Physical Disabilities and Dysfunctions in the Movies

Aaltra: A Road Movie (2004)

Directed by Gustave de Kervern and Benoît Delépine. Cast: Benoit Delepine, Gustave Kervern, Jan Bucquoy, Pierre Carl, Michel de Houx, Isabelle Delepine, Jason Flemying, Noel Godin, Christine Grulois, Aki Kauresmaki, Bouli Lanners, Vincent Patar, Benoit Poelvoorde, Chrisophe Salengro, Vincent Tavier. In this hilarious comedy two rural neighbors who hate each other, end up paralyzed after they get tangled in a tractor during a fight. Full of spite they decide to roll across Europe to exact revenge from the tractor's manufacturer. 90 min. DVD 6304

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Assisted Living (2002)

Directed by Elliot Greenebaum. Cast: Michael Bonsignore, Maggie Wise Riley, Gail Benedict, Nanci Jo Boone, Clint Vaught, Jose Albovias, Elsie Albright, Malorie Boone. Todd is a pot-smoking janitor at a nursing home who takes pleasure in toying with the senile residents. But when one of the residents mistakes him for her son, he finds himself becoming emotionally attached to his work for the first time. Shot in an actual nursing home, using real residents as many of the actors with mixed footage from a documentary that was made at the facility, lends the film a realistic fly-on-the-wall quality. 75 min. DVD 5127

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Chang, Robert. "Assisted Living." Disability Studies Quarterly Summer 2005, Volume 25, No. 3

"Movie tells us 'assisted living' really means 'don't get old'." Modern Healthcare 34.48 (Nov 29, 2004): 40. UC users only

Be With Me (Singapore, 2005)

Directed by Eric Khoo. Cast: Theresa Chan, Ezanne Lee, Samantha Tan, Seet Keng Yew, Chiew Sung Ching, Lawrence Yong, Lynn Poh. A tapestry of stories woven around the themes of love, hope and destiny. The characters lead separate lives but are bound by one common desire - to be with their loved one. The protagonists in the movie are fictitious bar one - Theresa Chan, a courageous deaf and blind woman whose life story inspired the film. 93 min. DVD 6135

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Directed by William Wyler. Cast: Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Hoagy Carmichael, Virginia Mayo and Harold Russell. Three returning WWII veterans face problems as they attempt to pick up the threads of their previous lives. One of the central characters in the film is played by Harold Russell, a vet who had lost both arms in the war. 170 min. DVD 2865; vhs 999:114

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Better or Worse? (UK, 2000)

Directed by Jocelyn Cammack. Cast: Finn Atkins, John Langford, Ann Farrar, Luke Gell, Keiran Francis. Eight-year-old Rachel embarks upon a series of experiments attempting to make sense of her defective eyesight. The film contrasts ideas of perspective, both real and imagined, through the recurring motif of a diving board -- limiting and precarious. 9 min. DVD 6326

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Bigger Than Life (1956)

Directed by Nicholas Ray. Cast: James Mason, Barbara Rush, Walter Matthau. Schoolteacher Ed Avery, who's been suffering bouts of severe pain and even blackouts, is hospitalized with what's diagnosed as a rare inflammation of the arteries. Told by doctors that he probably has only months to live, Ed agrees to an experimental treatment: doses of the hormone cortisone. Ed makes a remarkable recovery, and returns but he must keep taking cortisone tablets regularly to prevent a recurrence of his illness. But the 'miracle' cure turns into its own nightmare as Ed starts to abuse the tablets, causing him to experience increasingly wild mood swings. 92 min. DVD X239

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A Bit of Luck (Tipat mazal) (Israel, 1992)

Directed by Ze'ev Revach. Cast: Ya'ackov Ben-Sira, Zehava Ben, Jacques Cohen, Chen Gueta, Yossi Keinan. Tells the story of a blind father and his singer daughter immigrating together to Israel. 90 min. DVD 4526

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Blind Man's Bluff (A Caixa)(Portugal / France, 1994)

Directed by Manoel de Oliveira. Cast: Luis Miguel Cintra, Glicinia Quartin, Ruy de Carvalho, Beatriz Batarda, Diogo Dria. Everyday an old blind man sits in a doorway begging for money, while his daughter spends her days ironing and complaining. Their neighborhood is not wealthy, and many a passerby is envious of the old beggar's box of accumulating coins. It has been stolen before so the man and the daughter's boyfriend keep an eye on it, but eventually tragedy ensues when the box disappears again. 92 min. DVD 5276

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

Directed by Oliver Stone. Cast: Tom Cruise. Follows the young Ron Kovic from his days as a zealous teen who eagerly joins up for the Vietnam War, to his return from the war as an embittered veteran, paralyzed from mid-chest down. Chronicles his disillusionment with the country's continued involvement in Vietnam, his physical struggle and his emergence as a brave new voice for thousands of disenchanted vets. 145 min. DVD 769; vhs 999:740

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Breaking the Waves (Denmark / Sweden / France / Netherlands / Norway / Iceland, 1996)

Directed by Lars von Trier. Featuring Emily Watson, Stellan Skarsgard, Katrin Cartlidge, Jean-Marc Barr, Udo Kier. Bess, a pious young Scottish woman, prays to God to send her husband, Jan, home from his job on an offshore oil rig. When an accident sends him home paralyzed, she's filled with guilt and submits to his wish that she take on other lovers, convinced that this will aid in his recovery. 152 min. 999:2696

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Cairo Station (Bab al-Hadid) (Egypt, 1958)

Directed by Youssef Chahine. A smoldering tale of life among the poor who live in Cairo's railroad station. A crippled newspaper vendor falls in love with a beautiful lemonade seller who does not return his affections. Unable to accept her indifference, he kidnaps the woman, leading to violence and tragedy. 999:2834

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Youssef Chahine bibliography

Children of a Lesser God (1986)

Directed by Randa Haines. Cast: William Hurt, Marlee Matlin, Piper Laurie, Philip Bosco. A love story about John Leeds, an idealistic special education teacher, and a headstrong deaf girl named Sarah. At first, Leeds sees Sarah as a teaching challenge. But soon their relationship blossoms into a love so passionate it shatters the barrier of silence that keeps them apart. 118 min. DVD 427

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Chinesisches Roulette (Chinese Roulette) (Germany, 1976)

Director, Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Cast: Anna Karina, Ulli Lommel, Macha Meril, Margit Carstensen, Brigitte Mira, Alexander Allerson, Volker Spengler, Andrea Schober. A German businessman pretending to go on a business trip heads for his country estate with his French mistress where he runs into his wife and her own lover. When their teenage daughter, a young teen who walks with crutches, arrives she angrily confronts them with their hypocrisy and compels everyone to rigorous truth-telling, revealing the latent hatreds within the family, culminating in a shocking climax. 96 min. DVD 1653; vhs 999:2912

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Christmas Carol

Featuring the saintly, crippled Tiny Tim. (See MRC's Literary Adaptations videography for various versions held by the Center)

Chinn, Sarah E. "Gender, Sex, and Disability from Helen Keller to Tiny Tim." Radical History Review 2006 2006(94):240-248 UC users only

Kriegel, Leonard. "Uncle Tom and Tiny Tim: Some Reflections on the Cripple as Negro." American Scholar 1969 38(3): 412-430 19p.

Norden, Martin F. "Tiny Tim on Screen: A Disability Studies Perspective." In: Dickens on screen / edited by John Glavin. Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2003.(Main Stack PR4575.D53 2003; PFA PR4575.D53 2003)

City Lights (1931)

Written, directed, and scored by Charles Chaplin. Cast: Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Harry Myers. Considered by many to be his masterpiece, City lights presents the perfect balance of comedy and pathos that is Charlie Chaplin's trademark. The Little Tramp befriends a blind flower girl and tries to restore her sight. Includes Chaplin's own score, featuring recorded digitally; Interview with composer-conductor Carl Davis; story notes and production data. 86 min. DVD 217; vhs 999:121

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

The Color of Paradise (Rang-e khoda) (Iran, 1999)

Director, Majid Majidi. Mohammad joyfully returns to his tiny village on summer vacation from the Institute for the Blind in Tehran, unaware of his father's intentions to disown him. Engaged to be married, the widowed man has keptMohammad a secret from his fiancee, certain the boy'sdisability will destroy his only chance for happiness. With the wedding swiftly approaching Mohammad's future hangs precariously in the balance as his fatherstruggles against his destiny, unable to see the wonder of life and love that's so clear to his son. 90 min. DVD 2060

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Coma (1978)

Directed by Michael Crichton. Cast: Genevieve Bujold, Michael Douglas, Elizabeth Ashley, Rip Torn, Richard Widmark. Young doctor at Boston hospital finds that patients suffer irreparable brain damage when supposed minor operations are performed. Determined to find the cause of these mysterious events, she turns to her boyfriend and a senior physician for help. But as her investigation unfolds, Susan uncovers a horrific conspiracy and suddenly finds herself marked for death. 114 min. 999:2183

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Coming Home (1978)

Directed by Hal Ashby. Cast: Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, Bruce Dern. A sad, poignant love story set against the social upheaval of the Vietnam war. Set in 1968, the story concerns a woman who, while her husband is serving in Vietnam, falls in love with a paraplegic while performing volunteer work at a San Diego veterans hospital. And when, wounded and disillusioned, her husband returns home, they must each grapple with the full impact of a brutal, distant war that has changed their lives forever. 130 min. DVD 8553; vhs 999:1833

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Cousin(Australia, 1998)

Directed by Adam Elliot. An award winning animated film about the childhood remembrances of a little boy born with cerebral palsy. 4 min. DVD 7473

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Cutter's Way (1981)

Directed by Ivan Passer. Cast: Jeff Bridges, John Heard, Lisa Eichhorn, Stephen Elliott. Suspectd of murdering a teenage girl, Richard Bone, a laidback Santa Barbara boat salesman and gigolo, turns to his best friend, Alex Cutter, a disabled Vietnam veteran, for help in finding the real killer. But Bone gets more than he bargained for when Cutter instead of contacting the police, tries to blackmail their suspect who violently turns the tables on them. 109 min. DVD 1452

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Caughie, John and Skirrow, Gillian. "Ahab, Ishmael...and Mo." Screen; Sep/Oct82, Vol. 23 Issue 3/4, p54-59, 6p

Gery, John. "Cutter's Way and the American Way: Heroic Alienations." Literature/Film Quarterly, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 58-64, 1988.UC users only

Krebsbach, Karen. "Compelling Characters." Sojourner: The Women's Forum; Sep1981, Vol. 7 Issue 1, p21-26, 2p

Norden, Martin F. "Portrait of a Disabled Vietnam Veteran: Alex Cutter of Cutter's Way." In: From Hanoi to Hollywood : the Vietnam War in American film / edited by Linda Dittmar and Gene Michaud. New Brunswick : Rutgers University Press, c1990. (Main Stack DS557.73.F76 1990; Moffitt DS557.73.F76 1990)

Dancer in the Dark (Denmark / Germany / Netherlands / USA / UK / France / Sweden / Finland / Iceland / Norway, 2000)

Directed by Lars von Trier. Cast: Bjork, Catherine Deneuve, David Morse, Peter Stormare, Jean-Marc Barr, Joel Grey. Selma, a factory worker in rural America and single mother, is losing her eyesight from a hereditary disease. Determined to protect her 10-year-old son from the same fate, Selma is saving her money to get him an operation. In the evenings, Selma escapes by rehearsing for a production of The sound of music with her best friend. When a neighbor betrays her trust, Selma's life spirals out of control and the lines between reality and fantasy blur until she begins to believe that her life has actually become a Hollywood musical. 141 min. DVD 1087

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Le scaphandre et le papillon)(France, 2007)

Directed by Julian Schnabel. Cast: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josee Croze, Anne Consigny, Patrick Chesnais, Niels Arestrup, Olatz Lopez Garmendia, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Marina Hands, Max von Sydow, Isaach De Bankole. A drama based on the true story of the French editor of Elle magazine, Jean-Dominique Bauby, who in 1995 at the age of 43, suffered a stroke that paralyzed his entire body, except his left eye. Using that eye to blink out his memoir, Bauby eloquently described the aspects of his interior world, from the psychological torment of being trapped inside his body to his imagined stories from lands he'd only visited in his mind. Based on the novel "Le scaphandre et le papillon" by Jean-Dominique Bauby. 112 min. DVD 9852

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Adams, Brooks. "Julian Schnabel: The Eye of the Mind." Art in America; May2008, Vol. 96 Issue 5, p85-89, 3p UC users only

Alleva, Richard. "Locked In." Commonweal, 2/29/2008, Vol. 135 Issue 4, p23-24, 2pUC users only

Church, David. "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly." Disability Studies Quarterly Spring 2008, Volume 28, No.2

Craig, Megan. "Locked In." Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 2008, Vol. 22 Issue 3, p145-158, 14p UC users only

Denby, David. "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly." New Yorker, 12/24/2007, Vol. 83 Issue 41, p34-34UC users only

Kern, Laura. "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly." Film Comment, Nov/Dec2007, Vol. 43 Issue 6, p69-70, 2pUC users only

Macaulay, Scott. "The Inside Man." Filmmaker - The Magazine of Independent 16:1 (Fall 2007) p. 70-73 UC users only

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Cast: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens, Tracy Reed. Feaures wheelchair-bound Strangelove (Peter Sellers), the quintessential evil-genius (preportedly based on Henry Kissinger). Strangelove possesses a bionic arm with a vicious life of it's own. 93 min. DVD 61; vhs 999:43

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Dolls (Japan, 2002)

Director, Takeshi Kitano.Cast: Kanno Miho, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Tatsuya Mihashi, Kyoko Fukada. Three stories of undying love, including tale of a disfigured pop star confronts the phenomenal devotion of her biggest fan. DVD 5994

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Directed by Tim Burton. Cast: Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest, Anthony Michael Hall, Kathy Baker, Vincent Price, Alan Arkin, Robert Oliveri, Conchata Ferrell, Caroline Aaron, Dick Anthony Williams, O-Lan Jones. As the result of an inventor's sudden death, his creation Edward (Johnny Depp) is left with long, sharp scissors instead of hands. Edward is brought from his lonely castle to a stylized, pastel suburb by a kindly Avon lady, who tries to make a home for him with her family and neighbors, with alarming, darkly comic results. 105 min. DVD 4015; vhs 999:2023

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

The Elephant Man (UK / USA, 1980)

Directed by David Lynch. Cast: Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt, Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller. Based on a true story in 19th century England, the film examines the complex emotional experiences faced by John Merrick, afflicted with neurofibromastosis and known as the "Elephant Man." He is discovered and rescued by a dedicated surgeon from his life as a circus freak, and is given a chance to live his last years with comfort, respect, and dignity. 123 min. DVD X671; also DVD 1060

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Even Dwarfs Started Small (Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen)(West Germany, 1969)

Directed by Werner Herzog. Cast: Helmut Doring, Gerd Gickel, Paul Glauer, Erna Gschwendtner, Gisela Hertwig, Gerhard Marz, Hertel Minkner, Alfredo Piccini, Gertraud Piccini, Brigitte Saar, Marianne Saar, Erna Smolarz, Lajos Zsarnoczay. The inmates have taken over an institution in a bleak and savage world in which everyone's a dwarf in this brutal allegorical film about the consequences of imprisonment and rebellion. In this land of reversed proportions, as one of the institution's directors holds a rebel hostage while issuing orders for calm, the other inmates run amok, smashing equipment, setting fires, fighting for power and tormenting two blind prisoners. DVD 977

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Church, David. "Examining the Role of Disability in Herzog's Even Dwarves Started Small." Disability Studies Quarterly, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. [no pagination], Fall 2005

Sebok, B. R. "Even Dwarfs Started Small: Werner Herzog and the Aesthetics of the Grotesque." Kinema; Fall2007 Issue 28, p53-68, 16p

Snyder, Sharon L. and Mitchell, David T. "Re-engaging the body: disability studies and the resistance to embodiment." Public Culture; 2001, Vol. 13 Issue 3, p367-389, 23p UC users only

The Eye (Jian Gui) (Hong Kong / UK / Singapore, 2002)

Directed by Oxide Pang Chun and Danny Pang. Cast: Angelica Lee, Lawrence Chou, Chutcha Rujinanon, Yut Lai So. In this Chinese horror film, a blind girl gets a cornea transplant after 18 years of blindness but the face she sees in the mirror is not her own and she begins to realize she is seeing ghosts. So she sets out of find the origins of her cornea and the history of the previous dead owner. 95 min. DVD 1777

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

The Eye of the Beholder (aka. Private World of Darkness)(Twilight Zone, TV series, 1960)

Written by Rod Serling ; producer, Buck Houghton; director, Douglas Heyes (Episode 42, November 11, 1960) "Janet Tyler has undergone her eleventh treatment in an attempt to look like everybody else. The details of the treatment are not given, but Tyler is first shown with her head completely bandaged, so her face cannot be seen. She is described as being "not normal" by the nurses and doctor, whose own faces are always in shadows. The outcome of the procedure cannot be known until the bandages are removed. Tyler pleads with the doctor and eventually convinces him to remove the bandages early. After a climactic buildup, the bandages are removed, revealing to the audience that she is beautiful. However the reaction of the doctor and nurses is disappointment; the operation has failed, her face has undergone "no change — no change at all". At this point, the doctor, nurses and other people in the hospital, whose faces have never been seen clearly before, are now revealed to be horribly deformed in the audience's perspective, with large brows, curled lips, and misshapen, pig-like noses. Distraught by the failure of the procedure, Tyler runs through the hospital as the terrible faces of everyone she runs into, apparently the norm in this society, are revealed. Large screens throughout the hospital project an image of the State's despotic leader (sounding and making hand motions like Adolf Hitler), calling for greater conformity. Eventually, a handsome man afflicted with the same "condition" arrives to take the crying, despondent Tyler into exile to a village of her "own kind", where her "ugliness" will not trouble the State. Before the two leave, the man comforts Tyler with the "very, very old saying" that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". [Wikipedia] DVD 5873; also on DVD 4067

Eyes in the Night (1942)

Directed by Fred Zinnemann. Cast: Edward Arnold, Ann Harding, Donna Reed, Mantan Moreland, John Emery, Horace McNally, Katherine Emery, Reginald Denny, Rosemary De Camp, Stanley Ridges. Blind detective McLain investigates the murder of Miss Lawry's boyfriend with the aid of his seeing-eye dog. The only clue is the odor of violets in the room. From this clue McLain builds a case against Nazi spies headed by someone close to Miss Lawry. 80 min. DVD 7422

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Eyes Without A Face (Les Yeux sans visage) (Frace, 1959)

Directed by Georges Franju. Cast: Pierre Brasseur, Alida Valli, Edith Scob. A distinguished surgeon kidnaps young women intending to graft their features onto his daughter's disfigured face. Based on the novel: Les yeux sans visage / by Jean Redon. 88 min. DVD 3065; vhs 999:477

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Face of Another (Tanin no kao) (Japan, 1966)

Directed by Hiroshi Teshigahara. Cast: Tatsuya Nakadai, Machiko Kyo, Mikijiro Hira, Kyoko Kishida, Miki Irie, Eiji Okada, Minoru Chiaki, Hideo Kanze, Kunie Tanaka, Bibari Maeda, Etsuko Ichihara, Yoshie Minami. Okuyama, after being burned and disfigured in an industrial accident and estranged from his family and friends, agrees to his psychiatrist's radical experiment: a face transplant, created from the mold of a stranger. As Okuyama is thus further alienated from the world around him, he finds himself giving in to his darker temptations. 124 min. DVD 9081

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Fists in the Pocket (I Pugni in Tasca) (Italy, 1965)

Directed by Marco Bellocchio. Cast: Lou Castel, Paola Pitagora, Marino Mase, Liliana Gerace, Pier Luigi Troglio. Story about a blind widow and her four children. Three are afflicted with epilepsy, and the fourth, Augusto, has to support the family. Alessandro (Sandro) wants to free his brother from this burden and sees killing the rest of the family as the only way. 108 min. DVD 5494

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Freaks (1932)

Directed by Tod Browning. The side-show freaks have created their own unified community within the carnival. When the beautiful trapeze artist marries one of the freaks for his money, and then plots to kill him, the enraged freaks defend their friend and take gruesome revenge on their betrayers, transforming the aerialist into the most hideous side-show attraction of all. 66 min. DVD 2830; vhs 999:80

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

The Fugitive(Twilight Zone, TV series, 1962)

J. Pat O'Malley, Susan Gordon, Nancy Kulp. "One of Charles Beaumont's most charming Twilight Zone scripts, this episode stars the ubiqitious J. Pat O'Malley as Old Ben, the only ray of sunshine in the life of crippled eight-year-old Jenny (Susan Gordon). Out of earshot of Jenny's harridan guardian Mrs. Gann (Nancy Kulp), Old Ben confesses that he is a fugitive from a distant planet, an assertion that seems to be verified when he miraculously heals Jenny's leg. The arrival of two mysterious strangers leads to an even more startling revelation -- albeit one with happy results. Keep an eye on that photograph in the final scene. "The Fugitive" first aired March 9, 1962." [Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide] DVD 2604

The Gift

Filmmaking debut of actress and playwright Tanya Boyd, known for her role on the soap opera Days of Our Lives. The film is based on a true story about a blind sculptor who is offered surgery that might restore his vision. (Short film in the anthology Afrocentricity) DVD 267

Glass Menagerie (1987)

Directed by Paul Newman. Cast: Joanne Woodward, John Malkovich, Karen Allen, James Naughton. A strong willed woman attempts to impose her shattered dreams into the life and personality of her shy, disabled daughter. Based on the play by Tennessee Williams. 134 min. Video/C 1332

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

The Hands of a Stranger (1962)

Directed by Newton Arnold. Cast: Paul Lukather, Joan Harvey, James Stapleton, Irish McCalla, Barry Gordon, Sally Kellerman, Ted Otis. Famous pianist Vernon Paris' hands are crushed in a car accident. An ambitious doctor grafts new hands onto him in a revolutionary experimental operation. Unbeknownst to Paris, the hands are those of a killer and they begin to take over his life, forcing him to commit heinous acts and murder. 85 min. DVD 9962

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

The Hands of Orlac (Olac's hände) (Germany / Austria, 1925)

Directed by Robert Wiene. Cast: Conrad Veidt, Alexandra Sorina, Fritz Kortner, Carmen Cartellieri. A noted concert pianist's hands are severed in a train wreck. A surgeon grafts the hands of an executed strangler onto Orlac's wrists and he begins to believe he is possessed with the mind of the strangler. 98 min. DVD 9343; vhs 999:3706

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Olney, Ian. "The Problem Body Politic, or 'These Hands Have a Mind All Their Own!': Figuring Disability in the Horror Film Adaptations of Renard's Les Mains d'Orlac." Literature/Film Quarterly, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 294-302, 2006 UC users only

The Hero (O herói)(Angola, 2004)

Directed by Zézé Gamboa. Vitorio has just been discharged after almost 20 years of fighting in the war. During his last military assignment he stepped on a land mine and lost a leg. After recuperating, he finds himself alone, unemployed and homeless. He, along with the people that he encounters, attempt to build new lives at the same time as their country reconstructs in the postwar era. 97 min. DVD 5305

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Home of the Brave (1949)

Directed by Mark Robson. Cast: Lloyd Bridges, James Edwards, Frank Lovejoy, Douglas Dick, Steve Brodie, Jeff Corey. For black GI, Peter Moss, the war never ends. Paralyzed from the waist down, he wages a battle against horrifying memories of the treacherous undergrowth of South Pacific jungles, of Japanese snipers, and the virulent racism of his soldier comrades. 86 min. 999:3670

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Norden, Martin F. "The Racism-Ableism Link in Home of The Brave and Bright Victory" Film & History May1990, Vol. 20 Issue 2, p26-36, 11p UC users only

Wallace, Michele. "Race, Gender and Psychoanalysis in Forties Film: Lost Boundaries, Home of the Brave and The Quiet One." In: Black American cinema / edited by Manthia Diawara. New York : Routledge, 1993. (Main Stack PN1995.9.N4.B45 1993; Moffitt PN1995.9.N4.B45 1993; PFA PN1995.9.N4.B45 1993)

Home of the Brave (USA / Morocco, 2006)

Directed by Irwin Winkler. Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Jessica Biel, Brian Presley, Curtis Jackson, Chad Michael Murray. Shortly after receiving the news that they will soon be reunited with their families back in the United States, a unit serving in Iraq is deployed on one last humanitarian mission. Their objective is to deliver medical supplies to a remote Iraqi village. Upon arriving in the village, the unit is viciously ambushed and many lives are lost. Now, as the four surviving members of the battalion return home and attempt to readjust to civilian life, the physical injuries and psychological scars sustained during that tragic event continue to take a heavy emotional toll on the war-torn soldiers. 106 min. DVD 8680

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Havis, Richard James. "Home of the Brave." Film Journal International; Jan2007, Vol. 110 Issue 1, p38-39, 2p UC users only

Hunchback of Notre Dame

See MRC's Literary Adaptations videography for various versions held by the Center.

Jiyan (Iraq/USA, 2002)

Directed by Jano Rosebiani. Cast: Kurdo Galali, Enwer Shexani, Coman Hawrami, Derya Qadir, Ehmed Salar, Nasir Hesen, Pisheng Berzinci. Five years following the infamous chemical and biological bombing of Halabja, Diyari, a Kurdish/ American good Samaritan, returns to his homeland to build an orphanage in what is left of Halabja. He meets Jiyan, a ten-year old orphan and survivor of the chemical attack doomed to live with a burn scar covering most of her right cheek. A strong bond between the two ensues and later he names his orphanage after her. 93 min. DVD 6610

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Johnny Belinda (1948)

Directed by Jean Negulesco. Cast: Jane Wyman, Lew Ayres, Charles Bickford, Agnes Moorehead, Stephen McNally, Jan Sterling. Because of her disability, a deaf mute living in a village in Nova Scotia is known as "the dummy," but a compassionate doctor recognizes her innate intelligence and teaches her sign language and lip-reading. 103 min. DVD 7555; vhs 999:3436

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Leff, Leonard J. "What in the world interests women? Hollywood, postwar America, and Johnny Belinda." Journal of American Studies, Dec97, Vol. 31 Issue 3, p385, 21p

Johnny Got His Gun (1971)

Directed by Dalton Trumbo. Cast: Tomothy Bottoms, Kathy Fields, Marsha Hunt, Jason Robards, Donald Sutherland, Diane Varsi. In 1918 a soldier is badly wounded and has both his arms and legs amputated. Plunged into a chilling nightmare, we hear the young war victim's thoughts. Based on a novel by Dalton Trumbo. 106 min. DVD 7331

Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database

Blackmore, Tim. "Lazarus Machine: Body Politics in Dalton Trumbo's Johnny Got His Gun." Mosaic 33.4 (Dec 2000): 1. UC users only

Hanson, Peter Dalton Trumbo, Hollywood rebel : a critical survey and filmography / by Peter Hanson. Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland, c2001. (Main Stack PS3539.R928.Z69 2001)

Macnab, Geoffrey. "Johnny Got His Gun. Sight & Sound, Sep2004, Vol. 14 Issue 9, p96-97, 2p; UC users only

Norden, Martin F. "Johnny Got His Gun: Evolution of an Antiwar Statement." In: Hollywood's World War I : motion picture images / edited by Peter C. Rollins and John E. OConnor. Place/Publisher Bowling Green, OH : Bowling Green State University Popular Press, [1997] (Main Stack D522.23.H65 1997; Moffitt D522.23.H65 1997)

Johnny Handsome (1989)

Director, Walter Hill. Cast: Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin, Elizabeth McGovern, Morgan Freeman, Scott Wilson, Forest Whitaker. A man, born severely deformed, makes his living as a small-time criminal. During a robbery he and his best friend are double-crossed by their partners and he ends up in prison. There he meets a sympathetic surgeon who gives him a new face. When he is released he sets in motion a plan to get revenge on the couple who double-crossed him. 96 min. DVD 2077

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The Keys to the House (Le chiavi di Casa) (Italy / France / Germany, 2004)

Director, Gianni Amelio. Cast: Kim Rossi Stuart, Charlotte Rampling, Andrea Rossi, Anita Bardeleben, Thorsten Schwarz, Bernd Weikert, Ingrid Appenrodth, Manuel Katzy, Dimitri Susin, Alla Faerovich. Gianni is reunited with Paolo, the 15-year-old physically handicapped son he has never seen, a son he abandoned at birth. The reunion is not Gianni's idea, but that of Paolo's doctor who hopes the connection will benefit the troubled boy. Gianni experiences a Pandora's box in Paolo, full of shocks and wonders, but eventually comes to appreciate the responsibilities and rewards of caring for a handicapped child. 107 min. DVD 5311

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Kingsize (Kingsajz) (Poland, 1987)

Directed by Juliusz Machulski. Cast: Jacek Chmielnik, Jerzy Stuhr, Katarzyna Figura, Grzegorz Herominski, Joachim Lamza, Maciej Kozowski, Jan Machulski, Leonard Pietraszak, Witold Pyrkosz, Liza Machulska. The story follows a young scientist in the contemporary world, who actually came from the world of dwarves, thanks to a magic potion, held by the Big Eater, ruler of the dwarves. 104 min. DVD 6249

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Kounandi (Burkina Faso, 2003)

Directed by Apolline Traore. Cast: Deborah Coty, Noufou Ouedraogo, Aminata Dao, Kamsa Traore, Korotimi Traore, Adama Kone. In this adult fairy tale Kounandi, a young beauty often scorned and overlooked because of her dwarfism, earns her living and finds village favor making delicious cup cakes. Kounandi falls in love with Karim only to discover that he is married to Awa who is dying. Kounandi mystically sacrifices her lifeforce (and cup cake pan) as a gift to the couple. In Jula with English subtitles. 50 min. DVD 5304

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Life on a String (Bian zou bian chang) (China, 1991)

Director, Chen Kaige. Cast: Liu Zhongyuan, Huang Lei, Xu Qing. Story of a saintly blind man who as a boy was promised the restoration of his sight if he devoted his life to music. He and a young blind disciple travel the countryside seeking enlightenment and inspiring people with their singing and banjo playing. 107 min. DVD 4946

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The Light Ahead (Fishke der krumer) (USA, 1939)

Director, Edgar G. Ulmer. Cast: Isidore Cashier, Helen Beverley, David Opatoshu. Story of Fishke, a lame man who is a ward of the Jewish community and his love for the blind woman, Hodl. They are kept from marrying until a traveling bookseller turns the community's fear of the supernatural to the couple's advantage. Adapted from the work of Mendele Mokher Seforim. In Yiddish with English subtitles. 94 min. DVD 5221; vhs 999:3447

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Lili (1953)

Directed by Charles Walters. Cast: Leslie Caron, Mel Ferrer, Jean Pierre Aumont. A musical drama in which a shy, young orphan girl is befriended by a crippled puppeteer and his group of carnival puppets. 81 min. 999:1666

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The Little Coach (El Cochecito)(Spain, 1960)

Directed by Marco Ferreri. Cast: Jose Isbert, Jose A. Lepe, Maria Luise Ponte, Pedro Porcel, Jose Luis Lopez Vasquez. A black comedy about an old man who wants a motorized bicycle so he can ride through town with his crippled friends. When his family refuses to buy him a bike as well he methodically poisons his family members one by one, using their tiny legacies to finance his purchase. Strange but true: the audience's sympathy is with the elder gent in this study of aging, loneliness, neglect and rebellion. Based on the novel: El cochecito / Rafael Azcona. 90 min. Video/C 999:2099

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The Little Girl Who Sold The Sun (La Petite Vendeuse de Soleil) (Senegal / France / Switzerland / Germany, 1999)

Directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty (Senegal, 1998) A parable which uses the struggles of a young crippled girl in Dakar trying to earn her living in the market place selling newspapers to mirror Africa's role in the international marketplace. 44 min. 999:2224

Description from California Newsreel catalog

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Love! Valour! Compassion! (1997)

Directed by Joe Mantello. Cast: John Glover, Stephen Spinella, Stephen Bogardus, John Benjamin Hickey, Justin Kirk, Randy Becker, Jason Alexander. Eight friends leave the city behind for three simple weekends of relaxation in the country. The host is a gay man and so are his seven guests--one of whom is blind, and one who is dying of AIDS. They love and hate, play and wrangle, kiss and carry on, are connubially devoted or brazenly promiscuous in this comic treatment of gay relationships. 120 min. 999:2016

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Lucky Star (1929)

Directed by Frank Borzage. Cast: Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, Guinn Williams, Hedwig Reicher, Paul Fix. Mary, a poor farm girl, meets Tim just as word comes that war has been declared. Tim enlists in the army and goes to the battlefields of Europe, where he is wounded and loses the use of his legs. Home again, Tim is visited by Mary, and they are powerfully attracted to each other; but his physical handicap prevents him from declaring his love for her. Deeper complications set in when Martin, Tim's former sergeant and a bully, takes a shine to Mary. From the story Three episodes in the life of Timothy Osborn by Tristram Tupper. 100 min. DVD X720

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Mad Love (1935)

Directed by Karl Freund. Cast: Peter Lorre, Frances Drake, Colin Clive, Ted Healy, Edward Brophy. An insane surgeon's obsession with an actress leads him to replace her husband's wounded pianist's hands with the hands of a knife murderer which still have the urge to throw knives. 68 min. 6520; vhs 999:3620

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Goldberg, Ruth. "Of mad love, alien hands and the film under your skin." Kinoeye, Vol 2 Issue 4 18 Feb, 2002

Draper, Ellen. "Zombie Women When the Gaze Is Male." Wide Angle: A Film Quarterly of Theory, Criticism, and Practice, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 52-62, 1988

Olney, Ian. "The Problem Body Politic, or 'These Hands Have a Mind All Their Own!': Figuring Disability in the Horror Film Adaptations of Renard's Les Mains d'Orlac." Literature/Film Quarterly, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 294-302, 2006 UC users only

The Man Who Laughs (1927)

Director, Paul Leni. Cast: Conrad Veidt, Mary Philbin, Olga Baclanova, Josephine Crowell, Cesare Gravina. A nobleman's son is kidnapped and then mutilated by a gypsy "surgeon" who carves a permanent smile on the man by order of King James II. He becomes a clown with a circus troupe where he meets and falls in love with a beautiful blind girl, the one person who cannot be repulsed by his appearance. 110 min. DVD 1916

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The Men (1950)

Director, Fred Zinnemann. Cast: Marlon Brando, Teresa Wright, Everett Sloane, Jack Webb, Richard Erdman, Virginia Farmer, Dorothy Tree, Howard St. John, Arthur Jurado. In Marlon Brando's first feature film he plays a war veteran paralyzed in combat who returns home to find he will never walk again, bitterly refusing to see his fiance. She must force him to confront reality and break his physical and emotional confinement. When feeling starts to return to his legs, it could be his last hope, or final downfall. 85 min. DVD X597

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Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Directed by John Schlesinger. Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Brenda Vaccaro, John McGiver, Ruth White, Sylvia Miles. A Texas "cowboy" takes a bus to New York in search of lonely, rich women who will pay for his sexual services, but instead spends a hard winter looking after a dying, crippled derelict. 113 min. DVD 5254; vhs 999:986

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The Mighty (1998)

Directed by Peter Chelsom. Cast: Sharon Stone, Gena Rowlands, Harry Dean Stanton, Gillian Anderson. With his loving and supportive mother, 13-year-old Kevin moves in next door to another teen, Max. Though both have problems that label them as outcasts, Kevin and Max discover that by proudly combining their strengths and uniting as one, they can overcome their individual limitations and triumph over any adversity. As the two set out on a series of courageous adventures, they find the mightiest treasure of all: friendship! 100 min. DVD 6409

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Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Directed by Clint Eastwood. Cast: Clint Eastwood, Hillary Swank, Morgan Freeman, Anthony Mackie. Frankie is a former boxing manager, who initially refuses to train Maggie due to her gender and age. With her talent and his coaching the spirited young fighter rises through the ranks of women's boxing, the pair form a touching bond in the process. "The film has raised a great deal of controversy over a theme that, while a vital part of the film, has been underplayed in its marketing campaign and carefully skirted in reviews. At issue is the film's depiction of assisted suicide. When the fighter portrayed by Swank receives a sucker punch in the ring, she is paralyzed from the neck down. Unwilling to live that way, she begs Eastwood's character to help her die, and finally, after much soul-searching, he does." [Terri Mauro, "Is "Million Dollar Baby" Dangerous?"] 132 min. DVD 4170

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Miracle Worker (1962)

Directed by Arthur Penn. Cast: Anne Bancroft (Annie Sullivan), Patty Duke (Helen Keller), Victor Jory, Inga Swenson, Andrew Prine, Kathleen Comegys. Based on true events this is a dramatization of the struggle of a Boston teacher, Annie Sullivan, to communicate with and teach the deaf, blind, and mute child, Helen Keller. Based on William Gibson's play. 106 min. DVD 627; vhs 999:2929

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Miracle Worker (TV, 1979)

Directed by Paul Aaron. Cast: Patty Duke Astin (Annie Sullivan), Melissa Gilbert (Helen Keller), Diana Muldaur, Charles Siebert. A dramatization of the true story of the struggle of a Boston teacher, Annie Sullivan, to communicate with and teach the deaf, blind, and mute child, Helen Keller. Original television drama made in 1979. Based on William Gibson's play. 98 min. vhs 999:957

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Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962)

Paramount Pictures. Animated musical version of Dickens' classic featuring the enormously near-sighted Mr. Magoo. 52 min. 999:1515

Moulin Rouge (1952)

Directed by John Huston. Cast: Jose Ferrer, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Suzanne Flon, Eric Pohlmann, Colette Marchand, Christopher Lee, Michael Balfour. "Toulouse-Lautrec, 19th century French artist who was a 'dwarf', caused by accident when a child. Played in long shots by a dwarf actor. The rest of the time by Ferrer on his knees. The film shows Lautrec's fall when a boy and the operation which is not a success and led to his restricted growth. When young he uses two sticks and later as a man only one." [from Films Involving Disabilities]. Lautrec also shows up as a minor character in Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! (2001) [DVD 976] 119 min. DVD X1145; vhs 999:3529

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My Left Foot (Ireland / UK, 1989)

Directed by Jim Sheridan. Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Ray McAnally, Brenda Fricker, Cyril Cusack, Fiona Shaw, Hugh O'Conor, Adrian Dunbar, Ruth McCabe, Alison Whelan. Based on Christy Brown's true life story, My Left Foot features Daniel Day-Lewis' Academy Award winning performance as a man who triumphs over impossible odds to achieve greatness. DVD Special features: "The real Christy Brown" featuring biographical details on Brown (5 min.) ; "An inspirational journey : the making of 'My left foot' " with commentaries on the pre-production process (11 min.); stills gallery; "My left foot" reviews from the Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, and the LA Weekly. 103 min. DVD 9204; vhs 999:2182

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Hambleton, Georgina Louise. Christy Brown : the life that inspired My Left Foot Edinburgh : Mainstream, 2007. [MAIN: PR6052.R5894 Z66 2007]

Night is My Future (Morkret ar min framtid; aka Music Is My Future; Musik i mörker) (Sweden, 1947)

Directed by Ingmar Bergman. Cast: Mai Zetterling, Birger Malmsten, Olof Winnerstrand, Naima Wifstrand, Hilda Borgstrom, Douglas Hage. In this poignant love story a young soldier is wounded in the war and loses his eyesight. Back home he develops a platonic relationship with his maid, but they eventually go their separate ways. After many years when they meet again, can friedship become love? 88 min. 999:3188

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Night on Earth (France / UK / Germany / USA / Japan, 1991)

Directed by Jim Jarmusch. A collection of five stories involving cab drivers in five different cities. In one story, a blind girl takes a ride with a cab driver from the Ivory Coast and they talk about life and blindness. 125 min. DVD 8431; vhs 999:2054

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Oasis (Korea, 2002)

Directed by Lee Chang-dong. Cast: Kyung-gu Sol, So-ri Moon, Nae-sang Ahn, Seung-wan Ryoo. A mentally handicapped young man is haunted by a crime that landed him in prison, a hit-and-run accident that resulted in the death of an old man. After his release from prison he goes to visit the victim's family, and meets Gong-ju, the man's daughter, who has cerebral palsy. The two begin an unlikely love affair that exposes the callousness and uncomfortable secrets of both of their families. 133 min. DVD 2123

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Of Human Bondage (1934)

Director, John Cromwell. Cast: Bette Davis, Leslie Howard, Frances Dee, Kay Johnson, Reginald Denny, Alan Hale, Reginald Owen. The poignant story of a cripped medical student's love for a crude and vulgar waitress which results in a mutually destructive relationship. 83 min. DVD 1294; 999:1299

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On Dangerous Ground (1951)

Directed by Nicholas Ray. Cast: Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan, Ward Bond, Charles Kemper. A tough cop falls in love with the blind sister of a mentally defective murderer. 82 min. DVD 5850; vhs 999:140

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Open Hearts (Elsker dig for evigt) (Denmark, 2002)

Directed by Susanne Bier and Anders Thomas Jensen. Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Sonja Richter, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Paprika Steen, Stine Bjerregaard, Birthe Neumann, Niels Olsen, Ulf Pilgaard. A film about an engaged couple that is torn apart after the man is paralyzed in an accident, and the woman falls in love with the husband of the woman who caused the accident. 109 min. DVD 5412

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Open Your Eyes (Abre los ojos) (Spain / France / Italy, 1997)

Director, Alejandro Amenábar. Cast: Penelope Cruz, Chete Lera, Fele Martinez, Eduardo Noriega, Najwa Nimri. In this steamy, intriguingly complex, psychological thriller the line between reality and fantasy is hopelessly blurred. Cesar tries to make sense of his life after a car crash leaves his once-handsome face grotesquely disfigured. After he is placed into a psychiatric penitentiary for a murder he doesn't remember committing, Cesar's only hope is to delve into the depths of his subconscious mind where the answer to ending his living nightmare lies in his dreams. 117 min. DVD X1076; vhs 999:3507

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Herbert, Daniel. "Sky's the Limit: Transnationality and Identity in Abre los ojos and Vanilla Sky." Film Quarterly, vol. 60, no. 1, pp. 28-38, Fall 2006UC users only

Simerka, Barbara; Weimer, Christopher. "Tom Cruise and the Seven Dwarves: Cinematic Postmodernisms in Abre los ojos and Vanilla Sky." American Drama, Summer2005, Vol. 14 Issue 2, p1-15, 15pUC users only

Smith, Paul Julian. "High Anxiety: Abre los Ojos/Vanilla Sky." Journal of Romance Studies, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 91-102, Spring 2004UC users only

White, Anne M. "Seeing double? The remaking of Alejandro's Amenábar's Abre los ojos as Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky." International Journal of Iberian Studies, 2002, Vol. 15 Issue 3, p187, 10p UC users only

Wilson, D. Harlan: "Terminal Constructedness and the Technology of the Self in Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky" Extrapolation: A Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy, (47:2), 2006 Summer, 259-79. (2006) UC users only

The Orphanage (El orfanato) (Mexico / Spain, 2007)

Directed by Juan Antonio Bayona. Cast: Belen Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Roger Princep, Mabel Rivera, Montserrat Carulla, Andres Gertrudix, Edgar Vivar. A mother of a young boy decides to purchase the orphanage she spent her own childhood in, hoping to restore and reopen the long abandoned facility as both a home for them and a school for disabled children. However, her son's imagination seems to run wild in their new home, as he becomes increasingly involved with a group of seemingly imaginary friends. Special features: "When Laura grew up: constructing The orphanage" featurette (18 min.); "Tomas' secret room" production featurette (11 min.); "Horror in the unknown: make-up effects" featurette (10 min.); "Rehearsal studio" featurette (4 min.); still gallery; "Marketing Campaign" teasers and trailers (6 min.); poster gallery; 105min. DVD X542

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Orphans of the Storm (Silent, 1921)

Directed by D.W. Griffith. Cast: Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish. Re-creating the aristocratic splendor and devastating poverty of 18th century France, D.W. Griffith created an emotionally-charged drama with political intrigue, spectacle, and his usual degree of social moralizing. The plot concerns two orphaned sisters, the resourceful Henriette and the blind Louise, who arrive in Paris on the eve of the French Revolution. As the Revolution unfolds, they are exploited, misused, separated and finally threatened with the guilliotine before the happy ending. 150 min. DVD 1542; DVD 67; vhs 999:1886

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Passion Fish (1992)

Directed by John Sayles. Cast: Mary McDonnell, Alfre Woodard, Leo Burmester, Vondie Curtis-Hall, David Strathairn, Nora Dunn. A bitter wisecracking soap opera star returns home to rural Louisiana after an auto accident leaves her paralyzed. Her cruel but hilarious humor and hard drinking drive away a succession of nurses until she meets her match in Chantelle, who has her own problems. Together, they form an unlikely friendship and explore the Louisiana bayou, as well as the murkier waters of men, romance, and family. 135 min. DVD 5034

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Passion of Anna (En Passion)(Sweden, 1969)

Directed by Ingmar Bergman. Cast: Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Bibi Andersson, Erland Josephson. "A woman widowed and disabled in a car accident travels to an isolated island. While there she calls at a house to use the phone. It belongs to an ex-convict living as a recluse. She leaves her purse behind, he looking for a name reads a letter of hers revealing how unhappy and lonely she is. Later she moves in with him but the escape of a 'lunatic' precipitates discord between them." [from disabilityfilms.co.uk 101 min. DVD 2588; vhs 999:714

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A Patch of Blue (1965)

Directed by Guy Green. Cast: Sidney Poitier, Shelley Winters, Elizabeth Hartman, Wallace Ford. Accidentally blinded as a child, 18-year-old Selina D'Arcey falls in love with a gentle and charming man, Gordon Ralfe, whom she meets in a rare visit to a park. Her racist mother declares that because Gordon is black, their relationship cannot continue, forcing Selina to choose between her family and her heart. Based on "Be ready with bells and drums" by Elizabeth Kata. 105 min. DVD 4535

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The Penalty (1920, silent)

Directed by Wallace Worsley. Cast: Lon Chaney, Ethel Grey Terry, Charles Clary, Clair Adams, Kenneth Harlan. An incompetent doctor amputates the legs of a young boy who grows up to be the embittered Blizzard, a criminal mastermind who orchestrates a bizarre and heinous plot to avenge himself. 93 min. DVD 2214

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Anderson, Robert Gordon. Faces, forms, films; the artistry of Lon Chaney New York, Castle Books [c1971] (Main: PN2287.C48 .A8 1971; PFA PN2287.C48 .A8 1971)

Beck, Calvin. "Lon Chaney." In: Heroes of the horrors. New York, Collier Books [1975] (PFA: PN1998.A2 B38 1975)

Blake, Michael F. The Films of Lon Chaney Lanham : Madison Books, 2001. (Main PN2287.C48 B57 2001; PFA PN2287.C48 B57 2001)

Blake, Michael F. Lon Chaney : the man behind the thousand faces Vestal, N.Y. : Vestal Press, 1993. (Main PN2287.C48 B58 1993)

Bodeen, DeWitt. "Lon Chaney." In: From Hollywood : the careers of 15 great American stars South Brunswick [N.J.] : A. S. Barnes, c1976 (Main: PN1998.A2 .B62 1976)

Slide, Anthony. "Lon Chaney." In: Silent players : a biographical and autobiographical study of 100 silent film actors and actresses Lexington, Ky. : University Press of Kentucky, 2002 (Main Stack PN1998.2.S547 2002; PFA PN1998.2.S547 2002)

The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)

Directed by Oliver Stone. Cast: Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, Edward Norton. Based on the true story of the notorius Hustler publisher who was sued by the Religious Right and paralyzed by a fanatic's bullet who took his case to the Supreme Court in defense of free speech and First Amendment rights. Chronicles Flynt's raunchy business savvy, his wildly unconventional marriage and his infamous courtroom antics. 130 min. DVD 607

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The Personals (Zheng hun qi shi) (Taiwan, 1998)

Directed by Chen Kuo-fu. An attractive and successful ophthalmologist quits her job and places a personal ad in the newspaper. She has a specific purpose in her ad - she is looking for marriage. After a series of blind dates with men who are either lonely, desperate, strange, perverted, or all of the above, what she really wants is her mysterious ex-lover to came back to her. 105 min. DVD 2800

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Peter Pan (1953)

Directors: Clyde Geronimi Wilfred Jackson, et al. Disney. On the villainous Captain Hook, Paul Longmore, associate professor of history and director of the Institute on Disability at San Francisco State University, has commented "...there are many villains with disabilities, and that reflects a very old idea that disability causes a loss of moral self-control," Longmore says. This particular type has flourished through popular characters such as Captain Hook in "Peter Pan," Mr. Potter in "It's a Wonderful Life" and the formidable Darth Vader in "Star Wars" (who required a mechanical breathing apparatus to survive)." (Quest, vol. 4, no. 4) 76 min. DVD 136; vhs 999:220

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Peter Pan (1924)Directed by Herbert Brenon; featuring Betty Bronson, Ernest Torrence, Anna May Wong, Virginia Browne Faire, Esther Ralston, Mary Brian. DVD 239

Phantom of the Opera (1925, silent)

Directed by Rupert Julian. Cast: Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Arthur Edmund Carewe. A mad and disfigured musician hides out in the dungeons under the Paris Opera where he falls in love with a young singer and lures her to his hiding place. 79 min. DVD 3915; vhs 999:802

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Anderson, Robert Gordon. Faces, forms, films; the artistry of Lon Chaney New York, Castle Books [c1971] (Main: PN2287.C48 .A8 1971; PFA PN2287.C48 .A8 1971)

Beck, Calvin. "Lon Chaney." In: Heroes of the horrors. New York, Collier Books [1975] (PFA: PN1998.A2 B38 1975)

Blake, Michael F. The Films of Lon Chaney Lanham : Madison Books, 2001. (Main PN2287.C48 B57 2001; PFA PN2287.C48 B57 2001)

Blake, Michael F. Lon Chaney : the man behind the thousand faces Vestal, N.Y. : Vestal Press, 1993. (Main PN2287.C48 B58 1993)

Bodeen, DeWitt. "Lon Chaney." In: From Hollywood : the careers of 15 great American stars South Brunswick [N.J.] : A. S. Barnes, c1976 (Main: PN1998.A2 .B62 1976)

Slide, Anthony. "Lon Chaney." In: Silent players : a biographical and autobiographical study of 100 silent film actors and actresses Lexington, Ky. : University Press of Kentucky, 2002 (Main Stack PN1998.2.S547 2002; PFA PN1998.2.S547 2002)

Phantom of the Opera (UK, 1962)

Directed by Terence Fisher. Cast: Herbert Lom, Heather Sears, Thorley Walters. A madman called the Phantom terrorizes an opera house. When a singer named Christine is contacted by the specter, her producer tracks him to his underground lair and finds he is a brilliant but disfigured composer demanding revenge. Christine is the Phantom's only weakness and he pays the ultimate price to keep his love for her. 85 min. DVD 4450

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Hammer Films

Phantom of the Opera (1962)

Directed by Arthur Lubin. Cast: Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster, Claude Rains, Edgar Barrier, Leo Carrillo, J. Edward Bromberg. A melodrama about a strange man who lives in the catacombs below the Paris Opera House and his love affair with an opera starlet whom he tutors. 93 min. DVD 521

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The Piano (Australia / New Zealand / France, 1993)

Directed by Jane Campion. Cast: Holly Hunter Harvey Keitel Sam Neill Anna Paquin Kerry Walker Genevieve Lemon. A young mute woman and her child travel to New Zealand in the 1800's for an arranged marriage to a farmer there. After the marriage she meets another man, and the competition for her love begins. Only one of the men realizes that her affections can only be won through her beloved piano. DVD 1167; vhs 999:1326

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Post Concussion (2000)

Directed by Daniel Yoon. Cast: Daniel Yoon, Jennifer Welch, Michael Hohmeyer, Destry Miller, C. B. Yoon. Based on events in the director's own life, the film tells a brutally funny, yet oddly inspiring portrayal of one man's adventures after a serious head injury. A young San Francisco management consultant is struck by a car and sustains a serious concussion. Terminated by his employer, dumped by his girlfriend, and stalked by New Age healers, he finds a way to rediscover himself, his family and the meaning of true friendship. 82 min. DVD 2576

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Ray (2004)

Directed by Taylor Hackford. Cast: Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Regina King, Clifton Powell, Harry Lennix, Bokeem Woodbine, Aunjanue Ellis, Sharon Warren, C.J. Sanders. Ray Charles went blind at the age of seven. Inspired by his mother who insisted he make his own way, he found his calling at the keyboard. 'Ray' follows as he overcomes drug addiction while becoming one of America's most beloved performers. 153 min. DVD 4026

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Gosselink, Carol. "Ray." Disability Studies Quarterly Summer 2005, Volume 25, No. 3

Reach for the Sky (UK, 1956)

Directed by Lewis Gilbert. Cast: Kenneth More, Muriel Pavlow, Lyndon Brook, Lee Patterson, Alexander Knox, Dorothy Alison, Sydney Tafter, Jack Watling, Nigel Green. The amazing story of Douglas Bader, who after losing both legs as a result of an aeroplane crash, overcame insurmountable odds to not only master the art of walking with two artificial legs, but to dance, play golf, and to become one of the most remarkable fighter aces in history. 135 min. DVD X287

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Richard III

The story of Richard of Gloucester, a man twisted both in mind and body, as he schemes for the throne of England. SEE MRC Shakespeare listing for various versions

Romola (1925)

Directed by Henry King. Cast: Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, William Powell, Ronald Colman. The story of Romola, daughter of Bardo Bardi, a blind philosopher at a time when the Medici ruled Florence. Adapted from the novel by George Eliot. 117 min. 999:1535

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Rory O'Shea Was Here (aka Inside I'm Dancing) (UK / Ireland / France, 2004)

Directed by Damien O'Donnell. Cast: James McAvoy, Steven Robertson, Romola Garai, Gerard McSorley, Tom Hickey, Brenda Fricker. An inspiring story of independence that follows two unlikely friends determined to face the world on their own terms. Young Michael is a patient who is resigned to his quiet life within an institution's safe, predictable boundaries. Then, the rebellious Rory O'Shea bursts onto the scene. Now, with the help of the beautiful young Siobhan, who signs on as the boys' live-in aide, Rory will show Michael what it takes to truly be free. 104 min. DVD 4216

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Gill, Michael. "The Disabled Male Gaze: Expressions of Desire and Emotion in Rory O'Shea Was Here" Disability Studies Quarterly Fall 2006, Volume 26, No. 4

Haller, Beth. "Rory O'Shea Was Here." Disability Studies Quarterly Spring 2006, Volume 26, No. 2

Carrey, Normand. "Spheres of influence." CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal; 1/17/2006, Vol. 174 Issue 2, p209-210, 2p

The Sea Inside (Mar adentro) (Spain / France / Italy, 2004)

Directed by Alejandro Amenábar. Cast: Javier Bardem, Belen Rueda, Lola Dueñas, Mabel Rivera, Celso Bugallo, Clara Segura, Joan Dalmau, Alberto Jimenez, Tamar Novas. Based on a true story, Ramon Sampedro wants to end his life because a diving accident 28 years before that turned him into a quadriplegic. For most of those years he made the most of it: writing, developing a close relationships with his family, who all help to care for him. While grateful to his family and friends for their help, Ramon was always an active person. He has come to see his life as frustrating and pointless and wishes to die with what remains of his dignity. Gene is a friend who works with a "Right to Die" organization who introduces Ramon to Julia, a lawyer he hopes will help him persuade the courts to let him end his own life. As Ramon and Julia work together on his case, Ramon finds himself falling in love with his attorney, but Ramon remains convinced that the greatest gift to him would be an end to his life. 125 min. DVD 4052

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Carrey, Normand. "Spheres of influence." CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal; 1/17/2006, Vol. 174 Issue 2, p209-210, 2p

Sklar, Robert. "The Sea Inside." Cineaste, Spring2005, Vol. 30 Issue 2, p52-53, 2p

The Secret Garden (UK, TV, 1975)

Directed by Katrina Murray. Cast: Sarah Hollis Andrews, John Woodnutt, David Patterson, Jacqueline Hoyle. In 19th-century India, little Mary Lennox is suddenly orphaned by cholera. Her only living relative is her crook-backed uncle, Archibald Craven, so Mary is sent to live at his estate on the Yorkshire moors. Rude and unpleasant, Mary gradually begins to change as she explores the manor and grows to know some of the servants, particularly her maid Martha, and Ben Weatherstaff the gardener. With the help of a robin, Mary discovers a secret garden. She also discovers a cousin she never knew she had, and begins to form plans that transform her cousin, the garden, and ultimately herself. Based on the book by Frances Hodgson Burnett. 200 min. DVD 6816

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The Secret Garden (UK / US, 1993)

Directed by Agnieszka Holland. Cast: Sarah Hollis Andrews, John Woodnutt, David Patterson, Jacqueline Hoyle. "Young Mary Lennox is orphaned by an earthquake in India and sent to England to live with her uncle in a cold ancestral manor in Yorkshire. Mary briefly meets him, still mourning for the wife who died ten years ago, but she is mostly left on her own. A resourceful and inquisitive girl, she soon makes two exciting discoveries. First she finds an overgrown secret garden, the favourite of her aunt and locked up since her death. Second, that she has a cousin, Colin, a sickly lad who has been told he must remain in bed out of the daylight at all times. Once Mary and another new friend, local lad Dickon, have brought the garden back to life they decide Colin must see it, a decision that will change several lives." [IMDB] Based on the book by Frances Hodgson Burnett. 102 min. DVD 8688

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The Silence (Sukut. Sokout. Sokhout) (Iran, 1998)

Directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Follows the life of Khorshid, a blind 10-year-old boy who experiences the world through sound and lives with his mother in a small village in Tajikistan where he earns money tuning musical instruments. 75 min. 999:3676

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Simon Birch (1998)

Directed by Mark Steven Johnson. Cast: Joseph Mazzello, Oliver Platt, David Strathairn, Ian Michael Smith, Dana Ivey, Ashley Judd. Even though Simon Burch is the smallest kid in town, he is sure that someday he's going to be a hero ... he's just not sure how. 114 min. DVD 6410

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The Singing Detective (Australia / UK, 1988)

Directed by Jon Amiel. Cast: Michael Gambon, Patrick Malahide, Joanne Whalley, Janet Suzman. The hallucinations of a mystery writer stricken with a crippling skin disorder interweave memories of his past with a plot casting him in the role of a suave sleuth who croons with a big band. DVD 1666; vhs 999:1750

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The Singing Detective (USA, 2003)

Directed by Keith Gordon. Cast: Robert Downey, Jr., Robin Wright Penn, Jeremy Northam, Katie Holmes, Carla Gugino, Adrien Brody, Jon Polito, Saul Rubinek.Bedridden with an excruciating case of skin-rotting psoriasis, novelist Dan Dark escapes into his vivid imagination. There, gunmen and private detectives pursue their own unusual agendas, often casting himself as the titular "warbler" whose pain and anger is focused like a laser on his cheating wife and anyone else who's made his real and imaginary worlds unbearable. 108 min. DVD 2415

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South Park. Insults to Injuries (1946)

Contents: It hits the fan -- Cripple fight -- Proper condom use -- Scott Tenorman must die. In "It Hits the Fan" the citizens of South Park use the word "sh*t" 162 times after the word is popularized on a favorite TV show. However a mysterious plague seems to be linked to the use of this word. Only Chef and the boys can stop the plague. In "Cripple Fight" a new handicapped boy steals attention away from Timmy with his stand-up comedy. Timmy's jealousy grows until it explodes in a knock-down, drag out fight with the new boy. In "Proper Condom Use" the parents of South Park refuse to talk about sexual education with their children and force the public school to teach them instead. The incompetent teachers frighten and misinform the children. It's up to the cool-thinking Chef to save the day. In "Scott Tenorman Must Die" Cartman is cheated out of some money by an older boy. After several failed attempts to get his money back, he concocts his master scheme of revenge. Originally broadcast as four episodes of the television series South Park in 2001. 88 min. DVD 3399

South Park. Timmy

Contents: Timmy 2000 -- 4th grade -- Helen Keller, the musical -- The tooth fairy's tats 2000. Timmy 2000: When Timmy is diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, it triggers a wave of prescription drug abuse at South Park Elementary. 4th grade: The boys are in the 4th grade but they miss the joys of 3rd grade, so they come up with a daring complicated plan to travel back in time a year, with the help of Timmy and his electric wheelchair. Hellen Keller, the musical: The Thanksgiving play is in trouble and Stan, Klye and Kenny are going to great lengths to make the production a hit while Timmy tries his hardest to show the other kids that his new pet turkey can be the star of their show. Tooth Fairy's tats 2000: When Cartman discovers that the Tooth Fairy is paying a premium price for his lost teeth, he seizes the opportunity to make some cash. Originally broadcast as four episodes of the television series South Park in 2000. 88 min. DVD 3400

Sparsa (Sparsh) (India, 1980)

Directed by Sai Paranjpye. Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Sudha Chopra, Om Puri. Anirund Parma is the blind principal of a school for the blind, but he does not allow this handicap to get in his way. He falls in love with a social worker and plans to marry her, but begins to have reservations about the marriage as he feels that he is being pitied. DVD 3492

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The Spiral Staircase (1946)

Directed by Robert Siodmak. Cast: Dorothy McGuire, George Brent, Ethel Barrymore, Kent Smith, Rhonda Fleming, Gordon Oliver, Elsa Lanchester, Sara Allgood, Rhys Williams. A terrifying melodrama about a mute servant girl in a gloomy house who is threatened by a mysterious killer. 83 min. DVD 1461

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The Station Agent (2002)

Directed by Tom McCarthy. Cast: Patricia Clarkson, Peter Dinklage, Bobby Cannavale. A young man born with dwarfism inherits a train station in rural New Jersey and moves there for a life of quiet solitude. He soon finds friendships and a sense of belonging that he never expected, and never thought he wanted. 89 min. DVD 5313

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Stella Maris (1918)

Directed by Frances Marion. Cast: Mary Pickford. Stella Maris, paralyzed from birth, has been tenderly shielded from all the sordidness and misery of life. Her serene dream world comes to an end, however, when an operation cures her of her paralysis. 94 min. 999:2092

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Stolen Face (UK, 1952)

Directed by Terence Fisher. Cast: Paul Henreid, Lizabeth Scott, Mary Mackenzie, Andre Morell, John Wood. A plastic surgeon has a brief fling with a concert pianist, who leaves him to return to her previous boyfriend. He finds a horribly scared patient and fashions her face into the image of his former lover and enters into a marriage that is disappointing. 72 min. DVD 6021

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Hammer Films

The Stratton Story (1949)

Directed by Sam Wood. Cast: James Stewart, June Allyson, Frank Morgan, Agnes Moorehead, Bill Williams. The true story of Chicago White sox pitcher, Monty Stratton. Stratton suffers a devastating hunting accident which leads to the amputation of one leg. Learning to walk with an artificial limb, he struggles to resume his career. 102 min. DVD 6172

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The Sweet Hereafter (1997)

Directed by Atom Egoyan. Cast: Ian Holm, Maury Chaykin, Peter Donaldson, Bruce Greenwood, David Hemblen, Brooke Johnson, Arsinee Khanjian, Tom McCamus, Stephanie Morgenstern, Earl Pastko, Sarah Polley, Gabrielle Rose, Alberta Watson. Following a tragic schoolbus accident, high-profile lawyer Mitchell Stephens descends upon a small town. With promises of retribution and a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of the grieving community, Stephens begins his investigation into the details of the crash. But beneath the town's calm, he uncovers a tangled web of lies, deceit and forbidden desires that mirrors his own troubled personal life. Gradually, we learn that Stephens has his own agenda, and that everyone has secrets to keep. 116 min. DVD 727

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May, Vivian M; Ferri, Beth A. ""I'm a Wheelchair Girl Now": Abjection, Intersectionality, and Subjectvity in Atom Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter." Women's Studies Quarterly, 2002, 30, 1-2, summer, 131-150

Talk To Her (Habla con ella) (Spain, 2002)

Directed by Pedro Almódovar. Cast: Javier Camara, Dario Grandinetti, Leonor Watling, Rosario Flores, Mariola Fuentes, Geraldine Chaplin. In a private clinic Barco and Benigno strike up a friendship while caring for comatose women. Benigno is the caregiver for Alicia, a beautiful dance student and Marco is there to visit his girlfriend Lydia, a famous matador also in a coma. As the men wage vigil over the women they love, the story unfolds in flashback and flashforward as the lives of the four move toward a surprising conclusion. 114 min. DVD 1669

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The Terror of Tinytown (1938)

Directed by Sam Newfield. Cast: Billy Curtis, Yvonne Moray, Little Billy, Billy Platt, Fern McDill, Sam Newfield. A cast of midgets conduct the traditional rudiments of westerns, riding Shetland ponies and hauling the villain beneath the swinging doors of the saloon. 62 min. DVD X531

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Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)

Director: Mervyn LeRoy. Cast: Spencer Tracy, Van Johnson, Robert Mitchum, Phyllis Thaxter, Robert Walker, Scott McKay. A classic World War II thriller - the true life story of the first American air raids on Japan. Spencer Tracy plays Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle, the tough and inspiring mastermind of the historic crew of the "Ruptured Duck," commanded by Captain Ted Lawson. Lawson's daydreams of the bride he left behind are intertwined with the nightmarish terrors of a tense Pacific crossing, thunderous bombings, and the fate of his men on their painful odyssey through mainland China. 139 min. DVD 9130; vhs 999:796

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Norden, Martin F. "Resexualization of the disabled war hero in 'Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.'" Journal of Popular Film and Television v23, n2 (Summer, 1995):50 (6 pages).

Tommy (UK, 1975)

Directed by Ken Russell. Cast: The Who (Music group), Ann Margret, Elton John, Roger Daltrey, Oliver Reed, Eric Clapton, Jack Nicholson, Tina Turner, John Entwistle, Keith Moon, Paul Nicholas, Robert Powell. The classic rock opera by Pete Townsend about a boy, traumatized by the murder of his father, who becomes deaf, dumb and blind. Growing into manhood he is subjected to bizarre cure attempts by The Acid Queen, the Preacher, and the Specialist. In spite of his handicap, Tommy defeats the Pinball Wizard, attains a devoted following and finally cured, is hailed by his fans as a "Messiah". 108 min. DVD 5708; vhs 999:1483

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Torch Song (1953)

Directed by Charles Walters. Cast: Joan Crawford, Michael Wilding, Gig Young, Marjorie Rambeau. Tells the story of a hard as nails Broadway musical star who chews up people for lunch. Romance enters her life in the form of her new piano accompanist, blinded war-veteran Tye Graham. The fact that Graham refuses to kowtow to the temperamental Jenny's demands, coupled with the adversarial behavior of Graham's seeing-eye dog, makes the pianist all the more attractive to the lonely songstress. Based on a story by I. A. R. Wylie. Special features: "Tough Baby: Torch Song"; classic cartoon, "TV of Tomorrow"; vintage Crawford, Jimmy Fund Public Service Announcement trailer; audio only bonus, Crawford recording sessions; theatrical trailer. 89 min. DVD X1006

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The Unknown (1927)

Director, Tod Browning. Cast: Lon Chaney, Norman Kerry, Joan Crawford. Alonzo the Armless (Chaney) throws knives for a living -- with his feet, because he is supposedly armless. Nanon Zanzi (Crawford) is his assistant who, fearful of the touch of any man's hand, fancies him. Perhaps Chaney's most bizarre work. 61 min. DVD 2359

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Anderson, Robert Gordon. Faces, forms, films; the artistry of Lon Chaney New York, Castle Books [c1971] (Main: PN2287.C48 .A8 1971; PFA PN2287.C48 .A8 1971)

Beck, Calvin. "Lon Chaney." In: Heroes of the horrors. New York, Collier Books [1975] (PFA: PN1998.A2 B38 1975)

Blake, Michael F. The Films of Lon Chaney Lanham : Madison Books, 2001. (Main PN2287.C48 B57 2001; PFA PN2287.C48 B57 2001)

Blake, Michael F. Lon Chaney : the man behind the thousand faces Vestal, N.Y. : Vestal Press, 1993. (Main PN2287.C48 B58 1993)

Bodeen, DeWitt. "Lon Chaney." In: From Hollywood : the careers of 15 great American stars South Brunswick [N.J.] : A. S. Barnes, c1976 (Main: PN1998.A2 .B62 1976)

Slide, Anthony. "Lon Chaney." In: Silent players : a biographical and autobiographical study of 100 silent film actors and actresses Lexington, Ky. : University Press of Kentucky, 2002 (Main Stack PN1998.2.S547 2002; PFA PN1998.2.S547 2002)

Vanilla Sky (2001)

Directed by Cameron Crowe. Cast: Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, Kurt Russell, Jason Lee, Noah Taylor, Timothy Spall, Tilda Swinton, Cameron Diaz. In this steamy, intriguingly complex, psychological thriller the line between reality and fantasy is hopelessly blurred. David tries to make sense of his life after a car crash leaves his once-handsome face grotesquely disfigured. After he is placed into a psychiatric penitentiary for a murder he doesn't remember committing, David's only hope is to delve into the depths of his subconscious mind where the answer to ending his living nightmare lies in his dreams. 135 min. DVD 4073

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Hampton, Howard. "Clear Vanilla Skies: "Cryotainment" and the Modern Science of Transcedence." Film Comment 38:2 (March-April 2002) p. 52-53 UC users only

Herbert, Daniel. "Sky's the Limit: Transnationality and Identity in Abre los ojos and Vanilla Sky." Film Quarterly, vol. 60, no. 1, pp. 28-38, Fall 2006UC users only

Simerka, Barbara; Weimer, Christopher. "Tom Cruise and the Seven Dwarves: Cinematic Postmodernisms in Abre los ojos and Vanilla Sky." American Drama, Summer2005, Vol. 14 Issue 2, p1-15, 15pUC users only

Smith, Paul Julian. "High Anxiety: Abre los Ojos/Vanilla Sky." Journal of Romance Studies, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 91-102, Spring 2004UC users only

White, Anne M. "Seeing double? The remaking of Alejandro's Amenábar's Abre los ojos as Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky." International Journal of Iberian Studies, 2002, Vol. 15 Issue 3, p187, 10p UC users only

Wilson, D. Harlan: "Terminal Constructedness and the Technology of the Self in Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky" Extrapolation: A Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy, (47:2), 2006 Summer, 259-79. (2006) UC users only

Vital (Japan, 2004)

Director, Shinya Tsukamoto. Cast: Tadanobu Asano, Nami Tsukamoto, Kiki, Jun Kunimura, Ittoku Kishibe. After losing his memory due to a car accident, Hiroshi Takagi tries to pick his life back up and enrolls in medical school. There, his memory becomes jarred by a female cadaver; he begins to have visions of a life with this woman, and unlocks the dark memories of his forgotten past. 86 min. DVD 5438

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Vom Reiche der sechs Punkte (Germany, 1927)

Directed by Hugo Rütters. Cast: Lotte Kleinschmidt, Robert Wirtz, Hubert Horbach, Josef Petri. This silent docudrama premiered in Düren, Germany on December 13, 1927. The story deals with a steel engineer who looses his sight and has to accept making a living as a blind man. The film features unique documentary footage of life and work within institutions for the blind in Cologne, Neuwied and Düren. 95 min. DVD X768

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Wait Until Dark (1967)

Director, Terence Young. Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, Jack Weston, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. A photographer unwittingly smuggles a doll stuffed with heroin into New York City. His recently blinded wife, alone in their apartment, is first terrorized by hired crooks, and then by the psychopathic Roat, in search of the doll. 108 min. DVD 836

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O'Farrell, Mary Ann. "Blindness and Domestic Terror in Wait Until Dark." Western Humanities Review, vol. 53, no. 3, pp. 218-22, Fall 1999

The Waterdance (1991)

Directors, Neal Jimenez, Michael Steinberg. Cast: Eric Stoltz, Wesley Snipes, William Forsythe, Helen Hunt, Elizabeth Pena. Paralyzed in a 1984 accident, writer/director Neal Jimenez channeled his own experiences and emotions into this drama about a talented young writer who is permanently paralyzed in a hiking accident. He is placed in a paraplegic ward, peopled by patients of all races and emotional states. Together with his new-found friends, he rebels against the hospital system and his own debilitation. 106 min. DVD 5452

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West of Zanzibar (1928)

Directed by Tod Browning. Cast: Lon Chaney, Lionel Barrymore, Warner Baxter, Mary Nolan, Jane Daly, Jacqueline Gadsdon, Roscoe Ward, Kalla Pasha, Curtis Nero. A clown-magician seeks revenge against the man who stole his wife and left him paralyzed. Assuming that his daughter is the daughter of the other man, he has her raised in a brothel. Twenty years pass and all three are in Africa. The clown-magician is now the strongman in an African country where he incites the tribal members to torture the young girl in the presence of her assumed father only to learn that she is actually his own daughter. 70 min. DVD 9565 [preservation copy]; vhs 999:1171

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Anderson, Robert Gordon. Faces, forms, films; the artistry of Lon Chaney New York, Castle Books [c1971] (Main: PN2287.C48 .A8 1971; PFA PN2287.C48 .A8 1971)

Beck, Calvin. "Lon Chaney." In: Heroes of the horrors. New York, Collier Books [1975] (PFA: PN1998.A2 B38 1975)

Blake, Michael F. The Films of Lon Chaney Lanham : Madison Books, 2001. (Main PN2287.C48 B57 2001; PFA PN2287.C48 B57 2001)

Blake, Michael F. Lon Chaney : the man behind the thousand faces Vestal, N.Y. : Vestal Press, 1993. (Main PN2287.C48 B58 1993)

Bodeen, DeWitt. "Lon Chaney." In: From Hollywood : the careers of 15 great American stars South Brunswick [N.J.] : A. S. Barnes, c1976 (Main: PN1998.A2 .B62 1976)

Slide, Anthony. "Lon Chaney." In: Silent players : a biographical and autobiographical study of 100 silent film actors and actresses Lexington, Ky. : University Press of Kentucky, 2002 (Main Stack PN1998.2.S547 2002; PFA PN1998.2.S547 2002)

The Wings of Eagles (1957 )

Director, John Ford. Cast: John Wayne, Dan Dailey, Maureen O'Hara, Ward Bond. Tells the true story of Naval Commander Frank "Spig" Wead - from his first solo flight that ends in the admiral's swimming pool to his assignment as commander aboard an aircraft carrier during World War II. After he breaks his neck in an accident and is paralyzed, Wead discovers the power of his pen and becomes a renowned Hollywood screenwriter. 110 min. DVD 5668

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Wit (2001)

Director, Mike Nichols. Cast: Emma Thompson, Christopher Lloyd, Eileen Atkins, Audra McDonald, Jonathan M. Woodward, Harold Pinter. An English professor, who alienates her students, has always had control over her life. That is until she is diagnosed with a devasting illness. She agrees to undergo a series of procedures that are brutal, extensive and experimental. No longer a teacher, but a subject for others to study, she discovers that the fine line between life and death can only be walked with wit. 99 min. DVD 836

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A Woman's Face (1941)

Directed by George Cukor. Cast: Joan Crawford, Melvyn Douglas, Conrad Veidt, Osa Massen, Reginald Owen, Albert Basserman, Marjorie Main, Donald Meek. Anna Holm, a professional blackmailer, despises herself and the world because of a disfiguring facial scar. When a plastic surgeon performs miraculous surgery and restores her beauty, she has a chance to start anew but her soul remains scarred and she finds herself torn between her destructive past and a desire for a new life. Special DVD features: Vintage "Romance of Celluloid; short, "You Can't Fool With a Camera"; classic cartoon, "Little Cesario;" audio only bonus, 2 radio adaptations, one with Bette Davis, one with Ida Lupino; theatrical trailer. 107 min. DVD X1006; vhs 999:3428

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George Cukor bibliography

The Young Lovers (1950)

Directed by Ida Lupino. Cast: Sally Forrest, Keefe Brasselle, Hugh O'Brian, Eve Miller, Lawrence Dobkin. Carol, a dancer who has just become engaged to her partner and choreographer and is about to embark on a major career, is devastated to learn that she has contracted polio. Her partner wants to see her through her illness but the embittered Carol prefers to be alone. Eventually she realizes that only by allowing others to share her grief, will she be able to pull herself together and go on with her life. 81 min. 999:3430

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Mental Disability and Psychiatry in the Movies

War Movies (for films featuring characters with post-traumatic stress syndrome)

Alcohol and Drugs in the Movies

301/302 (South Korea, 1995)

Directed by Chul-Soo Park. Cast: Eun-jin Bang and Sin-Hye Hwang. "Two women are neighbors in an apartment building: one is an obsessive professional cook (in room 301), the other an anorexic writer (room 302). A young policeman is investigating the disappearance of the woman from room 302. Through flashbacks, we learn the nature of the two women's relationship: the cook tries to cure her neighbor by preparing fabulous meals for her every night - only to have them left untouched."(from Screen Cuisine) 100 min. DVD X400; vhs 999:3462

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American Psycho. (2000)

Directed by Mary Harron. Cast: Christian Bale, Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto, Josh Lucas, Samantha Mathis, Matt Ross, Bill Sage, Chloe Sevigny, Cara Seymour, Justin Theroux, Guinevere Turner, Reese Witherspoon. A young, handsome man with a Harvard education, a stunning fiancee and success on Wall Street appears to have everything. But his circle of friends doesn't know his other side of terrible urges that take him in pursuit of women, greed, and murder. Based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis. 101 min. DVD 3528

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Angel Dust (Enjeru dasuto) (Japan, 1994)

Director: Sogo Ishii. Cast: Minami Kaho, Toyokawa Etsushi, Takizawa Ryoko. A beautiful Japanese investigator is assigned to a series of brutal murders against young women in the Tokyo subway. Fate reunites her with a former lover, a controversial psychiatrist expelled from his post who is now suspected of the murders. 116 min. DVD 9317

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Antwone Fisher (2002)

Director, Denzel Washington. Cast: Derek Luke, Joy Bryant, Denzel Washington, Salli Richardson, Earl Billings, Kevin Connolly, Viola Davis, Rainoldo Gooding. Guided by a determined Navy psychiatrist, a troubled sailor embarks on a personal, emotionally inspiring journey to confront his past and connect with the family he never knew. Inspired by the true life experiences of Antwone Fisher. Special features: Commentary by director Denzel Washington and producer Todd Black; "Meeting Antwone Fisher" featurette; "The Making of Antwone Fisher" behind-the-scenes featurette; "Hollywood and the Navy" featurette. 120 min. DVD 5627

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Arsenic and Old Lace. (1944)

Directed by Frank Capra. Cast: Cary Grant, Raymond Massey, Jack Carson, Peter Lorre, Priscilla Lane, Edward Everett Horton, James Gleason, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, John Alexander. An easy going drama critic discovers that his kind and gentle aunts, Abby and Martha, have a bizarre habit of poisoning gentlemen callers and burying them in the cellar. From the stage play by Joseph Kesselring. 120 min. DVD 2205; vhs 999:747

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As Good As It Gets. (1997)

Directed by James L. Brooks. Cast: Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Skeet Ulrich, Shirley Knight. Melvin Udall is an obsessive-compulsive novelist with Manhattan's meanest mouth. But when his gay neighbor Simon is hospitalized, Melvin is forced to babysit Simon's dog. And that unexpected act of kindness-- along with waitress Carol Connelly-- helps put Melvin back in the human race. 139 min. DVD 7919

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Autumn Leaves (1956)

Directed by Robert Aldrich. Cast: Joan Crawford, Cliff Robertson, Vera Miles, Lorne Greene. A lonely spinster marries young Burt Hanson. Afterwards she discovers he has an ex-wife whom he never mentioned and a "dead" father who is very much alive. When Milly confronts Burt, he explains that the reasons for his deception stem from a traumatic experience in his previous marriage. Soon Milly's domestic bliss turns into a nightmare of suspicion and terror as Burt enters a world of increasing unreality. In trying to help her mentally unbalanced husband, Milly uncovers the shattering secret which threatens her life. 107 min. 999:3713

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The Aviator (2004)

Directed by Martin Scorsese. Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, John C. Reilly, Alec Baldwin, Alan Alda, Ian Holm, Danny Huston, Gwen Stefani, Jude Law, Adam Scott, Matt Ross, Kelli Garner, Frances Conroy, Brent Spiner, Stanley DeSantis, Edward Herrmann, Willem Dafoe. Follows the life of Howard Hughes as the twentysomething millionaire, having already made a fortune improving the design of oil-drilling bits, who comes to Hollywood with an interest in getting into the picture business. Hughes suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and "The Aviator" shows him exhibiting some symptoms of that neuropsychiatric condition. Disc 2 of the DVD set contains bonus materials, including a 14-minute documentary entitled "The Affliction of Howard Hughes: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder." 170 min. DVD 3996

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Movie Review Query Engine

Awakenings (1990)

Directed by Penny Marshall. Cast: Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, John Heard, Julie Kavner, Penelope Ann Miller, Max Von Sydow. Based on a true story, Robin Williams plays a research physician who uses an experimental drugo (Dopa) to "awaken" the catatonic victims of a rare disease. Based on the book: Awakenings by Oliver Sacks. 120 min. DVD 7927

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Keltner, Norman L. "Real Reels." Perspectives in Psychiatric Care; May2006, Vol. 42 Issue 2, p156-157, 2p UC users only

The Bad Seed (1965)

Directed by Mervyn LeRoy. Cast: Patty McCormack, Nancy Kelly, Henry Jones, Eileen Heckart, Evelyn Varden. Rhoda Penmark is an 8 year old well-mannered, sunny-faced perfect little lady. She is also a efficient, unfeeling killer. Her mother who has long been troubled by Rhoda's icy demeanor, discovers that her girl has killed and will kill again, and now must make a harrowing decision. Based upon the play by Maxwell Anderson and the novel by William March. 129 min. DVD X462; vhs 999:3464

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Hendershot, Cyndy. "The Cold War Horror Film: Taboo and Transgression in The Bad Seed, The Fly, and Psycho." Journal of Popular Film and Television, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 20-31, Spring 2001 UC users only

Jackson, Chuck. "Little, Violent, White: The Bad Seed and the Matter of Children." Journal of Popular Film and Television, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 64-72, Summer 2000 UC users only

Simmons, Jerold. "The Production Code under New Management: Geoffrey Shurlock, The Bad Seed, and Tea and Sympathy." Journal of Popular Film and Television, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 2-10, Spring 1994

Balu Mahendra's Sadma (India, 1995)

Directed by Balu Mahendra. Cast: Kamal Haasan, Sridevi, Gulshan Grover, Silk Smitha, Leela Mishra, Paintal. A young woman receives a head injury in an automobile accident and becomes like a six-year-old. She leaves the hospital unattended and ends up in a brothel where she is rescued by a young man who takes her to his home in the mountains. In Hindi with English subtitles. 141 min. DVD 2497

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A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Directed by Ron Howard. Cast: Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Paul Bettany, Adam Goldberg, Judd Hirsch, Josh Lucas, Anthony Rapp, Christopher Plummer. Based on true events this is the dramatic biography of John Nash, a mathematical genius, who made an astonishing discovery early in his career and stood on the brink of international acclaim. But the handsome and arrogant Nash soon found himself on a painful and harrowing journey. After many years of struggle, he eventually triumphed over his schizophrenia, and finally, late in life, received the Nobel Prize. 135 min. DVD 1230

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Bedlam (1946)

Directed by Mark Robson. Cast: Boris Karloff, Anna Lee, Billy House, Richard Fraser. Karloff plays the doomed overseer of an insane asylum, St. Mary's of Bethlehem Asylum in 1761 London. 79 min. DVD 4474

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Behind Locked Doors (1948)

Directed by Oscar Boetticher. Cast: Richard Carlson, Lucille Bremer, Dickie Moore, Thomas Browne Henry, Tor Johnson, Douglas Fowley. Private dectective Ross Stewart checks himself into a mental hospital in an attempt to locate a corrupt judge hiding from justice. But before Stewart can reveal the truth, his true identity is discovered. With the help of a deranged ex-prizefighter the doctors at the sanitarium concoct a plan to make Stewart a permanent resident and the only person who can rescue him is the scheming woman who sent him there. Based on the story by Malvin Wald. 62 min. c2000. DVD 3826; vhs 999:2696

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Behind the Lines (Regeneration) (1997)

Directed by by Gillies Mackinnon. Cast: Jonathan Pryce, James Wilby, Jonny Lee Miller, Stuart Bunce, Tanya Allen. As a psychiatrist at a respected Scottish asylum, Dr. Rivers heals shellshocked soldiers so they can be sent back into the trenches. Then he encounters a different kind of patient--a war hero sent to the asylum for publishing an outspoken anti-war pamphlet. As each struggles to cope with the war, the line between patient and doctor begins to blur. Taken from Pat Barker's 1991 novel "Regeneration" and based on true events. 95 min. DVD 4936

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Being There (1979)

Directed by Hal Ashby. Cast: Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Jack Warden, Melvyn Douglas, Richard Dysart, Richard Basehart. Circumstances propel a feeble-minded gardener, whose entire knowledge of life comes from watching television, into becoming adviser to a powerful but dying tycoon. Based on the novel by Jerzy Kosinski. 130 min. DVD 9640; vhs 999:2524

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James, Nick. "Being There." Sight and Sound, vol. 7, no. 10, pp. 6-9, Fall 1997.

Lupack, Barbara Tepa. "Chance Encounters: Bringing Being There to the Screen." In: Critical essays on Jerzy Kosinski / edited by Barbara Tepa Lupack. New York : G.K. Hall ; London : Prentice Hall International, c1998. (Main Stack PS3561.O8.Z62 1998)

Lupack, Barbara Tepa. "Hit or Myth: Jerzy Kosinski's Being There." New Orleans Review, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 58-68, Summer 1986.

Willson, Robert F., Jr."Being There at the End." Literature/Film Quarterly, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 59-65, 1981.

Benny & Joon (1993)

Directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik. Cast: Johnny Depp, Mary Stuart Masterson, Aidan Quinn, Julianne Moore, Oliver Platt, C.C.H. Pounder, Dan Hedaya, Joe Grifasi, William H. Macy. A mentally ill young woman who lives with her older brother finds her love in an eccentric young man who models himself after Buster Keaton. Now if they can only find the perfect mate for her overprotective brother... 98 min. DVD 7921

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Beyond Therapy (1986)

Directed by Robert Altman. Cast: Julie Hagerty, Jeff Goldblum, Glenda Jackson, Tom Conti, Christopher Guest, Genevieve Page, Cris Campion, Sandrine Dumas, Nicole Evans. A satire on modern psychotherapy about a confused, crazily neurotic couple and their not any saner analyst. Prudence is a conservative and slightly mixed-up young woman who thinks Bruce is crazy. Bruce is a bi-sexual who lives with his male lover and is crazy about Prudence. Based on the play by Christopher Durang. 93 min. DVD 2623

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Birdy (1984)

Directed by Alan Parker. Cast: Matthew Modine ; Nicholas Cage, John Harkins, Sandy Baron, Karen Young. Birdy, a Vietnam veteran, sits in an almost catatonic state in an Army hospital, where he has come to believe he is one of the feathered creatures of his boyhood dreams. In an effort to break Birdy's silence, his psychiatrist brings in Al Columbato, Birdy's best friend of his youth. Al tries to reach the disturbed Birdy and bring him back to reality. The answer may lie in their youth, where Birdy first donned wings and Al helped him to fly. 120 min. DVD 5544

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The Bloody Child (1996)

Directed by Nina Menkes. Cast: Tinka Menkes, Robert Mueller, Sherry Sibley, Russ Little, Jack O'Hara. Tells the true story of a young U.S. Marine, just back from the Gulf War, who was arrested while digging a grave in the middle of the Mojave Desert for his murdered wife, whose bloodied body lay in the backseat of his car. This provacative meditation on the nature of violence features most of the roles played by actual Desert Storm veterans. 85 min. DVD 8227

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Petrolle, Jean. "Sister, sorceress, screen: The films of Nina and Tinka Menkes." Quarterly Review of Film & Video, Mar2000, Vol. 17 Issue 1, p35, 14p UC users only

The Brood (1979)

Directed by David Cronenberg. Cast: Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar, Art Hindle, Nuala Fitzgerald, Henry Beckman, Susan Hogan, Cindy Hinds. Frank Carveth finds himself faced with a terrible predicament. His wife is in an institution suffering from mental illness, yet her therapy does not seem to be working. The institute's director refuses to reveal the nature of the therapy he is using to treat her. Before Frank can learn more, a series of bizarre murders rock the city-- victims of vengeful, murderous creatures that destroy anything that gets in their way. 92 min. DVD 4623

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David Cronenberg bibliography

Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari) (Germany, 1919)

Directed by Rober Wiene. Cast: Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Friedrich Feher, Lil Dagover. Genuine: Fern Andra. A somnambulist commits murders under a hypnotist's influence in this German expressionist horror classic. Also featured is a lengthy excerpt of "Genuine: a tale of a vampire," a 1920 release which reunited "Caligaris" creative team. DVD 1383 (75 min.); DVD 232 (51 min.); DVD 5 (72 min.); vhs 999:39

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Carefree (1938)

Directed by Mark Sandrich. Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Ralph Bellamy, Luella Gear, Jack Carson, Clarence Kolb, Franklin Pangborn. Dr. Tony Flagg's friend, Steven, has problems in the relationship with his fiancee, Amanda, so he persuades her to visit Dr. Flagg. After some minor misunderstandings, she falls in love with Dr. Flagg. When he tries to use hypnosis to strengthen her feelings for Steven, things get complicated. Special features: Vintage musical short "Public jitterbug no. 1"; Classic cartoon "September in the rain." 83 min. DVD 6744

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Chattahoochee (1990)

Directed by Mick Jackson. Cast: Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper, Frances McDormand, Pamela Reed, Ned Beatty, M. Emmet Walsh. Based on a true story, decorated Korean War veteran Emmet Foley attempts suicide because of difficulties adjusting to civilian life. As a result, he is institutionalized at the Chattahoochee State Mental Hospital in Florida where he witnesses abuse of other inmates by guards and extreme filthy conditions. Foley regains respect for humanity and mounts a campaign to correct the hospital's vile practices and to restore his own reputation. 98 min. DVD 1891

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Choose Me (1984)

Directed by Alan Rudolph. Cast: Genevieve Bujold, Keith Carradine, Lesley Ann Warren. An insecure talk-radio psychologist who specializes vicariously in sex therapy confronts life first-hand when she becomes involved in the affairs of two of her clients. 106 min. DVD 1813

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Clean, Shaven (1993)

Directed by Lodge Kerrigan. Cast: Peter Greene, Robert Albert, Jennifer MacDonald, Megan Owen, Molly Castelloe. A harrowing story of a schizophrenic man's desperate search for his young daughter. Peter Winter, recently released from an institution, returns home only to find out that his daughter has been put up for adoption. Hampering his search is Detective McNally who believes Peter to be a child serial killer. 80 min. DVD 2299

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Crack-Up (1946)

Directed by Irving Reis. Cast: Pat O'Brien, Claire Trevor, Herbert Marshall. A respected art critic and historian believes that priceless works of art are being stolen, but everyone else thinks that he's insane. From beginning to end the suspense and action never let up in this fast-paced, thrilling mystery. 93 min. 999:3748

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The Crooked Way (1949)

Directed by Robert Florey. Cast: John Payne, Sonny Tufts, Ellen Drew, Rhys Williams, Percy Helton. John Payne plays a wounded WWII veteran who has lost his memory. As he heads to Los Angeles to try and figure out his identity, two police detectives arrest him. When he is framed for a murder he must find the real killer and clear his name by navigating through the crooked underbelly of Los Angeles. 86 min. DVD 4961

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Dark Waters (1944)

Directed by Andre De Toth. Cast: Merle Oberon, Franchot Tone, Thomas Mitchell, Fay Bainter. In this psychological thriller set in the Louisiana bayous, a nervous young heiress is driven to attempt suicide by a fake aunt and uncle who want to collect her estate. Aided by the oppressive vegetation and stifling heat, the would-be killers methodically implement a series of terrifying ploys to suffocate the young girl in her own madness. 90 min. DVD 3796; vhs 999:3432

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David and Lisa (1962)

Directed by Frank Perry. Cast: Keir Dullea, Janet Margolin, Howard Da Silva, Neva Patterson, Clifton James. Painfully shy Lisa can communicate only through rhyme, and David cannot bear being touched. They meet in a mental institution and are strongly attracted to each other. They develop a deep bond that changes both of their lives. Based on a book by Theodore Isaac Rubin. 93 min. DVD 8115

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Dogura Magura (Japan, 1988)

Director: Toshio Matsumoto. A man is confined to a mental institution after trying to murder his fiancee. Two doctors relate his problem to an Asian philosophy that states that mental defects are transmitted from generation to generation. But is the whole thing merely a game concocted by the two physicians, who may even have driven themselves mad?. 109 min. DVD 3517

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Dolls (Doruzu) (Japan, 2002)

Director, Takeshi Kitano. Cast: Kanno Miho, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Tatsuya Mihashi, Kyoko Fukada. Three stories of undying love. Bound by a long red cord, a young couple wanders in search of something they have forgotten. An aging yakuza returns to the park where he used to meet his long-lost girlfriend. A disfigured pop star confronts the phenomenal devotion of her biggest fan. 113 min. DVD 5994

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Don't Bother To Knock (1952)

Directed by Roy Baker. Cast: Richard Widmark, Marilyn Monroe, Anne Bancroft, Jeanne Cagney, Elisha Cook Jr., Jim Backus. Marilyn Monroe stars in her first dramatic performance as a psychotic baby-sitter who begins an affair with one of the guests in the hotel where she works. When the child she is caring for interrupts their lovemaking, Monroe becomes a dangerous madwoman. 76 min. DVD 3177

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Dressed to Kill (1980)

Directed by Brian De Palma. Cast: Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen, Keith Gordon, Dennis Franz. In this edge-of-the-seat chiller a psychiatrist is faced with the murderous puzzle of the sudden, hideous slaying of one of his patients who is killed with a razor stolen from his office. 105 min. DVD 8949; vhs 999:3867

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Equus (USA / UK, 1977)

Director Sidney Lumet. Cast: Richard Burton, Peter Firth, Colin Blakely, Joan Plowright, Harry Andrews, Eileen Atkins. A middle-aged psychiatrist tries to find out why an adolescent stable boy has blinded six horses entrusted to his care. 137 min. DVD 2385

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Every Man For Himself, God Against All (The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser) (Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle) (West Germany, 1974)

Directed by Werner Herzog. Cast: Bruno S., Walter Ladengast, Brigitte Mira. Based on a real historical event, this is the story of Kaspar Hauser, a young man who appeared in a small German town in 1820 after having lived in total isolation from humans since birth. He is taught to speak, read, and write by the townspeople, but is then mysteriously murdered. 109 min. DVD 988; vhs 999:326

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Fame Whore (c2000)

Writer, director, producer, Jon Moritsugu. Three characters are featured in this take on the study of the nature of fame and its warping effect on the famous, the would-be-famous and the won't-ever-be famous. 71 min. Video/C 8353

Fatal Attraction (1987)

Directed by Adrian Lyne. Cast: Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, Anne Archer. A tension-packed thriller about a New York attorney who has a romantic fling while his wife is out of town, and then shrugs it off. But the woman involved with him won't be ignored, even if it means destroying his family to keep him. Special DVD features: Exclusive cast & crew interviews featuring director Adrian Lyne, actors Michael Douglas, Glenn Close and Anne Archer, producers Stanley Jaffe and Sherry Lansing, and writers Nicholas Meyer and James Dearden; featurette on the cultural phenomenon of "fatal attraction"; behind-the-scenes production featurette; alternate ending with introduction by Adrian Lyne; rehearsal footage; commentary by Adrian Lyne; theatrical trailer. 120 min. DVD 8337; vhs 999:2279

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Fear in the Night(UK, 1972)

Directed by Jimmy Sangster. Cast: Judy Geeson, Joan Collins, Ralph Bates, Peter Cushing, James Cossins, Gillian Lind. A young woman recovering from a nervous breakdown moves with her new teacher-husband to a remote country boarding school where further terrors await her. 94 min. DVD 2170

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Final Analysis(1992)

Directed by Phil Joanou. Cast: Richard Gere, Kim Basinger, Uma Thurman, Eric Roberts. Psychiatrist Isaac Barr breaches professional ethics by romancing the sister of his troubled client and becomes the fall guy in a devious scheme of murder and inheritance. 125 min. 999:2294

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The Fisher King(1991)

Directed by Terry Gilliam. Cast: Robin Williams, Jeff Bridges, Amanda Plummer, Mercedes Ruehl, Michael Jeter. A shock radio deejay who finds himself penniless is plucked from disaster by a homeless history professor, who lives in a fantasy world full of castles, Red Knights and damsels in distress. Together they begin a modern quest for redemption and the Holy Grail. 138 min. DVD 989

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Forrest Gump (1994)

Directed by Robert Zemeckis. Cast: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson, Sally Field. The story follows the life of low I.Q. Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) and his meeting with the love of his life Jenny. The film chronicles his accidental experiences with some of the most important people and events in America from the late 1950's through the 1970's including a meeting with Elvis Presley, JFK, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, fighting in Vietnam, etc. Although Forrest doesn't realize the significance of his actions he comes to embody a generation of American youth. 141 min. DVD 1085

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Girl, Interrupted (1999)

Directed by James Mangold. Cast: Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Clea Duvall, Brittany Murphy, Elisabeth Moss, Jared Leto, Jeffrey Tambor, Vanessa Redgrave, Whoopi Goldberg. The fascinating true story of a young woman's life-altering stay at a famous American psychiatric hospital in the late 1960's. Questionably diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, Susanna rebels against the head nurse and top psychiatrist, choosing instead to befriend the resident "loonies" -- a group of troubled women including the sociopath Lisa. But Susanna quickly learns if she wants her freedom, she'll have to face the person who terrifies her most of all: herself. 127 min. DVD X1058; vhs 999:2823

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Guest in the House (1944)

Directed by John Brahm. Cast: Ann Baxter, Ralph Bellamy, Ruth Warrick, Marie McDonald, Aline MacMahon, Scott McKay, Jerome Cowan, Margaret Hamilton, Percy Kilbride. An emotionally disturbed girl turns an idyllic household into a chaotic nightmare. "Baxter's illness afflicts not so much her heart as her mind. Along with her luggage she unpacks a lovingly tended collection of phobias (the one to birds proves pivotal) and a high-maintenance Borderline Personality Disorder. And, again of course, summer turns into a cold, forbidding fall before any member of the household picks up on the clues and holds her responsible for the dysfunction she has unleashed on the household. But at long last the worms begins to turn...." [Internet Movie Database]120 min. DVD 7597; vhs 999:3385

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Hamlet, or The Bogus Psychiatrists Monty Python's flying circus. Season 4, DVD 885

Hannibal Lecter Films

Manhunter (1994)

Directed by Michael Mann. Cast: William Petersen, Kim Greist, Joan Allen, Brian Cox, Dennis Farina, Stephen Lang, Tom Noonan. An FBI agent enlists the aid of Hannibal Lecter, an incarcerated mental patient, to help find the notorious serial killer, "The Tooth Fairy." 120 min. vhs 999:2303

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Hannibal (2001)

Directed by Ridley Scott. Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore, Ray Liotta, Frankie R. Faison, Giancarlo Giannini, Francesca Neri, Zeljko Ivanek, Gary Oldman. After escaping from the asylum in Baltimore, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, moves to Florence, Italy where he has become one of the curators of the Palazzo Vecchio. His cover is broken when a cop, for money, turns Dr. Lecter over to his old patient, Mason Verger. FBI agent Clarice Starling finds out about Mason's evil plot to feed Dr. Lecter to a bunch of man-eating hogs and will do anything to make sure that Mason doesn't succeed. 131 min. DVD 4641

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Silence of the Lambs(1991)

Directed by Jonathan Demme. Cast: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn. A young female FBI agent is sent to interview notorious cannibalistic killer, Dr. Hannibal Lecter in hopes of obtaining information that will help the bureau catch another killer. Based on the novel by Thomas Harris. In one of the most memorable sequences "Lecter graphically tells her about his ferocious oral impulses and how he eats parts of his victims: 'A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chi-an-ti. (He approaches the glass and lets go with a slurping sound.) You fly back to school now, little Starling. (He turns his back on her and speaks in a whisper.) Fly, fly, fly. Fly, fly, fly.' [from Tom Dirks' Greatest Movies] 118 min. DVD 5475; vhs 999:1998

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Harvey (1950)

Directed by Henry Koster. Cast: Jimmy Stewart, Josephine Hull, Charles Drake, Cecil Kellaway, Jesse White, Victoria Horne, Wallace Ford, Peggy Dow. Comedy about a good-natured fellow whose constant companion is a six-foot tall invisible rabbit. His sister is determined to marry her daughter off and decides to commit her brother to a mental hospital to get him out of the way. Due to a mix-up the sister is committed instead, and it is up to the kindly brother and his imaginary friend to straighten things out! 105 min. DVD 954

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High Anxiety (1977)

Directed by Mel Brooks. Cast: Mel Brooks, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Harvey Korman, Ron Carey, Howard Morris, Dick Van Patten. Mel Brooks portrays Dr. Richard Thorndyke, a neurotic psychiatrist with acrophobia who is unable to fulfill his aspirations to "derring-do," in this satire of Hitchcock thrillers. 94 min. DVD X804

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House of Darkness (1913)

Directed by D.W. Griffith. Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Claire McDowell, Charles Hill Mailes, Lillian Gish. A potentially violent patient in an insane asylum is calmed when he hears a nurse playing the piano. But shortly afterwards he breaks free, eludes his pursuers, and acquires a gun. He soon comes to a house where a young wife is home alone, and there is a tense confrontation. 17 min. DVD 1399; vhs 999:3392

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I Am Sam (1998)

Directed by Jessie Nelson. Cast: Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dakota Fanning. Sam Dawson has the mental capacity of a 7-year-old. He works at a Starbucks, is obsessed with the Beatles and has a daughter with a homeless woman who abandons them. As the daughter reaches age 7, Sam's limitations start to become a problem. When the authorities take his daughter away, Sam shames a high-priced lawyer into taking his case pro bono. In the process, he teaches her a great deal about love, and whether it's really all you need. 134 min. DVD 2300

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I Live In Fear (Ikimono no kiroku) (Japan, 1955)

Director: Akira Kurosawa. Cast: Mifune Toshiro, Miyoshi Eiko, Shimura Takashi, Chiaki Minoru. An elderly and wealthy industrialist is driven to madness over fears of a nuclear attack. In a futile attempt to save his family he pressures them to leave Japan and move to the rain forest in Brazil where he believes they will be safe. His family, complacent and cynical, is outraged and moves to have him declared insane. 103 min. DVD 9127

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The Idiots (Denmark / Sweden / France / Netherlands / Italy, 1998)

Directed by Lars von Trier. Cast: Bodil Jorgensen, Jens Albinus, Anne Louise Hassing, Troels Lyby, Nikolaj Lie Kaas. C In this film, made in accordance with the rules of the Dogma '95 Manifesto, which prescribes an excitingly has fashioned a truly original and thought-provoking piece of cinema. Following the exploits of a group of people who release their 'inner idiot,' thus engaging in recklessly outrageous behaviour, this film explores the relationships and motivations of those in the group and the subversive effect that they have on society at large. 110 min. 999:3155

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Julien Donkey-Boy (1999)

Directed by Harmony Korine. Cast: Ewen Bremner, Chloe Sevigny, Werner Herzog. A fascinating journey into the mind of an adolescent schizophrenic! Watch as Julien's internal struggle increases in intensity until the film's shocking and bizarrely transcendent conclusion. 100 min. DVD 2577

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Brooks, Xan. "Julien Donkey-Boy." (Review)_(movie review) Sight and Sound Oct 2000 v10 i10 p47(2)

Fuller, Graham. "Directing on the edge of madness.: (Harmony Korine discusses his new film 'Julien Donkey-Boy') The New York Times Sept 12, 1999 pAR51(N) pAR51(L) col 1 (35 col in)

Leigh, Danny. "The beat-up kid." (Harmony Korine's 'Julien Donkey-Boy')Sight and Sound, Oct 2000 v10 i10 p20(3)

Kaspar Hauser (Germany / Austria / Sweden, 1993)

Director/writer, Peter Sehr. Based on the true story of the Crown Prince of Baden and the elaborate plot to control the lineage of the throne of the Duchy of Baden. The Countess Hochberg conspires to kidnap the rightful heir, Kaspar Hauser and replace him with a changeling. Kaspar is imprisoned for 12 years in a dark cellar until one day in 1828 he appears on the streets of Nuremberg a crippled, disturbed young man. He is assisted by a succession of benefactors who transform him into a gentleman. 137 min. 999:2905

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Perlmutter, Ruth. "Ghosts of Germany: Kaspar Hauser and Woyzeck." Literature/ Film Quarterly, vol. 25 no. 3. 1997. pp: 236-39.

King of Hearts (Le Roi de coeur) (France / Italy, 1966)

Directed by Phillipe DeBroca. Cast: Alan Bates, Pierre Brasseur, Jean-Claude Brialy, Geneviève Bujold, Adolfo Celi, Francoise Christophe, Julien Guiomar, Micheline Presle, Michel Serrault. A Scottish soldier is assigned the task of disarming a bomb in a small French town at the close of World War I. The townspeople have deserted the town leaving behind the inmates of the local insane asylum who embrace the soldier as their king. 102 min. DVD 7393; vhs 999:1000

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Kira's Reason: A Love Story (En Kaerlighedshistorie)(Denmark, 2001)

Directed by Ole Christian Madsen. Cast: Stine Stengade, Lars Mikkelsen, Sven Wollter, Peaches Latrice Petersen, Camila Bendix, Lotte Bergstrom, Thomas W. Gabrielsson, Ronnie Hiort Lorenzen. Kira and her husband and two children have a secure and comfortable life until Kira inexplicably develops a psychiatric disorder that eventually commits her to a hospital. On being discharged, Kira tries to return to the normality of her previous life but discovers that her husband has had an affair during her hospitalization. 94 min. DVD 2464

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Durbin, Karen. "Back to normal, and its terrifying." (movie 'Kira's Reason: A Love Story' portrays mental illness) The New York Times Jan 12, 2003 pAR13(N) pAR13(L) col 4 (10 col in)

Holden, Stephen. "He's tightly wrapped, she's about to unravel." (Kira's Reason: A Love Story) The New York Times Jan 17, 2003 pB31(N) pE28(L) col 1 (30 col in)

Holden, Stephen. "A woman walking the edge of madness." The New York Times April 6, 2002 pA21(N) pB11(L) col 4 (16 col in)

Lars and the Real Girl(2007)

Directed by Craig Gillespie. Cast: Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Kelli Garner, Patricia Clarkson. Lars is a sweet but shy guy who has a hard time talking with his family, coworkers, and neighbors. Although his family fears the worst when Lars brings home a life-sized companion doll who he thinks is a real girlfriend, named Bianca, a doctor encourages them to play along with him so that he can work through his delusions. The whole community rallies to his support, and Lars begins to deal with all of his emotions. He even begins to develop feelings for Margo, an attractive co-worker, in what becomes "a hilariously unique love triangle." 106 min. DVD 9908

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Dreyer, Randolph. "Lars and the Real Girl." Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, Oct2008, Vol. 44 Issue 4, p301-303, 3p UC users only

Leitner, L. M. "Healing Through Relationship." PsychCRITIQUES Vol 53 (35), 2008, pp. [np] UC users only

Stables, Kate. "Lars and the Real Girl." Sight & Sound, Apr2008, Vol. 18 Issue 4, p66-66, 3/4p UC users only

Weisel-Barth, Joye. "Loneliness and the Creation of Realness in Lars and the Real Girl." International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, Jan2009, Vol. 4 Issue 1, p111-118, 8p

The Lawnmower Man (UK / USA / Japan, 1992)

Directed by Brett Leonard. Cast: Jeff Fahey, Pierce Brosnan, Jenny Wright, Geoffrey Lewis. A brilliant scientist, obsessed with perfecting a revolutionary virtual reality software program, enlists the aid of a slow-witted gardener, only to encounter a shadowy group seeking to turn the "lawnmower man" into the ultimate weapon. 108 min. DVD X488

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Let Him Have It(France / UK, 1991)

Directed by Peter Medak. Cast: Chris Eccleston, Paul Reynolds, Tom Bell, Eileen Atkins, Clare Holman, Michael Elphick, Mark McGann, Tom Courtenay. In 1950s England, 16 year old mentally handicapped Derek Bentley falls in with a group of petty criminals led by Chris Craig, a teenager with a fondness for American gangster films. Based on true events, after Bentley's execution, the ensuing public outcry eventually led to the abolition of the death penalty. 110 min. DVD 6819

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Mad Love (1935)

Directed by Karl Freund. Cast: Peter Lorre, Frances Drake, Colin Clive, Ted Healy, Edward Brophy. An insane surgeon's obsession with an actress leads him to replace her husband's wounded pianist's hands with the hands of a knife murderer which still have the urge to throw knives. 68 min. DVD 6520; vhs 999:3620

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The Madness of King George (UK, 1994)

Directed by Nicholas Hytner. Featuring Nigel Hawthorne, Helen Mirren, Ian Holm, Amanda Donohoe, Rupert Graves, Rupert Everett. Based on the life of King George III, this is the story of royal intrigue, sexual indiscretions, backstairs plotting and a battle for power between Parliament and the throne, all occuring while the King is being treated for an unknown mental illness. 110 min. DVD X1056; vhs 999:2805

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Man Facing Southeast (Hombre mirando al sudeste) (Argentina, 1986)

Directed by Eliseo Subiela. Featuring Lorenzo Quinteros, Hugo Soto, Ines Vernengo, Christina Scaramuzza. A man named Rantes appears in a Buenos Aires psychiatric hospital. He claims to be an alien vistor and becomes a source of hope to the other patients. 105 min. 999:2805

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Maniac (1934)

Directed by Dwain Esper. Cast: Bill Woods, Horace Carpenter, Ted Edwards, Phyllis Diller, Theo Ramsey. Maniac offers a walking tour through the mind of a bona fide lunatic, distorted by fragmented scenes and ugly realities that mimic insanity's own warped perspective. This is actually a Depression-era rendition of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat," injected with catfights, nudity, necrophilia, and the ingestion of one fresh eyeball. (On DVD with "Narcotic.") 52 min. DVD 1258

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Manic (2002)

Directed by Jordan Melamed. Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Bacall, Zooey Deschanel, Cody Lightning, Elden Henson, Sara Rivas, Don Cheadle. A troubled young man is committed to a juvenile mental institution, where he is forced by his counselor to confront the source of his rage or face the grim prospect of a life behind bars. 102 min. DVD 6202

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Marat/Sade (The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum at Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade) (UK, 1966)

Directed by Peter Brook. Cast: Glenda Jackson, Patrick Magee, Ian Richardson. The infamous Marquis de Sade, confined to an asylum, directs the other inmates in a re-enactment of the bloody assassination of French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat. 120 min. DVD 1337; Video/C 1638

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Marvin's Room (1996)

Directed by Jerry Zaks. Cast:Meryl Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio, Diane Keaton, Robert de Niro, Hume Cronyn, Gwen Verdon, Hal Scardino. "Estranged since their father's first stroke some 17 years earlier, Lee and Bessie lead separate lives in separate states. Lee's son, Hank, finds himself committed to a mental institution after setting fire to his mother's house. His younger brother, Charlie, seems unfazed by his brother's eccentricities or his mother's seeming disinterest. When Lee comes to the asylum to spring Hank for a week in Florida so that he can be tested as a possible bone marrow donor for Bessie, Hank is incredulous. "I didn't even know you had a sister," he says. "Remember, every Christmas, when I used to say 'Well, looks like Aunt Bessie didn't send us a card again this year?'" "Oh yeah," Hank says. Meanwhile, Marvin, the two women's bedridden father, has "been dying for the past twenty years." "He's doing it real slow so I don't miss anything," Bessie tells Dr. Wally. In Bessie's regular doctor's absence, it has fallen to Dr. Wally to inform Bessie that she has leukemia and will die without a bone marrow transplant. This precipitates the two sisters uneasy reunion. In Marvin's room, Bessie cares for her father's every need. In Lee's eyes, the sacrifice Bessie has made is too great and realizing the old man's welfare will fall to her if Bessie dies, Lee's first instinct is to look for a nursing home. "In a few month's, I'll have my cosmotology degree," she says. "My life is just coming together; I'm not going to give it all up, now!" As first Lee is tested and then the boys for the compatibility of their marrow with Bessie's, the women take stock of their lives and rediscover the meaning of "family." " [IMDB] 98 min. 999:3879

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Morgan: a Suitable Case for Treatment (UK, 1966)

Directed by Karel Reisz. Cast: Vanessa Redgrave, David Warner, Robert Stephens, Irene Handl, Bernard Bresslaw. A landmark black comedy which chronicles one man's descent into a life of absurdist fantasy. Morgan's futile efforts at marital reconciliation lead him to a triumphant discovery that life is really easier to deal with while dressed in a gorilla suit. 93 min. 999:3631

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Nerven (Nerves)(Germany, 1919)

Director, Robert Reinert. Cast: Eduard von Winterstein, Lya Borée, Erna Morena, Paul Bender, Lili Dominici, Rio Ellbon. In this drama filmmaker Robert Reinert tried to capture the nervous epidemic caused by war and misery which drives people mad. His portrait of the life in 1919 Germany, filmed on location in Munich, describes the cases of different people from all levels of society. Factory owner Roloff loses his mind in view of catastrophes and social disturbances. Teacher John is the hero of the masses. Marja turns into a radical revolutionary. Using different fragments the Munich Film Museum was able to reconstruct this forgotten German classic; a unique historical document and a precursor of the 1920s expressionist cinema. Special features: Bilder von der Volksbewegung in München (1919, 3 min.) ; München im Zeichen der Räterepublik (1919, 11 min.) 110 min. DVD X779

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'Night, Mother (1986)

Directed by Tom Moore. Cast: Sissy Spacek, Anne Bancroft. A taut, emotional study about a mother's attempt to stop her distraught daughter from committing suicide. 97 min. 999:3725

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Nightmare (UK, 1953)

Directed by Freddie Francis. Cast: David Knight, Moira Redmond, Jennie Linden, Brenda Bruce. As a child Janet saw her insane mother murder her father, and now as a young woman, Janet's convinced she'll also go insane. She and her teacher go to the home of her guardian for help, but at his home her fears come to life. Are her problems in her head, or is there a sinister force at work? 83 min. DVD 4450

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Hammer Films

Nitin Manmohan's Deewangee (India, 2000)

Directed by Anees Bazmee. Cast: Ajay Devgan, Urmila Matondkar, Akshaye Khanna, Tiku Talsania, Farida Jalal, Seema Biswas, Nirmal Pandey. A mentally handicapped young man is haunted by a crime that landed him in prison, a hit-and-run accident that resulted in the death of an old man. After his release from prison he goes to visit the victim's family, and meets Gong-ju, the man's daughter, who has cerebral palsy. The two begin an unlikely love affair that exposes the callousness and uncomfortable secrets of both of their families. 170 min. DVD 2584

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Oasis (Korea, 2002)

Directed by Chang-dong Lee. Cast: Cast: Sol Kyong-gu, Mun So-ri. A mentally handicapped young man is haunted by a crime that landed him in prison, a hit-and-run accident that resulted in the death of an old man. After his release from prison he goes to visit the victim's family, and meets Gong-ju, the man's daughter, who has cerebral palsy. The two begin an unlikely love affair that exposes the callousness and uncomfortable secrets of both of their families. 133 min. DVD 2123

Of Mice and Men (1929)

Directed by Lewis Milestone. Cast: Burgess Meredith, Betty Field, Lon Chaney, Jr., Charles Bickford, Roman Bohnen, Bob Steele, Noah Beery, Jr. Based on the novel by John Steinbeck. The classic John Steinbeck tale of two friends - George and Lennie - who wander the country during the Depression. Lennie is mentally retarded and doesn't know his own strength causing frequent problems for brother George. An incident with a young girl leads to a tragic end for this classic American tale [from Internet Movie Database]. 129 min. DVD 120

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Of Mice and Men (1992)

Directed by Gary Sinise. Cast: John Malkovich, Gary Sinise, Casey Siemaszko, Ray Walston, Sherilyn Fenn. 110 min. 999:1294

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On the Edge: a Joyride Through Sex, Love and Other Activities (Ireland, 2000)

Directed by John Carney. Cast: Cillian Murphy, Tricia Vessey, Stephen Rea, Jonathan Jackson, Tom O'Suilleabhain, Marcella Plunkett. Jonathan, like many teenagers, is used to concealing the pain of growing up behind a witty sense of humor. It isn't until he falls in love that Jonathan begins to discover that life doesn't have to be so crazy after all. 85 min. DVD 4835

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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1977)

Directed by Milos Forman. Cast: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, William Redfield. Based on the novel by Ken Kesey. The story of a man whose rebelliousness pits him against the head nurse of a mental ward and the full spectrum of institutional repression. 129 min. DVD 343; vhs 999:377

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Open Your Eyes (Abre los ojos) (Spain, 1997)

Director, Alejandro Amenábar. Cast: Penelope Cruz, Chete Lera, Fele Martinez, Eduardo Noriega, Najwa Nimri. In this steamy, intriguingly complex, psychological thriller the line between reality and fantasy is hopelessly blurred. Cesar tries to make sense of his life after a car crash leaves his once-handsome face grotesquely disfigured. After he is placed into a psychiatric penitentiary for a murder he doesn't remember committing, Cesar's only hope is to delve into the depths of his subconscious mind where the answer to ending his living nightmare lies in his dreams. 117 min. DVD X1076; vhs 999:3507

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Ordinary People (1980)

Directed by Robert Redford. Cast: Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, Timothy Hutton. The "ordinary" existence of an upper middle class family is shattered with the death of the elder son in a boating accident and the struggle of the younger son against suicide and guilt left by the drowning. 124 min. DVD 3645; vhs 999:2804

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Eberwein, Robert T. "The Structure of Ordinary People." Literature Film Quarterly; 1983, Vol. 11 Issue 1, p9, 7p UC users only

Hajal, Fady. "Family Mythology: Ordinary People" Literature Film Quarterly, 1983, Vol. 11 Issue 1, p3, 6pUC users only

Horrigan, Patrick E. "The inner life of Ordinary people." In: Screening disability : essays on cinema and disability / edited by Christopher R. Smit, Anthony Enns. Lanham, Md. : University Press of America, 2001. (Main Stack PN1995.9.H34.S39 2001)

Luhr, William. "Ordinary People: Feminism and Psychotherapy on a See-Saw." In: Florida State University Conference on Literature and Film (14th : 1989) Cultural power/cultural literacy : selected papers from the Fourteenth Annual Florida State University Conference pp: 50-60. Tallahassee : Florida State University Press ; Gainesville, FL : (Main Stack PN1993.5.U6.F57 1989; Moffitt PN1993.5.U6.F57 1989)

Paranoic (UK, 1963)

Directed by Freddie Francis. Cast: Simon Ashby is a wealthy psychotic who is is coddled by his mother in their palatial mansion outside of London. One day, Ashby's long lost brother mysteriously arrives at the house, but events prove that he is an impostor, sent by Keith Kossett, son of the attorney for the family estate, who has been dipping into the family trust fund. 80 min. DVD 4450

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Hammer Films

The Pledge (2001)

Directed by Sean Penn. Cast: Jack Nicholson, Aaron Eckhart, Helen Mirren, Robin Wright Penn, Vanessa Redgrave, Sam Shepard, Benicio Del Toro, Tom Noonan, Mickey Rourke, Lois Smith, Harry Dean Stanton, Patricia Clarkson. A veteran police detective, on the day of his retirement, handles the case of a seven-year-old girl who has been brutally murdered. When a mentally retarded man confesses to the murder and then kills himself, the detectives consider the case closed, but was he actually the murderer? Before long evidence is uncovered that suggests the girl was just one in a series of brutal killings involving young girls and a mysterious man. 124 min. 999:3242

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Pressure Point (1962)

Directed by Hubert Cornfield. Cast: Sidney Poitier, Bobby Darin, Peter Falk, Carl Benton Reid. A prison doctor is charged with treating a hate filled young man who's been jailed for sedition. As he probes the patient's nightmares, the psychiatrist realizes his twisted vision masks a lust for violence. But the inmate has become a model prisoner, and unless the doctor can convince officials that he's daugerous, he'll soon be back on the street. 89 min. DVD 4827

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Proof (2005)

Directed by John Madden. Cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, Jake Gyllenhaal, Hope Davis, Danny McCarthy. A devoted daughter comes to terms with the death of her father, a brilliant mathematician whose genius was crippled by mental insanity, with the help of one of her father's former students. Based on the award-winning play by David Auburn. 99 min. DVD 5101

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Psycho (1960)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Cast: Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Martin Balsam, John McIntire, Janet Leigh. Horror melodrama in which a woman disappears after spending the night in an isolated motel which adjoins an eerie Victorian mansion, inhabited by a disturbed young man and his mother. Special features on DVD 1035: Original documentary feature "The making of Psycho," featuring new interviews with Hitchcock's daughter Patricia Hitchcock O'Connell, Janet Leigh, screenwriter Joseph Stefano and others ; censored scenes ; theatrical trailers ; production drawings ; the shower scene with and without music ; additional newsreel footage ; and production photographs. 108 min. DVD 91; DVD 1035; vhs 999:66

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Psycho (1998)

Directed by Gus Van Sant. Cast: Vince Vaughn, Julianne Moore, Viggo Mortensen, William H. Macy, Anne Heche. On the run Marion Crane takes refuge at a motel operated by Norman Bates -- a troubled man whose victims encounter a grisly fate at the hands of his "mother." Marion soon becomes the next victim and her disappearance prompts inquiries from her sister and a private investigator who soon discover the morbid bond between Norman and his mysterious "mother," at the Bates Motel. 104 min. DVD X421; vhs 999:2505

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A Question of Silence (De Stilte rond Christine M.)(Netherlands, 1983)

Director, Marleen Gorris. Cast: Edda Barends, Nelly Frijda, Cox Habbema, Henriette Tol. A female psychiatrist is appointed by a judge to evaluate three women who, strangers to each other, have each confessed to the murder of the same man. Their rage toward and hatred of their male-dominated society is gradually understood by the psychiatrist, who begins to question her own nature. 97 min. Video/C 999:1829

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Ramanathan, Geetha. "Murder as speech: narrative subjectivity in Marleen Gorris' 'A Question of Silence.'." Genders n15 (Winter 1992 n15): 58(14). ]

Sklar, Robert. "Marlene Gorris: The Lighter Side of Feminism." In: The Cineaste interviews 2 : on the art and politics of the cinema / Gary Crowdus, Dan Georgakas. Chicago : Lake View Press, c2002. (Main Stack PN1998.2.C51 2002; PFA PN1998.2.C51 2002)

Smelik, Anneke. "And the mirror cracked: metaphors of violence in the films of Marleen Gorris." Women's Studies International Forum 16.n4 (July-August 1993): 349(15).

Williams, Linda. "A Jury of Their Peers: Marleen Gorris's A Question of Silence." In: Multiple voices in feminist film criticism / Diane Carson, Linda Dittmar, and Janice R. Welsch, editors. Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, c1994. (Main Stack PN1995.9.W6.M82 1994; Moffitt PN1995.9.W6.M82 1994)

Rain Man (1988)

Directed by Barry Levinson. Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino. Charlie Babbitt is a callous, self-centered young hustler who feels cheated out of his $3 million dollar ihheritance. He discovers he has a brother, Raymond, an autistic savant living in a world devoid of normal perception. Charlie abducts Raymond determined to extort his 'fair share' of the family fortune, but what begins as an act of selfishness evolves into a mystical odyssey of love and self-revelation as they journey across the country together, and Raymond forces Charlie to grow beyond the limits of his own handicapped heart. 134 min. DVD 8279; vhs 999:2531

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Recollections of the Yellow House (Recordações da Casa Amarela) (Portugal, 1989)

Directed by João César Monteiro. A middle-aged weirdo, tormented by illness and various problems, lives on Schubert and movies in Lisbon. Kicked out onto the street after a frustrated attempt to defile the landlady's daughter, he ends up in a mental institution. For the first time, director/writer Monteiro brings to life the character of Joao de Deus, an alter ego, to whom he would return in three later films. 122 min. DVD 5168

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Repulsion (UK, 1965)

Directed by Roman Polanski. Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Jan Hendry, John Fraser, Patrick Wymark, Yvonne Furneaux. A study of sexual dementia. A young Belgain manicurist,tormented by the thought of sex, suffers neurotic withdrawal and eventually murders her boyfriend and landlord when they try to help her. 105 min. DVD 3782; vhs 999:67

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Bisplinghoff, Gretchen. "Codes of feminine madness." Film Reader nr 5 (1982); p 37-40.

The Ruling Class (UK, 1972)

Director, Peter Medak. Cast: Peter O'Toole, Alastair Sim, Arthur Lowe, Harry Andrews, Coral Browne, Michael Bryant, Nigel Green. A member of the House of Lords dies in a shockingly silly way, leaving his estate to his son. Unfortunately, his son is insane: he thinks he is Jesus Christ. He is "cured" of that affliction, only to become Jack the Ripper incarnate, a blood thirsty Tory who is therefore sane and eminently acceptable to the House of Lords. An irreverant look at Britain's class system, that peers behind the closed doors of the aristocracy. 154 min. DVD 904

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Running with scissors (2006)

Directed by Ryan Murphy. Cast: Annette Bening, Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes, Evan Rachel Wood, Alec Baldwin, Joseph Cross, Jill Clayburgh, Gwyneth Paltrow, Gabrielle Union, Patrick Wilson, Kristin Chenoweth, Dagmara Dominczyk, Colleen Camp. After seeing a less-than-conventional psychiatrist for her problems at home who gives her too many prescriptions and bad advice, a mother ends her marriage and sends her young son to live with the doctor and his odd family. Based on the book "Running with scissors: a memoir" by Augusten Burroughs. 122 min. DVD 8202

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The Scar (1948)

Directed by Steve Sekely. Cast: Paul Henreid, Joan Bennett, Eduard Franz, Leslie Brooks, John Qualen. An ex-medical student in trouble with gambling debts kills a psychiatrist who is his exact look-alike, except for a scar on the doctor's cheek. The student impersonates the dead psychiatrist, but mistakenly makes his own scar on the wrong cheek. It is not long before the doctor's secretary is on to him and he discovers the doctor had a few gambling debts himself. 83 min. DVD 3657; vhs 999:2245

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Shakespeare (madness in Shakespeare) -- see for example, King Lear, Hamlet See Shakespeare Videography

Shine (Australia, 1996)

Directed by Scott Hicks. Cast: Geoffrey Rush, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Noah Taylor, Lynn Redgrave, John Gielgud. A dramatization of the true story of gifted Australian piano prodigy, David Helfgott who experiences a nervous breakdown and is hospitalized, but later returns to the concert hall. 105 min. DVD 2397

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Shock (1946)

Director, Alfred Werker. Cast: Vincent Price, Lynn Bari, Frank Latimore, Anabel Shaw, Michael Dunne, Reed Hadley. Vincent Price is Dr. Cross, a psychiatrist who murders his wife and discovers that the only witness is a neighbor who goes into shock after witnessing the carnage. Her well-meaning husband has her committed to the sanitarium run by Dr. Cross, who resolves to silence her forever by shocking her to death with an overdose of insulin. 70 min. DVD 2036

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Shock Corridor (1963)

Directed by Samuel Fuller. Cast: Peter Breck, Constance Towers, James Best, Hari Rhodes. A journalist gets himself admitted to a mental hospital to solve the murder of an inmate, but as he closes in on the killer, madness closes in on him. DVD 1076; vhs 999:494

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Sanjek, David. 'Torment Street between Malicious and Crude': Sophisticated Primitivism in the Films of Samuel Fuller. Literature/ Film Quarterly, vol. 22 no. 3. 1994. pp: 187-94.

Sling Blade. (1996)

Directed by Billy Bob Thornton. Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Dwight Yoakam, J.T. Walsh, John Ritter, Lucas Black, Natalie Canerday, Robert Duvall. 25 years after committing an unthinkable crime, Karl, a mildly retarded man who spent most of his life in a mental institution is finally returning home. Once there he is befriended by a fatherless boy and his mother. As a strong relationship develops between Karl and the boy, a confrontation builds with the mother's abusive and sometimes violent boyfriend. 135 min. DVD 2325

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Short film upon which Sling Blade is based: Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade / George Hickenlooper (25 min.) DVD 6:1:1

Benson, Sean. "Reckoning and Regeneration: Billy Bob Thornton's Scourge of God and Holy Fool." Religion and the Arts, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 180-94, 1999

Cardullo, Robert James. "Sling Blade." The Hudson Review 50.n4 (Wntr 1998): 625(10).

O'Sullivan, Charlotte. "Sling Blade." Sight and Sound 8.n7 (July 1998): 53(1).

Whittington-Walsh, F. "From Freaks to Savants: disability and hegemony from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) to Sling Blade (1997)." Disability & Society 17.6 (Oct 1, 2002): 695(13). UC users only

Yacowar, Maurice. "Love vs. honour; Donnie Brasco and Sling blade." Queen's Quarterly 104.1 (Spring 1997): 56-70.

The Snake Pit. (1948)

Directed by Anatole Litvak. Cast: Olivia de Havilland, Mark Stevens, Leo Genn, Celeste Holm, Glenn Langan. A woman finds herself in a state mental institution and must spend several months under the care of her compassionate doctor before she can face the troubling secrets of her past and be cured. Special DVD features: Documentary by film historian and author Aubrey Solomon; movietone news: "N.Y. film critics honor Olivia de Havilland," "National Magazines Make Film Awards," "Showmen Honor" "The Snake Pit," Special film award is presented for "The Snake Pit," "Motion Picture Academy Awards film 'Oscars'"; still gallery; theatrical trailer. 108 min. DVD 7223; vhs 999:922

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Spellbound (1945)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock; Cast: Gregory Peck, Ingrid Bergman, Leo G. Carroll, Norman Lloyd, Rhonda Fleming. An amnesia victim assumes the identity of a noted psychiatrist and is accused of the murder of the man he professes to be. Constance, a fellow psychiatrist, attempts to restore his memory and uncover some lead that would prove his innocence. 111 min. DVD 1458; DVD 364; Video/C 999:2375

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Spider (2002)

Directed by David Cronenberg. Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Miranda Richardson, Gabriel Byrne, John Neville, Bradley Hall, Lynn Redgrave. Upon his release from a mental institution, Spider takes up residence in a halfway house. Paranoid, quiet, and forever making notes, Spider spends much of his time remembering his youth, specifically a horrific event from his childhood that occurred after he came to believe that his father was having an affair. 98 min. DVD 1915

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Splendor in the Grass (1961)

Directed by Elia Kazan. Cast: Natalie Wood, Warren Beatty, Pat Hingle, Audrey Christie, Barbara Loden, Zohra Lambert. In this blistering drama of frustrated first love in a small Kansas town in the 1920s the conflict between what caring parents and society advise and what their desires demand pushes Bud to physical collapse and Deanie to madness. 111 min. DVD 7537; vhs 999:1481

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Strange Illusion (1947)

Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer. Cast: James Lydon, Sally Eilers, Warren William, Regis Toomey, Charles Arnt. A son is haunted by dreams of the mysterious death of his father, dreams which he fears portend future events. The noir tone of the film is accentuated by the claustrophobic atmosphere of the mental hospital where the son is incarcerated with its controlled vision of chaos and corruption. DVD 863; vhs 999:682

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Suddenly Last Summer (1959)

Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Katherine Hepburn, Montgomery Clift, Albert Dekker, Mercedes McCambridge. A psychological drama about the effects of the sordid death of a decent young man upon his cousin, whose life and sanity are endangered, and upon his mother, a wealthy New Orleans widow whose diseased adoration of her son draws her into his depravity. 114 min. DVD 7553; vhs 999:636

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Ohi, Kevin. "Devouring creation: cannibalism, sodomy, and the scene of analysis in Suddenly, last summer." Cinema Journal Vol XXXVIII nr 3 (Spring 1999); p 27-49. Explores the erotics of baiting in "Suddenly, last summer" and examines the figural links among madness, cannibalism, sodomy, lobotomy, the talking cure, and visual and narrative structure in the film.

Sybil. (TV, 1977)

Directed by Daniel Petrie. Cast: Joanne Woodward, Sally Field, Brad Davis. A landmark drama depicting the extraordinary true story of a young woman suffering from multiple personality disorder and the wise, tenacious doctor who is determined to help her find herself...and peace. Includes the full 3-hour broadcast version, along with over an hour of special features. 187 min. DVD 5804

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The Three Faces of Eve (1957)

Directed by Nunnally Johnson. Cast: Joanne Woodward, David Wayne, Lee J. Cobb, Edwin Jerome, Alena Murray, Nancy Kulp, Douglas Spencer, Terry Ann Ross, Ken Scott, Mimi Gibson. Based on a true story, this acclaimed psychological drama brilliantly explores the dimensions of the human mind. Eve White, a withdrawn housewife startles her husband when she claims she did not buy the provocative clothes he finds in her closet. After she complains of blackouts, he takes her to a psychiatrist who soon encounters her second personality Eve Black, a sexy, uninhibited woman. As Eve's therapy continues her third self, the sensible Jane appears to help resolve her rare multiple personality condition.1993. 91 min. DVD X1070; vhs 999:2803

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Henriksen, Margot A. "The Snake Pit: America as an Asylum." In: Dr. Strangelove's America: society and culture in the atomic age Berkeley : University of California Press, c1997. (Text available online [UCB users only]; also print MOFF: E169.12 .H49 1997; ETHN: E169.12 .H49 1997; PFA : E169.12 .H49 1997)

Lloyd, Justine. Johnson, Lesley. "The Three Faces of Eve: The Post-War Housewife, Melodrama, and Home." Feminist Media Studies. 3 (1): 7-25. 2003 Mar.

Through a Glass Darkly (Såsom i en Spegel)(Sweden, 1961)

Directed by Ingmar Bergman. A gloomy look at God and love through the eyes of a tormented family who search for God in a time of crisis. Plot centers around the mental illness suffered by the daughter, Karin. The first of a trilogy of films (Winter Light, The Silence) which explored man's relationship with a God as Ingmar Bergman saw it. 90 min. DVD 1855; vhs 999:1047

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Tomie (Japan, 1998)

Directed by Ataru Oikawa. Cast: Mami Nakamura, Miho Kanno, Yoriko Doguchi, Tomorowo Taguchi. Following some trauma in her past that has since been repressed, a young woman is trying to recover her memories with the help of a psychiatrist. During her hypnosis sessions, she repeats the name "Tomie" but is unable to recall where she knows it from. Meanwhile, a police detective is investigating a string of brutal murders, where he also runs across the name "Tomie." How are two connected? PAL format DVD. 95 min. DVD 2850

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Ward no.6 (Paviljon 6) (Yugoslavia, 1976)

Director, Lucien Pintilie. A doctor oversees an inhuman mental ward and in the face of sloth and indifference surrenders any reforming zeal. The doctor is reported to the authorities, is judged mad and is locked in Ward no. 6 with other inmates. Based on the novel of the same title by Anton Chekhov. 93 min. Video/C 1405

What's Eating Gilbert Grape? (1993)

Directed by Lasse Hallstrom. Cast: Johnny Depp, Juliette Lewis, Mary Steenburgen, Leonardo DiCaprio, John C. Reilly. Gilbert Grape is devoted to his family, including his mentally impaired younger brother, but feeling unhappy about the hopelessness of his life. But then a young woman breezes into town in a camper with engine trouble and changes everything. Based on the novel by Peter Hedges. 118 min. 999:2000

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Whirlpool (1950)

Directed by Otto Preminger. Cast: Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, Jose Ferrer, Charles Bickford. Ann Sutton, the wealthy wife of a remote psychoanalyst, is caught shoplifting and is rescued from certain scandal by a suave and sinister hypnotist. She is soon in his power and enmeshed in a web of blackmail and murder. 93 min. DVD 4410; Non-US (PAL) format DVD 4126

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The White Soup (Zurek) (Poland, 2003)

Directed by Ryszard Brylski. Cast: Katarzyna Figura, Natalia Rybicka, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Marek Kasprzyk. Halina, a young, hard-working widow, tramps around a small Polish border town in search of the father of her grandchild. Her mentally impaired teenage daughter refuses to name the father, which causes a problem with the upcoming baptism. 72 min. DVD 9912

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The Wild Child (L'Enfant Sauvage) (Frace, 1969)

Directed by Francois Truffaut. Cast: Jean-Pierre Leaud, Francois Truffaut. A film based upon the true journal account of a French physician, Dr. Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard of the National Institute for the Deaf and Dumb, Paris, who undertook the task of effecting the education of a child found living like an animal in the forest in 1798. Itard, whose teaching strategies survive today in the Montessori Method, was unsure whether he was helping a savage become human or turning a forest child into a semi-civilized idiot. In French with English subtitles. 86 min. DVD 1263; vhs 999:1420

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Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios) (Spain, 1984)

Directed by Pedro Almodovar. Cast: Carmen Maura, Maria Barranco, Julieta Serrano, Antonio Banderas, Fernando Guillen. Comedy about a woman who has been jilted by the love of her life, her friend who is in love with a terrorist, and her ex-lover's crazed wife. Mix them all together and you end up with women on the verge of a nervous breakdown! In Spanish with English subtitles. 88 min. DVD 646; vhs 999:667

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Evans, Peter William. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown = Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios / Peter William Evans. London: British Film Institute, 1996. Series title: BFI modern classics. (UCB Main PN1997.M8126 E82 1996)

A Woman Under the Influence (1974)

Directed by John Cassavetes. Cast: Peter Falk, Gena Rowlands, Fred Draper, Matthew Cassel, Katherine Cassavetes, Lady Rowlands, Christina Grisanti. The story of a couple deeply in love, yet faced with the challenge of making their relationship work. DVD 423; vhs 999:906

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Degener, D. "Director under the influence." Film Quarterly Vol XXIX nr 2 (Winter 1975-76); p 4-12. D.D. analyzes the film 'A woman under the influence' in terms of its theme 'madness' and the director's style.

A Zed & Two Noughts (UK, 1985)

Directed by Peter Greenaway. Cast: Andrea Ferreol, Eric Deacon, Brian Deacon, Frances Barber, Joss Ackland. Darkly comic story of twin zoologists who become obsessed with the search for life's meaning. When their wives are killed in a freak car accident, the brothers start an affair with the car's driver, Alba, who lost a leg in the accident. Throughout this affair, the two become fixated on the process of decay and begin an intense study on decomposition using animals from the zoo that leads to the ultimate experiment. 115 min. DVD 5928

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