BUtterfield 8

The Eternal Dream

1934 · ★ 7.8

At the end of the 18th century, the wealthy French scholar Saussure comes to a small Alpine village and offers 1,000 pieces of gold to anyone who can lead him to the summit of Mont Blanc. The young farmer's son Jacques Balmat wants to take on the dangerous task, even though his father has told him from an early age about the mighty mountain spirits who guard a legendary treasure of gold on the mountain peak.

The Legend of 1900

1998 · ★ 8.2

Musician Max Tooney goes to sell his prized Conn trumpet to a music shop, where he plays the instrument one last time. The shopkeeper recognises the song as one on a record matrix he found and asks who the piece is by. Tooney tells the story of an infant found abandoned in the first class dining room of the four-stacker ocean-liner SS Virginian on 1 January 1900. Danny Boodman, a coal-man from the boiler room, names the boy Danny Boodman T. D. Lemon 1900, after himself, the fruit crate the boy was found in, and the year, and raises him as his own.

Angela's Ashes

1999 · ★ 7.3

An Irish Catholic family returns to 1930s Limerick after a child's death in America. The unemployed I.R.A. veteran father struggles with poverty, prejudice, and alcoholism as the family endures harsh slum conditions.

Tea with Mussolini

1999 · ★ 6.4

In 1930s fascist Italy, adolescent Luca just lost his mother. His father, a callous businessman, sends him to be taken care of by British expatriate Mary Wallace. Mary and her cultured friends - including artist Arabella, young widow Elsa, and archaeologist Georgie - keep a watchful eye over the boy. But the women's cultivated lives take a dramatic turn when Allied forces declare war on Mussolini.

Passion

1999 · ★ 4.5

Passion concentrates on Grainger's unusual relationship with his mother and his sexual peculiarities (especially his obsessive self-flagellation, though homosexuality is also hinted at) which affect his relationship with a woman who comes to love him. It is set mainly in London in 1914, when Grainger's mother Rose was ill (she would later jump to her death in New York, upset by ill-founded rumours of incest with her son).

My Soul Is a Witness

In the heart of colonial Senegal, moving to the devastating battlefields of Europe during WWII, Awa and Ibrahim are a young couple whose lives are upended by war. Their love story takes a tragic turn when Ibrahim is conscripted and later presumed dead in 1940. Driven by love and hope, Awa embarks on a perilous journey to Paris in January 1942, seeking any trace of Ibrahim. She finds refuge in the Paris city mosque, alongside Jews evading Nazi persecution. However, her quest leads her to Auschwitz, where, in a twist of fate, she miraculously finds Ibrahim alive.

Cabaret

1972 · ★ 7.4

Inside the Kit Kat Club of 1931 Berlin, starry-eyed singer Sally Bowles and an impish emcee sound the clarion call to decadent fun, while outside a certain political party grows into a brutal force.

The Woman of Wrath

1984 · ★ 5.8

A woman resorts to prostitution out of hunger and commits suicide shortly after, leaving her daughter to embark on an equally cruel path.

The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case

1976 · ★ 6.5

Fact-based story of the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh Jr., son and namesake of the famed pilot, and ensuing trial of accused and convicted killer, Bruno Hauptmann.

The Pianist

2002 · ★ 8.4

The true story of pianist Władysław Szpilman's experiences in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. When the Jews of the city find themselves forced into a ghetto, Szpilman finds work playing in a café; and when his family is deported in 1942, he stays behind, works for a while as a laborer, and eventually goes into hiding in the ruins of the war-torn city.

Pocketful of Miracles

1961 · ★ 7.3

A New York gangster and his girlfriend attempt to turn street beggar Apple Annie into a society lady when the peddler learns her daughter is marrying royalty.

King Kong

2005 · ★ 6.9

In 1933 New York, an overly ambitious movie producer coerces his cast and hired ship crew to travel to mysterious Skull Island, where they encounter Kong, a giant ape who is immediately smitten with the leading lady.