Self (archive footage)
BBC Arena's documentary on the Dames of British Theatre and film featuring Maggie Smith, Elieen Atkins, Judi Dench and Joan Plowright on screen together for the first time as they reminisce over a long summer weekend in a house Joan once shared with Sir Laurence Olivier.
Writer
Embark on a magical journey through time with Boys On Film 15: Time & Tied — featuring a brand new selection of sensational gay British short films that showcase some of the UK's best emerging talent. This compilation features nine complete films: Lloyd Eyre-Morgan's "Closets" starring Tommy Knight and Ceallach Spellman; Brian Fairbairn & Karl Eccleston's "Putting On The Dish" starring Steve Wickenden and Neil Chinneck; Mitchell Marion's "G O'Clock" starring Marc Rovira Cenar and Phillip Weddell; Charlie Parham's "Nightstand" starring Nicholas Gleaves and Amrou Al-Kadhi; Simon Anderson's "Morning Is Broken" starring Matthew Tennyson, Nigel Allen and Jack Hawkins; Tom Frederic's "Sauna The Dead: A Fairy Tale" starring himself and Kumar Muniandy; Leon Lopez's "CrossRoad" starring Marc Rovira Cenar, Ashley Campbell, and Calum Ewan Cameron; Jake Graf's "Dawn" starring Nicole Gibson and Harry Rundle; and Kristen Bjorn's "Trouser Bar" starring Denholm Spurr, Scott Hunter, and Zac Renfree.
Self
A compilation of scenes from Shakespeare adaptations made in the earliest days of cinema, including versions of King Lear, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Richard III and The Merchant of Venice, as well as less frequently filmed plays such as Henry VIII and The Winter's Tale.
Writer
Set in a London gentleman's outfitters in 1976, and taking inspiration from the emotions aroused by a fetishist love of corduroy, leather and tight trousers, two men enter Sir John's Trouser Bar but little do they know the sexual adventures that await them inside.
King Hamlet's Ghost (archive footage)
Journey into "Hamlet"-the play and the man-through the experiences of some of the major actors and directors who have brought Shakespeare's great tragedy to life. Christopher Plummer, David Tennant, John Nettles, John Simm, Sir Trevor Nunn, Franco Zeffirelli, Philip Saville, and others explore the enduring appeal of the Prince of Denmark more than 400 years after his stage debut.
Self (archive footage)
Documentary with an affectionate look back at the classic Granada TV dramatisation of Evelyn Waugh's famous novel "Brideshead Revisited".
The Protagonist
An autocratic Director (Harold Pinter) and his Assistant (Rebecca Pidgeon) put the final touches to the last scene of some kind of dramatic presentation, which consists entirely of a man (John Gielgud) standing still onstage.
The Pope
The story of the ascension to the throne and the early reign of Queen Elizabeth the First, the endless attempts by her council to marry her off, the Catholic hatred of her and her romance with Lord Robert Dudley.
Cockburn
Based on a true story, set in the late 19th century: Lord Tichborne, the ninth richest nobleman in England, disappears after a South American shipwreck. Some years later his erudite Afro-English valet, Bogle, is sent to investigate rumors that Tichborne survived and settled in Australia. An alcoholic ruffian answer's Bogle's inquiries claiming to be the lost heir. Bogle suspects fraud, but conspires with the claimant to split the inheritance should the latter succesfully pass himself off to friends, family and the courts. As the claimant returns to England to continue his charade, enough people confirm his identity to make both the claimant and Bogle believe that he just might be the rightful heir after all.
Merlin (voice)
During the times of King Arthur, Kayley is a brave girl who dreams of following her late father as a Knight of the Round Table. The evil Ruber wants to invade Camelot and take the throne of King Arthur, and Kayley has to stop him.
Tony Palmer tells the life story of Sergei Rachmaninoff through the use of home movies, concert footage, and interviews. John Gielgud reads from Rachmaninoff's diaries in a voiceover.
Stimme Gottes
A distinguished military leader whose reign was touched by great scandal, shocking betrayals and rousing victories. A simple shepherd boy chosen to be king, under the watchful eyes of prophet Samuel.
Priam
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, returns home to find his father murdered and his mother now marrying the murderer... his uncle. Meanwhile, war is brewing.
Mr. Touchett
Ms. Isabel Archer isn't afraid to challenge societal norms. Impressed by her free spirit, her kindhearted cousin writes her into his fatally ill father's will. Suddenly rich and independent, Isabelle ventures into the world, along the way befriending a cynical intellectual and romancing an art enthusiast. However, the advantage of her affluence is called into question when she realizes the extent to which her money colors her relationships.
Self / Interview
Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."
Narrator
The true story of the birth, growth and coming of age of a leopard cub in Africa's Serengeti plain. The journey of "The Leopard Son" begins at his mother's side where he discovers, through play, essential skills for survival in the wild. As it is with humans, there inevitably comes the day when a child must leave his mother to go out on his own.
Cecil Parkes
Pianist David Helfgott, driven by his father and teachers, has a breakdown. Years later he returns to the piano, to popular if not critical acclaim.
King Arthur (voice) (uncredited)
In an ancient time when majestic fire-breathers soared through the skies, a knight named Bowen comes face to face and heart to heart with the last dragon on Earth, Draco. Taking up arms to suppress a tyrant king, Bowen soon realizes his task will be harder than he'd imagined: If he kills the king, Draco will die as well.
Doctor Doyle
Professor David Ash exposes false spiritulists and mediums. He is invited to Edbrook to resolve the fears and torments within its secretive family. Soon after arriving Ash begins to doubt his own senses, and watching the strange behaviour of its residents does not make his task any easier. In time, he finds there's more to Edbrook than even he can debunk.
Oswald
The timeless tale of King Arthur and the legend of Camelot are retold in this passionate period drama. Arthur is reluctant to hand the crown to Lancelot, and Guinevere is torn between her loyalty to her husband and her growing love for his rival. But Lancelot must balance his loyalty to the throne with the rewards of true love.
Himself (Voice)
Semi-Biographical film documenting the life of The Reverend Wilbert Awdry, creator of the beloved Thomas The tank Engine Stories
Adaptation of the play by J B Priestley.
St. John
PK, an English orphan terrorized for his family's political beliefs in Africa, turns to his only friend, a kindly world-wise prisoner, Geel Piet. Geel teaches him how to box with the motto “fight with your fists and lead with your heart”. As he grows to manhood, PK uses these words to take on the system and the injustices he sees around him - and finds that one person really can make a difference.
Self
Television documentary on playwright, actor, composer, and film maker Noel Coward.
Sunflower
Spirited New Yorker Linda Voss goes to work for international lawyer and secret Office of Strategic Services operative Ed Leland just before World War II. As they fall in love, the United States enters the fight against Hitler, and Linda volunteers to work for Ed spying undercover behind Nazi lines. Assigned to uncover information about a German bomb, Linda also has personal motives to fulfill: discovering the fate of her Jewish family members in Berlin.
Prospero
A short made for TV with director Peter Greenaway discussing the dazzling 3.5 minute opening sequence from his film, 'Prospero's Books'. As Prospero (John Gielgud) walks through his library, Greenaway comments on the historical, mythological, biblical & fictional characters occupying the library.
Svetlovidov
An aging actor remembers his past stage triumphs and contemplates a dim future on the stage of an empty theatre. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.
Self (archive footage)
This documentary, hosted by actor Burgess Meredith, explores the life and career of movie director Otto Preminger, whose body of work includes such memorable films as Anatomy of a Murder, Exodus, Laura, Forever Amber, Advise and Consent, In Harm's Way, The Moon Is Blue, The Man with the Golden Arm, and many other movies made from the '30s through the '70s. Interviews with actors Frank Sinatra, Vincent Price, James Stewart, Michael Caine, and others who worked with the flamboyant and sometimes control-obsessed director add information and insight to the story.
Prospero
An exiled magician finds an opportunity for revenge against his enemies muted when his daughter and the son of his chief enemy fall in love in this uniquely structured retelling of the 'The Tempest'.
Virgil (voice)
These six video segments (10 minutes each) were originally developed for broadcast on Channel 4 as the second installment in the larger, never completed, series comissioned for Peter Greenaway and Tom Philips' A TV Dante (1989). But it was never aired. Ruiz's treatment of the six Cantos can be taken together as a bridge between his previous visions of hell in Mémoire des apparences AKA Life is a Dream (1986) and La Chouette aveugle (1987) and themore recent series of essay videos that he has made for Chilean television under the title Cofralandes (2002).
Drechsler
Sydney Cockerell
Adapted from their letters and journals, this is a portrayal of the unique 25-year friendship shared by Dame Laurentia McLachlan (Benedictine nun), Sir Sydney Cockerell (museum curator), and George Bernard Shaw (playwright/critic).
Self
The life and career of two-time Oscar winner Vivien Leigh, who battled tuberculosis and manic-depression but always remained a star.
Virgil
A TV Dante is an experimental mini-series directed by Tom Phillips and legendary filmmaker Peter Greenaway. It covers eight of the thirty-four cantos in Dante Alighieri's Inferno, part of his 14th century epic poem The Divine Comedy. The eight cantos of the film are not conventionally dramatised, rather they are illuminated with layered and juxtaposed imagery while the text is read entirely in "talking head" fashion, and punctuated with a kaleidoscopic blend of both newly shot and archival footage.
Herbert Dreuther
A London accountant on his honeymoon gets swept away by gambling fever.
Sir Gordon Munday
Gavin is 31 years old and still lives with his parents. He is awfully shy but before he knows it there are three women interested in him. Lady Minerva Munday has a casual way of life and lives in a basement, Joan is an over-sexed millionairess, married to a Greek architect. But Gavin prefers the ugly assistant in the barbershop. Written by Mattias Thuresson
Cardinal Wolsey
Story of Sir Thomas More, who refused to accept the spiritual leadership of Henry VIII, and faces death as he struggles to remain loyal to his integrity.
Self
Tony Palmer's award-winning feature-length documentary profile of Richard Burton.
Hobson
Arthur, that irrepressible drunk, tries to sober up and get a job. Meanwhile, Ralph Marolla is conniving to trick the hapless boozer into marrying his daughter so he can gain entrée to Arthur's $750 million fortune.
Colonel Carbury
Emily Boynton, the stepmother to three children, blackmails the family lawyer into destroying a second will of her late husband that would have freed the children from her dominating influence. She takes herself, the children, and her daughter-in-law on holiday to Europe and the Holy Land. At a dig, Emily is found dead and Hercule Poirot investigates.
Eddie Loomis
The setting is the staffroom of an English language college for foreign students somewhere in Cambridge. I think that Edward Fox was born to play the role of protagonist St. John Quartermaine. St. John (pronounced 'sinjun') is a kind and lonely language professor who is becoming increasingly absent-minded and forgetful, probably due to some form of creeping dementia. Having loyally served at the college since its founding, his life revolves around work as he appears to have no social life of his own. He is well liked by his colleagues, however they take advantage of his good nature and are always too preoccupied with their own concerns to really notice what we the viewers see- a man gradually and inexorably heading towards crisis, in desperate need of care and support.
Sir Simon de Canterville
A young American couple inherits an English castle, only to find that it is haunted by the spirit of a disgraced ancestor, doomed to stay on the estate because of his cowardice. The only way he can escape is if one of his descendants performs an heroic act, something he intends to get the husband to do.
Sir Adrian Chappie
A war veteran tries to investigate the murder of his son who was working as a Russian translator for the British intelligence service during the Cold War. He meets a web of deception and paranoia that seems impenetrable...
Tiresias
In a final battle for the control of Thebes, Oedipus's two sons kill each other. Creon issues an order that no one is to bury Polynices upon pain of death. But Antigone is determined that her brother's body will have the proper rites of burial.
Tieresias
Plagues are ravaging Thebes, and the blind fortune-teller Tieresias tells Oedipus, the King, that the gods are unhappy. The murder of the former king has gone unavenged, and Oedipus sets out to find the killer.
Jasper Swift
'Oh I was naughty. And I'm still naughty so take care.' And so Leda was, all those years ago when she was the childhood friend of Jasper and his three sisters April, May and June. Now she returns to add a little spice to life in their crumbling Irish country house.
Sir Leonard Darwin
David Hare's account of a one-time French freedom fighter who gradually realizes that her post-war life is not meeting her expectations.
John Middleton Murry
John Middleton Murry visits France to finalize the publication of a collection of his late wife, Katherine Mansfield's, letters and journals. The publisher's girlfriend Marie (who physically resembles Mansfield) and Murry become friends. Marie gradually learns that Murry not only profited greatly from his publication of Mansfield's writings, but that as her editor he sacrificed the real Mansfield to his own romantic dream, and even that he published her letters and journals against her expressed wishes.
Theodore Woodward
Lily, an American travelling on the famous Orient Express train from Venice, Italy to Paris, France, suddenly runs into her former lover, Alex, who met and had a tender romance ten years earlier while vacationing in France, which ended abruptly when he walked out on her without saying a word. Now Alex tries to make up for lost time with Lily while she digs into his past to find out what haunting secrets that he has which led to their abrupt break-up.
Cornelius Cardew
1913, shortly before the outbreak of WWI. A group of aristocrats gathers at the estate of Sir Randolph Nettleby for a weekend shoot. As the terminal decrepitude of a dying class is reflected in the social interactions and hypocrisy of its members, only world weary Sir Randolph seems to realise that the sun is setting.
John Gielgud
Documentary examination of the role of Hamlet, in which ten prominent actors who have played the part discuss Hamlet's personality, Shakespeare's play, and the enduring popular fascination it has inspired. The actors interviewed are Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Richard Burton, Nicol Williamson, Ben Kingsley, Jean Louis Barrault, Vittorio Gassman, Maximilian Schell, Innocenti Smoktunovsky, and Mandy Patinkin. Includes excerpts from various film and television versions of Hamlet, featuring these actors and others.
De Lacey
A scientist who is obsessed with creating life finally does it, with tragic results.
Duke de Charles
Camille is a courtesan in Paris. She falls deeply in love with a young man of promise, Armand Duval. When Armand's father begs her not to ruin his hope of a career and position by marrying Armand, she acquiesces and leaves her lover. However, when poverty and terminal illness overwhelm her, Camille discovers that Armand has not lost his love for her.
Lord Durrisdeer
The Master of Ballantrae is a 1984 TV movie based on the 1889 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson.[2] It was a co production between the US and England for the Hallmark Hall of Fame
Uncle Willie
An investigative reporter following an espionage story goes to London and gets involved with murder, scam artists and rock concerts.
Archive Footage
Retrospective of the life and movie work of British actor James Mason. The documentary presents interview footage interspersed with some movie excerpts, mainly from his pre-hollywood period.
Hogarth
Caroline is to be wed to Sir Ralph and invites her sister Barbara to be her bridesmaid. Barbara seduces Ralph, however, and she becomes the new Lady, but despite her new wealthy situation, she gets bored and turns to highway robbery for thrills. While on the road she meets a famous highwayman, and they continue as a team, but some people begin suspecting her identity, and she risks death if she continues her nefarious activities.
Pope Pius XII
Fr. Hugh O'Flaherty is a Vatican official in 1943-45 who has been hiding downed pilots, escaped prisoners of war, and Italian resistance families. His diplomatic status in a Catholic country prevents Colonel Kappler from openly arresting him, but O'Flaherty's activities become so large that the Nazi's decide to assassinate him the next time he leaves the Vatican. O'Flaherty continues his work in a variety of disguises. Based on a true story. Written by John Vogel
An American student arrives in England for the wedding of his room-mate's sister.
Lord Irwin
In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed.
Albert Speer Sr.
A dramatization of the life of Albert Speer, Hitler's young architect and onetime confidant, and his meteoric rise into the Nazi hierarchy. Based upon Speer's own monograph of the same title.
Charmolue
Quasimodo, the hunchback bellringer of Notre Dame's cathedral, meets a beautiful gypsy dancer, Esmeralda, and falls in love with her. So does Quasimodo's guardian, the archdeacon of the cathedral, and a poor street poet. But Esmeralda's in love with a handsome soldier. When a mob mistakes her for a witch, it's up to Quasimodo to rescue her and claim sanctuary for her in the cathedral.
Herbert G. Muskett
Following the banning and burning of his novel, "The Rainbow," D.H. Lawrence and his wife, Frieda, move to the United States, and then to Mexico. When Lawrence contracts tuberculosis, they return to England for a short time, then to Italy, where Lawrence writes "Lady Chatterley's Lover."
Hobson
Arthur is a 30-year-old child who will inherit $750 million if he complies with his family's demands and marries the woman of their choosing.
Master of Trinity
In the class-obsessed and religiously divided UK of the early 1920s, two determined young runners train for the 1924 Paris Olympics. Eric Liddell, a devout Christian born to Scottish missionaries in China, sees running as part of his worship of God's glory and refuses to train or compete on the Sabbath. Harold Abrahams overcomes anti-Semitism and class bias, but neglects his beloved sweetheart in his single-minded quest.
Sharif El Gariani
This movie tells the story of Omar Mukhtar, an Arab Muslim rebel who fought against the Italian conquest of Libya in WWII. It gives western viewers a glimpse into this little-known region and chapter of history, and exposes the savage means by which the conquering army attempted to subdue the natives.
Marquis of Caterhan
When two mysterious deaths mar an otherwise pleasant weekend in the English countryside, unflappable flapper Lady Eileen Brent teams up with the dashing Jimmy Thesinger to solve the dastardly deeds. Their sleuthing leads them into a world of espionage and international intrigue as they discover a secret society known as "The Seven Dials" and the attempted theft of top-secret government documents.
Abdu-Hamdi
Egyptologist Erica Baron finds more than she bargained for during her long-planned trip to The Land of the Pharoahs - murder, theft, betrayal, love, and a mummy's curse!
Dr. Abraham Esau
While investigating the death of a friend and fellow cop, Los Angeles police officer Barney Caine stumbles across evidence that Nazis created a synthetic alternative to gasoline during World War II. This revelation has the potential to end the established global oil industry, making the formula a very valuable and dangerous piece of information. Eventually, Caine must contend with oil tycoon Adam Steiffel, who clearly has his own agenda regarding the formula.
Carr Gomm
A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his "owner" as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity. Based on the true story of Joseph Merrick (called John Merrick in the film), a severely deformed man in 19th century London.
Reverend Jones
This intriguing story is set in the 1930s at a country house, where two amateur sleuths, Bobby Jones and Lady Frankie Derwent, try to unravel the mystery behind a tale of murder, suspense and false identities. And the only clues the two have to go on are the puzzling last words of a dying man. Featuring characters created by Agatha Christie, Why Didn't They Ask Evans is a classic crime thriller sure to please murder-mystery fans.
John Lasocki
A violinist in a provincial Polish orchestra, whose husband is the director of the ensemble, on a visit to the US ties up with the world- renowned symphony conductor. As it turns out he was once in love with violinist's mother. The conductor, a slightly unstable hypochondriac, returns to Poland to lead the provincial orchestra. He also tries to revive old love affair using the violinist as a surrogate of her mother. Her husband is resentful of the conductor for both personal and professional reasons.
Brigadier Tomlinson
A low-ranking Secret Service agent is conned into supplying information to Eastern Bloc countries. Although he is not a suspect due to his unimportant position, when his office partner is hauled in as a suspect he realises he has got himself into very deep water.
Nerva
The perversion behind imperial Rome, the epic story of Rome's mad Emporer. All the details of his cruel, bizarre reign are revealed right here: His unholy sexual passion for his sister, his marriage to Rome's most infamous prostitute, his fiendishly inventive means of disposing those who would oppose him, and more.
Jelks
Invited to a weekend house party by Sir Basil Turton and his younger wife Natalia, John Bannister is struck by the lady's infidelity. She tries to undo his pajamas and is plainly having an affair with another guest Major Haddock. Jelks, Sir Basil's loyal butler, has also noticed and when Natalia gets her head stuck in an abstract sculpture he knows precisely how to cut her down to size.
Prime Minister Lord Salisbury
Sherlock Holmes is drawn into the case of Jack the Ripper who is killing prostitutes in London's East End. Assisted by Dr. Watson, and using information provided by a renowned psychic, Robert Lees, Holmes finds that the murders may have its roots in a Royal indiscretion and that a cover-up is being managed by politicians at the highest level, all of whom happen to be Masons.
Gillenormand
Jean Valjean, convicted of stealing bread, is hounded for decades by the relentless and cruel policeman Javert.
John of Gaunt
Richard II, who ascended the throne as a child, is a regal and stately monarch. He believes he is the rightful ruler of England, ordained by God, yet he is a weak and ineffective king - wasteful in his spending habits, unwise in his choise of chansellors, and detached from his country and its people. When he seizes the land of his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, both the commoners and the barons decide that their king has gone too far...
Chorus
Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes a pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows doth with their death bury their parents' strife.
Spooner
'No Man's Land' is a play by Harold Pinter written in 1974 and first performed in 1975. In this 1978, TV adaptation, a seedy poet shows up at the home of a rich writer and they start reminiscing about the 'past,' in a menacing, Pinteresque fashion.
The Preacher
Bosco Hogan plays Joyce's alter-ego, Stephen Daedelus, growing up in Ireland in the early part of the 20th century, and at odds with the strictures of his Catholic home and family. The film charts his search for knowledge and understanding, during a decline in his family's circumstances, that leads him to revelations on the nature of art, beauty and politics. However his personal renaissance makes him feel unwelcome in his own country, and forces him to make a choice between exile as artist or staying and facing personal defeat.
Captain Shotover
Captain Shotover, a retired seafarer, is reluctantly hosting a weekend house party for his two daughters and their bohemian friends. As they indulge in dangerous flirtations, will anyone notice their drift to destruction?
Inquisitor
The Grand Inquisitor from Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov produced by the Open University.
The Doctor
Lady Booby alias 'Belle', the lively wife of the fat landed squire Sir Thomas Booby, has a lusty eye on the attractive, intelligent villager Joseph Andrews, a Latin pupil and protégé of parson Adams, and makes him their footman. Joseph's heart belongs to a country girl, foundling Fanny Goodwill, but his masters take him on a fashionable trip to Bath, where the spoiled society comes mainly to see and be seen, but drowns in the famous Roman baths. When the all but grieving lady finds Joseph's Christian virtue and true love resist her lusting passes just as well as the many ladies who fancy her footman, she fires the boy. He's found and nursed by an innkeeper's maid, which stirs lusts there, again besides his honorable conduct, but is found by the good parson.
Clive Langham
On the eve of his 78th birthday, the ailing, alcoholic writer Clive Langham spends a painful and sleepless night mentally composing and recomposing scenes for a novel in which characters based on his own family are shaped by his fantasies and memories, alongside his caustic commentary on their behaviour.
Narrator
Peter Pan is a 1976 musical adaptation of J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, produced for television as part of the Hallmark Hall of Fame, starring Mia Farrow as Peter Pan and Danny Kaye as Captain Hook, and with Sir John Gielgud narrating. Julie Andrews sang one of the songs, "Once Upon a Bedtime", off-camera over the opening credits. It aired on NBC at 7:30pm on Sunday, December 12, 1976, capping off the program's 25th year on the air. The program did not use the score written for the highly successful Mary Martin version which had previously been televised many times on NBC. Instead, it featured 14 new and now forgotten songs, written for the production by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse.
Lord Henry Wotton
In Victorian England, handsome Dorian Gray (Peter Firth) makes a Faustian deal that his portrait painted by Basil Hallward (Jeremy Brett) will age while he remains young. But his vain bargain eventually leads to murder and destroys Gray's life. This 1976 installment of the BBC's long-running "Play of the Month" television series co-stars Gwen Ffrangcon Davies, Judi Bowker and John Gielgud as Lord Henry Wotton.
Headmaster
The first World War is in its third year and aerial combat above the Western Front is consuming the nation's favored children at an appalling rate. By early 1917, the average life-span of a British pilot is less than a fortnight. Such losses place a fearsome strain on Gresham, commanding officer of the squadron. Aces High recreates the early days of the Royal Flying Corps with some magnificently staged aerial battles, and sensitive direction presents a moving portrayal of the futilities of war.
The Old Cardinal
Challenged by a new student, tutor and theorist Galileo co-opts emerging telescope technology and discovers irrefutable proof of the heretical notion that the earth is not the center of the universe. But in a rigid society ruled by an uneasy alliance of aristocracy and clergy already undermined by the Plague and the Reformation, science is a threat and enlightenment is a luxury. Faced with either death at the hands of the Inquisition or recantation to a hypocritical but all-powerful Papacy, Galileo must choose between his own life and the restless scientific curiosity that he has spurned family, friends, and wealth to pursue.
Mr. Beddoes
In 1935, when his train is stopped by deep snow, detective Hercule Poirot is called on to solve a murder that occurred in his car the night before.
Meecham
A small time diamond merchant jumps at the chance to supervise the purchase and cutting of a large first class diamond. But when the diamond is stolen from him, he is blackmailed into pulling off a major heist at the Diamond Exchange, located at 11 Harrowhouse.
Chief Constable
Victor Frankenstein witnesses his creation turn uncontrollable after he's duped by his associate, Dr. Polidori.
Farrell
Rod Slater is the newly appointed general manager of the Sonderditch gold mine, but he stumbles across an ingenious plot to flood the mine, by drilling into an underground lake, so the unscrupulous owners can make a killing in the international gold market.
Chang
While escaping war-torn China, a group of Europeans crash in the Himalayas, where they are rescued and taken to the mysterious Valley of the Blue Moon, Shangri-La.
Harold L. Streeter (as Sir John Gielgud)
Pilot for sci-fi detective series "Search." Hugh O'Brian as Lockwood, a high-tech private eye, was outfitted with two electronic implants (one to hear what was said at HQ and a dental contact he could bite to communicate with HQ--one bite for yes and two bites for no) and a button-sized "scanner" that combined a micro-miniaturized television camera that could also see in infrared spectrum, microphone, medical sensors, and transmitter, putting him in constant contact with a room full of experts monitoring his actions and vital signs and supplying him with encyclopedic information.
Lord Sissal
1815. A soldier becomes the governor of St. Helena and jailer of Napoleon
Harry
David Storey's adaptation of his award winning play for the BBC's Play for Today series.
Julius Caesar
All-star cast glamorizes this lavish 1970 remake of the classic William Shakespeare play, which portrays the assassination of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March, and the resulting war between the faction led by the assassins and the faction led by Mark Anthony.
Count Leopold Von Berchtold
Satire about the First World War based on a stage musical of the same name, portraying the "Game of War" and focusing mainly on the members of one family (last name Smith) who go off to war. Much of the action in the movie revolves around the words of the marching songs of the soldiers, and many scenes portray some of the more famous (and infamous) incidents of the war, including the assassination of Duke Ferdinand, the Christmas meeting between British and German soldiers in no-mans-land, and the wiping out by their own side of a force of Irish soldiers newly arrived at the front, after successfully capturing a ridge that had been contested for some time.
The Elder pope
All eyes focus on the Vatican, watching for the traditional puffs of white smoke that signal the election of the next Pope. This time much more is at stake. The new pontiff may be the only person who can bring peace to a world on the brink of nuclear nightmare.
Curt Valayan
A private eye is hired by an insurance company to investigate a shipping magnate suspected of deliberately sinking his own ships for the insurance money. He finds himself involved in a web of deception, double-crossing and murder.
Lord Raglan
A chronicle of events that led to the British involvement in the Crimean War against Russia and which led to the siege of Sevastopol and the fierce Battle of Balaclava on October 25, 1854 which climaxed with the heroic, but near-disastrous calvary charge made by the British Light Brigade against a Russian artillery battery in a small valley which resulted in the near-destruction of the brigade due to error of judgement and rash planning on part by the inept British commanders.
Head of Intelligence
Sebastian is an undisciplined mathematics genius who works in the "cipher bureau" of the British Intelligence. While cracking enemy codes, Sebastian finds time to romance co-worker Rebecca Howard.
Narrator (voice)
French director Frederic Rossif presents this historical documentary that coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. Stock footage from both World Wars are included with 30 minutes of new scenes filmed especially for the project. The historical timeline is traced from the time Czar Nicholas II is crowned. The emergence of Lenin, his death in 1924, and the later contributions of Trotsky and Stalin give the viewer a sense of death, betrayal, and ideological devotion to the communist agenda. Rossif effectively uses scenes from the landmark 1929 film The Man With A Movie Camera by celebrated director Dziga Vertov. Rossif researched the film archives from several countries in his meticulous gathering of materials for this timely historical feature.
Mock Turtle
Alice in Wonderland (1966) is a BBC television play based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. It was directed by Jonathan Miller, then most widely known for his appearance in the long-running satirical revue Beyond the Fringe.
Gabriel Quantara
When a Rolls Royce damages a scooter, the furious owner goes to seek redress, and finds herself face to face with a millionaire capitalist.
Performance of extracts from The Ages of Man is a one-man show performed by John Gielgud featuring a collection of speeches in Shakespeare's plays. When the genius of Shakespeare is wedded to the unsurpassed skills of one of the finest actors of this, or any other, age, something extraordinary happens.
Sir Francis Hinsley
Newly arrived in Hollywood from England, Dennis Barlow finds he has to arrange his uncle's interment at the highly-organised and very profitable Whispering Glades funeral parlour. His fancy is caught by one of their cosmeticians, Aimee Thanatogenos. But he has three problems - the strict rules of owner Blessed Reverand Glenworthy, the rivalry of embalmer Mr Joyboy, and the shame of now working himself at The Happy Hunting Ground pets' memorial home.
Henry IV
The culmination of Orson Welles’s lifelong obsession with Shakespeare’s robustly funny and ultimately tragic antihero, Sir John Falstaff; the often soused friend of King Henry IV’s wayward son Prince Hal. Integrating elements from both Henry IV plays as well as Richard II, Henry V, and The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Ghost (voice)
A stage production of Hamlet filmed at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York.
Director
A stage production of Hamlet filmed at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York.
King Louis of France / King Louis VII of France
King Henry II of England has trouble with the Church. When the Archbishop of Canterbury dies, he has a brilliant idea. Rather than appoint another pious cleric loyal to Rome and the Church, he will appoint his old drinking and wenching buddy, Thomas Becket, technically a deacon of the church, to the post. Unfortunately, Becket takes the job seriously and provides abler opposition to Henry.
Narrator (English version) (voice)
Morir en Madrid brings together several papers on the Spanish Civil War and integrates capturing different points of view, intended to represent the continuity of the suffering of the Spanish during the Franco regime. The death of Federico Garcia Lorca, Guernica, the defense of Madrid, the International Brigades, are some of the items comprised in this document.
Gaev
Madame Ranevsky and her daughter Anya return home from Paris to find that their beloved family estate and cherry orchard are to be auctioned off to pay debts. Lopahin, a former serf on the estate who is now a wealthy landowner, proposes razing the home and cherry orchard and dividing the estate into plots that could be leased at great profit. The family, however, continues to hold out hope that their beloved home can somehow be saved from destruction.
Earl of Warwick
Young Joan of Arc comes to the palace in France to make The Dauphin King of France and is appointed to head the French Army. After winning many battles she is not needed any longer and soon she is thought of as a witch.
Edward Moulton-Barrett
Director Sidney Franklin's 1957 remake of his own 1934 film, about the romance of poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning.
Foster
Based on the famous book by Jules Verne the movie follows Phileas Fogg on his journey around the world. Which has to be completed within 80 days, a very short period for those days.
George, Duke of Clarence
Having helped his brother King Edward IV take the throne of England, the jealous hunchback Richard, Duke of York, plots to seize power for himself. Masterfully deceiving and plotting against nearly everyone in the royal court, including his eventual wife, Lady Anne, and his brother George, Duke of Clarence, Richard orchestrates a bloody rise to power before finding all his gains jeopardized by those he betrayed.
Chorus
In Shakespeare's classic play, the Montagues and Capulets, two families of Renaissance Italy, have hated each other for years, but the son of one family and the daughter of the other fall desperately in love and secretly marry.
John Gielgud
One of the greatest Hamlets of the 20th century Sir John Gielgud reflects on the play and its title character with which he used to be intimately associated for ever since 1929.
Cassius
The assassination of the would be ruler of Rome at the hands of Brutus and company has tragic consequences for the idealist and the republic.
Narrator
Len Lye made this experiment in animating poetry circa 1953 utilising a clip of Sir John Gielgud reciting a passage from The Tempest.
Hamlet
This brief documentary-style film presents the status of Great Britain near the end of the Second World War by means of a visual diary for a baby boy born in September, 1944. Narration explains to "Timothy" what his family, his neighbors, and his fellow citizens are going through as the war nears its end, and what problems may remain for new Englishmen like Timothy to solve.
Narrator
A Royal Air Force (RAF) airman who dies during a mission has left a letter to be sent to his mother upon his death.
Disraeli
Directed by Thorold Dickinson.
Richard Ashenden / Edgar Brodie
After three British agents are assigned to assassinate a mysterious German spy during World War I, two of them become ambivalent when their duty to the mission conflicts with their consciences.
Inigo Jollifant
Film musical taken from JB Priestley's novel about three musicians joining together to save a failing concert party, the Dinky Doos.
Rex Trasmere
A wealthy recluse is murdered in an absolutely sealed room.
Daniel
Daniel Arnault an impecunious sculptor, is in love with the beautiful Genevieve. Spurred on by her mercenary and socially ambitious mother , Genevieve consents to marry Daniel's wealthy brother Albert (Langhorn Burton). In despair, Daniel sinks into drug addiction. However the marriage is not a success,...
Nerva
A completely new version of the most infamous movie in film history. The perversion behind imperial Rome, the epic story of Rome's mad Emporer Caligula. All the details of his cruel, bizarre reign are revealed right here: His unholy sexual passion for his sister, his marriage to Rome's most infamous prostitute, his fiendishly inventive means of disposing those who would oppose him, and more.
