"Actor: Lillian Gish"

• The Night Of The Hunter | DVD | (19/03/2001) from £4.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (160.32%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In the entire history of American movies, The Night of the Hunter stands out as the rarest and most exotic of specimens. It is, to say the least, a masterpiece--and not just because it was the only movie directed by flamboyant actor Charles Laughton or the only produced solo screenplay by the legendary critic James Agee (who also co-wrote The African Queen). The truth is, nobody has ever made anything approaching its phantasmagoric, overheated style in which German expressionism, religious hysteria, fairy-tale fantasy (of the Grimm-est variety), and stalker movie are brought together in a furious boil. Like a nightmarish premonition of stalker movies to come, Night of the Hunter tells the suspenseful tale of a demented preacher (Robert Mitchum, in a performance that prefigures his memorable villain in Cape Fear), who torments a boy and his little sister--even marries their mixed-up mother (Shelley Winters)--because he's certain the kids know where their late bank-robber father hid a stash of stolen money. So dramatic, primal, and unforgettable are its images--the preacher's shadow looming over the children in their bedroom, the magical boat ride down a river whose banks teem with fantastic wildlife, those tattoos of LOVE and HATE on the unholy man's knuckles, the golden locks of a drowned woman waving in the current along with the indigenous plant life in her watery grave--that they're still haunting audiences (and filmmakers) today. --Jim Emerson, Amazon.com

• The Night of the Hunter | Blu Ray | (28/10/2013) from £11.99   |  Saving you £9.26 (86.30%)   |  RRP £19.99

  This visually ravishing authentically terrifying Southern Gothic masterpiece is one of the cinema's great one-offs not just because it was the only film directed by the actor Charles Laughton. Robert Mitchum gives a career-best performance as Harry Powell a self-appointed preacher with 'LOVE' and 'HATE' tattooed on his knuckles who travels to a small town in search of his executed cellmate's stash of cash under the impression that his two young children know its whereabouts. But the film's melodramatic plot plays second fiddle to some of the most extraordinary images ever captured on film. Laughton and cinematographer Stanley Cortez (The Magnificent Ambersons) imbue almost every shot with a luminosity that recalls the great silent masterpieces of F.W. Murnau and Victor Sjöström. A widely misunderstood flop at the time (which put Laughton off ever directing again) it's now regarded as one of the greatest of all American films. Special Features: New digital transfer made from 35mm film elements restored by UCLA Film and Television Archive in cooperation with MGM Studios with funding provided by the Film Foundation and Robert B. Strum Optional original uncompressed Mono PCM audio and 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio Isolated Music and Effects Soundtrack Charles Laughton Directs 'The Night of the Hunter' - A two-and-a-half-hour documentary on the making of the film featuring outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage Archival interview with cinematographer Stanley Cortez Original theatrical trailer Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly artwork by Graham Humphreys Booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic and filmmaker David Thompson with more to be announced!

• Orders To Kill | DVD | (17/08/2009) from £10.35   |  Saving you £5.64 (54.49%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Orders To Kill

• The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn | DVD | (01/09/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  Fantastic adaptation of the classic novel by Mark Twain.

• Duel In The Sun | DVD | (13/10/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  With an all-star cast headed by Gregory Peck Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotten Duel In The Sun is a western a love story and a family saga rolled into one and features some of the most breathtaking photography ever seen. When a vivacious half-breed Indian girl named Pearl (Jones) is sent to live with the Texas land baron Senator McCanles conflict abruptly arises. Hot-blooded Pearl captures the attention of the Senator's sons: Jesse (Cotten) and fiery Lewt (Peck). Soon both of the brothers are vying for her attention which leads to betrayal wild desert shoot-outs and a lusty love-hate relationship between Pearl and Lewt.

• BIRTH OF A NATION, THE (Masters of Cinema) (BLU-RAY) | Blu Ray | (29/07/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  One of the most artistically significant and controversial motion pictures ever made D. W. Griffith's silent epic The Birth of a Nation was a massive commercial success at the time of its release owing to its dynamic storytelling and its breakthrough developments in cinema language that have become common traits of practically every film that has since followed. However the picture's legacy is one that continues to elicit outrage over its vulgar depictions of African-Americans and its deceptive historiography of the United States in the second half of the nineteenth century. The Birth of a Nation begins depicting the amiable relationship between two families Northern and Southern and the way in which the impending Civil War intensifies the conflict of their worldviews. Following the end of the war and the assassination of President Lincoln a lawless chaos courses throughout the Reconstruction South and the Ku Klux Klan is formed to take on a rising black militia and impose a vengeful vigilante justice across their land and birthright. It's a film that's deeply divisive even to the senses of a single viewer: images of painterly beauty in composition and tonal quality often exhibit a contemptuous inflammatory coarseness with regard to subject matter; just as frequently long tracts evince an innocent terrifically lyrical grandeur. Griffith would attempt to make amends for the moral schism of this schizophrenic epic in his next film Intolerance but The Birth of a Nation cannot - and should not - remain unseen or undiscussed: it is a great and terrible masterpiece. The Masters of Cinema Series releases Griffith's three-hour epic including a series of the director's Civil War shorts for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK. Special Features: New 1080p presentation (on the Blu-ray) of the film from archival 35mm elements in its original aspect ratio Music by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra in 2.0 stereo and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Short archival introductions to the film by D. W. Griffith and Walter Huston Newly rediscovered original intermission sequence and 1930 re-release title sequence Seven Civil War shorts directed by Griffith: In the Border States (1910); The House with Closed Shutters (1910); The Fugitive (1910); His Trust (1910); His Trust Fulfilled (1910); Swords and Hearts (1911); and The Battle (1911). A lengthy booklet with writing about the film rare archival imagery and more.

• The Unforgiven | DVD | (01/03/2004) from £6.98   |  Saving you £6.01 (86.10%)   |  RRP £12.99

  No relation to the 1992 Clint Eastwood film of almost the same name, 1959's The Unforgiven is based--like John Ford's The Searchers--on a novel by Alan LeMay. Again the story focuses on a frontier family divided by racism. But instead of the complex, endlessly resonant demonology of the Ford picture, here John Huston aims for a pat, civil-rights-era allegory of loving solidarity triumphing over societal prejudice--and, to be sure, some noble but dangerous Kiowas. Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn costar as, respectively, the eldest son of a ranching family and the beloved sister who's not his sister at all, but an Indian. However, the film's dark heart belongs to Joseph Wiseman as an avenging ghost who materialises out of the wind and Lillian Gish as the matriarch who will do whatever she must to protect her clan. --Richard T Jameson

• Duel in the Sun--Roadshow Edition | DVD | (08/04/2002) from £6.00   |  Saving you £-0.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Before creating Duel in the Sun, legendary producer David O Selznick dreamed of making another magnum opus like his 1939 production of Gone with the Wind; he also proposed to make Jennifer Jones, his ladylove then second wife, a megastar. Thus Duel in the Sun (Lust in the Dust to some) was created as an extravagant Technicolor epic about the collision of the old West with the new, offering wide-open spaces with railroads and barbed wire, and juxtaposing character traits such as hot-blooded outlaws alongside civilised folk who are often wimpy or unwell. The film begins among giant rocks drenched in a blood-red sunset, with velvet-voiced Orson Welles intoning the legend of doomed Pearl Chavez and her demon lover; Duel in the Sun never strays far from lush romanticism, spiced with a dash of S/M. The cast is huge (a lubriciously wicked Gregory Peck, Lillian Gish, Joseph Cotton, Lionel Barrymore, Walter Huston, Harry Carey, Herbert Marshall, Charles Bickford, Butterfly McQueen) and there are unforgettable set pieces, the most notable being the lovers' final shootout among those red rocks, as orgiastic a finale as you could ask for. --Kathleen Murphy, Amazon.com

• Follow Me Boys | DVD | (17/07/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Lem Siddons is part of a traveling band who has a dream of becoming a lawyer. Deciding to settle down he finds a job as a stockboy in the general store of a small town. Trying to fit in he volunteers to become scoutmaster of the newly formed Troop 1. Becoming more and more involved with the scout troop he finds his plans to become a lawyer being put on the back burner until he realizes that his life has been fulfilled helping the youth of the small town.

• The Night Of The Hunter (1955) (Criterion Collection) UK Only | Blu Ray | (28/06/2021) from £17.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The Night of the Hunterincredibly, the only film the great actor CHARLES LAUGHTON ever directed is truly a standalone masterwork. A horror movie with qualities of a Grimm fairy tale, it stars a sublimely sinister ROBERT MITCHUM (Cape Fear, The Friends of Eddie Coyle) as a traveling preacher named Harry Powell (he of the tattooed knuckles), whose nefarious motives for marrying a fragile widow, played by SHELLEY WINTERS (A Place in the Sun, The Diary of Anne Frank) are uncovered by her terrified young children. Graced by images of eerie beauty and a sneaky sense of humour, this ethereal, expressionistic American classicalso featuring the contributions of actress LILLIAN GISH (Intolerance, Duel in the Sun) and writer JAMES AGEEis cinema's quirkiest rendering of the battle between good and evil. Special Features: New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack Audio commentary featuring assistant director Terry Sanders, film critic F. X. Feeney, archivist Robert Gitt, and author Preston Neal Jones Charles Laughton Directs The Night of the Hunter, a two-and-a-half-hour archival treasure trove of outtakes from the film New documentary featuring interviews with producer Paul Gregory, Sanders, Jones, and author Jeffrey Couchman New video interview with Simon Callow, author of Charles Laughton: A Difficult Actor Clip from The Ed Sullivan Show, in which cast members perform live a scene that was deleted from the film Fifteen-minute episode of the BBC show Moving Pictures about the film Archival interview with cinematographer Stanley Cortez Gallery of sketches by author Davis Grubb New video conversation between Gitt and film critic Leonard Maltin about Charles Laughton Directs The Night of the Hunter Original theatrical trailer PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by critics Terrence Rafferty and Michael Sragow

• BIRTH OF A NATION, THE (Masters of Cinema) (DVD) | DVD | (29/07/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  One of the most artistically significant and controversial motion pictures ever made D. W. Griffith's silent epic The Birth of a Nation was a massive commercial success at the time of its release owing to its dynamic storytelling and its breakthrough developments in cinema language that have become common traits of practically every film that has since followed. However the picture's legacy is one that continues to elicit outrage over its vulgar depictions of African-Americans and its deceptive historiography of the United States in the second half of the nineteenth century. The Birth of a Nation begins depicting the amiable relationship between two families Northern and Southern and the way in which the impending Civil War intensifies the conflict of their worldviews. Following the end of the war and the assassination of President Lincoln a lawless chaos courses throughout the Reconstruction South and the Ku Klux Klan is formed to take on a rising black militia and impose a vengeful vigilante justice across their land and birthright. It's a film that's deeply divisive even to the senses of a single viewer: images of painterly beauty in composition and tonal quality often exhibit a contemptuous inflammatory coarseness with regard to subject matter; just as frequently long tracts evince an innocent terrifically lyrical grandeur. Griffith would attempt to make amends for the moral schism of this schizophrenic epic in his next film Intolerance but The Birth of a Nation cannot - and should not - remain unseen or undiscussed: it is a great and terrible masterpiece. The Masters of Cinema Series releases Griffith's three-hour epic including a series of the director's Civil War shorts for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK.

• Portrait Of Jennie | DVD | (06/08/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Artist Eben Adams has never been able to impress dealer Henry Matthews with his work - until he draws a sketch of a young girl he meets in the park one day.She says she is only twelve and is dressed in clothes of a bygone era. The next time the couple meet Adams has become a success and Jennie a beautiful young woman whom he persuades to sit for a portrait. Adams learns that Jennie was raised in a convent in New England and died when a tidal wave hit the town. Hoping to be reunited w

• The Whales of August | DVD | (08/07/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Two of the greatest motion picture actresses of all time Bette Davis and Lillian Gish unite their legendary talents in this beautifully photographed intensely emotional drama that offers 'unexpected and quite marvellous rewards'. (The New York Times) Libby (Davis) and Sarah (Gish) are widowed siblings who have vacationed since children at the seaside cottage in Maine. Now in their eighties and with their husbands and what children they had behind them they have only each other; Libby blind and resistantly dependent on her sister; Sarah still looking for new ways to see the world. Their relationship with their old friend Tisha and the arrival of a charming Russian gentleman will bring storms to the already turbulent ocean between them - an ocean which nevertheless runs deep. Starring Bette Davis and Lillian Gish in what would be her last appearance on the screen; The Whales of August is a superb film and a lasting tribute two of the finest actresses in the history of cinema. Special Features: Cast Filmographies Picture Gallery Subtitles

• Birth of a Nation (Centenary Edition) Blu-ray | Blu Ray | (23/11/2015) from £25.65   |  Saving you £4.34 (16.92%)   |  RRP £29.99

  2015 marks the centenary of the release of the controversial, yet extremely significant American silent epic, The Birth of a Nation, by D.W. Griffith. Griffith is often considered to be one of the most important figures in the history of cinema having been credited with creating and perfecting cinematic devices such as the flash-back, the iris shot, the mask and cross-cutting. The Birth of a Nation covers a period of several years and is centered on the relationship of two families during the Civil War and Reconstruction-US era. Dividing friends and destroying families, The Civil War is minor in its disruption compared to the anarchy which follows in the black-ruled South post-war. The film was released to great commercial success, being one of the highest grossing films of the Silent era, but was widely-debated and often condemned due to its portrayal of the Ku Klux Klan as a heroic force. The film is attributed to launching the career of Lillian Gish, who worked closely with Griffith for many years, and who was also known as ‘The First Lady of American Cinema’. Extras: Two short films by D W Griffith; The Rose of Kentucky (1911) and The Coward (1911) The Drummer of the 8th (1913) – short film starring future Oscar winning Frank Borzage (A Farewell to Arms) Stolen Glory (1912) – a comedy starring Ford Sterling filmed against the backdrop of a parade of Union Civil War veterans 1930 re-release title sequence and short archival introduction by D W Griffith Photoplay orchestral recording sessions Out-takes and original camera tests D W Griffith on Lux Radio Theatre BFI Southbank roundtable discussion (2015) A Personal Appreciation of Birth of a Nation by film scholar Melvyn Stokes Fully illustrated booklet with news essays and full credits

• Broken Blossoms | DVD | (16/10/2001) from £26.98   |  Saving you £-6.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A Chinese man visits London in the hope that he can bring the message of Buddha to others. He falls in love with the daughter of a prize fighter and cares for her when she is beaten. Their friendship is to prove fateful... Silent with the original 1919 orchestral score by Louis F. Gottschalk.

• The Birth Of A Nation | DVD | (02/10/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Based on a play called 'The Clansman' this film was billed as 'the first feature film' and caused riots on its release because of its racist overtones. The film follows a family through the American Civil war. Includes 'The Making Of...' Silent. Tinted Version.

• A Wedding | DVD | (15/08/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  More than one family secret hides behind a wedding... When the Corellis and the Brenners come together for the joyous occasion of their children's wedding events get off to a shaky start with the aging Bishop struggling to remember the order of service. As the reception gets underway the wedding planner looks set to crack the over-zealous staff attack one of the guests infidelities are rife and scandalous secrets are revealed. As the chaos ensues and tension rises between t

• D.W. Griffith - Monumental Epics | DVD | (24/06/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  There’s little doubt that much of what we now take for granted about cinema owes much to the vision of director D W Griffith. Monumental Epics collects five of his most influential silent masterpieces. The Birth of a Nation (1915) is also the birth of the epic film. Made to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the American Civil War this provocative film unflinchingly shows the humiliation of Southern culture, the "heroism" of the Ku Klux Klan, and links the Union and Confederacy by a common Aryan birthright. All of which has to be viewed in its period context if it is to be viewed at all. Intolerance (1916) is film-making of epic complexity. Human intolerance is related through a modern tale of wrongful conviction, intercut by three stories from Babylonian, Judean, and French history to point up the issue through the ages. The intricacy of the intercutting is breathtaking even now, but those as confused as the first audiences evidently were can opt to see each story separately. Sensitively tinted, this is Griffith's finest three hours. Broken Blossoms (1919) has Griffith venturing into domestic melodrama. Although there's a clear moral to be drawn from this tale of compassion in the face of ignorance and brutality, neither the over-acting of Lillian Gish and Donald Crisp, nor the vein of sentimentality that creeps into their characters' relationship allow the viewer to forget the period-piece nature of the film. Here an appropriately expressive musical score helps keep viewing at an attentive level. Way Down East (1920) shows Griffith moving from the epic to the personal, though still on a large scale. The combining of old-style melodrama with latter-day female emancipation is tellingly brought off, and Lillian Gish excels as the country girl used and abused by male society, until "rescued" by a farmer of true moral scruples. Unconvinced? Then go straight to the climactic snowstorm and ice floe sequences--Eisenstein et al are inconceivable without this as trailblazer. Abraham Lincoln (1930) marked Griffith's entry into the talkie era. Tautly directed, it offers a historically accurate account of the 16th US President's rise to power and his visionary outlook on American society. Civil War scenes are implied rather than enacted, and its Walter Huston's robust yet understated acting that carries the day, with sterling support from Una Merkel as Ann Rutledge and Hobart Bosworth as General Lee. On the DVD: Stylishly packaged, restoration and digital remastering has been carried out to Eureka's usual high standard, and the 4:3 aspect ratio has commendable clarity. Birth of a Nation has Joseph Carl Breil's original orchestral score and a pithy "making of" film by Russell Merritt. Intolerance contains a useful rolling commentary and a great wurlitzer soundtrack too. Way Down East includes a commentary. Abraham Lincoln also has a commentary, though Hugo Riesenfeld's score often verges on the mawkish. Overall this set is a must for anyone remotely interested in film as a living medium.--Richard Whitehouse

• Way Down East | DVD | (07/05/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Way Down East was the most successful film of the 1920s, even more so than the original versions of Ben-Hur or The Ten Commandments. That says much about tastes and values of the day, since this is no visually spectacular epic designed to wow audiences: director DW Griffith gave it the subtitle "A Simple Story of Plain People". The story follows impoverished New England country girl Anna Moore (Lillian Gish) to Boston in search of family aid. Instead she's duped into a fake marriage by playboy Lennox Sanderson (Lowell Sherman). Pregnancy forces Sanderson to abandon her to care for the child alone, which dies soon after birth. The disgrace sends her back into the countryside to work for Squire Bartlett, whose son David (Richard Barthelmess) begins to fall for her. But the dreadful secret threatens to be revealed, since the dastardly Sanderson turns out to be their neighbour. Themes of loyalty and social change come to a head for a thrilling finale. Amazing stunt work occurs on a frozen river's ice sheets that break up, dashing an unconscious Anna toward a waterfall. Populated by eccentric cameo roles, this view of 1920s' life is a far more fascinating exploration of the contemporary female than the novel or disastrous stage play that preceded it. On the DVD: Naturally a movie from 1920 is in mono and 4:3 ratio (which is effectively the old Academy standard ratio). But with subtle colour tints and using a musical score from its 1931 reissue, it still looks pretty good. Only a few reels have suffered damage (eg some heat blisters), otherwise film historian David Shepard's restoration job is commendable. The only extra is an essay on the history of the film which scrolls up the screen as an introduction. --Paul Tonks

• Duel in the Sun (Roadshow Edition) | DVD | (15/08/2017) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A