If one were to gather the hundreds of books written about Ludwig van Beethoven, sift through each with a fine-tooth comb, and extract every simple mistake, wild speculation, and outright falsehood, the result would still be nowhere near as fabulous and artificial as this 1936 biopic, which rewrites the composer's life story into a throbbingly melodramatic tale of genius ignored and love unrequited. Director Abel Gance, best known for his expansive silent classic Napoleon, wasn't interested in the truth of Beethoven's life, but instead the romantic ideal of a great man tormented by history; Gance's Beethoven is merely a variation of the filmmaker's beloved Bonaparte, triumphant yet scorned by his inferiors in the artistic realm rather than the political. (Needless to say, among the film's many omissions is Beethoven's bitter rededication of the "Eroica" Symphony. ) Beginning where every portrait of Beethoven the man must, with the identification of the Immortal Beloved, the film nominates (wrongly) Giulietta Gallenberg, née Guicciardi, reconstructing their brief passion as a lifelong obsession. During each of Beethoven's struggles-with love, poverty, deafness-thunder cracks against the sky and the opening notes of the Fifth burst onto the soundtrack to punctuate the action. Meet the film on its own novelette-like terms, however, and it can be quite moving, not least for the magnificent presence of Harry Baur in the lead, who captures to perfection the tortured nobility the film foists upon its protagonist. Baur's conception is as outsized as Gance's, but also gentler and less sentimental; he humanizes what could have been a treacly salute to a marble statue. An unusual final credit places the actor's name alongside the director's, a touching admission by Gance at how indebted his film was to its star. -Bruce Reid The silent epic and international cinema legend Abel Gance is most celebrated for his sweeping and pioneering biography masterpiece "Napoleon. " But this touching and tortured document of the legendary Beethoven's creative genius deserves equal tribute and attention. [+]

In the hands of Kenji Mizoguchi (Ugetsu, Sansho the Bailiff), the simple story of a man redeemed by a woman's love is no less than profound. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum pulls the viewer into a world of pure love, intense hear.

Little known stateside but long esteemed in Europe, The Crime of Monsieur Lange is simply one of the very greatest films directed by Jean Renoir (it was made a few years before Grand Illusion and Rules of the Game). René Lefèvre (Le Million) takes the title role of a nebbish who clerks for a penny-press publisher by day, and by night writes feverish potboilers about a Western hero named "Arizona Jim. " Lange's encyclopedically venal boss (Jules Berry) discovers his secret and immediately starts exploiting it, as he exploits everybody and everything within range. Life sublimely imitates pulp fiction and vice versa in the brilliant screenplay by Jacques Prévert (who would later write Children of Paradise). The movie blends sociopolitical protest, tender satire, and astonishing poetry without breaking a sweat, and its climax-an amazing synthesis of theme, dramatic emotion, and inspired camerawork-is one of the transcendent moments in screen history. -Richard T. Jameson.

1 copy of each of the following: Intermezzo (FLV1437), June NIght (FLV1438), Only One Night (FLV1439), Dollar (FLV1440), A Woman's Face (FLV1441) and Walpurgis Night (FLV1442) shrink-wrapped together.

Presenting three of Ingmar Bergman's greatest films, The Bergman Classic Prepack includes The Virgin Spring, which brought Bergman his first Oscar®; The Seventh Seal starring Max von Sydow; and "one of the few great motion pictures of our time" (The New York Post), Wild Strawberries.

It's hard to believe that this fantastical tale of a schoolboy rebellion was banned in its native France for 12 years following its initial 1933 release (for supposed anti-French sentiment). Perhaps the French authorities were remembering director Jean Vigo's father, a famous French anarchist who died in prison, or just concerned that Vigo was revealing too much of his own unhappy youth spent in boarding schools. They needn't have worried. Zero in Conduct is much more a childhood fantasy than a social critique, focusing on three particularly naughty boys who are constantly being threatened with a "zero in conduct" for their bad behavior. The rebellion in question is no armed revolt but a raucous pillow fight and a few stones thrown from a roof, all to the chant "Down with teachers, down with school. " Filmed in magical black and white by Boris Kaufman-winner of the Academy Award for cinematography in 1954 for On the Waterfront (and brother of filmmakers Mikhail Kaufman and Dziga Vertov)-Zero in Conduct is a film for film lovers. Jean Vigo died in 1935, when he was 29 years old, leaving behind only three films. But his influence, strongly evident here in the surrealism and fascinating early special effects (including a drawing that springs to life on the page), long outlives him. Each year a filmmaker with "independence of spirit and quality of directing" is honored with the French award in his name. -Laska Jimsen High-Definition transfer, with new electronic subtitles. [+]

Little known stateside but long esteemed in Europe, The Crime of Monsieur Lange is simply one of the very greatest films directed by Jean Renoir (it was made a few years before Grand Illusion and Rules of the Game). René Lefèvre (Le Million) takes the title role of a nebbish who clerks for a penny-press publisher by day, and by night writes feverish potboilers about a Western hero named "Arizona Jim. " Lange's encyclopedically venal boss (Jules Berry) discovers his secret and immediately starts exploiting it, as he exploits everybody and everything within range. Life sublimely imitates pulp fiction and vice versa in the brilliant screenplay by Jacques Prévert (who would later write Children of Paradise). The movie blends sociopolitical protest, tender satire, and astonishing poetry without breaking a sweat, and its climax-an amazing synthesis of theme, dramatic emotion, and inspired camerawork-is one of the transcendent moments in screen history. -Richard T. Jameson.