The human voice 1966 - A stunning representation of a woman's emotions

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IMDB Rating: 7,5

Director: Ted Kotcheff
Main Cast: Ingrid Bergman

"Originally penned by renowned playwright Jean Cocteau, The Human Voice chronicles the drama which unfolds throughout the course of the protagonist's monologue. Performed by the iconic Ingrid Bergman, a middle-aged woman reeling from a recently ended love affair offers the audience an intimate look at the goings-on of a person in the midst of a psychological breakdown." - www.allmovie.com

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Evening primrose 1966 - Fascinating early Sondheim musical

Charmian Carr and Anthony Perkins in Evening primrose (1966)

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IMDB Rating: 7,5

Director: Paul Bogart
Main Cast: Anthony Perkins, Charmian Carr, Dorothy Stickney, Larry Gates

"Evening Primrose is a musical with a book by James Goldman and lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim. It is based on a John Collier short story published in the 1951 collection Fancies and Goodnights.
The musical focuses on a poet who takes refuge from the world by hiding out in a department store after closing. He meets a community of night people who live in the store and falls in love with a beautiful young girl named Ella. Bizarre complications arise when the leader of the group forbids their relationship.
Written specifically for the television anthology series ABC Stage 67, it aired on November 16, 1966; directed by Paul Bogart and telecast in color."

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The journey of the fifth horse 1966 - Dustin Hoffman's first starring role on television

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IMDB Rating: 7,7

Directors: Larry Arrick, Earl Dawson
Main Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Susan Anspach, William Bassett, Michael Tolan, Charlotte Rae

"In 1966, a year before he rose to overnight fame in The Graduate, Dustin Hoffman won an Obie Award for his performance in Journey of the Fifth Horse, a stage adaptation by Ronald Ribman of the story Diary of a Superfluous Man by Ivan Turgenev. The play was videotaped for public television that same year, and this home video release presents a recording of one of Hoffman's first truly great roles. Dmitri Zoditch (Dustin Hoffman) is a lower-level manuscript reader for a large publishing company, and while he's in love with the daughter (Susan Anspach) of the firm's deceased founder, he lacks the courage to court her. The diary of a second-rate nobleman who has fallen on hard times, Nikolai Alexeyevich Chulkaturin (Michael Tolan), has been submitted for publication, and the manuscript is given to Zoditch for appraisal. Told he must read the work in one night, Zoditch soon finds himself drawn into the world of the bitter Chulkaturin, whose angst is a compliment for the insignificance of Zoditch's own life." - www.allmovie.com

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An enemy of the people 1966 - A scathing indictment of a corrupt society

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IMDB Rating: 7,8

Director: Paul Bogart
Main Cast: James Daly, Kate Reid, Philip Bosco, Tim Daly, Barbara Dana

"Arthur Miller's celebrated adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's powerful drama was brought to the small screen in this production staged for television. An Enemy of the People stars James Daly as a doctor living in a small town in Norway. The local economy depends on the success of a spa offering waters from a nearby spring, which are believed to have a healing effect. But the doctor discovers the waters are not only not healthy, they have been polluted with potentially deadly toxins; however, his attempts to alert the townspeople are challenged by the city fathers, who are more concerned with the financial health of the community than its physical well-being. Kate Reid and Philip Bosco appear in the supporting cast." - www.allmovie.com

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Death of a salesman 1966 - An outstanding play and an outstanding TV adaptation

Lee J. Cobb and Mildred Dunnock in Death of a salesman (1966)

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IMDB Rating: 7,8

Director: Alex Segal
Main Cast: Lee J. Cobb, Mildred Dunnock, James Farentino, Albert Dekker, George Segal, Karen Steele, Gene Wilder

"Death of a Salesman is a 1966 television film adapted from the play of the same name by Arthur Miller. It was directed by Alex Segal and adapted for television by Miller. It received numerous nominations for awards, and won several of them, including three Primetime Emmy Awards, a Directors Guild of America Award and a Peabody Award. It was nominated in a total of 11 Emmy categories at the 19th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1967. Lee J. Cobb reprised his role as Willy Loman and Mildred Dunnock reprised her role as Linda Loman from the original 1949 stage production. The performance marks a strong dramatic turn for George Segal who is known for his comic work, while a young Gene Wilder presents a comic but sensitive performance as Bernard."

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Blithe spirit 1966 - An enjoyable TV version of Coward's play

Portrait of Dirk Bogarde

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IMDB Rating: 7,3

Director: George Schaefer
Main Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Rosemary Harris, Rachel Roberts, Ruth Gordon

"Hallmark Hall of Fame television adaptation of Noel Coward's classic play."

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Cinderella 1965 - Another classic version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical

Lesley Ann Warren in Cinderella (1965)

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IMDB Rating: 7,9

Director: Charles S. Dubin
Main Cast: Lesley Ann Warren, Ginger Rogers, Walter Pidgeon, Celeste Holm, Jo Van Fleet, Stuart Damon

"Lesley Ann Warren plays the title role in this television production of the classic Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein III musical. Cinderella (Warren) is a sweet and pretty young woman who has been given a poor hand by fate; her stepmother (Jo Van Fleet) treats her cruelly, and while her graceless sisters are invited to a royal ball, Cinderella is not allowed to attend. But her Fairy Godmother (Celeste Holm) has other plans, and Cinderella attends the ball, where she makes a tremendous impression upon the Prince (Stuart Damon). But her Godmother's magic only works until midnight, and Cinderella is forced to leave the festivities at their height; will she ever see the Prince again? And how will he ever find her? This was the second television production of this musical version of the classic fairy tale; the original 1957 version featured a young Julie Andrews in the lead." - www.allmovie.com

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http://filenuke.com/4stp015qviex 

The hanged man 1964 - The second adaptation of Dorothy Hughes' novel

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IMDB Rating: 6,8

Director: Don Siegel
Main Cast: Robert Culp, Edmond O'Brien, Vera Miles, Norman Fell

The Hanged Man is a TV film directed by Don Siegel, in which a gunman seeks to avenge the death of his friend, who he believes was murdered. It is considered the second television film in broadcast history. It debuted on NBC on November 18, 1964. This television version was based on the Dorothy Hughes novel, which was previously filmed under the title Ride the pink horse directed by and starring Robert Montgomery. 

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A carol for another Christmas 1964 - Joseph L. Mankiewicz's first work for television

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IMDB Rating: 6,8

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Main Cast: Sterling Hayden, Eva Marie Saint, Ben Gazzara, Barbara Ann Teer, Steve Lawrence, James Shigeta, Pat Hingle, Robert Shaw, Peter Sellers, Britt Ekland

"A Carol for Another Christmas is a 1964 American television movie, scripted by Rod Serling as a modernization of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and a plea for global cooperation between nations. Presented without commercial interruptions, this 'United Nations Special' was sponsored by the Xerox Corporation, the first of a series of Xerox specials promoting the UN. It was telecast only once, on December 28, 1964. The only TV movie ever directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, this was the film in which Peter Sellers gave his first performance after suffering a series of near-fatal heart attacks in the wake of his marriage to Britt Ekland. Sellers portrayed a demigod in an apocalyptic Christmas. Sterling Hayden, who costarred with Sellers in Dr. Strangelove earlier that year, was also featured.  Henry Mancini wrote the theme music, which was recorded for his 1966 holiday LP, A Merry Mancini Christmas."

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http://d01.megashares.com/dl/NlE0Ndi/Carol for Another Christmas 1964.avi?r=ft 

Hamlet at Elsinore 1964 - English/Danish co-production filmed on location in Denmark

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IMDB Rating: 7,3

Director: Philip Saville
Main Cast: Christopher Plummer, Robert Shaw, Alec Clunes, Michael Caine, June Tobin, Jo Maxwell Muller, Donald Sutherland

"Hamlet at Elsinore is a 1964 television version of Shakespeare's play. Produced by the BBC in association with Danish Radio, it was shown in the U.S. on NET. Broadcast a few days before Shakespeare's 400th birthday, Hamlet at Elsinore was the BBC's major contribution to the quartercentenary celebrations, as well as being a technical milestone. Up to then, television Shakespeare broadcasts were exclusively studio reconstructions or relays of live theatre productions, but this was the first time that a full-length play had been taped on location, in this case at Denmark's Kronborg Castle in Elsinore. This programme was recorded and edited on video tape and not 'filmed'. It is the longest version of the play telecast in one evening up to that time, running nearly three hours. (A 1947 telecast of the play had split it up into two ninety-minute halves over two weeks.)
The Canadian actor Christopher Plummer took the lead role as the Melancholy Dane and earned an Emmy Award nomination for his performance. In supporting roles were Robert Shaw as Claudius, Donald Sutherland as Fortinbras, Roy Kinnear as the Gravedigger and Michael Caine, in his only Shakespearean performance, as Horatio. Sutherland, Caine and Shaw were, at the time, almost completely unknown to American audiences, and just before the presentation's first U.S. telecast, Plummer began to gain popularity in the U.S. because of his appearance in the 1965 musical film The Sound of Music."

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Once upon a mattress 1964 - The first TV adaptation of a classic musical

Carol Burnett in Once upon a mattress (1964)

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IMDB Rating: 8,1

Directors: Joe Layton, Dave Geisel
Main Cast: Carol Burnett, Jane White, Jack Gilford, Joseph Bova, Elliott Gould, Shani Wallis

"Once Upon a Mattress is a musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer, and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. It opened off-Broadway in May 1959, and then moved to Broadway. The play was written as an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Princess and the Pea.
The first television adaptation was aired on June 3, 1964 on CBS. The production was videotaped in black and white in front of a live audience and featured Burnett, Bova, Gilford, and White from the original Broadway cast, as well as new principals Bill Hayes as the Minstrel, Shani Wallis as Lady Larken and Elliott Gould as the Jester. Due to the reduced running time of 90 minutes, several songs and scenes were either cut or shortened."

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Hedda Gabler 1963 - Ibsen's immortal classic featuring Ingrid Bergman in the title role

Ingrid Bergman and Michael Redgrave in Hedda Gabler (1963)

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IMDB Rating: 7,3

Director: Alex Segal
Main Cast: Ingrid Bergman, Michael Redgrave, Ralph Richardson, Trevor Howard

"In one of the great dramatic roles in all of theater, the always magnificent Ingrid Bergman seethes with frustrated ambition. Hedda Gabler is a woman who, for financial security, has married an earnest and dutiful academic who lacks the passion and imagination that drive Hedda. When Eilert Lovborg (Trevor Howard), a former lover, returns to their city, she discovers that a new woman has rescued him from his alcoholism and given him the strength to write a brilliant book. Consumed with jealousy, Hedda seizes an opportunity to ruin Lovborg's life - and by doing so, places herself in the power of the glib and predatory Judge Brack (Ralph Richardson), who longs to have his way with her.
This 1963 British television version of Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler is skillfully condensed into a taut 75 minutes, fantastically played by the superb cast (which also includes Michael Redgrave). Bergman and Richardson, in particular, draw out every drop of hidden resentment and lust."

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The lover 1963 - Eroticism on early television

Vivien Merchant

Alan Badel

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IMDB Rating: 7,2

Director: Joan Kemp-Welch
Main Cast: Vivien Merchant, Alan Badel, Michael Forrest

"At the time his first play for television, 'A Night Out' was broadcast, Harold Pinter was just beginning to attract attention. By the time of The Lover, Pinter was already well-established as one of the most gifted and versatile writers of his generation, switching freely between stage, television, radio and, shortly, film - his first screenplay, The Servant (directed by Joseph Losey) was released later in 1963.
The Lover is a typically claustrophobic work, in which a suburban middle-class couple, played by Alan Badel and Pinter's then wife Vivien Merchant, become trapped in the sexual role-playing games they use to spice up their otherwise conventional marriage.
From its striking opening, in which two sets of silhouetted fingers tap upon a drum and entwine themselves like a pair of mating tarantulas, the play creates an atmosphere of eroticism unusual for television in 1963."

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Calamity Jane 1963 - Part of the Carol Burnett Special

Carol Burnett in the title role of Calamity Jane (1963)

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IMDB Rating: 7,7

Director: Dick Altman
Main Cast: Carol Burnett, Art Lund, Bernard West

"For her first comedy special of the season, Carol Burnett plays Calamity Jane, a Western wildflower with a penchant for buckskin, brawling and back-slapping. She also drives the local stagecoach, quells a barroom rebellion and even falls in love - with calamitous results.
Carol first played Calamity in summer stock during 1961, when Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster augmented their 1953 movie score ( which starred Doris Day).  Phil Shuken adapted the book for television adding more ribald humor to the original. Dick Altman and choreographer Ernest Flatt directed. Joe Hamilton (Carol's husband) was the producer.
The witty dialog crackles and the song favorites include - 'Secret Love' ( as a finale-duet!), 'Windy City', 'Deadwood Stage', 'I Can Do Without You', 'Keep It Under Your Hat', 'Higher Than A Hawk', 'A Woman's Touch'   and others."

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The cherry orchard 1962 - A studio version of the Royal Shakespeare Company's production

Dorothy Tutin, John Gielgud and Judi Dench

(in The cherry orchard 1962)

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IMDB Rating: 7,3

Director: Michael Elliott
Main Cast: Peggy Ashcroft, John Gielgud, Dorothy Tutin, Judi Dench

"The production is adapted by John Gielgud and directed by Michael Elliott and Michel Saint-Denis. It also stars Gielgud as the family patriarch, Gaev, and Peggy Ashcroft (Sunday Bloody Sunday) as Madame Ranevsky. A very young Judi Dench plays their head-in-the-clouds daughter, Anya, and in his earliest performance of the set, Ian Holm is Trofimov. This character is not only Anya's love interest, but as an adult student, he is another of Chekhov's thinking environmentalists. His vision of a future where humanity and the natural world will find some harmony is contrasted against the plight of Gaev and Ranevsky.
Having returned from a trip, they are told they must sell their family orchard in order to pay their debts, a situation they face with a stiff upper lip that looks a lot like denial. This subplot lends a nostalgia to the script, as Chekhov is examining the passing of an age. Class distinctions are clearly drawn, with an almost upstairs-downstairs structuring that cuts back and forth between the servant class and the landowners, a line that will be erased as the play goes on."

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Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol 1962 - The original animated television classic

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IMDB Rating: 7,7

Director: Abe Levitow

"Having made a bundle on their 130-episode package of Mr. Magoo TV cartoons, the folks at UPA studios decided to star Magoo in a 60-minute musical version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. First telecast over the NBC network on December 18, 1962, Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol deftly uses the device of depicting Magoo as a famous Broadway star, returning to the stage to essay the role of Ebeneezer Scrooge. This "framing" device has, unfortunately, been eliminated from currently available TV and video versions of this hour-long animated special. Still, Magoo has plenty of time to shine as Scrooge, a role ideally suited for the character's crotchety demeanor and comic nearsightedness. The five original songs by Jules Styne and Bob Merrill are wonderful-far more so than the disposable score of the 1970 live-action Christmas Carol musical adaptation Scrooge. The principal voices are provided by Jim Backus as Magoo, Jack Cassidy as Bob Cratchit, Royal Dano as Marley's Ghost, and Joan Gardner, Morey Amsterdam and Paul Frees." - www.allmovie.com

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Macbeth 1961 - Television adaptation with the young Sean Connery in the title role

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IMDB Rating: 6,8

Director: Paul Almond
Main Cast: Sean Connery, Zoe Caldwell, William Needles, Ted Follows

"The Scottish lord Macbeth, chooses evil as the way to fulfill his ambition for power. He commits regicide to become king and then furthers his moral descent with a reign of murderous terror to stay in power, eventually plunging the country into civil war. In the end, he loses everything that gives meaning and purpose to his life before losing his life itself. Macbeth, based on the play by Shakespeare, was produced in 1961 and it was a TV movie with Sean Connery as the lead character. It's not entirely a visually striking film but it does have that eerie atmosphere that makes the movie. It's gloomy which is perfect for the plot of the movie. Macbeth, is an eerie film, a film about murder, witches, and how power corrupts a person. Still to this day there are leaders that will kill for power as it was in the Medieval world. But we must remember that Macbeth is not the only accomplice, Lady Macbeth, she also hungers for power and 'helps' her husband obtain that power by using her words of crazed wisdom. So this production in particular, for being not a cinematic film isn't bad."

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