Drama > Guinness, Alec Drama

More than met my Expectations

Advantages: Compelling, visual effects, acting and soundtrack
Disadvantages: None

...like. Great Expectations - The Book My recollection of the book 'Great Expectations' (by Charles Dickens if there is anyone who doesn't know!) is somewhat hazy, what with GCSEs being 11 years ago and not really paying attention to the book at the time - to be honest I'm not really a fan of Dickens, at least I wasn't at 15. I remember Phillip Pirrip (Pip), Joe Gargery and Mrs Joe. I remember Pip meeting a convict in a graveyard, and being ...
...but beautiful niece Estella. I remember Miss Havisham had been wearing her wedding dress since being jilted at the alter decades before. And, last but not least I remember Magwitch - I mainly remember him because our English teacher who once exclaimed that everything was 'peachy babe' (she was only about 22 and was trying to be 'cool' I think) pronounced his name MagWITCH. There was one incident where the whole class was in absolute fits of laughter ...

marymoose99 14.05.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Great Expectations (DVD)

Riveting Spy Tale For Grown-ups

Advantages: Made during the peak years of British tv. Good idea, the glossary!
Disadvantages: Measured pace may turn off some restless viewers.

...spy agency, the KGB. It's Smiley's self-imposed mission to uncover these links and their significance to his friend's murder. Just like the finest of British television during their peak years (the Seventies to the Nineties), 'Smiley's People' boasts excellent performances by a cast headed by the redoubtable Sir Alec Guinness. Mr Guinness, whose mere reaction shots threaten to dominate any scene, is in his usual fine form. He lives and breathes ...
...bored. We follow developments from Smiley's point of view, except that our imposed ignorance forces us to lag some steps behind him. A thread of tension runs through the tale, with mildly sardonic humour sprinkled hither and yon. The tension occasionally grows taut, offering only fleeting moments of relief from the persistent feeling of unease. Things culminate in a suspenseful finale that is profoundly moving for its humanness. In the world of which ...

zerbine28 29.09.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Smiley's People (DVD)

"Only two kinds of creatures get fun in the desert."

Advantages: A film in which you can smell, see and feel the desert - perfection.
Disadvantages: Some think it's too long - they are wrong!!

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA DIRECTED BY DAVID LEAN INTRODUCTION Anyone who has been following my recent film and DVD reviews (and if you have, thank you!!) would be forgiven for thinking that this was David Lean season!! David Lean has produced so many of my favourite films and is without doubt one of our finest directors. I am nearly at the end (stop cheering) of my reviews of his work - although there are still a couple tucked away ...
...film making ever. Lawrence of Arabia gained a grand total of 7 Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Musical Score, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Sound and Best Art Direction) in the Academy Awards ceremony of 1962. This review is about the adaption of Lawrence of Arabia on the Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 2 disc DVD released on 9 April 2001 When the original film was made it was 222 minutes long, which is close to 4 hours! ...

oldchem 11.08.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Lawrence Of Arabia (DVD)

Sexual Tension… Whew [film only]

Advantages: Intriguing, great acting, stunning scenery
Disadvantages: If you don't like drama films, you might find it too long

A Passage to India [1984] . . . In the film which is an almost faithful adaptation of E. M. Forster's novel A PASSAGE TO INDIA (1924), Adela Quested (Judy Davis) and Mrs. Moore (Peggy Ashcroft) travel to India to visit the latter's son Ronny (Nigel Havers), who is also Miss Quested's fiancé. Ronny works there as a civil magistrate who is surrounded by other English employees, and these prefer to stay secluded in a milieu which they created to ...
...but this experience ends as a rather tragic one for both. They get the chance to meet Dr. Aziz who seems to have a revolutionary spirit that is not satisfied with how the English treat his fellow countrymen. When he talks to these two ladies, he notices that they are different from the rest, or so he thinks, and he invites them to go with him and discover certain mysterious caves in India. Here things take a different turn. They start by visiting ...

sottovoce82 24.12.2007 · Read full review
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Review of A Passage To India (DVD)

What do you want? - Information!

Advantages: Best sci-fi prog preserved for history
Disadvantages: Not everyones cup of tea!

...motorway. It can only be The Prisoner. Made before my time but probably the best thing to come out of the sixties. You may be thinking,"If it was before his time, how come he knows about it?" Good question. It was shown on Channel 4 in 1992 for the 25th anniversary and I have been hooked since. Not to give too much away on the plot, Patrick McGoohan's character, known only as Number Six, resigns from his job and prepares to go on holiday. Sleeping ...
...weird location known only as The Village. Through the various episodes, different heads of the village, known as the New Number Two (Getting the hang of this yet?) try to find out why he resigned. Number Six resists all attempts and continues his quest to escape. Thanks to escalating costs and lack of faith, a second series was not commissioned so Patrick set to work on weekend on a finale. The result was the surreal two part ending. Number one turned ...

Littleswamp1 03.11.2004 · Read full review
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Review of The Prisoner (DVD)