The King and I (DVD)
Rogers and Hammerstein`s Broadway musical, adapted from Margaret Landon`s fact-based novel and the 1946 film ANNA AND THE KING OF SIAM, makes a spectacularly successful move to the silver screen in the Yul Brynner tour de force THE KING AND I. Brynner, reprising the role he`d polished to perfection on stage, plays the blustering, headstrong Siamese potentate who meets his match in the form of Anna Leonowens (Deborah Kerr), the prim and proper English widow he`s hired to oversee the rearing of his huge, unruly flock of children.
Director Walter Lang (TIN PAN ALLEY) presents THE KING AND I, one of the most popular musicals in cinema history, as a dizzyingly bountiful Technicolor feast. Kerr (aided during songs by the overdubbed voice of Marni Nixon) contributes a dynamic performance that is every bit the equal of Brynner`s transcendent, career-defining turn, for which he won an Academy Award. The delightful score, which also garnered an Oscar, includes three perennial favorite show tunes: I Whistle a Happy Tune, Getting to Know You, and Shall We Dance? G"
Director: Walter Lang
ACTORS: Deborah Kerr, Yul Brynner, Rita Moreno, Martin Benson, Terry Saunders
Life of Mammals - Complete Set (DVD) Four Disc Set David Attenborough narrates this ambitious nature project containing hours of amazing footage of a variety of mammals in their natural habitat. Created for the BBC on the heels of other Attenborough programs such as THE L...
David Attenborough narrates this ambitious nature project containing hours of amazing footage of a variety of mammals in their natural habitat. Created for the BBC on the heels of other Attenborough programs such as THE LIFE OF BIRDS and the Emmy-winning BLUE PLANET.
NR"
Beat the Devil/Humphrey Bogart on Film (DVD)
John Huston and Truman Capote co-wrote the screenplay while working on location. A whimsical parody of The Maltese Falcon and other 1940`s detective movies in which Bogart so often starred (and Huston directed).Tells of the exploits of a group of travelers on a steamboat who each hopes to carry off a huge swindle in the uranium fields of Northern Africa. While not a commercial success upon its release, the film has come to define the genre of spy movie spoofs. Also includes a biographical documentary, HUMPHREY BOGART ON FILM, presented by Tony Curtis.NR"
Director: John Huston
ACTORS: Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida, Robert Morley, Peter Lorre
Le Boucher (DVD)
Very little happens, and all of the sordid criminal events take place off screen in Claude Chabrol`s exquisitely detached and austerely abstract murder mystery set in the Perigord region of central France. At the center of the intrigue is Chabrol`s frequent collaborator and wife, Stephane Audran, who plays Mademoiselle Hilhne, the beautiful and brash, yet shy and retiring local school teacher. As the film begins, Mlle. Hilhne is at a festive local wedding enjoying the company of brusque and earnest Popaul, the local butcher. Popaul speaks roughly of his bloody experiences as a soldier, yet shows a sentimental gentility towards Mlle. Hilhne. As the two engage in a sweet, if unlikely, courtship, the town falls victim to a serial killer who is brutally murdering local women--including the bride at the wedding. The atmosphere of the film becomes rife with subtle yet chilling suspense as Mlle. Hilhne simultaneously draws closer to Popaul, just as she is beginning to suspect him as the murderer. As the tension builds, so does the intricate interplay between the conflicting yet similar characters of Mlle. Hilhne and Popaul, resulting in a final explosion of violent acts.NR"
Director: Claude Chabrol
ACTORS: Stiphane Audran, Jean Yanne
Sam the Iron Bridge (VHS)
This follow-up to WHITE LOTUS CULT finds tough-guy Sam Liang (a.k.a. The Iron Bridge ) embarking on a quest to become the Governor of Canton by winning a prestigious martial arts championship. Followed by ONE ARM HERO.NR"
Director: Fung Pak-Yuen
