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The Wind In The Willows (1996 Film)
''The Wind in the Willows'' (released as ''Mr. Toad's Wild Ride'' in the United States) is a 1996 British adventure comedy film based on Kenneth Grahame's 1908 novel '' The Wind in the Willows'', adapted and directed by Terry Jones, and produced by Jake Eberts and John Goldstone. The film stars Terry Jones, Steve Coogan, Eric Idle and Nicol Williamson. While positively regarded, it was a box-office bomb and had distribution problems in the United States. Plot Mole's underground home is caved in when the meadow above is crushed by a steam shovel driven by Weasels. The Water Rat takes Mole to see Mr. Toad, who encourages them to join them in his new horse-drawn caravan. After a motor car frightens the horse and the caravan tips over, Toad becomes infatuated with motoring. He is a terrible driver and funds his cars with loans from the Weasels; their vindictive Chief blackmails him to sell Toad Hall. After an encounter with Weasels in the Wild Wood, Toad, Rat, and Mole end ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terry Jones
Terence Graham Parry Jones (1 February 1942 – 21 January 2020) was a Welsh actor, comedian, director, historian, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones and writing partner Michael Palin wrote and performed for several high-profile British comedy programmes, including '' Do Not Adjust Your Set'' and '' The Frost Report'', before creating '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'' with Cambridge graduates Graham Chapman, John Cleese, and Eric Idle and American animator-filmmaker Terry Gilliam. Jones was largely responsible for the programme's innovative, surreal structure, in which sketches flowed from one to the next without the use of punch lines. He made his directorial debut with ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'', which he co-directed with Gilliam, and also directed the subsequent Python films '' Life of Brian'' and '' The Meaning of Life''. Jones co-created and co-wrote with Palin the anthol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guild Home Video
Guild Home Video (GHV) or Guild Film Distribution was one of the first video distribution companies to start operating in the UK. Unlike other independent labels such as Intervision or Videoform, GHV not only survived for a very long time, but continued to grow, eventually becoming a video distributor for independent studios such as Carolco, New Line Cinema, Cannon, and Lorimar. Origins Originally based in Oundle Road, Peterborough before moving to Church Street, Walton-on-Thames, Guild Home Video were one of the biggest of the early video companies, and responsible for distributing a large and varied catalogue of movies. The initial batch of releases came out in mid-1980 and were easily recognisable by the sky blue, stylised 'G' symbol that the company retained throughout its life (with only a colour change to gold in 1987) and the logo was redrawn for an updated, cleaner look in 1984. The original Guild catalogue included a large array of features ranging from creaky and date ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roger Ashton-Griffiths
Roger Ashton-Griffiths (born 19 January 1957) is an English character actor, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his role as Mace Tyrell in the HBO fantasy series ''Game of Thrones''. Life and career Born in Hertfordshire, Ashton-Griffiths attended Altrincham Grammar School for Boys in Manchester. He then read music at Lancaster University, where he was a member of Furness College, graduating in 1978. He began his career as a singer with the English National Opera at the London Coliseum between 1979 and 1981. He has appeared in numerous high-profile films, including Terry Gilliam's ''Brazil'' (1985) and ''The Brothers Grimm'' (2005), '' Dreamchild'' (1985), ''Young Sherlock Holmes'' (1985), Gene Wilder's '' Haunted Honeymoon'' (1986), Roman Polanski's ''Pirates'' (1986), Peter Greenaway's '' The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover'' (1989), '' Mountains of the Moon'' (1990), ''Chicago Joe and the Showgirl'' (1990), '' Shadowlands'' (1993), '' The Portrait ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Boswall
John Boswall (2 May 1920 – 6 June 2011) was a British actor known for playing Emmanuel Goldstein in ''1984'' and Wyvern in '' Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.'' Early life and education Boswall was born John Stuart on 2 May 1920 in Oxfordshire, England. Prior to his career as an actor, he attended the University of Oxford and served in Burma during World War II. Career Boswall's television appearances included ''Paul Temple'' (1971), ''Wessex Tales'' (1973), ''Lady Killer'' (1973), ''Edward the Seventh'' (1975), ''The Onedin Line'' (1976), ''Love in a Cold Climate'' (1980), ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' (1982), ''Sapphire & Steel'' (1982), '' No Place Like Home'' (1986), ''EastEnders'' (1990, 2002), ''Selling Hitler'' (1991), ''Agatha Christie's Poirot'' (1991), ''Drop the Dead Donkey'' (1993), ''Lovejoy'' (1993), ''Poldark'' (1996), ''Doctors'' (2000), ''Rome'' (2005) and ''Terry Pratchett's Hogfather'' (2006). [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nigel Planer
Nigel George Planer (born 22 February 1953) is a British actor, writer and musician. His television credits include playing Neil in the sitcom '' The Young Ones'' and Ralph Filthy in the sitcom '' Filthy Rich & Catflap'', as well as narrating the children's animated series '' Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids''. He has appeared in many West End musicals, including original casts of '' Evita'', ''Chicago'', ''We Will Rock You'', '' Wicked'', and '' Charlie and the Chocolate Factory''. He has also appeared in '' Hairspray''. He won a BRIT award in 1984 and has been nominated for Olivier, TMA, WhatsOnStage, and BAFTA awards. Early life Nigel Planer is the son of Dr George and Lesley Planer and was brought up in Mortlake, London. He has two brothers, Geoffrey and Roger, (a businessman and a musician) His father George (d 2016) established a company which pioneered technology in controlled-rate freezers, IVF and stem cell research. His mother, Lesley (d 2000) was a speech therapist. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Bathurst
Robert Guy Bathurst (born 22 February 1957) is a British actor. Bathurst was born in The Gold Coast (British colony), The Gold Coast (now Ghana) in 1957, where his father was working as a management consultant. In 1959, his family moved to Ballybrack, Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and Bathurst attended school in Killiney and later was enrolled at Headfort School, Headfort, an Irish boarding school. In 1966, the family moved back to England and Bathurst transferred to Worth School in Sussex, where he took up amateur dramatics. At the age of 18, he read law at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and joined the Footlights group. After graduating, he took up acting full-time and made his professional stage debut in 1983, playing Tim Allgood in Michael Frayn's ''Noises Off'', which ran for a year at the Savoy Theatre. To broaden his knowledge of working on stage, he joined the Royal National Theatre, National Theatre. He supplemented his stage roles in the 1980s with television role ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keith-Lee Castle
Keith-Lee Castle (born 14 September 1968) is a British actor. He is best known for playing Count Dracula in the CBBC series ''Young Dracula'' (2006-2014). Career Throughout his career, he has guest-starred in numerous television shows, mostly British. He has also appeared in several films, including playing 'the psychotic Psychs', the owner of the doll, in ''Seed of Chucky'' (2004), and Clarence Weasel in ''The Wind in the Willows'' (1996), based on the popular book. To portray the rather loony weasel he wore small furry ears, a long tail and a long, yellow swishing coat. He also had a small part in ''Velvet Goldmine'' (1998) and in ''EastEnders'' (1999) as Dean Collins. In 2000, Castle starred in the ''Urban Gothic'' episode "Vampirology", in which he play a Soho vampire followed around by a documentary crew. To his younger viewers, he is probably best known for his role in the CBBC series ''Young Dracula'', which debuted 2006 and ended in 2014, as the infamous and evil Cou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catcher Pouch
] A catcher pouch is a mail bag that can be used in conjunction with a mail hook to "catch" mail awaiting pickup from a moving train. Catcher pouches were most often used by railway post offices in the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. Its use was limited to exchanges onto moving trains. The specially constructed catcher pouch was grabbed by the catcher mechanism in the passing railway car and the catcher pouch would release from the holding rings on the mail crane. This technique was known as "mail on the fly". Starting in the 1870s the use of this technique of the Railway Mail Service was an important issue in the United States. It was a popular technique and the backbone of the United States Postal Service through the 1930s.As the United States Postal Service undergoes its fiscal crisis in the second decade of the 21st century, it is well to note that these are not entirely new problems. A national pickup and delivery system to remote and small locales is a f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SECR C Class
The South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR) C Class is a class of 0-6-0 steam locomotive, designed by Harry Wainwright and built between 1900 and 1908. They were designed for freight duties, although occasionally used for passenger trains. They operated over the lines of the railway in London and south-east England until the early 1960s. One example was rebuilt as an S Class saddle tank. History The SECR held trials in November 1898 to decide on a standard freight locomotive design. Two existing 0-6-0 locomotives were tested: former London, Chatham and Dover Railway B2 class No. 194 designed by William Kirtley; and former South Eastern Railway O class No. 436 designed by James Stirling. The Kirtley design proved superior and a new order for 40 locomotives based on it was placed. These new locomotives were designed by Harry Wainwright, the new Chief Mechanical Engineer of the railway, and formed the first of the C class. The first fifteen locomotives were constructed b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sardonicism
Sardonicism is form of wit or humour, where being sardonic often involves expressing an uncomfortable truth in a clever and not necessarily malicious way, often with a degree of distrust or skepticism; or behavior disdainfully, cynically humorous, frequently based on scornful mocking. This gave birth to a literary genre emphasizing the behavior. Origin Both the concept and the etymology of the root word “sardonic” are of uncertain origin, but appear to stem from the Mediterranean island of Sardinia. The 10th-century Byzantine Greek encyclopedia ''Suda'' traces the word's earliest roots to the notion of grinning () in the face of danger, or curling one's lips back at evil. One explanation for the later alteration to its more familiar form and connection to laughter (supported by the ''Oxford English Dictionary'') appears to stem from an ancient belief that ingesting the ''sardonion'' (σαρδόνιον) plant from Sardinia (Σαρδώ) would result in convulsions resemb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Box-office Bomb
A box-office bomb is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the combined production budget, marketing, and distribution costs exceed the revenue after release has technically "bombed", the term is more frequently used for major studio releases that were highly anticipated, extensively marketed, and expensive to produce, but nevertheless failed commercially. Originally, a "bomb" had the opposite meaning, referring instead to a successful film that "exploded" at the box office. The term continued to be used this way in the United Kingdom into the 1970s. Causes Negative word of mouth With the advent of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter in the 2000s, word of mouth regarding new films is easily spread and has had a marked effect on box office performance. A film's ability or failure to attract positive or negative commentary can strongly impact its performance at the box office, espe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comedy Film
The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the oldest genres in film, and it is derived from classical comedy in theatre. Some of the earliest silent films were slapstick comedies, which often relied on visual depictions, such as sight gags and pratfalls, so they could be enjoyed without requiring sound. To provide drama and excitement to silent movies, live music was played in sync with the action on the screen, on pianos, organs, and other instruments. When sound films became more prevalent during the 1920s, comedy films grew in popularity, as laughter could result from both burlesque situations but also from humorous dialogue. Comedy, compared with other film genres, places more focus on individual star actors, with many former stand-up comics transitioning to the film industry ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
