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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ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (1950)
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Betty Hutton (as Annie Oakley) and Howard Keel (as Frank Butler) star in this sharpshootin' funfest based on the Broadway smash boasting Irving Berlin's beloved score, including Doin' What Comes Natur'lly, I Got the Sun in the Morning and the anthemic There's No Business like Show Business. Directed by George Sidney this lavish, spirited production showcases songs and performances with bull's-eye precision, earning an Oscar for adaptation scoring. The story is brawling boy-meets-girl-meets-bucks
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BEND OF THE RIVER (1952)
CertificationPG Our Rating
The second of the terrific Stewart/Mann Westerns is characteristic of their pairings: adult themes played out against prairie vistas in which betrayal and violence can erupt at any time. Formerly a vicious Missouri raider, Stewart now leads an Oregon bound wagon train that, having brushed aside ineffective Native American resistance to the invasion, becomes embroiled in a conflict over resources between farmers (decent folk) and miners (womanising, drinking, thieving, scumbags). Welcome to Middl
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BROKEN BLOSSOMS / ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1919)
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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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CALAMITY JANE (1953)
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OhtheDeadwoodStageiscomin'upoverthehill (fortissimo). Doris, bless her, belts her heart out as the pistol-packin' tomboy who has to clean up her act when she falls for Wild Bill Hickock. Much spunkier than 'Annie Get Your Gun' and with better tunes, most notably 'Secret Love'. A fine musical comedy.
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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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DODGE CITY (1939)
CertificationPG Our Rating
Michael Curtiz's epic Western 'Dodge City' stars Errol Flynn as Wade Hatton, a wagon master turned sheriff who tames the cow town at the end of the railroad. Flynn brings his trademark swash buckling charisma to the role of the justice-seeking sheriff, and Olivia de Havilland is both tough and lovely as Hatton's ally and inevitable love interest. The film also features one of the liveliest bar room brawls in cinematic history.
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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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