Thursday, 28 July 2011
Ben-Hur (1959 film)
| Ben-Hur | |
|---|---|
Original film poster by Reynold Brown | |
| Directed by | William Wyler |
| Produced by | Sam Zimbalist |
| Screenplay by | Karl Tunberg Uncredited: Gore Vidal Christopher Fry |
| Based on | Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace |
| Narrated by | Finlay Currie |
| Starring | Charlton Heston Jack Hawkins Haya Harareet Stephen Boyd Hugh Griffith |
| Music by | Miklós Rózsa |
| Cinematography | Robert L. Surtees |
| Editing by | John D. Dunning Ralph E. Winters |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | November 18, 1959 |
| Running time | 212 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15 million |
| Gross revenue | $90 million |
Ben-Hur (or Benhur) is a 1959 American epic film directed by William Wyler and starring Charlton Heston in the title role, the third film version of Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. It premiered at Loew's State Theatre in New York City on November 18, 1959. The film went on to win a record of eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, a feat equaled only by Titanic in 1997 and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2003.
Plot
The film's prologue depicts the traditional story of the Nativity of Jesus Christ.In AD 26, Prince Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) is a wealthy merchant in Jerusalem. His childhood friend Messala (Stephen Boyd), now a military tribune, arrives as the new commanding officer of the Roman garrison. Ben-Hur and Messala are happy to reunite after years apart, but politics divide them; Messala believes in the glory of Rome and its imperial power, while Ben-Hur is devoted to his faith and the freedom of the Jewish people. Messala asks Ben-Hur for names of Jews who criticize the Roman government; Ben-Hur counsels his countrymen against rebellion but refuses to name names, and the two part in anger.
Ben-Hur, his mother Miriam (Martha Scott), and sister Tirzah (Cathy O'Donnell) welcome their loyal slave Zaimonides (Sam Jaffe) and his daughter Esther (Haya Harareet), who is preparing for an arranged marriage. Ben-Hur gives Esther her freedom as a wedding present, and the two realize they are in love with each other.
During the parade for the new governor of Judea, Valerius Gratus, a tile falls from the roof of Ben-Hur's house and startles the governor's horse, which throws Gratus off, nearly killing him. Although Messala knows it was an accident, he condemns Ben-Hur to the galleys, and imprisons his mother and sister, to intimidate the restive Jewish populace by punishing the family of a known friend and prominent citizen. Ben-Hur swears to return and take revenge. En route to the sea, he is denied water when his slave gang arrives at Nazareth. As Ben-Hur collapses in despair, a local carpenter whose face is hidden from the viewing audience, but who is obviously Jesus, gives him water and renews his will to survive.
After three years as a galley slave, Ben-Hur is assigned to the flagship of Consul Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins), assigned to destroy a fleet of Macedonian pirates. As slave "Number 41," Ben-Hur's self-discipline and resolve are noticed by the commander who offers to train him as a gladiator or charioteer. But, Ben-Hur declines, declaring that God will aid him.
As Arrius prepares for battle, he orders the rowers chained but Ben-Hur to be left free. Arrius's galley is rammed and sunk, but Ben-Hur unchains other rowers, escapes and saves Arrius's life and, since Arrius believes the battle ended in defeat, prevents him from committing suicide. Arrius is credited with the Roman fleet's victory, and in gratitude petitions Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (George Relph) to drop all charges against Ben-Hur, adopting him as his son. With regained freedom and wealth, Ben-Hur learns Roman ways and becomes a champion charioteer, but longs for his family and homeland.
While returning to Judea, Ben-Hur meets Balthasar (Finlay Currie) and his host, Arab sheik Ilderim (Hugh Griffith), who owns four magnificent white Arabian horses. Ilderim introduces Ben-Hur to his "children" and asks him to drive Ilderim's quadriga in the upcoming race before the new Judean governor, Pontius Pilate (Frank Thring). Ben-Hur declines, but hears that champion charioteer Messala will compete; as Ilderim observes, "There is no law in the arena. Many are killed."
Ben-Hur learns that Esther's arranged marriage did not occur and that she is still in love with him. He visits Messala and offers to forget Messala's betrayal in exchange for freeing his mother and sister, but the Romans discover that Miriam and Tirzah contracted leprosy during their five years in prison and expel them from the city. They beg Esther to conceal their condition from Ben-Hur, so she tells him that his mother and sister have died in prison.
Enraged, and seeking his vengeance, Ben-Hur enters the race. Messala drives a "Pict Chariot," with blades on the hubs. In the violent and grueling race, Messala attempts to destroy Ben-Hur's chariot but destroys his own instead; Messala is trampled and mortally wounded, while Ben-Hur wins the race. Before dying, Messala tells Ben-Hur that "the race is not over" and that he can find his mother and sister "...in the Valley of the Lepers, if you can recognize them."
The film is subtitled "A Tale of the Christ", and it is at this point that Jesus Christ reappears. Esther is moved by the Sermon on the Mount. She tells Ben-Hur about it, but he will not be consoled; blaming Roman rule — not Messala — for his family's fate, Ben-Hur rejects his patrimony and citizenship, and plans violence against the Empire. Learning that Tirzah is dying, Ben-Hur and Esther take her and Miriam to see Jesus Christ, but they cannot get near Him; his trial has begun, with Pilate washing his hands of responsibility for Jesus Christ's fate. Recognizing Jesus Christ from their earlier encounter in Nazareth, Ben-Hur attempts to return the long-ago favor by giving Jesus water during His march to Calvary but guards pull them apart.
Ben-Hur witnesses the Crucifixion. Miriam and Tirzah are healed by a miracle, as are Ben-Hur's heart and soul. He tells Esther that as he heard Jesus Christ talk of forgiveness while on the cross, "I felt His voice take the sword out of my hand." The film ends with an emotional reunion between Ben-Hur and his mother and sister, followed by a scene of the empty crosses of Calvary and a shepherd leading his flock.
Gone with the Wind (film)
Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard. Set in the 19th century American South, the film stars Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, and Hattie McDaniel, among others, and tells a story of the American Civil War and Reconstruction era from a Southern point of view.
The film received 10 Academy Awards (8 competitive, 2 honorary), a record that stood for 20 years.Ben-Hur surpassed it in 1960.In the American Film Institute's inaugural Top 100 Best American Films of All Time list of 1998, it was ranked fourth. Gone With the Wind is considered one of the top rated romance films and an enduring symbol of the golden age of Hollywood. The film was the longest American sound film made up to that time – 3 hours 44 minutes, plus a 15 minute intermission. It was among the first of the major films shot in color (Technicolor), and won the first Academy Award for Best Cinematography in the category for color films. The film has made $400,176,459 in theater receipts since its release,but the gross when adjusted to 2010 prices is approximately $2,984,000,000, which makes it the highest grossing film of all time adjusted for inflation.
Plot
The film opens on a large cotton plantation called Tara in rural Georgia in 1861, on the eve of the American Civil War. Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) is flirting with the two Tarleton brothers, Brent (Fred Crane) and Stuart (George Reeves), who have been expelled from the University of Georgia. Scarlett, Suellen (Evelyn Keyes), and Careen (Ann Rutherford) are the daughters of Irish immigrant Gerald O’Hara (Thomas Mitchell) and his wife, Ellen O'Hara (Barbara O'Neil), who is of aristocratic French ancestry. The brothers share a secret with Scarlett: Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard), whom Scarlett secretly loves, is to be married to his cousin, Melanie Hamilton (de Havilland). The engagement is to be announced the next day at a barbecue at Ashley's home, the nearby plantation Twelve Oaks.
At Twelve Oaks, Scarlett notices that she is being admired by Rhett Butler (Clark Gable), who has been turned out of West Point and disowned by his Charleston family. Rhett finds himself in further disfavor among the male guests when, during a discussion of the probability of war, he states that the South has no chance against the superior numbers and industrial might of the North. Scarlett sneaks out of the afternoon nap time to be alone with Ashley in the library, and confesses her love for him. He admits he has always secretly loved Scarlett but that he and the sweet Melanie are more compatible. She accuses Ashley of misleading her and slaps him in anger. Ashley exits as Rhett reveals he has overheard the whole conversation, sleeping unseen on a couch. Rhett promises to keep her guilty secret. Scarlett leaves the library in haste, and the barbecue is disrupted by the announcement that war has broken out. The men rush to enlist, and all the ladies are awakened from their naps. As Scarlett watches Ashley kiss Melanie goodbye from the upstairs window, Melanie’s shy young brother Charles Hamilton (Rand Brooks), with whom Scarlett had been innocently flirting, asks for her hand in marriage before he goes. Despite not truly loving Charles, Scarlett consents. They are married before he leaves to fight.
Scarlett is quickly widowed when Charles dies from a bout of pneumonia and measles while in the Confederate Army. Scarlett's mother sends her to the Hamilton home in Atlanta to cheer her up, although the O’Haras' outspoken housemaid Mammy (Hattie McDaniel) tells Scarlett she knows she is going there only to wait for Ashley’s return. Scarlett and Melanie attend a charity bazaar in Atlanta; Scarlett, who should be in deep mourning, is turned against and whispered about. Rhett, now a heroic blockade runner for the Confederacy, makes a surprise appearance. Scarlett shocks Atlanta society even more by accepting Rhett's large bid for a dance. While they dance, Rhett tells her of his intention to win her, which she says will never happen as long as she lives.
The tide of war turns against the Confederacy after the Battle of Gettysburg in which many of the men of Scarlett's town are killed. Scarlett makes another unsuccessful appeal to Ashley’s heart while he is visiting on Christmas furlough, although they do share a private and passionate kiss while in the parlor on Christmas Day, just before he leaves for the war. In the hospital, Scarlett and Melanie care for a convalescent soldier (Cliff Edwards).
Eight months later, as the city is besieged by the Union Army in the Atlanta Campaign, Melanie goes into a premature and difficult labor. Staying true to a promise Scarlett made to Ashley to "take care of Melanie," she and her young house servant Prissy (Butterfly McQueen) must deliver the child without medical attendance. Scarlett calls upon Rhett to bring her home to Tara immediately with Melanie, Prissy, and the baby. He appears with a horse and wagon to take them out of the city on a perilous journey through the burning depot and warehouse district. He leaves her with a nearly dead horse, helplessly frail Melanie, her baby, and tearful Prissy, and with a passionate kiss as he goes off to fight. On her journey home, Scarlett finds Twelve Oaks burned out, ruined and deserted. She is relieved to find Tara still standing but deserted by all except her parents, her sisters, and two servants, Mammy and Pork (Oscar Polk). Scarlett learns that her mother has just died of typhoid fever and her father's mind has begun to crumble under the strain. With Tara pillaged by Union troops and the fields untended, Scarlett vows she will do anything for the survival of her family and herself, exclaiming, "As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!"
Scarlett sets her family and servants to picking the cotton fields. She also kills a Union deserter who threatens her during a burglary and finds Union currency in his wallet, enough to sustain her family and servants for a time. With the defeat of the Confederacy and war's end, Ashley returns. Mammy restrains Scarlett from running to him when he reunites with Melanie. The dispirited Ashley finds he is of little help to Tara, and when Scarlett begs him to run away with her, he confesses his desire for her and kisses her passionately, but says he cannot leave Melanie. Gerald O'Hara dies after he is thrown from his horse in an attempt to chase from his property a Yankee carpetbagger, his former plantation overseer (Victor Jory) who now wants to buy Tara.
Scarlett realizes she cannot pay the rising taxes on Tara implemented by Reconstructionists. Knowing Rhett is in Atlanta, she has Mammy make an elaborate gown for her from her mother’s drapes. However, upon her visit, Rhett, now in jail, tells her his foreign bank accounts have been blocked, and that her attempt to get his money has been in vain. As Scarlett departs, she encounters her sister’s fiancé, the middle-aged Frank Kennedy (Carroll Nye), who now owns a successful general store and lumber mill. Scarlett lies to Kennedy by saying Suellen got tired of waiting and married another beau, and after becoming Mrs. Frank Kennedy, Scarlett takes over his business and becomes wealthy. When Ashley is about to take a job with a bank in the north, Scarlett preys on his weakness by weeping that she needs him to help run the mill; pressured by the sympathetic Melanie, he relents. One day, after Scarlett is attacked while driving alone through a nearby shantytown, Frank, Ashley, and others make a night raid on the shantytown. Ashley is wounded in a melee with Union troops, and Frank is killed.
With Frank’s funeral barely over, Rhett visits Scarlett and proposes marriage. Scarlett accepts. He kisses her passionately and tells her that he will win her love one day because they are both the same. After a honeymoon in New Orleans, Rhett promises to restore Tara to its former grandeur, while Scarlett builds the biggest mansion in Atlanta. The two have a daughter. Scarlett wants to name her Eugenie Victoria, but Rhett names her Bonnie Blue Butler (Cammie King). Rhett adores her. He does everything to win the good opinion of Atlanta society for his daughter’s sake. Scarlett, still pining for Ashley and chagrined at the perceived ruin of her figure (her waist has gone from eighteen-and-a-half inches to twenty), lets Rhett know that she wants no more children and that they will no longer share a bed. In anger, he kicks open the door that separates their bedrooms to show her that she cannot keep him away.
When visiting the mill one day, Scarlett listens to a nostalgic Ashley, and when she consoles him with an embrace, they are spied by two gossips including Ashley's sister India (Alicia Rhett), who hates Scarlett. They eagerly spread the rumor and Scarlett’s reputation is again sullied. Later that night, Rhett, having heard the rumors, forces Scarlett out of bed and to attend a birthday party for Ashley. Incapable of believing anything bad of her beloved sister-in-law, Melanie stands by Scarlett's side so that all know that she believes the gossip to be false.
At home later that night, Scarlett finds Rhett downstairs drunk. Blind with jealousy, he tells Scarlett that he could kill her if he thought it would make her forget Ashley. He carries her up the stairs in his arms, telling her, "This is one night you're not turning me out." She awakens the next morning with a look of guilty pleasure, but Rhett returns to apologize for his behavior and offers a divorce, which Scarlett rejects saying it would be a disgrace. Rhett decides to take Bonnie on an extended trip to London only to realize, after Bonnie suffers a terrible nightmare, that she still needs her mother by her side. Rhett returns and Scarlett is delighted to see him, but he rebuffs her attempts at reconciliation. She tells him that she is pregnant again. An argument ensues, and Scarlett, enraged, lunges at Rhett, falls down the stairs, and suffers a miscarriage. Rhett, frantic with guilt, cries to Melanie about his jealousy yet refrains from telling Melanie about Scarlett's feelings for Ashley. As Scarlett is recovering, little Bonnie dies while attempting to jump a fence with her pony. Scarlett blames Rhett; Rhett blames himself. Melanie visits the home to comfort them and convinces Rhett to allow Bonnie to be laid to rest, but then collapses during a second pregnancy she was warned could kill her.
On her deathbed, Melanie asks Scarlett to look after Ashley for her, as Scarlett had looked after her for Ashley. With her dying breath, Melanie tells Scarlett to be kind to Rhett because he loves her. Outside, Ashley collapses in tears, forcing Scarlett to realize that Ashley only ever truly loved Melanie. Scarlett runs home to find Rhett preparing to leave. She pleads with him, telling him she realizes now that she had loved him all along, that she never really loved Ashley. However, he refuses, saying that with Bonnie's death went any chance of reconciliation.
As Rhett walks out the door, she pleads, "Rhett, if you go, where shall I go? What shall I do?" He famously answers, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" and walks away into the fog. She sits on her stairs and weeps in despair, "What is there that matters?" She then recalls the voices of Gerald, Ashley, and Rhett, all of whom remind her that her strength comes from Tara itself. Hope lights Scarlett's face: "Tara! Home. I'll go home, and I'll think of some way to get him back! After all, tomorrow is another day!" Scarlett returns to the plantation, standing once more, resolute, before Tara.
Send Me No Flowers
| Send Me No Flowers | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Norman Jewison |
| Produced by | Harry Keller |
| Written by | (play) Norman Barasch and Carroll Moore (screenplay) Julius J. Epstein |
| Starring | Rock Hudson Doris Day |
| Music by | Frank De Vol |
| Cinematography | Daniel L. Fapp |
| Editing by | J. Terry Williams |
| Studio | Martin Melcher Productions |
| Distributed by | Universal Studios |
| Release date(s) | October 14, 1964 (USA) |
| Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Englis |
Send Me No Flowers: a 1964 American comedy film, directed by Norman Jewison and starring Rock Hudson, Doris Day, and Tony Randall. After Pillow Talk and Lover Come Back, it is the third and final film in which Hudson, Day and Randall starred together.
The screenplay by Julius J. Epstein is based on the play by Norman Barasch and Carroll Moore, which had a brief run on Broadway in 1960.The title tune was written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach.
Houseboat (film)
| Houseboat | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Melville Shavelson |
| Produced by | Jack Rose |
| Written by | Melville Shavelson Jack Rose |
| Starring | Cary Grant Sophia Loren Martha Hyer Paul Petersen Charles Herbert Harry Guardino |
| Music by | George Duning |
| Cinematography | Ray June |
| Editing by | Frank Bracht |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | November 19, 1958 |
| Running time | 109 min. |
| Language | English |
Plot
For several years, Tom Winters (Grant) has been estranged from his wife and their three children, David (Petersen), Elizabeth (Gibson), and Robert (Herbert). The film begins as he returns home from Europe shortly after his wife's death. The children want to stay in the country with their mother's wealthy family, including her parents and her sister Carolyn (Hyer), but Tom takes them to Washington DC, where he works in the US State Department.
The children resent their father's presence, and, at an outdoor concert, Robert runs away. He is found by Cinzia Zaccardi (Loren), the daughter of a famous Italian conductor. She too is running away and is enchanted by little "Roberto" and his harmonica. When she brings him back home, Tom offers her a job as a maid, which she eventually accepts.
Carolyn, now divorced from her husband, offers Tom and the children her old guest house, which was supposed to be moved to a new foundation. However, on the way there, they encounter the guest house being towed down the road, and the house is smashed by a train in a comical scene in which the tow-truck driver, Angelo Donatello (Guardino), flirts with Cinzia and accidentally hits Tom's car. Feeling guilty, Angelo sells Tom his leaky, run-down old houseboat.
Once moved in, Tom discovers that Cinzia is unable to cook, do laundry, or make coffee. Carolyn and others incorrectly insinuate that Cinzia's relationship with Tom is sexual while she innocently wins the affection of Tom and the children. Meanwhile, Tom spends his evenings with Carolyn, who is secretly in love with him. On the 4th of July, she tries to embarrass Cinzia by selecting a gaudy dress for Tom to buy for her, but Cinzia transforms it into an elegant evening gown. She looks so beautiful in the gown that Angelo, a confirmed womanizer, cancels a date with her out of a fear of falling in love and proposing to her.
That evening, Carolyn arrives at the boat with Captain Alan Wilson (Hamilton) and his wife. Alan, who is somewhat drunk, jokes about Cinzia's living arrangement with Tom and slaps her on the behind as she serves drinks. She throws a drink on him in retaliation. Tom asks Alan to leave the boat, but Carolyn takes Alan's side, so Tom asks all three of the guests to leave. David cheers Cinzia up, and they make plans to go fishing, but Tom ruins David's plans by inviting Cinzia to his country club. Once there, Tom reconciles with Carolyn and they agree to get married. As he dances with Cinzia, he finally realizes he is in love with her, but she learns of the proposal, becomes upset, and runs away. Tom catches her, and a little while later, David unhappily finds them kissing in a rowboat.
The children don't want Tom to marry Cinzia. David calls her ugly, Robert rejects her as a mother figure, and Elizabeth wants to continue sleeping in Tom's bed with him. Discouraged by this, Cinzia returns home, but Tom follows her, and she gives in after her father (Cianelli) scolds her. The wedding takes place on the houseboat. The children initially refuse to participate in the ceremony, but as it begins, Elizabeth and David join Tom and Cinzia at the altar, and Robert joins them after playing "Here Comes the Bride" on his harmonica.
The Sound of Music (film)
Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music is a 1965 American musical film directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The film is based on the Broadway musical The Sound of Music, with songs written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and with the musical book written by the writing team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. Ernest Lehman wrote the screenplay.
The musical originated with the book The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp. It contains many popular songs, including "Edelweiss", "My Favorite Things", "Climb Ev'ry Mountain", "Do-Re-Mi", "Sixteen Going on Seventeen", and "The Lonely Goatherd", as well as the title song.
The movie version was filmed on location in Salzburg, Austria, Bavaria in Southern Germany, and at the 20th Century Fox Studios in California. It was photographed in 70mm Todd-AO by Ted D. McCord. It won a total of five Academy Awards including Best Picture in 1965 and is one of the most popular musicals ever produced. The cast album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
Adjusted for inflation, it made $1.046 billion domestically (at 2010 prices), putting it third on the list of all-time inflation-adjusted box office hits, behind Gone with the Wind and Star Wars.In 2001, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry as it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot
Maria's life suddenly changes when a widowed Austrian Navy Captain, Georg von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) writes to the abbey asking for a governess for his seven children. Mother Abbess (Peggy Wood), unsure of Maria's suitability for working there, asks her to take the position on a probationary basis; previous governesses, though, have not lasted long. She is worried about what awaits her at the von Trapp household, but is determined to succeed ("I Have Confidence").
Maria, upon arrival at the von Trapp estate, finds that the Captain keeps it in strict shipshape order, blows a whistle, issues orders, and dresses his children in sailor-suit uniforms. While they are initially hostile to her, they warm to her when she comforts them during a thunderstorm (“My Favorite Things”). Liesl (Charmian Carr), the oldest, who is "Sixteen Going on Seventeen", sneaks into Maria's window after a secret meeting with a messenger boy, Rolfe (Daniel Truhitte). At first she is adamant that she "doesn't need a governess", but Maria offers to be her friend, and she acquiesces. Maria teaches them how to sing ("Do-Re-Mi") and to play, sewing playclothes for them from discarded drapes that were in her room.
The Captain entertains a visit from a lady friend, Baroness Elsa Schraeder (Eleanor Parker), a wealthy socialite from Vienna, along with mutual friend Max Detweiler (Richard Haydn), who is intent on finding an obscure musical act to launch at the upcoming Salzburg Music Festival. Upon their arrival at the villa, the Captain becomes aware that Maria has been taking the children on picnics and bicycle rides, climbed trees with them, and taken them in a boat on the lake adjoining his estate. She, standing up in the boat, loses her balance when it capsizes, throwing her and all of the children (all wearing their clothes made from the former curtains) into the water. He dismisses the children to the house and turns his wrath on her. She begs him to pay attention to the children, to love them, but he orders her to return to the abbey.
When he discovers the children performing a reprise of "The Sound of Music" for the Baroness, he changes his mind. Maria has brought music back into his home, and he begs her to stay after all. Things get better at the household. She and the children perform a puppet show ("The Lonely Goatherd") that Max gave to them. He announces that he has entered the children in the Salzburg Festival; the Captain, however, forbids their participation. Maria and the children insist that he sing a song, knowing that he used to play and sing with a guitar as well, and he agrees ("Edelweiss").
At a soiree thrown in Baroness Schraeder's honor, eleven-year-old Kurt observes guests dancing the Laendler, an Austrian folk dance, and asks Maria to teach him the steps. The Captain, watching from the sidelines, cuts in and partners her in a graceful performance, culminating in a close clinch which impacts heavily on the pair. At that moment she breaks off and blushes, stammering that she can remember no more. The children perform "So Long, Farewell" to say goodnight to the guests, receiving enthusiastic applause, and shortly after, the Baroness, jealous of Maria, convinces her to return to Nonnberg.
Maria leaves the estate and returns to the abbey, where she keeps herself in seclusion until Mother Abbess gently confronts her, urging her to "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" in search of God's will for her. At this command, she returns to the von Trapp family, finding that the Captain is now engaged to the Baroness. He, however, breaks off the engagement, realizing that he is in love with Maria, not Elsa. Elsa then returns permanently to Vienna.
He meets her in his gazebo and they declare their love for each other ("Something Good"). Sometime later, the two wed in an elaborate ceremony at the Salzburg Cathedral, with many of Austria's elite, as well as the nuns from Nonnberg Abbey, in attendance.
While the new couple is away on their honeymoon in Paris, Max, against the Captain's previously-stated wishes, grooms the children to perform in the Salzburg Music Festival. At the same time, Austria is annexed into the Third Reich in the Anschluss (actual date was March 12, 1938). When the Captain returns, he is informed that he must report as soon as possible to Nazi Naval Headquarters in Bremerhaven, to accept a commission in the German Navy. He is opposed to Nazism, and stalls by insisting he must perform with his family that night in the Salzburg Festival, now politicized and showcased as a Nazi event under the patronage of Hans Zeller (Ben Wright), recently appointed as the Nazi Gauleiter (Regional Governor). Zeller agrees, but orders the Captain to depart immediately after the performance. The choreography of the final song, "So Long, Farewell", allows the family to leave slowly, a few at a time, and as the winners are announced (they win first prize), they flee. At first they hide in the abbey, but are discovered by Rolfe (who had joined the Nazi party) and flee again. The Nazis are unable to pursue them, as the nuns have stolen their spark plug wires and ignition coil. The final shot shows the von Trapps climbing over the Alps into Switzerland, as "Climb Ev'ry Mountain", reprised by a choir, swells to a grand conclusion.
Titanic (1997 film)
Cameron's inspiration for the film was predicated on his fascination with shipwrecks; he wanted to convey the emotional message of the tragedy, and felt that a love story interspersed with the human loss would be essential to achieving this. Production on the film began in 1995, when Cameron shot footage of the actual Titanic wreck. The modern scenes were shot on board the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh, which Cameron had used as a base when filming the wreck. A reconstruction of the Titanic was built at Playas de Rosarito, Baja California, and scale models and computer-generated imagery were also used to recreate the sinking. The film was partially funded by Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox – respectively, its American and international distributors – and at the time, it was the most expensive film ever made, with an estimated budget of $200 million.
Upon its release on December 19, 1997,the film achieved critical and commercial success. It equaled records with fourteen Academy Award nominations and eleven Oscar wins, receiving the prizes for Best Picture and Best Director.With a worldwide gross of over $1.8 billion, it was the first film to reach the billion dollar mark, remaining the highest-grossing film of all time for twelve years, until Cameron's next directorial effort, Avatar, surpassed it in 2010.Titanic is also ranked as the sixth best epic film of all time in AFI's 10 Top 10 by the American Film Institute.The film is due for theatrical re-release on April 6, 2012 after Cameron completes its conversion into 3-D.
Plot
In 1996, treasure hunter Brock Lovett and his team explore the wreck of the RMS Titanic, searching for a necklace called the Heart of the Ocean. They believe the necklace is in Caledon "Cal" Hockley's safe, which they recover. Instead of the diamond, they find a sketch of a nude woman wearing it, dated April 14, 1912, the night the Titanic hit the iceberg. Rose Dawson Calvert learns of the drawing, contacts Lovett, and tells him that she is the woman depicted. She and her granddaughter Elizabeth "Lizzy" Calvert visit Lovett and his team on his salvage ship. When asked if she knows the whereabouts of the necklace, Rose recalls her memories aboard the Titanic, revealing that she is Rose DeWitt Bukater, a passenger believed to have died in the sinking.
In 1912, 17-year-old first class passenger Rose boards the ship in Southampton, England with her fiancé Cal, the son of a Pittsburgh steel tycoon, and her mother, Ruth DeWitt Bukater. Ruth stresses the importance of Rose's engagement, because the marriage to Cal will solve the DeWitt Bukaters' hidden financial problems. Distraught by her engagement to Cal and the pressure her mother is putting on her, Rose considers suicide by jumping off the stern of the ship. Before she leaps, a drifter and artist named Jack Dawson intervenes and persuades her not to jump. When discovered with Jack on the stern, Rose lies to Cal and says that she was looking over the edge of the ship in curiosity, tripped by accident, and that Jack saved her. At Rose's insistence, Cal invites Jack to dinner the following night to show his appreciation.By the next day, Jack and Rose have developed a tentative friendship, though Cal and Ruth remain wary of the young third-class boy. Following the first-class dinner that night, Rose secretly joins Jack at a third-class party.
Cal and Ruth forbid Rose to see Jack, and Rose attempts to comply by rebuffing Jack's continuing advances. She soon realizes that she prefers him to Cal, and meets him at the bow of the ship during what turns out to be the Titanic's final moments of daylight. They go to Rose's stateroom and she asks Jack to sketch her wearing nothing but the Heart of the Ocean, an engagement present from Cal. Afterward, the two flee Cal's bodyguard into the ship's cargo hold, where they make love. They then go to the ship's forward well deck, where they witness the ship's collision with an iceberg and overhear the ship's officers and designer discussing its seriousness. Rose tells Jack they should warn her mother and Cal.
Cal discovers Jack's drawing and a mocking note from Rose in his safe along with the necklace. Furious, he has his bodyguard slip the necklace into Jack's coat pocket, framing him for stealing it. Jack is arrested, taken down to the Master-at-arms's office and handcuffed to a pipe. Cal puts the necklace in his coat. Rose runs away from Cal and her mother (who has boarded a lifeboat) to find Jack, breaking him free with an axe.
Jack and Rose struggle back to the deck where Cal and Jack persuade her to board another lifeboat, Cal claiming that he has made an arrangement that will allow both men to get off safely. After she boards, Cal assures Jack that the arrangement is only for himself. As Rose's boat lowers, she realizes that she cannot leave Jack, and jumps back on board the Titanic to reunite with him. Infuriated, Cal takes a pistol and chases them into the flooding first-class dining saloon. After running out of ammunition, Cal realizes much to his chagrin that he gave his coat with the diamond to Rose. With the situation on board now dire, he returns to the boat deck and boards a lifeboat.
As Jack and Rose return to the top deck, the lifeboats have all departed and passengers are falling to their deaths as the stern rises out of the water. The ship breaks in half, and the stern side rises a full 90-degrees into the air. As it sinks slowly and completely, Jack and Rose ride the stern down into the ocean. Jack helps Rose onto a nearby wall panel that will only support one person’s weight. As he hangs onto the panel, he assures her that she will not die there and will instead die an old woman, warm in her bed. Meanwhile, Fifth Officer Harold Lowe has commandeered a lifeboat to return and search for survivors. When he arrives, he manages to save Rose, but Jack has died from hypothermia.Rose and the other survivors are taken by the RMS Carpathia to New York, where Rose gives her name as Rose Dawson. She hides from Cal on Carpathia's deck as he searches for her, and she learns later that he committed suicide after losing his fortune in 1929.
Her story complete, Rose goes alone to the stern of Lovett's ship. There she takes out the Heart of the Ocean, which has in fact been in her possession all this time, and drops it into the ocean. While seemingly asleep in her bed, the photos on her dresser are a visual chronicle that she lived a free life inspired by Jack. The young Rose is then seen reuniting with Jack at the Grand Staircase of the Titanic, cheered and congratulated by those who perished on the ship.
The Phantom of the Opera (2004 film)
| The Phantom of the Opera | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Joel Schumacher |
| Produced by | Andrew Lloyd Webber |
| Screenplay by | Joel Schumacher Andrew Lloyd Webber |
| Based on | The Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber Charles Hart Richard Stilgoe |
| Starring | Gerard Butler Emmy Rossum Patrick Wilson Miranda Richardson Minnie Driver Jennifer Ellison |
| Music by | Andrew Lloyd Webber |
| Cinematography | John Mathieson |
| Editing by | Terry Rawlings |
| Studio | Warner Bros. Really Useful Films Joel Schumacher Productions Odyssey Entertainment Scion Films |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | December 10, 2004 (United Kingdom) December 22, 2004 (United States) |
| Running time | 143 minutes |
| Country | United States United Kingdom |
| Language | English and French |
| Budget | $70 million |
| Gross revenue | $154.27 million |
The film was announced as early as 1989, but production only started in 2002 due to Webber's divorce and Schumacher's busy career. It was entirely shot at Pinewood Studios, with scenarios also being depicted with the help of miniatures and computer graphics. Most of the actors had no singing experience, and had to receive music lessons. The Phantom of the Opera grossed approximately $154 million worldwide, and received mixed to negative reviews, praising the visuals but criticizing the writing and directing.
Plot
In 1919, the Paris Opera House is holding an auction. Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny (Patrick Wilson), an elderly wheelchair-bound man, purchases a music box. He spots a familiar figure, Madame Giry (Miranda Richardson), the former ballet mistress. Then, their attention is drawn to "Lot 666", a chandelier in pieces. As the chandelier is lifted, the film then shifts back to 1870, when the opera house was in its prime.
The Phantom (Gerard Butler), a disfigured musical genius, haunts the Opera House, hiding in its catacombs. He falls in love with a young soprano, Christine Daae (Emmy Rossum), and tutors her into becoming the new opera star. Christine is torn between her childhood sweetheart Raoul and her attachment to the Phantom (who is masquerading as the Angel of Music, the spirit of Christine's dead father). Meanwhile, the Phantom engages in obsessive and deviant behavior, such as stalking Christine, murdering people to get to her and terrorizing anyone opposing Christine or himself.
During the night's performance of "Don Juan Triumphant" (an opera written by the Phantom), the Phantom and Christine sing "The Point of no Return", in which she tricks the Phantom into believing that she loves him. Raoul, sitting in the audience, is also tricked into believing that she loves the Phantom. As the Phantom begs Christine to have a life with him, she unmasks him, revealing his disfigurement to all in attendance. The Phantom kidnaps Christine and causes the chandelier to crash into to the audience. The Phantom, in a rage, believes Christine can never love him after seeing his scarred appearance, but she says the distortion lies in his soul, not his face. Raoul arrives to save Christine, but the Phantom snares him in a Punjab lasso, and tells Christine that if she chooses Raoul, he will free her, but Raoul will die; if she chooses him, he will release Raoul, but she must stay with him forever. Christine agrees to enter into this unholy bargain to save Raoul's life, even though he begs her to let him die so that she can live her life. Christine sings to the Phantom, tells him he's not alone, and they kiss passionately. Touched, he frees both her and Raoul. The Phantom realizes that Christine could have loved him, but his horrible deeds and anger have destroyed all chance of gaining her love. He realizes that if he truly loves Christine he must let her leave with the man she loves, Raoul. Christine returns the ring the Phantom gave her, then forces herself to leave with Raoul. She glances back a final time, knowing she loves him deep inside. Heartbroken, the Phantom, understanding he destroyed their love, grabs a candle-brier and smashes the mirror, disappearing behind it and a curtain. When the mob arrives, Meg (Jennifer Ellison), Christine's friend and Madame Giry's daughter, finds only his mask.
The scene shifts to the music box which fades to black and white in 1919. Raoul visits the cemetery and sadly places the music box at Christine's tombstone. On the ground next to the grave he sees a fresh red rose tied with a black ribbon (the Phantom's trademark) and the engagement ring the Phantom gave to Christine, signifying that his love for her will never die.
Robinson Crusoe (1997 film)
| Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Rod Hardy George T. Miller |
| Produced by | Njeri Karango |
| Written by | Christopher Lofton |
| Starring | Pierce Brosnan William Takaku Polly Walker Ian Hart James Frain Damien Lewis Martin Grace |
| Music by | Jennie Muskett |
| Cinematography | David Connell |
| Editing by | Sue Blainey Richard Bracken Tod Scott Brady Greg Feathermann Keith Reamer Kevin Stitt David Zieff |
| Distributed by | ABC |
| Release date(s) |   May 1997 12 June 1997 |
| Running time | 92 min approx. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Robinson Crusoe (Pierce Brosnan) is a Scottish gentleman with experience in the Royal Navy and the British army. He accidentally kills his lifelong friend Patrick in a duel over his childhood love Mary. Patrick's brothers arrive and threaten Crusoe, but his page manages to buy time for an escape. Fleeing back to Mary, Crusoe subsequently ends up leaving for a year so that Mary can attempt to smooth over relations with Patrick's family.
Crusoe joins the merchant marine transporting assorted cargoes between ports in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans. He chronicles the ship's journeys at the behest of the captain until a typhoon shipwrecks him near the coast of New Guinea.
In his first day aboard the island he buries other crewmembers who had washed up on the surrounding beaches. The next day he headed to the ship, which had beached itself on a reef. He salvages tools, supplies and weapons from the ship. Crusoe also frees the captain's corgi Skipper from a supply room. Crusoe begins to acclimate himself to the island while hoping for a passing European ship. One day a ship finally appears, but Crusoe notices it too late to be rescued. Crusoe resolves to acclimate himself to the island and moves inland, building a shelter and growing food.
One day he hears ominous drums and human voices. Investigating the noises he finds a tribe from a nearby island making human sacrifices. After two prisoners have been sacrificed Crusoe intervenes by firing his weapon, which allows the third prisoner (played by William Takaku) to escape. Later he meets the escaped native and attempts to befriend him. Cultural and language barriers prevent him from communicating before they are attacked by a group of the tribesmen. He witnesses the native cut out the heart of a defeated enemy and calls him a savage heathen before fleeing to his shelter and preparing a defence.
Days later Crusoe falls into a snare laid by the native. Crusoe communicates the danger and potency of his firearms on a bat, which allows them to begin communicating. He names the man Friday and has himself referred to as Master. Within six months Friday has learned the basics of English, but when Crusoe attempts to convert him to Christianity, Friday refuses and an argument ensues. Friday separates himself from Crusoe. Missing the companionship, Crusoe attempts to make peace with Friday.
Later Crusoe decides they must leave the island due to an impending attack by the native tribe. Friday mentions that he has heard of New Britain. He says he cannot take Crusoe to his home island because he is considered dead for being a sacrifice and he cannot go to New Britain because the Europeans enslave his people. Friday subsequently learns that "Master" is not Crusoe's real name, but an indicator of enslavement and once again leaves Crusoe, who subsequently attempts to build a canoe to get to New Britain by himself.
A typhoon arrives while Crusoe has nearly finished his boat. Friday returns and accepts that Crusoe had decided not to make him a slave. The two attempt to salvage their crops and wildlife, but the typhoon destroys them – as well as Crusoe's canoe. The pair set traps to defend the island, but expect to die in the defence.
The tribesmen arrive in force. Crusoe and Friday manage to defend the island, but Crusoe is shot by an arrow. Friday decides to try to save Crusoe by taking him to his home island. Upon arriving there Friday's tribe capture Crusoe, believing him to have come to enslave the people. They force Crusoe to fight Friday to the death for his freedom. After sparing Friday, Friday is about to land a killing blow when he is hit by a bullet. A European scout party rescues Crusoe and returns him to England where he is reunited with Mary.
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