Eclipse Series 25: Basil Dearden's London Underground (Criterion Collection) On DVD

Actor:       Nigel Patrick, Jack Hawkins, Richard Attenborough, Bryan Forbes, Roger Livesey
Director:   Basil Dearden
Genre:      Suspense/Thriller
Year:         N/A
Studio:     Criterion Collection
Length:    399
Released: January 25, 2011
Rating:      Unrated (Video)
Format:     DVD
Misc:         Color
Language:English
Subtitles  :N/A

DESCRIPTION:

After mastering the mix of comedy, suspense, and horror that helped define the golden age of British cinema, Basil Dearden (along with his producing partner Michael Relph) left the legendary Ealing Studios and, in the late fifties and early sixties, created a series of gripping, groundbreaking, even controversial films. In dealing with racism, homophobia, and the lingering effects of World War II, these noir-tinged dramas burrowed into corners of London rarely seen on-screen. This set of elegantly crafted films—Sapphire, a dissection of a hate crime; The League of Gentlemen, a deft heist adventure suffused with postwar melancholy; Victim, a landmark gay character study, starring Dirk Bogarde; and All Night Long, a provocative transposition of Othello to the swinging London jazz scene—brings this quintessential figure of British cinema out of the shadows.