_**The ultimate outcast**_ In 1884 London, a doctor (Anthony Hopkins) meets Joseph Merrick, aka The Elephant Man (wrongly called John Merrick in the film) who was being exploited as a freak show attraction. Treves (Hopkins) tries to help Merrick (John Hurt) for the last six years of the latter’s life wherein he becomes cultured, but he inevitably remains an object of curiosity, to high society as well as low society. Anne Bancroft plays a winsome entertainer who is warm toward Merrick. Directed by David Lynch and shot in B&W, “The Elephant Man” (1980) is a melancholic biographical movie, and understandably so, but Merrick’s story is worth checking out despite the fact that it inspires pity. It calls into question the concept of beauty: Natural beauty is something one is born with and did nothing to acquire, but so is physical unattractiveness. Then there’s inner beauty. The charismatic actress (Bancroft) displays both. Of course there’s also inner ugliness, like the carnival huckster. A myth developed about Merrick’s disfigurement that his mother was raped by an elephant, probably started by sideshow hawkers. The opening conveys this in an artistic manner, but it’s not to be taken literally, which is why it’s surreal. Meanwhile the factory scenes with the pipes and corresponding dangers exhibit the reality for workers in Victorian times. The score by John Morris is noteworthy with one piece being ripped-off for the moving parts of “Platoon” (1986), e.g. Elias’ melodramatic death scene. The film runs 2 hours, 4 minutes, and was shot entirely in London and nearby Shepperton Studios, just west of the city. GRADE: B
Saw this, recently up-converted to 4K at the London Film Festival and, apart from the clear improvements to the quality and detail of the image, I was reminded of just how good it is. Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft play their roles with engaging sincerity - very ably supported by Sir John Gielgud and Dame Wendy Hiller. Prosthetics aside, John Hurt captures both the despair and optimism of Merrick with empathetic style; and Freddie Jones is just downright evil as "Bytes". His son Toby was at the screening and I couldn't help but wonder when he watched this portrayal by his father whether the pride in the performance must have been tempered by a disgust in the character, itself!! This film doesn't seem to do the rounds very often, nowadays, but it holds up very well after almost 40 years and is really a gem.
Youthful Father Chuck O'Malley led a colorful life of sports, song, and romance before joining the Roman Catholic clergy. After being appointed to a run-down New York parish, O'Malley's worldly knowledge helps him connect with a gang of boys looking for direction, eventually winning over the aging, conventional Parish priest.
A British Corporal in France finds himself responsible for the lives of his men when their officer is killed. He has to get them back to Britain somehow. Meanwhile, British civilians are being dragged into the war with Operation Dynamo, the scheme to get the French and British forces back from the Dunkirk beaches. Some come forward to help, others were less willing.
A vibrant tribute to one of America's legendary bandleaders, charting Glenn Miller's rise from obscurity and poverty to fame and wealth in the early 1940s.
On the gritty streets of LA, the destinies of four people desperate for connection and redemption are about to collide.
A biopic based on the life of Russian literary critic Vissarion Belinsky (1811–1848). The production of the film was completed in 1951, but it was not released until 1953, following the reshooting of various scenes demanded by Stalin.
Atiat is an orphan who grows up in a palace under the care of a wealthy woman. When the woman discovers that Atiat lost her virginity, she kicks her out, unaware that her own nephew, Fou'ad, is responsible. As Atiat becomes a dancer, she gets accused of a murder, and the judge turns out to be Fou'ad
World War II. Patriot Jonuz Bruga has troubles with his young son, Selim, who leads an immoral lifestyle and does not support the anti-fascist war, while his brothers fight in the city's guerrilla units.
The life and rather obscure hardships of a Slovenian feminist author and human rights activist Angela Vode.
A wealthy man with a circle of friends falls seriously ill. The son quickly arrives with his fiancée, who discovers that he left her in a hotel and went to see his father alone. His father scolds him when he learns that he completed his engagement without seeing his fiancée and insists on seeing her. The son returns to the hotel and does not find his fiancée, so he agrees with a girl to play the role of his fiancée.
Raqia loves her neighbor Fouad and they promise to get married, but unfortunately for the girl, her father and mother divorce. Her uncle comes to live with her and she finds his fanaticism very difficult, which forces her to leave the house and seek refuge with her father. She finds him tolerant, but her stepmother causes trouble between her and Fouad and attracts him to her. Raqia gets the chance to take revenge and exposes her frivolous stepmother.