Freddie Jones

Teenagers Sherlock Holmes (Nicholas Rowe) and John Watson (Alan Cox) meet and become good friends as students at London's prestigious Brompton Academy at the height of the Victorian era. Holmes has remarkable powers of observation and prides himself on guessing people's names & where they are from just by observing them keenly. Meanwhile, a hooded figure uses a blowpipe to shoot Bentley Bobster (Patrick Newell) and Reverend Duncan Nesbitt (Donald Eccles) with hallucinogenic thorns, the effects of which lead to their deaths. Bobster has a meal at a restaurant (when he hallucinates that the bird he is eating has come alive and is attacking him). Bobster returns home and locks himself inside his first-floor room, and he jumps out of the window when he imagines the room attacking him and set itself on fire. Reverend Duncan Nesbitt was alone in church at night when he hallucinates that the knights from the tinted windows have come alive and are attacking him. Nesbitt runs out of church and is trampled by a horse carriage. Watson is introduced to Holmes' mentor, Rupert T. Waxflatter (Nigel Stock), a retired schoolmaster and inventor. Waxflatter is an eccentric retired professor to whom the school has given a large attic space for his inventions, which include a flying machine. Waxflatter had already written 27 books and is considered a genius. His machine has a bicycle pedal which flaps the wings and provides lift to the craft. Holmes finds a newspaper article circled on Waxflatter's death announcing Bobster's death. A mysterious man comes to meet Waxflatter (whom we later learn was Craigwitch). Waxflatter's niece Elizabeth (Sophie Ward) is also Holmes' close friend and love interest, and Holmes competes for her affections with fellow student Dudley (Earl Rhodes), though she shows a marked preference for Holmes. Holmes suspects foul play in the deaths of Bobster and Nesbitt (as both men graduated from the same university in 1809, and the manner of their deaths did not match their personality) but is rebuffed by Scotland Yard policeman Lestrade (Roger Ashton-Griffiths) when he suggests a connection between the deaths. Holmes is unjustly expelled from the Academy due to Dudley's machinations. During an exam, Dudley throws a note at Homles' feet and when he picks it up, the teacher spots him and accuses him of cheating. Before he leaves, Holmes has one last match with his fencing instructor Professor Rathe (Anthony Higgins) but loses after becoming distracted by a light reflected from Rathe's ring. The mysterious hooded figure strikes again, shooting Waxflatter with a hallucinogenic thorn, causing him to stab himself as he fends off imagined gargoyles. As he dies, Waxflatter's last words to Holmes are "Eh-Tar." Holmes secretly meets with Watson and Elizabeth and begins his investigation of the murders. Piecing together the clues - a jingling-bell sound made by the killer, a piece of cloth, and the blowpipe dropped at Waxflatter's murder scene - the trio uncover the existence of Rame Tep, an ancient Egyptian cult of Osiris worshipers. The cult's main weapons were blowpipes, used to shoot thorns dipped into a solution which cause the victim to experience realistic, nightmare-like hallucinations. Their investigation then leads to a paraffin warehouse of Froggit and Froggit, a Wapping-area manufacturer, where they discover a modern-day revival of the Rame Tep cult conducting their service inside a wooden-pyramid-reconstruction hidden in the warehouse. When Holmes interrupts the ceremonial sacrifice of a young girl, the three are attacked and shot with thorns by the worshipers. It is only through Holmes' endurance and the intervention of a graveyard caretaker that they're able to survive the hallucinations and their pursuers. The following evening, at Waxflatter's loft, Holmes and Watson discover a picture of the three victims and a fourth man, Chester Cragwitch (Freddie Jones). Unfortunately, Rathe and school nurse Mrs. Dribb (Susan Fleetwood) catch and separate them, preparing to expel Watson and Elizabeth in the morning. The three escape their sleeping quarters and Elizabeth returns to the loft to salvage her uncle's work. Holmes and Watson locate Mr. Cragwitch who explains that in his youth, he and the other five men were in Egypt, where they looted an underground pyramid containing the tombs of five Egyptian princesses. This was the underground pyramid of Rame Tep where they planned to build a hotel. Their find led to an angry uprising by the local populace which was violently put down by the British Army; one boy, Eh-Tar, who along with his sister lost their parents in the uprising, swore revenge. Eh-Tar vows to replace the bodies of the five princesses with the bodies of the men who desecrated the tomb. Craigwitch is then poisoned by the hooded figure's thorn and suddenly attacks Holmes but is subdued by Inspector LeStrade, who came after reconsidering the evidence presented by Holmes. As they return to campus, Holmes realizes that Rathe is Eh-Tar, but he and Watson arrive too late to stop Rathe and his sister Mrs. Dribb (Susan Fleetwood) (ostensibly the school nurse) from abducting Elizabeth. Using Waxflatter's self-propelled, heavier-than-air flying machine, they travel to the warehouse just in time to prevent Rathe from sacrificing Elizabeth, setting the cult's pyramid temple afire. As Rathe escapes with Elizabeth, Mrs Dribb is killed in a fight with Holmes. Watson successfully thwarts Rathe's escape by sabotaging his carriage. Rathe then tries to shoot Holmes, but Elizabeth intervenes and takes the shot instead. Enraged, Holmes duels Rathe and manages to get the better of him when Rathe falls through the frozen River Thames. Holmes returns to Elizabeth's side and caresses her as she dies. Afterwards, as he exchanges goodbyes with Watson, Holmes explains how he figured the identity of Rathe and Dribb, who are actually Eh-Tar and his sister, with Watson pointing out that Rathe is Eh-Tar spelled backwards - a clue that Holmes had failed to notice. Holmes transfers to another school and Watson gives him an antique pipe that he bought during the investigations as a Christmas/farewell present. As Holmes leaves by horse carriage, Watson expresses per voice-over (by his older, adult self-reminiscing) that he would long for yet more adventures at Holmes' side. Sometime later, Rathe is revealed to be alive; he checks himself into an inn as "Moriarty", making him Holmes' arch-nemesis.

In outer space a large asteroid-like object floats above the planet Krull. It suddenly changes course and lands on the planet. From fissures in the rock pour out a vast army of strange and fearsome creatures called Slayers. They fan out and begin to terrorize villages and cities. The ruler of the Slayers and inhabitant of the asteroid, called the Black Fortress, is a hulking alien being called the Beast. A voice, belonging to an old man named Ynyr speaks of a prophecy that one day a young prince will possess the power to defeat the Beast. Until the prophecy can be fulfilled, Krull will endure many more years of terror from the Beast and his armies. The young prince believed to be Krull's savior is Colwyn. He is betrothed to a young woman, Lyssa. The prophecy also speaks of the prince's bride being born with an ancient name and that she and her husband shall rule the galaxy if the Beast is defeated. Colwyn rides to his bride's father's castle for the wedding. He and his father & their party are delayed because the roads they travel are dangerous and there are regular patrols of Slayers. When they arrive, the marriage ceremony is put into motion. Just as the bride and groom are about to complete a tradition of exchanging a magical flame the Slayers attack the castle and interrupt the ceremony. Colwyn and his father and his father-in-law-to-be mount a valiant defense but they are vastly outnumbered. Lyssa is captured, Colwyn's father and the bride's father are slain and Colwyn himself is wounded and left for dead. Some time later Colwyn is found by Ynyr, who takes him to a hidden location to tend to his wounds. He tells Colwyn of the prophecy and that he is the prince that will save the planet. However, Colwyn must save Lyssa from the clutches of The Beast, who has taken her back to the Black Fortress. Colwyn scoffs at the plan since it is widely known that with each sunrise on the planet the Black Fortress changes location and never appears in the same place twice. Ynyr seems undaunted by the ubiquitous nature of the Black Fortress -- he believes that an old wizard named the Emerald Seer can predict the next location. Ynyr also tells Colwyn that he'll need an ancient weapon to complete the mission: the Glaive, a five-bladed star-shaped device. To retrieve it the two travel to the Granite Mountains. Colwyn makes a difficult and dangerous climb into a volcanic crevice. He finds the Glaive lying in a stream of lava. He pulls it out and the sooty coating falls off, revealing an ornate weapon. When he returns to Ynyr, the old man tells him not to make use of it until he knows he needs it. As they make their way to the Emerald Seer's home, they suddenly see a meteor-like object fly by. It turns out to be a man who introduces himself as Ergo the Magnificent, a would-be sorcerer. After a seemingly confrontational conversation, Ergo decides to join Colwyn and Ynyr when he sees a large and imposing cyclops. Some time later the party encounters a small group of bandits who all still wear shackles indicating that they are actually escaped prisoners. Colwyn recognizes that they are criminals but not without honor and that they can help him in his quest. He frees them from their shackles and appoints their leader, Torquil, his new Lord Marshal. A short time later, Ergo is nearly killed by a Slayer; he is saved by the same cyclops he'd seen when he'd joined with Colwyn and Ynyr. The cyclops tells them his name is Rell. His race has a long history with the Beast -- they'd previously been a two-eyed race of giants who'd been offered the ability to see the future. However, the Beast had tricked them into giving up one of their eyes for the ability to see only their own deaths. The band arrives at the Emerald Seer's home in a thick forest. The old man has a small apprentice, Titch, whom is befriended by Ergo. The Seer uses a large emerald to predict the next location of the Black Fortress but is violently thwarted by the Beast, who crushes the gem from his location. The Seer says that he can try again from his own temple deep in a nearby swamp where the Beast's power cannot reach. In the Black Fortress, Lyssa wanders through many bizarre chambers. She is taunted by the grumbling voice of the Beast. When one of the hallways closes in on her, she enters the fortress' central chamber where The Beast himself lives. He tells her that she must marry him so he can secure his power. She refuses and he threatens to kill more of Krull's inhabitants until she agrees. While traveling through the swamp Colwyn's band is attacked by Slayers, a distraction from the Beast's real plan, sending a creature called a Changeling to kill the Seer and take his place. The Seer's body is found by Rell, who rushes to find the party. He stops the Changeling from killing Colwyn. With no seeming way to find the Black Fortress, the party settles in for the night in a nearby forest. One of the bandits' wives provides them with food. Ynyr tells the group that he will seek the counsel of an old woman, the Widow of the Web, who can also see into the future. When Torquil scoffs at the plan, citing the fact that no one has entered the Widow's lair and lived, Ynyr tells them that he knows the Widow's real name and he may be able to speak to her and live. Ynyr enters the Widow's cave which contains a giant spider web. He is immediately pursued by the Widow's guardian, a large white spider. He calls out the Widow's name, which is the same as Colwyn's bride, Lyssa, and the Widow turns over an hourglass, stopping the spider until Ynyr can enter her chamber at the center of the web. Ynyr and the Widow have a history of unrequited love and the Widow reveals that she is trapped forever in the web because she killed the newborn son that resulted from their romance. She agrees to help Ynyr and tells him that the Black Fortress will appear the next day on the Iron Desert and will remain there until sunset. For Ynyr to leave the web alive, she gives him the sand from the hourglass. Ynyr cannot stop the sand from leaking out of his hands and the widow gravely warns him that his own life will run out when all the sand has run out. Ynyr is able to leave the cave and the spider attacks the Widow's home, destroying it. Ynyr returns to the camp and calls out the next location of the Black Fortress to the band, dying shortly after. Colwyn and Torquil puzzle over how to reach the fortress in time. Rell tells them that a species of horse, fire mares, can cross the distance. The band finds a herd of the animals and sets out, leaving Rell behind at his request: his own time of death is near and he wants to be left alone. The band rides out to the Iron Desert just in time to catch the fortress. They fight Slayers while scaling the fortress' rocky exterior. Just when it seems they will not make it inside, Rell appears and holds a closing door open for them. After they are all inside, the door finally shuts, crushing Rell. Inside the fortress, the band is separated by attacking Slayers. They encounter various traps in the many chambers of the fortress. Colwyn is able to find the central chamber where Lyssa is held captive. He uses the Glaive to cut a doorway, however the process is slow. Most of his band are able to avoid being killed by traps, however some of them die. When he finally gains entry, Colwyn again uses the Glaive to fight the Beast and finally lodges the weapon in its chest. When he gestures to retrieve it, the Glaive will not return to his hand. The Beast attacks again, seemingly invincible until Lyssa reminds Colwyn that the power of the flame used during their marriage ceremony can be used as a weapon. Colwyn fires it at the Beast repeatedly until the monster is destroyed. The traps that ensnared his comrades deactivate and they join up to escape. Colwyn uses the flame to blast a hole in the wall of the fortress, allowing them to exit. The fortress sits on a lush, open field, and begins to crumble, the pieces of it flying into outer space. Colwyn and Lyssa are officially married and we hear Ynyr's voice saying they shall rule the galaxy with benevolence.

A large Sikorsky helicopter flies over the Alaskan wilderness, its pilots looking for someone below. That someone, Major Mitchell Gant USAF (Rtd) (Clint Eastwood), hears the helicopter approaching and instantly breaks into a dead run back toward his cabin, where he takes a shotgun off its rack and cocks it. As the helicopter lands, Gant lapses into a post-traumatic memory of a nightmare that he lived through in Vietnam: shot down over the North in his F-105 jet, he was being taken to a prison camp when two Hueys machine-gunned his captors. Gant suffered personal trauma when two overflying A-1 Skyraider planes dropped incendiaries on the site, killing a little girl who stood around too long, watching the battle. Back in the present, Captain Arthur Buckholz (David Huffman) pulls Gant out of his episode and apologizes for the unannounced visit. The next several scenes are back-and-forth cuts between the conversation between Gant and Buckholz, and a briefing being run by Kenneth Aubrey (Freddie Jones) of the British SIS concerning the Soviet Union's latest fighter/interceptor: the Mikoyan-Gurevich "MiG" Model 31, given the code name "Firefox" by NATO. Its capabilities seem otherworldly: total stealth, twin engines each delivering 50,000 pounds of thrust, combat ceiling 100,000-plus feet, speed in excess of Mach 5 or even Mach 6 (and able to maintain it, no small feat), and a weapons and defense system able to read the pilot's thoughts and allow him to aim and fire his weapons without even having to press a button, thus affording him a 3- to 5-second reaction-time advantage over any opponent. NATO's decision is to send Gant in to steal a Firefox prototype right off the Soviet development base at Bilyarsk, hundreds of miles east of Moscow, near the Ural Mountains. Gant resents the operation because he is being quite simply blackmailed; he has been allowed to live on government land which now will be sold out from under him if he does not agree to the mission. The NATO Air Force attache (Thomas Hill) resents it as well because Gant has no experience as a spy and, worse yet, is subject to post-traumatic stress disorder and may crack at any time. They use Gant for two reasons only: he speaks fluent Russian and happens to be a perfect fit for the pressure suit worn by the MiG-31's prime test pilot, Lt. Col. Yuriy Voskov (Kai Wulff). Gant goes through several weeks of retraining, both in flying and in aerial combat, and briefings on his first required impersonation--as a corrupt businessman named Leon Sprague, known to be smuggling heroin into the Soviet Union. After his training is over he is sent to London where Aubrey gives him his final briefing on his objectives and he's disguised with a new haircut and a false mustache. Gant is also familiarized with the underground network group, who are mostly Russian Jews. Aubrey also hands him a one-way homing device disguised as a cheap transistor radio. What his handlers don't tell him, though, is that if anything compromises the mission, Gant will be left on his own. Gant lands at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow, blusters his way through an unannounced customs search, and manages to leave the airport--with the "radio." He takes a taxi to his rooms at the Hotel Moscow, puts the radio into his pocket, and waits. Outside he sees three Soviet soldiers goose-stepping in formation while patrolling. In the meantime, at KGB Moscow Center on Dzerzhinsky Square, Colonel Kontarsky (Kenneth Colley) of the KGB finalizes his plans to safeguard the MiG-31 prior to its trials the next day which will be conducted for the Soviet First Secretary. He also orders his second-in-command, Dmitri Priabin (Oliver Cotton), to arrest some underground members at dawn, but not to move before then. Kontarsky in fact knows all about the spy network funneling information from Bilyarsk out of Russia--but even he does not know what the CIA and the SIS really have planned and as such, he does not want to totally disrupt the network, driving them further into hiding. That night Gant walks out to the Krasnokholmsky Bridge, under instructions to be there at precisely 10:30 with the KGB shadowing him -- he is ordered not to lose the KGB tail. There he meets the real Leon Sprague (George Orrison), plus his Moscow network escort, Pavel Upenskoy (Warren Clarke), and two of his confederates. Upenskoy orders Sprague to take Gant's cigar away from him and start smoking it--and then, before Gant's horrified eyes, whips out a pipe and clubs Sprague to death, mutilating the man's face. He then demands that Gant surrender his false papers, which he plants on Sprague before throwing him into the Moscow River. The four men then race to the Paveletskaya Metro station, where Upenskoy hurriedly briefs Gant on his next impersonation: as Michael Lewis, American tourist registered at the Hotel Warsaw. The four then board a subway, though Gant nearly misses it, because his bad dream of the burning girl returns at just that moment. The four ride the train to another station, but when they arrive the KGB is all over it. A KGB plainclothesman challenges Gant for identification, and Gant barely manages to convince him that he is who he says he is, and has to feign illness on account of the "rich food" at the Warsaw Hotel. Upenskoy, dissatisfied with Gant's performance, sends the flustered Gant into a nearby men's room to "get yourself together." But another KGB plainclothesman (Eugene Lipinski) follows Gant into the restroom, challenges him again, and then says that his papers are not in order. The plainclothesman reaches into his coat. Gant, thinking the man is going to draw a gun, grabs his arm and finds the man was only holding a wallet. Gant fights with the agent and kills him. Upenskoy, rushing in at the last minute, is horrified. Infuriated, he tells Gant that when the dead agent is discovered, the entire station will be locked down. He orders Gant to move quickly to the exit and angrily assures Gant this papers are, indeed, in order. Gant manages to leave the station, but only by cutting in line and acting like a clueless American. He, Upenskoy, and Upenskoy's colleagues barely manage to get to street level before whistles blow below, indicating that the KGB have found their dead detective and have sealed off the station. Upenskoy takes Gant to a warehouse belonging to a light-delivery service, where Upenskoy gives Gant yet another identity: that of Boris Glazunov, resident of the Mira Prospekt and employed as "driver's mate" to Upenskoy. The next morning, a telephone rings--just once--and Upenskoy tells Gant that they must leave at once because "KGB assigned to the plane" are outside in a car, prepared to follow him. Upenskoy gives Gant a pistol with orders not to use it unless absolutely necessary. Kontarsky, meanwhile, has word that Priabin has already picked up the real Boris Glazunov (Barrie Houghton) at his apartment, indicating the man in the van with Upenskoy is an imposter. Curious, Kontarsky orders a KGB tail team not to arrest Upenskoy but to tail him at a distance. Upenskoy and Gant manage to get through a checkpoint, where they know that they must "pose" for a photograph that will be sent to Moscow Center. Afterward, Upenskoy tells Gant that Boris Glazunov was picked up, and that Gant needs to realize that he is now a man of mystery. Upenskoy has decided to assume that the KGB will merely wait to see what develops as they try to identify Gant, who to them is simply someone who pretended to be a Russian driver's mate for some reason still unknown to them. Upenskoy also shares some of his own story: his wife is an imprisoned dissident and he has been trying to conduct his life in a way that will make him "worth of her", hence his involvement in the Jewish underground. She is Jewish but he is not, making his task even harder. Gant questions Upenskoy on his loyalty to the Jewish underground and can't seem to understand why so many of them are willing to die in opposition to the Soviet government. In the meantime, Sprague's former business associate identifies the body of Sprague but notes that he was badly beaten, almost as though his assailant wanted to obscure his identity, a thing that Police Inspector Aleksei Tortyev (Hugh Fraser) is very curious about indeed. Kontarsky is also curious, and demands to know who the mystery man is with Upenskoy, and why an old man (Czeslaw Grocholski) arrested at the warehouse took a poison and the others are "holding out." Kontarsky still refuses simply to arrest Upenskoy, because he wants every member of the spy network, no matter what--this although his officers now suspect that the mystery man is a foreign agent. Priabin is also present, and voices his suspicion that Boris Glazunov, now their prisoner, is totally ignorant of the identity of his substitute and perhaps even of the substitution. Upenskoy reaches Gant's next rendezvous point and orders Gant to jump from the van while it is in motion as soon as they round a curve. Gant thus succeeds jumping out undetected while Upenskoy leads the tail car away. Gant jogs down an incline and meets his next contact: Dr. Semelovsky (Ronald Lacey), a grumpy project scientist assigned to the MiG-31 program. Semelovsky hides Gant in his trunk and prepares to pass through the gate check at Bilyarsk. At Moscow Center, Boris Glazunov, refusing to the end to talk (or perhaps, as Priabin suspects, not knowing what to say or even what the KGB wants), dies under torture. Kontarsky, monumentally chagrined, now orders Upenskoy's van stopped. Oblivious to the new developments, Semelovsky successfully bluffs his way past the guards at the gate, excusing his tardiness by pretending to have engine trouble, sneaking Gant inside the Bilyarsk compound and drives him to the scientists' quarters, where Gant now meets Dr. Pyotr Baranovich (Nigel Hawthorne) and his significant other, Natalya (Dimitra Arliss), who offer him his first meal of the day. Meanwhile, Upenskoy gets into a gunfight with the KGB tail team and manages to kill them--but not before they wound him. He crashes his van, abandons it, and sets out on foot, knowing that his life is forfeit but still determined to lead them away from Gant. Baranovich outfits Gant as a Soviet Air Police officer and briefs him on how to bluff his way through a security gate, and on the location of the hangar and its facilities. Gant must kill the primary test pilot, Colonel Voskov, and hide his body in a locker. He also tells Gant that he knows that he will die after Gant escapes with the plane--but any resentment he might feel toward the British SIS for ordering him to sacrifice himself, pales before his resentment of the KGB for making that sacrifice necessary, and for denying him his freedom. At Moscow Center, Aleksei Tortyev asks Priabin to do him a favor: identify the man who landed at Sheremetyevo Airport posing as the dead Sprague. Tortyev thinks that this man is a foreign agent who substituted himself for Sprague. The technicians then surprise Tortyev and Priabin by saying that the man at Sheremetyevo is the same as the man who posed as Boris Glazunov and got out of Moscow on the way to Bilyarsk. Natalya brings word that the guards at the gate have been reinforced--and almost has a heart attack to see Gant outfitted as a Soviet Air Policeman. Baranovich reveals more dire information: that the program has not merely one prototype, but two. The second jet has an advantage over the 1st; it can refuel in the air, whereas Gant must rendezvous with an American submarine on an ice floe off Russia's Arctic coast. Baranovich also explains that he and his small dissident crew intend to sacrifice themselves by destroying the second prototype in the hangar. Gant must, therefore, get the first prototype out of the hangar as soon as he hears the fire alarm. Baranovich also briefs Gant on the coordinates he must feed into the navigation computer, and the Firefox' weapons (four air-to-air missiles, two 50-millimeter cannons, and two flak layers, called "rearward defense pods" or "drone tail units") and thought-activated control systems--but also says that in order to work it, he must "think in Russian" and not try to think in English and translate. Dmitri and Tortyev continue to discuss their lead. Tortyev then suggests that Dmitri search not for a seasoned spy, but for "a young fit man with brains"--i.e., an astronaut or a pilot. Dmitri agrees and commences a systematic search of their thousands of files on astronauts, Air Force pilots, etc. Gant steals his way inside the security gate and, using his falsified rank, takes it on himself to order an extra K-9 patrol to search the forest bordering the fence. He then walks through the hangar and sees the Firefox for the first time. A colonel (actually Kontarsky, though neither man knows the other) accosts him, and Gant apprises him of his orders to the K-9 unit to search the forest. Gant then moves to the pilot's dressing room, and waits there for Voskov, whom he knocks senseless, binds, gags, and stuffs into a locker, having decided not to kill him because "Oh, hell, you didn't do anything." Gant then goes into the showers and waits, at one point demanding that he not be disturbed when other security personnel challenge him for identification. Gant, now impersonating Voskov, manages to keep them from seeing him face-to-face. (Kontarsky has in fact realized that his mystery man has penetrated the installation and ordered a search.) While he waits, he suffers another attack of his PTSD and sits helpless on the floor of the shower. Back at Moscow Center, Priabin has now identified Gant from the pilot archive. Gant is a pilot in the American aggressor squadron, specially trained to engage Soviet pilots and fly their aircraft. He and Kontarsky speculate as to Gant's real plans: is he merely trying to inspect the plane up close? The two come to a terrifying realization that Gant means to steal the plane. Kontarsky immediately orders the arrest of Baranovich and the others--but just then the fire alarm rings; Baranovich and Semelovsky have started the fire that they hope will destroy the second prototype. The fire is put out before it can do any such damage. Semelovsky is shot down at once, and Baranovich manages to get off one round with a pistol before he and Natalya are also gunned down. The sound of the alarms in the hangar awaken Gant from his shock. The last thing Baranovich sees before he dies is a black pressure-suited figure making its way to the first prototype. Gant, like a man knowing what he is doing, walks over to the waiting plane, climbs aboard, hooks up, and starts going through a very accelerated pre-flight checklist. An officer challenges him for identification, and Gant first waves him off, but when the officer climbs to the cockpit Gant pushes him off the small ladder. Gant hurriedly completes his checklist--but when he raises his visor, Kontarsky recognizes him at once and orders the hangar doors shut. They are too late--Gant starts the engines and taxis out of the hangar at high speed. As the First Secretary's car arrives -- he has arrived early in an unannounced change of his itinerary -- Gant taxis to the end of the runway, and then takes off. A few miles away, Upenskoy watches Gant fly overhead and then, with the K-9 patrols ready to apprehend him, shoots himself. Gant first makes a deliberate close pass at an Aeroflot Ilyushin-model airliner, a deliberate strategy to confirm his heading traveling south, possibly to Turkey. He then begins a cockpit monologue--which turns into a dialogue with the First Secretary (Stefan Schnabel), who tries to persuade Gant to turn back and surrender, which Gant will not do. Gant finishes his conversation and then turns northeastward, back toward the Ural Mountain chain. The Soviet chiefs of staff, meanwhile, scramble all their air assets on the northern and southern borders and alert the Red Banner Fleets Northern and Southern. In a NATO war room, Aubrey and Buckholz realize, with great joy, that Gant has achieved liftoff. Gant reaches the Urals, and then makes his first mistake: impelled by insatiable curiosity, he test-flies the Firefox at supersonic speeds, seeking to test the power of the plane and its Terrain-Following Radar system. The Soviets realize that he has misled them, as the Air Force chief-of-staff, General Vladimirov (Klaus Löwitsch), has already realized. Vladimirov reasons that Gant was simply too good to blunder into an Aeroflot's flight path by accident. When the First Secretary asks why Gant simply doesn't fly east to China, Vladimirov says the MiG-31's range is only about 3000 miles. Vladimirov also explains that radar detection over Moscow will find him too easily if Gant flies west toward Europe, a chance that even a pilot as skilled as Gant would never take, despite the plane's stealth capability. Vladimirov now orders an elaborate plan to trap Gant at the northern end of the Urals, over the Gulf of Kara, where he believes that Gant may have a fueling rendezvous waiting for him on a sheet of ice. The Soviets think they have succeeded when they detect explosions over the Gulf (and so do Aubrey and Buckholz), but in fact Gant has devised a new strategy to elude them. He has downed another of their planes, a "Badger" recon plane, using the thought-controlled arsenal for the first time, and to good effect. This makes the Badger hotter than the Firefox and thus decoys the heat-seeking missiles the Soviets have fired after him. Vladimirov is not so sure that they could defeat Gant as easily as that. Sure enough, Gant wastes his advantage by overflying an ELINT trawler. The First Secretary excoriates Vladimirov, but can do little else; he cannot fire him on short notice. Vladimirov now sets up an ambush with a Soviet guided-missile cruiser. But Gant defeats that ambush, too. First he flies straight toward the cruiser, at low altitude and supersonic speed. He destroys one MiL-24 Hind helicopter gunship, and flies directly over the ship. The sonic boom slams a second Hind to the flight deck, demolishing it. Four missiles fire after him in a tail chase. Gant knocks out two of them with one of his Rear Defense flak layers, and simply outraces the other two a supersonic speed until they run out of fuel and fall into the sea. Back in Bilyarsk, Voskov has been found and has recovered, taking a final briefing from the First Secretary before taking off after Gant. Word comes that Gant has defeated the Russians yet again, and now Vladimirov plans to intercept Gant just short of the polar ice pack. Gant now has another problem: he is running out of fuel, though he at least knows where his refueling point will be, since the homing device activated before he engaged the cruiser. Gant gains altitude and proceeds to glide in--and barely makes it to an ice floe before a US Navy Ohio-class submarine breaks through it to serve as Gant's refueling stop. He lands on the floe and taxis to the submarine, whose crew refuel the plane and replace the two missiles he has used. Two Hinds make radar contact with the Americans and fly in to investigate. The Americans hurriedly finish the refueling and rearmament, steam a runway, and see Gant off before they then set up a mock weather station for the Soviets to reconnoiter. But what they don't know is that Vladimirov, loudly insistent, has prevailed upon his colleagues to send the second MiG after the radar contact. After Gant takes off, he thinks he's home free when he suddenly sees two missiles locked onto him that appear to have come out of nowhere--and then spots the second Firefox in his rearward monitor. He out maneuvers the missiles and Voskov pursues Gant in a hypersonic aerial chase. Gant uses his air brakes to slip behind the other aircraft and he releases two missiles that immediately miss, and after a rolling loop Voskov and Gant's positions are reversed again. Gant dives toward the ground and skims low over the Arctic, but Voskov stays hard in pursuit, firing his MiG-31's nose-mounted cannons, to no effect. Gant now tries to shake Voskov by flying a slalom race through narrow ice canyons - yet Voskov still stays locked in close pursuit. After clearing and regaining altitude Voskov's Firefox fires his last two missiles, and Gant pulls into a high loop. As he comes out of the loop he goes into a flat tailspin and begins to suffer another delayed stress seizure, but he snaps out of it and releases his landing gear, adding enough drag to barely pull out of the flat spin before he crashes into the Earth. Voskov, out of respect, salutes Gant one last time before dropping in behind Gant, preparing to make the kill. Gant recovers in time to reengage full speed as Voskov fires his 50mm cannon. Gant attempts to fire the Rear Defense Pod but forgets to think in Russian. When he finally realizes it, he issues the command again in Russian and Voskov's aircraft is hit by the missile, exploding in flame. Finally safe, Gant sets a course for the nearest NATO base in Western Europe.

A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous facade, there is revealed a person of intelligence and sensitivity.

The film begins with wild African elephants killing Merrick's mother to death. After Merrick's mother was dead, we see the smoke rising upward, with a baby wailing in the background, resembling John Merrick being born. In 19th-century Victorian England, Dr. Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins) wanders through an urban carnival in search of freak shows. He happens on a hideously deformed creature called The Elephant Man (John Hurt), and pays the owner Mr. Bytes (Freddie Jones) to examine it. Treves purpose is to present a paper to the Pathological Society and enhance his medical reputation. The Elephant Man returns from the seminar to Bytes and is beaten severely for wondering off. The man's injuries, as well as an attack from bronchitis, leads Treves to admit him to the hospital. In an attempt to convince the authorities to allow the man to stay, Treves endeavors to communicate with the person. During a meeting, Treves discovers that the man can talk and is educated. The Elephant Man's name is John Merrick and he reveals that he has had this strange disease since he was 14 which benign tumors grow all over his body, face and hands, in which he must sleep sitting up or he will die from suffocation. Merrick is given a room to live in and gradually becomes accepted by most members of the hospital staff. But one hospital night porter (Michael Elphick) sees a money spinner and each evening gathers a drunken crowd of people who will pay any price to see the freak. Treves attempts to introduce Merrick to London society and brings him over to meet with his wife (Hannah Gordon), who hides her shock at Merricks appearance. Soon the local newspapers run articles on Merrick. One is read by actress Mrs. Kendal (Ann Bancroft) who visits Merrick, tells him about her life in the theater and gives him a copy of Shakespeares plays. However the night porter is still in business in displaying Merrick. One evening, Bytes joins the throng and after a particularly humiliating brawl, kidnaps Merrick and takes him to France. Severely neglected and very ill, Merrick is once more put on display as the Elephant Man for the local crowds. Bytes' son (Adam S. Gottbetter) tells his father that he can take no more of seeing him humiliate a human being, but Bytes tells his son to mind his own business. That night, Bytes' son, with the help of other carnival freaks, releases Merrick and assists his escape back to England. In Liverpool Street Station, three boys harass him. Merrick flees and accidentally knocks down a girl, prompting an angry mob to chase him. Defenseless, he cries out, "I am not an elephant! I am not an animal! I am a human being! I am a man!" and faints. Reunited with Treves, it appears that Merrick does not have long to live. Merrick visits the theater with Treves and his wife where Mrs. Kendal has her performance dedicated to him. Treves prompts Merrick to show his face to the crowd, which gives him a standing ovation. After the theater scene and before the hospital scene, we see the peacocks sitting outside the hospital. Back at the hospital, Merrick thanks Treves for a splendid evening and afterwards discards all pillows from his bed, determined to lie down like everyone else. Merrick lies down and sleeps one final time before quietly passing away, where his late mother welcomes him to the bright glory of Heaven.

After the murder of her lover Caesar, Egypt's queen Cleopatra needs a new ally. She seduces his probable successor Mark Antony. This develops into real love and slowly leads to a war with the other possible successor: Octavius.

Baron Frankenstein, with the aid of a young doctor and his fiancée, kidnaps the mentally sick Dr. Brandt in order to perform the first brain transplant operation. Baron Frankenstein travels to a new town to meet Dr. Brandt with whom his has been corresponding and with whom he had hoped to collaborate. He arrives however to learn that Brandt is in a mental institution, having lost his mind completely. He takes a room in a boarding house run by the pretty young Anna who just happens to be engaged to Karl, a doctor who works at the asylum where Dr. Brandt is being kept. When Frankenstein learns that Karl has been stealing drugs, he blackmails him and Anna to work as his assistants. He is desperate to learn a secret that Brandt was going to share with him and kidnaps him with the intent of extracting that secret by transplanting his brain into another body. —garykmcd Baron Frankenstein is once again working with illegal medical experiments - brain transplants to keep the most brilliant minds working in new bodies. He has just finished decapitating a physician for his work when a burglar, fleeing a patrolling officer, accidentally lets himself into the baron's lab. The robber is horrified to see the head and flees to tell the police. Frankenstein knows this location is no longer viable and changes to a new city. He forces a young doctor, Karl, and his fiancee Anna to assist him after he catches Karl smuggling drugs from the mental institution where he works for Anna's ailing mother. First, the baron wishes to rescue his fellow researcher, Dr. Brant, who is a patient at the mental institution. He is desperate to learn Brant's secret about preserving brains. Brant is nabbed but is in bad physical shape having suffered a heart attack. He needs a new body immediately. So, the baron eliminates the asylum director, Professor Richter, whose body he can utilize. A nosy police inspector starts to put clues together about missing medical equipment and people who have vanished. His officers nearly stumble on Frankenstein's lab but miss it. When Brant awakes by himself in his new body, he is not thrilled. Neither is his wife when he calls on her. She had already seen his original body in a hidden grave. —Garon Smith