Art Malik Movies

A Passage to India, director David Lean's final film (for which he also received editing credit), breaks no new ground cinematically, but remains an exquisitely assembled harkback to such earlier Lean epics as Doctor Zhivago and Ryan's Daughter. Based on the novel by E. M. Forster, the film is set in colonial India in 1924. Adela Quested (Judy Davis), a sheltered, well-educated British woman, arrives in the town of Chandrapore, where she hopes to experience "the real India". Here she meets and befriends Dr. Aziz (Victor Banerjee), who, despite longstanding racial and social taboos, moves with relative ease and freedom amongst highborn British circles. Feeling comfortable with Adela, Aziz invites her to accompany him on a visit to the Marabar caves. Adela has previously exhibited bizarre, almost mystical behavior during other ventures into the Indian wilderness: this time, she emerges from the caves showing signs of injury and ill usage. To Aziz' horror, he is accused by Adela of raping her. Typically, the British ruling class rallies to Adela's defense, virtually convicting Aziz before the trial ever begins. Though he is eventually acquitted due to lack of evidence (in fact, director Lean never shows us what really happened), Aziz is ruined in the eyes of both the British and his own people-as is Adela. Woven into these proceedings is a subplot involving Adela's elderly travelling companion Mrs. Moore (Peggy Ashcroft), who through a series of plot twists too complex to describe here becomes a heroine of the Indian Independence movement. A Passage to India was nominated for several Academy Awards, scoring wins in the categories of Best Supporting Actress (Peggy Ashcroft) and Best Original Score (Maurice Jarre). A theatrical version of A Passage to India, written by Santha Rama Rau, was previously adapted for television by the BBC in the mid-1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Not even a vacation can stop Commander Adam Dalgliesh from ferreting out criminals in this made-for-TV mystery based on the novel by P.D. James. While recuperating after an injury, Dalgliesh (Roy Marsden) decides to take some time off and visit scenic Toynton Grange. But crime knows no holiday, and after three murders and two bizarre suicides rock the quiet village, Dalgliesh puts himself to work, and soon discovers a dark web of blackmail, death, and a secret trapped in a darkened tower near a cliff. The Black Tower also stars Pauline Collins and Art Malik. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The classy made-for-TV Harem managed to get away with plot devices that dated back to the days of Rudolph Valentino. Nancy Travis heads the cast as Jessica Gray, a turn-of-the-century American woman who is kidnapped and ensconced in the harem of Turkish sultan Hasan (Omar Sharif). Jessica immediately runs afoul of Kadin (Ava Gardner, in her TV-movie debut), Hasan's jealous head wife. All petty squabbles are forgotten as the plot picks up momentum, incorporating murder, political revolutions, and near-escapes. Sumptuously photographed in such locations as London, Tunis and Spain, Harem originally aired in two parts on February 9 and 10, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The struggles faced by Vietnamese boat people make up the focus of this story about an Australian reporter (Greta Scacchi) assigned to cover the Malaysian arrival of Vietnamese refugees. Also known as Turtle Beach. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

When the sadomasochistic sexual fantasies of a Manhattan psychiatrist's disturbed patient begin leaking into the troubled doctor's subconscious, a heated love affair leads to a series of shocking murders in this erotic thriller from Off Limits director Christopher Crowe. The confessions of a sexually obsessed patient are slowly working their way into the dreams of psychiatrist Ann Heckler (Annabella Sciorra), and though the practical advice of her university mentor, Dr. Leo Green (Alan Alda), does little to quell her erotic visions, a torrid affair with handsome pilot Doug McDowell (Jamey Sheridan) at least provides a satisfying momentary distraction. When one of Ann's patients is discovered murdered and all evidence suggests that her new lover is the culprit, Ann must make a choice to put her trust in Doug or escape with her life while she still can. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This direct-to-video thriller stars Sam Neill as a British secret agent who wants to retire--much to the dismay of his superiors, who decide instead to have him killed. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Borrowing liberally from the French film La Totale, this is an action picture, domestic comedy, and political thriller rolled into a crowd-pleasing ball of entertainment. Producer James Cameron wrote and directed the film. Henry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a workaholic computer salesman neglecting his mousy wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), a legal secretary. Simon (Bill Paxton) seduces Helen with the lie that he is a secret agent; he's really a used car salesman. Harry suspects that Helen is cheating on him, and he sends a few colleagues to kidnap them. Helen then discovers that Harry is a secret agent by night, working for a shadowy group called the Omega Sector. Harry and his partner Gib (Tom Arnold) are trying to find four nuclear warheads that have disappeared from a former Soviet republic. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Julia (Kate Beckinsale) has been busy about her job, doing painstaking restoration work on a fifteenth-century painting. As good restoration work is at least as much about doing good research and detective work as it is about the physical process of restoration, when her cleanup of the Flemish painting reveals a hitherto undiscovered Latin phrase which translates as "Who killed the knight?" she goes to the art authorities she knows to find out what it might mean. Oddly, at the same time a series of murders begin to rock her small world of art experts, patrons and restorers, and she finds that the mystery of the painting is interwoven with the mystery of the deaths around her. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This syrupy British drama stars Ian Hart as an English teacher assigned to a "special needs" school. Faced with a classroom full of angry, unruly children, Hart hopes to bring about order and unity by sharing his love of cross-country running. As is generally the case in films of this ilk, the teacher must wear down the resistance of the class' most difficult and obstreperous kid (Ruaidhri Coroy). Disaster looms on the horizon when the boy's father dies, prompting him to indulge in a series of dangerous running stunts that threaten the wellbeing of all concerned. Wending its way throughout Clockwork Mice is a romantic subplot involving Ian Hart and fellow teacher Catherine Russell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This engrossing made-for-television feature examines the circumstances leading up to and the aftermath of the badly botched 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. By focusing more on the characters, both good and bad, than on the explosion itself, the film is able to avoid becoming another disaster movie. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The epic saga of the Queen of Egypt gets yet another retelling in Cleopatra, a four-hour, two-part spectacular produced for television. Leonor Varela plays Cleopatra, the Egyptian monarch who uses her wisdom, charm, ruthlessness, and seductive powers to work her way into the heart (and bed) of Roman leader Julius Caesar (Timothy Dalton). But Cleopatra shifts her romantic alliances to Marc Anthony (Billy Zane) just in time for Caesar's death and Anthony's rise to the throne. When Rome goes to war, however, Cleopatra realizes that she can only remain in power for so long, eventually making a late date with an asp when things get especially grim. This is at least the 12th film based on Cleopatra's life (the best-known being the infamously expensive 1962 version starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton). Produced by Hallmark for NBC television, this version first aired as a two-part miniseries in May 1999. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Not a religious program, the British mystery miniseries Messiah nonetheless contained Biblical elements, albeit sinister ones. London Detective Red Metcalfe (Ken Stott) and his crack team of investigators tackled the case of a serial killer who removed the victims' tongues and replaced them with silver spoons. It didn't take Metcalfe long to realize that the victims all had names that were strikingly similar to the names of Jesus' 12 disciples. Racing against time, Metcalfe attempted to prevent further killings, but the fanatical murderer always seemed to be a step or two ahead of him -- almost as if someone in Metcalfe's own circle of acquaintances was providing "inside information." Adapted from a novel by Boris Starling, the two-part Messiah was seen over the BBC's Northern Ireland service beginning May 26, 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide