Movies (Various)

The Count of Monte Cristo is a 1934 American adventure film directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Robert Donat and Elissa Landi. Based on the 1844 novel The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Audio in English with optional subtitles in English and French (click on CC for subtitles.) This is the first sound film adaptation of Dumas' novel; five silent films preceded it. The film changes some major details of the story. Cast & Characters: Robert Donat as Edmond Dantes / The Count of Monte Cristo Elissa Landi as Mercedes de Rosas Louis Calhern as Raymond de Villefort Jr. Sidney Blackmer as Fernand Mondego, Count de Mondego Raymond Walburn as Baron Danglars O. P. Heggie as the Abbé Faria Irene Hervey as Valentine de Villefort Georgia Caine as Madame de Rosas, Mercedes' mother Lawrence Grant as de Villefort Sr. Luis Alberni as Jacopo, Dantes' assistant Douglas Walton as Albert Mondego Paul Irving as Napoleon Juliette Compton as Clothilde Holmes Herbert as Judge Clarence Muse as Ali Lionel Belmore as Prison Governor William Farnum as Captain Leclere Paul Fix as Angry Citizen Ferdinand Munier as Louis XVIII Eric Wilton as Dantes Servant (uncredited)

Pandora and the Flying Dutchman is a 1951 British Technicolor romantic fantasy drama film written and directed by Albert Lewin. The screenplay is based on legend of the Flying Dutchman. The film stars Ava Gardner and James Mason in the title roles, with Nigel Patrick, Sheila Sim, Harold Warrender, Mario Cabré, and Marius Goring in supporting parts. In September 1930, fishermen in the fictitious small Spanish port of Esperanza make a grim discovery in their nets: the bodies of a man and a woman. The resultant ringing of church bells in the village brings the local police and the resident archaeologist, Geoffrey Fielding, to the beach. Fielding returns to his villa, and, breaking the "fourth wall", retells the story of these two people to the audience, beginning the previous March. Albert Lewin, an MGM producer at the time, was able to produce Pandora due to the postponement of Quo Vadis in 1949. There are a number of literary references in the film, including to Matthew Arnold's poem "Dover Beach", the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, and Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises. Pandora was primarily filmed in Tossa de Mar, on the Costa Brava in Catalonia, Spain, though the land record speed scenes were shot at Pendine Sands in Wales. In Tossa de Mar, a statue of Gardner was erected in 1996 on the hill overlooking the town's main beach. Most of the dialogue in the film is in English, but some characters speak Catalan. Artist Man Ray, a friend of Lewin, produced some sets for Pandora. He created particular cubist-style chess pieces and several paintings seen in the film, notably the surrealist scene in the De Chirico fashion. Cast & Characters: James Mason as Hendrik van der Zee Ava Gardner as Pandora Reynolds Nigel Patrick as Stephen Cameron Sheila Sim as Janet Harold Warrender as Geoffrey Fielding Mario Cabré [es] as Juan Montalvo Marius Goring as Reggie Demarest John Laurie as Angus Pamela Mason (credited as Pamela Kellino) as Jenny Patricia Raine as Peggy Marguerite d'Alvarez (credited as Margarita D'Alvarez) as Señora Montalvo La Pillina as Spanish dancer Abraham Sofaer as Judge Francisco Igual as Vicente Guillermo Beltrán as Barman Lilli Molnar (credited as Lila Molnar) as Geoffrey's Housekeeper

Reign of Terror (reissued as The Black Book) is a 1949 American historical thriller film directed by Anthony Mann from a screenplay by Aeneas MacKenzie and Philip Yordan, and starring Robert Cummings, Richard Basehart and Arlene Dahl. Click on CC for optional English subtitles. Set during the French Revolution, the film follows a plot to bring down Maximilien Robespierre and end his bloodthirsty Reign of Terror. Producer Walter Wanger, director Anthony Mann, cinematographer John Alton, and production designer William Cameron Menzies used their combined talents to make a low budget "epic" using Broadway stars and shooting on sets only costing $40,000. It was the first collaboration between Mann and Philip Yordan. Yordan said the original script by Aeneas MacKenzie was "nothing but speeches, Robespierre and all this." He told Mann "you can't follow the script unless you're a student of the French Revolution" so he suggested the story be simplified to be about Cummings tracking down a book containing the names of anti-Revolutionaries before Robespierre could get it. Mann said it was only through William Menzies' "ability that we were able to achieve any style, feeling or period" under the limited budget. When it played New York later that year it was released as The Black Book, its original working title. Cast & Characters: Robert Cummings as Charles D'Aubigny Richard Basehart as Maximilien Robespierre Richard Hart as François Barras Arlene Dahl as Madelon Arnold Moss as Fouché Norman Lloyd as Tallien Charles McGraw as Sergeant Beulah Bondi as Grandma Blanchard Jess Barker as Louis Antoine de Saint-Just Wade Crosby as Danton Russ Tamblyn as Pierre's oldest son

A 1962 Greek film based on the play Electra, written by Euripides. Audio in Greek (Modern) with subtitles in, English, French, Spanish and Russian (click on CC for subtitles). It was directed by Michael Cacoyannis, as the first installment of his "Greek tragedy" trilogy, followed by The Trojan Women in 1971 and Iphigenia in 1977. It starred Irene Papas in the lead role as Electra, and Giannis Fertis as Orestis. The film was entered into the 1962 Cannes Film Festival where it won the award of Best Cinematic Transposition. It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film won three awards in Thessaloniki Film Festival, for best film and best director (Michalis Cacoyannis) and best actress (Irene Papas). Cast & Characters: Irene Papas as Elektra Giannis Fertis as Orestes Aleka Katselli as Klytaemnistra Manos Katrakis as the tutor Notis Peryalis as Elektra's husband Fivos Razi as Aegisthus Takis Emmanuel as Pylades Theano Ioannidou as chorus leader Theodoros Dimitriou (Theodore Demetriou) as Agamemnon Elsie Pittas as young Elektra Petros Ampelas as young Orestes

The Cassandra Crossing is a 1976 disaster thriller film directed by George Pan Cosmatos, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Tom Mankiewicz and Robert Katz. Click on CC for optional English subtitles. The film is about a viral outbreak aboard a cross-European train, as it heads to a derelict arch bridge which is liable to collapse. It stars an ensemble cast, featuring Sophia Loren, Richard Harris, Ava Gardner, Martin Sheen, Burt Lancaster, Lee Strasberg, O. J. Simpson, Ingrid Thulin, Lionel Stander, Ann Turkel, John Phillip Law, and Alida Valli. The Cinecittà studios in Rome were chosen for interiors, with French and Swiss locales providing most of the location footage. The steel arch bridge depicted in the film is actually the Garabit Viaduct in southern France, built from 1880 to 1884 by Gustave Eiffel, who later constructed the Eiffel Tower. At the beginning of the film passengers arrive at Geneva railway station to embark on the train. The scenes were shot at Basel SBB railway station. Where Dr Chamberlain enters the station, the green coloured BVB trams and Basel's Central Station Square can be seen in the background. Cast & Characters: Sophia Loren as Jennifer Rispoli Chamberlain Richard Harris as Jonathan Chamberlain Burt Lancaster as Col. Stephen MacKenzie Martin Sheen as Robby Navarro Lee Strasberg as Herman Kaplan Ava Gardner as Nicole Dressler Ingrid Thulin as Elena Stradner O. J. Simpson as Haley Lionel Stander as Max the Conductor Ann Turkel as Susan John Phillip Law as Major Stack Alida Valli as Nanny Lou Castel as Eklund Ray Lovelock as Tom John P. Dulaney as Bobby Thomas Hunter as Captain Scott Stefano Patrizi as Lars Fausta Avelli as Caterina Carlo De Mejo as Alvin Renzo Palmer as Alberti

A 1980 TV adaptation by London Weekend Television of the Agatha Christie novel, directed by John Davies and Tony Wharmby. This intriguing story is set in the 1930s at a country house, where two amateur sleuths, Bobby Jones and Lady Frankie Derwent, try to unravel the mystery behind a tale of murder, suspense and false identities. And the only clues the two have to go on are the puzzling last words of a dying man. The original intention was that the 180-minute teleplay would be transmitted as a three-part "mini-serial", but ITV then decided to show it as a three-hour special with maximum publicity, especially for Francesca Annis in the role of Frankie. Much of the film was taped on location in Cuddington and Long Crendon in Buckinghamshire. Hall Barn, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire doubled as the Bassington-ffrench residence and Castle Ashby in Northamptonshire was used as Lady Derwent's home. Principal cast & Characters: Francesca Annis as Lady Frances (Frankie) Derwent Leigh Lawson as Roger Bassington-ffrench James Warwick as Bobby Jones Connie Booth as Sylvia Bassington-ffrench John Gielgud as Reverend Jones Bernard Miles as Dr Thomas Eric Porter as Dr Nicholson Madeline Smith as Moira Nicholson Doris Hare as Rose Pratt Joan Hickson as Mrs Rivington Roy Boyd as Alan Carstairs James Cossins as Henry Bassington-ffrench Robert Longden as Badger Beadon

Il cavaliere della croce (El capitán de Loyola) è un film del 1949 diretto da José Díaz Morales. Audio in Italiano. Il film, di genere biografico, ripercorre la vita di Ignazio di Loyola. Il film è stato girato negli stessi luoghi in cui è vissuto Sant'Ignazio. Personaggi e Interpreti: Rafael Durán: Íñigo / Ignazio di Loyola Maruchi Fresno: Regina Giovanna Manuel Luna: Beltrán Asunción Sancho: Marcelilla José María Lado: armatore Ricardo Acero: Francesco Saverio Alicia Palacios: José Emilio Álvarez: José Emilio Álvarez: María Rosa Salgado: infanta Catalina Francisco Pierrá: Manuel Dicenta: Pedro Fabro Carlos Díaz de Mendoza: Manuel Kayser: Eduardo Fajardo: Arturo Marín: alcalde di Pamplona Manuel Arbó:

Monsieur Beaucaire is a 1946 American historical comedy film directed by George Marshall and starring Bob Hope, Joan Caulfield and Patric Knowles. Hope portrays the title character, the barber of King Louis XV. It is loosely based on the novel of the same name by Booth Tarkington. It is a remake of the 1924 Rudolph Valentino silent film of the same name Monsieur Beaucaire. Cast & Characters: Bob Hope as Monsieur Beaucaire Joan Caulfield as Mimi Patric Knowles as Duc le Chandre Marjorie Reynolds as Princess Maria of Spain Cecil Kellaway as Count D'Armand Joseph Schildkraut as Don Francisco Reginald Owen as King Louis XV Constance Collier as Marie Leszczyńska, The Queen of France Hillary Brooke as Madame de Pompadour Fortunio Bonanova as Don Carlos Douglass Dumbrille as George Washington Mary Nash as The Duenna Leonid Kinskey as Rene Howard Freeman as King Philip V Lewis Russell as Chief Justice Brandon Hurst as Marquis (uncredited)

Sultan Muhammad Fetih 1453 (transl. The Conquest 1453) is a 2012 Turkish epic action film directed by Faruk Aksoy. Audio in Turkish with subtitles in English and German (click on CC for subtitles). Starring Devrim Evin, İbrahim Çelikkol and Dilek Serbest, the film is based on events surrounding the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks during the reign of Sultan Mehmed II. The size of the full cast was extensive; the film reportedly required the use of 16,000 extras. - Historical accuracy - The film only depicts the ethnically Turkish element of the Ottoman army. In reality, the Ottoman army was very diverse, including many Balkan converts to Islam as well as Christian levies and the armies of the Sultan's Christian and Muslim vassals. The Ottoman Empire also engaged in a series of conquests in the previous decade, subjugating the Serbian Despotate and defeating Hungary at the Battle of Varna. The Eastern Roman Empire by 1450 was a shadow of its former self, having shrunk to a few square kilometers outside of Constantinople itself. The city was impoverished and depopulated, and by 1453 consisted of a series of walled villages separated by vast fields surrounded by the 1000 year old Theodosian walls. Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine XI rejected Ottoman overtures to surrender, fearing a massacre by Turkish forces. The final capture of the city also omits the day of pillaging that Mehmed allowed his soldiers, with Mehmed simply sparing the inhabitants instead.

The Blue Dahlia is a 1946 American crime film and film noir with an original screenplay by Raymond Chandler directed by George Marshall and starring Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake and William Bendix. It was Chandler's first original screenplay. Click on CC for optional English subtitles. Cast & Characters: Alan Ladd as Johnny Morrison Veronica Lake as Joyce Harwood William Bendix as Buzz Wanchek Howard da Silva as Eddie Harwood Doris Dowling as Helen Morrison Hugh Beaumont as George Copeland Tom Powers as Captain Hendrickson Howard Freeman as Corelli Don Costello as Leo Will Wright as "Dad" Newell Frank Faylen as man recommending motel Walter Sande as Heath Uncredited performances include Mae Busch as Jenny the maid, Anthony Caruso as a corporal playing a jukebox, and Noel Neill as Nolie the hatcheck girl.