The Rank Collection

Box set containing eight classic movies. In 'The Red Shoes' (1948), ballet impressario Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook) hires up-and-coming ballerina Victoria Page (Moira Shearer) and talented young composer Julian Craster (Marius Goring) to work with him on a new ballet, an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen story 'The Red Shoes'. The show is a great success and Victoria and Julian fall in love; but Boris is jealous and makes moves to spoil their happiness. 'The 39 Steps' (1935) is Alfred Hitchcock's most celebrated British thriller, adapted from John Buchan's novel. Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) becomes the victim of mistaken identity when a female corpse is dumped in his flat by a spy ring. He tries to track down the true murderers whilst being pursued by the police, and hooks up with an unwilling accomplice (Madeleine Carroll). Their adventure eventually leads them to a music hall, where the secret of the 39 steps is revealed. In 'Brief Encounter' (1945), a respectable, happily-married doctor (Trevor Howard) comes to the aid of an equally upstanding housewife (Celia Johnson) when a passing train blows cinder into her eye. Thus begins a tentative romance, conducted in the tearooms and railway caf� of a small English town. David Lean's classic study of a peculiarly British affair, played with straight bat and stiff-upper lip, features Rachmaninov on the soundtrack, and garnered Oscar nominations for director, screenplay and Celia Johnson. 'Henry V' (1944) is Laurence Olivier's adaptation of Shakespeare's play. begins in a miniature Globe Theatre and slowly expands beyond the stage to become a film. The young king puts his rakish past behind him and rallies his men to invade France, winning against the enemy's superior numbers. The film was shot in Ireland to avoid the constant bombardment of the Blitz and Olivier was discharged from the Navy to make the film. 'A Matter of Life and Death' (1946) is a classic wartime propaganda movie, commissioned by the Ministry of Information, but turned into a fantastical allegory by the Archers, aka Powell and Pressburger. David Niven plays an RAF pilot who is ready to be picked up by the angels after bailing out of his plane. But an administrative error in Heaven leads to a temporary reprieve, during which he must prove his right to stay on Earth. A tribunal in heaven ensues to decide the case. In 'Genevieve' (1953), barrister Alan McKim (John Gregson) and wife Wendy (Dinah Sheridan) compete against Alan's friend (and Wendy's former beau), Ambrose Claverhouse (Kenneth More), in the London to Brighton vintage car race. This time round, however, Alan's 1904 roadster, 'Genevieve', breaks down on route. Angered by Ambrose's jokes at the expense of his beloved car, Alan bets his rival that he can beat him on the return journey to London - and the race is on. 'The Wicked Lady' (1945) is set during the reign of King Charles II. The aristocratic Lady Skelton (Margaret Lockwood) attempts to relieve the tedium of her day-to-day life by secretly acting as a highway robber. Lady Skelton finds herself caught up in a tangled web of romance, danger, and jealousy. Finally, in 'Hamlet' (1948), Laurence Olivier directs and stars in an adaptation of Shakespeare's famous tragedy. Hamlet (Olivier), Prince of Denmark, is still mourning over the death of his father and his mother Gertrude's (Eileen Herlie) subsequent remarriage to Hamlet's despised uncle, Claudius (Basil Sydney), who is now King. When his father's ghost appears to Hamlet and reveals that it was Claudius who murdered him, the young prince vows revenge. However, a fatal flaw in his character - hesitation - mars his efforts, resulting in murder, madness and treachery. The film won five Oscars, including Best Actor for Olivier (who was also nominated for Best Director) and Best Film.

Actor: Laurence Olivier
Director: Laurence Olivier
Producer: Laurence Olivier
Writer: Laurence Olivier
Writer: Gordon Glennon
Writer: Magdalen King-Hall
Actor: Richard Attenborough
Actor: Leo Genn
Actor: Peter Cushing
Actor: Leslie Banks
Director: Reginald Beck
Editor: Reginald Beck
Producer: Filippo Del Giudice
Actor: Esmond Knight
Actor: Robert Newton
Actor: Ivy St Helier
Actor: Ernest Thesiger
Actor: Ralph Truman
Actor: Harcourt Williams
Actor: Raymond Massey
Actor: Anton Walbrook
Actor: Niall MacGinnis
Cinematographer: Jack Hildyard
Actor: Griffith Jones
Producer: R. J. Minney
Actor: Patricia Roc
Actor: Patrick Troughton
Actor: Helen Haye
Actor: Austin Trevor
Actor: Kenneth More
Actor: Trevor Howard
Actor: Michael Rennie
Actor: Kim Hunter
Actor: Robert Coote
Actor: Albert Basserman
Actor: Geoffrey Keen
Actor: Stanley Holloway
Actor: Celia Johnson
Actor: Cyril Raymond
Actor: Joyce Carey
Actor: Everley Gregg
Actor: Margaret Barton
Actor: Irene Handl
Actor: James Mason
Actor: John Laurie
Actor: Wylie Watson
Actor: Miles Malleson
Producer: Noël Coward
Writer: Noël Coward
Actor: Eileen Herlie
Actor: Basil Sydney
Actor: Norman Wooland
Actor: Terence Morgan
Actor: Robert Helpmann
Actor: Frank Cellier
Actor: Valentine Dyall
Actor: Robert Donat
Actor: Kay Kendall
Actor: Dinah Sheridan
Actor: Reginald Beckwith
Actor: Arthur Wontner
Actor: Joyce Grenfell
Actor: Kathleen Byron
Actor: Ludmilla Tcherina
Actor: Marius Goring
Writer: Marius Goring
Actor: Peggy Ashcroft
Actor: Roger Livesey
Actor: David Horne
Actor: Margaret Lockwood
Music: Larry Adler
Music: Sergei Rachmaninov
Actor: Godfrey Tearle
Actor: Moira Shearer
Actor: Irene Browne
Actor: Gus McNaughton
Actor: Leonide Massine
Actor: Frederick Ashton
Actor: Marcel Poncon
Actor: Jerry Verno
Actor: Jean Short
Writer: Charles Bennett
Actor: Madeleine Carroll
Actor: Lucie Mannheim
Actor: Peggy Simpson
Actor: Hilda Trevelyan
Actor: John Turnbull
Actor: Max Adrian
Director: Henry Cornelius
Producer: Henry Cornelius
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Director: David Lean
Writer: David Lean
Director: Michael Powell
Producer: Michael Powell
Writer: Michael Powell
Director: Emeric Pressburger
Producer: Emeric Pressburger
Writer: Emeric Pressburger
Actor: Bonar Colleano
Director: Leslie Arliss
Writer: Leslie Arliss
Music: Brian Easdale
Music: William Walton
Actor: John Gielgud
Writer: Alma Reville
Music: Hans May
Music: Hubert Bath
Music: Jack Beaver
Writer: William Rose
Writer: Anthony Havelock-Allan
Writer: Alan Dent
Actor: Anthony Quayle
Music: Muir Mathieson
Producer: Michael Balcon
Actor: Francis Lister
Writer: Aimee Stuart
Actor: David Niven
Actor: Martita Hunt
Actor: Felix Aylmer
Actor: Jean Simmons
Actor: Abraham Sofaer
Writer: Keith Winter
Music: Louis Levy
Actor: Enid Stamp-Taylor
Actor: John Gregson
Actor: Michael Medwin
Cinematographer: Robert Krasker