Artist & Art-Related
Movies – Art or Artist as a Theme or Key Element
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Biographical
& Semi-biographical
Artemisia (1998)
Starring: Valentina Cervi, Michel Serrault Director: Agnès
Merlet
Format:
Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: French
DVD Release Date: December 18, 2001
Run Time: 95 minutes
Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653) was one of the first well-known
female painters. The movie tells the story of her youth, when
she was guided and protected by her father, the painter Orazio
Gentileschi (Michel Serrault). Her professional curiosity about
the male anatomy, forbidden for her eyes, led her to the knowledge
of sexual pleasure. But she was also well known because in 1612
she had to appear in a courtroom because her teacher, Agostino
Tassi, was suspected of raping her. She tried to protect him,
but was put in the thumb screws...
Frida (2002)
Starring: Salma Hayek, Mía Maestro Director: Julie Taymor
Format:
Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, Widescreen, NTSC
DVD Release Date: June 10, 2003
Run Time: 123 minutes
"Frida" chronicles the life Frida Kahlo (Salma Hayek)
shared unflinchingly and openly with Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina),
as the young couple took the art world by storm. From her complex
and enduring relationship with her mentor and husband to her
illicit and controversial affair with Leon Trotsky, to her provocative
and romantic entanglements with women, Frida Kahlo lived a bold
and uncompromising life as a political, artistic, and sexual
revolutionary.
Pollock (2000)
Starring: Ed Harris, Marcia Gay Harden Director: Ed Harris
Format:
Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen,
NTSC
DVD Release Date: July 24, 2001
Run Time: 122 minutes
At the end of the 1940's, abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock
(1912-1956) is featured in Life magazine. Flashback to 1941,
he's living with his brother in a tiny apartment in New York
City, drinking too much, and exhibiting an occasional painting
in group shows. That's when he meets artist Lee Krasner, who
puts her career on hold to be his companion, lover, champion,
wife, and, in essence, caretaker. To get him away from booze,
insecurity, and the stress of city life, they move to the
Hamptons where nature and sobriety help Pollock achieve a
breakthrough in style: a critic praises, then Life magazine
calls. But so do old demons: the end is nasty, brutish, and
short.
Basquiat
Starring: Jeffrey Wright, Michael Wincott
Format:
Color, Dolby, NTSC
DVD Release Date: September 3, 2002
Run Time: 110 minutes
Basquiat
Starring: Jeffrey Wright, Michael Wincott
Format:
Color, Dolby, NTSC
VHS Release Date: November 10, 1998
Run Time: 110 minutes
In his writing and directorial debut, Julian Schnabel's film
Basquiat depicts the life of graffiti artist Jean-Michel
Basquiat, a.k.a. SAMO, and the turbulent period from the
late 1970s to 1988, as his life was catapulted into fame and
notoriety. As Jean-Michel's work gained favorable attention
from New York's elite art community, he went from a street punk
living in a cardboard box to the first black artist to succeed
in the all-white dominated art world. Tony Award-winning actor
Jeffrey Wright does a brilliant job portraying a man tortured
by self-doubt and thoughts of suicide, struggling to survive
and be acknowledged as an artist.
Surviving Picasso (1996)
Starring: Anthony Hopkins
Format:
Color, NTSC
VHS Release Date: October 21, 1997
Surviving Picasso offers unique insight into the life
and psyche of the artist through the eyes of Francois, one of
Picasso's many mistresses. Picasso's forceful personality and
status made it easy for him to use and abuse people at will,
which he did to virtually everyone, including his family. But
Francois (who bore the artist 2 children) was by far the most
independent, intelligent and confident of the painter's women,—and
she would need all three traits to survive their 10 year relationship.
Mary
Cassatt - American Impressionist
Starring: Amy Brenneman, Charlotte Sullivan Director: Richard
Mozer
Format:
Color, Digital Sound, Dolby, Full length, Full Screen, Surround
Sound, NTSC
VHS Release Date: January 1, 1999
Run Time: 56 minutes
After reluctantly allowing her nephew and two nieces to spend
the summer with her in Paris, American born aspiring impressionist
Mary Cassatt finds inspiration in her family. Meanwhile, the
children conspire with a young gardener to form a relationship
between their aunt and the anti-social painter Edgar Degas.
Degas
and the Dancer (1999)
Starring: Thomas Jay Ryan, Alison Pill Director: David Devine
Format:
Color, Digital Sound, Dolby, Full length, Full Screen, Surround
Sound, NTSC
VHS Release Date: October 25, 1999
Run Time: 55 minutes
Searching for inspiration, impressionist Edgar Degas hires a
struggling young ballerina to pose for him. However, their critical
attitudes and equally stubborn opinions push both towards greater
heights. Based on actual events.
Vincent and Theo (1990)
Format:
Color, Widescreen, NTSC
Available Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
Language: English
DVD Release Date: August 23, 2005
Run Time: 140 minutes
Vincent and Theo (1990)
Format:
Color, NTSC
VHS Release Date: August 1, 2000
Run Time: 138 minutes
Robert Altman, the great ironist of American movies, can't resist
beginning Vincent & Theo with video of an art auction at
Christie's, where Van Gogh's Sunflowers attracts dizzying multi-million-dollar
bids. Dissolve to the utterly squalid hovel where Vincent (Tim
Roth) lives—reminding us that the artist sold but one painting
in his poor, tormented lifetime. Vincent & Theo is an unusual
and—fittingly enough—impressionistic look at Vincent
and his brother Theo (Paul Rhys), the mad genius and the art
broker. These parallel lives unfold, with Vincent's celebrated
wallow in the fires of art running alongside Theo's neurotic
struggle to fit into the real world. Roth is mesmerizing and
frightening as Vincent, while Rhys gives a more mannered performance
that fits Theo's tortured ambivalence. The eerie buzz of Gabriel
Yared's music helps us get inside Vincent's head. If the true-life
circumstances are unavoidably grim and Altman's pace is slow,
almost druggy, the film nevertheless casts a spell. (Vincent's
eloquent letters to Theo are beautifully used in Paul Cox's
Vincent, a good companion piece to this version of the artist's
life.) —Robert Horton
Rembrandt:
Fathers and Sons
Format:
Color, Digital Sound, Full length, Full Screen, Surround Sound,
NTSC
VHS Release Date: April 1, 2000
Run Time: 52 minutes
Directed by David Devine, Rembrandt: Fathers and Sons reveals
the great master at the height of his success. In need of a
challenge, he sets out to reinvent the portrait amid demands
from the aristocracy, his new family and especially a young
boy estranged from his father. Rembrandt was a mysterious figure
in his day but his nearly one hundred self-portraits tell their
own story. Rembrandt was a happy man. He adored his wife and
had a bustling home and studio, with enough commissions to satisfy
his passion for buying art at fine art auctions. A multitalented
and prolific artist, aside from his magnificent portraits, Rembrandt
depicted over 800 biblical scenes and is also considered the
greatest etcher in the history of art.
Rembrandt (1936)
Starring: Charles Laughton, Gertrude Lawrence Director: Alexander
Korda
Format:
Black & White, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Language: English
DVD Release Date: June 19, 2001
Run Time: 90 minutes
This character study joins the painter at the height of his
fame in 1642, when his adored wife suddenly dies and his work
takes a dark, sardonic turn that offends his patrons. By 1656,
he is bankrupt but consoles himself with the company of pretty
maid Hendrickje, whom he's unable to marry. Their relationship
brings ostracism but also some measure of happiness. The final
scenes find him in his last year, 1669, physically enfeebled
but his spirit undimmed.
Andrei Rublev (1965)
Starring: Ivan Lapikov
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Format: Black & White, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: Italian, Russian
VHS Release Date: November 11, 1997
Run Time: 185 minutes
Torn between merely painting what is before him and making some
sort of statement with his art, Rublev gives up his work entirely
after being forced to kill a man. He eventually comes to terms
with himself and continues painting—whereupon the film
switches from monochrome to dazzling color. The Soviet Government,
which has often dictated that Russian artists should advance
"The Cause" in their art, saw fit to shelve Andrei Rublev for
five years, not granting it a release until 1971. —Hal
Erickson
Winslow
Homer: An American Original (1999)
Starring: Wayne Best, Ryan DeBoer
Director: Graeme Lynch
Format:
Color, Digital Sound, Full length, Full Screen, Surround Sound,
NTSC
VHS Release Date: April 1, 2000
Run Time: 49 minutes
Goya:
Awakened in a Dream
Starring: Cedric Smith, David Reale
Director: Richard Mozer
Format:
Color, Digital Sound, Dolby, Full length, Full Screen, Surround
Sound, NTSC VHS Release Date: April 1, 2000
Run Time: 55 minutes
VHS Release Date: April 1, 2000
Run Time: 55 minutes
Leonardo:
A Dream of Flight
Starring: Brent Carver, David Felton
Director: Allan King
Format:
Color, Digital Sound, Dolby, Full length, Full Screen, NTSC
VHS Release Date: July 16, 1999
Run Time: 48 minutes
There was a time when the name "Leonardo" didn't immediately
invoke the answer "DiCaprio." In fact, it may be wise
to ensure that young viewers not only are familiar with, but
understand and learn about the great genius of the early 16th
century, Leonardo da Vinci. This production, part of HBO's Young
Inventor series, sets out to do just that. Set in 1500, the
story follows da Vinci (Brent Carver) when he is already a heralded
painter but intrigued with flight and mysteries of nature. He
meets 11-year-old Roberto (David Felton), whose mother sells
birds. Da Vinci befriends Roberto and the two provide encouragement
for the other. Although the character of Roberto is fictional,
the intellectual genius of the Italian Renaissance actually
befriended two young boys whom he mentored and later remembered
in his will. This movie examines an incident that da Vinci chronicled
in his memoirs: a vivid memory of being fascinated by a kite
in flight when he was only an infant. Filmed in Padua in 1996,
Leonardo: A Dream of Flight is not only stunning visually, but
an entertaining story with an educational backdrop. The Young
Inventor series offers up excellent production values, strong
acting, and powerful stories woven around true and historically
significant tales.
The Naked Maja (1959)
Starring: Ava Gardner, Anthony Franciosa
Format: Color, NTSC
VHS Release Date: March 7, 1994
Run Time: 111 minutes
A melodramatic biographical picture based on the tumultuous
life of the Spanish ainter and revolutionary, Francisco Goya.
The film focuses on his long love affair with the Duchess of
Alba, model for his most famous painting, "The Naked Maja."
Within this romantic framework, the major events of Goya's career
are recounted—from his radical break with artistic convention
to his persecution by the Inquisition.
Camille Claudel (1989)
Starring: Isabelle Adjani, Gérard Depardieu
Format: Color, Dolby, Digital Video Transfer, NTSC
Language: French
Available Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
DVD Release Date: January 23, 2001
Run Time: 159 minutes
Camille Claudel (1989)
Starring: Isabelle Adjani, Gérard Depardieu
Format: Color, Dolby, Digital Video Transfer, NTSC
Language: French
VHS Release Date: April 28, 1998
Run Time: 159 minutes
"Miss Claudel has become a master."
"She has the talent of a man."
"She's a witch."
And so Auguste Rodin and friends neatly sum up the sad
trajectory of Camille Claudel's career. We first meet the sculptor
as she digs clay with bare fingers from a frozen ditch, in the
winter of 1885. By the time the film leaves her, in 1913, she's
an acclaimed, if socially scorned, artist who's been committed
to an asylum. In the interim, Claudel (Isabelle Adjani) falls
in love with the famous, older, womanizing Rodin (Gérard Depardieu).
Claudel abandons her work to assist the creatively bankrupt
Rodin, filling in as his muse, assistant, and lover. When pregnancy
forces Claudel to ask him to choose between her and his longtime
mistress, he won't, she leaves, and their alliance ends. This
proves to be the turning point for Claudel's mental health;
when her affair with Rodin ends, she begins her intimacy with
insanity. As her madness blooms, so do her long-neglected sculptures,
which seem to come to life in her hands and arms. Not only a
potent love story, Camille Claudel is also an account of art
and its wellsprings, and this is where it excels, especially
when we witness Claudel's manic genius at work, driven by the
necessity to externalize her emotions in the forms of her sculptures.
—Stefanie Durbin
My Left Foot (1989)
Starring: Daniel Day Lewis
Format: AC-3, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Original
recording remastered, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen,
NTSC
Language: English
Available Subtitles: Spanish, French
DVD Release Date: August 16, 2005
Run Time: 103 minutes
My Left Foot (1989)
Starring: Daniel Day Lewis
Format:
Color, NTSC
VHS Release Date: December 12, 1994
Run Time: 103 minutes
Daniel Day-Lewis won a much-deserved Oscar for his wily, passionate
performance as Irish artist and writer Christy Brown,
whose cerebral palsy kept him confined to a wheelchair. Filmmaker
Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father) adapts Brown's own
autobiography for this spirited piece, focusing on the sometimes-difficult
fellow's formative years in his large family and in love with
sundry women. Day-Lewis is inspired, and Brenda Fricker (also
a recipient of an Oscar for her part in this movie) is almost
luminous as Christy's dedicated mother. —Tom Keogh
Carrington (1995)
Starring: Emma Thompson, Jonathan Pryce
Director: Christopher Hampton
Format: Anamorphic,
Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Available Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
DVD Release Date: December 26, 2001
Carrington (1995)
Starring: Emma Thompson, Jonathan Pryce
Director: Christopher Hampton
Format:
Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
VHS Release Date: February 11, 1997
Lust for Life (1956)
Stars: Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Format: ,
Color, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Available Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
DVD Release Date: January 31, 2006
Lust for Life (1956)
Stars: Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Format: Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
VHS Release Date: September 1, 1998
In one of his most intense performances, Kirk Douglas portrays
the tormented genius, whose obsessive devotion to his art engulfs,
consumes and finally destroys him. James Donald costars as Theo
Van Gogh, who provide financial and moral support to his brother
from the time Vincent leaves his Holland home in 1878 to his
death in Auvers in 1890. Anthony Quinn won an Oscar for his
eight-minute turn as Van Gogh’s fast friend and erstwhile Paul
Gaugin. Nearly 200 of Van Gogh’s original paintings were borrowed
from private collections for brief display in the film: some
are "recreated" before our eyes, as the artist stands before
his easel, spattered with paint and with a look of white-hot
intensity burned into his countenance. —Hal Erickson
The Wolf at the Door (1987)
Starring: Donald Sutherland
Director: Henning Carlsen
Format:
Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
VHS Release Date: December 10, 1987
Run Time: 90 minutes
Donald Sutherland plays Paul Gauguin in The Wolf at
the Door, a character study of the impressionist painter.
The famed man typified the stereotype of the "struggling artist."
He deserted his family in Denmark, traveled to work in Tahiti,
then wandered to Paris—where hostile reviewers decried
his "lack of perspective"—and journeyed back to the South
Seas to find models for his works. All the while, in light of
family difficulties, money troubles and poor critical reception,
Gauguin strived to maintain his artistic integrity.
The Agony and the Ecstacy (1965)
Starring: Charlton Heston, Rex Harrison
Format:
Color, NTSC
VHS Release Date: March 1, 1995
DVD Release Date: February 22, 2005
The Agony and the Ecstacy (1965)
Starring: Charlton Heston, Rex Harrison
Format:
Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
VHS Release Date: March 1, 1995
Run Time: 139 minutes
Carol Reed (The Third Man) directed this 1965 portrait
of the relationship between Michelangelo (Charlton Heston)
and Pope Julius II (Rex Harrison), who commissioned the artist
to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Based on a novel by Irving
Stone, the script plods along, juggling the dynamics between
the two men along with a somewhat perfunctory love story and
distracting battle sequences. Reed seems more attuned to the
nuances and great pains of the artistic process, as seen in
sequences of Michelangelo working. But the overall focus of
the film is unfortunately fuzzy. —Tom Keogh
Max (2002)
Starring: John Cusack, Noah Taylor Director: Menno Meyjes
Format:
Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
DVD Release Date: May 20, 2003
Run Time: 108 minutes
A Jewish art dealer, who lost an arm during World War I befriends
a young art student named Adolf Hitler, encouraging his artistic
aspirations. However, the bitter and penniless Hitler is torn
between his artistic desires and the increasing influence politics
begins to play in his life.
Drama
Girl with a Pearl Earring (2004)
Starring: Colin Firth, Scarlett Johansson Director: Peter Webber
Format: Color, Dolby, Widescreen, NTSC
DVD Release Date: May 4, 2004
Run Time: 100 minutes
This film, adapted from a work of fiction by author Tracy Chevalier,
tells a story about the events surrounding the creation of the
painting Girl With A Pearl Earring by 17th century Dutch
master Johannes Vermeer. Little is known about the girl in the
painting, it is speculated that she was a maid who lived in
the house of the painter along with his family and other servants,
though there is no historical evidence . This masterful film
attempts to recreate the mysterious girl's life. Griet, played
by Scarlett Johansson, is a maid in the house of painter Johannes
Vermeer, played by British actor Colin Firth. Vermeer's wealthy
patron and sole means of support, Van Ruijven, commissions him
to paint Griet with the intent that he will have her for himself
before it is finished. She must somehow secretly pose for the
crucial painting without the knowledge of Vermeer's wife, avoid
Van Ruijven's grasp, and protect herself from the cruel gossip
of the world of a 17th century servant.
Brush With Fate (2003)
Starring: Ellen Burstyn, Glenn Close Director: Brent Shields
Format:
Color, Full Screen, NTSC
DVD Release Date: October 21, 2003
Run Time: 98 minutes
Inspired by love, sold in desperation, bought in passion and
stolen in greed: this priceless masterpiece has played a pivotal
role in the lives of everyone who has owned it.
As he settles into his new job at an American prep school, an
art teacher (Thomas Gibson) is approached by a reclusive historian
Cornelia Engelbrecht (Glenn Close, Sarah, Plain and Tall) who
believes he alone will appreciate a secret treasure she has
long guarded-an unknown Vermeer painting. Although Richard is
overwhelmed by its beauty, he doubts its authenticity. How could
such a masterpiece be hidden for centuries?
Drawing upon a lifetime of singularly focused devotion to its
history, Cornelia reveals the secrets behind the mystery of
Girl In Hyacinth Blue. From the moment three centuries
ago when an impoverished Dutch artist painted the beautiful
image of his daughter seated at an open window, the legendary
masterpiece has been admired, coveted and pursued by its owners-from
impoverished farmers to a wealthy society woman (Ellen Burstyn).
All forever entwined in its legacy and unknowing participants
in its future.
Based on Susan Vreeland's best-seller, Brush With Fate
traces the history of a masterpiece that has changed many lives,
but still has a greater secret yet to reveal.
Framed (1990)
Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Kristin Scott Thomas
Director: Dean Parisot
Format:
Color, Dolby, NTSC
VHS Release Date: June 3, 1997
In Paris, Interpol arrests an art forger ten minutes after his
sweetheart leaves the apartment with 5 million francs. She's
set him up. Two years later, Wiley's out of jail, bartending
in L.A., trying to forget her. Kate shows up with a new name,
a fiancé who's a mob boss, and a scheme to steal and
sell a priceless Modigliani if Wiley will forge a painting to
put in its place. An odd FBI agent named Joak threatens Wiley
with more jail time if Wiley doesn't help sting Kate. Who will
win out: the mob, the FBI, Wiley, his lying cheating sweetie,
or some surprising combination?
Incognito
(1998)
Starring: Jason Patric, Irène Jacob
Director: John Badham
Format:
Color, Dolby, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
DVD Release Date: June 1, 2004
Run Time: 108 minutes
Harry Donovan is an art forger who paints fake Rembrandt picture
for $500,000. The girl he meets and gets into bed with in Paris,
Marieke, turns out to be an arts expert Harry's clients are
using to check the counterfeit picture he painted.
Uncovered
(1994)
Starring: Kate Beckinsale, John Wood Director: Jim McBride
Format:
Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Full Screen, Live, Subtitled,
NTSC
Language: English
DVD Release Date: March 16, 2004
Run Time: 112 minutes
While restoring an old painting showing a woman and two men
playing chess, Julia discovers the text "Who killed the
knight" underneath the paint. The owner of the painting
tells her that one of his forefathers was killed, the painting
might identify the murderer. When Julia's friend is killed she
understands that there is more to it. She consults Domenec,
a chess genius who reconstructs the game from the painting.
With any piece he takes, somebody dies.
Dark
Side of Genius (1994)
Starring: Finola Hughes
Format:
Color, NTSC
VHS Release Date: November 11, 1998
Run Time: 86 minutes
In this thriller, a young art critic falls for a psychotic artist.
Jennifer Cole can't help it. She is in love with artist Julian
Jons. It doesn't matter that he was just released after spending
7 years in prison for killing his model/girlfriend in the heat
of obsessive passion. It doesn't matter that her roommate and
editor warn her that Julian is unstable. She is in love with
him. Unfortunately, her friends are right. All Julian can paint
are images of his dead girlfriend. Things really heat up after
an art collector commissions Julian to paint a portrait of his
daughter who is the spitting image of—the murdered woman.
—Sandra Brennan
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
Starring: George Sanders, Hurd Hatfield Director: Albert Lewin
Format:
Black & White, NTSC
VHS Release Date: June 12, 2001
Run Time: 111 minutes
Handsome, young, but morally corrupt Dorian Gray has his portrait
made. As the years pass, he does not age, but evidence of his
sins are apparent in his portrait, which grows uglier with each
transgression. He keeps it safely hidden in the attic. But his
mysterious behavior and ageless appearance begin to attract
suspicion.
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1973)
Starring: Shane Briant, Nigel Davenport
Director: Glenn Jordan
Format: Color, NTSC
DVD Release Date: August 27, 2002
Run Time: 111 minutes
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1973)
Starring: Shane Briant, Nigel Davenport
Director: Glenn Jordan
Format: Color, NTSC
VHS Release Date: October 19, 1994
Run Time: 111 minutes
Nigel Davenport stars in this modern version of Oscar Wilde's
1891 novel about a man who remains eternally young while a portrait
of him ages and becomes hideously ugly.
Portrait
of Jennie (1948)
Starring: Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten
Director: William Dieterle
Format:
Black & White, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
DVD Release Date: October 19, 2004
Run Time: 86 minutes
Eben Adams is a struggling artist in Depression era New York
who has never been able to find inspiration for a painting.
One day, after he finally finds someone to buy a painting from
him, a young girl named Jennie Appleton appears and strikes
up an unusual friendship with Eben.
Portrait
of Jennie (1948)
Stars: Joseph Cotten, Jennifer Jones
Format: B & W, Color, Full Screen, NTSC
DVD Release Date: November 28, 2000
Run Time: 86 minutes
Portrait of Jennie (1948)
Stars: Joseph Cotten, Jennifer Jones
Format: B & W, Color, Original recording reissued, NTSC
VHS Release Date: March 30, 1999
Run Time: 86 minutes
Joseph Cotten plays an artist who is unable to bring any true
feeling to his work. While painting in Central Park one morning,
Cotten makes the acquaintance of a schoolgirl named Jennie (Jennifer
Jones), who prattles on about things that happened years ago.
Intrigued at her thorough knowledge of the past, Cotten is about
to converse with her further, but Jennie has vanished. Over
the next few months Cotten meets Jennie again and again-and
each time she seems to have aged by several years. He paints
her portrait, which turns out to be more full of expression
and emotion than anything he's previously done. His curiosity
peaked by Jennie's enigmatic nature, Cotten uncovers evidence
that he has been conversing—and falling in love—with
the ghost of a girl who died years earlier in a hurricane. On
the eve of the hurricane's anniversary, Cotten rushes to meet
Jennie at the site where she was supposedly killed. As a new
storm rages, Jennie vanishes for good, but not before declaring
that the love she and Cotten have shared will live forever.
Rescued from the storm, Cotten convinces himself that Jennie
was a mere figment of his imagination. Then he notices that
he stills clutches her scarf in his hand. He looks at his portrait
of Jennie (the only Technicolor shot in this otherwise black-and-white
film) and understands what she meant when she said that their
love would endure throughout eternity: it will do so through
Cotten's art, both the portrait at hand and all future portraits.
Based on the novel by Robert Nathan, Portrait of Jennie
is one of the most beautifully assembled fantasies ever presented
on screen.
Laura (1944)
Stars: Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews
Director: Otto Preminger
Format:
Dolby, Dubbed, Full Screen, Subtitled, Black & White, NTSC
Available Subtitles: English, Spanish
DVD Release Date: March 15, 2005
Run Time: 88 minutes
Laura (1944)
Stars: Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews
Director: Otto Preminger
Format: Black & White,
NTSC
VHS Release Date: March 3, 1998
Run Time: 88 minutes
A tricky mystery, the film deals with the murder of a popular
young woman, with whom several men seem to be involved. But
the most unusual is the police detective (Dana Andrews) who,
as he sifts through the clues, finds himself drawn over and
over to the painted portrait of the murdered woman until he
becomes obsessed with her. Preminger won the Oscar as best director,
though he finished the film after Rouben Mamoulian started it.
Oscars also went to the cinematography, the screenplay, and
supporting actor Clifton Webb, as the acidic columnist who was
close to Laura. —Marshall Fine
Scarlett Street
Stars: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Raymond Massey
Director: Fritz Lang
Format: Black & White, NTSC
VHS Release Date: February 17, 2004
Chris Cross, 25 years a cashier, has a gold watch and little
else. That rainy night, he rescues delectable Kitty from her
abusive boyfriend Johnny. Smitten, amateur painter Chris lets
Kitty think he's a wealthy artist. At Johnny's urging, she lets
Chris establish her in an apartment (with his shrewish wife's
money). There, Chris paints masterpieces; but Johnny sells them
under Kitty's name, with disastrous and ironic results.
The Woman in the Window
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett Director: Fritz Lang
Format: B & W,
HiFi Sound, NTSC
VHS Release Date: June 25, 1996
Run Time: 99 minutes
Edward G. Robinson stars as a happily married psychology professor
whose wife and child are away on summer vacation. After discussing
with his friends the likelihood that any man can be driven to
murder, Robinson strolls by a shop window, where stands a full-length
portrait of a beautiful woman. He turns to find the selfsame
woman (Joan Bennett) standing beside him...and before the night
is over, he has killed the woman's lover in self-defense. Thus
begins weaving an increasing tangled web involving Robinson,
the woman, and a seedy blackmailer (Dan Duryea).
Biographical
& Semi-biographical - Musical
Moulin Rouge (1952)
Starring: Jose Ferrer
Director: John Huston
Format: Color, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Available Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
DVD Release Date: June 15, 2004
Run Time: 119 minutes
Moulin Rouge (1952)
Starring: Jose Ferrer
Director: John Huston
Format: Color, NTSC
VHS Release Date: September 1, 1998
Run Time: 119 minutes
The fascinating story of Henry de Toulouse-Lautrec, the
artist whose posters for the Moulin Rouge cafe made him famous
overnight. Academy Award Nominations: 7, including Best Picture,
Best Director, Best Actor—Jose Ferrer. Academy Awards:
Best (Color) Art Direction-Set Direction, Best (Color) Costume
Design.
Sunday in the Park With George(1986)
Starring: Bernadette Peters
Format: Color, NTSC
DVD Release Date: March 23, 1999
Run Time: 147 minutes
Sunday in the Park With George(1986)
Starring: Bernadette Peters
Format: Color, Original recording reissued, NTSC
VHS Release Date: March 23, 1999
Run Time: 147 minutes
Stephen Sondheim's landmark 1984 musical Sunday in the Park
with George is a fictional representation of maverick French
Impressionist painter Georges Seurat's efforts to create
his masterpiece, Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of La Grande Jatte.
Seurat, played by Mandy Patinkin, is obsessed with his work,
to the frustration of his mistress, Dot (Bernadette Peters).
Along the way, we meet many other characters—whoever happens
to be in the park that Sunday—who eventually become part
of the canvas.
An American in Paris (1951)
Starring: Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron
Format:
Color, Dolby, NTSC
Language: English, French
DVD Release Date: April 27, 1999
Run Time: 114 minutes
Jerry Mulligan, a struggling American painter in Paris, is "discovered"
by an influential heiress with an interest in more than Jerry's
art. Jerry in turn falls for Lise, a young French girl already
engaged to a cabaret singer. Jerry jokes, sings and dances with
his best friend, an acerbic would-be concert pianist, while
romantic complications abound.
Comedy
Starry Night (1999)
Starring: David Abbott, Lisa Waltz
Director: Paul Davids
Format:
Color, Dolby, NTSC
DVD Release Date: January 30, 2001
Run Time: 102 minutes
A magic potion returns artist Vincent Van Gogh (Abbott Alexander)
back to life and lands him in the center of the Rose Bowl Parade
in this oddball comedy. Of course, no one believes who he is
and he is startled to discover his popularity after the passage
of time. This sets him off on a crusade to steal his paintings
back from collectors and sets a detective (Sally Kirkland) on
his trail. Along the way, he makes friends with an ambulance
chasing attorney (Lou Wagner) and a young artist (Lisa Waltz),
who gradually begin to believe his claims of identity.
Tea with Mussolini
Starring: Cher, Judi Dench
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Format: AC-3,
Color, Full Screen, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
DVD Release Date: November 23, 1999
Run Time: 117 minutes
Tea with Mussolini
Starring: Cher, Judi Dench
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Format:
Color, Dolby, NTSC
VHS Release Date: March 7, 2000
Run Time: 117 minutes
A boy whose mother has died and whose father has all but abandoned
him is raised by a group of eccentric British women in 1930s
Florence. The coming of war has great impact on the women—known
as the Scorpioni —and their flamboyant American counterparts
in the artsy expatriate community, but cannot sever ties
between the young man and his "surrogate mothers." Entertaining
if not always focused comedy-drama based on director Zeffirelli's
own experiences as a youth; coscripted by John Mortimer.
Two if by Sea (1995)
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Denis Leary
Director: Bill Bennett
Format:
Color, Dolby, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
DVD Release Date: March 21, 2000
Run Time: 96 minutes
Two if by Sea (1995)
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Denis Leary
Director: Bill Bennett
Format:
Color, Dolby, NTSC
VHS Release Date: February 11, 1997
Frank O'Brien, a petty thief, and his 7-year-long girlfriend
Roz want to put an end to their unsteady lifestyle and just
do that "last" job, which involves stealing a valuable
painting. Frank takes Roz to an island on the coast of New England,
where he wants to sell the painting and also hopes that their
sagging relationship will get a positive push back up. Not everything
goes as planned, as some thugs and the FBI try to recover the
painting and Roz gets attracted not only to the landscape...
Sirens
(1994)
Starring: Hugh Grant, Sam Neill, Elle MacPherson
Director: John Duigan
Format:
Color, Dolby, NTSC
DVD Release Date: May 18, 1999
Sirens (1994)
Starring: Hugh Grant, Sam Neill, Elle MacPherson
Director: John Duigan
Format:
Color, NTSC
VHS Release Date: January 9, 1996
Run Time: 94 minutes
Piquant social comedy about a young, liberal British minister
and his wife who drop in on scandalous Australian artist Norman
Lindsay (Neill), and find themselves seduced (somewhat)
by his libertarian ways—and his three gorgeous, free-thinking
models, who have no qualms about posing nude.
How to Steal a Million (1966)
Audrey Hepburn, Peter O'Toole
Director: William Wyler
Format: Anamorphic,
Color, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Available Subtitles: English, Spanish
DVD Release Date: December 7, 2004
Run Time: 123 minutes
How to Steal a Million (1966)
Audrey Hepburn, Peter O'Toole
Director: William Wyler
Format:
Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
VHS Release Date: October 4, 1995
Run Time: 123 minutes
She's the chic daughter of a renowned art collector and covert
forger (the always eccentric Hugh Griffith) who's deposited
his best work, a famous statue, in a Paris museum. Trouble is,
technology can now detect such forgery, so Hepburn plots to
steal the statue with the help of O'Toole, an amateur thief
and covert inspector. Of course, neither of them knows the whole
truth about the other.
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Artemisia
Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Frida
Pollock
Basquiat
Surviving Picasso
Mary
Cassatt - American Impressionist
Degas
and the Dancer
Vincent and Theo (1990) 
Rembrandt:
Fathers and Sons
Rembrandt
Andrei Rublev
Winslow
Homer: An American Original
Goya:
Awakened in a Dream
Leonardo:
A Dream of Flight
The Naked Maja
Camille Claudel
My Left Foot
Carrington
Lust for Life
The Wolf at the Door
The Agony and the Ecstacy
Max
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Brush With Fate
Framed
Incognito
Uncovered
Dark
Side of Genius
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Portrait
of Jennie
Portrait
of Jennie
Laura
Scarlett Street 
The Woman in the Window
Moulin Rouge
Sunday in the Park With George 
An American in Paris
Starry Night
Tea with Mussolini
Two if by Sea
Sirens
How to Steal a Million
