David Lean's epic romance set against the turbulant backdrop of the Russian revolution. One man's struggle for moral political and personal survival amidst the complex web of intrigue and tangled loyalties that accompanied the fall of the Tsar.
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HIGH NOON (1952)
CertificationPG Our Rating
'High Noon' works on many levels; the second-to-none screenplay, the subtle direction, the clock, Gary Cooper's Oscar-winning performance... It's about a small town sheriff who must basically stand alone to defend the people from a wild gang of outlaws, who have just been let out of jail and will arrive on the noon train. Although he does not have to, and the town does not deserve saving, Cooper decides that he will do the job that he was hired to do. A classic amongst Westerns, it strips the ge
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HONDO (1953)
CertificationPG Our Rating
John Wayne's favourite John Wayne movie. Wayne is the half-Indian gunman who has thrown in his lot with the white man and discovers Page and son safely living in Apache land during an uprising. "A way of life is dying and what a great way it was". Wayne in PC movie shock!
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ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (1969)
Certification15 Our Rating
Leone's superb all-encompassing epic portraying the death of the mythical 'Wild West'. A superb cast, the collaborations of Bertolucci and Argento, and Morricone's brilliantly atmospheric score all add to the incredible style and weight of Leone's creation. A true cinematic masterpiece! A candidate for greatest movie ever made, if you haven't... then you must.
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THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951)
CertificationU Our Rating
The John Huston classic about the prim missionary lady forced to team up with a drunken ne'er-do-well for a dangerous journey when the war comes to their remote bit of Africa. Their trying odyssey downriver, of course, gradually sees the two incompatibles falling in love, with the as always detached Bogart finally discovering commitment and attacking a German gunboat.
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THE COLOUR OF POMEGRANATES / LEGEND OF THE SURAM FORTRESS (1969)
CertificationU Our Rating
The mythical "Colour of Pomegranates", the life of 18th century Armenian poet Sayat Nova, (included in Time Out's 100 greatest all time movie list), double-billed with the "Legend of the Suram Fortress", a Georgian myth about a young boy who saves the constantly crumbling Suram Fortress by allowing himself to be covered with earth and eggs and walled up alive. Eloquent images and obscure symbols constructed in striking tableaux vivants, emblematic gestures or formalised movement. Beautiful, surr
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THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940)
CertificationPG Our Rating
Made almost contemporaneously with the 1930s setting, this authentically portrays the poverty and repression of the migrant 'Okies', evicted from their dustbowl farms and treated like slaves in California. Adapted from Steinbeck's book, often called 'THE Great American Novel' and with outstanding performances coming from Henry Fonda (Tom Joad) and John Carradine (John Casey) a preacher with a fondess for vice, but a true heart... fantastic.
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THE INN OF THE SIXTH HAPPINESS (1959)
CertificationPG Our Rating
The true story of an English housemaid who changed lifestyle and became a missionary in the politically turbulent China of the 1930s. Beautifully shot with that famous heart rendering finale as Ingrid Bergman brings the orphans on their own long march through the war torn mountains.
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THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP (1943)
CertificationPG Our Rating
Based on David Low's cartoon character, Major General Clive Wynne-Candy, VC, we back-track over his life, drawing us into sympathy with the prime virtues of honour and chivalry which have transformed him from dashing young spark of the 1890s into crusty old buffer of World War II. Roger Livesey gives us not just a great performance, but a man's whole life, losing his only love (Deborah Kerr) to the German officer (Walbrook) with whom he fought a duel in pre-WWI Berlin, then becoming the latter's
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THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962)
CertificationU Our Rating
One of the finest of the genre, this classic western follows two men whose initial contempt for each other's methods, one a hard man rancher, the other a naively honest lawyer, develops into respect when faced with the the town's local hoodlum. Tense, absorbing and not without wit. Superb.
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