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Binding: DVD EAN: 9780792177319 Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC ISBN: 0792177312 Label: Paramount Languages: Manufacturer: Paramount MPN: D013474D Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Paramount Region Code: 1 Release Date: December 11, 2001 Running Time: 123 minutes Studio: Paramount Theatrical Release Date: 1980 Editorial Review: Amazon.com: You could only see his eyes behind the layers of makeup, but those expressive orbs earned John Hurt a well-deserved Oscar nomination for his moving portrayal of John Merrick, the grotesquely deformed Victorian-era man better known as The Elephant Man. Inarticulate and abused, Merrick is the virtual slave of a carnival barker (Freddie Jones) until dedicated London doctor Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins in a powerfully understated performance) rescues him from the life and offers him an existence with dignity. Anne Bancroft costars as the actress whose visit to Merrick makes him a social curiosity, with John Gielgud and Wendy Hiller as dubious hospital staffers won over by Merrick. David Lynch earned his only Oscar nominations as director and cowriter of this somber drama, which he shot in a rich black-and-white palette, a sometimes stark, sometimes dreamy visual style that at times recalls the offbeat expressionism of his first film, Eraserhead. It remains a perfect marriage between traditional Hollywood historical drama and Lynch's unique cinematic eye, a compassionate human tale delivered in a gothic vein. The film earned eight Oscar nominations in all, and though it left the Oscar race empty-handed, its dramatic power and handsome yet haunting imagery remain just as strong today. --Sean Axmaker Average Rating:
 Rating: - Painfully sad to watch but a true classicRightly regarded as one of the classic British films of the last decades, this broadly true tale of dignified humanity shining through the gloomy, impersonal smog of Victorian London hardly puts a foot wrong. Anthony Hopkins is superb as the dispassionate surgeon who rescues the maltreated circus freak and convincingly settles his own (and our) moral doubt as to whether he has simply replaced the morbid curiosity of the voyeuristic crowds for an equally exploitative scientific curiosity and means ... Read More Rating: - One of the most powerful films in existenceThis is an incredible film and one of my all time favorites. I first saw it on cable TV when I was only 6 years of age or so and was completely blown away by the film's message. Even at such a young age, it changed my outlook on the world. This movie kept me up at night. It truly redefines what is to be human. I purchased it on DVD a few years ago and the film was just as powerful as I remembered, even more so. Yes, it is a sad film but is equally uplifting as kindness and compassion trump cruelty ... Read More Rating: - A sad, sad film....The film opens under the tent of a circus. The Elephant Man is the main attraction of the freak shows. A physician, Dr. Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins), passes through a menagerie of Siamese twins, strongmen, fat women, pickled abortions, etc., until he arrives at the Elephant Man's tent. Treves pays the carnival barker, Bytes (Freddie Jones), a fee for a private exhibition of the Elephant Man. Bytes leads Treves into the Elephant Man's tent. It's dark inside. The Elephant Man peeks out of the shadows. ... Read More Rating:  - Too melodramatic and predictableA man and the lifetime conflict of his existence and the self acception... Despite the fact it was based in a true story, something in this film recalls me the classic French novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". Very well filmed, but the plot takes an overemotional approach. Rating: - Truly upsetting and memorableI can cry at anything. I cry at films, reality TV shows, Neighbours *cough*, sob stories on American Idol, etc. And I've cried so much at a similar film, Mask, that I can no longer watch it. I was actually expecting to dislike this. Everyone seems to rave about it. What's to like? For anyone who has seen this movie, the scene where the doctor (played superbly by Anthony Hopkins) takes John back to his home and introduces him to his wife - that was me. When John starts crying and says he's never ... Read More |
