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

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

LE DOULOS (1962)

Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville

Burglar Maurice Faugel has just finished his sentence. He murders Gilbert Vanovre, a receiver, and steals the loot of a break-in. He is also preparing a house-breaking, and his friend Silien (Jean Paul Belmondo) brings him the needed equipment. But Silien is a police informer

A French classic noir feature that ranks up there with Bob Le Flambeur(1955), Le Samurai(1967) and The Red Circle(1970).

No Academy Award Nominations

DVD Special Features:

An introduction by Jinette Vincendeau

Audio Commentary

THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT (1940)

Directed by Raoul Walsh

Two brothers Joe and Paul Fabrini (George Raft and Humphrey Bogart) try to make a living at wildcat trucking. The two deal with shaddy bosses, and repo men, but an accident ends Paul's days, and causes Joe to go to work for an old friend, Ed Carleson, whose wife, Lana, (Ida Lupino) has more than a passing interest in him. While Joe only has eyes for Cassie. Lana kills Ed, but claims she had no choice as Paul threatened to kill her if she did not kill her husband, only after he rebuffs her advances. At the trial she falls to pieces with the police dragging a hysterical Lana away, the judge throws out the charges against Joe and frees him to take over his old friend's business.

No picture in 1940 had a bigger thrill

No Academy Nominations

DVD Special Features:

Divided Highway: The Story of They Drive By Night

Swingtime In The Movies

MILLION DOLLAR BABY (2004)

WINNER OF THE ACADEMY AWARD FOR BEST PICTURE

Directed by Clint Eastwood

In the wake of a painful estrangement from his daughter, boxing trainer Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) has been unwilling to let himself get close to anyone for a very long time, then Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) walks into his gym. In a life of constant struggle, Maggie's gotten herself this far on raw talent, unshakable focus and a tremendous force of will. But more than anything, she wants someone to believe in her. The last thing Frankie needs is that kind of responsibility-- let alone that kind of risk--but won over by Maggie's sheer determination, he begrudgingly agrees to take her on. In turns exasperating and inspiring each other, the two come to discover that they share a common spirit that transcends the pain and loss of their pasts, and they find in each other a sense of family they lost long ago.

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

Won 4, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor

Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby was the critically acclaimed late release of 2004 which dethroned THE AVIATOR,( the hitherto frontrunner) on the way to Best Picture at The Academy Awards

DVD Special Features:

EDWARD THE SEVENTH (TV) (1975)

Directed by John Gorrie

This BBC series is a re-enactment of his life and has tried to keep to historical accuracy as much as possible

Due in part to his position poor Bertie was singled out early from his four brothers & four sisters for special treatment. His stern lutheran father Albert the prince consort had arranged a strictly academic upbringing for his eldest son which was totally unsuited to his personality. Albert however neglected to imbue his son with what he needed most at that time, fatherly affection. His mother as she so often did took her cues from her husband and was happy to leave their childrens education in his hands. Consequently following the early death of his father from typhoid Bertie turned his back on academia and swore he would never read another text book. At 20 he married the beautiful danish princess Alexandra of Denmark and was to father 5 children by her. Initially it was a happy marriage but soon Berties short attention span and wandering eye caused him to seek respite in the arms of other woman. Most notably among them Lily Langtry, Agnes Keyser, Alice Keppel and Daisy Brook. What his wife thought of these friendships can only be guessed at and she can not have been unaware of these liaisons. The prince of wales for reasons of decency and protocol made a point of only aligning himself with married women most of whom he would introduce to his wife. Divorced ladies were out of bounds and forbidden even in the royal presence. It was to say the least an ambiguous set of rules. His liaisons were an open secret and discretion was the watchword for members of his household. Royalty then was treated with more respect than it is now. Bertie was as immoral in many respects as his mother was amoral to the whole of the british empire. But despite these major flaws in his character he proved a hardworking and popular monarch for the short period that he reigned. At a time when relations with France & England were at their lowest ebb he toured there and his presence in Paris at such a turbulent time helped to initiate the diplomatic accords known as "the entente cordiale". Following death in 1911 he was sincerely mourned by his subjects and as his private secretary Frederick Ponsonby eulogised at his funeral,,,"we will all miss this wayward popular and in the end humane sovereign"

Not Eligible for Academy Awards Nominations

DVD Special Features:

LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN

Directed by John M. Stahl

Writer Richard Harland (Cornel Wilde) unhesitatingly marries lovely Ellen Berent (Gene Tierney). He soon finds his life blighted when tragedies take first his brother then his unborn son from him. He comes to suspect these events are not unconnected with his wife's unreasoning jealousy. This also turns her family from her, and yet another shock awaits them all as Ellen's emotions become uncontrollable.

Nominated 4 Academy Awards including Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Art/Interior Decoration(Colour) and Best Sound Recording

Won 1, Best Cinematography

DVD Special Features:

Feature Length Commentary by Darryl Hickman and Film Critic, Richard Schickel

THE CHILDREN'S HOUR (1961)

Directed by William Wyler

Lillian Hellman screen adaptation of her play in which a private school for young girls is scandalized when one spiteful student accuses the two young women, Karen Wright (Audrey Hepburn) and Martha Dobie (Shirley MacLaine) who run the school of having a lesbian relationship

An intriguing and groundbreaking film for its time (being the first mainstream film) to handle such a "taboo subject"

Nominated for 5 Academy Awards including Best Supporting Actress, Best Art/Set Decoration (Black and White), Best Cinematography (Black and White), Best Costume Design (Black and White) and Best Sound

DVD Special Features:

None

LAURA (1944)

Directed by Otto Preminger

Classic Film Noir in which Detective, Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) investigating a murder falls in love with the dead girl's (Laura) (Gene Tierney) portrait only to find out that it wasn't her that was murdered. Who was? Why? By whom? Will they try again? What will become of the detective's love?

Nominated for 5 Academy Awards including Best Supporting Actor, Best Director, Best Writing(Screenplay), Best Cinematography and Best Art/Set Decoration(Black/White)

Won 1, Best Cinematography

DVD Special Features:

Documentaries, Gene Tierney: A Shattered Portrait and Vincent Price: The Versatile Villian

Feature Length Commentaries by Film Historian, Rudy Behlmer, Composer, David Raksin and Film Professor Jeanine Basinger

V (1983) (TV)

Directed by Kenneth Johnson

Aliens pretending to be friendly come to Earth and are received openly. The aliens have masqueraded themselves to look just like humans. When it is discovered that the aliens' planet is dying and that they have come to rape the Earth of its natural resources, the war for Earth begins. An important key to the humans' success is distinguishing the their own from the aliens.

Not eligible for Academy Award Nominations

DVD Special Features:

Feature Length Commentary by Director, Kenneth Johnson

Behind The Scenes Documentary on the Making of V

THE LONG FIRM (2004) (TV)

Directed by Billie Eltringham

Harry Starks runs 60s Soho... but he wants so much more.

Based on Jake Arnott's book of the same name, this TV dramatisation features Harry (Mark Strong) as an East-End, working-class, homosexual, Jewish mobster, who is striving for acceptance in London. Lena Headey, Derek Jacobi and Joe Absolom provide a strong supporting cast

Not eligible for Academy Award Nominations

DVD Special Features:

Feature Length Audio Commentary by Screen Writer, Joe Penhall, Producer, Liza Marshall and Actor, Mark Strong

HOTEL DU LAC (1986) (TV)

Directed by Giles Foster

Romantic Writer, Edith Hope (Anna Massey) attempts exile from a failing affair, and from her loneliness, in that quintessential place of exile, a Swiss lakeside hotel. But the other residents, ridiculous and sad, only compound her isolation, revealing the emptiness of disengagement. Flashbacks to her affair in London have a colour and vibrancy that startle in their contrast with Hope's melancholy quiet in Switzerland. Hope must return, without hope, and face the reality of her life in England, no matter how painful.

Not Eligible for Academy Award Nominations

DVD Special Features:

Feature Length Audio Commentary by Director, Giles Foster, Producer, Sue Birtwistle and Writer, Christopher Hampton

RAY (2004)

Directed by Taylor Hackford

The true life story of legendary blues singer Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx) from loosing his eyesight in early childhood, to his rising career during the 1950s and 1960s, and his problems with racism, drug abuse, failed relationships and his ideas to change the pace music by combining soul and gospel music thereby makinghis career as one of the most enduring, inimitable performers in modern music.

Nominated for 6 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Editing, Best Costume Design and Best Sound

Won 2, Best Actor and and Best Sound

DVD Special Features:

Feature Length Audio Commentary by Director, Taylor Hackford

Delete Scenes

Stepping into the Part

Ray Remembered

A Look inside Ray

LAYER CAKE (2004)

Directed by Matthew Vaughn

Based upon JJ Connelly's London crime novel, "LAYER CAKE" is about a successful cocaine dealer (DANIEL CRAIG) who has earned a respected place among England's Mafia elite and plans an early retirement from the business. However, big boss Jimmy Price hands down a tough assignment: find Charlotte Ryder, the missing rich princess daughter of Jimmy's old pal Edward, a powerful construction business player and gossip papers socialite. Complicating matters are two million pounds' worth of Grade A ecstasy, a brutal neo-Nazi sect and a whole series of double crossings. The title "LAYER CAKE" refers to the layers or levels the dealer has to go through as he painstakingly plots his own escape. What is revealed is a modern underworld where the rules have changed. There are no 'codes', or 'families' and respect lasts as long as a line. Not knowing who he can trust, he has to use all his 'savvy', 'telling' and skills which make him one of the best, to escape his own. The ultimate last job, a love interest called Tammy and an international drugs ring, threaten to draw him back into the 'cake mix'. But, time is running out and the penalty will endure a lifetime

No Academy Award Nominations

DVD Special Features:

Feature Length Commentary by Director, Matthew Vaughn and Script Writer, J J Connelly

THE AVIATOR (2004)

Directed by Martin Scorcese

Focusing on his early years (from the 1930 production of 'Hell's Angels' to the 1947 test flight of the Blue Spruce, when he was 42), this is the story of how young Howard Hughes transformed a small fortune into a massive one. The son of the Texan inventor of an amazing drill bit who died when he was 18, leaving him with seventy five percent of the "Hughes Tool Co.", Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio) quickly moved to Los Angeles to become a Hollywood film producer, where he helped launch the career of Jean Harlow and other starlets, and producing such classics as Hell's Angels, The Front Page, Flying Leathernecks, and Scarface (the 1932 original), eventually owning RKO Pictures. Hughes' legend came not from focusing on just Hollywood, however, as he simultaneously branched into industry after industry, including aviation in 1932 (including TWA Airlines), and during WWII, defense, leading to the creation of the (infamous) Spruce Goose, a flying boat of immense size. After WWII, Hughes' expansions continued, with an electronics company that was integral to the evolution of the satellite, and Hughes' several Las Vegas casinos.This film also focus's on Hughes' romances with Hollywood stars like Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett) and Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale).

Nominated for 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Art/Set Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography and Best Sound

Won 5, Best Supporting Actress, Best Art/Set Decoration, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design and Best Film Editing

The year long frontrunner status held by The Aviator, shifted towards the end of awards season. The film won most of the guild categories but lost the coveted best director and picture categories to MILLION DOLLAR BABY at the 2005 Academy Awards ceremony


DVD Special Features:

Feature Length Audio Commentary with Director, Martin Scorcese and Editor, Thelma Schoonmaker and Screenwriter, John Logan

The Documentaries:
"A Life Without Limits" - the making of The Aviator

The Role of Howard Hughes in Aviation History

"Modern Marvels: Howard Hughes" - a documentary by the History Channel

The Crafts:
The visual effects of The Aviator
The Affliction of Howard Hughes: obsessive compulsive disorder
"The Age of Glamour" - The hair and makeup of The Aviator
"Costuming The Aviator" - the work of Sandy Powell
"Constructing The Aviator" - The Work of Dante Ferretti

The Music:
Scoring The Aviator: The Work Of Howard Shore
The Wainwright Family - Loudon, Rufus and Martha

OCD Panel Discussion with Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese and Howard Hughes' widow Terry Moore
An evening with Actors, Leonardo DiCaprio and Alan Alda