The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
Jul 29, 2002Eternally Youthful Libertine
Adaptation of Oscar Wilde's novel about an unaging libertine starring Hurd Hatfield. This is regarded as a classic but reads as fairly melodramatic and tame today
Angela Lansbury
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Jul 9, 2000Brainwashed Assassin/Political Satire
John Frankenheimer film. concerning a Communist plot for creating a brainwashed assassin, Frankenheimer shoots with stark and blackly funny effect and this has duly become a cult classic
Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
Feb 4, 2000Adventures with a Good Witch/Disney Film
Obvious but likeable attempt by Disney to replicate the success of Mary Poppins with Angela Lansbury as a good witch taking a group of children on a series of nonsense adventures
The Last Unicorn (1982)
Mar 7, 2004Unicorn's Quest/Animation
Beautiful and underrated animated fantasy film about an apprentice magician who protects the last unicorn. This has a maturity that most animated fantasy lacks
The Company of Wolves (1984)
May 6, 2001Little Red Riding Hood with Werewolves
In his first film, Neil Jordan adapts an Angela Carter story that retells Little Red Riding Hood as a werewolf film that becomes a fascinating swim of fairytale and sexual allegory
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Jul 7, 2000Disney Animation/Fairy-Tale
The start of the 90s renaissance of Disney animation, a beautifully made adaptation of the fairytale that hearkens back to the Disney Golden Age. The only animated film nominated for an Academy Award Best Picture
Anastasia (1997)
Mar 31, 1999Animation/Amnesiac Russian Royal
Considerable return to form for animator Don Bluth even if the story of the Russian Royals he is telling is based on a hoax and manages to entirely excise any mention of the Communist Revolution
Fantasia 2000 (1999)
Jan 3, 2000Disney Animation and Music Anthology
Disney's sequel to Fantasia comes weighted with a sense of its own self-importance - the first theatrical release of the new millennium. However, it fails to produce much that has the stature of the original
Nanny McPhee (2005)
Jan 7, 2006Magical Nanny
Emma Thompson written and starring adaptation of a series of children's books comes across as a lesser copy of Mary Poppins. A film that feels like it should have been more than it ends up being.
Mary Poppins Returns (2018)
Mar 22, 2019Flying Nanny Frolics
Mary Poppins was one of the greatest of all Disney live-action films, made with nonsensical charm and has become a much loved favourite. As part of the ongoing firesale that involves resurrecting almost all of their properties, this is a sequel. Its an exacting replication/homage to the original but that is the problem - it is a recapturing rather than seems to create its own sparkle
The Grinch (2018)
Dec 25, 2019Animation/Dr Seuss Adaptation
After Ron Howard's over-produced version of the Dr Seuss story, one looked to Illumination Entertainment, the animation company behind the Despicable Me films, to do the story right