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ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF FILMS
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SABOTAGE |
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. Dir Alfred Hitchcock. UK 1936. Sylvia Sidney, Oscar Homolka, John Loder. From the novel The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad. Verloc, manager of a seedy cinema is part of a gang of foreign agents planning to bomb parts of London. Tragic events follow when he tries to return a bomb to his chief and sends his young son with it. (I saw this as a 10 year old and it has remained vividly in my mind throughout my life! E.W.) | |
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SAFETY LAST |
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Harold Lloyd as small-town boy who goes to big city to make good and joins competition to climb a skyscraper. This film set a new standard in visual comedy and in comedy-thrill shots. Silent with music. | |
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SALLY OF THE SAWDUST |
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| Silent film now with music and effects. W.C. Fields as circus juggler trying to stop his daughter learning she is adopted. | |||
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SALVADOR |
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| Anti-Reagan Central American odyssey of boozy journalist who finally accepts the dictates of his conscience. Breathtaking pace, audacity and vividness with at its centre James Wood as the journalist. Dir Oliver Stone. | |||
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SAVING PRIVATE RYAN |
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Dir. Steven Spielberg. US 1998. 162 Mins. A captain must take his men behind enemy lines to find Private Ryan whose three brothers have already been killed in action. Why are eight men risking their lives to save just one? Surrounded by the brutalities of war, each man searches for his own answer. Winner of five Academy Awards. | |
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SANDERS OF THE RIVER |
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| Not one of Paul Robeson's favourite films. Gives a romantic picture of local British civil servant in West Africa carrying 'white man's burden'. Dir. Zoltan Korda. 1935. | |||
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SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING |
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| Nottingham factory worker dissatisfied with his lot gets into trouble with married woman but finally settles for convention. Dir Karel Reisz. Albert Finney, Shirley Anne Field, Rachel Robert | |||
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SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER |
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| The youth culture film of the seventies with John Travolta and his wide lapels, flares and nifty dancefloor steps. | |||
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THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL |
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| Foppish Englishman gallantly rescuing aristocrats from the guillotine. Good yarn with Leslie Howard as the hero. | |||
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SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE |
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| Finely observed and witty dissection of a marriage by Ingmar Bergman. Liv Ullman, Bibi Andersson Swedish with EST. | |||
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SCHINDLER'S LIST |
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| Spielberg's prizewinner about Auschwitz. | |||
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SCOOP |
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| Evelyn Waugh's satire on the press. Innocent gauche journalist,through mistaken identity, is sent to be war correspondent. Denholm Elliot. | |||
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SCOTT OF THE ANTARCTIC |
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| John Mills plays Scott on his fateful expedition to reach the South Pole before Amundsen. Dir. Charles Friend. | |||
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SCUM |
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| Remake of the original TV play which BBC made & then refused to show. Injustices in a Borstal lead to a riot. Gory view of boys' prison. | |||
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SENSE AND SENSIBILITY |
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| A classic BBC production of Jane Austen's novel of two devoted sisters. Set in Dorset & explores atmosphere of rural England. | |||
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THE SERPENT'S EGG |
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| Little known film by Ingmar Bergman of life of out-of-work American circus acrobat living in poverty stricken Berlin in 1920s. | |||
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SEVEN SAMURAI |
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| Kurosawa masterpiece. In 16th century Japan a group of poor villagers hire professional warriors to protect them from annual bandit raids. A simple story fleshed out with a profusion of incident and subplot | |||
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THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH |
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| Billy Wilder comedy with Marilyn Monroe. Husband of 7 years, alone in New York, fantasizes affair with model in upstairs apartment. | |||
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THE SEVENTH SEAL |
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| Ingmar Bergman's finest film. Medieval allegory. The Knight plays chess with cloaked figure of Death against background of pestilence, plague and doom. The film which made his reputation. | |||
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SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE |
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| Winner of 2 awards at Cannes Festival. Remarkable film by Steven Soderbergh. Exposes the deceit in middle America. | |||
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SHADOWLANDS |
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| BBC TV film (not the later cinema film). Joss Ackland & Claire Bloom in tender story of C.S.Lewis's last years. His beliefs & newfound fulfilment are shattered by Joy's struggle against devastating illness. | |||
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SHAKESPEARE WALLAH |
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| Shashi Kapoor & Felicity Kendal in the first Merchant-Ivory film to reach this country. English troupe of Shakespearean actors touring India & performing where they can. Fascination of traveling actors | |||
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SHALL WE DANCE? |
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USA 1938 Fred Astair & Ginger Rogers. A typical Astaire/Rogers scenario of the dancer chasing the girl of his dreams using his ability as a song and dance man to woo her. | |
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SHANE |
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| Archetypal Western myth winner of 6 Oscars. Drifter & retired gunfighter comes to aid homestead family terrorized by a gang. Alan Ladd. | |||
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SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT |
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| Nola loves sex and has 3 boy friends. Competition between them is fierce & hilarious. Pungent comments about double standards and sexual equality. Dir. Spike Lee. Tracy Camila Johns. | |||
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SHIRLEY VALENTINE |
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| Housewife & mother looks back at her life and realizes she has lost touch with her dreams. She goes to Greece and begins a journey of self discovery. Pauline Jones & Tom Conti. Dir. Lewis Gilbert. | |||
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SHOOT THE PIANIST |
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| A Truffaut affectionate homage to the Hollywood gangster film. Charles Aznavour as a famous pianist taking refuge from former life & working in a sleazy Parisian bar and gets embroiled in criminal underworld. | |||
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THE SHOOTING PARTY |
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| First World War, aristocracy hard at play whilst gunfire echoes threateningly in background. James Mason and Edward Fox. | |||
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THE SHOUT |
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| Asylum inmate claims ancient aboriginal powers including ability to kill with a shout. Reality & fantasy weave a dark web. Alan Bates. | |||
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SILAS MARNER |
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| First class BBC TV adaptation of George Elliot classic. Ben Kingsley is Silas a weaver expelled from his home for a crime he did not commit. He accumulates a fortune only to have it stolen. | |||
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THE SILENCE |
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| Ingmar Bergman film of a relationship between two sisters. A shattering vision of despair. Swedish with EST. | |||
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THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS |
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| Chilling best seller about a shrewd but psychotic serial killer. Jodie Foster is a brilliant but vulnerable FBI trainee. | |||
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THE SILENT FEMINISTS |
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| Female directors from the silent era. | |||
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SILENT MOVIE |
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| Mel Brooks plays a has-been film director who has the brilliant idea to make a modern 'silent' movie. Incredibly it succeeds. | |||
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SILKWOOD |
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| Based on a true situation. Silkwood works at an atomic plant and becomes worried about safety standards and is murdered in course of collecting evidence for a newspaper. Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell. | |||
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SINGING IN THE RAIN |
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| A story of Hollywood at the start of the talkies. A first class musical with brilliant dancing. Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor. | |||
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THE SIX WIVES OF HENRY VIII |
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| Keith Michell plays Henry in this series by BBC TV which attracted much critical and public acclaim. Each episode lasts for approximately 90 minutes. | |||
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SKOKIE |
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| A true story of a Chicago suburb with a large Jewish population where neo-Nazi party decides to hold a rally. Unusual role for Danny Kaye. | |||
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SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE |
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| Anti-war fantasy by Kurt Vonnegut (Catch 22). Images of World War II and mental illness intermix as Billy, an American P.O.W. slowly slips into madness. Dir. George Roy Hill with Michael Sacks. | |||
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SLEEPER |
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| Woody Allen wakes up after being frozen alive for 200 years into a crazy paranoid society where pleasure is the most sought after item. | |||
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THE SMALLEST SHOW ON EARTH |
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| Peter Sellers,Margaret Rutherford & Bernard Miles as a trio of eccentrics running a decaying cinema - The Bijou. | |||
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SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT |
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| Comedy of high manners by Ingmar Bergman. Country lawyer meets again with touring actress who was his mistress. Swedish-EST. | |||
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S.O.A.: GUNS AND GREED |
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USA 2000 20 mins.NTSC STANDARD. Latin American soldiers trained at SOA (School of the Americas) use their guns to protect the greed of large corporations and world financial institutions that exploit the situation. Students, Labour leaders, Church people and Veterans join non-violent protests to close the school. | |
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SOLDIER BLUE |
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| Based on the massacre by the US Army of the Cheyenne at Sand Creek. Controversial & savage Western. With Candice Bergen & Peter Strauss. | |||
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SOPHIE'S CHOICE |
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| Polish girl from a concentration camp finds her past still with her in New York. A young man living in same bording house finds her love-hate relationship with her husband inexplicable. Meryl Steep. | |||
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THE SORCERER |
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| A little known Gilbert & Sullivan opera. London Symphony Orchestra with the Ambrosian Opera Chorus. | |||
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SOYLENT GREEN |
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| Science-fiction horror story based on the daily destruction of the earth's resources. Edward G Robinson, Charlton Heston. | |||
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SPACEBALLS |
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| A Mel Brooks humorous swipe at the Star Trek genre. The Spaceballs are utterly ruthless race but heroic Lone Star & his half-man half-dog pal foil their plots. Mel Brooks and John Hurt. | |||
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SPELLBOUND |
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| Hitchcock thriller of head of mental hospital who is an imposter. Dr Constance psychoanalyses him. Ingrid Berman & Gregory Peck. | |||
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THE SPIDER'S STRATAGEM |
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| A man sees a memorial to his father defaced & goes in search of the truth about his father. Dir. Bertolucci. Italian-EST | |||
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SPIKE MILLIGAN IN THE BEST OF Q |
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| A compilation put together by Spike himself of the best from his anarchic TV series of 1975-1980. | |||
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SPITTING IMAGE - SPIT WITH POLISH |
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| Volume 1 of the political satire animation from the era of the iron lady and Ronald Reagan. | |||
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SPITTING IMAGE - A FLOPPY MASS OF BLUBBER |
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| Volume 2 of the above. | |||
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SPITTING IMAGE - RUBBER THINGIES |
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| Volume 3 of the above. | |||
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STALKER |
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| Strange film by Andrei Tarkovsky about Stalker, half outlaw half saint leads 'Writer' & 'Professor' across a forbidden zone deep inside a police state towards 'The Room' which can answer their deepest desires. Many Russian writers compare it to forbidden zone of Chernobyl. Russian-EST. | |||
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A STAR IS BORN |
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| Rising young actress married a top star who then proceeds to fall. Original version with Janet Gaynor & Frederick March. | |||
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THE STARS LOOK DOWN |
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| A.J.Cronin novel. Tragic story of coal miners buried alive through the greed of pit owner. Dir. Carol Reed. Michael Redgrave. | |||
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STARDUST MEMORIES |
| Woody Allen film about a melancholy comedian attending a retrospective of his work and plagued by real and imaginary fears. | |
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STATE OF SIEGE |
| Dir. Costa-Gavras. In a South American country, an undercover CIA agent is held hostage for exchange with political prisoners. Highly controversial film based on true incident. Yves Montand. French-EST | |
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STEVIE |
| Story of uneventful life of internationally respected author Stevie Smith. She lived, under the fear of death, with her aunt to whom she was a daughter and then nurse, mother & friend. Glenda Jackson & Trevor Howard. | |
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THE STING |
| Popular & acclaimed film of small-time crook and con-man who seek revenge on vicious crime lord. Robert Redford & Paul Newman. | |
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STORM OVER ASIA |
| Classic Soviet film by Pudovkin, made in Mongolia about wars of intervention in 1920. Young hunter is set up by the British as descendant of Gengis Khan & puppet ruler on their behalf. Russian-EST. | |
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A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (ORIGINAL) |
| Tennessee William's play of repressed Southern widow who is raped & driven mad by brutal brother-in-law. Dir. Elia Kazan. With Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando & Karl Maden. | |
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A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (REMAKE) |
| Remake starring Ann-Margret, Treat Williams and Beverly D'Angelo. Dir. John Erman. | |
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STRIKE |
| One of Sergei Eisenstein's classics from the Soviet era. In this he began his experiments with montage. Cast. Maxim Shtaukh & First Workers Theatre. 1924. B & W. Silent with impressive music score. | |
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STROSZEK |
| Stroszek is a simpleminded fellow who falls for a badly beaten tart & takes her to a new life. Rare comedy by Werner Herzog. German-EST | |
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SUMMER WITH MONIKA |
| Young erotic love and an idyllic summer on an island but like summer their love fades. Dir. Ingmar Bergman. Swedish-EST | |
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SUNSET BOULEVARD |
| Gloria Swanson more or less plays herself in this engrossing story of Hollywood. A star of the silent days lives in a dream world that she can make a comeback. Also with Erich von Stroheim. | |
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SUSPICION |
| Hitchcock thriller in which young woman (Jean Fontaine) married to a man about town (Cary Grant) suspects he is trying to kill her. | |
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SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS |
| Arthur Ransome's well known tale of six children on holiday in Lake District in glorious summer of 1929. | |
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SWAN LAKE |
| The Royal Ballet with Natakia Makarova & Anthony Dowell in Tchaikovsky's famous ballet filmed at Royal Opera House Covent Garden. | |
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SWANN IN LOVE |
| Adapted from Proust's great novel. about wealthy elegant Swann obsessively in love with the demimondaine Odette. French-EST. | |
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SWING TIME
USA 1936 105 mins. Fred Astaire &
Ginger Rogers. A flimsy story but it doesn’t really matter!
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