Cinema - American films - Drama

American cinema: Drama (Page 1 of 19)

12 Angry Men (1957)

Sidney Lumet

In a New York court room, a lengthy murder trial is nearing its conclusion. Once the judge has delivered his closing statements, the twelve members of the jury are led away to the jury room. Here, they must decide whether the defendant, a young Puerto Rican man, is guilty or innocent of the charge of stabbing his father to death... [More...]

13 Rue Madeleine (1947)

Henry Hathaway

During the later years of WWII, Bob Sharkey has the job of training spies in the American Strategic Services. His boss informs him that one of his latest recruits, Bill O’Connell, is a Nazi agent. The plan is to allow O’Connell to take part in a bogus mission, so that he will feed false information to the Germans ahead of an allied invasion... [More...]

1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992)

Ridley Scott

Christopher Columbus is convinced that by sailing West, he will discover a new route to the bountiful lands of the East. Eventually, he manages to persuade the Queen of Spain to finance an expedition, and three ships set sail to look for the Indies of the West. After a long and hazardous voyage, Columbus’ expedition reaches land – an island paradise where the natives appear friendly and cooperative... [More...]

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Stanley Kubrick

Millions of years ago, a tribe of herbivorous apelike hominids discover a mysterious black monolith which immediately exerts a strange influence over them. They learn how to kill other animals, to fashion bones into weapons and to assert their control over the world around them. Cut to the year 2001 AD, and Dr Heywood Floyd arrives at an American base on the moon where a remarkable discovery has been made... [More...]

7th Heaven (1927)

Frank Borzage

Paris, 1914. Chico, an atheistic loner, has grown tired of toiling in the sewers and hopes that one day he will become a street washer like his neighbour Gobin. Meanwhile, sisters Diane and Nana receive an unexpected visit from their wealthy relatives, who offer them the prospect of a better life. When Diane admits to being a prostitute, her relatives turn their back on her and her sister... [More...]

A Bill of Divorcement (1932)

George Cukor

With her husband Hilary committed to an asylum for the insane, Meg Fairfield decides to divorce him so that she can marry another man, Gray Meredith. But on the day Meg intends to begin her new life with Gray, Hilary manages to escape from the asylum and returns to his home. He first meets his grown-up daughter, Sydney, who is herself about to get married, to Kit Humphreys... [More...]

A Bridge Too Far (1977)

Richard Attenborough

September, 1944. D-Day has come and gone but the allied advance has slowed to a crawl owing to over-extended supply lines. Field Marshal Montgomery and General Paton are both confident that they can win the war with one more decisive push. U.S. President Eisenhower backs Montgomery’s plan – codenamed Operation Market Garden - to land 35,000 paratroops behind enemy lines to secure half a dozen bridges in Holland... [More...]

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Stanley Kubrick

Alex DeLarge is a Beethoven-loving juvenile delinquent who spends his evenings indulging in orgies of violence with his droogies. This involves beating up rival gangs, breaking into houses and generally having a good time before heading back to the Korova Milk Bar for some nourishing lactose-based refreshment... [More...]

A Double Life (1947)

George Cukor

Anthony John is a renowned stage actor who, against his better judgement, allows himself to be coaxed into playing the lead role in Shakespeare’s Othello. The part of the jealous husband who ultimately murders his beloved wife turns out to be appropriate for John, for he has a jealous streak and still claims ownership of his ex-wife Brita... [More...]

A Farewell to Arms (1932)

Frank Borzage

During World War I, a young American, Frederick Henry, enlists as an ambulance driver in the Italian army. He meets and falls in love with a young English nurse, Catherine Barkley. Badly injured in a bombardment, Henry ends up in a hospital in Milan, where he is cared for by his beloved Catherine. As Henry recovers, he and Catherine pursue an idyllic romance, which ends all to soon when Henry is sent back to the Front... [More...]

A Passage to India (1984)

David Lean

In the 1920s, Adela Quested makes the journey from England to India, where she intends to marry her fiancé, Ronny Heaslop, the magistrate of a provincial town named Chandrapore. She is accompanied by Heaslop’s elderly mother, Mrs Moore, who, having barely set foot in the country, becomes disgusted by the way in which the local population suffer under British colonialism... [More...]

A Place in the Sun (1951)

George Stevens

George Eastman, the son of poor missionary workers, is surprised when his uncle, the successful businessman Charles Eastman, offers him a job at one of his factories. George is happy to start as a production line worker believing that this will lead to better things, although he is not yet aware of the enormous social gulf that separates him from the wealthy Eastmans... [More...]

A Star Is Born (1954)

George Cukor

Onetime matinee idol Norman Maine has lost both his public and the confidence of the studio bosses who employ him, and he hastens his decline by drowning his sorrows in alcohol. One evening, he is intent on making a spectacle of himself at a charity gala event, but he is rescued by a young nightclub singer, Esther Blodgett... [More...]

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Elia Kazan

Having lost her job and her grand Mississippi home, Blanche DuBois heads to New Orleans to visit her sister, Stella. Blanche can hardly believe the level to which Stella has fallen. She lives in a cramped apartment in a seedy district of the town, married to a labourer named Stanley, who looks and behaves as if he has just walked out of the Stone Age... [More...]

A Woman of Paris (1923)

Charles Chaplin

Marie St Clair and her lover Jean Millet plan to leave their French village and start a new life in Paris as man and wife. On the eve of their departure, Marie is locked out of her house by her cruel stepfather and Jean tries to persuade his parents to let her spend the night in their house. Knowing that Marie is a woman of ill repute, Jean’s father refuses and so Jean and Marie decide to elope to Paris that night... [More...]

Adventures of Captain Fabian (1951)

William Marshall

Léa Mariotte is resentful of her lowly position as housemaid to a wealthy New Orleans family. She despises them for the part they played in her father’s downfall and burns with the desire for revenge. One evening, she accidentally kills another servant, in the presence of her admirer George Brissac... [More...]

Affair in Trinidad (1952)

Vincent Sherman

Chris Emery is a nightclub dancer and singer in Trinidad. When she learns that her husband has been murdered, she agrees to act as an agent of the British secret service, who believe the culprit to be Max Fabian, a wealthy man with a criminal past. Things become complicated when Chris’s brother-in-law, Steve, puts in an unexpected appearance... [More...]

The African Queen (1951)

John Huston

In 1914, Rose Sayer assists her brother, the Reverend Samuel Sayer, in leading a missionary village in German East Africa. Their supplies are brought to them by Canadian Charlie Allnut on his steam-driven barge, The African Queen. The Sayers disregard Charlie’s advice to leave the village now that Germany is at war with England and decide to stay on... [More...]

Alamo Bay (1985)

Louis Malle

In the small port of Alamo Bay, Texan fisherman struggle to eke out a modest living. They are far from happy when a community of Vietnamese immigrants settle in the area and begin to compete with them. The inevitable tensions that ensue soon escalate to open warfare, fuelled by the thuggish antagonism of white supremacists..... [More...]

Alexander the Great (1956)

Robert Rossen

In 356 BC, King Philip II of Macedonia is leading a campaign against Olynthus when his wife Olympias bears him a son, Alexander. Although Philip resents Olympias’ persistent claims that Alexander is of divine birth, he devotes himself to making him his heir, grooming him to be a warrior leader and having him educated in the highest of Greek culture... [More...]

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