North by Northwest (1959), Viridiana (1961), The Rules of the Game (1939), La Dolce Vita (1960), Being There (1979), The Sound of Music (1965), Doctor Zhivago (1965), Random Harvest (1942) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Country Estate movies.
Storyline: Biopic of billionaire Howard Hughes, starting with his early filmmaking years as owner of R.K.O. Pictures, but mostly focusing on his role in designing and promoting new aircraft. Hughes was a risk-taker spending several fortunes on designing experimental aircraft and eventually founding TWA as a rival to Pan Am airlines owned by his great rival Juan Trippe. When Trippe's politico Senator Ralph Owen Brewster accuses Hughes of being a war profiteer, it's Hughes who gains the upper hand. Hughes also had many women in his life including a long relationship with Katharine Hepburn. From an early age, however, Hughes was also germophobic and would have severe bouts of mental illness.
Plot Keywords: obsessive compulsive disorder, film producer, test pilot, connecticut, california, world war two, playboy ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Dr. Markway, doing research to prove the existence of ghosts, investigates Hill House, a large, eerie mansion with a lurid history of violent death and insanity. With him are the skeptical young Luke, who stands to inherit the house, the mysterious and clairvoyant Theodora and the insecure Eleanor, whose psychic abilities make her feel somehow attuned to whatever spirits inhabit the old mansion. As time goes by it becomes obvious that they have gotten more than they bargained for as the ghostly presence in the house manifests itself in horrific and deadly ways.
Plot Keywords: haunted house, gothic horror, supernatural horror, based on novel, lesbian, library, gothic ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: On his uncle's death Sir Henry Baskerville returns from abroad and opens up the ancestral hall on the desolate moors of Devonshire. Holmes uncovers a plot to have Sir Henry murdered by a terrible trained hound.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
Plot Keywords: sherlock holmes character, cemetery, revolver, shooting a dog, doctor, death, falling to death ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Amateur plumber Cluny Brown gets sent off by her uncle to work as a servant at an English country estate. While there, she becomes friendly with Adam Belinski, a charming Czech refugee. She also becomes interested in a dull shopkeeper named Mr. Wilson. Belinski soon falls in love with Cluny and tries to keep her from marrying Wilson.—Daniel Bubbeo <dbubbeo@cmp.com>
Plot Keywords: based on novel, colonel, train, suitor, railway station, professor, pregnancy ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Judith Traherne is at the height of young society when Dr. Frederick Steele diagnoses a brain tumor. After surgery, she falls in love with Steele. The doctor tells her secretary that the tumor will come back and eventually kill her. Learning this, Judith becomes manic and depressive. Her horse trainer Michael, who loves her, tells her to get as much out of life as she can. She marries Steele who intends to find a cure for her illness. As he goes off to a conference in New York failing eyesight indicates to Judith that she is dying.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
Plot Keywords: based on play, friendship, gardening, heiress, hospital, housekeeper, jealousy ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: An uniterrupted rehersal of Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" played out by a company of actors. The setting is their run down theater with an unusable stage and crumbling ceiling. The play is shown act by act with the briefest of breaks to move props or for refreshments. The lack of costumes, real props and scenery is soon forgotten.—Rob Hartill
Plot Keywords: cigar smoking, card playing, friend, redemption, hope, faith, pistol ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: A member of the House of Lords dies in a shockingly silly way, leaving his estate to his son. Unfortunately, his son is insane: he thinks he is Jesus Christ. The other somewhat-more respectable members of their family plot to steal the estate from him. Murder and mayhem ensues.—Mark Logan <marklo@west.sun.com>
Plot Keywords: kiss, river, hanging, hallucination, orchestra, lobotomy, confetti ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meets the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Mr. Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Mr. Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?
Plot Keywords: drawing, girls' school, teacher, classroom, boarding school, school uniform, school ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Bunuel's first feature has more of a plot than Un Chien Andalou (1929), but it's still a pure Surrealist film, so this is only a vague outline. A man and a woman are passionately in love with each other, but their attempts to consummate that passion are constantly thwarted by their families, the Church, and bourgeois society.
Plot Keywords: surrealism, absurd humor, cult film, absurdism, satire, avant garde, cow ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: When Lucy Honeychurch and chaperone Charlotte Bartlett find themselves in Florence with rooms without views, fellow guests Mr Emerson and son George step in to remedy the situation. Meeting the Emersons could change Lucy's life forever but, once back in England, how will her experiences in Tuscany affect her marriage plans?
Plot Keywords: male nudity, nude bathing, pubic hair, male pubic hair, self discovery, reference to ludwig van beethoven, piano ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: A strange visitor in a wealthy family. He seduces the maid, the son, the mother, the daughter and finally the father before leaving a few days after. After he's gone, none of them can continue living as they did. Who was that visitor ? Could he be God ?
Plot Keywords: sexuality, mysterious stranger, estate, milan italy, religion, family relationships, female nudity ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: It's the post-World War I era. Britons Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell are both naturally gifted fast sprinters, but approach running and how it fits into their respective lives differently. The son of a Lithuanian Jew, Harold, who lives a somewhat privileged life as a student at Cambridge, uses being the fastest to overcome what he sees as the obstacles he faces in life as a Jew despite that privilege. In his words to paraphrase an old adage, he is often invited to the trough, but isn't allowed to drink. His running prowess does earn him the respect of his classmates, especially his running teammates, and to some extent the school administration, if only he maintains what they consider proper gentlemanly decorum, which isn't always the case in their minds. Born in China, the son of Christian missionaries, Eric, a Scot, is a devout member of the Church of Scotland who eventually wants to return to that missionary work. He sees running as a win-win in that the notoriety of being fast ...
Plot Keywords: athlete, olympic games, based on true story, 1920s, christian, jew, race ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Disney's animated classic takes on a new form, with a widened mythology and an all-star cast. A young prince, imprisoned in the form of a beast, can be freed only by true love. What may be his only opportunity arrives when he meets Belle, the only human girl to ever visit the castle since it was enchanted.
Plot Keywords: beast, disney, female protagonist, gay subtext, four word title, heroine, fairy tale ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: It was the perfect family vacation for composer John Russell and his family when a freak automobile accident claims the lives of his wife and daughter. Consumed by grief, John, at the request of friends, rents an old turn of the century house. Mammoth in size, the house seems all the room that John needs to write music and reflect. He does not realize that he is not alone in the house. He shares it with the spirit of a child who has homed in on John's despair and uses him to uncover decades of silence and deceit. With the help of Claire Norman, the one who aided John in procuring the house, they race to find the answers and soon learn that a devious and very powerful man guards them.
Plot Keywords: mansion, ghost, haunted house, supernatural power, psychic, widower, senator ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Set in the 1930s, the story takes place in an old-fashioned English country house where a weekend shooting party is underway. The story centers on the McCordle family, particularly the man of the house, William McCordle. Getting on in years, William has become benefactor to many of his relatives and friends. As the weekend goes on, secrets are revealed, and it seems everyone, above stairs and below, wants a piece of William and his money, but how far will they go to get it?
Plot Keywords: england, scottish accent, police investigation, murder investigation, illegitimate child, high society, ensemble film ...
Movie Details Click Here!