Dr. Ralph H. Wolfe Viewing Center

Call Number: Copy 1: DVD00483

Copy 2: DVD00483

by Orson Welles, Natasha Parry, Beatrice Straight, Margaret Phillips, Dickie Moore, Irving Pichel, Charles Laughton, Merle Oberon, Wendy Barrie, Elsa Lancaster, Binnie Barnes, Everley Gregg, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Elizabeth Bergner

Format: DVD

Language: English

Publisher:La Crosse, WI : Platinum Disc, ©2005.

Notes:Contains four feature films; (335 mins. Black & White)

Chapters: King Lear (1953, 82 min.) — King Lear is the dramatic film adaptation of Shakespeare’s stage play about a powerful king who makes a fateful decision and loses everything. It all begins when Lear (Orson Welles) makes a strange demand of his three daughters: they are each to tell him how much they love him, and he will dole out his land and power according to their replies. Lear’s youngest and favorite daughter, Cordelia (Natasha Parry), answers simply, but honestly, and in doing so angers her father. Consequently, Cordelia is barred from her share of the land and banished from the kingdom. Lear’s two eldest daughters, Goneril (Beatrice Straight) and Regan (Margaret Phillips) lavish false praises upon their father and are thus rewarded with his empire—a fatal mistake that Lear will soon bitterly regret…

Oliver Twist (1933, 72 min.) — The first sound version of Charles Dickens’ 1839 classic, Oliver Twist tells the story of a young orphan who trades the toils and abuse of a sweatshop for life on the streets of London. When Oliver (Dickie Moore) gets to the city he meets Fagin (Irving Pichel), a crafty, old conman that makes pickpockets out of uncared for children. On the brink of joining Fagin’s band of thieves, Oliver’s luck seems to change when a kind gentleman takes Oliver under his wing. But Fagin won’t be so easily dismissed. Using charm and empty promises, Fagin digs his claws deeper into the boy. Faced with two opposing paths, only Oliver can choose his ultimate destiny.

The Private Life of Henry VIII (1932, 93 min.) — Charles Laughton received an Oscar® for his role as Henry VIII in this gripping, historical drama about a British king who had six wives. The film opens after Henry’s divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, whereupon he marries young Anne Boleyn (Merle Oberon). Not long after they are married, Boleyn is falsely accused of adultery, incest, and of plotting to kill the king. She is subsequently beheaded. The King then moves on to his third wife, Jane Seymour (Wendy Barrie), who dies while giving birth. Henry’s marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves (Elsa Lancaster), ends in divorce, and Katheryn Howard (Binnie Barnes) becomes the King’s fifth wife at just nineteen years old. She, too, is charged with adultery and is ultimately beheaded. Finally, Henry meets and marries Catherine Parr (Everley Gregg), his sixth and final wife. This is the sometimes colorful and sometimes scandalous story of a king and his many wives.

The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934, 88 min.) — In the year 1745, Princess Catherine (Elizabeth Bergner) of Germany, arrives in Russia to wed the Grand Duke Peter (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.). At first, Catherine and Peter get along well, but soon his suspicious and erratic behavior drives a wedge between them. In order to improve matters in their marriage, Catherine is forced to invent adulterous liaisons with fictitious suitors in order to remain on par with her husband’s real-life infidelities. As Peter assumes the crown, he becomes increasingly unstable. Ultimately, he is overthrown and executed, and loyal, cool-headed Catherine rises to power as the country’s new Czaritza.

OCLC #: [?] (additional info from publisher website)