David Lean's wintry adaptation of Boris Pasternak's melodramatic Russian Revolution romance, Doctor Zhivago, is a masterpiece of epic filmmaking, but one that risks leaving the viewer cold. Though none of the film was shot in the then USSR, Lean's assured technique nevertheless illuminates the breathtaking backgrounds magnificently: from the snowy wastes of the Urals to the strife-torn streets of Moscow, Lean stages a series of wonderful set-pieces showing war, revolution and its terrible aftermath. The problem lies in the foreground. Omar Sharif's entirely passive Zhivago is, we are told, a romantic poet of great sensitivity who internalises all his emotions and expresses them in verse. The trouble is the audience never gets to see a line of his poems, not even the centrally important "Lara" cycle. Thus Zhivago at the end of the picture is as much an emotional blank to us as he was at the beginning. His affair with the idealised beauty that is Julie Christie's Lara is also taken for granted by the filmmakers rather than set up in any convincing way, their mutual attraction remaining a mystery that creates a vacuum at the core of the picture. Given that none of the central characters with the exception of Rod Steiger's fire-breathing lecher Komarovsky ever give way to strong emotions, the romantic heart of the film remains oddly frigid. Matters are not helped by composer Maurice Jarre's incessant "Lara's Theme", which many will find teeth-grindingly irritating. Still, any David Lean epic, even a flawed one, is always going to be a first-class cinematic experience, and Zhivago is assuredly that. On the DVD: A stunning anamorphic widescreen print is the ideal way to appreciate David Lean's craftsmanship and this movie's glorious, wintry cinematography. Maurice Jarre's "Lara's Theme" and the rest of his patchwork score can be heard in a music-only track, while Omar Sharif is joined by Lean's widow Sandra and Rod Steiger for an intermittent commentary. The second bonus disc contains a good hour-long making-of documentary plus 10 shorter contemporary documentaries giving various insights into the location shooting and the cast and crew. But it's the sheer beauty of the picture that will astonish and make this disc forever treasurable. --Mark Walker
In acclaimed director Edgar Wright's psychological thriller, Eloise, an aspiring fashion designer, is mysteriously able to enter the 1960s where she encounters a dazzling wannabe singer, Sandie. But the glamour is not all it appears to be and the dreams of the past start to crack and splinter into something far darker.
From the director of the Beatles A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965) comes this inventive and hilarious romp through love and sex in 1960s London. Featuring a wildly frenetic filmmaking style that careers from slapstick to serious avant-garde, this genuinely dazzling film is a mod masterpiece. Cool and sophisticated Tolen (Ray Brooks) has a monopoly on womanising - with a long line of conquests to prove it while the naïve and awkward Colin (Michael Crawford) desperately wants a piece of it. But when Colin falls for an innocent country girl (Rita Tushingham), it's not long before the self-assured Tolen moves in for the kill. Is all fair in love and war, or can Colin get the knack and beat Tolen at his own game? Special features Presented in High Definition and Standard Definition Captain Busby the Even Tenour of Her Ways (1967, 16 mins): Ann Wolff's surreal riff on Philip O'Connor's poem, featuring Quentin Crisp Now and Then: Dick Lester (1967, 17 mins): Bernard Braden's wide-ranging interview with the director Rita Tushingham Remembers THE KNACK... and how to get it (2018, 11 mins): newly shot interview with the actress Staging THE KNACK...and how to get it (2018, 2 mins): interview with the director of the first stage version of The Knack British Cinema in the 1960s: Richard Lester in Conversation (2018, 59 mins): the director discusses his career with Neil Sinyard Illustrated booklet with writing by Neil Sinyard and Melanie Williams, plus full film credits
A new 8-disc set celebrating the 60th anniversary of Woodfall Films. Includes eight iconic films (many newly restored and available on Blu-ray for the first time) that revolutionised British cinema and launched the careers of the likes of Albert Finney, Tom Courtenay and Rita Tushingham. Features: Look Back in Anger (Tony Richardson, 1959) The Entertainer (Tony Richardson, 1960) Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (Karel Reisz, 1960) A Taste of Honey (Tony Richardson, 1961) The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Tony Richardson, 1962) Tom Jones (Tony Richardson, 1963) (New 4K digital restorations of the original theatrical version of the film and the 1989 director's cut) Girl with Green Eyes (Desmond Davis, 1964) The Knack...and how to get it (Richard Lester, 1965) Special Features: Presented in High Definition All films newly remastered for this release, excluding Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner Extras TBC
Shelagh Delaney's play A Taste of Honey had already played in the West End and on Broadway when Tony Richardson made his film adaptation, shot on location in Salford and Blackpool. Rita Tushingham made her indelible screen debut as Jo, a young girl who falls pregnant after leaving home and her floozie mother a revelatory performance by Dora Bryan. Jo befriends Geoff, a gentle kind-hearted gay art student, they move in together like two children playing house and - for a while - finding an innocent fragile happiness. Richardson (who co-wrote the screenplay with Shelagh Delaney), always skilled with actors, draws fine performances from the entire cast and A Taste of Honey remains an outstanding example of the British New Wave, and was shot by its star cinematographer Walter Lassally. Special features: Presented in High definition Walter Lassally Video Essay (2002, 21 mins):the cinematographer recalls shooting A Taste of Honey 50th Anniversary Q&A With Rita Tushingham, Murray Melvin and Walter Lassally (2011, 25 mins): the team reunite for a discussion with the BFI's Dr Josephine Botting A Taste of Honey From Stage to Screen - A Journey With Murray Melvin (2018, 25 mins): the actor looks back on both his role in the original play and reprising it for cinema Rita Tushingham on A Taste of Honey (2018, 15 mins): the actor reminisces about the making of the film Holiday (1957, 18 mins): jazz-scored documentary capturing a day (and night) in the life of high-season Blackpool, in glorious colour Illustrated booklet with new writing by Cecilia Mello and Melanie Williams, plus full film credits
Following his mother's death, Chris is broke, separated, and living alone in his dingy flat. But he is determined not to go back to his old ways. No more taking the law into his own hands. Now, Chris does things by the book. When gang war erupts between two of Liverpool's top drug-dealers, Chris is inexorably drawn in after his DCI threatens to expose his past misdeeds. But Chris is alone. The low-level criminals who once formed his network of informants are now either out of the game or in too deep. Which leaves only his former partner Rachel. Desperate to rebuild her own life and career, Rachel soon realizes she needs a partner who bends the rules. She needs Chris. As they are both sucked back towards the darkness, Chris and Rachel must pull each other back towards the light. Starring: Martin Freeman, Warren Brown, Rita Tushingham, Philip Barantini, Adelayo Adedayo.
Gripping drama made by Rank Studios, starring Oliver Reed as a lonely fur trapper in mid-19th Century Canada, and Rita Tushingham as the target of his affections. Jean Le Bête (Oliver Reed) is an intimidating fur trapper who comes to a small mining town in British Columbia in search of a wife. Having travelled for 3 days from his remote trappers hut Jean has to settle for a mute girl, Eve (Rita Tushingham), who has not spoken since her own family suffered at the hands of Indians when she was a young girl. The initial hostility between Jean and Eve thaws and the slowly changing relationship between the trapper and his mute partner is both touching and fragile. The story centres around these two mismatched individuals, both handicapped in their own way as they struggle to make a life together in the Canadian wilderness. From initial brutality to tolerance to mutual interdependence and finally love!
Rita Tushingham made her indelible screen debut as Jo a young girl who falls pregnant after leaving home and her floozie of a mother - a revelatory performance by Dora Bryan. Jo befriends Geoff (Murray Melvin) a gentle kind-hearted gay man and they move in together like two children playing house for a while finding an innocent but fragile happiness.
In acclaimed director Edgar Wright's psychological thriller, Eloise, an aspiring fashion designer, is mysteriously able to enter the 1960s where she encounters a dazzling wannabe singer, Sandie. But the glamour is not all it appears to be and the dreams of the past start to crack and splinter into something far darker.
When a mysterious list of names is found in the shoe of a dead woman, one of those named, Mark Easterbrook (Rufus Sewell), begins an investigation into how and why his name came to be there. He is drawn to The Pale Horse, the home of a trio of rumoured witches in the tiny village of Much Deeping. Word has it that the witches can do away with wealthy relatives using the dark arts alone, but as the bodies mount up, Mark is certain there has to be a rational explanation. And who could possibly want him dead? Starring Rufus Sewell, Kaya Scodelario, Georgina Campbell, Rita Tushingham, Sean Pertwee, Bertie Carvel, Claire Skinner Includes subtitles for the Hard Of Hearing
The life story of one of Britain's most notorious bare-knuckle fighters, Lenny McLean, also known as the Guv'nor.
When a mysterious list of names is found in the shoe of a dead woman, one of those named, Mark Easterbrook (Rufus Sewell), begins an investigation into how and why his name came to be there. He is drawn to The Pale Horse, the home of a trio of rumoured witches in the tiny village of Much Deeping. Word has it that the witches can do away with wealthy relatives using the dark arts alone, but as the bodies mount up, Mark is certain there has to be a rational explanation. And who could possibly want him dead? Starring Rufus Sewell, Kaya Scodelario, Georgina Campbell, Rita Tushingham, Sean Pertwee, Bertie Carvel, Claire Skinner Includes subtitles for the Hard Of Hearing
Armchair Theatre: Volume 1
Adapted from the 1980 Fay Weldon novel about a young architect who happens upon some witchery in the Irish countryside.
Shelagh Delaney's play 'A Taste of Honey' had already played in the West End and on Broadway when Tony Richardson made his film adaptation shot on location in Salford and Blackpool. Rita Tushingham made her indelible screen debut as Jo a young girl who falls pregnant after leaving home and her floozie of a mother - a revelatory performance by Dora Bryan. Jo befriends Geoff (Murray Melvin) a gentle kind-hearted gay man and they move in together like two children playing house for a while finding an innocent but fragile happiness. Richardson always skilled with actors draws fine performances from his entire cast and 'A Taste of Honey' remains an outstanding example of the British New Wave shot by its star cinematographer Walter Lassally.
A new 8-disc set celebrating the 60th anniversary of Woodfall Films. Includes eight iconic films (many newly restored and available on Blu-ray for the first time) that revolutionised British cinema and launched the careers of the likes of Albert Finney, Tom Courtenay and Rita Tushingham. Features: Look Back in Anger (Tony Richardson, 1959) The Entertainer (Tony Richardson, 1960) Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (Karel Reisz, 1960) A Taste of Honey (Tony Richardson, 1961) The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Tony Richardson, 1962) Tom Jones (Tony Richardson, 1963) (New 4K digital restorations of the original theatrical version of the film and the 1989 director's cut) Girl with Green Eyes (Desmond Davis, 1964) The Knack...and how to get it (Richard Lester, 1965) Special Features: Presented in High Definition All films newly remastered for this release, excluding Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner Extras TBC
In Dublin, two shop assistants share a room. One, Kate (Rita Tushingham), is a quiet, rather naïve young woman, while the other, Baba (Lynn Redgrave), is vivacious and ebullient with an eye for the boys. But when the two befriend a quiet, middle-aged writer (Peter Finch, Network, he makes a beeline for the shy, and lonely Kate. A bittersweet story of an extraordinary romance. Beautifully scripted by Edna O'Brien from her own best-selling novel, and brilliantly directed by regular Woodfall collaborator Desmond Davies. This film went on to win a Golden Globe whilst both Tushingham, and Redgrave (for only her second credited performance) were nominated for BAFTAs. Special features: Presented in High Definition Rita Tushingham on Girl With Green Eyes (2018, 7 mins): the actor recalls her time on the film Film Poetry: Desmond Davis (2018, 24 mins): director Desmond Davis discusses his career, including his work on Woodfall Food For a Blluuusssshhhhh (1959, 31 mins): surrealist-influenced student film by Free Cinema pioneer Elizabeth Russell The Peaches (1964, 16 mins): coming-of-age fantasy by Walter Lassally Illustrated booklet with new writing by Melanie Williams and Michael Brooke, plus full film credits
Joanna is about to graduate from University with her whole life set up for her but she has decided to face up to a truth she has been avoiding her whole life. Since she was small she has had the desire to become a Nun. She is set on joining a closed order of Benedictines. Her best friend cannot believe it her boyfriend is devastated and her mother feels it's just a phase. The only encouragement she gets is from the family's religious housekeeper Consuela When she finally gets to the convent the liberalism of a politically active Novice Sister Ignatious and a bunch of women with border-line mental illness including a psychotic Mother Superior an alcoholic football fan in charge of the vineyard an over-pious floor mopper Sister Hilda to name a few at first makes her wonder if she's following the right path after all but as she gets to know the Sisters and the enormous community bond they all share and the spiritual love that connects them she starts to see glimpses of her own spiritual fulfillment. Several weeks into her vocation she discovers something in herself which brings a whole new series of secrets out into the open until eventually the bond she has with Sister Ignatious dictates and assists in her destiny.
In the hazy aftermath of World War III, the fallout from a 'nuclear misunderstanding' (which lasted two minutes and twenty eight seconds, including the signing of the peace treaty) is producing strange mutations amongst the survivors, and the noble Lord Fortnum finds himself transforming into a bed-sitting room. This vividly imagined, darkly satirical filmic version of a post apocalyptic England, directed by Richard Lester (A Hard Days Night, How I Won the War, The Knack) is based on the highly regarded play by Spike Milligan and John Antrobus. It also boasts great performances by the cream of 60s British comedy and acting talent: Rita Tushingham, Ralph Richardson, Peter Cook, Harry Secombe, Dudley Moore, Spike Milligan, Michael Horden, Roy Kinnear, Arthur Lowe, Dandy Nichols and Marty Feldman.
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