Angela Gheorghiu's stunning debut as Violetta from the Royal Opera House Covent Garden it was this performance that turned the Romanian soprano into an international sensation. The occasion also marked Sir George Solti's first performances of Verdi's ever-popular tragedy. World-class performances by opera's finest - Frank Lopardo (Alfredo) Leo Nucci (Germont) Leah-Marian Jones (Flora) and Gillian Knight (Annina). With Richard Eyre's dramatic staging Bob Crowley's elegant strik
Kurt & Courtney, despite the title, is not really a film about the late Nirvana singer and his wife. Rather, in the gonzo style familiar from other Broomfield productions (Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam, Biggie & Tupac), it's a film about making a film about the late Nirvana singer and his wife. The approach is initially engaging, as Broomfield's self-conscious haplessness is a refreshing change from the infallible omniscience that documentary presenters usually seek to project. But by the end it's difficult to avoid the conclusion that Broomfield is hamming it up somewhat to distract attention from his failure to produce anything substantial. Broomfield sets out to delve into the persistent rumours that Cobain's death was not suicide, but murder possibly arranged with Love's connivance. By way of investigation, he speaks to people who claim, with wildly varying levels of plausibility, acquaintance with Cobain and Love. Some are interesting, particularly Love's arrestingly unpleasant father, who believes that his daughter killed her husband, and Kurt's charmingly guileless aunt. Too many of the rest are stoned, stupid or palpably insane, and Broomfield ends up little the wiser for speaking to any of them. Between interviews, Broomfield tries to manufacture tension with a series of heavy but never-quite-substantiated hints that Love is pulling strings to hamper his progress. The final confrontation between filmmaker and subject is one of the most colossal anti-climaxes ever caught on tape. --Andrew Mueller
For his 41st and final feature film, Joseph H. Lewis was able to combine the two genres in which he had excelled. The man in the director s chair for My Name is Julia Ross, Gun Crazy and The Big Combo, Lewis was one of the all-time greats in film noir. But he was also a fine director of Westerns, having made A Lawless Street, 7th Cavalry and The Halliday Brand, all of which especially the last remain underrated. Terror in a Texas Town would bring his noir sensibilities to the American West, resulting in one of his finest works. McNeil (Sebastian Cabot, The Time Machine) is a greedy hotel owner who wants to take control of Prairie City, the Texas town of the title. Keen to drive the local farmers of their land, McNeil hires a gunman, Johnny Crale (Nedrick Young, who would pen the Oscar-winning screenplay for The Defiant Ones the same year), resulting in the death of a former whaler. The dead man s son, George Hansen (Sterling Hayden, The Killing), arrives in town to inherit the farm and set the stage for revenge armed with only his father s old harpoon... Terror in a Texas Town was written by Dalton Trumbo, one of the Hollywood Ten blacklisted by the film industry and forced to write under pseudonyms or to use fronts . Two years before he helped break the blacklist with on-screen credits for Otto Preminger s Exodus and Stanley Kubrick s Spartacus, his work was credited to Ben Perry, but it demonstrates a psychological depth and political dimension that is undoubtedly that of Trumbo. SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS: Brand-new 2K restoration from original film elements produced by Arrow Films exclusively for this release High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) Uncompressed Mono 1.0 PCM Audio Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Introduction by Peter Stanfield, author of Hollywood, Westerns and the 1930s: The Lost Trail and Horse Opera: The Strange History of the Singing Cowboy Scene-select commentaries by Stanfield Theatrical trailer Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Vladimir Zimakov FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector s booklet featuring new writing by Glenn Kenny
The famous performance of Verdi's romantic tragedy captures one of the most sensational debuts in operatic history. Singing Violetta for the first time was the young Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu whose remarkable interpretation reached the front pages of the world's press and led the BBC immediately to film the production. Equally notable was the masterly conducting of Sir Georg Solti and director Richard Eyre's stylish staging. This DVD and highlights CD present the definitive record of a momentous occasion.
A one-act production performed at The Royal Opera House Covent Garden with Maria Ewing in the lead role ably supported by Michael Devlin and Kenneth Riegel. The Orchestra of The Royal Opera House is conducted by Edward Downes. Directed by Derek Bailey. English subtitles.
An undercover federal agent is on the trail of a gang of counterfeiters. John Wyatt (Wayne) is sent under cover to follow Doc Carter's medicine show to expose a counterfeiting gang. When the main suspect is kidnapped with his daughter by the real villain Wyatt realises he has been chasing the wrong man and switches his attentions to the notorious Curly Joe...
An undercover federal agent is on the trail of a gang of counterfeiters. John Wyatt is sent under cover to follow Doc Carter's medicine show to expose a counterfeiting gang. When the main suspect is kidnapped with his daughter by the real villain Wyatt realises he has been chasing the wrong man and switches his attentions to the notorious Curly Joe.
3 x John Wayne classics on 1 DVD. 'Blue Steel' - A fun western with a young John Wayne giving an energetic performance. 'Paradise Canyon' - John Wayne is an undercover federal agent assigned to a counterfeiting case where an ex-convict and proprieter of a roving medicine show Dr. Carter is the suspect. 'Desert Trail' - After being falsely accused of murder a rodeo performer and his sidekick roam the countryside in search of the real killers.
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