Judi Dench Movies
One of Britain's most respected and popular actresses, Judi Dench can claim a decades-old career encompassing the stage, screen, and television. A five-time winner of the British Academy Award, she was granted an Order of the British Empire in 1970 and made a Dame of the British Empire in 1988.Born in York, England, on December 9, 1934, Dench made her stage debut as a snail in a junior school production. After attending art school, she studied acting at London's Central School of Speech and Drama. In 1957, she made her professional stage debut as Ophelia in the Old Vic's Liverpool production of Hamlet. A prolific stage career followed, with seasons spent performing with the likes of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. Dench broke into film in 1964 with a supporting role in The Third Secret. The following year, she won her first BAFTA, a Most Promising Newcomer honor for her work in Four in the Morning. Although she continued to work in film, Dench earned most of her recognition and acclaim for her stage work. Occasionally, she brought her stage roles to the screen in such film adaptations as A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968) and Macbeth (1978), in which she was Lady Macbeth to Ian McKellen's tormented king. It was not until the mid-'80s that Dench began to make her name known to an international film audience. In 1986, she had a memorable turn as a meddlesome romance author in A Room with a View, earning a Best Supporting Actress BAFTA for her tart portrayal. Two years later, she won the same award for her work in another period drama, A Handful of Dust.
After her supporting role as Mistress Quickly in Kenneth Branagh's acclaimed 1989 adaptation of Henry V, Dench exchanged the past for the present with her thoroughly modern role as M in GoldenEye (1995), the first of the Pierce Brosnan series of James Bond films. She portrayed the character for the subsequent Brosnan 007 films, lending flinty elegance to what had traditionally been a male role. The part of M had the advantage of introducing Dench to an audience unfamiliar with her work, and in 1997 she earned further international recognition, as well as an Oscar nomination and Golden Globe award, for her portrayal of Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown.
While her screen career had taken on an increasingly high-profile nature, Dench continued to act on both television and the stage. In the former medium, she endeared herself to viewers with her work in such series as A Fine Romance (in which she starred opposite real-life husband Michael Williams) and As Time Goes By. On the stage, Dench made history in 1996, becoming the first performer to win two Olivier Awards for two different roles in the same year. In 1998, Dench won an Oscar, garnering Best Supporting Actress honors for her eight-minute appearance as Queen Elizabeth in the acclaimed Shakespeare in Love. Her win resulted in the kind of media adulation usually afforded to actresses one-third her age. Dench continued to reap both acclaim and new fans with her work in Tea with Mussolini and another Bond film, The World is Not Enough. For her role as a talented British writer struggling with Alzheimer's disease in Iris (2001), Dench earned her third Oscar nomination. Sadly, that same year Dench's husband died of lung cancer at the age of 66.
The prophetic artist continued to act in several films a year, wowing audiences with contemporary dramas like 2001's The Shipping News and period pieces like 2002's Oscar Wilde comedy The Importance of Being Earnest. She reprised the role of M again that same year for Brosnan's last Bond film Die Another Day, before appearing in projects in 2004 and 2005 such as The Chronicles of Riddick, Pride & Prejudice, and an Oscar- and Golden Globe-nominated performance as a wealthy widow who shocks 1930s audiences by backing a burlesque show in Mrs. Henderson Presents. In 2006, she followed the Bond franchise into a new era, maintaining her hold on the role of M as Brosnan retired from playing the title character and Daniel Craig took over. Casino Royale was the first Bond movie to be based on an original Ian Fleming 007 novel in 30 years, and it was a great success. In 2008, Dench rejoined the Bond franchise for Quantum of Solace.
Dench shared the screen with Cate Blanchett for the critical smash Notes on a Scandal (2006). The film's emotional themes ran the gamut from possession and desire to loathing and disgust, and Dench rose to the challenge with her usual strength and grace, earning her a sixth Oscar nomination and seventh Golden Globe nomination.
Dench joined the cast of 2011’s Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides, as well as taking on the pivotal role of Mrs. Fairfax in Cary Fukunaga’s adaptation of Jane Eyre. The actress also joined Leonardo DiCaprio to play the intimidating mother of J. Edgar Hoover in J. Edgar (2011). In 2012, Dench starred alongside fellow film great Maggie Smith in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, a compassionate comedy-drama following a group of senior citizens’ experience with a unique retirement program in India. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi
- 1992
Season one of As Time Goes By begins as acerbic author Lionel Hardcastle (Geoffrey Palmer) is unexpectedly reunited with implacable businesswoman Jean Parteger (Judi Dench), with whom he had an affair some 38 years earlier. Upon realizing who Jean is, Lionel would just as soon leave the past behind him, but he needs the help of Jean's secretarial service to finish his current book. As the two former lovers are brought together professionally, the old sparks begin to rekindle, despite the fact that so much has changed in the past four decades. Complicating matters is the fact that Lionel's publisher, Alistair (Philip Bretherton), also has designs on Jean. Fortunately, Alistair finds a more suitable companion in the form of Jean's daughter, Judy (Moira Brooker), but as the season comes to a close, the audience still isn't certain that Lionel and Jean, two golden-agers who are very, very set in their ways, will ever get together again. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Judi Dench, Geoffrey Palmer, (more)
- 1993
In the second season of As Time Goes By, author Lionel Hardcastle (Geoffrey Palmer) and businesswoman Jean Parteger (Judi Dench) are still toying with the notion of resuming their romance which had been interrupted years earlier. In the course of the season's half-dozen episodes, Jean expresses surprise upon meeting Lionel's widowed father, Rocky (Frank Middlemass), who is as eccentric and boisterous as Lionel is persnickety and patronizing. Later on, the couple is put in a variety of situations wherein they must deny that they are still very much attracted to one another. At season's end, Lionel's latest book is published, whereupon he embarks on an autograph tour -- with Jean not far behind, despite her own professional duties. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Geoffrey Palmer, Judi Dench, (more)
- 1994
Season three of As Time Goes By finds sixtyish author Lionel Hardcastle (Geoffrey Palmer) and like-vintage businesswoman Jean Parteger (Judi Dench) deciding to pick up their romance where they left off four decades earlier by moving in together, a decision that leads to a comedy of errors and innumerable delays. Elsewhere, Lionel's boisterous dad, Rocky (Frank Middlemass), finally weds his longtime sweetheart Madge (Joan Sims); Jean's daughter Judy (Moira Brooker) and her employee Sandy (Jenny Funnell) bicker over who will run the newest branch of Jean's secretarial service; and Lionel's publisher, Alistair (Philip Bretherton), arranges for Lionel's latest book to be transformed into an American TV miniseries. This last development sets the stage for the season's climactic episode, in which virtually the entire cast pays a memorable visit to L.A. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Geoffrey Palmer, Judi Dench, (more)
The fourth season of As Time Goes By finds acerbic author Lionel Hardcastle (Geoffrey Palmer) upset over the fact that his sweetheart, Jean Parteger (Judi Dench), with whom he has moved in as a means of rekindling their romance from four decades earlier, has invited lovelorn employee Sandy (Jenny Funnell) to move in with the couple as well. Later on, Lionel and Jean are forced to play host to Jean's tiresome sister-in-law Daisy (Zoe Hilson). Publisher Alistair (Philip Bretherton) insists that Lionel "sex up" the TV-movie script based on Lionel's latest novel and to that end hires a troublesome secretary, Gwen Flack (Vivienne Martin). Despite innumerable quarrels and personal and professional travails, Lionel and Jean decide to get married. The wedding goes off as well as possible considering the amount of nervousness and family meddling surrounding it, but things do not bode well for the senior-citizen "newlyweds" when Jean refuses to retire, even though she'd implicitly promised Lionel that she would do so. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Geoffrey Palmer, Judi Dench, (more)
- 1996
Season five of As Time Goes By picks up where the previous season left off: with sixtysomething newlyweds Lionel Hardcastle (Geoffrey Palmer) and Jean Parteger (Judi Dench) adjusting to life together after years of contented loneliness. Jean is in for a shock early in the season when she comes face to face with Lionel's ex-wife, Margaret (Caroline Blakiston), who is not at all what she had expected. Meanwhile, Lionel continues to moan and groan over the changes made in his novel as it is being adapted into an American TV miniseries; and Jean's sister-in-law, Penny (Moyra Fraser), is as irksome as ever. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Geoffrey Palmer, Judi Dench, (more)
- 1997
The sixth season of As Time Goes By finds senior-citizen newlyweds Lionel Hardcastle (Geoffrey Palmer) and Jean Parteger (Judi Dench) more or less adjusted to their marital status. Still, Lionel remains a blustery blowhard, the better to make a fool of himself when trying to prove that he's just as capable of doing things as well today that he did forty years earlier. Meanwhile, the implacable Jean blithely forgets her many promises to retire from running her secretarial service -- in fact, she's now working harder than ever. In other developments, Jean's wearisome sister-in-law, Daisy (Zoe Hilson), incurs Lionel's wrath when she considers moving next door to the couple; and having broken up with Jean's daughter Judy (Moira Brooker), Lionel's publisher Alistair (Philip Bretherton) becomes engaged to another woman -- an arrangement Jean hopes to rend asunder for her daughter's sake. The season closes with a typically hilarious situation as Lionel stumbles in his efforts to inject some "surprise" in his marriage. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Geoffrey Palmer, Judi Dench, (more)
- 1998
Season seven of As Time Goes By details the future misadventures of golden-age lovers Lionel (Geoffrey Palmer) and Jean (Judi Dench), beginning with Jean's efforts to do something about Lionel's encroaching deafness, even as he frets about her (supposedly) failing eyesight. In other episodes, Jean's old flame stirs Lionel's jealousy; the weird behavior of the couple's new neighbors awakens the detective in Jean; and we are introduced to Harry (David Michaels), the policeman boyfriend of Jean's eternally unlucky-in-love employee Sandy (Jenny Funnell). Later on, Jean holds a party for her fellow "oldies," which turns into a riot thanks to Lionel's puckish dad, Rocky (Frank Middlemass); and as the season draws to a close, Lionel's publisher Alistair (Philip Bretherton) finally proposes to Jean's daughter Judy (Moira Brooker) -- but all, alas, is not what it seems on surface. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Geoffrey Palmer, Judi Dench, (more)
- 2000
The eighth season of As Time Goes By finds golden-age sweethearts Lionel (Geoffrey Palmer) and Jean (Judi Dench) fretting over the breakup of the romance between Lionel's publisher Alistair (Philip Bretherton) and Jean's daughter Judy (Moira Brooker). At the same time, Jean's employee Sandy (Jenny Funnell) calls it quits with her policeman boyfriend Harry (David Michaels). Midway through the season, Alistair has linked up with Sandy, and Judy is going out with Harry. Fun and games of a different nature occur when Lionel and Jean make a foredoomed effort to build a second bathroom in their house. On a more serious note, a financially strapped Lionel is faced with the possibility that he may have to sell his beloved country house. Things brighten up considerably by season's end, as Alistair returns to Judy and Sandy patches things up with Harry. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Geoffrey Palmer, Judi Dench, (more)
- 2002
The ninth and final season of As Time Goes By finds Lionel (Geoffrey Palmer) trying to smooth the rocky romantic path for his stepdaughter Judy (Moira Brooker), who has become re-engaged to Lionel's publisher Alistair (Philip Bretherton). Emboldened by the Alistair-Judy example, policeman Harry (David Michaels) pops the question to Sandy (Jenny Funnell), the habitually unlucky-in-love employee of Lionel's wife Jean (Judi Dench). Relieved that Sandy will at last be moving out of his and Jean's house, Lionel is soon to be un-relieved by the arrival of Jean's latest houseguest, a woebegone homeless girl named Davina (Lara Cazalet). The series caps its nine-year run with highlights from previous episodes and an implicit promise that golden-agers Lionel and Jean will live happily ever after. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Geoffrey Palmer, Judi Dench, (more)
Based on a novel by Catherine Heath, the four-part British miniseries Behaving Badly starred Judi Dench as Bridget, a typically dutiful upper middle-class wife and mother. Upon learning that her husband is a philanderer, Bridget is shocked but willing to forgive. But when hubby walks out, she decides to kick over the traces and have some fun of her own, which -- in time-honored "double standard" fashion -- thoroughly scandalizes her family and friends. Behaving Badly first aired in 1988 over Britain's Channel 4. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Judi Dench, Douglas Hodge, (more)
- 2002
First screened at the Hamptons International Film Festival, the 60-minute documentary Bond Girls Are Forever made its cable TV debut a mere 16 days before the premiere of the newest James Bond theatrical feature, 2002's Die Another Day. (Coincidence? We don't think so) Through vintage film clips of past Bond movie epics, and with the participation of several former "Bond Girls" as interviewees (among them Dr. No's Ursula Andress and Diamonds Are Forever's Jill St. John), the documentary traced the evolution of the typical James Bond heroine from decorative damsel in distress to gutsy (but still decorative) participant in the action. In addition to the provocatively named romantic partners enjoyed by the various movie Bonds over the past 40 years, the viewer is treated with the input of Judi Dench, the most recent actor to play 007's no-nonsense superior officer, M. Bond Girls Are Forever was co-produced and narrated by Maryam d'Abo, who appeared opposite Bond number four, Timothy Dalton, in The Living Daylights. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Maryam D'Abo, Jill St. John, (more)
Bugs! is a live-action 40-minute nature documentary filmed in the large IMAX format in 3-D. Shot on-location in the jungles of Borneo, the film follows the life cycles of the caterpillar known as Papilio and the praying mantis known as Hierodula. As a caterpillar, Papilio dines on leaves, builds a cocoon, and becomes a butterfly before searching for a mate and laying eggs. As a butterfly, she survives by drinking the nectar from flowers. Meanwhile Hierodula catches flies for dinner, sheds his outer layer, and mates with a female mantis twice his size. Also includes large-format footage of other creatures, such as beetles, scorpions, tarantulas, frogs, and bats. Narrated by Dame Judi Dench. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Judi Dench
Actor Daniel Craig assumes the role formerly occupied by such screen greats as Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Timothy Dalton to set out on the character's very first 007 mission. James Bond has earned his "00" status by masterfully executing a pair of death-defying professional assassinations. Now assigned the task of traveling to Madagascar to spy on notorious terrorist Mollaka (Sebastien Foucan) for his maiden voyage as a 007 agent, Bond boldly goes against MI6 policy to launch an independent investigation that finds him traversing the Bahamas in search of Mollaka's notoriously elusive terror cell. Subsequently led into the company of the mysterious Dimitrios (Simon Abkarian) and his exotic girlfriend, Solange (Caterina Murino), Bond soon realizes that he is closer than ever to locating well-guarded terrorist financier Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), the man who has personally bankrolled some of the most prevalent terrorist organizations on the planet. When Bond learns that Le Chiffre is planning to partake in an upcoming high-stakes poker game to be played at Montenegro's Le Casino Royale and use the winnings to establish his financial grip on the globe, M (Judi Dench) assigns beguiling agent Vesper (Eva Green) the task of watching over the fledgling agent as he plays against Le Chiffre in a covert attempt to destroy the nefarious gambler's well-established monetary stronghold in the underworld once and for all. Bond will need more than his legendary gambling skills in order to win this dangerous game, though, and after allying himself with local MI6 field agent Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini) and CIA operative Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright), the endlessly suave super-spy puts on his poker face for a high-stakes game of cards in which the stakes are not measured in dollars, but human lives. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Daniel Craig, Eva Green, (more)
The most tempting of all sweets becomes the key weapon in a battle of sensual pleasure versus disciplined self-denial in this comedy. In 1959, a mysterious woman named Vianne (Juliette Binoche) moves with her young daughter into a small French village, where much of the community's activities are dominated by the local Catholic church. A few days after settling into town, Vianne opens up a confectionery shop across the street from the house of worship -- shortly after the beginning of Lent. While the townspeople are supposed to be abstaining from worldly pleasures, Vianne tempts them with unusual and delicious chocolate creations, using her expert touch to create just the right candy to break down each customer's resistance. With every passing day, more and more of Vianne's neighbors are succumbing to her sinfully delicious treats, but the Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina), the town's mayor, is not the least bit amused; he is eager to see Vianne run out of town before she leads the town into a deeper level of temptation. Vianne, however, is not to be swayed, and with the help of another new arrival in town, a handsome Irish Gypsy named Roux (Johnny Depp), she plans a "Grand Festival of Chocolate," to be held on Easter Sunday. Based on the novel by Joanne Harris, Chocolat features a distinguished supporting cast, including Judi Dench, Lena Olin, Carrie-Anne Moss, Peter Stormare, Hugh O'Conor, and Leslie Caron. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin, (more)
The small town gossip, secrets, and romance of Mary Gaskells' popular series of novels comes to the small screen in this BBC drama series from director Simon Curtis. The year is 1842, and Cranford is a modest Cheshire market town on the verge of great change. The railway is reaching to Cranford from Manchester, and the locals fear that their town will soon be overrun with migrant workers and lawlessness. Spinster Deborah Jenkins Eileen Atkins) is the arbitrator of correctness about town, and as far as she and her demurring sister Matty (Judi Dench) are concerned there's never a dull moment in Cranford. Things begin to get especially interesting after handsome new doctor Frank Harrison (Simon Woods) arrives in town shocking the locals with his decidedly non-traditional methods of practicing medicine. Frank has a powerful effect on the ladies around town, but when Matty runs into an old flame at Lady Ludlow's garden party her thoughts drift back to the time when she was forced to give up the man she once loved with all her heart. No one is immune from the gossip that winds its way through the local circuits, and that gossip can almost always be traced back to the Jenkins sisters. When news emerges that the railroad is coming to town, everyone realizes that their tidy little universe is about to expand in ways that they could have never imagined. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Judi Dench, Philip Glenister, (more)
Based on a book by National Hunt jockey Dick Francis, the horseracing thriller Dead Cert was filmed in the village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K. When jockey Bill Davidson (Ian Hogg) is killed in a horseracing incident, his best friend Alan York (Scott B. Anthony) decides to investigate. He believes that Bill's death was not an accident, and he intends to expose the real killers. Judi Dench stars as Bill's wife, Laura Davidson, while her real-life husband Michael Williams appears as jockey Sandy Mason. Directed by Tony Richardson, Dead Cert received a U.K. theatrical release in 1974. In British slang, a "dead cert" means something that is definite. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Scott Antony, Judi Dench, (more)
Pierce Brosnan makes his fourth appearance as suave super-spy James Bond in this espionage thriller, the 20th film in the official Bond series. While on assignment in North Korea, Bond is captured by government agents, where he's imprisoned and tortured for over a year. When Bond finally wins his freedom, not everyone is certain 007 is still capable of doing the job, but after Zao (Rick Yune), the North Korean operative who snared Bond, is discovered to be in cahoots with unscrupulous entrepreneur Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens), Bond is back on the case, and he finds the two men have sinister plans which could decide the fate of the world. As Bond hops from England to Cuba to Korea to Iceland in pursuit of his quarry, he (as usual) makes the acquaintance of two beautiful and mysterious women, Jinx (Halle Berry) and Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike). Judi Dench and John Cleese return in Die Another Day as, respectively, Bond's superior M and gadget-master Q; Madonna contributes the film's theme song and makes a cameo appearance as a fencing instructor. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, (more)
A plucky little girl and her dog join their magical pals to save the world in the computer-animated comedy-adventure for the whole family. The Enchanted Village is a happy place ruled by the good-natured wizard Zebedee where young Florence and her dog, Doogal, come to play with their friends, including opera-singing cow Ermintrude, beatnik rabbit Dylan, and Brian the Snail, a sloppy sort who has a crush on Ermintrude. However, life in the Enchanted Village takes a turn for the worse when Zebedee's evil brother, Zeebad, arrives, freezing the town under a layer of ice and bringing the magic merry-go-round to a halt. Zeebad is searching for three magical jewels that will give him the power to freeze the whole world and rule the Earth, but Zebedee is able to thaw out himself, Florence, and her friends, and they join forces aboard the Magic Train in a bid to stop the villain before it's too late. Doogal is based on The Magic Roundabout, a children's television series from the 1960s in which a handful of wooden stop-motion figures enjoyed whimsical adventures; produced in France, the program enjoyed massive popularity in Great Britain, where actor Eric Thompson provided narration, voiced all the characters, and invented new stories to fit the action. (The film was also called The Magic Roundabout for its U.K. release.) In the film's British release, Kylie Minogue provided the voice of Florence, Ian McKellen voiced Zebedee, Robbie Williams spoke for Doogal, Joanna Lumley read Ermintrude, Bill Nighy voiced Dylan, and Jim Broadbent contributed the voice of Brian. Several characters were given new voices for the film's American release, with Whoopi Goldberg taking over as Ermintrude, William H. Macy as Brian, Jimmy Fallon as Dylan, and Jon Stewart as Zeebad. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jon Stewart, Tom Baker, (more)
- 1965
The lives of two couples are examined through three vignettes in this episodic drama. A man (Brian Phelan) picks up his girlfriend (Ann Lynn) after she finishes her shift as a nightclub dancer. They go for a moonlight stroll along the river but soon begin playing petty games with each other's emotions. Meanwhile, a new mother (Judi Dench) is left at home with the baby after her uncaring husband (Norman Rodway) heads out for a night on the town with his best friend (Joe Melia). A tragic accident soon brings the couples together. This was the third film for actress Judi Dench and earned her a British Academy Award as Most Promising Newcomer of 1966. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ann Lynn, Brian Phelan, (more)
Pierce Brosnan made his first appearance as James Bond in this action thriller, the 17th in the series (excluding the 1967 Casino Royale and the 1983 Never Say Never Again) featuring the suave British super-agent. As the story begins, Agent 007 and his partner, Agent 006 (Sean Bean), pull a daring raid on a chemical weapons plant in the Soviet Union; however, they are captured by Russian troops, and while Bond is able to escape, 006 is not so lucky. Several years later, the Soviet Union and the Cold War are a thing of the past, but Bond is still at work ferreting out evildoers everywhere. Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen), a beautiful but vicious villain working with the Russian Mafia, spearheads the theft of the controls to GoldenEye, a high-tech satellite weapons system, and with her gunmen, she kills most of the soldiers and guards at a top-secret military facility in the process. Bond joins forces with Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco), one of the base's few survivors, to help track down Onatopp's minions and the controls to GoldenEye, which can destroy all electronic circuits in a given area in a matter of seconds; however, in time, Bond discovers the true identity of the criminal mastermind who is behind this bid for unholy power and world domination -- none other than Alec Trevelyan, the man Bond once knew as 006. In addition to Brosnan, GoldenEye also marked another significant cast change for the Bond series -- Judi Dench made her debut as M, Bond's superior. Minnie Driver also has a cameo as a nightclub singer. Sadly, this was the last film in the Bond series for special-effects supervisor Derek Meddings, who died in the midst of production; the film was dedicated to him. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, (more)
At least the 22nd time William Shakespeare's most famous tragedy has been brought to the screen, Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of Hamlet was the first to preserve Shakespeare's entire text, uncut and unabridged. Moving the action into the 19th century, Branagh cast himself in the title role and, as in his adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing, assembled an eclectic group of actors that mixed veteran Shakespearean performers (including John Mills, Judi Dench, John Gielgud, and Derek Jacobi) with Hollywood stars not known for interpreting the Bard's work (among them Robin Williams, Charlton Heston, Billy Crystal, and Jack Lemmon). However, unlike most interpretations, it's the women who really carry the show, with the two best performances delivered by Kate Winslet as Ophelia and Julie Christie as Gertrude. As usual, Hamlet finds himself torn over what to do after the death of his father and his mother's hasty remarriage. Branagh's version of Hamlet was also notable on a technical level, as it was filmed in the 70-mm format for increased visual clarity and detail. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kenneth Branagh, Richard Attenborough, (more)
- 1966
Tom Bell stars in this tight little British thriller as a mercurial cat burglar. So long as things are going his way, Bell is calm and collected. Let anything upset his equilibrium, and he's an accident waiting to happen. Bell's one chance at redemption is his romance with pretty social-worker Judi Dench. When she rejects him, Bell returns to his crime spree, telling Dench to get lost when she offers to give him a second chance. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tom Bell, Judi Dench, (more)
Kenneth Branagh makes his feature-film directorial debut with this adaptation of William Shakespeare's Henry V. After the Chorus (Derek Jacobi) introduces the play, young king of England Henry V (Kenneth Branagh) begins an angry dialogue with King Charles of France (Paul Scofield). The king's son, Dauphin (Michael Maloney), insults Henry and the argument escalates into war. In flashback, Henry is seen as a young man drinking in a tavern with Falstaff (Robbie Coltrane), Bardolph (Richard Briers), Nym (Geoffrey Hutchings), Pistol (Robert Stephens), and Mistress Quickly (Judi Dench). Meanwhile, Henry and his captain, Fluellen (Ian Holm), assemble an army and invade France. The French greatly outnumber the British troops, yet Henry leads them to victory in the Battle of Agincourt after delivering his famous St. Crispin's Day Speech. Throughout this struggle, Henry also courts Katherine (Emma Thompson) and eventually wins her over. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jacobi, (more)
Disney presents the animated musical Western Home on the Range, featuring an original musical score by Alan Menken. The Little Piece of Heaven family farm is about to go under and outlaw cattle rustler Alameda Slim (voice of Randy Quaid) sets his sights on it. Three dairy cows -- tough Maggie (voice of Roseanne Barr), leader Mrs. Calloway (voice of Judi Dench), and naïve Grace (voice of Jennifer Tilly) -- team up to save the farm. Along with ambitious stallion Buck (voice of Cuba Gooding Jr.), helpful rabbit Lucky Jack (voice of Charles Haid), and other helpful barnyard friends, the cows set out to capture Alameda Slim and collect the reward money. However, a vicious bounty hunter (voice of Charles Dennis) is also after Slim. The film features vocal performances by Bonnie Raitt, k.d. lang, and Tim McGraw. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Roseanne Barr, Judi Dench, (more)
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