Mussorgsky's loveless and brutal drama of the transformation of Russian society, which led to the rule of Peter the Great within the epic history of Russia, is powerfully modernised through Stein Winge's dramatic and uncompromising production. Performing the version completed by Shostakovich, the outstanding Russian-dominated cast and the orchestra and chorus of the Liceu are led by Michael Boder.
Duane Bradley’s brother is very small very twisted very mad and he lives in a basket… until night comes! After a difficult birth which their mother didn’t survive Duane was born with a monstrously deformed conjoined twin Belial attached to his side. Embittered by the death of his wife and unable to accept his hideous son the boys’ father orders the twins to be separated surgically. Surviving the operation but deeply resentful of his enforced removal from his brother’s side Belial plans to get even with his father and the doctors responsible. Duane normal-looking but sympathetic to his brother’s plight moves to New York carrying with him a large basket in which his grotesque twin hides. Together they seek the surgeons responsible for their violent separation and Belial wreaks his gruesomely bloody revenge…
A performance of Gounod's opera 'Romeo Et Juliette' in five acts recorded live at The Royal Opera House Covent Garden.
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride is another made-for-video sequel to a Disney masterpiece. As with the Beauty and the Beast and Pocahontas sequels, most of the recognisable vocal talents return, creating a worthwhile successor to the highest-grossing animated film ever. We pick up the story as the lion king, Simba (voiced by Matthew Broderick) and Nala (Moira Kelly) have a new baby cub, a girl named Kiara (Neve Campbell). Like her father before, she seeks adventure and ends up outside the Pridelands, where lions loyal to the evil Scar (who died in the original) have lived with revenge in their hearts. The leader, Zira (a spunky turn from Suzanne Pleshette), schemes to use her son Kovu (Jason Marsden) to destroy Simba. As luck with have it, Kiara has bumped into Kovu and fallen in love. This all sounds familiar since all of Disney's straight-to-video sequels have played it very safe, nearly repeating the originals' story, tone, and pace. Perhaps there were too many cooks for this production. Besides the two screenplay credits, there are eight other writers credited for additional written material. The look of the film has none of the surprise of the original but is far superior to other animated videos. In fact, the film played in European cinemas. For children, the sequel will be a favourite. The comic antics of Timon (Nathan Lane) and Pumba (Ernie Sabella) are enjoyable, as is Andy Dick as Nuka, the mixed-up older son of Zira. And there's plenty of action. The best element is the music. Relying on more African-influenced music, the five songs featured are far superior to those in Disney's other sequels. Zira's song of revenge, "My Lullaby," was cowritten by Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon. The oustanding opening number, "He Lives in You", was created for the Lion King Broadway smash and now finds a whole new audience. --Doug Thomas
Peter Falk stars as the iconic crumpled trenchcoat-clad detective Columbo. Features a collection of classic episodes from Season One.
Department of Weights and Measures Inspector Johnny Cave finds himself in the midst of deceitful government officials when he takes over for his boss whom the officials have beaten and put in the hospital. Cave quickly acts to turn everyone in but his corrupt counterparts refuse to go quietly. Soon he exposes the hidden government agenda that has his coworkers bilking the American taxpayers out of several thousand dollars per year by stealing an equally small amount from everybod
Peter Drummond has been chief of make up at a Hollywood studio for 25 years. When his services are abruptly dispensed with Drummond takes his revenge on the callous heads of the studio by hypnotising a couple of actors and bringing his murderous creations Teenage Frankenstein and Teenage Werewolf to life!
A box set of titles featuring one of America's most celebrated and controversial contemporary actors Sean Penn. The Assassination Of Richard Nixon: A chilling drama that explores and exposes the dark side of the American Dream The Assassination of Richard Nixon focuses on the tragic true story of Sam Bicke (Sean Penn) a disillusioned everyman who in 1974 was driven to plot the assassination of the 37th president of the United States. Despite the fact that his marriage i
The Outlaw (Dir. Howard Hughes 1943): Jane Russell plays a busty siren who steals the heart of Billy the Kid in this Howard Hughes/Howard Hawks-directed story which centres on the rivalrous tentative friendships between Billy Doc Holiday and Pat Garrett. Vengeance Valley (Dir. Richard Thorpe 1941): An unusually adult Western for its time Vengeance Valley (1951) gave Burt Lancaster his first Western role. His athletic prowess made him perfect for the genre and he'd
Why ride easy when you can ride hard!! Russ Tamblyn leads a gang of vicious drug-abusing dirtbags through California on their hogs braking only for love and murder.
In a space station prison on the edge of the universe the iron-willed commander (Jan Michael Vincent) prepares to execute galactic arch-villain Kol (Ross Hagen). The commander has craved justice ever since Kol slaughtered thousands on Alpha 7. The same day the station is visited by Lund (Robert Clark) a delegate general from the non-violent star systems. Lund is appalled that capital punishment still exists. He protests when the commander instructs his executioner Tara (PJ Soles) t
Art dealer Lacy Anderson finds herself looking for an elusive painter in a remote logging town. However once there she uncovers deceit and murder...
Under the Tonto Rim (1947): A suspense filled classic western starring Tim Holt masquerading as a stage coach robber in order to infiltrate the nefarious Tonto Rim gang. Helping another gang member escape from jail Holt follows the outlaw to the gangs lair under the Tonto Rim. Once there he must rescue a kidnapped girl (Nan Leslie) and recovers stolen Payroll - all the while trying not to tip off the gang as to his real identity. Gun blazing shoot - outs and breakneck chases h
Passion betrayal and murder. From the tortured spirit of Edgar Allan Poe come his most inspired tale of sexual terror and psychological suspense... HAUNTING FEAR! An erotically charged decent into madness starring the broodingly romantic Jan Michael Vincent and a mysteriously exotic Karen Black. Stylishly directed at a riveting pace Haunting Fear spirals into a frenzy of sexual insantity and erotic revenge as it climaxes with one of the years most controversial endings Haunting Fear - Her unnatural desires becomes his lethal weapon.
General George Armstrong Custer has been portrayed as everything from a vain but ultimately honourable hero (Errol Flynn in They Died with Their Boots On) to an insane, pompous incompetent (Richard Mulligan in the biting Little Big Man), but few have attempted an ambitious look at the man in all his contradictions. Robert Siodmak's Custer of the West, his final American production, attempts the task with fine results, portraying the career soldier as a pragmatist, a disciplinarian with a bullying streak, a loner and ultimately an Old World romantic in the modern age. Robert Shaw gives the role a regal bearing (though his continental accent keeps drifting in) and a sense of dignity, depicting a man who ironically identifies more with the Indians than with the US Army. Jeffrey Hunter and Ty Hardin co-star as his battling junior officers and Robert Ryan is memorable in a brief appearance as a gold-mining deserter. Shooting in handsome widescreen and vivid Technicolor, Siodmak makes his outdoor settings come alive and nimbly handles the many action scenes, most notably a chase that sends an escaping soldier whooshing down a log water chute like a Disney ride. Siodmak's sweeping visuals deliver both grand images and ironic counterpoint, but ultimately Custer of the West eschews the heroism of Hollywood adventures for a portrait of the corrupt state of the American military and one man's hopeless fight against it. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com
The zombies are back and they're still hungry in this horror from maestro George A. Romero.
The Cult Action Extravaganza three-disc set offers three very different movies that have nothing in common bar residency in Siren's film archive. They are: The Most Dangerous Game (1932), Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953) and Get Christie Love! (1974). The Most Dangerous Game is a classic, one of the first talkies to get pictures moving after five very static years following the birth of sound. The plot finds resourceful hero Joel McCrea and heroine Fay Wray being hunted on the island of the insane Zaroff (Leslie Banks). One of the grandfathers of the summer blockbuster, the film's setup has been reworked many times since, notably in John Woo's Hard Target (1993). By modern standards it's technically primitive, though still gripping stuff, complete with the jungle set built as a test run for King Kong (1933) and graced by Max Steiner's prototype of all Hollywood action scores. Beneath the 12-Mile Reef is another landmark or rather watermark. The third-ever CinemaScope production, this was a prestige release with Technicolor location filming at Key West, Florida of never-before-achieved underwater cinematography and four-channel stereo recording of a superlative Bernard Herrmann score. Even a still-impressive underwater battle with an octopus pre-dates the more famous giant squid of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954). The humans aren't bad either, with a young Robert Wagner making a charismatic if ethnically unconvincing Greek lead as sponge fisherman Tony and Terry Moore playing Juliet to his Romeo with real vivacity. Starring Theresa Graves, Get Christie Love! is a tame TV movie imitation of early 1970s female blaxploitation films such Pam Grier's Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974). Running a standard TVM 73 minutes and with a low budget and content sanitised to US network standards, this is lightweight stuff about an undercover cop determined to smash a drugs ring. Nevertheless the movie was popular enough to spawn a short-lived TV show and is significant for being the first time a black woman took the title role in any American network production. Tarantino completists may be interested, as before he paid homage to Christie Love in the dialogue of Reservoir Dogs (1991). On the DVD: Cult Action Extravaganza presents the films in their original aspect ratio and sound format; The Most Dangerous Game and Get Christie Love! are 4:3, mono. The former is faded b/w with reasonably sturdy sound, though the transfer suffers from compression artefacting. No one would expect great quality from a 1974 TV movie, but Get Christie Love! suffers from both a poor print and a mediocre DVD transfer. Beneath the 12-Mile Reef is presented in the extra wide 2.55:1 of early CinemaScope and though sadly not anamorphic both the seascapes and underwater cinematography are still impressive. The four-channel stereo sound is revelatory, clear, detailed and years ahead of what we have come to expect early 1950s films to sound like. --Gary S Dalkin
ZERO: An Investigation into 9/11 has one central thesis - that the official version of events surrounding the attacks on 9/11 can not be true. This brand new feature documentary from Italian production company Telemaco explores the latest scientific evidence and reveals dramatic new witness testimony which directly conflicts with the US Governments account.
Cat's Eye: What does a stray cat have in common with a radical technique to quit smoking the window ledge of a sky scraper and an evil goblin? Three of Stephen King's most imaginatively terrifying tales brought to life in this chilling trilogy of short stories... Shocker: A mass murderer goes to the electric chair but something goes horribly wrong. The electrical energy transforms him into a monster able to enter and possess other's bodies at will. Now he is loose and seemingly unstoppable... Silver Bullet: The small American town of Tarker's Mills is a place where everyone cares as much about everyone else as they do about themselves. When the Tarker's Mills tranquility is disrupted by the horrific discoveries of mutilated bodies of friends and relatives the whole town is out for justice. A young handicapped boy Marty Coslaw is convinced it is the work of a werewolf. Involving his sister Jane he uncovers the truth behind the werewolf...
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