A respectable, sincere film of Robert Bolt's literate play, with Scofield as Sir Thomas More, endorsing the divine right of the Pope over and above his King, Henry VIII, who wishes to divorce Katherine Of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn. Watch out for Orson Welles in a marvellous cameo as Cardinal Wolsey. The film won 6 Oscars.
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ALEXANDER THE GREAT (1955)
CertificationU Our Rating
Spectacular Hollywood epic with Burton as the legendary Greek hero, torn between respect for his learned teacher, Aristotle, fearful loyalty to his father, and his own all consuming hunger for world domination. A cast of literally thousands in this colourful, visually stunning odyssey.
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BECKET (1964)
CertificationPG Our Rating
In a move designed to subordinate the Catholic Church to the state, Henry II gave the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury to his close friend and ally Thomas Becket. With Becket now installed as his 'man on the inside' Henry could be forgiven for thinking that the church would more easily acquiesce to his bidding. Henry, however, had neither bargained on Becket's ecclesiastical fervour nor realized his zealous nature. Thus the stage was set for one of the greatest battles of supremacy between
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BOXCAR BERTHA (1972)
Certification15 Our Rating
The story of an Arkansas farm girl who, as a young girl, witnessed the death of her father in a horrific crash and then gained revenge on his boss. On the run she hits the road in a life of crime and meets up with an assortment of characters, including a trade unionist, a black friend of his and a small-time Yankee conman.
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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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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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CLEOPATRA (PART 1) (1963)
CertificationPG Our Rating
One of history's greatest love affairs acted by two of Hollywood's most famous lovers. A sumptuous extravaganza, in its time the most expensive ever made, with some of the most lavish sets and costumes ever recorded, and, with numerous rewrites, way, way over budget.
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CLEOPATRA (PART 2) (1963)
CertificationPG Our Rating
The second tape of the 4 hour cut of this lavish Hollywood production, with all the bits the studio took out in order to make it fit your cinema's running times and avoid severe bum ache. DVD contains a bonus features disc.
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DELIUS - SONG OF SUMMER (1968)
CertificationPG Our Rating
Based on Eric Fenby's 1936 memoir 'Delius As I Knew Him', we follow the last five years of the composer, by now blind, paralysed, embittered and at war with the world, as Fenby helps him formulate into music the compositions he still has whirling around his mind. 'Delius - Song of Summer' is a powerful and moving story.
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EL CID (1961)
CertificationPG Our Rating
One of the very finest epics produced, equally impressive in terms of script and spectacle. Heston is aptly heroic as the 11th Century patriot destined to die in the fight to evict the Moors from Spain, Mann's direction is stately and thrilling and Miklos Rosza's superb score perfectly complements the crisp and simple widescreen images. Sobriety and restraint, in fact, are perhaps the keynotes of the film's success, with the result that a potentially risible finale, in which Cid's corpse is born
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