The Great Chase (DVD)
A compilation of famous chase scenes from great silent films of the past, including THE GENERAL, WAY DOWN EAST, THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY, THE MARK OF ZORRO, THE PERILS OF PAULINE and many more.NR"
ACTORS: Douglas Fairbanks, Lillian Gish, William S. Hart, Buster Keaton, Marion Mack
Rubinstein, Heifetz, Piatigorsky (DVD)
Restored from the archives of EMI Classics, this DVD features the following performances: Artur Rubenstein - Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4; Jascha Heifetz - Mendelssohn Violin Concerto (1st Movement); Gregor Piatigorski - Walton: Cello Concerto.NR"
La Sentinelle (DVD)
Mathias leaves Germany to study medicine in Paris. On the train, he gets hassled and threatened by a mysterious man, who disappears. He later discovers a human head in his luggage and becomes obsessed with it. His subsequent investigation leads him to the French Secret Service, where he unknowingly becomes the target of their violent attentions.NR"
Director: Arnaud Desplechin
ACTORS: Emmanuel Salinger, Thibault De Montalembert, Jean-Louis Richard, Marianne Denicourt
Earth/The End of St. Petersburg/Chess Fever (DVD)
This three film collection features three important early Soviet films. First up is Vsevolod Pudovkin`s THE END OF ST. PETERSBURG, made to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution. Following it are two films from Alexander Dovzhenko, EARTH and CHESS FEVER. See individual titles for details.NR"
Director: Vsevolod Pudovkin|Alexander Dovzhenko
ACTORS: Vladimir Fogel
Red Beard (DVD) Criterion Collection In his final collaboration with Akira Kurosawa, Toshirt Mifune portrays Dr. Kyojio Red Beard Niide, a gruff but caring head doctor at a 19th-century clinic for the poor. Sorely in need of competent assistance, Re...
In his final collaboration with Akira Kurosawa, Toshirt Mifune portrays Dr. Kyojio Red Beard Niide, a gruff but caring head doctor at a 19th-century clinic for the poor. Sorely in need of competent assistance, Red Beard takes on a new intern, the ambitious Noboru Yasumoto (Yuzo Kayama). However, Yasumoto isn`t made aware of his appointment until after he`s visited the facility and seen its grim conditions and impoverished patients. Initially, the brash young physician rebels against the wise elder and declines his duties, but gradually Yasumoto begins to respect Red Beard and his difficult yet essential work. As Yasumoto slowly acclimates to the clinic, the story also follows the lives (and deaths) of various patients.
Truly the end of an era, RED BEARD marks the dissolution of the Kurosawa/Mifune partnership and also Kurosawa`s last black-and-white production. Although surprisingly little has been written about the rift between Mifune and Kurosawa, it`s likely that tensions were largely due to the film`s grueling two-year shoot. Despite the drama behind the camera, RED BEARD remains one of Kurosawa`s underrated classics. Although Mifune is best known for his earlier roles as an impetuous youth, here he gives a mature, though no less vital, performance, echoing the mentor character Takashi Shimura played in STRAY DOG, SEVEN SAMURAI, and other Kurosawa movies. (However, Mifune does get one action-packed, YOJIMBO-worthy fight scene.) In turn, Kayama admirably fills the role of the headstrong young intern. A sort of period-piece MASH or ER, RED BEARD is a moving drama that uses doctors and patients to address the timeless notion of trying to be a good person in an often cruel world.
NR"
Director: Akira Kurosawa
