New DVDs: Feature Length Films and TV Series – March 2008

The Bostonians
Olive, a militant suffragette, takes on the education of Verena, a brilliantly gifted but naive young girl. Olive wants to mold and use this gift for the feminist cause. But Verena is also loved by Basil Ransom, an impecunious young lawyer with views strenuously opposed to the Boston feminists. This 1984 production features Christopher Reeve, Vanessa Redgrave, Madeleine Potter, Jessica Tandy, Nancy Marchand, and Linda Hunt. Based on the novel by Henry James.

Buffalo Girls
Calamity Jane romances Wild Bill Hickok, befriends madam, and joins Wild West show in sprawling mini-series featuring Anjelica Houston, Melanie Griffith, Gabriel Byrne and Sam Elliott.
Comanche Moon
Texas Rangers Augustus McCrae and Woodrow F. Call are now young men dealing with the ever increasing tensions of adult life– Gus with his great love, Clara, and Call with Maggie, the young prostitute who is in love with him. McCrae and Call join a Ranger troop in pursuit of three outlaws: Comanche Chief Buffalo Hump, Comanche horse thief Kicking Wolf and Ahumado, the deadly Mexican bandit king with a penchant for slow torture. Together, they struggle to protect an advancing western frontier against the defiant Comanches who are determined to defend their territory and their way of life. Based on the novel by Larry McMurtry. Originally broadcast as a television mini-series in 2008. A prequel to the mini-series Lonesome Dove. Cast: Val Kilmer, Steve Zahn, Karl Urban, Linda Cardellini, Elizabeth Banks, Adam Beach, Rachel Griffiths, Wes Studi, Jonathan Joss, Sal Lopez.

Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Sixth Season
The sixth season of critical darling HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm delivers the same Larry David and his life of absurd self-sabotage that has entertained viewers for nearly a decade. Cast: Larry David, Cheryl Hines, Jeff Garlin, Wanda Sykes, Susie Essman, Richard Lewis, Viveca A. Fox. Originally broadcast as individual episodes of the television program in 2007. Rating: TV-MA.

Dr. Bell and Mr. Doyle
In 1878, when Mr. Doyle meets the brilliant teacher, Dr. Bell, the young medical student is drawn into a new world of crime investigation. As he assists Bell in solving gruesome police cases, Doyle becomes fascinated with his tutor’s uncanny talent for outwitting the most clever criminals. But, one particularly vicious cat-and-mouse game has a different ending. Doyle finds his life completely changed … and even Dr. Bell’s agile mind cannot predict the outcome. Cast: Ian Richardson, Sean Wightman, Robin Laing, Dolly Wells, Charles Dance, Ralph Riach, Aly Bain, Andrew John Tait. Originally released as a motion picture in 2000. MPAA rating: Not rated.

14 Hours
A young man, morally destroyed by his parents not loving him and by the fear of not being capable to make his girlfriend happy, keeps police at bay for fourteen hours while attempting suicide. Cast: Paul Douglas, Richard Basehart, Barbara Bel Geddes, Debra Paget, Grace Kelly, Agnes Moorehead, Robert Keith. Originally released as a motion picture in 1951. Based on a true story written by Joel Sayre in the New Yorker. Not Rated.

Jericho of Scotland Yard 2
Inspector Michael Jericho (Robert Lindsay) is a brilliant detective and a darling of the media. However he is haunted by the memories of his father a policeman whose murder Jericho witnessed as a boy. Never married and alone since his childhood sweetheart left him for another during WWII Jericho is obsessed with his work at Scotland Yard. Yet he finds himself drawn to his beautiful French neighbor Juliette (Aurelie Bargeme)- a prostitute with a tortured past. Set amidst the social upheaval of post-war 1950s London Jericho unravels headline-grabbing mysteries. His diligent team includes faithful friend and colleague Detective Sergeant Clive Harvey (David Troughton) and the ambitious young Detective Constable John Caldicott (Ciaran McMenamin) Originally produced for Mystery! PBS television program in 2005.

Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes
The story of the relationship between the young Arthur Conan Doyle and his real-life mentor and noted forensic scientist, Dr. Joseph Bell, as they unite to solve the most baffling murder cases in Victorian Scotland. A 2001 BBC TV production featuring Charles Edwards and Ian Richardson.

The New Adventures of Old Christine: Season 1
Single working mom Christine Campbell has just learned that her ex is dating a much younger woman with the same first name. To avoid any confusion, the new girlfriend is dubbed New Christine, which leaves her with the unfortunate nickname Old Christine. Christine struggles to hold it together as she adjusts to her new nickname, confronts the meanie moms at her son’s private school, jumps back in the dating pool– and gets laughs every misstep of the way. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Clark Gregg, Hamish Linklater, Trevor Gagnon, Emily Rutherford, Tricia O’Kelley, Alex Kapp Horner. Originally broadcast on television in 2006. Contains all 13 episodes from the first season.

Peter and Paul
This 1981 television drama examines the development of the early Christian church and the roles of the apostles Peter and Paul. Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Robert Foxworth, Eddie Albert, Raymond Burr, Jose Ferrer, John Finch.Summary

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
When a beautiful woman claims that her dear husband has disappeared the investigation takes Sherlock Holmes (Robert Stephens) and Dr. Watson (Colin Blakely) to Scotland where – to their surprise – they uncover a plot involving a clandestine society Her Majesty’s Secret Service… and the Loch Ness Monster! But before he can deduce matters to the elementary. Holmes makes an error that may jeopardize the national safety of Britain… and ruin his reputation! Cast: Robert Stephens, Colin Blakely, Geneviève Page, Christopher Lee. MPAA rating: PG13.

Speed
An L.A.P.D. SWAT team specialist is sent to diffuse a bomb that a revenge-driven extortionist has planted on a bus. Until he does, he and a female passenger must keep the bus speeding through the streets of Los Angeles at more than 50 miles per hour or the bomb will explode. Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper, Sandra Bullock, Joe Morton, Jeff Daniels. Rated R

Speed 2
A young woman and her boyfriend set out on a luxurious Caribbean cruise liner, but their trip to paradise turns deadly when a lunatic computer genius takes over the boat and sets it on a course for destruction. Cast: Sandra Bullock, Jason Patric, Willem Dafoe, Temuera Morrison, Glenn Plummer. Rated PG-13

Tin Man
Dorothy Gale, a.k.a. DG, is all grown up and bored. She mopes around working as a waitress and goes to school part time. Before she knows it, she’s back in OZ and on the run from the evil sorceress Azkadellia, her storm troopers and clumsy bats. Along the way she falls in with some strange characters including the brainless Glitches; Raw, a cowardly and psychic lion-man hybrid; and, Wyatt Cain, a cowboy cop from Central City called a ‘tin man’ because of his tin badge. Cast: Zooey Deschanel, Alan Cumming, Neal McDonough, Kathleen Robertson, Raoul Trujillo, Callum Keith Rennie, Anna Galvin, Ted Whittall, Richard Dreyfuss. Originally broadcast on the Science Fiction Channel Dec. 2-4, 2007.

Tommy & Tuppence Partners in Crime. Set 1
Tommy & Tuppence Partners in Crime. Set 2
Agatha Christie ‘s husband-and-wife sleuthing team (Francesca Annis and James Warwick) take on a series of short whodunits.

A Touch of Frost Season 6
Award-winning British actor, David Jason, is Jack Frost, a no-nonsense detective whose unorthodox methods fuel the tension between him and his superiors. Based on the novels of R.D. Wingfield.

Barbara Taylor Bradford’s A Woman of Substance Trilogy
The story of Emma Harte, a bright and ambitious servant girl who overcomes her impoverished Yorkshire beginnings in her quest to become an international retailing magnate and one of the richest women in the world comes full circle when Emma’s granddaughter must struggle against powerful enemies to keep the family’s retail empire from collapsing. Cast: Jenny Seagrove, Liam Neeson, Deborah Kerr, Barry Bostwick, Stephen Collins, James Brolin, Lindsay Wagner, Anthony Hopkins, Stephanie Beacham, Christopher Cazenove.

Everything You Want
When Abby meets Quinn on campus, she faces an awesome dilemma: choose between her oh-so-perfect, but imaginary, boyfriend and this flesh-and-blood reality. Cast: Nick Zano, Shrir Appleby, Alexandra Holden, Orlando Seale, Edie McClurg, Will Friedle. TVPG.