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A Good Woman (film)
''A Good Woman'' is a 2004 romantic comedy drama film directed by Mike Barker. The screenplay by Howard Himelstein is based on the 1892 play ''Lady Windermere's Fan'' by Oscar Wilde. It is the fourth screen version of the work, following a 1916 silent film using Wilde's original title, Ernst Lubitsch's 1925 version and Otto Preminger's 1949 adaptation entitled '' The Fan''. Plot In 1930 New York City, femme fatale Mrs. Erlynne finds that she is no longer welcomed by either the high-ranking men she has seduced or the society wives she has betrayed. Selling her jewelry, she buys passage on a liner bound for Amalfi, Italy, where she apparently sets her sights on newlywed Robert Windermere. When his car frequently is seen parked outside her villa, local gossips become convinced the two are having an affair. Robert's demure wife Meg remains oblivious to the stories about the two circulating throughout the town, but when she discovers her husband's cheque register with numerous s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Barker (film Director)
Michael or Mike Barker may refer to: *Michael Barker (British Army officer) (1884–1960), British Army general *Michael Barker (drummer) (born 1966), New Zealand percussionist * Michael Barker (judge), of the Supreme Court of Western Australia and the Federal Court of Australia *Michael Barker (executive), co-president and co-founder of Sony Pictures Classics *Mike Barker (director) (born 1965), film and television director *Mike Barker (producer) Michael Wayne Barker (born June 7, 1968) is an American writer, producer and former voice actor best known for his work on the Fox adult animated television series ''Family Guy'' and for co-creating ''American Dad!''. He has also done voice wo ... (born 1968), co-creator of ''American Dad!'' * Mickey Barker (born 1956), English football player {{hndis, Barker, Michael ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comedy Drama
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical hour-long legal or medical drama, but exhibit far fewer jokes-per-minute as in a typical half-hour sitcom. In the United States Examples from United States television include: ''M*A*S*H (TV series), M*A*S*H'', ''Moonlighting (TV series), Moonlighting'', ''The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd'', ''Northern Exposure'', ''Ally McBeal'', ''Sex and the City'', ''Desperate Housewives'' and ''Scrubs (TV series), Scrubs''. The term "dramedy" was coined to describe the late 1980s wave of shows, including ''The Wonder Years'', ''Hooperman'', ''Doogie Howser, M.D.'' and ''Frank's Place''. See also *List of comedy drama television series *Black comedy *Dramatic structure *Melodrama *Seriousness *Tragicomedy *Psychological ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jane How
Carolyn Jane Onslow How (born 21 December 1950) is an English actress with a range of television, film, and stage credits. She is best known for her role as Jan Hammond, the mistress of Den Watts in ''EastEnders''. She appeared in the programme regularly from 1986 to 1987 and also made brief return appearances in 2002 and 2003, the latter leading up to Den's return to the show. Career After training at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, where she won the Rodney Millington Award, she spent several years in provincial theatre. Other roles include two series of "The Spoils of War ", ''War and Remembrance'', ''A.D.'', "Anglo Saxon Attitudes", "The Cazalet Chronicles", "Zoya", "Love in a Cold Climate", another famous mistress, Camilla Parker Bowles, in the TV movie '' Charles and Diana: Unhappily Ever After'' (1992). She has also appeared in ''The Citadel'', ''Midsomer Murders'', ''Judge John Deed'', "Byron", '' Bad Girls'', "Love Soup", "Armadillo", ''Agatha Christie's Po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roger Hammond (actor)
John Roger Hammond (21 March 1936 – 8 November 2012) was an English character actor who appeared in many films and television series. Hammond's father was a chartered accountant and managing director of a cotton mill. John attended Stockport Grammar School for two years followed by Bryanston School in Dorset. He then went to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he initially read English, then switched to archaeology and anthropology and he appeared extensively in their drama programme, alongside actors such as Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi. Following that, he attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In 1963, he joined the Arts Theatre Company, and appeared in a number of productions there, including productions of the associated Unicorn Theatre. In 1964, Hammond made his first television appearance, as Tidiman in an episode of ''The Villains'', and his first film appearance the next year. Although he worked primarily as a television actor in his early years, from the 1990 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diana Hardcastle
Diana Hardcastle Wilkinson is an English actress who has appeared largely in television roles. Career Hardcastle has appeared in episodes of ''Midsomer Murders'', '' Inspector Lynley'' and ''Taggart''. She played recurring roles in the series ''First Among Equals'' and '' Fortunes of War''. In 2011, Hardcastle and actor Tom Wilkinson, her husband, portrayed real life husband and wife Joe and Rose Kennedy in the mini series '' The Kennedys''. In 2012, she had a supporting role in the film ''The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel'', in which her husband starred (their characters did not interact), and a returning role in the 2015 sequel ''The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel ''The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel'' is a 2015 comedy-drama film directed by John Madden and written by Ol Parker. It is the sequel to the 2011 sleeper hit film ''The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel'' and features an ensemble cast consisting o ...''. Wilkinson and Hardcastle again played husband and wife in '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extortion
Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded threats in order to obtain an unfair business advantage is also a form of extortion. Extortion is sometimes called the "protection racket" because the racketeers often phrase their demands as payment for "protection" from (real or hypothetical) threats from unspecified other parties; though often, and almost always, such "protection" is simply abstinence of harm from the same party, and such is implied in the "protection" offer. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime. In some jurisdictions, actually obtaining the benefit is not required to commit the offense, and making a threat of violence which refers to a requirement of a payment of money or property to halt future violence is sufficient to commit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amalfi
Amalfi (, , ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno, in the region of Campania, Italy, on the Gulf of Salerno. It lies at the mouth of a deep ravine, at the foot of Monte Cerreto (1,315 metres, 4,314 feet), surrounded by dramatic cliffs and coastal scenery. The town of Amalfi was the capital of the maritime republic known as the Duchy of Amalfi, an important trading power in the Mediterranean between 839 and around 1200. In the 1920s and 1930s, Amalfi was a popular holiday destination for the British upper class and aristocracy Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At t .... Amalfi is the main town of the coast on which it is located, named '' Costiera Amalfitana'' (Amalfi Coast), and is today an important tourist destination together with other towns on the sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Femme Fatale
A ''femme fatale'' ( or ; ), sometimes called a maneater or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype of literature and art. Her ability to enchant, entice and hypnotize her victim with a spell was in the earliest stories seen as verging on supernatural; hence, the femme fatale today is still often described as having a power akin to an enchantress, seductress, witch, having power over men. Femmes fatales are typically villainous, or at least morally ambiguous, and always associated with a sense of mystification, and unease.Mary Ann Doane, ''Femme Fatales'' (1991) pp. 1–2 The term originates from the French phrase '' femme fatale'', which means 'deadly woman' or 'lethal woman'. A femme fatale tries to achieve her hidden purpose by using feminine wiles such as beauty, charm, or sexual allure. In many cases, her attitude towards sexuality is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fan (1949 Film)
''The Fan'' is a 1949 American drama film directed by Otto Preminger, starring Jeanne Crain, Madeleine Carroll, George Sanders, and Richard Greene. The screenplay by Dorothy Parker, Walter Reisch, and Ross Evans is based on the 1892 play ''Lady Windermere's Fan'' by Oscar Wilde. The play had been filmed several times before, with a 1916 silent film, a later adaptation by Ernst Lubitsch in 1925 as well as versions in Spanish and Chinese. Plot In a post-World War II London auction house, an elderly woman is trying to acquire an attractive fan she claims was once hers. A flashback to the Victorian era reveals she is the scandalous Mrs. Erlynne, who in middle age becomes associated with Lord Arthur Windermere, whose young and beautiful but socially conservative wife Margaret tends to judge others harshly. Lord Windermere financially supports Mrs. Erlynne, allowing her to live in the elegant manner to which she is accustomed, and the couple become the favourite subject of local gossip ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Otto Preminger
Otto Ludwig Preminger ( , ; 5 December 1905 – 23 April 1986) was an Austrian-American theatre and film director, film producer, and actor. He directed more than 35 feature films in a five-decade career after leaving the theatre. He first gained attention for film noir mysteries such as '' Laura'' (1944) and ''Fallen Angel'' (1945), while in the 1950s and 1960s, he directed high-profile adaptations of popular novels and stage works. Several of these later films pushed the boundaries of censorship by dealing with themes which were then taboo in Hollywood, such as drug addiction (''The Man with the Golden Arm'', 1955), rape (''Anatomy of a Murder'', 1959) and homosexuality (''Advise & Consent'', 1962). He was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. He also had several acting roles. Early life Preminger was born in 1905 in Wischnitz, Bukovina, Austro-Hungarian Empire (present-day Vyzhnytsia, Ukraine), into a Jewish family. His parents were Josefa (née Fraenke ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lady Windermere's Fan (1925 Film)
''Lady Windermere's Fan'' is a 1925 American silent film, silent film directed by Ernst Lubitsch. It is based on Oscar Wilde's 1892 play ''Lady Windermere's Fan'' which was first played in America by Julia Arthur as Lady Windermere and Maurice Barrymore as Lord Darlington. The film is being preserved by several archives. It was transferred onto 16mm film by Associated Artists Productions in the 1950s and shown on television. In 2002, ''Lady Windermere's Fan'' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Plot In London, Lady Margaret Windermere is busy discouraging Lord Darlington's flirting, while her husband receives a letter from Edith Erlynne, "a complete stranger," asking to meet him on an urgent matter. A woman of great beauty but terrible reputation, she reveals that she is the mother of Lady Windermere, who believes she is dead and reveres her mem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch (; January 29, 1892November 30, 1947) was a German-born American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch". Among his best known works are '' Trouble in Paradise'', ''Design for Living'', ''Ninotchka'', ''The Shop Around the Corner'', ''To Be or Not to Be'' and '' Heaven Can Wait''. In 1946, he received an Honorary Academy Award for his distinguished contributions to the art of the motion picture. Early life Lubitsch was born in 1892 in Berlin, the son of Simon Lubitsch, a tailor, and Anna (née) Lindenstaedt. His family was Ashkenazi Jewish; his father was born in Grodno in the Russian Empire (now Belarus), and his mother was from Wriezen outside Berlin. He turned his back on his father's tailoring business to enter the theater, and by 1911 was a member of Max Reinhar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
