THE LADY VANISHES (1938)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Travellers (including Michael Redgrave and Paul Lukas) on a trans-European train are delayed for a night due to bad weather in an unnamed country. The passengers cram into the small village hotel where socialite Iris Henderson (Magareth Lockwood) meets an old governess called Miss Froy (Dame Edith Wiitty). Shortly after the journey restarts, Miss Froy disappears.

Cosidered the best of Alfred Hitchcock's British films

No Academy Award Nominations

DVD Special Features:

None

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (1995) TV MINI SERIES

Directed by Simon Langton

BBC Production of Jane Austen's classic novel about the prejudice that occurred between the 19th century classes and the pride which would keep lovers apart.

In this lavish adaptation of Jane Austen's classical romance, Elizabeth Bennett (Jennifer Ehli) is a strong-willed yet sensible young woman in a well-off but lower class family with five sisters, a long-suffering but loving father and a mother anxious to marry them to wealthy young gentlemen. At a local ball, she encounters one such wealthy young man, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy (Colin Firth) - and as Mr. Darcy is arrogant, cold and rude, it is hatred at first sight. As her older sister Jane falls in love with Mr. Darcy's best friend Mr. Bingley, and her youngest sister Lydia flirts with anyone in a military uniform, Lizzie finds herself fighting off the attentions of the unctuous Mr. Collins and quite taken by the charming Mr. Wickham - who also happens to be an enemy of Mr. Darcy. However, as the characters succumb in many ways to pride and prejudice, Lizzie learns that not all is quite as it seems...and that Mr. Darcy might not be so disagreeable after all.

Not eligible for Academy Award Nominations

DVD Special Features:

The Making of Pride and Prejudice

SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950)

Directed by Billy Wilder

Joe Gillis (William Holden), bankrupt screenwriter, hides from car repossessors in the garage of a deserted-looking mansion which proves to be the grotesque home of Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), retired silent screen star. Joe takes refuge there, with a nominal job of rewriting Norma's hopeless 'comeback' screenplay. Weeks pass; feeling more and more like a kept man, Joe grasps at reality in the form of a clandestine friendship with script reader Betty Schaefer (Nancy Olson), but it's too late

One of the best film's about hollywood ever made, it also stars the acclaimed director, Eric Von Stroheim, as Ms Desmond's Butler, Max von Mayerling

1950 also saw the release of ALL ABOUT EVE, a story about star rivalry in New York's theatreland starring Bette Davis and Ann Baxter amongst others

Nominated for 11 Academy Awards including, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Writing (Story and Screenplay), Best Scoring (Dramatic/Comedy), Best Art/Set Decoration (Black and White), Best Cinematography (Black and White) and Best Film Editing

All Principal cast were nominated for Academy Awards in the Acting categories and all lost

Either of the heavyweights, Gloria Swanson or Bette Davis (ALL ABOUT EVE) were hotly tipped to win in the best actress category but lost out to the comedy performance of Judy Holliday (BORN YESTERDAY)

Won 3, Best Writing (Story and Screenplay), Best Scoring (Dramatic/Comedy) and Best Art/Set Decoration (Black and White)


DVD Special Features:

The Making of Sunset Boulevard

Feature Length Commentary by author, Ed Sikov

TODO SOBRE MI MADRE (ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER) (1999)

Directed by Pedro Almodovar

A single mother, Manuela (Cicillia Roth) in Madrid sees her only son die on his 17th birthday as he runs to seek an actress's autograph. She goes to Barcelona to find the lad's father, a transvestite named Lola who does not know he has a child. First she finds her friend, Agrado, also a transvestite; through him she meets Rosa, (Penelope Cruz) a young nun bound for El Salvador, and by happenstance, becomes the personal assistant of Huma Rojo (Marisa Paredes), the actress her son admired. She helps Huma manage Nina, the co-star and Huma's lover, and she becomes Rosa's caretaker during a dicey pregnancy. With echoes of Lorca, "All About Eve," and "Streetcar Named Desire," the mothers (and fathers and actors) live out grief, love, and friendship.

Won 1 Academy Award, Best Foreign Language Film (Spain)

DVD Special Features:

None