Me and Orson Welles (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)Orson Welles was a genius in many, many areas. He was an incredible actor, a brilliant director and a showman of the first order. He was also, from many accounts, a major jerk; obsessive and controlling, manipulative and unpleasant. Someone who at least as nasty to his friends as to his enemies. He was, to lift a quote from a certain movie, not a brutal man, but a man who did brutal things.
All these elements of his considerable personality are on display in Richard Linkletter's newest film, Me and Orson Welles. The movie tells the story of a seventeen-year-old boy named Richard (though he's mostly referred to as "Junior"). He's played by Zac Efron (looking sexier than ever), in his finest role to date, which isn't saying a lot.
Richard is a reasonably naive boy who winds up meeting Welles as the great man is preparing for his 1937 stage production of Julius Caesar, a ground-breaking presentation that moved the story into modern times, dressing the cast in fascist uniforms and casting an obvious Jew as the poet Cinna. Richard ends up in the play as a servant to Welles' Brutus, a role which requires him to learn to play the ukulele after claiming he already knew how.
Richard meets all the famous players of the Mercury Theatre, most notably Joseph Cotton, Norman Lloyd and George Coulouris. He also meets, and falls in love with, the beautiful Sonja Jones (Claire Danes). Like Richard, she's a fictional character, and also like Richard, she's far less interesting than the real characters around them.
The movie is completely stolen by Christian McKay's performance as Welles. It is as letter-perfect as any I've ever seen. He has the look, he has the voice and he has the attitude of Welles, playing him as a man who never bothered to merely speak when he could instead declaim. He simply is Welles, warts and all. Expect his performance to get a Best Supporting Actor nomination, and probable win, at the next Oscars.
This is probably the best movie I've seen this year, with Up in the Air as a very close second. The movie captures the spirit of the theatre and the character of Welles like no movie I've ever seen before. I cannot possibly praise it enough. It might be hard to find in your area (it's considered something of an art film), but if you can track it down, it's well worth seeing.

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On Broadway Review

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(More customer reviews)Ladies and gents,
This film is a timeless treasure........one that you will watch for YEARS to come, enjoying it just as much every single time you watch, as you did the very first time you watched. :-) I saw it 9 times in the theatres around Boston and each and every time I walked away feeling the same inspiration, sorrow, joy, and every other kind of emotion that wells up within when you feel the utmost accomplishment in life. I hope you purchase this amazing DVD as you will not be disappointed in the least!
:-) Guaranteed!!!!
~Kimmie

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Being Julia Review

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(More customer reviews)"Being Julia" is a homage to the legendary hammy and self-absorbed actors of yesteryear. Set in 1930's London, the movie stars Annette Bening as Julia Lambert, a forty-five year old actress who suddenly realizes that her best years may be behind her. She is exhausted, depressed, and bored with her life. Her marriage to her business manager, played with his usual aplomb by Jeremy Irons, is for the most part, platonic. What better way to perk things up then to embark on a foolhardy affair with a man half her age? Julia takes as her lover a fawning American, played stiffly by the plastic and conventionally handsome Shaun Evans. Julia throws caution to the winds. She falls hard for the impoverished boy and plies him with expensive trinkets and cash gifts. Meanwhile, a young blonde actress, Avice Crichton, comes along to challenge Julia and the ambitious upstart threatens to upstage the older woman both on and off the stage.
"Being Julia" has a nice look, with its vintage cars, period furniture, and authentic costumes. The musical background, which includes such ditties as "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries," sets the appropriate mood. However, the plot of this film is as trifling and paper thin as its shallow characters. The main reason to see "Being Julia" is to enjoy Annette Bening's amusing and effervescent performance as the ultimate diva. Julia is a talented and vivacious prima donna who appears to be vain and supremely self-confident. Bening shows the fear and the loneliness beneath Julia's haughty demeanor. Julia senses that sooner or later, her star will lose its luster. She knows in her heart that her ultimate enemy is old age; it is the one foe that she can never vanquish.


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Amargosa Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a lovely, fascinating, and OUTSTANDING documentary portraying Marta Beckett's development of the Amargosa Opera House...an abandoned theatre on the edge of Death Valley which she renovated, painting an audience on the walls and performing her vaudeville style ballets and skits. And then the real audience came. She was profiled in National Geographic in the 70's and is still performing. The documentary also discusses her help with saving wild burros and horses, the haunted hotel, and the local handyman who became her friend and colleague.

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In the remote California ghost town of Death Valley Junction (pop 10) stands the Amargosa Opera House, where for the past 33 years former New York dancer and artist Marta Becket has performed her own ballets in the theater she spent seven years handpainting with stunning murals. For Becket, the creative life is an obstacle course of self-doubt, criticism and abandonment a high price to pay in the pursuit of self-expression. But for the seventy-six-year-old dancer and painter who is isolated in the badlands of Death Valley, the process of creating and performing is her refuge. In this EmmyTM award-winning documentary, Becket recounts how she first came to live in this unlikely desert oasis, and describes her unquenchable need to create and perform her work. Marta Becket's life is an inspiring testament to dreams and creative endeavors everywhere. Emmy Award Winner, Best Cinematography Academy Award Finalist, Best Documentary Feature - 72nd Annual Academy Awards

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Synecdoche New York (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)The question for this complex and weird film is whether writer-director Charlie Kaufman's artistic ambition will ultimately frustrate viewer patience. When I saw the film, a couple in front of me walked out halfway through. You will probably love or hate this film; reviews have been sharply divided.
Philip Seymour Hofmann stars as Caden Cotard, a theater director mired in all the midlife crises, real and imagined, of body, mind and spirit. The film begins conventionally enough, or so it seems, but there are telltale signs early-on that Kaufman is going to play with reality itself -- a cartoon on the family TV features Caden as a character, and a realtor walks a client through a house that is permanemtly on fire. Those are two ominous metaphors.
The giveway is that the name "Cotard" bears a striking resemblance to that of the French postmodernist Jean-Francois Lyotard. We shouldn't be surprised when Caden quits his career doing theater among the "blue hairs" in suburban Schenectady, New York, where his latest production was "Death of a Salesman," and with the help of a MacArthur genius grant (a cruel irony given his circumstances) moves to a cavernous warehouse in New York City and recreates his confused life through what eventually becomes a cast of hundreds of characters. Yes, life is a stage and we're the actors.
In his book The Post-Modern Condition (1979), Lyotard made (in)famous the notion of "incredulity toward meta-narrrative," a fancy way of saying that there are no truly universal or absolute meanings or truths in life, and that all meaning is a personal or social construction. This is exactly what Caden tries to do -- he creates meaning in his life through characters who portray his life. He keeps changing the name of the play, one of which is "Simulacrum" (= an insubstantial semblance of something). He keeps saying that he "finally" knows how he wants to direct the play. Indeed, the play is never finished but is instead a building project that piles floor upon floor of sets; it never ends. For Kaufman there's a very thin line between authenticity and absurdity, genuine reality and mere representation, living life and playing roles, healthy self-awareness (however painful) and oppressive self-consciousness, and between true life and certain death.
Does Caden's effort to manufacture even the barest micro-meaning make any sense? The last line of the movie offers a glimmer of hope. Maybe.

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From Charlie Kaufman, comes a visual and philosophic adventure, Synechdoche, New York. As he did with his groundbreaking scripts for Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Kaufman twists and subverts form and language as he delves into the mind of a man who, obsessed with his own mortality, sets out to construct a massive artistic enterprise that could give some meaning to his life. Theater director Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is mounting a new play. His life catering to suburban blue-hairs at the local regional theater in Schenectady, New York is looking bleak. His wife Adele (Catherine Keener) has left him to pursue her painting in Berlin, taking their young daughter Olive with her. His therapist, Madeleine Gravis (Hope Davis), is better at plugging her best-seller than she is at counseling him. A new relationship with the alluringly candid Hazel (Samantha Morton) has prematurely run aground. And a mysterious condition is systematically shutting down each of his autonomic functions, one by one. Worried about the transience of his life, he leaves his home behind. He gathers an ensemble cast into a warehouse in New York City, hoping to create a work of brutal honesty. He directs them in a celebration of the mundane, instructing each to live out their constructed lives in a growing mockup of the city outside. The years rapidly fold into each other, and Caden buries himself deeper into his masterpiece, but the textured tangle of real and theatrical relationships blurs the line between the world of the play and that of Caden's own deteriorating reality.

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Sanford Meisner Master Class Review

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(More customer reviews)FULL DISCLOSURE:
28 years ago, I was one of the young student actors asked to participate in this documentary. And, to provide some idea about how important I think this program is, most of "my" work in this documentary is almost all total failure; and frankly this embarrasses me.

That said:
Until now, I had been very proud of my participation in the documentary about Sanford Meisner, "The Theater's Best Kept Secret." However, with this program, I've just learned: the secret is out!
"The Sanford Meisner Master Class," is astounding in its power to not only convey Mr. Meisner's genius for teaching the craft of acting, but as a student participant in this Master Class it is like witnessing the re-incarnation of a most important figure in my life, and of the 20th Century. It is like the great Sanford Meisner has come back to life, and with his teaching powers fully intact.
Though it has been years since I left the acting profession, and a few years since I also stopped teaching The Meisner Technique, Mr. Meisner's influence on all of my adult work has been profound. His most important influence on me, which this documentary expresses so eloquently, is perhaps Mr. Meisner's most precious gift: his uncompromising devotion to helping students develop their own "sense of truth." This 8 hour documentary shows how Mr. Meisner shared his gift of such a highly developed "sense of truth" as a standard for his students to strive toward attaining. He is the perfect model and embodiment of "a sense of truth."
"A sense of truth," that in the art of theater plays out from present moment-to-unanticipated-moment, between human beings, under the imaginary circumstances of a writer's work. And thus, provides humankind with a model for authentic, meaningful, and truthful human relationship.
Did I say, that Mr. Meisner's great contribution that exists in every frame of this 8 hour documentary is the cultivation and great value for a "sense of truth?"
:)
If you care about any of these things: the model of a magnificent teacher; the great value of learning by trial and error; creating an environment where students feel freedom to fail while striving to achieve excellence measured by the highest artistic standards; theater; the craft of acting; a "sense of truth"; seeing genius at work; a model for authentic human relationship, you will enjoy this program immensely and learn a great deal.
In a world so consumed with the artificial, it is no wonder that the legacy of this most genuine of teachers and his approach to art endures so. Right now, as I view it, this program serves as a potent reality check for me.
"Sanford Meisner Master Class" is a great credit to the vision of Mr. Kent Paul, Mr. Jimmy Carville, and the people at Open Road Films for creating, preserving and sharing this extraordinary work with the world.
If you've ever wondered what all the "brouhaha" is about "The Meisner Technique" . . . behold. This is like watching Piccaso paint.
Word.
José Angel Santana, PhD
Founder/Youand:The Art of Mutual Understanading
"The final frontier may be human relationships, one person to another."
-- Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

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The Loss of Nameless Things Review

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(More customer reviews)A recent airing of Bill Rose's THE LOSS OF NAMELESS THINGS on PBS's "Independent Lens" afforded me the opportunity to see this extraordinary documentary film about an extraordinary playwright, Oakley Hall, III. Like so many of life's chance discoveries, I was completely surprised by the beauty of this film - both in its subject matter and its crafting.
It is more than apparent that Mr. Hall was - is - one of those uniquely gifted individuals who appear rarely on life's stage. Unfortunately, such exceptional characters seem inevitably to be cursed with flaws which lead to their own "falls." Though this was largely the case with Oakley, too, his tale ends on notes of redemption and rebirth.
Changed though he may be today, few among us will ever be able to create anything of lasting significance as Oakley has done. In his achievements, he is a fortunate man, indeed.
Bill Rose has captured this man's dramatic life in an artful and sensitive way. His use of old photos and films, interviews with friends and family, and visual references back to the LTC environs (especially, the haunting old bridge and the river below) are all superbly done. The care that has obviously been put into the creation of this documentary betrays a genuine fondness for the subject and the genius of the film artist behind its production.
Though Oakley appears at least contented with his life today, much was lost at the time of his accident. The saddest piece of the story, of course, is the apparent lack of reconciliation that exists between Oakley and his first wife. Hopefully, she - and their son - will one day see this film and it will serve to awaken those memories that are good ones; and, perhaps, they will be proud and thankful to have participated in Oakley's life.

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In 1978, Oakley Hall III was a 28-year-old playwright with a reputation for brilliance and on the verge of national recognition. The son of novelist Oakley Hall (Downhill Racer, Warlock), he was the charismatic co-founder of the Lexington Conservatory Theater in upstate New York, where he served as artistic director. His work had been optioned by Joseph Papp at New York's famed Public Theater. Mandy Patinkin and William Hurt starred in his staged readings of his plays. Hall was an enfant terrible in every sense, with not just a bright future but a great one. He had just completed work on his verse play Grinder's Stand, based on the mysterious death of Meriwether Lewis, when his life was violently interrupted by a mysterious fall from a bridge. He suffered horrific head injuries, was hospitalized nearly a year and incapacitated much longer. There was little thought of him ever using his brain again, let alone having an artistic life... until twenty-five years later, when a Northern California theater company received an NEA grant to produce the very play Hall was writing the night he fell.The story does not end there, however, as The Loss of Nameless Things uncovers much more about Hall s work and that fateful night, long ago. It is the tale about how one powerful soul finds strength in who he is, when he could no longer be who he d been.

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The Theatre of Tadeusz Kantor (1991) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is an eye openner for anyone interested in serious theatre. Get it right now, you wont be disappointed.

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Thornton Wilder's Our Town, Two Historic Productions on Two DVD (1977) Review

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(More customer reviews)The text of this great play, opens no curtain, no scenery. Despite these revolutionary concepts, after writing Our Town, Thornton Wilder for the stage, he hoped there would eventually be a "definitive performance" for tv viewers to enjoy. In other words, he hated the 1940 box office movie with William Holden. In 1977 he worked along with a team of actors including Hal Holbrook, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox, Sada Thompson, Barbara Bel Geddes, and (fresh from Ode To Billy Joe) Robby Benson and Glynnis O'Connor. Although shot in a tv studio, they bent the rules slightly and added a touch of scenery, but it was so slight that it became the Grover's Corners New Hampshire that Wilder imagined. The performance was so good it was nominated for (and just might have won) an Emmy. Wilder died soon after happily, his definitive version made. His estate willed that another version for tv should not be made. Then in 1989, the late lamented Spaulding Grey headed another cast that did their best to remain completely faithful to the play as written. This Broadway performance was nominated for a Tony. A special performance was made for the executors of Wilder's estate who enjoyed it as much as the fore mentioned 1977 performance, that they allowed PBS to tape it for their "Great Performances" series. Since then, both of these showings have been hard to find on video. Now you can get them both in this nice (though pricey) 2 disc set. But trust me, it's worth the bucks. If you really need to "save money", order it from a "Marketplace Client", but buy it anyway. You will not regret it. Then for another very good showing, buy the 2003 PBS/Showtime presentation (on the PBS label) with Paul Newman, etc.

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Item Name: Thornton Wilder's Our Town: Two Historic Productions; Studio:Mastervision

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All Over (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1976) Review

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(More customer reviews)Albee's 1971 meditation on death is a challenging work. It takes a delicate balance to bring the poetry of the text to life and to enrich the characters on stage without getting lost in the static nature of the unfolding drama. In a very quiet way, this play has as many barbs as "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" but contains only a fraction of the humor that is in "Virginia Woolf". The subject of death runs through every thread of the play and presents variations on the theme through the characters and their identities and conflicts.
This 1976 television production (originally staged for the theatre by the Hartford Stage Company and taped for Connecticut Public Television) suffers from an overall stiffness in the acting ensemble and an unfortunate restraint in the approach that works against sustaining interest for the viewer but there are good performances. Myra Carter as the Mistress and Anne Lynn as the Daughter are two tall Albee women to be reckoned with.
Since it is unlikely that this play will appear on DVD again (unless a Broadway revival were to revive interest), this is a disc worth collecting if for no other reason than to enjoy Edward Albee's fascinating dialogue and to retain a production of this play.

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American Film Theatre: Collection 2 (1973) Review

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(More customer reviews)I was a teenager when these movies were first released. I remember them being different, with limited releases in very few theaters. The first film I remember seeing was "The Iceman Cometh" - I was a big Lee Marvin fan. A great film, with a powerhouse cast. But if I had to choose one of newly restored DVD sets recently released of all 14 original films by THE AMERICAN FILM THEATRE, I would start with this one first. These movies had given me a new respect for filmaking at the time.....incredible actors in great roles, great directors reinventing ways to film stage plays, somehow making them not feel I was just watching a filmed play, and thereby reaching a much broader audience.
This set, with five films, has some of my favorites. "A Delicate Balance" has been a film I can never forget, with the great Paul Scofield and Katherine Hepburn, and "The Man in the Glass Booth", "In Celebration", and "The Homecoming" all have performances by some of the greatest actors ever....it is truly a rare treat to see these films again. Seemingly lost for 30 years, I am so glad they have been "rediscovered"! I would recommend these films highly.....they are the real deal! Set number one also has an incredible group of films. I believe all 14 films have also released as single DVD's, but these sets are the way to go.
Indulge!!!!

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The American Film Theatre: Collection One (1973) Review

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(More customer reviews)Being in my early 30s I could never have seen these plays performed by the actors at their age and in that time and space. Instead of being deprived of these soul enriching experiences they have been filmed and preserved for me - for that I am eternally grateful. On the tech side the "plays" look fantastic - the transfers are rich and clean and have been geared for 16:9 TVs. The sound is crisp and clear (don't knock mono, it sounds good on a decent system) and allows you to be immersed in the playwrights amazing dialogue (especially the incredible BUTLEY). This is truly one for the collection (and for you and your kid's educations) - I am buying the rest of the sets and I advise you to do the same - cheers!

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AMERICAN FILM THEATRE COLLECTION 1 - DVD Movie

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Stage Fright (1950) Review

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(More customer reviews)Like I said, STAGEFRIGHT is easily the most underrated of all Mr. Hitchcock's films. With first rate performances by all concerned(Alistair Sim is a riot), this was Hitch's first time back in England filming after many years abroad & it shows. Filmed in glorious black & white with the theatre as it's background, it's fuelled by almost every character playing a role other than their own & obviously having the time of their lives while doing it. Taking centre stage are Jane Wyman(a drama student who dangerously takes on her most important role in an effort to trap a murderer), Alistair Sim(as her father only too delighted to be caught up in the adventure)& Marlene Dietrich(delivering a deliriously over-the-top performance as a selfish actress). Filled with Hitch's trademark touches, the cinematography is magnificent(the garden party sequence is pure magic..watch for the sea of umbrellas)& hey! even Joyce Grenfell drops by for some great comic relief. Not that it needs it. This is the Master's great comedy murder mystery. 10/10 Bravo!!!!

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Jonathan Cooper is wanted by the police who suspect him of killing his lover's husband. His friend Eve Gill offers to hide him and Jonathan explains to her that his lover, actress Charlotte Inwood is the real murderer. Eve decides to investigate for herself, but when she meets the detective in charge of the case, she starts to fall in love.

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Richard Foreman: Ontological-Hysteric Theater, Vol. 1 (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)Back around 1983 at the Kitchen in New York, I attended a showing of Ernie Gehr's film of the very early Ontological-Hysteric Theater Richard Foreman production "Sophia=Wisdom Part 3: The Cliffs." The play had been produced in 1972-73 and represents a very early production of Foreman's, back before the work sped up, so this was slow, stately, very formal, funny, and amazing to watch. Theater like Richard's is something almost ineffable. If you don't see it nothing can replace that experience. It was amazing for me, as a theater director myself and a student of avant garde thought, to see this work. It certainly didn't make a lot of sense to me, because my mind was busy trying to interpret what I was seeing rather than just weigh each moment for itself -- and because I doubted I would ever have the opportunity to see it again.
Well, thankfully, I was wrong about the latter. To my surprise and pleasure, Foreman has allowed this DVD to be released. Here you get the full Gehr film in all its 16mm flatness -- if you blow up the images they just blur out. But still here is that very film available to watch over and over. Secondly, you get about 80 minutes of clips from a variety of Foreman productions from the 70s to the current decade, all with a commentary track discussing what was going on in each excerpt. This is totally invaluable. Now people all over the world can see what only certain sophisticated theater goers have been wondering about for ages.
From production photos and the published script, I have always had a special fascination for the 1974 production "Pain(t)" so it has special significance to me to see the brief (four minute or so) excerpt offered here, despite the low video quality in which it is preserved. Kate Manheim, Foreman's wife and lead actress in many of the early works, is certainly a brave woman, allowing herself to be placed in such a strange and grotesque physical position on stage ("Oh Rhoda, try stuffing the word painter up your ass"). It's also exciting to see the late Ron Vawter from the Wooster Group as the President in A Symphony of Rats.
All in all, theater students and people who love to see theater pushed to the very edges will not want to miss this DVD.

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The American Film Theater Complete 14 Film Collection (The Iceman Cometh / A Delicate Balance / The Man in the Glass Booth / Butley / Luther / Rhinoceros / The Homecoming / Three Sisters / Galileo / In Celebration / The Maids / Jacques Brel) (15 D) Review

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(More customer reviews)KINO'S AMERICAN FILM THEATRE offers all fourteen titles in this prestigious mid-1970s stage-to-film series in one collection. Included are the finest works of the greatest playwrights, as rendered by top-notch actors and directors. Audio and video transfers of the restored movies is also first rate. It's a collection ideal for lovers of theater or for any fan of classy cinema. Highest recommendation!
By way of introduction to another theatrical collection, I'd like to recommend KULTUR's version of THE ICEMAN COMETH (starring Jason Robards Jr.), from their superlative BROADWAY THEATRE ARCHIVE series.SYNOPSES (listed alphabetically):
BUTLEY-- Concerns a moment of crisis in the life of an alcoholic college professor, who loses both his wife and male lover on the same day. Students, friends and colleagues take the brunt of the suicidal man's outbursts as he literally falls to pieces.
A DELICATE BALANCE-- Edward Albee drama about a dysfunctional Connecticut family is powerfully enacted by an all-star cast.
GALILEO-- Adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's story of the later life of the Italian Renaissance philosopher/scientist who was persecuted by the Church for his support of the Copernican theory that the Earth revolved around the sun.
THE HOMECOMING-- Another bleak story of a less-than-ideal family whose members are locked in an endless power struggle.
IN CELEBRATION-- At a British family reunion (parents' wedding anniversary), three sons argue while their mum and da try to ride out the storm.
JACQUES BREL IS...-- A show woven around 35 songs written by the famous mid-20th Century French troubadour.
LOST IN THE STARS-- Kurt Weill's last stageshow is a musical influenced by Porgy & Bess. Adapted from Alan Paton's "Cry the Beloved Country" by Maxwell Anderson.
LUTHER-- An exploration of the life of the man, who in the 1500s, changed the face of Christianity forever.
THE MAIDS-- Based on a true story of a French woman and her daughter who were brutally murdered by a pair of sisters they employed as servants. In this Jean Genet play, the housemaids dream up elaborate sadomasochist fantasies while Madame is away.
THE MAN IN THE GLASS BOOTH-- A Jewish death camp survivor who is now wealthy and living in Manhattan is arrested and put on trial for Nazi war crimes. Based on the Adolf Eichmann case.
PHILADELPHIA...-- Serio-comedy about the last few hours a young man spends in Ireland prior to his emigration to America.
RHINOCEROS-- Absurdist story written by Eugène Ionesco about the inhabitants of a small French town who transform into the horned beasts, all save one man, a heavy-drinking ne'er-do-well. This unusual study of philosophy, morality and culture reteams "The Producers" Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder. Watch for a cameo by Anne Ramsey (Momma in "Throw Momma from the Train").
THREE SISTERS-- Three siblings lead empty lives after the death of their Army officer father. Chekhov play adaptation is directed by Laurence Olivier, who also has a minor role (Dr. Chebutikin). Parenthetical numbers preceding titles are viewer poll ratings found at a film resource website.
VOLUME ONE--
(7.3) Butley (UK/Canada-1974) - Alan Bates/Jessica Tandy/Richard O'Callaghan/Susan Engel/Michael Byrne
(7.8) The Iceman Cometh (1973) - Lee Marvin/Fredric March/Robert Ryan/Jeff Bridges/Bradford Dillman/Martyn Green/Moses Gunn
(7.0) Luther (UK/Canada-1974) - Stacy Keach/Patrick Magee/Hugh Griffith/Judi Dench
(6.1) The Maids (UK-1975) - Glenda Jackson/Susannah York/Vivien Merchant/Mark Burns
(5.8) Rhinoceros (USA/UK/Canada-1973) - Zero Mostel/Gene Wilder/Karen Black/Joe Silver/Robert Weil/Anne Ramsey
VOLUME TWO--
(6.9) A Delicate Balance (USA/Canada/UK-1973) - Katherine Hepburn/Paul Scofield/Lee Remick/Kate Reed/Joseph Cotten/Betsy Blair
(7.8) The Homecoming (UK/USA-1973) - Cyril Cusack/Ian Holm/Michael Jayson/Vivien Merchant/Terence Rigby/Paul Rogers
(7.0) In Celebration (UK-1975) - Brian Cox/Gabrielle Daye/Bill Owen/Alan Bates/James Bolan/Constance Chapman
(7.6) The Man in the Glass Booth (1975) - Maximilian Schell/Lois Nettleton/Lawrence Pressman/Luther Adler/Lloyd Bochner
(6.5) Three Sisters (UK-1970) - Jeanne Watts/Joan Plowright/Louise Purnell/Derek Jacobi/Laurence Olivier/Alan Bates
VOLUME THREE--
(6.6) Galileo (UK-1975) - Topol/John Gielgud/Patrick Magee/Tom Conti/Edward Fox/Mary Larkin/Michael Lonsdale
(6.3) Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (France/Canada-1975) - Elly Stone/Mort Shuman/Joe Masiell/Jacques Brel
(6.3) Lost in the Stars (1974) - Brock Peters/Melba Moore/Raymond St. Jacques/Clifton Davis/Paul Rogers
(5.5) Philadelphia, Here I Come! (Ireland-1975) - Donal McCann/Des Cave/Siobhan McKenna/Eamon A. Kelly

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All these DVDs are presented in their original aspect ration and are loaded with Extras - This star-studded 14 FIlm Collection Includes the Following Films:Eugene O'Neill's THE ICEMAN COMETH (1973) (2 DISCS) - Directed by John Frankenheimer - Starring Lee Marvin, Fredric March, Robert Ryan and Jeff Bridges. 239 minutes - A Majestic and Thrilling Achievement -- Charles Champlin, The Los Angeles TimesEdward Albee's A DELICATE BALANCE (1973) - Directed by Tony Richardson - Starring Katharine Hepburn, Paul Scofield, Lee Remick and Joseph Cotten. 132 minutes - A Superlative Record of Albee's Play, Enthrallingly Brought to the Screen -- San Francisco ExaminerRobert Shaw's THE MAN IN THE GLASS BOOTH (1975) - Directed by Arthur Hiller - Starring Maximilian Schell in His Academy Award nominated Performance. 117 minutes - Daring, Outragious, Utterly Provocative, Strikingly Effective -- Los Angeles TimesEugene Ionesco's RHINOCEROS (1974) - Directed by Tom O'Horgan - Starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, the stars of Mel Brooks' The Producers. With Karen Black. 104 minutes - Rhinoceros is a Fast Paced, Inventively Realized Film -- The Boston PhoenixSimon Gray's BUTLEY (1974) - Directed by Harold Pinter - Starring Alan Bates, Jessica Tandy and Georgina Hale. 104 minutes - An Extraordinary Success... A devilishly entertaining piece and showpiece for Alan Bates -- San Francisco ExaminerJean Genet's THE MAIDS (1975) - Directed by Christopher Miles - Starring Glenda Jackson, Susannah York and Vivien Merchant. 94 minutesJohn Osborne's LUTHER (1974) - Directed Guy Green - Starring Stacy Keach, Judi Dench, Hugh Griffith and Patrick Magee. 111 minutes - One of the Best Pictures of the Year -- The Denver PostDavid Storey's IN CELEBRATION (1975) - Directed by Lindsay Anderson - Starring Alan Bates, Brian Cox, Bill Owen and Constance Chapman. 130 minutes - Anderson and a superb cast have made a harrowing and satisfying suspense drama -- New York MagazineAnton Chekhov's THREE SISTERS (1970) - Directed by Laurence Olivier - Starring Laurence Olivier, Alan Bates, Joan Plowright and Derek Jacobi. 162 minutes - Four Stars... Highest Rating - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-TimesHarold Pinter's THE HOMECOMING (1973) - Directed by Peter Hall - Starring Ian Holm, Vivien Merchant, Paul Rogers and Cyril Cusack. 114 minutes - A Fine, Ferocious Film -- Time MagazineBertolt Brecht's GALILEO (1974) - Directed by Joseph Losey - Starring Topol, Edward Fox, John Gielgud and Tom Conti. 138 minutes - Taste, Class and a First-rate Cast -- VarietyKurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson's LOST IN THE STARS (1974) - Directed by Daniel Mann - Starring Brock Peters, Melba Moore and Raymond St. Jacques. 97 minutes - Brock Peters is Outstanding... his ending scene is a triumph -- Atlanta Journal ConstitutionBrian Friel's PHILADELPHIA, HERE I COME! (1975) - Directed by John Quested - Starring Siobhan McKenna, Donal McCann and Fidelma Murphy. 95 minutesJacques Brel's JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS (1975) - Directed by Denis Heroux - Starring Jacques Brel and Elly Stone. 97 minutes - Infected With Spirit... Bitingly Relevant -- Variety

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