Laurence Olivier

A fictional Alfred Hitchcock narrates an explanation of some of the lesser known cinematic techniques he used in his movies, richly illustrated with clips from his entire 50-year career.Read More »

A movie with no spoken dialogue, it is set against the music and lyrics of Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem” which includes poetry by World War I soldier Wilfred Owen reflecting the horrors of war. There is no linear story or dialo…Read More »

Synopsis:
In the early years of World War II, a German U-boat (U-37) sinks Allied shipping in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and then tries to evade Canadian Military Forces seeking to destroy it by sailing up to Hudson Bay. The U-boat’s fanatical Nazi Captain sends some members of his crew to look for food and other supplies at a Hudson Bay Company outpost. No sooner than the shore party (lead by Lieutenant Hirth) reaches the shore, the U-boat is spotted and sunk by the Canadian Armed Forces, leaving the six members of the shore party stranded in Canada. The Nazi Lieutenant then starts to plan his crew’s return to the Fatherland. He needs to reach the neutral U.S., or be captured. Along the way, they meet a variety of characters, each with their own views on the war and nationalism. In this movie, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger show their ideas of why the U.S. should join the Allied fight against the Nazis.Read More »

Barry Kohler, a young Nazi hunter, tracks down a group of former SS officers meeting in Paraguay in the late 1970s. The Nazis, led by Dr Mengele, are planning something. Old Nazi hunter, Ezra Lieberman, is at first uninterested in Kohler’s findings. But when he is told something of their plan, he is eageRead More »

Quote:
Donaldson’s The Bounty was a strikingly solid adaptation of the tale of rebellious Fletcher Christian, stalwart Captain Bligh and the breadfruit and Tahitian beauty that inspired mutiny on the HMS Bounty. Unlike the rollicking 1935 classic that starred a dashing Clark Gable as the swashbuckling Christian and an imperious Charles Laughton as the evil Bligh, this is a revisionist tale that casts the Bounty captain in a more compassionate light. Hopkins’ Bligh is a usually fair and just leader who’s unprepared for the tropical lust that takes over his crew, and soon finds himself up against Gibson’s Christian, a man torn between his duty to his captain and the newfound love he has for the South Seas … Donaldson’s strength lies in keeping the audience sympathetic to both Hopkins and Gibson, making out neither to be a monster but rather men driven by their differing moral compasses. Donaldson further distinguished The Bounty from its predecessors with its attention to historical detail and sumptuous location photography, which seduced audiences as well as the crewmen of the ill-fated ship. – Mark Englehart, imdbRead More »

AMG Synopsis:
William Wyler’s Wuthering Heights is one of the earliest screen adaptations of the classic Emily Brontë novel. A traveler named Lockwood (Miles Mander) is caught in the snow and stays at the estate of Wuthering Heights, where the housekeeper, Ellen Dean (Flora Robson), sits down to tell him the story in flashback.Read More »

Love Among the Ruins tells the story of Jessica Medlicott (Hepburn), a wealthy, widowed actress who becomes romantically involved with a fortune-hunting young man named Alfred Pratt (Leigh Lawson). When the scheming Alfred sues Jessica for breach of promise (this means not honouring a proposal of marriage), she is forced to hire legendary barrister Sir Arthur Granville-Jones (Olivier) to defend her. Although Jessica doesn’t remember it, she and Sir Arthur had a brief love affair several decades ago, and the attorney has carried a torch for her ever since.Read More »

crescentblues.com wrote:
Were women ever inferior to men? The Divorce of Lady X insists that females possess superior intellect to compensate for any lack of physical strength when dealing with the larger, if not the smarter, of the species. Five characters, including two couples, find themselves star-crossed, racing ’round London to set marriage right in this romantic comedy. Who could be more heart-pounding than a young Olivier, his career flying out the window as he pursues a judge’s grand-daughter? The judge, of course, identifies with the hero, who makes as much of a buffoon of himself as the girl’s grandfather probably once did. Laughter abounds in this film to such an extent that even the music sounds funny.Read More »

Quote:
When this epic series was first broadcast in 1973 it redefined the gold standard for television documentary; it remains the benchmark by which all factual programming must judge itself.

Originally shown as 26 one-hour programmes, The World at War set out to tell the story of the Second World War through the testimony of key participants. The result is a unique and unrepeatable event, since many of the eyewitnesses captured on film did not have long left to live. Each hour-long programme is carefully structured to focus on a key theme or campaign, from the rise of Nazi Germany to Hitler’s downfall and the onset of the Cold War.Read More »