Feeling the depressing effects of a gloomy English summer, the Durrell family decides to pack up and move to the Greek island of Corfu in 1935. Lead by their widowed mother, 13-year old future naturalist Gerald Durrell, his two older brothers and older sister move into a series of villas. Gerald indulges his passion for nature by filling his room with local fauna, while his brothers fill their time with writing or hunting and his sister sunbathes and flirts.
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Tag Archives: UK
L’assedio / Besieged (1998) Thandie Newton, David Thewlis, Claudio Santamaria, Bernardo Bertolucci
When an African dictator jails her husband, Shandurai goes into exile in Italy, studying medicine and keeping house for Mr. Kinsky, an eccentric English pianist and composer. She lives in one room of his Roman palazzo. He besieges her with flowers, gifts, and music, declaring passionately that he loves her, would go to Africa with her, would do anything for her. “What do you know of Africa?,” she asks, then, in anguish, shouts, “Get my husband out of jail!” The rest of the film plays out the implications of this scene and leaves Shandurai with a choice.
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Born Romantic (2000) David Kane, Craig Ferguson, Ian Hart, Jane Horrocks
Centered around a salsa club, three men pursue three women across London. Fergus is trying to find his ex-girlfriend, the elderly charmer Frankie the beautiful Eleanor and the robber Eddie is trying to find one of his victims, cemetery worker Jocelyn.
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Two Way Stretch (1960) Robert Day, Peter Sellers, David Lodge, Bernard Cribbins
Dodger Lane (Peter Sellers) has planned the perfect robbery while in prison. He intends to break out of prison, steal a fortune in diamonds, and break back into prison before anyone notices. With only a few days’ sentence left, and the perfect alibi, what could possibly go wrong?
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Boom (1968) Joseph Losey, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Noel Coward
Film version of playwright Tennessee Williams’ “The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore” involves very wealthy Flora ‘Sissy’ Goforth, supposedly dying, and living in a large mansion on a secluded island with her servants and nurses; into her life comes a mysterious man, Angelo Del Morte and “the Witch of Capri.” The mysterious man may or may not be “The Angel of Death”.
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Dreamchild (1985) Gavin Millar, Coral Browne, Ian Holm, Peter Gallagher
Exploring the somewhat darker and more mysterious side of the Lewis Carroll’s classic book, the movie follows Alice Liddell (the book’s inspiration) as an old woman who is haunted by the characters she was once so amused by. As she thinks back on it, she starts to see her relationship with the shy author/professor in a new way and realizes the vast change between the young Alice and the old.
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Death at Broadcasting House (1934) Reginald Denham, Ian Hunter, Austin Trevor, Lilian Oldland
When an actor is murdered during the recording of a radio play, Detective Inspector Gregory quickly discovers that the victim had many enemies amongst his fellow players. When his deductions lead him into a blind alley he decides to reconstruct the crime, hoping that this tried and tested device will lead him to the killer. All the technical and human resources of Broadcasting House are brought to his aid…
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Insignificance (1985) Nicolas Roeg, Gary Busey, Tony Curtis, Theresa Russell
Four 1950’s cultural icons (Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio and Senator Joseph MacCarthy) who conceivably could have met and probably didn’t, fictionally do in this modern fable of post-WWII America. Visually intriguing, the film has a fluid progression of flash-backs and flash-forwards centering on the fictional Einstein’s current observations, childhood memories and apprehensions for the future. Read More »