Earl, Elizabeth

Mansfield Park (1999)

This fun and sexy comedy tells a timelessly entertaining story where wealth, secret passions, and mischievous women put love to the test ... with delightfully surprising results! When a spirited young woman, Fanny Price, is sent away to live on the great country estate of her rich cousins, she's meant to learn the ways of proper society. But while Fanny learns "their" ways, she also enlightens them with a wit and sparkle all her own! Featuring an exciting ensemble cast of young stars -- you'll join critics everywhere in their overwhelming praise of this smart, playful, and funny hit!

Fairy Tale - A True Story

When her father is declared missing in action during World War I, Elsie Wrigth (Florence Hoath) goes to live in England with her cousin Frances Griffiths (Elizabeth Earl) for whom the topic of fairies is forbidden. Immediately, the girls discover the winged creatures in the garden and photograph them for Frances's startled parents. This leads to another kind of adventure for the girls. They become the toasts of London as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Peter O'Toole) and Harry Houdini (Harvey Keitel), who have seen the photographs, escort them around town. Mildly villainous reporters chase the girls and curious spectators invade their garden after the pictures are printed publicly.

Although fairies are the visible subjects, the enchanting video is really about faith. Frances's parents (Phoebe Nicholls and Paul McGann) recently lost their son, Joseph, who had originally discovered the fairies and would like to think he may be an angel. Sir Arthur also lost his son and is courted by clairvoyants who claim they can talk to the boy. Elsie waits patiently for her father to come home, although it appears hopeless that he will. Harry Houdini is an illusionist but acts against the fraudulent claims of greedy mediums and the like. They are all touched by a need to truly believe in what remains hidden. The story is very loosely based on an early 20th-century controversy involving the real Frances and Elsie who faked pictures of fairies similar to the ones in the video. The real girls never confessed, but the video suggests the manner in which the real life photos may have been produced. --Margaret Griffis

Ultraviolet

In a new twist on an old theme, the coolly stylish British miniseries Ultraviolet brings vampires into the 21st century, though the word vampire is never uttered in this mix of The X-Files and somber British TV mysteries like Touching Evil. Jack Davenport is a police detective who stumbles into an elite government agency when his partner and best friend suddenly becomes a nocturnal thug and bites him on the neck. Davenport reluctantly cuts off his old friends and lovers to join the team, which includes Idris Elba as a merciless ex-soldier and Susannah Harker as a medical researcher, and investigate a web of counterfeiting operations, banking scams, and experimental labs featuring human guinea pigs. "What they're researching is pollution: contamination of their blood supply," offers team leader and former priest Philip Quast, but the question remains: are they soulless monsters out to conquer mankind, or a persecuted minority who just want to live in peace with the humans?

Writer-director-creator Joe Ahearne brings all the traditional vampire tropes up to date; not only do they lack reflections in a mirror, but they don't show up on video and their voices don't carry over phone lines or record on audio tapes ("which makes surveillance a bitch"). Sunlight burns like an acid, and when they die they go up like a flare, leaving a pile of ash in their wake. But it's the sharp character writing, moral quandaries, and ingenious twists of this smart, stylish conspiracy thriller that make this series gripping down to the final episode.

The two-disc DVD set features an audio interview with Ahearne along with episode synopses and character notes. --Sean Axmaker

All the Little Animals

Mansfield Park (1999)

Ultraviolet [Region 2]

Mansfield Park (1999) [Region 2]

All the Little Animals

Mansfield Park (1999) [Region 2]