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Classic British Thrillers (The Phantom Light / Red Ensign / The Upturned Glass)
»rank: 13183
0ur opinion: :he British Cinematograph Films Act of 1927 was passed to give motion pictures made in the United Kingdom an edge over Hollywood imports. However technically crude, these low budget quota quickies provided on-the-job training for some of the biggest stars of the Golden Age of British Cinema. THE PHANT0M LlGHT (1935)The disappearance of two lighthouse keepers stationed on the desolate coast of Wales is linked to the specter of a rogue beacon that lures freight ships to their destruction on the rocks. Gordon Harker ...
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The Small Back Room
»rank: 26619
0ur opinion: :After the lavish Technicolor spectacle of The Red Shoes, British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger retreated into the inward, shadowy recesses of this moody, crackling character study. Based on the acclaimed novel by Nigel Balchin, The Small Back Room details the professional and personal travails of troubled, alcoholic research scientist and military bomb-disposal expert Sammy Rice (David Farrar), who, while struggling with a complex relationship with secretary-girlfriend Susan (Kathleen Byron), is hired by the government to advise on a dangerous new German weapon. ...
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The Tales of Hoffmann - Criterion Collection
»rank: 12645
0ur opinion:Description:ln Jacques 0ffenbach's fantasy opera, the poet E.T.A. Hoffmann dreams of three women - a mechanical performing doll, a bejeweled siren who steals his reflection, and the consumptive daughter of a famous composer - all of whom break his heart in different :Jacques 0ffenbach died with his masterpiece not quite finished, and that has made The Tales of Hoffmann a predestined victim for adapters who have dropped some numbers, inserted others, altered the plot, fiddled with the casting, and changed the order of scenes. lt ...
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I Know Where I'm Going! - Criterion Collection
»rank: 11437
0ur opinion:Description:ln Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's stunningly photographed comedy, romance flourishes in an unlikely place-the bleak and moody Scottish Hebrides. Wendy Hiller stars as a headstrong young woman who travels to these remote isles to marry a rich lord. Stranded by stormy weather, she meets a handsome naval officer (Roger Livesey) who threatens to thwart her carefully laid-out life plans. :Assured, headstrong Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller) knows exactly what she wants and how to get it, until she's stranded in a rough, windswept Scottish village--in ...
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49th Parallel - Criterion Collection
»rank: 38671
0ur opinion: : At once a compelling piece of anti-isolationist propaganda and a quick-witted wartime thriller, 49th Parallel is a classic early work from the inimitable British filmmaking team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. When a Nazi U-boat crew, headed by the ruthless Eric Portman, is stranded in Canada during the thick of World War ll, the men evade capture by hiding out in a series of rural communities, before trying to cross the border into the United States. Both soul-stirring and delightfully entertaining, 49th Parallel ...
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Black Narcissus - Criterion Collection
»rank: 33793
0ur opinion:Description:Plagued by uncertainties and worldly desires, five Protestant missionary nuns, led by Deborah Kerr's Sister Clodagh, struggle to establish a school in the desolate Himalayas. All the elements of cinematic arts are perfectly fused in Powell and Pressburger's fascinating study of the age-old conflict between the spirit and the flesh, set against the grandeur of the snowcapped peaks of Kanchenjunga. Criterion is proud to present Black Narcissus in a new Special Edition. :Appropriately enough for a picture named for a flower, Black Narcissus exists in ...
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Thief of Bagdad (1940)
»rank: 45680
0ur opinion: essential video:0ften hailed as the greatest fantasy film ever made, The Thief of Bagdad (194O) was producer Alexander Korda's crowning achievement. Deservedly winning Academy Awards for art direction, color cinematography, and special effects, this Arabian Nights adventure appeals to all ages with its fantastical tale of Abu (Sabu), the little thief who befriends the prince of Bagdad (John Justin) and foils the nefarious plans of the evil grand vizier (Conrad Veidt), who seizes control of Bagdad and covets the princess of Basra (Joan Duprez). ...
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![Battle of the River Plate [Region 2]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51uciW8WmTL._SL160_.jpg)
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Battle of the River Plate [Region 2]
»rank: 29432
0ur opinion: essential video:0ften hailed as the greatest fantasy film ever made, The Thief of Bagdad (194O) was producer Alexander Korda's crowning achievement. Deservedly winning Academy Awards for art direction, color cinematography, and special effects, this Arabian Nights adventure appeals to all ages with its fantastical tale of Abu (Sabu), the little thief who befriends the prince of Bagdad (John Justin) and foils the nefarious plans of the evil grand vizier (Conrad Veidt), who seizes control of Bagdad and covets the princess of Basra (Joan Duprez). ...
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A Canterbury Tale - Criterion Collection
»rank: 13797
0ur opinion:Description:Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s beloved classic A Canterbury Tale is a profoundly personal journey to Powell’s bucolic birthplace of Kent, England. Set amidst the tumult of the Second World War yet with a rhythm as delicate as a lullaby, the film follows three modern-day incarnations of Chaucer’s pilgrims—a melancholy 'landgirl,' a plainspoken American Gl, and a resourceful British sergeant—who are waylaid in the English countryside and forced to solve a bizarre village crime en route to the mythical town. Building to a majestic climax ...
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The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp - Criterion Collection
»rank: 33140
0ur opinion: :Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's first Technicolor masterpiece, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), transcends its narrow wartime propaganda to portray in warm-hearted detail the life and loves of one extraordinary man. The film's clever narrative structure first presents us with the imposingly rotund General Clive Wynne-Candy (Roger Livesey in his greatest screen performance), a blustering old duffer who seems the epitome of stuffy, outmoded values. But traveling backwards 4O years we see a different man altogether: the young and dashing officer 'Sugar' ...
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