Like the Greenwich Village courtyard view from its titular portal, Alfred Hitchcock's classic Rear Window is both confined and multileveled: both its story and visual perspective are dictated by its protagonist's imprisonment in his apartment, convalescing in a wheelchair, from which both he and the audience observe the lives of his neighbors. Cheerful voyeurism, as well as the behavior glimpsed among the various tenants, affords a droll comic atmosphere that gradually darkens when he sees clues to what may be a murder. Photographer L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries (James Stewart) is, in fact, a voyeur by trade, a professional photographer sidelined by an accident while on assignment. His immersion in the human drama (and comedy) visible from his window is a by-product of boredom, underlined by the disapproval of his girlfriend, Lisa (Grace Kelly), and a wisecracking visiting nurse (Thelma Ritter). Yet when the invalid wife of Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr) disappears, Jeff enlists the two women to help him to determine whether she's really left town, as Thorwald insists, or been murdered. Hitchcock scholar Donald Spoto convincingly argues that the crime at the center of this mystery is the MacGuffin--a mere pretext--in a film that's more interested in the implications of Jeff's sentinel perspective. We actually learn more about the lives of the other neighbors (given generic names by Jeff, even as he's drawn into their lives) he, and we, watch undetected than we do the putative murderer and his victim. Jeff's evident fear of intimacy and commitment with the elegant, adoring Lisa provides the other vital thread to the script, one woven not only into the couple's own relationship, but reflected and even commented upon through the various neighbours' lives. At minimum, Hitchcock's skill at making us accomplices to Jeff's spying, coupled with an ingenious escalation of suspense as the teasingly vague evidence coalesces into ominous proof, deliver a superb thriller spiked with droll humour, right up to its nail-biting, nightmarish climax. At deeper levels, however, Rear Window plumbs issues of moral responsibility and emotional honesty, while offering further proof (were any needed) of the director's brilliance as a visual storyteller. --Sam Sutherland
Titles Comprise:Rear Window: When professional photographer J.B. Jeff Jeffries (James Stewart) is confined to a wheelchair with a broken leg, he becomes obsessed with watching the private dramas of his neighbours play out across the courtyard. When he suspects a salesman may have murdered his nagging wife, Jeffries enlists the help of his glamorous socialite girlfriend (Grace Kelly) to investigate the highly suspicious chain of events that lead to one of the most memorable and gripping endings in all of film history.The Birds: As beautiful blonde Melanie Daniels ('Tippi' Hedren) rolls into Bodega Bay in pursuit of eligible bachelor Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor), she is inexplicably attacked by a seagull. Suddenly thousands of birds areflocking into town, preying on school-children and residents in a terrifying series of attacks. Soon Mitch and Melanie are fighting for their lives against a deadly force that can't be explained and can't be stopped in one of Hollywood's most horrific films of nature gone berserk.Vertigo: Set in San Francisco, James Stewart portrays an acrophobic detective hired to trail a friend's suicidal wife (Kim Novak). After he successfully rescues her from a leap into the bay, he finds himself becoming obsessed with the beautifully troubled woman. One of cinema's most chilling romantic endeavours - this film is a must for collectors.Psycho: Anthony Perkins stars in Alfred Hitchcock's landmark masterpiece as the troubled Norman Bates whose old dark house and adjoining motel are not the place to spend a quiet evening. Janet Leigh plays Marion Crane, the ill-fated traveller whose journey ends in the notorious shower scene. Horror and suspense mount to a terrifying climax where the mysterious killer is finally revealed after both Marion's sister and a private detective search for her.
Ironside revolved around former Chief of Detectives Robert T Ironside who after twenty-five years on the squad was forced him to retire after a sniper's bullet paralyzed him from the waist down and confined him to a wheelchair. Appointed as a 'special department consultant' and provided with office and living space at the Police headquarters Ironside uses his brains initiative and experience to assist the Police in breaking cases.
4 ESSENTIAL FILMS FROM THE MASTER OF SUSPENSE Universally recognized as the Master of Suspense, the legendary Alfred Hitchcock directed some of cinema's most thrilling and unforgettable classics. The Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection features four iconic films from the acclaimed director's illustrious career including Rear Window, Vertigo, Psycho and The Birds in stunning 4K resolution. Starring Hollywood favourites such as James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Tippi Hedren, Kim Novak and Rod Taylor, this essential collection features hours of bonus features as well as the original uncut version of Psycho for the first time ever. INCLUDES 2 VERSIONS OF PSYCHO PSYCHO UNCUT: The extended version of the movie as seen in theaters in 1960 is exactly as intended by Alfred Hitchcock and now available with additional footage for the first time ever PSYCHO: The most widely seen version of the movie was edited for content and subsequently used for TV broadcasts, theatrical re-releases and home entertainment over the last 60 years PLUS HOURS OF BONUS FEATURES
Like the Greenwich Village courtyard view from its titular portal, Alfred Hitchcock's classic Rear Window is both confined and multileveled: its story and visual perspective are dictated by its protagonist's imprisonment in his apartment, convalescing in a wheelchair, from which both he and the audience observe the lives of his neighbours. Cheerful voyeurism, as well as the behaviour glimpsed among the various tenants, affords a droll comic atmosphere that gradually darkens when he sees clues to what may be a murder. Photographer LB "Jeff" Jeffries (James Stewart) is, in fact, a voyeur by trade, a professional photographer sidelined by an accident while on assignment. His immersion in the human drama (and comedy) visible from his window is a by-product of boredom, underlined by the disapproval of his girlfriend, Lisa (Grace Kelly), and a wisecracking visiting nurse (Thelma Ritter). Yet when the invalid wife of Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr) disappears, Jeff enlists the two women to help him to determine whether she's really left town, as Thorwald insists, or been murdered. Hitchcock scholar Donald Spoto convincingly argues that the crime at the centre of this mystery is the MacGuffin--a mere pretext--in a film that's more interested in the implications of Jeff's sentinel perspective. We actually learn more about the lives of the other neighbours (given generic names by Jeff, even as he's drawn into their lives) he, and we, watch undetected than we do the putative murderer and his victim. Jeff's evident fear of intimacy and commitment with the elegant, adoring Lisa provides the other vital thread to the script, one woven not only into the couple's own relationship, but reflected and even commented upon through the various neighbours' lives. At a minimum, Hitchcock's skill at making us accomplices to Jeff's spying, coupled with an ingenious escalation of suspense as the teasingly vague evidence coalesces into ominous proof, deliver a superb thriller spiked with droll humour, right up to its nail-biting, nightmarish climax. At deeper levels, however, Rear Window plumbs issues of moral responsibility and emotional honesty, while offering further proof (were any needed) of the director's brilliance as a visual storyteller. -- Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com
No disability will stop his war on crime. Paralysed by a would-be assassin's bullet, Chief Robert Ironside (Raymond Burr) continues to lead his special police unit, fighting crime for the San Francisco Police Department. Working from his uniquely equipped office with his ace team of cohorts including Sergeant Ed Brown (Don Galloway), ex-con-turned-assistant Mark Sanger (Don Mitchell) and policewoman Eve Whifield (Barbara Anderson).Set during the turbulent '60s, Ironside confronted the hottest issues of its time and gave television its first detective in a wheelchair. Enjoy all 26 season 3 episodes for the first time on DVD and featuring guest appearances from an array of stars including William Shatner, Bill Bixby, David Cassidy, Vera Miles, Bradford Dillman and many mor
Alfred Hitchcock playfully explores the role of the voyeur in one of his best-loved suspense thrillers. After breaking his leg during a shoot, photo-journalist L.B. 'Jeff' Jeffries (James Stewart) is forced to spend a humid summer recuperating in his Greenwich Village apartment. The wheelchair-bound Jeff whiles away his time observing his neighbours through a telephoto lens, bestowing them with nicknames and growing familiar with their daily routines. However, his society girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly) is exasperated and then alarmed when Jeff becomes obsessed with the notion that Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr), who lives in the apartment opposite, has murdered his wife. A 53-minute making of feature, 'Rear Window Ethics', is also included. Special Features: Rear Window Ethics: An Original Documentary A Conversation with Screenwriter John Michael Hayes Pure Cinema: Through the Eyes of The Master Breaking Barriers: The Sound of Hitchcock Rear Window Re-Release Trailer Narrated by James Stewart Feature Commentary with John Fawell Author of Hitchcock's Rear Window
A 1991 comedy, Delirious stars John Candy as the head writer on a soap opera set in the fictional small town of Ashford Falls, whose naff power dressing and power wrangling is distinctly reminiscent of Dynasty. Candy has a crush on the somewhat imperious and Joan Collins-esque star of the show, played by Emma Samms, although waiting in the wings to be written into the show is the more wholesome and unaffected actress Mariel Hemingway. Delirious takes a turn when Candy is felled in an accident and awakes, supernaturally, to find himself in the very world of his own soap, with Ashford Falls a real town and its fictional characters, including Samms, now real people. Candy discovers, however, that in this world he has the power to "write" situations as they suit him--in this case, by casting himself as a dashing, wealthy and mysterious Wall Street hero, able to sweep Samms off her feet. The film is in some ways a precursor of Pleasantville (in which two teens are sucked into the world of a "Honey, I'm home" black and white 1950s sitcom). However, between them the star, writers and director (Tom Mankiewicz) make a ham fist of Delirious. The parody of soap mores is quite well done but quickly palls in its obviousness; Candy's performance is misjudged, as if trying too hard to make the best of a bad job; while overall, the film feels cheap, tacky and broad, once again raising the question why in the 1980s and 90s America produced such great sitcoms but such poor film comedies. On the DVD: Delirious is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. It's a decent enough edition but looks its age in places, in terms of colour definition in particular. The only extra is the original trailer. --David Stubbs
Though most of the stars got back together for Airplane II: The Sequel, the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team passed the torch to new writer-director Ken Finkleman, who manages to reprise the style of the original quite well but is, as perhaps expected, more or less one-third as funny. The premise, alarmingly similar to the dead-straight contemporary Starflight One, is that the first commercial passenger shuttle to the moon has 2001-style computer hassles en route and finds itself headed straight through an asteroid belt into the sun. Cracked-up test pilot Robert Hays and promoted-from-stewardess technical expert Julie Hagerty have to save the day, despite panicking passengers, inept ground staff, complicated trauma flashbacks, deadpan one-liners and deliberately dodgy special effects. Leslie Nielsen is glimpsed only in footage from Airplane that sets up an extended slapping-the-hysterical-passenger gag redone (into the ground) here, but Lloyd Bridges and Stephen Stucker return as the overly-intense airport crisis controller and his happy-go-lucky gay sidekick. There are sterling cameos in the patented agonisingly serious mode from Raymond Burr (a judge), Chuck Connors (cigar-tossing fire chief), William Shatner (who gets the best sight gag) and Sonny Bono (impotent mad bomber). Back in the early 80s, it was still possible to do mild gags about paedophilia (not only Graves's chumminess with the cute kid who visits the cockpit, but also the priest looking at the centrefold of Altar Boy magazine) but aside from some incidental naked breasts, the humour is a touch cleaner than in the first film. Hays and Hagerty are better than the material, and it's all over swiftly enough--the film clocks in at 75 minutes before the slow, padded end credits--to avoid wearing out your patience. The end title promises an Airplane III, but we're still waiting. The 1.78:1 widescreen ratio of the DVD allows you to see gags in the corners of the frame that would be cropped in a full-screen transfer. --Kim Newman
George Stevens' stunning adaptation of Theodore Dreiser's 'An American Tragedy' garnered six Academy Awards (including Best Director and Best Screenplay) and guaranteed immortality for screen lovers Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor. Clift stars as George Eastman a poor young man determined to win a place in respectable society and the heart of a beautiful socialite (Elizabeth Taylor). Shelley Winters plays the factory girl whose dark secret threatens Eastman's professional a
Responsible for a deadly accident whilst driving intoxicated, Don Barnes (Dennis Hopper) struggles to reconnect with his family after returning from a stretch in prison. With his wife (Sharon Farrell) a promiscuous drug addict and his disturbed daughter (Linda Manz) finding solace in punk rock and the music of Elvis Presley, the trauma of the past looms large as dark secrets slowly begin to emerge. Featuring an astonishing performance by Manz, as an angry and disillusioned victim of her circumstances, this punk-fueled drama chronicles the collapse of sixties idealism into the nihilistic haze of the 1980s. Despite only taking over directing duties 8 days into the shoot Out of the Blue arguably represents Hopper's strongest film as director and is a cult-classic ripe for rediscovery, it's presented here in a new 4K restoration and is on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK. Special Features Newly restored in 4K Limited edition2-disc set) Audio commentary with writer and director Dennis Hopper and producer Paul Lewis (2000) Montclair Film Festival Q&A with Elizabeth Karr and John Alan Simon (2020, 30 mins) Jack Nicholson radio spot (1982) Reconstructed original US trailer 40th Anniversary re-release trailer More extras TBC *All extras are subject to change
No disability will stop his war on crime. Police veteran Chief Robert T. Ironside returns for the sensational fourth season of the hit series Ironside. With the help of his special police unit - Sergeant Ed Brown (Don Galloway), ex- con-turned-assistant Mark Sanger (Don Mitchell) and policewoman Eve Whit eld (Barbara Anderson) - the squad tackles rogue ex-cops, addicts, radical Quebec separatists, terrorists and more! Set during the turbulent '60s, Ironside confronted the hottest issues of its time and gave television its first detective in a wheelchair. Enjoy all 26 season 4 episodes for the first time on DVD and featuring guest appearances from an array of stars including William Shatner, Martin Sheen, David Carradine, David Soul and many more.
Chief of detectives Robert T. Ironside is shot down by a sniper's bullet whilst vacationing at a remote cabin. Surviving the assassination attempt, Ironside is left paralysed from the waist down. Confined to a wheelchair, he becomes the head of his own special police unit, fighting crime with intelligence and action, aided by a crack team of investigators on the streets of San Francisco. From 1967-1975, Ironside confronted the hottest issues of its time - civil rights, drugs, sexual assault and terrorism - many of which are still relevant to this day, giving television its first disabled hero. Raymond Burr, fresh from 9 years as TV's most famous lawyer, Perry Mason, shook the typecasting from his previous role and made Ironside an instant hit with audiences, running an incredible 8 years.
All 26 episodes from the second season of the classic US cop show, following the cases of wheelchair-bound chief of detectives Robert T. Ironside (Raymond Burr). Paralysed by a sniper's bullet, the San Francisco Police Department's top detective is now head of his own special unit, ably assisted by sergeant Ed Brown (Don Galloway), policewoman Eve Whitfield (Barbara Anderson), and African-American ex-con Mark Sanger (Don Mitchell). The episodes are: 'Shell Game', 'Split Second to an Epitaph: Part 1', 'Split Second to an Epitaph: Part 2', 'The Sacrifice', 'Robert Phillips Vs the Man', 'Desperate Encounter', 'I, the People', 'Price Tag: Death', 'An Obvious Case of Guilt', 'Reprise', 'The Macabre Mr. Micawber', 'Side Pocket', 'Sergeant Mike', 'In Search of an Artist', 'Up, Down and Even', 'Why the Tuesday Afternoon Bridge Club Met On Thursday', 'Rundown On a Bum Rap', 'The Prophecy', 'A World of Jackals', 'And Be My Love', 'Moonlight Means Money', 'A Drug On the Market', 'Puzzlelock', 'The Tormentor', 'A Matter of Love and Death' and 'Not With a Whimper, But a Bang'.
Directed by the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window is an edge-of-your-seat classic starring two of Hollywood's most popular stars. When a professional photographer (James Stewart) is confined to a wheelchair with a broken leg, he becomes obsessed with watching the private dramas of his neighbours play out across the courtyard. When he suspects his neighbour of murdering his nagging wife, he enlists his socialite girlfriend (Grace Kelly) to help investigate the suspicious chain of events, leading to one of the most memorable and gripping endings in all of film history. Honoured in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies for excellence in film, Rear Window has also been hailed as one of Alfred Hitchcock's most stylish thrillers (Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide). Bonus features: REAR WINDOW ETHICS: AN ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY A CONVERSATION WITH SCREENWRITER JOHN MICHAEL HAYES PURE CINEMA: THROUGH THE EYES OF THE MASTER BREAKING BARRIERS: THE SOUND OF HITCHCOCK HITCHCOCK-TRUFFAUT INTERVIEW EXCERPTS MASTERS OF CINEMA FEATURE COMMENTARY WITH JOHN FAWELL, AUTHOR OF HITCHCOCK'S REAR WINDOW: THE WELL-MADE FILM PRODUCTION PHOTOGRAPHS THEATRICAL TRAILER RE-RELEASE TRAILER NARRATED BY JAMES STEWART
Jim Wilson (Reed) is a police lieutenant in a corrupt resort town. Revolted by the brutality of modern police work he decides to leave and take up duties in his quiet home town. But on his final day a violent drama explodes. A deadly confrontation breaks out between Frank (McHattie) the abandoned lover of singer Janie (George) and her new boyfriend Lyne (Osborne). The police are called and Frank shoots a young officer. Within minutes a full siege is underway in full view of the tou
This tremendous box set features a quartet of Jimmy Stewart's classic performances. Harvey (Dir. Henry Koster 1950): James Stewart stars as Elwood P. Dowd a wealthy alcoholic whose sunny disposition and drunken antics are tolerated by most of the citizens of his community. That is until Elwood begins to claim that he has a friend named Harvey who is an invisible six foot rabbit. Elwood's snooty socialite sister Veta determined to marry off her daughter Myrtle to a respec
Nora is a pretty telephone operator engaged to a soldier overseas. On her birthday she gets a Dear John letter from him. Feeling despondent she agrees to a date with a wolf from her office. He gets her drunk and leads her back to his apartment where she resists his advances and bludgeons him in self-defense. She flees leaving behind the blue gardenia he bought her. The next morning she's can't remember the details of what happened.
Raymond Burr stars as the defense attorney who never lost a case in the landmark series Perry Mason. In every episode Mason matches wits with his courtroom adversary D.A. Hamilton Burger (William Talman). Every time Mason - aided by devoted secretary Della Street (Barbara Hale) and loyal private eye Paul Drake (William Hopper) - uncovers evidence that clears his client of murder.
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