Victoria Shalet Movies
- 2003
British filmmaker Simon Cellan Jones directs the BBC drama Eroica, starring Ian Hart as Ludwig van Beethoven. Shot on digital video, this TV movie concerns the first performance of Beethoven's "Symphony No. 3" on June 9, 1804, in Vienna. Prince Lobkowitz (Jack Davenport) has invited all his friends to his palace to watch Beethoven perform his new piece with a full orchestra. Among the aristocratic attendees are Count Dietrichstein (Tim Pigott-Smith), Countess Brunsvik (Claire Skinner), and composer Josef Haydn (Frank Finlay). The actual musical score is performed by the Orchestre Revolutionaire et Romantique, under the direction of John Eliot Gardiner. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ian Hart, Tim Pigott-Smith, (more)
Adapted from the novel by James Herbert, this subtle, melancholy British chiller owes a great deal to Henry James's The Turn of the Screw. The story opens with a chilling prologue in 1905 England, in which a young boy fails to prevent the accidental drowning of his sister. As a young man, David (Aidan Quinn) is still tormented by guilt and remorse. After several years in the United States, David returns to England to continue his work researching and debunking claims of the supernatural. His latest investigation into the alleged haunting of Edbrook Manor -- at the behest of the Marriell's family nanny, Tess (Anna Massey) -- introduces him to the eccentric company of the lovely Christina Mariell (Kate Beckinsale) and her brothers Robert and Simon (Anthony Andrews and Alex Lowe). Despite repeated warnings from Tess that mischievous spirits are at work, David refuses to concede that the house is haunted -- until the angelic vision of his drowned sister reveals the true nature of his strange hosts. The rich period setting lends a classy Merchant Ivory touch to the film, and the high production values indicate the guiding hand of executive producer Francis Ford Coppola, but the performances are a bit too cold and detached to provide any legitimate tension. Fans of the classic 1961 film The Innocents will not find the central mystery particularly challenging. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aidan Quinn, Kate Beckinsale, (more)
Kewpie-doll voiced Melanie Griffith does a sexed-up Nancy Drew turn in David Seltzer's adaptation of Susan Issacs' novel Shining Through. Set during World war II, Griffith plays Linda Voss, a spunky New York girl who applies for a job with international lawyer Ed Leland (Michael Douglas). Ed hires her immediately when he finds out that she speaks German fluently. The reason Ed is so interested in Linda's language skills is because Ed is an undercover OSS officer who needs a German translator. Their business relationship translates into love, but when America enters the war, Ed abandons his law practice to become a full-time spy. Utilizing Linda's charms, she travels to Berlin and infiltrates the Nazis as a domestic to try to discover information about "a bomb that can fly by itself." But Linda has personal as well as patriotic motives for agreeing to go undercover, since she has Jewish relatives in Berlin and wants to find out their whereabouts. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Douglas, Melanie Griffith, (more)
- 1990
- PG
Martin Sheen and Jacqueline Bisset star in this romantic comedy based and filmed in Paris. An American businessman (Sheen) travels to France to work at a bank, and falls in love with its president (Bisset). He then poses as her new housekeeper to see more of her, and must try to keep up the charade at home as well as at the office. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Sheen, Jacqueline Bisset, (more)
