Dale, Janet

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

The BBC adaptation of Anne Bronte's moral tale The Tenant of Wildfell Hall will be a delight to those who revel in classics brought to the screen. Tara Fitzgerald stars as Helen Graham, a secretive woman who seeks independence for herself and her son from her cruel husband, Arthur Huntingdon. Huntingdon, a rake taken with women and drink, is played to perfection by Rupert Graves, believable as both the young lover who seduces Helen and as the depraved and brutish man he becomes. Toby Stephens is Gilbert Markham, the suspicious yet adoring yeoman farmer smitten with the supposed widow. The scenery and costumes of this period piece are lush, although the use of flashback as a narrative device is at times jarring. This tale is darker than the Jane Austen adaptations that BBC audiences are used to, yet the two-part film has an ending satisfying enough for even the most cynical of romantics. --Jenny Brown

Rupert Graves Toby Stephens and Tara Fitzgerald star in this Peabody Award and BAFTA winning BBC Adaptation of the Anne Bront? novel. Powerful haunting and disturbing The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is as powerful a story as those of Bront??s more famous sisters. In a remote village on the Yorkshire moors a beautiful widow and her son move into the near-derelict Wildfell Hall. Befriended by a handsome young farmer she remains mysteriously silent about her past and why she is afraid ? until she becomes the focus of malicious village gossip.Running Time: 159 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/BBC UPC: 883929010646 Manufacturer No: 1000036990

P.D. James - A Certain Justice

"There's no such thing as a safe haven," wrote British mystery novelist P.D. James. This is certainly the case in her mystery novel A Certain Justice, which has been given a splendid interpretation in the British TV series Mystery. Brilliant, successful defense attorney Venetia Aldridge (Penny Downie) is found murdered in her court chambers. She had been a controversial figure, not least because she was a strong woman who didn't hesitate to tell her male colleagues exactly what she thought of them. In the first episode of this three-part miniseries, Venetia piles up enemies, any one of whom might be guilty of her murder. The implacable Commander Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard (played, as always, by Roy Marsden) must discover whodunit. The show features wonderfully well-developed characters: Venetia herself, her innocent teenage daughter, Octavia (doe-eyed Flora Montgomery), and Octavia's psychopathic boyfriend, Gary Ashe (whom Venetia successfully defended in a murder trial). As Ashe, Ricci Harnett delivers a truly disquieting performance. Suspense builds inexorably until the chilling conclusion, leavened regularly by P.D. James's cheeky, sardonic humor. Gore mixed with drollery--a tone only the English can pull off. --Laura Mirsky

Top flight criminal attorney Venetia Aldridge (Penny Downie), a high-profile woman with an abrasive reputation and turbulent private life, has been found dead in her office, stabbed through the heart with her own paper knife. Commander Dalgliesh and his team are called to investigate the murder. As Dalgliesh and Detective Inspector Kate Miskin (Sarah Winman) unravel the complex clues to Venetia's bizarre death, the other members of her prestigious chambers close ranks against the embarrassing questions of Scotland Yard's top commander. Then, just as a prime suspect is within Dalgliesh's grasp, an apparent suicide throws the case into turmoil.

Roy Marsden stars as poetry-loving detective Adam Dalgliesh in this three-part adaptation of P.D. James' A Certain Justice.

Prick Up Your Ears

Joe Orton was briefly the embodiment of a certain kind of '60s rebel, and Stephen Frears's film adaptation of the British playwright's biography successfully conjures up that outrageous spirit. The hostile, fussy codependency between Orton (Gary Oldman) and his brooding lover Kenneth Halliwell (Alfred Molina) forms the centerpiece of a story that features not only Orton's success and his brutal demise at Halliwell's hand, but also a vivid depiction of what gay sexuality meant in a repressive era. What really propels it are the performances--Oldman's naughty, overgrown boy could believably have written Orton's romps, and the powder-keg priss rendered by Molina helps establish motivations that the script lacks. It's always good to see Vanessa Redgrave (ideal as Orton's agent), and Julie Walters has a hysterically unrecognizable bit as Orton's exasperated mum. If the film is a bit aloof, it's also crisp and often acidly funny (Orton and Halliwell do jail time for writing luridly phony synopses in library books). Frears has done a memorable bit in bringing both a man and his time to life. --Steve Wiecking

Gary Oldman (Hannibal) and Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2) star in this stunning true story about a long-term love affair that ends with a shocking murder-suicide. Told in "sizzling flashbacks and forwards" (Elle), this Golden Globe-nominated*, "sharp, pithy, exuberant and unflinching film" (The Hollywood Reporter) from director Stephen Frears (Dirty Pretty Things)and writer Alan Bennett (The Madness of King George) "mesmerizes you, holding you in its thrall" (Los Angeles) from first frame to last. Frustrated writers, co-conspirators, friends and lovers, Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell (Oldman and Molina) serve respectively as protégéand mentor in each other's life until Orton's breakout success heightens Halliwell's sense of his own failure. With the young playwright's every new achievement, Halliwell's diminishing role leads him to a desperate attempt to keep them as equals forever. *1987: Supporting Actress (VanessaRedgrave)

The Buddha of Suburbia

Before Velvet Goldmine there was Buddha of Suburbia. The coming of age story of Karim an assimilated Indian in London during the swinging seventies. Winner of seven international film awards. Soundtrack by David Bowie.Running Time: 238 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/BBC UPC: 883929014323 Manufacturer No: 1000037775

Chicago Joe and the Showgirl

Kiefer Sutherland (Flatliners, Young Guns) is Chicago Joe, a World War II American serviceman. Emily Lloyd (In Country) is Georgina, an aspiring showgirl. When they meet, passion and desire fuel a dangerous fantasy. He is the big-time gangster, she is the glamorous moll. They go for a reckless drive. They steal a fur coat. Each time she dares him to take a wilder risk, and each time he proves himself. Until their lust for excitement demands nothing short of going "all the way" - to murder. CHICAGO JOE AND THE SHOWGIRL is the shocking true story of two strangers who meet, mingle and lock into a dangerous world of their own.

Prick Up Your Ears [Region 2]

Joe Orton was briefly the embodiment of a certain kind of '60s rebel, and Stephen Frears's film adaptation of the British playwright's biography successfully conjures up that outrageous spirit. The hostile, fussy codependency between Orton (Gary Oldman) and his brooding lover Kenneth Halliwell (Alfred Molina) forms the centerpiece of a story that features not only Orton's success and his brutal demise at Halliwell's hand, but also a vivid depiction of what gay sexuality meant in a repressive era. What really propels it are the performances--Oldman's naughty, overgrown boy could believably have written Orton's romps, and the powder-keg priss rendered by Molina helps establish motivations that the script lacks. It's always good to see Vanessa Redgrave (ideal as Orton's agent), and Julie Walters has a hysterically unrecognizable bit as Orton's exasperated mum. If the film is a bit aloof, it's also crisp and often acidly funny (Orton and Halliwell do jail time for writing luridly phony synopses in library books). Frears has done a memorable bit in bringing both a man and his time to life. --Steve Wiecking

Meantime [Region 2]