 Great Expectations 1974  TV, 103 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Joseph Hardy
Cast: Michael York, Sarah Miles, James Mason, Margaret Leighton, Robert Morley, Anthony Quayle, Joss Ackland, Rachel Roberts, Peter Bull, Heather Sears, Andrew Ray, Simon Gipps-Kent, James Faulkner, Sam Kydd, John Clive
This is a good remake of the Charles Dickens' classic concerning the orphan, Pip (Simon Gipps-Kent as young Pip and Michael York as older Pip), and his unknown benefactor. While growing up with his foster parents, blacksmith Joe Gargery and his wife (Joss Ackland and Rachel Roberts), Pip befriends convict Magwitch (James Mason) and comes to his aid. Later, Pip falls in love with his childhood friend Estella (Sarah Miles) who is the ward of the bitter Miss Havisham (Margaret Leighton) and has been taught to have different expectations about life than those of Pip. When Pip gains wealth through a mysterious benefactor who, it turns out, is Magwitch repaying Pip for his friendship, he does well in the Victorian world of the social elite.
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 The Phantom of the Opera 1962  N/R, 84 min.
Genre: Horror / Drama / Musical / Mystery / Thriller
Director: Terence Fisher
Cast: Herbert Lom, Heather Sears, Michael Gough, Edward DeSouza, Thorley Walters, Miles Malleson, Harold Goodwin, Martin Miller, Marne Maitland, Sonya Cordeau, Liane Aukin, Sonya Cordeau, Patrick Troughton, Miriam Karlin, Renee Houston
In this version of "The Phantom of the Opera," the story takes place at the Royal Opera House in London instead of the Paris Opera House. Years ago, music professor Petrie (Herbert Lom) was hideously burned in a fire but has returned to London where, as the masked Phantom, he terrorizes the opera house that is preparing to perform an opera that had been stolen from him. He lives in the sewer beneath the opera house and kidnaps opera star Christine (Heather Sears), who he loves, so that he can train her to perform his opera. Now, Christine's fiance Harry Hunter (Edward DeSouza) searches for Christine, and, when he finds her, it is Harry who unmasks the Phantom.
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Room at the Top 1959  N/R, 115 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Jack Clayton
Cast: Laurence Harvey, Simone Signoret, Heather Sears, Donald Houston, Donald Wolfit, Raymond Huntley, Hermione Baddeley, John Westbrook, Allan Cuthbertson, Ambrosine Phillpotts, Ian Hendry, Richard Pasco, Beatrice Varley, Delena Kidd, April Olrich
Factory clerk Joe Lampton (Laurence Harvey) dumps his fiancee Alice (Simone Signoret) to marry his boss Mr. Brown's (Donald Wolfit) daughter, Susan (Heather Sears). Too late, he realizes his love for Alice was more important than social position. Signoret won the Best Actress Oscar for her role of Alice. In addition to another Oscar for Writing, the film had four nominations: Best Picture, Actor (Harvey), Supporting Actress (Hermoine Baddeley), and Director. Sequels: "Life at the Top" and "Man at the Top."
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Sons and Lovers 1960 N/R, 103 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Jack Cardiff
Cast: Trevor Howard, Dean Stockwell, Wendy Hiller, Heather Sears, Mary Ure, Donald Pleasence, Ernest Thesiger, William Lucas, Conrad Phillips, Rosalie Crutchley, Elizabeth Begley, Edna Morris
Paul Morel (Dean Stockwell) was encouraged by his well-bred mother (Wendy Hiller) to escape the dreary life of his youth and not follow in the footsteps of his coal miner father (Trevor Howard). The film won an Oscar for Best Cinematography and was nominated for six others including Best Picture, Actor (Howard), Supporting Actress (Mary Ure), and Director.
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The Story of Esther Costello 1957 N/R, 104 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: David Miller
Cast: Joan Crawford, Rossano Brazzi, Heather Sears, Lee Patterson, Ron Randell, Fay Compton, Bessie Love, Sid James, Denis O'Dea, John Loder
Esther Costello (Heather Sears) has been deaf, mute, and blind since childhood and has suffered through subsequent exploitation; now an American woman, Margaret Landi (Joan Crawford), is involved in her life.
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| 1. Great Expectations (1974)
2. The Phantom of the Opera (1962)
3. Room at the Top (1959)
4. Sons and Lovers (1960)
5. The Story of Esther Costello (1957)
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