ClassicsFor sheer pageantry and spectacle, few motion pictures can claim to equal the splendor of Cecil B. DeMille’s 1956 remake of his epic “The Ten Commandments”. Filmed in Egypt and the Sinai with one of the biggest sets ever constructed for a motion picture, this version tells the story of the life of Moses (Charlton Heston), once favoured in the Pharaoh’s (Yul Brynner) household, who turned his back on a privileged life to lead his people to freedom. With a rare on-screen introduction by Cecil B. DeMille himself.
ClassicsBeginning before the Nativity and extending though the Crucifixion and Resurrection, "Jesus of Nazareth" brings to life all the majesty and sweeping drama of the life of Jesus (portrayed here by Robert Powell) as told in the Gospels. A star-studded cast featuring Michael York, Sir Laurence Olivier, James Earl Jones, Anne Bancroft, Olivia Hussey, Rod Steiger and Anthony Quinn, adds depth and humanity to the roles of the saints, sinners and ordinary people who walked in the footsteps of the Lord. The film provides the setting and background for the birth, childhood, baptism, teaching, and many miracles of the Messiah, culminating in the Divine Resurrection. Directed by Oscar(R) nominee Franco Zeffirelli ("Romeo&Juliet", "The Champ", "Jane Eyre", "Endless Love") and acclaimed by critics and religious leaders worldwide, "Jesus of Nazareth" tells the greatest of all stories with tremendous emotion and splendor.
ClassicsThe year is 1936. Orphaned Addie Loggins (Tatum O'Neal, in her film debut) is left in the care of unethical traveling Bible salesman Moses Pray (Ryan O'Neal, Tatum's dad), who may or may not be her father. En route to Addie's relatives, Moses learns that the 9-year-old is quite a handful: she smokes, cusses, and is almost as devious and manipulative as he is. They join forces as swindlers, working together so well that Addie is averse to breaking up the team — which is one reason that she sabotages the romance between Moses and good-time gal Trixie Delight (Madeline Kahn). Later, while attempting to square a $200 debt that Addie claims he owes her, Moses runs afoul of of a bootlegger (John Hillerman) and is nearly beaten to death by the criminal's twin-brother sheriff. Painfully pulling himself together, Moses gets Addie to her relatives, whereupon she adamantly refuses to leave his side. Photographed in black-and-white by Laszlo Kovacs, the film was made largely on location in Kansa
ClassicsCary Grant plays John Robie, reformed jewel thief who was once known as The Cat, in this suspenseful Alfred Hitchcock classic thriller. Robie is suspected of a new rash of gem thefts in the luxury hotels of the French Riviera, and he must set out to clear himself. Meeting pampered heiress Frances (Grace Kelly), he sees a chance to bait the mysterious thief with her mother's (Jessie Royce Landis) fabulous jewels. His plan backfires, however, but Frances, who believes him guilty, proves her love by helping him escape. In a spine-tingling climax, the real criminal is exposed.
ClassicsThe U.S.S. Sea Tiger is on it's last legs until the submarine captain and his ingenious (if slightly unethical) supply officer scavenge the parts and supplies needed to get their dry-dock sub back into WWII action. However, a bevy of beautiful nurses comes aboard, causing hijinks in the hot pink sub. The inimitable pairing of Grant and Curtis, as the irascible captain and his sleazy subordinate, make the film a true classic.
ClassicsCelebrate the 50th anniversary of the intergalactic cult classic starring Jane Fonda! Barbarella is an interstellar space-traveler who crash lands on the planet Lythion in the year 40,000. Encountering trouble everywhere she goes, Barbarella uses every asset and every man at her disposal, to complete her mission to seek out and stop the evil Durand Durand. Whether she is wrestling with Black Guards, the evil Queen, or the angel Pygar (John Phillip Law) she just can't seem to avoid losing at least a part of her skin-tight space suit!
ClassicsMartin Scorsese Presents Republic Rediscovered—over 20 rarely seen films from the storied Republic Pictures library, restored and remastered by Paramount and personally curated by Martin Scorsese. The Quiet Man is an essential, Oscar winning John Ford film featuring John Wayne as a retired boxer who makes a pilgrimage to his home village in Ireland. He meets his match in a spirited young woman, only to find himself confronted by her belligerent brother and the town’s strict customs. In 2002, the film made AFI’s list of one hundred greatest love stories.
ClassicsAbsolute power corrupts in 'Caligula: The Ultimate Cut', an extensive reconstruction of the notorious 1980 spectacle. Shadowed by the murder of his family, Caligula (Malcolm McDowell) eliminates his devious adoptive grandfather (Peter O’Toole) and seizes control of the Roman Empire alongside his wife Caesonia (Helen Mirren) before descending into a spiral of depravity, destruction, and madness.
ClassicsIn Sydney Pollack's critically acclaimed suspense-thriller, Robert Redford (SPY GAME) stars as CIA Agent Joe Turner. Code name: Condor. When his entire office is massacred, Turner goes on the run from his enemies…and his so-called allies. After reporting the murders to his superiors, the organization wants to bring Condor in – but somebody is trying to take him out. In his frantic hunt for answers, and in a desperate run for his life, Turner abducts photographer Kathy Hale) Faye Dunaway, THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR), eventually seducing her into helping him. Every twist leads Condor to the end of his nerves…and will take you to the edge of your seat. With nowhere to turn and no one to trust, Turner realizes his most dangerous enemy may be closer than he ever feared. And as he zeroes in on the truth, he discovers there are some secrets people would kill to keep.
ClassicsA battle of gigantic proportions is looming in the neon underground of New York City. The armies of the night number 100,000; they outnumber the police 5 to 1; and tonight they're after the Warriors—a street gang blamed unfairly for a rival gang leader's death. This contemporary action-adventure story takes place at night, underground, in the sub-culture of gang warfare that rages from Coney Island to Manhattan to the Bronx. Members of the Warriors fight for their lives, seek to survive in the urban jungle and learn the meaning of loyalty. This intense and stylized film is a dazzling achievement for cinematographer Andrew Laszlo.
ClassicsAcclaimed director George Stevens’ legendary rendition of the quintessential Western myth earned six Academy Award® nominations, and made Shane one of the classics of the American cinema. The story brings Alan Ladd, a drifter and retired gunfighter, to the assistance of a homestead family terrorized by a wealthy cattleman and his hired gun (Jack Palance). In fighting the last decisive battle, Shane sees the end of his own way of life. Mysterious, moody and atmospheric, the film is enhanced by the intense performances of its splendid cast.
ClassicsSet against the stifling conformity of pre-World War I English society, E.M. Forster’s Maurice is a story of coming to terms with one’s sexuality and identity in the face of disapproval and misunderstanding.
ClassicsSteven Spielberg directs this riotous farce depicting the hysteria of a cross section of Los Angeles citizens following the bombing of Pear Harbor. The film is loosely based on a true event in which a Japanese submarine surfaced off the California coast, setting off a brief wave of panic.
ClassicsCary Grant stars in one of his funniest roles as a boozy beachcomber sitting out WWII in peace - until the Allies recruit him to be a lookout on the South Pacific isle. During an enemy attack, he answers a distress call and discovers a beautiful French schoolmarm (Leslie Caron) and her seven girl students. And so begins a hilarious battle of the sexes between a messy American, a prim Mademoiselle, and seven mischievous little girls. Who will win is anybody's guess, but you can be sure that Father Goose delivers plenty of romantic fun and adventure along the way.
ClassicsThe first part tells the story of Moses leading the Jews from Egypt to the Promised Land, his receipt of the tablets and the worship of the golden calf. The second part shows the efficacy of the commandments in modern life through a story set in San Francisco. Two brothers, rivals for the love of Mary, also come into conflict when John discovers Dan used shoddy materials to construct a cathedral.
ClassicsBefore FAME, PINK FLOYD: THE WALL, THE COMMITMENTS, and EVITA, acclaimed director Alan Parker redefined the movie musical with his first feature length film. Set in 1929 New York City, BUGSY MALONE captures a flashy world of would-be hoodlums, showgirls, and dreamers—all portrayed by child actors. As Tallulah, the sassy girlfriend of the owner of Fat Sam's Grand Slam Speakeasy, future superstar Jodie Foster leads a talented cast. Parker’s sharp script, combined with the music and lyrics of Paul Williams (PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE) makes for an irresistible satire that’s truly one-of-a-kind.
ClassicsJo Stockton can only get to Paris to meet with the beatnik founder of "empathicalism" (a idea that implores you to "put yourself into others shoes" in order to 'empathize' with them) if she agrees to model a line of ultra-chic fashions for photographer Dick Avery. Paris provides the backdrop for this blend of Gershwin music and Givenchy fashion.
ClassicsJohn Ford won the Best Director Oscar® and Jane Darwell won for Best Actress in this masterful film adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel that was nominated for seven Academy Awards® in all, including Best Picture. Henry Fonda stars as Tom Joad, the father of a migrant family of farmers who leave the Oklahoma dust bowl for the promised land of California, only to face new and daunting challenges.
ClassicsFrom the director of Repo Man, Sid and Nancy, Straight to Hell and Walker comes “Maverick Director Alex Cox’s Finest Film to Date” (Los Angeles Times). Against his father’s wishes, Pedro (Roberto Sosa, Man on Fire), a naïve kid from Mexico City, joins the Federal Highway Patrol. His simple desire to do good rapidly comes into conflict with the reality of police work in a lonely rural environment populated by poor farmers, rich drug dealers, beautiful women—and his father’s ghost. The wonderful cast includes Bruno Bichir (Sicario: Day of the Soldado), Vanessa Bauche (Amores Perros), Ernesto Gómez Cruz (The Crime of Padre Amaro), Mike Moroff (From Dusk Till Dawn) and Pedro Armendáriz Jr. (Once Upon a Time in Mexico).
ClassicsIn 1970, John Wayne earned an Academy Award for his larger-than-life performance as the drunken, uncouth and totally fearless one-eyed U.S. Marshall, Rooster Cogburn. The cantankerous Rooster is hired by a headstrong young girl (Kim Darby) to find the man who murdered her father and fled with the family savings. When Cogburn's employer insists on accompanying the old gunfighter, sparks fly. And the situation goes from troubled to disastrous when the inexperienced Texas Ranger (Glen Campbell) joins the party. Laughter and tears punctuate the wild action in this extraordinary Western which features performances by Robert Duvall and Strother Martin.
ClassicsIn 1949, an American writer of westerns, Holly Martins, arrives in post-war Vienna to visit his old friend Harry Lime. On arrival, he learns that his friend has been killed in a street accident, and when he meets Calloway, chief of the British Military Police in Vienna, he is informed that Lime was in fact a black marketer wanted by the police. He decides to prove Harry's innocence, but is Harry really dead?
ClassicsFame isn’t forever—just ask Norma Desmond. Once a Hollywood legend, now a forgotten relic. When struggling screenwriter Joe Gillis stumbles into her decaying mansion, he becomes trapped in her web of obsession and delusion. What starts as an opportunity soon spirals into something far more dangerous. Dark and twisted, Sunset Boulevard is a haunting look at Hollywood’s cycle—where youth is currency, talent fleeting, and the spotlight always fades. Are you ready for your close-up?
ClassicsAlain Delon was at his most impossibly beautiful when Purple Noon (Plein soleil) was released and made him an instant star. This ripe, colorful adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s vicious novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, directed by the versatile René Clément, stars Delon as Tom Ripley, a duplicitous American charmer in Rome on a mission to bring his privileged, devil-may-care acquaintance Philippe Greenleaf (Maurice Ronet) back to the United States; what initially seems to be a carefree tale of friendship soon morphs into a thrilling saga of seduction, identity theft, and murder. Featuring gorgeous on-location photography in coastal Italy, Purple Noon is crafted with a light touch that allows it to be suspenseful and erotic at once, while giving Delon the role of a lifetime.
ClassicsThe loons are back again on Golden Pond and so are Norman Thayer (Academy Award® winner Henry Fonda), a retired professor, and Ethel (Academy Award® winner Katharine Hepburn) who have had a summer cottage there since early in their marriage. This summer their daughter Chelsea (Academy Award® winner Jane Fonda) -- whom they haven't seen for years -- feels she must be there for Norman's birthday. She and her fiance are on their way to Europe the next day but will be back in a couple of weeks to pick up the fiance's son. When she returns Chelsea is married and her stepson has the relationship with her father that she always wanted. Will father and daughter be able to communicate at last?
ClassicsNo one is a saint in the City of Angels. The immortal Robert Mitchum stars as Raymond Chandler's legendary detective Philip Marlowe in the neo-noir mystery, Farewell, My Lovely. The hardboiled Marlowe's latest cases– one, a search for an ex-convict's lost love, and the other, the murder of a client – take on an even more sinister turn when they begin to connect, leading the private eye deeper and deeper into the seamy underbelly of 1940s Los Angeles. As the stakes are raised and the body count swells, it looks like Marlowe might be next on the list to take the big sleep.
ClassicsThe magnificent enduring Biblical tale of the mighty Samson, whose power was curtailed by the scheming Delilah. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.
ClassicsHatari! is Swahili for "danger"—and also the word for action, adventure and broad comedy in this two-fisted Howard Hawks effort. John Wayne stars as the head of a daring Tanganyka-based group which captures wild animals on behalf of the world's zoos. Hardy Kruger, Gérard Blain and Red Buttons are members of Wayne's men-only contingent, all of whom are reduced to jello when the curvaceous Elsa Martinelli enters the scene. In tried and true Howard Hawks fashion, Martinelli quickly becomes "one of the guys," though Wayne apparently can't say two words to her without sparking an argument. The second half of this amazingly long film concerns the care and maintenance of a baby elephant; the barely credible finale is devoted to a comic pachyderm stampede down an urban African street, ending literally at the foot of Martinelli's bed. The other scene worth mentioning involves comedy-relief Red Buttons' efforts to create a fireworks-powered animal trap. Not to be taken seriously for a minute,
ClassicsA cornerstone of the horror film, F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu: A Symphiny of Horror is resurrected in an HD edition mastered from the acclaimed 35mm restoration by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung. Backed by an orchestral performance of Hans Erdmann’s 1922 score, this edition offers unprecedented visual clarity and historical faithfulness to the original release version. An unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Nosferatu remains to many viewers the most unsettling vampire film ever made, and its bald, spidery vampire, personified by the diabolical Max Schreck, continues to spawn imitations in the realm of contemporary cinema.
ClassicsJack Nicholson returns as private eye Jake Gittes in this atmospheric Chinatown follow-up that's hit upon "the elusive sequel formula for somehow enhancing a great original" (Mike Clark, USA Today). Much has changed since we last saw Jake. The war has come and gone; 1948 Los Angeles teems with optimism and fast bucks. But there's one thing Jake knows hasn't changed: "Nine times out of ten, if you follow the money you will get to the truth." And that's the trail he follows when a routine case of marital hanky panky explodes into a murder that's tied to a grab for oil--and to Jake's own past.
ClassicsSt. Francis of Assisi was an extraordinarily complex and difficult figure whose effect on his contemporary society was electrifying. Even today, many people are moved by his visionary message of universal toleration. Twelfth-century Italy had an exceptionally grim and regimented society, but the barefoot monk from Assisi undoubtedly had the courage that comes from deep faith and was able to transcend the oppressiveness of the time. In this Italian/British-produced film, director Franco Zeffirelli attempts to bring his vision of this great man to the screen. The contemporary (1970s) example of the hippie movement contributed a great deal to the style in which the story is told. The musical score, using ancient Italian melodies, was arranged by Donovan. The film is visually beautiful in a way which tends to minimize the squalor of the times. As the movie begins, Francis (Graham Faulkner) is the son of wealthy merchants, and enjoys his share of wine, women and song without serious thought
ClassicsMaori couple Jake and Beth Heke are deeply in love, but Jake's alcoholic-fueled rage turns into domestic violence that threatens to tear their family apart. As their home life grows increasingly dangerous, Beth must do all she can to protect their three children. Set against the backdrop of traditional tribal culture, this classic and contoversial 90's indie sleeper hit put New Zealand on the cinema map.
ClassicsSet in a richly exaggerated 17th-century England, Peter Greenaway’s sumptuous and sensuously charged brainteaser catapulted him to the forefront of international art cinema. Adorned with intricate wordplay, extravagant costumes and opulent photography, Greenaway’s first narrative feature weaves a labyrinthine mystery around the maxim “draw what you see, not what you know.” An aristocratic wife (Janet Suzman) commissions a young, cocksure draughtsman (Anthony Higgins) to sketch her husband’s property while he is away—in exchange for a fee, room and board, and one sexual favor for each of the twelve drawings. As the draughtsman becomes more entrenched in the devious schemings in this seemingly idyllic country home, curious details emerge in his drawings that may reveal a murder. Bolstered by a majestic score by then-newcomer Michael Nyman and stunning cinematography by Curtis Clark that suggests Greenaway has the elements at his beck and call, 'The Draughtsman’s Contract' i
ClassicsWilliam Holden portrays a screenwriter with a script deadline in three days. When he asks secretary Audrey Hepburn to help concoct ideas, she acts out a potpourri of preposterous plots. Beautifully shot on location in Paris by famed cinematographer Claude Renoir.
ClassicsIn 1944, with Paris on the verge of Liberation by the allies, Adolph Hitler ordered that the City of Light be blown up and burned to the ground. General Dietrich Von Choltitz, after much rumination, decided that he didn't want to go down in history as the man who destroyed Paris. His refusal to follow Hitler's orders would make him a pariah in Germany for the rest of his life; nor was his gesture ever rewarded by the Allies. From this very human story in the midst of one of the most inhuman conflicts in history grew the screenplay (by Gore Vidal and Francis Ford Coppola) of the all-star, internationally produced Is Paris Burning? Whereas the earlier The Longest Day was able to support a castful of celebrities and brief subplot vignettes, Is Paris Burning? seems more weighted down than weighty. Still, a modern audience will have fun playing "spot the star" throughout the film, especially when those spotted stars include the likes of Gert Frobe (as Choltitz), Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain De
ClassicsFrank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh and Angela Lansbury star in this political suspense classic about the drug-hypnosis-induced behavior that transforms a U.S. Army hero into a human time bomb.
ClassicsFollowing 24 characters through 5 days in the country music capital, Robert Altman's 1975 epic presents a complexly textured portrayal (and critique) of American obsessions with celebrity and power. Among the various stars, aspirants, hangers-on, observers, and media folk are politically ambitious country icon and his fragile star protegée, a self-absorbed rock star who woos a lonely married gospel singer, a talentless waitress painfully humiliated at her first singing gig, a runaway wife with dreams of stardom, and a campaign guru who is trying to organize a concert rally for an unseen presidential candidate. Featuring the award winning song, “I’m Easy,” Nashville is regarded one of the greatest American films ever made.
ClassicsIn Cecil B. DeMille’s Academy Award®-winning film, we step behind the scenes of the circus…in all its majesty and mystery. Charlton Heston stars as Brad Braden, the diehard circus manager who lives and breathes to keep the show rolling. With the Big Top about to hit rock bottom, Braden hires The Great Sebastian (Cornel Wilde), a daring trapeze legend, to revitalize the circus. His arrival sparks the rivalry and admiration of Holly (Betty Hutton), Braden’s girlfriend and trapeze star. After a death-defying battle to regain her place in the center ring, Holly soon finds herself torn between the love of workaholic Brad and the brazen Sebastian. Add to the mix a flirtatious elephant trainer, racketeers and a lovable clown (James Stewart) with a secret past, and every character becomes a tough act to follow.
ClassicsJerry Lewis, plays a third-rate USO magician named Gilbert Woolley, working the Far East circuit with his pet rabbit Harry. Nearly fired for accidentally humiliating haughty movie star Marie McDonald, Gilbert's career is salvaged by kindly Japanese aristocrat Sessue Hayakawa; it seems that Gilbert is the only person who is able to make Sessue's lonely, orphaned nephew Robert Hirano laugh. An international incident nearly develops when hero-worshipping Hirano tries to follow Gilbert back to the US, whereupon the poor prestidigitator is accused of being a kidnaper. Like most of the Jerry Lewis/Frank Tashlin collaborations, The Geisha Boy is highlighted by several eye-popping sight-gag sequences. The best bits include a ballpark scene featuring several members of the 1958 Los Angeles Dodgers (notably Gil Hodges) and a sledgehammer-subtle "throwaway" concerning Sessue Hayakawa's previous appearance in Bridge on the River Kwai. Less successful are the maudlin scenes between Jerry Lewis and
ClassicsBased on the acclaimed first novel by Richard Price (The Night Of), Philip Kaufman's The Wanderers follows the exploits of the eponymous Italian-American gang in the Bronx in 1963, just before the country underwent profound change. Part comedy and part drama, the film is an evocative and thrilling look back at a more innocent time. The cult classic features a jukebox full of golden oldies and a young cast of up and comers including Ken Wahl (Wiseguy), Karen Allen (Raiders of the Lost Ark), and Linda Manz (Days of Heaven)! Cinematography by Michael Chapman (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull). Co-starring John Friedrich, Toni Kalem, Alan Rosenberg, Jim Youngs, Tony Ganios, Dolph Sweet, Michael Wright, Val Avery, Olympia Dukakis and Erland van Lidth de Jeude. New 2K restoration!
ClassicsBased on the life of Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser whom almost single-handily cleaned up his small town of crime and corruption, but at a personal cost of his family life and nearly his own life.
ClassicsWar and Peace is a commendable attempt to boil down Tolstoy's long, difficult novel into 208 minutes' screen time. In recreating the the social and personal upheavals attending Napoleon's 1812 invasion of Russia, $6 million was shelled out by coproducers Carlo Ponti, Dino de Laurentiis and Paramount Pictures. Some of the panoramic battle sequences are so expertly handled by second-unit director Mario Soldati that they appear to be Technicolor-and-Vistavision newsreel footage of the actual events. Still, the film falters dramatically, principally because of a lumpy script and King Vidor's surprisingly lustreless direction. In addition, the casting is wildly consistent: for example, while Audrey Hepburn is flawless as Natasha, Henry Fonda is far too "Yankeefied" as the introspective Pierre. Proving too long and unwieldy for most audiences, War and Peace died at the box office; far more successful was the epic, scrupulously faithful 1968 version, filmed in the Soviet Union.
ClassicsTwo worthy Academy Award® nominees from 1950's Sunset Boulevard – actor William Holden and director Billy Wilder – reteamed three years later for the gripping World War II drama, Stalag 17. The result was another Best Director nomination for Wilder (his fourth), and the elusive Best Actor Oscar® for Holden. Holden portrays the jaded, scheming Sergeant J.J. Sefton, a prisoner at the notorious German prison camp, who spends his days dreaming up rackets and trading with the Germans for special privileges. But when two prisoners are killed in an escape attempt, it becomes obvious that there is a spy among the prisoners. Is it Sefton? Famed producer/director Otto Preminger tackles a rare acting role as the camp's commandant; actor Robert Strauss won a Supporting Actor nomination for his role as "Animal."
ClassicsA riveting psychological thriller that investigates the nature of truth and the meaning of justice, Rashomon is widely considered one of the greatest films ever made. Four people give different accounts of a man’s murder and the rape of his wife, which director Akira Kurosawa presents with striking imagery and an ingenious use of flashbacks. This eloquent masterwork and international sensation revolutionized film language and introduced Japanese cinema—and a commanding new star by the name of Toshiro Mifune—to the Western world.
ClassicsSomething evil has taken possession of the small town of Santa Mira, California. Hysterical people accuse their loved ones of being emotionless impostors; of not being themselves. At first, Dr. Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) tries to convince them they're wrong…but they’re not. Plant-like extraterrestrials have invaded Earth, replicating the villagers in giant seed "pods" and taking possession of their souls while they sleep. Soon the entire town is overwhelmed by the inhuman horror, but it won't stop there. In a terrifying race for his life, Dr. Bennell escapes to warn the world of the deadly invasion of the pod people! Remade in both 1978 and 1997, this chilling combination of extraterrestrial terror and anti-conformity paranoia is considered one of the great cult classics of the genre.
ClassicsCelebrating fifty years, this brazen and wild social satire is relevant as ever. Rich, bored Peter Sellers adopts street vagrant Ringo Starr as his son and they set out to prove a theory: people will do anything for money.
ClassicsJean Cocteau’s sublime adaptation of Mme. Leprince de Beaumont’s fairy-tale masterpiece—in which the pure love of a beautiful girl melts the heart of a feral but gentle beast—is a landmark of motion picture fantasy, with unforgettably romantic performances by Jean Marais and Josette Day. The spectacular visions of enchantment, desire, and death in Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête) have become timeless icons of cinematic wonder.
ClassicsMy Man Godfrey is one of the top Screwball Comedies of all time- a story of a wealthy New York family in the 1930's that brings in Godfrey, a destitute and "Forgotten Man" as their butler. William Powell plays the leading role brilliantly, and gives the family a madcap ride they will never forget. My Man Godfrey was the first film to receive Oscar® nominations in all four acting categories, including stunning performances by William Powell and Carole Lombard. Presented here beautifully restored and in color for the first time, this is the definitive edition of My Man Godfrey.
ClassicsUnder the spell of a wandering charlatan named Starbuck, a lonely ranch girl blossoms into full womanhood. Katharine Hepburn garnered an Oscar nomination as the "believably plain yet magnetically beautiful" tomboy rancher, with Burt Lancaster brilliantly cast in the role of the smooth-talking con man who sells his rainmaking "powers" to unsuspecting, drought-ridden Western towns. Playwright N. Richard Nash meticulously enlarges his hit Broadway play to the big screen without losing any of the earthy, gut-wrenching emotions or the sheer, hilarious fun. The result is a genuinely appealing and beautifully executed romance. A must-see for Hepburn fans!
ClassicsElvis Presley stars as Mike Windgren, a former trapeze artist who's suffered from vertigo ever since accidentally dropping his partner during a performance. Working as a lifeguard/entertainer at an Acapulco resort, Mike falls in love with social director Margarita Dauphine (Ursula Andress). With her help, he overcomes his fear of heights in a spectacular high-dive finale. Presley songs featured include "Vino, Dinero y Amor," "Marguerita," "Bossa Nova Baby" and the title tune.
ClassicsMore than 40 years before RuPaul's Drag Race, this ground-breaking documentary about the 1967 Miss All-American Camp Beauty Pageant introduced audiences to the world of competitive drag. The film takes us backstage to kiki with the contestants as they rehearse, throw shade, and transform into their drag personas in the lead-up to the big event. Organized by LGBTQ icon and activist Flawless Sabrina, the competition boasted a star-studded panel of judges including Andy Warhol, Larry Rivers, and Terry Southern.. But perhaps most memorable is an epic diatribe calling out the pageant's bias delivered by Crystal LaBeija, who would go on to form the influential House of LaBeija, heavily featured in Paris Is Burning (1990). A vibrant piece of queer history, The Queen can now be seen in full resplendence thanks to a new restoration from the original camera negative.
ClassicsThe last film by Yasujiro Ozu was also his final masterpiece, a gently heartbreaking story about a man’s dignified resignation to life’s shifting currents and society’s modernization. Though the widower Shuhei (frequent Ozu leading man Chishu Ryu) has been living comfortably for years with his grown daughter, a series of events leads him to accept and encourage her marriage and departure from their home. As elegantly composed and achingly tender as any of the Japanese master’s films, An Autumn Afternoon is one of cinema’s fondest farewells.
ClassicsRepressed desires, sultry women, sweltering weather and a handsome new stranger in town... this is playwright Tennessee Williams at his very best. Depression-era Dodson, Mississippi, is particularly devastated with the arrival of Owen Legate (Robert Redford), a railroad official with a pocketful of pink slips for the rail yard employees. Natalie Wood is captivating as Alva Starr, the coquettish town flirt with plenty of big plans but nowhere to go... until Legate appears on her doorstep. Their ensuing affair enrages Alva's distant, uncaring mother (Kate Reid)—and ignites a town's revenge. Masterfully directed by Sydney Pollack (The Way We Were, Out of Africa, The Firm) and co-written for the screen by Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather trilogy), This Property Is Condemned sizzles with unbridled passion and fiery emotion.
ClassicsWhen Lucille Fletcher took on the challenge of expanding her classic 30-minute radio suspenser “Sorry, Wrong Number” into an 89-minute feature film, she opted on the Citizen Kane approach, filling the plotline to the brim with revelatory flashbacks. Barbara Stanwyck stars as bedridden hypochondriac Leona Stevenson, who while trying to make a call from her bedroom telephone gets her wires crossed and inadvertently overhears two men plotting a murder. Anxiously, Leona wades through telephone-company bureaucracy to trace the call, never catching on — until it's too late — that the murder being planned is hers. A series of flashbacks details the disintegrating marriage between the wealthy Leona and her weakling husband Henry (Burt Lancaster), and Henry's subsequent disastrous get-rich-quick schemes involving chemist Waldo Evans (Harold Vermilyea) and a surly gangster (William Conrad). It would have been a near-sacrilege to alter the radio play's ironic ending, which fortunately rem
ClassicsOne man claimed the land. Two men claimed the woman who lived there. Elizabeth Taylor, Peter Finch, and Dana Andrews star in this action-packed drama set in Ceylon. Taylor plays a newlywed who accompanies Finch to his sprawling tea plantation called Elephant Walk...and falls for overseer Andrews. But this love triangle is soon dwarfed by other events. A cholera epidemic breaks out, drought blights the land and herds of thirst-maddened elephants devastate the plantation in a thundering stampede. This famed sequence is a triumph of moviemaking. The palatial "bungalow" is reduced to rubble as onrushing elephants pound across polished floors, rip walls from their foundations and knock over kerosene drums to ignite a terrifying inferno. You have to see it to believe it!
ClassicsPraised by The Village Voice as the most "clear-eyed account of union organizing on film," The Killing Floor tells the little-known true story of the struggle to build an interracial labor union in the Chicago Stockyards. The screenplay by Obie Award-winner Leslie Lee, based on an original story by producer Elsa Rassbach, traces the racial and class conflicts seething in the city’s giant slaughterhouses, and the brutal efforts of management to divide the workforce along ethnic lines, which eventually boiled over in the Chicago Race Riot of 1919. The first feature film directed by Bill Duke, The Killing Floor premiered on PBS' American Playhouse series in 1984 to rave reviews. In 1985 the film was invited to Cannes and won the Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Award. It has been showcased at the Lincoln Center and festivals around the world. New 4K restoration by Made in U.SA. Productions, Inc. Laboratory services by UCLA Film and Television Archive Digital Media Lab; Audio Services
ClassicsA musical comedy starring Danny Kaye as Ernie Williams, a G.I. with weak eyes, a weak stomach and weak nerves but an uncanny resemblance to British Colonel MacKenzie. Williams is asked to impersonate the Colonel, allowing him to make a secret trip East – but what Williams is not told is that the Colonel has recently been a target of Nazi assassins.
ClassicsFrom the towering genius of Tennessee Williams comes a story of passions lost and found. Academy Award winner Geraldine Page stars as the spinster Alma. Laurence Harvey is Doctor John Buchanan, the handsome young man Alma has loved since childhood. But when a sultry vamp appears (Rita Moreno), the doctor falls hard, descending into a seamy nightlife and leaving Alma's dreams behind like forgotten embers. Set against a steamy southern backdrop and the sweeping grandeur of Elmer Bernstein's Oscar-nominated score, Summer and Smoke crackles with first-rate performances and the stirring power of Tennessee William's words.
ClassicsCohen Film Collection introduces this Buster Keaton classic. Set during the Civil War and based on a true incident, the film is also an authentic-looking period piece that brings the scope and realism of Matthew Brady-like images to brilliant life. Keaton portrays engineer Johnnie Gray, rejected by the Confederate Army and thought a coward by his girlfriend (Marion Mack). When a band of Union soldiers penetrate Confederate lines to steal his locomotive, Johnnie Gray sets off in pursuit. Seven of the film’s eight reels are devoted to the chase, featuring hilarious comedy and amazing stunts performed by Keaton himself.
ClassicsScreen favorite Meryl Streep received an Academy Award® for her portrayal of Sophie Zawistowska in this penetrating drama set in post-World War II Brooklyn. Kevin Kline plays her all-consuming lover, Nathan. The story revolves around Sophie's struggle as a Polish-Catholic immigrant in the United States who had survived a Nazi concentration camp. The lovers' drama unfolds through the observations of a friend and would-be writer, Stingo (Peter MacNicol). As the trio grows closer, Stingo uncovers the hidden truths that they each harbor, resulting in “a fine, absorbing, wonderfully acted, heartbreaking movie” (Roger Ebert).
ClassicsThe year was 1960. A payola scandal shocks the music world. Movie fans are introduced to glorious Smell-O-Vision. The 50-star flag is adopted. And in G.I. Blues, Elvis adopts an on-screen persona he knows well in real life – a singin' G.I. in West Germany. Eager to open a stateside nightclub after his hitch in khakis, he takes part in a wager to raise the dough he needs. The bet: he can melt the iceberg heart of a willowy dancer (Juliet Prowse). But all bets may be off when real love intervenes...
ClassicsHud Bannon (Newman) is a young Texas rancher who lives with his cattleman father Homer (Melvyn Douglas) and his hero-worshipping nephew Lon (Brandon DeWilde). Hud is an amoral, cold-hearted creature; his father, who holds Hud responsible for the death of his other son, tries to imbue Lon with a sense of decency and responsibility to others, but Lon is devoted to Hud and isn't inclined to listen. When hoof-and-mouth disease shows up in one of the elder Bannon's cows, Hud is all for selling the herd before the government inspectors find out. But Homer orders the cattle destroyed (the film's most harrowing sequence), driving an even deeper wedge between himself and Hud. Finally, Hud steps over the line by attempting to rape Alma (Patricia Neal), the earthy but warm-hearted housekeeper. Paul Newman was so repellantly brilliant as an unregenerate heel that his Oscar nomination for Hud was a foregone conclusion. Although Newman lost the Oscar to Sidney Poitier in Lilies of the Field, Oscars
ClassicsThe original take-off cult classic from the highly successful team of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker (Airplane, The Naked Gun), this“uproariously funny [film]” (TV Guide) launched a thousand laughs and serves as a precursor to the raunch-fests of the ‘80s and the blockbuster success of the Farrelly Brothers films. Directed by the legendary John Landis (Animal House, The Blues Brothers), The Kentucky Fried Movie features alewd, loosely connected collection of skits that spoof blaxploitation films, news shows, porno movies, TV commercials, kung fu flicks and more! Including well-known stars such as Bill Bixby, Donald Sutherland, Tony Dow, George Lazenby and Henry Gibson, this one-of-a-kind film features over 22 gut-bustingly hilarious segments including: "Cleopatra Schwartz", "The Wonderful World Of Sex", "Catholic High School Girls In Trouble", "A Fistful Of Yen" and more! The Kentucky Fried Movie – uncensored, uncut and unapologetic!
ClassicsIn 1945 at the close of the war, a submarine leaves Oslo for South America with German leaders and several pro-Nazi officials aboard hoping to escape their fate in Europe. A young French doctor is forced to join them to tend a wounded passenger. The stage is set for scheming, intrigue and mutiny. A claustrophobic and gritty post-war rediscovered gem from director Clément.
ClassicsFresh out of prison, Hong Jong-du (Sul Kyung-gu) finds an unlikely soulmate in Gong-ju (Moon So-ri), the daughter of the victim of the hit-and-run accident for which he went to jail. Wheelchair-bound and suffering from severe cerebral palsy, Gong-ju is kept cloistered in a cheap apartment by her brother, whose only concern is the government assistance she receives. Over a series of clandestine meetings, the two begin an improbable relationship that defies the judgment and cruelty of the world around them. Winner of the Silver Lion for Best Director and Best Young Actress at the Venice Film Festival, Lee Chang-dong's "Oasis" is a “brave film” that “shows two people who find any relationship almost impossible, and yet find a way to make theirs work” (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times).
ClassicsIn 1920, one brilliant movie jolted the postwar masses and catapulted the movement known as German Expressionism into film history. That movie was The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, a plunge into the mind of insanity that severs all ties with the rational world. Director Robert Wiene and a visionary team of designers crafted a nightmare realm in which light, shadow and substance are abstracted, a world in which a demented doctor and a carnival sleepwalker perpetrate a series of ghastly murders in a small community. This authoritative edition of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a 4K restoration scanned from the (mostly) preserved camera negative at the German Federal Film Archive.
ClassicsIn his directorial debut, Peter Bogdanovich weaves two disparate story lines into a terrifying moment of confrontation. In seemingly unrelated events, aging horror film star Orlok (Boris Karloff) announces his retirement, and an apparently average young man (Tim Kelly) accumulates an arsenal of rifles and handguns. As the pace quickens, Kelly turns into a murderous sniper, showing up at a drive-in theater where Orlok is making his final personal appearance.
ClassicsSuperstar Barbra Streisand headlines this magical musical directed by Vincente Minnelli, adapted from the Alan Jay Lerner Broadway show. Chain-smoking kooky Daisy consults psychiatrist Chabot to help her stop smoking, only to discover she has amazing ESP powers. While under hypnosis, she reveals her former life as Melinda, an 1840 English coquette. What follows is a comedy/drama/fantasy love triangle unlike any other.
ClassicsStanley’s a bellboy at the popular Fountainbleau Hotel in Miami Beach, quietly performing his duties with the occasional blunder. Then one day, a big star of the screen resembling the bumbling bellboy, arrives at the hotel. In this comedy classic (the directorial debut of Jerry Lewis) not a single word of dialogue is spoken by the main character until the very end of the film, paying a brilliant tribute to the silent clowns of early cinema.
ClassicsIn the second film from action auteur Takeshi "Beat" Kitano, two members of a Japanese junior baseball team get mixed up with the local yakuza after their coach is attacked by gangsters. The pair gets more than they bargained for when they travel to Okinawa seeking revenge.
ClassicsA confident oil baron and a determined cowboy are rivals for Oklahoma land and oil rights, and for the love of a pretty schoolteacher. The cowboy acts on behalf of the Indians, on whose land the oil is discovered. Based on the story "War of the Wildcats."
ClassicsIn a hilarious twist on the timeless fairy tale, the irrepressible Jerry Lewis plays the title role of Cinderfella – a hard-working and honest lad mistreated by his wicked stepmother (Judith Anderson) and his two boorish stepbrothers (Henry Silva, Robert Hutton). But miracles do happen – especially when your Fairy Godfather is the one-and-only Ed Wynn! With a little – okay, a lot – of wizardry and magic, the wacky Wynn manages to transform the klutzy fella into an eligible, handsome bachelor, ready to win the hand of a suitable Princess Charming! Cinderfella is a delightful comedy romp that also stars Anna Maria Alberghetti.
ClassicsWhen her father, Captain Crewe, is called to duty in Africa, young Sara (Shirley Temple) is sent to stay in the care of an exclusive school for girls. Sara finds that she is quite happy in her new surroundings; she's living a life of wealth and privilege. However, her good fortune takes a turn for the worse when her father turns up missing in action. Now strapped with looming tuition, room and board payments, Sara finds herself scrubbing floors and cleaning fireplaces to work off her debt - being dubbed the Little Princess by her former friends. Finally deciding to not let it get her down, the new "little princess" refuses to give up hope and sets off on mission to discover her lost father's whereabouts.
ClassicsJerry Lewis directed, co-wrote and starred in this riotously funny movie that set a new standard for screen comedy and inspired the hit remake. Lewis plays a timid, nearsighted chemistry teacher who discovers a magical potion that can transform him into a suave and handsome Romeo. The Jekyll and Hyde game works well enough until the concoction starts to wear off at the most embarrassing times, and the professor begins to suffer hilarious symptoms of his personality split. Co-starring Stella Stevens.
ClassicsPoor Jerome Littlefield (Jerry Lewis). He wants to be a doctor but that's not exactly the perfect career choice when you're hopelessly squeamish. So he settles for the job of orderly at the Whitestone Sanitarium, a career move that's guaranteed to keep the patients and viewers in stitches! The fun begins with Sammy Davis, Jr.'s rendition of the film's title song and continues as the bumbling Jerome, a one-man disaster area, triggers chaos every time he tries to lend a helping hand. From causing the patients more trauma to a highspeed ambulance chase, Lewis and his healthy dose of comic mishaps are the perfect prescription for all that ails you.
ClassicsSuspense-master Willam Golman (Marathon Man) wrote the novel from which this bizarre black comedy was adapted. It's the extraordinary account of a plumber who kills a dowdy matron, a priest who kills a dowdy matron, and a policeman who kills a dowdy matron. Actually they're all the same man, a psychotic master of disguise brilliantly played by versatile Rod Steiger. The killer also gets his kicks phoning in clues to detective George Segal. All of New York trembles as a sixth strangling is reported in the papers. And the man with the makeup kit stalks another victim... the detective's girlfriend (Lee Remick). A suspenseful, macabre game of cat and mouse.
ClassicsDuring World War I, Scottish soldier Private Plumpick is sent on a mission to a village in the French countryside to disarm a bomb set by the retreating German army. Plumpick encounters a strange town occupied by the former residents of the local psychiatric hospital who escaped after the villagers deserted. Assuming roles like Bishop, Duke, barber, and circus ringmaster, they warmly accept the visitor as their King of Hearts. With his reconnaissance and bomb-defusing mission looming, Plumpick starts to prefer the acceptance of the insane locals over the insanity of the war raging outside. Since its debut, King of Hearts has become a worldwide cult favorite and stands out as one of de Broca’s most memorable films.
ClassicsKind-hearted Mija (Yun Jung-hee) is tasked with raising her troubled teenage grandson, Jong-wook, while her daughter works in far-off Busan. In denial that her abilities as a caregiver are threatened by the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, Mija begins to study poetry writing at the local cultural center. At first she finds inspiration in the beauty of the natural world, but then, when Jong-wook is mired in a shocking scandal, Mija taps into newfound depths of disappointment and pain. Winner of the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and Best Screenplay at Cannes, Lee Chang-dong's "Poetry" is a “tour de force” that presents an “extraordinary vision of human empathy” (The New York Times).
ClassicsMartin Scorsese Presents REPUBLIC REDISCOVERED—over 20 rarely seen films from the storied Republic Pictures library, restored and remastered by Paramount and personally curated by Martin Scorsese. In Hell’s Half Acre the titular notorious quarter of Honolulu, Hawaii serves as a background to a complex tale of transgression and redemption. Wendell Corey is a reformed racketeer whose past catches up with him when his lover shoots and kills one of his former partners in crime.
ClassicsProduced at the height of the Vietnam War, Emile de Antonio's Oscar-nominated 1968 documentary chronicles the war's historical roots. With palpable outrage, De Antonio assembles period interviews with journalists, politicians, and key military personnel and international newsreel and archival footage to create a scathing chronicle of America's escalating involvement in this divisive conflict. The savage and horrific images speak for themselves in perhaps the most controversial film of de Antonio's career, and the film he cites as his personal favourite.
ClassicsViva la revolución! Oscar® winner Yul Brynner stars as Pancho Villa in this thrilling story of the Mexican Revolution. Along for the ride are legends Robert Mitchum with Charles Bronson at his sneering best. A gritty screenplay by Sam Peckinpah (The Wild Bunch) brings out the chemistry between the stars and makes this action packed tale of real life desperados a must see!
ClassicsThe son of a steamboat captain, Buster falls in love with the daughter of a rival steamboat owner. When a cyclone rages, Buster proves himself a hero by rescuing his love and her father from a watery grave.
ClassicsEd Wood's cult classic has been hailed as the worst film of all time, but it's one of the most hilariously entertaining movies you'll ever see. Aliens from outer space reanimate the Earth's dead in an attempt to save the human race. With string-powered flying saucers, laughable dialogue, shrewd alien logic and “priceless” special effects, they can't go wrong. Or can they? (Hint: They do.) Plan 9 is a movie so beautifully bad, it's great. Now you can watch it in color for the first time!
ClassicsA young woman arrives in San Francisco's Chinatown from Hong Kong with the intention of marrying a rakish nightclub owner, unaware he is involved with one of his singers.
ClassicsMartin Scorsese Presents REPUBLIC REDISCOVERED—over 20 rarely seen films from the storied Republic Pictures library, restored and remastered by Paramount and personally curated by Martin Scorsese. In The Red Pony Robert Mitchum is a ranch hand who helps his employer’s son cope with the death of the pony he raised. John Steinbeck adapted his own novella for this 1949 feature, Republic’s most expensive film up to that time. The original score is by Aaron Copland, which he also arranged and published as an orchestral suite.
ClassicsScreen legend Vincent Price stars in this, the first, and finest, adaptation of Richard Matheson's classic horror/sci-fi novel I Am Legend. After a plague wipes out the human race, Dr. Robert Morgan (Price) struggles with loneliness - and his sanity–as the monotony of the unending days are broken only by his daily hunts for vampires! One day on his solitary travels he runs across another human: is she a mirage, or real? This existential masterpiece ratchets up the tension, and keeps it up, until the last thrilling frame. It is presented here fully-restored and in beautiful color!
ClassicsThis is the program that started it all, and became the top VHS tape of all time. This program will give you total body aerobic, strength, and flexibility workout, while building and maintaining cardiovascular health. Includes both the Beginner's and Advanced Workouts, as seen on the original VHS tape and RCA Videodisc.
ClassicsMartin Scorsese Presents REPUBLIC REDISCOVERED—over 20 rarely seen films from the storied Republic Pictures library, restored and remastered by Paramount and personally curated by Martin Scorsese. In Come Next Spring a recovering alcoholic returns to the family he left behind, after a 12-year absence, and vows to win their hearts again. Tired of playing psychotic gangsters for Warner Bros., actor Steve Cochran started his own independent production company with the hope of tackling ambitious fare like this rural drama of redemption. The film eventually landed at Republic, masterfully directed by R.G. Springsteen.
ClassicsMarlon Brando plays x-GI, Ken, who has become paralyzed as a result of the war. After fighting through an intense battle with depression following his injuries, Ken soon focusses on his physical therapy and eventually believes that he may gain the use of his limbs back! After falling in love and marrying the woman of his dreams, problems arise that puts Ken right back into the hospital!
ClassicsInspired by a novel by best-selling Western author Louis L'Amour, Heller In Pink Tights brings the curtain up on the traveling Healy Dramatic Company, a barnstorming 1880s theatrical troupe that spends part of its time emoting on stage – and most of its time fending off confrontational townfolk, irate creditors and suspicious sheriffs. Desperate to find a more flamboyant act to keep their audiences entertained, the ensemble's leaders, Angela Rossini (Sophia Loren) and Tom Healy (Anthony Quinn), put the "Wild" in Wild West with their comic misadventures. Directed by legendary Hollywood filmmaker George Cukor (The Philadelphia Story, A Star Is Born ), this rollicking Western spoof also boasts a stellar supporting cast that includes Steve Forrest, Eileen Heckart, Edmund Lowe, Margaret O'Brien and Ramon Novarro.
ClassicsUnwilling to sacrifice his principles, Albert Topaze (Peter Sellers), a poor but proud French schoolmaster, loses his job after he refuses to alter the failing grades of one of students. Seizing the opportunity to exploit his well-known honesty, actress Suzy Courtois (Nadia Gray) convinces her lover, the corrupt city council member Castel Benac (Herbert Lom), to hire Topaze as a managing director for one of his shady businesses. But when Topaze learns he is being used, he cunningly turns the tables on Benac and makes off with all the money. Seller’s first and only credited directorial feature, Mr. Topaze displays the British comic genius at the peak of his powers alongside his future Pink Panther nemesis Herbert Lom and a stellar supporting cast that includes Nadia Gray, Leo McKern, Billie Whitelaw and Michael Gough. Long considered a “lost” classic, Mr. Topaze was digitally restored at the request of the British public from the last known surviving 35mm prints held in the BFI Na
