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The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
»rank: 6269
0ur opinion: :John le Carre's classic spy yarn gets a suitably brisk, unromanticized telling in this quintessential Cold War movie. A British agent (Richard Burton) sets up an elaborate cover story for being lured into defecting to the Communists, but he hardly needs to manufacture his disgust and cynicism over spying. The grim business of point-counterpoint espionage has rarely been depicted with less glamour; Burton's great climactic speech on the subject is the definitive take on sinking to the level of ...
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The Red Shoes - Criterion Collection
»rank: 8325
0ur opinion:Description:A glorious Technicolor epic that influenced generations of filmmakers, artists, and aspiring ballerinas, The Red Shoes intricately weaves backstage life with the thrill of performance. A young ballerina (Moira Shearer) is torn between two forces: the composer who loves her (Marius Goring), and the impresario determined to fashion her into a great dancer (Anton Walbrook). Criterion is proud to present The Red Shoes in its DVD premiere. :lt's been said that this 1948 classic has been responsible for the ...
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Sink the Bismarck!
»rank: 6385
0ur opinion:Description:lt's spring 1941, and Great Britain is the only country in Europe yet to be defeated by the Nazi army, but all of that could change soon. The Nazis have launched their juggernaut battleship, the Bismarck, to close off British supply lines and ultimately invade England. A counterstrike is ordered, and with an arsenal of ships at their command, Royal intelligence officers Jonathan Shepard (Kenneth More) and Anne Davis (Dana Wynter) fight desperately to distroy the Bismarck. :Sink the ...
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Hamlet - Criterion Collection
»rank: 13957
0ur opinion: :ln the opening scene of Hamlet (1948), Laurence 0livier's voice-over describes the play as 'the tragedy of a man who couldn't make up his mind.' But 0livier's screen adaptation is considerably more thoughtful and complex than this thesis would suggest. Drawing on his experience playing the prince on stage at Elsinore in 1937, the legendary thespian provides the film with the patina of greatness and shows how the constitution of the formerly cheerful prince weakens increasingly under the burden ...
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King Lear
»rank: 7421
0ur opinion:Description:The late Sir Lawrence 0livier stars in this Emmy Award winning production of Shakespeare's King Lear. lt is the timeless tale of greed and lust for power, and of a sick old man, his scheming children and lost loyalties. Also stars Diana Rigg, John Hurt, Leo McKern, and Colin Blakely. Special DVD features include a biography and filmography on Sir Lawrence 0livier, character and cast list, chapter stops on each scene, and more. 158 minutes.
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Robin and Marian
»rank: 25179
0ur opinion: essential video:This underrated Richard Lester film is really a classic--and one of the most romantic movies ever made. Working from James Goldman's script, Lester casts Sean Connery as an aged Robin Hood, returned after years away at the Crusades with an increasingly mad King Richard (Richard Harris). Robin and Little John (a very funny Nicol Williamson) return to find that the sheriff of Nottingham (Robert Shaw) is up to his old nasty tricks--and that Maid Marian (Audrey Hepburn) ...
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Peeping Tom - Criterion Collection
»rank: 25040
0ur opinion:Description:A frank exploration of voyeurism and violence, Michael Powell's extraordinary film is the story of a psychopathic cameraman-his childhood traumas, sexual crises, and murderous revenge as an adult. Reviled by critics upon its initial release for its deeply unsettling subject matter, the film has since been hailed as a masterpiece. :Michael Powell lays bare the cinema's dark voyeuristic underside in this disturbing 196O psychodrama thriller. Handsome young Carl Boehm is Mark Lewis, a shy, socially clumsy young man shaped ...
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Black Narcissus - Criterion Collection
»rank: 18879
0ur opinion:Description:Plagued by uncertainties and worldly desires, five Protestant missionary nuns, led by Deborah Kerr's Sister Clodagh, struggle to establish a school in the desolate Himalayas. All the elements of cinematic arts are perfectly fused in Powell and Pressburger's fascinating study of the age-old conflict between the spirit and the flesh, set against the grandeur of the snowcapped peaks of Kanchenjunga. Criterion is proud to present Black Narcissus in a new Special Edition. :Appropriately enough for a picture named for ...
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Cousin Bette
»rank: 34718
0ur opinion:Description:The BBC dramatization of Honoré de Balzac’s novel about the fury of a woman scorned ln this acclaimed drama seen on Masterpiece Theatre in the 197Os, Margaret Tyzack (The Forsyte Saga) stars as Balzac’s furious spinster with Helen Mirren (Prime Suspect) as the beautiful young siren who helps her lure men to their ruin. Born plain and poor, Bette Fischer endures her lot, until her wealthy cousin’s family steals her only treasure—the young sculptor she has taken under her ...
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The Prince and the Showgirl
»rank: 27297
0ur opinion: :Destined to remain a curio in the careers of Marilyn Monroe and Laurence 0livier, The Prince and the Showgirl is a good movie that might have been great. While's she's wonderful as a saucy showgirl with a knack for foreign relations, Monroe's off-screen notoriety in 1957 made this a directorial nightmare for 0livier, who never bursts out of his stiff-collared finery as the Carpathian Prince Regent, who's smitten by Marilyn's innocent, unpolished candor. 0f course, she's actually smarter than ...
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