Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence – Double Play (Blu-ray + DVD) Blu Ray – Ingrid Bergman, Jean-Louis Barrault 

Director actor and screenwriter Jean Renoir is one of the most original filmmakers in the history of French cinema. A true pioneer Renoir always sought to push the boundaries of cinema. He made neo-realist films ten years before Rossellini and experimented with cinma vrit twenty years before Godard. His films have influenced generations of subsequent film makers – including Franois Truffaut Luchino Visconti and Satyajit Ray. Considered one of the first auteurs he is a cinematic master whose unique poetic style combined a vibrant humanism with a passion for beauty and nature. With his trademark use of deep-focus and a moving camera Renoir’s work is rich with energy exuberance and the joy of life. This collection brings together an overview of Renoir’s work spanning over 25 years including his anti-war masterpiece La Grand Illusion which is often voted one of the greatest films ever made. Funny moving true and still as fresh now as when they were made Jean Renoirs films are essential viewing. La Grande Illusion (1937): During the First World War two French soldiers are captured and imprisoned in a German POW camp. Several escape attempts follow until they are sent to a seemingly impenetrable fortress which seems impossible to escape from. Le Dejeuner Sur Herbe (1959): Etienne Alexis a candidate for president of the new Europe is a scientist promoting artificial insemination for social betterment and therapy to eliminate passion. Le Caporal Epingle (1957): An upper-class corporal from Paris is captured by the Germans when they invade France in 1940. La Marseillaise (1938): A news-reel like movie about early part of the Frensh Revolution shown from the eyes of individual people. Le Testament Du Docteur Cordelier (1959): A lawyer Joly (Teddy Bilis) is disturbed when his friend the eminent psychiatrist and researcher Dr Cordelier (Jean-Louis Barrault) makes out a Will leaving everything to a mysterious stranger Opale. La Bete Humaine (1938): Severine and her husband Roubaud kill their former employer in a train. Engineer Jacques watches them but doesn’t tell the police because he’s in love with Severine. But in an epileptic attack he kills her…