Davis, Desmond

Clash of the Titans

You have a classic tale full of drama, passion, and adventure. A tale of universal archetypes that speak to everyone. A tale that has remained unfailingly popular for thousands of years. Why not spice it up with a wacky mechanical owl? Such was the thinking behind Clash of the Titans. Maggie Smith, Laurence Olivier, and Harry Hamlin (one of these things is not like the others...) star in a toga-ripper about a valiant hero, capricious immortals, and lots and lots of giant stop-action monsters. Perseus (Hamlin) is the favored son of the god Zeus (Olivier), but he has unwittingly ticked off the sea goddess Thetis (Smith). Just to make things worse, Perseus falls in love with the lovely Princess Andromeda, who used to be engaged to Thetis's son. Soon Perseus is off on one quest after another, with Zeus helping, Thetis hindering, and lots of innocent bystanders getting stabbed, drowned, and squished. Of course, the whole thing is just an excuse to show as much of Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion animation as possible, and good thing too. It's an old technique, but it still looks pretty darn cool, and it means the cast can just relax and do a bunch of reaction shots. Don't use this one to study for that big classical mythology exam, but if you just turn your brain off and enjoy the Kraken, it's pretty good fun. --Ali Davis

The classic Greek myth of Perseus and Andromeda re-told with an all-star cast. To win the right to marry his love (Andromeda) and fufill his destiny, Perseus must complete various tasks including taming Pegasus, capturing Medusa, and answering riddles. The result is a timeless adventure that's a treat for kids and adults.

The New Avengers '76

Sometimes dismissed as a pale descendant of a great original, The New Avengers deserves a second look and is perhaps best considered as a largely successful attempt to re-imagine its predecessor for 1970s audiences. Patrick Macnee was never the most convincing of action heroes, and the decision to make his John Steed the supervisor and mentor of two younger agents was a sensible one--Steed's virtues are style, wisdom, and fortitude rather than physical prowess. Gareth Hunt's Gambit has an unattractively smug side, but also has charm. Joanna Lumley's Purdey is one of the most attractive heroines of genre television, astonishingly leggy and beautiful. Those who only know her later incarnation as Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous will now understand why such a fuss is made over her. The script team overlaps heavily with that of the original series; the new show has the same quirkiness, only occasionally varying it with a rather darker Le Carré-esque complexity or sudden outbreaks of Hammer Horror. If it lacks some of the sheer style of the original, that is a reflection of its period--the 1970s were less visually imaginative than the '60s. Tightly plotted and imaginatively cast with interesting guest stars, it is only with The Avengers that The New Avengers suffers by comparison. --Roz Kaveney

The New Avengers '77

Sherlock Holmes - The Sign of Four

Ian Richardson stars as Sherlock Holmes, the World's Greatest Detective, in a spine-tingling murder mystery filled to the bloody brim with peg-legged killers, poisonous pygmies, boat chases, carnivals and sudden merciless extinction, all tied to a king's ransom in jewels known as the Great Agra Treasure! With the faithful and resourceful Dr. Watson by his side and the beautiful Miss Mary Morstan, a delectable damsel in distress, it's up to the human bloodhound known as Sherlock Holmes, with the help of a remarkable canine called Toby, to unravel the puzzle and find the stolen fortune before The Sign of Four claims yet another victim!

Girl With Green Eyes

OscarÂ(r) winner* "Peter Finch is excellent" (Judith Crist) and Golden GlobeÂ(r) winner** Rita Tushingham is "entirely captivating" (The Hollywood Reporter) in this bittersweetstory of an extraordinary romance. Beautifully scripted, brilliantly directed and superbly acted, this "charming and rueful movie" (The New Yorker) "goes straight to the heart" (The Herald Examiner)! He barely noticed her the first time they met but with one glance, this naïve Irish farm girl drew him to her side. She's not beautiful, not sophisticated, and far too young for a man of his years, but she has torn him from his solitude and set his soul on fire. Yet now, even as she moves into his Dublin home and he commits to her, he knows he can never fulfill her girlishnotions of love nor satisfy the yearning in those haunting, hungry eyes. *1976: Actor, Network **1962: New Star of the Year, A Taste of Honey

The Man Who Lived at the Ritz [Region 2]

Quay South

A television adaptation of the work by Howard Clewes set in 1940 in Quay South a harbor in the North East of England and concerning the struggle of Captain Thwaite when the authorities try to take over his blockship the "Ebb Tide". This delightful program was Episode 12 from Season 1 of the ITV Television Playhouse and was broadcast on special was broadcast on December 10 1955.System Requirements:Running Time: 54 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSICS UPC: 029502895662 Manufacturer No: 89566DVD

Smashing Time