Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro)
(1958) [PG]

From the moment it first appeared at the Cannes Film Festival in 1959 - where it won the Palme d'Or - it was clear Black Orpheus was a very special film. Adapted from the ancient Greek myth, Orpheus and Eurydice, we are transported to modern day Rio de Janeiro in Camus’ stunning interpretation...  More

The Long Hot Summer
(1958) [PG]

Ben Quick arrives in Frenchman's Bend, after being kicked out of another town for allegedly burning a barn for revenge. Will Varner owns just about everything in Frenchman's Bend and he hires Ben to work in his store. Will thinks his own son, Jody, who manages the store, lacks ambition and...  More

Mon Oncle
(1958) [G]

Directed by Jacques Tati. Written by Jacques Tati and Jacques Lagrange. Music by Alain Romans and Franck Barcellini. With Jacques Tati, Jean-Pierre Zola, Adrienne Servantie, Alain Becourt. France, 1958. Tati's second outing as the amiable Monsieur Hulot, and his first colour film, Mon Oncle is a...  More

A Man Escaped
(1956) [G]

Based on a true story, 'A Man Escaped' is set in a Nazi prison in France in 1943. Fontaine is a Resistance fighter sentenced to death, and the film reconstructs his escape plan. Director Bresson won the Best Director award at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival. French dialogue  More

The Seventh Seal
(1957) [PG]

The Black Death is wiping out the population of Europe as Antonius Block, a knight, returns disillusioned from the Crusades. Death appears before him, but asking for a chance to live he proposes a game of chess, whilst around him society collapses and religion becomes fervent and zealous. Long...  More

Kanal
(1957) [M]

The second of Polish director Andrzej Wajda's WWII trilogy, following Pokolenie (A Generation) and preceding Popiol I diament (Ashes and Diamonds), Kanal is the most physically harrowing of the set. Based on the experiences of Jerzy Stefan Stawinski, a Polish patriot who participated in the...  More

East Of Eden (2 disc set)
(1955) [PG]

Based on John Steinbeck's novel and directed by Elia Kazan, East of Eden is the first of three major films that make up James Dean's movie legacy. The 24-year-old idol-to-be plays Cal, a wayward Salinas Valley youth who vies for the affection of his hardened father (Raymond Massey) with his...  More

Marty
(1955) [G]

Marty has a problem. Middle-aged and trapped by a smothering mother, his future looks bleak. But when this butcher from the Bronx meets a lonely schoolteacher, suddenly everything is possible. Marty swept the Academy Awards in 1955, winning a Best Actor Oscar for Ernest Borgnine and a Best...  More

Rififi
(1955) [PG]

In Jules Dassin's classic noir Rififi, Jean Servais plays Tony le Stephanois, a master thief with a battered face and a tubercular cough, souvenirs of a recent stint in the pen. The aging Tony is reluctant to return to a life of crime, but when he realises his girlfriend has thrown him over for a...  More

Bad Day At Black Rock
(1955) [PG]

The tense story of a one-armed stranger who alights from a train at a sleepy desert town and is greeted by the hostile locals with something to hide. Based on a true story by Howard Breslin.

*MR  More