Hedda Gabler (1962)

 

A scheming woman marries a nice but dimwitted intellectual out of convenience. She hears that her old lover is back in town. She decides to destroy his life, jealous of his love affair with another.

A TV production with a stellar cast, in which Ingrid Bergman shines the best, is unfortunately a brutally condensed, stubbed up adaptation of the classic play.  

 

 

Time Without Pity (1957)

The day before a man is to be executed, his alcoholic father shows up to try to prove his innocence.

Dead of Night (1945)

An architect senses impending doom as his half-remembered recurring dream turns into reality, when the guests at the country house encourage him to stay as they take turns telling supernatural tales.

Magnificently conceived anthology movie, four directors pull it all together, with memorable and some frightening moments and a great cast.

Halliwell****: "Chillingly successful and influential compendium of the macabre, especially effective in its low-key handling of the linking sequence with its circular ending."

Maltin****: "Classic thriller...final sequence with Redgrave as a schizophrenic ventriloquist is a knockout."

1984 (1956)

In a totalitarian future society a man whose daily work is rewriting history tries to rebel by falling in love.

Adequate, if not a bit frumpy adaptation of the famous dystopian novel works best in its depiction of the totalitarian society, but the ending is strangely not as devastating as it should be.

Halliwell*: "The famous prophecy of  a dehumanized future is followed with reasonavle fidelity apart from the deviant ending, but the novel is too literary for cinematic success and the result is too often both downbeat and boring."

Maltin***: "Thought-provoking version..."