An adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's play, which caused such a scandal with its critical stance on marriage. The film was shot entirely on location in Norway and features a haunting score by Michel Legrand.
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AN ACTOR'S REVENGE (1962)
CertificationPG Our Rating
Wildly unusual costume tale of a Kabuki female impersonator who avenges his parents' suicides by courting (in female guise) their tormentors. His elaborate revenge is superbly choreographed by director Ichikawa, and the central performance of Hasegawa (in TWO roles!) is beyond remarkable.
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ANNA KARENINA (1947) (1947)
CertificationPG Our Rating
Remake of the Garbo classic, with Leigh as the ill-starred Anna, who leaves her stuffy husband for the eminently more exciting Vronsky. But forbidden love turns sour when Vronsky puts his duty above his mistress, leaving Anna alone to face the cruelty of a disapproving society. Tragic melodrama.
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BROKEN BLOSSOMS / ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1919)
CertificationU Our Rating
Two works from the father of narrative cinema. In "Broken Blossoms" (1919); a Chinaman arrives in London to teach the locals the ideals of Buddhism but finds them most unreceptive and, instead, opens a shop which becomes the refuge for a xenophobic boxer's abused daughter. Lillian Gish is brilliant and Griffith poetic. "Abraham Lincoln", (1930), was Griffith's first talkie and is a straightforward biopic from childhood to his premature assassination.
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Charu lives a lonely and idle life in 1870s India. Although her husband devotes more time to his newspaper than to their marriage, he sees her loneliness and asks his brother-in-law, Umapeda, a would-be writer, to keep her company. At this point Bhupati's cousin, Amal, visits and spends a long vacation and, after several months, Charu and Amal's feelings for each other move beyond friendship and toward tragedy. A classic piece of early drama from the great Satyajit Ray.
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CITIZEN KANE (1941)
CertificationU Our Rating
A landmark in the history of the cinema; it was ranked Number 1 in the American Film Institute's 100 greatest films of all time in two polls (1998 and 2007) of more than 1,500 film industry movers and shakers and again by UK directors in a BFI poll. "Citizen Kane" narrates the rise and fall of a newspaper tycoon driven by a childhood obssession and is loosely based round the life of William Randolph Hurst, who tried to have it banned, but incorporates elements from the lives of other fat cats il
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ELGAR (1962)
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The BFI continues its successful strand of Archive Television releases with Ken Russell's classic documentary Elgar, which was first shown in 1962 as the 100th programme in the BBC's Monitor series. This partly dramatised account of the life of composer Sir Edward Elgar includes footage of Elgar at the Three Choirs Festival and a recording of the opening of Abbey Road Studios when 'Land Of Hope And Glory' was played.
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ELVIRA MADIGAN (1967)
CertificationPG Our Rating
Winner of the Best Actress award at Cannes, 1967, and possibly the prettiest film of the sixties. A high-ranking Swedish soldier sacrifices his wife, career and social standing for the love of a young circus girl, but their idyllic liaison is soon tainted by the realities of life. Romantic tragedy.
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FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD (1967)
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Thomas Hardy's classic tale of a rural landowner chased by three men, a swashbuckling army womaniser, a loyal shepherd and a staid middle-aged bachelor, and her making a choice she lives to regret. Nicolas Roeg's beautiful cinematography of the West Country dominates the film.
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