7.6

Elizabeth

1997, UK

• Actors: Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Christopher Eccleston, Joseph Fiennes, Richard Attenborough, Fanny Ardant, Eric Cantona, Vincent Cassel, Kathy Burke, Edward Hardwicke, Emily Mortimer, John Gielgud, Liz Giles, Rod Culbertson, Paul Fox, Terence Rigby, Peter Stockbridge, Amanda Ryan, Valerie Gale, George Yiasoumi, James Frain, Jamie Foreman, Kelly Macdonald, Wayne Sleep, Sally Grey, Kate Loustau, Elika Gibbs, Sarah Owen, Lily Allen, Joe White
• Genre: Biography, Drama, History, Romance
• Director(s): Shekhar Kapur
• Available languages:
  • English English.

This film details the ascension to the throne and the early reign of Queen Elizabeth the First, as played by Cate Blanchett. The main focus is the endless attempts by her council to marry her off, the Catholic hatred of her and her romance with Lord Robert Dudley.

  6.9

Gulliver's Travels

1996, UK, USA

• Actors: Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, James Fox, Ned Beatty, Edward Fox, Robert Hardy, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Phoebe Nicholls, Karyn Parsons, Edward Petherbridge, John Standing, John Wells, Alfre Woodard, Edward Woodward, Peter O'Toole, Warwick Davis, Kate Maberly, Tom Sturridge, Annette Badland, Mac McDonald, George Harris, Ricco Ross, Gordon Sterne, John Bardon, Geraldine Chaplin, Graham Crowden, John Gielgud, Isabelle Huppert, Shashi Kapoor, Kristin Scott Thomas
• Genre: Adventure, Family, Fantasy
• Director(s): Charles Sturridge
• Available languages:
  • English English.

All star adaptation of Jonathan Swift's satirical tale about a normal man who, after returning home following eight years of absence, relates fantastical tales about how he was thought to be giant in the Land of Lilliput, but was only six inches high in the Land of Brobdingnag. He also tells of his visit to the floating island of Laputa populated by scientists who are so obsessed with reason that they act with no common sense. Finally, he tells of his journey to the land where his disturbing likeness to the bestial Yahoos and his inferiority to the intelligent horses there makes him question the very worth of his humanity.

  6.2

DragonHeart

1995, USA

• Actors: Dennis Quaid, David Thewlis, Pete Postlethwaite, Dina Meyer, Jason Isaacs, Brian Thompson, Lee Oakes, Wolf Christian, Terry O'Neill, Eva Vejmelková, Milan Bahúl, Peter Hric, Sandra Kovacicova, Kyle Cohen, Thom Baker, Julie Christie, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Buddy Quaid
• Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
• Director(s): Rob Cohen
• Available languages:
  • English English.

Set in the 10th Century, a man (Bowen) teams up with the last dragon to remind the people of a long lost code of honor, and inspire them to fight for their freedom from a tyrannical king.

  7.7

Hamlet

1995, UK, USA

• Actors: Riz Abbasi, Richard Attenborough, David Blair, Brian Blessed, Kenneth Branagh, Richard Briers, Michael Bryant, Peter Bygott, Julie Christie, Billy Crystal, Charles Daish, Judi Dench, Gérard Depardieu, Reece Dinsdale, Ken Dodd, Angela Douglas, Rob Edwards, Nicholas Farrell, Ray Fearon, Yvonne Gidden, John Gielgud, Rosemary Harris, Charlton Heston, Ravil Isyanov, Derek Jacobi, Rowena King, Jeffery Kissoon, Sarah Lam, Jack Lemmon, Ian McElhinney
• Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
• Director(s): Kenneth Branagh
• Available languages:
  • English English.

Hamlet, son of the king of Denmark, is summoned home for his father's funeral and his mother's wedding to his uncle. In a supernatural episode, he discovers that his uncle, whom he hates anyway, murdered his father. In an incredibly convoluted plot--the most complicated and most interesting in all literature--he manages to (impossible to put this in exact order) feign (or perhaps not to feign) madness, murder the "prime minister," love and then unlove an innocent whom he drives to madness, plot and then unplot against the uncle, direct a play within a play, successfully conspire against the lives of two well-meaning friends, and finally take his revenge on the uncle, but only at the cost of almost every life on stage, including his own and his mother's.

  7.2

Looking for Richard

1995, USA

• Actors: Penelope Allen, Gordon MacDonald, Madison Arnold, Vincent Angell, Harris Yulin, Alec Baldwin, Al Pacino, Timmy Prairie, Landon Prairie, Kevin Conway, Larry Bryggman, Kevin Spacey, Estelle Parsons, Winona Ryder, Phil Parolisi, Bruce MacVittie, Paul Guilfoyle, Richard Cox, Julie Moret, Frederic Kimball, Daniel von Bargen, James Colby, Ira Lewis, Aidan Quinn, Neal Jones, Luke Toma, André Sogliuzzo, Marlon Pollick, F. Murray Abraham, Hayley Barr
• Genre: Documentary, Drama
• Director(s): Al Pacino
• Available languages:
  • English English.

Director Al Pacino juxtaposes scene's from Richard III, scenes of rehearsals for Richard III, and sessions where parties involved discuss the play, the times that shaped the play and the events that happened at the time the play is set. Interviews with mostly British actors are also included, attempting to explain why American actors have more problems performing Shakespearean plays than they do.

  6.2

Haunted

1995, UK, USA

• Actors: Aidan Quinn, Kate Beckinsale, Anthony Andrews, John Gielgud, Anna Massey, Alex Lowe, Geraldine Somerville, Victoria Shalet, Linda Bassett, Liz Smith, Peter England, Alice Douglas, Hilary Mason, Edmund Moriarty, Emily Hamilton
• Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance
• Director(s): Lewis Gilbert
• Available languages:
  • English English.

Professor David Ash is invited to Edbrook to calm the fears of the elderly nanny of the Mariell family. Nanny Tess is seeing things, and Ash's book debunking such phenomenon makes him a good choice to set her mind at ease and convince her she is just tired and stressed. But soon after arriving David too begins to doubt his senses, and watching the odd behavior of the three grown Mariell children doesn't make his task any easier. In fact, he begins to think Nanny Tess isn't really just tired and stressed out after all.

  5.7

First Knight

1994, USA

• Actors: Sean Connery, Richard Gere, Julia Ormond, Ben Cross, Liam Cunningham, Christopher Villiers, Valentine Pelka, Colin McCormack, Ralph Ineson, John Gielgud, Stuart Bunce, Jane Robbins, Jean Marie Coffey, Paul Kynman, Tom Lucy, John Blakey, Robert Gwyn Davin, Sean Blowers, Alexis Denisof, Daniel Naprous, Jonathan Cake, Paul Bentall, Jonty Miller, Rose Keegan, Mark Ryan, Jeffery Dench, Neville Phillips, Oliver Lewis, Wolf Christian, Angus Wright
• Genre: Adventure, Drama, Romance
• Director(s): Jerry Zucker
• Available languages:
  • English English.

Lancelot lives by the sword. In fact, they're next door neighbours, so teaming up to fight for money comes pretty naturally. Lady Guinevere, on her way to marry King Arthur is ambushed by the evil Sir Malagant. Fortunately Lancelot is lurking nearby and he rescues his future queen. They fall in love, but Guinevere still fancies the idea of wearing a crown, so she honours her promise to Arthur. Can Lady Guinevere remain faithful, or will this Pretty Woman become a lady of the knight?

  6.0

Shining Through

1992, USA, UK

• Actors: Michael Douglas, Melanie Griffith, Liam Neeson, Joely Richardson, John Gielgud, Francis Guinan, Patrick Winczewski, Anthony Walters, Victoria Shalet, Sheila Allen, Stanley Beard, Sylvia Syms, Ronald Nitschke, Hansi Jochmann, Peter Flechtner, Alexander Hauff, Claus Plankers, Renate Cyll, Dana Gladstone, Lorinne Vozoff, Mathieu Carrière, Deirdre Harrison, Wolf Kahler, Wolfe Morris, William Hope, Nigel Whitmey, Rob Freeman, Lisa Orgolini, Jay Benedict, Thomas Kretschmann
• Genre: Thriller, Drama, Romance, War
• Director(s): David Seltzer
• Available languages:
  • English English.

1940, Linda Voss is a woman of Irish, Jewish-German parentage who loves the movies, especially films about war and spies. She gets a job at a New York law firm, after it's revealed she can speak German, fluently. As secretary and translator to Ed Leland, she begins to suspect that her boss is involved in espionage work. The two become lovers, and when America officially joins the Allies in fighting Hitler, Linda volunteers to go undercover behind enemy lines.

  6.8

The Power of One

1991, Australia, France, USA

• Actors: Nomadlozi Kubheka, Agatha Hurle, Nigel Ivy, Tracy Brooks Swope, Brendan Deary, Winston Mangwarara, Guy Witcher, Tonderai Masenda, Cecil Zilla Mamanzi, John Turner, Robbie Bulloch, Gordon Arnell, Jeremiah Mnisi, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Paul Tingay, Hywell Williams, Michael Brunner, Clive Russell, Gert Van Niekirk, Morgan Freeman, Simon Fenton, Winston Ntshona, Ed Beeten, John Gielgud, Stephen Dorff, Dominic Walker, Robert Thomas Reed, Fay Masterson, Roy Francis, Clare Cobbold
• Genre: Drama
• Director(s): John G. Avildsen
• Available languages:
  • English English.

The Power of One is an intriguing story of a young English boy named Peekay and his passion for changing the world. Growing up he suffered as the only English boy in an Afrikaans school. Soon orphaned, he was placed in the care of a German national named Professor von Vollensteen (a.k.a. "Doc"), a friend of his grandfather. Doc develops Peekay's piano talent and Peekay becomes "assistant gardener" in Doc's cactus garden. It is not long after WWII begins that Doc is placed in prison for failure to register with the English government as a foreigner. Peekay makes frequent visits and meets Geel Piet, an inmate, who teaches him to box. Geel Piet spreads the myth of the Rainmaker, the one who brings peace to all of the tribes. Peekay is cast in the light of this myth. After the war Peekay attends an English private school where he continues to box. He meets a young girl, Maria, with whom he falls in love. Her father, Professor Daniel Marais, is a leader of the Nationalist Party of South Africa. The two fight to teach the natives English as Peekay's popularity grows via the myth. Peekay loses focus until he sees the success of his language school among the tribes. He and Guideon Duma continue the work in hopes of building a better future for Africa.

  5.7

Appointment with Death

1988, USA

• Actors: Peter Ustinov, Lauren Bacall, Carrie Fisher, John Gielgud, Piper Laurie, Hayley Mills, Jenny Seagrove, David Soul, Nicholas Guest, Valerie Richards, John Terlesky, Amber Bezer, Douglas Sheldon, Michael Sarne, Michael Craig, Mohammed Hirzalla, Rudy Ruggiero, Dan Muggia, Lutuf Nouasser, Babi Neeman, Rupert Horrox, Hugh Brophy, Marcel Solomon, Iyad Hajjaj
• Genre: Crime, Mystery
• Director(s): Michael Winner
• Available languages:
  • English English.

Emily Boynton, step-mother to the three Boynton children and mother to Ginevra, blackmails the family lawyer, Jefferson Cope, into destroying a second will of her late husband which would have freed the childern from her dominating influence. She takes herself and the children on holiday to Europe and the Holy Land. In Jerusalem, Hercule Poirot meets up with a woman friend, Dr. King who falls in love with Raymond Boynton to Emily's disapproval. Lady Westholme, her secretary and Cope are following them too. The children discover about the second will and Emily succeeds in rubbing the rest up the wrong way causing much hatred towards her. At a dig, everybody wonders about the camp and Emily is found dead... poisoned. Poirot investigates...

  8.1

Gandhi

1982, UK, India

• Actors: Ben Kingsley, Candice Bergen, Edward Fox, John Gielgud, Trevor Howard, John Mills, Martin Sheen, Ian Charleson, Athol Fugard, Günther Maria Halmer, Saeed Jaffrey, Geraldine James, Alyque Padamsee, Amrish Puri, Roshan Seth, Rohini Hattangadi, Ian Bannen, Michael Bryant, John Clements, Richard Griffiths, Nigel Hawthorne, Bernard Hepton, Michael Hordern, Shreeram Lagoo, Om Puri, Virendra Razdan, Richard Vernon, Harsh Nayyar, Prabhakar Patankar, Vijay Kashyap
• Genre: Biography, Drama, History
• Director(s): Richard Attenborough
• Available languages:
  • English English.

In 1893, Gandhi is thrown off a South African train for being an Indian and traveling in a first class compartment. Gandhi realizes that the laws are biased against Indians and decides to start a non-violent protest campaign for the rights of all Indians in South Africa. After numerous arrests and the unwanted attention of the world, the government finally relents by recognizing rights for Indians, though not for the native blacks of South Africa. After this victory, Gandhi is invited back to India, where he is now considered something of a national hero. He is urged to take up the fight for India's independence from the British Empire. Gandhi agrees, and mounts a non-violent non-cooperation campaign of unprecedented scale, coordinating millions of Indians nationwide. There are some setbacks, such as violence against the protesters and Gandhi's occasional imprisonment. Nevertheless, the campaign generates great attention, and Britain faces intense public pressure. Too weak from World War II to continue enforcing its will in India, Britain finally grants India's independence. Indians celebrate this victory, but their troubles are far from over. Religious tensions between Hindus and Muslims erupt into nation-wide violence. Gandhi declares a hunger strike, saying he will not eat until the fighting stops. The fighting does stop eventually, but the country is divided. It is decided that the northwest area of India, and eastern part of India (current day Bangladesh), both places where Muslims are in the majority, will become a new country called Pakistan (West and East Pakistan respectively). It is hoped that by encouraging the Muslims to live in a separate country, violence will abate. Gandhi is opposed to the idea, and is even willing to allow Muhammad Ali Jinnah to become the first prime minister of India, but the Partition of India is carried out nevertheless. Gandhi spends his last days trying to bring about peace between both nations. He thereby angers many dissidents on both sides, one of whom finally gets close enough to assassinate him.

  7.2

Chariots of Fire

1981, UK

• Actors: Nicholas Farrell, Nigel Havers, Ian Charleson, Ben Cross, Daniel Gerroll, Ian Holm, John Gielgud, Lindsay Anderson, Nigel Davenport, Cheryl Campbell, Alice Krige, Dennis Christopher, Brad Davis, Patrick Magee, Peter Egan, Struan Rodger, David Yelland, Yves Beneyton, Jeremy Sinden, Gordon Hammersley, Andrew Hawkins, Richard Griffiths, John Young, Benny Young, Yvonne Gilan, Jack Smethurst, Gerry Slevin, Peter Cellier, Stephen Mallatratt, Colin Bruce
• Genre: Drama, History, Sport
• Director(s): Hugh Hudson
• Available languages:
  • English English.

The true story of two British track athletes competing in the 1924 Summer Olympics. One is a devout Scottish missionary who runs for God, the other is a Jewish student at Cambridge who runs for fame and to escape prejudice.

  6.7

Arthur

1981, USA

• Actors: Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli, John Gielgud, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Jill Eikenberry, Stephen Elliott, Ted Ross, Barney Martin, Thomas Barbour, Anne De Salvo, Marjorie Barnes, Dillon Evans, Maurice Copeland, Justine Johnston, Paul Vincent, Mary Alan Hokanson, Paul Gleason, Phyllis Somerville, Irving Metzman, Joe Doolan, John Doolan, Melissa Ballan, Florence Tarlow, Lou Jacobi, Gordon Press, Bob Maroff, Marcella Lowery, Jerome Collamore, Mark Fleischman, Helen Hanft
• Genre: Comedy, Romance
• Director(s): Steve Gordon
• Available languages:
  • English English.

Arthur is a happy drunk with no pretensions at any ambition. He is also the heir to a vast fortune which he is told will only be his if he marries Susan. He does not love Susan, but she will make something of him the family expects. Arthur proposes but then meets a girl with no money who he could easily fall in love with.

  7.8

Lion of the Desert

1980, Libya, USA

• Actors: Anthony Quinn, Oliver Reed, Irene Papas, Raf Vallone, Rod Steiger, John Gielgud, Andrew Keir, Gastone Moschin, Stefano Patrizi, Adolfo Lastretti, Sky Dumont, Takis Emmanuel, Rodolfo Bigotti, Robert Brown, Eleonora Stathopoulou, Luciano Bartoli, Claudio Gora, Giordano Falzoni, Franco Fantasia, Ihab Werfali, Ewen Solon, Loris Bazzocchi, Alec Mango, Filippo De Gara, George Sweeney, Luciano Catenacci, Victor Baring, Pietro Brambilla, Pietro Tordi, Massimiliano Baratta
• Genre: Biography, Drama, War
• Director(s): Moustapha Akkad
• Available languages:
  • English English.

This movie tells the story of Omar Mukhtar, an Arab Muslim rebel who fought against the Italian conquest of Libya in WWI. It gives western viewers a glimpse into this little-known region and chapter of history, and exposes the savage means by which the conquering army attempted to subdue the natives.

  8.3

The Elephant Man

1980, USA

• Actors: Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt, Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Freddie Jones, Michael Elphick, Hannah Gordon, Helen Ryan, John Standing, Dexter Fletcher, Lesley Dunlop, Phoebe Nicholls, Pat Gorman, Claire Davenport, Orla Pederson, Patsy Smart, Frederick Treves, Stromboli, Richard Hunter, James Cormack, Robert Lewis Bush, Roy Evans, Joan Rhodes, Nula Conwell, Tony London, Alfie Curtis, Bernadette Milnes, Brenda Kempner, Carol Harrison
• Genre: Biography, Drama, History
• Director(s): David Lynch
• Available languages:
  • English English.

Based on the true story of Joseph Merrick, a 19th-century Englishman afflicted with a disfiguring congenital disease. With the help of kindly Dr. Frederick Treves, Merrick attempts to regain the dignity he lost after years spent as a side-show freak.

  4.9

Caligola

1979, Italy, USA

• Actors: Malcolm McDowell, Teresa Ann Savoy, Guido Mannari, John Gielgud, Peter O'Toole, Giancarlo Badessi, Bruno Brive, Adriana Asti, Leopoldo Trieste, Paolo Bonacelli, John Steiner, Mirella D'Angelo, Helen Mirren, Rick Parets, Paula Mitchell, Osiride Pevarello, Donato Placido, Anneka Di Lorenzo, Lori Wagner, Patrick Allen, Gerardo Amato, Pino Ammendola, Eduardo Bergara Leumann, Signe Berger, Eolo Capritti, Valerie Rae Clark, Maria Cumani Quasimodo, Lucky Fellows, Jane Hargrave, Henrietta Kelogg
• Genre: Adult, Drama, History
• Director(s): Tinto Brass
• Available languages:
  • English English.

The rise and fall of the notorious Roman Emperor Caligula, showing the violent methods that he employs to gain the throne, and the subsequent insanity of his reign - he gives his horse political office and humiliates and executes anyone who even slightly displeases him. He also sleeps with his sister, organises elaborate orgies and embarks on a fruitless invasion of England before meeting an appropriate end. There are various versions of the film, ranging from the heavily- truncated 90-minute version to the legendary 160-minute hardcore version which leaves nothing to the imagination (though the hardcore scenes were inserted later and do not involve the main cast members).

  6.8

Around the World in Eighty Days

1956, USA

• Actors: Cantinflas, Finlay Currie, Robert Morley, Ronald Squire, Basil Sydney, Noel Coward, John Gielgud, Trevor Howard, Harcourt Williams, David Niven, Martine Carol, Fernandel, Charles Boyer, Evelyn Keyes, José Greco, Luis Miguel Dominguín, Gilbert Roland, Cesar Romero, Alan Mowbray, Robert Newton, Cedric Hardwicke, Melville Cooper, Reginald Denny, Ronald Colman, Robert Cabal, Shirley MacLaine, Charles Coburn, Peter Lorre, George Raft, Red Skelton
• Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Romance
• Director(s): Michael Anderson
• Available languages:
  • English English.

Phileas Fogg accepts a challenge from his fellow members at the Reform Club and sets of prove that you can travel around the world in a mind-boggling 80 days. He sets off by train to Paris with his new valet Passepartout but then is forced to continue the trip by balloon arriving next in Spain where Passepartout has an interesting encounter in the bullfighting ring. They finally make their way across the Mediterranean and through the Suez canal, arriving in Bombay two days ahead of schedule. They board the train for Calcutta where they find there is a 50 mile gap midway. The break in their journey proved eventful as they rescue an Indian princess, Aouda, who is about to be forced to commit suttee - throwing herself on her dead husband's funeral pyre. They make to Calcutta and on to Siam and the Honk Kong. Throughout the voyage, they are followed by a detective, Mr. Fix, who is convinced that Fogg is the thief responsible for the recent £55,000 theft at the bank of England. In Honk Kong, Passepartout is Shanghaied leaving Fogg and Aouda to find their own way to Yokohama where they are to catch a ship to San Francisco. The group is reunited, travels across the American West - Passepartout has an exciting encounter with the Sioux - and make it back to London. They're one day late however for Fogg to win the bet - or so he thinks.