 101 Dalmatians 1996  G, 103 min.
Genre: Family / Comedy / Adventure
Director: Stephen Herek
Cast: Glenn Close, Jeff Daniels, Joely Richardson, Joan Plowright, Hugh Laurie, Mark Williams, John Shrapnel, Tim McInnerny, Hugh Fraser, Zohren Weiss, Mark Haddigan, Michael Percival, John Evans, Frank Welker, Bill Stewart
In this live-action remake of the classic Disney animated film, Dalmatians Pongo and Perdy meet at the park, and their owners Roger (Jeff Daniels) and Anita (Joely Richardson) fall in love and marry. Pongo and Perdy are also attracted to each other and soon become parents of 15 Dalmatian puppies. Meanwhile, Anita's boss Cruella De Vil (Glenn Close), who already has 84 Dalmatians, wants to purchase Anita's dogs to make a coat of Dalmatian fur. When Anita refuses the offer, Cruella sends her henchmen Jasper (Hugh Laurie) and Horace (Mark Williams) to kidnap the Dalmatians. Will Pongo and Perdy be able to save the day and prevent Cruella's plans for coat making with the 101 Dalmatians?
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The Assistant 1997  N/R, 105 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Daniel Petrie
Cast: Gil Bellows, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Joan Plowright, Kate Greenhouse, Jaimz Woolvett, Dick Callahan, Frank Moore, Alon Nashman, Tony Mohamed, Darlene Mignacco
Jobs are hard to find in the early 1900s, and Frank (Gil Bellows) finds a job working in a Jewish immigrant's store. Frank hooks up with a petty thief who robs the store, and now Frank feels responsible and agrees to help the store owner. In the process, love blossoms. Based on Bernard Malamud's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, the film doesn't do the story justice.
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 Avalon 1990  PG, 126 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Barry Levinson
Cast: Armin Mueller-Stahl, Leo Fuchs, Eve Gordon, Elizabeth Perkins, Lou Jacobi, Joan Plowright, Aidan Quinn, Kevin Pollak, Elijah Wood
When the patriarch of a Jewish family arrives in America following World War II, he tries to bridge the gap between the modern era and the past by telling his grandchildren stories about their long-lost relatives.
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Back to the Secret Garden 2000 G, 100 min.
Genre: Family
Director: Michael Tuchner
Cast: Joan Plowright, Camilla Belle, Cherie Lunghi, George Baker, Leigh Lawson, Aled Roberts, Florence Hoath, Justin Girdler, David Warner, Danielle McCormack
In this sequel to 1987's version of the classic story, "The Secret Garden," Mary has grown up and lives far from her beloved garden. The place is now under the care of Martha Sowerby (Joan Plowright) and the garden has gone to pot. But when Lizzie (Camilla Belle), an orphan from Brooklyn, arrives, things change for the better–both for the garden and for Lizzie.
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Brimstone & Treacle 1982 R, 85 min.
Genre: Drama / Thriller
Director: Richard Loncraine
Cast: Sting, Denholm Elliott, Joan Plowright, Suzanna Hamilton, Mary MacLeod, Dudley Sutton, Benjamin Whitrow, Tim Preece, Hugh Walters, Christopher Fairbanks, Elizabeth Bradley
A drifter, Martin Taylor (Sting,) talks his way into Tom and Norma Bates' (Denholm Elliott and Joan Plowright) home. The Bates have a disabled daughter Patricia (Suzanna Hamilton), and Martin becomes her unofficial caretaker. It is only then that Martin's plot is revealed, and molesting Patricia is only part of the horrors in store for the Bates family in this strange, yet intriguing, tale.
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 Bringing Down the House 2003 PG-13, 105 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Adam Shankman
Cast: Steve Martin, Queen Latifah, Eugene Levy, Joan Plowright, Jean Smart, Kimberly J. Brown, Angus T. Jones, Missi Pyle, Michael Rosenbaum, Betty White, Jim Haynie, Michael Ensign
Divorced tax lawyer Peter Sanderson (Steve Martin) is in for a surprise when the "slim and blonde" woman he met in an Internet chat room turns out to be a jailed inmate–an African American (Queen Latifah)–who arrives on his doorstep to convince Peter to appeal her case and prove her innocence.
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Britannia Hospital 1982 R, 115 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Lindsay Anderson
Cast: Leonard Rossiter, Graham Crowden, Malcolm McDowell, Joan Plowright, Marsha A. Hunt, Alan Bates, Barbara Hicks, Mary MacLeod, Mark Hamill, Peter Jeffrey
The labor dispute in a local hospital is the subject of this heavy satire in which the Queen's visit threatens to become a nightmare when workers refuse to do their appointed jobs.
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Callas Forever 2002 N/R, 108 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Cast: Fanny Ardant, Jeremy Irons, Joan Plowright, Jay Rodan, Gabriel Garko, Manuel de Blas, Justino Diaz, Jean Dalric, Stephen Billington, Anna Lelio
Later days in the life of opera diva Maria Callas (Fanny Ardant) are the focus of this fictionalized tribute to Callas, which was written and directed by her friend of 20 years, Franco Zeffirelli. In this story, she loses her voice and is talked into making a video on which her voice from a past performance will be used as a lip-sync.
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Clothes in the Wardrobe 1992 TV, 82 min.
Genre: Comedy
aka: The Summer House
Director: Waris Hussein
Cast: Jeanne Moreau, Joan Plowright, Lena Headey, Julie Walters, David Threlfall, John Wood, Roger Lloyd-Pack, Catherine Schell, Maggie Steed, Gwyneth Strong
This British comedy/drama features Margaret (Lena Headey) as a young woman about to marry a mama's boy–40-year-old Syl (David Threlfall). Lili (Jeanne Moreau), a family friend, works to prevent the marriage.
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 Curious George 2006 G, 86 min.
Genre: Animation / Family / Comedy / Adventure
Director: Matthew O'Callaghan
Cast: Will Ferrell, Drew Barrymore, Dick Van Dyke, David Cross, Eugene Levy, Joan Plowright, Frank Welker, Shane Baumel, Ed O'Ross, Alexander Gould, Hailey Noelle Johnson, Clint Howard, Billy West, Kath Soucie
In this animated film, the real star is the monkey, Curious George (voice of Frank Welker), whose antics appear to be causing more and more trouble for the man who looks after him, The Man in the Yellow Hat (voice of Will Ferrell). But, never fear, by story's end, George saves the day.
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Dance with Me 1998 PG, 126 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Randa Haines
Cast: Vanessa Williams, Chayanne, Kris Kristofferson, Joan Plowright, Jane Krakowski, Beth Grant, William Marquez, J.E. Freeman, Rick Valenzuela, Scott Paetty
Ruby Sinclair (Vanessa Williams) and Rafael Infante (Chayanne) team up and represent Houston, Texas, to compete as a dance team in the World Open Dance Championship in Las Vegas.
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Dennis the Menace 1993 PG, 97 min.
Genre: Family / Comedy
Director: Nick Castle
Cast: Walter Matthau, Mason Gamble, Joan Plowright, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Robert(2) Stanton, Paul Winfield, Arnold Stang, Amy Sakasitz
Dennis comes to the big screen, and Walter Matthau plays Mr. Wilson with Mason Gamble taking on the role of Dennis. Dennis never changes; however, this time around he is kidnapped. It IS possible to pity the kidnapper (Christopher Lloyd).
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 Dinosaur 2000 PG, 84 min.
Genre: Animation / Family / Adventure
Director: Eric Leighton, Ralph Zondag
Cast: D.B. Sweeney, Alfre Woodard, Julianna Margulies, Joan Plowright, Ossie Davis, Samuel E. Wright, Della Reese, Max Casella, Peter Siragusa, Hayden Panettiere
Disney's computer animated technology is excellent in this story about the imminent extinction of dinosaurs during the Mesozoic Age. Warning: this film contains realistic violence that many parents may reasonably consider inappropriate for children.
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Enchanted April 1992  PG, 105 min.
Genre: Drama / Comedy
Director: Mike Newell
Cast: Miranda Richardson, Joan Plowright, Josie Lawrence, Polly Walker, Alfred Molina, Jim Broadbent, Michael Kitchen, Neville Phillips, Stephen Beckett, Matthew Radford, Davide Manuli, Vittorio Duse, Adriana Facchetti, Anna Longhi
Lottie Wilkins (Josie Lawrence) and Rose Arbuthnot (Miranda Richardson) rent a Northern Italian villa and use it as the break form their unhappy marriages. Mrs. Fisher (Joan Plowright) and Caroline Dester (Polly Walker), who Lottie and Rose had not known previously, join them for a month of sunshine during which they form close friendships and reassess their marital relationships. An excellent remake of the 1935 film.
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The Entertainer 1960 N/R, 96 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Tony Richardson
Cast: Laurence Olivier, Brenda De Banzie, Joan Plowright, Roger Livesey, Albert Finney, Alan Bates, Daniel Massey, Shirley Anne Field, Thora Hird, Miriam Karlin
This is the screen adaptation of John Osborne's insightful play about the vaudeville era coming to an end. In this case, Archie Rice (Laurence Olivier) is a man of high expectations but not much talent who, upon hearing that his son (Albert Finney) is dead, must confront the truth about his life.
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Equus 1977 R, 137 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Sidney Lumet
Cast: Richard Burton, Peter Firth, Colin Blakely, Joan Plowright, Harry Andrews, Eileen Atkins, Jenny Agutter, Kate Reid, John Wyman, Elva Mai Hoover, Ken James, Patrick Brymer
Through an act of violence, stable boy Alan Strang (Peter Firth) has blinded the horses he is supposed to tend. Dr. Dysart (Richard Burton) is called in to psychoanalyze Alan in order to find unconscious motivations for his cruel actions. Richard Burton was nominated for an Oscar for his role as the psychiatrist.
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 I Am David 2003 PG, 95 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Paul Feig
Cast: Ben Tibber, James Caviezel, Joan Plowright, Hristo Shopov, Silvia De Santis, Paco Reconti, Roberto Attias, Francesco De Vito, Paul Feig, Lucy Russell, Maria Bonnevie, Alessandro Sperduti
Twelve-year-old David (Ben Tibber) escapes from a Communist concentration camp in Bulgaria and travels across Europe to Denmark. Along the way, David learns about trust, courage, and goodness in the world.
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I Love You to Death 1990 R, 96 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Lawrence Kasdan
Cast: Kevin Kline, Tracey Ullman, Joan Plowright, River Phoenix, William Hurt, Keanu Reeves, James Gammon, Jack Kehler, Victoria Jackson, Miriam Margolyes
Joey (Kevin Kline) owns an apartment building and a pizza parlor. He has been fooling around with other women all over the place for years, until he is caught by his up-to-now trusting wife (Tracey Ullman). She decides that the right thing to do is to kill him, but proves incompetent getting the job done. So, she hires some professionals, who are just as bad, while Joey doesn't catch on to what's going on. Based (loosely) on a true story.
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Jane Eyre 1996 PG, 113 min.
Genre: Drama / Romance
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Cast: Charlotte Gainsbourg, William Hurt, Joan Plowright, Anna Paquin, Geraldine Chaplin, Fiona Shaw, John Wood, Josephine Serre, Billie Whitelaw, Maria Schneider, Nic Knight, Nicola Howard, Sasha Graff, Amanda Root, Leanne Rowe
This is Charlotte Bronte's classic tale of the persecuted girl, Jane Eyre (Charlotte Gainsbourg), who rises in life with her heartless aunt, Mrs. Reed (Fiona Shaw), and the repressive school run by the tyrannical Mr. Brocklehurst (John Wood). Following graduation, Jane is hired to care for a young child (Josephine Serre) and is taken under the wing of the maternal Mrs. Fairfax (Joan Plowright). Jane then finds her brooding soul mate in her master, Edward Rochester (William Hurt).
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Last Action Hero 1993 PG-13, 122 min.
Genre: Action / Comedy / Adventure / Fantasy
Director: John McTiernan
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austin O'Brien, F. Murray Abraham, Art Carney, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Mercedes Ruehl, Tom Noonan, Anthony Quinn, Chevy Chase, Danny DeVito, Charles Dance, Frank McRae, Robert Prosky, Ian McKellen, Joan Plowright
Eleven-year-old Danny (Austin O'Brien) gets a magic ticket, once owned by Houdini, to meet his hero Jack Slater (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Danny enters the theater and is catapulted from the real world of the theater, through the movie screen, and into Slater's sports car. Slater is battling a trio of bad guys–Benedict (Charles Dance), Vivaldi (Anthony Quinn), and The Ripper (Tom Noonan)–and Danny becomes his assistant. Then, Benedict steals Danny's magic ticket stub and propels himself into the real world where he and The Ripper create havoc on Times Square. Their actions force Slater to leave his cinematic world and cross over into reality to stop the villains. Will Slater's heroic actions succeed in the real world? The film is filled with cameo appearances/voices.
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Mr. Wrong 1996  PG-13, 96 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Nick Castle
Cast: Ellen DeGeneres, Bill Pullman, Joan Cusack, Joan Plowright, Dean Stockwell, John Livingston, Robert Goulet, Peter White, Hope Davis, Polly Holliday
Martha is a TV producer who, at 31 years of age, is under pressure from her family and friends to get married. The problem is finding the RIGHT man, not the WRONG one.
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Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont 2005 N/R, 108 min.
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Director: Dan Ireland
Cast: Joan Plowright, Rupert Friend, Anna Massey, Zoe Tapper, Robert Lang, Georgina Hale, Millicent Martin, Marcia Warren, Michael Culkin, Clare Higgins, Timothy Bateson, Olivia Caffrey
Elderly Mrs. Palfrey (Joan Plowright) is living out her last years in a London retirement home. One day, after retrieving her mail, she trips and is helped up by a young writer, Ludovic (Rupert Friend), who takes her to his sublet apartment where they strike up a friendship with Ludovic taking on the role of her grandson.
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A Pyromaniac's Love Story 1995 PG, 94 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Joshua Brand
Cast: William Baldwin, John Leguizamo, Sadie Frost, Erika Eleniak, Michael Lerner, Joan Plowright, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Mike Starr, Julio Oscar Mechoso
Pastry baker Sergio Cuccio (John Leguizamo) accepts money in return for confessing to arson in the fire at his pastry shop. No sooner does he confess, than others also falsely confess, and the real arsonist, Garet Lumpke (William Baldwin) finds himself out in the cold; he had set the fire to impress Stephanie (Erika Eleniak).
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The Return of the Native 1994 PG, 100 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Jack Gold
Cast: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Ray Stevenson, Clive Owen, Joan Plowright, Steven Mackintosh, Claire Skinner, Paul Rogers, Celia Imrie, Peter Wight, Gregg Saunders
Beautiful Eustacia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) lives in rustic Egdon Heath, but she dreams of living in Paris and thinks she has found her escape by marrying a Paris jeweler, Clym (Ray Stevenson), Plans go awry when Clym, for health reasons, opts to remain at Egdon Heath, but, undaunted, Eustacia now sets her sights on the rogue, Damon (Clive Owen).
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Revolution 1985 PG, 125 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Hugh Hudson
Cast: Al Pacino, Donald Sutherland, Nastassja Kinski, Joan Plowright, Annie Lennox, Dave King, Steven Berkoff, Gian Maria Volonte, Richard O'Brien, Harry Ditson
This story uses a few people as its core to show how they were affected and participated in America's Revolutionary War. The idea was good, but the movie comes off looking like a movie that might be shown in History 101.
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The Scarlet Letter 1995 R, 135 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Roland Joffe
Cast: Demi Moore, Gary Oldman, Robert Duvall, Joan Plowright, Robert Prosky, Roy Dotrice, Diane Salinger, Amy Wright, Dana Ivey, Edward Hardwicke
This is another film adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic novel about the public disgrace suffered by Hester Prynne following her adulterous affair resulting in an illegitimate birth.
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The Spiderwick Chronicles 2008 PG, 97 min.
Genre: Family / Adventure / Drama / Fantasy
Director: Mark Waters
Cast: Freddie Highmore, Mary-Louise Parker, Nick Nolte, Sarah Bolger, Andrew McCarthy, Joan Plowright, David Strathairn, Seth Rogen, Martin Short, Jordy Benattar, Tod Fennell, Mariah Inger, Tyler Patrick Jones
After ending her marriage, Helen (Mary-Louise Parker) moves with her children–nine-year-old twins Jared and Simon (both played by Freddie Highmore) and their 13-year-old sister Mallory (Sarah Bolger)–into a creepy country home inherited from her Aunt Lucinda (Joan Plowright) who is now in a mental institution. Jared misses his father and has a hot temper. So, when strange things begin to happen, Jared is suspected. But, Jared joins with his siblings in trying to figure out what is going on, and Jared discovers a dusty book with a note containing instructions to not open it. Of course, Jared opens the book and reads about magical creatures living in the woods near the house. Soon after, the children meet a hobgoblin Hogsqueal (voice of Seth Rogen) and a brownie Thimbletack (voice of Martin Short). Now they learn about an ogre Mulgarath (voice of Nick Nolte) who covets the book because it will give him the secrets necessary to rule the world. Will the children be able to protect themselves, and the world, from the army of goblins gathering on their lawn?
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Surviving Picasso 1996 R, 123 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: James Ivory
Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Natascha McElhone, Julianne Moore, Joss Ackland, Peter Eyre, Jane Lapotaire, Joan Plowright, Allegra Di Carpegna, Nigel Whitmey, Leon Lissek
Arianna Stassinopoulos's biography of Picasso is adapted to the screen in this film about the 10-year relationship of Picasso (Anthony Hopkins) and Francoise Gilot (Natasha McElhone).
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 Tea with Mussolini 1999 PG, 116 min.
Genre: Drama / Comedy
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Cast: Cher, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright, Maggie Smith, Lily Tomlin, Baird Wallace, Charlie Lucas, Massimo Ghini, Paolo Seganti, Claudio Spadaro
Based on Franco Ziffirelli's autobiography, this is the story of his childhood adoption by a band of ex-patriot women (Cher, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright, Maggie Smith, and Lily Tomlin) who were living in Italy on the eve of World War II.
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Three Sisters 1970 PG, 157 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Laurence Olivier, John Sichel
Cast: Jeanne Watts, Joan Plowright, Louise Purnell, Derek Jacobi, Laurence Olivier, Alan Bates, Ronald Pickup, Sheila Reid, Kenneth MacKintosh, Daphne Heard, Harry Lomax, Judy Wilson, Mary Griffiths, Frank Wylie, Richard Kay
This filmed rendition of Chekhov's play involves three impoverished sisters–Olga, Masha, and Irina Prozoroff (Jeanne Watts, Joan Plowright, and Louise Purnell)–who are unhappy with their family life. Their father has died, and now their sister-in-law Natasha (Sheila Reid) has moved in and taken over the family home. Frustrated with their lives, the sisters now decide to leave their small town and make Moscow their home.
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Wagner 1983  N/R, 300 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Tony Palmer
Cast: Richard Burton, Vanessa Redgrave, Gemma Craven, Laslo Galffi, John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, Laurence Olivier, Joan Plowright, Arthur Lowe, Franco Nero
Even in its cut version (the original was a nine hour British series), this film is a too-long, and dull, biography of composer Richard Wagner. Richard Burton is Wagner,
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Widows' Peak 1994 PG, 101 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: John Irvin
Cast: Joan Plowright, Mia Farrow, Natasha Richardson, Adrian Dunbar, Jim Broadbent, Gerard McSorley, Michael James Ford, Britta Smith, Ingrid Craigie, Eileen Colgan
This film is set in Kilshannon, Ireland, during 1926. Edwina Broome (Natasha Richardson) arrives on the scene and moves into a home on Widows' Peak. Trouble begins when she meets Miss O'Hare (Mia Farrow), and their worlds collide. Joan Plowright plays Mrs. Doyle-Counihan, the unofficial social leader of Widows' Peak.
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| 1. 101 Dalmatians (1996)
2. The Assistant (1997)
3. Avalon (1990)
4. Back to the Secret Garden (2000)
5. Brimstone & Treacle (1982)
6. Bringing Down the House (2003)
7. Britannia Hospital (1982)
8. Callas Forever (2002)
9. Clothes in the Wardrobe (1992)
aka: The Summer House
10. Curious George (2006)
11. Dance with Me (1998)
12. Dennis the Menace (1993)
13. Dinosaur (2000)
14. Enchanted April (1992)
15. The Entertainer (1960)
16. Equus (1977)
17. I Am David (2003)
18. I Love You to Death (1990)
19. Jane Eyre (1996)
20. Last Action Hero (1993)
21. Mr. Wrong (1996)
22. Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (2005)
23. A Pyromaniac's Love Story (1995)
24. The Return of the Native (1994)
25. Revolution (1985)
26. The Scarlet Letter (1995)
27. The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)
28. Surviving Picasso (1996)
29. Tea with Mussolini (1999)
30. Three Sisters (1970)
31. Wagner (1983)
32. Widows' Peak (1994)
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