The Iron Horse was John Ford's 50th film and remains his most celebrated of the silent era. Its theme of enterprise and achievement, its open-air locations and setting in a vigorous and pioneering past proved just the subject to stimulate the young director's talent. The sheer scale of the film surpassed all other Westerns of the silent era, and established Ford as one of the leading directors in the industry. The film combines a conventional tale of double-dealing, vengeance and romance with a poetic sense of history, and an epic theme - uniting a nation by building a transcontinental railroad, and a great man's dream realised by the courage, skill and labour of ordinary folk.
From director Frank Borzage (Desire) comes 'Little Man, What Now?', a romantic drama starring Margaret Sullavan (The Shop Around the Corner) and Douglass Montgomery (Little Women). In depression-era Germany, Hans (Montgomery) and his pregnant wife Emma (Sullavan) - affectionately known as 'Lammchen' - struggle to keep their heads above water. Their situation is complicated when Hans' boss, who believes him to be a bachelor, demands that he marry his daughter. Based on the best-selling novel by Hans Fallada (Alone in Berlin) that has been adapted on numerous occasions in its native Germany, 'Little Man, What Now?' is a heart-rending tale of life on the margins.
Business tycoons Saccard and Gunderman lock horns when the former tries to raise capital for his faltering bank. To inflate his stock, Saccard concocts a duplicitous publicity stunt involving the unwitting aviator Hamelin and a flight across the Atlantic, much to the dismay of his wife Line. The Hamelins become pawns in a high-stakes chess game played out by unscrupulous speculators.
When her sister is attacked and murdered, swordswoman Feng Fei-fei (Lily Ho) knows just what to do - find the culprits and slice 'em up. But her righteous vengeance is compromised when she learns just who her target is: the man her parents have arranged for her to marry... Strikingly directed by Kao Pao-shu - notable as one of the few women who handled martial arts movies - 'Lady With a Sword' has an emotional power to match its outstanding fight scenes, as justice, family loyalties and inflexible tradition all collide.
Harry Callahan is a tough, streetwise San Francisco cop whom they call Dirty Harry. In this action classic, you'll see why - and also why Clint Eastwood's reputation as a premier film star and movie maker is secure. A rooftop sniper (Andy Robinson) calling himself Scorpio has killed twice and holds the city ransom with the threat of killing again. Harry will nail him... one way or the other - no matter what the 'system' prescribes. Filming on location, director Don Siegel made the City by the Bay a vital part of 'Dirty Harry', a practice continued in its four sequels. The original remains one of the most gripping police thrillers ever made.
An undisputed master of melodrama, director Douglas Sirk is best known for the lavish, sweeping romances he made during the last decade of his career, including Magnificent Obsession. All That Heaven Allows. Written on the Wind and Imitation of Life. But by the time Sirk - born Hans Detlef Sierck - arrived in Hollywood, he had already made several films in his native Germany. The Masters Of Cinema series is honoured to present this collection of Sirk's earliest films, all of which established a blueprint for his later work: April Fool! (April! April!). The Girl from Marsh Croft (Das Madchen vom Moorhof) and Pillars of Society (Stiitzen der Gesellschaff). In Sirk's directorial debut - the comedy April Fool!-a businessman and shameless social climber. Julius Lampe (Erhard Siedel). is subjected to a cruel April Fools' Day prank when he is led to believe a noble prince (Albrecht Schoenhals) intends to personally inspect his pasta factory. Then, in Sirk's first melodrama The Girl from Marsh Croft, farmer Karsten Dittmar (Kurt Fischer-Fehling) falls in love with the disreputable young maid Helga Christmann (Hansi Knoteck) - much to the dismay of his Fiancee Gertrud Gerhart (Ellen Frank). Finally, in Pillars of Society, wealthy Norwegian shipbuilder Consul Karsten Bernick (Heinrich George) must face up to a lifetime of corruption and deceit when farmer Johann Tonnessen (Albrecht Schoenhals) returns to Norway after a twenty-year absence and discovers that Bernick has smeared his good name. Presented alongside Sirk's shorts Two Greyhounds (Zwei Windhunde). Three Times Before (DreimalFhe) and The Imaginary Invalid (Der eingebildeteKranke). these three features - all released in 1935 - showcase the burgeoning talents of a filmmaker who would go on to become one of the most important figures in the history of Hollywood cinema. Sirk's early works are presented here on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK from brand-new restorations by the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation.
1954 Paris, Victor Le Garrec, a former professional boxer, runs a gym and works hard to train young recruits to achieve the goals he wasn't able to reach during his professional career. He feels this is finally possible when he recognizes the potential in Andre Menard, a young railway worker. Victor offers to train him and André accepts willingly, although he soon realizes that Victor's wife Blanche (Arletty) is not happy with the arrangement. Andre's attention is soon drawn away from his training when he starts to have an affair with a wealthy young woman, Corinne (Marie Daems). In the end, he may have to choose between the woman he loves and his career as a world-class boxer...
Samantha Caine (Geena Davis), a suburban schoolteacher, suffers from amnesia. When her mysterious past begins to haunt her idyllic life, she sets out on a desperate search to discover her true identity. Aided by Mitch Henessey (Samuel L. Jackson), a dead-beat private detective, she follows a trail of clues into the middle of a terrorist conspiracy in the U.S. Intelligence community. They slowly learn that Caine is much more that a soft spoken teacher. Repressed from her memory is her former life as Charly Baltimore, a highly trained secret agent and killer .But Charly is slowly re-emerging, which spells trouble for the terrorists, and anybody else who gets in her way...
Throne of Blood (1957)Kumonosu-Jô / The Castle of the Spider's Web / Cobweb Castle / Spider Web Castle
Kurosawa's transposition of Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' to sixteenth century Japan is immensely successful in capturing the spirit of the original. A truly remarkable film combining beauty and terror to produce a mood of haunting power. 'Throne of Blood' also shows Kurosawa's familiar mastery of atmosphere, action and the savagery of war.
The Hotel du Nord is a family-run hotel on the edge of the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris. As the family is celebrating a first communion, a young couple checks in, planning a double suicide. Only one shot is fired, and the man, Pierre (Jean-Pierre Aumont), flees leaving his lover, Renee (Annabella), to die in the room. But, he leaves the gun behind and she survives. A series of convoluted affairs between hotel patrons and staff, as well as passion-fuelled travels across France, ensue - all to end the story in perfect symmetry.
'Sanjuro' was a film made in response to popular demand. The previous year Kurosawa had scored a huge critical and commercial hit for his own production company with Yojimbo, which introduced the character calling himself 'Sanjuro' (which means simply 'thirty years old'), the scruffy, mercenary, cynical ronin (masterless samurai) played by Toshiro Mifune. The public had taken this maverick figure to their hearts and demanded a sequel. Originally Kurosawa had planned to give the script to another director, Hiromichi Horikawa, but finally decided to take it on himself.
In this compelling tale of obsession, teenage siblings Paul (Edouard Dermithe) and Elisabeth (Nicole Stéphane) create an intense, private world in their shared room. They live, sleep, bicker and play out erotically charged games within their chambre, without heed to the world around them. However, when outsiders intrude into their disturbingly private realm, the scene is set for tragedy.
Director Vincent Sherman's 1941 classic. As the people of Germany adapt to life under Nazi rule, two brothers find themselves on opposite sides of the country's new philosophy. Eric (Philip Dorn) is the leader of a resistance group, broadcasting clandestine radio messages telling the nation the truth about the war and Germany's new regime. His younger brother Kurt (Jeffrey Lynn) a solider maimed in the fighting, returns home from the frontline a true believer, dedicated to the cause. A gripping drama unfurls as the brothers' lives become intertwined when Kurt is tasked by the Gestapo to undercover the voice of the resistance.
Errol Flynn made his name portraying dashing heroes who clasped a sword in one hand and a maiden in the other. Audiences loved Flynn's devil-may-care bravado as much as they admired his athletic grace and astonishing good looks. 'Adventures of Don Juan' was his first swashbuckler in nine years - and a glorious reprise it is, directed with gusto by Vincent Sherman. In the title role, Flynn is a wiser, warmer, wittier version of his earlier characters as he rescues the Spanish queen (Viveca Lindfors) from the snares of an evil duke. Oscar-winning costumes and super sets (including a knockout grand staircase) create a lavish atmosphere for dalliances with married beauties, narrow dungeon escapes and duels aplenty. En garde!
The enigmatic samurai in Yojimbo is played by the great Toshiro Mifune as a scruffy, scratching, itinerant warrior who wanders into a strange town and right into the middle of two warring clans. Showing his skills with the samurai sword within minutes of his arrival, he soon has the town's rival factions competing for his services.Kurosawa's genius for storytelling combines with thrilling swordplay, a healthy dose of black humour, a soundtrack every bit as atmospheric and amusing as Ennio Morricone's, and a towering performance from Mifune, to make 'Yojimbo' an irresistible widescreen action movie.
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