Glenda Jackson

Average customer rating:

As Good as I Remembered!
Masterpiece Theater masterpiece
an absolute MUST for all actors studying classical theater
Great docu - drama
The best on film about Queen Elizabeth I

Elizabeth R
Starring: Glenda Jackson , Ronald Hines , Robert Hardy , Nicolette Bernard , and Hugh Dickson
Director: Donald McWhinnie , Claude Whatham , and Herbert Wise
Manufacturer: BBC Warner
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Miniseries | Television | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

( E ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

The Six Wives of Henry VIII
I, Claudius
Elizabeth I
Masterpiece Theatre: Elizabeth I - The Virgin Queen
The Wives of Henry VIII

ASIN: B00005LC1D
Release Date: 2001-10-16

Amazon.com essential video

Glenda Jackson is majestic in the six-video miniseries from the BBC, Elizabeth R. Covering the entire reign of Elizabeth I, from her struggles with her half-sister Mary just before being crowned as queen to her death in 1603, the series profiles the life of the Virgin Queen in detail--and with historical accuracy--not possible in the as beautiful, but much shorter, theatrical release, Elizabeth. Religious conflicts, her struggle over the execution of her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, battles with Spain, court politics, and of course her flirtations with Robert Dudley (portrayed as an almost-comical fop by Robert Hardy) and her decision to remain unmarried are just some of the highlights of this magnificently costumed and finely acted piece. Jackson skillfully captures the capricious moods and incredible intellect of the queen who defied the pope and the conventions of the time as a strong-willed woman, and characters from textbooks--Sir Francis Bacon, Sir Walter Raleigh, King Phillip II--come vividly to life. Elizabeth R (and for those not in the know, the "R" is for "Regina") is a splendid melding of history and entertainment, and as thorough as this series is, you will still long for more. --Jenny Brown

Description

Episodes: The Lion's Cub, The Marriage Game, Shadow of the Sun, Horrible Conspiracies, The Enterprise of England, Sweet England's Pride. This magnificent 6-volume collection recounts the epic life and times of the remarkable Elizabeth I in a cycle of 6 plays. Won multiple Emmy Awards.DVD Features:
Audio Commentary
Interviews
Photo gallery

Customer Reviews:

As Good as I Remembered!.......2007-05-13

I remember loving this series when it aired on Masterpiece Theater in the 70's. After recently seeing Helen Mirren's portrayal of Elizabeth I, I became nostalgic for Glenda Jackson's version. It did not disappoint! Glenda is, and always will be, the quintessential Bess! Sure, the sets seem a little high school drama production by today's standards, but in every other way it has stood the test of time.

Masterpiece Theater masterpiece.......2007-03-09

Glenda Jackson was fantastic in the role of Elizabeth I from a young girl to her death after a 44 or so year reign. Absolutely believable and a series I enjoyed when it was on Masterpiece Theater and will always enjoy. The interviews with contemporary Glenda Jackson, MP is very interesting also. Highly recommend it!

an absolute MUST for all actors studying classical theater.......2007-02-17

In my own studies, I happened across this secret gem and fell wildly in love with it's power, passion and simplicity. I say "simplicity" because as has been mentioned in other rave reviews, the budget for this was modest and it was adapted from 6 superbly written and thankfully (finally) historically accurate plays about the life of an extraordinary woman who reigned during a tumultuous and fascinating time. I often wonder at why filmmakers see the need to tinker with the facts by changing timelines or making slight alterations; court intrigues were more than melodramatic as they were.

This had honestly been the first thing I had seen the venerable Miss Jackson in and now it astounds me that my teachers in the realm of Shakespeare and classical theater have never even heard of this series! This needs to be required viewing for anyone undertaking the monumental task of interpreting the writings of that era or for anyone studying Elizabethan history, for that matter. This series manages to bring to life the people (not characters) and events in a way I have never seen before or since. While I LOVE the 2 part miniseries staring Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons (I own that one as well) it has a whole different feel that's a bit more polished and Hollywood, though great fun. This is like being transported back in time and being a fly on the wall for some of the most pivotal, important moments in history. It's a stunning achievement and I have yet to grow wary of watching it again and again.

It is also well worth taking the time to watch Glenda in the extra features section as she discusses Elizabeth and the challenges inherent in playing such an enormous figure in history. Her knowledge of both the time (in terms of really living through it) and the possible motivations within the woman she played are admirable and inspiring.

I cannot say enough about how wonderful these are; it's essentially six feature lengths films that feel very much like a 3 dimensional play where you get to follow people around and really feel you are there. It's juicy, riveting, astoundingly acted by all, artfully written and utterly fascinating.

God's death, it is marvelous in our eyes! ;)

Great docu - drama.......2007-02-15

Excellent cast of incrediblly skilled actors and actresses who do great justice to the roles of this series. The costumes and settings all enhance the credibility of this story. One views this series as if you where actually privy in being there at that time and seeing what was going on.

The series is one of the finest I have ever viewed.

The best on film about Queen Elizabeth I.......2007-01-19

This series of six 90 minute episodes helped put Masterpiece Theatre on the map back in the early 1970's and starred a very young Glenda Jackson as Queen Elizabeth. The acting is outstanding, and the series has the vast majority of the historical details down correctly. However, you are going to have to accustom yourself to the rather crude looking lighting and camera work that was typical of PBS production values of the early 1970's. In fact, unless there is some copyright problem at work I am unaware of, that is likely why I have not seen it on TV in 15 years. The series takes Elizabeth from shortly after the death of her father, King Henry VIII, in 1547, up to her own deathbed in 1603. The following is a brief description of each of the six episodes:

1. The Lion's Cub - The series begins in 1547 with the brief six-year reign of Elizabeth's sickly younger brother, Edward VI. Manipulated by his Seymour uncles, he prefers to debate religion with Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. His untimely death is followed by the nine day reign of the usurper, Lady Jane Grey. The people refuse to allow the true succession to be supplanted and rise up in the name of Edward's oldest sister, Mary, who ascends the throne. The majority of the episode deals with Mary's attempts to convert Elizabeth to the Catholic faith. Various plots and rebellions flare, and Elizabeth spends some time under arrest in the Tower of London. She is released when Mary weds the Spanish king, Phillip II. The marriage is not a success, and the pitiful Mary dies childless, leaving only one heir to the throne, her sister Elizabeth.

2. The Marriage Game - In 1558, the marriage of the new queen is the most pressing political issue of the new reign, as it is imperative that Elizabeth produce an heir. Foreign princes negotiate for her hand, but Elizabeth refuses to commit to any one of them. Meanwhile, her friendship with Sir Robert Dudley deepens, causing unease among her councillors. Dudley's wife dies by a mysterious fall down a flight of stairs, and all of Europe believes the English queen engineered the tragedy. An attack of smallpox brings the queen near death, and her council laments that there is no viable heir to the throne. Elizabeth recovers, but her problem remains: if she remains childless, who will succeed her?

3. Shadow in the Sun - The episode opens as Elizabeth and her court react to the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, in which hundreds of French Huguenots (Protestants) died at the hands of the French king's troops. Ever the pragmatist, Elizabeth is willing to set aside her horror and open marriage negotiations with the French king's younger brother, the Duke of Alencon. A tender romance develops between the aging queen and the younger, impish Duke. Behind the scenes, Elizabeth's councillors Cecil, Sussex, and Walsingham bargain with the Duke's mother, the formidable Catherine de Medici. The queen undergoes an awkward physical examination to prove she can still bear children, while her favorite Dudley, now the Earl of Leicester, attempts to sabotage the marital plans. As the queen vacillates, Alencon drops a bombshell: Leicester has secretly married Elizabeth's cousin, the Countess of Essex. In the end, the queen cannot bring herself to marry. She bids farewell to her last chance at personal happiness, and her last chance of bearing children, and reveals her melancholy by composing a poem, "A Shadow in the Sun."

4. Horrible Conspiracies - In the mid 1580's attention turns to Elizabeth's closest relative and greatest enemy, Mary, Queen of Scots. Imprisoned by Elizabeth for many years, Mary is a focal point for Catholic unrest in England. Walsingham is concerned for Elizabeth's security but knows that the queen will never consent to Mary's execution without incontrovertible proof of her treachery. He engineers a meeting between the Scottish queen and Sir Anthony Babington, a leading Catholic aristocrat. A plot develops to overthrow Elizabeth and seize the throne, a plot followed step by step by Walsingham. Its revelation leads to Queen Mary's trial and conviction, but Elizabeth cannot bring herself to order the execution of an anointed queen. Ultimately, she signs the death warrant, only to disavow it later. But her recantation is too late; the Queen of Scots is executed.

5. The Enterprise of England - The execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, at the order of Queen Elizabeth, shocks Europe, and encourages King Phillip of Spain to prepare to invade England in 1588. At Elizabeth's direction, Sir Francis Drake wages small piracies upon Spanish ships, which does nothing to deter Phillip's assembly of the mighty Spanish Armada. At the English court, debate rages over attempts to negotiate peace, while at the Spanish court, the king is urged to delay. Phillip, moved by God, launches his fleet, and Elizabeth, against the advice of her new favorite Essex, joins her troops to await the invasion. Though vastly outnumbered, the English fleet, with smaller, swifter ships, out-maneuvers the larger Spanish galleons. A terrible storm finishes the job: the Armada is defeated. Back in London, Elizabeth is in the mood to celebrate, until sad news reaches the court: the queen's one true love, the Earl of Leicester, has died.

6. Sweet England's Pride - At the end of her life, Elizabeth is a parody of her former glory. The ancient queen tolerates the insufferable egotism of her young favorite, the Earl of Essex, to the chagrin of Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Robert Cecil. Egged on by sycophantic friends and his mother Lady Leicester, Essex believes he can supplant Elizabeth and rule in her place. His hubris leads to his downfall, and he is arrested and executed. Elizabeth has outlived all her contemporaries, and with the son of her enemy Mary, Queen of Scots poised to inherit her throne, she takes her last breath.

If you don't know much about Queen Elizabeth before watching this series, spend a little time reading brief sketches on her father Henry VIII and her mother Ann Boleyn. Also, be sure to read about Elizabeth's younger brother Edward and older sister Mary, both of whom who preceeded her as England's King and Queen, respectively. Their biographies figure heavily into Elizabeth's reasonings and the choices she made, but there is not much detail given about their lives in this series. Much has been made recently about the 4 hour drama "Elizabeth I" starring Helen Mirren made just last year. That is definitely a good program on the subject, but this one is much better, since it shows the entirety of Elizabeth's adult life. Also, although Helen Mirren did a wonderful job, she doesn't seem to age a day over the length of the series even though over 20 years pass. Glenda Jackson's Elizabeth has you believing you are watching the queen mature from a giggling teenager to the 69 year old monarch she was at her death. Highly recommended.

Average customer rating:

Hilariously clever
A delightful comedy worth watching again and again
Nicely Done
Walter Matthaw at his best
Hopscotch, The Best Game in Town

Hopscotch - Criterion Collection
Starring: George Baker , Ned Beatty , Terry Beaver , Ray Charleson , and Allan Cuthbertson
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Comic Action | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

Espionage | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

Comedy | Criterion Collection | Stores | DVD | Video

All | Criterion Collection | Stores | DVD | Video

Action | Criterion Collection | Stores | DVD | Video

( H ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

House Calls
Charley Varrick
The In-Laws
A Guide for the Married Man
The Odd Couple

ASIN: B00005JL3W
Release Date: 2002-08-20

Amazon.com

Walter Matthau is in peak form in Hopscotch, a featherweight spy-game comedy in which he plays a CIA agent who's way smarter than his dimwitted superiors. That's the fantasy part--this amusing cat-and-mouse game is so lopsided that you can't take it seriously. The movie's charm is derived from the sardonic pleasure with which Matthau makes his pursuers look like idiots, after they've targeted him for "termination" for publishing a tell-all memoir about his tenure in "the Company." He's no stool pigeon, however; it's his boss (played with blustery thick-headedness by the great Ned Beatty) who's abusing his power, so Matthau recruits an old lover (Glenda Jackson) to join him in a globetrotting game of clandestine cleverness. Under Ronald Neame's too-casual direction, this is a not-so-wild goose chase, but Matthau and Jackson (reuniting after they had fun making the 1978 comedy House Calls) have an easygoing chemistry that's nicely balanced with Matthau's cantankerous shenanigans. --Jeff Shannon

Description

Miles Kendig knows too much. One of the CIA's top international operatives, he suddenly finds himself relegated to a desk job in an agency power play. Unwilling to go quietly, Kendig, with the aid of a chic Viennese widow, puts himself back in the game by writing a memoir exposing the innermost secrets of every major intelligence agency in the world. The CIA wants Kendig dead, but he refuses to cooperate—he's having too much fun. Based on Brian Garfield's best-selling novel, and starring the inimitable comic team of Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson, Ronald Neame's Hopscotch is a smart and stylish tale of international intrigue and a cat-and-mouse comedy.

Customer Reviews:

Hilariously clever.......2007-04-11

This movie is so funny, it seems that everyone should know about it! It has a clever plot; you will never guess the ending if you're a first time viewer. The acting is superb; I am guessing the person who chose the cast was a genious. It is a must have for every video library.

A delightful comedy worth watching again and again.......2007-03-07

Walter Matthau, Glenda Jackson, Sam Waterston, and Herbert Lom are all quite delightful in this film ... The subtle and clever humor is a nice break from the in-your-face brazen humor found so often today. The combination of Matthau and Jackson is a bit unexpected, but the chemistry really works! I am very very glad that Matthau decided to go through with this project, as it ranks as one of my favorite movies! The commentary by writer and director are well worth listening to. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book on which this movie is based; it's easy to see why it earned an Edgar for the author!

Nicely Done.......2007-03-03

I just watched this movie tonight. I love Walter Matthau, and there's plenty of his classic character bits here to keep the viewer constantly entertained. Although it received mixed reviews when it came out in 1980, Hopscotch still remains popular and is driven by a more than average, clever plot. Glenda Jackson has good chemistry with Walter, even though there's an age difference to deal with. And there's a surprisingly good deal of Mozart and Rossini sprinkled throughout the sound track, mainly because Matthau loved these composers. Matthau's character, who's writing an expose (his memoirs) of the CIA, needs writing music and inevitably puts on a record of a Mozart opera (The Marriage of Figaro). This was Matthau's own idea. He seemed to have brought much to this movie. For instance, he dreamed up the sequence where he becomes reacquainted with Glenda Jackson via a conversation with her about wines. That scene works very nicely. You won't waste your time watching this one. I recommend it as a good brief escape from our mad world. Also, don't miss the introductory commentary from the director and the writer.

Walter Matthaw at his best.......2007-01-21

Don't know how I missed this when it was released. It's quickly become a family favorite. A movie that can be watched multiple times without tiring of the content, or the acting.

Hopscotch, The Best Game in Town.......2006-08-19

Matthau & Jackson are wonderful in this delightful spy romp. They play off each other beautifully There are no slow spots. It moves quickly. It's a film to see again and again.

Average customer rating:

A True Classic
Princess and the Goblin
Amazing
Fun Movie
One perfect movie

The Princess and the Goblin
Starring: Joss Ackland , Claire Bloom , Frank Rozelaar Green , William Hootkins , and Glenda Jackson
Director: Joszef Gemes
Manufacturer: Allumination
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Animation | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Animation | Genres | DVD | Video

Feature Films | Animation | Genres | DVD | Video

4-for-3 Art House & International | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

4-for-3 Kids & Family | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( P ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Happily Ever After
A Troll in Central Park
Once Upon a Forest
The Swan Princess (Special Edition) [Region 99]
The Pebble and the Penguin - Family Fun Edition

ASIN: B000796ND2
Release Date: 2003-05-07

Customer Reviews:

A True Classic .......2007-05-03

This movie was one of my favorites growing up, and everyone around me that I have shared it with has fallen in love with it. The story is about the adventurous Princess Irene. The princess is off playing in the woods when she is attacked by goblins pets. She is saved by a mining boy named Curty. They quickly become friends and get into a lot of trouble. The goblins attack and Irene must rely on her own magic to save Curty, and in turn the entire kingdom. (Yes the story has a happy ending ^^ )

The story teaches the importance of believing in yourself, friendship, not keeping things inside, and the power of a song. I would recommend this story to any child boy or girl. However, there are a few scary parts in this movie, nothing bad compared to what kids are exposed to these days but I would advise that the parents sit and watch the movie with that child the first time through just in case it doesn't met that parent's pretence. (There is a spot where the ground starting moving at the beginning and a hand comes out and grabs her. Of course she gets away! If your child can handle the movie The Black Cauldron, then this movie is fine!)

One warning to parents, this movie becomes a quick favorite, so I would advise ear plugs because the movie has been known to be played so a lot.

I would recommend this to any child; I hope this review has been helpful!

Princess and the Goblin .......2007-02-08

I got the movie fast and I love it. I didn't have to wait long because I foregot that I ordered it and it was here in a week.

Amazing.......2006-08-18

Words can not begin to describe how amazing this movie truly is. The song, "A Spark Inside Us," has become one of my all time favorite songs! Its a great movie, and I completly urge you to buy it and see for yourselves the magic within.
~Nicolle Layman

Fun Movie.......2005-07-07

This is a good movie and the Goblin's are not scary to kids...just funny. It is a little lengthy, but you certainly get your money's worth of drama, excellent cartoonage and music.

One perfect movie.......2005-02-16

This is one of the best movies in the world when i was a kid i wachted this over and ove again.Words cannot express my love for this movie and if you've never seen this movie you should right no

Average customer rating:

Wonderful, wonderful.
Clean Romantic Comedy
Light Tracy-Hepburn-Style Romp Takes Well-Aimed Jabs at Greedy Doctors
Lighter Than Air, and What's Wrong With That?
House Calls

House Calls
Starring: Walter Matthau , Glenda Jackson , Art Carney , Richard Benjamin , and Candice Azzara
Director: Howard Zieff
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( H ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Hopscotch - Criterion Collection
A Guide for the Married Man
The Front Page
The Odd Couple
The Fortune Cookie

ASIN: B0007QJ1ZW
Release Date: 2005-05-31

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful, wonderful........2007-06-20

Roger Ebert once commented that Michael Caine never gives a bad performance. Neither does Gene Hackman and neither does Walter Matthau. This is one of his best. Medical humor always seems to work. Here it soars, with the help of Glenda Jackson, Richard Benjamin, and--in one of his most hilarious roles--Art Carney. The subplots are also well done. There's even a brief appearance by Matthau's real-life son.

This is the sort of movie you can watch again and again and the underlying story is sweet and loving, not cruel like The Odd Couple or long in the tooth like Grumpy Old Men. This is Matthau at the top of his rumpled powers, playing a skilled surgeon with notable human failings ripe for redemption.

Clean Romantic Comedy.......2007-01-10

Very enjoyable movie that we watch over and over. Nice music. From this movie we purchased the CD Moonlight Gambler/ Frankie Laine. We also purchased the Movie Hop Scotch on Dec 28 and have not received it as yet.

Light Tracy-Hepburn-Style Romp Takes Well-Aimed Jabs at Greedy Doctors.......2006-08-10

I remember seeing this 1978 comedy at one of the bargain matinees I took in when I was looking for a study break from my college courses. Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson do some effective Tracy-Hepburn-style thrusting-and-parrying in this featherweight romp directed by the reliable Howard Zieff (he did "Private Benjamin") about a newly widowed doctor's aggressive re-entry into the dating game. It all breezes by quickly primarily thanks to the clever script by veteran screenwriter Julius J. Epstein ("Casablanca") along with Alan Mandel, Max Shulman and future director Charles Shyer.

Dr. Charley Nichols has just come back from Hawaii after his wife's death. Upon his return, he becomes aware that he is instant catnip to any and all the single women in LA. He works in a hospital run by an increasingly senile chief-of-staff, Amos Willoughby, whom Charley has to pacify to keep his residency. Enter Ann Atkinson, a transplanted Englishwoman who bakes cheesecakes for a living and has certain concrete opinions about the medical profession, which she expresses freely on a PBS talk show. Of course, Charley is on the show's discussion panel, and sparks, as they say, fly. This leads to the standard complications about how serious Charley is willing to become about Ann. At the same time, the hospital has to deal with a potential wrongful death lawsuit from the widow of a rich baseball team owner who died at the hospital under Willoughby's careless supervision.

It's just refreshing to see such a mature yet bracing love story between two characters inhabited by actors who deliver lines with the scalpel-wielding skill of surgeons. Matthau is his usual 1970's curmudgeonly swinger and quite a sight waddling with his gangly arms held akimbo in his power walk. Away from her heavy, award-winning Elizabethan roles, Jackson is crisply sardonic and charmingly vulnerable as the feisty Ann, who thinks all doctors should aspire to be Albert Schweitzer. Art Carney plays Willoughby with predictable bluster, while Richard Benjamin provides amiable support as Charley's colleague, Dr. Solomon. It's all very compact with a few nice jabs at the greed within the medical profession. There are no extras on the 2005 DVD.

Lighter Than Air, and What's Wrong With That?.......2005-12-20

In a career that featured a wealth of great comic performances, Walter Matthau gave few that were more delightful and relaxed than this one. In contrast to the wonderfully over-the-top style he displayed while winning an Oscar for "The Fortune Cookie" and being nominated for another in "The Sunshine Boys," Matthau employed a lighter but equally effective comic touch for this 1978 romantic comedy. He plays a widowed doctor who is over his grief and ready to sow some wild oats, only to find that he's fallen for a woman who wants nothing to do with his playboy ways. Glenda Jackson, who later left acting to join the British parliament, is a perfect match for Matthau's game, and the two trade barbs beautifully in a film that plays so leisurely that it's over before you know it. Look for superb supporting performances from Richard Benjamin as well as Art Carney as the dottering and caustic hospital administrator. He hams it up wonderfully in a part far removed from the nice guy he played in "The Honeymooners." This is one of those movies that looks like it was fun to make. It's definitely fun to watch.

House Calls.......2005-09-07

Delightful romantic comedy benefits from a top-notch script (by Max Shulman and Julius Epstein-co-writer of "Casablanca"!), and the unexpected chemistry between lovable schlump Matthau and starchy Jackson, who are both fabulous. Affirming once again that true love will triumph over casual sex, "Calls" is a charming, clever romance, with plenty of laughs and heart. Matthau fans should flock to this.

Average customer rating:

PERHAPS THE BEST MOVIE IN MY COLLECTION
Time Has No Power Over Women In Love
Lush
Women in Love
Key to Lawrence

Women in Love
Starring: Alan Bates , Oliver Reed , Glenda Jackson , Jennie Linden , and Eleanor Bron
Director: Ken Russell
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( W ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Sunday Bloody Sunday
Darling
Lady Chatterley (1992) (2pc)
A Touch of Class
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

ASIN: B00007KQA1
Release Date: 2003-03-04

Amazon.com essential video

Before director Ken Russell's name became synonymous with cinematic extravagance and overkill, he actually directed what is one of the most passionate and involving adaptations of D.H. Lawrence in recent memory. Oliver Reed and Alan Bates star as friends who fall in love with a pair of sisters (Jennie Linden and Glenda Jackson, who won an Oscar for the role). But the relationships take markedly different directions, as Russell explores the nature of commitment and love. Bates and Linden learn to give themselves to each other; the more withdrawn Reed cannot, finally, connect with the demanding and challenging Jackson. Shot with great sensuality, it was surprisingly frank for its period (1970) and includes one of the most charged scenes in movie history: Bates and Reed as manly men, wrestling nude by firelight. --Marshall Fine

Description

This compelling rendition of the literary masterpiece is a visual stunner and very likely the mostsensuous film ever made (N.Y. Daily News). Glenda Jackson garnered the first of her two Oscars®* for her superb performance in director Ken Russell and writer Larry Kramer's brilliant exploration of the complexities of sexuality and romantic love. Growing up in the sheltered society of 1920s England, Gudrun (Jackson) and Ursula (Jennie Linden) know little about the ways of love. So when they pursue thrilling, torrid affairs with a notorious playboy (Alan Bates) and abrooding philanderer (Oliver Reed), what they discover about their lovers, and themselves, may be more all-consumingand dangerously volatilethan they ever dared imagine.

Customer Reviews:

PERHAPS THE BEST MOVIE IN MY COLLECTION.......2007-05-07

Every aspect, from script to production quality to casting/acting is Great.
Over the years I have viewed it many times (over 20 times!). Now, so many years after its initial release, it still stands with the best of today. Everyone should see this movie - again and again.

Time Has No Power Over Women In Love.......2007-04-16

***This comment may content spoilers***

Ken Russell's adaptation of D. H. Lawrence's novel Women in Love is one of my favorite films. It explores the hearts and minds, personalities, and philosophies of four intelligent and educated young people in the beginning of 20-th century and their romantic relationships (heterosexual and homosexual, friendship, love and desire). They are played by Alan Bates, Oliver Reed, Glenda Jackson, and Jennie Linden.

Glenda Jackson who was relatively unknown at the time won her first Oscar for a magnificent performance in a most difficult role: her Gudrun is not a likable character, she is an self-centered predator, but she is honest and very interesting. I read some comments that she was not beautiful. Well, she may not have been pretty but I believe there is more than prettiness to make a woman loved, and admired otherwise a lot of women in this world would never be able to learn the feeling. Gudrun's intelligence, strong character, and self-confidence make her very attractive and desirable.

The film has many unforgettable scenes with two that stand alone after all these years. First of them is one of the most provocative and delightful sexual scenes ever filmed. It takes place during a picnic. Alan Bates dressed in a light white suite describes to the others how to eat a fig. He carefully holds it, and then pulls it open while he compares the process to a woman and looks teasingly at shy Ursula, Gudrun's sister (Jennie Linden). This little scene is as powerful as a famous wrestling scene, even though everybody who saw the film would recall the wrestling scene as a most memorable in "Women in Love".

The wrestling in the nude was Lawrence's (and Russell's ) solution to allow two men to relieve the horror and dreadfulness of the drowning tragedy that occurred shortly before. The scene takes place for long time, 5-10 minutes, with the fire from fireplace highlighting Reed's and Bate's bodies as each struggles against the other. The scene is extremely sensual but whether they engaged in sex or not we don't know...

This is a very special film that has not lost its beauty and appeal now even though it was made over 35 years ago. Extraordinarily striking and highly sensual, it is a must see for anyone truly interested in film.

Lush .......2007-04-10

The story line was poetic and the scenery was very lush. The acting was great and the charactors were well developed from book to screen. The actors were all sexy and were great in their prospective roles.

Women in Love .......2007-02-24

A wonderful film with a stellar British cast. Leaves you wondering...whatever happened to Glenda Jackson? She was one of the great actresses of the 20th Century as her work here in this film shows.

Key to Lawrence.......2005-10-08

This is a necessary film to getting a handle on D.H. Lawrence, a writer much more discussed than understood. Director Russell properly finds his key and turns it relentlessly: the art deco aesthetic, both formal and almost too self-consciously daring, which prevailed in Europe between World War I and Wold War II. It never took total flight and is easily parodied; it is thought of today mainly as a style of decorating furniture or buildings. It had a short life and was obliterated since the second war; Lawrence was quite up to his neck in it, and its strangeness throws people off who plunge into his works looking for the sexual liberator. That is all there, all right, but in his time the chick was still largely imprisoned in the egg, so to speak, of late 19th century Victorian aesthetics too.

Simply, it was a transitional period, and can be a little edgy. Russell is not afraid of it at all and has the guts to drink his Lawrence straight. So you get marvelous visual emblems wide open to parody or ridicule in lesser hands, stunningly presented: the dead couple like a bas relief sculpture on the floor of the drained pond; the naked male wrestlers curling into each other in a dark room, their forms outlined by dim light. Like it or not this was what was beautiful in Lawrence and the film pays it due homage without being subservient; Russell gets in his licks too. The aesthetic was so self-conscious that it can be delightfully hoisted up the flag-pole for a laugh, too, as in the wicked scene of Hermione and her parlor dancers.

There is no need to summarize the story of the two sets of lovers; just see it. The major actors have never been better. They become the complex characters, who while not totally explained are something better: totally present and alive. They pick up a big slice of the private and public aura of the period in their wake. Also, the film has the most incredible punch line at the end which Russell just perfectly transmits.

Average customer rating:

Murder Most Civilized...
Elliot's Smiley is still good
A must for John le Carre fans
what's going on?
Very good portrayal of George Smiley

John Le Carre's A Murder of Quality
Starring: Denholm Elliott , Joss Ackland , Glenda Jackson , Billie Whitelaw , and David Threlfall
Director: Gavin Millar
Manufacturer: A&E Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

Detectives | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( J ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

The Looking Glass War [Region 99]
John Le Carre's A Perfect Spy
Smiley's People (3pc) (Coll)
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

ASIN: B00061QJ8A
Release Date: 2004-12-28

Product Description

From internationally acclaimed spy-turned-author John Le Carr (The Tailor of Panama), comes this intelligent and elegant thriller based on his best-selling novel of the same name. Featuring a stellar cast including Academy Award Nominee Denholm Elliott (A Room with a View), Academy Award Winner Glenda Jackson (A Touch of Class), Joss Ackland (K-19: The Widowmaker), and Christian Bale (American Psycho), A Murder of Quality is available on DVD for the first time ever. When a former colleague of master spy George Smiley (Elliot) receives a letter from a schoolmaster's wife who is convinced her husband is trying to kill her, Smiley agrees to investigate. Only he arrives too late. The grief-stricken husband has an airtight alibi, but everybody else seems to have something to hide. Smiley soon digs up a world of secret societies and sexual scandals while justice and the killer seem as elusive as ever. But does the mysterious boy Timothy Perkins (Bale) hold the key to everything?

System Requirements:

Running Time 103 Min

Format: DVD MOVIE

Customer Reviews:

Murder Most Civilized..........2007-05-28

Denholme Elliot does an understated but solid turn as John Le Carre's quintessential master spy George Smiley in this excellent made-for-TV version of "A Murder of Quality."

George Smiley is asked by a wartime colleague to visit the wife of a teacher at Carne, an exclusive English Prep School. The wife, who does not fit into the existing social set, fears for her life. By the time Smiley arrives, she has been murdered. The balance of the movie is Smiley's patient unpeeling of the complicated and most uncivilized lives of the faculity and students of Carne. In the end, and with the assistance of an often baffled local police chief, Smiley cleverly unmasks the killer.

Denholme Elliot lacks the world-weary qualities and understated ruthlessness of Alec Guiness's later portrayal of George Smiley; this is George Smiley at an earlier, less cynical, and more sociable stage of his career in espionage. Elliot is surrounded by a very solid cast that include Academy Award-winner Glenda Jackson and veteran British actor Joss Ackland. A young Christian Bale (Batman Begins) features as one of the students. Le Carre's novel was hard to follow in the original; this film version will challenge viewers to pay close attention to the storyline. The end result will be entertaining and worthwhile.

Elliot's Smiley is still good.......2007-05-19

I feared that watching a George Smiley film without Alec Guinness might be disappointing, but Denholm Elliot won my heart immediately. He doesn't have the impressive presence of Guiness and is less fascinating to watch, but his version of Smiley is equally as endearing. Denholm's Smiley is even more self-deprecating that Guinness' which gives an interesting tone to the drama. All the other actors are first rate and the production is BBC quality--excellent. I found the story to be interesting but not fascinating, hence the lack of the fifth star. It doesn't approach "Tinker Tailor..." Still it's well worth watching.

A must for John le Carre fans.......2007-01-09

This is a good adaptation of the book, but Denholm Elliott, though a fine actor, is no Alec Guinness when it comes to playing George Smiley. If you can get over the fact the Alec Guinness is not George Smiley, this is a good murder mysterywith a good plat and fine acting. It was interesting to see Glenda Jackson in a movie that is dated just a few years before she became a member of parliament.

what's going on?.......2006-09-16

a totally no-big-deal murder case. what we saw was bunch of brainless chain-smoking detectives pollute the crime scene; a very basic storyline that would have involved the sabbatical g. smiley.
a very lame story adapted into a lame and boring movie, wasted a lot money and talents. typical bbc for pbs viewers who adore british stuff no matter what. but fair is fair, good is good, bad is bad, and this is a very bad movie, unless, of course, you don't mind to waste couple of hours to evolve and maintain in a couch potato status.

Very good portrayal of George Smiley.......2006-08-18

I wasn't sure how I'd like an actor other than Alec Guinness
playing George Smiley-but Elliott does a fine job.As other
reviewers have noted,the plot doesn't concern spies this time.
As usual,it may take 2 or more viewings (or reading the book)
to appreciate all the subtle points being made (talking always
exceeds action for Le Carre)-but this is a big plus for me.
IE the performance can be enjoyably viewed many times.If you
like this one,you should view the 2 Guinness portrayals of
Smiley.

Average customer rating:

The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction
Great for Theatre Students
Brillaint and intense
Citizen Marat, the hero and the butcher:
Almost as good as the audio recording.

Marat / Sade
Starring: Patrick Magee , Ian Richardson , Michael Williams , Clifford Rose , and Glenda Jackson
Director: Peter Brook
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Period Piece | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( M ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat As Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of The Marquis de Sade (or Marat Sade)
Beckett on Film DVD Set
Peter Brook's The Mahabharata
Hamlet By Brook / Brook By Brook
The Conformist (Extended Edition)

ASIN: B00005BKZN
Release Date: 2001-07-24

Amazon.com essential video

In 1964, German playwright Peter Weiss wowed the international theater scene with his Berlin production of The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade. An instant sensation, the play caught the attention of iconic theater director Peter Brook, whose own stage production captivated audiences in New York the next year. Brook then filmed his production in 1966, and the resulting movie, Marat/Sade, stands as one of the best-loved screen adaptations of a play, by both critics and theater fans alike. (The 1996 film Quills is a good example of the story's lasting resonance.) As can be surmised by the play's original title, the action focuses on the Marquis de Sade (Patrick Magee) circa 1808, who, while imprisoned at Charenton Asylum, writes and directs a play starring his fellow inmates. Dramatizing the final hours of French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat (Ian Richardson) before he was killed by Charlotte Corday (Glenda Jackson, in one of the defining moments of her career), de Sade offers the play as an entertaining whim for the tiny audience of asylum director Coulmier (Clifford Rose) and his family. Utilizing the "theatre of cruelty" theory of avant-garde pioneer Antonin Artaud--once an asylum inmate himself--Brook's presentation of Marat/Sade confronts with jagged language, sounds and visuals, in an attempt to shock the movie audience into dissatisfaction and action against the status quo, mirroring the way de Sade's play within the film stirs the asylum inmates to high dudgeon and revolution. --Heather Campbell

Description

Directed by Peter Brook and based on the TonyÂ(r) Award-winning play by Peter Weiss, this spellbinding tale of 'slashing power and disturbance (The Film Daily) bristles with the riveting energy and excellent (Variety) performances by the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Company, including Ian Richardson and Patrick Magee. Brimming with raving lunatics, crackling whips, catatonicseizuresand even musical interludesMarat/Sade is an exciting, overwhelming [and] stunning tour de force (Boxoffice)! When notorious social criticand inmate of Charenton's asylum for the insanethe Marquis de Sade (Magee), stages a play about the murder of the French Revolution's Jean-Paul Marat, the production takes on an alarming life of its own. And as tempers flare,arguments rage and chaos engulfs both the sane and the mad, the inmates finally turn against their keepersin a brilliant, breathtaking and completely bizarre conclusion'that will leave you raving for more!

Customer Reviews:

The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction .......2007-05-31

This is an amazing film along with being an amazing play. Peter Brook, who is one of the world's most renowned theater directors, has made an excellent adaptation of The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade (the gloriously long official title). I saw this film in college, and love the intensity of the whole thing. Now that I am older and have read de Sade and a touch of Marat (which I didn't read in college, imagine that), things actually make more sense now, and the film/play resonates more deeply. Patrick Magee and Ian Richardson are phenomenal in this film, and Brook's direction manages somehow to incorporate the best of the film aesthetic and theater aesthetic. It is an amazingly intense experience, one that will sear itself in your memory.

A note on the transfer. The current edition is by MGM/UA, and while it isn't great (the film elements are a little worn out), it is letterboxed and the audio is decent. There was a haphazard, sloppy DVD put out by Image in the early days of DVD. That version was pan and scan and looked wretched. The Image DVD is thankfully out of print. So go ahead and partake of the MGM/UA DVD of Marat/Sade.

Great for Theatre Students.......2007-05-14

I have to say I enjoyed this one more when I was a theatre student and obsessed with theatre of the absurd. Its still a fun one, but not for just anybody....

Brillaint and intense.......2005-04-22

Marat / Sade is an incredible theatrical production that was captured well in this film. Complaints that has been made about the sound quality of the DVD though is well founded but unfortunately this was a problem with the movie when it first appeared in theatres.
The movie takes place on a stage behind bars in asylum of Charenton. Behind the bars as well sit confident arrogant and ignorant asylum's director and his family. Performed is a play written and directed by the Marquis de Sade (Patrick Magee).
In point of fact plays written by de Sade and performed by the inmates of Charenton actually took place. But Peter Brooks takes things to another level as he through the character of Sade poses many questions to the viewer while at the same time shocking the sense. Cleverly the actors are given parts that have something in common with their mental disorder.
This is a musical but probably like no other musical you have ever seen. It is somewhat like some of the Mystery plays of the Middle Ages. There are plays with in plays, clever references made and word play, as like are found in the Mystery plays, to and regarding the actors themselves and the surroundings where they are performing.
The play is about the death of Marat but it is within it is a larger play about the French Revolution. But the play is more than a history lesson. All through it the character playing Marat sits in a bathtub as Sade taunts him. Much of his taunts take the form of long philosophical soliloquies belittling Marat, the Revolution and society in general. Through out the play the inmates fall in and out of character to the symptoms of their various mental illnesses.
The songs are incredibly well integrated into the play and are quite witty and enjoyable -some of them almost joyous.
Comically the director of the asylum, a condescending buffoon, interrupts the play time and again when statements are made that go against the current ideology.
As the play about a revolution concludes a real revolution starts behind the bars and the film ends in chaos.
The final scene is a pan back showing the audience at the bars in which the stage is enclosed. Are they clamoring to get in? Do they too want to be inmates? Do they want to become part of the free for all?
Peter Brooks offers up a beautiful but disturbing movie and vision of the world.

Citizen Marat, the hero and the butcher:.......2005-03-01

Peter Weiss' Marat/Sade as performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company under the direction of Peter Brook. (1966)

The cast and a history thereof:

The Marquis de Sade, as performed by Patrick Magee.
What needs to be known of de Sade involves, primarily, his second stay at the asylum at Charenton, although, it an idea of his philosophy should be displayed here. de Sade was a hedonist who had been to the Bastille and Charenton before, namely, for abuse towards prostitutes and various others of either gender. He was viewed as a dangerous sexual deviant and spent a good portion of his life imprisoned, until the start of the French Revolution of which, he supported (possibly to prevent his own death.) He was a nihilist, but also supported a certain Utopian socialism, and had effectively became one of the earliest existentialists, though he is rarely regarded with such a title.
At the start of the nineteenth century, Napoleon Bonaparte had him, again, imprisoned, residing in Charenton under the asylum's director

Abbe de Coulmier, as performed by Clifford Rose.
Monsieur Coulmier was very liberal in dealing with the treatment of patients, allowing de Sade to set up a series of plays that were available for public viewing, within the fictional content of Marat/Sade the play in question is The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade. The play takes a novel approach to theater, allowing de Sade to interact and converse directly with the fifteen years deceased

Jean-Paul Marat, as performed by Ian Richardson.
Marat is, of course, the focus of this play and his role in the French Revolution and the subsequent Reign of Terror are vital facts. Marat was a member of the Jacobin Club, a group of radical republican thinkers, directly responsible for these events, with the help of Girondists, less a political party and more of a group of like-minded thinkers.
His body racked with a fever he threw himself into writing for the revolution, creating policy on dealing with enemies, declaring traitors and spurring the masses on in their bloodbath in the name of freedom. Much of Marat/Sade deals with the questions of de Sade concerning whether or not this bloodshed was worth it, or the right way to go about it. Many considered Marat a hero, though there were more than a few who considered him a butcher.
Following the Revolution, Jacobin's spurred on the Terror, claiming that the enemies of France were not eliminated and were, in fact, in hiding. In summary (or rather, not quite in his exact words,) Marat claims that they wear the cap of the people, but their underwear is embroidered with crowns and that the lot of them are the first to scream beggar, thief, or guttersnipe when a shop or two is looted. This is what leads him to the idea that the new aristocracy is any who owns more than any other. He points out that one will keep a horse, another his house in the country and another his army. This, he claims, is contrary to liberty and freedom. These, he goes on, are the new enemies of France and the bloodshed continued, numbering anywhere from eighteen thousand to forty thousand dead.
His writing would go on until he was visited three times by the assassin

Charlotte Corday, as performed by Glenda Jackson.
Who had decided to assassinate him due to the mass atrocities he and his faction had caused, though, the final decision would lie with the arrest of twenty-two Girondists and, later, the denouncing of their leader Jacques Pierre Brissot. She was successful in her endeavor, as might be anticipated by the full title of Marat/Sade.

Major themes throughout:
From the beginning, it becomes clear that this is no standard play, being a work of metafiction and delving into a play within a play. Through this medium, it allows Peter Weiss make light of the standard structure of theater and display a level of creativity, in the case of the film, that often goes unseen.
Additionally the (approximately) true history behind this work is intriguing, bring to the foreground a brutality that is generally ignored in French culture. Furthermore, French society becomes reflected within the asylum at Charenton, the down-trodden going through a similar metamorphosis as the upheaval of their very society not two decades earlier.
The real treat, the audience will find, is the rhetoric between de Sade and Marat throughout the play, each attacking the philosophy of the other, presenting questions each other and the audience. This inevitably leaves the audience to decide.

Marat/Sade is a rhapsody that should be made more available to a larger audience, creating within them worthwhile question and providing an interesting history at the same time: allowing the audience to see the brutal legacy of France, drowning the preconceived stereotypes of the country (at least within the United States.)

Almost as good as the audio recording........2004-10-20

The only problem that I have with this production is that, for some inexplicable reason, they do the scene of "Marat's Nightmare" in pantomime, completely wasting one of the great portions of the play. The audio recording of this production, which used to be available on Caedmon, includes the scene with the dialogue intact. I would have given the movie version 5 stars but for this disappointing omission. Otherwise, it's an all time classic.

Average customer rating:

Still Holds Up
where is the class?
Should've Been on the AFI's list of "Top 100 Romantic Films"
creepy and disturbing
One of the funniest, sexiest, smartest movies I've ever seen

A Touch of Class
Starring: George Segal , Glenda Jackson , Paul Sorvino , K Callan , and Cec Linder
Director: Melvin Frank
Manufacturer: Turner Home Ent
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( T ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

House Calls
Same Time, Next Year
Darling
Hopscotch - Criterion Collection
The Goodbye Girl

ASIN: B00005U2K5
Release Date: 2002-02-05

Amazon.com essential video

It's tame in hindsight, but A Touch of Class brought much-needed prestige to the romantic-comedy trend of the early and mid 1970s. Glenda Jackson won an Oscar® for her performance as a savvy London divorcée who falls in love with married insurance agent George Segal, and the film surprised critics by earning a Best Picture nomination as well. Chemistry's the key, with Jackson and Segal equally adept at bickering and making up (and she even has a gay male friend, long before that became a genre cliché). What begins as a routine affair--complicated by a wide spectrum of lightly comedic pitfalls--ends with mutual love and the dilemma it creates. Writer-director Melvin Frank keeps the dialogue briskly intelligent, and while he can't match Neil Simon word for word, Touch mines the same romantic territory that was perfected in Simon's later hit The Goodbye Girl. Consider them a fine double bill, with A Touch of Class ranking a respectable second. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Still Holds Up.......2007-05-07

George Seagal and Glenda Jackson are wonderful in this comedy about extramarital affairs. You also get to see a very young Paul Sorvino.

where is the class? .......2006-11-02

one of the most pretentious and exaggerating movies ever seen. the dialogue, the acting...whatever, all suck big time. everything in this movie looked unrealistic, not funny but pathetically pretentious and exaggerating to the extreme. that kinda performance would have won an oscar, yeah, right, maybe just because there were only worse pictures nominated in that year. what a hype.

Should've Been on the AFI's list of "Top 100 Romantic Films".......2002-11-11

I saw this movie when it first came out in the 70's and have seen it many times on and off for years.

The movie is funny, but what makes it work is the two stars. George Segal (who never looked better) is in fine comedic form, and he and Glenda Jackson complement each other perfectly. She was especially singled out for critical acclaim -- some people compared her to Katharine Hepburn in Hepburn's comedic roles.

The movie also affords a look at London in the early 70's.

Because the actors work so well together, I would've liked a different (happier) ending for the movie. Still, after thirty years, "A Touch of Class" remains very watchable and poignant -- largely because of the two stars.

creepy and disturbing.......2002-07-15

I did not like this movie. I know that times have changed and it would be revisionist to hold this movie to millennium standards of sexual conduct and infidelity. Nonetheless, I found it very disturbing: his lack of concern for his wife and children, how the wife was unsympathetic and one dimensional, and how absolutely de rigueur it was in the sixties for married men to have "a bit on the side." And what about her kids? apart from the first scene we never see them again; she instead seems to spend all her time cooking and keeping house for a married man. I'm not a prude, really, but this film left a bad taste in my mouth.

One of the funniest, sexiest, smartest movies I've ever seen.......2002-04-30

...and I'm not easy to please. It's strange when you realize just how sexy George Segal was. But the movie is wonderfully written, sharp, smart and incredibly funny. I saw another reviewer liked The Goodbye Girl better. I prefered this...Sharper, more biting, less sentimental. That doesn't mean it's heartless or even cynical, just that it's lacking in syrup. George Segal and Glenda Jackson have the all the chemistry and the comedic chops (and then some) needed to make this movie work. This movie made me laugh a lot, was sexy enough to warm any cold night and smart enough to make me feel like the people who made it figured I had at least a high school education. How come comedic movies this smart don't get made by the major studios anymore?

Average customer rating:

losing isaiah
losing isaiah
superb
What's best for Isaiah?
honest

Losing Isaiah
Starring: Jessica Lange , Halle Berry , David Strathairn , Cuba Gooding Jr. , and Daisy Eagan
Director: Stephen Gyllenhaal
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Why Do Fools Fall in Love
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge
The Rich Man's Wife
B.A.P.S.
Antwone Fisher (Widescreen Edition)

ASIN: B0000A2ZNM
Release Date: 2003-09-09

Amazon.com

Jessica Lange is a social worker who falls for an abandoned newborn and breaks all the rules by bringing him home. Halle Berry is the homeless druggie who dumped the baby. One of the film's best attributes is that it reveals everyone's perspective, though much of the story is told from Berry's point of view. Strung out on crack, Berry's character thinks nothing of hiding her baby in a cardboard box near a dumpster before going off for a fix. We watch Berry painfully pull herself up out of the gutter and make a life for herself. She embraces decency and sobriety and becomes the person she might have always been had her childhood been different. After Lange and her amiable spouse (David Strathairn) have formed strong family ties with this difficult child, they find themselves fighting to keep him when Berry decides she wants Isaiah back. Naomi Foner's clever script reveals a legal system that is as much a character in this painful story as the attorney (Samuel L. Jackson) who takes on the case pro bono. Though the film ultimately flounders under a hesitant ending, Lange is such a dynamo that this tragic story still comes recommended. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Customer Reviews:

losing isaiah.......2007-02-27

is a powerful movie to watch and learn about love of a different race..

losing isaiah.......2006-07-05

Very nice heart touching story. Sadly there are also real stories like this one that don't normally have this happy ending, but the story does touch a lot of hearts. I enjoyed it.

superb.......2006-07-02

Losing Isaiah Is the best from Hallie Berry. It is the best i have seen in a long long time. I wish ms.berry won an award for this film. ms.berry did well on this as crack addict trying to regain custody of her son. I like how she was tough to jessica lange and her husband. samuel l. jackson did well too as ms. berry's attorney. I didnt like jessica lange and her husband were nasty to ms.berry

What's best for Isaiah?.......2005-09-21

Perhaps the biggest complaint I have with custody battles is that they are ultimately based around the selfishness of the adults involved, whether it be a battle between the child's mother and father, or between the biological parent(s) and the foster parent(s). "Losing Isaiah" is an example of a movie that uses this sad truth to tell a compelling story.

Normally, I'd be quick to write off someone like Halle Berry's character (a former crack addict who abandoned her baby in an alley) as someone unfit to raise this child. I'd also be uneasy about tearing Isaiah away from the only home he's ever known. Thankfully, this film does not end there.

After the courtroom decision is rendered, we see a much different Isaiah than the playful, cheerful child we first encountered. Did anyone bother to stop and ask him what he wanted? In an ideal world, someone would have. Unfortunately, we don't live in an ideal world, but at least we have people who (albeit a little slowly) realize this mistake in "Losing Isaiah." Were I to be given the assignment of filming a movie based around a custody battle, this is the kind of movie I would make.

honest.......2005-09-16

Very good movie. Halle always shines in whatever type of role she plays. Man she can act.

Average customer rating:

A mature, realistic depiction of relationships...
Brilliant and Bittersweet is Schlesinger's Masterpiece
THAT KISS
An adult film in more ways than one.
Interesting British Drama

Sunday Bloody Sunday
Starring: Peter Finch , Glenda Jackson , Murray Head , Peggy Ashcroft , and Tony Britton
Director: John Schlesinger
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Gay & Lesbian | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Women in Love
Darling
A Touch of Class
The Conformist (Extended Edition)
Saturday Night And Sunday Morning

ASIN: B00009Y3NL
Release Date: 2003-09-16

Amazon.com essential video

Sunday Bloody Sunday is a masterpiece from the days when movies, in general, were much more mature. As written by renowned film critic Penelope Gilliatt and directed by John Schlesinger, this complicated love triangle among three upscale Londoners was a milestone for its time, not simply for its nonchalant treatment of a homosexual relationship, but for illustrating the way sensible adults will negotiate for love, even if it's inconvenient or destined to fail. A doctor in his forties, Daniel (Peter Finch, proving his greatness seven years before Network) loves the much younger artist Bob (Murray Head), who also loves employment counselor Alex (Glenda Jackson at her finest). There's no deception between them--just the troubling dilemma of three lovers with differing degrees of certainty and commitment. Bob's relative blandness is the film's only weakness, but it's tolerable in a drama so deeply understanding of complex human behavior. Deliberately paced but immensely rewarding to the attentive viewer, this was Schlesinger's follow-up to Midnight Cowboy--two great films by a director in his prime. --Jeff Shannon

Description

OscarÂ(r) winners* Glenda Jackson, Peter Finch and John Schlesinger pool their talents for this 'remarkable, exquisitely photographed [and] almost perfectly directed film (The Hollywood Reporter) about two Londoners coping with the noncommittal affections of the lover they have in common. Alex Greville (Jackson) and Daniel Hirsch (Finch) are deeply in love...with a young artist named Bob (Murray Head). And though Bob professes to love each of them, he moves freely between them,unencumbered by any sense of guilt. Realizing that their situation is a temporary comfort in an uncomfortable world, Alex and Daniel each grapple with their predicaments, she to face her fear of being alone, and he to come to terms with his homosexuality. *Jackson: Actress, A Touch of Class(1973), Women in Love (1970); Finch: Actor, Network (1976); Schlesinger: Director, Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Customer Reviews:

A mature, realistic depiction of relationships..........2007-04-29

I've always loved this film. It's an incredibly intelligent, realistic depiction of relationships. It is directedly sensitively and beautifully by John Schlesinger, one of the finest British directors. This is his follow up film to his incredible Midnight Cowboy, and he doesn't disappoint. Peter Finch and Glenda Jackson are both in love (or so they think) with Murray Head. This film depicts this love triangle not in a sleazy, comical way (like it would today), but as a deep, thoughtful, painful, and NORMAL thing, just like all relationships. The film, as other reviewers have noted, depicted homosexuality as normal and not a big deal, which it is. The relationships are sensitively handled, and Finch and Jackson give great performances. Head gives a good performance, but some have questioned why his character inspires such passion in Jackson and Finch. He's a rather bland character, but who knows the ways of love and/or desire. I shudder on how this film might be made today, but luckily, I don't think they're going to remake this film anytime soon. This is a wonderful film, and it still holds up today.

Brilliant and Bittersweet is Schlesinger's Masterpiece.......2007-03-03

John Schlesinger's masterpiece is about more than a love triangle. It explores the complexity of human relationships amid the rapidly shifting cultural dynamics of late nineteen sixties' bohemian London. This film is about communication--or lack thereof--among adults who are just starting to grow up.

Ironically, it is missed signals that are the glue that binds the characters together. Calls are made, and calls are dropped. Schlesinger's forte, aside from the deftly crafted cinematography and directing of the actors, is the psychological background of the characters. Past and present are beautifully linked together to provide unsurpasssed richness of character. In the end, the audience is asked to connect these clues to theme, and intercede with their hearts and minds on behalf of the craft and the world it so brilliantly portrays.

THAT KISS.......2006-12-23

"SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY"

That Kiss

Amos Lassen and Cinema Pride

"Sunday Bloody Sunday" directed by John Schlesinger, a gay English director, now dead is a sociologically astute drama about bisexual love during the early sexual revolution of 1970 and was shocking when it was released in 1973 as it showed the first one screen male-male kiss. It is the story of three characters attempting to navigate the changing mores of the British Empire and it is classic. Daniel Hirsh played by the late Peter Finch is a gay doctor and Alex Greville (Glenda Jackson), a divorced working woman are both in love with the same man, a self-absorbed sculptor, Bob Elkin (Murray Head). Instead of keeping the affairs a secret, Bob chooses to have Daniel and Alex be perfectly aware that the other exists which leads to ruminations on the nature of love, sex and relationships in a society which is built upon class distinctions and fractured lines.
This was a groundbreaking movie at the time for the way it dealt openly with a homosexual relationship and the kiss between the two men. The film nonjudgementally approaches the loneliness of the characters by presenting a social commentary on the exiting system. In fact the movie received for Academy Award nominations including best director and best actor and best actress.
In its slow and meandering way the movie is a character study of three different people who are not all that interesting. What stops the movie from being a festival of boredom is the fluid direction and the incredible performances of the leads and the frankness dealing with homosexuality. Because the characters are treated as almost individual case studies, there seems to be a bit of disjointedness in the script. The main question that is never answered is how Bob came to be involved with two people who are so completely different and why, if Alex is at odds with sharing him, stays with him nevertheless. More intriguing is the relationship of Bob and Daniel but this is not fully explored either especially concerning the age difference between the two men.
The film covers ten days in the lives of the characters as Elkin plays the elusive lover who can't understand why his lovers are at odds with each other. His attitude seems to be that each of them should feel lucky that he even spends time to give them sexual pleasure.
From what I have read about the film, it seems that the movie is based upon an episode in the director's own life