Melodrama

The obsessive and jealous shipowner Bruce Vail does not accept the divorce his wife Irene Vail achieved in London, and he hires his driver Michael Browsky to forge adultery with Irene in Paris to make the decree null. However, she is rescued by the headwaiter Paul Dumond, who punches Michael and locks Bruce and his private eyes in a locker, and they spend a wonderful night together in the restaurant Chateau Bleu, where Paul and his best friend Chef Cesare work, and they fall in love for each other. Meanwhile, Bruce kills Michael and blackmails Irene, blaming Paul and forcing her to return with him to New York. But Paul does not give up on Irene, and moves to New York with Cesare trying to find her love.

At the age of 20, Martin leaves his home town and comes to Paris, where he fortunately becomes a model by chance. He meets Alice, his brother's friend, and falls in love with her. They start a passionate relationship, although Martin remains very mysterious about his past and the reasons why he left his family. But when Alice tells him she's pregnant, he is suddenly almost driven to madness, as his past comes back to his mind. Alice will now do anything she can to help him.

On a U.S. Army post circa 1948, a major who is an impotent, latent homosexual is married to an infantile birdbrain who never misses an opportunity to ridicule his masculine failings. He displaces his hostility by brutally flogging her horse and she retaliates by humiliating him before a houseful of guests, repeatedly slashing him across the face with her riding crop. She is also committing adultery with the officer next door, who's wife cut off her nipples with garden shears after the death of her baby. She has sought solace in the ministrations of her effeminate houseboy. The sixth character, coveted by the major, is a darkly handsome noncom, a voyeur and lingerie-fondler, given to nightly appearances as a peeping tom in the birdbrain's bedroom and daily sessions of horseback riding in the middle of the woods stark naked.

Established by Martin Scorsese in 2007, the World Cinema Project expands the horizons of moviegoers everywhere. The mission of the WCP is to preserve and present marginalized and infrequently screened films from regions generally ill equipped to preserve their own cinema history. This collector’s set brings together six superb films from countries around the globe, including Senegal (Touki bouki), Mexico (Redes), India and Bangladesh (A River Called Titas), Turkey (Dry Summer), Morocco (Trances), and South Korea (The Housemaid). Each is a cinematic revelation, depicting a culture not often seen by outsiders on-screen.

A revenge melodrama about a mother (Shin Eun Kyung) from a well-off family who had lost her son to a tragic accident and later her only daughter went missing as well. Her world is turned upside down when she discovers that her daughter was kidnapped by someone from her own family.

Scarface Yosaburo is one of the most famous plays of late Edo period kabuki. It's a romance between a young and beautiful couple, with shocking twists that showcases Edo style. A chance encounter between the son of a wealthy family and the beautiful mistress of a gang boss transforms their lives forever.

Douglas Sirk remains one of cinema's sharpest observers of human nature, and the string of melodramas he made in the 1950s, although glossy and colourful on the surface, reveal a cynical and pessimistic view when examined more closely. Although his movies were derisively labeled as “women's pictures” by critics, directors such as Godard and Fassbinder later praised his films, applauding his use of cinematic distancing techniques to coax the audience into examining the message behind the images. This magnificent box set contains seven of the master of melodrama's finest works, including his masterpiece - All That Heaven Allows, a ruthless depiction of spite in suburbia, and a heavy influence on Fassbinder. Features Imitation Of Life (1959), Magnificent Obsession (1954), Written On The Wind (1956), All I Desire (1953), Has Anybody Seen My Gal (1952), All That Heaven Allows (1955) and The Tarnished Angels (1958).