wells classic. Mr Polly is a sensitive soul idling away his days as a humble drapers assistant until one day he is abruptly sacked for daydreaming at work. His well-ordered life is plunged into chaos until his fathers death suddenly brings him a large inheritance. Mr Polly splashes out on a brand new bicycle and sets off to explore the world and seek out grand adventure. A doomed love affair quickly destroys his newfound dreams. The bicycle is stored away and Mr Polly opens up his own drapers shop in a dismal little town. Fifteen years later finds him unhappily married and almost bankrupt. His thoughts drift towards suicide - but there may yet be another avenue of escape for the hapless Mr Polly. Great Expectations: David Lean directed this stylish film presentation of Charles Dickens' heart warming story of a young man befriending an escaped convict who becomes his unknown benefactor and of the consequences for the young man as he establishes himself in the world. Waterloo Road: As World War Two rages Jim Colter (John Mills) finds himself called up to serve in the Army - but hes soon to find himself at war on two fronts. While hes away his lovely wife Tillie attracts (Joy Shelton) attracts the amorous attention of Ted Purvis (Stewart Granger) a vicious local spiv and self-acclaimed ladies man. When Jims sister write to him informing him of what is happening Jim decides that the Nazis can wait and that an even more insidious enemy needs to be dealt with first. He breaks out of camp goes AWOL and sets off to find his wife. With the military hot on his tail Jim must make his way through war-torn London to settle things once and for all.
Director Michele Soavi does the impossible by squeezing a few more drops of blood out from the slasher genre. Not only that, Soavi lensed one of the most beautiful and suspenseful horror movies of the 1980s. A genuinely haunting horror where the killer dressed as an owl goes to bloody work with a chainsaw that slices through flesh and bone...
This film springs from a long-neglected script by the late John Cassavetes. The script was directed by his son Nick and stars Sean Penn, who was set to star before the elder Cassavetes died. Penn plays Eddie, an alcoholic ne'er-do-well who loves his young wife Maureen (Robin Wright Penn) too much. When she is brutalised by a neighbour, Eddie goes nuts--and lands in a mental hospital for 10 years. When he is freed, he finds Maureen remarried to contractor Joey (John Travolta), with whom she has two children. But Eddie's love is too strong not to draw him back to her and make one final plea for her affection. A great showcase for all of the actors involved (the cast includes James Gandolfini, Harry Dean Stanton and Gena Rowlands), with a particularly fine performance by Sean Penn. The film has the make-it-up-as-you-go feeling of John Cassavetes's work, as well as the kind of naked emotions that were his hallmark.--Marshall Fine
Life isn't about believing in dreams; its about living them! An eccentric drifter claiming to be Elvis Presley hitches a ride with a young man and they find themselves on an adventurous road trip to Memphis...
Victorian scientist and philanthropist Sir Hugo Cunningham (Robert Stephens) believes his experiments in photographing the dying at the very moment of their passing have somehow captured images of the victims' souls leaving their bodies. But when he unfortunately records on moving film the accidental death of his son and his fiance he discovers the apparition he has captured on film is moving toward the victims rather than away from them. Sir Hugo theorizes that it must be the m
Little Shop Of Horrors: The original movie of this classic black comedy/horror about a rather dim-witted young man Seymour (Jonathan Haze) working for $10 a week in Mushnick's flower shop on skid row who develops an intelligent bloodthirsty plant. He names the plant ""Audrey Jr"" and as it grows it demands human meat for sustenance and Seymour is forced to kill in order to feed it. Jack Nicholson has a notable cameo part as an undertaker Wilbur Force who is a masochistic d
Anna Christie (1930): Garbo made her landmark transition to ""Talkies"" with this film playing a former prostitute whose past threatens her chance for happiness. A different director and cast join Garbo in a German-language version (Side B with English subtitles) filmed on the same sound stages immediately after the English version. Later Garbo called it the better film and this new DVD release gives fans the rare opportunity to compare the two versions. Mata Hari (1931): Garbo is mesmerizing as a dancer turned German secret agent in wartime Paris seething with secrets and betrayal. The notable supporting cast includes Lionel Barrymore as a Russian general in love with her Lewis Stone as an icy master spy and Ramon Novarro as a handsome aviator who wins the heart Mata Hari did not know she possessed. Queen Christina (1933): To escape the burdens of the monarchy Sweden's Queen Christina (Garbo) rides into the countryside disguised as a boy. She meets and secretly falls for a dashing Spanish envoy on his way to the royal court. When her lover's true identity is revealed Christina knows her people will not accept her marriage to a foreigner. Torn between her duty and her heart she must make a fateful decision. Garbo is luminous in this lavish costume drama starring with her one-time off-screen fianc John Gilbert under the direction of Rouben Mamoulian. Anna Karenina (1935): Leo Tolstoy's novel of a dutiful wife and doting mother who gives up her life of contentment to experience real passion receives sumptuous treatment in a David O. Selznick production. Clarence Brown directs a stellar cast - including Fredric March Basil Rathbone Maureen O'Sullivan and Freddie Bartholomew. Greta Garbo is the soul of the film in a nuanced performance that won the New York Film Critics Best Actress Award. At the height of her art Garbo is unforgettable as a woman helpless in love's grasp and heartbroken at the loss of her son. Camille (1936): Life in 1847 Paris is as spirited as champagne and as unforgiving as the gray morning after. In gambling dens and lavish soirees men of means exert their wills and women turned courtesans exult in pleasure. One such woman is Marguerite Gautier (Garbo) the Camille of this sumptuous romantic tale based on the enduring Alexandre Dumas story. Garbo earned an Academy Award nomination and the New York Film Critics Best Actress Award for her memorable work in this George Cukor-directed film. Ninotchka (1939): Garbo shines in her first comedy a frothy tale of a dour Russian envoy sublimating her womanhood for Soviet brotherhood until she falls for a suave Parisian man-about-town (Melvyn Douglas). Working from a clever script written in part by Billy Wilder director Ernst Lubitsch knew better than anyone how to marry refinement with sublime wit. That's how we see Garbo's love struck Ninotchka: serenely dignified yet endearingly ridiculous.
John Ford's 1948 classic stars John Wayne as a cavalry officer used to doing things a certain way out West at Fort Apache. Along comes a rigid, new commanding officer (Henry Fonda) who insists that everything on his watch be done by the book, including dealings with local Indians. The results are mixed: greater discipline at the fort, but increased hostilities with the natives. Ford deliberately leaves judgements about the wisdom of these changes ambiguous, but he also allows plenty of room in this wonderful film for the fullness of life among the soldiers and their families--community rituals, new romances--to blossom. Fonda, in an unusual role for him, is stern and formal as the new man in charge; Wayne is heroic as the rebellious second; Victor McLaglen provides comic relief; and Ward Bond is a paragon of sturdy and sentimental masculinity. All of this is set against the magnificent, poetic topography of Monument Valley. This is easily one of the greatest of American films. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com
Nothing is as it seems behind the well-trimmed hedges of the picturesque cottages in the idyllic English county of Midsomer. Beneath the tranquil surface of sleepy village life exist dark secrets scandals and downright evil. John Nettles stars as the humorous thoughtful and methodical Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby. The quiet of Midsomer Worthy is shattered by the suicide of Martin Wroath. A gambler drinker and depressive the complex nature of his death attracts Barnaby's atten
The second series of The West Wing, Aaron Sorkin's relentlessly erudite drama about life behind the scenes at the White House, continues here with the emphasis on President Bartlet's multiple sclerosis, a condition that he has hitherto concealed from the American electorate and most of his staff. Tensions grow between himself and the First Lady (Stockard Channing) as she realises, in the episode "Third State of the Union" that he intends to run for a second term in office. It becomes clear to Bartlet (Martin Sheen) that he must go public with his MS, and his staff are forced to come to terms with this, as well as deal with the usual plethora of domestic and international incidents, which apparently preclude any of them from having any sort of private lives, least of all love lives. These include crises in Haiti and Columbia, an obstinate filibuster and a Surgeon General's excessively frank remarks about the drugs situation. Thankfully, the splendid Lord John Marbury (Roger Rees) is on hand to make chief of staff Leo McGarry's life more of a misery in "The Drop-In". These episodes, though occasionally marred by a sentimental soundtrack and an earnest and wishfully high regard for the Presidential office, are masterclasses in drama and dialogue, ranging from the wittily staccato to the magnificently grave, capturing authentically the hectic pace of political intrigue and the often vain efforts of decent, brilliant people to do the right thing. "Two Cathedrals", which features flashbacks to Bartlet's schooldays and his thunderous denunciation of God following a funeral, is perhaps the greatest West Wing episode of all. On the DVD: The West Wing, Series 2 Part 2 features no extras, though the transfer is immaculate. --David Stubbs
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