THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)

Directed by John Huston

Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) is a partner in a private-eye firm who finds himself hounded by police when his partner is killed whilst tailing a man. The girl who asked him to follow the man turns out not to be who she says she is, and is really involved in something to do with the `Maltese Falcon', a gold-encrusted life-sized statue of a falcon, the only one of its kind.

Nominated for 3 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor and Best Writing/Screenplay

DVD Special Features:

None

SPARTACUS (1960)

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

The rebellious Thracian Spartacus (Kirk Douglas), born and raised a slave, is sold to Gladiator trainer Batiatus (Peter Ustinov). After weeks of being trained to kill for the arena, Spartacus turns on his owners and leads the other slaves in rebellion. As the rebels move from town to town, their numbers swell as escaped slaves join their ranks. Under the leadership of Spartacus, they make their way to southern Italy, where they will cross the sea and return to their homes. Meanwhile, in Rome, the slave revolt has become a deciding factor in the power struggle between two senators: the republican Gracchus (Charles Laughton) and the militarist Crassus (Lawrence Olivier), each of whom sees the fortunes of the rebellion as the key to his own rise to power or humiliating defeat. As the two statesmen attempt to aid, hinder and manipulate the rebels for their own benefit, Spartacus and his followers press on toward freedom.

Nominated for 6 Academy Awards including Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography (Colour), Best Art/Set Decoration(Colour), Best Costume Design(Colour), Best Film Editing and Best Scoring of a Comedy or Dramatic Picture

Won 4, Best Supporting Actor, Best Art/Set Decoration(Colour), Best Costume Design(Colour) and Best Cinematography(Colour

DVD Special Features:

Audio commentary by producer/actor 'Kirk Douglas, actor Peter Ustinov, novelist Howard Fast, producer Edward Lewis, restoration expert Robert A. Harris and designer Saul Bass

Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo's scene-by-scene analysis

Additional Alex North score compositions

Restoration demonstration

Rare deleted scenes

Vintage newsreel footage

1960 promotional interviews with 'Jean Simmons' and Peter Ustinov

1992 video interview with Peter Ustinov

The 1960 documentary "The Hollywood Ten" plus archival documents about the blacklist

PLEIN SOLEIL (1960)

Directed by Rene Clement

Tom Ripley (Alain Delon) is sent to Europe by Mr. Greenleaf to fetch his spoiled, playboy son, Philip,(Maurice Monet) and bring him back home to the States. In return, Tom will recieve $5,000. Philip toys with Tom, pretending he will go back home, but has no intentions of leaving his bride to be, Marge (Marie Laforet), and honoring his father's wishes. After some time passes, Mr. Greenleaf considers the mission a failure and cuts Tom off. Tom, in desperation, kills Philip, assumes his identity, and lives the life of a rich playboy. However, people begin to miss Philip, and start searching for him, but the trail keeps leading to Tom. Soon, a family friend catches on, and Tom finds himself commiting another murder to cover his tracks, and slowly but surely, the police are closing in...

1960s terrific adaptation by french director,Rene Clement of Patricia Highsmith famous novel.

Adapted most recently by British Director, Anthony Minghella, starring Jude Law, Matt Demon and Gwyneth Paltrow

No Academy Award Nominations

DVD Special Features:

None