John Hurt
The popular Gruffalo stories as a double sequence: The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo Child. Two great courage-making stories about fear and fearlessness and the happiness of the little ones who make it big if they only use their imagination.
Bare Knuckle chronicles Lenny McLean’s origin as a young street fighter in 1970s East End London, the haunting effects of horrific childhood abuse, and his bitter rivalry with Roy Shaw across three unlicensed boxing matches, culminating in Lenny taking the championship title of “The Guv’nor”. In his later life, Lenny McLean went on to become a bestselling author, and won TV and film roles, the most well known being “Barry the Baptist” in Guy Ritchie’s debut Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, shortly before passing away in 1998.
A spy navigates the precarious terrain of love and survival during an undercover mission in Syria.
A moving and memorable family drama about a terminally ill writer who wants to be reconciled with his long-abandoned son.
The life story of one of Britain's most notorious bare-knuckle fighters, Lenny McLean, also known as "the Guv'nor."
Firebrand Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley and Sinn Fein politician Martin McGuinness, two implacable enemies in Northern Ireland, are forced to take a short journey together in which they will take the biggest leap of faith and change the course of history.
ChickLit is a comedy drama about four guys trying to save their local pub from closing down. They group write a chick lit, or more specifically a 'mummy porn' novel in the style of 'Fifty Shades of Grey' and it gets snapped up. The only snag is that the publisher insists that the young woman 'author' does press and publicity. The guys have to keep their involvement a secret and so engage an out of work actress to 'role play' the part of the author. This leads to her becoming the star in the film of the book, the tables are turned on the guys and she is in control - leaving them with the awful prospect of having to secretly churn out sex novels for the foreseeable future.
The story of the WWI poets Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen and Robert Graves, using their diaries and letters to tell the inside story of the war in their own words.
Shiver me timbers. Surprises await Thomas and his friends as they dig up their most daring adventure yet. Unearthing an old pirate ship, Thomas is on the hunt for Sodor's lost treasure. When Thomas rocks the boat with some new friends, trouble soon rushes in. Will Thomas track down the treasure in time, or will Sailor John set sail with it? Join Thomas and Friends in this explosive movie adventure.
Pixel Veil presents “The Alchemist’s Letter,” a richly inventive and visually stunning dark fairly tale. When Veridian, an estranged young man, receives his late alchemist father Nicolas’ inheritance (voice of Academy Award® nominated John Hurt), he is exposed to the ill-fated reality that his father built a tumultuous gold making machine powered by his own memories. The film takes us on an enchanted journey through the vessels of the machine where we explore the contents of the alchemist’s most precious memories, all in an attempt to give his son one last life lesson and save his relationship with his daughter (voice of Eloise Webb) from following down the same fateful path.
The six-part series opens with a daring diamond heist before quickly delving into the dark heart of Europe where a shadowy alliance of gangsters and 'banksters' now rules. Naomi is the British loss adjustor charged with recovering the stolen diamonds whatever the cost. Also in pursuit is French-Algerian policeman Khalil.
In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Dmitri Shostakovich's death in 2015, filmmaker Reiner Moritz produced his documentary Dmitri Shostakovich, A Man of Many Faces. With British actor John Hurt as narrator, Moritz examines Shostakovich's life, focusing in on two events in particular: the 1936 banning of his highly successful opera Lady Mabeth of the Mtsensk District, and the composer's labelling as a "formalist and cosmopolitan" in 1948. Despite such setbacks, Shostakovich went on to pursue a resilient and fulfilling career that testifies to the power of art in the face of a dictatorial terror regime. In telling his story, Mortiz weaves together rare footage of the composer himself talking and performing his Concerto for Piano, Trumpet, and Strings with captivating performances of his 15 symphonies and 6 concertos by Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra and filmed excerpts of Lady Macbeth and his quartets.
Fourteen hundred years ago, a tormented soul walked the earth that was neither man nor god. Hercules was the powerful son of the god king Zeus, for this he received nothing but suffering his entire life. After twelve arduous labors and the loss of his family, this dark, world-weary soul turned his back on the gods finding his only solace in bloody battle. Over the years he warmed to the company of six similar souls, their only bond being their love of fighting and presence of death. These men and woman never question where they go to fight or why or whom, just how much they will be paid. Now the King of Thrace has hired these mercenaries to train his men to become the greatest army of all time. It is time for this bunch of lost souls to finally have their eyes opened to how far they have fallen when they must train an army to become as ruthless and blood thirsty as their reputation has become.
The life story of the film director, movie star and industry figure who furthered the cause of cinema: Lord Richard Attenborough.
In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet, a class system evolves aboard the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine.
A spectacular special event edition of Swan Lake in 3-D starring Ekaterina Kondaurova and Natalia Vodianova, model, actress, and storyteller, was recorded and broadcast live from the historic Mariinsky Theatre St. Petersburg, Russia, the city where the world's most loved ballet was created. This was a 3-D live screening celebrating two hundred seventy-five years since Russian ballet started in the exquisite splendor of the Winter Palace.
A depressed musician reunites with his lover in the desolate streets of Detroit. Though their romance has endured several centuries, it is tested by the arrival of her capricious and unpredictable younger sister.
The Doctor struggles to help the only remaining crewmember of a crashing gunship. The people of the planet below offer to save his life, but at a dear cost to the life he's lived for hundreds of years.
In 2013, something terrible is awakening in London's National Gallery; in 1562, a murderous plot is afoot in Elizabethan England; and somewhere in space an ancient battle reaches its devastating conclusion. All of reality is at stake as the Doctor's own dangerous past comes back to haunt him.
A feature film about Benjamin Britten, released as part of the 100 year celebrations of his birth. Britten is the most performed British composer worldwide. This film premiered at Gresham's School, which he attended, and focuses on how his life-long pacifism influenced his life and music. Written and directed by Tony Britten (In Love With Alama Cogan), narrated by John Hurt and with a superb cast of young people, including many supporting roles taken by students of Gresham's School, the film weaves dramatisation with a documentary narrative.
Alabama; 1969: The death of a clan's estranged wife and mother brings together two very different families. The scars of the past hide differences that will either tear them apart or expose truths that could lead to unexpected collisions.
A Portrait Of Leslie Phillips takes a look at the life of Leslie Phillips; the legendary actor, writer and veritable British institution. Leslie's frank and open conversations combine with personal interviews from some of the greats who have worked with him.
While traveling abroad, a guy falls for a Romanian beauty whose unreachable heart has its origins in her violent, charismatic ex.
Funny, passionate, exciting, and smart: ‘Muse Of Fire’ will change the way you feel about Shakespeare forever. This unique feature documentary follows two actors, Giles Terera and Dan Poole, as they travel the world to find out everything they can about tackling the greatest writer of them all. Together they have directed and produced an inspiring film that aims to demystify and illuminate Shakespeare’s work for everyone: from actors, directors and students of all disciplines, right through to the? man on the street? Denmark with Jude Law, Baz Luhrmann in Hollywood, Prison in Berlin, and on the street with Mark Rylance. Think Shakespeare is boring? Think again!
A prophecy is coming true. The Eleventh Doctor is summoned to Trenzalore where it was said he would fall. But what does the alleged site of his final battle have to do with the mystery of Clara Oswald? Can the Paternoster Gang help him avoid his apparent destiny? And most of all...Doctor who?
Chris wants to show girlfriend Tina his world, but events soon conspire against the couple and their dream caravan holiday takes a very wrong turn.
With dazzling nature photography, Academy Award®–nominated director Markus Imhoof (The Boat Is Full) takes a global examination of endangered honeybees — spanning California, Switzerland, China and Australia — more ambitious than any previous work on the topic.
The struggle of a lone sniper in a dystopian future Britain plagued with rabies and ruled over by a sinistrous Ministry of Information.
Adapted from the multi-award winning BBC1 series, Planet Dinosaur 3D recreates the lost world of the dinosaurs in a groundbreaking stereoscopic production. This is one of the most ambitious animated programmes ever attempted for broadcast TV, recreating every detail of these extraordinary animals in an entirely digital production that stretches the boundaries of broadcast 3D with a scale and ambition normally reserved for Hollywood feature films. Planet Dinosaur 3D is a thrilling and immersive journey into a lost world. Pulling together cutting edge research from around the world this programme uses the latest, stunning fossil evidence to chart the rise and fall of the 'Ultimate Killers'; from the iconic Spinosaurus, the largest predator ever to walk the Earth, to Microraptor and the feathered, flying dinosaurs from China. At last, thanks to the advances in technology, and for the first time ever, these monsters can be experienced in all their full, magnificent wonder.
Harry, Ron and Hermione continue their quest to vanquish the evil Voldemort once and for all. Just as things begin to look hopeless for the young wizards, Harry discovers a trio of magical objects that endow him with powers to rival Voldemort's formidable skills.
A cinematic experience bringing you the most amazing human stories in the world. Humans and wildlife surviving in the most extreme environments on Earth.
In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet mole within his former colleagues at the heart of MI6.
Two sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide with Earth.
An old explorer close to freezing in the Arctic re-lives the events that brought him there in the first place. He recalls his student days at Trinity College in Dublin when he studied under the enigmatic Professor Orit, the professor who was driven to madness by his obsessive pursuit of the unified theory. Convinced that the answer somehow lay in the relationship between the numbers two, three and five, Professor Orit's obsession started the journey which has led his former student to the top of the world.
A follow up to the 2009 animated feature and adapted from the childrens' book by Julia Donaldson and Alex Scheffler. The Gruffalo's child explores the deep dark wood in search of the big bad mouse and meets the Snake, Owl and Fox in the process. She eventually finds the mouse, who manages to outwit her like the Gruffalo before!
On Christmas Eve, a hit-man enters a church to confess his sins to a priest. While at first the Confessor seems to be an evil, cold-blooded killing machine and the Priest the ultimate arbiter of good, as the Confessor’s journey is revealed, it becomes clear that both men are much more complicated than either could have suspected.
The film revolves around, Norman, a world-weary manager of a pier theatre in a seaside resort. Norman has worked in the theatre for all of his life, but will not accept that the local council, which own the theatre are planning to install more commercial management in an attempt to boost audience numbers. As the story unfolds he realises it may be time to move on and put behind him the ghost of 50s & 60s singer Alma Cogan, who performed at the theatre many years ago. Sandra, his devoted long-suffering assistant and Norman decide to leave the theatre to fulfill her dream of being a professional singer and unexpectedly enjoying a late blossoming romance. From Wikipedia.
Charts the headlong fall of Pinkie, a razor-wielding disadvantaged teenager with a religious death wish.
It's never to late for a love at first sight. Especially when you are in your 70's.
Harry, Ron and Hermione walk away from their last year at Hogwarts to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes, putting an end to Voldemort's bid for immortality. But with Harry's beloved Dumbledore dead and Voldemort's unscrupulous Death Eaters on the loose, the world is more dangerous than ever.
A sea turtle who was hatched in 1959 spends the next 50 years traveling the world while it is being changed by global warming. Born on a Baja, California beach in 1959, new hatchling Sammy must do what his fellow newborn sea turtles are doing: race across the beach to the ocean before they are captured by a seagull or crab. Thus begins Sammy's incredible fifty-year ocean journey. Along the way he meets his best friend, a fellow turtle named Ray, and overcomes obstacles both natural and man-made while trying to fulfill his dream of travelling around the world. Throughout his voyage, Sammy never forgets about Shelly - the turtle he saved on his first day and loves passionately from afar. Based on the actual trajectory of a sea turtle's life, the film illustrates the dangers humans pose to the species' survival. The film combines entertainment with an important environmental message.
A squad of Ultramarines answer a distress call from an Imperial Shrine World. A full Company of Imperial Fists was stationed there, but there is no answer from them. The squad investigates to find out what has happened there.
After placing his ailing wife Alice in a care home elderly academic James Parkin goes to stay at a wintry out-of-season hotel which they used to visit together. Walking on a deserted beach he finds a ring with a Latin inscription,which translates as Who Is This Who Is Coming. He takes the ring back to the hotel but at night he hears loud banging on his door,even though he is the sole guest,as well as seeing a white-clad apparition on the beach.He is seemingly the victim of ghostly revenge - but who is the avenger?
Living in rural New South Wales, working-class single mother Rhia is struggling to evade debt collectors and raise three young daughters. The eldest, and hardened beyond her years, Lou blames Rhia for the departure of her father, who walked out 10 months ago and hasn't been seen since. Mother-daughter relations hit bottom when Rhia takes in Doyle, her father in-law, who is in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's. Doyle turns Lou's initial hostility around with exciting tales of his South Seas adventures. But coursing deepest in his mind are fractured memories of Annie, his late wife. Before long, Doyle "sees" Annie in Lou and imagines he is courting her all over again.
Biographical drama based on the last 20 years of Crisp's life. The literary figure and gay iconoclast emigrated to New York in 1981 and lived there until his death. The film observes Crisp in both his public and private lives, from his seemingly cavalier response to the outbreak of AIDS to his tender relationship with his friend Patrick Angus and his own response to growing old.
An documentary recounting the story with interviews of cast, crew and production team and including producer Barry Navidi, who had worked for six years to get Divine Rapture made.
A mysterious stranger works outside the law and keeps his objectives hidden, trusting no one. While his demeanor is paradoxically focused and dreamlike all at once, he embarks on a journey that not only takes him across Spain, but also through his own consciousness.
The magical tale of a mouse who takes a walk though the woods in search of a nut.
Colin is in agony, shattered by his wife’s infidelity, so his friends kidnap the wife's lover so he can have his revenge.
A student takes a bizarre trip through the Italian Alps after being inspired by a professor's lecture on Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" from his Ninth Symphony.
Set during the Cold War, the Soviets – led by sword-wielding Irina Spalko – are in search of a crystal skull which has supernatural powers related to a mystical Lost City of Gold. After being captured and then escaping from them, Indy is coerced to head to Peru at the behest of a young man whose friend – and Indy's colleague – Professor Oxley has been captured for his knowledge of the skull's whereabouts.
An evil elf breaks an ancient pact between humans and creatures, and is on a mission to release 'The Golden Army', a deadly group of fighting machines that can destroy the human race. As Hell on Earth is ready to erupt, Hellboy and his crew set out to defeat prince and his army.
New York, I Love You delves into the intimate lives of New Yorkers as they grapple with, delight in and search for love. Journey from the Diamond District in the heart of Manhattan, through Chinatown and the Upper East Side, towards the Village, into Tribeca, and Brooklyn as lovers of all ages try to find romance in the Big Apple.
At Oxford University, a professor and a grad student work together to try and stop a potential series of murders seemingly linked by mathematical symbols
When Hellboy, Liz Sherman, and Abe Sapien are assigned to investigate the ghost-infested mansion of a publicity-hound billionaire, they uncover a plot to resurrect a beautiful yet monstrous vampire from Professor Bruttenholm’s past. But before they can stop her bloodbath, Hellboy will have to battle harpies, hellhounds, a giant werewolf, and even the ferocious goddess Hecate herself.
The actor of John Merrick answers questions about the work on "The Elephant Man"
Anna, 50 years old, moves into her new house. Rooms are full of boxes which contain a lot of things and plenty of memories. Anna has lived many lives and her past comes out of these boxes. Her parents surely, but also her children and their fathers, the living and the dead. In this breakneck period of her life, time is running faster and faster and Anna takes a run-up to face the past and try to go towards the future. And, maybe, to manage to still believe in love?
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born in the stench of 18th century Paris, develops a superior olfactory sense, which he uses to create the world's finest perfumes. However, his work takes a dark turn as he tries to preserve scents in the search for the ultimate perfume.
Two westerners, a priest and a teacher find themselves in the middle of the Rwandan genocide and face a moral dilemna. Do they place themselves in danger and protect the refugees, or escape the country with their lives? Based on a true story.
This compelling drama/documentary details the events leading up to, and surrounding the resignation of Harold Wilson as Prime Minister in 1976.
In a world in which Great Britain has become a fascist state, a masked vigilante known only as “V” conducts guerrilla warfare against the oppressive British government. When V rescues a young woman from the secret police, he finds in her an ally with whom he can continue his fight to free the people of Britain.
"Whaledreamers" - the title alone evokes hypnotic visions of these most magnificent and ancient creatures. This visually stunning film offers an incredible glimpse into a rarely seen and scarcely understood tribal culture whose entire story of creation revolves around whales and has endured for centuries. The film passionately explores the connection between the subtle elegance of these “mothers of the sea” and ancient civilizations around the world whose culture and very existence is based on whales. Intertwining incredible underwater footage with ancient legend, whaledreamers examines the complex past and the possibly dire future of human civilization. Told with moving optimism and spiritual strength, it is a clarion call encouraging humanity’s reconnection to the profound beauty of the natural world and is an appeal to embrace all living beings thereby creating the unity and peace which the Earth itself can bring.
Set in 1944, Valiant is a woodland pigeon who wants to become a great hero someday. When he hears they are hiring recruits for the Royal Homing Pigeon Service, he immediately sets out for London. On the way, he meets a smelly but friendly pigeon named Bugsy, who joins him, mainly to get away from clients he cheated in a game of find-the pebble, and helps him sign up for the war.
In 1933, after leaving Dogville, Grace Margaret Mulligan sees a slave being punished at a cotton farm called Manderlay. Officially slavery is illegal and Grace stands up against the owners of the farm. She stays with some gangsters in Manderlay and tries to influence the situation. But when harvest time comes Grace sees the social and economic reality of Manderlay.
The documentary recounts the world's first nuclear attack and examines the alarming repercussions. Covering a three-week period from the Trinity test to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the program chronicles America's political gamble and the planning for the momentous event. Archival film, dramatizations, and special effects feature what occurred aboard the Enola Gay (the aircraft that dropped the bomb) and inside the exploding bomb.
A hospice nurse working at a spooky New Orleans plantation home finds herself entangled in a mystery involving the house's dark past.
Set in the Australian outback in the 1880s, the movie follows the series of events following the horrific rape and murder of the Hopkins family, allegedly committed by the infamous Burns brothers gang. Captain Morris Stanley captures Charlie Burns and gives him 9 days to kill his older dangerous psychopathic brother, or else they'll hang his younger mentally slow brother on Christmas Day.
In the final days of World War II, the Nazis attempt to use black magic to aid their dying cause. The Allies raid the camp where the ceremony is taking place, but not before a demon—Hellboy—has already been conjured. Joining the Allied forces, Hellboy eventually grows to adulthood, serving the cause of good rather than evil.
Dramatisation of the colourful memoirs of the late Conservative MP.
A barren soundstage is stylishly utilized to create a minimalist small-town setting in which a mysterious woman named Grace hides from the criminals who pursue her. The town is two-faced and offers to harbor Grace as long as she can make it worth their effort, so Grace works hard under the employ of various townspeople to win their favor. Tensions flare, however, and Grace's status as a helpless outsider provokes vicious contempt and abuse from the citizens of Dogville.
A behind-the-scenes look at the making of “Alien,” the terrifying classic about a spaceship crew trapped with a hideous monster that's hunting them one by one.
Dan Mahowny was a rising star at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. At twenty-four he was assistant manager of a major branch in the heart of Toronto's financial district. To his colleagues he was a workaholic. To his customers, he was astute, decisive and helpful. To his friends, he was a quiet, but humorous man who enjoyed watching sports on television. To his girlfriend, he was shy but engaging. None of them knew the other side of Dan Mahowny--the side that executed the largest single-handed bank fraud in Canadian history, grossing over $10 million in eighteen months to feed his gambling obsession.
Short film combining the true life event of Che Guevara's stopover at Shannon Airport with Science Fiction elements involving the Invisible Man.
HypaSpace was a weekly entertainment news program about the world of science fiction and fantasy, created by and shown on Space, a Canadian cable television station. It had daily and weekly segments. The television show covers movies, television, books, comics and community events. The show has HypaSpace daily shows and HypaSpace weekly shows which sums up the week of news. The series was casual and irreverent. HypaSpace was produced by Simon Evans and Michelle Dudas. There were 260 episodes per year, excluding the first year, which started in May, and the sixth year, as the daily shows were pulled around mid-December with only the weekend edition airing. The daily segments stopped being produced in mid-December 2007, which meant that in its last year, the show had only 26 episodes. There were approximately 1480 episodes of the show. In May 2005, Kim Poirier took over hosting the show, joining original host Jonathan Llyr, now a reporter for the program. Poirier left the show in July 2007. Segments of HypaSpace aired interstitially between Space programs. Llyr hosted the show whenever Poirier was on a break or was ill. He also hosted the HypaSpace podcast, which started on October 7, 2006. Mark Askwith then took over as the host of the podcast.
A modern day adaptation of Dostoyevsky's classic novel about a young student who is forever haunted by the murder he has committed.
The cast and crew of I, Claudius (1976) discuss the making of the series.
In 1979, Alien burst onto the scene with a strong female lead in the form of Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) battling the ultimate biomechanical creature. The brilliant and terrifying result reinvented the horror and science fiction genres, creating one of the most successful and celebrated film franchises in Hollywood history. This award-winning, feature-length documentary explores the series.
Have you ever done a handstand... on the tips of your index fingers? How about snapping iron bars over your head as if they were bread-sticks? You'll witness these amazing feats and much more in this astonishing London performance of China's legendary Shaolin monks. In perfecting their martial arts prowess, these devoted Buddhists have honed their physical and mental disciplines to such an uncommon degree that their movements seem almost supernaturally powerful. From the athletic contortions of a young acolyte to an older monk being hoisted aloft on the points of sharpened spears, these men and boys have conquered and crossed boundaries of control that would strike most outsiders as impossible if it weren't for their living proof. In demonstrating these and other kung fu skills, the Shaolin also enact their history as an enduring order, providing a theatrical narrative that's literally breathtaking.
This collage of interviews with the producers, John Hurt, and the makeup man comes off as both interesting and informative. Hurt's recollections about the role and the crazy makeup he worked in, are fascinating, as are the stories about the makeup artist using the real remains of John Merrick archived in the London hospital. A shorter bit has the artist explaining the exact construction of his amibitious makup, and he also narrates a slide show that includes color photos of the finished work. There are some mind-boggling stills of the real Merrick's grotesquely contorted skull, where excess bone seems to have grown like tallow dripping from a horrible candle, or a foaming tumor of excess calcification.
Harry Potter has lived under the stairs at his aunt and uncle's house his whole life. But on his 11th birthday, he learns he's a powerful wizard -- with a place waiting for him at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As he learns to harness his newfound powers with the help of the school's kindly headmaster, Harry uncovers the truth about his parents' deaths -- and about the villain who's to blame.
When a Greek fisherman leaves to fight with the Greek army during WWII, his fiancee falls in love with the local Italian commander. The film is based on a novel about an Italian soldier's experiences during the Italian occupation of the Greek island of Cephalonia (Kefalonia), but Hollywood made it into a pure love story by removing much of the "unpleasant" stuff.
"Hidden Wars of Desert Storm" looks at the origins of the Gulf War crisis and challenges the official Western "party-line" view of a spontaneous crusade for "Freedom & Democracy". Instead, the documentary exposes the White House and US State Department's hidden agenda in the Gulf as well as the Pentagon's use of radioactive ammunitions made of uranium 238.
In Krapp's Last Tape, which was written in English in 1958, an old man reviews his life and assesses his predicament. We learn about him not from the 69-year-old man on stage, but from his 39-year-old self on the tape he chooses to listen to. On the 'awful occasion' of his birthday, Krapp was then and is now in the habit of reviewing the past year and 'separating the grain from the husks'. He isolates memories of value, fertility and nourishment to set against creeping death 'when all my dust has settled'.
A small group of Catholics led by an ailing priest believe that Satan intends to become man, just as God did in the person of Jesus. The writings of a possessed mental patient lead them to Peter Kelson, a writer who studies serial killers. They think it's his body Satan will occupy. The youngest in the group, a teacher named Maya Larkin, goes to Peter to investigate further and to convince him to believe in the possibility of Evil incarnate. Other signs come to him as he and Maya them take a journey full of strange occurrences, self-discovery, and an ultimate showdown
Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Owl, Kanga, Roo, and Rabbit are preparing a suitable winter home for Eeyore, the perennially dejected donkey, but Tigger's continual bouncing interrupts their efforts. Rabbit suggests that Tigger go find others of his kind to bounce with, but Tigger thinks "the most wonderful thing about tiggers is" he's "the only one!" Just in case though, the joyously jouncy feline sets out to see if he can find relatives.
Johnnie Cooper served time for an armed robbery that also his father and brother participated in. When he's released from jail he's determined to live a normal life and gets work at a gas station. But soon his brother pays a visit.
Watership Down is an animated television series, loosely adapted from the novel of the same name by Richard Adams. It was a co-production of Alltime Entertainment of the United Kingdom and Decode Entertainment of Canada, and produced by Martin Rosen, the director of the 1978 feature film adaptation. Watership Down aired for 39 episodes and three series from 1999 to 2001, on both YTV in Canada and CITV in the UK, though the latter did not broadcast the third series. It starred several well-known British actors, including Stephen Fry, Rik Mayall, Phil Jupitus, Jane Horrocks, Dawn French, John Hurt, and Richard Briers, among others. Stephen Gately sang a new arrangement of Art Garfunkel's "Bright Eyes", which had been included in the 1978 feature film, while Mike Batt and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra contributed a completely new score. In 2003, composer Eric Robertson as well as David Greene and Mike Batt were nominated for a Gemini Award for Best Original Music Score for a Dramatic Series for their work on the show. Some episodes from the adaptation were released on VHS and later, DVD. In October 2005, a Region 2 DVD box set of all three series was released in the UK.
An emotionally challenged young man named Bobby runs away from home in order to escape his abusive stepfather who has killed his pets. He meets an old man, Mr. Summers, who spends his time traveling and giving burials to animals that have been killed by cars. Bobby, also having an affinity for animals, becomes friends with the old man and aids him in his task.
Kom is from a tribe of monkeys who live in a canopy. He rejects elders' authority as well as the superstition that the lower world would be inhabited by demons. But he accidentally falls from the trees…
One morning, the cops find eight dead bodies, gunshot victims, near a farmhouse. They also find a wounded man who tells the story of what happened. He is Alan White, the father of a young woman awaiting a heart transplant. The night before, his wounded son Danny has come to him with a tale of a kidnapping gone wrong. Danny, whom Alan hasn't seen for eight years, offers a deal: if Alan will pose as a kidnapping victim, which will lead to his death, Danny will donate his heart for his sister's transplant. If Alan refuses, then Danny and his friends, the "new blood" hired to help with the kidnapping, will die. What will Alan do, and what's really going on here.
A worried husband hires a beautiful psychotherapist to nurse his delusional wife and help her deal with the death of their child in a car accident. However, the nurse starts playing mind games. Or is he just being paranoid?
A man released from jail, where he had served time for doctoring the books of a gangster, has to go into hiding from the gangster's men. He moves into a Dublin boarding house run by a woman and her timid daughter. The timid woman immediately takes a shine to the new boarder and to his train sets, which they each use as an escape from reality.
Baltimore, 1959. Danny's dad is the only man in the neighborhood who didn't fight in World War II. Danny, who's 12, gets teased and folks make nasty cracks about cowards. An old radio tower on a nearby hill is about to be torn down, and Danny decides to climb it to prove his courage. Help comes from an aging neighbor, Old Man Langer, a former construction foreman who's dying of cancer and wants Danny to help him commit suicide. Langer rigs pulleys and weights to help the lad make the climb. Meanwhile, an aggressive and angry neighbor (an army vet) regularly gets drunk and shoots off his rifle, and Danny's dad must confront him. It all comes to a head one stormy night.
John Hurt stars as a scandal-hit member of parliament, dispatched to the political backwaters of the European Commission in Brussels as penance for his failures. However, once there he stumbles upon a chemical weapons outrage that points to a sinister political-industrial conspiracy.
Giles De'Ath is a widower who doesn't like anything modern. He goes to movies and falls in love with film star, Ronnie Bostock. He then investigates everything about the movie and Ronnie. After that he travels to Long Island city where Ronnie lives and meets him, pretending that Ronnie is a great actor and that's why Giles admires him.
This 54 minute program - narrated by actor John Hurt - chronicles the story of Jupiter starting with Galileo Galilei's Jupiter observations in the 1600's through the impacts of Comet Shoemaker-Levy on July 16-22, 1994. Computer animations and information are provided to give the viewer a solid background on the significance of Galileo's encounter with Jupiter. Also featured are interviews with comet discoverers Gene and Carolyn Shoemaker and David Levy, Caltech planetary scientist Andrew Ingersoll, Galileo Project Manager Bill O'Neil and other members of the Galileo mission team.
Desperation for a child prompts a British executive's (Douglas Hodge) wife (Kerry Fox) to submit to an illegal adoption scheme in Vietnam
Originally produced for the Showtime anthology series Picture Windows and screened at the Cannes Film Festival, this whimsical British short speculates upon the origins of the anonymous painting, Two Nudes Bathing, which hangs in the Louvre. The painting depicts two beautiful, naked young women engaged in a tender act. The result is the notorious painting in which the nude girls are depicted with one of them daintily holding the nipple of the other. Naturally, the finished work causes quite a stir in Comte's prudish household. Though rumors persist of a feature-length version of this film, they are unfounded: it was originally shot and produced as a 35-minute short, and that was the version that ran and was reviewed at Cannes.
The tiny girl meets a fairy prince who saves her from the creatures of the woods.
Sissy Hankshaw is born with enormous thumbs that help her hitchhiking through the US from a young age. She becomes a model in advertising and her NY agent 'the Countess' sends her to his ranch in CA to shoot a commercial, set against the background of mating whooping cranes. There, she befriends Bonanza Jellybean, one of the cowgirls at the beauty- ranch.
The film follows Gabriel Angel (Rakie Ayola), a young Caribbean aviator who falls in love with the forger Duncan Stewart (Jonathan Pryce) on her journey to England. Stewart is pursued by his nemesis Rex Goodyear (John Hurt), and the group are supported by Dr Angela Bead (Vanessa Redgrave) and Miss Gwendolyn Quim (Dorothy Tutin), retired missionaries who become lovers during the voyage.
The difficult relationship between a british postal officer and his adoptive son.
In this mystical comedy, Felicien has traveled to Portugal from France soon after the end of the First World War. It seems that his recently deceased father had invested a lot of money in a factory located in a remote village, and he has come to evaluate that investment. He gets some clues to the real situation in the town when the man driving his coach refuses to go any further and leaves him on a section of road which is practically paved with abandoned crutches. After a short trek, he meets up with the local dignitary who is to show him around, and he meets a priest and an artist. The priest gives a further clue to the events taking place in the village when he indicates that he's completely exasperated with the endless miracles that seem to be taking place. From that point onward, amazing coincidences, visions and miracles take place in great numbers.
Film about the influences in director John Boorman's life and work, including family and neighbors and the landscape of the Wicklow mountains surrounding his home in Ireland.
As the only relative to take over the Royal throne, a down on his luck American slob must learn the ways of the English.
Journey to Knock humourously follows three disabled men on their pilgrimage from the North of England to Knock shrine in Co. Mayo.
After a terrible accident, a psychatrist has to help Bruce to regain his memory. In flashbacks we learn that his family had to flee from New York after his father uncovered a large case of corruption. Bruce didn't know this for most of his life, until he found a passport with a different name in it. After the first shock he tries to continue living like a normal teenager. Unknowingly his cute little girlfriend "Patrick" brings them in danger..
The tale centers on an eccentric bag lady who rescues the stray cats of Venice and puts them on a boat to set sail for the new world. It has not been re-released for the home video market. This lack of availability, which has been described as making it "more rare than the dinosaur" has made it a sought-after item in some circles.
This MPL documentary is about Paul McCartney's World Tour '90. It focuses on all the organization which was set up for this tour and also features some live performances by Paul and his band. Some interviews are given by Paul, Hamish, Wix and other members of the crew. The documentary begins with the recalling of the concert at the Maracana Stadium in Brazil on April 21st, 1990. Two days before, a torrential rain has begun to fall, and nobody can yet ensure that the show of tonight will really happen. The rain is so strong that the crew has tremendous difficulties to put up the stage. A previous date (April 19) has already been cancelled because of the rain. But that night, at the very moment when Paul and his band come on stage, the rain stops by a miracle. The show is finally attended by 184.000 people, thus establishing a new world record for the largest concert given in the history of rock'n'roll.
"Bull" McCabe's family has farmed a field for generations, sacrificing much in the name of the land. When the widow who owns the field decides to sell it in a public auction, McCabe knows that he must own it. While no local dare bid against him, a wealthy American decides he requires the field to build a highway. "Bull" and his son decide they must try to convince the American to let go of his ambition and return home, but the consequences of their plot prove sinister.
Docudrama film exploring the efforts of World in Action researchers Ian MacBride and Chris Mullin in proving that the "Birmingham Six" only admitted to the bombing under extreme duress, and that the five IRA members were in fact responsible for the deadly attacks
At age 73, writer and melancholy master of the bon mot, Quentin Crisp (1908-1999), became an Englishman in New York. Rossiter's camera follows Crisp about the streets of Manhattan, where Crisp seems very much at home, wearing eye shadow, appearing on a makeshift stage, making and repeating wry observations, talking to John Hurt (who played Crisp in the autobiographical TV movie, "The Naked Civil Servant"), and dining with friends. Others who know Crisp comment on him, on his life as an openly gay man with an effeminate manner, and on his place in the history of gays' social struggle. The portrait that emerges is of one wit and of suffering.
The ultimate weapon, claimed to be safe for mankind, produces global side-effects including time slides and disappearances. The scientist behind the project and his car are zapped from the year 2031 to 1817 in Switzerland where he meets Dr. Victor Frankenstein, Mary Shelley and others.
The Jim Henson Hour is a short-lived television series that aired on NBC in 1989. It was developed as a showcase for The Jim Henson Company's various puppet creations, including the popular Muppet characters. Only nine of the twelve episodes produced managed to air on NBC before the low-rated program was cancelled. Two later aired on Nickelodeon in 1992 and 1993, and the final episode never aired in the US, but it did air in the UK in 1990.
A criminal couple, hiding out in a remote property become the unwitting victims of a plot to blackmail them by the most unlikely of conspirators.
An English bon-vivant osteopath is enchanted with a young exotic dancer and invites her to live with him. He serves as friend and mentor, and through his contacts and parties she and her friend meet and date members of the Conservative Party. Eventually a scandal occurs when her affair with the Minister of War goes public, threatening their lifestyles and their freedom.
How did ancient Egyptians build the Great Pyramid at Giza, joining two million blocks of heavy stone with amazing precision? Who were the leaders who built these enormous structures, and what did these tombs signify? Host David Macaulay explores the history, mythology, and religions of Egypt's people, combining live footage and animation. Take a rare look at the mummy of Ramses II and buried treasure in the sacred Valley of the Kings.
Allan (Hugh Grant) is an engineer working in 1930s Calcutta. He is invited to stay with the family of his boss, Narendra Sen (Soumitra Chatterjee) which includes his wife, Indira (Shabana Azmi) and daughter Gayatri (Supriya Pathak). Gayatri and Allan become romantically involved leading to tragedy.
In a small (fictional) emirate of the Persian Gulf a world-weary journalist is caught up in a coup where the Emir's son, under the influence of a political renegade, attempts to depose his father - the ruling monarch. Flashbacks of the journalist's life show us how his relationships with the Emir and a beautiful young woman develop and flourish.
John Hurt, the Master of Suspense, brings you three spine-chilling stories from his Theatre of Terror!
Apprentice lawyer Robin Weathers turns a civil suit into a headline grabbing charade. He must reexamine his scruples after his shenanigans win him a promotion in his firm, and he must now defend a college professor who is appearantly guilty of murder.
A millionaire past his prime and his young wife arrive in Kenya circa 1940 to find that the other affluent British expatriates are living large as the homefront gears up for war. They are busy swapping partners, doing drugs, and attending lavish parties and horse races. She begins a torrid affair with one of the bon vivants, and her husband finds out and confronts them. The husband and wife decide to break up peacefully, but the bon vivant is murdered and all the evidence points to the husband.
When the nefarious Dark Helmet hatches a plan to snatch Princess Vespa and steal her planet's air, space-bum-for-hire Lone Starr and his clueless sidekick fly to the rescue. Along the way, they meet Yogurt, who puts Lone Starr wise to the power of "The Schwartz." Can he master it in time to save the day?
This is a musical by Mike Batt based on Lewis Carroll's nonsense poem. Mike Batt conducts the London Symphony Orchestra.
In 1987 the British Government launched a major public information campaign with the slogan “AIDS: Don’t Die of Ignorance”. A leaflet about AIDS was also delivered to every household in the UK, with the advice – “Anyone can get it, gay or straight, male or female. Already 30,000 people are infected.”
Jake Speed (Wayne Crawford) is the lead character in some of the biggest page-turners of the 1940s. A chiseled, heroic action figure, Speed saves lives on paper, but when a young girl is kidnapped and her sister (Karen Kopins) begs the real-life Speed for help, he must find a way to be as gallant as the book hero whose creation he's inspired. Accompanied by the victim's sibling, Speed flies to Africa to see if he's up to the task.
Taran is an assistant pigkeeper with boyish dreams of becoming a great warrior. However, he has to put the daydreaming aside when his charge, an oracular pig named Hen Wen, is kidnapped by an evil lord known as the Horned King. The villain hopes Hen will show him the way to The Black Cauldron, which has the power to create a giant army of unstoppable soldiers.
To salve his guilty conscience an elder brother removes his disturbed younger sibling from a mental institution after a suicide attempt and tries to bring him back to mental competency through one on one contact. Free of the institution he continues to be haunted by dreams of a lost twin and chants the eerie phrase "Do I stand before the king?" It is the elder brother that seems doomed to lose himself in his brother's insanity.
A BBC television documentary on the life of Yukio Mishima that highlights the many known major aspects of his life and personality.
Live Aid was held on 13 July 1985, held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, and the John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, United States. It was one of the largest-scale satellite link-ups and television broadcasts of all time: an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion, across 150 nations, watched the live broadcast. It's twelve noon in London, seven AM in Philadelphia, and around the world it's time for: Live Aid...
Alex Rodak (Michael York) is a Polish director in exile in London with his family, which includes an older teenage son Adam (Michael Lyndon) who is struggling with an identity crisis, his wife (Joanna Szerzerbic), and another son. Rodak is in the throes of putting together a major show about Poland and the politics of exile at a West End theater. His single-minded determination to succeed causes him to take advantage of others, and because of his need for backing, he turns to a low-life businessman (John Hurt) to bail him out. His wife is anything but happy about his behavior and dislikes this last decision even more. This is an interesting study of how a father and son become alienated in a conflict between cultural identity and its exploitation.
George Orwell's novel of a totalitarian future society in which a man whose daily work is rewriting history tries to rebel by falling in love.
The host of an investigative news show is convinced by the CIA that the friends he has invited to a weekend in the country are engaged in a conspiracy that threatens national security in this adaptation of the Robert Ludlum novel.
Two men want to escape from East Germany (under Communist rule) but they will only go if they can take their families with them. Based on a true story.
Benson is a police detective. After a series of murders in the Gay community he is ordered to go undercover with a gay police clerk named Kerwin as his partner. In order to be noticed they have to be flamboyant enough to attract attention which Benson finds rather disturbing. Can an uptight heterosexual and a mousey homosexual form a meaningful relationship?
The Plague Dogs is a 1982 animated film based on the 1977 novel of the same name by Richard Adams. The story is centred on two dogs named Rowf and Snitter, who escape from a research laboratory in Great Britain. In the process of telling the story, the film highlights the cruelty of performing vivisection and animal research for its own sake.
An uproarious version of history that proves nothing is sacred – not even the Roman Empire, the French Revolution and the Spanish Inquisition.
A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his "owner" as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity. Based on the true story of Joseph Merrick (called John Merrick in the film), a severely deformed man in 19th century London.
Harvard graduate James Averill is the sheriff of prosperous Jackson County, Wyo., when a battle erupts between the area's poverty-stricken immigrants and its wealthy cattle farmers. The politically connected ranch owners fight the immigrants with the help of Nathan Champion, a mercenary competing with Averill for the love of local madam Ella Watson. As the struggle escalates, Averill and Champion begin to question their decisions.
In this witty monologue, Quentin Crisp advises and opines about personal style (with a few digressions).
During its return to the earth, commercial spaceship Nostromo intercepts a distress signal from a distant planet. When a three-member team of the crew discovers a chamber containing thousands of eggs on the planet, a creature inside one of the eggs attacks an explorer. The entire crew is unaware of the impending nightmare set to descend upon them when the alien parasite planted inside its unfortunate host is birthed.
A three-part adaptation of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, where a young student commits a murder and is forced into incriminating himself.
When the warren belonging to a community of rabbits is threatened, a brave group led by Fiver, Bigwig, Blackberry and Hazel leave their homeland in a search of a safe new haven.
The Fellowship of the Ring embark on a journey to destroy the One Ring and end Sauron's reign over Middle-earth.
Bored while officiating a cricket match at a psychiatric hospital, Crossley tells Graves (a visitor) the tale of a mysterious stranger (also named Crossley) who invades the lives and house of a local musician and his wife. The stranger claims knowledge of real magic, which he uses to displace his host and dominate his wife. The musician must find a way to combat Crossley and his seemingly implacable powers. Graves doubts Crossley's claim that the story is true, and begins to believe that Crossley is actually one of the patients.
Billy Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of Turkey. The Turkish courts decide to make an example of him, sentencing him to more than 30 years in prison. Hayes has two opportunities for release: the appeals made by his lawyer, his family, and the American government, or the "Midnight Express".
Renowned criminologist and occult investigator William Sebastian (Culp) recruits his old friend Dr. Hamilton (Young) to aid him in his current case. Anitra Cyon (Bell), the sister of prominent British businessman Geoffrey Cyon (Villiers), believes her brother is dabbling in the black arts. In turn, Geoffrey claims that she is mentally unfit. Sebastian and Hamilton travel to the Cyon estate to investigate the matter. Complicating the issue is Sebastian's debilitating heart condition that was induced by his own experimentations with the black arts.
Thriller about a contract killer whose wife has disappeared. When he is hired by an international organisation to carry out a "shy" or hit, he suspects they are connected with her disappearance.
Obscure horror anthology featuring three tales surrounding three dangerous ladies.
In 1948, a new British governor takes over a Far Eastern colony after his predecessor is murdered by terrorists.
Rome, October 16, 1943. The Germans deport the relatives and friends of the little Giacomo Treves who fortunately escapes capture. The child is entrusted by a priest, Don Luigi.
The wife of a drug salesman discovers he is having an affair with a lady doctor.
Story of the life of Quentin Crisp, an Englishman who was brave enough to live his life according to his own style even in the hostile days of WW2.
A man comes into a pub and boasts that he has just killed his father. Instead of condemning him for the crime, the locals revel in his story and praise him for his deed, with the daughter of the landlord falling for this "dashing hero". Things take an even more surprising turn, when the father enters the pub. Based on John Millington Synge's play The Playboy of the Western World.
An art student is thrown out of college. Depressed, he comes up with the Party of Dynamic Erection, a near fascist "party" that promotes male sexual dominance and which attracts a couple of other unsavoury confused characters.
Greed, corruption, ignorance, and disease. Midsummer, 1349: the Black Death reaches northern Germany. Minstrels go to Hamelin for the Mayor's daughter's wedding to the Baron's son. He wants her dowry to pay his army while his father taxes the people to build a cathedral he thinks will save his soul. A local apothecary who's a Jew seeks a treatment for the plague; the priests charge him with witchcraft. One of the minstrels, who has soothed the Mayor's daughter with his music, promises to rid the town of rats for the fee. The Mayor agrees, then renigs. In the morning, the plague, the Jew's trial, and the Piper's revenge come at once.
Life for Richard Forbush, brilliant biology student and conceited philanderer, is one long round of eat, drink and be merry. But his decision to accept a six-month research post in the Antarctic, making the first detailed study of a penguin colony, changes all that... Living in Shackleton’s derelict hut, Forbush is alone at the frozen edge of the world, his only links to civilisation a two-way radio and letters to his elusive, would-be girlfriend, Tara, in London. Through an often ferocious winter in the company of the penguins, he grows increasingly attached to his hardy, endearing subjects – learning profound lessons in endurance and humility.
The story of British serial killer John Christie, who committed most or all of his crimes in the titular terraced house, and the miscarriage of justice involving Timothy Evans.
Young Catherine Morelli, who lives in Rome, goes to Geneva to find romance at her father's wedding. There she begins a near nymphomaniac pursuit of a mystery man called Gregory.
Davey Haggart is quite certain of his paternity (even if nobody else is) and determined to emulate his father, a notorious rogue and highwayman. This includes breaking a man out of Stirling jail, holding up the stagecoach, and robbing the Duke of Argyll, among other feats. Unfortunately, he is handicapped by the fact that his childhood playmate Annie is equally determined to track him down and save his soul...
Comedy set in a refugee camp in occupied Austria after World War II. A shrewd multi-lingual interpreter who mediates between Russian and British military brass enters into a friendly rivalry with British Major Giles Burnside, who is in charge of assigning the displaced persons into either the American or Russian zones.
Alan, after quarreling with his girlfriend Sheila, becomes intrigued by Anna, a mysterious widow who's searching for a sailor she had known many years before. Alan and Anna begin the search on board a yacht bound for Greece, but they don't find the sailor. After a stop in Africa, Louis de Mozambique joins the party and suggests that the sailor may never have existed other than in Anna's mind.
A depiction of the conflict between King Henry VIII of England and his Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas More, who refuses to swear the Oath of Supremacy declaring Henry Supreme Head of the Church in England.
Harry Brown is a somewhat rough and wild university student, who has the ability to win friends, especially the underdogs like Phil who doesn't play 'rugger' and can't sink a whole pint of beer, and African student Reggie. He also has a way with the girls....
