Expanded from a one-act stage play by Noel Coward, Brief Encounter is without doubt one of the true masterpieces of British film history. The story seems slight--a respectable suburban housewife has a chance meeting with a handsome married doctor, their friendship becomes romance, but they feel the pressures of convention pulling their relationship apart--but the writing, acting and ...
Maggie Smith is so witty and commanding in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie that you might forget the script paints Jean Brodie as an ultimately self-deluding spinster. Dame Maggie won the first of her two Oscars for playing a teacher in 1930s Edinburgh more in thrall to her romantic notions of art and beauty than the real world (she exalts the Mona Lisa and Mussolini with equal fervour), a ...
Victoria Wood Live at the Albert Hall provides proof, if any were needed, that after two decades at the top of her profession, Wood is one of a small handful of British comedians of either sex capable of filling the country's largest venues. For the consistently high quality of her penetrating observations of the mundane she has no equal. Recorded in 2001, this performance has all the ...