Lynch, Alfred

The Taming of the Shrew

Liz and Dick (a.k.a. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton) almost seemed to be importing the psychodramas of their marriage into this 1967 film (of course, the same was true of every film they made together). Adapted from Shakespeare's play and directed by Franco Zeffirelli (Romeo and Juliet) with his usual eye for sumptuousness, this version of Taming features a particularly boisterous, bawdy, fun performance by its stars. Composer Nino Rota--best known for scoring several of Fellini's best-known works--received a National Board of Reviews award for his vivid soundtrack. --Tom Keogh

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton sparkle and amuse as Katharina and Petruchio in William Shakespeare's comic look at male chauvinism and women's lib in the 16th century. Petruchio a poverty-stricken gentleman from Verona journeys to Padua in search of a wealthy wife. There he encounters the fiery Katharina a self-willed shrew who leads Petruchio on a merry chase before he successfully circumvents her attempts to avoid marriage. Their honeymoon becomes a humorous battle of wit and insult with Kate as determined to maintain her independence as Petruchio is to "tame" her. When the embattled couple returns to Padua Kate helps Petruchio win a wager that his is the most obedient of wives. But in reality the shrewish Kate has found a more effective way to dominate her mate.System Requirements:Running Time: 121 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSIC Rating: NR UPC: 043396011090 Manufacturer No: 01109

The Hill

The Hill (1965) was made by Sidney Lumet in that period when his name was synonymous with powerhouse drama guaranteed to leave audiences wrung out and limp (Fail-Safe, The Pawnbroker). Still, there was a bigger name involved: Sean Connery breaking with his James Bond image to portray a volcanically outraged inmate at a British Army prison camp in Libya. The titular Hill is a steep mound erected on the desert floor for him and other British soldiers who have violated the (often absurd) rules of the military game to buck sacks of sand up one side and down the other, like so many sons of Sisyphus. Ian Hendry is unforgettably loathsome as the sadistic noncom Williams; other captors include Harry Andrews, Ian Bannen, and Michael Redgrave, while Connery's fellow prisoners are played by Ossie Davis, Roy Kinnear, Jack Watson, and Alfred Lynch. In Oswald Morris's black-and-white cinematography, you can almost feel the desert sun like a hot brick. --Richard T. Jameson

World War II drama about a group of prisoners who struggle against a ferocious staff sergeant in a British disciplinary camp located in the Libyan desert.Running Time: 123 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 012569797055 Manufacturer No: 79705

A Tale of Two Cities (Masterpiece Theatre, 1989)

Dickens' tale of love, politics, and the aristocracy during the French Revolution.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: UN
Release Date: 2-OCT-2001
Media Type: DVD

Look Back in Anger

Richard Burton was riding high in grandiose roles in Hollywood and on Broadway when he returned to Britain to portray trumpet-playing social dropout Jimmy Porter in Tony Richardson's adaptation of John Osborne's groundbreaking 1956 play. Burton's Jimmy works in a public market "sweet stall" where he rubs shoulders with the working class with a condescending air, while he takes out his contempt of bourgeois complacency at home on his spiritually whipped wife (a numb-looking Mary Ure) and her best friend (Claire Bloom). Burton is too old for the part of the self-loathing college grad, but his performance simmers with frustration and misdirected rage that masks the sad, vulnerable underside to his misanthropic swipes. The film became the opening volley in Britain's "New Cinema," a new wave of young directors, working-class themes, and social-realist style. --Sean Axmaker

OscarÂ(r) nominee* Richard Burton delivers a passionate performance, and Mary Ure, ClaireBloom, Gary Raymond and Edith Evans give exciting stand-out portrayals (Los Angeles Times)in this powerful and engrossing motion picture (Cue) that bristles with brilliant dialogue (The Hollywood Reporter) and raw human emotion. Rage! His eyes blaze with it and his bodyseethes with it. Jimmy Porter is a man consumed by anger, and every moment he spends in the rank, suffocating squalor of the English factory town that entraps him, propels him closer and closer towards self-annihilation. But Jimmy's savage cruelty is not limited to himself. He also hurts the ones he lovesagain and again. And this time, he's about to commit an act so brutal, so destructive, that his wife Alison, her best friend Helena, and even Jimmy himself may not be able to survive! *Actor: The Robe (1953), Becket (1964), The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (1965), Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf (1966), Anne Of The Thousand Days (1969), Equus (1977); Supporting Actor: My Cousin Rachel (1952)

The Blockhouse

What if you survived a bombing but no one knew? Based on a harrowing true story from World War II The Blockhouse paints an indelible picture of the psychology of despair. Starring screen legend Peter Sellers (Dr. Strangelove) in a rare dramatic role "this real-life horror story" (Monthly Film Bulletin) captivates as it chills.The Allied bombardment of Normandy sends seven forced laborers into a concrete bunker. At first they are ecstatic to discover a plethora of food wine candles and other necessities until they realize they are completely trapped. As time passes fear gives way to boredom which in turn gives way to despondency. Each man struggles to keep a grip on his sanity and maintain hope. But can there be a rescue if no one knows you're alive?System Requirements: Running Time 92 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 027616924681 Manufacturer No: 1008438

Loophole

When architect Stephen Booker loses his partnership he finds jobs hard to come by and with money in short supply he unwittingly becomes involved in a daring scheme to rob one of London s biggest bank vaults.System Requirements:Running Time 105 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 692865235330 Manufacturer No: T-2353

Loophole

When architect Stephen Brooker (Martin Sheen) loses his partnership he finds that jobs are hard to come by and with money in short supply he unwittingly becomes involved in a daring scheme to rob one of London's biggest bank vaults.System Requirements:Running Time: 105 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMA UPC: 879431000077 Manufacturer No: MAC07

The Krays [Region 2]

Director Peter Medak's gritty voyage into the world of organized crime in 1960s London is a disturbing character study of the two most frightening and influential gangsters to ever come out of England, Ronnie and Reggie Kray. The ingenious casting of former pop icons Gary and Martin Kemp (of Spandau Ballet) as the powerful Kray brothers works well, establishing an eerie, unspoken connection between the two that is unsettling and extremely daunting.

One scene in particular epitomizes that bond: Ronnie and Reggie come face to face in a boxing ring, each daring the other through snarls and psychopathic grins to knock the other down. Ringside spectators can't really understand the brothers' confrontation, but in the Krays' eyes we can see their power and unspoken resolve, as well as their sense of themselves as existing in an upper echelon of strength and sheer will that clearly separates them from the onlookers.

It's this intense self-confidence that enables the Krays to rise from working-class obscurity to the highest ranks of organized crime. The Kemp boys also do a splendid job in portraying the inherent instability associated with the Krays. This true story follows the brothers from childhood through their rise and then fall from grace, as their personal lives and violent natures culminate in two murder charges, resulting in 30 years of imprisonment. Beyond its folkloric power, The Krays also captures a post-World War II London still recovering from the war's devastation, dismissing the mythos of the Swinging '60s people so fervently relate to this period. --Jeremy Storey

Loophole

The Taming of the Shrew [Region 2]

Liz and Dick (a.k.a. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton) almost seemed to be importing the psychodramas of their marriage into this 1967 film (of course, the same was true of every film they made together). Adapted from Shakespeare's play and directed by Franco Zeffirelli (Romeo and Juliet) with his usual eye for sumptuousness, this version of Taming features a particularly boisterous, bawdy, fun performance by its stars. Composer Nino Rota--best known for scoring several of Fellini's best-known works--received a National Board of Reviews award for his vivid soundtrack. --Tom Keogh