Tutin, Dorothy

Cromwell

Richard Harris and Sir Alec Guinness star in this sweeping handsomely-mounted epic drama recounting the battle which raged between the monarchy and a commoner over the very soul of Great Britain. In17th-century England ambitious country gentleman Oliver Cromwell (Harris) dared to challenge the political oppression and corruption which besieged his nation. Watching his power being usurped by a commoner King Charles I (Two-time Oscar(r)-winner Guinness 1957 Best Actor The Bridge on the River Kwai; 1980 Honorary Award) springs to challenge his adversary. One man will become absolute ruler; the other will be executed. Rousing battle sequences excellent lead and supporting performances fromRobert Morley Dorothy Tutin and Timothy Dalton Academy(r) Award-winning costume design and spectacular photography by renowned cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth (Cabaret Tess) make CROMWELL an outstanding historical drama in the tradition of Braveheart.System Requirements:Running Time: 140 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/CLASSICS Rating: G UPC: 043396008595 Manufacturer No: 859

The Six Wives of Henry VIII

A British television series originally broadcast on CBS (and rebroadcast on PBS) in America in 1971, The Six Wives of Henry VIII remains a painless way to learn something about royal history and its impact on the political and religious landscape of England. Keith Michell stars as King Henry VIII, who assumes the throne as a boy after the death of his older brother and inherits the latter's Spanish betrothed, Catherine of Aragon (Annette Crosbie), as well. Growing up and increasingly complicated in personality, with an ever-growing appetite for elusive happiness as well as power and food, Henry maneuvers (and is maneuvered by) forces around him to break from Rome and create the Church of England, in part to accommodate his wish for a divorce.

Each story of the king's successive brides takes up an entire episode in the series. Dorothy Tutin plays the doomed Anne Boleyn, Anne Stallybrass is Henry's favorite, Jane Seymour, Elvi Hale is Anne of Cleves, Angela Pleasence is Catherine Howard, and Rosalie Crutchley plays last-in-line Catherine Parr. A very large and fine supporting cast adds intrigue and extra layers of tragedy to the proceedings, especially John Baskcomb as Cardinal Wolsey, Wolfe Morris as Thomas Cromwell, and Ralph Bates as Thomas Culpepper. Each 90-minute episode was crafted by a different writer, but the series holds together very well under Keith Michell's dazzling performance as the despicable if sympathetic Henry, whose emotional arc over many years and losses is something to see. --Tom Keogh

A chronicle of England's turbulent years of the early 16th century recounting the life and times of the vibrant and lusty King Henry VIII in a cycle of six plays. Stars Keith Michell in his Emmy Award-winning performance as Henry VIII and features a 90-minute "bonus drama" The Other Boleyn Girl based on the popular Philippa Gregory novel.Running Time: 630 min.System Requirements:Running Time 90 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 794051245427 Manufacturer No: E2454

King Lear

The late Sir Lawrence Olivier stars in this Emmy Award winning production of Shakespeare's King Lear. It is the timeless tale of greed and lust for power, and of a sick old man, his scheming children and lost loyalties. Also stars Diana Rigg, John Hurt, Leo McKern, and Colin Blakely. Special DVD features include a biography and filmography on Sir Lawrence Olivier, character and cast list, chapter stops on each scene, and more. 158 minutes.

The Importance of Being Earnest - Criterion Collection

If you're looking for the definitive example of dry British wit, look no further than The Importance of Being Earnest. Of course, it helps to have Oscar Wilde's beloved play as source material, but this exquisite adaptation has a charmed life of its own, with a perfectly matched director (Anthony Asquith was raised in the rarified, upper-class atmosphere of Wilde's play) and a once-in-a-lifetime cast. Mix these ingredients with Wilde's inimitable repartee, and you've got a comedic soufflé that's been cooked to perfection. Opening with a proscenium nod to its theatrical origins, the film turns Wilde's comedy of clever deception and mixed identities into a cinematic treat, and while the 10-member cast is uniformly superb, special credit must be given to Dame Edith Evans, reprising her stage role as the imperiously stuffy Lady Bracknell. To hear her Wilde-ly hilarious inflections and elongated syllables is to witness British comedy in its purest form, fully deserving of the royal Criterion treatment. --Jeff Shannon

Oscar Wilde's comic jewel sparkles in Anthony Asquith's film adaptation of The Importance of Being Earnest. Featuring brilliantly polished performances by Michael Redgrave, Joan Greenwood, and Dame Edith Evans, the enduringly hilarious story of two young women who think themselves engaged to the same nonexistent man is given the grand Technicolor treatment. Seldom has a classic stage comedy been so engagingly transferred to the screen. The Criterion Collection is proud to present The Importance of Being Earnest on DVD for the first time.

The Shooting Party

At last, the British film classic The Shooting Party receives the digital restoration that does justice to its sweeping vistas and heartbreaking snapshots of an era in its death throes. Set in 1913 England, on the brink of what would be the war to end all wars, the film focuses on an assortment of upper-crust acquaintances who gather for a weekend of hunting and society niceties (billiards, cards, draping oneself in jewels the evening after stomping around all day in the muck). Presiding over the festivities is a masterful James Mason as Sir Randolph Nettleby, a sort of benevolent dictator of his breathtaking estate, as his family and friends dip in and out of the action, adhering to the strict code of class conduct for all of their affairs--sport, self-advancement, illicit love. Though the weekend is supposed to be a holiday, there is subtle, ominous foreshadowing in the very first scenes, of the men lined up in a meadow, as though troops on a battlefield, taking out ducks and hares with an almost dispassionate relish. The 2006 remastering allows full appreciation of the cinematography of Fred Tammes, the muted greens, grays and tweedy browns of the English countryside combining to make a painterly backdrop for this drama of manners. Mason as Nettleby has rarely been better--crisp, bemused, comfortable in his role but not quite in his own skin. The score by John Scott is transportative. Extras include a making-of documentary; a tour of the Knebworth House, the stately home here the film was shot; rare stills, and more. Splendid! --A.T. Hurley

In October 1913, a group of aristocratic men and women gather for a shooting party at an estate in the heart of the English countryside. Assured and opulent, they move through the elaborate rituals of an Edwardian country house party. But times are changing, The values that have ordered their glittering world will no longer have any meaning in the new age about to dawn.

The Six Wives of Henry VIII - Complete Set

A British television series originally broadcast on CBS (and rebroadcast on PBS) in America in 1971, The Six Wives of Henry VIII remains a painless way to learn something about royal history and its impact on the political and religious landscape of England. Keith Michell stars as King Henry VIII, who assumes the throne as a boy after the death of his older brother and inherits the latter's Spanish betrothed, Catherine of Aragon (Annette Crosbie), as well. Growing up and increasingly complicated in personality, with an ever-growing appetite for elusive happiness as well as power and food, Henry maneuvers (and is maneuvered by) forces around him to break from Rome and create the Church of England, in part to accommodate his wish for a divorce.

Each story of the king's successive brides takes up an entire episode in the series. Dorothy Tutin plays the doomed Anne Boleyn, Anne Stallybrass is Henry's favorite, Jane Seymour, Elvi Hale is Anne of Cleves, Angela Pleasence is Catherine Howard, and Rosalie Crutchley plays last-in-line Catherine Parr. A very large and fine supporting cast adds intrigue and extra layers of tragedy to the proceedings, especially John Baskcomb as Cardinal Wolsey, Wolfe Morris as Thomas Cromwell, and Ralph Bates as Thomas Culpepper. Each 90-minute episode was crafted by a different writer, but the series holds together very well under Keith Michell's dazzling performance as the despicable if sympathetic Henry, whose emotional arc over many years and losses is something to see. --Tom Keogh

Few television series have attracted as much critical and public acclaim as these six triumphant plays, now preserved on video. Written by six different authors, each play is a lavish and authentic dramatisation, produced with style and quality. Binding them together with his magnetic and dignified performance as the mighty monarch is Keith Michell--the definitive Henry VIII.

The Shooting Party

Set in 1913 England, on the brink of what would be the war to end all wars, the British film classic The Shooting Party focuses on an assortment of upper-crust acquaintances who gather for a weekend of hunting and society niceties (billiards, cards, draping oneself in jewels the evening after stomping around all day in the muck). Presiding over the festivities is a masterful James Mason as Sir Randolph Nettleby, a sort of benevolent dictator of his breathtaking estate, as his family and friends dip in and out of the action, adhering to the strict code of class conduct for all of their affairs--sport, self-advancement, illicit love. Though the weekend is supposed to be a holiday, there is subtle, ominous foreshadowing in the very first scenes, of the men lined up in a meadow, as though troops on a battlefield, taking out ducks and hares with an almost dispassionate relish. Mason as Nettleby has rarely been better--crisp, bemused, comfortable in his role but not quite in his own skin. The score by John Scott is transportative. The film was remastered and rereleased on DVD in 2006. --A.T. Hurley

In October 1913, a group of aristocratic men and women gather for a shooting party at an estate in the heart of the British countryside. Assured and opulent, they move through the elaborate rituals of an Edwardian England country house-party. They dine,

Alive & Kicking

Love is the ultimate kick! "Alive and Kicking" is a lively romance between unlikely lovers--Tonio (Jason Flemyng), a narcissistic dancer pushing his body to artistic perfection, and Jack (Antony Sher), a therapist whose mind is more agile than his body. The mismatched pair stumble along the rocky path of commitment in a poignant, often hilarious, always believable portrayal of gay courtship in the new "Swinging London." "Alive and Kicking" is the first screenplay by noted playwright Martin Sherman (Bent) and the second feature to be directed by Nancy Meckler, whose debut film "Sister My Sister" won critical acclaim around the world.

A Tale of Two Cities (1958) [Region 2]

Shades of Fear

No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 25-JAN-2005
Media Type: DVD

When Gabriel (Rakie Ayola) sets out from her native Granada for a new life in England aboard a cruise ship, she has no idea of the intrigues (and love) in store for her. It begins when she must share her cabin with a mysterious man named Duncan Stewart (Jonathan Pryce), who is recognized by Rex Goodyear (John Hurt) as the man who murdered his wife and stole from him a priceless painting, the only two things he's ever loved. What follows is a cloak-and-dagger style conceit that fails to engage the viewer to the extent that it seems to try. The problem is that one can't figure out whether one's watching a romantic comedy or an uplifting drama. Of course a film can be both, but the shortcoming here is that it's neither: it's not funny enough to be a comedy, and its attempts at being cute absolutely undermine its attempts at being uplifting drama. One place the film does succeed is with the island scenes that bookend the story--they are moving and impressive, even if they do seem part of a different film. Perhaps this film does have an audience, however: if you're a fan of television whodunits, there is a very good chance you'll love it. --James McGrath