Wen's Style.

Home > Michael Hordern in

Anne of The Thousand Days [VHS]

Anne of The Thousand Days [VHS]

Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Staring: Richard Burton , Geneviève Bujold , Irene Papas , Anthony Quayle , John Colicos
Director: Charles Jarrott
This lush, perfectly cast 1969 drama concerns both a doomed, royal love affair and a pivotal moment in British history. Based on Maxwell Anderson's 1948 play, Anne of the Thousand Days concerns the mess that surrounded King Henry VIII's decision to rid himself of his first wife, Catherine of Aragon (Irene Papas), and marry the young Anne Boleyn (Geneviève Bujold). Anglophiles know what happened next: Henry (Richard Burton) solved his problems with the Vatican's condemnation of divorce by having himself named head of the Church of England (see also A Man for All Seasons), while Anne's perceived problem conceiving a male heir made her vulnerable to plots by the nefarious likes of Oliver Cromwell (John Colicos). Director Charles Jarrott does a splendid job bringing all of these intrigues to life, though the story is ultimately about Anne, a naive young woman who prepares herself to navigate some of the dangers of Henry's court. Bujold and Burton never gave better performances, and this strange, tragic chapter in the history of the kings of England has never been more compellingly told on film. --Tom Keogh
List Price: $14.98 Our Price: $6.00
Ivanhoe (1982) [VHS]

Ivanhoe (1982) [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: James Mason , Anthony Andrews , Sam Neill , Michael Hordern , Olivia Hussey
Director: Douglas Camfield
This 1982, 180-minute television remake of the original MGM feature, produced 30 years before, is the rare makeover of a classic that works quite well under its own steam. Anthony Andrews plays the disinherited knight who returns from the Third Crusades and is determined to raise the ransom to free a kidnapped King Richard (Julian Glover). With his bid rebuffed by his estranged father (Michael Hordern), and the affection of the latter's ward, Rowena (Lysette Anthony), compromised, Ivanhoe looks toward the generosity of the beautiful Rebecca (Olivia Hussey)--whose father (James Mason) he rescued from anti-Semitic Normans--for help. But a plot by faithless friends to discredit Ivanhoe, and his subsequent partnership with Robin Hood (David Robb) to save the day, keep this story from slowing down even for a minute. Originally a miniseries, this production has enough breadth to provide lots of breathing room for the script and cast to mine all the drama they can from Sir Walter Scott's novel. This is also a great-looking movie, with wall-to-wall pageantry, superb costumes--the works. --Tom Keogh
List Price: $14.95 Our Price: $10.90
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum [VHS]

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Zero Mostel , Phil Silvers , Buster Keaton , Michael Crawford , Jack Gilford
Director: Richard Lester
"Something familiar, something peculiar, something for everyone: a comedy tonight!" Those words from the opening song pretty much describe the menu in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, a frantic adaptation of the stage musical by Larry Gelbart and Burt Shevelove. The wild story, set in ancient Rome, follows a slave named Pseudolus (Zero Mostel, snorting and gibbering) as he tries to extricate himself from an increasingly farcical situation; Mostel and a bevy of inspired clowns, including Phil Silvers, Jack Gilford, and Buster Keaton, keep the slapstick and the patter perking. The cast also includes the young Michael Crawford as a love-struck innocent. This project landed in the lap of Richard Lester, then one of the hottest directors in the world after his success with the Beatles' films. Lester telescoped the material through his own joke-a-second sensibility, and also ripped out some of the songs from Stephen Sondheim's Broadway score. The result is a pixilated romp and very close to the vaudeville spirit suggested by the title--though anyone with a low tolerance for Zero Mostel's overbearing buffoonery may be in trouble. Oddly enough, amidst all the frenzy, ...
List Price: $14.95 Our Price: $2.50
Man Who Never Was [VHS]

Man Who Never Was [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Clifton Webb , Gloria Grahame , Robert Flemyng , Josephine Griffin , Stephen Boyd
Clifton Webb stars in this fascinating account of a daring intelligence operation designed to mislead the Nazis prior to the 1943 Allied invasion of Sicily. In an effort to convince the Germans to redeploy their defenses, Lt. Commander Montagu (Webb) creates a false English officer and fabricates letters that indicate the British intend to land in Greece. Montagu than plants these documents on a dead man and orchestrates the "discovery" of this "officer" on the coast of Spain, Knowing the papers will fall into German hands. What follows is a taut cat-and mouse game as British Intelligence waits for Berlin to respond, then races to stay one step ahead of the Nazi agent dispatched to determine if the dead man is genuine. This true story of ingenious deception is a riveting tale of wartime espionage.
List Price: $19.98 Our Price: $11.71
Taming of the Shrew [VHS]

Taming of the Shrew [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Elizabeth Taylor , Richard Burton , Cyril Cusack , Michael Hordern , Alfred Lynch
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Liz and Dick (a.k.a. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton) almost seemed to be importing the psychodramas of their marriage into this 1967 film (of course, the same was true of every film they made together). Adapted from Shakespeare's play and directed by Franco Zeffirelli (Romeo and Juliet) with his usual eye for sumptuousness, this version of Taming features a particularly boisterous, bawdy, fun performance by its stars. Composer Nino Rota--best known for scoring several of Fellini's best-known works--received a National Board of Reviews award for his vivid soundtrack. --Tom Keogh
List Price: $19.98 Our Price: $6.06
Freddie the Frog [VHS]

Freddie the Frog [VHS]

Rated: G (General Audience)
Staring: Ben Kingsley , Jenny Agutter , David Ashton , Brian Blessed , Jenny Funnell
Director: Jon Acevski

List Price: $19.98 Our Price: $9.99
Personal Affair [VHS]

Personal Affair [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Gene Tierney , Leo Genn , Glynis Johns , Walter Fitzgerald , Pamela Brown
Director: Anthony Pelissier

List Price: $14.98 Our Price: $4.86
How I Won The War [VHS]

How I Won The War [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Michael Crawford , John Lennon , Roy Kinnear , Lee Montague , Jack MacGowran
Director: Richard Lester

List Price: $14.95 Our Price: $13.85
El Cid [VHS]

El Cid [VHS]

Rated: Unrated
Staring: Charlton Heston , Sophia Loren , Raf Vallone , Geneviève Page , John Fraser
Director: Anthony Mann
Technically ambitious but artistically underwhelming, this 1961 epic by Anthony Mann (Man of the West) stars Charlton Heston as an 11th-century hero who drives the Moors from Spain. The film has been described as "glum," and that is indeed apt for a story that focuses so much on its central character's losses in the face of his simultaneous, mythic approbation. Then again, Mann has always been interested in the hidden weaknesses in prevailing myths, so that's not unusual. What is unusual in El Cid is the degree to which technology takes over his filmmaking, as it does here with so many grandiose and bravura moments with a roving camera that don't add up to anything beyond spectacle. As an achievement of Hollywood's technical advancements in the postwar years, and also as part of the filmographies of Mann and Heston, the film is well worth a look. But it is not the artistic equal of other epics of its day, such as Lawrence of Arabia. --Tom Keogh
List Price: $19.99 Our Price: $9.45
Secret Garden (1987) [VHS]

Secret Garden (1987) [VHS]

Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Staring: Gennie James , Barret Oliver , Jadrien Steele , Michael Hordern , Billie Whitelaw
Director: Alan Grint

List Price: $9.98 Our Price: $9.99