Park Circus

Park Circus at the 54th BFI London Film Festival

Park Circus is pleased to announce that three titles represented by the company have been selected to screen at the BFI London Film Festival (LFF) 2010. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI, BOUDU SAVED FROM DROWNING and PICNIC will all screen as part of the Treasures from the Archives strand.

THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI - Back in Cinemas

 

Frank Capra Season - Coming Soon

Stephen Frears Collection

Ahead of the release of his latest film TAMARA DREWE, we have curated a Stephen Frears Collection, including HERO, MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE, and PRICK UP YOUR EARS, all available for booking.

View our Stephen Frears Collection

New titles available in Digital Cinema

 

THE GOLD RUSH & MODERN TIMES - OUT NOW

THE AFRICAN QUEEN - Back in Cinemas

Having undergone an amazing $600,000 restoration, John Huston's 1951 masterpiece THE AFRICAN QUEEN screened to an excellent reception at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival, as part of the Cannes Classics Official Selection, and is now available for bookings on new 35mm and 2K Digital Cinema Prints.

Three movie giants come together in this cinematic classic, combining the masterful direction of John Huston with the fabulous chemistry of Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn in their only onscreen pairing. Bogart won a well-deserved Best Actor Oscar for his role as disreputable river-boat captain Charlie, who forms an unlikely alliance with Hepburn's straight-laced Rose.

Based on the book by C.S. Forester, this wartime romantic adventure sees the pair forced to travel together down a hazardous East African river. As they face dangers and devise an ingenious way to destroy an enemy gunboat, both discover new sides to their personalities and before long their passionate dislike turns to love.

For more information about THE AFRICAN QUEEN:

*Click here to read The Guardian's interview with Academy Award-winning actress Anjelica Huston, where she reveals to Steve Rose how her father filmed his classic THE AFRICAN QUEEN .

*Click here to watch The Guardian's video interview, where Xan Brooks talks to Danny Huston - son of the late director John Huston - about the restoration of THE AFRICAN QUEEN.

*Click here to watch Anjelica Huston talk about the restoration of THE AFRICAN QUEEN on ITV's This Morning.

THE AFRICAN QUEEN has been restored by ITV Studios Global Entertainment and Paramount Pictures.

Hopper, Keaton and Powell & Pressburger highlights at Cinemateket

Focus on classics in Norway

FIVE EASY PIECES - Restored & Back in Cinemas from Today

PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN - Dual Format Edition (DVD & Blu-Ray) now available

"Watching this film is like entering a strange and wonderful dream." - Martin Scorsese

PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN is writer, producer and director Albert Lewin’s lushly romantic Technicolor™ visualisation of the often-told legend of the sea. A glamorous Ava Gardner is Pandora, who falls hard for the charismatic James Mason as Hendrik, a 17th-century seaman eternally condemned to sail the oceans.

Unavailable theatrically for many years and never before available on Home Entertainment, the film has been beautifully restored. Following a successful release in UK Cinemas earlier this year, PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN is now available to enjoy at home, complete with the following extras:

Classics back in French cinemas

Park Circus is delighted to announce that a number of must-see, classic titles are soon to receive theatrical re-releases in France.

Starring Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier and James Mason, THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL is based on Ira Levin's best-selling novel. This gripping, Oscar-nominated drama has been licensed to Swashbuckler Films and concerns a fanatical Nazi, cloning Adolph Hitler in an attempt to groom a future Führer.

Mission Films will re-release THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI, Orson Welles stylish film noir, starring Rita Hayworth, Everett Sloane, Gus Schilling. Hayworth plays a femme fatal who seduces Welles into a murder plot. 

Frank Capra's much-loved titles MR DEEDS GOES TO TOWN, MR SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON and YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU will soon be brought back to French cinema screens by Splendor Films, who will also re-release Fritz Lang's 1953 melodrama of dice, vice and corruption - THE BIG HEAT - and Frank Perry's THE SWIMMER - about an advertising salesman (Burt Lancaster) who decides to swim home via his neighbours' pools.

Frank Capra Season - Coming Soon

 

Norman Wisdom Collection

 

THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN - 70th anniversary

 

Help rescue the Hitchcock 9 and donate online now

Alfred Hitchcock: pioneer, legend and master of suspense

The BFI National Archive looks after our nation's film heritage. It is the largest and most important film and TV collection in the world. Curators of the BFI National Archive have identified a collection of films in desperate need of restoration, with nine of Alfred Hitchcock's early silent films being the first to seek rescue through the Support the BFI campaign.

Hitchcock’s 9 surviving silent films are a vital part of British cinematic history. Decades of wear and tear have left them in urgent need of restoration. These films are:

Park Circus and Intellect present Issue 9 of The Big Picture film magazine

The July/August 2010 issue of The Big Picture Magazine is now available to download and enjoy in all its glory.

Themed around the re-release of FIVE EASY PIECES, Director Bob Rafelson's seminal portrait of a disaffected America, the issue explores the Road Movie as both a literal and metaphorical journey.

Along with the usual roundup of classic film posters, features include a photo essay on Neon lit cinemas of the great American mid-west, a location focus on the iconic Route 66, 1000 words on how Bonnie and Clyde became the catalyst for Hollywood’s Second Golden Age and a pictoral look back at the Haiti Kids Kino Project set up by Bristol's Cube cinema.

Download The Big Picture Magazine - Issue 9 HERE

Ronald Neame 1911-2010

Park Circus acquires restored Renoir

Park Circus Films is delighted to announce it has acquired UK theatrical, home video and video on demand rights for the fully restored version of Jean Renoir's 1932 classic BOUDU SAVED FROM DROWNING (Boudu sauvé des eaux) from international sales company Pathé. The restoration screened to an excellent reception at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival, as part of the Cannes Classics Official Selection.

A Parisian bookseller, Lestingois, fishes Boudu, a vagrant, out of the Seine after seeing the man throw himself into the river. He befriends the tramp and puts him up at home. Boudu's coarse and irreverent behaviour shocks the whole household at first but he agrees to change his appearance and Madame Lestingois succumbs to his charms. Boudu, however, only has eyes for the maid, who happens to be the bookseller's mistress. Events take a different turn when Boudu wins 100,000 francs in the lottery…

The restoration was carried out through a 2K digitalisation of the original nitrate negative and a safety print. The original 1.19 aspect ratio has been re-established; this specific ratio was often used in the early days of talking pictures but was soon abandoned in favour of a more rectangular frame. The restoration of the soundtrack was based on the best available source, a positive exhibition print, as the original elements - incomplete and chemically damaged - were impossible to use. 

A previously missing scene was, by chance, conserved in the original negative, allowing a more complete version of the film. This is the surprising sequence in which Boudu spits on a book by Balzac then jeers at the portrait of a soldier in uniform. This scene was probably removed following the intervention of the Paris Chief of Police, who summoned Jean Renoir and Michel Simon in order to make them cut certain scenes that could have possibly “disturbed the peace”. 

The film's grading was completely revised by Isabelle Julien, renowned for her work in this field (and recently on the restoration of La Dolce Vita). The work was carried out at the Immagine Ritrovata laboratories in Bologna and at Digimage, Paris.

BOUDU SAVED FROM DROWNING will be released in UK cinemas late 2010 / early 2011. 

Dennis Hopper 1936-2010

On Sunday 30 May, it was reported with great sadness that the Hollywood icon Dennis Hopper had passed away at his home in Venice, California, at the age of 74.

Hopper's most-loved titles include award-winning films APOCALYPSE NOW, BLUE VELVET and EASY RIDER. 

These and other titles from the unconventional, multi-talented actor, director and writer are available for theatrical booking from Park Circus. To view our Dennis Hopper Collection click here.

For more information and to read The Guardian's obituary click here.

Park Circus at Edinburgh International Film Festival 2010

Park Circus Films will be attending Edinburgh International Film Festival 2010 and is pleased to announce that eight of the company's classic titles have been selected to screen as part of the 64th edition.

PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN - back in UK cinemas today

Originally released in 1951, PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN is writer-producer-director Albert Lewin’s deliriously romantic and contemporary Technicolor™ visualisation of the often-told legend of the sea. Ava Gardner, one of Hollywood's most glamourous actresses, in a thinly veiled portrait of herself, is Pandora, who falls hard for charismatic screen legend James Mason as Hendrik, a 17th-century seaman eternally condemned to sail the oceans.  

The quintessential Lewin film, PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN was a production made independently of the Hollywood studios, and its original camera negative has been presumed lost for several decades. Working from a nitrate separation positive and other sources, George Eastman House has supervised a painstaking 35mm restoration of the film, bringing back the rich palette of deep, sensuous colors utilised by renowned cinematographer Jack Cardiff. 

Unavailable theatrically for many years and never available on Home Entertainment, PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN will open from today, Friday 14 May, at BFI Southbank, Filmhouse Edinburgh, Irish Film Institute and Key Cities on brand new 35mm prints and in Digital Cinema format. 

What the critics say about PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN:

**** "...this 35mm version has been painstakingly restored from existing prints, bringing back the deep colours so beautifully immortalised on film by its renowned cinematographer Jack Cardiff." - The Daily Record

**** "In the hands of cinematographer Jack Cardiff, Albert Lewin’s deliriously romantic, richly woven tapestry becomes a Technicolor dream, fully deserving of this digitally restored re-release." - David Hughes, Empire

**** "Albert Lewin, one of Hollywood’s few intellectually minded directors, made this romantic fantasy in 1951... Jack Cardiff’s superb Technicolor cinematography looks as beautiful as Gardner and that’s substantially the reason the film has stood the test of time." - Derek Malcolm, Evening Standard 

**** "...it all works wonderfully well: Gardner, especially, just glows on the screen. The cinematography, an early Technicolor effort, was by Jack Cardiff, hence the film's presence in the BFI Southbank's Cardiff retrospective. It's really worth the effort." - Andrew Pulver, The Guardian

**** "Albert Lewin’s tale, restored to gorgeous fettle by Glasgow’s Park Circus, is a first class flight of fantasy." - Alison Rowat, The Herald

**** "Very welcome restored 35mm print of bizarre but lushly effective 1951 seafaring melodrama from brilliant Glasgow based distributors Park Circus. Ava Gardner and James Mason star. What more do you want?" - Paul Dale, The List

**** "...Lewin was a genuine maverick talent." - Adrian Turner, Radio Times

**** "Now released in a restored version, this 1951 British film by an American director, Albert Lewin, is reminiscent of Powell and Pressburger's classics in that its fantastical story is all the more exotic to modern viewers because of the characters' clipped English articulacy... The whole thing is glamourised by inventive visual compositions - including touches of surrealism - and by Jack Cardiff's typically wonderful lighting." - Edward Porter, The Sunday Times

**** "A spellbindingly surreal 1951 film restored to bring out the best in its gorgeous cinematography and heady romance. Gardner and Mason are the perfect hero and heroine." - Mark Adams, Sunday Mirror

**** "...Lewin conjures a celluloid equivalent of the canvasses of De Chirico and Dalí – passionate, classical, mysterious and surreal all at once." - Trevor Johnston, Time Out

PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN has been restored by George Eastman House in cooperation with The Douris Corporation. Funding provided by The Film Foundation, the Rome Film Festival, and the Franco-American Cultural Fund, a partnership of the Directors Guild of America; Société des Auteurs, Compositeurs et Editeurs de Musique; the Motion Picture Association of America; and the Writers Guild of America, West.

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Park Circus at Cannes International Film Festival 2010

Park Circus is proud to announce that THE AFRICAN QUEEN and FROM HERE TO ETERNITY have been selected to screen at the 63rd Cannes International Film Festival (12-23 May 2010) as part of the Cannes Classics strand.

THE AFRICAN QUEEN (UK/USA, 1951, 105 mins, John Huston) - SCREENING 19 MAY, 7.30PM, SALLE BUNUEL 

THE AFRICAN QUEEN has undergone an amazing $500,000 restoration, which will be premiering in Cannes. Three movie giants come together in this cinematic classic, combining the masterful direction of John Huston with the fabulous chemistry of Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn in their only onscreen pairing. Bogart won a well-deserved Academy Award (Best Actor) for his role as disreputable river-boat captain Charlie, who forms an unlikely alliance with Hepburn's straight-laced Rose. Based on the book by C.S. Forester, this wartime romantic adventure sees the pair forced to travel together down a hazardous East African river. Print restored by Paramount Pictures and ITV, and sponsored by Angelica Huston.

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (USA, 1953, 118 mins, Fred Zinnemann) - SCREENING 13 MAY, 9.30PM, CINÉMA DE LA PLAGE

Cannes International Film Festival 2010 will also premiere the new digital restoration of Fred Zinnemann’s FROM HERE TO ETERNITY, winner of eight Academy Awards (including Best Picture and Best Director). Based on James Jones' best-seller, FROM HERE TO ETERNITY features an all-star cast including Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr, Frank Sinatra and Montgomery Clift. This powerful drama of the passions and violence of a group of soldiers stationed at Pearl Harbor just before World War II, was restored by Sony Pictures and will be opening Cinéma de la plage at this year's Festival.

THE AFRICAN QUEEN and FROM HERE TO ETERNITY are available for international theatrical licensing from Park Circus.

Executives attending Cannes are:

John Letham – Joint Managing Director (in Cannes 12-19 May)

Nick Varley – Joint Managing Director (in Cannes 12-20 May)

THE KID Blu-Ray Manufacturing Issue

THE KID & THE GREAT DICTATOR - Now available on DVD and Blu-ray

***** "A welcome chance to revisit two of Chaplin’s genuine masterpieces, both lovingly restored." Tim Robey, The Daily Telegraph

Charles Chaplin classics THE KID and THE GREAT DICTATOR have been newly restored and are now available, presented in high definition on Blu-ray.

THE KID is widely regarded as one of Chaplin’s finest works and sees him tread the fine line between hilarious comedy and poignant drama beautifully. Charles Chaplin stars as The Tramp, a hapless conman who adopts a boy given away by his down and out mother. Years later the boy’s mother seeks him out after making her fortune as an opera singer, though without his mother the boy has followed his surrogate’s footsteps into haphazard criminality and the two dodge and dive around the city narrowly avoiding the law. When the boy’s mother puts up a reward for her son’s return, The Tramp finds he is betrayed by all around and the boy is taken from him. A masterpiece of silent cinema, THE KID is one of Chaplin’s most loved classics and has been painstakingly restored in High-Definition and is here presented on Blu-Ray for the first time.

* Extras include Chaplin Today: THE KID documentary, Jackie Coogan dances and Nice and Friendly featurettes, an introduction by David Robinson, scenes deleted for the 1971 reissue and footage of the recording of the 1971 score.

Chaplin’s first foray into the talkies, the much celebrated political satire THE GREAT DICTATOR (produced in 1940 while the US were still at peace with the Nazi regime) is considered one of the most important of Chaplin’s career and is here presented in newly remastered quality and for the very first time in High-Definition on Blu-ray. Nominated for five ACADEMY AWARDS®, THE GREAT DICTATOR is a hilarious look at a very serious subject in which Chaplin plays two opposing characters: Adenoid Hynkel, the dictator of Tomania, and a Jewish Barber. The young barber is caught in a plane crash in the First World War and after 20 years in hospital with amnesia is horrified to discover that his country is under the rule of the fascist Hynkel. Hynkel’s soldiers take pleasure in harassing the Jews, and the dictator is bent on world domination. With Hynkel ready to invade his neighbouring country Osterlich with his fascist ally Benzino Napaloni (Jack Oakie), will the Barber be able to spread his message of world peace before the bombs and tanks are deployed?

* Extras include Chaplin Today: THE GREAT DICTATOR documentary, colour behind the scenes footage and the 1919 short film Charlie The Barber (a deleted scene from the film Sunnyside).

THE KID and THE GREAT DICTATOR are available now on DVD and, for the first time, on Blu-ray from all good retailers and Park Circus AStore

HENRI-GEORGES CLOUZOT'S INFERNO and THE RED SHOES win Focal Awards

Park Circus are pleased that HENRI-GEORGES CLOUZOT'S INFERNO and THE RED SHOES were both winners at last night's ceremony at the Focal International Awards 2010.

The 'Award for Archive Restoration or Preservation Project' was won by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s masterpiece, the Academy Award-winning classic THE RED SHOES. Fiona Maxwell, Director of Operations at ITV Studios Global Entertainment, and acclaimed director Martin Scorsese (pictured above), both closely involved in the restoration work of the title, were present to accept the award. Park Circus is releasing the film internationally.

The critically praised HENRI-GEORGES CLOUZOT'S INFERNO received the 'Award for Best Use of Footage in a Cinema Release'. Part original, part documentary and part reconstruction, HENRI-GEORGES CLOUZOT’S INFERNO tells the emotional story of the ill-fated film project L’ENFER, an enigmatic and original film about a hotel manager who becomes possessed by the demons of jealousy. Following a successful run in UK Cinemas last year, the film is now available to enjoy at home on DVD.

The Federation of Commercial Audiovisual Libraries International Ltd (FOCAL) was formed in 1985 as an international, non-profit making, professional trade association. It represents commercial film/audiovisual, stills and sound libraries as well as interested individuals such as facility houses, professional film researchers and producers working in the industry.

THE BEST INTENTIONS - Now available on DVD

With a screenplay by filmmaking legend Ingmar Bergman (FANNY AND ALEXANDER, THE SEVENTH SEAL), Bille August (PELLE THE CONQUEROR) masterfully directs this emotionally charged love story following the lives of Bergman’s parents. 

"It was a great experience for me to get to know Bergman, the private person.", Bille August says about the collaboration. "...And even if the script for THE BEST INTENTIONS is biographical, it is not documentary. Most facts and dates correspond with reality, but one has to remember that the story is written by the master of fiction..." 

The winner of the Palme d'Or and Best Actress awards at Cannes International Film Festival 1992, THE BEST INTENTIONS is the story of a family and a bygone era, played out against a backdrop of a Sweden stifled by a rigid class system, and in the throes of a General Strike. Henrik Bergman (Samuel Fröler), an impoverished Lutheran pastor, falls in love with a wealthy girl, Anna (Pernilla August). Despite the attempts of many to discourage the relationship, Anna’s love grows stronger and the two eventually wed. 

A compelling look at the hardships, extreme faith and rigid discipline of his father and his lifelong commitment to his wife, The Best Intentions sheds a powerful light onto the themes that have appeared in Ingmar Bergman’s best films. 

THE BEST INTENTIONS is now available for the first time on DVD from all good retailers and Park Circus AStore

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Out Now on DVD: VIGO - PASSION FOR LIFE

Directed by Julien Temple, VIGO - PASSION FOR LIFE is a tragic, but inspiring film about the passionate relationship between French film-maker Jean Vigo and his beautiful wife Lydu. The film is interspersed with extracts of Vigo's work. 

France, the 1920s. The young aspiring film-maker Jean Vigo (James Frain) finds himself incarcerated at a tuberculosis sanatorium in the South of France. There he meets Lydu Lozinska (Romane Bohringer), a fellow sufferer, and they fall in love. Vigo persuades Lydu to leave the sanatorium and come with him to Paris, where he intends to make films. They get married and return to the south where he shoots his first film, À propos de Nice, and the couple have a baby.

Both are still unwell, but Lydu carries on being a mother, while Jean pursues his art. He makes Zéro de conduite but the film is banned. Although discouraged and increasingly sick, he agrees to make a feature-length love story called L'Atalante. His condition deteriorates during the filming and post-production. Finally, he learns the film has been recut and given a different soundtrack and even a new title. He dies, at the age of 29, but the handful of films he has made during his brief life are posthumously recognised as classics of French cinema.

Now available for the first time on DVD in the UK, VIGO - PASSION FOR LIFE also includes the Theatrical Trailer and a selection of other Park Circus trailers.

VIGO - PASSION FOR LIFE is now available on DVD from all good retailers and Park Circus AStore 

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HENRI-GEORGES CLOUZOT'S INFERNO - Now available on DVD

 

Park Circus to handle ICA Films

Park Circus has been appointed to handle theatrical and non-theatrical bookings on the ICA catalogue of films, including some of the best of world cinema with a contemporary edge. Titles include Favela Rising, The Man Without A Past, What Time Is It There?, Turtles Can Fly, Sophie Scholl and Candy.

Click here for a complete list.

THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE - new trailer

John Frankenheimer's Award-winning 1962 classic THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE has been fully restored and will be back in cinemas next month.

Ahead of its re-release from 16 April, a brand new trailer has been created for the film. 

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BRIEF ENCOUNTER and THE RED SHOES - To Get Theatrical Release In Greece

BRIEF ENCOUNTER and THE RED SHOES will be released this summer in Greece through FilmTrade.

To celebrate the Centenary of David Lean, a major project to restore and preserve the films of the acclaimed director took place in 2008. Thanks to the David Lean Foundation, BRIEF ENCOUNTER - one of the most successful British films ever made - was recently restored and re-released in the UK. 

With a sparkling 4K restoration overseen by Martin Scorsese, THE RED SHOES premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival 2009, followed by a successful UK release and will now continue to dazzle audiences around the world. In addition to its upcoming release in Greece, the film is to soon be re-released in France in April and will also screen as part of a Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger Retrospective at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. 

Park Circus is very pleased to be working with FilmTrade in order to get these classics back on the big screen in Greece.

The Great Dictator - screening at The British Library Conference Centre

Power, propaganda, art… and brilliant comedy. Charlie Chaplin’s unforgettable satire on Nazisim was made 60 years ago at the height of Hitler’s power. High farce and classic scenes of puffed up idiocy – including the Dictator’s globe dance – together with a heartfelt plea for peace, and humanity.

Ahead of its release in High Definition on DVD and Blu-Ray from 10 May, THE GREAT DICTATOR will screen at The British Library Conference Centre in London (96 Euston Road, London, NW1 2DB) on Friday 30 April, 6.30-8.45pm.

The film will be introduced by prolific and hugely popular comedian Richard Herring, whose latest show is his own fantastic swipe at intolerance, racism, and questions the wisdom of sporting a toothbrush moustache.

This screening is part of the public events programme that accompanies the British Library exhibition Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art (30 April - 19 September 2010)

Tickets cost £7.50/£5 Concessions and are available from http://boxoffice.bl.uk, by calling 01937 546546 (9am-5pm Mon-Fri) or in person at The British Library.

This event is presented in association with Park Circus Films. For more information about the Park Circus home entertainment label and the upcoming Charles Chaplin DVD and Blu-Ray releases visit www.parkcircusdvd.co.uk.

Carlotta Films releases The Red Shoes in France

 

Carlotta Films will bring THE RED SHOES back to French cinema screens, where the film originally screened in 1949.

With a sparkling 4K restoration overseen by Martin Scorsese, THE RED SHOES premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival 2009, followed by a successful UK release and will now continue to dazzle audiences throughout France.

HENRI-GEORGES CLOUZOT’S INFERNO wins César film award

HENRI-GEORGES CLOUZOT’S INFERNO, the emotional story of the ill-fated film project L’ENFER, has won the 2010 César film award for the Best Documentary at the ceremony held over the weekend.

The film screened to an excellent reception at last year’s Cannes International Film Festival and had its UK premiere at The Times BFI London Film Festival 2009.

HENRI-GEORGES CLOUZOT’S INFERNO is available for theatrical bookings and will be released on DVD for the first time from 12 April 2010.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes - back in UK cinemas today

***** "Russell is worldly, amused, intensely in touch: Monroe is sublimely unfocused and beatific. A joy." - Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

In this musical spectacle, Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe are the infamous 'Two Little Girls from Little Rock'; Dorothy - the sassy one looking for true love, and Lorelei - the blonde hoping to marry a millionaire. When the girls take a transatlantic cruise to Paris, an undercover detective follows, to find out if Lorelei is a gold-digger.

Thanks to the talents of the luminous stars and director Howard Hawks, plus stunning technicolor cinematography, GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES emerges as one of the most charming, entertaining musicals of the 1950s.

GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES opens from today - Friday 26 February - at BFI Southbank and selected cinemas nationwide.

The 45th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival announces tribute to Powell & Pressburger

 

British actor, screenwriter and director Lionel Jeffries dies aged 83

 

Magical Marilyn Monroe Musical back in UK cinemas from 26 February

In this musical spectacle, Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe are the infamous 'Two Little Girls from Little Rock"; Dorothy the sassy one looking for true love, and Lorelei, the blonde hoping to marry a millionaire. When the girls take a transatlantic cruise to Paris, an undercover detective follows, to find out if Lorelei is a gold-digger. Unfortunately, she is a born flirt and soon finds herself in a compromising position with Sir Francis Beekman (Charles Coburn), owner of a diamond mine. The girls have to use all their wits to get out of trouble and still find love and marriage. 

Thanks to the talents of the luminous stars and director Howard Hawks, plus stunning technicolor cinematography, GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES emerges as one of the most charming, entertaining musicals of the 1950s. Marilyn Monroe, never more radiant, sings her legendary musical number 'Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend' (which later inspired Madonna's 'Material Girl' video). Other song highlights include 'When Love Goes Wrong' and 'Bye, Bye Baby'.

GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES opens from Friday 26 February at BFI Southbank and selected cinemas nationwide.

Available for booking for Digital Cinema.

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Chilling Cult Thriller - Restored & Back in Cinemas

John Frankenheimer's Award-winning 1962 classic THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE has been fully restored and will be back in cinemas this spring.

With an all-star cast including Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh and Angela Lansbury, this political suspense thriller centers on the mysterious behaviour of an US Army hero.

An American Army patrol, led by Ben Marco (Frank Sinatra) and Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey), is betrayed during the Korean War behind Red lines and captured by Communist troops. The Americans are cleverly brainwashed and made to believe that they took part in a successful action against the Reds. Back in America, Marco, a major in Army intelligence, is troubled by recurring nightmares in which he sees Shaw murder two of his comrades. Believing that something is wrong about Shaw, Marco starts an investigation to find out the truth...

THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE will open from 16 April at BFI Southbank and Key Cities. 

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Park Circus Q2 DVD & Blu-Ray releases now available to pre-order on Amazon UK

 

Vote for the film you would like to see back in cinemas

The Big Picture Magazine and Park Circus give you the chance to vote for which of the six classic cult movies below you would most like to see back in cinemas:

CALAMITY JANE

DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN

ELECTRIC DREAMS 

SEXY BEAST 

THEATRE OF BLOOD 

ZELIG

Voting is easy: 

Click here to cast your vote.

The winning title will be showing at selected cinemas and full details about the screening events will be announced on The Big Picture website on March 30th.

Favourite romance back on the big screen for Valentine's Day