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Son of The Morning Star
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A Christmas Carol
: essential video:In the same year that he directed a handsome version of The Scarlet Pimpernel for television, Clive Donner also made this worthy 1984 small-screen production of the Dickens tale. George C. Scott can't quite muster a decent English accent, but he does bring some new colors to this movie's interpretation of Scrooge, making the character less nasty for the sake of nastiness and more a product of a life of lovelessness. The supporting cast is first-rate, and the production is far more handsome than most TV fare. --Tom Keogh
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Parrish
: essential video:In the same year that he directed a handsome version of The Scarlet Pimpernel for television, Clive Donner also made this worthy 1984 small-screen production of the Dickens tale. George C. Scott can't quite muster a decent English accent, but he does bring some new colors to this movie's interpretation of Scrooge, making the character less nasty for the sake of nastiness and more a product of a life of lovelessness. The supporting cast is first-rate, and the production is far more handsome than most TV fare. --Tom Keogh
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Lord of Flies (1963)
:Description:The brilliant theater director Peter Brook brings William Golding's macabre novel to the screen in the original film adaptation of Lord of the Flies. Stranded on a remote and desolate island, a group of British schoolboys try to organize themselves into a law-abiding society: 'After all, we're not savages--we're English,' one of them proclaims. Civilization is quickly forgotten as the band of boys descend into savagery and anarchy. Brute force and blind authority become the standards of behavior in this brilliantly sardonic tale of lost innocence. Digital transfer supervised by cinematographer ...
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Miracle Worker (2000)
:Description:This contemporary version of the classic true story stars the acclaimed talents of Hallie Kate Eisenberg (THE INSIDER, BEAUTIFUL, and BICENTENNIAL MAN) as Helen Keller, and Alison Elliot (THE SPITFIRE GRILL, THE WINGS OF THE DOVE) as Annie Sullivan. Helen, who has been unable to speak, hear, or see since childhood, is increasingly difficult to educate, and her parents find Annie Sullivan. Although she is new to teaching, it is through Annie's strong will and unshakable faith that Helen discovers how to survive and thrive in the world through the eyes ...
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The Bishop's Wife
: :Perhaps if The Bishop's Wife had lapsed on its copyright and fallen into the public domain like It's a Wonderful Life, it would be as much a Christmas staple as that classic. It certainly deserves to be. Dudley (Cary Grant) is an angel sent down by the prayers of a new bishop (David Niven). The bishop is trying to build a new cathedral, and he's so entrenched in his fundraising that he's watching his own marriage crumble around him. Loretta Young is devoted, moist-eyed, and basically a great date for the ...
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Drowning by Numbers
: :Perhaps if The Bishop's Wife had lapsed on its copyright and fallen into the public domain like It's a Wonderful Life, it would be as much a Christmas staple as that classic. It certainly deserves to be. Dudley (Cary Grant) is an angel sent down by the prayers of a new bishop (David Niven). The bishop is trying to build a new cathedral, and he's so entrenched in his fundraising that he's watching his own marriage crumble around him. Loretta Young is devoted, moist-eyed, and basically a great date for the ...
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Lady Beware
: :Perhaps if The Bishop's Wife had lapsed on its copyright and fallen into the public domain like It's a Wonderful Life, it would be as much a Christmas staple as that classic. It certainly deserves to be. Dudley (Cary Grant) is an angel sent down by the prayers of a new bishop (David Niven). The bishop is trying to build a new cathedral, and he's so entrenched in his fundraising that he's watching his own marriage crumble around him. Loretta Young is devoted, moist-eyed, and basically a great date for the ...
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Newsies
: :Except for feature-length animation, the musical has gone the way of the dinosaur. The Walt Disney company took a stab at reviving the live-action musical in 1992 with Newsies, a throwback picture with a curious subject. In 1899, the pint-sized newsboys delivering the New York papers go on strike against the unfair practices of news magnates Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. The production is heavy on kiddie humor, although Christian Bale (the child star of Spielberg's Empire of the Sun) is charismatic as one of the older leaders of the ...
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The Paper Chase
: :Here's a movie that should convince anyone that law school is not for them--particularly Harvard Law School. Timothy Bottoms leads a group of would-be shysters through their first year at Harvard--which amounts to endless studying and backbiting as they try to memorize whole books at a sitting. As the grueling routine begins to get to them, each reacts to the stress in different way. Bottoms's character becomes consumed with winning the attention and approval of the school's crankiest teacher, the crusty Prof. Kingsfield, the role that won 'newcomer' John Houseman an ...
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