Chosen by the British public to be digitised by the BFI in 2016, Peter Sellers directs and stars in this bittersweet character comedy based on a Marcel Pagnol short story. Described by Sellers biographer, Roger Lewis, as a lost classic, Mr Topaze marked the actor's official directorial debut, and teams him with his Ladykillers (1955) and Pink Panther series co-star Herbert Lom in a cast that also features Billie Whitelaw, Leo McKern, John le Mesurier and Joan Sims. Playing the eponymous Mr Topaze, a poor, provincial French schoolteacher slowly corrupted by big business, Sellers' is at the peak of his powers. Unseen for decades, this lost British comedy classic is available for the first time on Blu-ray and DVD and is essential viewing for fans of Sellers unique brand of humour. Special Features: Original Other extras TBC Fully illustrated booklet with new writing on the film and full film credits
Charlie Chaplin entered the film industry in 1914 and by 1916 was the highest paid entertainer in the world after signing a contract with the Mutual Film Corporation for a salary of $670 000. Mutual built Chaplin his very own studio and allowed him total freedom to make 12 two-reel films during a 12-month period which have been brought together for the first time on this two-disc boxset. Chaplin subsequently recognised this period of film-making as the most inventive and liberating of his career. These twelve films demonstrate the breadth of Chaplin’s abilities as both a physical slapstick actor and a subtle endearing character actor. The collection includes the slapstick custard pie fights of Behind the Screen and his first minor masterpiece The Vagabond where he successfully combines pathos and comedy to create a lyrical love story. This limited edition collection of Chaplin films has been fully restored and features music by acclaimed silent film composer Carl Davis. Bonus Features: 12 films (1916-1917) with Carl Davis scores all presented in full High Definition: The Floorwalker The Fireman The Vagabond One AM The Count The Pawnshop Behind the Screen The Rink Easy Street The Cure The Immigrant The Adventurer Alternative scores for each film by a range of composers Audio commentaries for selected films Newsreel shorts: Chaplin Signs the Mutual Contract (1916 30 secs); Charlie on the Ocean (1921 5 mins) Carl Davis interview (9 mins) Extensive booklet with essays and full film credits
Includes the following films:The Terminal:Starring Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta Jones. Viktor Navorski (Hanks) gets caught in bureaucratic glitches that make it impossible for him to return to his home country to enter the U.S. Now, caught up in the richly complex and amusing world inside J.F.K. airport, Viktor makes friends, gets a job, finds romance and ultimately discovers America itself.Catch Me If You Can:Inspired by the true story of a brilliant master of deception and the FBI agent, hot on his trail, Catch Me If You Can stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks in one of the year's most acclaimed hits! From director Steven Spielberg, Catch Me If You Can follows Frank W. Abagnale, Jr. as he successfully passes himself off as a pilot, a lawyer and a doctor - all before his 21st birthday!Cast Away:Tom Hanks stars as Chuck Noland, a FedEx systems engineer whose ruled-by-the-clock existence abruptly ends when a harrowing plane crash leaves him isolated on a remote island. As Chuck struggles to survive, he finds that his own personal journey has only just begun...
An all-star cast feature in this stylish adaptation of Agatha Christie's quintessential murder mystery, produced and co-written by legendary B-movie mogul Harry Alan Towers. Directed by George Pollock (who had previously won great acclaim with the Miss Marple films starring Margaret Rutherford) and sporting the ultimate gimmick of a 60-second Whodunnit Break prior to the final reveal, Ten Little Indians is featured here as a High Definition remaster from original film elements in its original theatrical aspect ratio. Ten strangers arrive at a snowbound mansion invited by their host, the shadowy Mr U.N. Owen. During dinner, an audio tape of Owen's voice is played, revealing that each guest has a scandalous secret a secret that each would be willing to kill to protect. It's not long before the first guest is murdered. It won't be the last. Special Features Theatrical trailer Image gallery
Released in 1968, Charly is a period-piece from the summer of love when "natural" was nirvana, the air hummed with the mantra "Everybody's beautiful", and all ills stemmed from institutional monoliths such as Science, Government, Education, and Religion. It is adapted from Daniel Keyes' novel Flowers for Algernon and its hero, Charly (Cliff Robertson), is 30 years old and mentally handicapped. His innocent sweetness makes him superior to most able-minded folk, whether they're the bigoted dolts he sweeps floors for or the ambitious scientists who see him as the human equivalent of Algernon, a mouse they've surgically (but impermanently) smartened up. Naturally, post-op Charly, sporting a genius IQ, "sees things as they are". Trotted out as the neurosurgeons' poster boy, he stands up to the "learned" audience--shot as faceless, inhuman interrogators. He's every 60s flower child, berating his "elders" for blighting their brave new world. The one reward Charly derives from his higher IQ is sex. In a lengthy montage resembling a retro TV commercial, he and his teacher (Claire Bloom, a madonna with an eternal Mona Lisa smile) romp through Edenic gardens, their embraces hallowed by sunlight glinting through leaves, moonlight glinting on water, and sappy Ravi Shankar music (stylistic clichés also include embarrassing outbreaks of split screens and multiple small screens within the frame, notably when rebellious Charly turns biker). Robertson's performance is well-meaning but mawkishly sentimental. Still, in the penultimate moments when Charly begins to slide back into mental illness, the actor achieves a genuine tragic gravity, and he became a surprise Oscar winner for his pains. --Kathleen Murphy, Amazon.com
Six Mozart features: 'Cosi Fan Tutte (1975)' 'Don Giovani (1977)' 'Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail (1980)' 'Idomeneo (1974)' 'Le Nozze Di Figaro (1973)' and 'Die Zauberflote (1978)'.
The granddaddy of giant monster movies, The Lost World was one of the most expensive movies ever made in 1925, costing more than a million dollars, and has remained one of the most influential. Every larger-than-life creature feature since--from King Kong to Godzilla and Jurassic Park--owes a debt to this original adventure fantasy based on Arthur Conan Doyle's novel. It's the story of a maverick scientist (Wallace Beery under a bushy beard) who finds a land that time forgot on a plateau deep within the South American jungles and comes back to London with a captured brontosaurus to prove it. His expedition includes Bessie Love, the daughter of an explorer who disappeared on the previous expedition, and big game hunter Lewis Stone. The ostensible stars of the picture are all upstaged by Willis O'Brien's dinosaurs, simple models brought to life with primitive stop-motion animation (the technique was soon to be perfected by O'Brien for King Kong). Hardly realistic by any measure, these pioneering special effects are still a sight to behold, especially the lumbering brontosaurus which receives the most care from O'Brien, both foraging in his jungle and rampaging through the streets of London. With the coming of talkies, The Lost World became obsolete: all known American prints were destroyed in favour of a sound remake (which became King Kong) and the film only survived in a severely truncated form (even the original negative was lost). For this release David Shepard meticulously "rebuilt" the film using material from eight different surviving prints from all over the world, cleaning and restoring along the way. The result is 50% longer than previously extant prints, still not complete but closer than any version since its 1925 debut. The difference is not merely in restored scenes but in a rediscovered sense of grace in scenes filled out to their original detail and pace. The film moves and breathes once again like a silent film. On the DVD: From the attractive solid slipcase to the wonderful "period" menu interface, this is a delightful DVD package. The film itself looks surprisingly good--a real tribute to the restoration team's efforts--with careful tinting in the style of the period (blues for evening, reds for dawn etc.). The disc features the choice of either an original score by The Alloy Orchestra or a classical orchestral score compiled and conducted by Robert Israel (both enjoyable and effective), 13 minutes of O'Brien's animation outtakes (including a couple of isolated frames that capture O'Brien manipulating his models) and a well-meaning but basic commentary by Arthur Conan Doyle historian Roy Pilot. There's also a text biography of Conan Doyle and a display of original postcards, posters and other promotional items. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com
Craig moves with his daughter, Jennifer, into a new home after the death of his wife. It's not long before the pair discover the house is haunted by a dark presence that wants to take over the child. One day Jennifer disappears and Craig must face a terrible truth in order to find his daughter.
Penitentiary is the first of many in a series depicting the harrowing prison existence of a convict who uses his wits and fists to survive. Leon Isaac Kennedy's character is thrown deep into the bowels of the prison system, where the only consistent truth is kill or be killed. To show his strength and gain respect from the other inmates, Kennedy must distinguish himself as a boxer, taking on all comers to save his own skin and regain his pride as a human being. Surprisingly effective in its harsh detailing of violent prison life, the film addresses the dehumanization of prisoners without excusing their crimes. Thought of as an exploitation picture, Penitentiary rises above its roots to provide a blunt and passionate look at one man's struggle on the inside. --Robert Lane
This is one of Valentino's best films he plays a bullfighter in a small town in Spain and becomes one of the most idolised matadors in his country. The swaggering but sincere Valentino marries a good Catholic girl Lila Lee a coy innocent with bow-tie lips but is seduced by Nita Natal a high society man-eater who decides to add a bullfighter to her conquests.
A performance of Gounod's opera 'Romeo Et Juliette' in five acts recorded live at The Royal Opera House Covent Garden.
Opera in two acts from the Glyndebourne Festival Opera 1978. Sung in German.
Stan Laurel stars in 'On The Front Page' Oliver Hardy stars in 'Along Came Auntie' and 'Bromeo And Juliet' Laurel and Hardy star in 'This Is Your Life' (recorded on the 1st December 1954 and was for many years believed lost).
Charlie Chaplin: Collection 5
Charlie Chaplin: Collection 6
The films Charlie Chaplin made at the Essanay Studios in 1915 show some of cinema's greatest comedian's most individual work. As director as well as star he was able to make films around his own performance style rather than force himself into Max Sennett's frenzied 'beystone comedy' mode. Despite their huge importance and comic brilliance these films have rarely been seen in recent decades mostly because of poor or incomplete prints. This edition of all sixteen films in two volumes
The films Charlie Chaplin made at the Essanay Studios in 1915 show some of cinema's greatest comedian's most individual work. As director as well as star he was able to make films around his own performance style rather than force himself into Mack Sennett's frenzied 'beystone comedy' mode. Despite their huge importance and comic brilliance these films have rarely been seen in recent decades mostly because of poor or incomplete prints. This edition of all sixteen films in two volume
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