The Movies and Social Class
Labor Themes in the Movies
The Homeless, Hobos, Tramps, and Bums in the Movies
The Movies, Race, and Ethnicity
- Beach, Christopher. Class, language and American film comedy Cambridge, U.K. ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2002. [full-text available online (UCB users only); print version: MAIN: PN1995.9.C55 B43 2002
Benshoff, Harry M. America on film : representing race, class, gender, and sexuality at the movies Malden, MA : Blackwell Pub., 2004. (MOFF: PN1995.9.M56 B46 2004; ETHN: PN1995.9.M56 B46 2004)
Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey. Class-passing : social mobility in film and popular culture Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press, c2005. (MAIN: P94.65.U6 F67 2005; MOFF: P94.65.U6 F67 2005)
Gandal, Keith. Class representation in modern literature and film New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. (MAIN: PS228.S63 G36 2007)
- U.S. Films
- Alice Adams (1935)
- Directed by George Stevens. Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Fred MacMurray, Fred Stone, Evelyn Venable, Hattie McDaniel. Social climber Alice tries to push her clodhopper family to the background and assumes airs to win the love of an amiable, wealthy young man. In this tender comedy of Americana and manners each must overcome the obstacles of their backgrounds for their love to flourish.
"The highlight of the film is the classic, tragically funny, disastrous dinner-party scene. The aspiring, pretentious Alice hopelessly wishes to rise up above the low-social prominence of her vulgar, poor family. To impress Arthur, her rich new suitor, she has planned a "stylish" dinner party at her own home - in the wilting humidity and heat - she fiercely wishes to make a good impression by having conned Arthur into believing that her folks are well-to-do. She has fictionalized her life to him and forced everyone in her family to pretend that they are something other than themselves." [from Tim Dirks' FilmSite] 99 min. DVD 1562
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database - All That Heaven Allows (1961)
- Directed by Douglas Sirk. Cast: Jane Wyman, Rock Hudson, Agnes Moorhead, Conrad Nagel. Cary Scott, an attractive and wealthy New England widow, creates a social outcry in her community and within her family when she becomes romantically involved with Ron Kirby, her much younger gardener. 89 min. DVD 1344
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- Ball of Fire (1941)
- Directed by Howard Hawks. Cast: Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Oscar Homolka, Dana Andrews, Dan Duryea, Henry Travers. When a serious-minded professor and his high brow colleagues begin work on a new encyclopedia, the professor enlists the aid of a beautiful but shady night club queen to explain slang, unaware that she is on the run from the mob. 22 min. 999:3279
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- Born Yesterday (1950)
- Directed by George Cukor. Cast: Judy Holliday, William Holden, Broderick Crawford. Billie, the ignorant chorus-girl mistress of Brock, a corrupt millionaire junk dealer, rebels against her role as a pawn in his business deals after she falls in love with the man whom Brock has hired to teach her "culture." 103 min. DVD 419; vhs 999:741
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- The Breakfast Club (1985)
- Directed by John Hughes. Cast: Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall, John Kapelos, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy. Five teenage students with nothing in common, spend a Saturday detention together in their high school library. At 7:00 a.m. they had nothing to say, but by 4:00 p.m., they had bared their souls to each other and become friends. 98 min. 999:1663
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Movie Review Query Engine- Lee, Christina . "Going nowhere?: the Politics of Remembering (and Forgetting) Molly Ringwald." Cultural Studies Review. Mar 2007. Vol. 13, Iss. 1; pg. 89, 16 pgs
- The Bride Wore Red (1937)
- Directed by Dorothy Arzner. Cast: Joan Crawford, Franchot Tone, Robert Young, Billie Burke, Reginald Owen.
An Italian count, seeking to prove that social position is a matter of luck, sends a struggling down-and-out nightclub singer to a luxury resort to masquerade as a wealthy lady. From a play by Ferenc Molnar. 103 min. 999:3453
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- Clueless (1995)
- Directed by Amy Heckerling. Featuring Alicia Silverstone, Paul Rudd, Brittany Murphy, Justin Walker, Wallace Shawn. It's not easy being the most popular and glamorous girl at Beverly Hills High, yet somehow 15-year-old Cher manages, even finding time for extracurricular projects like finding a love match for her debate teacher and giving a dowdy friend a fashion makeover. But Cher's tidy world starts to unravel with the sudden appearance of a sexy, stylish new classmate and Cher's square but cute "ex-stepbrother" 97 min. DVD 979; VHS 999:1403
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- Coming to America (1988)
- Directed by John Landis. Cast: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, James Earl Jones, John Amos, Madge Sinclair, Shari Headley. Murphy plays a very wealthy and pampered African prince who comes to America in search of a bride. Accompanied by his closest companion, Murphy quickly finds a job, new friends, new digs, new enemies--and lots of trouble. 116 min. DVD 7106; vhs 999:2123
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- Dugga, Victor S. "Africa from the American Lens: A Comparative View of the Films Sheena and Coming to America."
SORAC Journal of African Studies: Society of Research on African Cultures, vol. 1, pp. 107-15, Apr 2000
Olaniyan, Tejumola. "'Uplift the Race!' Coming to America, Do the Right Thing, and the Poetics of 'Othering'." Cultural-Critique, 1996 Fall, 34, 91-113.
- Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986)
- Directed by Paul Mazursky. Cast: Nick Nolte, Bette Midler, Richard Dreyfuss, Evan Richards, Elizabeth Pena.
Rescued from drowning in the swimming pool of a Beverly Hills couple, a disconsolate bum brings startling and hilarious changes to the entire household, including the family dog, Matisse. 103 min. DVD 6065
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- El Ángel Exterminador (The Exterminating Angel) (Mexico, 1962).
- Directed by Luis Buñuel. "After a lavish dinner party, the guests find themselves mysteriously unable to leave the room... and over the next few days all the elaborate pretenses and facades that they've built up by virtue of their position in society collapse completely as they become reduced to living like animals." [IMDB] 92 min. Video 999:242
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- Five Easy Pieces (1970)
- Directed by Bob Rafelson. Cast: Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Susan Anspach, Lois Smith, Billy Green Bush, William Challee.
"Bobby Eroica Dupea (Jack Nicholson) comes from a well-bred family of musicians, and once showed great promise as a concert pianist. By nature a restless, angry individual, Bobby left his family and his music when he could no longer endure the dull, cloistered routine of daily practice. He took to the road, wanting to "see the world," and hopefully find something or someone to quell his inner turmoil. He has settled in a small town as an oil rigger, where his life consists of going to work, arguing with his dimwitted but loving girlfriend Rayette (Karen Black), and bowling every night with his friend Elton (Billy "Green" Bush). Not surprisingly, this routine begins to disgust Bobby and, fed up, he decides to travel to Puget Sound, Washington to pay his family a visit. Leaving Rayette at a nearby motel, Bobby goes home and is reunited with his family." [IMDB] 91 min. DVD 913; vhs 999:997
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- Gosford Park (2001)
- Directed by Robert Altman. Cast: Cast: Eileen Atkins, Bob Balaban, Alan Bates, Charles Dance, Stephen Fry, Michael Gambon, Richard E. Grant, Tom Hollander, Derek Jacobi, Kelly Macdonald, Helen Mirren, Jeremy Northam, Clive Owen, Ryan Phillippe, Maggie Smith, Geraldine Somerville, Kristin Scott Thomas, Sophie Thompson, Emily Watson, James Wilby.
Drama set at the estate in the English countryside of Sir William McCordle in 1932, showing the lives of upstairs guests and downstairs servants at a hunting party weekend when one of the group is murdered. Special features (ca. 6 hrs): Feature commentary with director Robert Altman; screenwriter commentary with Oscar winner Julian Fellowes; deleted scenes with optional commentary; the making of "Gosford Park"; keeping "Gosford Park" authentic; Q&A session with cast and filmmakers. 138 min. DVD 1219
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- The Great Gatsby.(1974)
- Director Jack Clayton. Cast: Robert Redford, Mia Farrow, Karen Black, Bruce Dern. 146 min. An dramatization of F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece of Jazz Age decadence, ambition and tragic passion. Returning from World War I, a young soldier learns the love of his life has married into a wealthy family and moved to Long Island. Obsessed with rekindling their romance, he reinvents himself as the mysteriously prosperous Jay Gatsby, throws lavish parties at his glittering mansion and waits for his chance, but when it comes a terrible price is inevitable. Based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. DVD 4499
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- The Great Gatsby.(2000)
- Directed by Robert Markowitz. An dramatization of F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece of Jazz Age decadence, ambition and tragic passion. Returning from World War I, a young soldier learns the love of his life has married into a wealthy family and moved to Long Island. Obsessed with rekindling their romance, he reinvents himself as the mysteriously prosperous Jay Gatsby, throws lavish parties at his glittering mansion and waits for his chance, but when it comes a terrible price is inevitable. Cast: Mira Sorvino, Toby Stephens, Paul Rudd, Martin Donovan. Based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. 100 min. Video/C 7678
- High Society (1956)
- Directed by Charles Walters. Cast: Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Celeste Holm, John Lund, Louis Calhern, Sidney Blackmer, Louis Armstrong and his Band. Music & lyrics by Cole Porter. Tracy Lord is trying to be remarried quietly but she is persuaded to allow two reporters to cover the nuptials. By the time the wedding march begins, she has accumulated several potential grooms. Based on the play, The Philadelphia story by Philip Barry. 107 min. DVD 5716; vhs 999:846 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Hindle Wakes (UK, 1927)
- Directed by Maurice Elvey. Cast: Estelle Brody, Norman McKinnel, Humberstone Wright, Marie Ault, John Stuart, Irene Rooke, Peggy Carlisle, B. Graham Soutten, Arthur Chesney, Gladys Jennings. Two factory workers decide to spend their holiday at Blackpool, where Fanny Hawthorne meets the son of a local factory owner. After they have an affair his family decides he must do the honorable thing and propose marriage to Fanny. A controversial ground-breaking film with scenes shot in the 1927 streets of Lancashire and Blackpool that have an astonishing documentary realism. 117 min. DVD X838
- Holiday (1938)
- Directed by George Cukor. Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Doris Nolan, Edward Everett Horton, Henry Kolker, Binnie Barnes, Jean Dixon, Henry Daniell. "Free-thinking Johnny Case finds himself betrothed to a millionaire's daughter. When her family, with the exception of black-sheep Linda and drunken Ned, want Johnny to settle down to big business, he rebels, wishing instead to spend the early years of his life on "holiday." With the help of his friends Nick and Susan Potter, he makes up his mind as to which is the better course, and the better mate." [IMDB] Based on the play by Philip Barry. 96 min. DVD 6635; vhs 999:653 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The House of Mirth (2000)
- Directed by Terence Davies. Cast: Cast: Gillian Anderson, Dan Aykroyd, Eric Stoltz, Anthony LaPaglia, Eleanor Bron, Terry Kinney, Laura Linney.
The glittering yet treacherous world of New York High Society comes to life in the heartbreaking story of Lily Bart, a renowned beauty of exquisite charm who seeks a wealthy husband but winds up disgraced and discarded. Based on the novel by Edith Wharton. 140 min. DVD 738
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- Imitation of Life (1934)
- Directed by John M. Stahl. Cast: Claudette Colbert (Beatrice "Bea" Pullman), Warren William (Stephen Archer), Ned Sparks (Elmer Smith, Louise Beavers (Aunt Delilah). The story of two widows and their troubled daughters. In the search for success as an actress, Lora neglects her daughter. Lora's black housekeeper's daughter repudiates her mother by trying to pass for white. As the years pass, each of the four women realizes that she has been living out an emotionally fruitless existence. 106 min. DVD 5246
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Imitation of Life (1959). Directed by Douglas Sirk.
- Imitation of Life (1959)
- Directed by Douglas Sirk. Cast: Lana Turner (Lora Meredith), John Gavin (Steve Archer). Draws the audience into an underworld of backstairs and neon gutters with the story of an exploited black maid (played by a white actress) and her daughter trying to pass for white. Based on Fannie Hurst's novel. 124 min. DVD 5246; DVD 1737
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- Imitation of Life (1934). Directed by John M. Stahl.
- It Happened One Night (1934)
- Directed by Frank Capra. Cast: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert. Colbert plays a runaway heiress and Gable is an unemployed journalist who helps her in the cross country flight via bus and by hitchhiking. 105 min. DVD 175; VHS 999:11
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Jungle Fever (1991)
- Directed by Spike Lee. Cast: Wesley Snipes, Annabella Sciorra, Spike Lee, Ossie Davis, Anthony Quinn. An Afro-American architect begins an affair with his working class Italian secretary. Their relationship causes them to be scrutinized by their friends, cast out from their families and shunned by their neighbors in this moving view of inner-city life. 131 min. DVD 580; Video 999:763 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database Movie Review Query Engine
- Lady for a Day (1933)
- Directed by Frank Capra. Cast: Cast: Warren William, May Robson, Guy Kibbee, Glenda Farrell, Ned Sparks, Walter Connolly, Jean Parker.
Society matron, Mrs. E. Worthington Manville throws a party for Count Romero whose son is engaged to her daughter, Louise. The Count does not know that Mrs. Manville is really Apple Annie, a penniless fruit peddlar. Annie's best friend, a big shot gambler, helps her continue the charade. Based on the short story "Madame La Gimp" by Damon Runyon. 96 min. DVD 580; Video 999:763 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Maid in Manhattan (2002)
- Directed by Wayne Wang. Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Ralph Fiennes, Natasha Richardson, Stanley Tucci, Tyler Garcia Posey, Frances Conroy, Chris Eigeman, Amy Sedaris, Bob Hoskins. A struggling single mom takes a job as a chambermaid at a luxury hotel in New York. She meets and falls in love with a sauve and sophisticated heir to an American political dynasty, who mistakes her for a society woman. When her real identity is revealed, the reality about their seperate lives sets in. 105 min. DVD 2885
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- Negra, Diane. "Structural Integrity, Historical Reversion, And The Post-9/11 Chick Flick." Feminist Media Studies; Mar2008, Vol. 8 Issue 1, p51-68, 18p
Leyland, Matthew. "Maid hitin Manhattan."
Sight and Sound 13:3 (March 2003) p. 52-53
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Wade, Kevin. "Maid in Manhattan." Human Events; 12/16/2002, Vol. 58 Issue 46, p22UC users only
- Male and Female (1919)
- Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Cast: Gloria Swanson, Thomas Meighan, Lila Lee, Theodore Roberts, Raymond Hatton, Mildred Rearden, Robert Cain. A spoiled woman always gets her way until shipwrecked with her butler. She then learns which qualities are really admirable in a person. Based on "The admirable Crichton" by J.M. Barrie. 170 min. DVD X353 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Mildred Pierce (1945)
- Directed by Michael Curtiz. Featuring Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden, Ann Blyth. The story of a self-made woman's attempt to provide her daughter with luxuries and social status only to see the daughter become spoiled and unscrupulous and eventually murder her own stepfather. DVD 1689; vhs 999:215
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- Mrs. Miniver (1942)
- Directed by William Wyler. Cast: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright, Dame May Whitty, Reginald Owen, Henry Travers, Richard Ney, Henry Wilcoxon.
"Although not as 'socially privileged' as in the book, the Mrs. Kay Miniver (Greer Garson) of the film version is still presented as living a comfortable life at a house called 'Starlings' in a village outside London. The house has a large garden, with a private landing stage on the river Thames, and a motorboat. Her husband Clem (Canadian born actor Walter Pidgeon) (despite his North American accent) is a successful English architect. They have three children: the youngsters Toby and Judy (Christopher Severn and Clare Sandars), and an older son Vin (Richard Ney) who is at university. They have live-in staff: Gladys the housemaid (Brenda Forbes) and Ada the cook (Marie De Becker).
As World War II looms, Vin comes down from university and meets Carol Beldon (Teresa Wright), granddaughter of aristocratic Lady Beldon (Dame May Whitty) from nearby Beldon Hall. Despite initial disagreements, for example the contrast of Vin's idealistic attitude to class differences and Carol's practical altruism, they fall in love: Vin proposes to Carol at dinner time after young brother Toby has embarrassingly blurted out that he should do so if they are in love. They eventually marry. As the war comes closer to home, Vin feels he must do his bit, joins the Royal Air Force as a pilot, and when qualified is posted to a base near to his parents' home. Clem takes his motorboat to assist in the Dunkirk evacuation.[2] There are scenes of the family during an air-raid, when Mr. Foley (Reginald Owen), the storekeeper and air-raid warden, advises them to close their curtains; and they are shown in their shelter in the garden. Left alone at home, Kay finds a wounded German pilot (Helmut Dantine) in her garden. She feeds him, then calmly disarms him and calls the police.
After the flower show's competition, in which the entry of the stationmaster (Henry Travers) named the 'Mrs. Miniver' rose is judged the winner over Lady Beldon's rose, Kay, with Carol, drives Vin to join his squadron just as an air attack begins. On their return home Kay stops the car: Carol is wounded in an attack from a German plane, but she dies a few minutes after they reach home. The local inhabitants assemble at the badly damaged church and, with their vicar (Henry Wilcoxon), affirm their determination to fight on and defend their way of life." [Wikipedia] 124 min. DVD X896; VHS 999:2208 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- My Fair Lady (1964)
- Directed by George Cukor. Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway, Wilfrid Hyde- White, Gladys Cooper, Jeremy Brett, Theodore Bikel. Audrey Hepburn stars as the flowergirl turned Cinderella. Rex Harrison is the irascible professor of phonetics who bets he can teach her to speak like a duchess. Special DVD features: Feature-length audio commentary that includes art director Gene Allen, singer Marni Nixon and restorers Robert A. Harris and James C. Katz; behind-the-scenes documentary 'The fairest fair lady'; alternate Audrey Hepburn vocal versions of 'Show me' and 'Wouldn't it be loverly'; interactive menus; production notes; 4 theatrical trailers; scene access. 170 min. DVD 464; VHS 999:872:1&2 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- My Man Godfrey (1936)
- Directed by Gregory La Cava. Cast: William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady, Gail Patrick, Jean Dixon, Eugene Pallette, Alan Mowbray. A zany millionaire family invite a tramp to be their butler and find that he is richer than they are. 95 min. DVD 260; vhs 999:162Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- 1900 (Novecento) (France / Italy, 1976)
- Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. Cast: Robert De Niro, Gerard Depardieu, Dominique Sanda, Donald Sutherland, Burt Lancaster. An epic film that is both a history of 20th century Italy and a portrait of two families. It is also the story of the conflicts between two boys, one a peasant and the other a landowner, as they pass through the upheavals of the modern world. 255 min. DVD 6809; vhs 999:510
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- Of Human Bondage (1934)
- Directed by John Cromwell. Cast:Leslie Howard, Betty Davis. A young medical student's infatuation with a Cockney waitress in Edwardian London only brings him sorrow and despair. Based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham. 83 min. DVD 1294; vhs 999:1299
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- An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
- Directed by Taylor Hackford. Cast: Richard Gere, Debra Winger, David Keith, Robert Loggia, Lisa Blount, Lisa Eilbacher, Louis Gossett, Jr.
"Zack Mayo is a loner who has never had to rely on anyone but himself. As a child, he was sent to live with his father, a career Navy man based in the Philippines, after his mother commits suicide. There he soon realized that he had to be tough and rely on no one. After graduating from college, he shocks his father by telling that he has enlisted in the Navy and will enter training as a naval aviator. There he brings the same loner attitude he has had all of his life. He does however meet Paula, an attractive young woman who often attends base functions in the hope of nabbing a young officer and Sid Worley, a classmate with whom he forms a close bond. The training is difficult but not as tough as having to deal with their training officer, Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley who teaches Zack a lesson in the importance of relying on your friends and colleagues." [IMDB] 91 min. DVD 4901
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- The Outsiders (1983)
- Directed by Francis Coppola. Cast: C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Diane Lane, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise, Leif Garrett, Glenn Withrow.
Coming of age movie set in Tulsa Oklahoma in the mid sixties. When two poor greasers, Johnny, and Ponyboy are assaulted by a vicious gang, the socs, and Johnny kills one of the attackers, tension begins to mount between the two rival gangs, setting off a turbulent chain of events. Based on the novel by S.E. Hinton. 91 min. DVD 7500
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- Peyton Place (1957)
- Directed by Mark Robson. Cast: Lana Turner, Lee Philips, Lloyd Nolan, Arthur Kennedy, Russ Tamblyn. "The film is an exposé of the lives and loves of the residents of a small New England mill town, where scandal, homicide, suicide, incest, and moral hypocrisy hide behind a tranquil façade in the years immediately preceding and following World War II. At the core of its plot are three women. Constance MacKenzie is a prim and proper sexually repressed woman who had an affair with a married New York City businessman and bore him a child out of wedlock. She has struggled to shield her daughter Allison, a high school senior and aspiring author, from her tarnished past, leading her to believe she returned to Peyton Place with her newborn baby after her husband died. Selena Cross, Allison's best friend, is a good girl living on the wrong side of the tracks. She murders her stepfather Lucas after repeated sexual abuse, and her trial is the focus of the latter part of the film.
Other characters include Allison's classmate and confidant Norman Page, a mama's boy anxious to gain his independence; bad girl Betty Anderson, who longs to have a relationship with wealthy Rodney Harrington; and new school principal Michael Rossi, who attempts to crack Constance's icy veneer." [Wikipedia] Special DVD features: Commentary by Terry Moore and Russ Tamblyn; AMC backstory; movietone news premiere and photoplay magazine awards. 157 min. DVD 7538; vhs 999:971
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- Brier, Evan.
"The accidental blockbuster: Peyton Place in literary and institutional context."
Women's Studies Quarterly 33.3-4 (Fall-Winter 2005): p48-65.
Hendler, Jane. Best-sellers and their film adaptations in postwar America : From here to eternity, Sayonara, Giant, Auntie Mame, Peyton Place New York : Peter Lang, c2001.
(MAIN: PN1997.85 .H46 2001)
- The Philadelphia Story (1940)
- Directed by George Cukor. Cast: Cast: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, Ruth Hussey, John Howard, Roland Young, John Halliday, Mary Nash, Virginia Weidler.
A sophisticated romantic comedy about a rich, spoiled socialite who learns some things about who she is and what she really wants on the eve of her second marriage. Based on the play by Philip Barry. Special features: (Disc 1) Commentary by film historian Jeannine Basinger ; George Cukor movie trailer gallery. (Disc 2) Two documentaries "Katharine Hepburn: all about me, a self-portrait," and "The men who made the movies: George Cukor," Robert Benchley short "That inferior feeling," cartoon "The homeless flea," audio-only bonus: 2 radio-adaptations featuring the movies' 3 feature stars. 112 min. DVD 3635; vhs 999:32
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- A Place in the Sun (1951)
- Directed by George Stevens. Cast: Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelly Winters, Keefe Brasselle.
The story of Clift, a poor young man determined to win a place in respectable society and the heart of beautiful socialite Elizabeth Taylor. Shelley Winters plays the factory girl whose dark secret threatens Clift's professional and romantic prospects. Consumed with fear and desire, Clift is ultimately driven to a desperate act of passion that unravels his world forever. Based on the novel An American tragedy by Theodore Dreiser and the Patrick Kearney play adapted from the novel. 113 min. DVD X1491; vhs 999:2121
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- Platinum Blonde (1931)
- Directed by Frank Capra. Cast: Jean Harlow, Loretta Young, Robert Williams.
"Reporter 'Stew' Smith meets beautiful Ann Schuyler, a rich socialite, while covering the story of a scandal involving Ann's family. Ann takes a liking to the wisecracking Smith and the couple eventually elope. Stew's roots as a street smart reporter don't prepare him well for mixing with Ann's high society friends and he starts spending more time with his 'pal', female reporter Gallagher. Everything comes to a head when Ann and her family return home to their mansion one evening and find that Stew has invited all his 'pals' over for an impromptu drinking party." [IMDB]
90 min. 999:2703
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- Poppy (1936)
- Directed by A. Edward Sutherland. Cast: W.C. Fields, Rochelle Hudson, Richard Cromwell, Granville Bates, Catharine Doucet, Lynne Overman.
Poppy, daughter of carnival medicine salesman Professor McGargle, falls in love with the Mayor's son. Countess Maggie Tubbs DePuizzi is claimant to the Putnam estates, but McGargle and lawyer Wiffen plot to make Poppy claim the fortune. Wiffen and the Countess double-cross the Professor, but kindly Sarah Tucker notices a resemble between Poppy and the deceased Mrs. Putnam. It turns out that McGargle adopted the girl, she is the rightful heir, the purported Countess is only a showgirl, and every one has a happy ending. Based upon a play written by Dorothy Donnelly. 74 min. DVD 7430
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- Pretty in Pink (1986)
- Directed by John Hughes. Cast: Molly Ringwald, Harry Dean Stanton, Jon Cryer, Annie Potts, James Spader, Andrew McCarthy. She's a high school girl from the wrong side of town. He's the wealthy heart-throb who asks her to the prom. But as fast as their romance builds, it's threatened by the painful reality of peer pressure. Special DVD features: The first time: "The making of 'Pretty in pink'" featurette; "Zoids and Richies" featurette; "Prom queen: All about Molly" featurette; "Volcanic ensembles" featurette; "Prom stories" featurette; Favorite scenes; Commentary by director Howard Deutch; Wrap up: The epilogue; Photo gallery; The original ending: The lost dance. 96 min. DVD 9186; vhs 999:1635
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- Bernstein, Jonathan.< Pretty in pink: the golden age of teenage movies / Jonathan Bernstein. 1st St. Martin's Griffin ed. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1997.
(UCB Main PN1995.9.Y6 B45 1997)
Lee, Christina . "Going nowhere?: the Politics of Remembering (and Forgetting) Molly Ringwald." Cultural Studies Review. Mar 2007. Vol. 13, Iss. 1; pg. 89, 16 pgs
- Pretty Woman(1999)
- Director, Garry Marshall.
Cast: Richard Gere, Julia Roberts, Ralph Bellamy.
When successful corporate mogul Edward Lewis meets independent and carefree Vivian Ward, their two lives are worlds apart. But Vivien's energetic spirit challenges Edward's no-nonsense, business-minded approach to life, sparking an immediate attraction. He teaches her the finer things of life -- she teaches him that love could be the best investment he ever made. 119 min. vhs 999:2320
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- Cooks, Leda M.; Orbe, Mark P.; Bruess, Carol S. "The Fairy Tale Theme in Popular Culture: A Semiotic Analysis of Pretty Woman."
Women's Studies in Communication, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 86-104, Fall 1993
Greenberg, Harvey Roy. "Rescrewed: Pretty Woman's Co-opted Feminism."
Journal of Popular Film and Television, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 9-13, Spring 1991
Hirschman, Elizabeth C.; Stern, Barbara B.
"Women As Commodities: Prostitution as Depicted in The Blue Angel, Pretty Baby, and Pretty Woman." Advances in Consumer Research, 1994, Vol. 21 Issue 1, p576-581, 6p;
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Kelley, Karol. "A Modern Cinderella." Journal of American Culture, Volume 17, Issue 1 (p 87-92) UC users only
Knight, Deborah; McKnight, George.
"Whose Genre Is It, Anyway? Thomas Wartenberg on the Unlikely Couple Film." Journal of Social Philosophy, Summer2002, Vol. 33 Issue 2, p330-338, 9p UC users only
Miner, Madonne. "No matter what they say, it's all about money." Journal of Popular Film & Television; Spring92, Vol. 20 Issue 1, p8, 7p
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O'Sullivan, Jane. "Virtual Metamorphoses: Cosmetic and Cybernetic Revisions of Pygmalion's 'Living Doll'." Arethusa, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 133-156, Winter 2008
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Radner, Hillary. "Pretty is as Pretty Does: Free Enterprise and the Marriage Plot." In: Film theory goes to the movies / edited by Jim Collins, Hilary Radner, and Ava Preacher Collins.
New York : Routledge, 1993. (Main Stack PN1994.F43915 1993; Moffitt PN1994.F43915 1993)
Scala, Elizabeth.
"Pretty Women: The Romance of the Fair Unknown, Feminism, and Contemporary Romantic Comedy." Film & History, Feb-May1999, Vol. 29 Issue 1/2, p34-45, 12p
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Smith, Claude J., Jr. "Bodies and Minds for Sale: Prostitution in Pretty Woman and Indecent Proposal." Studies in Popular Culture, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 91-99, Apr 1997
Soyini, Madison, D. "Pretty Woman through the Triple Lens of Black Feminist Spectatorship." In: From mouse to mermaid : the politics of film, gender, and culture / Elizabeth Bell, Lynda Haas, Laura Sells, editors. Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c1995. (available online [UCB users only]; print: ANTH: PN1999.W27 F76 1995; MAIN: PN1999.W27 F76 1995)
Wartenberg, Thomas E. "Pretty Woman: A Fairy Tale of Oedipalized Capitalism." In: Unlikely couples : movie romance as social criticism / Thomas E. Wartenberg. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1999. (Main Stack PN1995.9.L6.W37 1999)
- Ruby Gentry (1952)
- Directed by King Vidor. Cast: Jennifer Jones, Charlton Heston, Karl Malden, Tom Tully.
Ruby is a tempestuous girl who lives with her family in the southern swampland who intends to improve her lot by marrying into wealth. When her heart is broken by a local 'refined' man, she is picked up on the rebound by a local businessman. Now she is using his money to ruin the whole town. 82 min.DVD 7623
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)
- Directed by Leo McCarey. Cast: Charles Laughton, Mary Boland, Charlie Ruggles, Zasu Pitts, Leila Hyams. A comedy classic concerning a stuffy British butler who finds himself in the Wild West when his master loses him in a card game to a wealthy, rowdy American. 90 min. 999:765
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Bogdanovich, Peter. "Leo McCarey." In: Who the devil made it New York : Alfred A. Knopf : Distributed by Random House, 1997. (MAIN: PN1995.9.P7 B58 1997; MOFF: PN1995.9.P7 B58 1997)
O'Reilly, Jean. "A Case Study: Ruggles of Red Gap, Leo McCarey and Charles Laughton."
Quarterly Review of Film and Video. 2006. Vol. 23, Iss. 5; p. 407 UC users only
Gehring, Wes D. Leo McCarey from Marx to McCarthy.
Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 2005. (MAIN: PN1995.9.P7 B58 1997; MOFF: PN1995.9.P7 B58 1997)
Charles Silver. "Leo McCarey from Marx to McCarthy." Film Comment. Sep/Oct 1973. Vol. 9, Iss. 5; pg. 8, 4 pgs
Wood, R. "From Ruggles to Rally; or, America, America! The strange career of Leo McCarey." Film International v. 5 no. 3 (2007) p. 30-4UC users only
- Pride & Prejudice
- Based on the novel by Jane Austen. Mr. Bennet is an English gentleman living in Hartfordshire with his overbearing wife and 5 daughters. There is the beautiful Jane, the clever Elizabeth, the bookish Mary, the immature Kitty and the wild Lydia. Unfortunately, if Mr. Bennet dies their house will be inherited by a distant cousin whom they have never met. The family's future happiness and security is dependent on the daughters making good marriages. Life is uneventful until the arrival in the neighbourhood of the rich gentleman Mr. Bingley, who rents a large house so he can spend the summer in the country. Mr Bingley brings with him his sister and the dashing, rich, but proud Mr. Darcy. Love soon buds for one of the Bennet sisters, while another sister may have jumped to a hasty prejudgment.
For the Bennet sisters many trials and tribulations stand between them and their happiness. For various versions of Pride & Prejudice on film see: Literary Adaptation videography
- The River (1929)
- Directed by Frank Borzage. Cast: Charles Farrell, Mary Duncan, Ivan Linow, Margaret Mann, Alfredo Sabato, Bert Woodruff. A new reconstruction of Frank Borzage's masterpiece "The river" from the last year of American silent cinema. Charles Farrell is cast as virile outdoorsman Allen John Pender, while Mary Duncan co-stars as Pender's haughty society sweetheart Rosalee. At first, Rosalee is resistant to Pender's Spartan lifestyle, but he wins her over by singing a thrilling romantic ballad. For the first time Cinémathèque Suisse was able to include a recently discovered erotic sequence which was cut by the censors. 55 min. DVD X782
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Sabrina (1954)
- Directed by Billy Wilder. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, William Holden, Walter Hampden, John Williams, Martha Hyer, Joan Vohs.
"Sabrina is the young daughter of the Larrabee family's chauffeur who has been in love with David Larrabee for all her life. David is very spoiled and crazy for women, and has been totally ignoring Sabrina for years. When Sabrina goes to Paris for a few years, she returns a very attractive and sophisticated woman, and David is quickly drawn to her. David's brother Linus sees this and fears that David's imminent wedding with a very rich woman may be endangered. If the wedding is canceled, so will a great corporate deal with the bride's family. So, Linus tries to keep Sabrina off his brother, and the best way to do so is by charming her himself." [IMDB] 113 min. DVD 7599; vhs 999:642
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Scar of Shame (1927)
- Directed by Frank Peregini. The Colored Players Film Co. produced films during the 1920's, the golden years of silent films. "The prime achievement of the Colored Players was this film, shot with a sure feeling for editing and composition the film compares with the best Hollywood product of its time. The film's story examines caste and class within the black community telling of a love affair between a music student of good social standing and the daughter of a working-class drunkard. "Made by Hollywood technicians, The Scar of Shame is nevertheless the product of black consciousness, examining as it does caste and class within the black community. The 'hero' is a light-skinned, refined music student of good social standing who, very much against his better judment, falls in love and marries the dark sensual daughter of a working-class drunkard. Expressing profound and probably unconscious reservations about the possibility of black success while limiting that success to that black who is like the white in values and appearance..." -- excerpt from AFI program notes by Stephen Zito. Approx. 90 min. DVD 643; Video/C 591; VHS 999:1023 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Butters, Gerald R. Black manhood on the silent screen Lawrence : University Press of Kansas, c2002. (MAIN: PN1995.9.N4 B88 2002)
Cripps, Thomas. "Race Movies as Voices of the Black Bourgeoisie: The Scar of Shame." In: Representing Blackness: Issues in Film and Video / edited with an introduction by Valerie Smith. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, c1997. Rutgers depth of field series (Main Stack PN1995.9.N4.R47 1997; Moffitt PN1995.9.N4.R47 1997)
Cripps, Thomas. "Thomas Cripps Responds to Jane Gaines." Cinema Journal, Vol. 27, No. 2. (Winter, 1988), pp. 56-59.
UC users only
Gaines, Jane. "The Scar of Shame": Skin Color and Caste in Black Silent Melodrama." Cinema Journal, Vol. 26, No. 4. (Summer, 1987), pp. 3-21. UC users only
Kalinak, Kathryn. "Kathryn Kalinak Responds to Jane Gaines's "Scar of Shame": Skin Color and Caste in Black Silent Melodrama" ("Cinema Journal," Summer 1987)
Cinema Journal, Vol. 27, No. 2. (Winter, 1988), pp. 54-56.
UC users only
- Six Degrees of Separation(1993)
- Director Fred Schepisi. Cast: Stockard Channing, Will Smith, Donald Sutherland, Flan Kittredge, Ian
McKellen. When Manhattan art dealers take a smooth talking young man into their home believing him to be a friend of their children and Sidney Poitier's son, they awake the next morning to find him in bed with a male friend whom he had invited in for the night. 101 min. 999:1485
Credits
and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Gillan, Jennifer. "'No One Knows You're Black!': Six Degrees of Separation and the Buddy Formula." Cinema Journal. 40 Spring (3): 47-68. 2001.
- Social Class in America(Documentary)
- Are social classes pre-determined? This vintage film aims to examine this question during an era when many citizens of various races and social classes were still not extended complete civil rights. This 1957 documentary follows three boys from three different social classes in the United States. It is a fascinating look at the history of socioeconomic determinism in the U.S. that tries to push the idea that social classes in America are determined before people are born, despite what we like to believe. 1957. 15 min. DVD 9243
- Some Came Running (1958)
- Directed by Vincente Minnelli. Cast: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Shirley MacLaine, Martha Hyer, Arthur Kennedy, Nancy Gates, Leora Dana. Dave Hirsch, a writer and army veteran, returns to 1948 Parkman, Indiana, his hometown. His prosperous brother introduces him to Gwen French, a local teacher. But the more flamboyant Ginny has followed him to Parkton, where he also meets gambler Bama Dillert. Eventually Dave must come to terms with his roots and with his future. Based on a novel by James Jones. 136 min. DVD X1494
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Stella Dallas (1937)
- Directed by King Vidor. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles, Anne Shirley. "Working-class Stella Martin marries high-end Stephen Dallas and soon they have a daughter named Laurel. But Stephen's incessant demands of Stella to become what she isn't leads to their eventual separation. Stephen later marries Helen Morrison (his prior fiancée), and Laurel becomes the focus of Stella's life and love. Nothing is too good for Laurel as far as Stella is concerned. Determined to give her all the advantages, she takes Laurel on a trip to an expensive resort where Laurel makes friends with rich kids. After an embarrassing incident, Stella realizes that her daughter would go farther in life without Stella as her mother. Her subsequent sacrifice is shattering." [IMDB] 106 min.DVD 3626; vhs 999:202
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- A Summer Place (1959)
- Directed by Delmer Daves. Cast: Richard Egan, Dorothy McGuire, Sandra Dee, Arthur Kennedy, Troy Donahue. "The story examines the adult lives of two onetime teen lovers, Ken (Egan) and Sylvia (McGuire), who were from different social strata. Ken was self-supporting, working as a lifeguard at Pine Island, an exclusive Maine resort, while Sylvia's nouveau riche family stayed as guests of the owners, one summer between years at college. They went on to marry different people – entirely the wrong people, it turned out. Ken's wife Helen (Ford) turns out to be frigid and shuts him out romantically, while Sylvia's husband Bart (Kennedy) becomes an alcoholic, gradually costing him the family fortune. Ken buries himself in the research chemist's job he finds after college, while Sylvia devotes herself first to charity work, then motherhood.
The saving grace of each marriage is their children, Sylvia's son Johnny (Donahue) and Ken's daughter Molly (Dee). Ken and Sylvia meet again on Pine Island after twenty years, with Ken now wealthy through his chemistry work, while Bart has turned his family's mansion (their sole remaining asset) into an inn, which is failing. Johnny and Molly meet and fall in love, while Ken and Sylvia begin to cheat with each other on their spouses." 130 min. DVD 7552; vhs 999:1482
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Tess(1979)
- Director,
Roman Polanski. Cast: Nastassia Kinski, Peter Firth, Leigh Lawson. In this adaptation of Thomas Hardy's classic romance, Tess Darbeyville, a beautiful young peasant in late 19th century England, seeks her fortune with the wealthy D'Urbervilles, whom her family believes to be distant relatives. Although Tess rejects the advances of the D'Urberville's son Alex, he forcibly seduces her, leaving her pregnant and alone. After her sickly baby dies, Tess falls in love with Angel, a parson's son, who abandons her on their wedding night after she confesses her past "sin." This forces Tess to return to Alex, a fateful decision with tragic consequences. 172 min. DVD 9148; vhs Video 999:207
Credits
and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- They Had to See Paris (1929)
- Directed by Frank Borzage. Cast: Will Rogers, Irene Rich, Marguerite Churchill, Ivan Lebedeff, Owen Davis, Jr., Rex Bell, Fifi Dorsay.
Oklahoma mechanic Pike Peters (Will Rogers) finds himself part owner of an oil field. His wife, Idy, hitherto content, decides the family must go to Paris to get 'culture' and meet 'the right kind of people.' Pike and his grown son and daughter soon have flirtatious French admirers; Idy rents a chateau from an impoverished aristocrat; while Pike responds to each new development with homespun wit. In the inevitable clash, will pretentiousness and sophistication or common sense triumph? 83 min. DVD X721 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Titanic (1974)
- Directed by James Cameron. Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart, Bernard Hill, Jonathan Hyde, Victor Garber, David Warner, Danny Nucci, Suzy Amis, Bernard Fox, Bill Paxton.
Two young lovers separated by social class are destined to find each other on the maiden voyage of the "unsinkable" R.M.S. Titanic. But when the doomed luxury liner collides with an iceberg in the frigid North Atlantic, their passionate love affair becomes a thrilling race for survival! 195 min. DVD 2172
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Anshen, David. "Out of the depths and through the postmodern surface." Cineaction n51 (2000): 23-29.
Arroyo, Jose. "Massive Attack." In: Action/spectacle cinema : a Sight and sound reader / edited by Jose Arroyo. London : British Film Institute, 2000. (Main Stack PN1995.A259 2000)
Chumo, P. N. "Learning to make each day count: time in James Cameron's Titanic." Journal of Popular Film and Television v. 26 no. 4 (Winter 1999) p. 158-64UC users only
Cull, Nicholas J. "Titanic." American Historical Review 103.n2 (April 1998): 634(2).
Dassanowsky, Robert von. "A Mountain of a Ship: Locating the Bergfilm in James Cameron's Titanic." Cinema Journal, vol. 40 , no. 4, pp. 18-35, 2001. UC users only
Davis, Todd F.; Womack, Kenneth. "Narrating the Ship of Dreams: The Ethics of Sentimentality in James Cameron's Titanic." Journal of Popular Film and Television, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 42-48, Spring 2001.
UC users only
Hart, Jeffrey. "Paying for Beauty: motion picture 'Titanic' misrepresents the social codes of the wealthy." National Review; 4/19/1999, Vol. 51 Issue 7, p70-73, 3p
UC users only
Hurley, James S. "Titanic Allegories: The Blockbuster as Art Film." Strategies: A Journal of Theory, Culture, and Politics, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 91-120, May 2001.
Kendrick, James. "Marxist overtones in Three Films by James Cameron." Journal of Popular Film and Television 27.3 (Fall 1999): 37.
UC users only
Kramer, Peter. "Women first: 'Titanic' (1997), action-adventure films and Hollywood's female audience." Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 18.4 (Oct 1998): 599(2).
UC users only
Putterman, T. L."Titanic Lovers, or How a Good Girl Pleased Her Man." Bright Lights Film Journal, vol. 37, pp. (no pagination), August 2002
Rushing, Janice Hocker; Frentz, Thomas S."Singing over the Bones: James Cameron's Titanic." Critical Studies in Media Communication, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 1-27, March 2000.
Simpson, David. "Tourism and Titanomania." Critical Inquiry 25.4 (Summer 1999): 680.
UC users only
Womack, Kenneth (ed. and introd.). "Titanica." [Issue devoted to James Cameron's Titanic] Interdisciplinary Literary Studies: A Journal of Criticism and Theory, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 1-106, Fall 2003.
Zani, Steven J.
"Traumatic Disaster and Titanic Recuperation: Popular/Historical Representations of the Titanic." Journal of Popular Film and Television, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 125-31, Fall 2003. UC users only
- Trading Places (1983)
- Directed by John Landis. Cast: Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott, Jamie Lee Curtis.
The rich Duke Brothers wager on whether a born loser like Billy Ray Valentine, a hustler from the ghetto, can become as successful as Winthorpe, a wealthy investment executive, if put in the proper environment--and would a prig like Winthorpe turn to a life of crime if he were to lose it all. 116 min. DVD 3779
Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database
- Vanity Fair
- Based on the novel by William Makepeace Thackeray. Becky is determined to make something of herself so she accepts a job as a nanny for the children of Sir Pitt Crawley where she catches the eye of Crawley's son Rawdon. Becky is introduced to London's most exclusive social circle, where she becomes re-acquainted with Amelia. Becky weds Rawdon, but the social and economic stability she dreamed of begins to collapse when he begins drowning his troubles, and soon she turns to the powerful Marquess of Steyne for support. Meanwhile, Amelia's fortunes fall even harder following the death of her husband. For various versions of Pride & Prejudice on film see: Literary Adaptation videography
- Working Girl (1988)
- Directed by Mike Nichols. Cast: Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver, Melanie Griffith, Joan Cusack, Alec Baldwin. A young secretary in New York named Tess McGill has the brains, looks and charm to make it big. All she needs is the right haircut, clothes and job. The opportunity arises when her classy, seductive and treacherous boss breaks a leg skiing. Tess steps into her job, her apartment and her clothes, and all sorts of witty and romantic things follow! 116 min. DVD 718
Credits and information from the Internet Movie Database
- You Can't Take it With You (1938)
- Directed by Frank Capra. Cast: Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart, Edward Arnold, Mischa Auer, Ann Miller. The antics of an eccentric family and the evils of big business come to the fore in this comedy. The hilarity hits fever pitch when the daughter in this wacky family falls for a rich young man and brings him home. An Oscar winner for best picture and best director. 126 min. 999:650
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Foreign Films
- Amar te duele (Love Hurts) (Mexico, 2002)
- Director, Fernando Sariñana. Cast: Luis Fernando Pena, Martha Higareda, Ximena Sariñana.
In a story of social class differences, a rich teenage girl falls in love with a poor teenage boy in Mexico City. They must fight against peer pressure, prejudice, and her parents that want to send her to Canada, to try to save their love. 104 min. DVD 7508
Credits and other information ffom the Internet Movie Database
- Boudu sauvé des eaux (Boudu Saved From Drowning) (France, 1932)
- Directed by Jean Renoir. Cast: Michel Simon, Marcelle Hainia, Severine Lerczynsha, Jean Gehret, Max Dalban, Jean Baste, Charles Granval. A well-off bookseller rescues a tramp from a suicidal plunge into the Seine and his family dedicates itself to reforming him. He shows his gratitude by shaking the household to its foundations, challenging the hidebound principles of his hosts. Special DVD features: Archival introduction by Jean Renoir; excerpt from a "Cineastes de notre temps" program, featuring Renoir and Michel Simon; new video interview with filmmaker Jean-Pierre Gorin; archival interview with Eric Rohmer; interactive map of 1930s Paris, featuring locations for the film; a new essay by Renoir scholar Christopher Faulkner. 87 min. DVD 4359; vhs 999:118
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Cama Adentro (Live-In Maid) (Argentina, 2004)
- Directed by Jorge Gaggero. Cast: Norma Aleandro, Norma Argentina, Susana Lanteri, Cláudia Lapaco, Marcos Mundstock.
A wealthy woman and her live-in housekeeper must adjust their entrenched routines and relationship when Buenos Aires is plunged into an economic crisis. 83 min. DVD 6877
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Cecilia (Cuba, 1982)
- Directed by Humberto Solás. This classic film, based on the novel by Cirilio Villaverde, is set in nineteenth-century Cuba. The story of Cecilia, a mulatta, and her relationship with a white man provides an intimate and stark portrayal of colonial Cuba. Based on the novel 'Cecilia Valdes' by Cirilo Villaverde. 147 min. 999:2155
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Martin, Michael T.; Paddington, Bruce. " Restoration or Innovation?: An Interview with Humberto Sol?s: Post-Revolutionary Cuban Cinema ." Film
Quarterly. Vol. 54, No. 3, Spring, 2001, pp. 2-12UC users only
- Coronación (Coronation) (Chile, 2000)
- Directed by Silvio Caiozzi. Cast: Julio Jung, Maria Canepa, Adela Secall, Luis Dubo, Paulo Meza. A glum, middle-aged bachelor, Don Andres, is the heir of a formerly wealthy and respected Chilean family. Andres suffers from decadence and solitude. He hires young Estela in order to look after his abusive and almost crazy grandmother. The differences in class and age don't stop Andres from courting Estela, whose fiance Mario tries to make some money off of his well-to-do rival. The suffocating atmosphere of the run-down mansion mimics the deterioration of the Bourgeoisie, and threatens Andres own mental state. 140 min. DVD 4188
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Diary of a Chambermaid (Le Journal d'une femme de chambre) (France, 1964)
- Directed by Luis Buñuel. Cast: Jeanne Moreau, Georges Geret, Daniel Ivernel, Françoise Lugagne, Muni, Jean Ozenne, Michel Piccoli. A chambermaid with Paris flair gets a job at a country estate and discovers the family she works for and the other staff members are a strange sort. She entrenches herself in sexual hypocracy and scandal with her philandering employer and when a child is murdered near the estate, she begins to have her suspicions as to whom may be responsible. Based on the novel "Le journal d'une femme de chambre" by Octave Mirbeau. 97 min. DVD 892; VHS 999:1060
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Educating Rita(UK, 1983)
- Director, Lewis Gilbert. Cast: Michael Caine, Julie Walters, Michael Williams, Maureen Lipman.
Rita, a young working-class woman in Liverpool, desperately wants an education. She enrolls in literature tutorials at a British university to escape from her dreary life as a hairdresser, as well as a confining existence at home with a husband who wants her to choose motherhood over education. Her professor is Frank Bryant, a disillusioned, alcoholic English professor who encourages his students to forsake dead poetry and enjoy life. As Rita is transformed into a free spirit, Frank is forced to confront his own life. Based on the stage play by Willy Russell. 111 min. DVD X1977
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- La Grande Illusion (The Grand Illusion) (France, 1937)
- Directed by Jean Renoir. Based on a true story from World War I, this powerful film tells of an attempted escape from a German prison of three French soldiers. Working-class Marechal, middle class Rosenthal and aristocratic Boieldieu are held in a fortress by German Commandant, von Rauffenstein. Through the relationships between the characters, Renoir shows how class is reaffirmed and transcends the social chaos of war. 111 min.DVD 141; DVD 3494; VHS 999:82 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Lady Chatterly.(TV, UK, 1993)
- Director, Ken Russell, 1992. Cast: Joely Richardson, Sean Bean, James Wilby, Shirley Anne Field.
Lady Constance Chatterley is married to the handicapped Sir Clifford Chatterley, who was wounded in the First World War. When they move to his family's estate, Constance (Connie) meets their tough-yet-quiet groundskeeper, Oliver Mellors. Soon, she discovers that the source of her unhappiness is from not being fulfilled in love, and in turning to the arms of Mellors, she has a sexual awakening that will change her thoughts forever. 205 min. DVD 1771 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Last Holiday(UK, 1950)
- Directed by Henry Cass. Cast: Alec Guinness, Beatrice Campbell, Kay Walsh, Bernard Lee.
Told by his doctor he has no more than a few months to live, drab British workingman George Bird decides to spend his savings on lodging at a seaside resort. Once there, however, he finds his identity caught between upstairs and downstairs, the guest and the "help." 89 min. DVD X1668
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Lower Depths (Les Bas-Fonds) (France, 1936)
- Directed by Jean Renoir. Cast: Jean Gabin, Louis Jouvet, Jany Holt, Junie Astor, Vladimir Sokoloff. A Baron, forced by circumstances, gives up his life of luxury and takes up residence in the slums of Paris. The Baron observes the frustrated romance between Wasska Pepel and Natacha, the thwarted dreams of an actor, and the oppressive cruelties of landlord Kostileff. 93 min. DVD 2769 Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Pygmalion(UK, 1938)
- Directed by Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard. Cast: Wendy Hiller, Leslie Howard, Wifrid Lawson, Marie Lohr, Scott Sunderland.
Follows the transformation of a Cockney flower girl's speech, dress, and manners as the result of a wager between Professor Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering until she successfully passes as a duchess at an ambassador's reception. Based on the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. 120 min. DVD 313; vhs 999:367
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Pygmalion(TV, UK, 1973)
- Directed by Cedric Messina. Cast: Lynn Redgrave, James Villiers, Ronald Frazer, Emrys James, Lally Bowers, Nicholas Jones, Angela Baddeley, Joyce Grant, Joanna McCallum.
A stuffy professor of phonetics takes a bet that in six months time he can turn a poor Cockney flower seller into a lady he could pass off as a duchess. Originally produced for BBC television Play of the month program in 1973. Based on the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. 120 min. DVD 5738
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- La Règle du jeu (Rules of the Game) (France, 1939)
- Directed by Jean Renoir. Cast: Marcel Dalio, Nora Gregor, Mila Parely, Jean Renoir, Roland Toutain, Julien Carette, Gaston Modot. A comedy drama set on the eve of World War II. It contrasts the affairs of the French aristocracy and the working class at a weekend house party. Masters and their servants are involved in an immoral erotic charade that builds to a shattering climax. Restored and re-released in 1959. 110 min. DVD 2230; vhs 999:51
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Los Sobrevivientes (Cuba, 1979)
- Director, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. A bourgeois Cuban family, of aristocratic origin, locks itself into its mansion when the Cuban Revolution comes to power to sit out the bad times and preserve its class values. As time passes, the family and its servants regress through the different social systems of humanity, ending in their total destruction. In Spanish without English subtitles. 130 min. Video 999:3260
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- Schroeder, Paul A. Tomas Gutierrez Alea : the dialectics of a filmmakerNew York : Routledge, 2002. (MAIN: PN1998.3.G874 S37 2002)
- Swept Away (Travolti da un insolito destino nell'azzurro mare d'Agosto) (Italy, 1975)
- Directed by Lina Wertmuller. Cast: Giancarlo Giannini, Mariangela Melato, Riccardo Salvino, Isa Danieli, Aldo Puglisi, Eros Pagni. A wealthy upperclass capitalist and a proletariat deckhand on her yacht are marooned together on an uninhabitated island for several weeks. The woman becomes totally dependent on the man for survival, falls in love with him, and the two temporarily reverse their roles. 116 min. DVD 356; VHS 999:183 (vhs is dubbed into English)
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
- The Wedding March (1928)
- Directed by Erich Von Stroheim and Harry Carr. Cast: Erich Von Stroheim, Fay Wray, Matthew Betz, Zasu Pitts, George Fawcett, Maude George, George Nichols. This romantic tale is set against the unrest of pre-World War I Vienna. Von Stroheim vows to marry any woman of wealth his royal parents choose for him, but falls in love with a poor girl and realizes that the greatest wealth of a marriage is love. 113 min. vhs 999:3883
Credits and other information from the Internet Movie Database
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