Rabal, Francisco

St. Teresa of Avila

A powerful epic mini-series shot on location in Spain that tells the story of one of the most amazing women in history, St. Teresa of Avila. With meticulous attention to detail and historical accuracy, outstanding production values, and an incredible performance by actress Concha Velasco as Teresa, this acclaimed major film production is the definitive film on the life of this great saint. Teresa of Avila was called by God to reform and renew the Carmelite order, a daunting task. She was joined in this work by her great fellow Carmelite and spiritual director, St. John of the Cross. This film reveals the conversion that Teresa herself had to go thru to deepen her own union with Christ as she endeavored to bring about that same deeper spiritual reform of her Carmelite order. It shows the tremendous opposition that she and John both faced within (and without) their order to bring about this much needed spiritual renewal. She and John of the Cross were both great mystics who combined the essential dimensions of a profound spiritual life with the very practical aspects of being completely dedicated to the human tasks necessary for such a reform. In Spanish with English subtitles.

Sorcerer

Following the blockbuster success of The Exorcist, director William Friedkin had the clout to make any film he wanted, and he nearly ruined his career making Sorcerer, an ill-fated remake of the classic French thriller The Wages of Fear. Given the big-budget treatment that Friedkin could command, the original plot remains unchanged: In an unnamed Latin American country, Roy Scheider leads a group of four fugitives who will earn their freedom if they can successfully transport truckloads of volatile nitroglycerine over treacherous terrain to extinguish a raging oil fire. The unstable explosives could prove deadly at any point of the journey, and numerous obstacles threaten the completion of the mission. Produced under rugged conditions in the jungles of the Dominican Republic, the film is visually impressive and contains intense moments of astonishing suspense, but the specter of the superior French version hangs over every scene. This version remains a folly of directorial ambition run amuck, but for the very same reason Sorcerer is a film that's hauntingly unforgettable, fueled by an atmosphere of dread and the forceful powers of nature. Presented in full-screen format on DVD, the film is aided immeasurably by Tangerine Dream's eerie electronic score. --Jeff Shannon

Belle de Jour

A young Paris housewife, Séverine, grows bored with her stable husband. When she learns of the presence of a high-class brothel in her neighborhood, she quietly goes to work there--but only during the day, until five o'clock in the afternoon. This sublime 1967 film is one of the latter-day masterpieces of the Spanish-born director Luis Buñuel, whose career forms one of the greatest and boldest arcs in cinema. By the time of Belle de jour, Buñuel had become almost completely deadpan in his style, which not only leaves the motivation of Séverine a mystery (despite a few flashbacks to degradations of her youth), but also casts the entire plot in doubt. An old surrealist from the 1920s (when his first classic, Un chien andalou, was made in collaboration with Salvador Dali), Buñuel suggests that what we see may be real, or simply Séverine's imagination. Because he was the least pretentious of directors, Buñuel keeps his material playful, wicked, yet cutting. As Séverine, the impossibly lovely Catherine Deneuve uses her cool demeanor to great effect--she never breaks her deadpan, either. In 1995, after having been out of official circulation for years, Belle de Jour was re-released in America and became an unexpected art-house hit. --Robert Horton

Widely acclaimed as a motion picture masterpiece, BELLE DE JOUR is an erotically charged tale of deceit and desire! Beautiful Catherine Deneuve (INDOCHINE) stars as Severine, a perfect young housewife ... who leads a shocking double life. What her loving husband Pierre doesn't know is that by day she's a high-priced prostitute! But when the dangerous obsession of a customer forces her terrible secrets out into the open, Pierre must decide whether to reject her for what she has done ... or accept her for who she is! Now available on video for the first time, the stunning erotic intrigue of BELLE DE JOUR will both captivate and entertain!

Dagon

Based on a short story by HP Lovecraft the undisputed master of macabre Paul and his girlfriend Barbara are celebrating the success of their new company on a yacht off the coast of Spain. When a sudden storm smashes their boat on a reef Barbara and Paul swim to the nearest town for help. The decrepit fishing village of Imboca at first seems to be deserted but unblinking eyes peer out from boarded-up houses. The strange inhabitants offer little help to the stranded couple. By nightfall Barbara is missing and Paul finds himself pursued by the entire town but a town of what?System Requirements: Running Time 98 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: R UPC: 658149800229 Manufacturer No: ST8002D

Viridiana - Criterion Collection

Viridiana is a novice on the verge of taking her vows when she visits her uncle Don Jaime's farm. Still pining for his wife who died on their wedding night Don Jaime is struck by Viridiana's resemblance to her. He drugs Viridiana and attempts to rape her. Later on Don Jaime confesses to her what he tried to do but soon hangs himself humiliated by his own atrocious behavior. Viridiana inherits his farm and in an act of charity opens it up to a marauding troupe of beggars. To her dismay they ruin the main house in a wild orgy culminating in a gross parody of the Last Supper. Upon its release in 1961 VIRIDIANA was condemned by the Church banned in Spain awarded the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and admired by film audiences the world over.System Requirements:Running Time: 91 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 037429212622 Manufacturer No: VIR040

While its so-called "blasphemies" have been tamed by the passage of time, Luis Buñuel's Viridiana remains a masterpiece for the ages. After 22 years in Mexico and the United States, Buñuel returned to his native Spain in 1961 with dictator Franco's permission to make any film he wanted, pending the approval of censors. Inspired by a minor saint named Viridiana and an erotic fantasy about making love to the Queen of Spain after drugging her, Buñuel proceeded to combine these elements into a characteristically provocative scenario about Viridiana (Silvia Pinal), a young woman about to become a nun, who leaves her convent to visit the decaying estate of her uncle, Don Jaime (Fernando Rey), an eccentric widower who's immediately taken with Viridiana's close resemblance to his dead wife. Jaime's aborted attempt to seduce Viridiana (and his subsequent suicide) sets the film's second half in motion, as Viridiana assuages her guilt by turning Don Jaime's estate into a haven for the dispossessed--quite literally a "beggar's banquet" that culminates in one of the most indelible images in all of Buñuel: a staged recreation of da Vinci's "The Last Supper," with a cast of itinerant peasants as "disciples" in Buñuel's new world order--a cutting response to backward notions of progress.

Like any great film, Viridiana reveals its depth and detail through multiple viewings. The film is scathingly critical of Catholic hypocrisy and Franco's Spain (Don Jaime's estate is a direct reflection of the country's moribund state of sociopolitical decay), and its allegorical content was not lost on Spanish authorities, who banned the film (it wasn't shown in Spain until 1977) after it won the coveted Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. In a closing stroke of genius, Buñuel skirted around his censors with a final scene even more provocative (in its subtle implications) than the sexually suggestive ending he'd originally filmed. With much to say about the conflicting nature of human desires, Viridiana may have softened over decades, but it's never lost its ability to spark debate, discussion, and rewarding analysis of Buñuel's directorial vision. --Jeff Shannon

On the DVD
The newly restored, high-definition digital transfer of Viridiana impressively maintains Criterion's exacting standards of audio-visual quality; it's a flawless transfer, with deep blacks and richly detailed clarity. The supplements include new (2006) video interviews with actress Silvia Pinal and Spanish cultural scholar Richard Porton; warmly revealing excerpts from the 1964 French TV series "Cineastes of Our Times," featuring an interview with Buñuel; and a 30-page booklet with an essay on Viridiana by Princeton film scholar Michael Wood, and a generous interview excerpt from the book Objects of Desire: Conversations with Luis Buñuel. --Jeff Shannon

Talk of Angels

TALK OF ANGELS -- starring Polly Walker (ENCHANTED APRIL, EMMA), Vincent Perez (QUEEN OF THE DAMNED, I DREAMED OF AFRICA), and Academy Award(R)-winner Frances McDormand (FARGO, Best Actress, 1996; ALMOST FAMOUS) -- tells the powerful story of passion and forbidden desire set in a country boiling at the brink of civil war! A beautiful young Irish governess, Mary (Walker), leaves home and travels to Spain to work in the residence of a wealthy family strained by conflicting political allegiances. Swept away by her new surroundings while being threatened by the turmoil of the times, Mary eventually finds a different kind of danger: the inescapable attraction she shares with the fiery, handsome ... and married ... son (Perez) of her employer! In an unforgettable motion picture acclaimed by critics for its vivid storytelling and superb cast, Mary must ultimately face a difficult choice where following her heart means betraying a family she has grown to love!

L'Eclisse - Criterion Collection

Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Eclisse rolls over you and wraps you in its stylish embrace. The plot, such as it is, follows Vittoria (luscious Monica Vitti, The Red Desert) as her engagement falls apart and she slowly falls into a giddy but anxious affair with Piero (Alain Delon, Le Samourai, Purple Noon), a trader in Rome's stock exchange. Like Ingmar Bergman (Scenes from a Marriage, Persona), Antonioni examines the nuances of human relationships--but where Bergman is dense and dialogue-driven, Antonioni is spare and visual (there's maybe a page of dialogue in the first fifteen minutes of L'Eclisse). Every frame is like an exquisite black and white photograph, yet there's nothing static about this movie. It's fluid, sleek, and graceful, achieving its own kind of visual music. L'Eclisse contrasts opposing elements: Light and shadow, noise and silence, laughter and death, love and money, desire and dissatisfaction. Critics often describe the movie as a portrait of modern alienation, but they focus too much on Vittoria herself; while she finds her own life wanting, all around her Antonioni's camera captures a much larger world, full of as much vitality as despair, as much hope as loss. This is a movie essential to anyone's understanding of what movies can be. --Bret Fetzer

The conclusion of Michelangelo Antonioni's informal trilogy on modern malaise, which began with L'avventura, L'eclisse (The Eclipse) tells the story of a young woman (Monica Vitti) who leaves one lover (Francisco Rabal) only to drift into a relationship with another (Alain Delon).

Nightmare City

Now They Are Everywhere! There Is No Escape!

When a radioactive spill causes mass contamination, thousands of infected citizens are transformed into bloodthirsty undead fiends. But these are not your standard stumbling gut-munchers; this is an all-out attack by fast-moving, flesh-ripping, ass-kicking maniacs that can only be stopped by a bullet to the brain. Get ready for an all-you-can-eat buffet of gunfire, gore and gratuitous aerobics where zombies run, chaos reigns and heads explode. This is NIGHTMARE CITY!

Hugo Stiglitz (TINTORERA), Mel Ferrer (EATEN ALIVE) and Francisco Rabal (SORCERER) star in this wild splatterfest directed by the notorious Umberto Lenzi (CANNIBAL FEROX, GHOSTHOUSE). Originally released in America as the heavily-edited CITY OF THE WALKING DEAD, NIGHTMARE CITY has been transferred from original vault materials and is now proudly presented completely uncut and uncensored.

EXTRAS:
"Tales Of The Contaminated City" - Interview with Director Umberto Lenzi
Theatrical Trailer
Umberto Lenzi Bio

Nightmare City

Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!

Spain released, PAL/Region 2 2-DVD Boxset: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. Languages: o English (subtitles) o French (subtitles) o German (subtitles) o Spanish (subtitles) o Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1) Synopsis: Pedro Almodóvar takes an warmly unorthodox look at relationships in Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, a romantic comedy with a plot similar to William Wyler's thriller The Collector. Despite the tawdriness indicated in the title, this is not just a steamy tale of kinky sex practices, but rather a dark comedy with a compelling relationship at its center, both characters literally struggling for power and desperate for love. Rather than populate the film with tons of zany, colorful characters like in his previous films, Almodóvar chooses to let the camera focus on the two attractive leads, each possessing a strong screen presence. Antonio Banderas broods with boyish passion as dull-witted mental patient Ricky, showing enough vulnerability to make him adorable. His behavior is shown as a result of his lovesickness, coupled with a complete lack of subtlety. Veteran actress Victoria Abril brings enough strength to the character of Marina to make it faulty to dismiss her as just a victim. Keeping the action confined to Marina's bedroom in lclose-up shots with a swelling musical score from Ennio Morricone, the film feels more like a '50s romantic drama than the shocker its critics claimed it to be. Though it received a public outcry and an NC-17 rating upon release, this love story of a kidnapper and victim is surprisingly told with compassion. One of Almodovar´s most acclaimed comedies, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! features explicit scenese of sexuality that created worldwide controversy. Special Features: o Biographies o Cast/Crew Interview(s) o Collectors Edition o Commentary o Filmographies o Interactive Menu o Music Video o Photo Gallery o Scene Access o Special Edition

Perhaps only Pedro Almodóvar could come up with a story about a mental patient who stalks and kidnaps an ex-porn star--and turn it into a tender love story. But that's exactly what happens in Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, a lively installment from the Spanish director's wacky middle period (after the scruffy early films, and before his mature melodramas). Two of Almodóvar's sexiest stars, Antonio Banderas and Victoria Abril, play the leads: a cracked young man with dreams of bourgeois domesticity, and an actress who used to specialize in porno and heroin. Despite that fact that he binds her limbs with cord when he leaves the house, he always returns with a cheerful "I'm home!" For all Almodóvar's outrageousness, there's a touch of classical Hollywood in his construction. And while this movie is not for the politically correct, it does play by its own warped rules. --Robert Horton