Claire Bloom

A disgraced emergency services worker is given a chance at redemption when a New York commuter tunnel begins collapsing. He must rescue the trapped commuters before it`s too late!

In the Ancient Greek world, King Acrisius of Argos (Donald Houston) locks his daughter Danaë (Vida Taylor) away from mortal men to avoid a prophecy that he would die if his daughter had a son. While she is imprisoned, the god Zeus (Laurence Olivier) impregnates her. After discovering the pregnancy, Acrisius casts his daughter and her newborn son Perseus out to sea in a wooden coffin, hoping to kill both and avoid his fate. In retribution, Zeus orders the god of the sea, Poseidon (Jack Gwillim), to release an ancient monster known as the Kraken to destroy Argos, fulfilling the prophecy. Atop Mount Olympus, while the city is destroyed, Zeus crushes the clay figurine of Acrisius in his hand, killing the tyrant. Meanwhile, at Zeus' request, Poseidon ensures that Danaë and Perseus drift across the Aegean Sea safely, arriving on the shores of the island of Seriphos. Over the next several years, Perseus (Harry Hamlin as an adult) grows from an infant to a handsome young man. Calibos (Neil McCarthy), son of the sea goddess Thetis (Maggie Smith), is a handsome young man destined to marry Princess Andromeda (Judi Bowker), the daughter of Queen Cassiopeia (Sian Phillips) and heir to the rich Greek city of Joppa. But the cruel and destructive Calibos has destroyed every living thing surrounding the Wells of the Moon, including Zeus's entire sacred herd of flying horses, save for the stallion Pegasus. As punishment for his many transgressions, Zeus transforms Calibos into a satyr-like creature who is subsequently shunned and forced to live as an outcast in the swamps east of Joppa. Thetis, furious at her son's fate, vows that if Calibos cannot marry Andromeda, no other man will, either. Equally infuriated by Zeus' unquestioning devotion for his own son, Thetis magically transports Perseus from Seriphos to Joppa. Perseus, finding himself in the amphitheater of Joppa outside the city, is befriended by the elderly scholar and playwright Ammon (Burgess Meredith). He learns of Andromeda and her plight: she cannot marry unless her suitor successfully answers a riddle, and any suitor who fails to answer the riddle correctly is burned at the stake. Perseus also tells Ammon that he is prince and heir to Argos and hopes to return there to claim the title. Zeus realizes that his son has been sent to a dangerous region of the world and orders his gods to provide his son with a helmet that will make him invisible, a sword which can cut through material as hard as marble and a golden shield. When Perseus sneaks into Andromeda's bedchamber, using his helmet for cover, he discovers that each night a monstrous vulture arrives with a small cage and carries the princess' spirit off to the east. Perseus captures and tames Pegasus and follows Andromeda's spirit on her nightly journey to learn a new riddle from Calibos. Armed with the answer, Perseus is nearly killed by Calibos in the swamp but escapes, losing the magical helmet. Perseus appears at the next ceremony for a new suitor and answers the riddle correctly, presenting Calibos's severed hand (with a pearled and gold ring on one of the fingers, which is the answer to the riddle) and winning Andromeda's hand in marriage. Perseus tells Joppa that he'd spared Calibos' life if he would lift the curse. Later, in the temple of Thetis, the wounded Calibos prays to his mother Thetis to take vengeance on Perseus. Thetis tells Calibos that she cannot do so because Perseus is protected by Zeus, but, at her son's suggestion, she can take vengeance on Joppa, Andromeda and her mother. At the wedding, Queen Cassiopeia compares Andromeda's beauty to that of Thetis herself, which angers the goddess and gives her an excuse to fulfill her son's wish. The statue of Thetis collapses and its head comes to life, demanding Andromeda as a virgin sacrifice to the Kraken in 30 days or Joppa will be destroyed. Perseus seeks a way to defeat the Kraken and leads a small group of soldiers with him with Andromeda and Ammon joining them in the quest. Ammon recommends that they consult the Stygian Witches, three old, blind women (Flora Robson, Anna Manahan, and Freda Jackson) who live to the East. At the same time, Pegasus is captured by Calibos and his men, forcing Perseus and his caravan to make the difficult and dangerous journey by land. Zeus commands Athena (Susan Fleetwood) to give Perseus her owl Bubo as a replacement for his lost helmet of invisibility. Not wishing to give up her companion, she has Hephaestus (Pat Roach) build a mechanical replica of Bubo as an aid for Perseus. Bubo finds Perseus and leads him to the Stygian Witches, who reside on a craggy mountaintop in a remote region. Perseus, with Bubo's help, manages to snatch from the three cannibalistic witches a magical glass orb which is their communal 'eye'. Perseus promises to return the eye to them if they tell him how he can defeat the Kraken. The witches tell him the only way to defeat the Kraken is by using the head of another of the titans, Medusa the Gorgon. Once a beautiful woman, Medusa had been punished by the goddess Aphrodite (Ursula Andress) by being transformed into a horrible monster. Meeting Medusa's gaze will turn any living creature to stone, including the Kraken. She makes her home on the Isle of the Dead, which lies across the River Styx, at the very edge of the Underworld. Because Perseus held their eye, his cloak will be able to withstand Medusa's toxic blood should he succeed in claiming her head. Perseus tosses back the glass eye to the witches and makes his escape. That evening, Perseus tells Andromeda to return to Joppa with Ammon as he must go on alone with Cassiopeia's soldiers to the underworld to kill Medusa and claim her head. She refuses, wishing to stay with him but when she wakes in the morning, she finds Perseus and his men have left. The next day, Perseus and his men arrive at the River Styx where the skeletal ferryman, Charon is to row them to the Isle of the Dead in exchange for a silver coin. Perseus takes three of his men with him to cross the river to the island. Once there, Perseus and his men find the Temple of Medusa and soon battle Dioskilos, a two-headed dog guarding the lair. One of the soldiers is killed, but Perseus and the other two succeed in slaying Dioskilos and set forth into the underground ruins where Medusa resides. Armed with a bow and several arrows, Medusa takes on the three intruders to her domain. One of Perseus's men loses his life to one of Medusa's blood-poisoned arrows, while the last becomes caught in the stare of Medusa and is transformed into stone. Perseus eventually manages to not only deceive Medusa with the help of his shield, but also decapitate her with his sword and collects her head, losing his shield in a pool of Medusa's acidic blood. That night, as Perseus and his party set out to return to Joppa with Medusa's head wrapped in his cloak, Calibos raids the camp, drives off the group's horses and punctures the cloak carrying Medusa's head, spilling her blood and spawning three giant scorpions. The scorpions and Calibos attack the party. After the last two of his men are killed (one by a scorpion and the chief guard, Thalo, by Calibos himself), Perseus is able to slay the remaining scorpion and manages to best Calibos, whom he finally kills with Aphrodite's sword. Perseus, weakened by his struggle and running out of time, orders Bubo to find Pegasus. The mechanical owl locates Pegasus in the swamp, guarded by Calibos' men and the giant vulture. Bubo creates a chaotic melee, the camp burns when a fire-pit is overturned and Bubo frees Pegasus. Back in Joppa, Perseus arrives in Ammon's amphitheater and collapses from exhaustion. On Olympus, Thetis reminds Zeus that it is time for Andromeda to be sacrificed. The weary Zeus orders Poseidon to release the Kraken. As he walks away from the clay figurines in his collection, he revives Perseus. As Andromeda is about to be sacrificed to the Kraken, Bubo appears, trying to stall the Kraken while Perseus catches up, flying on Pegasus. Perseus approaches the Kraken, but the monster knocks him off his mount, spilling them both into the ocean. Bubo retrieves the head and delivers it to Perseus, who frees the head, turning the Kraken into stone which collapses into the bay. The task completed, Perseus throws the severed head into the ocean and frees Andromeda. Pegasus emerges from the sea to the crowd's delight. The gods discuss the outcome of the adventure: Perseus and Andromeda will live happily, rule wisely and produce good children. Zeus forbids the other gods to pursue any vengeance against them. In addition, the likenesses of Perseus, Andromeda, Pegasus and Cassiopeia are set among the stars as constellations to forever remind mankind of the values of heroism and bravery.

The Bahamas, 1940 American artist Tom Hudson (George C. Scott) lives on the remote island of Bimini, in the western region of the Bahamas. At the dock, he finds two friends aboard his fishing boat, the Tortuga. As islander, named Joseph (Julius Harris) washes the deck, Eddy (David Hemmings), a British alcoholic, nurses his wounds from a fight the night before and brandishes a rifle that he won in a poker game. That evening, Tom celebrates the Queen Mother's birthday with a prostitute named Lil (Susan Tyrell), drinking and firing flares into the harbor. The Boys The next day, Tom's three estranged sons, 19-year-old Tom, Jr. (Hart Bochner) from his first marriage, 14-year-old Dave (Michael-James Wixted) and 10-year-old Andy (Brad Savage) from his second marriage, arrive on the island, but he does not meet them at their seaplane; Eddy and Joseph drive the boys to their father's home. Housebound during a rainstorm, Andy admires one of Tom's drawings, a portrait of Tom, Jr.'s mother, Audrey. When Andy asks why his father did not capture the likeness of his own mother, as well, Tom admits that he was not creative during his second marriage. That night, the boys bicker about their father as Tom listens from his studio. While Tom, Jr., has fond memories of his childhood with Tom and Audrey, Dave complains that their father physically abused his mother Joan during drunken altercations. However, Andy insists that their father has become a better man since the divorce. When Tom joins his sons in their room, a pillow fight ensues and Dave pummels his father. With tensions eased in the coming days, the boys enjoy spear fishing in a reef as Tom and Eddy watch from the Tortuga. When a hammerhead shark threatens to attack, Tom shoots and misses, so Eddy kills the shark with his new machine gun. Andy is impressed by Eddy's heroism, although he notices that the man has a drinking problem, and Tom is dismayed that he was unable to defend his boys, himself. In the evening, the men see an explosion offshore and Eddy declares that a German U-boat has been torpedoed. The next day, a dead crewman washes onto the beach. Tom orders his sons to return to the house, then tells Joseph that Tom, Jr., is nearly old enough to fight in the war. Sometime later, Tom admits to Tom, Jr., that he still loves his mother, Audrey. Later still, Tom tells his son that Jewish refugees are arriving on the island to escape the war in Europe. During a deep-sea fishing excursion on the Tortuga, Dave hooks an enormous marlin and struggles with the line for hours. Although the boy is exhausted and bleeding, Tom coaches his son to keep up the fight. When the marlin gets away, Tom declares that he loves Dave unconditionally, and they embrace. Back on the island, Tom, Jr., announces his decision to join the Royal Air Force in Canada. When the summer ends, Tom bids farewell to his sons as they board a seaplane bound for the U.S. At boarding school, Dave and Andy receive a letter from their father, who writes that the island is increasingly affected by the war. Tom professes his love for the sea, but reflects upon his isolation and promises to be more involved with boys' lives. The Woman Sometime later, Tom finds Eddy at a local hotel, beaten in another fight. As Lil tends to Eddy's wounds, she asks Tom for a date, but he is distracted by the unexpected presence of his first wife, Audrey (Claire Bloom). As Tom escorts Audrey along the beach to his house, she announces her engagement to an army general, but admits that she still has feelings for Tom, and they kiss passionately. At Tom's house, Audrey drinks to excess and Tom realizes that she has come to the island because Tom, Jr., was killed in battle. When she returns to the mainland, Tom wallows in anguish and decides to leave the island for good. Eddy offers to accompany him in his voyage back to America, but Tom disparages Eddy's alcoholism and declines. The Journey As Tom and Joseph sail the Tortuga toward Florida, however, Eddy surprises them as a stowaway. The men soon spot the boat of a fellow islander, Captain Ralph (Gilbert Roland), smuggling Jewish refugees into Cuba. The vessel was attacked by a German U-boat the previous evening, so Tom and his friends rescue its passengers and resume their journey toward Cuba. That night, the Tortuga is detained by the Cuban Coast Guard. As the Cubans snatch a female refugee, a gunfight ensues, leaving the Tortuga damaged. The following morning, the Tortuga is pursued again. Although Tom navigates an escape, Eddy dies from gunshot wounds and Tom casts his body overboard, lamenting the loss of his friend. Sometime later, off the coast of Cuba, Tom delivers the refugees ashore, then triggers a gasoline explosion to detain the Coast Guard. Climbing aboard the Tortuga to get away, Tom is shot in the back. As Joseph declares his love for his fallen comrade, he reflects that Tom refuses to accept affection from others. In his final moments of life, Tom envisions himself and Audrey back at his island home, where he promises to love her eternally. He embraces young Dave and Andy, then leaves with the newly-reconfigured family as Joseph waves goodbye.

In 1930s, a psychotic drifter who's after the mystery woman who covered his whole body in illustrations that foresee distant future shows three of them (The Veldt, The Long Rain and The Last Night of the World) to a mesmerized traveler. The Illustrated Man is classic Bradbury, a collection of eighteen startling visions of humankind's destiny, unfolding across a canvas of decorated skin, visions as keen as the tattooist's needle and as colorful as the inks that indelibly stain the body. The images, ideas, sounds and scents that abound in this phantasmagoric sideshow are provocative and powerful: the mournful cries of celestial travelers cast out cruelly into a vast space of stars and blackness, the sight of gray dust settling over a forgotten outpost on a road that leads nowhere, the pungent odor of Jupiter on a returning father's clothing. Here living cities take their vengeance, technology awakens the most primal natural instincts, Martian invasions are foiled by the good life and the glad hand, and dreams are carried aloft in junkyard rockets. —Stig Ohara Just as the original book is an anthology of science fiction stories, the Illustrated Man movie has a framing device to connect the fragmented story vignettes that are told. A young hobo falls in with an experienced traveler who at times frightens and entices him. The senior hobo(Rod Stieger) is covered from head to toe by tattoo illustrations that both enrich and curse him. He warns the young man not to stare too closely at them for too long, as they seem to come alive and portray tales. Each one in turn plays out a science fiction tale, a morality play, some bitter, some sweet, some perplexing. The movie reuses the same three principal actors in every story vignette, making it a bizarre, confusing task to try to re-identify each as their role changes from tale to tale. There is no connecting thread here, save for the continuing framing story of the young man becoming entranced by the illustrations. The older hobo claims he is searching for the woman who tattooed him to this extent, but it is unclear if she is real, a phantom, or an invention of his somewhat disturbed mind. By the time we get the entire tale of how the tattoos came to be, Rod has become romantically involved with the female tattoo artist. There is some suggestion that she has made a mark upon his soul by living with him for so long. But suddenly, she is gone, vanished, and he is forever searching for his lost love, his muse, his devil woman who has cursed him to live like this and thrown him to the hard, cruel world. Shocked and driven to the point of madness himself, the young man attempts to crush the old hobo's skull with a rock, and then flees himself, having now become the target of the old hobo's pursuit. There is no resolution to this, only an endless chase that continues... —Kirk G A young man is introduced to the hobo life by an odd, completely tattooed man. The tattoos seem to come alive and can drive a man mad. The old hobo pursues both the woman who tattooed him in his dreams and the young man who attempts to kill him. —Kirk G In this Sci-Fi anthology based on short stories by famous Sci-Fi and horror author Ray Bradbury, a man meets a strange woman and ends up having his whole body covered in tattoos or illustrations, as he calls them. He meets a curious traveler and agrees to explain to him the meaning behind three of there illustration, which all happen to tell about the future. The first story is called "The Veldt" and follows a couple who's worried over the fact that their kids are spending all their time in an African savanna created by their incredibly realistic home virtual reality simulator. When they take action to get the kids back to reality, the kids fight back. In "The Long Rain", a team of astronauts crash-lands on Venus, a planet now completely covered with jungles thanks to heavy rain that's constantly falling throughout the entire year. Can they navigate the endless jungle and reach safety before they fall pray to madness and exhaustion? In "The Last Night of the World", a couple learns that the world will end in a day and decides to carry on with their daily routine anyway.

In West Berlin in the early 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, Alec Leamas is a spy in charge of British Intelligence operations in the city. However, his operatives have been hunted down and killed by Mundt, the head of East German counter-espionage. Leamas himself is present at Checkpoint Charlie near the Berlin Wall when he witnesses the last of his agents, Karl Riemeck, being killed as he attempts to escape to the West. Leamas is recalled to London by Control, the head of the "Circus" (slang for MI6, the British Intelligence service). Control makes little secret of the fact that he sees Leamas' career as over, however he is willing to keep him on for one last operation: to destroy Mundt, something which Leamas is only too happy to do. Leamas is later seen apparently out of the service and unemployed. He gets a job at a reference library and starts an affair with Nan Perry, another librarian and a member of the British communist party. Leamas gives the impression of a bitter, broken man and an alcoholic. He later assaults a grocer and spends time in prison. After his release from jail, Leamas is approached by a man called Ashe who claims to be part of a charity that supports ex-convicts. Leamas is quick to realise that Ashe and his associate Carlton are East German agents who want him to defect and provide information. Still a heavy drinker and desperate for money, he agrees. Leamas later visits George Smiley, another leading official in the "Circus", and there he meets Control who briefs him on what he is to tell the Germans. Leamas' defection is part of a long-term plan hatched by the British that will lead the East Germans to believe that Mundt is a traitor and will be executed by his own side. Travelling on a false passport, Leamas goes to Holland where he meets Peters, an East German Intelligence official. Leamas tells Peters about what he knows about the "Circus" and specifically about Operation "Rolling Stone" during which he made payments into Danish and Finnish banks under a false name. The money was later taken out by a "business partner", actually an agent working behind the Iron Curtain. Leamas later reads a newspaper article which shows that he is wanted by the police in England. He has no choice now but to agree to actually go to East Germany itself and is taken there by Peters. Leamas arrives at a compound where he meets Fiedler, Mundt's deputy in counter-espionage. It's well known that there is little love lost between Mundt, an ex-Nazi, and Fiedler, who is a Jew. Fiedler questions Leamas further about "Rolling Stone" and suggests that it was all about secret payments to a spy even higher up in the East German government than Karl Riemeck, who worked for the Presidium of the East German Communist Party. Leamas himself rejects this theory on the grounds that, as head of British Intelligence operations in Germany, he would have been told about all the agents working there. Meanwhile in London, Leamas' girlfriend Nan Perry is visited by George Smiley who claims to be a friend of Leamas. She is later invited to East Germany as part of an exchange program between the British and East German Communist Parties. One night, Fiedler and Leamas return to the compound where they are arrested by Mundt himself. However, Fiedler has already reported his own findings to the Presidium and Mundt is himself later arrested as a spy for the British. A secret tribunal is convened to determine Mundt's guilt. At the hearing, Fiedler outlines his case: in 1959, Mundt was part of a trading mission in London, a cover for intelligence work. He killed a man and escaped under the noses of the authorities. Fiedler claims that his escape was too easy and that he only got away when he agreed to supply information to the British, for which he was paid. Fiedler also points out that Karl Riemeck, a proven spy, rose high in the East German civil service thanks to Mundt, thus enabling them to gain access to secrets. When Riemeck came under suspicion, Mundt had him killed to protect himself. Another point is that the money from the bank accounts set up by Leamas in Helsinki and Copenhagen was withdrawn at times when Mundt is known to have been in those cities. When Leamas is asked to give evidence he again rejects the idea that Mundt was a spy for Britain because he - Leamas - would have been told. In answer to Mundt's lawyer, he denies ever meeting George Smiley. Mundt's lawyer, Karden, claims Leamas was set up by his boss, Control, to defect in order to frame Mundt and get him executed. He further reveals that Mundt's agents actually followed Leamas during his last days in London and that, although he gave them the slip, it was in the neighbourhood of George Smiley's residence. Leamas' girlfriend, Nan Perry, then appears in the court, having been lured to East Germany. Without knowing exactly what is going on, she is quizzed over her involvement. It's revealed that she now owns the lease on her rented flat due to an anonymous benefactor and that she was visited there by George Smiley. Karden persuades the court that Leamas did meet Smiley before he left London and set in motion a plan to discredit Mundt. In an attempt to try and get Nan out of trouble, Leamas quickly steps forward and admits that Karden is right about the British plan. Mundt is cleared and Fiedler and Leamas are arrested. Although Leamas hoped to get her released, Nan is also taken into custody. Leamas is taken back to his cell, but later hears the door being unlocked. Making his way out of the building to a back exit he meets Mundt. Nan is also there waiting next to a car. Mundt gives Leamas instructions on how to get to East Berlin and meet a contact who will get him over the Wall. His escape will give Mundt extra excuses to purge Fiedler and his associates and have them executed. During the journey by car, Leamas tells a confused Nan what's really been going on, the truth that he himself has only just realised: Mundt is a spy for the British and Fiedler was closing in on him. Rather than just have Fiedler killed, Smiley and Control decided to discredit him and his evidence as well. Leamas was used to make Fiedler's case and Nan to undermine it. Thus Fiedler will die for trying to incriminate a senior intelligence officer and Mundt will be able to resume his work as a double agent. When Nan berates him for causing the execution of Fiedler who was guilty of nothing, Leamas tells her that London needs Mundt in order to protect the West and the freedoms people like her take for granted: "What the hell do you think spies are? Moral philosophers measuring everything they do against the word of God or Karl Marx? They're not. They're just a bunch of seedy, squalid bastards like me. Little men, drunkards, queers, hen-pecked husbands, civil servants playing cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten little lives. Do you think they sit like monks in a cell, balancing right against wrong? Yesterday I would've killed Mundt because I thought him evil and an enemy, but not today. Today he's evil and my friend. London needs him. They need him so that the great moronic masses you admire so much can sleep soundly in their flea-bitten beds again. They need him for the safety of ordinary crummy people like you and me." He also points out that her own Communist beliefs have their own share of evils: "There's a few million bodies on that path." In East Berlin, Leamas and Nan meet a contact who directs them to a section of the Wall over which they can escape to the West. But as they climb over it, the contact takes aim with a rifle and kills Nan, who now knows too much about Mundt to be kept alive. A shocked Leamas sees Nan collapse to the bottom of the Wall on the Eastern side. At that moment, Smiley himself calls from the Western side for Leamas to hurry and get over the Wall. Leamas instead climbs back down to the East German side and goes to Nan's lifeless body where he himself is shot dead.

The film opens with narration over a silhouette of Hill House at night. The narrator, Dr. John Markway (Richard Johnson) tells us, "An evil old house, the kind some people call haunted is like an undiscovered country waiting to be explored. Hill House had stood for 90 years and might stand for 90 more. Silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House. Whatever walked there walked alone." Title and credits follow, then narration continues, "Scandal, murder, insanity, suicide: The history of Hill House was ideal. It had everything I wanted..." The house was built in New England by a man named Hugh Crain for his wife and young daughter. A horse and carriage accident took the life of the first Mrs. Crain (an uncredited Pamela Buckley) before she even saw the house. Hugh Crain (an uncredited Howard Lang) and young daughter, Abigail (an uncredited Janet Mansell) said a few words over the body, but Hugh was left an embittered man. Crain married again, and the second Mrs. Crain (an uncredited Freda Knorr) also died, falling down the main staircase. Hugh Crain left Abigail with a nurse (an uncredited Susan Richards) and went to England where he died in a drowning accident. Abigail kept the same nursery room her entire life. By the time she was eighty (an uncredited Amy Dalby) she was a bedridden invalid. Her nurse-companion (an uncredited Rosemary Dorken) was a local girl and, it is with this young companion the evil reputation of Hill House really begins. The old lady died while calling for help. The companion was trysting on the verandah with a farm hand. The companion inherited Hill House and occupied it for many years, but eventually hanged herself. The house then passed to a distant relative, named Mrs. Sannerson (Fay Compton). Markway visits Mrs. Sannerson where he convinces her to let him use the house for psychic research. He explains, "I shall occupy the house with a group of carefully selected assistants...I must have specially qualified help to take notes and document any evidence of the supernatural I may find." Eldridge Harper (Ronald Adam), Mrs. Sannerson's lawyer, voices his concern about publicity seekers and the propriety of having women in the house. Harper suggests to Mrs. Sannerson that her nephew, Luke, joins the doctor at Hill House, as he expects to inherit the property. Mrs. Sannerson asks point blank, "Exactly what do you and your assistants expect to find at Hill House?" Markway replies, "Maybe only a few loose floorboards, and maybe, I only say maybe, the key to another world." Dr. Markway, taking a leave of absence from his university professorship, finalizes his list of assistants. Only two end up accepting, Eleanor Lance and Theodora (no last name). Eleanor Lance (Julie Harris) is living with her sister. She is nearly broke and weary after looking after her invalid mother non-stop for eleven years. Mother is now dead, and she fights with her sister over just about everything. She begs to use the car, which is after all, half hers. Her brother-in-law, Bud Fredericks (an uncredited Paul Maxwell) tries to act as mediator between Eleanor and his wife, Carrie (Diane Clare). He is sympathetic to Eleanor's plight, but their daughter, Dora (an uncredited Verina Greenlaw) takes her cues from her mother, and taunts her Aunt Eleanor. On the vacation plan, Bud sides with Eleanor, "I think you should have a vacation, Nell." Carrie objects, but Eleanor is not to be deterred and she shows her family how she reacts when pushed to her breaking point. She is normally quiet and meek, but when pushed is loud and assertive. Nell decides to take the car and confronts the garage attendant (an uncredited Claude Jones) for the keys. She departs Boston along U.S. 50 and Route 238 to Hill House. We hear Nell thinking and she reveals she will never return to live with her sister. In fact, most of what we learn of Eleanor is hearing her thoughts. Eleanor arrives at Hill House. The property is surrounded by a stone wall and the entrance by a tall, iron spiked, gate. She honks the car horn, and Mr. Dudley (Valentine Dyall), the cranky caretaker, finally deigns to respond. "What do you want?" he asks. Eleanor explains that she is expected. After an impertinent exchange with Eleanor, Dudley finally opens the gate and allows her to enter the property. Eleanor is the first to arrive and drives up to the house. Along the way she stops to look at it. It is a huge, stone mansion with lots of detail on the façade and steep, pitched roofs. Her first reaction is that the house is vile and it is staring at her. She carries her suitcase to the front door and is greeted by Mrs. Dudley (Rosalie Crutchley). Mrs. Dudley reluctantly allows Eleanor to come inside, but does not utter a word to her. The inside of the house is dark and over-decorated, and Eleanor is escorted to her room. Mrs. Dudley explains the house rules about meals, and that she won't stay in the house after dark. Eleanor checks out the bathroom and hears the next guest arrive. Theodora (Claire Bloom) introduces herself. Eleanor explains they share a bathroom. Mrs. Dudley repeats her meal and departure rules by rote, but Theo and Nell ignore her. Theodora is a bit strange to Eleanor (Theo clearly flirts with Eleanor throughout the film) Theodora's sexual orientation is only hinted at, and we later learn she has the gift of ESP. Theo and Nell explore the house, but they get lost. Both women feel a chill, and Nell observes, "The house, it's alive." Theo seems to feel that the house wants Nell. Dr. Markway appears and explains he left the door opened, but it closed itself. Markway gives the women a tour of part of the house, starting with the main purple parlor, which they will use as an operations center. He explains that all the doors were set slightly off-center, so they close themselves. Despite studying plans to the house, even Markway gets lost on his way to the dining room. They hear a noise, but it turns out to be Luke Sannerson (Russ Tamblyn) mixing a pitcher of martinis as he enters the dining room. Luke serves each person a martini. They sit down for dinner and discuss their duties and responsibilities. Markway explains that Theo was accepted because of her remarkable power of ESP and Eleanor had a poltergeist experience as a child, "showers of stone fell on your house for three days when you were 10 years old." Luke is a non-believer. His interest is to financially exploit Hill House, after he inherits it, of course. That evening, in the parlor, Markway works on his notes while Eleanor sits quietly on the couch. Theo and Luke play gin rummy at the game table. Theo's ability to see cards allows her to win five games in a row, much to Luke annoyance. She demands he pay her the $12 he owes, but he refuses because she cheated. The four decide to turn in for the night and continue the tour the next morning. Markway gives them papers and asks that they complete them with their observations each night. Sometime during the night, Eleanor wakes, and still in a near dream state, thinks she hears her mother knocking on the wall. Theo hears it from the next room also and calls to Nell. The two women are frightened and both hear the pounding noise. It comes and goes, but louder each time. They finally hear a woman shrieking and laughing that fades away. When Nell opens the door she sees Luke and Markway in the hall outside. The men explain they were chasing a dog and followed it outside, but they did not hear the loud noises the women heard. Markway concludes that something is trying to separate the men and women. The next morning, Markway and Nell join for breakfast. Nell is starting to develop romantic feelings for John Markway, unaware that he is married. She tells him that she spent eleven years taking care of her invalid mother. Nell also voices her fear that she will be turned out of Hill House with no where to go. Markway tells Nell how he came to do psychic research, and that his family disapproves. Theo joins the pair and warns the doctor, "If anyone gets hurt, it's going to be your fault, Markway." Markway explains that no one has ever been physically hurt by a ghost. Luke enters and directs his companions to something he saw in the hall. Someone or something has handwritten a message in chalk on the wall. It says, "Help Eleanor Come Home." Eleanor reacts strongly. She first accuses Theo of playing a cruel joke. The two women bicker and Markway postpones the tour and tells Theo to take Eleanor to her room. The tour starts with the greenhouse. A large stone sculpture sits in the center of the room. It is supposed to be St. Francis curing the lepers, but Luke thinks its a family portrait of Hugh Crain and his wives and daughter. Suddenly, the door slams open and a gust of wind moves the plants. They approach the library, but Nell refuses to enter. The smell reminds her of her mother's sick room. Prominent in the room is a very tall, wrought iron, spiral staircase. Markway points out that the balcony high above is where the companion to Abigail Crain hanged herself. Luke climbs up a few feet on the staircase, but jumps back to the ground when it starts to sway and shake. Eleanor ventures out to the verandah and nearly falls over the balcony as she looks up to the tower above the library. Markway threatens to send her home, but Nell begs to stay. Markway suggests Theo and Nell share a bedroom... "like sisters". That evening, the two women discuss their lives and plans for the future. Nell makes up a story about having an apartment of her own. Just when Theo is about to make a move onto Nell, Markway calls them and Luke into the hallway outside the Nursery. He has discovered a cold spot. He invites all to experience the phenomenon. He gleefully explains, "A cold spot, a genuine cold spot. I guarantee it won't register on any thermometer." Luke dismisses it as just a draft, but Markway says it is the heart of Hill House: The Nursery. In the middle of the night, Nell awakens. She hears a little girl laughing. She asks Theo to hold her hand, as their two beds are almost touching. The laughter continues and Nell complains, "Theo, you're breaking my hand." The laughs turn to wimpering and Nell complains that something is hurting a child and she won't allow that to happen. She yells, "Stop It!" Theo turns on the light and we see Nell is on a day bed about twenty feet from the bed Theo occupies. Nell stares at her hand and asks, "Whose hand was I holding?" The next morning, Markway is in the music room and checks his watch and makes a note about the harp playing itself. Nell enters the room and asks about how it could play itself. Markway explains that it may be preternatural: Something we don't have any natural explanation for right now, but probably will have some day. Nell voices her fear that it is all in her imagination and concludes she may be going insane. She is haunted by the circumstances of her mother's death and that she may somehow be responsible. They both hear the harp play a note and Markway again checks his watch and makes a note in his paperwork. That evening, Luke finds a disturbing book that Hugh Crain made for his daughter, Abigail. Nell and Theo bicker and Markway notes that everyone's nerves are on edge. Theo continues to flirt as well as needle Nell, this time about a budding romance she fantasizes about with John Markway. Nell runs away and Theo catches up to her, and tells Nell that is he is making a fool of herself in thinking that Dr. Markway will ever get involved with her. Nell accuses Theo of being an "unnatural thing" as well as a "nature's mistake." At that moment, a car horn honks and a taxi pulls up in front of the house. Grace Markway (Lois Maxwell), John's wife, arrives. She informs her husband, "A reporter's been telephoning all day. He's on your track. He's heard about you renting this place." Grace begs her husband to abandon the house and his research. When John refuses, Grace pays the driver, grabs her suitcase and announces she is staying at Hill House, "to join the ghost hunt." When Eleanor casually mentions the nursery as a place to stay, Grace quickly accepts the challenge, "Thank you, my dear. The nursery it is." Markway and Nell try to dissuade her, but Grace responds, "You insult my intelligence. You don't think I'd believe anything you ghost hunters might tell me." Luke notices the door to the nursery is open for the first time. Grace decides to spend the night in the room, despite everyone's warning not to. Markway insists he and the three researchers spend the night downstairs in the parlor. Later that night, Nell and Theo sleep together on the sofa by the fireplace as Markway sleeps in a chair. Luke finishes his tour upstairs and enters the parlor. He heads for a bottle on the mantle. Suddenly, the parlor door slams shut by itself and the others wake with a start. They hear a deep rhythmic banging outside the door. Markway is concerned about his wife upstairs. Next a very loud banging comes from just outside the door. The unseen phantom presses against the parlor door as it bows inward and out like breathing, creaking and crunching against the hinges. The sound moves to overhead towards the nursery. Markway is desperate to check on his wife. Unseen, Nell runs from the parlor, through the music room, and upstairs directly to the nursery room. The doors are open, but Grace Markway is nowhere to be seen. Her bed shows signs of being used. Markway and the others arrive and start the search. Nell wanders away. She finds herself in the greenhouse. Descending into her own little world, Nell dances out onto the verandah. When she hears the others calling to her, Nell runs into the Library. She is drawn to the spiral staircase and the balcony at the top. Before she reaches the top, the rickety staircase begins its swaying, the lateral support bolts pulling away from the wall. Markway calls to her, begging her to carefully walk back down. She ignores him and stands on the balcony. Markway carefully climbs the stairs and joins Nell on the iron balcony platform. Before they walk back down, Nell sees Grace Markway peer at her through a trap door in the ceiling. A little later, Markway is furious and now insists Eleanor leave the house for her own safety. Luke brings her car around and Theo packs her bag. Nell tries to talk them out of her dismissal, but the three insist she leave. They escort Eleanor out to her car. Luke gets back out of Nell's car to retrieve the gate key from Markway. She drives off without Luke. Before she reaches the gate she is distracted by the white-robed figure of Grace Markway and crashes into a tree. The three find Eleanor dead in the half overturned car. She crashed into the same tree that killed the first Mrs. Crain. Grace wanders over to the accident scene. She explains to her husband, "I didn't want any of this to happen. You must believe me, John." She explains that she woke and was frightened. She got lost looking for her husband and ended up in the attic. While Theo blames Grace for Eleanor's accident, Luke takes a different view. "Eleanor did it to herself. It looked to me, anyway, like she deliberately aimed the car at this tree." Markway blames the house. Luke stares at the house and remarks, "It ought to be burned down and the ground sowed with salt." We close with an evening shot of Hill House with Eleanor, now a ghost, narrating from beyond the grave about Hill House and that "we who walk here... walk alone." The end title comes up as well as the final title card 'The Haunting' followed by eerie piano music.

During the War of 1812, Louisiana buccaneer Jean Lafitte assists the Americans in defending New Orleans against the attacking British war fleet. During the War of 1812 against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland: General Andrew Jackson has only 1,200 men left to defend New Orleans when he learns that a British fleet will arrive with 60 ships and 16,000 men to take the city. In this situation an island near the city becomes strategically important to both parties, but it's inhabited by the last big buccaneer: Jean Lafitte. Although Lafitte never attacks American ships, the governor hates him for selling merchandise without taxes--and is loved by the citizens for the same reason. When the big fight gets nearer, Lafitte is drawn between the fronts. His heart belongs to America, but his people urge him to join the party that's more likely to win. —Tom Zoerner <Tom.Zoerner@informatik.uni-erlangen.de> World-renowned pirate Jean Lafitte is drawn in to the defense of New Orleans during the War of 1812 by his love for the daughter of then-Governor of Louisiana Claiborne. He is betrayed by the Americans and must deal with the stubborn General Andrew Jackson to get his crew released from jail. The two strike a bargain and Lafitte comes to Jackson's rescue in the defense of Louisiana, only to be outcast again. —R.B.

A fading comedian and a suicidally despondent ballet dancer must look to each other to find purpose and hope in their lives. Chaplin's final American film tells the story of a fading music hall comedian's effort to help a despondent ballet dancer learn both to walk and feel confident about life again. The highlight of the film is the classic duet with Chaplin's only real artistic film comedy rival, Buster Keaton. —Kenneth Chisholm <kchishol@execulink.com> It's 1914 London. Smelling gas, a man named Calvero breaks down the door of an apartment in the building where he lives, and finds a young woman trying to commit suicide. She is Thereza 'Terry' Ambrose, a ballerina. On advice from the attending physician, Calvero decides not to report it to the police, as attempted suicide is a criminal offense. As Terry is evicted from her apartment, Calvero allows her to stay with him for as long as she needs. As he nurses her back to physical health, he also deals with her emotional health and uncovering the reason for her attempted suicide. Although he is constantly telling her that life is worth living, he can understand the pressures and guilt she has faced in her life, as he himself is an ex-performer, a once legendary stage comedian whose professional career was ruined by excessive alcohol consumption. He is trying to revive his professional career. They become each other's emotional support as they try to make it in the world of the performing arts, for Calvero the second time around. Through it all, Calvero tries to show Terry the difference between devotion and romantic love, especially as an old admirer of hers named Neville re-enters her life. —Huggo In 1914 London, the formerly successful and presently decadent and alcoholic clown Calvero smells gas in the building where he lives and breaks into an apartment. He finds the suicidal Thereza 'Terry' Ambrose laying on her bed unconscious, and brings a doctor who saves her. They do not report the incident to the police, and Calvero nurses her back to health in his apartment two floors up, fending off questions from their landlady. He learns that Terry was a ballet dancer who had a problem in her legs that are paralyzed. However, the doctor tells Calvero that she has not a physical, but actually a psychological problem with her legs. He emotionally supports her, and she recovers her health and becomes a successful ballerina. Meanwhile, Calvero is also affected by Terry and quits drinking. Calvero tries to rebuild his career in show business while Terry falls in love with him, but age must pass as youth enters. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Depressed over her seemingly failed dance career, Terry attempts suicide, only to be rescued by Calvero, an impoverished, once-famous stage clown. Calvero revives Terry's health and prospects, and in the process recovers his own self-esteem as well. When Terry proposes marriage, Calvero thinks their age difference is too great, and leaves to become a street clown so that Terry's friendship with a promising young composer can instead blossom. —Jwelch5742