Smilin' Through

In 1964, Richard Burton, newly married to Elizabeth Taylor, is to play the title role in an experimental new Broadway production of Hamlet under Sir John Gielgud’s exacting direction. But as rehearsals progress, two ages of theatre collide and the collaboration between actor and director soon threatens to unravel.

Two sisters and their male counterparts struggle with the negative influences of their youths over a 50-year period.

The earliest British televised production in existence of the play Othello, with black American actor, Gordon Heath, in the title role. This was the first televised version of the play to feature a black actor in the title role. Gordon Heath, an American, came to Britain in 1947 and was cast by Kenneth Tynan to play Othello in his 1950 Arts Council production. The play takes place in Venice and Cyprus and the original production was part-live, with recorded Venice sequences

On the streets of a damp metropolis lie the corpses of hundreds and hundreds of boys and girls. No one can give them a resting place because of a law enacted by a repressive State. But the young Antigone, with the help of a foreigner, Tiresias, violates this rule in the name of pietas, undermining the established order.

The main character is an orphaned young woman who is about to be married off to an unappealing but rich old man, Mr. Sleeman, at the instigation of her aunts who have taken charge of her. Bergman infuses the situation with overtones of rueful pessimism concerning life in general.

Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet fall in love against the wishes of their feuding families. Driven by their passion, the young lovers defy their destiny and elope, only to suffer the ultimate tragedy.

Moby Dick is an unfinished film by Orson Welles, filmed in 1971. It is not to be confused with the incomplete (and now lost) 1955 film Welles made of his meta-play Moby Dick—Rehearsed, or with Moby Dick (1956 film), in which Welles played a supporting role. The film consists of readings by Welles from the book Moby Dick, shot against a blue background with various optical illusions to give the impression of being at sea. It was made during a break in the filming of The Other Side of the Wind. There is some ambiguity about what Welles intended to do with the footage, and how he was going to compile it. It remained unedited in his lifetime.

Young Janet Osborn finds herself stuck in a loveless marriage, her only source of pleasure being her daughter. Janet has always dreamed of a career on the stage, but never had the chance. One day she meets Geoffrey Allen, a theatrical agent, and decides to try her luck at becoming an actress. However, when her husband Mark finds out, he orders her out of the house and keeps their daughter, Marcia. Moreover, her acting career sputters to a halt, and Geoffrey Allen takes advantage of her situation to make her his mistress. Years later she finds out that Marcia has become an actress-and that she, too, has become involved with Geoffrey.

A complicated adventure involving twin brothers and the Foreign Office trying to thwart the ambitions of a hostile sheikh.

Can Professor Higgins transform flower-girl Eliza Dolittle into a great lady?