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La Grande Bretèche
''La Grande Bretèche'' is a short story by Honoré de Balzac published in 1831. It is one of the ''Scènes de la vie privée'' of ''La Comédie humaine''. Plot Dr. Horace Bianchon discovers near the town of Vendôme an abandoned manor: La Grande Bretèche. Intrigued by the ruins, the doctor tries unsuccessfully to enter the house night after night. Upon returning to the inn where he is staying, he questions the locals about the house. Finally several locals, including a lawyer and the innkeeper, explain the story of the manor. Madame de Merret, the late owner of the manor, forbade anyone from entering the house upon her death, be it workmen, visitors, or government officials, for 50 years. The lawyer was given the task, as well as funds, to ensure that her dying wish be accomplished. Dr. Bianchon learned that Madame de Merret had a Spanish lover for a short period of her life. One day, Madame de Merret's husband returned early from a business trip when her lover was at the hou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Honoré De Balzac
Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly ; ; born Honoré Balzac; 20 May 1799 – 18 August 1850) was a French novelist and playwright. The novel sequence ''La Comédie humaine'', which presents a panorama of post-Napoleonic French life, is generally viewed as his ''Masterpiece, magnum opus''. Owing to his keen observation of detail and unfiltered representation of society, Balzac is regarded as one of the founders of Literary realism, realism in European literature. He is renowned for his multi-faceted characters; even his lesser characters are complex, morally ambiguous and fully human. Inanimate objects are imbued with character as well; the city of Paris, a backdrop for much of his writing, takes on many human qualities. His writing influenced many famous writers, including the novelists Émile Zola, Charles Dickens, Marcel Proust, Gustave Flaubert, and Henry James, and filmmakers François Truffaut and Jacques Rivette. Many of Balzac's works have been made into films an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Cushing
Peter Wilton Cushing (26 May 1913 – 11 August 1994) was an English actor. His acting career spanned over six decades and included appearances in more than 100 films, as well as many television, stage and radio roles. He achieved recognition for his leading performances in the Hammer Film Productions, Hammer Productions horror films from the 1950s to 1970s and as Grand Moff Tarkin in ''Star Wars (film), Star Wars'' (1977). Born in Kenley, Surrey, Cushing made his stage debut in 1935 and spent three years at a repertory theatre before moving to Hollywood to pursue a film career. After making his motion-picture debut in the film ''The Man in the Iron Mask (1939 film), The Man in the Iron Mask'' (1939), Cushing began to find modest success in American films before returning to England at the outbreak of the Second World War. Despite performing in a string of roles, including one as Characters in Hamlet#Osric, Osric in Laurence Olivier's film adaptation of ''Hamlet (1948 film), Ham ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is among the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. Aged 21, Welles directed high-profile stage productions for the Federal Theatre Project in New York City—starting with a celebrated Voodoo Macbeth, 1936 adaptation of ''Macbeth'' with an African-American cast, and ending with the political musical ''The Cradle Will Rock'' in 1937. He and John Houseman founded the Mercury Theatre, an independent repertory theatre company that presented productions on Broadway through 1941, including a modern, politically charged ''Caesar (Mercury Theatre), Caesar'' (1937). In 1938, his radio anthology series ''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' gave Welles the platform to find international fame as the director and narrator of The War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama), a radio adaptation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Sasdy
Peter Sasdy (born 27 May 1935 in Budapest, Hungary) is a British film and television director. In addition to his numerous TV credits, notable among which is the Nigel Kneale-scripted '' The Stone Tape'' (1972), he directed several horror films for Hammer, including '' Taste the Blood of Dracula'' (1970), '' Countess Dracula'' (1971) and '' Hands of the Ripper'' (1971). Pirie, David, "New Blood", in '' Sight & Sound'', volume 40, issue 2 (Spring 1971): 73. Sasdy directed the 1960s TV series ''Wuthering Heights'', '' The Tenant of Wildfell Hall'' and '' The Spoils of Poynton'' for BBC TV. He also directed several early episodes of the hit TV series '' Minder'', and earned a Razzie Award for his direction of the 1983 film '' The Lonely Lady''. He directed three different adaptations of Sherlock Holmes stories: ''The Illustrious Client'', the first episode of the 1965 BBC series starring Douglas Wilmer as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Stock as Dr. Watson; one episode (''The Case ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orson Welles' Great Mysteries
''Orson Welles Great Mysteries'' is a British television series originally transmitted between 1973 and 1974, produced by ITV Anglia, Anglia Television for the ITV (TV network), ITV network. The series is an anthology series, anthology of mystery stories. Each episode is introduced by Orson Welles, the only regular actor in the series, whose appearances were confined to the introductory and closing sequences. In the opening titles, Welles appears shown in silhouette walking through a hallway towards the camera, smoking a cigar and outfitted in a broad-brimmed hat and a huge cloak. When he actually appears on-screen to introduce the episodes, his face is all that is shown, in extreme close-up and very low lighting. Parody Welles' introductory sequence was parodied by Benny Hill (as Pun, "Orson Buggy") in an episode of The Benny Hill Show, his television program. Availability The home media rights are held by ITV Studios. In 2019 Network released half of the series on Regio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Grande Bretèche (1973 Film)
''La Grande Bretèche'' is a short story by Honoré de Balzac published in 1831. It is one of the ''Scènes de la vie privée'' of ''La Comédie humaine''. Plot Dr. Horace Bianchon discovers near the town of Vendôme an abandoned manor: La Grande Bretèche. Intrigued by the ruins, the doctor tries unsuccessfully to enter the house night after night. Upon returning to the inn where he is staying, he questions the locals about the house. Finally several locals, including a lawyer and the innkeeper, explain the story of the manor. Madame de Merret, the late owner of the manor, forbade anyone from entering the house upon her death, be it workmen, visitors, or government officials, for 50 years. The lawyer was given the task, as well as funds, to ensure that her dying wish be accomplished. Dr. Bianchon learned that Madame de Merret had a Spanish lover for a short period of her life. One day, Madame de Merret's husband returned early from a business trip when her lover was at the hou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avery Claflin
Avery Claflin (January 21, 1898 - January 9, 1979) was an American composer, although he studied law and business, later pursuing a career in banking. He served as president for the French American Banking Corp. He took music courses at Harvard University. Among Claflin's teachers was the French composer Erik Satie. Claflin was a business associate of Charles Ives. Although he worked in business, Claflin found time to compose music and be active in various musical organizations. He retired in 1954, and he composed many of his works after this date. Among his works is a madrigal, ''Lament for April 15,'' which uses as its text instructions for an Internal Revenue Service tax form. This choral work received its premiere in 1955 at Tanglewood, in Berkshire County, Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Weird Circle
''The Weird Circle'' was a syndicated radio drama series produced in New York and originally broadcast between 1943 and 1945. Production background The series was a Ziv Production, produced at RCA's New York studios and licensed by the Mutual Broadcasting System, and later, NBC's Red network. It lasted two seasons, 39 shows each (78 total) consisting mostly of radio adaptations of classic horror or supernatural stories written by authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson and Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by .... A few scripts were written specifically for the series. The production values were modest and ''The Weird Circle'' featured very little music.Weird Circle entry o''Radio Horror Hosts'' website Accessed July 4, 2013 Series ope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Micheline Presle
Micheline Presle (; born Micheline Nicole Julia Émilienne Chassagne; 22 August 1922 – 21 February 2024) was a French actress. She was sometimes billed as Micheline Prelle. Starting her career in 1937, she starred or appeared in over 150 films appearing first in productions in her native France and also in Hollywood during the era of Classical Hollywood Cinema, before returning again to Europe, especially French films from the mid-1960s until 2014. Biography Early life Born in Paris on the left bank on 22 August 1922, Presle wanted to be an actress from an early age. She took acting classes in her early teens. She was the daughter of Robert Chassagne, a French banker (who fled to the United States amid a finance scandal) and artist Julie Bachelier. She received early education in a convent school, but took acting classes with the Belgian actor Raymond Rouleau. She reprised the relationship by appearing with him in '' Falbalas'', a/k/a '' Paris Frills'' (1945). Early French ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pierre Blanchar
Pierre Blanchar (; 30 June 1892 – 21 November 1963) was a French actor. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1922 and 1961. Blanchar was married to actress Marthe Vinot, with whom he had a daughter, actress Dominique Blanchar. He played Napoleon in the 1938 British film '' A Royal Divorce'' alongside Ruth Chatterton as Josephine. He later appeared alongside Michèle Morgan in the 1946 film '' Pastoral Symphony''. Selected filmography * '' The Gardens of Murcia'' (1923) * '' The Thruster'' (1924) * '' The Promised Land'' (1925) * '' Le Joueur d'échecs'' (1927) * '' The Farewell Waltz'' (1928) * '' The Wedding March'' (1929) * '' Captain Fracasse'' (1929) * '' Les Croix de bois'' (1932) * '' The Beautiful Sailor'' (1932) * '' L'Atlantide'' (1932) * '' The Old Devil'' (1933) * '' At the End of the World'' (1934) * '' The Devil in the Bottle'' (1935) * ''Crime and Punishment ''Crime and Punishment'' is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
