Anglophiles and Britcom aficionados will welcome the video of this delightful 1974 series based on the books by Charlotte Bingham. Happily, the sparkling dialogue and engaging characters wear much better than the actors' horribly dated '70s wardrobes. John Alderton and his real-life wife, Pauline Collins, star as C. D. and Clara, the George Burns and Gracie Allen of Hampstead, right down to the "Say goodnight, Clara" that closes each episode. This boxed set contains the first seven episodes of the series. Episode 1 sets the stage as C. D. and Clara, who have been married, Clara notes, "nearly 10 years next Thursday a week on Monday," recall how they met at "Freddie's awful party. " Framed by the couple's light banter, each of these episodes flashback chronologically to their often comically confused courtship and marriage. [+]

David Lean's beautiful adaptation of Noel Coward's play is an absorbing as well as charming look at an English family's struggle for stability between the two World Wars. Lean does a masterful job of gently penetrating human nature with truly imaginative camera direction. Robert Newton and Celia Johnson are brilliant, with an especially poignant performance by Johnson. One of David Lean's best cinematic accomplishments.

Granada Television's powerful adaptation of John Galsworthy's novels about the sprawling, fractious and aristocratic Forsyte family moves into the 1920s with Series Two, based on the author's To Let. The drama shifts to a new generation shouldering the burdensome legacies of an aging Soames (Damian Lewis) and his failed marriage to free-spirited Irene (Gina McKee). The lovely Fleur (Emma Griffiths Malin), Soames's daughter by second wife Annette (Beatriz Batarda), and strapping Jon (Lee Williams), son of Irene and Soames's bohemian cousin, Jolyon (Rupert Graves), develop a romance much to the dismay of their feuding parents. But the long reach of the elder Forsytes' sins-and the tenderness with which they seek redemption through their children-ultimately undercuts the young lovers' happiness. Meanwhile, sundry characters move in and out of the Forsytes' orbit, including a French businessman (Michael Maloney) stirring more troubles for Soames and an art dealer (Oliver Milburn) with designs on Fleur. As with Series One, all this will feel familiar to anyone who has seen the 26-part, 1967 version of The Forsyte Saga (the program that arguably created public television as we know it). Yet this updated effort renews and redefines the Forsytes' overlapping tragedies, with a more interior feel and a first-rate contemporary cast. As with its legendary predecessor, this Forsyte Saga depends heavily on the seemingly soulless Soames's slow evolution to humanity; Damian Lewis carries the load brilliantly. -Tom Keogh.

Concerned more with the "why" than "who", Chief Inspector Maigret's profound perception of the realities of human behavior and extraordinary psychological insight are key to sorting out confused trails of evidence and complex crimes.

This 1963 extravaganza, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, is certainly an epic historical drama with all the elements: elaborate sets, intricate costuming, name actors, a factual basis, and an overlong script (just over four hours). But the acting is well performed and the backdrops are lush, making this a film worth seeing. Elizabeth Taylor is Cleopatra, the Egyptian queen who seduces Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison) in a political move to hold onto her empire. When Caesar is killed in the Roman Senate, Cleopatra looks to Marc Antony (Richard Burton) for his support, practically enslaving him with her wiles. Taylor is dramatic in her role, at times overly serious, but stunning nonetheless as the woman described as "well versed in the natural sciences and mathematics. She speaks seven languages proficiently. Were she not a woman one would consider her to be an intellectual. " While the film does seem to drag at moments, it deserves the four Oscars it won for cinematography, art direction-set direction, costumes, and special effects. Don't confuse this Cleopatra with the 1934 version directed by Cecil B. [+]

A brash young American comes to London to star in a major new production-and becomes the central character in a mystery fueled by intrigue and passion.

Before Velvet Goldmine, there was Buddha of Suburbia. The coming of age story of Karim, an assimilated Indian in London during the swinging seventies. Winner of seven international film awards. Soundtrack by David Bowie.

David Lean's finest films, from Great Expectations (1946) to Lawrence of Arabia (1962), are resolutely sober, which is more than can be said of Henry Horatio Hobson in his wonderfully comic encounter with the moon in Hobson's Choice (1954). Lean's only other comedy was Blithe Spirit (1945), but here he approaches matters of the heart with a surprising lightness of touch and wins a marvelous performance from Charles Laughton-himself soon to make his one and only film as a director, Night of the Hunter (1955). The setting is late-19th-century Salford, England (the black-and-white location filming is exceptional), and widower Henry Hobson forbids his three daughters to marry to avoid paying their dowries. Romance will not be thwarted by economics, and much humorous conflict ensues, interspersed with some serious and even disturbing moments. Brenda De Banzie is splendidly spirited as the eldest daughter, Maggie, while her fiancé is played by the ever excellent John Mills, who would later win an Oscar® for his part in Lean's much more serious love story, Ryan's Daughter (1970). -Gary S. Dalkin David Lean backs up vicious wit with tender romance in this thrilling adaptation of Harold Brighouse's play. As Henry Hobson, a tyrannical bootshop owner, Charles Laughton (Mutiny on the Bounty, Ruggles of Red Gap) is a comical drunk of Falstaffian proportions. When Hobson forbids his daughters to marry (their unpaid labor supports his pub visits!), his eldest daughter defiantly sets her cap for Willie, the shop's best bootmaker. Brenda de Banzie (The Man Who Knew Too Much), as the eldest daughter, hounds the flabbergasted Willie into marriage, resulting in a thriving new shop of their own. [+]