Stage to Screen
It wouldn’t just be the actors themselves making the transition from the boards of West End to the big screen. Armed with the collected works of playwrights known the world over - from William Shakespeare to Joe Orton - Britain’s rich theatrical history was ripe for cinematic inspiration. Bringing to life the lavish operas, shadowy whodunnits and outrageous comedies formerly only seen following a pilgrimage to the playhouse - this collection reimagines the theatre experience in your own home.
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Ran
Akira Kurosawa’s visually spectacular epic transplants Shakespeare’s King Lear from Celtic Britain to feudal Japan. In its epic scope and expert execution, Ran can be seen as a culmination of the great Japanese director’s filmmaking career; a late triumph which he planned and refined over several...
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Entertaining Mr Sloane
Joe Orton’s delicious tale of suburban perversity, in which a lascivious landlady and her gay brother attempt to seduce the titular tenant, who happens to be a psychopath, was first staged in 1964 and adapted for the BBC in 1968. Two years later Douglas Hickox directed this feature film version, ...
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The Winslow Boy
Exemplary adaptation of the Terence Rattigan play, ostensibly about a naval cadet accused of stealing a postal order but predominantly concerned with the liberty of the individual. Savouring every word of Rattigan's immaculate dialogue, Robert Donat excels as defense counsel Sir Robert Morton, ou...
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Hoffman
Peter Sellers gives a rare - and remarkable - dramatic performance as Benjamin Hoffman, a lonely middle-aged businessman who blackmails a beautiful young secretary (Sinead Cusack) into spending a week with him. But what begins as a seemingly sinister ordeal will slowly reveal itself to be an unco...
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An Inspector Calls
It is 1912, and the shadow of war looms over a wealthy family. As they celebrate their eldest daughter's engagement in their lavish Yorkshire manor, they're interrupted by an ominous police detective who is investigating a young woman's suicide, and what role each of them played in her death.
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The Lion in Winter
Christmas 1183. An elderly King Henry the Second (Peter O'Toole) is torn over naming his successor. He wants the young Prince John (Nigel Terry), one of his three sons, to take over, however, his wife Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katherine Hepburn) wants another of his sons, Prince Richard the Lio...
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Play On! Shakespeare in Silent Film
By the end of the silent era around 300 films of Shakespeare’s work had been produced. This celebration from the BFI National Archive draws together a delightful selection of thrilling, iconic and humorous scenes from 24 titles (many unseen for decades), newly digitised and brought to life with a...
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Pink String and Sealing Wax
Two worlds collide in this melodrama set in Victorian Brighton: a repressive household, run by a tyrannical chemist, and a sleazy tavern, presided over by a passionate landlady. The chemist's son (Gordon Jackson) finds himself, understandably enough, in thrall to the landlady (Googie Withers). Hi...
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Morgan - A Suitable Case for Treatment
Bizarre comedy of a working class artist who alienates his wife when he acts out his emotional affinities with gorillas.
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The Halfway House
A disparate group ñ a couple whose marriage is breaking down, a terminally ill conductor, grief-stricken parents ñ arrive at a Welsh country inn and discover that they have a year's grace to resolve their difficulties. WW2 witnessed the birth of the fantasy mini-genre where the supernatural admin...
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The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan
Long before Mike Leigh's Topsy-Turvy, there was this lavish sprint through the lives and comic operas of the creators of The Mikado. Not all Gilliat's hopes were realised - he wanted more social history, and an easier flow between music and drama. But there's plenty still to feast on: winning per...
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Lady Windermere's Fan
Ernst Lubitsch’s 1925 Hollywood version of Lady Windermere’s Fan is often misquoted as the first screen adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s enduringly popular 1892 play. In fact, the British got there first, with this early silent feature made nearly a decade before Lubitsch’s film. While the lack of act...