Blarney and bliss, mixed in equal proportions. John Wayne plays an American boxer who returns to the Emerald Isle, his native land. What he finds there is a fiery prospective spouse (Maureen O'Hara) and a country greener than any Ireland seen before or since--it's no surprise The Quiet Man won an Oscar for cinematography. It also won an Oscar for John Ford's direction, his fourth such award. The film was a deeply personal project for Ford (whose birth name was Sean Aloysius O'Fearna), and he lavished all of his affection for the Irish landscape and Irish people on this film. He also stages perhaps the greatest donnybrook in the history of movies, an epic fistfight between Wayne and the truculent Victor McLaglen--that's Ford's brother, Francis, as the elderly man on his deathbed who miraculously revives when he hears word of the dustup. Barry Fitzgerald, the original Irish elf, gets the movie's biggest laugh when he walks into the newlyweds' bedroom the morning after their wedding and spots a broken bed. The look on his face says everything. The Quiet Man isn't the real Ireland but as a delicious never-never land of Ford's imagination, it will do very nicely. --Robert Horton
The game of conquest is underway. Anything goes when a predatory, wealthy widow (Glenn Close) challenges a notorious rake (John Malkovich) to seduce a beautiful young newlywed (Michelle Pfeiffer). But this time, a cardinal rule will be broken: two players will fall in love with tragic results. This acclaimed winner of three Academy Awards® boasts grand 18th-century sets and costumes, brought to life in this gorgeous Blu-ray⢠release. Directed by Stephen Frears from a scandalous 1782 novel and Christopher Hampton's compelling play, Dangerous Liaisons is nasty, decadent fun; the surprise is how much anguished emotion seeps through its cool marble heart (David Ansen, Newsweek). Let the games begin!
Dutiful cavalry officer Nathan Brittles (John Wayne) is reluctant to retire in the face of an imminent Native American uprising. His last official task is to escort the commander's wife and her niece to the Sudrow's Wells stagecoach stop but it proves to be a journey fraught with danger. This film the second in John Ford's cavalry trilogy is a masterpiece of the cinema and is acclaimed as one of the greatest Westerns ever made.
In his film debut singing idol Elvis Presley stars in this action-filled romance set in the aftermath of the Civil War. After hearing his older brother (Richard Egan) has been killed in combat a young Texas farmer (Presley) marries the man's sweetheart (Debra Paget). But his brother returns sparking a bitter sibling rivalry and tragic confrontations with Union soldiers... Featuring four Presley hits on the film's soundtrack including the title track.
The mystical tale of a World War One veteran (Matt Damon) and championship golfer who returns to his sport with the aid of his caddy (Will Smith) who teaches him how to master any challenge in life.
The comic genius of silent star Harold Lloyd is eternal. Chaplin was the sweet innocent, Keaton the stoic outsider, but Lloydthe modern guy striving for successis us. And with its torrent of perfectly executed gags and astonishing stunts, Safety Last! is the perfect introduction to him. Lloyd plays a small-town bumpkin trying to make it in the big city, who finds employment as a lowly department-store clerk. He comes up with a wild publicity stunt to draw attention to the store, resulting in an incredible feat of derring-do on his part that gets him started on the climb to success. Laugh-out-loud funny and jaw-dropping in equal measure, Safety Last! is a movie experience par excellence, anchored by a genuine legend. Special Features: New 2K digital film restoration Musical score by composer Carl Davis from 1989, synchronized and restored under his supervision and presented in uncompressed stereo on the Blu-ray edition Alternate score by organist Gaylord Carter from the late 1960s, presented in uncompressed monaural on the Blu-ray edition Audio commentary featuring film critic Leonard Maltin and director and Harold Lloyd archivist Richard Correll Introduction by Suzanne Lloyd, Lloyd's granddaughter and president of Harold Lloyd Entertainment Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius, a 104-minute documentary from 1989 Three newly restored Lloyd shorts: Take a Chance (1918), Young Mr. Jazz (1919), and His Royal Slyness (1920), with commentary by Correll and film writer John Bengtson Locations and Effects, a new documentary featuring Bengtson and special effects expert Craig Barron New interview with Davis PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Ed Park
Based on Kathryn C. Hulme's best selling novel The Nun's Story is an unforgettable revelation of the seldom-seen world behind convent walls. Audrey Hepburn portrays Sister Luke a nun whose life journey leads her to a much desired position as a surgical nurse in a Belgian Congo missionary hospital but who is tortured by self-doubt. After she returns to her native Belgium World War II breaks out and she finds her commitment seriously tested; torn between the pull of the Resistance and the church's neutrality. Directed by four-time Academy Award winner Fred Zinnemann The Nun's Story earned eight Oscar'' nominations including Best Picture Best Director and Best Actress.
When ten-year-old Karen (Brooke Shields in her first screen appearance) is killed in church on the occasion of her first communion, her seemingly innocent older sister Alice (Paula Sheppard) becomes the prime suspect. Matters become complicated as more of Alice s family members are attacked, along with residents of her apartment building. Can a twelve-year-old girl be capable of such mayhem, or is someone else with a vicious plan destroying her family?
The life and times of legendary Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata are brought to the screen in Darryl F. Zanuck's powerful production of John Steinbeck's screenplay. Marlon Brando fresh from his success in A Streetcar Named Desire gives a stunning portrayal of the outlaw turned revolutionary leader. The film also boasts Anthony Quinn's (Best Supporting Actor 1952) Academy Award winning performance as Zapata's brother. Viva Zapata! is one of the classic political movies and
Based on Neil Simon's own play, 1967's Barefoot in the Park is a perennially joyous film starring carefree Jane Fonda and staid lawyer Robert Redford as young newlyweds setting up home in Greenwich Village. Although the opening credits are fragrantly idyllic (aided by Neal Hefti's soundtrack, you can almost smell the blossom in Central Park), the film doesn't idealise apartment living in New York, à la Friends, far from it: Fonda and Redford's apartment is up several flights of stairs; there's a hole in the skylight and the bedroom is the size of a cupboard. All of this puts some strain on the marriage. When Fonda introduces fellow free spirit and ageing, behind-on-the-rent Lothario (Charles Boyer) to her somewhat inhibited mother (Mildred Natwick), the hapless Redford in particular is forced to come to terms with his own inhibitions. Although the second half of the film moves at a less cracking pace than the first, Barefoot in the Park is as exhilarating as a romantic weekend city break. Directo r Gene Saks, scriptwriter Neil Simon and composer Hefti would regroup in 1968 to make the similarly wonderful The Odd Couple. On the DVD: With the aid of filtering, the DVD recaptures the almost unreal colour quality common to films of this period, while the sound is faithful to the nuances of Hefti's soundtrack. The special features are miserly--subtitles, a choice of languages and the original trailer, though this at least conveys the engaging naiveté of the period--("The rarest, unsquarest, happiest motion picture in many a year!"). --David Stubbs
The Trouble with Harry is a lark, the mischievous side of Hitchcock given free reign. A busman's holiday for Alfred Hitchcock, this 1955 black comedy concerns a pesky corpse that becomes a problem for a quiet, Vermont neighbourhood. Shirley MacLaine makes her film debut as one of several characters who keep burying the body and finding it unburied again. Hitchcock clearly enjoys conjuring the autumnal look and feel of the story, and he establishes an important, first-time alliance with composer Bernard Herrmann, whose music proved vital to the director's next half-dozen or so films. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com
When three outlaws stumble across a dying woman and her baby they vow to escort the infant to New Jerusalem across the white-hot desert...
Elvis: Films That Rock contains three of the King's early screen efforts: Love Me Tender (1956), Flaming Star (1960) and Wild in the Country (1961). It's pointless to suggest that they aren't among Elvis's best movies (you'll have to look elsewhere for King Creole and Jailhouse Rock, which probably are), partly because any fan's going to want them all anyway, but also because all three are interesting in their different ways. Love Me Tender, made in black and white in 1956, was Presley's first stab at acting, and this story of a family split by the American Civil War--one brother goes off to fight, the other doesn't--sees him short on screentime and being upstaged by pretty much everyone else. That said, it was a reasonably brave move for Presley to begin his movie career by dealing with this kind of subject matter, however sentimentalised. Four years later, Flaming Star took the steer by the horns with Presley portraying a young man of mixed parentage caught up in the ethnic conflict between Native Americans and the white race. Again, a brave choice of subject; this was a landmark movie insofar as it showed Presley certainly had enough acting ability to create a credible parallel career along the lines of, say, Sinatra. It wasn't to be, though, as even then his talents were being manipulated by others, which is why all his later movies--even the best ones--were little more than advertisements for his records. Wild in the Country, from the following year, saw Presley as a young tearaway who finds redemption in his talent for writing. It's pure melodrama, but the moralising is kept under control. This is a nice little collection, all in all, and an essential for any fan. On the DVD: Elvis: Films That Rock presents the three pictures in positively radiant transfers, which are absolutely gunge-free and make the very best of the beautifully stylised lighting and cinematography of the period, while the classic Cinemascope presentations translate perfectly into widescreen. Special features include trailers for all three movies. --Roger Thomas
Universally recognised as the Master of Suspense, the legendary Alfred Hitchcock directed some of cinema's most thrilling and unforgettable classics. The House of Hitchcock features 18 iconic films from the acclaimed director's illustrious career including Psycho, The Birds, Rear Window, Vertigo and North by Northwest, plus a range of limited edition extras including blueprints of the infamous Psycho House, original storyboards from some of his finest movies, movie poster artcards for all the films, and a booklet about the man himself. Includes: SABOTEUR SHADOW OF A DOUBT ROPE STRANGERS ON A TRAIN DIAL M FOR MURDER REAR WINDOW TO CATCH A THIEF THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH VERTIGO NORTH BY NORTHWEST PSYCHO (1960) THE BIRDS MARNIE TORN CURTAIN TOPAZ FRENZY FAMILY PLOT Bonus features: DOCUMENTARIES EXPERT COMMENTARIES INTERVIEWS SCREEN TESTS STORYBOARDS AND MUCH MORE! Plus: ORIGINAL LETTERS, STORYBOARDS, BLUEPRINTS AND MORE...
The Young Lions: Academy Award-winning actor Marlon Brando captures the extraordinary contradictions and complexity of a decent man who winds up as a Nazi officer. The Young Lions tells the story of World War II from both sides. The American represented by Montgomery Clift and Dean Martin. And the German made tragically vivid by Brando. Based on the novel by Irwin Shaw. The Young Lions is a provocative insightful movie. It is also one of Brando's all-time best. Morituri: Forced to pose as a SS officer German war deserter Robert Crain (Brando) must seize a German freighter booby-trapped to explode upon capture. Complicating the situation is the fact that sixteen prisoners of war are also brought on board including a beautiful young concentration camp survivor (Janet Margolin)... A captivating espionage thriller fronted by outstanding performances from Marlon Brando and Yul Brynner this criminally little-seen World War II film also features a devastating appearance by veteran British hand Trevor Howard and will keep you riveted until the very final scene... Viva Zapata!: The life and times of legendary Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata are brought to the screen in Darryl F. Zanuck's powerful production of John Steinbeck's screenplay. Marlon Brando fresh from his success in A Streetcar Named Desire gives a stunning portrayal of the outlaw turned revolutionary leader. The film also boasts Anthony Quinn's (Best Supporting Actor 1952) Academy Award winning performance as Zapata's brother. Sayonara: Major Lloyd Gruver (Marlon Brando) a Korean War flying ace reassigned to Japan staunchly supports the military's opposition to marriages between American troops and Japanese women. But that's before Gruver experiences a love that challenges his own deeply set prejudices and plunges him into conflict with the U.S. Air Force and Japan's own cultural taboos... Missouri Breaks: Montana Badlands rancher David Braxton is a self-made man. Through years of tireless effort and determination he has transformed his vast and rugged land into a thriving prosperous empire. So when his livestock his fortune are threatened by a ruthless horse thief Braxton takes matters into his own hands. Hiring a sadistic 'regulator' to track down the outlaw Braxton intends to liberate the territory from crime but what he initiates instead is a complex series of events that results in brutality and savagery far beyond anything he even thought possible...
A collection of films celebrating the outstanding iconic collaboration of actor John Wayne and director John Ford. Films comprise: 1. Stagecoach (1939) 2. The Long Voyage Home (1940) 3. Fort Apache (1948) 4. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) 5. Rio Grande (1951) 6. The Quiet Man (1952)
The Quiet Man (Dir. John Ford 1952): John Ford's The Quiet Man celebrates one of Hollywood's most romantic and enduring epics. The first American feature to be filmed in Ireland's picturesque countryside Ford richly imbued this masterpiece with his love of Ireland and its people. Sean Thornton is an American who swears off boxing after accidentally killing an opponent. Returning to the Irish town of his birth he finds happiness when he falls in love with the fiery Mary Kate. Though he is sorely tempted to pick up the gloves against her brother the town bully Sean is determined not to use his fists. Mary Kate and Sean wed but her brother refuses to pay the dowry. Sean would rather walk away than accept this challenge. Even when his new wife accuses him of cowardice Sean stands firm. But when she boards a train to leave he is finally ready to take matters into his own hands. Rio Grande (Dir. John Ford 1950): John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara are embroiled in an epic battle with the Apaches and each other in this John Ford classic. Lt Col. Yorke (Wayne) heads to the Rio Grande to fight a warring tribe. But Yorke faces his toughest battle when his unorthodox plan to outwit the elusive Apaches leads to possible court-martial. Locked in a bloody war he must fight to redeem his honour and save his family. Against All Flags (Dir. George Sherman 1952): In 1700 the pirates of Madagascar menace the India trade; British officer Brian Hawke has himself cashiered flogged and set adrift to infiltrate the pirate ""republic."" There Hawke meets lovely Spitfire Stevens a pirate captain in her own right and the sparks begin to fly; but wooing a pirate poses unique problems. Especially after he rescues adoring young Princess Patma from a captured ship. Meanwhile Hawke's secret mission proceeds to an action-packed climax. Rare Breed (Dir. Andrew V. McLaglen 1966): In the 1880s Englishwoman Martha Price (Maureen O'Hara) and her daughter Hilary (Juliet Mills) come to America to sell their prize Hereford bull at an auction. When he is purchased by Bowen a wild Scotsman (Brian Keith) the women hire a footloose cowhand named Burnett (James Stewart) to help them transport the animal to its new owner. So begins an adventure that tests the mettle of all involved as they battle killers cattle stampedes and each other. But when they reach Bowen's ranch even greater obstacles force them to summon up extraordinary courage if they and the prize bull are to survive... Our Man In Havana (Dir. Carol Reed 1959): Jim Wormold (Alec Guinness) a vacuum cleaner salesman in Havana is recruited by the British Intelligence Services. As he has nothing to report he invents facts and pretends to discover secret operations...with disastrous consequences. Carol Reed directs this adaptation of the Graham Greene story. Lady Godiva Of Coventry (Dir Arthur Lubin 1955): Fictionalized account of events leading up the famous nude ride (alas her hair covers everything) of the militant Saxon lady
Blarney and bliss, mixed in equal proportions. John Wayne plays an American boxer who returns to the Emerald Isle, his native land. What he finds there is a fiery prospective spouse (Maureen O'Hara) and a country greener than any Ireland seen before or since--it's no surprise The Quiet Man won an Oscar for cinematography. It also won an Oscar for John Ford's direction, his fourth such award. The film was a deeply personal project for Ford (whose birth name was Sean Aloysius O'Fearna), and he lavished all of his affection for the Irish landscape and Irish people on this film. He also stages perhaps the greatest donnybrook in the history of movies, an epic fistfight between Wayne and the truculent Victor McLaglen--that's Ford's brother, Francis, as the elderly man on his deathbed who miraculously revives when he hears word of the dustup. Barry Fitzgerald, the original Irish elf, gets the movie's biggest laugh when he walks into the newlyweds' bedroom the morning after their wedding, and spots a broken bed. The look on his face says everything. The Quiet Man isn't the real Ireland, but as a delicious never-never land of Ford's imagination, it will do very nicely. --Robert Horton
The Quiet Man (Dir. John Ford 1952): Sean Thornton is an American boxer who swears off the sport after accidentally killing an opponent. Returning to the Irish town of his birth he finds happiness when he falls in love with the fiery Mary Kate. Though he is sorely tempted to pick up the gloves against her brother the town bully Sean is determined not to use his fists. Mary Kate and Sean wed but her brother refuses to pay the dowry. Sean would rather walk away than accept this challenge. Even when his new wife accuses him of cowardice Sean stands firm. But when she boards a train to leave he is finally ready to take matters into his own hands. Rooster Cogburn: (Dir. Stuart Miller) (1975): Two of the most popular stars in screen history are brought together for the first time in the follow up to True Grit. The film returns John Wayne to the role of the rapscallion eye patched whiskey guzzling Deputy Marshall that won him an Academy Award. Katharine Hepburn is prim Eula Goodnight a Bible thumping missionary who teams up with the gun fighter to avenge the death of her father. While in pursuit of the outlaws a warm rapport develops between the rough n' tumble lawman and the flirty reverend's daughter. Stage Coach (Dir. John Ford) (1939): The film is set against the impressive backdrop of Monument Valley in Utah and tells the story of a mixed group of travellers who are making their way across country to Arizona. They are endangered by an Indian War Party and this along with their various characters results in difficulties for the party...
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