Five timeless movies released

Press, 17 March 1987, Page 36

Five timeless movies released

Rank Video has released another five timeless movies in the Rank Classics Series. They are: “Oliver Twist.” Charles Dickens’s immortal story of Oliver Twist is well known and loved by succeeding generations. Oliver is an orphan who runs away from the workhouse and the bullying Mr Bumble. Homeless and hungry, he meets the Artful Dodger who brings him to the attention of Fagin, mastermind behind a gang of young thieves. This film stare Robert Newton as Bill Sykes, Alec Guinness as Fagin, Kay Walsh as Nancy, and John Howard Davies as Oliver.

“Great Expectations.” A classic of English literature, the Dickens’ novel on which this film is based tells how a young boy believes the fortune he has received, enabling him to start a new life,

has come from an eccentric old lady, only to find that the money was in fact left to him by an escaped convict he had helped. Finlay Currie, Jean Simmons and John Mills are included in the cast.

“A Tale of Two Cities.” Once again from the pen of Charles Dickens, this tale of romance and intrigue is set against the lurid backcloth of the French Revolution. It comes vividly to life with Dirk Bogarde’s sensitive and polished portrayal of Sydney Carton, whose final act of self-sacrifice brings the story to its dramatic end. The starstudded cast also includes Dorothy Tutin as Lucie Manette, and Cecil Parker as Jarvis Lorry.

“The Importance of Being Earnest” is Oscar Wilde’s masterpiece about two wealthy, eligible and

amusingly deceitful bachelors. Their eccentric habit of misrepresenting themselves as the imaginary character, Ernest — and the resultant confusion among their respective fiancees — is the cause of the funny and frivolous catalogue of events that follow. The cast is headed by Michael Redgrave (Ernest Worthing), Richard Wattis (Seton), Michael Denison (Algernon Moncrieff), and also includes Margaret Rutherford (Miss Prism) and Dorothy Tutin (Cecily Cardew).

“Romeo and Juliet.” Dame Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev feature in this splendid production by The Royal Ballet company.

The Rank Classics Series of videos is distributed in New Zealand by Kerridge Odeon Amalgamated Video, P.O. Box 422, Auckland.