Through four different paintings, the play discusses several issues in a comedic style. The first panel discusses the issue of intermediary in employment, while the second panel discusses the issue of theft of Kuwaiti investments abroad, the third panel discusses the issue of shooting at weddings, and in the fourth panel discusses the housing issue.
National Theatre Live’s 2010 broadcast of Alan Bennett’s acclaimed play The Habit of Art, with Richard Griffiths, Alex Jennings and Frances de la Tour, returns to cinemas as part of the National Theatre's 50th anniversary celebrations. Benjamin Britten, sailing uncomfortably close to the wind with his new opera, Death in Venice, seeks advice from his former collaborator and friend, W H Auden. During this imagined meeting, their first for twenty-five years, they are observed and interrupted by, amongst others, their future biographer and a young man from the local bus station. Alan Bennett’s play is as much about the theatre as it is about poetry or music. It looks at the unsettling desires of two difficult men, and at the ethics of biography. It reflects on growing old, on creativity and inspiration, and on persisting when all passion’s spent: ultimately, on the habit of art.
Broadcast live on the Hallmark Hall of Fame series on NBC, a pair of divorced actors are brought together to participate in a musical version of The Taming of the Shrew. Of course, the couple seem to act a great deal like the characters they play, and they must work together when mistaken identities get them mixed up with the mafia.
La Dame de chez Maxim
Premutos is the first of the fallen Angels, even before Lucifer. His Goal is to rule the world, the living and the dead. His son should pave the way for him and appears arbitrary throughout human history and is then recognized as some kind of monster. In the present time, a young man living in Germany begins to suffer from visionary flashbacks - of the lives he lived in the past as Premutos' son! He remembers how he appeared in the middle age, when mankind suffered from pestilence and during WWII in Russia. On his (earthly) father's birthday, a case containing some strange old book and a yellow potion is found in their garden, which was hidden by some peasant in 1943, who experimented with witchery in order to re-animate his deceased wife. Whe the young man gets in touch with the book and some of the yellow potion, he mutates into a monster and awakens an army of zombies, ready to bring back the fallen Angel Premutos and to disturb the little birthday party
Santa Claus is actually a demon who lost a bet with an angel, so he became the giver of toys and happiness. But this year the bet is off, and Santa is about to return to his evil ways.
A professional card player and swindler, Icharev, arrives in a small town with a plan to rip off some local jackdaw if possible. However, a trio of local, experienced swindlers have the same plan. They want to play cards with Icharev, but they immediately recognize each other's personalities. The fun continues, but the group regrets that they have no one to play with. There is a local landowner, Glov, but he avoids cards like the devil. And yet he is waiting for two hundred thousand rubles from the bank for the sold piece of land. Of course, the gentlemen will not miss their chance... A recording of a theatrical production by the Drama Club in Prague.
The Odyssey of director Radomir Belacevic who leaves his native village on his faithful horse named Knight and sets out to the capital trying to put his drama on the National Theatre's program, allegedly backed by foreign investors, too. Seduced by flashy lights of the city and beauty of metropolitan women, his Don Quixotean mission takes a different route and he becomes a modern Ulysses who forgets his roots and assimilates with the urban jungle.
Frustrated and unemployed after being sexually harassed repeatedly, Stella decides to play the role of a guy, using the identity of her twin brother (who is living in Australia) hoping to get a job. She immediately wins the trust of her new employers and soon gets promoted to manager. The troubles begin when she falls in love with her boss' son.
A Dennis The Menace version of A Christmas Carol where Mr. Wilson plays his own version of Scrooge. While Dennis has problems of his own with the neighborhood bully, he does his best to try and give Mr. Wilson the Christmas Spirit. Dennis causes his usual damage and Mr. Wilson ends up breaking Dennis' spirit. An Angel of Christmas Past Present and Future steps in to help save Christmas for the Mitchells, the Wilsons, and everyone else.
An usherette in a theatre, where a distinguished and popular actor performs, gets her big break when the leading actress has an accident. The director decides to take advantage of the heretofore unexploited talent of the girl and asks her to replace the leading actress. This unexpected opportunity transforms her from a humble usherette into a shining star. Later on, she wins the heart of the leading actor with whom she was secretly in love. However, her sudden rise to theatrical-musical stardom creates complications in their love affair, as her companion sinks into disappointment and drowns himself in drink, abandoning his career. Nevertheless, the usherette/leading actress doesn't give up; She looks for him, finds him and supports him, psychologically and morally, until he makes a comeback to the stage and their love nest.
Valentine Matignon is a renowned perfumer, "nose". She has had a relationship for 15 years with Gérard, and is about to break up because she is bored. Patrick appears, a lively florist, who gives him the bouquet that Gérard ordered to be forgiven for being late. Patrick makes him a dishonest proposition which she ends up accepting. She takes a funny "sunburn".
Bruno and Florence invited Sophie and Alex for the evening, but nothing goes as planned between the successful author, the brilliant entrepreneur and their respective wives, two sisters. Contradictions, anxieties, bad faith and pettiness come around the table. A delightful cascade of incidents quickly transforms the family reunion into a crazy night where secrets, bottles and unsaid are shattered until the two couples, caught in an irresistible whirlwind, formulate the most unexpected.
Un fil à la patte
Fric-Frac
A couple of angels, O'Reilly and Jackson, are sent to Earth to make sure that their next supervised love-connection succeeds. They follow Celine, a spoiled rich girl who has just accidentally shot a suitor and, due to a misunderstanding, is kidnapped by janitor Robert. Although Celine quickly frees herself, she stays with Robert for thrills. O'Reilly and Jackson pursue, hoping to unite the prospective lovers.
Two men and a woman live together under the roof, but isolated, each in his own world, in three maid's rooms, with shared toilets and related sounds.
Grace has agreed to marry Sir Harcourt in return for his financial support of her family. At a house party in her father's place, Harcourt's son Charles also falls in love with Grace. When his father appears on the scene, he has to convince him that there is a case of mistaken identity and he is somebody else. Then Lady Gay Spanker, a married woman also visiting at the house, is persuaded by Charles to seduce his father and thus divert his attention from Grace. Much confusion and scheming ensues.
Fatty induces wife to let him take a day off to go to the celebration at San Diego. He has a wonderful time, flirting with the girls, breaking up a parade, fighting the police force and falling into the fountain with him, escapes, and with the crowd after him, leaps into the river. Here he rescues a little boy and becomes a hero. He goes home to wife in a bedraggled condition, tells of rescue and is set upon a pedestal. Wife, as a reward, takes him to the movies at night and sees husband flirting and fighting in the fountain, where some enterprising cameraman caught him. That explaining, as she thought, the bedraggled state in which he arrived home, she turns and beats him all the way home.
A Small Time Act is a 1913 movie starring Ford Sterling and Roscoe Arbuckle.