Charles Laughton
3) Captain Kidd
Series
Description
An adapted account of famed 17th century pirate captain William Kidd, who, in an effort to enhance his fortune, persuades King William III to hire him as the guardian of a royal ship carrying a cargo of his majesty's treasure. Kidd has the task of keeping enemy ships at bay to allow the King's riches a safe voyage, but the Captain has his own plans for the loot.
Series
Description
This struggle between Christian and pagan in ancient Rome thrills on the grand scale. The half-mad Emperor Nero delights in burning the city and blaming the fire on the Christians so he can slaughter them. In the midst of this, Rome's Prefect has the misfortune to fall in love with a Christian maiden and to be desired by Nero's powerful Empress, whom he spurns. The stage is thus set for a spectacular enactment of some of the most chilling events of...
Series
Criterion collection volume 541
Formats
Description
A self-styled preacher marries and murders the widow of an executed convict with whom he once shared a cell. He then terrorizes her two young children to force them to tell him the whereabouts of the $10,000 he knows their father hid before his imprisonment.
"The Night of the Hunter -- incredibly, the only film the great actor Charles Laughton ever directed -- is truly a stand-alone masterwork. A horror movie with qualities of a Grimm fairy tale,...
7) Spartacus
Description
Spartacus is the bold gladiator slave who leads a massive slave revolt against Imperial Rome in this epic true account of man's eternal struggle for freedom.
Series
Criterion collection volume 461
Description
An owner of a Victorian-era boot shop finds himself in a battle of wills with his headstrong eldest daughter, who wants to make her own professional and personal decisions in her life.
Series
Formats
Description
Screen legends Tyrone Power ("The Razor's Edge"), Marlene Dietrich ("Judgment at Nuremberg") and Charles Laughton ("The Night of the Hunter") star in this "brilliantly made courtroom drama" (Film Daily) that left audiences reeling from its surprise twists and shocking climax. Directed by Billy Wilder ("Avanti!"), scripted by Wilder and Harry Kurnitz ("One Touch of Venus"), and based on Agatha Christie's hit London play, this splendid, one-of-a-kind...
10) Jamaica Inn
Description
Maureen O'Hara's first film is the brooding story of a nobleman who leads a cutthroat ship-looting band of men. Charles Laughton is a magnificent villain and Hitchcock glories in the moody atmosphere.
Series
Criterion collection volume 586
Description
A mad doctor conducts ghastly genetic experiments on a remote island in the South Seas, much to the fear and disgust of the shipwrecked sailor who finds himself trapped there.
Description
In 1789, the English ship H.M.S. Bounty begins a two-year mission. The ship travels to Tahiti to obtain breadfruit plants that will provide cheap food for slaves in the West Indies, the Bounty's final destination. The captain is William Bligh, a vicious taskmaster who doesn't flinch at giving two dozen lashes to any malcontent on board, for the most minor of infractions. The first mate is Lt. Fletcher Christian, who despises Bligh but has somehow...
Series
Criterion collection volume 592
Description
A trio of Americans in Paris who enter into a very adult 'gentleman's' agreement, in this continental pre-Code comedy freely adapted by Ben Hecht (Notorious) from a play. A risque relationship comedy and a witty take on creative pursuits, it concerns a commercial artist unable, or unwilling, to choose between the equally dashing painter and playwright she meets on a train en route to the City of Light.
Series
Description
A stuffy British butler, Marmaduke Ruggles, is traded in a poker game from an English Duke to a wealthy and rowdy American, Egbert Floud. Ruggles' new home is Red Gap, Washington, where he is introduced by Egbert as "Colonel" Ruggles. The town ladies are quite taken by the sophisticated servant in disguise as he enamors them with fictitious stories of battles gone by. Ruggles proves his newfound patriotism in one of the best scenes of the film, his...
Series
Description
A dramatic portrayal of the romance of poets, Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning. The invalid poetess who regains her health after falling in love with the famous poet elopes with the poet against the wishes of her tyrannical father, who exhibits an incestuous attachment for Elizabeth, as well as an over domineering control of all the Barrett siblings in their personal adult relationships. The story is set in London, England, starting in the year...
20) Les Misérables
Series
Description
Jean Valjean is a young man accused of stealing. He escapes prison and spends the rest of his life miserable and being chased by one man: a policeman named Javert.