A 17th Century poet and philosopher, aesthetically challenged by way of a gargantuan hooter, nobly puts his own feelings on hold to help his friend woo the woman that he himself is in love with. Wrongly believing that we ladies are fickle enough to be swayed by devastatingly good looks, Cyrano hides his nasum under a bushel and lets the intellectually and emotionally inferior mate take the credit for his silver tongue. Michael Gordon's adaptation of the classic French novel won Jose Ferrer an Oscar, but it has to be said that the 1990 Gerard Depardieu version is a lot more fun.