Synopsis: During the Allied Bombing offensive of World War II the public was often informed that “A raid took place last night over (city name). One (or often more) of our aircraft Is missing.” Behind these sombre words hid tales of death, destruction, and derring-do. This is the story of one such bomber crew who were shot down, and the brave Dutch patriots who helped them home.Read More »
Quote: Considered by many to be the finest British film ever made, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, is a stirring masterpiece like no other. Roger Livesey dynamically embodies outmoded English militarism as the indelible General Clive Candy, who barely survives four decades of tumultuous British history, 1902 to 1942, only to see the world change irrevocably before his eyes. Anton Walbrook and Deborah Kerr provide unforgettable support, he as a German enemy turned lifelong friend of Candy’s and she as young women of three consecutive generations—a socially committed governess, a sweet-souled war nurse, and a modern-thinking army driver—who inspire him. Colonel Blimp is both moving and slyly satirical, an incomparable film about war, love, aging, and obsolescence, shot in gorgeous Technicolor.Read More »
Quote: After miraculously surviving a jump from his burning plane, RAF pilot Peter Carter (David Niven) encounters the American radio operator (Kim Hunter) to whom he has just delivered his dying wishes, and, face-to-face on a tranquil English beach, the pair fall in love. When a messenger from the hereafter arrives to correct the bureaucratic error that spared his life, Peter must mount a fierce defense for his right to stay on earth—painted by production designer Alfred Junge and cinematographer Jack Cardiff as a rich Technicolor Eden—climbing a wide staircase to stand trial in a starkly beautiful, black-and-white modernist afterlife. Intended to smooth tensions between the wartime allies Britain and America, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s richly humanistic A Matter of Life and Death traverses time and space to make a case for the transcendent value of love.Read More »
Quote: A young Englishwoman goes to the Hebrides to marry her older, wealthier fiancé. When the weather keeps them separated on different islands, she begins to have second thoughts.Read More »
Screen legend Jennifer Jones (Portrait of Jennie) stars as the young, beguiling Hazel Woodus in 1897 Shropshire, England. More than the people around her, she loves and understands the wild animals of the countryside, especially her pet fox. Whenever she has problems, she turns to the book of spells and charms left to her by her gypsy mother. When dashing local squire Jack Reddin (David Farrar, Hour of Glory) begins to pursue Hazel—despite her marriage to Baptist minister Edward Marston (Cyril Cusack, Fahrenheit 451)—a struggle for her body and soul ensues.Read More »
Vienna 1955 – a city under occupation by the four Allied powers. Through the chaos Dr. Falke moves gracefully – an elegant man-about-town and friend to the highest echelon of power. He is decidedly less graceful, however, when he is deposited by a friend at the top of a giant Soviet statue, rather the worse for drink and dressed up as a giant bat. Falke swears revenge…Read More »