
            The story begins with a prologue, narrated by Michael Hordern, establishing the Lapine culture and mythology and describing the creation of the world and its animals by Lord Frith, the sun god. All the animals co-exist peacefully and eat grass together but the rabbits, led by Prince El-ahrairah, quickly multiply and overwhelm the other animals with their insatiable hunger. When Frith warns El-ahrairah to control his people, the prince scoffs at him, claiming that his are the strongest people in the land. In retaliation, Frith gives to each of the other animals a gift, turning them into predators, or 'elil' that hunt and feed on the rabbits. However, Frith also bestows upon the rabbits the gifts of speed and cunning, enabling them a fighting chance against their enemies. All creatures may seek to kill El-ahrairah and his descendants but, with their wits and quickness, the rabbits may survive.The film then transitions to realistic animation and brings us to the English countryside of Sandleford. Fiver (Richard Briers), a young runt rabbit with prophetic abilities, foresees the end of his peaceful rabbit warren during an afternoon grazing, or 'silflay'. He exclaims to his older brother, Hazel (John Hurt), that the field they live on is covered in blood, but Hazel acknowledges the image as a trickery of the sunset. Regardless, he agrees to take Fiver to the Chief Rabbit to see if they can have the warren evacuated. However, the Chief Rabbit (Ralph Richardson) dismisses them, saying that leaving the warren in the height of the mating season is preposterous enough without it being based on a young rabbit's prophecy. Knowing that his brother's visions have always come to light in the past, Hazel helps Fiver gather any rabbits willing to leave the warren and they all sneak away during the night. They are briefly stopped by Captain Holly (John Bennett) of the Owsla, the rabbit police force, but they manage to fight past him. As they leave the safety of the warren, they pass a sign clearly stating that the lands of their home is due for residential development.In all, eight rabbits successfully defect: Fiver, Hazel, ex-Owsla officer Bigwig (Michael Graham Cox), cunning Blackberry (Simon Cadell), small Pipkin (Roy Kinnear), storyteller and runner Dandelion (Richard O'Callaghan), old Silver (Terence Rigby), and the only female, Violet. They travel into the woods and through the night, encountering dangers such as owls and a large badger, or 'lendri'. Their curiosity is aroused when they stumble upon a road and Blackberry explains that 'hrududu' travel on it but have no interest in rabbits. He proves this by sitting still as one of them, a car, approaches and speeds on by. However, the threat of being killed by such wayward creatures is made apparent when Blackberry is nearly hit by another. A bean field provides some shelter and the rabbits are able to rest. Come morning, Fiver wakes to see Violet leave the safety of the plants to feed on grass and watches in horror as a hawk swoops down and carries her off.One less, they move along and come to a creek in time to hear that there's a dog loose in the woods. With the dog on their scent, and Fiver and Pipkin unable to swim, the larger rabbits use a plank of wood to float them across, swimming alongside. They find refuge that night within a crypt in an old cemetery but are set upon by a band of black rats which draws the attention of an owl. The rabbits escape. The following day they meet a friendly, but odd, rabbit named Cowslip (Denholm Elliott) who offers them food and shelter at his warren. The group is grateful for the hospitality they receive and all but Fiver consider remaining at the warren permanently. He senses something terribly wrong and tries to warn the others of it but they refuse to listen. He leaves in a fit, followed by Bigwig who taunts him before suddenly being caught in a snare trap. Bigwig collapses and begins to choke as the others frantically try to dig out the post the snare is attached to. He coughs blood and appears to stop breathing just as the post is removed. The rabbits mourn their loss as Fiver admonishes them: the warren is given food and protection from a nearby farmer who has laid numerous deadly snares throughout the warren as his price. After this terrifying revelation, Bigwig miraculously recovers and, on Fiver's advice, the band moves on with a new found respect for the seer's wisdom.Eventually, the rabbits come to Nuthanger Farm where Hazel discovers a hutch of female rabbits. Knowing that does will be needed to start a new warren, but deterred by the farm's dog and cat, he promises a young doe named Clover (Mary Maddox) that he will return. As the rabbits move alongside a field, they spot a fox, or 'homba', sniffing out their trail. Bigwig runs out to draw its attention away to the shelter of the woods nearby. The others hear a cry and think Bigwig has been caught but he soon returns and hurries them on, explaining that he ran into a couple of rabbits that tried to stop him despite his warning of the fox. It was presumably one of the rabbits that cried out when the fox caught up.The band continues onward until they find Captain Holly, badly injured and at the brink of death. He briefly recounts the destruction of the Sandleford warren as Fiver predicted, witnessing as the ground was turned up and how he was forced to leave his fellow rabbits within their burrows to suffocate to death by noxious fumes. He mentions a warren called Efrafa before he collapses. Once rested, Fiver leads the group to the place he envisioned, a hill called Watership Down where the rabbits discover empty burrows suitable to live in beneath the shelter of a great tree. They all settle in with Hazel informally recognized as Chief Rabbit. One day, an acerbic seagull crash lands on the warren, his wing injured and leaving him unable to fly. Hazel, seeing the potential of using the gull's skills of flight, offers to help him despite the gull's stubborn pride. Kehaar (Zero Mostel) is allowed to rest at the warren and, as Hazel hoped, notices with disdain the lack of female rabbits and 'chicks'. He berates the rabbits for not keeping a better warren but eagerly agrees to survey the area for females once his wing heals. When he manages to take flight, Hazel opts to return to Nuthanger Farm with two other rabbits to try and free the caged does.Hazel and Blackberry make it to the barn and start chewing away at the hinges to the doe's crate while Dandelion keeps watch. However, he inadvertently alerts the dog and farmer to their presence just as the crate door is broken open. The farmer wrangles up the does as the other rabbits try to escape. Hazel is hit in his hindquarter by shotgun pellets as they flee and Blackberry and Dandelion are forced to leave him behind. They return to the warren to tell Fiver of his brother's demise, sentimentally stating that the Black Rabbit of Inle, 'death', does no more than his appointed task. However, seeing a vision of the Black Rabbit, Fiver claims his brother is not dead and follows the vision to an old pipe where a trail of blood leads to Hazel, his heart still beating.Kehaar returns to Watership Down and helps remove the buckshot pellets from Hazel's hindquarters, using his beak. He speaks of the Efrafa warren nearby which houses many rabbits. Holly pipes up and warns the other rabbits not to go there; it is a dangerous warren ruled tyrannically by a chief named General Woundwort (Harry Andrews). It was Woundwort's Owsla that injured Holly and, were it not for the brave actions of a doe named Hyzenthlay (Hannah Gordon) and the appearance of one of Frith's 'messengers' (a train that cuts down pursuing Owsla), he would never have escaped. Bigwig offers to infiltrate the warren. Arriving at Efrafa as a newcomer wishing to join, he impresses General Woundwort and is offered a familiar spot on the warren's Owsla as an officer with the option of choosing a female for himself. He meets with Hyzenthlay and tells her of his free warren. In time, they recruit other defectors including Blackavar, a rabbit with several bodily scars and bitten ears, severely maimed for his many escape attempts.After meeting with Kehaar and relaying his plans to leave that very night, Bigwig is confronted by General Woundwort who overheard Kehaar's loud calls. Bigwig manages to convince him that their talk was of no concern, though Woundwort remains suspicious. That night, as a thunderstorm approaches, Bigwig takes his band of Efrafans and escapes. However, the ever-vigilant Efrafan Owsla gives chase, led by General Woundwort. A timed attack by Kehaar keeps the General at bay while the rabbits make way for the river. Echoing their earlier use of driftwood, the rabbits leap into a small boat and break off the moor just as the Owsla arrive at the banks. Bigwig and the other defectors safely drift downstream and make their way to Watership Down.However, several days later, their trail is picked up again by Efrafan trackers and General Woundwort vows vengeance on Bigwig. As an unknown to Woundwort, Hazel approaches the Efrafans to negotiate. He offers an alliance of free and independent warrens living peacefully together, but Woundwort casts his intrigue aside and dismisses Hazel, ordering him to tell Bigwig to surrender the defectors. Hazel returns to his warren and instructs all the rabbits to hole up inside their burrows and block the entrances as the Efrafans begin their assault. Panic-stricken, Fiver falls into a trance, moaning as he envisions a 'dog loose in the woods'. His sounds briefly scare the Efrafans and inspires Hazel to formulate a plan. He brings with him the fastest runners; Hyzenthlay, Blackberry, and Dandelion, and they escape the warren. Woundwort orders his Owsla to ignore them, intent on finding Bigwig whom he believes to be the chief rabbit.On their way, Hazel prays to Frith and offers his life in return for the safety of the warren, but Frith replies that it is a bargain he cannot honor. Along the way, he positions each of the rabbits at different intervals until he and Dandelion arrive at Nuthanger Farm. Dandelion exclaims that, if they succeed, theirs will be the greatest story ever told. Hazel assures him that he will be the one to tell it as he makes his way towards the farmer's dog, sleeping in its dog house. Hazel chews away at the dog's leash as Dandelion draws its attention. The dog chases after Dandelion as Hazel is pounced upon by the farmer's cat (Lynn Farleigh). However, the farmer's daughter, Lucy (Michelle Price), orders her cat to let the rabbit alone and Hazel is freed.The dog, meanwhile, is led by the rabbits in relay fashion back to Watership Dow; the plan nearly goes awry with the dog stops to urinate and nearly finds the last, and exhausted, runner before Hyzenthlay is able to get the dog's attention to continue the final leg of the relay. Meanwhile, General Woundwort makes his way inside the burrows, fiercely killing Blackavar after he attacks Woundwort in a delaying tactic. In a last-ditch effort to protect the warren, Bigwig buries himself beneath the dirt of one of the tunnels and, as Woundwort approaches, lunges out in surprise and attacks him. The rabbits ferociously bite and scratch at each other until they are both bloodied. Woundwort asks why Bigwig won't simply surrender and Bigwig responds that his chief ordered him to protect the warren. Woundwort hesitates, surprised that Bigwig is not chief and imagines that he now has a larger rabbit to reckon with. At that moment, the dog arrives at the warren and begins tearing the Efrafan Owsla apart. They all scream and scatter as Woundwort emerges out of the warren and curses them for their cowardice, claiming that dogs aren't dangerous. He then sees the dog come out from behind the tree, dropping a dead Efrafan from its mouth before it charges towards him. Woundwort fearlessly leaps to confront the dog and it is said that, after this encounter, his body was never found and he wasn't heard from again. His legacy lives on as a story that does tell to their kittens as a way to keep them obedient; that if they misbehave, General Woundwort will get them. For all the menace that tyrant was, the general opinion is that he would have found that kind of monument pleasing in its own way.In epilogue, an elderly Hazel settles in to silflay when he is visited by a shadowy phantom, revealed as Prince El-ahrairah in the form of the Black Rabbit of Inle. El-ahrairah suggests that Hazel has been feeling tired of late and offers him a place with his Owsla. When Hazel looks back warily on his family at the warren, El-ahrairah assures him that they, and future generations, will be safe. Reassured, Hazel lays down in the grass and peacefully passes away. His spirit leaves his body and follows El-ahrairah through the woodland and into the afterlife."All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies. And whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first, they must catch you; digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed."
    

Watership Down


            The film opens with a short fragment outside the plot but clearly related on repeated viewings. Grainy, black-and-white, and silent short, a title "Once Upon a Time" leads to Latino laborers picking coffee beans while armed foremen push rudely between them. One worker pockets a few beans ("Coffee for the Breakfast Table") but is seen by a foreman. He is next seen before a fat Caucasian magistrate who loses some saliva as he removes his cigar only to say "Guilty." The foreman pulls his machete and lays it across the unfortunate laborer's wrists, bound to a wooden block, revealing that he is to lose his hands for the theft of a few beans. The machete lifts, descends, and we see the thief draw back in a silent scream. The scene blacks out, the word NOW appears onscreen and expands quickly to fill it.Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell) is the most promising new sales recruit at Imperial Coffee, a multinational coffee company and distributing factory located somewhere in the UK. His easy manner and winning smile bring him to the attention of the training manager Miss Rowe (Rachel Roberts). When it is learned that a senior salesman in the company has gone missing, Miss Rowe proposes that Mick be recruited to take over his coveted north-east sales sector.After his first successful sale to a large hotel, Mick is invited by the hotel's manager (Arthur Lowe) to attend a private sex club, where Mick makes many valuable contacts, including high ranking government and police figures. On returning to his lodgings, he is contacted by Imperial Coffee and is informed that his sector will be expanded to include all of Scotland, requiring his immediate departure. A tailor (Ralph Richardson) who occupies an adjacent room, gives Mick a suit of golden material as a parting gift. The tailor gives him the following advice: "Try not to die like a dog."En route to Scotland, Mick becomes lost and finds himself at the gates of a military facility. He is apprehended by a military detachment and, despite his protestations of innocence, is taken into custody. He is briefly interrogated and tortured by two men in plain clothes (Philip Stone and Michael Bangerter) who apparently believe him to be a foreign spy. To avoid further torture, Mick signs a confession and answers several questions relating to his movements as a spy. When a siren sounds, the two interrogators quickly flee the scene, and Mick is shortly after freed from his restraints by a tea-lady (Dandy Nichols).Mick flees the facility as it gradually engulfed by fire. He makes his way back to his car, which is now also in flames. He retrieves his golden suit from the car shortly before it explodes. Mick makes his way through a blasted and burning landscape. When the clothes he is wearing are ruined by a downpour, he changes into his golden suit. After he has done so, he finds himself in an idyllic pastoral landscape and drinks from a fresh-water stream. He discovers a Christian church where a congregation is singing. Hungry and exhausted, he enters the church and collapses in a pew. When he awakes, the church is empty, but a large quantity of fresh produce has been collected at the altar. He is about to feed himself when he is warned by the vicar's wife (Mary MacLeod) that the food is for God. However, she takes pity on him and feeds him from her own breast.His strength renewed, Mick joyously makes his way back to the road, accompanied by two children. When he reaches the motorway, he decides to head back to London. A car stops for him and asks if he would like to make some quick money by participating in a medical experiment. Mick agrees and is taken to a private clinic run by Professor Millar (Graham Crowden), who performs experimental transplant procedures. Millar informs Mick that his physiognomy is of a rare sort that would be of particular value to their research. Whilst awaiting surgery, Mick sneaks from his room and encounters a post-op patient whose head seems to have been transplanted onto the body of a four-legged animal. On seeing this, Mick flees the clinic in terror.He is next picked up by group of musicians in a van. Inside the van, he discovers a young woman, Patricia (Helen Mirren), hidden under a blanket. He immediately falls in love with her and stays with her on his return to London. Over breakfast, Patricia reveals that her father, Sir James Burgess (Ralph Richardson), is a wealthy copper magnate. Mick decides to insinuate his way into Sir James's company on the pretence that has important information to report on his daughter's welfare. During his interview with Sir James, a disgruntled senior employee (Graham Crowden) commits suicide by jumping from Sir James's office window. Sir James's assistant, in attempting to prevent the suicide, also falls to his death, and Mick is immediately recruited to replace him.Mick's first assignment with Sir James is to attend negotiations with Dr. Munda (Arthur Lowe), president of the African nation of Zingara, who is trying to convince Sir James to establish copper mining operations in his country. As part of the negotiation, Munda requests large quantities of a chemical weapon called "honey" to ensure that Sir James's operations will protected from local insurgencies. Mick oversees the delivery of the "honey" by the British Air Force to Zingara.A dinner party is held at Sir James's home to finalise the business transaction with Munda. Mick encounters Patricia receiving a marriage proposal by a pathetic English aristocrat (Michael Medwin). Although Mick is incensed, she informs Mick that she may indeed accept the proposal. Sir James offers Munda a large quantity of gold bullion for the right to set up operations in Zingara, but, since the gold must be exported to Zingara illegally, Sir James organises it so that Mick is framed for the crime involved in its delivery. Mick is arrested at the party and brought to court, where he is found guilty and sentenced to five years imprisonment.The prison system in which Mick is incarcerated prides itself on its compassion and its willingness to attend the spiritual and intellectual rehabilitation of its inmates. At the end of his sentence, Mick expresses that he is fully transformed as a human being. Shortly after his release, he encounters a Salvation Army band and offers a large donation from his own limited funds. The band leader (Philip Stone) initially praises Mick's generous spirit, but condemns him when Mick announces that he no longer believes in "sin", and that he regards humanity as a united brotherhood. The band and their followers fall to their knees to pray for Mick, who otherwise remains upright and walks away.Mick becomes aware of a disturbance in a nearby neighbourhood. When he investigates, he discovers that a local woman, Mrs. Richards (Rachel Roberts), has barricaded herself in her flat, where she is promising to commit suicide. In an attempt to save her, Mick scales the outside wall of her flat and appeals to her through the window. He assures her that she has every reason in the world to continue living, and he recites various inspirational poetic works to convince her to change her mind. Mrs. Richards, however, remains implacable. Mick falls three storeys to the street below. He is awoken several hours later by a policeman who informs him that Mrs. Richards has completed her suicide.Mick next encounters a mobile soup kitchen. Although he is hungry and destitute himself, he does not accept any food, but rather volunteers to assist the proprietor (Vivian Pickles) in her work. The proprietor eagerly accepts Mick's offer and, giving him a large pot of soup and several paper cups, directs him to distribute it to a community of tramps gathered around a bonfire. As he is distributing the soup, he encounters Patricia, now destitute, cradling an unconscious man in her arms. She recognises Mick and informs him that she accepted the marriage proposal, and indicates that the unconscious figure she is cradling is her husband. The rest of the tramps quickly become hostile towards Mick. They disdain his patronising charity and pelt him with stones.The next morning, Mick encounters a man handing out invitations to an open film audition. Mick attends the audition, where he is singled out by the director (Lindsay Anderson). The director asks him to strike a number of poses for a still photographer. However, when the director asks Mick to smile, Mick asks "Why?" and argues that one cannot smile without a reason. The director assaults him in frustration, and Mick struggles to smile with difficulty. Yet, when he finally succeeds in smiling, he is brought to a state of near ecstasy: surrounded by many figures from his own past, happy and reconciled, he dances to upbeat music within a collective brotherhood of humanity.
    

O Lucky Man!


            Sir Wilfred Robarts, a famed barrister is released from the hospital, where he stayed for two months following his heart attack. Returning to the practise of his lawyer skills, he takes the case of Leonard Vole, an unemployed man who is accused for murdering an elderly lady friend of his, Mrs. Emily French. While Leonard Vole claims innocent, although every evidence turns to him as the killer, his alibi witness, his cold German wife Christine, instead of entering the court as a witness for the defense, she becomes the witness for the prosecution and strongly claims her husband is guilty of murder. Sir Wilfred believes there's something suspicious on the case, especially on Mrs. Vole.
    

Witness for the Prosecution


            Five strangers go with a tourist group to view old catacombs. Separated from the main group, they find themselves in a room with the mysterious Crypt Keeper (Ralph Richardson), who details how each of the strangers will die."...And All Through the House"After Joanne Clayton (Joan Collins) kills her husband on Christmas Eve, she prepares to hide his body but hears a radio announcement stating that a homicidal maniac (Oliver MacGreevy) is on the loose. She sees the killer (who is dressed in a Santa Claus costume) outside her house but cannot call the police without exposing her own crimes. Joanne manages to lock up the front and back doors as well as lock all of the first floor windows. She then hides her husband's body in the cellar and sets it up to make it look like he fell down the stairs in an accident. Believing the maniac to be Santa, Joanne's young daughter Carol (Chloe Franks) unknowingly lets him into the house, and he starts to strangle her to death...."Reflection of Death"Carl Maitland (Ian Hendry) abandons his family one evening to be with Susan Blake (Angela Grant), his secret mistress. After they drive off together, they are involved in a car accident. He wakes up in the wrecked car and attempts to hitchhike home, but no one will stop for him. Arriving at his house, he sees his wife (Susan Denny) with another man. He knocks on the door, but she screams and slams the door. He then goes to see Susan to find out that she is blind from the accident. She refuses to belive that it's Carl and says that Carl died two years ago from the crash. Looking in a reflective tabletop he sees he has the face of a corpse. Carl then wakes up and finds out that it was a dream but the moment he does, the crash occurs as it did before..."Poetic Justice"Edward Elliott (David Markham) and his son James (Robin Phillips) are a snobbish pair who resent their neighbor, retired garbage man Arthur Grimsdyke (Peter Cushing) who owns a number of animals and entertains children in his house. To get rid of what they see as a blight on the neighborhood, they push Grimsdyke into a frenzy by conducting a smear campaign against him, first resulting in the removal of his beloved dogs (while one of them came back to him), and later exploiting parents' paranoiac fears about child molestation. On Valentine's Day, James sends Grimsdyke a number of poison-pen Valentines, supposedly from the neighbors, driving the old man to suicide. One year later, Grimsdyke comes back from the dead and takes revenge on James by breaking into his house and attacking him. The following morning, Edward finds his son dead with a note that says he was bad and that he had no--- the word "heart" represented by James' heart, torn from his body."Wish You Were Here"A variation on W. W. Jacobs' famed short story "The Monkey's Paw." Ruthless businessman Ralph Jason (Richard Greene) is close to financial ruin. His wife Enid (Barbara Murray) discovers a Chinese figurine that says it will grant three wishes to whoever possesses it; Enid decides to wish for a fortune; surprisingly, it comes true, however, Ralph is killed on the way to his lawyer's office to collect it. The lawyer then advising Enid she will inherit a fortune from her deceased husband's life insurance plan. She uses her second wish to bring him back to the way he was just before the accident but learns that his death was due to a heart attack (caused by fright when he sees the figure of 'death' following him on a motorcycle). As she uses her final wish to bring him back alive and will live forever, she discovers that he was embalmed, she tries to kill him to end his pain but because she wished him to live forever, every bit of him is alive and well, she has now trapped him in eternal pain."Blind Alleys"Major William Rogers (Nigel Patrick), the new director of a home for the blind making up of mostly retired middle aged men, makes drastic financial cuts, reducing heat and rationing food for the residents, while he lives in luxury with Shane, his Belgian Malinois. When he ignores complaints and a man dies due to the cold, the blind residents, led by the stone-faced George Carter (Patrick Magee), exact an equally cruel revenge by locking the Major up in a room in the basement as well as subduing the staff of the facility. Carter and his men then begin constructing in the basement a maze of narrow corridors lined with razor blades. They also lock up and starve the Major's dog. They place the Major in the maze's center, release the dog and turn off the basement lights....After completing the final tale, the Crypt Keeper reveals that he was not warning them of what would happen, but telling them what had happened; they have all died, and it is too late for repentance. Clues to this twist can be spotted throughout the film, including Joan Collins' character wearing the brooch her husband had given her for Christmas just before she killed him. The door to Hell opens, and the visitors all enter. "And now ... who is next?" asks the Crypt Keeper, turning to face the camera. "Perhaps you?"
    

Tales from the Crypt

Dragonslayer


            Scotland, 1885. The young John Clayton of the house of Greystoke (Paul Geoffrey) plans a voyage to Africa, to one of the colonies near the coast, along with his pregnant wife, Alice (Cheryl Campbell). John bids farewell to his father, the Sixth Earl of Greystoke (Ralph Richardson).Months later, off the coast of Equatorial West Africa, we see the remnants of a shipwreck, the very one chartered by Clayton. He and his wife have survived the wreck, but are now marooned in the jungle. They set up a house in the trees using timber and decking from the ship. Alice soon gives birth to their baby, a son named Jonathan Jr., but develops a severe fever soon after. During her sickness, Clayton writes in his journal of the difficulties in caring for his ill wife and their baby. Alice's breast milk becomes virulent and she deteriorates further. One day, Clayton checks on his wife to find her dead. As he weeps over her body, a large primate called White Eyes, leader of a nearby clan of apes, enters the home. Petrified, Clayton lunges for his gun but is quickly overtaken by the ape and killed when the ape charges him and beats him to death. Several other apes from the clan enter the house and begin to curiously inspect the house. A female named Kala, mate of the ape Silverbeard, enters the home carrying the body of her recently deceased baby. When she discovers John Jr. crying in his crib, she drops her baby's lifeless body and claims John as her own. She flees the house with the rest of the apes as one of them accidentally discharges Clayton's revolver while examining it.John (at age five Danny Potts) grows, brought up as an ape with the assumed name of Tarzan, but falls under constant persecution from White Eyes, who considers him an outsider because of his hairless skin. Despite trying hard to fit in, Tarzan's human attributes prove beneficial to him. Sipping water from a stream with a peer, Droopy Ears, Tarzan is forced into the water when the two are attacked by a leopard. Tarzan's friend is killed but he finds that he has the ability to swim to safety, whereas the apes would have normally stayed out of the water.Later (at age 12 Eric Langlois), Tarzan eventually discovers the home his human mother and father built. He finds his mother's locket which contains pictures of the Claytons, though Tarzan does not recognize them. He also finds his father's dagger and finds that it can be used as a weapon. He fashions a belt for himself and carries the dagger with him. While foraging for food, Kala is attacked and shot with arrows by a native hunting tribe. Tarzan rushes to her rescue and tries to fight off the attackers. One of the hunters, wielding a spear, lunges at Tarzan who dodges the point as it hits his already dying mother. The blow finishes Kala and Tarzan, in a rage, breaks the man's back over his shoulder. As he crouches over Kala's body, Tarzan begins to moan and scream, a mournful sound heard by the rest of the hunters.Many years later another hunting party, this time English, enters the jungle near Tarzan's home. The party is led by the vicious Major Jack Downing (Nigel Davenport), a game hunter who's been charged with bringing primates back to Britain, alive or dead, to be studied or stuffed for museum displays. Among the party are Capitaine Phillippe d'Arnot (Ian Holm) and Sir Evelyn Bount (John Wells), both contemptuous of Downing's sadism. They find the Clayton home and set up camp but are later attacked by a native tribe. Downing is killed immediately along with most of the guides. D'Arnot is wounded when an arrow pierces his lower abdomen. He manages to escape the fray but is followed by a few natives. He loses them as he hides in a large tree and, shortly after pulling the arrow from his body, is found by an adult Tarzan (Christopher Lambert) and a few apes.Tarzan brings d'Arnot to the ape camp and tends to his wounds, much to White Eyes' disapproval. Tarzan also fends off the curiosity of his fellow apes while d'Arnot recovers. During this time he discovers that Tarzan is a talented mimic who can imitate most of the animals in the jungle along with d'Arnot's mumblings. One day, Tarzan begins to hum the same tune d'Arnot does. When d'Arnot finds that Tarzan has the ability to speak, he is delighted and teaches Tarzan rudimentary English. Tarzan shows d'Arnot the locket and takes him to the Clayton home where he found it. There, d'Arnot discovers Tarzan's ancestry from John Sr.'s journal and resolves to bring Tarzan (whom d'Arnot now calls "Jean"; the French pronunciation of "John") home to his family in England.However, Tarzan's first priority is to gain leadership of the ape tribe. Having been persecuted by White Eyes his entire life, Tarzan challenges the older ape to a showdown. The two engage in a vicious fight that continues through the jungle while d'Arnot and the other apes look on. Tarzan and White Eyes fall into a large pool and disappear under water. White Eyes appears at the surface revealing a large stab wound in his body. Tarzan emerges from the water victorious and is respectfully greeted by the other apes as their leader.D'Arnot continues to educate Tarzan, though he is met with resistance at first. Tarzan finds it difficult to easily discard his ape upbringing. Eventually, d'Arnot decides that John is civilized enough to return to the world & takes him out to a small settlement on the edge of the jungle where they make their way, by boat, back to England.Upon their return, John is brought to the home of his grandfather, the Sixth Earl of Greystoke, who is deteriorating a bit from age and exhibits some eccentric behavior, presumably from the loss of his son and daughter-in-law. Lord Greystoke welcomes his grandson, though sometimes forgetting that he is not his son returned. John meets Lord Greystoke's young ward, Jane Porter (Andie MacDowell), who is visiting from America and is engaged to another man. Finding it difficult to be seen as anything but a novelty in a social sense, and with his behavior seen as threatening and savage, John falls into a depression. His mood is lifted slightly when he befriends a mentally disabled worker on the Greystoke estate and, while in his company, is able to relax and act naturally.Jane takes it upon herself to teach John more English, French, and social skills such as table manners and dancing. The two become very close and develop feelings for one another, making love one evening in secret. Eventually, Jane leaves her fiance with the intent to marry John.During a large ball honoring John's return to the family, Lord Greystoke sneaks away from the crowd, appearing to enjoy a renewed vigor at the return of his grandson. Reminiscing of a childhood game he used to play, he uses a silver tray as a toboggan and slides down the grand staircase, only to crash into the railing at the bottom. John discovers him and holds his grandfather as he dies in his arms, apparently of a head injury. John reacts similarly as he did to Kala's death, devastated and confused by the loss and frustrated with his displacement in society.John is later on hand to cut the ribbon for a new wing at the Natural History Museum -- his grandfather was the chief benefactor. Bothered by the exhibits of preserved animals, John sneaks away into an alley and comes across an institute for the study of primates next to the museum. When he enters the lab he discovers, to his horror, several small monkeys and a gorilla that have been dissected. Several other primates are kept alive in cages, the largest of which contains an ape who John immediately recognizes as his adoptive father, Silverbeard. John frees him and the other primates and escapes. At the museum, Jane, d'Arnot, and Blount are informed by the police that John is running through the streets with an ape. John runs to a park where he and Silverbeard climb a tree as they are surrounded by police and a crowd. When Jane, d'Arnot, and Blount arrive, Blount gives the word to a rifleman who fatally shoots Silverbeard. John becomes enraged and sad, yelling that the ape was his father from Africa.That night, everyone discusses what is to be done with the distraught John. Jane and d'Arnot agree that he should be sent back to Africa. Because of the dual nature in his mind, he cannot adapt to life in the civilized world. Blount disagrees, stating that John is the last surviving member of the Greystoke family and that the legacy must be secured for the future. Suddenly, they hear John screaming and see him driving a team of horses around the circle outside. When he comes in, covered in mud, Blount assertively tells him that he must resume his life as a Scot Lord. John growls and forces Blount into a chair. He presses a hand to Blount's chest and tells him, "One half of me is Greystoke. The other half is wild!"John is taken back to Africa. At the waterfall in his former territory, he quickly meets another gorilla and runs off into the rainforest, while Jane and d'Arnot watch him leave.
    

Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes

A Doll's House


            
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Ralph Richardson

Ralph Richardson Movies or Tv Shows (upto Dec 2024) - Watch Online

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