Films with: Crisp, Donald

Birth of a nation

This epic story of the Civil War as seen through the lives of two families is a controversial classic of film history.

DVD 1205

Black pirate

The sole survivor of a ship pillaged by buccaneers poses as a pirate to recover the ship and its treasure and to rescue a captive princess.

DVD 375

Broken blossoms, or, The yellow man and the girl

This is one of Griffith's most widely acclaimed films, using a new style of lighting and photography to stress intimate character relationships rather than spectacle. A young Chinaman in London's squalid Limehouse district hopes to spread the peaceful philosophy of his Eastern religion. He befriends a pitiful street waif who is mistreated by her brutal father. The result is tragedy.

DVD 830

Lassie : triple feature

Three separate films featuring a devoted dog named Lassie.

DVD 12217

Life of Emile Zola

In 1862 Paris, Emile Zola is barely scratching out a living writing muckraking articles about the poverty of the French people and the corruption of their leaders. Until "Nana," about the life of a prostitute, becomes a smash hit and turns Zola into a celebrity, champion of the people. As he churns out a string of similar books that make him quite rich, his old friend Paul Cezanne tells him "An artist should remain poor." His determined intervention in the Dreyfus Affair, at the request of Dreyfus's wife Lucie, results in "J'accuse!" his famous denunciation of the Army, and leads to a conviction for libel. He flees to England, where he remains until granted amnesty. Unfortunately, he dies before the news that Dreyfus was exonerated and reinstated to full rank can reach him. Indicative of the mores of its time, during the course of this clear story about institutionalized anti-Semitism, the word "Jew" is never mentioned. And while most Hollywood biographies must be taken with a grain--if not a handful--of salt, the film makes a reasonable effort at accuracy and completeness.

DVD 8645

Long gray line

Newly arrived in America, Maher's first job was as a waiter at West Point. Clumsy and boisterous, he quickly broke so much of the military academy's china that he was forced to join the Army to repay his debts. But once in, the rough-and-ready Dubliner served his adopted nation with rare dedication, establishing himself as an inspriational coach at West Point. Spanning 50 years and two world wars, the film shows Maher at his best, molding and motivating the young men who wold beome America's heroes and presidents.

DVD 1882

Man from Laramie

Stewart stars as a driven man determined to get frontier justice in this gripping film about the sabotage and savagery of the wild west.

DVD 12685

Mutiny on the Bounty

In 1789, the English ship H.M.S. Bounty begins a two-year mission. The ship travels to Tahiti to obtain breadfruit plants that will provide cheap food for slaves in the West Indies, the Bounty's final destination. The captain is William Bligh, a vicious taskmaster who doesn't flinch at giving two dozen lashes to any malcontent on board, for the most minor of infractions. The first mate is Lt. Fletcher Christian, who despises Bligh but has somehow earned the captain's respect. Bligh makes life miserable for the crew, and after the Bounty leaves Tahiti for the West Indies, Bligh orders the ship's doctor, a dying man, to stand on deck despite his illness. The doctor dies, which begins a chain reaction of anger leading to Christian leading a mutiny against Bligh.

DVD 8305

National Velvet

A determined girl and boy and a spirited thoroughbred horse join forces to attain the seemingly impossible dream of winning the Grand National Steeplechase.

DVD 327

Navigator

In The navigator, Keaton stars as Rollo Treadway, an inexperienced lad of extraordinary wealth, and surprisingly little common sense, who finds himself adrift on an immense 500 ft. yacht. The boat is a slapstick comedy about the adventures of a land-lubber and his family in their homemade sailboat. In The love nest Buster sets out to sea, forlorn about a lost love.

DVD 433

Private lives of Elizabeth and Essex

This period drama sets the tumultuous on-again, off-again affair between Queen Elizabeth I and the second Earl of Essex against Essex's powerful ambition to assume the throne of England.

DVD 4491

Richard Llewellyn's How green was my valley

A man looks back on his life as a boy in a small Welsh mining town. His reminiscences reveal the disintegration of his closely knit family while capturing the sentiments and issues of their time.

DVD 250

Sea Hawk

A dashing, patriotic pirate raids Spanish ships for England, and finds himself drawn into a conspiracy.

DVD 4492

Uninvited

A pair of siblings from London purchases a surprisingly affordable, lonely cliff-top house in Cornwall, only to discover that it actually carries a ghostly price soon they're caught up in a bizarre romantic triangle from beyond the grave. A tragic family past, a mysteriously locked room, cold chills, bumps in the night-this gothic Hollywood classic has it all.

DVD 9989