THE CAT AND THE CANARY (1939)

Directed by Elliot Nugent

Ten years have passed since the death of millionaire, Cyrus Norman. Cosby, Cyrus' attorney, has gathered Cyrus' 6 remaining relatives to his New Orleans' mansion for Cyrus' "reading of the will". To the others disappointment, Joyce (Paulette Goddard) is the sole heir, but, due to a streak of insanity running in the family, a second will has been made in case Joyce falls victim to it. This puts Joyce in danger. Suddenly, Miss Lu, Cyrus' maid (Gale Sondergaard), appears and warns them that the spirits have told her that one of them will die that night. Following this, Hendrick, a prison guard, warns them that, "The Cat", a homicidal maniac has escaped. This sets up Cyrus' relatives with a night filled with murders, mysteries and intrigue. Film also co - stars Bob Hope as Wally Campbell

No Academy Award Nominations

DVD Special Features: None

WHITE HEAT (1949)

Directed by Raoul Walsh

Gangster, Film Noir in which Cody Jarrett (James Cagney) is the sadistic leader of a ruthless gang of thieves. Afflicted by terrible headaches and fiercely devoted to his 'Ma,' Cody is a volatile, violent, and eccentric leader. Cody's top henchman wants to lead the gang and attempts to have an 'accident' happen to Cody, while he is running the gang from in jail. But Cody is saved by an undercover cop, who thereby befriends him and infiltrates the gang. Finally, the stage is set for Cody's ultimate betrayal and downfall, during a big heist at a chemical plant.
Film also co stars Virginia Mayo as Jarrett's wayward and ultimately traitorous wife
The film is held as one of the best of it's genre

Nominated for 1 Academy Award, Best Writing, Motion Picture Story

DVD Special Features:

Audio Commentary by Drew Casper

Warner Bros Shorts - At the Movies

NOTORIOUS (1946)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Following the conviction of her German father for treason against the U.S., Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman) takes to drink and men. She is approached by a government agent, T.R. Devlin (Cary Grant) who asks her to spy on a group of her father's Nazi friends operating out of Rio de Janeiro. A romance develops between Alicia and Devlin, but she starts to get too involved in her work.

Nominated for 2 Academy Awards, Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay

DVD Special Features:

None

SEA OF LOVE (1989)

Directed by Harold Becker

Frank Keller (Al Pacino) is a New York detective investigating a case of a serial killer who finds the victims through the lonely hearts column in newspapers. Keller falls in love with Helen (Ellen Barkin), the main suspect in the case

No Academy Award Nominations

DVD Special Features:

The Creation of Sea Of Love

Feature Length Audio Commentary by Director, Harold Becker

THE IPCRESS FILE (1965)

Directed by Sidney J. Furie

A number of leading Western scientists have been kidnapped only to reappear a fews days later. Unfortunately, each scientist has been brain washed and is now completely useless. The British send their agent, Harry Palmer (Michael Caine), to investigate. Palmer is surprised to be selected for such a mission (considering his past) and believes he has been chosen because he is expendable.

No Academy Award Nominations

DVD Special Features:

None

THRONE OF BLOOD (1957)

Directed by Akira Kurosawa

A transposition of Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' to medieval Japan. After a great military victory, Lords Washizu and Miki are lost in the dense Cobweb Forest, where they meet a mysterious old woman who predicts great things for Washizu and even greater things for Miki's descendants. Once out of the forest, Washizu and Miki are immediately promoted by the Emperor. Washizu, encouraged by his ambitious wife, plots to make even more of the prophecy come true, even if it means killing the Emperor

Acclaimed as the Best Shakespeare on film

No Academy Award Nominations

DVD Special Features:

None

THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955)

Directed by Charles Laughton

A sinister crook (Robert Mitchum) posing as a preacher charms Willa (Shelley Winters) and wins her hand in marriage, only to kill her when she learns what he is really like. With only Pearl and John separating him from a small fortune, the Preacher unleashes the full force of his true, evil self pursueing two children for a secret - they are privy to of the location of a cache of money.

No Academy Award Nominations

DVD Special Features:

None

SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION (1993)

Directed by Fred Schepisi

Flan (Donald Sutherland) and Ouisa Kittredge (Stockard Channing), rich NYC art dealers, are called on one night by a young man, Paul (Will Smith), who professes to be a friend of their kids' from Harvard. They offer him a bed for the night; he enchants them with a home-cooked meal and magnificent conversation. The next morning, they learn that he is not all he seems to be. Their investigations are intriguing and lead them to re-evaluate their lives.

Nominated for 1 Academy Award, Best Actress

DVD Special Features:

None

DON'T BOTHER TO KNOCK (1952)

Directed by Roy Ward Baker

Airline pilot Jed (Richard Widmark) stays at the New York hotel where girlfriend Lyn (Anne Bancroft) is a singer. He sees Nell (Marilyn Munroe) in a window opposite his and they get chummy. When the girl she's baby-sitting, Bunny, enters Nell goes crazy and sends her to her room. She fantasizes that Jed is her long lost fiance. Jed comes to realize that Nell is more than a little whacko

No Academy Award Nominations

THE ENGLISH PATIENT (1996)

WINNER OF THE ACADEMY AWARD FOR BEST PICTURE

Directed by Anthony Minghella

Beginning in the 1930's, "The English Patient" tells the story of Count Almasy (Ralph Fiennes) who is a Hungarian map maker employed by the Royal Geographical Society to chart the vast expanses of the Sahara Desert along with several other prominent explorers. As World War II unfolds, Almasy enters into a world of love, betrayal, and politics that is later revealed in a series of flashbacks while Almasy is on his death bed after being horribly burned in a plane crash.

Nominated for 12 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Original Dramatic Score, Best Film Editing, Best Art/Set Decoration, Best Costume Design and Best Sound

Won 9, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Original Dramatic Score, Best Film Editing, Best Art/Set Decoration, Best Costume Design and Best Sound

DVD Special Features:

None

SECONDS (1966)

Directed by John Frankenheimer

Rock Hudson stars in this disturbing psychological thriller with a strangely strong sense of paranoia and repression. A very secret organization offers wealthy people a second chance at life. The customer picks out someone they want to be and the organization surgically alters the customer to look like the intended person, stages the customer's death, gets rid of the intended person and the customer has a new life. Things become complicated when the customer is dissatisfied with his new identity and wants another one

Nominated for 1 Academy Award, Best Cinematography (Black/White)

DVD Special Features:

Feature Length Audio Commentary by Director, John Frankenheimer

ANGEL FACE (1952)

Directed by Otto Preminger

When Mrs. Tremayne is mysteriously poisoned with gas, ambulance driver Frank Jessup (Robert Mitchum) meets her refined but sensuous stepdaughter Diane (Jean Simmons), who quickly pursues and infatuates him. Under Diane's seductive influence, Frank is soon the Tremayne chauffeur; but he begins to suspect danger under her surface sweetness. When he shows signs of pulling away, Diane schemes to get him in so deep he'll never get out.

No Academy Award Nominations

DVD Special Features

None

THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA (1954)

Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Has been movie director Harry Dawes (Humphrey Boagart) gets a new lease on his career when Kirk Edwards hires him to write and direct a film. They go to Madrid to find Maria Vargas (Ava Gardner), a dancer who will star in the film to be shot in Rome. Millionaire Alberto Bravano (Marius Goring) takes Maria from Kirk. Count Vincenzo Torlato-Favrini (Rossano Brazzi) takes Maria from Alberto.

Nominated for 2 Academy Awards, Best Supporting Actor and Best Writing (Story and Screenplay)

Won 1, Best Supporting Actor

DVD Special Features:

None

THE FORTUNE COOKIE (1966)

Directed by Billy Wilder

A cameraman is knocked over during a football game. His brother in law as the king of the ambulance chasing lawyers starts a suit while he's still knocked out. The cameraman is against it until he hears that his ex-wife will be coming to see him. He pretends to be injured to get her back, but also sees what the strain is doing to the football player who injured him.

Nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography (Black and White) and Best Art/Set Decoration (Black and White)

Won 1, Best Supporting Actor

DVD Special Features:

None

THE WICKER MAN (1973)

Directed by Robin Hardy

Police Sgt. Howie (Edward Woodward), of the Scottish mainland, receives an anonymous letter from the offshore community of Summerisle, asking him to investigate the disappearance of a young girl there. He travels to the remote isle and discovers a secretive, tightly knit neo-pagan society. Being a devout (and rather self-righteous) Christian, he is shocked by the islanders' open sexuality and ritualistic devotion to the "old gods." As the mystery of the missing girl unravels, he begins to suspect that she is a victim of human sacrifice. In the film's chilling final sequence, the truth is revealed when Sgt. Howie meets the "wicker man."

No Academy Award Nominations

DVD Special Features:

The Wicker Man Enigma

The Christopher Lee Interview

The Wicker Man - The Director's Cut

Feature Length Commentary with Christopher Lee, Edward Woodward, Director, Robert Hardy and Moderated by Mark Kermode (Recorded in 2001)

JULES ET JIM (1962)

Directed by Francois Truffaut

In Paris 1900, two friends, Jules An Austrian, (Osker Werner) and Jim, a Frenchman (Henri Serre) fall in love with the same woman, Catherine (Jeanne Moreau). But Catherine loves and marries Jules. After WWI, when they meet again in Germany, Catherine starts to love Jim. This is the story of three people in love, a love which does not affect their friendship, and about how their relationship envolves with the years.

No Academy Award Nominations

DVD Special Features:

None

ROOM AT THE TOP (1959)

Directed by Jack Clayton

The English factory town is dreary but Joe Lampton (Laurence Harvey) has landed a job with a future. To have something to do at night he joins a theatrical group. His boss's daughter Susan (Heather Sears) who is playing ingenue roles on stage and in real life. She is attracted to Joe and Joe thinks about how much faster he will get ahead if he is the boss's son-in-law. This plan is complicated by his strong desire to be with an older woman, Alice (Simone Signoret) who also belongs to the theatrical group. She is French and unhappily married. Joe believes he can get away with seeing both women

Nominated for 6 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay

Won 2, Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay

DVD Special Features:

None

CLOSER (2004)

Directed by Mike Nichols

Film based on Patrick Marber's play starring Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Clive Owen.
An intriguing story of passion, drama, love, and abandonment involving two couples, which only gets more complicated when the man from the first couple gets acquainted with the woman from the second coupling.

Nominated for 2 Academy Awards, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress

DVD Special Features:

None

THE STING (1973)

WINNER OF THE ACADEMY AWARD FOR BEST PICTURE

Directed by George Roy Hill

When a mutual friend is killed by a mob boss, two con men, the experienced Henry Gondorff aka Shaw (Paul Newman) and the other, a young upstart, Johnny Hooker aka Kelly (Robert Redford) try to get even by pulling off the big con on mob boss, Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw). Aided by various other "interesting" characters, the story unfolds with several twists and turns and a finale sting operation

Nominated for 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Art/Set Decoration, Best Music/Original Score, Best Cinematography and Best Sound

Won 7, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Art/Set Decoration and Best Music/ Original Score

The acclaimed Costume Designer, Edith Head obtained/won the last of her 35 Academy Award Nominations. She won 8 in total

DVD Special Features:

None

None

BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)

Directed by George Roy Hill

Butch and Sundance (Robert Redford and Paul Newman) are the two leaders of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. Butch is all ideas, Sundance is all action and skill. The west is becoming civilized and when Butch and Sundance rob a train once too often, a special posse begins trailing them no matter where they run. Over rock, through towns, across rivers, the group is always just behind them. When they finally escape through sheer luck, Butch has another idea, "Let's go to Bolivia". Based on the exploits of the historical characters.

Nominated for 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Original Song and Best Sound

Won 4, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score and Best Original Song

DVD Special Features:

The Making of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

1994 Interviews with cast members:

Paul Newman
Robert Redford
Katharine Ross and Screenwriter, William Goldman

Audio commentary by Director, George Roy Hill, Robert Crawford and Cinematographer, Conrad L. Hall

THE HOURS (2002)

Directed by Stephen Daldry

In 1923, Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) is starting to write her novel, 'Mrs. Dalloway,' under the care of doctors and family. In 1951, Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) is planning for her husband's birthday, but is preoccupied with reading Woolf's novel. In 2001, Clarrisa Vaughn (Meryl Streep) is planning an award party for her friend, an author (Ed Harris) dying of AIDS. Taking place over one day, all three stories are interconnected with the novel mentioned before, as one is writing it, one is reading it, and one is living it.

Nominated for 9 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, Best Editing, Best Costume Design and Best Original Score

Won 1, Best Actress

DVD Special Features:

Feature Length Audio Commentary by Director, Stephen Daldry and Novelist, Michael Cunningham

Feature Length Audio Commentary by Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman

Filmmakers Introduction

Four Featurettes:

Three Women
The Minds And Times Of Virginia Woolf
The Music of the Hours
The Lives of Mrs. Dalloway

IMITATION OF LIFE (1959)

Directed by Douglas Sirk

In 1947 at Coney Island, down-on-her-luck actress Lora Meredith (Lana Turner) and her young daughter Susie (Sandra Dee) meet coloured Annie Johnson (Juanita Moore) and her daughter Sarah Jane (Susan Kohner). Annie is desperate for a place to live and offers to work as Lora's maid for food and lodging. Lora's luck begins to change as a result of their meeting and their two stories unfold across the years.

Nominated for 2 Academy Awards, both for Best Supporting Actress

DVD Special Features:

None

ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS (1955)

Directed by Douglas Sirk

Jane Wyman plays Cary Scott, a prosperous suburban New England widow with two college-aged children. Rock Hudson plays Ron Kirby, a nurseryman and gardener. Cary and Ron meet when he's pruning trees in her yard. She becomes intrigued by his free spirit and his romantic life. He falls for her as well and wants to be married. Cary is afraid of the social consequences of marriage to Ron, and she also fears her children's disapproval. Cary is not only older than Ron (at the time the movie was made Jane Wyman was 38 to Rock Hudson's 30) but is also wealthier. Cary's friends and children are snobbish and socially conscious. Ron's friends are eccentric and fun-loving. Cary must choose between love and convention.

No Academy Award Nominations

DVD Special Features:

Behind the Mirror, A Profile of Douglas Sirk featuring
excerpts from a BBC documentary produced and hosted by Mark Shivas

I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING (1945)

Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

Young Englishwoman, Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller) is determined to have the finer things in life, and to that end she plans to marry Sir Robert Bellinger, a wealthy, middle-aged industrialist whom she does not love.
En route to the Island of Mull, where her future husband resides, Joan is stranded in a colorful Scottish seacoast town. Inclement weather keeps her grounded for a week, during which time she falls in love with young, insouciant naval officer Torquil McNeil (Roger Livesey). Ignoring the dictates of her heart (not to mention common sense), Joan stubbornly insists upon heading out to sea towards her marriage of convenience, but Mother Nature finally convince her that her future resides on the Mainland.

No Academy Award Nominations

DVD Special Features:

None

ANNA KARENINA (1948)

Directed by Julien Duvivier

Stefan (Hugh Dempster) and Dolly Oblonsky (Mary Kerridge) have had a little spat and Stefan has asked his sister, Anna Karenina (Vivien Leigh), to come down to Moscow to help mend the rift. Anna's companion on the train from St. Petersburg is Countess Vronsky (Helen Haye) who is met at the Moscow station by her son and it's love at first sight when he sets eyes upon Anna. Back in St. Petersburg they keep running into each other at parties. Since she has a husband, Alexei (Ralph Richardson) and small son, they must be very discreet if they are going to see each other alone.

No Academy Award Nominations

DVD Special Features:

None

SAYONARA (1957)

Directed by Joshua Logan

Film based on James A. Michener's novel of defiant desire. American servicemen stationed in Japan during the Korean War fall in love and marry Japanese nationals despite harsh paperwork impediments and orders to the contrary.

Nominated for 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Sound and Best Art/Set Decoration

Won 4, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Art/Set Decoration and Best Sound

In her film debut, Miyoshi Umeki was the first Asian to win an Academy Award

The second Asian actor who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor was Haing S. Ngor (THE KILLING FIELDS) 1984

Others who have been nominated are:

Sessue Hayakawa, Best Supporting Actor - THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957)
Mako Iwamatsu, Best Supporting Actor - THE SAND PEBBLES (1966)
Ken Watanabe, Best Supporting Actor - THE LAST SAMURAI (2004)

DVD Special Features:

None

FAR FROM HEAVEN (2002)

Directed by Todd Haynes

Cathy (Julianne Moore) is the perfect 1950s housewife, living the perfect 1950s life: healthy kids, successful husband, social prominence. Then one night she surprises her husband Frank (Dennis Quaid) kissing another man, and her tidy world starts spinning out of control. In her confusion and grief, she finds consolation in the friendship of their African-American gardener, Raymond (Dennis Haysbert) - a socially taboo relationship that leads to the further disintegration of life as she knew it. Despite Cathy and Frank's struggle to keep their marriage afloat, the reality of his homosexuality and her feelings for Raymond open a painful, if more honest, chapter in their lives.

Nominated 4 Academy Awards including Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Original Score

Julianne Moore was a double nominee in 2002, she was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress (The Hours)


DVD Special Features:

Feature Length Commentary by Director, Todd Haynes

The Making of Far From Heaven

A Filmmaker's Experience with Julianne Moore and Todd Haynes

Anatomy of a Scene Featurette

THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946)

WINNER OF THE ACADEMY AWARD FOR BEST PICTURE

Directed by William Wyler

Three American servicemen return home to Boone City after the war, to find their lives irrevocably changed by their military experience. Homer Parrish (Harold Russell) has lost his hands, and has become distant from his fiancee and family as he struggles to overcome his disability.
Al Stephenson (Fredric March) returns to a family which has grown and changed during his three years away. And Fred Derry (Dana Andrews) finds himself stuck in a lousy job and a loveless marriage, while at the same time falling in love with Al's daughter (Theresa Wright). Together, the three must find a way to come to terms with their experiences and pick up the pieces, lest wartime turn out to be "the best years of their lives"

Nominated for 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Writing (Screenplay) Best Music (Dramatic or Comedy Score), Best Film Editing and Best Sound Recording

Won 7, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Writing (Screenplay), Best Music(Dramatic or Comedy Score) and Best Film Editing

One Honorary Academy Award was given to Harold Russell, for bringing hope to veterans through his appearance in the film

DVD Special Features:

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S (1961)

Directed by Blake Edwards

Based on Truman Capote's novella, this is the story of a young, jet- setting woman, Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) in New York City who meets a young man, (Paul "Fred" Varjak) when he moves into her apartment building. He is being kept by a wealthy, older woman, 2-E (Patricial Neal) but wants to be a writer. She is working as a high-priced escort and searching for a rich, older man to marry.

The opening scene has her window-shopping at Tiffany's at six in the morning, after being up all night on a date

Nominated for 5 Academy Awards including Best Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Song, Best Art/Set
Decoration (Colour) and Best Music (Dramatic or Comedy) Score

Won 2, Best Music (Dramatic or Comedy) Score and Best Original Song

DVD Special Features:

None

MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969)

WINNER OF THE ACADEMY AWARD FOR BEST PICTURE

Directed by John Schlesinger

A "cowboy," Joe Buck (Jon Voight), moves to New York City from Texas to make his fortune as a hustler servicing rich Park Avenue women. Shortly after arriving, he is hustled by homeless con man Ratzo Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), who had said he would manage him for a $20 fee. Bent on getting his money back, Buck finds the rapidly deteriorating Rizzo, ends up feeling sorry for him, and moving into Rizzo's room in an abandoned building to care for him. The two remain hopeful of striking it rich with Rizzo managing Buck's career, but it soon becomes obvious that they are no match for the urban jungle

Nominated for 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor x 2, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing

Won 3, Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay

The only X-rated film ever to win a Best Picture Oscar.

The film was rated X upon its original release in 1969, but the unrestricted use of that rating by pornographic filmmakers caused the rating to quickly become associated with hardcore films. Because of the stigma that developed around the X rating in the ratings system's early years (many cinemas refused to run X films, and many newspapers would not run ads for them), the film was given a new R rating in 1971, without having anything changed or removed.

This was the first film to have been released with an X rating to be shown on prime time network television but film's rating had been changed to R by the time of the film's television premiere.

Andy Warhol was originally scheduled to appear in the Factory sequence. His appearance was cancelled when he was shot by Valerie Solanis.

DVD Special Features:

THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA (1937)

WINNER OF THE ACADEMY AWARD FOR BEST PICTURE

Directed by William Dieterle

A biopic of the life of Emile Zola (Paul Muni). Starting in Paris in 1862 it deals, among other events, with the Dreyfus Affair and anti-semitism in France. Captain Alfred Dreyfus was unjustly court martialed and sent to Devil's Island accused of betraying his country by disclosing military secrets.

Nominated for 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Writing (Screenplay), Best Art Direction, Best Assistant Director, Best Music (Score), Best Sound and Best Writing (Original Story)

Won 3, Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor and Best Writing (Screenplay)

DVD Special Features:

3 Vintage Vault Treasures:
Dramatic Short - The Little Diplomat
Musical Short - Romance Road
Cartoon Short - Ain't We Got Fun