Labyrinth (1986)

Where everything seems possible and nothing is what it seems...
David Bowie stars in the 1986 childrens Fantasy Musical; Labyrinth.

Plot Synopsis;
Sarah Williams (Jennifer Connelly) was a teenager with a large imagination and love for fantasy stories, so much so that she enacted her favorite storybook, the Labyrinth, whenever she could. She happened to have been pretending that she was the heroine in her story while wandering in the park near her house when the clock on the near by city hall building struck, informing her it was 7pm. She realized she was an hour late and needed to get home to watch her baby stepbrother, Toby (Toby Froud). After arguing with her stepmother about her tardiness and feeling ignored by her father, Sarah was left alone with her fussy infant brother. Angered that her stepmother had given her brother one of her favorite teddy bears, a tattered toy called Lancelot, Sarah shouted into the air for someone to take her away from 'this awful place.' To get Toby to stop crying, she told him the story of how the Goblin King was in love with the girl who was 'forced to stay at home with the baby' and that he had 'given her certain powers.' But Sarah in no way believed this story could be real.

In anger that the child wouldn't stop crying, Sarah did call for the goblins to take her brother. They took Toby away and Jareth (David Bowie), the King of the Goblins, gave her an option; she could take her dreams or spend 13 hours in his kingdom, an ever-changing maze called the Labyrinth. If she was able to get to the castle at the center within the specified time, her brother would be spared from becoming a goblin. Sarah was resolved to save her brother and the king left her to do her task.

She immediately met an ancient looking dwarf with a feisty attitude who shows her how to enter the Labyrinth. His name was Hoggle (voice Brian Henson) and he told her not to take anything for granted in this place; she didn't seem to find him very helpful and basically told him to leave. However, eventually she got herself stuck in an oubliette, and the one sent by the Goblin King to 'rescue' her was Hoggle.

But Hoggle was beginning to like Sarah and against the orders he was given to send her back to the beginning of the Labyrinth, having her start all over again, he makes the choice to help her get to the center and reach her brother. This does not bode well with Jareth, who at Sarah's haughty attitude took three hours of her time away and threatened to send Hoggle to the most horrible place known in the Labyrinth, a stinky land of slimy mud called the Bog of Eternal Stench, for his betrayal. Then Jareth turned to Sarah and asked her how she was enjoying his Labyrinth. When she flippantly said it was a 'piece of cake,' the king sent a machine covered in spinning knives after her and Hoggle, then disappeared. They were able to escape, yet Hoggle got scared by the sound of a howling creature and said he was a friend to no one but himself, leaving Sarah to fend for herself.



Sarah forced herself not to be afraid, remembering she was told 'things aren't always what they seem in this place.' She found Ludo, a furry giant beast and a gentle creature despite his massive size, who became her friend when she saved him from being tortured by a bunch of goblins. But she became separated from Ludo too and found herself in a strange forest where she met the Firies, creatures that were able to dismember themselves and take off their heads. They tried to take off her head, which of course didn't work, but they didn't stop trying to mutilate her, so she threw their heads away. Hoggle came to her rescue, but she didn't know that the Goblin King had threatened him that if she ever kissed him, he would immediately be sent to the Bog. As soon as her lips touched the dwarf's bald head, the stones beneath them shook and they fell to the Bog. Thankfully they didn't fall in to the muck. They found Ludo here and met Sir Didymus, a fox knight with a sheepdog as his steed, who decided to aid Sarah in her quest for her brother. As the castle was not much further, there was hardly anything left to prevent her from reaching Toby in time.

Except one thing. The Goblin King had forced something on Hoggle; he was to give Sarah a peach that would make her forget about Toby. And Sarah was hungry, which left Hoggle no choice but to give the fruit to her. Handing it to her, he left in shame of having to obey the king.

By eating the peach, Sarah found herself in a dream, in a ballroom full of masked faces. She wore a beautiful silver gown and the Goblin King held tightly to her in a dance, but she knew there was something she had to do so she left his arms and broke free of the crystal ball he had placed her in.

She awoke in a junkyard, peach in hand, but she still couldn't remember what she was supposed to be doing. A goblin woman with a collection of knickknacks on her back led her to a room; her bedroom. Sarah ran to her bed and flopped down on it, burying her face in the pillow. It had all been just a terrible dream. But it wasn't a dream, for as soon as she opened her bedroom door, the goblin woman came in and tried to get her to begin a collection of knickknacks from her room for herself. One of the items happened to be her book of the Labyrinth and she was immediately reminded that she needed to save Toby. Her friends had followed her to the junkyard when she had been trapped in the crystal and pulled her to safety. They quickly hurried to the nearby castle, for she had less than an hour left.

They entered the Goblin City, which surrounded the castle, and soon found goblins attacking them in hordes. But eventually they made it through the chaos to the castle. The throne room was empty and a clock on the wall let Sarah know she had less than 5 minutes left to reach her brother. The only direction Jareth could have taken Toby was up the stairs, and Sarah went it alone, to the concern of her friends.

When she reached the room at the top she had to hold to the wall to keep from getting dizzy. This room had many stairways that led to nowhere and walkways between. There was no up or down and she didn't know which way to go. But the Goblin King made himself known, standing below her and she gasped when she saw him. He easily walked around the ledge to her, even walked straight through her, trying to intimidate her. With an evil grin he threw a crystal and she watched as it bounced across the multiple perspectives of the room, only to land in the hands of her brother, who seemed to be sitting upside down above her. Now that she knew where Toby was, all she had to do was get to him, but that was the whole problem. Toby would crawl somewhere different the second she thought she had neared him, and unlike her, he didn't know he wasn't supposed to be able to defy gravity and crawl on the ceiling. Finally she found him directly below her, sitting on the floor, dangling his feet over the ledge of a door. Toby was right there, twenty feet below her, and she had no way of getting to him. Sarah didn't know how long this had been taking her but knew she hardly had time left. All that she knew was that if she didn't hold Toby in her arms in time, he would never be the same again; she had to save him from becoming a goblin. So with a gulp and wincing her face at the thought of how broken her bones would be once she fell to the ground beside him, she jumped.

But she didn't hit the floor. In fact, as she kept falling, the room was breaking up around her. Finally her feet hit floor and she found the Goblin King slowly walking towards her from out of the shadows. He wore all white, his cape of feathers flowing about him as he neared her. She began to state the lines her story said would defeat him and finalize her brother's safety, but the king stopped her and offered her dreams to her once again; he even offered himself. But her only resolve was to save Toby, so she completed her dialog and found herself back in her home. The defeated Goblin King flew out the window, banished to live in an owl form.

Sarah ran up stairs to ensure that her brother had been returned and found Toby sleeping soundly. She went to her room and began to put away those things that were part of her childhood fantasies, but as she did so, she saw the faces of her friends from the Labyrinth staring at her in her mirror. They told her they would always be around if she needed them, and she told them that every now and again in her life, she would.

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 3 nominations
Imdb Link - Labyrinth

The King and I (1956)

The King and I is a musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein based on the book Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon. The plot comes from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became school teacher to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in the early 1860s. Starring Yul Brynner, Rita Moreno and Deborah Kerr.

Mrs. Anna Leonowens (Deborah Kerr), a widow from Wales, arrives in Bangkok with her young son, Louis, to teach English to the children of the royal household of King Mongkut (Yul Brynner). She is escorted to the palace by the King's sinister right-hand man, the Kralahome, of whom she is very apprehensive - she and her son must disguise their fear ("Whistle A Happy Tune"). She is greeted, but told she will stay in the palace, although the king promised her she would have a house. She demands to see the King and does see him. The King is pleased with her, and takes her to meet his wives and his fifteen children that live in the palace (he has sixty-seven more). She is charmed by the children, and agrees to stay and teach them. Here she meets a new, young wife - a Burmese girl named Tuptim, who arrived shortly before Anna did. She is unhappy living at the castle, because she is in love with Lun Tha, the man who had brought her to Siam from Burma.

Watch Movie - The King and I

Part One

 

Part Two

The King's wives come to help Anna settle in to her new home, and discover a photo of her husband. Anna reminisces about her days with Tom, and gives her blessing to other young lovers, who are like they used to be, ("Hello Young Lovers").

The King is troubled - he craves truth, but how can he learn the truth when different cultures say different things? ("Is A Puzzlement")

As Anna teaches her lesson to the children, she explains that getting to know people is her favorite thing to "teach" ("Getting to Know You"). The lesson goes on and the children start to not believe in the things she is teaching them, such as snow and Siam's small size. The King intervenes and scolds his children for not believing her.

Late one night, the King summons Anna to talk to her about the Bible, and how Moses says the world was created in six days. The King of Siam thinks Moses is a fool - he thinks that the world took many centuries to create. They have a small argument about the Bible in which Anna stands above the King. Due to the Siamese custom that no one's head should be higher than the King's, Anna is forced to sit on the floor as the King has her write a letter to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, telling him he will send male elephants to America to help with the Civil War. Anna tries to tell him that the elephants will not last long if only male elephants are sent, but the King loses interest and tells her to finish the letter herself. Before this, Anna has to have her head lowered than the king, which she first refuses, until the king loses his temper, forcing her to kneel and lie on the floor. Anna goes outside, where she meets Lun Tha and learns that he and Tuptim have been meeting in secret. He asks Anna to fetch Tuptim. Anna refuses at first, afraid of the consequences if the lovers are caught, but, remembering her own happy days with her husband, Tom, she relents. The lovers meet ("We Kiss In A Shadow"), and Lun Tha promises that when he comes again, he and Tuptim will escape from Siam.

Later, the King is told that England thinks him a barbaric leader, so he and Anna plan an English style feast for many European officials. Anna helps to make some of the ladies' European dresses, and also orders food and teaches the orchestra European music. She is appalled to find that she only has one week to do this in, but the King reminds her that according to Moses, the whole world was created in one week.

Anna dresses the ladies up in English clothes, but forgets to give them undergarments. She is horrified on discovering her mistake, and entreats the ladies to keep their backs to the wall when presented to the Ambassador. But at the sight of the Ambassador's spyglass, the ladies flee in panic, exclaiming that he has the head of a goat. The Ambassador arrives, along with his aide Sir Edward Ramsey, with whom Anna was in love before she met Tom - in fact, Edward did once ask for her hand in marriage. He waylays Anna as she goes to help the King with the seating, and they reminisce and dance together, which the King walks in on and is highly jealous. The King offers his arm to her and leads her to dinner, where the guest are entertained by the King's intellectual observations, and Tuptim's theatrical version of Uncle Tom's Cabin, which she narrates. When the play is over, however, she escapes with her lover. Anna and the King talk after the feast, and he gives her one of his rings as a present. Anna is quite taken by this gesture. It is here that the movie seems to show that they have fallen in love with each other, even though the King rejects the idea. The king recites a poem, known as the "Song of the King" where he states that women are "blossoms" and that men are "like Honeybees", and declares that "honey bees must be free" to "Fly from Blossom to Blossom", however, "blossoms must not ever fly from bee,to bee to bee". Anna laughs at the poem, however, She then teaches him how to dance the polka ("Shall We Dance"). However, they are interrupted by the Kralahome, who explains that Tuptim has been found and the King is told of her lover. He decides to whip her, but Anna calls him a barbarian, and says that he has no heart. He is unable to beat Tuptim and runs off in humiliation, and Anna gives back the ring and decides to leave Siam. Tuptim is led off in tears after an official announces that the corpse of Lun Tha has been discovered in the river. She is not seen again in the film.

Anna, thinking that she can no longer be of any use, is just about to leave Siam when she is told that the King is dying. His health has steadily declined ever since Anna called him a barbarian, and he has refused any help. She goes to his bedside and he gives her back the ring, pleading with her to wear it and saying that she has always spoken the truth to him. She decides to stay in order to help his young son, the Crown Prince Chulalongkorn, rule the people. As the prince is making his first statements as King, declaring the end of slavery in Siam, and stating that the King's subjects will no longer bow down to him but rather stand at attention, the King dies, only Anna and the Kralahome noticing. The film ends with Anna laying her head on his hand.

 

The film makes Tuptim's ultimate fate more ambiguous. In the stage version, when she hears of Lun Tha's death, she exclaims "Then I shall join him soon", implying that the King's soldiers will execute her (which is what happens to her in the film Anna and the King of Siam and the 1999 Anna and the King). In the 1956 film version of The King and I, Tuptim, when hearing of Lun Tha's fate, exclaims "Dead! Oh, no!", and begins weeping uncontrollably as the soldiers drag her off.

Alternative Viewing Option

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The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh

Winnie the Pooh needs no Introduction - the many adventures of Winnie the Pooh was a movie i looked forward to as a child because i had already got to know him well from the books.I think everyone has to love Winnie, Tigger and Co.

So watch it; The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh

Pooh, a bear of very little brain, and all his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood sing their way through adventures that encompass honey, bees, bouncing, balloons, Eeyore's birthday, floods, and Pooh sticks.

he Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is the 22nd full-length animated film produced by Walt Disney Productions and first released on March 11, 1977.

The film is actually composed of material from three previously released animated featurettes based upon the Winnie-the-Pooh books by A. A. Milne: Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966), Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968), and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too! (1974). Because of this, it is seen by some as the last of the Disney "package films" (movies consisting of two or more short segments), the bulk of which were produced by the studio to keep costs down during World War II. Pooh was produced for similar economic reasons. This is also the last film in the Disney canon in which Walt Disney had personal involvement, since one of the shorts (Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree) was released during his lifetime, and he was involved in the production of Blustery Day. A fourth and final featurette based on the original books, Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore, was released in 1983 and is included as a bonus feature on the VHS and DVD release of the feature film.

Its characters have spawned an industry of sequels, television programs, clothing, books, and toys. The film differs from the three individual shorts by having newly-created linking material, and an ending to give closure to the stories (based on the final chapter of The House at Pooh Corner). It was always Walt Disney's intention to create a feature film, but he decided to make shorts instead — after production had begun — to familiarize US audiences with the characters. All three shorts as well as future feature films boast classic songs by the Sherman Brothers including "Winnie The Pooh" and "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers".

The film also inspired an attraction of the same name at Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and Hong Kong Disneyland. A much more elaborate attraction, also based on the film, opened in Tokyo Disneyland as "Pooh's Hunny Hunt".

Links; official winnie the pooh site

A Shot in the Dark (1964)

When rich M. Ballon's spanish driver is found shot dead, Inspector Jacques Clouseau is the first official on the scene. All evidence suggests Maria Gambrelli, the maid, to be the murderer. But Clouseau, being attracted to the beautiful girl, is convinced that she is hiding something. So, he has her released from jail and tries to follow her secretly. Things do not work out the way the inspector wanted and people keep being murdered, and each time innocent Maria seems to be the killer. But with someone important wanting Clouseau and nobody else to cover this case, his tolerance-challenged boss Charles Dreyfuss is close to losing his mind when casualties keep turning up. And Clouseau keeps on causing trouble without knowing it.

 A Shot in the Dark saw the great Peter Sellers reprise what is probably his most iconic role as the inept Inspector Clouseau. It's always obvious why Sellers is so well remembered for this role, as he's absolutely great in it. His mannerisms and quirks help to add to the personality of the character, and despite the fact that this man is overblown to comic book proportions, Sellers succeeds in making the role believable and, more importantly, very fun to watch. The majority of the humour in the film is of the slapstick variety, and while that can be very funny if done the right way; it's not my favourite type of humour. That being said, A Shot in the Dark does many of it's gags correctly, and while the film isn't consistently hilarious; there's enough good humour to ensure a good time to whoever's watching it. Also abundant in this film is classic Brit-flick style, which is great in my opinion. From Hammer Horror to Ealing comedy, I'm a big fan of classic British movies and so this film fits into that nicely.

 

The plot follows the accident-prone detective as he investigates the case of 'a shot in the dark', which resulted in the death of a man at a country house. The facts add up rather quickly to the maid, Maria (Elke Sommer), who was found at the scene of the crime with a smoking gun in her hand. Things are never that simple when Clouseau is on the case, however, and, convinced that she is a decoy to protect someone higher up the food chain, he proceeds in investigating this open and shut case. Aside from Sellers, this movie also features the talents of Herbert Lom, Elke Sommer and George Sanders, among others. This makes up a good support cast for yours truly, as I'm a big fan of horror and all of these are names in the British section of that genre. The plot of A Shot in the Dark is relatively simply done, but it always manages to find time for gags and humorous set pieces, and even when it appears to be slowing down; you can always count on another laugh being just around the corner. I don't love this movie, but it's definitely very good and marks a highlight in British comedy during the sixties.

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