From Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ===== The book is about Cora Sharpe, a Hollywood screenwriter who is eight-and-a-half months pregnant by her boyfriend, an attorney named Ray, a relationship that has gone wrong. Concerned that she will not survive labor, Cora begins to write long letters to her unborn child. As she writes, she begins to recall the events that led to her current situation. Her relationship with Ray became more complicated by the arrival of his mother, who came to live with them to recuperate from breast surgery. Cora's friend and co-writer, Bud, who has bipolar disorder, then moves in with them. When another friend, William, who is in the final stages of dying of AIDS, moves in, Ray decides that Cora's efforts to care for William during his final days on earth signals that he, Ray, is not her top priority in life. As things get out of control, Cora returns home to her mother, a retired musical comedy star, and Bud follows. There is an in-depth look at the heartfelt expectations of Cora's zany mother, the show-bizzy grandma-to-be. Cora and Bud then join her mother in an inexplicable and madcap scheme to kidnap Cora's grandfather, who is stricken with Alzheimer's, from his nursing home and take him back to his hometown of Whitewright, Texas. The story then concludes with the birth of Cora's child. Category:1993 American novels Category:American autobiographical novels Category:Novels by Carrie Fisher Category:Simon & Schuster books ===== In the story, Peter Pan, a magical boy who refuses to grow up, brings the Darling children (Wendy, John, and Michael) from London to Neverland, where they have adventures that include a confrontation with the pirate Captain Hook and his crew. Later, the children feel homesick and wish to go home. Wendy invites Peter and the Lost Boys to come with them so they can be adopted. The Lost Boys are eager to do so, but Peter refuses because he does not wish to grow up. Wendy and her brothers and the Lost Boys are captured by the pirates, but rescued by Peter, who forces Captain Hook to walk the plank and be eaten by the crocodile who once ate his hand. Wendy and the boys return to the Darling home, where Mrs. Darling meets Peter for the first time and offers to adopt him, but he refuses for the same reason that he refused to go back with Wendy and the boys - he has no intention of growing up. Peter asks Wendy to return to Neverland with him, and Mrs. Darling agrees to allow Wendy to go back once a year to help Peter with his spring cleaning. ===== Tough Chicago Police Lieutenant Jim Brannigan (John Wayne) is sent to London to extradite a notorious American gangster, Ben Larkin (John Vernon). Brannigan is assigned a local officer, Jennifer (Judy Geeson), to help while he is in London. But before Brannigan can collect his man, Larkin is kidnapped. Larkin's finger is cut off and mailed to the police to prove how serious the kidnappers are. The mobster's lawyer, Mel Fields (Mel Ferrer), tries to arrange a ransom drop while Brannigan makes his way around London in search of Larkin. Whilst struggling to adapt to the British way of life, and the restrained style of policing, he employs techniques not usually seen in Britain. In the meantime, a contract had already been put out on Brannigan's life by Larkin, so hit man Gorman (Daniel Pilon) tails Brannigan in a black Jaguar E-Type, making several attempts to kill him and nearly shooting Jennifer by mistake. Commander Swann (Richard Attenborough), in charge of helping get Larkin to America, is a stuffy, titled, upper class Metropolitan Police commander who is not afraid to get his hands dirty. There is continual conflict between Brannigan and Swann about the American's carrying, and use of, his .38 Colt Diamondback revolver. Permitted to go alone to deliver the ransom payment, Fields personally eliminates the kidnappers. He and Larkin celebrate having pulled off a scheme to get the money, Larkin calling the loss of a finger a small price to pay. Brannigan bursts in to foil their plans. As he and Jennifer walk away, Gorman tries to mow them down with his car, but he is shot by Brannigan, who can now return home to Chicago. ===== 30-something Mitali aka Meethi (Konkona Sen Sharma) suffers from schizophrenia and is taken care of by her older, divorced sister Anjali aka Anu (Shabana Azmi), who is a professor, and their ageing mother (Waheeda Rehman). Although she was never married in real life, Meethi has created her own alternate reality in her mind in which she married her ex-fiancé Joydeep (Rahul Bose) and has five children. While Anu has dedicated her life to taking care of Meethi and her mother, even putting her own relationship with a fellow professor (Kanwaljeet Singh) on hold, in Meethi's imaginary world both the older women are holding her in the house and away from her husband and children against her will. She imagines her family to be living at the non- existent 15 Park Avenue in Kolkata. After Meethi has a severe seizure, her case is taken up by a new doctor Kunal Barua (Dhritiman Chatterjee). While discussing her sister's case with the new doctor, Anu reveals that though Meethi had dormant schizophrenic traits since childhood, she led a very normal life till her early 20s, before a traumatic experience in the course of her job as a journalist made her withdraw from the outer world. Her fiancé, unable to deal with the emotional upheaval caused by the incidence, broke off the engagement. On the doctor's advice, Anu takes both women on a vacation to Bhutan, where they are spotted by Joydeep, now married with two children. In her present state, Meethi does not recognize Joydeep as the same man she is married to in her imagination, and befriends him. When Joydeep learns of Meethi's worsened condition and her imaginary world, he offers to help her locate the elusive family home - 15 Park Avenue. Back in Kolkata, Joydeep drives her down to the part of the city where she believes her house and her family are. In a surrealistic climax, Meethi finally locates the house and finds her husband Jojo (as she fondly calls him) and her five children waiting for her return. She walks into the house, reunited with her 'real' family and is never seen again. ===== Nazlı is the daughter of a conservative Turkish father Kahraman, who is a famous baklava maker in Gaziantep. Her grandfather Memik Dede is a Greco- Turkish War veteran. Then there is Kadir (Engin Akyürek), son of Ökkeş, the business partner of Kahraman. Kadir is engaged to Nazli. He is kind-hearted and loves her very much. But Nazli falls in love with Niko. Niko, whose parents are immigrants from Istanbul, is the son of a wealthy Greek ship owner Stavro. Nazlı and Niko meet in Bodrum, fall in love at first sight and decide to marry. The comedy starts when Niko goes to Gaziantep to ask for her father’s agreement to the marriage. Historical enmity between the two nations makes it very hard and both families oppose their marriage in the beginning. Finally, Nazlı and Niko form a family and settle in Istanbul. They meaningfully name their son Ege ("Aegean"), the sea between Turkey and Greece. The families visit each other several times for various reasons and get so closer. Niko's spinster aunt Katina gets married with a Turkish man, much exasperating her mother Efthalia. Even the initial hatred between the older members of the families, Memik Dede and Efthalia, turns to a romantic affair. As Nazli and Niko enjoy their time, Kadir and Niko’s secretary Anna fall in love. Kadir and Anna get engaged, but circumstances make them to separate as Anna’s modeling profession is not accepted by Kadir’s family. Stella (another foreigner) is the next woman in Kadir’s life. They are happily married and living peacefully, when again tragedy strikes. Stella unable of having kids leaves and asks for a peaceful divorce from Kadir as she wants him to live a complete life with family and children. Finally, Kadir is married to a Turkish girl Aysel. They have a daughter whom he names ‘Nazli’. ===== One night, Alice falls asleep while reading a fairy tale picture book and is awaken by a call from within a wall mirror. A rabbit appears in the mirror and tells her that his country and eight other lands has been conquered by an evil witch known as the Queen of Darkness and Alice is the only child who has love and courage to restore peace. The girl is pulled inside the mirror world and given a magic straw to attack with soap bubbles. After the Queen is defeated, Alice wakes up thinking it was just a nightmare, but finds the phrase " you!" written on the mirror and on a cake. ===== Sally Nicholas is a young, pretty, and popular American woman who lives in a boarding house in New York and works as a taxi dancer. Upon reaching her twenty-first birthday, she inherits a considerable fortune. Sally tries to adjust to her new life, but financial and romantic problems beset her until a happy ending ensues. ===== Following a raid on a bank in a seaside town, four Parisian gangsters flee after a cashier sets off the alarm with only part of the loot and with one of the men, Marc Albois, wounded by the cashier, who Marc then shoots dead. They put Marc in a private clinic and disperse. Their leader, Simon, owns a night club which is visited regularly by police detective Coleman to keep an eye on Simon and pick up information. Coleman also hopes to see the beautiful Cathy, who is Simon's mistress but spends occasional afternoons with Coleman in a hotel room. Fearing police will find and question Marc, Simon sends Cathy into the clinic dressed as a nurse to give the dying man a fatal air embolism after an attempt to take him away fails. Simon's next project is to steal a large quantity of heroin being transported out of France by a rival gang on the night express from Paris to Lisbon. From a helicopter, he is lowered onto the speeding train in the empty countryside south of Bordeaux, knocks out the courier with chloroform, and is successfully winched up with the drugs. Coleman, knowing the dead Marc was friends with Louis Costa, arrests him and gets him to confess the names of his accomplices. Coleman goes to the club and questions Simon, who denies he knows Marc or Louis. Simon immediately telephones the fourth member of the gang, Paul, a former bank manager, to warn him, but police arrive before he can flee and Paul shoots himself. Simon hides out in a hotel and rings Cathy to pick him up. However, police have tapped Cathy's phone and, as Simon emerges from the hotel carrying an attaché case full of heroin, the waiting Coleman draws a gun and challenges him. As Simon seems to be reaching inside his coat for a gun, Coleman shoots him dead while Cathy watches helplessly from her car. However, when Coleman inspects Simon's body, he finds he had no gun, leading him to think it was suicide by cop. Coleman is called away on another case, leaving a pensive Cathy alone. The film ends with a prolonged shot on Coleman's face as he drives away. ===== In the country outside Rome, a group of swindlers dress up as clerics and con poor farmers out of their savings. Another scam in a shanty town is to pretend they are officials taking deposits for apartments. The proceeds are spent on flashy cars, champagne and prostitutes. One member of the gang, Picasso, pretends to his faithful wife Iris that he is a painter, but after a New Year's Eve party among criminals she stops believing him. His conscience is pricked and he decides to quit. Another member, Augusto, meets his teenage daughter Patrizia who he has not seen for years, and his conscience is also awakened. However he is recognised in a cinema with her, arrested and jailed. When released he forms a new gang to work the clergy scam among peasants. After swindling a large sum out of a farming family, he talks to their paralysed teenage daughter. Her plight touches him, and when the gang come to share out the gains he says he gave it all back. A row develops and he is battered to the ground. Stripping him, the crooks find he has concealed the takings in his clothes. On a snowy hillside, they leave him to a slow death. ===== The film opens depicting a scene in July 1914 immediately prior to the cruise ship Gloria N. setting sail from Naples Harbor. The opening sequence is in sepia tones, as if it were a film shot in that era, with no sound other than the whirring of the projector. Gradually the sepia fades into full colour and we can hear the characters’ dialogue. Orlando, an Italian journalist, supplies commentary by directly addressing the camera, explaining to the viewer that the cruise is a funeral voyage to disperse the ashes of opera singer Edmea Tetua near the island of Erimo, her birthplace. Considered the greatest singer of all time, Tetua is celebrated for her goddess-like voice. The bumbling but lovable journalist also provides highly subjective anecdotes and gossip on the wide array of cartoon characters that evoke the golden age of the "funny papers" (Little Nemo, Bringing Up Father, The Katzenjammer Kids) but with a perverse Felliniesque twist. These include more opera singers, voice teachers, orchestra directors, theatre producers, actors, prime ministers, counts, princesses, Grand Dukes, and panic-stricken fans of the deceased diva. A jealous and bitter soprano named Ildebranda desperately tries to penetrate the secret behind Edmea Tetua's unforgettable voice. A bristle-haired Russian basso is shown around the ship's vast mess hall where, using only his voice, he hypnotizes a chicken. A curly-cued actor travels with his mother in order to seduce sailors. Sir Reginald Dongby, a voyeuristic English aristocrat, relishes spying on Lady Violet, his nymphomaniac wife. The Grand Duke of Harzock, a Prussian, is an obese bubble of a young man whose blind sister (the Tanztheater performer and choreographer Pina Bausch) schemes with her lover, the prime minister, to disinherit her brother. The brooding Count of Bassano closets himself in his cabin transformed into a temple dedicated to the diva's memory. An awful stench rises from the ship's hold and soon it's revealed that a love-sick rhinoceros has been neglected by the ship's crew. The beast is pulled up, washed on deck, and returned to the hold with fresh water and hay. On the third day of the voyage, the passengers discover a crowd of shipwrecked Serbians camped on the deck of the ship. Fleeing in rafts towards Italy after the assassination at Sarajevo, the refugees were brought on board the previous night by the captain. The Grand Duke and his men, however, are convinced the Serbians are terrorists and order the captain to isolate the group to a corner of the ship. The upshot is Fellini's barely disguised take on the Marx Brothers's A Night at the Opera in a heady mix of cultures, both ethnic and artistic, where aristocrats and snobs joyfully share the stage (the ship's deck) with peasants and vibrant Serbian folklore (as choreographed by Leonetta Bentivoglio). But the revels end when the menacing flagship of the Austro- Hungarian fleet sails into view, demanding the return of the Serbian refugees. The captain agrees on condition that Edmea Tetua's ashes be dispersed at Erimo beforehand. After the ceremony, the refugees are loaded into a lifeboat for delivery to the Austrians but a young Serbian hurls a bomb at the flagship, causing pandemonium. The Austrians respond by cannon fire. The Gloria N. sinks while Albertini wields his baton, aristocrats march to the lifeboats, a grand piano slides across the floor smashing mirrors, and butterflies twitter serenely above the melee of suitcases in flooded corridors. In a reverse tracking shot, Fellini reveals the stupendous behind-the-scenes of his floating opera of a movie - giant hydraulic jacks (constructed by Oscar- winning set designer, Dante Ferretti) that created the ship's rolling sea movements, along with acres of plastic ocean, an army of technicians burning naphthalene for the smoke of disaster effect, and, finally, an enigmatic figure that may be Orlando or Fellini intentionally hiding behind his own camera filming the main camera filming himself. The main camera then tracks forward to a final shot of Orlando in a lifeboat with the rhinoceros happily munching on hay. "Did you know," confides Orlando, "that a rhinoceros gives very good milk?" Laughing, he once again mans the oars to disappear on a vast plastic ocean. ===== Interviewed by a Japanese TV crew for a news report on his latest film, Fellini takes the viewer behind the scenes at Cinecittà. A nighttime set is prepared for a sequence that Fellini defines as “the prisoner’s dream” in which his hands grope for a way out of a dark tunnel. With advancing age and weight, Fellini is finding it difficult to escape by simply flying away, but when he does, he contemplates Cinecittà from a great height. The next morning, Fellini accompanies the Japanese TV crew on a brief tour of the studios. As they walk past absurd TV commercials in production, Fellini's casting director presents him with four young actors she's found to interpret Karl Rossmann, the leading role in the maestro's film version of Kafka's Amerika. Fellini introduces the Japanese to the female custodian of Cinecittà (Nadia Ottaviani) but she succeeds in putting off the interview by disappearing into the deserted backlot of Studio 5 to gather dandelions to make herbal tea. Meanwhile, Fellini's assistant director (Maurizio Mein) is on location with other crew members at the Casa del Passeggero, a once cheap hotel now converted into a drugstore. Fellini wants to include it in his film about the first time he visited Cinecittà as a journalist in 1938 during the Fascist era.Interviewed by Alain Finkielkraut for the Messager européen, Fellini explained that the “first time I visited Cinecittà, I was 18 years old, a journalist from Rimini who considered Cinecittà as something legendary.” In Fellini, Intervista, 228. Past and present intermingle as Fellini interacts with his younger self played by aspiring actor, Sergio Rubini. After the crew reconstruct the facade of the Casa del Passeggero elsewhere in Rome, a fake tramway takes young Fellini/Rubini from America's Far West with Indian warriors on a clifftop to a herd of wild elephants off the coast of Ethiopia. Arriving at Cinecittà, he sets off to interview matinee idol, Greta Gonda."I came to interview an actress named Greta Gonda and it was the first interview I conducted, the first time I went to Cinecittà, and the first encounter with an actress I liked very much.” Fellini, Intervista, 228 Seamlessly, the illusion takes over the realities of moviemaking as the viewer is thrown into two feature films being directed by tyrannical directors. But only for a short while; for the rest of the film, Fellini and his assistant director (Maurizio Mein) scramble to recruit the right cast and build the sets for the film version of Amerika, a fictitious adaptation that Fellini uses as a pretext to shoot his film-in-progress. This allows Fellini/Rubini to go back and forth in time to experience filmmaking first-hand including disgruntled actors who failed their auditions, Marcello Mastroianni in a TV commercial as Mandrake the Magician, a bomb threat, a visit to Anita Ekberg’s house where she and Mastroianni re-live their La Dolce Vita scenes, screen tests of Kafka’s Brunelda caressed in a bathtub by two young men, and an inconvenient thunderstorm that heralds the production collapse of Amerika with an attack by bogus Indians on horseback wielding television antennae as spears. Back inside Studio 5 at Cinecittà, Intervista concludes with Fellini’s voiceover, “So the movie should end here. Actually, it’s finished.” In response to producers unhappy with his gloomy endings, the Maestro ironically offers them a ray of sunshine by lighting an arc lamp. ===== With a nod to the lunar-obsessed lyrics of Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi,A portrait of Leopardi hangs in Ivo's childhood bedroom while a large Pinocchio puppet stands in a corner. the acerbic tale focuses on the capture of the moon by the Micheluzzi Brothers while Ivo, newly released from a mental hospital, tries to seduce Aldina Ferruzzi with whom he's infatuated. Although she wants nothing to do with him, Ivo equates her blond beauty with the moon, the origin of his madness and frustration. During the attempts to woo her, he meets various madcap characters including an oboist who sleeps in the local cemetery, a man whose hobby is meditating on rooftops, and Gonnella, the ex-prefect fired for his rising paranoia. Gonnella makes Ivo his lieutenant and together they investigate the "wild conspiracies" going on around them. The oddball pair attends a farcical beauty pageant where Aldina is crowned "Miss Flour of 1989" and ends up lost in the farmlands among graceful African women chanting in the moonlight. Inside an abandoned warehouse, they discover an Inferno-like disco of fashion victims dancing and bopping deliriously to Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel." Ivo realises that Aldina's shoe, obtained surreptitiously, fits every Cinderella who tries it on. To the dancers' stupefaction, Gonnella orchestrates a waltz but is thrown out after smashing the disc jockey's cache of records. Meanwhile, the three demented Micheluzzi brothers have caught the moon using gigantic farming equipment and roped it down in a stable. What ought to be a sacred event becomes a squandered opportunity as priests and politicians turn it into a conference for official propaganda voiced to the assembled public. The conference rapidly degenerates into violence by a madman with a pistol screaming, "What am I doing here? Why was I put here in the first place?" leaving Ivo Salvini with the film's last words: "If we all quieted down a little, maybe we'd understand something." ===== Petty thief Nick Robey (John Garfield) botches a robbery, leaving his partner Al (Norman Lloyd) severely wounded as Nick escapes with over $10,000. Meeting bakery worker Peg Dobbs (Shelley Winters) in friendly conversation, when Peg takes Nick to her family's apartment, he decides to take the family hostage until he can escape. As a manhunt for Nick begins outside, the robber becomes increasingly paranoid. Peg's initial attraction to Nick is overwhelmed by his abusive behavior. Her mother and father plead with Nick to leave, to no avail. He permits Mr. Dobbs to leave for work, warning him of the consequences should the police be contacted. Still confident that Peg will run away with him, Nick gives her $1,500 to buy a new car. He refuses to believe her when Peg returns and insists the car will be delivered to the front door because she doesn't drive. Nick violently drags her down the stairs toward the exit, terrifying her. Waiting outside is her father, shooting at Nick with a gun. When his own gun drops beyond his reach and Nick orders Peg to hand it to him, she shoots him instead. A mortally wounded Nick crawls outside to the curb, just as his new car arrives. ===== The earliest event is the striking of a comet into the earth 65 million years ago, at the Encrucijada Valley site as the first nuclear test later occurs. A small lizard witnesses and survives this event, and carries on his line. This lizard is revered as the heroic Varanidid by Gojiro's lizard homeland, though they forget what exactly he did. He is also the precursor of the reptilian creator-beast revered by the dying Monongae clan that lived in the same location before the nuclear tests occurred. The remains of the dead dinosaurs form fossil fuels which pool under the valley. Much later, in the 19th century, Joseph Prometheus Brooks is born to a large middle American family, his father a severe and religious man. Joseph's mother recognizes his genius and manages to have him sent away at a very young age to the university of Göttingen in Germany, where he meets his future collaborator in nuclear physics, Victor Stiller. When he returns home on holiday, he finds that his father has burned the entire rest of the family to death, along with their home, believing that existence is an affront to God. Some time later, the last few members of the Monongae clan send supplications of help to the beast who lives inside the Earth to help them, and charge the youngest member, Nelson Monongae with reawakening him. That same night, he encounters Joseph Brooks' future wife Leona, who soon has visions of past and future events, including the striking of the comet, and an incomplete vision of an adult Joseph Brooks holding an object and looking at something. She travels to Germany, where she finds Joseph playing clarinet in and underground jazz club, having become disaffected by the university. They marry and travel to the United States, along with Victor Stiller, when WWII breaks out, Joseph and Victor becoming the premier nuclear scientists of the American war effort. Leona becomes pregnant nine months before the first nuclear test, a couple of years before 1945. Joseph intends the nuclear test to cause such vast destruction that it calls the attention of the creator of the world to Earth. Leona and Joseph's daughter, Sheila Brooks, is born on the day of the test, and Leona dies, having come too close to the blastwave in an attempt to witness God's manifestation. A couple years later, another site for a second test is chosen, the homeland of the lizard Gojiro. He is a young lizard uninitiated into adulthood and the mysteries of lizard philosophy, which involves bodily immersion in a pool of oil (the Black Spot) that bubbles to the surface. Immediately before he feels the compulsion to go to the black spot, he witnesses Victor, Joseph and a general surveying the spot and arguing, as well as the young Sheila in the window of the plane they arrived on. Gojiro is held captive by Joseph's baleful gaze at the same moment he feels the compulsion to go the Black Spot, and goes to it when Joseph breaks the staredown. Gojiro dawdles before the Spot, and just as he makes the resolution to jump, he is hit by the full force of the nuclear explosion test, preventing his immersion into full lizard-hood, and leading into his mutation into a 500 foot tall intelligent lizard, with the ability to breathe radioactive energy beams, incredible regenerative ability, and to involuntarily receive psychic messages and transport his consciousness into other bodies, due to his super-advanced "Quadcameral" brain, an advancement on the human three layer brain. He somehow floats to Radioactive Island, an unmapped island covered by a permanent dome of thick cloud, to which other lost souls affected by nuclear radiation will eventually float as well, along with entire pieces of land and the cultural/technological "flotjet" of the modern era. Around the same time as the nuclear tests were occurring, a Japanese scientist in Hiroshima was attempting to invent a radio with which the thoughts of animals could be heard. One year exactly before the nuclear bombing, his son, Yukio Komodo, is born. On Komodo's first birthday, the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima occurs. Two versions of this event are related. In the first version told at the opening of the novel, Komodo has a premonition of the incoming attack, and his parents die in the blast. Wandering through the blasted cityscape, he sends a supplication to Gojiro, who appears before him. In the other, his father has the premonition, and forces Komodo and the radio deep into a hole. The heat of the blast causes the radio to burn three concentric rings into his chest above his heart, which Komodo later takes to be the emblem of his bond with Gojiro. Mostly unharmed by the blast, he is nonetheless stunned into a catatonic state in which he is aware of the outside world but does not move. He becomes a celebrity after the war, meeting many famous people, including Victor Stiller. He is diligently nursed by a black soldier, Walter Crenshaw, who also keeps safe the radio he was found with. When Komodo is 10 years old, he receives a psychic supplication from Gojiro on Radioactive Island, and offers to be his friend. This awakens him from his coma, and Walter helps Komodo to escape on a fishing boat. Walter tries and fails to give the radio to Komodo as he escapes, but he keeps it safe from American authorities, entrusting it to his wife, never revealing it or Komodo's location. Komodo's death is then faked. At around the same time, Joseph Brooks drives around America with his daughter Sheila on the lam, eventually being captured, his death also being faked, and he is taken back to the Encrucijada, where he lives unknown to Sheila, and daily assumes the pose his wife had painted of him. Komodo arrives on Radioactive island, where he quickly becomes friends with Gojiro. Gojiro remembers this time as the highlight of his life, and they pledge to be together forever. Gojiro begins to expound philosophic dialogues, inspired by a muse he names "Budd Hazard", which act as an extension and elaboration of the philosophy of the lizards, centred around the processes of change, identity and evolution. Gojiro's obsessive interest in this philosophy leads him to force Komodo to alter their promise, to re-centre it around the creation of a new "Beam and Bunch", Hazard's conceptual analogue of a species/nation. The failure of this new promise is one of the contributing factors to Gojiro's later regret and depression. After this new promise is made, two new people arrive on the island, the child Shig and the teenage Kishi, both Japanese, the first of the "atoms", people affected by nuclear radiation, to arrive on the island. Komodo falls in love with Kishi, impregnating her and driving a wedge between him and Gojiro. When Komodo and Kishi attempt to leave the island, Gojiro enters a hallucinatory state of mad rage, and inadvertently kills Kishi when his thrashing causes her to fall from the boat and drown, her daughter Ebi being born at that exact instant. This event leads Shig to hate Gojiro, and causes Gojiro to become suicidally hateful of himself, but Komodo forgives his Gojiro. Other atoms begin arriving, and Komodo assumes a fatherly role toward them. Unlike Gojiro and Komodo's hopes of forming a new Beam with the atoms, the atoms are stupid, unruly and destructive, with the except of Shig and Ebi. Various attempts to form a bond between them and Gojiro end in failure, including a series of monster movies starring Gojiro in which the atoms appear as extras. Shig steals these recordings and releases them as feature films, to Gojiro's dismay when he finds them playing on TV. Gojiro's extreme popularity causes his fans to form a cult-like attachment to him, further fed by Shig feeding the outside world a bastardized version of Budd's philosophy. This culminates when Shig steals the design of a crystal radio Komodo has made in his lab (having become a mad scientist in the meantime), and sells them to Gojiro's fans, imploring them to use them to send constant supplications to Gojiro, begging for "the 90 series (the capstone of Hazard's philosophy) and the PA (Gojiro's personal appearance before his fans). Through the crystal radios, Gojiro psychically receives every one of these supplications from across the world, and his mind is transported into their bodies, often experiencing great physical and psychic pain, as many of his fans are destitute and desperate. Komodo builds a radio tower to receive the supplications instead of Gojiro, the supplications killing the ground around the tower. Gojiro wanders near the tower and accidentally touches it, receiving the supplication of Billy Snickman, a feral American child who ardently watches Gojiro's movies from outside drive-in theatres. Billy merely asks Gojiro who he is, to which he inexplicably responds "Bridger of Gaps, Linker of Lines, Nexus of Beam and Bunch, Defender of the Evoloo". After this, Gojiro begs Komodo to sever whatever neural link in his brain allows the supplications to enter, which Komodo reluctantly does. They discover the Quadcameral brain does not possess Gojiro's regenerative powers, and the removal of the link is permanent. The vulnerability of his brain forms the basis of Gojiro's future suicide attempts. His final attempt, which he nearly succeeds at, causes Komodo to threaten double suicide if Gojiro succeeds, stopping Gojiro. He and Komodo agree to a final amendment to the Triple Ring Promise: if they fail to fulfill the promise in one year, Gojiro must be allowed to kill himself and Komodo to respect that and continue living. Around the same timespan, Sheila is tormented by visions centring around her father on the Encrucijada. Due to her extreme psychotherapy, she is not directly aware of this, and instead her visions are transmuted into apocalyptic nightmares that her husband Billy Zeber has turned into award- winning movies, making Sheila rich and famous. He is unable to alleviate her psychic pain however, and at a crisis point sends a letter of supplication to Radioactive Island, begging Gojiro to come to America and make a movie, Gojira and Joseph Brooks in the Valley of Decision, addressing Gojiro by the titles he responded to Billy's question. Gojiro and Komodo secretly make their way to America, Komodo shrinking Gojiro to the size of a normal lizard using a technology variously described as a shrinking pill, ray, injection or potion. Komodo meets Sheila and immediately feels a deep connection to her, but she refuses to acknowledge the plea she sent. Komodo finds that Shig got wind of their departure and managed to transport the atoms and the hyper-fertile biome of Radioactive Island to a peculiar mansion in California. Shig acts as Komodo and Gojiro's combined chauffeur, bodyguard, lawyer and spokesman, directing their activities from behind the scenes. Komodo meets figures in Hollywood, including the aged Victor Stiller. He also tries to meet Walter Crenshaw, but finds that he is dead, and his family suspect him of being an agent of the American government. Komodo convinces Gojiro to travel to the Encrucijada valley, hoping to find the source of Sheila's visions. Along the way, Gojiro encounters Billy and shies away from him, consumed by self-loathing. Komodo and Gojiro make it to the Valley, where Shig houses them in a vast underground chamber bored out by nuclear test explosions. On TV screens they see the image of Joseph Brooks that his wife had painted, but on live-feed TV screens. Komodo attempts to communicate with him but fails, and returns to Sheila to tell her her father is still alive. Gojiro remains behind, where he inexplicably begins to have a series of visions reminiscent of the 90 series supplications, where he experiences past events from the perspective of the Varanidid, and his own birth. He investigates the shack Joseph lives in, and finds a stack of paintings depicting the visions he just received, as well as the blackboard containing the equation Joseph solved to create the atomic bomb, and receives a vision of Nelson and Leona's meeting. During his spying, Victor and the general visit Joseph, attempting to communicate him, and both are briefly subject to the vision that keeps Joseph glued to the Encrucijada. Joseph says that the nuclear bomb was a failure, as it was unable to call God's attention. At the same time, Komodo experiences a whirlwind of events as he attempts to take Sheila to the Encrucijada, but is waylaid by Victors government goons. Shig saves Komodo and Sheila by luring the paparazzi to them, then Komodo returns to the mansion to bury Ebi, who died soon after telling Sheila she wished that Sheila were her mother. Komodo then has a clandestine meeting with Billy Zeber, Sheila's husband, who charges Komodo with protecting her, disappearing into the night. Komodo is again captured by Victor, but is saved again by Shig and the atoms, as well as Walter Crenshaw's son. Gojiro, still spying on Victor, has a vision of Victor's childhood, and witnesses Victor pick up the small comic book explaining Gojiro's true origin that Komodo had attempted to give to Victor, which inspires him to make a new equation on the blackboard. Gojiro returns to the cave and scrawls it on the wall, then sees on TV that the mansion has been ransacked. Komodo arrives and attempts to complete Joseph's work, arriving at a method to compress and disperse into nothingness anything at all, which Joseph hopes will be enough to draw God' attention, and Komodo and Gojiro fear will cause an "All- Inclusive Crisis of the Evoloo", a moment of such great chaos and change that the universe will be unable to surmount it and continue. Shig delivers the box Walter had been keeping secret, containing the Komodo's father's radio. Komodo and Gojiro simultaneously experience Komodo's lost childhood memories, as well as his and Gojiro's moments of birth. Komodo completes Victor's work, demonstrating it by annihilating some of his beloved pet birds. Gojiro is enraged at Komodo, and cannot understand Komodo's optimism at the situation. Sheila arrives and Komodo goes out to her. Gojiro takes a golden arsenic pill, but is sucked inside of it in accordance with Komodo's completed equation, where his consciousness disperses. Komodo and Leona meet the now centenarian Nelson Monongae, dressed as the Varanidid, who gives them a small capsule of oil. Komodo and Sheila return to the cave, where Komodo realises Gojiro has been sucked into the pill, and using devices capable of reading Gojiro's Quadcameral brainwaves, determines that whatever Beamic force had sent Gojiro's consciousness into the past was now sustaining only the single neural connection that once received the 90 series supplications, barely keeping him alive. They see Victor Stiller on TV tapping the oil under the Encrucijada, which they discern is the lifeblood of the Beam keeping Gojiro alive. The atoms blow up the derrick, and Sheila and Komodo immerse the pill in the capsule of oil, completing Gojiro's thwarted initiation into full lizardhood. Komodo links Sheila, himself (realising he is also Quadcameral) and the pill, so that Sheila's supplication can recall him from nothingness. Gojiro's dispersed consciousness experiences Sheila's birth (and witnesses Leona's death), and Sheila and Komodo's psychic union, then hears her supplication. He finds the will to live and reassembles his body, reappearing before Victor, who has an orb which is the completion of his plan to destroy all of creation. Victor tosses the orb, which Gojiro catches in his third eye, the window to the Quadcameral. The entire earth is sucked inside of Gojiro's brain, leaving him alone in space. He exhorts the world to reform itself, which it does, nobody on earth being aware of what has happened. Gojiro, Sheila and Komodo return to Radioactive Island, where Gojiro asks Komodo permission to die despite the fulfilment of the Triple Ring Promise, thinking that he is dying as he loses his regenerative powers. As they prepare Gojiro's funeral raft, they see Gojiro's long-lost homeland arrive on Radioactive Island, and rather than dying, he instead becomes the fully initiated adult lizard he failed to become as a child. Fourteen years later, Komodo leave a letter at Gojiro's homeland, telling him of his and Sheila's happy life together, and reminiscing about the time he and Gojiro spent together. ===== Two college students, Sam (Maya Stange) and Thea (Kathleen Robertson), meet Coles (Mark Ruffalo), an animator, at a party, and their mutual attraction leads to a passionate and awkward night together. They form an unstable friendship, and continue to push their sexual boundaries. Soon, their friendships are tested by Sam and Coles' romance and Thea's increasingly reckless behavior. Inevitably, their relationships dissolve due to fear, resentment and mistrust on all sides. Eight years later, they reunite. Coles, now an animator for a high-profile ad agency, lives with Claire (Petra Wright), his girlfriend of five years. Thea, the former wild-child is happily married to Miles (David Thornton), with whom she shares ownership of a very successful and flourishing restaurant. Sam has returned to Manhattan from London after breaking off her engagement. Upon reconnecting, the three are drawn back into their old and complicated dynamic. They are soon forced to confront the true meaning of commitment and love, something they avoided as young adults. ===== The game opens in California, where intelligence officials from both the United States Armed Forces and the paramilitary V.S.S.E. organization learn about a top secret weapon targeted for terrorists' smuggling and their plot. William Rush infiltrates a pier to gather information, and learns that the enemy acquired the insect-like weapons called Terror Bite. After being told by Elizabeth Conway about an information leak incident at the airport, Rush goes to the airport to help VSSE agents Giorgio Bruno and Evan Bernard, who are assigned to stop the weapons trade. After leaving the airport, they defeat Marcus Black at the city. They discover U.S. Army dog tags on each enemy, meaning they are not just terrorists, but rogue American soldiers. The terrorist faction is then revealed to be the Biological Weapons Special Operations Unit (AKA the Hamlin Battalion). Rush, Giorgio and Evan fly to Wyoming's secluded bio-weapons research facility, but are too late to stop the supply of Terror Bites from being stolen. After defeating Jack Mathers, they soon learn that the Hamlin Battalion is attacking Buckley Air Force Base near Aurora, Colorado, prompting the men to invade the base. As Rush, Giorgio and Evan arrive, a number of unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) depart the base without warning. Rush leads the Colorado National Guard toward an entrance, while Giorgio and Evan try to take care of the UCAVs. They also encounter V.S.S.E.'s old enemy Wild Dog in the base who, in addition to his standard hand gun, gatling gun and RPG, is now armed with a grappling hook and tractor beam device. After a long battle, Giorgio and Evan defeat him, ending with Wild Dog detonating himself once again. Meanwhile, Rush defeats Wild Fang (Wild Dog's younger partner from the previous game), sending him into the path of a UCAV as it lifts off. It is revealed that the Terror Bites' creator, Colonel Gregory Barrows hijacked the nuclear-armed UCAVs to destroy the United States in retaliation for the poor treatment he received from the military. After Giorgio and Evan defeat Barrows near the control center, Rush and his unit form a human pyramid to lift Giorgio and Evan into it to stop the missiles, where the agents press a big red button on the control computers to self-destruct all nuclear missiles that the UCAVs have already launched. ===== Young traffic cop Yang Le (Shawn Yue) sees kindergarten teacher Xiao You (Gao Yuanyuan) leading her kids to cross the road everyday. While he starts to have special feelings for her, he suddenly learns from a friend that she is a deaf-mute. Meanwhile, Yang's half-brother has a crush on a super star (Naoko Miyake) while working as her Chinese interpreter. But she will leave China when shooting is over. Can the four find true love in the end? ===== Scotland, 1937 The postman asks Mrs. MacLaughlin to save him stamps from the letters she receives from all over the world. MacLaughlin forwards the contents of one envelope to Dr. Karl Kassel in New York City. Cut to Kassel (Paul Lukas), at the Café Nuremberg, haranguing an audience of German Americans. Most of the men wear the uniform of the German American Bund. He informs them that the Führer has declared war on the evils of democracy and that, as Germans, they should carry out his wishes and claim power. The crowd salutes, Sieg Heil! Kurt Schneider (Francis Lederer), an unemployed malcontent, is inspired to become a spy and writes to Hitler's personal newspaper. German Naval Intelligence know he is not a double agent: The Americans don't have a counter-espionage system. Naval officer Franz Schlager, sailing to New York on the steamship Bismarck, is ordered to contact Schneider. On board the Bismarck, we see the power of the Gestapo. Beauty operator Hilda Kleinhauer (Dorothy Tree) informs on her clients and carries material for Schlager. An unnamed American Legionaire (Ward Bond) challenges Kessel at a meeting. He and others speaking out for democracy are attacked. Schneider boasts to his pal Werner (Joe Sawyer), now a private in the Air Corps, that he receives instructions from Hitler. Werner gets the Z code and Schneider obtains medical records that will reveal troop strength in New York. Schneider proudly gives Schlager the information and receives $50 a month, Mrs. MacLaughlin's address, and a list of new objectives. Kessel is called back to Germany and takes his mistress, Erika Wolff (Lya Lys), leaving his wife behind. The narrator provides a dramatic description of the fascist system of life. Kessel is put in charge of all Nazi activities in the United States. Under the slogan, “America for Americans,“ the country is swamped by propaganda while spies target military operations. Thanks to the postman's curiosity, Mrs. MacLaughlin's role as a post office for a worldwide network of spies is uncovered by British Military Intelligence, and she is arrested. (In a moment that is chilling in hindsight, one letter is from Japan.) American military intelligence in New York consists of Major Williams and one assistant. Williams turns to the FBI for help, although they have never played this role before. FBI Agent Ed Renard (Edward G. Robinson) takes the case. A horrifying scene shows Camp Horst Wessel, where German-American children are trained in Nazi ideals and military skills. Schneider uses an alias, Mitchell, to obtain passports. He arouses suspicion, and the FBI follow the package and arrest him. Once they know his true identity, they realize that they have the letter he sent to MacLaughlin. Renard flatters his ego for hours, extracting a full, detailed confession. Through Schneider, Renard finds Wenz, Kleinhauer and Kassel. Kassel proudly shows Renard his files on important Americans, documenting racial impurity. He tries to burn the code key, but Renard stops him. Renard confronts him with Kleinhauer, who confirms his link with Schlager. When Renard reveals that he knows about Erika, Kassel tells Renard everything he knows about the German spy organization, revealing the intricacy and scope of the network. He is released. The Gestapo are waiting. He swears that he revealed nothing, but they are arrested outside his apartment building. A federal dragnet captures many agents and their accomplices. On March 13, 1938, Hitler invades Austria. Renard warns Kassell's wife that the Gestapo men have made bail. Karl returns home from meeting Erika and lies to his wife. He packs, refusing to take her with him. She does not warn him, and when he goes out, the Gestapo capture him and take him to the Bismarck. In Germany, he is told to claim that he was tortured. In New York, Hilda is given the same instructions. Eighteen people are indicted. Four are in custody: Schneider, Wenz, Kleinhauer and Helldorf. Meanwhile, Hitler's march continues, as “the democracies are given still another demonstration of the supremacy of organized propaganda backed by force.” U.S. Attorney Kellogg describes the role of fifth columnists in the Nazi conquest of Europe, calling for the United States to take a lesson. After a long trial, the spies are convicted. Over coffee, Kellogg and Renard talk about the “nightmare”. Kellogg observes that “when our basic liberties are threatened, we wake up.” The closing credits roll to “America the Beautiful”. ===== The film opens on a graffiti- covered wall with Encolpius lamenting the loss of his lover Gitón to Ascyltus. Vowing to win him back, he learns at the Thermae that Ascyltus sold Gitón to the actor Vernacchio. At the theatre, he discovers Vernacchio and Gitón performing in a lewd play called the "emperor's miracle": a slave's hand is axed off and replaced with a gold one. Encolpius storms the stage and reclaims Gitón. On their return to Encolpius's home in the Insula Felicles, a Roman tenement building, they walk through the vast Roman brothel known as the Lupanare, observing numerous sensual scenes. They fall asleep after making love at Encolpius's place. Ascyltus sneaks into the room, waking Encolpius with a whiplash. Since both share the tenement room, Encolpius proposes they divide up their property and separate. Ascyltus mockingly suggests they split Gitón in half. Encolpius is driven to suicidal despair, however, when Gitón decides to leave with Ascyltus. At that moment, an earthquake destroys the tenement. Encolpius meets the poet Eumolpus at the art museum. The elderly poet blames current corruption on the mania for money and invites his young friend to a banquet held at the villa of Trimalchio, a wealthy freeman, and his wife Fortunata. Eumolpus's declamation of poetry is met with catcalls and thrown food. While Fortunata performs a frantic dance, the bored Trimalchio turns his attention to two very young boys. Scandalized, Fortunata berates her husband who attacks her then has her covered in gizzards and gravy. Fancying himself a poet, Trimalchio recites one of his finer poems whereupon Eumolpus accuses him of stealing verses from Lucretius. Enraged, Trimalchio orders the poet to be tortured by his slaves in the villa's huge kitchen furnace. The guests are then invited to visit Trimalchio's tomb where he enacts his own death in an ostentatious ceremony. The story of the Matron of Ephesus is recounted, the first story within a story in the film.Bondanella, 260 Encolpius finally leaves the villa, helping the limping, beaten Eumolpus to drink water from a pool in a tilled field. In return for his kindness, Eumolpus bequeaths the spirit of poetry to his young friend. The next morning Encolpius, Gitón, and Ascyltus are imprisoned on the pirate ship of Lichas, a middle-aged merchant; they are part of a consignment of attractive young men being delivered for the titillation of the reclusive Roman emperor. Lichas selects Encolpius for a Greco-Roman wrestling match and quickly subdues him. Smitten by his beauty, Lichas takes Encolpius as his spouse in a wedding ceremony blessed by his wife, Tryphaena. After a long voyage the ship arrives at the emperor's private island, only to find it overrun by soldiers in the service of a usurper. The teenage emperor kills himself, and the soldiers board the ship and behead Lichas under Tryphaena's satisfied gaze. While "new Caesar" holds a fearsome victory parade back in Rome, Encolpius and Ascyltus escape the soldiers and make their way inland. They discover an abandoned villa, whose owners have freed their slaves and committed suicide to escape the new emperor. Encolpius and Ascyltus spend the night on the property and make love with an African slave girl who has stayed behind. Fleeing the villa when soldiers on horseback arrive in the courtyard to burn the owners' corpses, the two friends reach a desert. Ascyltus placates a nymphomaniac's demands in a covered wagon while Encolpius waits outside, listening to the woman's servant discuss a hermaphrodite demi-god reputed to possess healing powers at the Temple of Ceres. With the aid of a mercenary, they kill two men and kidnap the hermaphrodite in the hope of obtaining a ransom. Once exposed to the desert sun, however, the hermaphrodite sickens and dies of thirst. Enraged, the mercenary tries to murder his two companions but is overpowered and killed. Captured by soldiers, Encolpius is released in a labyrinth and forced to play Theseus to a gladiator's Minotaur for the amusement of spectators at the festival of Momus, the God of Laughter. When the gladiator spares Encolpius's life because of his well-spoken words of mercy, the festival rewards the young man with Ariadne, a sensual woman with whom he must copulate as the crowd looks on. Impotent, Encolpius is publicly humiliated by Ariadne. Eumolpus offers to take him to the Garden of Delights where prostitutes are said to effect a cure for his impotence but the treatment—gentle whipping of the buttocks—fails miserably. In the second of the stories within a story in the film, the owner of the Garden of Delights narrates the tale of Oenothea to Encolpius. For having rejected his advances, a sorcerer curses a beautiful young woman: she must spend her days kindling fires for the village's hearths from her genitalia. Inspired, Encolpius and Ascyltus hire a boatman to take them to Oenothea's home. Greeted by an old woman who has him drink a potion, Encolpius falls under a spell where his sexual prowess is restored to him by Oenothea in the form of an Earth Mother figure and sorceress. When Ascyltus is murdered in a field by the boatman, Encolpius decides to join Eumolpus's ship bound for North Africa. But Eumolpus has died in the meantime, leaving as his heirs all those willing to eat his corpse. Encolpius hasn't the stomach for this last and bitter mockery but is nonetheless invited by the captain to board the ship. In a voice-over, Encolpius explains that he set sail with the captain and his crew. His words end in mid-sentence, as does Petronius's book, when a distant island appears on the horizon and the film cuts abruptly to frescoes of the film's characters on a crumbling wall. ===== At 40 degrees south of the equator, off the coast of southern Chile, not far from Patagonia, the luxury yacht Titan rests at anchor. On board ship is wealthy American tycoon Thorton Armitage along with his young son Billy, his socialite daughter Elaine, her large soft aunt Louise, and Billy's personal tutor Steve, who teaches him about evolution. Meanwhile, below deck Elaine enters and flirts with Steve; thrilled at the thought that Elaine loves him, Steve grabs her in his arms. Elaine's fiancée, Ned Hallet, watches from a distance as the two kiss. When Steve looks to confess his love for Elaine, he is stunned as she explains that the kiss meant nothing. Embarrassed and enraged, Steve threatens to quit the crew, while above deck the passengers can see ominous storm clouds are brewing. With freak suddenness, a tempest is upon them. Through heavy seas they see a submarine dispatched from the Chilean navy, in an effort to save the Armitage party. The Chilean captain enters and encourages the crew of the Titan to board the submarine. All of a sudden a massive waterspout forms, tears the Titan from its anchorage, and hurls it away. From the churning waters, a massive earthquake thrusts up a huge rocky promontory. The beautiful yacht is dashed upon the new island and is destroyed just as the submarine dives beneath the surging waves. The submarine is pulled downward by the rise of the rocky headland and spirals out of control. Buffeted by the surging currents and thrown off course, the stunned crew and passengers find themselves inside a deep underwater ravine. The submarine's crew look through the port to see green water filled with strange creatures. Their amazement is cut short as the sub runs aground on a volcanic shelf. The submarine then surfaces to find itself in a tropical lake surrounded by steep cliffs. They have traveled through deep underwater caverns and have surfaced in the cauldron of an extinct volcano. The crew soon discover that dinosaurs exist on the island and promptly escape from a stampede of Brontosaurus. Later on shore, the Chilean crew are attacked by a prehistoric rhinoceros-like mammal known as an Arsinotherium while trying to cross a log bridge. The Arsinotherium gores many of the sailors to death, before knocking the fleeing sailors from the log bridge into the raging river below; weak with horror, Steve stumbles through the jungle back to the others and just avoids been killed by a bull Woolly Mammoth. The survivors, assuming that they will never see civilization again, build a shelter to live in on a high cliff over looking the lush valley. After Ned Hallet shoots a Brontosaurus, the sauropod retaliates by destroying one of the shelters with its long neck, and it is Elaine that saves everyone by striking a burning torch into the beast's mouth. Everyone is furious with Hallet for putting them in danger; Hallet leaves the camp in anger after being scolded and takes his frustration out on a baby Triceratops. The mother rushes to the aid of the dying infant and gores Hallet to death. Steve then takes command over the group and decides to repair the radio from the sub, but needs a replacement leyden jar for it to work. While the survivors are exploring ancient ruins, looking for a replacement leyden jar, a block gives way, causing Elaine to fall. Elaine is attacked by a Pteranodon which is driven off by Steve. Shortly afterwards, the crew are chased into a temple by an aggressive Stegosaurus. The crew is then trapped between the Stegosaurus and a Tyrannosaurus which lives in the temple. Rather than killing the crew, the two dinosaurs fight one another. In the end, the Tyrannosaurus kills the Stegosaurus and feeds it to its infant as the crew escapes. After searching the temple, the crew discover a type of metal jar which they could use to get their radio working. The crew try to send out an S.O.S., but the volcano begins to erupt, causing mass hysteria among the dinosaurs. A Pteranodon crashes into the tower used to conduct the signal, leaving the crew stranded to be killed by the erupting volcano. Facing death, Elaine and Steve finally confess their love for one another. As Billy faints from heat exhaustion, rescue planes arrive and land on the boiling lake and save the crew from certain doom. Aboard the rescue ship, Thorton Armitage boasts of his group's adventures. Everyone is sceptical about his claims, when suddenly a Pteranodon, exhausted from its long flight, falls aboard the ship's deck, proving his story to be true. The film ends with Steve and Elaine sharing a laugh as they look forward to their new life together. ===== The film opens with a carnival in Venice as a prelude to a series of erotic encounters that follow Giacomo Casanova through the cities of 18th-century Europe. The organizers of the festival attempt to raise a gigantic bust from the water; this fails, which is taken as a bad omen. Casanova is then introduced, as he visits one of Venice's islands to copulate with a fake nun for the pleasure of a rich voyeur; Casanova succeeds in entertaining him, but is frustrated that the man finds no interest in his research into alchemy and his further scheming. As he rows back to the mainland, Casanova is arrested, judged and imprisoned by the High Court over his famed debauchery. During his time in prison, Casanova reminisces of his affairs with a dressmaker and later on with one of her junior employees, Anna Maria, who suffers from frequent fainting and requires constant bloodletting. He eventually consummates his desire for Anna Maria. Back in prison, Casanova escapes through the roof and exiles himself from Venice, being taken into the Paris court of Madame d'Urfé. The Madame, an aged woman, enthralled by Casanova's apparent knowledge of alchemy, wishes to transform her soul into a man's through ritualistic intercourse with him (an act that requires the presence of a younger woman in the room, so that Casanova can get aroused). Fortuitously, Casanova encounters his brother, whose girlfriend he entices away. Casanova then moves to the court of a hunchback, Du Bois, in between taking charge of a beautiful girl—"the love of [his] life"—Henriette. Du Bois puts on a homosexual theatrical performance for his guests that unsettles some of them; Casanova is brought to tears as Henriette plays some music. The lovers vow fidelity to each other, but the following morning Henriette has disappeared. Du Bois informs Casanova that an emissary of a far-away court has reclaimed Henriette, and she's left a request that Casanova not attempt to follow her. While in London, Casanova is robbed by two women and he attempts suicide by drowning himself in the Thames. A vision of a giantess and two dwarves distracts him; he follows them to a frost fair, where he arm-wrestles the giantess—a princess—and later pays to watch her bathe with the dwarves. Casanova resumes his travelling the following day. He attends a deranged party at Lord Talou's palace in Rome, where he wins a bet with a stagecoach driver, Righetto, over how many orgasms he can have in one hour. The competition brings him higher acclaim. In Switzerland he falls in love with an alchemist's daughter, Isabella, who fails to keep an appointment to go to Dresden with him; Casanova instead partakes in an orgy within the hostel he's been stranded in. In Dresden, he has a brief chance encounter with his estranged mother in a theater. He then moves to a court in Württemberg, where his desire to be taken seriously as a writer/inventor is frustrated by the court's orgiastic, wild nature. It is here that he meets Rosalba, a mechanical doll with whom he shares a dance and later on goes to bed with. Time goes by and an old Casanova finds himself librarian to Count Waldstein at his castle in Dux. Life at the castle is more than frustrating for Casanova, as he is made to eat with other servants and does not get the respect nor the food he claims to deserve. Waldstein's manservant, Faulkircher, and his lover Vidarol, make him an object of mockery and animosity. A portrait of him is hanged and defecated on. Later on, during a fervent poetry recital, a court member fails to suppress a giggle at Casanova, who, humiliated and disappointed, goes back up to his room. The final scene has a weary, bloodshot Casanova cringing in an armchair and recounting a recent dream. In this dream, Casanova is back in Venice. He catches a glimpse of the giant bust seen in the beginning of the film, buried under thick layers of ice in the lagoon. He chases the ghosts of his past lovers, all of whom disappear. An ornate stagecoach beckons him to join its passengers. He finally meets with Rosalba, the mechanical doll, once again. They quietly dance with each other. ===== Snàporaz wakes up during a train ride and has a brief fling with a woman in the bathroom, but it's cut short when the train suddenly stops and the woman gets off. Snàporaz follows her into the woods, through the wilderness and into a Grand Hotel overrun with women in attendance for a surrealistic feminist convention. He winds up in a conference about polyandry, where his presence is rejected. A frightened Snàporaz retreats to the hotel lobby, but the exit is blocked; instead he seeks refuge inside an elevator with a girl, Donatella, who offers her assistance. Donatella leads Snàporaz into a gymnasium and forces him to don roller skates. He is yet again cornered and berated by a group of angry women who circle around him in roller skates and practice testicle-kicking with a dummy. Dazed, Snàporaz makes his exit down a flight of stairs, falling down and badly hurting himself, and into the domain of a burly woman tending to the hotel's furnace. The woman showers and offers him a ride to the train station on her motorcycle, but stops by a farm and lures Snàporaz into a nursery, where she tries to rape him. The rape is cut short by the woman's mother, who steps in to chastise her daughter, and Snàporaz decides to follow instead a lonely woman through the country side. He joins her and her girlfriends on a car ride on the promise of being delivered to the station, but the ride goes on well into the night and all they do is hang out high on drugs and listen to Italo disco. A frustrated Snàporaz ditches them and is harassed by two more cars until he finds shelter in the off-limits private property of Dr. Xavier Katzone, who hails gunfire on his persecutors. Dr. Katzone promises to deliver Snàporaz to the train station the following morning and invites him to stay on for a party. Snàporaz walks around Katzone's extravagant household, which is filled with sexual imagery and suggestive, phallic sculptures. He is also fascinated by his collection of sexual conquests hanging as photographs from the manor walls that light up and whisper arousing dialogue at the flick of a switch. Taking pride in his many inventions, Katzone celebrates his 10,000th conquest with an eccentric party that involves the blowing out of 10,000 candles and a performance by his wife, in which she sucks coins and pearls into her vagina by means of telekinesis. During the party, Snàporaz comes across his ex-wife, Elena, who has a drunken argument with him, and meets Donatella again. The police (composed solely of women dressed in Nazi attire) arrive, interrupting Katzone mid-song, and announce the imminent demolition of his house. They also inform him that they have shot one of his dogs, Italo, his most beloved. A grieved Katzone buries him. Meanwhile, Snàporaz dances to Fred Astaire with Donatella and a friend of hers (who are both dressed in scanty clothing), but fails to sleep with either of them, instead getting stuck with his ex in bed. Hearing strange noises, he crawls under the bed, entering another dream-like world in which he slides down a toboggan, revisiting his childhood crushes (a sitter, a nurse, a prostitute) along the way. Caged at the end of the slide, he is transported before a strange court and judged for his masculinity. Although dismissed to go free, he decides to confront his tentative punishment, and escalates a towering boxing ring before a feminine crowd. At the top of the ring he climbs into a hot air balloon in the form of Donatella. Donatella herself fires at him from below with a machine-gun, bursting the balloon and sending Snàporaz plummeting to apparent death. Snàporaz then wakes up on the very same train from the beginning of the film, showing the story to have been a mere nightmare. Just as he comes to this conclusion, he realizes his glasses are broken (as in his dream) and that the wagon is filled by the women that crowded his dream. The train races into a tunnel and the film ends. ===== 15-year-old Ranze Eto lives in an isolated castle in Japan with her werewolf mother, vampire father, and younger brother, Rinze. Despite her lineage, she has yet to demonstrate any special powers of her own, and her parents are worried she might be a normal girl. One day, Ranze's innate power finally manifests itself when she, quite by accident, discovers that she can change herself into a carbon copy of any object she bites, whether it be a person or an inanimate object like a piece of bread, and can return to her normal self only by sneezing. Her parents are overjoyed, but Ranze's new powers make it difficult to continue living life as a normal teenage girl. On Ranze's first day at her new school in junior high, she meets and falls in love with the brash yet handsome young athlete, Shun Makabe. The chief problem with this is that Ranze's parents will not allow her to date a human - although there may be much more to Shun than meets the eye. On top of this, she also has a bitter rival in the pretty but spiteful Yoko Kamiya (the daughter of a yakuza boss) who also likes Shun and doesn't take kindly to Ranze's intruding on her turf. ===== Throughout the 20 years of her marriage, Samantha Morrow has been content with her life, though she knows it isn't perfect. She has a nice home, a great son, and a husband she loves. But everything is turned upside down when her husband, David, tells her he wants out of their marriage. His rapid departure on the heels of this announcement leaves Sam horribly shocked, utterly confused, and oddly obsessed with Martha Stewart. Her initial reaction is to go on a spending spree, charging thousands of dollars worth of merchandise at Tiffany's to her husband's credit card. But when reality sets in and her husband cuts her off, she realizes that if she wants to keep the house she loves and make a home for herself and her son, she's going to have to generate some income. Her first solution to this dilemma is to find a couple of roommates. Between the finished portion of the basement and the extra bedroom upstairs, Sam figures she can take on two boarders and mitigate a large portion of the mortgage payment. She finds her first boarder quickly—the septuagenarian mother of an acquaintance—and is delighted. Lydia Fitch is quiet, clean, concerned, friendly, and more than eager to play grandmother to Sam's son, Travis. Which is just as well, since Sam's own mother doesn't quite fit the bill. In fact, Sam's mother has made a career out of dating since the death of her husband two decades ago and is now determined to fix Sam up as soon as possible—a plan with foreseeable disasters written all over it. Sam's life is further complicated when she starts looking for a job, for other than a gig singing in a band years ago, she's never been employed. But then King, the gentle giant of a man who helps Lydia move in, puts Sam in touch with the employment agency he works for. Suddenly Sam is off on a variety of short-term jobs, everything from making change at a Laundromat, to working as a carpenter's helper. When she gets the devastating news that Lydia has decided to marry her longtime beau and move out, Sam takes on a second boarder for the basement space: a sullen, depressed college student. ===== Following his defeat in Robocod, the evil Dr. Maybe learns of the high quality cheese that lies on the moon. Hiring a workforce of rats, Dr. Maybe begins mining the moon for cheese so he can conquer the global markets and fund his operations. In order to stop Dr. Maybe, James Pond, along with his new sidekick, Finnius Frog, journey to the moon in order to put a stop to Dr. Maybe's mining operations. ===== In trendy Marin County, California during the late 1970s, uptight Harvey Holroyd is losing patience rapidly. On one hand, his wife Kate and her friends are thoroughly caught up in the sexual revolution and new age consciousness-raising and psychobabble. On the other hand, his rebellious teenage daughter Joanie is about to join a cult. Harvey's best friend Sam, meanwhile, is having marital troubles, and Harvey is trying to land a higher-paying job with his corporate recruiter Luckman. As marital problems persist, Kate and Harvey separate. Each becomes sexually involved with someone else, albeit rather awkwardly. Harvey tries to avoid the advances of his newly hired secretary, Stella, who lures him to an orgy, but he does begin seeing Marlene, a free-spirited, 19-year- old, strictly vegetarian supermarket cashier. Kate links up with Paco, a bisexual Argentinian aspiring to be an artist, whose profession for now is to trim her dog's hair. Being unhappy at home, Joanie is lured by "concerned" members of a flower-peddling cult. She goes voluntarily at first and finds peace and tranquility there, but eventually finds herself virtually imprisoned in their house in the big city. Harvey and Kate manage to patch up their differences for Joanie's sake. By means of a little blackmail that ensues from a surprise revelation involving Luckman, a gay motorcycle gang joins forces with Harvey to rescue Joanie. Thus, the Holroyds are reunited and prepare for Harvey's new job in Denver. ===== Heathcliff (Laurence Olivier) and Cathy (Merle Oberon) meet on Peniston Crag A traveler named Lockwood is caught in the snow and stays at the estate of Wuthering Heights, despite the cold behavior of his host Heathcliff. Late that night, after being shown into an upstairs room that was once a bridal chamber, Lockwood is awakened by a cold draft and finds the window shutter flapping back and forth. Just as he is about to close it, he feels an icy hand clutching his and sees a woman outside calling "Heathcliff, let me in! I'm out on the moors. It's Cathy!" Lockwood calls Heathcliff and tells him what he saw, whereupon the enraged Heathcliff throws him out of the room. As soon as Lockwood is gone, Heathcliff frantically calls out to Cathy, runs down the stairs and out of the house, into the snowstorm. Ellen, the housekeeper tells the amazed Lockwood that he has seen the ghost of Cathy Earnshaw, Heathcliff's great love, who died years ago. When Lockwood says that he doesn't believe in ghosts, Ellen tells him that he might if she told him the story of Cathy. And so the main plot begins as a long flashback. As a boy, Heathcliff is found on the streets by Mr. Earnshaw, who brings him home to live with his two children, Cathy and Hindley. At first reluctant, Cathy eventually welcomes Heathcliff and they become very close, but Hindley treats him as an outcast, especially after Mr. Earnshaw dies. About ten years later, the now grown Heathcliff and Cathy have fallen in love and are meeting secretly on Penniston's Crag. Hindley has become dissolute and tyrannical, and hates Heathcliff. One night, as she and Heathcliff are out together, they hear music and realize that their neighbors, the Lintons, are giving a party. Cathy and Heathcliff sneak to the Lintons and climb over their garden wall, but the dogs are alerted and Cathy is injured. Heathcliff is forced to leave Cathy in their care. Enraged that Cathy would be so entranced by the Linton's glamor and wealth, he blames them for her injury and curses them. Months later, Cathy is fully recuperated but still living at the Lintons. Edgar Linton has fallen in love with Cathy and soon proposes and after Edgar takes her back to Wuthering Heights, tells Ellen what has happened. Ellen reminds her about Heathcliff, but Cathy flippantly remarks that it would degrade her to marry him. Heathcliff overhears and leaves. Cathy realizes that Heathcliff has overheard, is overcome by guilt and runs out after him into a raging storm. Edgar finds her and nurses her back to health once again, and soon the two marry. Heathcliff at Cathy's deathbed Heathcliff then apparently disappears forever, but returns two years later, now wealthy and elegant. He has refined his appearance and manners in order to both impress and spite Cathy, and secretly buys Wuthering Heights from Hindley, who is now a complete alcoholic. In order to further spite Cathy, Heathcliff begins courting Edgar's naive sister Isabella and eventually marries her. The brokenhearted Cathy soon falls gravely ill. Heathcliff rushes to her side against the wishes of the now disillusioned and bitter Isabella, and Cathy dies in Heathcliff's arms. The flashback story has ended. The family doctor, Dr. Kenneth bursts in, expressing shock that he saw Heathcliff in the snow walking with his arm around a woman. Ellen thinks it was Cathy, but Dr. Kenneth is doubtful, and tells them that he was then thrown from his horse. As he drew closer, he found Heathcliff lying in the snow. The woman had disappeared and there was no sign of her. Lockwood asks, "Is he dead?", and Dr. Kenneth nods, but Ellen says, "No, not dead, Dr Kenneth. And not alone. He's with her. They've only just begun to live." The ghosts of Heathcliff and Cathy are seen walking in the snow, superimposed over Penniston Crag. ===== Pippo, a tailor, impersonates Casanova to woo the girls, particularly the widow Bruni. Casanova has left town, pursued by creditors who persuade Pippo to impersonate Casanova at the behest of a Genoan family that will pay "Casanova" to test the fidelity of the son's betrothed. Pippo, the widow Bruni and Casanova's valet Lucio travel to Venice. The Doge of Venice, "a snake with whiskers," to use Pippo's description, intends to use the intended seduction as an excuse to wage war against Genoa. After many humorous adventures, exploiting Pippo's traits of vanity, arrogance and cowardice, the heroine so impresses Pippo with her dignity that he refuses to cooperate in the plot to ruin her character. He is arrested by the Doge and sentenced to death by be heading. A desperate Pippo turns the audience for help, but is shocked when they prefer that he lose his head. ===== Simon Garden is a well-meaning but ineffectual probation officer. At the beginning of the film, he is facing a tribunal after all of his colleagues in his department in Blackpool submit complaints against him, Garden having had only three successes in his career. He is transferred to Manchester. He has hypoglycemia and regularly eats crisps to deal with it. In Manchester, he starts his new role and meets an attractive WPC, Emma. While looking into the case of a "client", Kirsty, a juvenile delinquent who had had Class A drugs planted on her, Simon witnesses the murder of an accountant by corrupt police officer Detective Inspector Burton. He is discovered, chased from the building by two bouncers and after being cornered, ends up falling into a canal. He has inadvertently left his wallet containing identification at the crime scene and is duly framed for the accountant's murder by DI Burton. Simon goes to the police with the story, but ends up being interviewed by Burton, who is leading the investigation. He releases Simon, but threatens him with prison unless he keeps quiet about the officer's drugs scam and the murder. Simon first decides to leave Manchester for good and, feeling down, rejects the offer of a meal from Emma. While away from the city, he walks past a shop where the TV in the window happens to be showing an interview with Burton, who will be receiving a bravery award. It triggers his memory of the murder – he realises that a CCTV camera had filmed the whole event. He realises that this security tape will clear his name and show that Burton was the real murderer. He returns to the club where the murder took place to try to find the tape, only to discover that it has been taken to a bank and placed in a safety deposit box. Simon sets out to round up his four successful ex-clients. He visits George in Blackpool and convinces him to join the plan. They recruit Jeff, who has been working as a fishmonger, and Colin, who has been working in a computer shop. They visit the home of the former master-criminal Viktor, only to find his wife and his grave; his wife takes them to Viktor's secret underground workshop and says they can take whatever equipment they want from his extensive selection of technology and safe-cracking kit. The team gathers in Simon's house and they set out to devise a cunning plan to retrieve the tape from the bank. One evening they find that Kirsty, Simon's first client when he started his new job in Manchester, has broken in and is attempting to steal his television. When she sees what they are doing, she asks to join the gang to rob the bank, but Simon says she is too young. They tell her she has to leave but she convinces them that she will be small enough to slip through a vent that someone needs to access as part of their heist plan. The team members train together, organise equipment, deploy a computer virus, and invent a GOTLER (George-operated time-lock equalising robot). Over time they bond as a group, have fun together, and formulate their plan. However, one night, DI Burton and several police officers (including Emma) search the house for the head of the murdered accountant. DI Burton has obviously planted it in Simon's house and, despite Kirsty's attempt to dispose of it, manages to frame Simon and the others: they are arrested, and end up in a police cell. Kirsty is taken away by the police, but manages to slip away from them at a garage. Simon tries to explain to Emma about the plan to clear his name but, because she feels that he has hidden things from her, she is reluctant to listen. Simon, George, Colin, and Jeff are in their cell wondering what to do when the back of a van crashes through the wall – it is Kirsty, who has stolen a van and is rescuing them. They jump in and speed off with Kirsty at the wheel, determined to try to get to the bank and put the plan into action. Once there, they sneak on to the roof, activate all of Manchester's alarms, and climb into the building. Simon uses the robot to activate the door, and they grab the tape. A man in disguise, who is apparently Victor, turns up, but the group is collecting money as well, before he vanishes. Once the job is done, the group flees from the bank. They finally arrive at the town hall, where DI Burton is earning a bravery award for saving Kirsty from a burning car earlier in the film. Despite being attacked by Burton's sidekicks, Simon finally proves his innocence by revealing the tape to the public, and Burton is arrested. Amidst the celebrations, Simon and Emma link with each other and kiss. ===== This story takes place in Seldem, during spring and summer. It follows the criss-crossing stories of a group of middle-school children. A necklace plays a significant part in all of the criss-cross moments, helping the characters in the book to find their true selves, giving the novel a touch of magic realism. Debbie usually spends time with her four friends, Patty, Hector, Lenny, and Phil. A typical summer for them would be to hang around town and sit in Lenny's dad's pickup truck, listening to the radio. During this summer vacation, however, Debbie moved into the front of their family parlor, and she has her own room. She then gets a job helping an elderly woman. She meets her boss' grandson, Peter, and they share a quick, romantic week together. Soon after he leaves back to his town in California. All of the friends go through their own changes throughout the summer and each grow in their own way. In the end, to tie up their summer, they all have a block party, and are now more mature, and use their new knowledge to move along in life. ===== Radio-singer Bing Crosby is not very serious about his career. His chronic tardiness and his affair with the notorious Mona Lowe (Sharon Lynn) has become an issue at station WADX. After Mona cheats on him, the despondent singer meets Texas oil man Leslie McWhinney (Stuart Erwin), who has also been wronged by a woman. Soon after, Anita Rogers (Leila Hyams), the former fiancée of McWhinney, falls in love with Crosby. Meanwhile, station manager George Burns is plagued by the addled conversation of his stenographer, Gracie Allen and eventually loses the radio station. McWhinney buys the station in order to help out Crosby and Anita, whom he still loves. McWhinney comes up with the idea of putting on a "big broadcast" of stars to pull the station out of debt. Mona returns on the scene and threatens the budding romance between Crosby and Anita, as well as the station's upcoming big broadcast. McWhinney tries to find a phonograph record to replace the absent Crosby, and ends up impersonating Crosby on the air. The singer returns and takes the microphone in mid-song. Crosby, who actually has been feigning irresponsibility to bring McWhinney and Anita together, succeeds both in reuniting the former lovers and in taming Mona.Green, Stanley (1999) Hollywood Musicals Year by Year (2nd ed.), pub. Hal Leonard Corporation page 18 ===== Radio station W.H.Y. owner Spud Miller (Jack Oakie), also functions as the station's only announcer while his comic partner Smiley Goodwin (Henry Wadsworth) serves as the house singer, Lochinvar, The Great Lover, "the idol of millions of women." Both Spud and Smiley play the role of Lochinvar. Facing the prospect of bankruptcy, Spud welcomes the suggestions of George Burns and Gracie Allen, who attempt to sell an invention, The Radio Eye, invented by Gracie Allen's uncle, a television device which can pick up and transmit any signal, any time, anywhere. Burns and Allen ask Miller for an advance of $5,000 for the invention. Spud decides to enter an international broadcast competition with a prize of $250,000. Ysobel listens to the Lochinvar radio show and believes that he has sent her a letter. She finds out that he sends letters to listeners of the show. Outraged, she goes to the radio station to shoot Lochinvar. Spud and Smiley are able to win her over after her gun fails to shoot. They attempt to convince her to invest $5,000 in The Radio Eye invention which would allow them to win the competition. She takes Spud and Smiley to her Caribbean island, Clementi. She will decide to marry one of them before midnight. Gordoni (C. Henry Gordon), however, plans to murder them. Spud and Smiley are able to notify George Burns and Gracie Allen in New York and inform them that they are in grave danger. Burns and Allen then depart for the island on a boat. Gracie sets a fire on the boat. A Coast Guard cutter takes them on board and heads for the island. Gordoni has Drowzo put in the drinks to put Ysobel to sleep. Spud and Smiley turn on The Radio Eye to listen to the Vienna Boys Choir and the Ray Noble Orchestra from New York to distract Gordoni and his men. Spud and Smiley are able to escape on coaches with teams of horses. After a chase, during which Spud is separated from his horses in a bifurcation in the road, they reach the pier where the Coast Guard and Burns and Allen meet them. Gordoni jumps into the sea. Spud wins the international broadcast competition. Spud tells Ysobel that he may marry her after a period of observation. She tells him: "Let this be the start of a beautiful friendship." ===== Pil-gi (Cha Seung-won) has finally saved enough money to make his late father's wish come true: He can buy his own house. However, upon moving into his new residence, he is bothered by one if its previous residents, a poltergeist, who claims the house belongs to it and attempts to scare him out. Pil-gi will not give up on his dream so easily, though. He calls the police, invites friends to stay for the night, and tries exorcism rituals. None of it works. During one attack by the poltergeist he is struck by lightning and awakes in a hospital. He eventually decides it would be best to sell the house, but upon returning he discovers that he can see the ghost who has been haunting him. She reveals that her name is Yeon-hwa (Jang Seo-hee) and, now less frightened, Pil-gi talks to her and he decides to stay. However, an investor looking to build a new hotel on the site makes Pil-gi an offer to buy the house. Now it is Yeon-hwa's turn to be afraid. She begs him not to sell the house and tells him her life story. Pil- gi vows to help her keep her house. ===== Lee Yoo-jin is a transfer student from Seoul, and along with two of her friends, she is constantly being bullied by a group of classmates. One night, Yoo-jin and her friends decide to place a curse on their enemies by creating a Ouija board on which they write the names of the female bullies. Using the Bunshinsaba curse, her friend warns the others not to open their eyes until the spell is finished. The calling takes effect, and Yoo-jin, somewhat curious, opens her eyes. To her shock and horror, she sees an image of a pale-like dead girl with long hair beside her. The next morning when Yoo-jin enters the classroom, she discovers the corpse of one of the bullies on top of the desk, with a burned face. Meanwhile, the school hires a volunteer teacher, Lee Eun-ju, as the new art instructor. She starts to call the roll in her class and stumbles on seat number 29 as she mentions the name of a deceased girl, Kim In-sook. The students are terrified when they hear the name, and rush out of the classroom when they see her talking to thin air. The only one left is Yoo-jin, who tells Eun-ju that Kim In-sook doesn't exist. Eun-ju takes another look at the seat and realizes that there's no name at seat number 29. Suddenly, Yoo-jin sees a figure on Eun-ju's back. Investigations soon rise as the other three bullies die in the same manner. Finally, Yoo-jin realizes that the spirit of Kim In-sook is possessing her. She was the one who killed all of those bullies, even though she doesn't remember doing it. Eun-ju also senses a terrible force and unearthly presence surrounding Yoo-jin. Mr. Han, Yoo-jin's class adviser, decides to help out by consulting his friend on what is causing her to act strangely. Through hypnotism, they are able to see a vision of the past showing how Kim In-sook and her mother Chun-hee were brutally killed by the villagers, and before dying, they placed a curse that for generations to come, whoever left the village would die. As Chun-hee finally takes possession of Eun-ju's body, she exacts punishment on the people who wronged them, slaying the school's principal but sparing Mr. Han's life. Not long after, Eun-ju gives birth to a girl and within that girl's body is the spirit of Kim In-sook. ===== Seo-hyun is an ordinary housewife in her late thirties with a ten-year-old son and a successful architect husband. For Seo-hyun, life is a series of banal routines, but she is well provided with upper class comforts. Her sheltered life is suddenly threatened with the appearance of U-in, her much younger sister's attractive new fiancé. U-in approaches Seo-hyun and attraction evolves into a passionate affair. Seo-hyun is aware that falling for the younger man will destroy her and her family, but she cannot help herself and the new feelings that are stirring within... ===== Donald Duck is taking his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie to a golf course to play golf. After his nephews build a stand made of sand, Donald prepares to swing but is interrupted by a tweeting songbird. Donald tells the bird to be quiet and it does. Before Donald can swing, he is interrupted again, this time by his nephews blowing into tissues. Angrily, Donald hushes them and sticks clips on their bills, only to have them thrown off and hit Donald (one in the tail). In a rage, Donald breaks his club and is offered a trick club by his nephews. Donald hits the golf ball only to find out that the "club" is actually a net and the ball is in the net right behind him. Donald gets another trick club which becomes an umbrella, creates a fake rainstorm, and pops out a fake bee. Unable to stand the tricks any longer, Donald orders his nephews off the field. They soon find a grasshopper, however, and put it in a ball to make another trick for Donald. When Donald hits the ball, it bounces away all by itself instead of rolling. Donald chases after it and drives it into the golf pond. Huey, Dewey, and Louie offer him a raft to follow it but before Donald can catch the ball, they pull a valve making the raft deflate. Donald falls into the pond headfirst and tries to hit the ball from underwater. He hits it out of the water and follows it, only to discover that there's a grasshopper in it. The grasshopper bounces away and Donald follows, only to be trapped when his deflated raft (which he is still wearing around his waist) ties up around him after he trips. His nephews then begin playing their own game, hitting their balls between poles (and using Donald's head as a bounce-off stand) to get them into the holes. In a rage after they walk over him, Donald breaks free of the raft and throws his club at them, intending to hit them on the heads, but it bounces back and hits him instead, throwing him into the hole and leaving him shouting in rage (from inside the hole). ===== In 1962 Detroit, Michigan, young car salesman Curtis Taylor Jr. meets a black girl group known as "The Dreamettes", which consists of lead singer Effie White and backup singers Deena Jones and Lorrell Robinson, at an R&B; amateur talent show at the Detroit Theatre. Curtis presents himself as The Dreamettes' new manager and arranges for the girls to become backup singers for Chitlin' Circuit R&B; star Jimmy "Thunder" Early. Curtis soon starts his own record label, Rainbow Records, out of his Detroit car dealership, and appoints Effie's brother, C.C., as his head songwriter. When their first single fails after a white pop group releases a cover version, Curtis, C.C., and their producer Wayne turn to payola to make "Jimmy Early & The Dreamettes" mainstream pop stars. Offstage, Effie becomes infatuated with Curtis while the married Jimmy begins an affair with Lorrell. Jimmy's manager, Marty Madison, grows weary of Curtis' plans to make his client more pop- friendly and walks out. When Jimmy bombs in front of an all-white Miami Beach supper club audience, Curtis sends Jimmy out on the road alone, keeping The Dreamettes behind to headline in his place. Feeling that Effie's plus-sized figure and distinctive voice will not attract white audiences, Curtis appoints the slimmer and higher-voiced Deena lead singer and renames the group "The Dreams". With the aid of new songs and a new image, Curtis and C.C. transform The Dreams into a top-selling mainstream pop group. By 1965, however, Effie begins acting out, particularly when Curtis' affections also turn towards Deena. Curtis eventually drops Effie from the group, hiring his secretary Michelle Morris to take her place beginning with their 1966 New Year's Eve debut in Las Vegas as "Deena Jones & the Dreams." Despite Effie's defiance and desperate appeal to Curtis, he, C.C., and The Dreams leave her behind and forge ahead to stardom. By 1973, Effie has become an impoverished welfare mother living in Detroit with her daughter Magic. Struggling to restart her career in music, she hires Marty as her manager and begins performing at a local club. Meanwhile, with Deena Jones & the Dreams superstars and Rainbow having moved to Los Angeles and now the biggest pop business in the country, Curtis attempts to produce a film about Cleopatra starring an unwilling Deena, who is now his wife. The following year, Jimmy, who has descended into drug addiction due to Curtis' preoccupation with Deena, along with the rejection of the charity single he recorded, has a breakdown during Rainbow Records' tenth- anniversary television special. Curtis promptly drops him from the label and Lorrell ends their affair. Sometime later, C.C., who feels Curtis is undermining the artistic merit of his songs by making them into disco music, quits the label, only for everyone to then learn that Jimmy has been found dead from a heroin overdose, much to Lorrell's dismay. Disillusioned by Jimmy's death and Curtis' cold reaction to the news, C.C. travels to Detroit and reconciles with Effie, for whom C.C. writes and produces a comeback single. Just as the record begins gaining local radio play, Curtis uses payola to force radio stations to play The Dreams' disco cover of the song. The plan falls apart, however, when Deena, angry over how Curtis controls her career, finds evidence of his schemes and contacts Effie, who arrives in Los Angeles with C.C., Marty, and a lawyer. Deena and Effie reconcile, with Effie revealing to Deena that Curtis is Magic's father, while Curtis agrees to give Effie's record national distribution in order to avoid being reported to the FBI. Having been inspired by Effie's victory and realizing Curtis' true character, Deena leaves him to make it on her own. By 1975, The Dreams give a final farewell performance at the Detroit Theater and invite Effie onstage for the final song. As the concert ends, Curtis notices Magic in the front row and realizes she is his daughter. ===== Mark Franklin arrives in Hangzhou, China to teach Chinese teachers the English language. He learns the refinements of correct behavior among Chinese people, makes friends with his pupils, falls in love with the young doctor Ming, learns wushu (Chinese martial arts) from the famous teacher Pan... but also learns about political repression, especially when he's forbidden contact with some of his friends. ===== Hera Pheri ended with the trio of Raju (Akshay Kumar), Shyam/Ghanshyam (Sunil Shetty), and Baburao Ganapatrao Apte, fondly called as Babu Bhaiya (Paresh Rawal) rich and rolling in money. Phir Hera Pheri tells the story of what happens after they become wealthy. The film opens with a prologue bringing the audience up to date, stating that each has suffered a personal loss despite their new riches. Shyam lost his love, Anuradha (Tabu), in an automobile accident, Raju's mother died after battling a disease, and Baburao - having nothing to lose in the first place - lost the little traces of common sense that he did possess. The three men are living a lavish life in a massive bungalow and splurging on various luxuries. Raju hears about an idea for doubling his wealth in 21 days from a con woman, Anuradha (Bipasha Basu), who is claiming to be a bank manager, and she convinces Shyam and Baburao to go along with it. Raju first arranges for ₹30 lakh from Shyam and Baburao and then a further ₹50 lakh by selling their bungalow. He convinces a small-time goon, Pappu (Rajpal Yadav) to contribute the remaining balance of ₹20 lakh so that he can come up with the minimum deposit of ₹ one crore, which Anuradha has promised to double. The trio invests the money and three weeks later realise that it was all a scam and that they are now penniless. To make matters worse, they do not even have possession of their bungalow, which Raju had sold off to arrange the last bit of money needed, and have to live in a chawl (tenement). Pappu shows up to the bungalow the next day to pick up his portion of the money but is shocked to learn that Raju has left and the bungalow is now in possession of a Parsi gun collector (Dinesh Hingoo). Pappu is now in trouble because he had borrowed money from a lisping but dreaded gangster, Tiwari (Sharat Saxena), who will kill him if he doesn't pay up. He comes across Raju one day, and upon hearing of the scam pretends to be sympathetic. He tricks him and brings the three to his boss, telling him that they are the ones who took the money. Tiwari threatens them and tells them they have to come up with the money or else they will die. As they are being taken home by some of Tiwari's goons, the three manage to escape. Raju, Shyam and Baburao are about to leave the city when Raju remembers that he owes money to a woman named Anjali (Rimi Sen). The three head over to her house and are surprised to find that she is Pappu's sister. Tiwari's goons show up and kidnap Anjali because Pappu has not returned the money. Feeling guilty that he is the one who got Anjali in trouble, Raju decides that he will go to Tiwari and try to get her freed. Shyam and Baburao refuse to leave without them and decide to stay as well. The three go back to Tiwari to ask him to release Anjali, and Tiwari tells them to bring the money, releasing Anjali. Raju, Shyam and Baburao now have three days to come up with ₹40 lakh to pay back the goon or else they will themselves be killed. Raju overhears the neighbour, Munnabhai (Johnny Lever), plotting to steal drugs from another gangster, Nanji Bhai (Milind Gunaji), and wrongly assumes they are talking about stealing money. Raju hatches a plan for the three of them to steal from Munnabhai. The three manage to succeed barely but are confused when they do not find money inside. Raju recognises the stuff like drugs and tells them that they are worth at least ₹ three crores (thirty million). They think that if they can sell them to Kachara Seth (Manoj Joshi) and pay off Tiwari, they can also become rich, but their neighbour once again steals the drugs from them. They then run into Anuradha, and she tells them that the entire scam was hatched by Kabeera (the gangster from the first Hera Pheri) and his close aide Chota Chetan (Razak Khan) to get revenge on the trio and that the only reason she went along with it was because they were holding her niece hostage (Anuradha's sister was Kabeera's gang member and part of the first movie's kidnapping plot). Their money was converted to diamonds to pay the ransom, but she fled with them once she discovered her niece had escaped and hid them under a decoration of a circus float. In the end, all the guys end up in a circus show where they attempt to get hold of the diamonds. These are strewn all over the ground in public by a gorilla. Soon the cops reach the spot, and they arrest Tiwari, Nanji Bhai as well as Chota Chetan. Raju, Shyam and Baburao flee along with Anjali, Anuradha and her niece. Raju escapes with Pappu's cellphone and three antique guns with him, which are worth ₹5–6 crore, though he does not know about it. Pappu informs Shyam and Baburao about the guns, after which they try to call Raju on his cellphone. The film ends in a cliffhanger where Raju is about to throw the weapons in the river with his cellphone ringing in his mouth. ===== The story is written as a first person narrative from the perspective of 15-year-old Ralph Rover, one of three boys shipwrecked on the coral reef of a large but uninhabited Polynesian island. Ralph tells the story retrospectively, looking back on his boyhood adventure: "I was a boy when I went through the wonderful adventures herein set down. With the memory of my boyish feelings strong upon me, I present my book especially to boys, in the earnest hope that they may derive valuable information, much pleasure, great profit, and unbounded amusement from its pages." alt=Black and white illustration The account starts briskly; only four pages are devoted to Ralph's early life and a further fourteen to his voyage to the Pacific Ocean on board the Arrow. He and his two companions – 18-year-old Jack Martin and 13-year-old Peterkin Gay – are the sole survivors of the shipwreck. The narrative is in two parts. The first describes how the boys feed themselves, what they drink, the clothing and shelter they fashion, and how they cope with having to rely on their own resources. The second half of the novel is more action-packed, featuring conflicts with pirates, fighting between the native Polynesians, and the conversion efforts of Christian missionaries. Fruit, fish and wild pigs provide plentiful food, and at first the boys' life on the island is idyllic. They build a shelter and construct a small boat using their only possessions: a broken telescope, an iron-bound oar, and a small axe. Their first contact with other humans comes after several months when they observe two large outrigger canoes in the distance, one pursued by the other. The two groups of Polynesians disembark on the beach and engage in battle; the victors take fifteen prisoners and kill and eat one immediately. But when they threaten to kill one of the three women captured, along with two children, the boys intervene to defeat the pursuers, earning them the gratitude of the chief, Tararo. The next morning they prevent another act of cannibalism. The natives leave, and the boys are alone once more. More unwelcome visitors then arrive in the shape of British pirates, who make a living by trading or stealing sandalwood. The three boys hide in a cave, but Ralph is captured when he ventures out to see if the intruders have left and is taken on board the pirate schooner. He strikes up a friendship with one of the crew, Bloody Bill, and when the ship calls at the island of Emo to trade for more wood Ralph experiences many facets of the island's culture: the popular sport of surfing, the sacrificing of babies to eel gods, rape, and cannibalism. alt=Black and white illustration Rising tensions result in the inhabitants attacking the pirates, leaving only Ralph and Bloody Bill alive. The pair succeed in making their escape in the schooner, but Bill is mortally wounded. He makes a death- bed repentance for his evil life, leaving Ralph to sail back to the Coral Island alone, where he is reunited with his friends. The three boys sail to the island of Mango, where a missionary has converted some of the population to Christianity. There they once again meet Tararo, whose daughter Avatea wishes to become a Christian against her father's wishes. The boys attempt to take Avatea in a small boat to a nearby island the chief of which has been converted, but en route they are overtaken by one of Tararo's war canoes and taken prisoner. They are released a month later after the arrival of another missionary, and Tararo's conversion to Christianity. The "false gods" of Mango are consigned to the flames, and the boys set sail for home, older and wiser. They return as adults for another adventure in Ballantyne's 1861 novel The Gorilla Hunters, a sequel to The Coral Island. ===== As an aging widower begins suffering from heart trouble, his greedy heirs hope to speed him on his way by hiring a seductive nurse (Andress) to get his pulse racing. Their plan eventually backfires as the young beauty begins to fall in love with the old man. An aging widower who owns successful winery, Leonida Bottacin, has a severe heart attack during a sexual liaison with another man's wife. Leonida's relatives hope to inherit the winery to sell it to American business interests. On learning from the physician that a second heart will be fatal, Leonida's son-in-law Benito hires his ex- girlfriend Anna, a very attractive nurse, to attend to Leonida. Benito hopes that Leonida will be sufficiently excited by Anna's beauty and sensuality to suffer a deadly heart attack. Despite Benito's plans, Anna takes excellent care of Leonida and eventually falls in love with. Eventually Leonida recovers and marries Anna, crushing the hopes of his relatives for a quick inheritance. To protect her new husband's health, Anna plans for a celibate marriage. However, Leonida insists on having sex on their honeymoon and dies as a result. Anna inherits his assets and uses part of her husband's fortune to provide him with a grand funeral. ===== The film begins in a jungle at nighttime as a mercenary squad scouts the nearby area looking out for modified super soldiers, only to be slaughtered by a lone mutant. Dr. Krieger is informed by his men about the event and asked to stop the research, Krieger refusing to do so. The film then skips to Valerie Cardinal, a journalist who is secretly receiving information about the events and the actual research by an informant. They arrange a meeting with her at the Island. To get to the island, Valerie hires skipper Jack Carver to take her to the Island. Soon after, she reveals to Jack that her informant is named Max and he served in the Special Forces with him and that he is her uncle. Jack denies having known him. Jack then takes her to the island. However, it turns out that the mercenaries caught Max and turned up at the spot he was going to meet Valerie. The mercenaries capture Valerie and destroy Jack's boat, though Jack manages to escape. Jack steals a gun from a nearby guard after knocking him out and rescues Valerie. Jack suggests that they leave the island, though Valerie refuses to leave without Max. They hijack a mercenary vehicle and proceed to the central base where they both are captured. Jack is jailed in an empty cell with a former member of the cooking staff. While they attempt to escape, Valerie is forced to have dinner with Krieger, who orders the mercenaries to unleash Max (who is now a mutant) on Jack and Cook when he sees them on camera, trying to escape. After a brief fight, Jack manages to convince Max who he really is. Max who is convinced, but still mentally fragile, assaults the mercenaries and releases the other mutants. The mutants attempt to kill all the humans on the Island. After taking heavy casualties, half of the Mercenary Forces realize that there is no hope in sight of controlling the mutants and decide to team up with Jack and escape the island. The other half of the mercenaries remain loyal to Krieger and try to retain control of the island. The two sides begin to battle each other and the mutants at the same time. As the battle goes on, Max is shot and killed by Krieger's sadistic female second-in-command Katia, and most of the mercenaries on the island are killed by the mutants. This leaves only Krieger and his second-in-command, Jack and Valerie, and the cook alive. While trying to find Valerie, Jack engages in a fight with Katia. Jack finds Valerie and tells her about Max. The cook, Jack, and Valerie hijack a boat at the docks. When Krieger arrives at the docks shortly after while being chased by mutants, he finds the boat missing. He turns around and screams as the screen fades to black. The film ends with Jack in a relationship with Valerie, while also continuing his work as a skipper. Valerie, like Jack, also continues her work with the CIA. Jack hires the cook for his boat. ===== The film is set in December, 1918 in an unnamed small town. A widow (Lupino) impulsively hires handyman (Ryan) to look after her house. She soon learns Ryan is a dangerous schizophrenic, but by the time she comes to this realization she is unable to leave her house and escape from him. ===== 60 years ago, a doll-maker and a woman in a red kimono (Jeong Yu- mi) fell in love in the Korean countryside, and the doll-maker made a doll in her image. Later, when the red kimono woman was found murdered, the blame was put on the doll-maker. He was arrested and killed by vigilantes in the woods. Not content to be without her maker, the doll sat by his grave for all eternity. In present day, Hae-mi (Kim Yoo-mi), a sculptor, Tae-seong (Shim Hyung-tak), a model looking for work, Young-ha (Ok Ji-young), a woman who talks to her doll like it's alive, Jung-ki (Im Hyung-joon), a photographer, and Sun-young (Lee Ka-yeong), a ditzy high school student, arrive at an isolated doll museum after receiving an invitation that dolls will be made in their image. They are greeted by siblings Choi Jin-wan (Chun Ho-jin), the museum’s curator, and Im Jae-won (Kim Do-young), the paraplegic doll-maker. Then, odd events begin to occur. Hae-mi catches sight of a mysterious young girl in a red dress who shows up repeatedly on the museum grounds. Tae-seong has an encounter with a doll that touches him, and it is revealed that the curator is keeping a man chained underground. Hae-mi finally meets the red- dress girl, learning that her real name is Mi-na (Lim Eun-kyung). Things take a nasty turn when someone destroys Young-ha's doll; Young-ha is found hanged. Panic arises in the group. Hae-mi is alarmed to find a crying Mi-na with bloody hands. Mi-na asks Hae-mi why she doesn't recognize or remember her, before fleeing in tears. Inside the house, Sun-young and Jung-ki are both murdered. Hae-mi finally remembers that when she was younger, she had a doll that she loved so much that it gained a soul, resulting in Mi-na. Tae-seong reveals himself to be a police officer who had come to investigate a recent murder at the museum, and handcuffs Hae-mi in suspicion. However, Im reveals that she is possessed by the red kimono doll, who wants to avenge its maker; all the guests Im invited are the descendants of the doll-maker's vigilante killers. Angry at being rejected by Hae-mi, Mi-na admits to murdering the other guests and kills Tae-seong before going after Hae-mi. She stops her murder attempt when she sees Hae-mi's scar, remembering the childhood incident where Hae-mi protected her. However, Im destroys Mi-na's soul before attempting to finish off Hae-mi, who kills Im in defense. The chained man, revealed to be Im's husband, escapes prison and kills the curator. He finds his dying wife, saying he regrets bringing the red kimono doll from the woods after all the trouble it caused. In the end, Hae-mi and Im's husband burn the dolls and the remaining corpses. ===== Sergeant Dudfoot is talking about his life as a policeman at Turnbotham Round during a radio broadcast. His staff Albert and Harbottle (played by Graham Moffatt and Moore Marriott) enter after they have been poaching and Harbottle ruins the broadcast. The next day, Dudfoot receives a letter from the Chief Constable. The letter states that an investigation will shortly take place to see if the police force in Turnbotham Round is necessary at all since no arrests have been made in the ten years that Dudfoot has been a policeman. Dudfoot decides to set a speed trap and stops passing cars down a country lane just outside the village. After stopping and later releasing a man who has neither a licence nor insurance, Dudfoot, Harbottle and Albert stop, question and knock out another driver who is actually the Chief Constable. They drive the unconscious Chief Constable back to the police station and lock him in the cell. Dudfoot then drives the Chief Constable's car into Harbottle's shop window to create the impression that the Chief Constable had just had an accident. However, when the Chief Constable comes round, he fails to be fooled by the 'accident', but the Squire intervenes and claims to have witnessed the accident, which saves Dudfoot, Harbottle and Albert from a lot of trouble. The Chief leaves after Harbottle makes up a story about a Headless Horseman when questioned about his old looks. Dudfoot states that they need to arrest a criminal soon or else their police station will be closed down and Harbottle takes him to the library to look for books on crime. On their way the coastguard stops them and tells them his brother a lighthouse keeper wants a light hung up on top of the police station as his grandmother is very ill and he agreed to the idea that if he could see the light on the Police Station tower he'd know his grandmother was still alive. (Harbottle misunderstands this, thinking that the grandmother is alone in the lighthouse, causing him to sob uncontrollably whenever the matter is mentioned.) Unknown to the cops, this is connected to the smugglers. Later Albert suggests that they should capture some smugglers by placing a keg of brandy on the beach and getting a witness to see what happens. Dudfoot comes back into the station with a fisherman, who is carrying a keg of brandy and Albert and Harbottle say they haven't taken their keg down to the beach yet, therefore resulting in two kegs of liquor. Albert's girlfriend Emily screams and passes out as she claims to have seen a Headless Horseman. Later Albert spots the Headless Horseman too and after an encounter with him in the Squire's garage, they are scared off by the Horseman, though Harbottle finds a small package which he tucks away. Back at the police station, the Chief Constable phones them about the smuggling and instructs them to find the navigational light the smugglers are using. In spite of the light episode with the coastguard, the three policemen brush off the idea that the coastguard is involved with smuggling. A warning note to keep their noses out of things that are not of their concern is wrapped around a stone thrown in through the police station window. A ticking sound is heard from the package that Harbottle earlier picked up and they find pocket watches inside. Harbottle then recites a rhyme which tells the legend of the Headless Horseman, although he doesn't know the last line, but his father does. So the trio decide to pay him a visit. Harbottle's father reveals the line thus also revealing the place, the Devil's Cave where the smuggling is taking place. The trio investigate the cave, follow a tunnel and discover many barrels of liquor and other things that seemed to belong to Harbottle. They eventually discover that they are in their own cellar. They decide to call the Chief Constable, but are confronted by the Squire who reveals that he is the leader of the smugglers. After a fight in the dark, the smugglers lock the trio in their own cell and escape, deciding to give chase in their car, but since the other police agents think they are smugglers as well, their car is also wanted. After a chase on a bike, a lorry and a London bus, the police agents finally capture the smugglers at Brooklands. The Chief Constable asks the Squire if he has seen him before, but the Squire denies this. Dudfoot then reveals the story of the accident at Harbottle's shop, and the Chief Constable orders that the trio be arrested. Dudfoot punches the Chief Constable and the trio run as fast as they can along the race track away from the other pursuing policemen. ===== Alec Smart, who is engaged teaching in a prison, applies for the job of headmaster at a nearby public school to replace the previous headmaster who has been convicted of writing forged cheques and has just been sent to prison. Smart appeals to the Governor to write him a good reference which he pretends to. Afterwards he writes his real recommendation which is very negative about Smart's talents. The trustee who works as the Governor's secretary, Faker Brown, "accidentally" gets the two letters mixed up and delivers the one praising Smart. On the basis of the letter, Lady Dorking, the who runs the Board of Governors appoints Smart to the job. This angers her deputy, Colonel Crableigh, who had favoured promoting his nephew, the Deputy head. On his arrival at the school, Smart is treated to a boisterous reception by the unruly students led by the Head Boy, Cyril Brown, who is the son of Faker Brown. Narkover proves to be a breeding ground for young criminals, who prefer to spend their time playing cards rather than taking classes. After his initial attempts to stop their games, Smart himself ends up playing cards with the students. He gets off on the wrong foot with Colonel Crableigh but, in spite of Smart's obvious incompetence, Lady Dorking immediately takes a shine to him. Crableigh begins engineering a scheme to have Smart dismissed and replaced by his own nephew. Soon after his arrival Smart is approached by Faker Brown, just released from prison, who blackmails him into giving a job as a steward at the school. Brown has his eye on the valuable jewels of Lady Dorking, in particular her diamond necklace, which she is due to be wearing on Founders Day which takes place a few days later. It involves a dinner and a rugby match between the school's old boys and the current students, with Smart persuaded to captain the school team. On Founder's Day, Lady Dorking wears her best jewels. In the Headmaster's study, she is shown some conjuring tricks by Smart. Crableigh places Dorking's necklace in Smart's pocket in an attempt to incriminate him and have him dismissed. However, the necklace is then stolen by Faker who hides it in a decanter. After trying, and failing, to persuade him to give it back Smart takes it and hides it in a Jewellery Box due to be presented to Lady Dorking at the dinner.. Shortly before the presentation, the diamonds are again taken by the Head Boy Cyril Brown who picks the lock. He hides the necklace in a rugby ball, but before he can make off with it, the ball is taken by the referee in the match. Confusion then ensues as during the match, Faker and Cyril Brown try to recover the ball and make off with it while Smart tries to prevent them. Eventually Smart kicks the ball towards some police spectators and unmasks the villains in spite of Crableigh's attempts to have Smart arrested for the theft. ===== A vicar who lives in the country with his daughter and grandson discovers he owns a share in a racehorse. He must now put his principles aside and attempt to save the church by gambling. A doping scandal ensues. ===== Ben Holmes (Ben Affleck) is a "blurb" writer responsible for writing the short introductions on the sleeves of hardcover books. On his way from his home in New York City to Savannah, Georgia for his wedding to Bridget (Maura Tierney), he's already anxious about flying. His nerves are worsened when he's seated next to Sarah (Sandra Bullock), a free-spirited drifter who begins to talk to Ben immediately. On takeoff, a bird flies into one of the engines, causing a flameout. Now completely afraid to fly, Ben reluctantly agrees to travel with Sarah, who also needs to get to Savannah within a few days. During the course of their trip, luck seems to separate them from their destination — from being on the wrong car of a train to getting caught in thunderstorms. However, Ben is impressed by Sarah's fun-loving personality, and starts to form a close bond with her. As they get nearer to their destination, Ben starts to doubt his decision to marry Bridget, and considers allowing fate to pair him with Sarah, who reveals that she is separated from her son who lives in Savannah. Upon arrival, Ben and Bridget still agree to get married since they realize even after everything that has happened, they truly love each other. Sarah witnesses the reconciliation and sneaks away to find her son and move on with her life. ===== kst is able to plot histograms and 3-D with color and contour mapping for 3-D images. It is also able to process Network Common Data Form (NETCDF) files for 2-d plotting ===== In Shanghai about the 1930s, Ho Tao (Gordon Liu) is a Kung Fu student. His rich father has set up an arranged marriage for him with the daughter of a Japanese business associate. Ho Tao initially objects and feigns illness, but soon thereafter agrees to the marriage when he finds bride to be, Yumiko Kōda ("Kung Zi" in Mandarin), is attractive. After the wedding, he finds out that she is also a martial artist. Ho Tao finds her style of Karate to be violent, unladylike, and potentially immodest and tries to persuade her to learn feminine but also effectual styles of Chinese Kung Fu. She is later offended during an argument over which nation has the superior martial arts styles and eventually goes back to Japan. When he travels to Japan to entreat Kung Zi to be reconciled with her husband, Ho Tao's father finds Kung Zi in training by her childhood friend and rather too attentive martial arts sensei Takeno. As a ruse to bring her back to China, Ho Tao sends her a letter challenging Japanese martial arts and their inferiority to their Chinese roots. He hopes that the letter will infuriate Kung Zi enough to return to prove that her Japanese styles are as good as the Chinese ones. Once she is back in China, Ho Tao hopes to reconcile with her. But the plan backfires when Takeno reads the letter instead of Kung Zi. Takeno reads the challenge as an affront to Japanese martial arts and declares its contents with other Japanese martial arts masters who travels to China to take up Ho Tao's challenge. In the first duel, Ho Tao misinterprets a respectful gesture from the Japanese fighter and thus further antagonizes the Japanese contingent. Due to this cultural misunderstanding, the Japanese no longer treat the subsequent duels as exhibitions of their styles but rather as all- out fights. Kung Zi, seeing the gravity of the situation, helps Ho Tao by warning him of Takeno's mastery of ninjutsu. Chow Kan (Cheng Hong-Yip), Ho Tao's servant, provides a lot of the comedic relief for the film through various schemes that often bring unintended consequences for Ho Tao. ===== A film crew composed of media types and party animals from the city embark on a road trip to record music videos of a hard-living rock band at rural Lake Infinity. Meanwhile, a hitchhiker is shocked by the grisly discovery of her friend's dead body. Alone and forced to run through dense scrubland to escape an unseen assailant, she fails to evade the killer and is stabbed multiple times. The visiting rock band with film crew, stop for fuel at a petrol station and is given an uneasy reception by locals who seem wary or suspicious of outsiders. They leave to meet the rest of the crew at a river where houseboats have been hired for transport and accommodation. Further deaths come as a surprise to viewers as sneaking creep at the petrol station gives the impression he may be the killer. The band members go looking for mushrooms but find only toadstools, one leaves to rejoin the rest of the crew. The crew member who continues the search for mushrooms is stabbed by the killer, and the staff member returning to camp is alarmed by a bright flashlight shined into his eyes. Assuming it his fellow crew member playing jokes, he admonishes him with the words "don't fuck around!" A strange woman who told the crew about the fire is then seen talking to the mysterious assailant, explaining that if he continues, he will be taken away from her. The bodies of the couple shot by harpoon and stabbed through the neck are then discovered, and the remaining crew lock doors and windows. They make plans to contact police, only to learn that another staff member had accidentally dropped their portable phone into the water while partying. The assailant, credited as "Acid Head" and played by Zlatko Kasumovic, then slices the director's fingers off and splits his head in half. A further crew member gets stabbed, although we later discover that his injuries are not fatal, and a blonde woman has her neck broken. Another female staff member tries to escape through the woods on the riverbank, during which time she discovers the bodies of the missing film-makers who left the crew's campfire after the first night of filming. By morning, the woman is still running. The crew member stabbed non-fatally unties one of the houseboats, and he and the woman make plans to escape. The end credits roll and subtitles tell that "on October 17, Peace and Tranquility returned to Lake Infinity...FOR A TIME". Acid Head's arm and fist are then seen emerging sharply and victoriously from the waters of Lake Infinity, indicating that he has survived the attempts on his life and is still at large. ===== The game shares the same story as The King of Fighters '98. ===== Peggy Martin (Parker), the daughter of a rich American businessman (Eugene Pallette), persuades him to purchase a Scottish castle from Donald Glourie (Robert Donat), dismantle it and move it to Florida. Along with the castle goes its ghost. Murdoch Glourie (also played by Donat) haunts the castle after dying a coward's death in the 18th century. To find rest, he must get a descendant of the enemy Clan MacClaggan to admit that one Glourie is worth fifty MacClaggans. ===== Will Hay plays the roguish headmaster, Dr Twist, of a dubious boarding school for boys. Twist bets on the horses with his pupils and teaches them little. Colonel Willoughby-Gore attempts to sack the incompetent Twist but is foiled when he and his boys, after fraudulently gaining resounding success in a French examination, are invited to Paris by the French ministry of education. In Paris they become involved with a gang of criminals, including escaped convict Arty Jones, father of one of the boys, and Yvette, a night club singer, who are attempting to steal the Mona Lisa from the Louvre and replace it with a duplicate. ===== Small parts of the story to Valkyrie no Densetsu are told through in- game cutscenes and dialogue, while much of it is instead found in various pieces of Namco promotional material. Continuing after the events of the first game, following the restoration of peace to the kingdom of Marvel Land the inhabitants of Xandra Land notice their kingdom becoming barren of resources, with the cropfields providing the Xandra Land people's food drying up. In an effort to save his family and home, Kurino Xandra embarks on a quest to retrieve a mystical item called the Golden Seed, said to grant the wishes of whoever drops it into the Northern Spring. After beginning his search for the Golden Seed, Xandra is joined by Sabina, a member of the agillic Koakuman tribe, and Zuul, a former bandit who has a map potentially leading to the seed. Following the map leads the trio to an odd formation of rocks with a golden trident atop them, which becomes Xandra's primary weapon. One evening, the three encounter an old woman in the forest, advising them to visit an abandoned village that had been destroyed many years ago. As they investigate, Xandra and company are met by the warlord Kamooz and his group of soldiers. Kamooz, responsible for spreading destruction and chaos across Marvel Land, is also looking for the Golden Seed to enslave the inhabitants of the kingdom and make them his personal slaves, attacking Xandra and his friends. Just as the situation begins to escalate, a mythical warrior named Valkyrie descends from the heavens and chases away Kamooz and his soldiers. Valkyrie agrees to join Xandra, Sabina and Zuul to put an end to Kamooz and retrieve the Golden Seed. After making their way to the Northern Spring, Valkyrie and Xandra encounter Kamooz once more and manage to defeat him before he drops the Golden Seed into the spring; with her mission fulfilled, Valkyrie bids farewell to Xandra and his friends as she leaps back into the heavens. ===== Abahachi (Michael Herbig), chief of the Apache, and his blood brother Ranger (Christian Tramitz) are an inseparable pair since Ranger saved Abahachi from a speeding train at an unguarded railroad crossing. When they aim to buy a pub with the monetary help of Shoshone chief Stinking Lizard ("Listiger Lurch" in the German original - "Cunning Amphibian") through supposed Wyoming real estate agent Santa Maria (Sky du Mont), the deal as well as the pub, which turns out to be just a prop-up facade, collapse. Santa Maria kills Stinking Lizard's son ("Falscher Hase " in the German original - "Fake Hare", a German colloquial expression for meatloaf), who was supposed to deliver the loan. Stinking Lizard believes Santa Maria's claims that Abahachi and Ranger killed the chief's son, and upon their return to the Shoshone tribe, the two find themselves unjustly charged with murder. Bound to two stakes and awaiting their execution, Abahachi remembers, during a squabble with Ranger, a secret treasure kept inside a large, shoe-shaped rock called Manitou's Shoe (a reference to Treasure of the Silver Lake), which Abahachi intends to recover in order to reimburse Stinking Lizard. The map leading to the treasure was left to Abahachi by his deceased grandfather (also Herbig, in the extended "Extra Large" version), and in a drunken bout following his demise it was divided into four parts, which were distributed among Abahachi himself; his effeminate gay twin brother Winnetouch (also Herbig), the proprietor of a beauty ranch; Abahachi's Greek friend Dimitri (Rick Kavanian); and his former "hough school" honey - and Ranger's fledgling love interest - Ursula ("Uschi"). Unfortunately, Santa's right-hand man Hombre overhears the blood brothers' plans, and Santa plans to get the treasure for himself. They enable the two captives' escape, in which they inadvertently kill Stinking Lizard's pet rabbit, prompting the Shoshone chief to declare war on them and unbury a folding chair in lieu of a hatchet. To gather the other parts of the map, Abahachi and Ranger travel across the land to meet with Winnetouch on his ranch-turned-beauty-plaza, the Powder Rose Ranch. Winnetouch remembers who Abahachi gave the other map pieces to, setting Abahachi and Ranger on Uschi's and Dimitri's trail. The trio notices Santa Maria's gang surrounding them, so Winnetouch dresses up as Abahachi to distract them while Abahachi and Ranger ride off to gather the other pieces of the map. Knowing they are short on time, they decide to split up; Abahachi goes to find Dimitri, while Ranger seeks out Uschi. Meanwhile, Winnetouch is captured and held at the Powder Rose Ranch under Hombre's watch, but the two grow closer as they spend time together. Just as Uschi, whom Ranger finds as a singer in a bar, gets ready to give Ranger her piece of the map, Santa Maria finds and captures them. When the two of them don't show up at the meeting point, Abahachi and Dimitri, whom Abahachi found as the proprietor of a dingy bar, decide to go rescue them. During the rescue attempt Abahachi gets captured as well, bringing Santa Maria in possession of all the map pieces. He takes off with his gang to head for the treasure, taking Uschi with him since she tattooed the map on her back (and because he has taken an interest in her), leaving the others tied up in the ranch house which he sets on fire. However, before they burn to death, Dimitri comes to their rescue. Santa Maria finds the mountain in which the treasure is hidden and goes inside, leaving his gang to guard the entrance. Abahachi, Winnetouch and Ranger manage to save Uschi and convince Hombre to join them. While Dimitri distracts the rest of the gang, the others go after Santa Maria. They get the treasure, a diamond necklace, from Santa Maria, who triggers and drowns in a mud trap. In the ensuing shenanigans, they lose the necklace, and upon their exit of the mountain they find themselves surrounded by the Shoshone and Santa Maria's gang. In the subsequent fight, Santa Maria's gang is defeated. Hombre clears Abahachi's name and returns the embezzled gold to Stinking Lizard, ending the hostilities. In the end, each character realizes their dream and Uschi, while pregnant with her and Ranger's child, urges him to set off with Abahachi, and both heroes ride into the sunset for new adventures. ===== Gloria, a downtrodden housewife, lives with her husband Antonio, mother-in-law and two sons in a small, shabby and overcrowded apartment located by the Madrid motorway. Besides taking care of her home and family, Gloria also works as a cleaning lady to make ends meet and takes amphetamines to keep going. Her marriage to Antonio, a taxi driver, is on the rocks. Fifteen years earlier, in Germany, Antonio worked as a driver for Ingrid Muller, a German singer with whom he had a brief affair. His only mementos of their liaison are a signed photograph and a tape of her song Nur nicht Aus Liebe Weinen which he constantly plays and which Gloria detests. Antonio's services for Ingrid involved copying letters that she had allegedly received from Hitler himself. In his taxi, Antonio meets the writer Lucas and Antonio casually mentions this fact to Lucas, who suggests that they forge Hitler's diaries for a big profit. There is also a book of Ingrid's memoirs written by a friend which contains letters from Hitler which Antonio helped forge. Antonio is trying to teach the art of forgery to one of his sons, as this talent will be his only inheritance. The younger son, Miguel, who is twelve, sleeps around with older men. When Gloria confronts Miguel, telling him she knows he has been sleeping with older men (including his friend's father), Miguel responds: "I'm the master of my own body." Gloria's eldest son, Toni, who is fourteen, wants to become a farmer and is saving up enough money to buy a farm by peddling heroin. The grandmother, who is addicted to soft drinks, shares the same dream of returning to her native village. Gloria's friends are her two neighbors: Cristal and Juani. Cristal is a prostitute with a heart of gold. Juani, is a bitter woman obsessed with cleanliness and vulgar ornaments, her daughter, Vanesa, has telekinetic powers, which she uses to destroy their apartment. Gloria's life has become unbearable. She has no hope, no money, no opportunities yet she is still required to pay for the apartment, the television, the telephone, the lighting, the heating, the rates, and the weekly shopping. Increasingly desperate to find extra money to pay the bills, she is forced to work for a couple of bankrupt writers; she has to put up with a lizard that Toni and his grandmother have brought home. Unable to pay for Miguel's dental treatment, Gloria has little hesitation in allowing Miguel to live with the dentist, a pedophile. Miguel accepts once certain material conditions are met. Refused sedatives by a pharmacist without a prescription, the defeated Gloria returns home to find her husband preparing to take Ingrid Muller for a drive; Husband and wife begin to argue and when Antonio slaps Gloria, she strikes him on the head with a leg of ham. Hitting his neck on the sink, he dies instantly. The police investigation does not discover Gloria's guilt. Toni and his grandmother leave Madrid for her village. Abandoned, Gloria contemplates committing suicide. She changes her mind when her son Miguel returns unexpectedly and says he wants to take care of her. ===== Pablo Quintero is a successful gay film and theatrical director whose latest work, The Paradigms of the Mussel, has just been released. At the opening night party, he discusses with his much younger lover, Juan, their summer plans. Pablo would stay in Madrid working on a new project, while Juan would leave for his hometown in the south to work in a bar and stay with his family. Pablo is in love with Juan, but he realizes that his love is not returned with the intensity he desires. Pablo is very close to his transgender sister Tina, a struggling actress. Tina has recently been abandoned by her lesbian lover, a model, who left her in charge of her ten-year-old daughter Ada. Frustrated in her relationship with men, Tina dedicates her time to Ada, being a loving surrogate mother. The precocious Ada does not miss her cold mother. She is happier living with Tina and spending time with Pablo, on whom she has a childish crush. Tina, Ada and Pablo form an unusual family knit. Pablo looks after them both. For his next project, Pablo writes an adaptation of Cocteau's monologue-play The Human Voice, to be performed by his sister. At the play's opening night, Pablo meets Antonio, a young man who has been obsessed with the director since he watched the gay theme film The Paradigms of the Mussel. At the end of the evening they go home together and have sex. For Antonio this is his first homosexual experience, while Pablo considers it just a lusty episode. Pablo is still in love with his long-time lover Juan. Antonio misunderstands Pablo's intentions and takes their encounter as a relationship. He soon reveals his possessive behavior as a lover. Antonio comes across a love letter addressed to Pablo, signed by Juan, but which in fact was written by Pablo to himself. The letter makes Antonio fall into a jealous rage, but he has to return to his native Andalusia where he lives with his domineering German mother. As he promised, Pablo sends Antonio a letter signed Laura P, the name of a character inspired by his sister in a script he is writing. In his letter, Pablo tells Antonio that he loves Juan and intends to join him. However, Antonio, who is jealous and wants to get rid of Juan, gets there first. Antonio wants to possess everything that belongs to Pablo and tries to have sex with Juan. When Juan rebukes his advances, Antonio throws him off a cliff. After killing his rival, Antonio quickly heads for his hometown. Pablo becomes a suspect of the crime because the police have found in Juan's fist a piece of clothing that matches a distinctive shirt owned by Pablo. In fact, Antonio was wearing an exact replica when he killed Juan. Pablo drives down to see his dead lover, he realizes that Antonio is responsible for the murder and confronts him about it. They have an argument and Pablo drives off pursued by the police. Blinded by tears, he crashes his car injuring his head. He awakes in a hospital suffering from amnesia. Antonio's mother shows the police the letters her son received signed Laura P. The mysterious Laura P becomes the prime suspect, but the police cannot find her. Antonio returns to Madrid and, in order to get closer to Pablo who is still in the hospital, seduces Tina who believes his love to be genuine. To help her brother recovering his memory, Tina tells him about their past. Born as a boy, in her adolescence she began an affair with their father. She ran away with him and had a sex change operation to please him, but he left her for another woman. When her incestuous relationship ended, Tina returned to Madrid, coinciding with the death of their mother, and got reunited with Pablo. Tina has been grateful with Pablo who did not judge her. Tina also tells him that she has found a lover. Pablo gradually begins to recover; he realizes that Tina's new love is Antonio and that she is in danger. He goes with the police to Tina's apartment where she is being held hostage by Antonio. Antonio threatens a bloodbath unless he can have an hour alone with Pablo. Pablo agrees and joins him. They make love and Antonio then commits suicide. ===== The book begins with a frame story which recounts a train journey from Kanpur to Delhi. During the journey, the narrating author meets a beautiful girl. The girl offers to tell the author a story on the condition that he has to make it his second book. After a lot of hesitation, the author agrees. The story was about six people working in a call center. One night they got a phone-call from God within the story, which comprises the bulk of the book, relates the events that happen one night at a call center. Told through the eyes of the protagonist, Shyam, it is a story of almost lost love, thwarted ambitions, absence of family affection, pressures of a patriarchal set up, an insight on the lifestyle of youth of this country and the work environment of a globalized office. Shyam loves but has lost Priyanka, who is now planning an arranged marriage with another; Vroom loves Esha. Esha wants to be a model, Radhika is in an unhappy marriage with a demanding mother-in-law, and Military Uncle wants to talk to his grandson; they all hate Bakshi, their cruel and somehow sadist boss. Claimed to be based on a true story, the author chooses Shyam Mehra (alias Sam Marcy) as the narrator and protagonist, who is one among the six call center employees featured. A phone call from God is one of the salient features in the novel. In order to cheer themselves up, all the lead characters of the novel decide to go and enjoy at a night club. After enjoying for a while, they leave for the office. While returning, they face a life-threatening situation when their Qualis crashes into a construction site hanging over a mesh of iron construction rods. As the rods began to yield slowly, they start to panic. They are unable to call for help as there is no mobile phone network at that place, but Shyam's mobile phone starts ringing. The phone call is from God, who speaks modern English. He speaks to all of them and gives them suggestions to improve their life, and advises them on how to get their vehicle out of the construction site. The conversation with God motivates the group to such an extent that they get ready to face their problems with utmost determination and motivation. Meanwhile, Vroom and Shyam hatch a plan to throw Bakshee out of the call center and prevent the closing of Connexions call center, whose employees are to be downsized radically. When they emerge from danger, they have clear-cut goals in their mind. On returning to the call center, they carry out their plans with dexterity. The themes involve the anxieties and insecurities of the rising Indian middle class, including questions about career, inadequacy, marriage, family conflicts in a changing India, and the relationship of the young Indian middle class to both executives and ordinary clients whom they serve in the United States. There is an aspect of self-help in the book as the author invites readers to identify aspects of themselves and their lives that make them angry and that they would like to change. ===== The story takes place during a Sunday in the late summer of 1912. Monsieur Ladmiral is a painter without any real genius and in the twilight of his life. Since the death of his wife, he lives alone with Mercedes, his servant. As every Sunday, he invites Gonzague, his son, a steady young man, who likes order and propriety, accompanied by his wife, Marie- Thérèse and their three children, Emile, Lucien and Mireille. That day, Irène, Gonzague's sister, a young non-conformist, liberated and energetic woman, upsets this peaceful ritual and calls into question her father's artistic choices. ===== During the Battle of France, while German forces are spreading across the country, the 7th Transmission Company suffers an air raid near the Machecoul woods, but survive and hide in the woods. Captain Dumont, the company commander, sends Louis Chaudard, Pithiviers and Tassin to scout the area. After burying the radio cable beneath a sandy road, the squad crosses the field, climbs a nearby hill, and takes position within a cemetery. One man cut down the wrong tree for camouflage, pulling up the radio cable and revealing it to the passing German infantry. The Germans cut the cable, surround the woods, and order a puzzled 7th Company to surrender. The squad tries to contact the company, but then witness their capture and run away. Commanded by Staff Sergeant Chaudard, the unit stops in a wood for the night. Pithiviers is content to slow down and wait for the end of the campaign. The next day, he goes for a swim in the lake, in sight of possible German fighters. When Chaudard and Tassin wake up, they leave the camp without their weapons to look for Pithiviers. Tassin finds him and gives an angry warning, but Pithiviers convinces Tassin to join him in the lake. Chaudard orders them to get out, but distracted by a rabbit, falls into the lake. While Chaudard teaches his men how to swim, two German fighter planes appear, forcing them out of the water. After shooting down one of the German planes, a French pilot, Lieutenant Duvauchel, makes an emergency landing and escapes before his plane explodes. PFC Pithiviers, seeing the bad shape of one of his shoes, destroys what is left of his shoe sole. Tassin is sent on patrol to get food and a new pair of shoes for Pithiviers. Tassin arrives in a farm, but only finds a dog, so he returns and Chaudard goes to the farm after nightfall. The farmer returns with her daughter-in-law and Lt Duvauchel, and she welcomes Chaudard. Duvauchel, who is hiding behind the door, comes out upon hearing the news and decides to meet Chaudard's men. When Chaudard and Duvauchel return to the camp, Tassin and Pithiviers are roasting a rabbit they caught. Duvauchel realizes that Chaudard has been lying and takes command. The following day, the men leave the wood in early morning and capture a German armored tow truck after killing its two drivers. They originally planned to abandon the truck and the two dead Germans in the woods, but instead realized that the truck is the best way to disguise themselves and free the 7th Company. They put on the Germans' uniforms, recover another soldier of the 7th Company, who succeeded in escaping, and obtain resources from a collaborator who mistook them for Germans. On their way, they encounter a National Gendarmerie patrol, who appear to be a 5th column. The patrol injures the newest member of their group, a young soldier, and then are killed by Tassin. In revenge, they destroy a German tank using the tow truck's cannon gun. They planned to go to Paris but are misguided by their own colonel, but find the 7th Company with guards who are bringing them to Germany. Using their cover, they make the guards run in front of the truck, allowing the company to get away. When Captain Dumont joins his Chaudard, Tassin, and Pithiviers in the truck, who salute the German commander with a great smile. ===== On Bagley Street in the city of Detroit, Little Abner Shutt begins the story by explaining to his mother that "there's a feller down the street says he's goin' to make a wagon that'll run without a horse.". The Flivver King, from the included synopsis The man is Henry Ford. The story follows the progress and growth of Ford Motor Company through the perspective of a number of generations of a single family. The Flivver King demonstrates the effects of Scientific Management in factories. The Ford factory began with very skilled workers. Through a process of breaking the skilled job down into simple steps, they were able to hire lower wage, less skilled individuals to do the work. The Flivver King explains how the Ford Company used scientific management to replace skilled workers while successfully increasing production. ===== The story emphasizes the rivalry between two sheepdogs and their masters, and chronicles the maturing of a boy, David, who is caught between them. His mother dies, and he is left to the care of his father, Adam M'Adam, a sarcastic, angry alcoholic with few redeeming qualities. M'Adam is the owner of Red Wull, a huge, violent dog who herds his sheep by brute force. The other dog is Bob, son of Battle. He herds sheep by finesse and persuasion. His master is James Moore, Master of Kenmuir, who acts as surrogate father to David. David and Moore's daughter Maggie become romantically intrigued by each other. The dogs compete for the Shepherd's Trophy, the prize in an annual sheep-herding contest which is the highlight of the year in the North Country. A dog who wins three competitions in a row wins the Shepherd's Cup outright, which has never yet happened. Complications arise—a rogue dog is killing sheep, and both Bob and Red Wull are suspected of being the culprit. The story chronicles David's boyhood and early manhood, his struggle to live with his father, his frequent escapes to Kenmuir, and his intermittent friendship with Maggie Moore. ===== Richard Gaddis is a small-time crook with a penchant for con games. To hook marks, he acts like a well-to-do businessman, dressing like one and driving a Mercedes- Benz S500,http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_9620-Mercedes-Benz-S-500-W220-2004.html 2004 Mercedes-Benz S 500 [W220] in Criminal, Movie, 2004 believing that one must look like a professional in order to be a successful conman. Gaddis is searching for a new partner with whom he can perform more sophisticated cons. He discovers Rodrigo after he sees the young man playing some minor con games in a casino-bar. When Rodrigo is caught, Gaddis acts the part of a vice officer to save him from being arrested. Rodrigo's contribution is a face and naive manner so trustable that he is able to con anyone, while Richard is both completely unprincipled and clever. After several small tests to determine Rodrigo's trustworthiness, he suggests a partnership, to which Rodrigo quickly agrees. Although Rodrigo distrusts Richard greatly, he agrees to partner him on a gigantic scam, provided he gets a percentage of the money gained to help his ailing father, who is in trouble because of his gambling debts. Richard accepts, and they plan to sell a fraudulent version of a silver certificate currency note to William Hannigan, a rich collector who is in town. When Hannigan takes a fancy to the uptight but very sexy Valerie, Gaddis' sister who is a concierge at a hotel, Gaddis is forced to pull her into the scam, the price of which is Richard's admission to their brother Michael that he has cheated him out of his share of their inheritance. The plot twists constantly as each of the characters becomes more deeply invested in the scam, and the ever-deceitful Richard tries to cheat Rodrigo, Valerie and Michael out of their share of the take. In the twist ending, it is revealed that all the major players involved, including Rodrigo and Hannigan, were playing a confidence game against Gaddis from the very beginning, so that Valerie and Michael could rightfully take their share of their inheritance. ===== The Freshman and Peggy Harold Lamb (Harold Lloyd), a bright-eyed but naïve young man, enrolls at Tate University. On the train there, he meets Peggy (Jobyna Ralston). They are attracted to each other. Harold decides that the best way to ensure his popularity at school is to emulate his movie idol, The College Hero, down to mimicking a little jig he does before greeting anyone, and taking his nickname, "Speedy". However, the College Cad (Brooks Benedict) quickly makes him the butt of an ongoing joke, of which the freshman remains blissfully unaware. Harold thinks he is popular, when in fact he is the laughingstock of the whole school. His only real friend is Peggy, who turns out to be his landlady's daughter. She is described in one of the film's title cards as "the kind of girl your mother must have been". He tries out for the football team. The coach (Pat Harmon) is unimpressed, but as Harold has damaged their only practice tackle dummy, the coach uses him in its place. At the end of practice, though, he approves of Harold's enthusiasm (undiminished after repeated tackling). The coach is about to dismiss the freshman when Chet Trask (James Anderson), the captain and star of the team, suggests making him their water boy, while letting him think he has made the squad. Lloyd as Harold Lamb Harold is persuaded to host the annual "Fall Frolic" dance. His tailor is late making his suit; with the dance well underway, it is barely being held together by basting stitches, but Harold puts it on and hopes for the best. During the party, his clothes start to fall apart, despite the efforts of the tailor (hiding in a side room) to effect repairs. When Harold sees the College Cad being too forward with Peggy, working as a hatcheck girl, Harold knocks him down. The incensed Cad then tells him just what everyone really thinks of him. Peggy advises him to stop putting on an act and be himself. Harold is determined to prove himself by getting into the big football game. His chance comes when the other team proves too tough, injuring so many of Tate College's players that the coach runs out of substitutes. Hounded by Harold and warned by the referee that he will forfeit if he cannot come up with another player, the coach reluctantly lets Harold go in. The first few plays are disastrous. Finally, he breaks free and is on his way to winning the game, but, mindful of a referee's prior instruction that he is to stop playing when he hears the whistle, he drops the football just outside the end zone when a non-football whistle sounds. The other team recovers the ball with only a minute left to play. His teammates are disheartened, but Harold rouses them to make a final effort. He chases down the opposing ball carrier, knocks the football loose, scoops it up and runs it all the way back for the winning touchdown as time runs out, which at last earns him the respect and popularity he was after. To top it off, Peggy passes him a note proclaiming her love for him. ===== Clark Kellogg (Matthew Broderick) leaves his mother (Pamela Payton-Wright) and environmental activist stepfather Dwight (Kenneth Welsh) in Vermont to go to New York University (NYU) to study film. After arriving at Grand Central Terminal, he is approached by Victor Ray (Bruno Kirby), who at first offers to carry Clark's bags, then offers a ride. As soon as Clark steps out of the car, Victor drives off with Clark's luggage still in the trunk. Clark tells his instructor at NYU Professor Fleeber (Paul Benedict), who uses books he has written as required study, about losing his belongings. Clark notices Victor walking by and gives chase. Victor vows to give his luggage back in return for a favor. In Little Italy, Manhattan, Clark is introduced to Victor's uncle Carmine Sabatini (Marlon Brando) as Victor explains that Vito Corleone was based on Carmine. Carmine offers Clark the opportunity to make a lot of money just for running small errands. The first is to pick up a Komodo dragon from JFK Airport and transport it to a specific address. Clark enlists the help of his roommate Steve Bushak (Frank Whaley) to pick up the animal and deliver it to Larry London (Maximilian Schell) and his assistant Edward (BD Wong). Clark is also introduced to Carmine's daughter Tina (Penelope Ann Miller) who takes an immediate shine to him. Tina talks as if the two are soon to be married. A distracted Clark tries to pay attention in Fleeber's film class (where the professor shows clips of the 1974 film The Godfather Part II), but he is soon being chased by agents Chuck Greenwald (Jon Polito) and Lloyd Simpson (Richard Gant) of the Department of Justice. Upon being caught, Clark is told that Carmine—also known as "Jimmy The Toucan"—not only is a Mafia figure but runs the Fabulous Gourmet Club. It is an illicit and nomadic establishment, never holding its festivities in the same place twice, where for enormous prices endangered animals are served as the main course, specially prepared by Larry London. Clark is told that "for the privilege of eating the very last of a species", a million dollars is charged. Clark finds out that his activist stepfather listened in on a conversation with his mother. Right after Clark mentioned the Komodo dragon, Dwight contacted the Department of Justice. Carmine admits that the Gourmet Club exists, but tells Clark that Greenwald and Simpson are being bribed by a rival crime family that wants both Carmine and Clark dead. While driving to the Gourmet Club, a plan is hatched to get Carmine out of the exotic animal business for good and to clear Clark. At the Gourmet Club's dinner, longtime Miss America pageant host Bert Parks sings a version of "There She Is" when the Komodo dragon is revealed. Clark steps outside to signal Greenwald and Simpson, who raid the club. Carmine is upset that Clark has ratted him out. Carmine pulls a gun, the two wrestle, and Carmine is apparently shot dead. Revealing their corruption, Greenwald and Simpson leave with a duffel bag filled with money, though they are soon caught by real FBI agents and arrested. Clark berates his stepfather, who leaves. Carmine then gets up off the floor, having faked his death. Larry London reveals tonight's expensive and exotic dinner is actually Hawaiian tigerfish mixed with smoked turkey from Virginia, not endangered species (a long-running con of Carmine's, swindling the rich out of their money). The endangered animals will be in fact housed in the new Carmine Sabatini Endangered Species Wing at the Bronx Zoo. Clark was hand-picked by Carmine, who was in fact working with the FBI, because they knew Clark's stepfather would contact the corrupt agents once he found out about Clark's "job". Tina's aggressive interest in Clark was an act as well, but she and Clark now share a mutual attraction. Carmine and Clark take the Komodo dragon for a walk, Carmine promising it will be taken safely to a new habitat at the zoo. He offers to help Clark make it in Hollywood, having a few connections there. Clark says "Thanks, but no thanks" as they continue walking. ===== Zack Elliot is a successful young oncologist in the Los Angeles area married to Claire, an equally successful television network executive during the early 1980s. They first met when they were both in college and have been married for eight years and are generally happy in their relationship, sharing a love for Gilbert and Sullivan and the poetry of Rupert Brooke, to whom they were introduced by their elderly former neighbor, Winnie Bates. Intending to start a family, the couple buy a big house. Unknown to Claire, Zack has been struggling with feelings of attraction to other men. He picks up men in his car and starts frequenting gay bars in West Hollywood on his lunch hour, although he does not follow through sexually. This changes when he meets Bart McGuire, a gay novelist who comes to see him for a medical check-up. Bart leads a fairly hedonistic single lifestyle, picking up multiple sexual partners, frequenting gay bars and clubs, occasionally taking recreational drugs. Zack and Bart are mutually but unspokenly attracted to each other and go out for lunch. A few days later, Zack asks him on a dinner date. He lies to Claire, saying he has to work late. At Bart's house, it becomes clear Zack is not yet able to identify as gay, instead labeling himself "curious." Zack and Bart go to bed, which is the first time Zack has had sex with another man. Zack wants to stay the night, but Bart, following his usual pattern, brushes him off. Angered, Zack leaves, but later challenges Bart's fear of intimacy which stems from his own troubled childhood with his domineering and emotionally abusive father growing up. Bart makes plans for them to get together during the weekend. Claire, concerned about the growing distance in her marriage, goes to her boss seeking a year-long leave of absence. Instead, he promotes her and sends her to New York City on a weekend business trip. Zack takes advantage of the opportunity to spend more time with Bart, but they end up arguing. Zack calls the outline for Bart's new novel less than honest, and Bart confronts Zack about his own lack of honesty about his sexuality. That night in bed, Zack tells Bart that he loves him. The next morning, fearful of his own growing feelings for Zack, Bart pushes him away again. Eventually, Bart realizes that he does have feelings for Zack but that he is not ready for the level of commitment that Zack needs. He is last seen in the film out in the bars, cruising. When Claire returns home from her trip, Zack tells her of his feelings for other men. Although she said she could handle anything he could tell her, she reacts very badly and Zack leaves the house. A few days later, an emotional Claire trashes some of Zack's clothes and finds a matchbook with a man's name and number written in it. She locates someone Zack had picked up, and they talk. She learns that he lives a relatively normal and happy life. Claire attempts to get Zack to remain in the marriage, even claiming that she would be okay with him having affairs with other men, but Zack advises her that she must let go and that he can no longer continue to live a lie and needs to be true to himself once and for all. Zack then tells Claire that he has a job prospect in New York City, working with cancer patients. In the end, the two agree to a divorce. The film ends a few years in the future, with the death of Winnie Bates, Zack and Claire's former neighbor. Zack is living in New York and in a committed relationship with another man, an investment banker, named Ken. He returns to Los Angeles for the funeral. Claire has since gotten remarried to an architect and has a young son named Rupert. It is loosely implied that she is now a stay at home mom. After the funeral, Zack and Claire discuss their lives and express their own happiness and their gratitude that the other is happy. Throughout the film, Bart and Claire deliver several mini-monologues, speaking directly to the camera about aspects of their lives and their feelings about the scenes that had just played out on-screen. ===== A New York thief, a tough-as-nails hundred-year-old woman, two brothers from the Wild West, a revolutionary hell-bent on liberating Macedonia from the Ottoman Empire, and a beautiful pregnant woman all cross paths in a tale that spans two continents and three centuries. Its fractured narrative resembles a Cubist painting. In present-day New York City, a young criminal, Edge (Adrian Lester), is confronted at gunpoint by an ailing old woman, Angela (Rosemary Murphy), whose apartment he is attempting to burgle. While he awaits an opportunity to escape, she launches into a tale about two outlaw brothers, Luke and Elijah, at the turn of the 20th century, who travel to Ottoman- controlled Macedonia. The two brothers have transient ill will between them, and they become estranged when confronted with a beautiful woman, Lilith (Anne Brochet). In the New York storyline, Edge hunts for Angela's gold to pay back a debt, and gradually grows closer to her. In the Macedonian story, the brothers end up fighting for opposite sides of a revolution, with the religious Elijah (Joseph Fiennes) taking up sides with the Ottoman sultan and gunslinger Luke (David Wenham) joining "the Teacher" (Vlado Jovanovski), a Macedonian rebel. ===== The novel is actually a story within a story. The boy, Daniel Sempere, in his quest to discover Julián's other works, becomes involved in tracing the entire history of Carax. His friend, who goes by the alias of Fermín Romero de Torres, was imprisoned and tortured in Montjuïc Castle as a result of his involvement in espionage against the government during the Civil War. He helps Daniel in a number of ways, but their probing into the murky past of a number of people who have been either long dead or long forgotten unleashes the dark forces of the murderous Inspector Fumero. Thus, unravelling a long story that has been buried in the depths of oblivion, Daniel and Fermín come across a love story, the beautiful yet tragic story of Julián and Penélope, both of whom seem to have been missing since 1919—that is, nearly thirty years earlier. Julián, who was the son of the hatter Antoni Fortuny and his wife Sophie Carax (but preferred to use his mother's last name), and Penélope Aldaya, the only daughter of the extremely wealthy Don Ricardo Aldaya and his beautiful, narcissistic American wife, developed an instant love for each other and lived a clandestine relationship only through casual furtive glances and faint smiles for around four years, after which they decided to elope to Paris, unaware that the shadows of misfortune had been closing in on them ever since they had met. The two lovers are doomed to unknown fates just a week before their supposed elopement, which is meticulously planned by Julián's best friend, Miquel Moliner—also the son of a wealthy father, who had earned much during the war, including a bad reputation for selling ammunition. It is eventually revealed that Miquel loved Julián more than any brother and finally sacrificed his own life for him, having already abandoned his desires and his youth for causes of charity and his friend's well-being after his elopement to Paris -- although without Penélope, who never turned up for the rendezvous. Penélope's memory keeps burning in Julián's heart, and this eventually forces him to return to Barcelona (in the mid 1930s); however he encounters the harsh truth about Penélope, nothing more than a memory to those who knew her since she had never been seen or heard of again by anyone after 1919. Daniel discovers, from the note Nuria Monfort left for him, that Julián and Penélope are actually half- brother and sister; her father had an affair with his mother and Julián was the result. The worst thing he learns is that after Julián left, Penélope's parents imprisoned her because they were ashamed of her committing incest with him and she was pregnant with his child. Penélope gave birth to a son named David Aldaya, who was stillborn. Penélope died in childbirth, due to her parents' ignoring her cries for help, and her body was placed in the family crypt along with her child's. When returning to the Aldaya Mansion, Julián is enraged and embittered by the news of his love's death along with their child's. He hates every wasted second of his life without Penélope and hates his books all the more. He begins to burn all of his novels and calls himself Lain Coubert. After finishing reading the book, Daniel marries Beatriz "Bea" Aguilar, whom he has loved for a long time, in 1956. Soon after, Bea gives birth to a son. Daniel names his son Julián Sempere, in honor of Julián Carax. In 1966, Daniel takes Julián to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, where The Shadow of the Wind is kept. ===== Casey Brodsky (Drew Barrymore) has decided to divorce her parents and have her nanny, Maria Hernandez (Hortensia Colorado), appointed as Casey's legal guardian. It results in media attention, and her parents, Albert (Ryan O'Neal) and Lucy (Shelley Long) Brodsky, are both brought out of their respective self-absorbed lives and made to testify in court about their personal lives. At a truck stop in Indiana on the night of January 20th, 1973, film professor Albert Brodsky is hitchhiking across the country, where he gets picked up by Lucy van Patten, a woman who has ambitions of writing books, particularly for children, but her fiancé "Bink", a gruff Navy man, represses her, and she is depressed about being relegated to the life of a military wife. Through getting to know Albert, Lucy loosens her inhibitions, breaks off her engagement to Bink, and marries Albert shortly afterwards. The couple moves to California, where Albert attaches himself to a famed Hollywood producer, who entrusts him to film a romantic script the producer has kept shelved for a long time. When Albert suffers from writer's block about the romance, Lucy aids him with her writing skills. The film becomes a box-office hit and garners him an Academy Award nomination for Best Director, but cracks are forming in Albert and Lucy's marriage, particularly since Albert was slow to credit Lucy for the screenplay and he is frequently traveling to places such as Cannes, France, while leaving his daughter in the care of Lucy, or more often Maria, their maid. When Albert sees a young woman named Blake Chandler (Sharon Stone) working at a hot dog stand, he takes her home and casts her in his next film, which becomes a moderate success. When Lucy sees signs that Albert is interested in Blake for more than just acting, she divorces him, further troubling Casey. Albert ensures that Lucy gets custody of Casey, while he lives in a Hollywood mansion with Blake. A turning point occurs when Lucy, angered both at Albert's procrastination in paying child support and at the sight of a sloppy, overweight woman in a supermarket buying the same comfort food as she is, hurries home and channels her anger into writing a tell-all novel. Meanwhile, Albert's producers are warning him not to attempt his musical remake of Gone with the Wind, which he is calling Atlanta, but Albert ignores their advice, and his budget for the picture skyrockets, mainly because of his own perfectionist attitude and Blake's mediocre singing voice, and her diva-like behavior on set. Atlanta becomes an embarrassing box-office bomb, costing Albert any assignments in Hollywood and causing Blake to desert him. Meanwhile, Lucy's novel becomes a runaway success, allowing her to buy and move into Albert's former mansion, and she begins to morph into a diva. In a final confrontation, Albert and Lucy quarrel in front of Casey about her custody, which degenerates into a literal tug of war, with each parent pulling on one of Casey's arms, ignoring her pained protests. That is the final straw for Casey, who then decides to divorce both her parents. Returning to the courtroom, where Casey gives testimony that just because two parents no longer love each other, that does not give them the right to ignore their children. Both Albert and Lucy break down in tears. Maria is given legal custody of Casey. Months later Casey is still living with Maria and her family. Albert seems to be doing better now, getting modest but regular work directing TV commercials and sitcoms, and is being considered to direct a B movie, and Lucy has returned to her more down-to-earth personality. Both Lucy and Albert arrive at Maria's house for visitation with Casey at the same time by mistake, and the three of them decide to go out and eat together at a family restaurant, suggesting now a more peaceful, though decidedly bittersweet, relationship exists among them. ===== Zanoni, a timeless Rosicrucian brother, cannot fall in love without losing his power of immortality; but he does fall in love with Viola Pisani, a promising young opera singer from Naples, the daughter of Pisani, a misunderstood Italian violinist. An English gentleman named Glyndon loves Viola as well, but is indecisive about proposing marriage, and then renounces his love to pursue occult study. The story develops in the days of the French Revolution in 1789. Zanoni has lived since the Chaldean civilisation. His master Mejnor warns him against a love affair but Zanoni does not heed. He finally marries Viola and they have a child. As Zanoni experiences an increase in humanity, he begins to lose his gift of immortality. He finally dies in the guillotine during the French Revolution. ===== In the small mining village of Kitamatsu, on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu, two miners have gone missing. The two men, Goro and Yoshi, had brawled earlier that day, and after they entered the mine to start their shift, the shaft had flooded. Shigeru Kawamura, a tunneling and safety engineer at the mine, heads below to investigate and discovers Yoshi's lacerated corpse. Above ground, a doctor examines Yoshi, and discovers the cause of death to be a series of deep gashes caused by an abnormally sharp object. Some of the miners and their families begin to discuss the possibility of the involvement of Goro in the death. Two local miners and a policeman are later attacked and slain by an unseen assailant in the flooded shaft. Their bodies are recovered and examined, and the doctor announces that they were also killed by a sharp object. That night, Shigeru and his fiancée Kiyo are attacked by a creature resembling a gigantic insect larva at Kiyo's home. The police start hunting the creature, and it kills two officers before escaping into the mine. The police and Shigeru notice that the officers' wounds match the wounds of the murdered. Shigeru, accompanied by police and soldiers, heads into the mine, where they discover the butchered body of Goro and are chased by the insect monster. Shigeru crushes the creature with runaway mine carts, but after another insect monster appears, the tunnel caves in, trapping Shigeru in the mine. The next day, Dr. Kashiwagi identifies the giant insect as a Meganuron, an ancient species of dragonfly larvae. An earthquake suddenly strikes the area, and rumors begin to circulate that Mt. Aso, the volcano that eclipses Kitamatsu, might be on the verge of an eruption. When the police head to the volcano to investigate the damage caused by the earthquake, they discover the only road to the mines has collapsed. But to their surprise they also find an amnesic Shigeru wandering around the epicenter. Several miles away, in Kyushu, an air base receives an alert from a jet fighter. The pilot reports an unidentified flying object performing impossible maneuvers at supersonic speeds. Per orders he pursues the object but it swings around and at supersonic speed overflies the jet, destroying it and killing the pilot. After recovering remains of the jet and the pilot's helmet the base gets word that a British airliner has been shot down by an aerial object resembling the supersonic UFO. Soon after more incidents are reported, from China, Okinawa, and the Philippines of aerial objects causing major destruction and the probability is established that two such objects - still foggily surmised as aircraft, visible only via contrails at ultra high altitude - are engaged in such predations. Amid constant news reports of these mysterious attacks, a newly married couple disappears around Mt. Aso, along with several cattle. When the authorities develop the film from the newlyweds' camera, they discover a photograph of what appears to be a gigantic wing. Immediately ruling out the possibility of aircraft, authorities match the photo with a drawing of a prehistoric Pteranodon and surmise the UFO is indeed a living being, but they want testimony from Shigeru before they can accurately account for these attacks. Meanwhile, Shigeru's treatment is progressing slowly. One day, in Shigeru's hospital room, Kiyo shows him the eggs that her pet birds have lain. As one of the eggs hatches, Shigeru recalls that he woke up deep within the mine after the cave-in, and found himself surrounded by hordes of Meganuron. In the middle of the cave was a gigantic egg, from which Shigeru watched a massive bird creature emerge. The shock of this memory cures his amnesia. After descending into the cave with police and scientists, Shigeru finds a fragment of the colossal egg. Dr. Kashiwagi examines the fragment in his lab and calls a meeting with townspeople and members of the Japanese Self- Defence Force. He tells the men that the object seen flying at supersonic speeds is a pterosaur he has dubbed Rodan. Kashiwagi theorizes that nuclear bomb testing may have been the cause of Rodan's awakening. Rodan emerges from the ground near Mt. Aso, takes flight, and heads for Kyushu, with squadron of the JASDF hot on its tail. After one of its wings is injured, Rodan flies to Fukuoka, where the sonic waves and windstorms from its wings lay waste to the city. Suddenly, the JSDF reports that a second Rodan has been spotted heading towards the city. After leveling the city and leaving the remaining buildings in flames, the two Rodans fly to Mt. Aso. The JSDF formulate a plan to have the military fire at the base of Mt. Aso, burying the Rodans alive. Shigeru retreats with Kiyo to safety, and the military begins its attack, triggering a volcanic eruption. Mt. Aso spews smoke and lava into the sky, and the fumes overtake the Rodans, causing them to perish on the molten slopes of the volcano. ===== Policeman George Brown (George Formby) is rejected as an Air Raid Warden, but, subsequently, his dreams of flying would soon come true. When he dons his brother-in-law's Royal Air Force uniform, he realises that his brother-in-law, who had "signed up", has left behind some very important papers in the pockets. He delivers the despatches to a nearby RAF station, whereupon George is mistaken for a despatch rider from headquarters. George soon becomes the butt of jokes from his corporal which ends up with him staying indefinitely at the RAF air base. George soon falls in love with the Sergeant Major's daughter, Peggy (Polly Ward) and when Corporal Craig (Jack Hobbs) who also fancies her, discovers his real identity, he threatens to report George. On the day of an annual inspection, George attempts to escape the base and ends up in a Hawker Audax aircraft that is being readied for a test flight. While the inspector watches, George's aerial display is memorable and the inspector insists he should be commended in order to save their skins. George manages to land the aircraft and is accepted as a flyer by the RAF. ===== Young-mi Cha (Ha Ji-won), is a young woman who has lost her parents and struggling to fend for herself. She receives the assistance of a stranger who pays her university fees and sends her gifts. She affectionately nicknames her benefactor “Daddy-Long-Legs”. After completing her studies and initially struggling for work, Young-mi eventually obtains her dream job as a program writer in a nationally syndicated radio station. On top of this, it has been arranged for her to stay rent-free in a nice house that the owner vacated due to health reasons. Young-mi believes that her good fortune is the work of her “Daddy-Long-Legs”. One day, Young-mi receives an email from the owner of the house. The email was date-stamped to arrive at the house's computer on that specific day, though it was written and sent a year earlier. The email details a love story written by the unseen owner of the house. The writer confesses that she has secretly been in love with a guy since her school days. In order to be near him, she worked hard to obtain a place in the same course at the institution he was studying in. Although she didn't have the courage to introduce herself, she was happy to see him every day. The writer explains that when he got a job at a radio station, she followed him there. But then she was diagnosed with a terminal disease which would cause her to lose her memory and then die. The writer's greatest fear is not of dying, but of losing her memory, which is why she wrote the email to be sent to herself in the future. Young-mi is deeply touched by the story and decides to air its contents via the national radio program to locate the young man with whom the owner of the house was in love. The story is serialized and dramatized on the air, quickly becoming an audience favorite. Meanwhile, Young-mi meets Kim Jun-ho (Yeon Jung-hoon), who works as a librarian in the radio station. They spend time together and Young-mi begins to fall in love with him. Young-mi then discovers that Jun-ho is the love interest mentioned in the email. Young-mi decides to end their relationship, guilty with the knowledge that someone somewhere out there has been in love with him for years. Young-mi also investigates her “Daddy-Long-Legs”, eventually learning that her current job and accommodations were the decisions of the radio station's director. She confronts him, but it turns out that the director was only acting on behalf of his younger brother, who chose to provide Young-mi with her school fees and asked that she be given her current job and his house to live in. It turns out the director's brother is Jun-ho, who is also the writer of the email. Jun-ho had switched genders when writing the email, and lost all of his earlier memories of Young-mi when they were students together and he loved her from afar; when they met in the radio station's library, it was the first time for both. Young-mi is devastated by this news. She reconnects with Jun-ho and they spend as much time together before his illness relapses and he dies. ===== Young cello student Ariane Chavasse (Audrey Hepburn) eavesdrops on a conversation between her father, Claude Chavasse (Maurice Chevalier), a widowed private detective who specialises in tracking unfaithful husbands and wives, and his client, "Monsieur X" (John McGiver). After Claude gives his client proof of his wife's daily trysts with American business magnate Frank Flannagan (Gary Cooper) in Room 14 at the Paris Ritz, Monsieur X announces he will shoot Flannagan later that evening. Claude is nonchalant, regretting only the business he will lose, since Flannagan is a well-known international playboy with a long history of casual affairs. When Ariane cannot get the Ritz to put her through to Flannagan on the phone, and the police decline to intervene until after a crime has been committed, she decides to warn him herself. Ariane is in time. When Monsieur X breaks into Flannagan's hotel suite, he finds Flannagan with Ariane, not his wife, who is cautiously making her escape via an outside ledge. Flannagan is intrigued by the mysterious girl, who refuses to give him any information about herself, even her name. He starts guessing her name from the initial "A" on her purse, and when she declines to tell him he resorts to calling her "thin girl". She has no romantic history but pretends to be a femme fatale to interest him, and soon falls in love with the considerably older man. She agrees to meet him the next afternoon, because her orchestral practice is in the evenings (although she does not admit that is the reason). She comes with mixed feelings, but ends up becoming his lover for the evening until his plane leaves (though later Flannagan says he did not make it to first base with her). Ariane's father, who has tried unsuccessfully to protect her from knowing about the tawdry domestic-surveillance details in his files, notices her change of mood but has no idea that it proceeds from one of his cases. A year later, Flannagan returns to Paris and the Ritz. Ariane, who has kept track of Flannagan's womanizing exploits through the news media, meets him again when she sees him at an opera while surveying the crowd from a balcony. She puts herself in his path in the lobby, and they start seeing each other again. This time, when he persists in his questioning, she makes up a long list of prior imaginary lovers based on her father's files (Flannagan is number 20 on the list). Flannagan gradually goes from being amused to being tormented by the possible comparisons, but is unsure whether they are real. When he encounters a still- apologetic Monsieur X, the latter recommends Claude to him, and thus Flannagan hires Ariane's own father to investigate. It does not take Claude long to realize the mystery woman is Ariane. He informs his client that his daughter fabricated her love life. He tells Flannagan that she is a "little fish" that he should throw back, since she is serious and he wants to avoid serious relationships. When Ariane comes to his hotel suite that afternoon, Flannagan is hurriedly packing to leave Paris, pretending to be on his way to meet former lovers ("two crazy Swedish twins") in Cannes. At the train station, both keep up their act of not caring deeply for each other, although Ariane sheds a few tears that she blames on the soot. As the train departs, and Ariane runs along the platform as Flannagan stands in the door of the coach, her femme-fatale facade cracks as her love shows through. Flannagan changes his mind, sweeps her up in his arms onto the coach, and before kissing her he calls her by her name, Ariane. Then, as voice over, Claude informs us that the couple were married in Cannes and now live together in New York. ===== Park Plaza Mall has just installed a state-of-the-art security system, including shutters across all exits and three high-tech robots programmed to disable and apprehend thieves using tasers and tranquilizer guns. Four couples (Rick and Linda, Greg and Suzie, Mike and Leslie and Ferdy and Allison) decide to have a party in a furniture store where three of them work. After hours, all of them (except Allison and Ferdy) begin to have sex, drink, and party inside the furniture store. Outside, a lightning storm strikes the mall several times and damages the computer controlling Protectors 1, 2 and 3, which kill the technicians and a janitor before starting their routine patrol. Starting with Protector 1, Mike and Leslie get killed as they leave the store, witnessed by the others, who scatter. The men break into a sporting-goods store to arm themselves with firearms, while the women take gasoline and flares from an automotive store. Using a propane tank, the men blow up and seemingly destroy Protector 1. While the men set up the elevator as a booby trap, the killbots ambush the women and ignite Suzie by shooting her gasoline can, killing her. Greg unsuccessfully shoots them before Rick drags him away. The teenagers regroup and rig the elevator trap on Protector 2, destroying it. They then hide in the restaurant where Allison works. Inside, Greg confronts Allison and Linda about leaving the air ducts and exhibits rage due to Suzie's death, pulling his gun on Ferdy when he intercedes on Allison and Linda's behalf. Rick tries to calm him down, and Ferdy suggests destroying the killbots' main control center in hopes of shutting them all down. The group agrees and heads to the control center on the third floor. The robot throws Greg over the railing and he falls to his death. On the run, the four remaining survivors, Allison, Ferdy, Rick, and Linda also find the first robot recovered after its earlier defeat. They take refuge inside a department store and set up mannequins to confuse Protector 1, and Protector 3. Their plan works as they fire at the dummies and one of them blinds itself with its own reflected laser. However, the blind Protector 3 kills Linda and an enraged Rick rams a golf cart into it. A bolt of electricity kills him, but his attempts successfully destroy the robot. As the final robot called Protector 1 corners Allison, Ferdy rescues her and shoots it point-blank, damaging its laser just before he falls unconscious. Despite an injured leg, Allison escapes into the paint store and sets up a trap by mixing paint and chemicals. She lures Protector 1 inside, where it gets stuck for failing to find traction on the spilled paint and thinners. She tosses a flare into the store, igniting the chemicals and finally destroys Protector 1. As daylight appears, Allison leaves the store and Ferdy awakens. The two remain the only survivors. In a post-credits scene, a fourth, unknown Protector says its catchphrase "Have a nice day" one last time. ===== George Formby plays George Gullip, a Daily Sun compositor who wins a large sum at the racing. He collects three ten-pound notes. Unable to spend them at the bar, he exchanges them for six fivers. He is paid with counterfeit notes. Gullip then tries to find the criminals. In so doing he goes "undercover" as a waiter and a wrestler. Clues suggest the villain is Gullip's own boss. ===== David Canary as Lamar Dean in Hombre In late 19th-century Arizona, an Apache- raised white man, John Russell, faces prejudice in the white world after he returns for his inheritance (a gold watch and a boarding house) upon his father's death. Deciding to sell the house to buy a herd of horses, which does not endear him to the boarders who live there or to the caretaker, Jessie, Russell ends up riding a stagecoach with Jessie and unhappily married boarders Doris and Billy Lee Blake leaving town. Three others ride with them, Indian agent Professor Alexander Favor, his aristocratic wife Audra, and the crude Cicero Grimes. Upon discovering that John Russell is of Apache background, Professor Favor requests that Russell ride up top with driver Henry Mendez. The stagecoach is robbed by a gang led by Grimes, who knew that Dr. Favor had been carrying money that he stole from the very Apaches with whom Russell grew up. Grimes rides off, taking Mrs. Favor as a hostage. Russell pulls out his hidden Winchester rifle and shoots two of the outlaws—one of whom is Jessie's former lover, sheriff-gone-bad Frank—who have the stolen money in their saddle bags. He insists that Dr. Favor give the recovered money to him. His fellow passengers now appeal to Russell to lead them to safety. After Russell scouts ahead, Dr. Favor disarms Mendez. Russell returns as Favor is about to leave with the money and supplies; Russell banishes him from the group. Russell's instincts to protect the group clash with their morality and desire to save the Favors, especially when Grimes and his remaining gang offer to trade Mrs. Favor for the money. Their pity for Mrs. Favor's life eventually outweighs the knowledge that Grimes is using her to bait a trap, and Jessie talks Russell into saving Mrs. Favor. Russell gives the money to Billy Lee and asks him to take it back to the Indians from whom it was stolen. Russell descends from the group's hideout with saddle bags that he pretends are full of the money, while Billy Lee stays in the hideout and aims a rifle at the Mexican outlaw who is at Russell's back. Russell cuts Mrs. Favor loose, and she slowly makes her way up to the group, but by the time Russell throws the saddle bags to Grimes, Mrs. Favor has collapsed at a point where she is obscuring Billy Lee's target. In the ensuing firefight, although Russell is able to kill Grimes, the Mexican outlaw and he shoot each other dead. As his last words, the Mexican outlaw says, "I would like at least to know his name". Méndez replies, "He was called John Russell". ===== Illustration by "Wogel" for an early edition An unnamed narrator, estranged from his family and country, sets sail as a passenger aboard a cargo ship from Batavia (now known as Jakarta, Indonesia). Some days into the voyage, the ship is first becalmed then hit by a simoom (a combination of a sand storm and hurricane) that capsizes the ship and sends everyone except the narrator and an old Swede overboard. Driven southward by the magical simoom towards the South Pole, the narrator's ship eventually collides with a gigantic black galleon, and only the narrator manages to scramble aboard. Once aboard, the narrator finds outdated maps and useless navigational tools throughout the ship, the timbers of which seem somehow to have grown or expanded over time. Also, he finds it to be manned by elderly crewmen who are unable to see him; he steals writing materials from the captain's cabin to keep a journal (the "manuscript" of the title) which he resolves to cast into the sea. This ship too continues to be driven southward, and he notices the crew appears to show signs of hope at the prospect of their destruction as it reaches Antarctica. The ship enters a clearing in the ice where it is caught in a vast whirlpool and begins to sink into the sea. ===== A housewife (Day) is confronted during her daily chores by her married lover (Tone). The man, after a long affair, tells the woman that he has to break off their relationship. The woman threatens suicide, but when she picks up a shish kabob skewer, the two struggle and the man is stabbed in the chest and collapses. The housewife hides the body in the house. Before she can leave, her brother-in-law (Clark) arrives and tells the woman that he knows about the affair and that he has invited her husband, her lover and his wife to her house that evening so that he can tell them about the affair. The woman, in a panic worrying that they will find out about the killing, attempts to flee but cannot get away from her vengeful brother-in-law. ===== Stan Dryer, a teenager with a green-belt in karate but little success in life, is given an ancient ring by an old karate master whom Stan tried to save from impending doom. Stan soon discovers the magical power of the ring when he defeats not one, but five drunk, low- life idiots who want to steal his red convertible. He even discovers that the ring gives him the power to answer any question you may have about the rise and fall of Communism in Russia. Soon Stan starts taking advantage of his power. One day, at lunch, Stan and his friend notice the top jock at school asking his girlfriend why they broke up. Stan and his friend overhear the conversation and Stan's friend says something along the lines of, "...it'd be nice if someone would shove his jockstrap in his face..." Stan counters this by saying, "I think I can do better than that." Stan then gets up and asks out the top jock's girlfriend. The top jock becomes furious and tries to punch Stan, but Stan grabs his fist in defense. A fight breaks out, and Stan ends up defeating 12 jocks in the process. Soon Stan meets up with an evil man named Vonn, and also meets a monkey that is actually a reincarnated version of the old man. Stan discovers his powers were in him the whole time and defeats Vonn, gets the girl and is happy. ===== With a routine planetary survey ahead, the Federation starship Enterprise drops Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Chief Engineer La Forge (LeVar Burton) at the Botanica Four research space station orbiting Tanuga Four to check on the progress of the work of Dr. Nel Apgar (Mark Margolis), a Tanugan who has been working on Krieger waves, a new promised energy source for the Federation. When the Enterprise returns, Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) is told that Riker stayed behind to have a private meeting with Apgar, and moments after Riker transports back to the ship, the station explodes, killing Apgar, and almost killing Riker due to the explosion disrupting the transporter process. Tanugan investigator Krag (Craig Richard Nelson) comes aboard to accuse Riker of murder; under Tanugan law, Riker is guilty until proven innocent, and Krag demands Riker's extradition. Captain Picard requests that they hold a hearing aboard the Enterprise to determine Riker's guilt. This involves the use of a holodeck, recreating the events on the station from data logs and testimony from Riker, Dr. Apgar's wife Manua (Gina Hecht), and his research assistant, Tayna (Juliana Donald). In the holodeck recreation, Krag demonstrates that a directed energy beam – from Riker's location prior to transport – struck the Krieger wave converter, destroying it and the station, but his theory is that Riker fired a phaser just before beaming out. Riker presents his case first, with his simulation showing Apgar highly agitated with a Federation presence before he is ready for them, and Manua openly flirting with Riker. Manua then makes aggressive passes at Riker in the guest quarters when Apgar walks in on them, attempts to attack Riker, but Riker subdues him. Apgar leaves with Manua giving Riker a veiled threat. Riker's simulation concludes with his final confrontation where Apgar tells Riker that he will lodge a formal complaint about Riker's behavior and accuses Riker of potentially damaging the project with baseless information in Riker's progress report. In Manua's version of the events, she is a doting wife, with her husband promising rich rewards coming from the project. From her point of view, Riker is the one making the advances, and when they are alone in the guest quarters, Riker threatens to rape her when her husband storms in to defend her, but Riker overpowers him and threatens to have the project shut down. During a recess, Riker asserts to Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis) that he never seduced Manua, and Troi believes him, but she tells him that Manua believes the events happened as described, and that "it is the truth as each of you remembers it". Tayna's testimony is her version of events from Apgar's point of view as he told her. Picard tries to have the testimony dismissed as hearsay, however, Tanugan law allows such testimony, so they proceed. In her simulation, when Apgar walks in on Riker and Manua, Apgar is the one to successfully subdue Riker, leaving Riker threatening to kill Apgar. Based on the testimonies presented, Picard is not sure Riker's case is strong enough to avoid extradition. Meanwhile, the crew of the Enterprise find highly focused pulses of an unknown, intense radiation striking parts of the ship, putting holes through the bulkheads. La Forge fears what would happen if this should occur inside the warp reactor. The initial assessment is that the only commonality is the timing of these events, which upon further examination they soon trace to be precisely in time with the wave generator on the surface, which had remained operating after the station's destruction. Picard comes to realize the truth, and prepares a new simulation on the holodeck. With Krag, Manua, Tayna, and Riker all present, Picard demonstrates through a combination of the testimonies that Apgar was more interested in the potential financial success of completing the Krieger wave converter; he would not get this through the Federation, and Picard postulates that he in fact was trying to weaponize the project to make money, thus explaining his hostility towards Riker's presence. Further, Picard suggests that Apgar had successfully built the converter; the holodeck simulation of it, also being fully functional, has been focusing the energy from the generator on the planet, resulting in the damaging radiation experienced on the ship, which La Forge identified as Krieger waves. Picard completes his explanation by running the holodeck simulation of the moment of Riker's transport, synchronized with the planetary generator – the holodeck simulation shows that Apgar had aimed the Krieger wave generator at Riker, but when the energy beam struck him, the beam bounced off the transporter field and hit the converter, destroying it and the station. Krag agrees with the conclusion that Apgar accidentally killed himself and Riker is exonerated. ===== In the year 2030 C.E., no one since 2002 has lived past the age of thirty in a semi-post- apocalyptic, dystopian Earth, due to Progressive Ageing Syndrome (P.A.S.). Science, government, and industry united to form Nexes, an all-powerful body that controls every aspect of society. In order to make up for their short life spans, and to continue to have a progressive society, people are assigned careers at a young age and put through intensive schooling specific to their assigned careers - they graduate and start work at age 14 as experts in their field, but ignorant about almost anything else. The result is that no one has enough knowledge to see the full picture, or question the world around them, leaving those few people in charge of Nexes with absolute power. Nexes was meant to be a temporary solution, working to find a cure for P.A.S. so that life could return to the way it was. Aware that a cure will mean the end of their absolute rule, the powers that be within Nexes are not doing any research on the disease. Unfortunately for them, humanity is attempting to cure itself - people are being born in whom the P.A.S mutation are not present. In order to stop others from noticing, Nexes moves these people into dangerous career paths, and makes sure that they are dead before they become old enough for the disease to have affected them. The show follows Hart Greyson, a 14-year-old boy who was training to be a doctor. Upon his graduation at the top of his class, he is told that a genetic flaw has been discovered within him, making him unsuitable for a medical career. Instead he is assigned to be a bio-tech, an extremely dangerous job in which he will likely be killed before he turns 20. Knowing that he does not have the flaw he has been accused of, Hart starts to look more closely at the operation of Nexes, and realizes that it is corrupt. He joins Storm, a small team of rebels that is attempting to cure P.A.S and destroy Nexes. ===== Meteorologist Arthur Pilbeam's fiancée Betty breaks their engagement because he has to speed back to the BBC every hour, on the hour, due to his internationally vital job of creating the BBC pips. He is so upset, he changes the pacing of the pips to play "Shave and a Haircut". He tries to resign, but he cannot do that during wartime, so since he also wants to avoid all women, he is assigned the solitary job of sending weather reports from a remote Scottish lighthouse. Before taking a boat from the mainland, his is warned by the locals that he will go mad from the isolation and the curse of a mermaid within a month, as his predecessors have. Pilbeam has his peace quickly shattered when he encounters Jane, a young girl (who stowed away on the boat that brought him to the island), and then Bobbie, a model and the sole survivor of a torpedoed ship. His radio disappears, and Bobbie sees one man tied up, but he disappears when she brings Pilbeam. Then she is attacked, but her assailant is also nowhere to be seen when Pilbeam returns. Finally, another boatload of women (plus a couple of crewmen) arrive from Bobbie's ship. Things become crowded in the lighthouse, until people start to mysteriously disappear during the night, leaving an anxious Pilbeam to discover what has been happening to everyone and why. Finally, only Pilbeam is left. It turns out that Nazi agents have been secretly sweeping the waters of mines and have taken everyone else prisoner, leaving Pilbeam free just so he can send away a rescue party without arousing suspicion. But between Pilbeam, Jane's uncle (from the neighboring island) and the women, they manage to turn the tables on their captors. They tie the Germans up and set out on the German boat. On the way back to the mainland, however, they come across am enemy warship in the fog. The Germans mistake them for their own spies and order them to guide them through the minefield. Pilbeam turns around and leads them directly into it instead. The ship strikes a mine and sinks. Pilbeam returns a hero, only to find Betty has taken his old job. Luckily for him, she plays "Shave and a Haircut" after she sees him. ===== Florence Carala and Julien Tavernier are lovers who plan to kill Florence's husband, Simon Carala, a wealthy industrialist who is also Julien's boss. Julien is an ex-Foreign Legion parachutist officer and a veteran of the Indochina and Algeria wars. After working late on a Saturday, with a rope he climbs up one story on the outside of the office building, shoots Carala in his office without being seen, arranges the room to make it look like a suicide, and then makes his way out to the street. As he gets into his Chevrolet convertible outside, he glances up and sees his rope still hanging from the building. Leaving the engine running, he rushes back and jumps into the elevator. As it ascends, the caretaker switches off the power and locks up the building for the weekend. Julien is trapped between floors. Moments later, Julien's car is stolen by a young couple, small-time crook Louis and flower shop assistant Véronique. Florence, who is waiting for Julien at a café nearby, sees the car go past with Véronique leaning out of the window. She assumes that Julien has run off with her and wanders the Paris streets despondently all night asking for him in the bars and clubs where he is known. While joy-riding, Louis puts on Julien's coat and gloves. Checking into a country motel, the two register under the name "Mr. and Mrs. Julien Tavernier" to avoid problems for Louis, who is wanted for petty crimes. At the motel, they make the acquaintance of Horst Bencker and his wife Frieda, a jovial German couple on holiday with whom they had raced en route to the motel. After Frieda takes pictures of Louis and her husband with Julien's camera, Véronique takes the film to a photo lab beside the motel for developing. After the Benckers go to bed, Louis attempts to steal their Mercedes-Benz 300 SL. Bencker catches Louis and threatens him with what appears to be a gun, though it is really a cigar tube. Louis shoots and kills the couple with Julien's handgun. He and Véronique return to Paris and hide in her flat. Convinced that the crime will be traced to them, Véronique persuades Louis to join her in a suicide pact. They take an overdose of pills and pass out. The Benckers' bodies are discovered, along with Julien's car, handgun, and raincoat. Julien therefore becomes the prime suspect in their murders, and the morning newspapers print his picture. Searching for him, the police arrive at the office building with the caretaker, who unlocks the entrance doors and switches on the power. The elevator is working once more, and Julien is able to escape without being seen, but when he orders coffee and croissants in a café, he is recognized, and the police are called to arrest him. In the office building, the police discover Carala's body but assume he committed suicide. However, they charge Julien with killing the Benckers, refusing to believe his alibi of being stuck in an elevator. Florence is determined to clear him and sets out to find Véronique. She and Louis, their suicide attempt having failed, are alive but drowsy. Florence accuses them of killing the Benckers and goes to call the police. Louis at first thinks there is no evidence to connect him with the crime, but Véronique remembers the photographs of him with Bencker. Rushing to the photo lab, Louis finds that the police have developed the pictures, and he is arrested. Florence has followed him, and when she enters the lab, the police show her the photographs taken with Julien's camera. These make clear that she and Julien were secret lovers, who shared a motive for killing her husband. Both will go on trial for Carala's murder. ===== Easy is the son of foolish parents, who spoiled him. His father, in particular, regards himself as a philosopher, with a firm belief in the "rights of man, equality, and all that; how every person was born to inherit his share of the earth, a right at present only admitted to a certain length that is, about six feet, for we all inherit our graves, and are allowed to take possession without dispute. But no one would listen to Mr Easy's philosophy. The women would not acknowledge the rights of men, whom they declared always to be in the wrong; and, as the gentlemen who visited Mr Easy were all men of property, they could not perceive the advantages of sharing with those who had none. However, they allowed him to discuss the question, while they discussed his port wine. The wine was good, if the arguments were not, and we must take things as we find them in this world." By the time he is a teenager Easy has adopted his father's point of view, to the point where he no longer believes in private property. Easy joins the navy, which his father believes to be the best example of an equal society, and Easy becomes friendly with a lower deck seaman named Mesty (Mephistopheles Faust), an escaped slave, who had been a prince in Africa. Mesty is sympathetic to Easy's philosophizing, which seems to offer him a way up from his lowly job of "boiling kettle for de young gentlemen"; but once Mesty is promoted to ship's corporal and put in charge of discipline, he changes his mind: "...now I tink a good deal lately, and by all de power, I tink equality all stuff." "All stuff, Mesty, why? you used to think otherwise." "Yes, Massa Easy, but den I boil de kettle for all young gentleman. Now dat I ship's corporal and hab cane, I tink so no longer." In some way Mesty is the real hero of the novel, as he pulls Easy out of several scrapes the impulsive 17-year-old gets himself into as he cruises the Mediterranean on several British ships. Easy becomes a competent officer, in spite of his notions. Easy's mother dies, and he returns home to find his father is completely mad. Easy senior has developed an apparatus for reducing or enlarging phrenological bumps on the skull, but as he attempts to reduce his own benevolence bump, the machine kills him. Easy throws out the criminal servants his father has employed and puts the estate to rights, demanding back rents from the tenants, and evicting those who will not pay. Using his new-found wealth, he formally quits the navy, rigs out his own privateering vessel, and returns to Sicily to claim his bride Agnes. As he is a wealthy gentleman now, no longer a junior midshipman, her family cannot refuse him, and he and Agnes live happily ever after. ===== On September 11, 2001, Port Authority Police Officers John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno are patrolling the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan when they see a plane fly dangerously low overhead. As all of the Police return to the station, they see on TV that the North Tower of the World Trade Center has been hit by the plane. Sergeant McLoughlin assigns many of the officers to assist in a precautionary evacuation attempt of the North Tower and they board a Metropolitan Transit Authority bus. On the bus, they hear reports that the South Tower is also hit by another plane. When they arrive at the World Trade Center, they realize the extent of the disaster, and see one of the victims jump out of the towers to certain death. The men proceed to get safety equipment from Building 5 and enter the concourse between the towers. The group consists of McLoughlin, Jimeno, Dominick Pezzulo, and Antonio Rodrigues. Officer Christopher Amoroso appears to inform them of other events, such as the American Airlines Flight 77 attack, the second plane's hit on the South Tower, and an attack on Israel, though the group does not accept any of these as true. As the men prepare to enter the North Tower, the buildings begin to rumble. McLoughlin realizes that the South Tower is collapsing onto them and that their only chance of survival is to run into the service elevator shaft. Amoroso trips and does not have time to get up, and Rodrigues is unable to get to the shaft in time, resulting in both deaths. McLoughlin, Jimeno, and Pezzulo manage to escape the huge amounts of dust and rubble flying down from the South Tower. However, as the rubble continues to crush the elevator shaft, the three are trapped. As the cascade of debris subsides, Pezzulo realizes he can free himself and manages to move closer to Jimeno in order to shift the debris covering his legs, but cannot make it to McLoughlin as he is trapped deeper in the rubble. Pezzulo tries but fails to shift the debris due to its weight, and is instructed by McLoughlin not to leave. Shortly after word is known that a fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, has been hijacked and has crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. As Pezzulo becomes optimistic that they will live, the rumbling begins again as the North Tower starts to collapse. Although Jimeno and McLoughlin are not further harmed, Pezzulo is fatally injured when a concrete slab falls into the hole, crushing his torso. After he fires a gun through a gap in the rubble to try to alert rescuers to their position, he dies. Jimeno and McLoughlin spend hours under the rubble, in pain but exchanging stories about their lives and families. McLoughlin is particularly anxious to keep Jimeno from falling asleep and Jimeno also realizes that by straining to grab a metal bar above his body, he can make a noise that rescuers might hear. Two United States Marines, Dave Karnes and Jason Thomas, who are searching for survivors, do hear it and find the men, calling for help to dig them out. Jimeno is rescued first, and then hours later McLoughlin is lifted out of the debris, barely alive and in critical condition. They are then both reunited with their distraught families at the hospital. Two years after the attacks, McLoughlin and Jimeno attend a barbecue with their families: McLoughlin's wife Donna, Jimeno's wife Allison, daughter Bianca, and their newest addition Olivia. The epilogue states that John and Will were 2 of the 20 people pulled out alive and are now retired from active duty. Dave Karnes re-enlisted in the Marines. ===== The game begins on August 7, 2020 when North Korean forces led by General Ri-Chan Kyong take control of the Lingshan Islands. A team of American civilian archaeologists, led by Dr. Rosenthal, send out a distress call indicating that they have discovered something that could change the world. A week later, Delta Force's Raptor Team is dispatched to the islands, with the core mission of evacuating them and securing any valuable information that they have. The team consists of Nomad, Psycho, Aztec, Jester and team leader Prophet (all under code names); they are outfitted with technologically advanced Nanosuits, which help protect them from gunfire and explosions, as well as giving them superhuman strength and abilities. As they perform a high-altitude jump onto one of the islands, an unknown flying entity disrupts the jump by smashing into Nomad, and the team is separated. The crash deactivates Nomad's Nanosuit and destroys his parachute, but he is saved because he lands on water and his suit absorbs the impact of the landing. After he makes his way to shore, Prophet is able to reset Nomad's suit remotely, restoring its normal function. As Raptor Team regroups after the jump, Aztec is killed by an unknown entity. When the team finds him, they discover that whatever killed him also killed and dismembered a nearby squad of KPA soldiers. The remaining members of Raptor Team proceed with the mission. Along the way they discover the hostages' boat frozen on a hill near the coast of the island. They also get their first look at the aliens who have been attacking their team when a flying alien machine sneaks up on them and snatches Jester, killing him shortly thereafter. The first hostage the team rescues turns out to be a CIA agent who was sent to monitor Dr. Rosenthal's work. In the jungle, Nomad finds another hostage named Badowski dead with ice shards in his back as the KPA battle an alien machine nearby. After Nomad regroups with Prophet, Prophet is suddenly snatched by another flying machine, which flies away with him in its grasp. Shortly after, Nomad is contacted over the radio by Major Clarence Strickland of the American military asking if he wishes to abort the mission since most of his team has been killed or missing; Nomad refuses, saying that he can still complete the mission. A day/night cycle operates during the course of the single-player campaign. Nomad makes his way to Dr. Rosenthal's research complex, where he has found a rare fossilized artifact predating humanity by two million years. The partially excavated artifact resembles one of the flying machines (designated "exosuits") that has been attacking the team. Rosenthal also references other discoveries of similar artifacts in Afghanistan and Siberia, suggesting that the aliens have a global presence, and are not just confined to the island. While Rosenthal is running a scan on the artifact, it emits a powerful energy pulse that freezes him solid. Nomad's Nanosuit is able to maintain his internal temperature, saving his life. Nomad then rendezvous with a VTOL, after eliminating a Nanosuit-equipped four-man KPA special forces team near the landing site. He notifies his superiors about this, because the U.S. military had hoped to prevent the Koreans from acquiring Nanosuit technology. The U.S. military then begins a full-scale invasion of the island, led by Major Strickland. As the U.S. forces continue to the main excavation site, the central mountain on the island begins to fall apart, revealing a huge alien structure inside, which is nearly the size of the mountain itself. Nomad enters the excavation site at the mountain's base, but is captured by Kyong's men. Kyong deactivates Nomad's Nanosuit, and Nomad watches, helpless, as Kyong shoots one of the hostages in the head and then detonates explosive charges to open the structure. An energy pulse emanates from the structure and kills Kyong's men; the pulse also reactivates Nomad's Nanosuit. Kyong, also wearing a Nanosuit, attacks Nomad, but Nomad is able to kill him. As the mountain continues to collapse, a VTOL evacuates the last hostage, Dr. Rosenthal's daughter Helena, but is unable to rescue Nomad. Nomad gets trapped and decides to continue into the alien structure. It soon turns into a zero gravity environment. Nomad uses his hydro-thrusters to maneuver and encounters hostile, intelligent aliens. He also sees a possible invasion force consisting of many alien machines. Nomad manages to escape, but the structure creates a massive sphere of energy that freezes everything inside its structure to -200 °F (-129 °C). Once outside, Nomad is attacked by various Alien machines before finding Prophet. Prophet was able to engineer a weapon using the aliens' technology, the Molecular Accelerator (MOAC). Prophet's Nanosuit malfunctions, requiring him to frequently stop and recharge using heat sources, such as the burning wrecks of military vehicles. The two leave the ice sphere and rescue Helena, whose VTOL has crashed. Prophet leaves with Helena on another VTOL. At the U.S. evacuation point, one of the last VTOLs rescues Nomad from an unstoppable quadrupedal alien exosuit. Just as the exosuit is about to destroy the VTOL, Major Strickland draws its attention by firing at it using a mounted machine gun and the exosuit kills Strickland instead. As they leave the island, the pilot is killed and the engines are damaged. Nomad flies the crippled VTOL back to the USS Constitution (CVN-80) Carrier Strike Group while fighting off aliens along the way. Once there, he meets up again with Psycho and is then debriefed by Admiral Richard Morrison who explains that a nuclear strike has been ordered against the ice sphere. Helena warns him that the aliens might absorb the energy, but the Admiral ignores her. Prophet flies a VTOL back to the island against orders. Despite Prophet's departure, the nuclear missile is launched at the ice sphere. The explosion causes the ice sphere to expand and prompts a massive alien counterattack. Nomad is ordered to repair one of the carrier's damaged nuclear reactors. The Nanosuit is resistant to high levels of radiation, although prolonged exposure proves deadly. While Nomad is in the reactor room, Helena sends an experimental signal through Nomad's suit that causes several alien machines to absorb too much power and overload, destroying them. As Nomad returns to the carrier's flight deck, Admiral Morrison is killed and Nomad takes the prototype TAC- Cannon. On the flight deck, Nomad fights an alien exosuit similar to the one that killed Strickland. A massive alien warship then emerges from the sea, and Helena manages to deactivate its shields by sending a signal through Nomad's Nanosuit. Nomad then uses the TAC-Cannon to destroy the alien warship, which crashes down onto the carrier and begins to sink it. Nomad runs across the flight deck and jumps off the carrier into the waiting VTOL, which is piloted by Psycho. As they fly away, Helena is nearly pulled out of the aircraft by the energy field created by the destroyed alien warship. The ship drags the Constitution beneath the surface and vaporizes, creating a massive vortex that engulfs and destroys the entire carrier fleet. Psycho then receives a transmission that there is another carrier strike group en route to the island and suggests meeting them. Nomad protests, claiming that since they now know how to defeat the aliens, they need to continue fighting. A transmission from Prophet, who is inside the energy field on the island, is then received. The VTOL is then seen turning around and heading back to the island. ===== The film brims with British comedy talent of the period. The Crazy Gang's mobile fish and chip shop is tethered to a barrage balloon which lifts the shop into the air and the gang is carried to Nazi Germany. They are captured but break out of prison, impersonate Adolf Hitler and return to England in a stolen secret weapon. ===== A reflective statue is found at the bottom of one of Earth's oceans, having lain there for 1.5 billion years. Since humans have recently developed a time-slowing field and found that one such field cannot function within another, it is suspected that the "Sea Statue" is actually a space traveler within one of these time fields. Larry Greenberg, a telepath, agrees to participate in an experiment: a time-slowing field is generated around both Greenberg and the statue, shutting off the stasis field and revealing Kzanol. Kzanol is a living Thrint, a member of a telepathic race that once ruled the galaxy through the Power (mind control). Eons ago, Kzanol's spaceship had suffered a catastrophic failure; its reactive drive system failed and the navigation computer automatically jettisoned it. Faced with insufficient power to use hyperspace, Kzanol aimed his ship at the nearest uninhabited Thrint planet used to grow yeast for food (Earth), and turned his spacesuit's emergency stasis field on to survive the long journey and impact. He also arranged for his ship to change course for the system's eighth planet (Neptune) after he was in stasis, with his amplifier helmet and other valuables stashed inside his spare suit (in order to hide these valuables from any rescuers). Although he assumed that the resident Thrint overseer would be able to rescue him after seeing the plume of gas created by his impact, his timing could not have been worse; while he was in stasis, the races enslaved by the Thrint revolted. Facing extinction, the Thrint decided to take their enemies with them by constructing a telepathic amplifier powerful enough to command all sentient species in the galaxy to commit suicide. (Only the artificially created Bandersnatchi survived, having been secretly designed to be resistant to the Power.) After hundreds of millions of years, the yeast food mutated and evolved into complex life on Earth. The telepathic encounter with the Thrint left the confused Greenberg with two sets of memories, his own and Kzanol's. He instinctively assumed he was Kzanol, the much more powerful telepath. Both Greenberg and the real Kzanol stole spaceships and raced to reclaim the thought-amplifying machine on Neptune, which was powerful enough to enable a single Thrint to control every thinking being in the Solar System. The chase led to Pluto, which had been a moon of Neptune before it was knocked into its own orbit by the impact of Kzanol's ship. Eventually, Greenberg's personality reasserted itself and, armed with the knowledge of how to resist the Power (from Kzanol's own memories), Greenberg trapped Kzanol again in a stasis field. A major element of the story was the Cold War existing between Earth and the "Belters", which threatened to burst into a highly destructive war over control of the telepathic amplifier. The mutually accepted compromise was to throw the spacesuit containing the dangerous device, still in a stasis field, onto Jupiter, where no one could recover it. ===== When Israel Potter leaves his plow to fight in the American Revolution, he's immediately thrown into the Battle of Bunker Hill, where he receives multiple wounds. However, this does not deter him, and after hearing a rousing speech by General George Washington, he volunteers for further duty, this time at sea, where more ill fortune awaits him. Israel is captured by the British Navy and taken to England. Yet, he makes his escape, and this triggers a series of extraordinary events and meetings with remarkable people. Along the way, Israel encounters King George III, who takes a liking to the Yankee rebel and shelters him in Kew Gardens; Benjamin Franklin, who presses Israel into service as a spy; John Paul Jones, who invites Israel to join his crew aboard The Ranger; and Ethan Allen, whom Israel attempts to free from a British prison. Throughout these adventures, Israel Potter acquits himself bravely, but his patriotic valor does not bring him any closer to his dream of returning to America. After the war, Israel finds himself in London, where he descends into poverty. Finally, fifty years after he left his plough, he makes his way back to his beloved Berkshires. However, few things remain the same. Soon, Israel fades out of being, his name out of memory, and he dies on the same day the oldest oak on his native lands is blown down. ===== A mysterious killer, known only as "The Judge", kills anyone he considers worthless and immoral. Lieutenant Harry Grant (William Lundigan) is assigned to track him down. With just a handful of clues, Grant constructs a faceless dummy to help his men conduct their investigation. Meanwhile a persistent young female reporter (Dorothy Patrick) for a tabloid magazine is dogging Grant for a story on the killings, much to his annoyance. Police finally break the case after receiving an important clue, the significance of which they realize only after the reporter explains it to them. Finally, after cornering the killer during a chase on the catwalks of a refinery, the killer is revealed to be a middle-aged man whose cruel disposition and unattractive appearance lead him to become "The Judge". ===== An ineffectual science teacher William Lamb (Will Hay) is hired by a school recently transferred because of World War II to the remote Dunbain Castle on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Posing as (amongst many other things) an Old Etonian, Lamb settles down into his new surroundings and becomes acquainted with the various local Scottish traditions and legends that abound and strikes up a friendship with one of the other masters, Hilary Teasdale (Claude Hulbert). However, shortly after his arrival an ancient curse returns to Dunbain Castle. The sound of bagpipes signals the death of a member of staff. Two die and Lamb is initially regarded as a suspect. With his friend appointed as the new headmaster (and the next potential victim), Lamb must solve the mystery of the mysterious murders with the assistance of mischievous know-all schoolboy Percy Thorne (Charles Hawtrey). A Nazi spy ring proves to be behind the killings, and is defeated by a British agent hidden amongst the staff. In one of the more memorable scenes Lamb is trapped inside a secret room with the ceiling slowly descending upon him. At the very end of the film Hay can be heard breaking character and calling the character Teasdale "Claude", the actor's real name. This may have been intentional as Hay had just told the cinema audience that it was "all clear" and that they could all go home. Note that Charles Hawtrey was 26 years old when he portrayed Percy Thorne. ===== Our tale begins with a reading: “This is a Story of Heroic Deeds and the bitter struggle for the triumph of Good over Evil and of a wondrous Sword wielded by a mighty Hero when the Legions of Darkness stalk the land.” The film begins with the evil Voltan on his way to his father’s castle, after infiltrating his castle, Voltan demands the key to the ancient power but is denied. The wicked Voltan kills his own father when the latter refuses to turn over the magic of the "last elven mind stone". Before the old man dies, he says “the prophecy is fulfilled, the evil I’ve spawned will now pollute the land.” He bequeaths a great sword with a pommel shaped like a human hand to his other son, Hawk. The hand comes to life and grasps the mind stone. The sword is now imbued with magical powers and can respond to Hawk's mental commands. Hawk then vows to avenge his father by killing Voltan. Voltan's evil touches the whole countryside. Time passes by, and we are introduced to a man named Ranulf. Ranulf is struggling to run away from Voltan’s forces. Ranulf arrives at a remote convent. Ranulf tells the nuns that he survived Voltan's attack on his village and his people, which resulted in the brutal horrifying deaths of women and children. Ranulf was seriously injured in the attack. The nuns nurse him back to health, but unfortunately his hand cannot be saved. Voltan calls out for the wizard who happens to be his dark lord, Voltan then complains that each day gets worse and worse. The wizard performs a spell on his face, telling him “your face will not pain you for a while” and “there is one who stands between us and the final victory, you will prepare the way to his death.” Voltan appears at the convent interrupting the nuns mass, the abbess does her best to get Voltan out but she meets her demise. Voltan kidnaps the Abbess, demanding a large sum of gold as a ransom. After Voltan and his henchmen leave with the Abbess, the nuns tell Ranulf to seek the High Abbot at the Fortress of Danesford. After Ranulf arrives he is told by The High Abbot with a token to find Hawk. Hawk’s theme plays as he travels through the land. Hawk discovers Ranulf with the help of a local sorceress, a woman whom he defended from an accusation of witchcraft. Ranulf has been captured by brigands, but Hawk rescues him. Ranulf convinces Hawk to rescue the Abbess. After a long and dangerous journey, Hawk locates his old friends: Gort, a dour giant who wields a mighty mallet; Crow, an elf of few words who wields a deadly bow; and Baldin, a wisecracking dwarf, skilled with a whip. The five men arrive at the convent, protecting the nuns and devising a way to lure Voltan into a trap. They use their combined skills to steal gold from a slave trader with which to pay the ransom. Hawk doubts that Voltan will free the Abbess after the ransom is paid. He explains that Voltan treacherously murdered Hawk's wife, Eliane. Hawk and his friends decide to try and rescue the Abbess, but they fail. Hawk kills Voltan's son Drogo, who had previously assaulted the convent. Enraged, Voltan confronts the heroes in a final battle at the convent. But little did the heroes know, a rogue nun helps Voltan capture the heroes; But the evil Voltan repays her by murdering her. With the help of the sorceress, the heroes escape, but the dwarf is mortally wounded. In the subsequent battle, Hawk exacts his revenge on Voltan, Hawk battles his way to Voltan, taking down Voltan’s men relentlessly. He confronts Voltan where he is waiting at a church-like building, as Voltan holds Gort and the Abess sisters as prisoners and hostages, Hawk asks for them to be set free in exchange for Hawk to be Voltan’s prisoner. Voltan argues that hawk is in no position to bargain and requests for him to put down his magical sword and vestment. Hawk obeys as Gort begs Hawk not to. Voltan presumably thinks he has the upper hand at this point as he ask for Hawk to pray, but as Voltan looks at Hawk he recognizes the necklace Hawk wears, as Hawk reveals a hidden blade, he throws and frees Gort before Voltan can react. Hawk then summons his sword. Voltan says that the power of the sword is rightfully his he throws a dagger only for Hawk to deflect it, Voltan get angry and goes for a strike and they duel to a sword fight. Hawk defeats Voltan and in heat of the battle, Voltan reveals a huge scar in his left eye. Gort and Abbess' sisters are then rescued and the evil wizard decides that Voltan will be restored to life to carry out further evil tasks in the future. Heeding the sorceress' advice, Hawk and Gort travel south to continue their journey and battles against evil. ===== Bantam Spectra paperback edition. Cover art by Jim Burns. A series of brutal murders soon begins to panic the Budayeen, and Audran is almost executed by Friedlander Bey, who at first considers him to be the killer. He is then forced by the centuries-old Bey to become his investigator, and even worse, is made to subject himself to extensive, partly experimental cybernetic modifications; an advanced form of the brain "wiring" he has dreaded before. While the killer or killers step by step and very brutally begin wiping out witnesses as well as acquaintances of Audran, he tries to uncover clues to their nature and to the link between the seemingly unconnected victims. Meanwhile, he is fighting his fears of inadequacy in the face of a killer who obviously uses "moddies" making him into some of the most feared and bestial serial killers of history. Most of Audran's advances are made more by luck or intuition than natural skill or persistence. Yet after being accosted by (and subsequently overpowering) the modified killer — who had begun stalking Audran himself with sadistic glee and patience — he is not convinced that everything is over. In fact, he finds that one of the most important middlemen in the Budayeen was the real figure behind the murders. When he confronts him, he is almost killed himself, and facing death, has to insert a special "daddy" which makes him go into a bestial frenzy, killing the murderer. However, in his rage, he also slaughters a captured policeman and mutilates both bodies horribly. The gruesome nature of his self-defense disgusts his former acquaintances in the Budayeen. Friedlander Bey, in the final move sealing Audran's fate, then forces him into becoming one of his lieutenants, to serve as a new middleman between the ghetto and the police. As a result, he is now viewed with suspicion by everyone, and ends the novel with practically no friends, even Yasmin turning away from him. ===== In an English public house, George McWhirter Fotheringay vigorously asserts the impossibility of miracles during an argument. By way of demonstration, Fotheringay commands an oil lamp to flame upside down and it does so, to his own astonishment. His acquaintances think it a trick and quickly dismiss it. Fotheringay explores his new power. After magically accomplishing his daily chores as an office clerk, Fotheringay quits early to a park to practice further. He encounters a local constable, who is accidentally injured. In the ensuing altercation, Fotheringay unintentionally sends the policeman to Hades; hours later, Fotheringay relocates him safely to San Francisco. Unnerved by these miracles, Fotheringay attends local Sunday church services. The clergyman, Mr. Maydig, preaches about unnatural occurrences. Fotheringay is deeply moved, and meets Maydig in his manse for advice. After a few petty demonstrations, the minister becomes enthusiastic and suggests that Fotheringay should use these abilities to benefit others. That night they walk the town streets, healing illness and vice and improving public works. Maydig plans to reform the whole world. He suggests that they could disregard their obligations for the next day if Fotheringay could stop the night altogether. Fotheringay agrees and stops the motion of the Earth. His clumsy wording of the wish causes all objects on Earth to be hurled from the surface with great force. Pandemonium ensues, but Fotheringay miraculously ensures his own safety back on the ground. In fact (though he is not aware of the enormity of what he had done) the whole of humanity except for himself had perished in a single instant. Fotheringay is unable to return the Earth to its prior state. He repents, and wishes that the power be taken from him and the world restored to a time before he had the power. Fotheringay immediately finds himself back in the public house, discussing miracles with his friends as before, without any recollection of previous events. The all-knowing narrator thus tells the reader that he or she had died "a year ago" (the story was published in 1897) and was then resurrected - but has no recollection of anything special having happened. ===== The book is narrated as if it is a true report (The author of the book stated that the journal is actually real and it is left for the readers interpretation) of how the author was approached by an unnamed retired US Air Force pilot, referred to as "The Major" throughout the book (Jasón in later books), who in an elaborated indirect way tells the author how to find classified documents telling the story of the Operation Trojan Horse, in which The Major took part as a time traveller sent to witness the last weeks of Jesus's life through a time- travelling device sent back in time by the US military in an Israel base in 1973. A lengthy, detailed "technical" description of the time travel process ("inversion of quantum swivels") is provided. The time-traveller and the time- travelling vehicle are said to have been wrapped by an artificial skin to avoid biological contamination. The Major, who becomes the narrator of the story, is codenamed "Jasón" during the mission, and has to learn fluent Aramaic and Greek as a necessary skill to interact with people of this era and place during the mission, as well as other extensive training. It is "revealed" that many of the amazing stories of eclipses, earthquakes after Jesus's death and his transfiguration were linked to extraterrestrial influences. Jesus's physical appearance is described as almost Nordic, with hazel eyes and very tall (he is sometimes called "The Giant", physically and metaphorically in the book). Even as the 1970s UFO mania has lost traction in Spanish-speaking countries, Benítez has retained solid sales and certain celebrity on the basis of his book series. The following 8 sequels expand on the issued and reveal more detail. Caballo de Troya 9, Caná was published in Spain in 2011. He wrote in his website that he first became interested in the "real" life of Jesus around that time, when a team of researchers said that the Shroud of Turin showed traces of Jesus' body. These claims have later come under scrutiny, but the fact has not stopped the flow of new Caballo de Troya books. The author has claimed the time-travel part of Caballo de Troya is fiction, but that it contains "more truth than people think" suggesting, given he purports to be "a UFO researcher", that he might be claiming alien contact. The author insists that most, if not all, events in his novels are real. ===== The film opens with a car with a JATO rocket strapped to it. The movie then shifts to Michael Burrows, a criminal profiler for the San Francisco Police Department. Shot in documentary style, the film is ostensibly a dissertation by a film school grad that follows Michael throughout the story. Fired from the police force after his hematophobia allows a serial killer to get away, Michael wallows in a deep depression for several weeks before coming up with a way to combine his Darwin Awards obsession with his talent for profiling. He will help insurance companies detect people more likely to accidentally end their own lives, so they are not sold insurance policies. After impressing an insurance company manager with his profiling talent, Michael is paired up with Siri, a specialist in strange insurance cases. Siri and Michael travel the country on behalf of the company, investigating several legendary examples of stupidity, such as the JATO rocket car. A pair of men attempting to ice fish become frustrated and use a stick of dynamite to blast a hole in the ice. The problem is their dog plays fetch with the lit dynamite and runs it back to their brand-new SUV. As they investigate the cases, Michael tries to pinpoint a common factor for these people. The only explanation is a confused monologue by Siri about insurance companies always denying claims and driving people insane. Michael narrowly avoids becoming a Darwin Award winner throughout the movie. He and Siri are stranded in the middle of nowhere on a cold night. Desperate for warmth, he attempts to start a fire with gasoline, causing his car to explode. Siri later confronts Michael, accusing him of being obsessed with the Darwin Awards. A twist of fate leads to Michael discovering where the murder suspect he originally allowed to escape now lives, as he videotapes the man in his home by rappelling down the side of the building. The film school student is seen for the first time as he, too, is hanging on the side of the building. The problem is his rope is the other end of the same one Michael is dangling by. The stone vase on the roof that the pair is anchored to starts inching closer to the edge. At the same time the serial killer taunts them while slicing open the captive Siri's hand, hoping to trigger Michael's hematophobia. But Michael is able to overcome his fear and defeats the serial killer. ===== After claiming he is an extraterrestrial from the planet 'K-PAX', 1,000 light years away in the Lyra constellation, prot (not capitalized and pronounced with a long O, rhyming with boat) is committed to the Psychiatric Institute of Manhattan. There, psychiatrist Dr. Mark Powell attempts to cure him of his apparent delusions. However, prot is unwavering in his ability to provide cogent answers to questions about himself, K-PAX, and its civilizations. His medical examination only reinforces his story, as prot can see ultraviolet light and he is completely resistant to the effects of Thorazine. Powell introduces him to a group of astrophysicists who are befuddled when prot displays a level of knowledge about his claimed star system that was unknown to them. Prot also wins over the other patients at the Institute, each of whom believes unquestioningly that he is indeed from K-PAX. Prot, who claims to have journeyed to Earth by means of "light-travel", explains that he can take one person with him when he returns. Thereafter, most of the patients at the Institute ask prot to take them with him. Upon learning that many of his patients expect to leave Earth on July 27, Powell confronts prot, who explains that it is a predetermined date. However, Powell believes this to be a significant date in prot's life, a day on which he suffered a severe psychological trauma. Powell decides to subject prot to regression hypnosis, which works well. Using information gained from these sessions, Powell figures out that prot may simply be an alter ego of Robert Porter, a man from New Mexico who attempted suicide in 1996 after his wife and child were murdered. Powell tries to confront prot with this knowledge, but prot's reaction is one of bemusement, and he cryptically tells Powell that he hopes he will take good care of Robert now that he has found him. On July 27 as the hospital staff watch, the camera in prot's room cuts to static at the precise time prot said he would leave Earth. Powell finds Porter lying on the floor in his room, catatonic, prot having apparently left Porter's body for the light travel back to K-PAX. The other patients do not recognize Robert, as he is being wheeled out of the room. In addition, one of them is missing: Bess, a woman who had remained mute since her home was destroyed in a fire and who had been among the patients that asked to go to K-PAX with prot. She is never found. Powell continues to take care of the catatonic Porter and tells him about how the patients he helped have gone on to live normal lives again, but Robert does not respond. Powell is left with no absolute answer as to whether prot was in fact an alien entity or just a coping mechanism of the traumatized Porter, but seems far from convinced that Porter's behavior was a delusion. In a final voiceover, prot explains to Powell that the people of K-PAX have discovered that our universe will repeat its events again and again, so the mistakes we make will be repeated forever. Prot encourages Powell to make this time count, as it is the only chance we have. Inspired, Powell begins a new, better life by reconciling with his estranged son. ===== In this wisecracking comedy, Dan Dolan (Spencer Tracy) is a cop whose beat is the New York waterfront. Dan has a soft spot for Helen Riley (Joan Bennett), a sharp- tongued waitress at a cheap diner, while her scatter-brained sister Kate (Marion Burns) is in love with Duke Castage (George Walsh), a sleazy low-level mobster. While Duke makes a play for Kate, both Helen and Dan know that he's bad news, and Dan wants to put Duke behind bars before he can break Kate's heart. Me and My Gal was directed by Raoul Walsh, one of the great craftsmen of the studio system—and also the brother of George Walsh, who plays the villain. ===== In 1930, during Prohibition, reigning crime kingpin Al Capone supplies illegal liquor and has nearly the entire city of Chicago under his control. Bureau of Prohibition agent Eliot Ness has been tasked with bringing a stop to Capone's activities, but his first attempt at a liquor raid fails due to corrupt policemen tipping Capone off. He has a chance meeting with a veteran Irish- American officer, Jim Malone, who is fed up with the rampant corruption and offers to help Ness, suggesting they find a man from the police academy who has not yet come under Capone's influence and still believes in the idealistic aspects of law enforcement. They recruit Italian-American trainee George Stone (AKA Giuseppe Petri) for his superior marksmanship and integrity. Joined by accountant Oscar Wallace, assigned to Ness from Washington, D.C., they conduct a successful raid on a Capone liquor cache and start to gain positive publicity, with the press dubbing them "The Untouchables." Capone later kills the person in charge of the cache as a warning to his other subordinates. Wallace discovers that Capone has not filed an income tax return for four years and suggests that the team try to build a tax evasion case against him (as Capone's network keeps him well-insulated from his other crimes). An alderman offers Ness a bribe to drop his investigation, but Ness angrily refuses it. After Capone's enforcer Frank Nitti threatens Ness's family, Ness immediately moves his wife and daughter to a safe house. In a subsequent raid on the Canadian border, Ness and his team intercept an incoming liquor shipment. They kill several gangsters and capture a Capone bookkeeper named George, whom they eventually persuade to collaborate. Back in Chicago, as Wallace escorts George from the police station to a safe house, a disguised Nitti shoots both of them dead. Ness confronts Capone at the Lexington Hotel after the murders, but Malone intervenes, urging Ness to focus on persuading the district attorney not to dismiss the charges against Capone. Malone realizes that police chief Mike Dorsett sold out Wallace and George, and, in a fight with Dorsett, forces him to reveal the whereabouts of Capone's head bookkeeper, Walter Payne. That evening, Malone is lured outside his apartment by Capone's bowtie driver and Nitti critically wounds him in a Tommy gun ambush. Ness and Stone arrive at the apartment; before he dies, Malone shows them which train Payne will take out of town. As Ness and Stone await Payne's arrival at Union Station, they see a young mother with two suitcases and a child in a carriage laboriously climbing the lobby steps. Ness ultimately decides to assist her, but the gangsters who are guarding Payne appear as Ness and the woman reach the top of the stairs, and a bloody shootout takes place. Though outnumbered, Ness and Stone manage to capture Payne alive and kill his escorts - including Capone's bowtie driver - without harm to the mother or the child. Later, when Payne testifies at Capone's trial, Ness observes that Capone appears strangely calm and that Nitti is wearing a gun in the courtroom. The bailiff removes Nitti and searches him, finding a note from Chicago Mayor William Hale Thompson which effectively permits him to carry the weapon. However, Ness sees Malone's address written on a matchbook in Nitti's possession and realizes that Nitti is Malone's killer. Panicked, Nitti shoots the bailiff before fleeing to the courthouse roof as Ness pursues him. After Nitti expresses his contempt for Malone and says he will "beat the rap," Ness pushes Nitti off the roof to his death. Stone gives Ness a list, taken from Nitti's coat, which shows that the jurors in the trial have been bribed. Behind closed doors, Ness convinces the judge to order that the jury in the Capone trial be switched with that of an unrelated divorce trial in the adjacent courtroom. This prompts Capone's lawyer to enter a guilty plea, although Capone is outraged and violently objects. Capone is later found guilty of tax evasion and sentenced to eleven years in prison. On the day Capone begins serving his sentence, Ness closes up his office, giving Malone's St. Jude medallion and callbox key to Stone as a farewell present. As Ness leaves the police station, a reporter mentions the probable repeal of Prohibition, asking Ness what he will do in that case. Ness replies, "I think I'll have a drink." ===== Byung-ki (Cha Tae-hyun) is a taciturn village patrolman who helps out with trivial tasks like distributing promotional papers, though he dreams of fighting evil. One day, he runs into Min-kyung (Kim Sun-a), an employee at the neighborhood bowling alley, and falls for her at first sight. However, his attempts to woo her go unnoticed. Meanwhile, Seok-doo (Park Yeong-gyu), the boss of the local gang, also swoons over Min-kyung and vows to take her virginity on Christmas Eve. ===== Todd Anderson (Josh Hamilton) has to travel to India when his department is outsourced. Todd is not happy but when his boss Dave informs him that quitting would mean losing his stock options, he goes to train his Indian replacement Puro (Asif Basra). When he arrives, Todd is frustrated with everything in the country where people call him "Mr. Toad". He has difficulty making the call center employees of Gharapuri understand what their American customers expect. He feels that he is never going to get the Minutes-per-Incident (MPI) under six minutes and so will never get to return to the USA. Todd experiences the festival of Holi and with it, a sense of calm. At the call center the MPI slowly improves. He recognizes a leader in an employee Asha (Ayesha Dharker) and offers her the job of assisting Puro when Todd leaves. Todd tries to improve the workplace experience for the employees; when they tell him they would like some of the products they are selling, he decides to implement a rewards program and asks Dave for a shipment. Dave initially refuses, but when Todd manages to convince him that he is opening the products to a market of a billion people, Dave agrees to ship them overnight. Asha realizes that the shipment has gone to another Gharapuri, an island. They both reach the island and get the shipment, but the boat that was supposed to ferry them back catches fire. With no resort, they check into a hotel, where Asha accuses Todd of being frivolous with Kali. They argue but end up having sex. Upon their return Asha informs Todd that she has been engaged to a family friend named Ashok since she was four years old. She says their affair could be only a "Holiday in Goa", a term for a short time spent with a lover before marrying another. Todd is confused but accepts the situation. One day, a laundry man invites him to his home for lunch and gives him a rice flour cake. The call center MPI is at six when Dave calls to let Todd know that he needs to be picked up from the railway station. When Dave arrives, the power shuts down due to flooding, but the employees manage to set up their workstations on the roof and resume business. Dave is impressed, but when the employees go to the local bar to celebrate, Dave informs Todd the business is being shifted to China. Todd informs the employees they have been fired, and Dave is erasing all data off their hard disks. Asha tells Todd that she has been writing a novel on her work computer called Holiday in Goa that needs to be saved. Todd gets the hint and they leave for Gaurav's (another employee's) house, where they spend time together. Todd refuses to go to China but suggests Puro as a replacement. Puro is seen leaving for China with his new wife. Upon his return to the United States, Todd receives a phone call from Asha just as the screen turns black and the end credits roll. ===== Dae-gyu is a working man living a stress-free dating life until one day a young boy claiming to be his son pays him an unexpected visit. After much wavering and struggle to make his son go away, Dae-gyu makes a compromise to go on a road trip after which he would return the boy to his mother. ===== Chang-sik (Im Chang-jung) lives strictly by the freeloader's handbook, doing the rounds of free samples in department store food sections and sponging off of his older brother. Mi-young (Kim Sun-a) nurtures grandiose dreams of becoming a TV actress but has failed every audition because she just can't act. Because the two are unemployed, live in the same neighborhood, and have similar schedules, they are bound to run into each other, and they do. One day, Chang-sik and Mi-young are walking around distractedly when they end up in a head-on collision. Chang-sik's coins spill out from his hands and scatter all over the ground. His precious coins! He chases after every single one but ends up 10 cents short. He viciously turns to the Mi-young but she refuses to give him 10 cents. They become sworn enemies after this incident, but then come across the chance of a lifetime. By chance, they witness a hit-and-run involving old man Hwang together. The next day, to their amazement, they see a banner advertising a reward to eyewitnesses. Of course, each person eagerly offers to be a witness and ends up getting tangled up in something they hadn't bargained for. What have these two slackers gotten themselves into? ===== The film is set during final days of Czarist Russia and revolves around a peasant who rises through the ranks of the Russian army ending up a lieutenant. His life is made increasingly difficult by the aristocrats and officers around him who are resentful of his progress. He then finds himself rejected by a princess he falls in love with and, having been caught in her room, is put in prison. There he is stripped of his rank, but soon after the Russian Civil War starts, and as a result of the Red Terror, the tables are turned. ===== Hye-young (Jun Ji-hyun) is an artist who makes her living by sketching portraits of people for 30 euros per portrait. Park Yi (Jung Woo- sung) is a professional hit man who sees Hye-young painting in the high mountains and instantly falls in love with her. One day, while Hye-young is trying to cross a small channel connected by a narrow log, she falls down and loses her art bag, which contains all her painting equipment. Park Yi, who had been watching her from a distance, immediately runs to her rescue; but by the time he gets there, Hye-young is gone. He finds the bag she lost and gets the log replaced with a bridge. The next time she comes to paint, Hye-young is taken by surprise at the sight of the new bridge. Though, initially, she thinks the bridge is a coincidence, she is moved when she finds her lost bag hung in the middle of the bridge. She completes her painting of the mountains and leaves it in place of her bag as a gesture of thanks for the person who had built the bridge for her. From that day on, she starts receiving daisy flowers daily at 4:15 pm sharp. As the days pass, she is touched by the humour of the person who is sending the flowers and develops a soft spot towards the person. On the other hand, Park Yi is afraid she might be hurt if he gets close to her, because of his profession. He subdues his feelings and maintains a distance from her. Interpol detective Jeong Woo (Lee Sung-jae) is working on a case involving a drug ring. One day, on his way to track the activities of the drug dealers, he encounters Hye-young and her portrait stand. He asks her for his portrait as he surveys the crowd for suspicious activity; this continues for a few more days until one day the drug dealers come to know his hideout. In the meantime, Hye-young starts to believe that Jeong Woo is the one sending her daisy flowers and instantly falls in love with him. Jeong Woo also hides the fact for fear of blowing his cover. Park Yi, who has been constantly keeping an eye on Hye-young and Jeong Woo, notices a few gangsters advancing towards them with armed pistols. Park Yi instantly grabs his sniper and starts shooting the crooks. However, Park Yi accidentally shoots Hye-young in the neck, leaving her mute for the rest of her life. Jeong Woo is crushed with guilt, for he considers himself responsible for this entire episode. Jeong Woo is transferred back to Korea, leaving Hye-young alone and heartbroken. Park Yi cannot help himself with Hye-young's condition and starts showing up and moving close to her. Hye-young is still in love with Jeong Woo and cannot forget him. After a year, Jeong Woo comes back to the Netherlands and surprisingly shows up on Hye-young's doorsteps. He apologises for the entire episode and leaves her in tears. Meanwhile, Jeong Woo's boss, who wants to solve the case behind this whole episode, tells Jeong Woo to catch the guy who shot the gangsters. Further investigation reveals Park Yi's identity as professional hit man, and they set a trap. Jeong Woo's boss contracts Park Yi's dealer to kill Jeong Woo in a plot to catch Park Yi. Jeong Woo shows up in a car secretly surrounded by many undercover cops. Jeong Woo came to know Park Yi as Hye-young's friend when he had gone to apologise to her. Park Yi suddenly shows up and asks Jeong Woo for a private talk. Jeong Woo stalls all the cops, saying that he is going to speak with a friend and is later found shot in the head. (Although Park Yi reveals his real identity and refuses to kill him, Jeong Woo is shot by another assassin belonging to Park Yi's group.) Jeong Woo's boss gives hints of the activities of the man who killed Jeong Woo to Hye-young at Jeong Woo's funeral. Hye-young instantly realises who the killer is. Hye-young holds Park Yi at gunpoint, but fails to pull the trigger and falls unconscious due to the spiked tea she drank moments before. Meanwhile, Jeong Woo's boss devises a much tougher plan to catch Jeong Woo's assassin by targeting himself for a contract killing. A series of events leads Hye-young to realise that Park Yi was the one sending her the daisies. Park Yi, who is all set to assassinate Jeong Woo's boss, is taken by surprise when Hye-young shows up asking him to stop. The assassin responsible for Jeong Woo's death shoots at Park Yi, but the bullet is intercepted by Hye-young, who sees the reflection of the car that the assassin is in on a building opposite, and she dies. Park Yi takes his revenge by killing his entire gang. He confronts his boss President Cho in a mexican standoff and they both shoot at each other. He later stumbles out of the building and limps down the street. The epilogue shows Park Yi, Jeong Woo, and Hye-young standing in a crowd under an overhang, waiting for the rain to stop. When they spot each other, they smile. ===== Jason Worthing and one of his descendants, Justice, go to a small village on a backward world to get a boy named Lared to write a book for them. This book is about why Abner Doon destroyed the empire and the planet Capitol and why Jason's descendants destroyed the planet Worthing. It also explains why people all over the settled part of the galaxy are no longer being protected by "God" from pain and hardship. The Worthing Chronicle is an expansion of Card's first novel, Hot Sleep. ===== Jud Elliott II is a failed Harvard history masters student in 2059. Bored with his job as a law clerk, he takes up a position with the Time Service as a Time Courier. After an introductory course, Jud shunts up and down the time line ("up the line" is travel into the past; "down the line" is forward time travel, but only to "now-time," Jud's present of 2059) as a guide for tourists visiting ancient and medieval Byzantium/Constantinople. Jud's problems include not only stupid tourists, but also greedy and mentally unstable colleagues who attempt to cause various types of havoc with the past. He is forced to break the rules in order to patch things up without drawing the attention of the Time Patrol. When he meets and falls in love with the 'marvelous transtemporal paradox called Pulcheria' - his own multi-great grandmother - Jud succumbs to the lure of the past, creates irreparable paradoxes, and faces the inescapable clutches of the Time Patrol. Silverberg's narrative includes some cleverly worked out details about the problems of time-travel tourism. For example, the number of tourists who over the years wish to witness the Crucifixion of Jesus has increased the audience at the event from the likely dozens to hundreds and even tens of thousands. Time-tour guides re-visiting the same event must also take care not to scan their surroundings too closely, lest they make eye contact with themselves leading another tour party. Silverberg's interest in the Byzantine era of Roman history is put to use with a vivid description of Constantinople during the reign of Justinian, and the Nika riots of 532. ===== A young aviator, Carlos Martin (played by Raul Roulien), is dumped by his girlfriend (Gloria Stuart), and heads on a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean. He has engine trouble and makes an emergency landing on an uninhabited island out in the Pacific. Shortly afterward, a global epidemic of a new disease called masculitis kills every fertile male human on the planet. When efforts to cure the disease fail, the human race is doomed. Humanity's institutions are all run by women, including the Chicago underworld. Carlos escapes the island, and once he returns home and hears the news, it now depends on him to continue the human race. ===== Francesca Cunningham is a suicidal mental patient under the care of Dr. Larsen. Under hypnosis, Larsen leads her to describe her life events that brought her to attempt suicide. The film largely consists of a series of flashbacks in which Francesca talks about her life, removing successive "veils" to recover memories. Only her second cousin and guardian, Nicholas, a crippled musician, is interested in her. Nicholas, though, is a bitter man, faintly jealous of her talent and misogynistic, with a difficult relationship with his mother. However, he is a brilliant music teacher who encourages Francesca to excel, but also to avoid all emotional entanglements. At the Royal College of Music, Peter, an American studying in London, becomes romantically interested in Francesca. Although she is initially unresponsive, Francesca and Peter later become engaged, but she has not yet reached her maturity (then 21) and Nicholas, as her guardian, withholds his consent and insists she leave for Paris with him the next morning. She completes her education and begins her music career on the continent. Years pass. Nicholas and Francesca return to Britain when she is invited to perform at the Royal Albert Hall, but she discovers Peter has married someone else. An artist, Maxwell Leyden, is invited by Nicholas to paint her portrait; they soon fall in love and agree to live together. Still apparently her guardian, Nicholas becomes angry at the news and strikes her hands with his cane while she plays. She flees from him, but, while with Max, is involved in a serious car accident and suffers burns to her hands. Francesca becomes convinced she will never play again. After therapy—and now cured, according to Dr Larsen—Francesca realizes that Nicholas is her real love rather than Peter (now divorced) or Max. ===== Aarusaamy (Vikram) is the DCP of Tirunelveli who efficiently brings the city under control. He arrives at Tirunelveli after being in exile for some years, due to being wrongly accused of bribery. In an early scene in the film, he eats idli with beer and performs drunken antics, which had a negative impact on the viewing public. At the outset, he pretends to be a corrupt cop by accepting bribes from the very influential Annachi Perumal Pichai (Kota Srinivasa Rao). Aarusaamy's father (Vijayakumar) wanted to become a cop in the 70s, but he was unable to due to corruption. So, he takes care of agriculture as his living, but he wanted to make his son a cop. Aarusaamy passes the TNPSC Group 1 exams, but was asked for bribes. His father mortgages his properties and makes him get the desired job. Being an honest cop, Aarusaamy is honored with transfers all over Tamil Nadu due to political pressure. In Trichy, he is accused of bribery and gets suspended. It takes him about 6 months to prove his innocence, and he is finally posted in Tirunelveli. In Tirunelveli, he adapts a new policy of adjusting with the local goons so he can serve the people in an effective way. Perumal Pichai is an underworld don who has the total control of Southern Tamil Nadu, both in politics and rowdyism. He is less known in the media so he bribes Aarusaamy so that he will not disturb his business because he thinks that Aarusaamy belong to his caste. Aarusaamy accepts it but requests him to make some changes, which he in turn accepts. As a result, the city is under the control of Law and Order. Aarusaamy is always accompanied by "Punctuality" Paramasivam (Ramesh Khanna), who is a Police Inspector. Aarusaamy falls in love with a college-going Brahmin girl Bhuvana (Trisha). Bhuvana's father Srinivasan (Delhi Ganesh) is a straightforward government officer who never gets a bribe and leads a noble life and they get engaged. Aarusaamy and Bhuvana meet each other when Aarusaamy goes with Paramasivam in search of a home for rent. Bhuvana misinterprets Aarusaamy and Paramasivam as thieves and locks them in a room, only to be revealed of their identities by the police. Aarusaamy also 'seals' Perumal's gas station because the workers assaulted a woman and others when they challenged them a very less distribution of petrol than being promised. The ruling party has called for a one-day strike all over the state, and Perumal is handed with the responsibility of Tirunelveli on the eve of Pongal festival. Aarusaamy takes steps to maintain law and order. The strike becomes a failure, which earns Perumal's rage. Perumal was waiting for a chance to take revenge on Aarusaamy. So, his henchmen attack the marketplace on the day of Aarusaamy and Bhuvana's marriage, since all the prime policemen would be attending the wedding. Saamy witnesses the brutality of annachi's men, and this incident starts the fight of Aarusaamy against Perumal. This incident marks the start of a direct clash between Aarusaamy and Perumal. Aarusamy is given his transfer order to Dindigul, with one week duty remaining in Tirunelveli city. Saamy challenges to close Annachi's empire and finish him in that week. Day 1: Saamy and police seal off all of annachi's illegal businesses and vehicles. Day 2: Saamy arrest's Annachi's henchman MLA IR8 sundaram on false rape charges and he is imprisoned. Day 3: False bomb threats make Saamy and police force waste searching main parts of the city. It is revealed that another of Annachi's henchman MLA Govindan's work. Saamy then blasts govindan's car and frames it as a bomb blast, to save his name. Day 4: The commissioner grants permission for a caste-based rally, to be led by MLA govindan, against Saamy's recommendation. While Annachi's men plan to create ruckus and kill Saamy in the rally, Saamy plans to covertly finish pending crime-files in the rally. Day 5: During the rally, Saamy's local friends create ruckus before Annachi's men can get hands on their weapons. Saamy uses the situation to kill 2 of Annachi's main rowdies using his illegal pistol. He arrests MLA Govindan and locks him up. Day 6: Annachi's men try to kill Saamy outside a temple. He beats them blue and black, and arrests them. He sends his wife to Palani by Bus. In the evening, after listening to Annachi's phone calls, Saamy realises that Annachi has planned to bomb somewhere. He meets with Annachi's henchman who he spared in the rally shooting. he convinces the henchman to turn approver. Saamy then finds that the bomb is in his house. Unknown to Saamy, Saamy's dad has come to his house. Despite Saamy's attempts, bomb blasts and Saamy's dad is killed. The bomb maker and annachi's henchman give statements to the District magistrate, and Saamy get arrest warrant for Annachi. The district authorities and ministers convene an emergency meeting to stop Saamy. They state the proofs of bribe Saamy got from annachi as reason. Saamy counters that, by showing proofs that Saamy himself sent all that bribe to CM relief fund in Annachi's name. After all discussions, Saamy threatens to murder anyone who obstructs his duty, and leaves to arrest Annachi. Day 7 (Early morning): Saamy gives news to the media, that Annachi has absconded, and police are searching for him. Saamy routes annachi to his own Sand quarry. After a brief fight, Annachi surrenders to Saamy and asks for arrest. Saamy refuses, saying that if he arrests Annachi, he will face dire consequences in future, and innocent people will also suffer. So he kills annachi with his illicit revolver, and burns his corpse in a Brick kiln nearby, so that no one will try to replace or avenge the absconding Annachi, and thus no harm done. Saamy then does the rites for his deceased dad. ===== Defense attorney Dwight Bradley Masen (Walter Pidgeon) is successful in seeking the acquittal of a young man, Rudi Walchek (Keefe Brasselle), accused of knifing to death the 19-year-old son of a local locksmith, but when Rudi lets a comment slip after the trial, Masen realizes he has defended a guilty man. Masen discovers that Rudi is also a member of a syndicate extorting money from the scared merchants in the locksmith's neighborhood. After unearthing new evidence, Masen tries to convince the D.A. (Barry Sullivan) to retry the case, but the latter refuses on grounds of double jeopardy. Masen discovers that the head of the citizens' crime commission is also involved in the syndicate. In a rage Masen kills Layford (Eduard Franz), but the murder is pinned on Rudi. Despite sensing a higher justice at work, Masen feels obliged to defend Rudi once again. This time Rudi is found guilty. Masen confesses to the D.A. that he is the culprit, but the D.A. feels justice has been served and refuses to reopen the case. Masen makes one final visit to Rudi in prison, confesses, gives him the murder weapon and turns his back to Rudi to await his fate. ===== Chae-ok is the daughter of a nobleman, who was framed for conspiracy and thereafter committed suicide. She got separated from her brother at the age of 7 when she was caught by the officer who then took her to be the slave of Hwangbo Yoon's family. Alongside him, she was raised in the mountains and learned martial arts and sword fighting. She has loved Yoon silently for years, knowing they cannot be together because he belongs to a higher social class. Instead when he becomes a police commander, she joins his bureau as a damo to continue being near him and working with him. When Chae-ok goes undercover while investigating a counterfeiting ring, she meets the rebel leader Jang Sung-baek. She must try to arrest Sung-baek, but despite her bravery and resolve, she finds herself falling for him. ===== Green Legend is set in a science fiction-style post-apocalyptic Earth, which has turned largely into a vast desert after an alien invasion, in which six of the "Rodo" (a race of what appear to be giant monoliths) crashed onto Earth from space, somehow effecting massive climate change which has completely wiped out the oceans and rain. At the time, mankind was ruining the environment, making an apocalypse of some sort inevitable (similar to other environmentally-focused anime like Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind; in general style, Green Legend is much like Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water and Future Boy Conan). In this brutal new world, two polarized factions have arisen: the first faction, the "Rodoists" are a fanatical religious sect who worship the Rodo while practicing hydraulic despotism; all communities are clustered around one of the monoliths, as they are the only remaining sources of water and food - most of which is gathered quite close to the monoliths in what they call the "Holy Green". Travel between communities is infrequent, as at a certain distance from the monoliths, the environment peters out to the point that the air itself cannot be breathed - necessitating pressurized vehicles akin to spaceships. The second faction, the "Hazard", is a secretive revolutionary movement opposed to the Rodoists. The protagonist (Ran the greener) is a young orphaned boy who seeks to survive, to join the Hazard, and to find and take revenge upon the man with a scar on his chest who killed his mother. He blunders into the middle of a battle between the Hazard and the Rodoists, during which he meets a strange silver-haired girl named Aira. Ran helps some Hazard scouts escape his town and joins them. Soon, the Rodoist army attacks the Hazard base; Aira is forcibly evacuated against her will by the Hazard. Ran attempts to board the sand ship, but fails, and begins pursuing it across the desert in a stolen pressure suit. He is rescued by traveling water and food merchants just before his air runs out. The merchant leader, a contemplative man named Jeke, offers Ran his assistance in rescuing Aira. The rescue goes awry when the Rodoists attack the Hazard sand ship and recapture Aira as Ran and the merchants attempt to infiltrate the same sand ship. ===== All About Lily Chou-Chou follows two boys, Shūsuke Hoshino and Yūichi Hasumi, from the start of junior middle school when they first meet, and into the eighth grade. The film has a discontinuous storyline, starting midway through the story, just after the second term of junior high school begins, then flashes back to the first term and summer vacation, and then skips back to the present. In elementary school, Hoshino was one of the best students in school, but was picked on by his classmates. Hoshino and Hasumi meet and become friends when they join the kendo club, and Hoshino invites Hasumi to stay over at his house. Hoshino's family is wealthy in comparison to Hasumi's family. Hasumi mistakes Hoshino's attractive young mother for his sister. The kendo club summer camp training is tough, and Hoshino, Hasumi and some other first-grade boys decide to take a trip to Okinawa. Once there, Hoshino has a traumatic near-death experience and his personality changes from good-natured to dangerous and manipulative. Back at school in September for second term, he takes his place as class bully and shows his newfound power by ruining the lives of his classmates. An alternative voice, that of the character Sumika Kanzaki, attributes Hoshino's personality change to the collapse of his family's business and his parent's divorce; this matches several scenes connecting the decline of Hoshino – who has had to change his name – to divorce. Hasumi, the confused and shy former friend of Hoshino, finds himself sucked into his now-tormentor's gang. He is ridiculed and coerced into doing Hoshino's dirty work, and finds solace only in the ethereal music Lily Chou-Chou makes, and acting as web editor for his fan website. Things become far worse for everyone when Hasumi is assigned to supervising Shiori Tsuda, whom Hoshino has blackmailed into enjo kōsai, and another girl is raped by Hoshino's lackeys after unwittingly offending the school's girl gang. The whole quagmire comes to a head when Hasumi heads to Tokyo to see a Lily Chou-Chou concert, where he encounters the last person he thought would be there. The story of Hoshino and Hasumi is paralleled by messages posted to a Lily Chou-Chou message board which are displayed on screen. Until the meeting at the concert, it is left up to the viewer to figure out which characters in the story are posting under what names. ===== The "guinea pig" is 14-year-old Jack Read (played by the 25-year-old Richard Attenborough), a tobacconist's son who, following the Fleming Report,Public school (United Kingdom) is given a scholarship to Saintbury, an exclusive public school. Read's uncouth behaviour causes him difficulties in fitting into the school. Only after the social changes caused by the Second World War could such a scenario be imagined. ===== Gino Monetti (Edward G. Robinson) is a rags-to-riches, Italian-American banker in New York City whose methods result in a number of criminal charges. Three of his four grown sons, unhappy at their father's dismissive treatment of them, refuse to help Gino when he is put on trial for questionable business practices. Eldest son Joe seizes control of the bank and brothers Tony and Pietro side with him. Max (Conte), a lawyer, is the only son who stays loyal to his father. The brothers conspire to send Max to jail as well. Max tries to bribe a juror to save his father, but gets disbarred and serves a stretch of seven years in prison. Max must leave behind Maria (played by 15-year old Debra Paget), the girl he had been expected to marry, and Irene (Susan Hayward), a client he fell in love with after becoming her attorney. Max vows revenge on his brothers, but when he is released Max has a change of heart when he realizes that his father had caused all the tension within the family. The three brothers, however, are still worried about his quest for vengeance, and Joe even goes so far as to order Pietro to kill Max. In doing so, however, Joe insults Pietro in the same way their father always had, prompting Pietro to turn on Joe instead. Max saves Joe from Pietro's wrath by reminding Pietro that if he kills Joe, he would only be doing exactly as their father would have wanted. Max then leaves his brothers to rejoin Irene and travel to San Francisco, where they plan to start a new life together. ===== In the year 2015, cyber- crimes, murders and terrorism have become an epidemic in Tokyo and the average police force are not capable enough to handle it all. Commander Masanao Daigo of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department plans to solve this problem by searching for talented candidates for his "Metal Project". One day, a robot sent out by the criminal organization Ido targets Jun Zaizen, the young heir of the Zaizen Konzern, during a party held in his honor. Three young men, MPD officer Ken Kanzaki, F1 race car driver Ryo Aguri, and professional wrestler Go Goda, are mortally wounded while protecting the young boy. Because of their heroic deed, the three men are chosen for the Metal Project and brought back to life as cyborgs, forming the Armored Police Metal Jack. ===== Ayane Mitsui is a 17-year-old very athletic high school girl who wishes dearly to become a great professional wrestler like her idol Manami Toyota of the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling circuit. However, despite many auditions, she cannot qualify. A brilliant kickboxing coach, Kunimitsu, notices potential within the girl and persuades her to train with him. Ayane hates kickboxing and is very vocal about it, but happens to have a greater potential with the sport and sticks with it. Meanwhile, some of the less- savory teachers from her high school have become aware of her extracurricular activities and threaten to expel her if they get proof. And if that's not enough, another kickboxer, 21-year-old Sakurako Miyagawa, has taken notice of the girl and wants to fight her in the ring to be her enemy. ===== Middle-aged Ouji Tanaka has a wife, a child and a mundane job as a salary man in Tokyo's modern society. But his life wasn't always so dull; 15 years ago he was known as "Gabriel", lead guitar of a short-lived heavy metal band called "Black Heaven". Ouji's life takes a sudden turn when he is invited by an enigmatic woman to pick up his Gibson Flying V and once again display his legendary guitar skills. Little does he know the effects this will have on his family, on the other remaining members of Black Heaven, on an alien interstellar war with a mysterious ultimate weapon, or on the fate of the planet Earth. ===== On March 25, 1863, Cpl. William Pittenger, along with seven other soldiers, are summoned to the US War Department and are brought before War Secretary Edwin Stanton to receive the first Medals of Honor. Pittenger, narrating, tells the story of the mission they participated in through a flashback. In April 1862, Pittenger and several other soldiers, including William Campbell are posted outside Nashville under orders from General Mitchell. Andrews rides in to speak to Mitchell, who assigns him the mission of hijacking a train behind Confederate lines and destroying the bridges along the Western and Atlantic Railroad in order to delay reinforcements against Mitchell's planned attack on Chattanooga, as well as cripple the Confederate army's supply lines; possibly putting an end to the war. Pittenger, Campbell, and several more soldiers meet Andrews the next night on a hillside where he explains the mission, and tells them to arrive in Marietta, Georgia by April 10. Over the next few days the men make their way south through Confederate territory in small groups so as not to draw suspicion. Pittenger and Campbell rendezvous with Andrews and two others at an inn on the Tennessee River, but heavy rain causes Andrews to delay the attempt for a day. On the morning of April 12, Andrews and the raiders congregate in a railroad hotel in Marietta. They board a northbound train, waiting for the breakfast stop at Big Shanty. While on the train Andrews is approached by the conductor William A. Fuller, who is suspicious about Andrews and the men he boarded with. Andrews shows Fuller a letter from Brigadier General Beauregard. This convinces Fuller that Andrews and his men are Confederate agents. While the passengers and crew are eating, Andrews and the men drop the passenger cars, hijack the engine, and proceed north. Witnessing this, Fuller pursues them on foot along with engineer Jeff Cain and foreman Anthony Murphy. Andrews and the men continue on, pulling up track to block any trains from the south and cutting telegraph wires to stop any towns ahead of them from being alerted. Fuller and his men continue to pursue the raiders; first on foot, then by handcar, then on the small yard engine Yonah. The raiders make their scheduled stop at Kingston to wait for a southbound freight train. Andrews disguises their mission from the suspicious station staff by claiming that he's running an extra ammunition supply train to Beauregard. Once the southbound train arrives, the raiders learn, to their surprise, that Mitchell had captured Huntsville ahead of schedule and the Confederates are now running extra freight trains down south, including another train coming in from the north unscheduled. After 45 minutes of extra waiting, the last train arrives, and the raiders continue north. Shortly afterward, Fuller and his men reach Kingston. After alerting the station master of the situation, Fuller and his men take a locomotive waiting on the side track and continue until they reach another section of removed track. Fuller and Murphy then wave down Pete Bracken and his southbound express freight and they continue the chase with his engine, the Texas running in reverse. The raiders make several attempts to stop their pursuers but barely manage to even slow them down. The raiders arrive at the first bridge and attempt to burn it down by lighting a boxcar and setting the brake it so as to prevent it from being moved. Fuller manages to disable the brake and the Texas pushes the car out, leaving the bridge intact. With the General out of wood and water and unable to continue, Andrews decides to stop and fight. However, before they can, Confederate cavalry from Ringgold approach; sent by General Leadbetter after Fuller managed to get a telegraph sent ahead of the raiders. Fuller arrives and reclaims his train as the raiders, having failed in their mission, flee into the wilderness and try to make it back home. Over the next week, the raiders are hunted down and captured. The group is transferred from jail to jail across the south, ultimately learning that they have been found guilty and are to be hanged soon. One day, while in their cell in Atlanta, one of them manages to break the group's chains. They plan to escape the next morning. All men make it over the wall of the jail yard except Andrews and Campbell, who stay behind to fight off their captors. Eight of the raiders, including Pittenger, manage to escape while the rest are recaptured. Before his execution, Andrews requests a final visit from Fuller, who begrudgingly shows up. Andrews expresses hopes that Fuller will not hold a grudge for deceiving him, acknowledging that they both fought in their own ways. Andrews laments that he won't live to see the end of the war, when both sides come together and shake hands. He asks Fuller if they could do so instead. Fuller obliges, marking the end of their war and putting Andrews at peace. Returning to the opening scene, Secretary Stanton tells the eight surviving raiders that their perished comrades will also receive the Medal of Honor posthumously, with the exception of Andrews who is ineligible due to being a civilian operative (also excluding William Campbell). Pittenger then thanks Stanton on behalf of all of the raiders, ending the film. ===== In Bertie's flat in London, around half past eleven, Jeeves wakes Bertie up telling him that his Aunt Agatha has come to see him. She is distressed that Augustus "Gussie" Mannering-Phipps, her nephew and Bertie's cousin living in New York City, has fallen for a girl named Ray Denison who is a vaudeville performer. Concerned about the family's prestige, Aunt Agatha does not want Gussie to marry a vaudeville performer like his late father did, though Gussie's mother Julia learned to be aristocratic. Aunt Agatha demands that Bertie go to New York and keep Gussie from marrying Ray. Arriving in New York, Bertie leaves Jeeves to get Bertie's baggage through customs and soon runs into Gussie, now going by the name of "George Wilson". Gussie is about to appear on the music-hall stage because Ray's father, an old vaudeville professional, does not want Ray to marry someone outside the profession. Bertie, afraid that he will not be able to disentangle Gussie from vaudeville, cables his Aunt Julia, Gussie's mother, for help. After some rehearsals, Gussie appears in his first show. Attending the performance, Bertie sits next to a very pretty girl. Gussie has stage fright and starts badly, but halfway through his second song the girl beside Bertie joins in, bucking up Gussie. The audience cheers them both. After the show, Gussie reveals that the girl is Ray Denison. Bertie is later introduced to her, and meets her formidable father, Joe Danby. Aunt Julia arrives, and Bertie takes her to see Gussie and Ray in their respective shows, which seem to engross Aunt Julia. Next, they visit Ray's father Danby, who turns out to have performed with Julia twenty-five years prior. Aunt Julia, happy to see Danby, is suddenly friendly rather than aristocratic. Danby confesses that he always loved her, and prohibited his daughter from marrying outside the profession because that is what Julia did. Julia is moved and they share a heartfelt embrace. Bertie edges out. Meeting Gussie soon after, Bertie hears Julia and Danby are to be married, as are Gussie and Danby's daughter. Julia and Danby plan to perform together again. Fearing Aunt Agatha's ire, Bertie tells Gussie that, if Bertie is lucky, he will not be back in England for about ten years. ===== Bruce Gold, a Jewish, middle-aged university English professor and author of many unread, seminal articles in small journals, residing in Manhattan, is offered the chance for success, fame and fortune in Washington D.C. as the country's first ever Jewish Secretary of State. But he must face the consequences of this, such as divorcing his wife and alienating his family, the thought of which energizes him and makes him cringe at the same time. ===== ===== The Jade Peony is divided into three sections, with a different child of the Chen family narrating his or her experience growing up in Vancouver's Chinatown in the early 1930-40s. Throughout the novel, the children's grandmother and family matriarch, Poh-Poh (the "Old One"), influences them with her own life experience and passes to them their cultural heritage of the "old ways" of China that they must maintain and balance with assimilating into the new world culture. The three children are Jook Liang or "Liang-Liang", followed by Jung Sum, and finally Sek-Lung or "Sekky". ===== Usop Sontorian tells the story of the village life of Malaysian boy Usop b Mat and his friends Abu, Dol, Ah Kim, Vellu, and Singh. Usop is the third child in his family. He has two elder siblings: a sister, Kak Kiah, and a jobless brother named Abang Budin. The story is set in Kampung Parit Sonto, not far from the town of Ayer Hitam, Johor; hence the name '"Sontorian". The theme of the series was to promote unity and harmonious relationships between all races in Malaysia. ===== Alex Hunter almost runs over a woman while driving through the British countryside, swerving and crashing his car into a tree. He wakes to find himself in the picturesque village of Strangehaven, where a young woman named Janey Jones convinces him to stay. He finds a spacious cottage to rent and a job as a teacher at the local school, but it soon becomes clear that something is awry in Strangehaven. A secretive cult calling themselves The Knights of the Golden Light have taken over all positions of authority, a pagan coven is plotting something out in the woodlands, the woman Alex saw in the road seems to be haunting his dreams, and no matter how far he drives, the village itself will not seem to let him leave. While Strangehaven appears to be nothing more than another small Devonshire village, it is clear from the earliest issues that something is not quite right about the village. A number of characters have unusual quirks or gifts, such as the mechanic, Alberto, who is able to restore any car to pristine condition, no matter how badly it is damaged; also Adam, who claims to be an alien with x-ray vision, and Elsie, an old woman who is depicted as being able to communicate with animals. There are a disproportionately high number of twins in the village, including the village doctor and his alcoholic brother, and Janey and Jeremy Jones, who were born on either side of midnight. The village is home to a secret sect called The Knights of the Golden Light, whose members include all high-ranking villagers, including the doctor, the policeman, the headteacher and the solicitor. The group's motives are unclear. However, it is not until issue four that something explicitly supernatural happens, when Megaron, a half- Amazonian shaman, teaches Jeremy Jones to see through a bird's eyes. Supernatural elements are hinted at in earlier issues, most notably in the way that Alex is unable to leave the village without the road seemingly curving back into Strangehaven, and in the visions Alex has of The Woman on the Road, whose physical form also seems to be kept in a fishtank in the house of an unseen villager. Although Alex is unable to leave Strangehaven, it is implied that this is unusual, and few of the villagers have expressed any knowledge of this phenomenon. Suzie Tang leaves the village in one issue to return to Hong Kong, and Billy Bates also flees Strangehaven, so one can assume that some are able to travel outside it. Communication with the outside world is also possible, as Alex is able to press for divorce with his estranged wife through the village solicitor. In issue seven, Alex meets "Surfer Steve", who claims that Strangehaven is conscious and only allows people to leave if "she" wants them to. In issue 17, Alex is informed by a coven of witches, including Megaron, that Strangehaven is the point to which all of the ley lines and other religious and magically-significant monuments point, and is in effect a template for the entire planet. It emerges that the Knights are plotting to take control of Strangehaven's soul, and thus control the planet itself. The truth of these claims, however, has not yet been explored by the books. ===== "Under the Banner of King Death" saw the crew fighting the zombie pirates of Doctor Orlando Doyle, and culminated in an appearance by Satan himself. It was this first story that saw the destruction of the erstwhile pirate's ship and the deaths of most of the crew. It was also where Erebus joined the team - sent on a spiritual quest by Isabella's shaman father, Jack Dancer travelled to the Spirit World and decapitated Erebus in order to use his immortal heads as a spirit compass to help him locate Isabella, who had been kidnapped by Doyle. "Twilight of the Idols" saw the crew captured by the Royal Navy, only to be saved from hanging by an elderly Aladdin, who wanted their help in finding the floating island of Laputa. "Meanwhile..." explored what was happening to the cast of secondary characters while Jack and his crew were away. Erebus and the staff of the Jolly Cripple clashed swords for the first time with Toten. This was also where Erebus gained a new lease of life on his mechanical body; desiring his aid in gathering souls, Toten presented Erebus with the chassis as a bribe - Erebus having up until then been carried about in a glass jar. With Mistress Meryl's help, Erebus double-crossed Toten and kept the chassis. "Underworld" and "The Hollow Land" saw the crew saved from hanging again, (this time at the hands of the Pirate Council) by Jack's half-brother Alexander. Alexander, together with Isaac Newton, recruited Jack's help on an expedition to find their father, who had gone missing during an expedition to a subterranean world below the Earth's surface. Having located the senior Dancer, they were soon embroiled in a civil war between two tribes of lizard men, and shortly after met with Isabella once more. Both Isabella and Jim died before the return to the surface world, although Jim was resurrected, after a fashion, by the Martian entity Hnau. "With a bound he was free..." focussed on Isaac Newton's adventures with lycanthropes while the crew were below the Earth's surface. "War Stories" jumped several hundred years into the future, during the London Blitz of World War II . It featured the reappearance of Toten, as well as Erebus minus a head and Hnau, a shapeshifting entity in Jim's form. "Old Gods", set two years after 'Hollow Land', saw George Washington recruit Jack's crew to aid him in the American War of Independence. ===== John Schuyler (Edward José), a rich Wall Street lawyer and diplomat, is a husband and a devoted family man. He is sent to England on a diplomatic mission without his wife and daughter. On the ship he meets the "Vampire woman" (Theda Bara)-a psychic vampire described as "a woman of the vampire species"-who uses her charms to seduce men, only to leave after ruining their lives. Schuyler is yet another one of her victims who falls completely under her control. In the process of succumbing to her will, he abandons his family, loses his job, his social standing, and becomes a raving drunkard. All attempts by his family to get him to return fail and the hapless "fool" plunges ever deeper into physical and mental degradation. ===== After what is colloquially called "The Cataclysm", a city called New Bethleham is segregated between its center sector, where something approaching normal life is maintained by the use of artificial sunlight, and its oppressive and crime- ridden suburbs and outlying districts, which are home to a new religion called "Doomsterism". Self-centered teenager Bartholomew "Beezer" Beezenbach begins experiencing otherworldly visions of a place that is definitely not New Bethleham. Through a bookseller friend, Beezer is put in touch with Anna Pierce, a wealthy girl from the city's center who has similar visions. The two of them convince Dr. Horatio Gago of the diabolical Science Corp to explain the visions to them. He claims that young people who experience these visions are being psychically yoked to a machine that maintains a small piece of the Cataclysm, which was originally created by a time travel experiment gone wrong. Anna and Beezer encounter a resistance group ready to storm the walls of Science Corp, and they follow, ultimately freeing the piece of Cataclysm and ending its baleful effects on their world. ===== Scooter Girl follows the character of Ashton Archer through high school and his adult life. Ashton was formerly the most popular guy at his high school, being rich, having good grades, and also being able to sleep with any woman that he wanted. After meeting the Sheldons, Ashton goes through several unfortunate events, from his father having to file bankruptcy, to all of his girlfriends discovering that he's unfaithful, to the teachers discovering that his good grades are due to cheating. He later discovers that part of his bad luck was due to Margaret "accidentally" telling his girlfriends about one another, as well as her going out of her way to unnerve him. Because of this, Ashton relocates to San Diego to escape his bad reputation. Years later he discovers that his path has once again crossed with the Sheldons and Ashton begins to find that his life once again is being unsettled by Margaret's presence. In an attempt to woo her, Ashton begins to tutor her brother Drake as well as help him form a relationship with Kitty, a girl that had held a crush on Drake throughout high school. When his elderly grandfather tells him that Margaret is the embodiment of a curse that was set upon the family generations ago (which ends up being a fabrication of a senile old man), Ashton attempts to have her killed, only to later call it off. Eventually Ashton begins to realize that he truly cares for Margaret and makes a genuine attempt to date her, which she later accepts. ===== The novel takes the form of an oral history told by a young man named "Rush that Speaks" and of his wandering through a strange, post- apocalyptic world in pursuit of several seemingly incompatible goals. Each of the four divisions of his story are recorded on a separate crystal, and chapters correspond to facets of each crystal. The story is set in a post- technological future; the present age is dimly remembered in story and legend, but without nostalgia or regret. The people of Rush's world are engaged in living their own lives in their own cultures. Words and artifacts from current time survive into Rush's age, suggesting that it is only a few millennia in the future. Yet there are hints that human society and even human biology are significantly changed. Even such basics as reproduction and eating have been altered, one by industrial-age genetic tampering, the other by contact with extraterrestrial life. Rush comes of age in Little Belaire, a mazelike village of invisible, shifting boundaries, of secret paths and meandering stories and antique bric-a-brac carefully preserved in carved chests. The inhabitants are divided into clans called "cords" based on personality traits. Over the centuries, the people of Little Belaire have perfected an art which they call "truthful speaking": communication so clear and accurate, so "transparent", as to leave no potential for deception or misunderstanding. Perhaps as a result of this practice, Little Belaire appears to be free of any violence or even serious competition. Another result of truthful speaking is the existence of the "saints", those whose stories speak not only of the specifics of their own lives, but about the human condition. Yet even with the benefit of truthful speaking, secrets and mysteries remain. Rush's journey is set in motion when the girl he loves, Once a Day, elopes from Little Belaire to join another group, an enigmatic society called Dr. Boots's List. In his search for her, Rush befriends a hermit and an "avvenger" and shares the secrets of the List. Ultimately he discovers a transparent sainthood stranger than any story told by the gossips of Little Belaire. ===== In 1859, Doc Watterson brings his traveling medicine show to Titusville, Pennsylvania. (In a deliberate nod to Kern and Hammerstein's classic musical Show Boat, which had been filmed with Irene Dunne the year before, it stars Irene Dunne as Doc Watterson's daughter Sally, with Doc in the mold of Dunne's Show Boat character's father, Cap'n Andy. In addition, Dorothy Lamour sings a torch song, much as Helen Morgan did in Show Boat.) When the medicine show wagon accidentally goes up in flames, Mrs Cortlandt and her grandson Peter invite the Wattersons and their fake Indian, Mac, to stay with them. Peter and Sally fall in love. Railroad tycoon Walt Brennan wants to take over the land of several oil-drilling farmers, led by Peter Cortlandt. Brennan wants to use the land to build a railroad. The townspeople block the plan, assisted by a herd of circus elephants, and instead construct their own oil pipeline. ===== A teaser proclaims that all the characthers are fictionious and that anyone resembling them are better off dead. At the estate of King Herman the 6⅞ (Don Brodie) (a parody of Kaiser Wilhelm II), the deposed king of Moronica, war profiteers Ixnay (Vernon Dent), Amscray (Lynton Brent) and Umpchay (previously Onay, Bud Jamison) have decided that they have had enough of Moe Hailstone, the fascist dictator they put in power, and want to help Herman retake the throne. To this end, his daughter, the princess Gilda (Mary Ainslee, previously played by Lorna Gray under the Mattie Herring pseudonym), threatens to try and assassinate Hailstone using an explosive Number 13 pool ball strategically positioned in Hailstone's billiard table (the fictitious country of Moronica seems to be familiar with a pool game in which the 13 ball is placed at the head of the rack during set up). Dictator Moe Hailstone of Moronica enjoys a shave, and fights Field Marshal Herring (previously Gallstone) (Curly) and the Minister of Propaganda (previously called Pebble) (Larry) for a turkey (a parody of Hitler possibly wanting control in Turkey. Larry parodies the attempts to control Greece by saying, "I'll wipe out grease"). The winner of that battle is a portrait of Napoleon who grabs the bird from the bewildered Stooges, before running out of his frame (to enjoy his victory dinner). At a loss, Hailstone starts crying. Gilda enters, and shows the Stooges a glimpse through a telescope of all three of them on a spit roasting in Hell and starts to place in Hailstone's mind the idea that his allies, the "Axel" partners, are plotting against him. After doing this, she replaces the 13 ball on Hailstone's pool table with the explosive 13 ball and flees as Hailstone begins a pool game with his partners. Throughout the rest of the game, the cue ball inexplicably defies the laws of physics, thereby avoiding the explosive ball by swerving around it and finally jumping over it, colliding with Herring's head. Later, the Axel partners arrive for a meeting. The partners consist of Chiselini (Cy Schindell; a parody of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini), the Bey of Rum (Jack "Tiny" Lipson); an unnamed Japanese delegate (Nick Arno; a parody of Japanese emperor ); and an unnamed Russian delegate (Charles Dorety). As the meeting breaks into chaos following Hailstone's declaration that the world belongs to him, the Stooges go into action on the other delegates and each other. Finally, with all the other Axel delegates defeated, Hailstone orders Herring to surrender the globe they had fought over. Herring, however, refuses to comply and furiously smashes the globe over Hailstone's head, sending him into a temper tantrum. Herring, finally having enough of Hailstone's patronizing antics, yells at Hailstone as he grabs the explosive Number 13 ball and throws it against the floor, blowing up the meeting room upon impact. Herman regains his throne and the trio's taxidermied heads are used as three mounted hunting trophies. ===== ===== From humble beginnings as an assistant in his immigrant father's cigar shop, Martin begins employment as a bellboy at the Vanderlyn hotel. He rises through its hierarchy through promotions, due to his reputation as a bright, conscientious worker. When he is offered the position of assistant manager, he quits to focus instead on managing a chain of restaurants. Later, he builds his own new concept for an extravagant hotel, the Hotel Dressler. He finds a friend and business partner in sister-in-law Emmeline Vernon, while his ambiguous, distant marriage to her withdrawn sister, Caroline, is a source of confusion and disappointment. A focus of the novel is Martin's imagination for grand, sweeping business ideas, and his instinctive sense for orchestrating large systems. Through all this Martin has the persistent feeling that there must be something bigger waiting around the next corner. One of the novel's themes is that emptiness may lie behind the ideal of the American Dream. ===== Victory Garden is a hypertext novel which is set during the Gulf War, in 1991. The story centres on Emily Runbird and the lives and interactions of the people connected with her life. Although Emily is a central figure to the story and networked lives of the characters, there is no one character who could be classed as the protagonist. Each character in Victory Garden lends their own sense of perspective to the story and all characters are linked through a series of bridges and connections. There is no set "end" to the story. Rather there are multiple nodes that provide a sense of closure for the reader. In one such "ending", Emily appears to die. However, in another "ending", she comes home safe from the war. How the story plays out depends on the choices the reader makes during their navigation of the text. The passage of time is uncertain as the reader can find nodes that focus on the present, flashbacks or even dreams and the nodes are frequently presented in a non-linear fashion. The choices the reader makes can lead them to focus on individual characters, meaning that while there are a series of characters in the story the characters focused on can change with each reading, or a particular place. Upon entering the work the reader is presented with a series of choices as to how to navigate the story. The reader may enter the text through a variety of means: the map of the 'garden', the lists of paths, or by the composition of a sentence. Each of these paths guides the reader though fragmented pieces of the story (in the form of node) and by reading and rereading many different paths the reader receives different perspectives of the different characters. ===== In February 1966, while on a combat mission, Lt. Dieter Dengler, a German-born U.S. Navy pilot in squadron VA-145, flying from the carrier USS Ranger, is shot down in his Douglas A-1 Skyraider over Laos. He survives the crash, only to be captured by the Pathet Lao. Dengler is offered leniency by the province governor, if he will sign a document condemning America, but he refuses. Dengler is tortured and taken to a prison camp. There he meets his fellow prisoners: American pilots Gene DeBruin and Duane W. Martin, Y.C., Procet and Phisit, some of whom have been captives for years. Dengler immediately plans to escape, but receives only grudging approval from the others. All are suffering from malnutrition, unhygienic conditions and abuse by the guards. After some months the food supply worsens further, and they learn that the starving guards are planning to kill them and return to their village, so the prisoners agree to put the long-prepared plan into action. This involves escaping through a weakened place in the perimeter fence, dividing into two groups, circling the perimeter fence in opposite directions, converging on the guard hut during the lunch hour to overwhelm the guards, and contacting the American forces for rescue. Due to one party of prisoners disobeying Dengler's orders, the escape does not go to plan and nearly all the guards end up being shot. With insufficient equipment and supplies, the prisoners disperse in the jungle. Dengler and Martin form one group, while Gene and Y.C. leave together to an uncertain fate. Dengler and Martin try to reach the Mekong River to cross over into Thailand, fashioning a crude raft, but are caught in rapids and a waterfall. After losing their raft, Dengler and Martin are soon found by a mob of angry villagers, who kill Martin. Dengler escapes and flees back into the jungle, hiding from the pursuing villagers. A few days later, he is rescued by an American helicopter. Back at the U.S. compound he is taken to, Dengler is kept isolated in a hospital for debriefing due to the classified nature of his mission. He is visited by some of the men from his squadron, who covertly take him back to his ship, where he is welcomed as a hero by the crew. ===== Dean Martin and Raquel Welch Posing as a hangman, Mace Bishop arrives in the Texas town of Val Verde with the intention of freeing his brother Dee from the gallows. Dee and his gang have been arrested for a bank robbery in which Maria Stoner's husband was killed by gang member Babe Jenkins. After freeing his brother, Mace successfully robs the bank on his own after the gang has fled with the posse in pursuit. Dee has taken Maria as a hostage after they come across her wagon, during which Gang member Pop Chaney shoots and kills the man escorting Maria. The posse, led by local sheriff July Johnson and deputy Roscoe Bookbinder, chases the fugitives across the Mexican border into territory policed by bandoleros, whom Maria describes as men out to kill any gringos (foreigners) that they can find. Maria further warns Dee that the sheriff will follow, because they have taken the one thing that he has always wanted: her. Despite initial protestations, Maria falls for Dee and finds herself in a quandary. She had never felt anything for the sheriff, nor for her husband, who had purchased her from her family. The posse tracks them to an abandoned town and captures the gang. The bandoleros also arrive, shooting and killing Roscoe, so the sheriff releases the outlaws so that the men can fight back in defense. In this final showdown, almost everyone is killed. Dee is fatally stabbed by the leader of the bandits, El Jefe, after savagely beating him when he attempts to rape Maria. Then Mace is shot by another. Babe and gang member Robbie O'Hare die after killing several bandoleros. Pop Chaney is killed while going after the money Mace stole, and his son Joe dies after trying to rescue him. Maria grabs Dee's pistol and shoots El Jefe dead, sending the now leaderless bandoleros into full retreat. Maria professes her love to Dee and finally kisses him before he dies. Mace returns the money to sheriff Johnson, and then falls dead due to his wound. Maria and the sheriff, with little left of the posse, bury the Bishop brothers and dead posse members without markers, after which Maria notes that no one will know who was there nor what had happened. They then begin the ride back to Texas. ===== Hazel "Haze" Motes is a 22-year-old veteran of an unspecified war and a preacher of the Church of Truth Without Christ, a religious organization of his own creation, which is against any belief in God, an afterlife, sin, or evil. The protagonist comes across various characters such as teenager Sabbath Lilly Hawks, her grandfather Asa Hawks who is a conventional side-walk preacher; and a local boy, Enoch Emery, who finds a "new" Jesus at the local museum in the form of the tiny corpse of a shrunken South American Indian. Hoover Shoates is a promoter who wants to manage Hazel's career as a prophet while Hazel's landlady falls in love with him. The director of the film appears in several fantasy sequences as Hazel's grandfather. ===== In Trafic, Hulot is a bumbling automobile designer who works for Altra, a Paris auto plant. Along with a truck driver and Maria, a publicity agent, he takes a new camper-car of his design to an auto show in Amsterdam. On the way there, they encounter various obstacles: getting impounded by Dutch customs guards, a car accident (meticulously choreographed by the filmmakers), and an inefficient mechanic. In the film, “Tati leaves no element of the auto scene unexplored, whether it is the after-battle recovery moments of a traffic-circle chain-reaction accident, whether it a study of drivers in repose or garage-attendants in slow-motion, the gas-station give-away (where the busts of historical figures seem to find their appropriate owners) or the police station bureaucracy.”Judith Crist, “A Honey of a Jam,” New York Magazine, 11 December 1972. Vol. 5, No. 50. ===== The plot of the show revolves around five superheroes, each of whom is based on a racial or ethnic stereotype, who join forces to fight against a bunch of villains who are mostly discriminatory concepts. The show's artwork is largely an homage to Jack Kirby ("King Kirby" is thanked in the show's end credits), while the animation style parodies the limited animation of the Marvel Super Heroes Show of 1966. The opening tag declaring that Minoriteam is broadcast "FULLY COLORED" is both a racial reference and an homage to the "IN COLOR" or "IN TECHNICOLOR" line opening many old cartoons. ===== The film is about the relationship between Tom Sullivan, a Pākehā journalist, and Rawi, a Māori woman. Sullivan meets Rawi while researching articles on rural Māori life, and he stays for a time with Rawi's family. Rawi's family disapproves of her relationship with a Pākehā man, ending in a quarrel. Later, however, the two are re-united in the city, where Rawi goes to work as a nurse. The two resume their romance, but this time meet with opposition from Sullivan's family and friends, who do not wish him to be involved with a Māori woman. Sullivan eventually comes to agree with their views, and the couple separate once again. Sullivan has a change of heart, however, when he is saved from a fire by a Māori friend's sacrifice. Sullivan and Rawi are reunited. ===== Three high school girls are bored and decide to conduct a séance with a bunshinsaba - a traditional Korean ouija board. As the spirit is called by Eun-jung (Lee Yoon-ji), her sister, Eun-seo (Jeon Hye-bin), scolds the girls. Eun-jung jokingly wishes that the ghost had taken Eun-seo away and that if they do not send the ghost away, it will kill them. Eun-seo is then killed by a ghostly water presence. The amnesiac Min Ji- won (Kim Ha-neul), who is an expert swimmer, begins to have nightmares of a ghost from her forgotten past, which seems to be connected to water. She is confronted by an estranged friend, Yu-jung, who tells her that because of Ji- won, "Su-in" is coming for them. Yu-jung is soon found dead. Ji-won slowly remembers that she used to lead an elitist clique back in high school which consisted of herself, Eun-seo, Yu-jung, and Mi-kyung. Before she became part of the clique, Ji-won was friends with Su-in (Nam Sang-mi), but her ego turned her to regard the introverted Su-in as a laughingstock. Ji-won visits her last remaining clique member, Mi-kyung, who is confined to a mental hospital, but the latter lashes out at her. Ji-won learns from Su-in's mother that the event that led to her amnesia was a trip to a forest with the girls, from which Su- in never came back. Mi-kyung is drowned by the ghost. Heading to a spring in the forest, Ji-won finally remembers the event: Ji-won asks Su-in if she can swim, then pushes her into the spring. Su-in comes up and the girls laugh. The three girls then push Ji-won in as a joke, but upon learning that she can't swim, Su-in dived to save her. While Ji-won was saved, Su-in got stuck in the riverbed and drowned. The other girls just watch as this happens. Ji-won alerts the authorities and informs Su-in's grieving mother. Ji-won returns to her mother, only to realize the horrifying truth: Ji-won and Su-in had swapped bodies during their struggle to get out of the spring. "Ji-won" did not lose her memories because she was never Ji-won in the first place; she is actually Su-in. Ji-won's spirit has been terrorizing her and the clique to gain her body back, and now she inhabits her mother. Her mother vomits water and collapses. Ji-won crawls out but Su-in cuts her wrist so Ji-won can't take her. Ji-won's boyfriend, Jun-ho, comes to save them and they are rushed to the hospital. Su-in is later seen walking through the fish market where her mother, who believes her daughter has died, works. She leaves after hesitating, while her mother looks ominously at her with Ji-won's tell-tale smirk, implying that Ji-won has possessed Su-in's mother. ===== The newest, most advanced destroyer in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, the JDS Mirai, sets sail from Japan on a training exercise with the United States Navy. En route, they encounter a strange meteorological anomaly, causing the Mirai to lose contact with her sister ships. After a short time, the crew detects a fleet approaching, but can barely believe their eyes as a massive battleship passes by them. The crew soon identify it as the Yamato, a ship which was sunk in 1945. As the crew scans with their radar, numerous other ships, including a Nagato-class battleship, are sighted. Two destroyers from the unknown fleet attempt to intercept the Mirai, but she manages to escape. After examining the situation, the crew realises that the ships they passed are part of the Imperial Japanese Navy and that they have somehow been transported back in time more than 60 years to June 4/5, 1942, the first day of the Battle of Midway. Knowing that an American attack will soon devastate the four aircraft carriers of the Kido Butai, some Mirai crew members believe that they should intervene, to save the carriers and the 3,000 Japanese lives that will be lost. With the Mirai's advanced technology and weaponry, which is far superior to anything possessed by the United States (or any other nation) in this era, the crew realize that they could potentially alter the course of the Second World War. However, they agree that their top priority is to return home, and to ensure that they have a home to which to return they decide to do nothing that will change history. Despite their initial intentions not to alter history, they soon find themselves gradually drawn into the war, though they continue to refuse to choose one side over another. The struggle of the crew from a modern, peaceful, and wealthy Japan to resist the nationalistic appeal of defending their country, knowing that in this time it is ruled by a brutal, totalitarian and militaristic government is the central theme of Zipang. Their rescue of an Imperial Japanese Navy officer from the past, Lt. Commander Kusaka, who would have perished in the normal timeline, causes unstoppable and devastating changes in the past when he seeks to create a stronger Japan no matter what the cost. ===== Waikiki Brothers is a band going nowhere. After another depressing gig, the saxophonist quits, leaving the three remaining members - lead singer and guitarist Sung-woo (Lee Eol), keyboardist Jung-seok (Park Won-sang), and drummer Kang-soo (Hwang Jung-min), to continue on the road. The band ends up at Sung-woo's hometown, Suanbo, which was a popular hot spring resort in the '80s. The main resort now is the Waikiki Hotel, and their gig at the hotel nightclub starts well, until Jung- seok and Kang-soo start to play out their worst vices. For Sung-woo, the calm center of the band, the return home is filled with reservations of disappointments and a lost love. He reunites with his old high school friends, the original Waikiki Brothers, and finds them far from happy. He runs into In- hee (Oh Ji-hye), his unrequited first love. Now widowed, she seems desperate to try their relationship again. Sung-woo also runs into his old music teacher, Byung-joo, and tries to help him get work. But the band is fired from the nightclub and Sung-woo is forced to perform in karaoke bars. And, then, tragedy strikes when his high school classmate Soo-chul dies in an accident. ===== The film begins with Huo Yuanjia fighting and defeating three Westerners: a British boxer, a Belgian lancer, and a Spanish fencer. While waiting for the fourth match to begin, Huo remembers his father Huo Endi teaching martial arts. The story is then told in an extended flashback. Watching his father fight, the young Yuanjia wants to participate, but his father is concerned about his asthma. Yuanjia sees his father in a match with Zhao, who dishonorably won by retaliating when Huo Endi held back a fatal blow. Humiliated by his father's defeat, Huo Yuanjia vows to regain the Huo family's honor and pride. He practices martial arts behind his father's back. As time goes by, Huo Yuanjia defeats several opponents (including Zhao's son) and becomes a famous martial artist in Tianjin. As he becomes successful, he grows arrogant and ruthless towards his opponents, unlike his late father who advocated showing mercy to opponents. This also leads to Huo gaining many followers and getting himself into financial trouble by spending his family's money on drinking and partying. When a rival martial arts master named Qin Lei injures one of his followers, Huo feels insulted and confronts Qin on his birthday, at a restaurant owned by Huo's childhood friend, Nong Jinsun. Failing to dissuade his friend from fighting and fed up with his ruthless behavior, Jinsun ends his friendship with Huo. The confrontation escalates into a fight that ends with Qin's death. Qin's godson seeks vengeance and kills Huo's mother and daughter. Huo goes to Qin's house, where Qin's godson admits to the murders before killing himself. Huo learns that it was his follower who had insulted Qin's mistress, which caused Qin to beat him. Wracked with guilt, Huo flees Tianjin and wanders aimlessly for months. He nearly drowns in a river but is saved by Granny Sun and her blind granddaughter, Yueci. They bring him back to their village. Guided by their kindness, and over the years, Huo learns the value of compassion and mercy. In 1907, Huo returns to Tianjin and sees the changes that have taken place. He apologizes to Qin's family and reconciles with Jinsun, now a businessman. He challenges the American wrestler, Hercules O'Brien. Prior to the match, Huo requests that he and Hercules fight with honor and civility. Taking advantage of the language barrier, the Announcer deliberately mistranslates Huo's request to "He wants to kick your butt". During their match, Huo saves O'Brien from being impaled on some nails and wins his gratitude. The match ends with O'Brien happily naming Huo the victor. Huo's fame spreads with successive bouts against other foreign fighters. In 1909, with funding from Jinsun, he founds Chin Woo Athletic Association in Shanghai. The members of the foreign chamber of commerce fear that Huo's victories might fan anti-foreign sentiments among the Chinese people, thus becoming a disadvantage to them. They propose a match between Huo and four foreign champions. Huo takes up the challenge, even though he will have to fight four bouts in a row. Before the matches, Huo meets the Japanese champion Tanaka for tea and strikes up a friendship. The film then returns to the competition shown in the opening scenes. On September 14, 1910, Huo faces Tanaka after defeating the European challengers. In the first round, they fight with their weapons of choice. Huo uses a sanjiegun while Tanaka uses a katana. In the heat of the fight, they accidentally exchange weapons. However, Huo is able to handle the katana proficiently, while Tanaka fumbles with the sanjiegun. Huo offers to exchange weapons with Tanaka, and the first round ends in a draw. Before the next round, Huo unknowingly drinks tea poisoned by the members of the foreign chamber of commerce. In the second round involving unarmed combat, Huo has difficulty breathing and begins to lose his strength. He collapses and starts coughing blood as a result of arsenic poisoning. Tanaka and Huo's supporters demand that the match be halted and postponed, but Huo wishes to continue as he is going to die anyway. Huo is overwhelmed by Tanaka but manages to deliver a final blow to Tanaka's chest, using the same technique that killed Qin, but deliberately holds back. He then collapses. Tanaka, aware that he would have died had Huo used more force, declares Huo the victor as Huo dies. In the epilogue, Huo's spirit practices Wushu on a field while Yueci observes him. Huo turns to her and smiles, indicating a lover's reconciliation. ===== The oldest son of the White Tiger Gang is pressured by his family to settle down and get married; but when he finds the perfect girl, she turns out to be a state prosecutor for crimes of violence, specifically gangster related. The district attorney is a lookalike of the gangster's former fiancée who died getting hit by a truck. Their feelings develop for each other but her co-worker turns out to like her as well. She does not like him so the latter turns to the darker side of the law, by conspiring with the rival Axe Gang. Unfortunately for him, the mafia son has more than a few tricks up his sleeve and gets support from his dim- witted brothers and henchman. ===== Hong Kong 97 begins with a short cut scene which places the game around the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997. People from Mainland China started immigrating to Hong Kong and greatly increased the crime rate. As a countermeasure, the Hong Kong government hires Chin, an unspecified relative of Bruce Lee, to "wipe out" all 1.2 billion of the "red communists" in China. Meanwhile, a secret project in Mainland China has succeeded in bringing the deceased Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (romanized as "Tong Shau Ping" in the game) back to life as the "ultimate weapon". The game uses a picture of Jackie Chan from the movie poster of Wheels on Meals to depict Chin. Additionally, the Chinese translation of the game refers to Chin as "Mr. Chan" (), alluding to the fact that a picture of Jackie Chan was used to depict the character. The back of the insert of the game notes that Chin is a heroin addict. When Hong Kong 97 was released in 1995, Deng Xiaoping, said to be dead in the game, was actually still alive. However, he died on 19 February 1997, a few months before the handover of Hong Kong, the game's backdrop. ===== Jang Su-ro lives in the slums of Korea with his three sons 963, Dog Nose and So-and-So, who just got out of prison. While So-and-So's loyalties to his mob boss and biological family are put to the test when he finds that his family's home is slated to be demolished by the mob's developers, the rest of the family's life is complicated with the arrival of Sun-yi, Jang's new girlfriend who annoys Dog Nose and attracts the affections of 963. ===== A strange series of murders begin to take place in Korea. There seems to be no connection between the victims, only a small sticker depicting a character from the popular "Princess Aurora" cartoon series is found at every crime scene. Detective Oh Sung-ho (Moon Sung-keun), who is studying to become a priest, and his partner (Kwon Oh-joong) are working on the serial murder case, with little progress. Sung-ho begins to suspect that his ex-wife Jung Soon- jung (Uhm Jung-hwa) might be behind the murders. Uncertain of his suspicions, Sung-ho withholds information, and instead of confirming Soon-jung's guilt or innocence, gets caught up emotionally and spends a romantic night with her. The killings continue, with Soon-jung out to punish everyone whom she believes played a role in her young child's death. Soon-jung eventually allows herself to be captured, in order to complete the final act of her revenge. ===== Tom Sawyer is dreaming, and in this dream he must save Becky from Injun Joe, travelling through six stages to get to her. He encounters various creatures, including a giant octopus, a giant alligator in the Mississippi River, ghosts and ghouls in a haunted house, and a dragon. He wakes up from the dream and finds himself in his Missouri classroom, where he finds one feather on his desk that had belonged to Injun Joe. It is never made clear whether or not the events of the game were real. ===== On his day off, J.D. gets called into work by Keith. It turns out that Dr. Cox told Keith to call J.D. to let him see what it feels like to be pestered over little things, as J.D. had done to Cox as an intern. Laverne's gospel choir is also present, singing a song called "Payback is a Bitch". Elliot is basking in the warmth of being seen as an endocrinology expert to her interns. In reality, however, she is hiding pages of notes and books around the hospital with the answers on them. Turk attempts to convince a family to take their brain-dead son off life support so the hospital can perform its first on-site heart transplant, in which Turk will be allowed to assist if he is successful in persuading the family. Meanwhile, Carla jumps at the opportunity to look after Dr. Cox's young son Jack. However, the crew finds challenges awaiting them. J.D. just wants to head home and is constantly waylaid by requests for assistance; Elliot is forced to conduct a seminar with several endocrinology specialists; Turk's dishonesty with the coma patient's family damages his credibility; and Carla can't stand having Jack around and begins to doubt if she's cut out to be a parent. Eventually, all of J.D.'s friends discover they already had what they were looking for all along; Elliot finds that she has been unknowingly memorizing her notes and therefore already has the "brains" to go to the meeting, Turk convinces the coma patient's parents to pull the plug after being completely honest with them and learns the coma patient carried a donor card allowing the "heart" transplant and Carla learns from Dr. Cox that she'll feel differently about her own child than she does other people's and will find the "courage" she needs. Later, as they put their skills to good use, J.D. is finally allowed to go home. ===== In the year 8010, the planet Gradius is once again invaded by the alien Bacterians, who assemble a large-scale assault force to destroy its enemies. The Vic Viper T-301 and its unnamed pilot is deployed to rout the Bacterians. During the battle, a large Bacterian spacecraft comes out of a space-time warp and attempts a kamikaze attack on Gradius, but a second Vic Viper follows it and tells the pilot that they need to destroy the spacecraft's twin cores simultaneously. This is performed successfully, and the Vic Viper leaves to continue the offensive in other locations. Near the end of the game, the Vic Viper encounters a spacecraft in a Bacterian facility and is unable to destroy it. A study of the spacecraft reveals that it is exactly the same one that tried to smash into Gradius. Now realizing that the other Vic Viper's pilot was himself from the future, he activates a space-time portal and travels to the past in order to aid in its destruction alongside his past self. This time, the Bacterian core controlling the spacecraft speaks, revealing itself as a small part of a creature once called Venom (possibly Dr. Venom, a recurring antagonist of the Gradius series) and that the Bacterians will always return before dying. His mission done, the pilot flies the Vic Viper back to his present era. ===== Artie DeVanzo (Artie Lange) is an unemployed town drunk who plays softball with his buddies Maz (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny (Jimmy Palumbo) for Ed's Bar and Swill. Their arch-rival is Manganelli Fitness, led by Dennis Manganelli (Anthony DeSando). After the teams brawl during the first game of the year, the town's police chief decides whichever team finishes best in the league that season can still play in the league, and whichever team loses is out for good. Artie lives at home with his mother (Laurie Metcalf) and can never hold a job or a girlfriend for very long. After a night out with his pals, he ends up at a diner for late night food, where he sees old flame Linda Salvo (Cara Buono) out with her friends. Artie abandons his friends and starts some small talk with Linda, which results in a one-night stand. At first Linda is disgusted and annoyed that she let herself fall into another meaningless encounter, but Artie decides to actually try to attempt a more meaningful relationship with her. The Ed's team, traditionally a league doormat, decides to actually practice in an attempt to beat out Manganelli and stay in the league. The regular season is highlighted by Maz's bachelor party and wedding, and Johnny's attempt to bat .700 for the year. The team charges up the standings to qualify for the championship game against the four-time defending champions from Manganelli Fitness. However, 'Dirt', Ed's Bar and Swill's team pitcher, collapses and dies from a heart attack at practice in the days leading up to the championship. After the funeral, the rest of the team drinks heavily in homage to Dirt before they play in the championship game scheduled for that afternoon. Manganelli's team quickly builds a 10–0 lead over their inebriated opponents, and that remains the score heading into the final inning of the game. After two outs, the season rests on Artie's shoulders. Artie proceeds to launch a Manganelli pitch over the fence in left field for a solo home run, an incredibly rare feat that nobody in the league has done "since '89". That shot only makes the score 10–1, but Ed's Bar and Swill comes to life and bats around the lineup in the inning, bringing Artie back to the plate, now with the bases loaded and the score 10–6, though still with two outs. Artie hits the ball to right field, where nobody is stationed because Manganelli has his fielders playing the "DeVanzo Shift"; completely dead-pull. All three baserunners come home, and as the ball is thrown away, Artie races home in an attempt to tie the score. He and Manganelli have a collision at the plate, but Manganelli hangs on to the ball for the final out and a 10–9 victory. After the game ends, however, Artie keeps his vow of not letting Manganelli have the championship trophy, stealing it during the postgame awards ceremony and driving off down Route 3 past Giants Stadium, heading for the Jersey Shore with Linda, talking about other leagues in other towns and how he can still play in them. ===== Simran (Kangana Ranaut) drowns her misery in booze. Her one friend in Seoul is Aakash (Emraan Hashmi), a singer in an Indian restaurant. Originally a bar dancer in Mumbai, India, Simran is the girlfriend of a notorious gangster, Daya (Shiney Ahuja). Five years ago, Daya's boss Khan (Gulshan Grover) ordered him to give Simran up. When Khan threatened Simran, Daya turned on him and Khan cut Daya loose from his gang. She and Daya were forced to flee to Seoul. They took a small boy named Bittu with them. After an encounter with the Mumbai police, Bittu was killed, causing a strain in the couple's relationship and pushing Simran toward alcoholism. Leaving Simran alone in Seoul, Daya went to work in Mauritius and then Dubai. Aakash tells Simran that he cares for her despite her past, and their relationship gradually develops from friendship to love. Daya, who is still in Dubai, suddenly comes to Seoul. When he learns of Simran's affair with Aakash, he attacks and severely beats him in a fit of rage and jealousy. Daya then professes his love for her and promises to reform and fulfill her dreams of a normal life; he also tells her that if she truly loves Aakash he will not hold her back. Before Simran can respond, the police arrive in pursuit of Daya and Simran. The two flee. Daya gives up murdering innocents and begins working odd jobs, admitting to Simran that he has found peace in doing honest work. He says that he would like to return to his village in India with her, so that they might live there peacefully. To do so he would have to perform one last crime: fake passports for him and Simran. Simran, who is longing for Aakash, soon discovers that she is pregnant with his child. When she tells Aakash, he meets her and tells her he would like to marry her, but they will never find peace as long as Daya is at large. He says that for the sake of their unborn child, Daya must be turned in to the police and only Simran can do this. Simran, who is still emotionally attached to Daya, refuses. Meanwhile, Daya, who has gone to forge passports for himself and Simran, is intercepted by Khan, who reminds Daya of what had occurred between them years before and says that he intends to make an example of Daya for abandoning the gang. Khan and his men severely beat and wound Daya, who is eventually able to fight back and kills Khan. He then calls Simran, warning her that the police are after them and asking her to meet him outside a Seoul train station that night. Simran arrives at the appointed time to find Daya badly injured from his fight with Khan. He manages to crawl to Simran and takes out a box of sindoor for her. But just as he reaches and embraces her, they are surrounded by police cars. Daya realises that Simran informed the police; heartbroken and screaming, he is hauled away. Simran remains at the station until morning and then goes to meet Aakash, whom she finds is not at home. She is soon informed that he is at the Indian embassy. When she reaches the embassy, she enters a room full of reporters and sees a large screen showing a video of her telling Aakash about her relationship with Daya. She is thunderstruck when she sees that the one addressing the media is none other than Aakash, who is actually an undercover Indian detective hired to capture Daya. Realizing that Aakash befriended and wooed her solely to discover Daya's whereabouts, she explodes in fury in front of the media; Aakash holds her back and slaps her across the face. He tells her that he never cared for her and that his involvement with her was only a part of his duty to end organised crime and bring justice to his country. Enraged, Simran tries to attack him, but she is stopped by security. While she is being hauled away, she yells that to spread justice Aakash and his colleagues have done her an injustice and that Daya, who has never betrayed anyone, is not the gangster but Aakash and his men are. She reminds Aakash that he has betrayed the woman who is carrying his child and that he will regret his actions. Daya, who has been arrested and taken to jail, sends Simran a letter saying that he does not blame her for what she did and that she is the one who has been betrayed; he admits that he has done many cruel and bad things but that, thanks to her, he now knows what it is like to live an honest life. He encloses her fake passport and, stating his love for her, writes that he would feel better knowing that she is living safely in India. After reading Daya's letter, Simran is left pained and guilty. Months later, Daya admits and pleads guilty to his crimes. He is tried and sentenced to death. Simran goes to meet him in prison and asks him to forgive her; they share an emotional goodbye. She later goes to Aakash's residence and, forcefully entering his house with a gun, shoots and fatally injures him. Before he lapses into unconsciousness, Aakash shoots her in the shoulder and they are found and taken to a hospital. Aakash dies in the hospital while Simran is transferred to the I.C.U. At dawn she escapes to the roof, where she commits suicide by jumping off the roof. At the same time, Daya is hanged. Simran is shown falling through the air. Before she reaches the ground we see her standing in a meadow and gazing at Daya, who is holding Bittu. Smiling, they hold out their arms to her; she happily runs toward them, and they embrace in heaven. ===== George Pyke is overjoyed at hearing he is shortly to be made a lord, but disappointed with his wimpy son Roderick's handling of Society Spice, one of his leading publications. He hopes pressuring the timid chap to marry Flick Sheridan will be the making of him. In New York, Bill West's love for beautiful Alice Coker has stirred him to become a go-getting type, leaving behind his wild youth, and none too soon, as his uncle Cooley, under the malign influence of white-bearded Professor Appleby, has adopted a youth named Horace and disowned his scrounging family. Bill heads to London, ostensibly to find out why his uncle's business there is doing badly, and takes Judson with him, promising the wild lad's father (and sister) that he'll keep the dissolute fellow out of trouble. One day, thanks to one of Judson's schemes to raise money for a binge, he meets up with Flick Sheridan, friend of his youth, who has long adored him. Judson, annoyed to find his plans frustrated, roams the streets, and on reading a slanderous piece in Society Spice claiming one of his henchmen had created the Fifth Avenue Silks, heads to Tilbury House to confront the editor, Roderick Pyke. Roderick, terrified of enraged bookies, flees the scene, leaving his date Flick in the lurch; she decides to break off the engagement forthwith. Judson, now with Bill in tow, trails Pyke to the Hammond's house, where Pyke hits Bill with a stick, enraging him. Bill gets trapped in the garden, where he runs into Flick, who, having locked herself in her room in protest at her family's plans, is now fleeing her home. Bill takes her in, and they become ever closer. She helps him out by investigating Slingsby, Cooley Paradene's man in London, in the course of which she is seen by Percy Pilbeam, tasked with finding her by her uncle. She escapes, but Pilbeam recognises Judson when he comes to complain once more about the slur in Society Spice. Pilbeam takes Judson to the famous Cheshire Cheese for lunch, and after plying him with drink after his long abstinence, finds out his address. He reports this back to Sir George Pyke, and soon Bill and Flick are being chased across country by Pyke; they evade him by stealing his car, but realise that England is too hot for Flick. Bill writes her an introduction to Alice Coker, urging her to stay with the girl, but she is jealous of Bill's affection for her and resolves to go it alone. At Cooley Paradene's house, Horace has been causing trouble, but plans to rob the library have made little headway; his boss Appleby hears Paradene's plans to head to England, putting Horace into a school while he visits his old friend, Flick's uncle Sinclair Hammond, and also learns that during the trip the books will be unguarded. Flick arrives, somewhat bedraggled, having been robbed of her bags and run out of money, and Paradene agrees to take her with him to England. Bill hears, via Judson, that Alice is engaged to someone else, a chap in the steel business, but is surprised to find he doesn't care. He heads off to dispose of her photographs, but finds them hard to shake, until he runs into a young couple, the male half of which seems to recognise Bill. After leaving the man holding the photos, Bill realises it is Roderick Pyke, which in turn leads to the revelation that he loves Flick. Resolving to head back to America to seek her, he is amazed to find her arriving in London with his uncle; they proclaim their mutual love, but Aunt Francie takes Flick away to await her awful fate, of marriage to Roderick. Judson meets his old friend Prudence Stryker, a chorus-girl from the New York stage, who tells him she knows Slingsby's secret. Judson arranges for her to meet up with Bill at a nightclub, but they are seen there by Flick, being taken out by her uncle to cheer her up; she assumes he has fallen for this other girl, and writes to say she will be marrying Pyke on Wednesday. Bill gets the letter, after confronting Slingsby about his fraud and learning that the other cannot be stopped from fleeing to South America with his ill- gotten loot. Distraught, he goes to Flick's house, but finds everyone out; everyone, that is, except Horace, who he observes passing a heavy bag out of the window to his confederate. Bill tackles the man, who escapes after a scrap, leaving Bill with the swag. Bill goes to the church for the wedding, but Roderick doesn't turn up; Judson has visited him, and persuaded him to run away to Italy with the girl he really loves, his stenographer from Society Spice. Bill explains all to Flick, and they head off with Hammond to a registry office. Bill tells his uncle all about Horace and Slingsby, and with Cooley's grateful support he heads off to happiness with his bride. ===== Nina, an art dealer, has her weekly massage appointment and is surprised to find out her usual masseur, Douglas, has sent a replacement named Fitch. The pair develop an easy rapport during the session, with talk about past relationships. As Nina lies fully nude on the massage table, Fitch also takes time to explain various massage techniques, including those used by Hopi medicine men. ===== Sam Shotter, having failed to please his uncle John B Pynsent in business, is sent to England to work for Lord Tilbury, who hopes to complete a business deal with Pynsent. To avoid being trapped in Tilbury's company, Sam opts to join his old pal "Hash" Todhunter, cook on a tramp steamer, for the trip over. On the way, he shows Hash a photo, found on a wall in a remote Canadian log cabin, of a woman with whom he has fallen in love without even knowing her name. Arriving in England looking rather bedraggled after his trip, Sam finds Hash has borrowed all his cash to place a bet on a dog. It is the night of the Wrykyn Old Boys' dinner, and in town he runs into first Claude Bates, who, fearing Sam may be begging, flees, and later Willoughby Braddock, an old friend. Braddock is staying with Kay Derrick and her uncle Mr Wrenn while his house is decorated, and takes Sam back there, but wanders drunkenly off when they arrive; Sam is mistaken for a burglar by Claire Lippett, the maid, and ends up sleeping in the empty house next door. During the night, Sam is disturbed by someone in the hallway with a torch. Next morning, the confusion having been sorted out, Lippett gives Sam breakfast. He sees a picture of Kay, the girl of his dreams, and finds her uncle also works for the Mammoth Publishing Company, as editor of Pyke's Home Companion. He visits Mr Cornelius, the local estate agent, and takes a lease on the empty house, "Mon Repos". He then sees Lord Tilbury, and gets himself employed on Mr Wrenn's paper. Kay, having just quit her job with Claude Bates' aunt after he kissed her, is visiting her uncle's office when Sam arrives. Sam, overcome at having finally met her, kisses her also, upsetting her further. Lord Tilbury, worried by Sam's odd behaviour, including his sudden rental of Mon Repos, is advised by his sister Francie that there may be a romantic motivation in the form of a woman next door; but Tilbury is reassured to hear that Mr Wrenn has no children. Sam hires Hash Toddhunter to be his cook, while "Chimp" Twist, "Soapy" and "Dolly" Molloy discuss the problem of recovering a large fortune stashed in Sam's new home by an old friend, Edward Finglass, famed for robbing the New Asiatic Bank of two million dollars in bonds. They send in Molloy, posing as a former resident of the house wishing to buy it. The scheme fails, as Sam needs to stay near Kay, and makes Hash suspicious; he buys a large dog named Amy to protect the place. Sam's wooing of Kay begins to bear fruit, and he takes her out to lunch one day, where Lord Tilbury sees them. Having rejected Percy Pilbeam as a helper, he visits Chimp Twist's fake detective agency, and hires Twist to spy on Sam; he forces Sam to hire Twist as an odd job man, but Sam makes Twist remove his repulsive moustache. Hash and Claire become involved, but she is worried by his coolness (he is worried by her mother's nose). Following advice in the "Home Companion", she tries to make him jealous by flirting with Twist, whom Hash chases off in a fury. The Molloys return to "Mon Repos" once more, tie up Hash and begin to search for the money, but Dolly is frightened off by Amy the dog, and Soapy, tired after fending off visitors, is caught napping by Sam, who takes away his trousers. Sam leaves him trapped while he releases Hash and takes him next door to be reunited with Claire. Heading back to his house, Sam meets Braddock, who informs him that Lord Tilbury is in there without his trousers. Sam provides him with some, but the deal between Tilbury and Sam's uncle has fallen through, and Tilbury reveals his dislike of Sam and his opinion that Sam will never be anything better than a moocher. He and Sam part angrily. Braddock spots Twist sneaking back into the house. He follows him and captures him in the act of pulling up some floorboards. Sam, convinced by Twist's testimony that the money isn't in its supposed hiding place, lets Twist go. Sam and Kay, abandoning their hopes of a small fortune in reward money, discuss a loving but poor future. But when they hear from local historical expert Mr Cornelius that the two houses were once one, they realise that the money must be stashed in Kay's house. ===== On the roof of the Sheridan Apartment House, near Washington Square, New York, is a "small bachelor apartment, penthouse style", and the small bachelor who owns it is amateur artist George Finch, who is rich due to an inheritance. He falls in love with Molly Waddington at first sight, but is too shy to approach her until he retrieves her dog. George's authoritative friend J. Hamilton Beamish, author of self-help books, is helping mild- mannered policeman Garroway become a poet. Garroway recognizes George's valet, Frederick Mullett, an ex-convict who served time for burglary, though Mullett is now reformed. Mullett is engaged to former pickpocket Fanny Welch, who is somewhat less reformed. George is invited into Molly's home by her father, Sigsbee H. Waddington; Mr. Waddington, who has been influenced by Western films and novels, longs to go out West and takes a liking to George, since George is from East Gilead, Idaho. Though once wealthy, Mr. Waddington cannot afford to go out West because he is now financially dependent on his rich wife, Molly's step-mother, socially ambitious Mrs. Waddington. She dislikes George, believing his morals are suspect because he lives in an unconventional artist neighborhood, and wants Molly to marry the tall and handsome Lord Hunstanton. However, Molly finds Lord Hunstanton stiff and loves George. Hamilton Beamish gets help for George from Madame Eulalie, Mrs. Waddington's palmist and fortune teller, who tells Mrs. Waddington that disaster will strike if Molly marries Hunstanton. Beamish also falls in love with Madame Eulalie. Molly gets engaged to George, though Mrs. Waddington still dislikes him. Mr. Waddington sells a pearl necklace (which is supposed to be given to Molly when she is married) to buy stock in a motion picture company, replacing the necklace with a fake. He tricks Garroway into buying the stock after it drops tremendously in value. George and Beamish learn that George's ex-fiancée from East Gilead, May Stubbs, is coming to George and Molly's wedding, and they fear she might put a stop to the wedding. Her engagement to George gradually faded but was never officially ended. They plan to have a girl pretend to be George's abandoned girlfriend so May will let this girl have George, and Hamilton Beamish enlists Fanny. When May arrives, Beamish recognizes her as Madame Eulalie. She only views George as a friend and returns Beamish's feelings, so he cancels the plan with Fanny. However, George and Molly's wedding is stopped when Fanny appears pretending to be George's abandoned girlfriend, using this ruse to distract the guests while she steals a pearl necklace on display there, not knowing it is fake. Frederick Mullett, now Fanny's husband, later convinces her to return the necklace. Molly learns that Fanny was lying but Mrs. Waddington still doubts George's morals, and searches his apartment for evidence against him, getting Lord Hunstanton to help. She is identified as a burglar by Officer Garroway, who tries to arrest her but is thwarted when she throws pepper at his face. She is ultimately forced to be less critical of George's morals after she is discovered in the embarrassing position of being alone in the apartment with Hunstanton. Mr. Waddington, rich once again after buying back his now-valuable stock from Garroway, decides they should go out West and Mrs. Waddington consents. She now likes George, since George hit Officer Garroway while escaping a police raid of a restaurant selling alcoholic drinks. Garroway is unwilling to make an arrest because George is Hamilton Beamish's friend. Initially, Garroway is disappointed that he cannot make an arrest after enduring pepper thrown at his face and the restaurant scuffle, but he is uplifted when invited to join George and the others in drinking two large bottles of champagne that George claims mysteriously appeared in his cupboard. ===== David Kinemon, youngest son of West Virginia tenant farmers, longs to be treated like a man by his family and neighbors, especially Esther Hatburn, the pretty girl who lives with her grandfather on a nearby farm. However, he is continually reminded that he is still a boy, "tol'able" enough, but no man. David eventually gets a chance to prove himself when outlaw Iscah Hatburn and his sons Luke and "Little Buzzard", distant cousins of the Kinemons' Hatburn neighbors, move into the Hatburn farm, against the will of Esther and her grandfather. Esther initially tells David not to interfere, saying he is no match for her cousins. Later, the cousins kill David's pet dog and cripple his older brother while the latter is delivering mail and taking passengers to town in his Hackney carriage. Out of a sense of honor, David's father intends to visit vigilante justice on the Hatburns' cousins rather than rely on the local sheriff, but is prevented by an abrupt and fatal heart attack. David is determined to go after the Hatburns in his father's place, but his mother pleads with him, arguing that he will surely die and that with his father dead and brother crippled, the household, including his brother's wife and infant son, depends on him. The now fatherless Kinemon family is turned out of the farm and is forced to move into a small house in town. David asks for his brother's old job of driving the hack, but is told he is too young. However, he finds work at the general store. Later, when the hack's regular driver is fired for drunkenness, David finally has a chance to drive the hack. He loses the mailbag near the Hatburn farm, where it is found by Luke. David goes to the Hatburn farm to demand the mailbag. He is refused and gets into an argument with the cousins, during which he is shot in the arm. David then shoots Iscah and the younger son and later, after a prolonged fight with the older brother (meant to recall the story of David and Goliath), emerges victorious. Esther flees for help and makes it to the village, telling that David has been killed. As a crowd prepares to go look for David, he arrives in the hack with the bag of mail, badly injured, and collapses. It is clear to all that David, no longer merely "tol'able", is a real man and a hero. ===== David Powlett-Jones, a coal miner's son from South Wales, has risen from the ranks of the South Wales Borderers and been commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in World War I after serving three years in the front-line trenches. In 1918, after being injured and shell-shocked, he is employed to teach history at Bamfylde School, a fictional public school in North Devon. Under the tutelage of Headmaster Algy Herries, who views him as a possible successor, David discovers a vocation in teaching. He swiftly earns the respect of many of his colleagues and forms a close friendship with the curmudgeonly English master, Ian Howarth, and with several students of unique personality and talents. He clashes with Carter, an ambitious science master and Commanding Officer of the school's Officer Training Corps (OTC), whose actual military service was embarrassingly brief, cut short for medical reasons. Following the Armistice, the two men disagree on whether or not the school should erect a war memorial; David loses the argument but wins the respect of Brigadier Cooper, one of the school governors. In 1919 David marries a young nurse, Beth Marwood; shortly afterwards, they have twin daughters, Joan and Grace. Five years later, Beth and Joan are killed in a road accident; Grace is badly injured and requires many months of rehabilitation before returning home. After encouragement from one of his pupils, a distraught David contemplates life without Beth, and he carries on for the sake of Grace. David remains concerned about life in Wales, particularly among the miners, and is politically affected by the General Strike of 1926. He returns to writing a scholarly biography of Margaret of Anjou, which he had put to one side after Beth's death. Whilst researching the book in London, he once again meets Julia Darbyshire, a teacher who had worked briefly at Bamfylde, and strikes up a romance with her. In 1927 Herries retires; David and Carter apply for the headship, but the governors, unable to decide between them, appoint a South African named Alcock. His authoritarian management of the school makes him highly unpopular among the staff and the boys. David and Carter, faced with a common enemy, settle their differences, but Carter resigns to take over a school of his own, and several other masters also resign. In 1931 Alcock petitions the Board of Governors to dismiss David, whom he regards as the ringleader of the opposition. After being told that the Board's report will back David, Alcock dies of a heart attack while writing out his resignation. David is appointed as his successor and moves the school forward. David's relationship with Julia ends when she travels to the USA with her boss, whom she marries. David becomes romantically involved with Christine Forster. She is determined to build a career as a Labour politician but is unable to break into this male-dominated world. They later marry. After initial difficulty adjusting to life at Bamfylde, Christine accepts a teaching position at the school and they have a son. Julia Darbyshire's son, born soon after she moved to the USA, becomes a pupil at Bamfylde. At the end of the book Julia informs David in a letter, shortly before her death from breast cancer, that he is the boy's real father. As the book ends, World War II has begun, and David is facing the prospect of losing many of his former pupils in another war. ===== Malli, a ten-year-old girl, tries her best to help her poor parents by collecting firewood. In between; she spies on ‘Mr. Doctor’, the village Vet, who constantly converses with his patients from the animal world. Malli actually hero worships him; and even tries to imitate him secretly She has just two personal dreams: To own a new dress for the festival; and To get the ‘Blue Bead’ which can cure her friend's inborn deficiency. Old Monu, the village storyteller had in her tale of "The Good Spirit". Monu habitually conceives purely imaginary heroic tales which impress Malli very deeply. In that story, Monu illustrated how a ‘Good Spirit’ once had given Monu a Blue Bead as a gift. Malli bribes ! Monu with some honey. In return Monu recites to nonsensical, meaningless rhyme for inviting the Spirit. One back night, Malli tries to invite the Spirit with the rhyme, in vain. On the Festival Malli is thrilled with her new yellow dress her way back from the woods, she rescues a fawn shot down by a poacher. After a long, hazardous journey through thick woods she reaches the Vet's house late at night and waits through the night while he treats the injured fawn. In the morning she begins her long trek back home with the new pet. At the riverside, finding the fawn's happy reaction to its bird community, Malli sets it free. Her despair is further compounded to find her new dress tattered beyond repair, when suddenly a bright object in the sand catches her eye – It Blue Bead! ===== The novel is set in the Sarladais (the Dordogne region of France). An adolescent boy is sent to live with a 35-year-old priest, who becomes his teacher and spiritual mentor, and exerts a powerful control over the boy. He abuses him physically and sexually, but the boy willingly accepts his 'punishment.' The boy falls in love with a slightly younger, and very beautiful boy, meeting in secret and having sex. This disturbing story is much more than a tale of a sexually violent predator. The adolescent himself experiences sexual activity with the other boy, but this relationship is one of genuine love and affection, rather than the coercive, harmful abuse he is subjected to by the priest. Category:1964 French novels Category:Novels set in Aquitaine Category:Novels with gay themes Category:Éditions Julliard books ===== A fictionalized bio-pic of Chauncey Olcott, the film traces the rise of an Irish-American tenor to stardom at the end of the 19th century and start of the 20th. ===== In the first volume of the series, Lanny Budd had met a family of Dutch Jews. By the time the events of this book occur, his half-sister has married one of their sons. In the climax at the end of this volume, Lanny helps spring the other son from Nazi arrest and jail, and gets caught up in the Blood Purge from June 30 to July 2, 1934 in Germany. The novel begins with Lanny Budd in the delivery waiting room in a very expensive hospital in England, while his wife, Irma Barnes, is giving birth to their baby girl. The first couple hundred pages of the book reveal details about Lanny Budd and his family and associates. Irma is a wealthy heiress; Lanny's father owns a gun company named Budd Gunmakers. Lanny's half-sister Bess is married to Hansi, a renowned Jewish musician. Bess is a supportive wife who is said to not even allow Hansi to carry his own violin case because his fingers should only be used as a medium to express his beautiful feelings and passion to millions of people. Hansi is humble and plays for the workers at a very low price and sometimes free. The stock market crashes while Lanny and his friends are on a cruise on the private yacht of Hansi's family. The Jewish family was on their way to pick up their acquaintances at a port and The Budds and friends sit nervously as the yacht fails to return on schedule. The young prosperous Jewish family was captured by the Nazis and the family was split up and put into jails and concentration camps. Johannas, the father of the Jewish family, was retrieved by him giving every last cent of his to the Nazi party. Lanny had to influence to make this happen because he is falsely close with higher ups in the Nazi party and even met Hitler a couple of times over tea. However the rest of the novel is the struggle of getting the last person of the family out of Germany. Although it was arranged that Lanny would pay 30,000 notes for his friend to be dropped off near the border of Germany and allowed to exit the country, SS officers waiting at the location kill Lanny's friend and arrest Lanny. After several days he is dragged into the torture and execution room, where he witnesses the torture of an owner of one of the biggest banks in the world. Strangely he is rescued right before his turn is up. He is brought into an office of one of the greats of the Nazi party that he has met before and is very intimidating especially because of his pet tiger cub. The higher up offers the release of the prisoner if he pays him off and if he goes to the family of the banker and tells them what he saw and gets the account numbers and passwords so they can bleed him dry. If Lanny follows through he will save two lives. Lanny saves his friend and his friend is operated on by one of the greatest doctors in the world to restore him back to perfect health with the help of his wife. ===== Several years ago, a gigantic island arose from the southern Atlantic Ocean due to sudden shifts on the Earth's surface. Numerous adventurers made their way to the island to investigate, but none of them were able to return home safely. This island was named Atlantis, and nobody approached it out of fear. The game's main character is an amateur adventurer named Wynn, who decides to go to the island after learning that his master disappeared on the island over half a year ago. Armed with the special dynamite invented by the master, Wynn heads over to Atlantis all by himself to face an evil emperor who seeks to revive an ancient empire. ===== In 1944, Dutch-Jewish singer Rachel Stein is hiding from the Nazi regime in the occupied Netherlands. When the farmhouse where she has been hiding is destroyed by an Allied bomber, she goes to see a lawyer named Smaal, who has been helping her family. He arranges for her to escape to the liberated southern part of the country. Aided by a man named Van Gein, Rachel is reunited with her family and boards a boat that is to take them and other refugees to the south. However, they are ambushed on the river by members of the German SS, who kill them and rob the bodies of valuables. Rachel alone survives, but does not manage to escape from occupied territory. Using a non-Jewish alias, Ellis de Vries, Rachel becomes involved with a Dutch resistance group in the Hague, under the leadership of Gerben Kuipers and working closely with a doctor, Hans Akkermans. Smaal is in touch with this Resistance cell. When Kuipers's son and other members of the Resistance are captured, Ellis agrees to help by seducing local SD commander Hauptsturmführer Ludwig Müntze. At a party at the local SD headquarters, Ellis recognises Obersturmführer Günther Franken, Müntze's brutal deputy, as the officer who had overseen the massacre of refugees on the boat. She obtains a job as a secretary at the SD headquarters while also falling in love with Müntze who, in contrast to Franken, is not abusive or sadistic. He realises that she is a Jew, but does not care. Thanks to a hidden microphone that Ellis plants in Franken's office, the Resistance realises that Van Gein is the traitor who betrayed Rachel, her family, and the other Jews to the SS. Against Kuipers's orders, Akkermans decides to abduct Van Gein to expose him. Their attempt goes wrong, and Van Gein is killed. Franken responds by planning to kill 40 hostages, including most of the plotters, but Müntze, who realises the war is lost and has been negotiating with the Resistance, countermands the order. Müntze forces Ellis to tell him her story. On her evidence, he confronts Franken with a superior officer, Obergruppenführer Käutner, who orders Franken to open his safe, expecting to find the valuables stolen from the Jews he had killed, this being a capital offence. However, the safe contains no valuables, and Franken then tells Käutner that Müntze has been negotiating with Dutch resistance "terrorists" for a truce. Müntze is imprisoned and condemned to death. The Resistance plots to rescue their imprisoned members; Ellis agrees to cooperate only on the condition that they also free Müntze. The plan is betrayed, and the would-be rescuers find the prisoners' cells filled with German troops. Only Akkermans and one other man manage to flee. Ellis is subsequently arrested and taken to Franken's office. He knows about her and the bug and, knowing that the Resistance is listening in, he stages a confrontation to make them believe that Ellis is the Nazi collaborator, responsible for the failure of the rescue. Kuipers and his companions swear to make her pay for her treason. Ronnie, a Dutch woman working at the SD headquarters to whom Ellis had confided her role in the Resistance, helps her and Müntze escape. When the country is liberated by the Allies, Franken attempts to escape by boat, but is killed by Akkermans, who takes the Jewish loot. Suspecting Smaal is the traitor, Müntze and Ellis return to confront him. Smaal states that the identity of the traitor is evidenced by his ‘black book’, in which he had detailed all his dealings with Jews. However, he refuses to discuss further, wanting to go to the Canadian authorities. When they are about to leave, Smaal and his wife are killed by an unknown assailant. Müntze chases him into the street, only to be recognised by the Dutch crowd and arrested by soldiers from the Canadian Army. The Dutch also recognise Ellis and arrest her as a collaborator, but not before she grabs the black book. Müntze is brought before the ranking Canadian officers and finds that Käutner is helping to keep order among the defeated German forces. Käutner convinces a Canadian colonel that under military law, the defeated German military retains the right to punish its own soldiers. Due to the previously issued death warrant, Müntze is executed by a firing squad. Ellis is imprisoned with other accused collaborators, and humiliated and tortured by the violently anti-Nazi volunteer jailers, but rescued by Akkermans, who is now a colonel in the Dutch Army. Akkermans brings her to his medical office, and says that he killed Franken when the Nazi tried to escape. He shows her the valuables stolen from Jewish victims. When informed about Müntze's fate, Ellis goes into shock, and Akkermans administers a tranquilliser which is in fact an overdose of insulin. Ellis, feeling dizzy, sees the bottle of insulin and survives by quickly eating a bar of chocolate. She realises then that Akkermans is the traitor who had collaborated with Franken and had killed the Smaals. While Akkermans is distracted, waving to a crowd that cheers him, she jumps from the balcony into the crowd below, and runs away. He tries to follow, but is blocked by the crowd. Ellis proves her innocence to Canadian military intelligence and to the former Resistance leader Gerben Kuipers by means of Smaal's black book, which lists how many Jews had been taken to Akkermans for medical help just prior to their murders. Together, Ellis and Kuipers intercept the fleeing Akkermans, who is hiding in a coffin in a hearse with the stolen money, gold, and jewels. They kill the driver, and while Kuipers drives the hearse, Ellis screws down the coffin's secret air vents. They drive to Hollands Diep where the original SS trap had been sprung, and wait until Akkermans suffocates. Ellis and Kuipers wonder what to do with the stolen money and jewels. The scene changes to Israel in 1956, reprising the opening scenes, and shows Rachel meeting her husband and their two children, and walking back into Kibbutz Stein, with a sign at the gate announcing that it was funded with recovered money from Jews killed during the war. In the final scene, the tranquility of Rachel and her family is interrupted by explosions heard in the distance; the siren announces an air attack and Israeli soldiers position themselves at the front of the kibbutz. ===== Dr. Tetsu Segawa, a researcher for the corporation Chronos is on the run after having stolen an alien device known as The Guyver unit from Chronos. He is caught by Lisker; the right hand man of the president of Chronos and his thugs who transforms into a Zoanoid whereas he kills Segawa who in turn was also one of them. He returns the metal briefcase to Chronos' president Fulton Balcus, only to discover that it contains an old toaster as Segawa hid the unit in a pile of trash before he was caught. At a dojo, Max Reed; a CIA agent notifies Dr. Segawa's daughter, Mizuki, about the incident, while her boyfriend, Sean Barker, struggles to pay attention in class. Sean follows Reed and Mizuki to the crime scene; there, he stumbles upon the Guyver unit stored inside a lunch box and stuffs it in his backpack. On his way home, his scooter breaks down in the middle of a back alley before a gang corners him. While Sean is being attacked by the gang, the Guyver activates after he is kicked to the ground with his head landing on the unit and fuses with him. Sean, in his newly armored form, dispatches the gang members, but is shocked by his physical appearance before the armor quickly disappears into two scars on the back of his neck. The next night, Sean goes to Mizuki's apartment, and discovers his sensei murdered and Mizuki abducted by Lisker's thugs. With the help of Reed, Sean rescues Mizuki before the trio are chased by Lisker's gang of Zoanoids. They are trapped in an abandoned warehouse, where Lisker's thugs hold Mizuki captive, and Sean once again transforms into the Guyver to battle them. Sean defeats the Zoanoids before squaring off against Lisker. During the battle, Sean executes a headbutt, which temporarily malfunctions the armor's Control Metal. Now knowing his weakness Lisker and the others attempt to attack the Control Metal to beat Sean. During battle after having been hit with a charged head butt from Lisker He kills Lisker's girlfriend, Weber, but he mistakenly believes he killed Mizuki as well not realizing she was only unconscious. Grief filled the Zoanoids gang up on him, and Lisker rips the Control Metal off his forehead, disintegrating the armor into liquid and killing Sean in the process. Mizuki wakes up at the Chronos headquarters, where Balcus shows her a gallery of Zoanoids before questioning her on how Sean was able to activate the Guyver. Dr. East, the head of genetics research, discovers that the Control Metal is regenerating itself into a new Guyver unit. After seeing Reed being experimented on, Mizuki assaults Balcus and takes the Control Metal, threatening to throw it into the disposal chamber. In the middle of the heated exchange the Control Metal begins attaching itself to her hand preventing it from being dropped in the disposal chamber. Striker, one of Lisker’s dim witted goons inadvertently flings the Control Metal off Mizuki’s hand, and is accidentally swallowed by Dr. East. Lisker tries to retrieve it but East begins to frantically spasm then dies after being cut open from the inside. Soon a newly alive Sean burst through East’s body as the Guyver unit is actually able to not just self regenerate itself but it’s host too long as the Control Metal isn’t damaged. Sean and Mizuki free Reed from the experimental chamber before Sean once again battles Lisker and kills him along with the other Zoanoids. Before the trio proceed to escape, Reed suddenly mutates into a cockroach type Zoanoid and dies due to his system rejecting the new form due to leaving the chamber too early. Balcus demands Sean hand over the unit but can not as he as permanently bonded with it. Balcus reveals his true form as the Zoalord and corners Sean, but the Guyver's defensive system activates the Mega Smasher cannons on his chest and obliterates Balcus and the laboratory. Sean deactivates the Guyver armor before he and Mizuki leave Chronos headquarters as Reed's former partner Col. Castle and Striker look on. ===== Gunbird uses manga-styled character as the player's chosen craft. A story plays out in between levels and before boss fights, telling a tale of how the protagonists are trying to collect pieces of a magic mirror to make a wish. *Ash (アッシュ): A 28-year-old German man with a jet pack on his back, who in some of the scenes between battles is discovered to be an inventor, and when two players choose Marion and Ash as cooperative partners, he takes an unhealthy interest in her. Voiced by Ryōtarō Okiayu. *Marion (マリオン): A 13-year-old witch from England who flies on a broomstick. She is accompanied by her talking pet rabbit, Pom-Pom, and frequently abuses the poor creature verbally and physically. Marion is fun-loving and thrill-seeking but also selfish, and has a mean streak (which Pom-Pom is often witness to). Voiced by Chiharu Tanaka. *Valnus (バルナス): A big robot created in Russia six months ago that has some of the best firepower in the game. Secretly wishes to be human. Voiced by Kazuya Tatekabe. *Yuan Nang (ヤンニャン): A strong-willed and courageous woman whose character design is highly influenced by that of Sun Wukong from the Chinese classical story Journey to the West, including a cloud-somersault parody, Ruyi Jingu Bang, and the size-changing headband that was used by the monk Tang Sanzang. Voiced by Naoko Matsui. *Tetsu (鉄): A strong, white-haired old man of 60 years. He is homosexual in a rather uncloseted manner and rides in a man-powered helicopter. Voiced by Sakunosuke Maya. *The Trump (トランプ): A group of sky pirates consist of Ace (voiced by Jōji Yanami), Claude (voiced by Kazuya Tatekabe), and their female leader Rouge (voiced by Noriko Ohara). They are not playable and serve as the players' rivals in the story. ===== The book involves a Chinese woman, Shu Wen, retelling her life in Tibet to Xinran in a tea shop in Suzhou. In the 1950s, as China revels in its unification under Communism, Shu Wen, a doctor, marries a military doctor who gets orders to go into Tibet to subdue the Tibetan people and bring them under Chinese rule. The reputation of the Tibetans from the Chinese government paints them as sympathetic and welcoming, but gradually she learns of their resistance to subjugation. She is informed that her husband has gone missing, and against the wishes of her family and friends, she leaves her comfortable life in Suzhou to join the Army and search for him in Tibet. Her unit encounters a Tibetan woman near death in the highlands, and Shu Wen decides to treat the woman and take her away from her soldiers, who suspect she is a scout or a resistance fighter. The two women are soon separated from the regiment. Without supplies and knowledge of the language, she wanders, trying to find her way until, on the brink of death, she is rescued by a family of nomads under whose protection she moves from place to place with the seasons. During these 30 years she learns the Tibetan way of life and gradually loses her sense of Chinese identity, while quietly hoping for news of her husband's fate. Years after joining the nomads, she encounters Chinese soldiers who tell her about a Chinese doctor who received the Tibetan ritual of sky burial. After going to a nomad gathering, she meets an old sage, who tells her that he was the man rescued by her husband, who in doing so disrupted a sky burial ritual, shot a vulture dead, chased all the vultures away and angered the Tibetans. To ensure the safety of his unit, her husband chose to sacrifice himself to call the vultures back through a sky burial, which would double up as demonstration that Chinese people are not demons, but only people, like the Tibetans. This soothed the angry Tibetans and put an end to skirmishes between the two people in this area. The sage said he would continue to sing the praises of the doctor as long as he lived, and Shu Wen finds peace. She returns to Suzhou, where Xinran encounters her, still searching for her relatives and eking out a modest living. ===== The opening shot is of a shoe lying in the gutter. It belongs to a man who is leaning against a parked car drinking a carton of milk. After a moment, the owner of the car then angrily tells him to stop. As the man walks off, he spots a woman across the road and as he stumbles on the curb - the woman mimics him. He looks at her oddly. She again copies him as he discards his milk carton on a fence and swings his arms. They continue mimicking each other until we see that the man is approaching a crossing in the road. However, the man is enjoying the game too much to realise the danger and continues to imitate the woman who is trying to warn him of the oncoming traffic. He is then struck by a car which flips over and forces his shoe to fly through the air and land in the gutter. ===== A lovely week in the lives of these people. An elderly woman (Oh Mi-hee) rents a coffee shop from a gruff theater owner (Joo Hyun). A newlywed couple crushed by debt and desperate for work, the down-on-his-luck salesman (Im Chang-jung) hides the fact that he sells trinkets on the subway from his wife (Seo Young-hee). A bill collector (Kim Su-ro) who is fed up with his job is then offered a spot on a local reality television show to relive his college basketball days and also fulfill the wish of a terminally ill girl (Kim Yoo-jung). A tightly wound, divorced father (Chun Ho-jin) works in the music industry. He is struggling to raise his son, and needs to find a maid. His ex-wife (Uhm Jung- hwa) is a fiery spirited psychiatrist, who has perhaps met her match with a rough-and-tumble cop (Hwang Jung-min). A famous male pop singer (Jung Kyung- ho) becomes stricken with a mysterious illness after his contract is cancelled by the music executive. He meets a young nun (Yoon Jin-seo) who tried to kill herself due to her strong feelings for him. ===== ===== Zach (Bruce Greenwood) is a soul collector: an angel who collects souls to take up to heaven. He is sent to earth to live as a human for thirty days on a Texas cattle ranch. There, he falls in love with ranch owner Rebecca (Melissa Gilbert), a widowed single mother, and influences the lives of her son and the ranch workers. ===== Sandy Ricks (Luke Halpin) is asked to vacate his home to make way for a new highway but runs away from home to keep his pet dolphin Flipper from being taken away. His Dad, Porter (Brian Kelly), widowed since the prior film, returns from Park Ranger school to search for Sandy but doesn't realize his son has fled in their skiff motorboat to the Bahamas. On the way, Sandy runs out of food, water and gas. Flipper helps by towing the skiff to a seemingly deserted island. Just as Sandy is establishing himself with food and fresh water on the island, and has found a cave to hide from aerial search patrols, he witnesses the vacationing British family of Sir Halsey Hopewell (Tom Helmore) being taken hostage by recently escaped convicts. The mother, Julia (Helen Cherry) and two daughters Gwen (Francesca Annis) and Penny (Pamela Franklin), are forced into a small boat and told to row to the nearby island where Sandy is hiding. Mrs. Hopewell, Gwen, and Penny struggle to find food to survive; Sandy finds ways (with the help of Flipper) to get fish, matches, and other items to the Hopewells without being discovered. This lasts until Sandy accidentally meets and then befriends the younger of the two daughters, Penny. Sandy and Penny form an innocent romantic attachment as Sandy shows her around his new island paradise and secretly helps her behind her sister's and mother's backs. Sandy shows Penny how to cut down and husk coconuts, light fires, and weave fish nets. The happy friendship seemingly comes to an end when Sandy, afraid that rescuers of the Hopewells will discover him and Flipper and make them return to the Keys and be separated, sends Flipper to douse the Hopewells' rescue fire. Penny is angry and tells Sandy to stay away. Sandy tries to make up by placing fish, cans of food, a can opener, and a flashlight into their nets. Soon after, the convicts come back for the mother and daughters, and Mr. Hopewell is made to radio the nearest Coast Guard station in Puerto Rico that he and his family are hostages. Sandy and Flipper make a plan to rescue them from the convicts. Sandy distracts the convicts by releasing much-needed cans of food and luring one of the convicts into a row boat to retrieve the cans; Flipper tips the boat over and rams the convict in the stomach, knocking him out. Sandy and Flipper grab him and leave him in a hidden cave. Through various ruses Sandy manages to get the remaining two convicts into the water. The second one is captured in the same way as the first, and the leader fights hard with a knife to fend off Flipper. Though he is overcome and Sandy is able to tie him to the boat hull, he manages to stab Flipper near his tail in his frantic attempts to escape, and Flipper is washed up bleeding and injured on the beach. Sandy sobs as he holds his injured friend. Sir Halsey radios that they are safe and calls for a vet. Flipper is nursed to health at the Miami Seaquarium, where Porter has returned to announce his assignment as Park Ranger to the Coral Key Marine Preserve. ===== After accidentally causing the death of his partner during a hostage situation, Wu Young-min quits the police force to work for his uncle as head security of Dreampia, an immense shopping center. Dreampia is currently in the rebuilding stages as a fire destroyed parts of it five years ago. The re-opening was scheduled in a few days, until some strange murders begin to occur in the building. It seems that the victims, all employees of the mall, have committed suicide in very gruesome and unconventional ways. Young-min is very suspicious about the police explanation, and starts his own investigation, but unfortunately for him, an old acquaintance, Ha Hyun-su, is in charge of the police investigation. Hyun- su still blames Young-min for the death of their friend and is not interested in cooperation. The more clues they stumble on, the more strange and unnatural the truth becomes. ===== Despite having dated a number of women, professional baseball player Dong Chi-sung has never had a first love. "I always think it's love, but sooner or later I find out it's not..." Sure enough, his latest girlfriend dumps him, and then on the same day, he goes to the doctor and finds out he has a malignant tumor, with only three months to live. It's September now, so he won't even live to see the new year. With his mind in a tailspin, he goes to a friend's bar to drink away his pain. Not a heavy drinker by habit, Chi-sung passes out, and wakes up to find himself in a hotel room with the bartender, a rather quirky woman he's mostly ignored until now."How did I get here?" he asks her in confusion, and she tells him she folded him up and carried him in a box. Then she starts telling him about how he acts when he's drunk, before leaving him alone in the hotel room. What a strange woman... The next day he goes to baseball practice, completely unable to concentrate. Formerly a successful pitcher in university, he was moved to the outfield after a shoulder injury, and then demoted to the minor leagues. On his way home, he hears an oddly familiar story being told on a radio program devoted to "confessional love stories." Someone calling herself "Writing Princess" is talking about carrying a man in a box to a hotel room, and talking to him there. What kind of woman is this, anyway?... Han Yi- yeon works part-time in a bar and at a coffee shop, and listens to radio programs as a hobby. Ten years earlier, a young student in a baseball uniform moved into her neighborhood, and from that day on she has slowly fallen in love with him from afar. But she had never found the opportunity to talk to him, until the night when he came alone into the bar where she works. She is shocked to see him start crying, and then after just three drinks he passes out. Without much choice she takes him to a nearby hotel and looks after him there. Seeing him sleep so peacefully, she just wants to stay together with him for as long as she can. But when he wakes up, all the words she wants to say get stuck in her throat, and all she can do is tell him that he's a well- behaved drunk. Frustrated and embarrassed, she leaves him there and goes back home. She decides to send a postcard—or five—to her favorite radio programs... Although Chi-sung angrily confronts Yi-yeon about the "radio incident," it provides her with an opportunity. One radio station sends her a free mobile phone as a gift... Chi-sung has recently lost his, so she stops by his home to give it to him. Another radio station sends her free movie tickets, so she takes him along. While at the theater, Chi-sung runs into his old girlfriend and describes Yi-yeon as "just a woman I know." Is that all?! Is there any way that she can become "someone special" to him?... ===== The game's storyline centers on a young mage named Isaac, whose father Russell has left him in the possession of the Wand of Light, one of seven powerful wands which allows him to cast damaging, healing, and other spells, and also capture and control opposing monsters. Isaac got separated from his parents when he was little, and was raised by a forest witch in the arts of magic. ===== Young Andy Stannard (Bobby Clark) is the son of Dave Stannard (Glenn Ford), a wealthy executive, and his wife Edith (Donna Reed). One day, Edith and Dave feel that each has miscommunicated with the other about the whereabouts of their son. The principal Mrs. Partridge (Mabel Albertson) of Andy's school telephones and informs Edith that Andy was picked up by a nurse and taken to Dr. Gorman's (Alexander Scourby) office for treatment of a viral infection. However, when Dave phones Dr. Gorman, he finds out that Andy has not been at his office at all that day. Realizing that their son has been kidnapped, the Stannards call the police. The chief of police Jim Backett (Robert Keith) organizes a search for young Andy. He directs the installation of traces on the four telephone lines into the house, and he has a dummy line created for all outgoing calls, in order to keep the main number free. Together, they are waiting for the kidnappers to call with a ransom demand when newspaper reporter Charlie Telfer (Leslie Nielsen) slips into the house to observe the goings on. Backett attempts to throw him out, but Telfer, who is a friend of Backett's, manages to stick around for the kidnapper's phone call. When the principal of Andy's school arrives and demands not to be held responsible for Andy's abduction, Edith attacks her with a fire poker. Dr. Gorman sedates Edith, and she sleeps upstairs through most of the events of the film. When the kidnapper finally calls, he demands $500,000. The Stannards are to signal their cooperation by having a popular TV host wear a white jacket on the next evening's broadcast. The police trace the phone call to a phone booth and arrive in time to find the kidnapper's cigarette still burning. With his brother and business partner Al (Ainslie Pryor), Stannard puts together the ransom money. They are discussing the scenario with Backett and Telfer, when the chief and the reporter exchange knowing looks with each other. Stannard demands to know what the look was about. Telfer explains that even if Stannard pays the ransom, there is no guarantee that Andy will be returned alive because he is evidence of the kidnapper's crime. He explained that Stannard has two options, each with two possible outcomes: either pay the ransom or not, and Andy will be murdered or returned regardless of which choice Stannard makes. Backett explains that the police wish parents would not pay ransoms, because it actually encourages kidnappers to continue the practice. It is the first time that Stannard had considered the fact that the ransom would not guarantee his son's safety. The next day, instead of following the kidnapper's plan, he appears on the designated TV show himself, with the $500,000 spread on the table before him. He informs the kidnapper, who is shown watching the broadcast, that he is as close to the money as he will ever be. Instead of paying the ransom, Stannard announces that he will offer the money as a reward to anyone who turns in the kidnapper if Andy is killed. Only Telfer and Backett are sympathetic with Stannard's decision, but even Backett is worried because it appears as if he officially advised Stannard to refuse the ransom. He eventually demands a letter from Stannard absolving him of any responsibility for the decision. When Edith discovers what her husband did, she bolts for the front door, in an attempt to reverse the decision by speaking to the press gathered outside her home. She is restrained, and Al decides to remove her from the home. Stannard is all alone when Backett enters the next morning, with the press in tow. He asks Stannard to identify a T-shirt that was discovered behind a seat in a stolen car. It is Andy's shirt, and it has visible blood stains on it. Convinced that his son is dead, Stannard works with his lawyer to arrange a trust that will pay the $500,000 to whoever turns in the kidnapper within a decade. After ten years, he directs that the money be dedicated to another family in a similar circumstance. Abandoned by everyone but his butler, Stannard goes out to the backyard and sits beside the fort that Andy was building with his friends. He breaks down weeping at the sight of it, but suddenly, Andy appears. Stannard is overjoyed to see him. He asks where he got his new shirt, and Andy explains that they gave him a new one when he bit the nurse who bled all over his T-shirt. The film ends with all three Stannards reunited in an embrace as the butler thanks God. ===== 17-year-old high school student Koto Hoshino wants nothing more than to be as courageous as her favourite game character Misuzu. On a school excursion, she visits the Izumo temple, where a ceremony for Misuzu is being held, and is attracted to the temple's tower top when she finds a strange watch. When she gets to the top, she performs a strange ritual, but does not seem to realise. Suddenly, a portal of evil appears. Luckily, she is saved by a boy named Kurusu, who tries to overcome the mirror, but is sucked inside. A girl named Scarlet arrives, but he tells her to protect Koto. The next moment the holy ground shakes tremendously, and Koto is knocked out. When she regains her consciousness, everything has changed. Koto finds herself in what seems to be a parallel world, where Earth does not have a single soul except her and the Cosmopolitan Prayers, priestesses who combat evil. The daughter of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu appears, and explains that Koto was tricked into performing the sealing ritual and imprisoning her mother Amaterasu, who is being held prisoner by the forces of evil. Now, as part of the 'Cosprayers', Koto must fight the evil forces that sealed the Earth. The Cosmopolitan Prayers, a team of seven beautiful girls, pure in heart and body and skilled in spiritual seals, must use their skills to purify the dark towers. But can they overcome heartache and betrayal to become the White Goddess of Light? And can Koto overcome herself to save her new friends and the world? Each episode in CosPrayers runs for twelve minutes and has a color in its title. The continuity of many episodes is sporadic which may be due to editing of the original material to fit into the twelve minutes. ===== All characters of Si Unyil are hand puppets with the physical appearances of ordinary Indonesian faces. Traditional touch is strongly apparent in the show, from the suit of every characters to the stories that dealing with everyday life. Characters are divided into "good" and "bad" ones, where a group of three young children (Unyil and his two friends) as good, while three other children as bad boys. Conflicts often arouse between the two groups with the ending always with a message to become a good children. To enhance the story and to be more entertaining, two antagonistic characters were introduced. They are the short-tempered thick mustached Pak Raden and the lazy Pak Ogah. Although the two antagonistic characters were supposed to be unsympathetic ones, they were more popular than other characters. Pak Raden represents a hard working man with a rugged face and strong Javanese background who always wears a traditional Javanese suit. The popularity of Pak Raden came when he became funny and was wrong all the time despite of that he insisted strongly at the beginning that he was right. Pak Ogah, on the other hand, represents a lazy person who does not want to work but only to ask money when people asking for his help. He usually accompanied by his sidekick Ableh. ===== In the year 1950, a plague known as "masculitis" has killed every fertile man on Earth over the age of 14. Womankind takes over the world and a woman becomes President of the United States. Meanwhile, a female aviator, Gertie (Grace Cunard), flying over a redwood forest, finds smoke rising from the chimney of a cabin, where she discovers a reclusive hillbilly named Elmer Smith (Earle Foxe). He is captured and examined at a hospital. All the women in the world soon begin to fight over Smith. ===== A wealthy family—Georg, his wife Anna, their son Georgie, and their dog Rolfi—arrive at their holiday home beside a lake in Austria. They spot their next-door neighbor Fred accompanied by two young Viennese men whom they do not recognize. Fred introduces the men as Peter and Paul, one of whom Fred claims is the son of a friend. Shortly after the family settle in, Peter and Paul begin imposing themselves on the family's courtesy. First Peter asks to borrow eggs which he keeps breaking, supposedly by accident, also destroying the family's phone with his apparent clumsiness. Eventually, a frustrated Anna demands that the men leave, asking Georg to eject them from the premises. Peter breaks Georg's leg with the latter's golf club while Paul reveals he has killed Rolfi, and the two men take the family hostage. Shortly after, neighbor Eva, in the company of several friends, arrives at the family's dock on her boat. Paul escorts Anna to greet them. Anna lies, stating that Paul is a family friend, and says that Georg is resting, having pulled a muscle while setting up the yacht. Anna tells Eva the family may come over after dinner. Over the following several hours, Peter and Paul subject the family to sadistic games; Paul demands Anna remove her dress after Peter states he would not have sex with her. Paul then covers Georgie's head in a pillowcase, but Georgie eventually flees to Fred's house, which he finds empty. Paul chases after him, cornering him in the house. Georgie attempts to shoot him with a shotgun, but finds the gun has no ammunition. Paul returns Georgie to the home, bringing the shotgun with him. Paul asks if the family wants to bet whether they will still be alive by 9:00 the next morning, though he doubts that they will win. Between playing their games, the two men keep up a constant patter, and Paul frequently ridicules Peter's weight and lack of intelligence. He relates contradictory stories of Peter's past. No definitive explanation of the men's origins or motives is offered. After a few more games, Peter plays a counting-out game between the family members and shoots Georgie while Paul makes sandwiches in the kitchen. After this, both intruders leave. Georg and Anna weep for their loss, but eventually resolve to survive. Anna flees the house while Georg, with a broken leg, tries to repair the malfunctioning phone. Anna struggles to find help, but eventually Peter and Paul reappear, capture her, and return to the house. During another sadistic game, Anna grabs the discarded shotgun and kills Peter; however, Paul uses a remote control to rewind the film, breaking the fourth wall, and prevents this from happening. They kill Georg and take Anna out on the family's boat early the next morning. Around 8:00, Paul casually throws the bound Anna into the water to drown, thus winning their bet. Shortly after, the men arrive at Eva's house and knock on the door, asking for some eggs. ===== The British Army attacks Ciudad Rodrigo, a fortress guarding the northern path into Spain. Sharpe and Harper lead an assault on the French. Unfortunately, Sharpe's commander and friend, Colonel William Lawford, is severely wounded when a mine is detonated. He loses an arm and retires from his post as commander of the South Essex regiment, losing Sharpe a friend and ally. Sharpe's situation only gets worse when his old enemy, Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill, joins the company. Hakeswill hates Sharpe with a vengeance and plans to kill him. Meanwhile, Sharpe's lover Teresa Moreno arrives, informing Sharpe that she has given birth to his daughter Antonia, and that she is living in Badajoz. Sharpe promises her that he will protect her when the British army attacks the city. He is also reunited with his former Lieutenant, Robert Knowles, who is now a captain of a fusilier company. Knowles also vows to protect Teresa. Later, Hakeswill encounters Teresa in a stable. He attempts to rape her, but she fights him off, slashing his face and wrist. Sharpe and Harper enter the stable, and Harper brutally beats Hakeswill. Hakeswill vows revenge on Harper. Then Lawford's replacement, Colonel Windham arrives, as well as Captain Rymer, who has purchased his captaincy, a normal practice in the British Army. Meanwhile, Sharpe's promotion to captain is finally rejected; the long delay in the verdict was due to being confused with another officer who died. Sharpe reverts to the rank of lieutenant, but Windham attempts to cheer him up by telling him vacancies will soon become available, as Wellington is determined to attack the formidable fortress at Badajoz as soon as possible, and casualties are expected to be high. Sharpe is given command of the regiment's baggage, ordered to guard it while the regiment digs trenches around the city. Sharpe leaves the baggage to visit his company, and when Rymer attempts to talk to him, the French attack. Rymer does nothing, so Sharpe leads his men into battle. The French are defeated, but in Sharpe's absence the regiment's baggage is robbed by Hakeswill. Windham is furious with Sharpe for abandoning his post, and is further angered when he discovers that a prized portrait of his wife has been stolen. He searches the packs of all the members of the Light Company, and the frame, but not the picture, is found in Harper's bag. Windham has Harper demoted to private and flogged. A few nights later, Windham sends the Light Company on a night attack to destroy a dam. He asks Sharpe to serve as his aide. Before the attack, Harper's seven- barrelled gun is taken from him by Hakeswill, as it is a non-regulation weapon. When the Light Company takes longer than expected, Windham orders Sharpe to find out the cause of the delay - stressing he is to do nothing else - and report back as soon as possible. The accompanying engineers light a fuse to detonate barrels full of gunpowder, but it becomes dislodged. Sharpe decides to blow the wall himself. He succeeds, but it turns out the engineers miscalculated, and the dam remains intact. During the fighting, Hakeswill tries to kill Sharpe using Harper's seven-barrelled gun, but only wounds him in the leg. Windham decides to remove Sharpe temporarily to allow Rymer to establish his authority, though he knows Sharpe is a brilliant soldier. He also orders the riflemen to abandon their rifles, which Rymer, at Hakeswill's prompting, blames the mission's failure on, as well as their green jackets. As Hakeswill taunts the disarmed riflemen, Sharpe humiliates Hakeswill by firing the rifles, which are supposed to be unloaded, at Hakeswill's belly. Hakeswill is more than ever determined to get revenge, and also plans to get to Teresa in Badajoz before Sharpe does. Sharpe is interviewed by the army commander, the Duke of Wellington, a few days later after Sharpe has scouted the enemy fortifications closely. Wellington decides to attack that night. Sharpe is ordered to simply guide the various regiments into their positions. However, he rejoins his regiment, which has been devastated by the French cannon fire. Windham is bravely trying to lead his men into the breach, and when Sharpe reaches his company, he discovers Rymer has been shot dead, so he takes command of his company. Meanwhile, Knowles has managed to reach the top of the French wall and leads his men into the city. While his men kill the French and plunder the homes, Knowles looks for Teresa to protect her. Knowles reaches Teresa's house, and Teresa lets him in, but Hakeswill, who had hidden himself under dead bodies during the assault, climbs to the upstairs room where Antonia is sleeping. When Teresa enters the room, he threatens to kill the baby unless Teresa has sex with him. Knowles tries to intervene and is shot dead. Meanwhile, Sharpe leads his men through one of the three breaches in the fortifications. Other British units break through at other points as well. Sharpe and Harper fight their way through the French to reach Teresa, and comes face to face with Hakeswill. Harper picks up Hakeswill's discarded shako and finds the picture of Windham's wife inside it, whom Hakeswill believes to be his mother. Harper threatens to destroy the picture unless Hakeswill releases Antonia. Hakeswill complies, but though Harper, Sharpe, and Teresa all attempt to kill him, they interfere with each other, allowing him to escape by leaping out a window. Hakeswill deserts. At the end of the battle, Windham praises Sharpe for his bravery. Sharpe returns his wife's portrait, explaining who had it, and Windham apologizes to Harper. Sharpe and Harper have their ranks restored. ===== In the film, George Lucas (Martin Hynes) is a 1967 USC college student, suffering from writer's block as he attempts to write a movie about a young space farmer with a bad crop of "space wheat". Taking a break from his work, George goes on to encounter classmates and teachers who resemble and will influence the eventual creation of, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Vader, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Jabba the Hutt, R2-D2, and C-3PO. Lucas is surrounded by inspiration, but he sees nothing. Even his wise advisor, who suspiciously looks and speaks like Yoda, is unable to help him. Eventually, young Lucas meets his muse, a young woman (with a very unusual hairdo) named Marion (Lisa Jakub) who is "kind of leading a student rebellion". After they meet, everything falls into place for Lucas, as she urges him to "write what you know". His writer's block dissipates and he quickly finishes his masterpiece. However, his shot at romance with the girl is blown when he discovers she's his sister. In a post-credits scene, Lucas gets a new idea when his neighbor introduces Lucas to his new pet, a duck named Howard. ===== A crowd are gathered to see Paris Hilton make an appearance at the local mall, where she announces the opening of a store called Stupid Spoiled Whore. Wendy is appalled by the blatant objectification of women, while her friends embrace the store. Later, at a friend's house, Wendy is confronted with the Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset. Wendy exits in horror, leaving her friends to recreate Hilton's sex tape. Meanwhile, Hilton is in fits over the suicide of her dog, Tinkerbell. In her throes of sorrow, she sees Butters, and wants him as her replacement pet, putting him in a bear costume and calling him "Mr. Biggles". Wendy brings her father to the Stupid Spoiled Whore to investigate the matter. While he is initially appalled, he is quickly manipulated by the overly sexual women into accepting the store. Bebe announces a Stupid Spoiled Whore party at her house, and they refuse to invite Wendy. Meanwhile, Butters introduces Hilton to his parents. Hilton offers them $200 million for Butters, who doesn't like the idea, but his parents insist on discussing it alone. They tell Butters that he needs to be able to match Hilton's offer himself if he wants to stay, and suggest he try coal mining, but he is unsuccessful. Upon seeing a photo album in Hilton's limousine, he discovers that all of Hilton's previous pets killed themselves. While Cartman unsuccessfully attempts to disguise to enter the party, Wendy seeks help from Mr. Slave to try to become like all the other girls. After explaining to Wendy that being a whore is something that can't be taught, he rushes to break up Bebe's party. Butters escapes from Hilton's captivity, and runs into the party. Hilton appears just in time to hear Mr. Slave telling all the girls that being a whore is not an enjoyable life and that Hilton is a nobody. The two then get into an argument over who is the bigger whore, which culminates in Hilton challenging Mr. Slave to a Whore-Off. Mr. Slave wins when he stuffs Hilton into his anus, then delivers a speech criticizing the parents for not knowing that being a whore "is supposed to be a bad thing" and tells them to be better role models toward their daughters. Butters is happy to have escaped living with Hilton, but now must face the wrath of his parents. Inside Mr. Slave's colon, Hilton meets the Frog King, who sends her on a quest. ===== Anglers from the fishing village of Noyo, California catch what appears to be a monster. The young son of one of the anglers falls into the water and something unseen drags him under the surface. Another angler prepares a flare gun but he slips and accidentally fires it into the deck, which is soaked with gasoline dropped earlier by the boy. The vessel bursts into flames and explodes; everybody aboard is killed. Jim Hill (McClure) and his wife Carol witness the explosion. Later, Jim and Carol's dog goes missing and the pair finds its dismembered corpse on the nearby beach. The following day, teenagers Jerry Potter (Meegan King) and Peggy Larson (Lynn Schiller) go for a swim at the beach. Jerry is abruptly pulled under the water. Peggy believes it is a prank until she discovers his mutilated corpse. Peggy screams and tries to reach the beach but a monstrous figure drags her across the sand. The humanoid creature tears off her bikini and rapes her. That night, two more teenagers are camping on the same beach. Billy (David Strassman) is about to have sex with his girlfriend, Becky (Lisa Glaser) when another humanoid monster claws its way inside, kills him and chases Becky onto the beach. She outruns her assailant but then runs into the arms of yet another monster, which throws her to the sand and rapes her. More attacks follow; not all of them successful, but few witnesses survive to tell the public about the incidents; only Peggy is found alive, though severely traumatized. Jim's brother is also attacked, prompting Jim to take a personal interest in the matter. A company called Canco has announced plans to build a huge cannery near Noyo. The murderous, sex-hungry mutations are apparently the result of Canco's experiments with a growth hormone they had earlier administered to salmon. The salmon escaped from Canco's laboratory into the ocean during a storm and were eaten by large fish that then mutated into the brutal, depraved humanoids that have begun to terrorize the village. By the time Jim and Canco scientist Dr. Susan Drake (Turkel) have deduced what is occurring, the village's annual festival has begun. At the festival, many humanoids appear, murdering the men and raping every woman they can grab. Jim devises a plan to stop the humanoids by pumping gasoline into the bay and setting it on fire, cutting off the humanoids' way of retreat. Meanwhile, Carol is attacked at home by two of the creatures, but manages to kill them before Jim arrives. The morning after the festival, normality seems to have returned to the village. Jim asks the sheriff about Dr. Drake. The sheriff mumbles that she went back to the lab, where she is coaching a pregnant Peggy, who has survived her sexual assault. Peggy is about to give birth when her monstrous offspring bursts from her womb, with Peggy screaming at the screeching baby. ===== The plot revolves around the lives of Tom Yeo (杨学谦 Yáng Xuéqiān; Shawn Lee), his younger brother Jerry (杨学强, Yáng Xuéqiáng; Ashley Leong) and their friend Lim Chengcai (林成才 Lín Chéngcái; Joshua Ang). 15-year- old Tom is technologically inclined and a talented blogger, while eight-year- old Jerry enjoys the performing arts and has the lead role in his school concert. Steven and Karen Yeo's (Jack Neo and Xiang Yun) busy schedules give them little time to spend with their children, leading to a strained relationship. With his mother absent, Chengcai was raised by his ex-convict father (Huang Yiliang), whose fighting skills he inherited. Chengcai, on the other hand, is more physically active. He’s an adept fighter with dreams of being the next Bruce Lee. Unlike Tom, Chengcai comes from a working class background and lives in a cramped apartment with his widowed ex-convict father (Huang Yi-Liang). His dad may have the right intentions, but he has a pretty horrible parenting style - if Mr. Lim doesn’t like his son’s behaviour, he has no problem beating the hell out of him. Young Ashley Leong serves as the film’s comic relief, particularly in an amusing subplot in which he thinks he impregnated his cute classmate because they kissed and took a nap in close proximity to each other. He also gets the underserved brunt of his parents’ ire towards the end of the film in a scene that pretty much encapsulates the unspoken theme of the film: “Don’t be a dick to your kids.” During a school check for mobile phones, Tom is caught with a pornographic VCD. As his teacher confiscates it, Chengcai makes a cheeky remark that provokes the teacher into slapping him, leading to an exchange that escalates into a massive scuffle. The principal decides to expel Chengcai, and subject Tom to public caning for his part in the scuffle. Tom and Chengcai later join a local street gang; as their initiation, they are forced to shoplift an iPod. However, they are caught by two conmen with connections to the street gang posing as police detectives, who demand that they pay the fine $2000 within two days or be arrested. While tutoring his sons, Steven tells them that people will pay $500 for an hour of his time. Jerry, who wants his parents to come to his school concert, starts saving money, but he can't save enough and eventually resorts to stealing. After he is caught, a furious Mr. Yeo repeatedly canes and yells at the boy, but forgives him when the boy explains that he wanted $500 to "buy" an hour of his father's time. This prompts Mr. and Mrs. Yeo to read Tom's blog and realise how unappreciated and alienated their children feel. Having finally understood their children, the Yeo parents watch Jerry's concert, much to his delight. Unable to raise $2000 themselves, Tom and Chengcai rob an old lady of her necklace, but regret their action and try to return it to her. A struggle occurs, and Chengcai bumps into several gangsters, while Tom's mobile phone falls out of his pocket as he is tackled by vicious vigilantes. The phone hits the ground, accidentally calling Mr. Yeo, who is doing a presentation about 3G phones for a contract worth $3 million. He rushes off to the scene and pleads the old lady to give Tom a second chance. When the police arrive, she tells them she made a prank call, which meant to give Tom another chance. Two days later, Mr. Yeo meets the conmen and gives them thousands of dollars of hell money; the conmen are then arrested by real police officers who have been waiting in ambush close by, and then Mr.Yeo heard the news of the big succeed with his company, which Tom and Mr.Yeo remain overjoyed. Later, the gangsters whom Chengcai bumped into earlier beat him up. Mr. Lim, who happens to be nearby, tries to protect his son, but suffers head injury after being pushed down the stairs. He is taken to a hospital, critically injured. On his deathbed, Mr. Lim tells Chengcai that he loves him and that he should find a positive outlet for his fighting skills. Witnessing this scene, the principal is touched and allows Chengcai to return to school. The boy eventually becomes an internationally recognised martial artist. ===== At a reception aboard the Federation starship Enterprise following a trade conference on Betazed, Counselor Deanna Troi argues with her mother, Lwaxana Troi, about her insistence that Deanna get married and raise a family. At the same party, Lwaxana is approached by the Ferengi Daimon Tog of the ship Krayton, who is interested in Lwaxana in a sexual way, but also explains he would like Lwaxana to use her telepathy to help him make business. Lwaxana rejects him flatly, then becomes irate and remarks that she would rather eat Orion Wing Slugs than date Tog. Deanna tries to speak with Lwaxana in her quarters about the incident, but winds up becoming infuriated over Lwaxana's pet name for her, "Little One," and leaves. Afterwards, at the urging of Captain Picard, Commander Riker and his one-time flame, Deanna, decide to take a quick shore leave on Betazed while the Enterprise heads out on a routine mission studying a nebula. Lwaxana tracks down her daughter and Riker, with intent to encourage a renewed romance between the couple. She is just getting started when Daimon Tog beams down. As Riker expresses his surprise, Tog states that he has come for Lwaxana. When he is again rebuffed by Lwaxana, this time under pain of provoking an interstellar incident, Tog has himself and the others transported aboard the Krayton, leaving a confused Mr. Homn to wonder where his employer has gone. The three awaken in a cell aboard the Krayton. Tog then has Deanna and Lwaxana beamed into the lab of Farek, a Ferengi doctor who hopes to study Lwaxana's telepathy using mind probes. In the process of transporting them he leaves the women's clothing behind, saying that women are not worthy enough to wear clothes. Lwaxana pretends to be interested in Tog, and gains Deanna's return to the cell with Riker by agreeing to discuss with Tog a proposal to use her telepathic abilities in trade negotiations. Riker entices a Ferengi guard into a chess game, and once outside the cell, Riker quickly overpowers the guard. Once freed, Deanna and Riker attempt to send a message to the Enterprise, only to learn that the ship's communication system is secured by access code. As Lwaxana seduces Tog by rubbing his ears, she receives a telepathic message from Deanna asking her to try to get Tog's access code. Lwaxana has nearly gotten Tog to tell her the code when Farek walks in and catches her in the act. Farek threatens to humiliate Tog by revealing his incompetence to the Ferengi, but offers to forget the incident if Lwaxana is turned over to him for experimentation, despite the fact that the proposed tests may be lethal. Meanwhile, the Enterprise leaves the nebula, which has been interfering with communications, and learn from Betazed officials that Riker and the Trois have been kidnapped. Returning to Betazed, the Enterprise crew discovers flowers indigenous to a Ferengi planet at the spot where Deanna and Riker were last seen. Picard orders a frequency scan to see if Riker has somehow sent a message, but are unable to pick up anything discernible. In fact, Riker has tapped into the system on the Krayton that suppresses Cochrane distortion from the ship's warp field, and modulated it to generate a signal using unsuppressed distortion into a pattern he hopes the Enterprise crew will recognize. In the midst of the search, Acting Ensign Wesley Crusher is in final preparation to depart to Earth for his second attempt to pass the Starfleet Academy entrance exam. Just as he is about to leave, he realizes that the modulated interference itself may be the signal, and rushes back to the Bridge, missing his transport back to Earth. Decoding the signal, young Crusher finds Riker has provided the heading of the Krayton and the Enterprise heads out in pursuit. In the meantime, Deanna is experiencing great pain as she senses the mind probes being used on her mother. Riker, having finished setting up the modulation of the Cochrane distortion, arms himself and bursts into Farek's lab to free Lwaxana, but a standoff ensues when Tog enters with a phaser. Just then the Enterprise arrives, and Lwaxana buys the release of Troi and Riker by agreeing to stay with Tog and serve him both as a lover and a business partner. After Riker and Deanna are returned to the Enterprise, Picard begins to play the role of a jealous lover, describing his love for Lwaxana and telling Tog that if he can not have her no one will, and threatens to destroy the Krayton if she is not delivered to him immediately. When Picard tries to "win back" Lwaxana at the end, he recites parts of three William Shakespeare sonnets (147, 141, and 18) and Canto 27 of "In Memoriam A.H.H.", by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Fearing for his life Daimon Tog hurriedly beams Lwaxana directly to the Enterprise Bridge and leaves the area post-haste. So taken is Lwaxana by Picard's poetic profession of "love" for her that she takes her place on his lap in the command chair, causing Picard to quickly tell Ensign Crusher to "set course for Betazed", almost whispering "warp nine". Crusher is told that he will have to wait for another year before he can reapply for entrance to Starfleet Academy, but in the interim the Enterprise will continue to benefit from him. Picard also tells him that, in his eyes, he isn't an 'Acting Ensign' and thus gives him a field promotion to full Ensign in light of his contributions to the ship and crew. ===== An Afghan father and his daughter, Randa (Bojana Novakovic), arrive in Australia to escape the Taliban. At school Randa is teased for her religion and wearing a hijab. The main character who finished secondary school the previous year, Hal (Abe Forsythe) begins to feel sorry for her and over a course falls in love with her. Although her father initially allows them to date, there is a lot of tension with their culture differences (Randa is a practising Muslim, Hal an atheist). Soon after the September 11th attacks, Randa's father's house is destroyed by an intentionally lit fire. Hal's father (Morrell) offers them shelter in his house. Later that night, Randa, afraid, sneaks into Hal's room seeking comfort. The two sleep together and are later found in bed by her father. Upset by what has happened, he leaves and refuses to let Hal see Randa. Hal and Randa continue to see each other in secret, Randa admitting she 'did not regret' what she did with Hal. Eventually their refugee status is rejected and they are ordered to return. Hal and his father try valiantly to think of a way to keep them there, but come up empty handed. Finally Hal, decides that he loves Randa and offers to run away from the law with her. He tells his plan to his father who initially disapproves, but after seeing how much they love each other, allows. He also tells Randa's father, who is initially reluctant. Hal promises to take care of her and her father agrees, realising that Randa will be deported with him unless she leaves. Randa is initially reluctant to leave her father, but ultimately agrees. They leave on the night of Randa's deportation. Stopping off in a hotel room, they make love tenderly one last time. When Hal awakes, Randa is gone. She leaves him a note explaining she can not leave her father or get him or her father into trouble. He returns, but is too late as he sees Randa and her father on a bus for deportation. Eventually he decides to go overseas to look for her. He uses the money his mother left to him to buy a plane ticket and the series ends with Hal unsure about what will happen in his search for his love. ===== Brad Collins (Ryan), a San Francisco shipping executive (real name Frank Johnson) who recently married Nan Lowry Collins (Laraine Day) after a brief courtship, was once involved with a communist group in New York, while a stevedore during the Depression. Shortly after returning home following their honeymoon, the couple meet Christine Norman (Janis Carter), an old flame of Collins. Nan immediately dislikes her. Collins becomes the target of a Communist cell and its leader, Vanning (Thomas Gomez), who orders an alleged FBI informer drowned after a brief interrogation. After threatening to reveal Collins' responsibility for a murder as well as his communist past, Vanning orders the executive to sabotage the shipping industry in the San Francisco Bay by resisting union demands in a labor dispute. He claims it is impossible to leave the Communist Party. Meanwhile Norman, bitter over Collins's earlier rejection, is ordered to become closer to his brother- in-law Don Lowry (Agar) by indoctrinating him with their Communist world view. Norman, though, genuinely falls in love with Lowry, with Vanning claiming that she is not meant to be so emotional. A friend of Collins and former boyfriend of Nan, union leader Jim Travers (Richard Rober) cannot understand why Collins has become unreasonable to deal with. Travers is concerned about the possibility of the small number of communists in the union being able to take it over, and suspects Norman of being a communist, or at least a fellow traveler. He discusses this with Lowry, who is a new colleague. Lowry denies Norman's politics, apparently still free of communist ideology or at least an awareness of where his, by now, future wife's friends are coming from politically. She confesses when confronted, but after Lowry rejects her she shows him a photograph of herself with Collins/Johnson and reveals his communist past. Vanning interrupts them. Angry with Christine for breaking orders, who was supposed to be in Seattle for another two days on her day job as a photographer, Vanning tries to lean on Lowry because he is now able to expose the influence the party has regained over Collins. Lowry travels to the Collins' residence to inform them of what he has learned, but is run over by a car driven by the communist hit man J.T. Arnold (Paul E. Burns) who had observed the earlier killing with Collins. Nan, previously informed by Norman that her brother is in danger, tries to convince her husband that Lowry's killing was not an accident. He pretends to be unconvinced. Confronting Christine, Nan is told of her husband's past, and Christine (falsely, though he was with Arnold) informs her that Bailey (William Talman) was probably responsible for Lowry's death. Preparing a suicide note, Christine is interrupted by Vanning, who thinks this is a good solution, but wishes to keep politics out of it, and destroys her confession of communist involvement. It is unclear if she does commit suicide, or whether she is thrown out of the high window. Intent on revenge, Nan befriends Bailey at the fairground where he has legitimate employment, and goes off with him. The hit man is saved when she is identified, and Nan is kidnapped and taken to the hidden local communist headquarters in Arnold's warehouse. Collins tracks his wife down to this location, and by threatening Arnold with a gun, is able to gain admittance. In a shootout, Bailey and Vanning are killed, and Collins fatally injured. In his last moments Nan says she still loves him. ===== It is summer of 1945 and World War II has ended. The world once again returned to its state of peace. However, the mysterious organization called C.A.N.Y. emerged to conquer the world using super weapons never seen before. It is composed of high-ranking international military officials. Six best fighters, who together form a team called Strikers, have been chosen secretly by United Military Headquarters for a mission against this threat. ===== On movie night at the nuclear power plant, Homer learns that the plant is being shut down and outsourced to India. After Homer is sent to train the new employees, he becomes power-hungry and is given a self-help book, The Cereal Is the Prize, by Marge for the plane ride. Arriving in India, he seeks help from Apu's cousin Kavi on help with outsourcing. Homer is able to spur the "natives" into a working frenzy — the natives, at first not understanding his confusing speech, assume that if they cheer, they will be allowed to go back to work. Homer, Smithers, and Mr. Burns get a positive albeit slightly inaccurate impression from this, and Homer is put in total charge of the power plant while Burns takes time off to have fun floating down the Ganges with corpses he has befriended. Homer, left in charge of a slightly-overgrown nuclear power plant on a river in the middle of nowhere, appraises the Hindu deities and decides he might be a god himself. About a week later, Lenny and Carl come to the India plant, invited by a card claiming that Homer is to become a god. Soon, the rest of the Simpson family, worried about Homer, travel to India and, with Burns, journey upriver on a PBR boat and find that Homer is ruling the plant like a god. Horrified, Marge and the kids tell the plant workers that Homer is not a god. They cheerfully explain that they already know, and that they worship him because of the American workplace routines he has instituted, like coffee breaks, early retirement, personal days, and "muffin baskets and mylar balloons on your birthday!". It is revealed that Homer has instituted these routines in the workers' binding contracts, treating the workers as good human beings in exchange for their help for outsourcing the power to Springfield, much to Marge’s relief. Lisa then admits that she is proud of Homer for outsourcing the American worker's sense of entitlement and privilege. However, Mr. Burns calls this “madness” and decides to close down the plant and move it to an area where workers are "more desperate and ignorant" — Springfield. He then fires all the workers; however, this makes the workers delighted due to the various firing clauses Homer has written into their contracts ("Golden parachutes for all!"). Meanwhile, back in Springfield, Patty and Selma meet their Hollywood heart- throb, Richard Dean Anderson, who played MacGyver, who stops by to ask for directions to a convention about his newest show Stargate SG-1, only to find that he is totally uninterested in MacGyver and only did it for the pay. Patty and Selma kidnap Anderson from his Stargate SG-1 convention and tie him to a chair. From there, he manages to escape by using one of his contact lenses to focus the sunlight and burning the ropes, only to discover that he loves escaping, and starts having Patty and Selma put him through increasingly complex MacGyver-esque kidnapping trials. Patty and Selma eventually tire of Anderson's antics, and decide to drive him away. They sit him down one night and show him slides of their vacation to the horse-drawn carriage museum in Alberta, Canada. Anderson is so overwhelmed with boredom he jumps out the window for good. However, Patty and Selma later manage to track him down to India, joining him with the Simpsons, Lenny, Carl, and Smithers in a Bollywood style dance at the plant. ===== This psychological thriller tells the story of Jeff Cohalan (Young). He is a successful architect who is tormented because his fiancée, Vivian Sheppard, was killed in a mysterious car accident on the night before their wedding. Blaming himself for her death, Cohalan spends his time alone, lamenting in the state-of-the-art cliff-top home he had designed for his bride-to-be. Cohalan notices that ever since the accident, he seems to be followed by bad luck. Without explanation, his horse turns up horribly injured and he must put it down, his dog is poisoned and dies. These events lead Cohalan to wonder if he has been cursed. He meets a woman named Ellen (Drake), and they are immediately attracted to each other. She soon learns about Jeff's past and begins to suspect that he may be much more in danger than he himself realizes. It turns out that his partner in architecture, Ben Sheppard, was trying to destroy him. Sheppard, who was Vivian's father, held Jeff responsible for her death. But the driver of the car had been a married man with whom Vivian was having an affair. Ben himself had a wife run away from him, and has a psychotic break when confronted with the truth behind his daughter's car crash. Thinking Ellen is Vivian, and angry about his wife running off, Ben shoots at Ellen. Jeff gets hit protecting Ellen, but both survive. ===== Focusing on the Madagascar penguins and taking place before the events of the first Madagascar, the youngest penguin on the team, Private, slips out of the zoo on Christmas Eve to find a present for a lonely polar bear named Ted. While roaming the streets of Manhattan, he is captured by Nana (the mean old lady from the first film) who mistakes him for a chew toy for her vicious dog, Mr Chew. The other three penguins, Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico, rescue Private from Nana's apartment before it is too late. They escalate into chaos against Mr. Chew, all-the-while, not noticed by Nana, who is occupied watching a football game. When they are done, they detonate the door with a stick of dynamite (which Rico had repeatedly attempted to use prior), finally attracting Nana's attention and leaving Mr. Chew to take the fall for what the penguins have done to her place. At the end of the film they invite Ted to their home. But he has already invited several other guests, resulting in a massive sing-a-long to a parody of Jingle Bells. ===== An officer in the violent crimes division, Dae-ro is a hero in his daughter Hyun- ji's eyes, but in fact he's a corrupt cop, interested only in bribe money and pretty women. He is totally selfish and takes great pains to keep himself out of harm's way, avoiding the danger inherent in his job. One day, while in pursuit of a suspect, Dae-ro faints and is taken to the hospital. There he is told that he has a brain tumor and has about three months to live at most. To provide for his daughter's financial security, Dae-ro plots his own death that will appear accidental so that she will collect a sizable insurance premium. ===== While visiting a cave at Carl's Dad's Caverns, Homer meddles with a very fragile stalactite, with the result that the whole family ends up in a hidden cavern below the main tour—with Homer stuck in a narrow hole, half in and half out of the cavern. To pass the time while Marge and Bart try to find a way out, Lisa begins to tell a story. Lisa tells how, the week before, she had been out for a walk when a bighorn sheep inexplicably attacked her. She ran to the nearest shelter, Mr. Burns' house. The animal bursts in, and she and Burns wind up hiding in the attic. There, Lisa finds a photo of Burns as an employee at Moe's, and he tells her the origins of it. Burns explains that he and Rich Texan were once involved in a scavenger hunt, the winner of which would get all the possessions of the loser. Burns was unable to find the last item on the list — a picture of himself with a smiling child. Every child was terrified of him and Milhouse called him the "boogeyman's grandfather". The Texan won, and Burns explains that he had to earn his fortune all over again by starting at the bottom; but to work his way up to the bottom, he would have to work at Moe's Tavern. While there, he found a hidden letter to be read upon Moe's death, which led to Moe's story of a hidden treasure. Apparently, the summer before Edna Krabappel was to begin teaching, she and Moe met and fell in love, albeit without her knowing he owned a bar (she hates bar owners). Moe tossed Homer, Barney (who somehow got back inside the tavern), Lenny and Carl out of his tavern before closing it, and when they confronted him about it later he threatened to out the one of them who is gay (unidentified) if they ruined things for him and Edna. Moe then wanted to leave Springfield with her but had no money. He then discovered that Snake, a polite idealistic archaeologist, had discovered a large batch of Mayan coins he intended to donate to the museum. Moe ended up stealing them, embittering Snake and leading him to a life of crime to take revenge against convenience store owners. He was then about to leave town with Edna, but when she went into the school to explain that she was quitting, she saw Bart, who explained to her that he had all-summer detention, and felt he was a lost cause because no one believed in him. Edna declared that the next year, when she was to teach fourth grade, she would help him to succeed, and explained this to Moe, who reacted crazily. It turns out, however, that Bart was actually just distracting Edna while he and Nelson were stealing microscopes and other classroom equipment. Rather than spending the stolen coins, Moe used them to play his and Edna's song on his jukebox repeatedly. After reading Moe's story, Burns opened the jukebox, took the coins and gave them to the Texan to buy back his possessions, but the Texan demanded that Burns produce a picture of himself with a smiling child before he could get the power plant back (The Texan, he explained, has obsessive-compulsive disorder, thus feeling the need to complete the scavenger hunt). Burns ends his story, explaining to Lisa that he cannot get the plant back. Just then, the sheep bursts into the attic. Burns gets hurt defending Lisa; however, it turns out that it does not want to kill them — in its story, it explains that it found Lisa's pearl necklace and was merely trying to return it. Lisa, in gratitude to Burns for his attempted rescue, takes a photo of the two together with her smiling, allowing him to get the plant back from the Texan. This exits to the cave scene. Just then, Homer breaks free of his trap due to bats chewing on his leg, and suddenly reveals that he had an ulterior motive for bringing the family to the caves. He tells a story, explaining that while in the woods (hiding from babysitting duty), he saw the Texan hide the gold coins in the cave, and brought the family so they could search for the gold to pay for an operation for Bart (the need for which was unknown to Bart, who is now shocked by this... but Homer says that story will have to wait to be heard). Just then, the Texan shows up, and the gold is found — just in time for Moe, Burns and Snake (who also brings his little son) to also appear, and they enter a Mexican standoff. Marge grabs the bag and threatens to drop it down a deep pit if they do not end their standoff. When she discovers the depth of their greed, she drops it — and instantly, everyone realizes how greedy they had been, and go out to volunteer as a way of atoning for their sins, while Burns promises to catch up with them after climbing down to get the gold. Suddenly, it is revealed that the whole episode has all been a story by Bart (potentially explaining apparent continuity errors), being told to Seymour Skinner as an explanation for why he did not have time to study for a test. The principal finds this ridiculous, but then he looks out the window and sees Edna making out with Moe outside of the school, revealing that Bart was telling the truth. When Moe asks Edna why she forgives him for lying to her, she explains that, at this point, all she really wants is a man with a healthy libido. Unfortunately, it appears Moe cannot even fulfill this very simple requirement, and the Texan obsessively shoots his guns and notes "Moe can't catch a break!" ===== The story is divided into thirty very short chapters which permit the author to rapidly change situations and environments, bringing alternatively to the forefront the different subjects involved in the singular plan conceived by Marcantonio Ravì, the cause of odd and unpredictable events. This overweight, tenacious father of Stellina has an idee fixe which will, he believes, bring about the happiness of his daughter: establish a turn. That is to say, he will give her over as wife to the aging and well-off Don Diego Alcozèr, and then, after his death, consign her, fabulously wealthy and contented, to her desperate but dirt poor admirer Pepè Alletto. Marcantonio is so convinced of the efficacy of this idea that he goes around the city talking about it to everyone in order to get their consent, obstinately insisting that he's right with the comic intercalation "ragioniamo!" (let's reason about this!). But the majority of the people he meets, as soon as they hear the name of the decrepit Alcozèr, "spit out a laugh." The proposition of the plan dominates the first chapter with the agitated figure of Marcantonio Ravì. His son-in-law in pectoris Diego Alcozèr, sprightly old man, widower of four wives and gaudy dandy with his "small watery furtive bald eyes", having already been "a conqueror of dames in crinoline from the epoch of Ferdinand II king of the Two Sicilies", emerges in the second chapter, where he excitedly chats with his future father-in-law about preparations for the surrender of Stellina. To these two "human stains" a third is added in the following chapter in which Pepè Alletto, the beneficiary of the "turn", takes the fore. What strikes the reader as curious is the fact that Marcantonio Ravì's plan takes him completely by surprise; in reality he it not a true "desperate admirer". He likes Stellina, but because of his lack of courage and his precarious economic conditions, he would never have dared to even think of marrying her. He is incapable of choosing and must always depend on the choices of others. Pepé Alletto is the typical representative of a certain melancholic nobility of the provinces, deeply lazy and morally weak. He lives in the shadow of his aging mother who would never allow him to work (and he obviously adapts himself well to this situation) out of a misbegotten concept of the dignity of her state. Pepé passes the day taking care of his appearance, dreaming of the great city. The idea of the "turn" offers him an unexpected goal, a beautiful wife and a large heredity in view, the solution to all of his problems without too much work. The marriage is filled with scenes of exhilarating comedy: the decrepit Don Diego wears for the occasion "the long napoleon which has survived through four weddings." Such antiquity contrasts miserably with the freshness of Stellina, whose appearance "illuminated the party." Pepé breaks through this dishonest and uncomfortable atmosphere of false compliments and badly dissimulated commiseration when, responding to the solicitations of the guests, he feels invested with the part of future husband and begins playing the piano, singing and conducting the dances. The hysterical crisis of Stellina, who faints after her ancient husband spills the rosolio onto her white dress because of the uncontrollable trembling of his hands, is the event that shatters the apparatus of hypocrisy that Marcantonio had laboriously constructed around himself. But he continues to awkwardly search for vain excuses while the guests hurry to get out of the party. From this point on events precipitate out of control as everything becomes a prey to chance: Pepé, the maldextrous cavalier, gets himself caught up in a duel in order to defend Stellina, a situation which he could have easily avoided had he not asked for help from his overweening and domineering brother-in-law, the lawyer Ciro Coppa, who insists that he must challenge his adversary or be looked on as a coward. Pepé loses and ends up seriously wounded, as he will lose Stellina herself after continually begging Cirro to intervene in his favour. After the death of his wife, Ciro, in fact, marries Stellina, who has lost her patience and can no longer wait for the death of her elderly husband, himself. Ciro inserts himself arrogantly...in the turn, marrying Stellina and rendering her a slave to his insane jealousies. But, once again against all narrative expectations, the robust and optimistic lawyer dies before his time. His two sons and those of his sister must now stay with Pepé who, in the final scene, next to the salm of his brother-in-law, squeezes them to his breast while waiting for a look of consensus from Stellina. The last words of Marcantonio Ravì underscore the contradictions of chance, deus ex machina of the entire novel: "This one, who looked like a lion, look at him here: dead! And that old worm, healthy and full of life! Tomorrow the other one will marry Tina Mèndola, your good friend..." These are bitter words for him, especially if one remembers that Tina is the daughter of the hated Carmela Mèndola who insistently stigmatized the union between Stellina and the old Don Diego, defining it as "a mortal sin which cries out for vengeance!" It's understandable why Pirandello defined the story as "gay if not light-hearted". The desire to play games exhausts itself in a firework of exhilarating invention; but in the background there is always the shadow of the discontent of each character, whose desires are never, and can never be, fulfilled. They are nullified by unpredictable and uncontrollable events. ===== LAPD Sergeant Joe Friday's nephew and namesake, whose anachronistic views reflect those of his late uncle, is involuntarily assigned a smart-alecky, streetwise new partner, Pep Streebek. Their contrasting styles clash at first, with Friday disapproving of Streebek's attitude, hairstyle, and wardrobe. However, they start to bond during their investigation of a series of bizarre thefts. One of the stolen items is the entire print run of Bait, a pornographic magazine published by Jerry Caesar. Reverend Jonathan Whirley has been leading a moral crusade against Caesar's business. The trail leads Friday and Streebek to a cult calling itself P.A.G.A.N. (People Against Goodness and Normalcy), and they focus on member Emil Muzz, who also works as Caesar's limousine driver. Under interrogation, Muzz reveals the time and place of a secret ceremony. Friday and Streebek sneak in, disguised as members, and witness a masked leader using several of the stolen items in a ritual leading up to a virgin sacrifice. The leader throws the victim, Connie Swail, into a pit of water with an anaconda. Friday and Streebek disrupt the ritual, saving Connie and subduing the snake, and report the incident to their boss Captain Bill Gannon. However, when Gannon and Police Commissioner Jane Kirkpatrick (who is running for mayor) visit the site with them the next day, no evidence of the ritual can be found. Kirkpatrick removes Friday and Streebek from the case. Streebek gets a tip on the whereabouts of a load of chemicals stolen by P.A.G.A.N. that can be used to mass-produce a toxic gas. He and Friday lead a SWAT team to raid the location, which proves to be an ordinary milk factory; the chemicals and gas- making equipment are actually hidden next door. With no further leads to follow, Streebek tags along on a birthday dinner for Friday and his grandmother, and Connie soon joins them at Friday's invitation. During dinner, Connie identifies Whirley (at another table with Gannon and Kirkpatrick) as the P.A.G.A.N. leader. Friday attempts to arrest Whirley, but Kirkpatrick overrules him and relieves him of duty. Gannon takes Friday's badge and gun and orders Streebek to stay away from Whirley. As Friday takes Connie home, they are captured by Muzz and taken to the Griffith Observatory, where Whirley reveals to them his plan to kill Caesar at a reunion party for the models of Bait. He has his men take Connie to his private jet and prepares to kill Friday, but Streebek arrives just in time, having forced Muzz to reveal Friday's whereabouts at gunpoint. Streebek infiltrates Caesar's mansion and disrupts the P.A.G.A.N. plans to release the gas made from the stolen chemicals, and Friday leads a SWAT team raid. Whirley sets fire to the stolen magazines and later escapes in the confusion. Gannon reinstates Friday and returns his badge so he can pursue Whirley. At the airport, Whirley meets Kirkpatrick, who has been secretly working with him, and then abandons her and takes off with Connie as his prisoner. The following morning, Friday catches up to him in a police jet and forces him to land. Whirley is convicted on multiple charges (Kirkpatrick's fate is never given, though the revelation of her criminal activity means the end of her career), while Friday continues his partnership with Streebek and begins dating Connie. ===== The story revolves around the journeys and trials of twins Ryushi and Kia. Forced to flee from their home during a violent and seemingly unprovoked attack by the forces of the King they adored, they are pressed to reconsider their naive world-view caused by their sheltered upbringing as they are caught up in events beyond their control and larger than either of them imagined. What starts with an underground resistance soon develops into a full-fledged rebellion against the tyrannical King Macaan and his equally malicious daughter Aurin, with Kia, Ryushi and all those close to them at the center of it all. ===== Decades before the events of the movie take place, wealthy socialite Ralph Wilhern has an affair with a servant girl named Clara, but is talked out of marrying her by his disapproving family. Heartbroken, Clara throws herself off a cliff, and her embittered and vengeful witch mother (Michael Feast) curses the Wilherns so that the next daughter to be born into the affluent family will have the face of a pig, a curse only to be lifted when "one of her own kind" learns to love her. For five generations, the Wilherns produce only sons. The curse is seemingly broken after a girl is born within the Wilherns, until it is revealed that the girl is not a full blooded Wilhern, but a girl born from an affair between Ella Wilhern and another man. It isn’t until the birth of Penelope (Christina Ricci), Ella’s granddaughter and a true-blooded Wilhern, that the curse takes place, much to the distress of her mother Jessica (Catherine O'Hara). Jessica becomes overprotective as a result, much to the consternation of her husband Franklin (Richard E. Grant). Her fears are confirmed when a tabloid reporter named Lemon (Peter Dinklage) begins stalking the family to get a photograph of the infant Penelope, resulting in Jessica blinding his right eye after he breaks into their house. Fearing the worst, Jessica decides to fake her daughter's death and shuts her away in their mansion where Penelope spends her life immersing herself in intellectual pursuits such as literature, horticulture and music. When Penelope turns 18, her parents interpret the curse's counter as the love of a man of noble birth, and subsequently attempt to introduce Penelope to possible suitors with the help of a matchmaker named Wanda (Ronni Ancona). For the next 7 years, however, every man who lays eyes on her flees in terror, though the Wilhern butler Jake manages to catch them before they leave in order to force them to sign an agreement that they will not discuss Penelope's appearance. Unfortunately, the spoiled and arrogant Edward Humphrey Vanderman III (Simon Woods), escapes before signing the agreement. Vanderman reports the incident to the local police, though this only results in a newspaper article dubbing him insane. To redeem his name, Vanderman decides to team up with Lemon in an effort to get a photograph of Penelope. The two of them track down Max Campion, a young blue blood disowned by his family because of his gambling problem and in desperate need of money. Lemon and Vanderman pay Max to pose as a new suitor for Penelope, hiding a camera in his jacket so that he can steal a picture of her. After having conversations with Penelope through a one-way mirror, Max is unexpectedly caught off guard by her sweetness and charm, and Penelope also trusts him enough to show him her face. Though Max is not frightened of Penelope (albeit shocked), he accidentally triggers the camera in his jacket, which causes him to retreat. A misunderstanding Penelope begs him to marry her simply for her status and in order to break the curse, even promising to kill herself if the marriage doesn't break the curse. Max, though obviously torn, insists that he cannot marry Penelope. Regretful for his attempts to exploit Penelope, he calls off his agreement with Lemon and Vanderman (though Jessica and Wanda catch him doing so) and destroys the camera. Penelope decides she has finally had enough of the constant failed match-making attempts and endless solitude and, inspired by Max's conversations about the outside world, flees the protection of her parents' home and journeys out into the city, using a scarf to cover her nose. While at a bar, Penelope ends up befriending delivery girl Annie (Reese Witherspoon), who becomes her "real world" mentor. Having maxed out her mother's credit card while at a hotel, Penelope discovers that Lemon and Vanderman are offering a reward for a photograph of her, and decides to collect the reward by producing a photo of herself (which finally drives a wedge between the two) while remaining anonymous in public with her scarf. Penelope's courage in going out to the world consequently inspires Max, who quits gambling and returns to piano playing in an old theatre. Meanwhile, her parents become desperate trying to find her and return her home, though torn over the event. When she is eventually found by her parents, Penelope runs back to the bar and subsequently passes out. While she is unconscious, Annie removes Penelope's scarf, revealing her as the elusive Penelope to the bar's patrons. To the latter's surprise, Penelope becomes an overnight celebrity, flocked by adoring fans who are not disgusted by her face. Meanwhile, Vanderman's father (Nigel Havers), having seen the public's fondness for Penelope and embarrassed by his son's vocal cruelty toward her, coerces Edward into proposing to her. Lemon eventually discovers that the man he and Vanderman recruited to photograph Penelope is not Max Campion, but actually another man named Johnny Martin (James McAvoy) who took on the job for the money - the real Campion (Nick Frost) is in jail for armed robbery. On Penelope's wedding day, Lemon relays this information to Jessica and Wanda. Though Wanda wants to tell Penelope the truth, Jessica forces her to keep it a secret, believing that Edward is Penelope's only chance at breaking the curse. During the wedding ceremony, Penelope realizes that she does not want to marry simply to break the curse. Though Penelope's mother urges her to marry Vanderman and at last lead a 'normal life', an exasperated Penelope says that she likes herself the way she is. This breaks the curse, as Penelope has at last been loved by 'one of her own kind' – herself – and her pig snout and ears disappear. As the months pass, Penelope moves on and becomes an elementary school horticulture teacher, and the public's interest in her dissipates. Jake quits his job as the Wilherns' butler and is revealed to be the witch who cast the curse, rendering Jessica magically silent before he leaves. Wanda finally breaks down and tells Penelope the truth about Johnny Martin. That Halloween, several civilians (including Penelope's students) dress up as her old pig self, and Penelope herself dons a "Penelope" mask as she goes to reunite with Johnny. After an awkward reunion between the two, Johnny, not knowing that the curse has been broken, kisses Penelope and apologizes to her for not having the power to break the curse. Penelope then takes off her mask and reveals that she had the power to lift the curse all along, and the two share a passionate kiss, beginning a romantic relationship. In the final scenes, Penelope and Johnny conclude telling their story to Penelope's students in a park. When asked what the moral of the story is, she tells the class it is up to their interpretation; one boy replies, “It’s not the power of the curse, it’s the power you give the curse.” After the children are dismissed, Johnny and Penelope walk up the hill, and he begins to push her on a swing. Meanwhile, on a nearby lake, Lemon approaches in a small rowboat and is about to take a picture to reveal to the world what has happened to Penelope. Observing how happy they are, he decides to leave them alone as he rows away. ===== Prakash (Akkineni Nagarjuna), a carefree, mischievous student graduates from College. During his celebration with his friends, he gets into a road accident. Although the accident is only minor, during medical tests, he is diagnosed with terminal cancer and has a few months to live. Unable to hear his mother's constant wailing, he packs his bags and leaves to his family's vacation home in Ooty. There, he meets Geethanjali (Girija Shettar), who enjoys playing pranks on people around her. In one incident, Geethanjali asks a guy to meet her near a church after sundown to elope with her. When he comes to meet her, she along with her sisters and friends play an elaborate prank by dressing up as ghosts to scare him away. When she tries to pull the same prank on Prakash, who is already aware of this, it backfires as he pulls a bigger prank on her by dressing himself as a vampire and along with aerial wire stunts, scares her. After being unsuccessful in scaring Prakash away, Geethanjali forms another plan in which she complains to her grandmother that Prakash had asked her (Geethanjali) to elope with him. Furious at this knowledge, Geethanjali's grandmother confronts Prakash about it. Though Prakash tries his best to explain the truth, Geethanjali's grandmother chides him and humiliates him in public. Prakash becomes angry and retaliates by driving Geethanjali to a hillside area and leaving her there. Later that night, Geethanjali's youngest sister comes to Prakash and tells him that Geethanjali has still not returned home and they are getting worried about her. Prakash goes out to look for her and upon finding her shivering in the cold, brings her back to her family. Geethanjali's grandmother scolds Prakash for pulling such a stunt on Geethanjali as such things could have worsened her health condition. Curious at this, Prakash inquires about her health. To his dismay, he finds out that she has a terminal illness. This intrigues him as she is always happy and energetic. Geethanjali tells him that she's not worried about her impending death as everyone who lives in this world will be gone someday. She also tells him that she's not bothered about what happens in the future and she only lives for today. This teaches Prakash to take his own impending death in stride and live life to the fullest. Prakash begins to fall in love with Geethanjali and pursues her. Thinking that this is also a part of his mischief, Geethanjali keeps putting him off. But one thing leads to another and soon, she too reciprocates his love. One day, Prakash's mother comes to visit him and finds out about her son's love. Not knowing that Prakash has been keeping his illness a secret from Geethanjali, his mother blurts out the truth to Geethanjali. She becomes heart-broken knowing that Prakash's condition is worse than her own. She confronts Prakash and tells him to leave her. Prakash reminds Geethanjali that everyone dies one day and so will he. He tells her that his death is no exception. But a devastated Geethanjali admits that his own life is more important to her than her own and she would not be able to see his death. She begs him to leave her and tells him that she doesn't want to see him again. That night, Geethanjali's health worsens and she is admitted in the hospital. After getting the news, Prakash rushes to the hospital to meet her, but Geethanjali's father, who happens to be a doctor, requests him to leave since Geethanjali wishes the same. Prakash becomes sad and decides to leave the town. At the same time, Geethanjali undergoes an operation for her heart. Hours after her operation, Geethanjali slowly opens her eyes. Her whole family rejoices at her recovery. Geethanjali looks at her father and tells him that she wants to meet Prakash. The family finds out that he is planning to leave the town and rush v to the railway station. Prakash sees Geethanjali and turns back to run to her and hold her hand which she outstretches. The movie ends as Geethanjali and Prakash reunite and kiss. ===== On June 17, 1972, security guard Frank Wills at the Watergate complex finds a door's bolt taped over so that it will not lock. He calls the police, who find and arrest five burglars in the Democratic National Committee headquarters within the complex. The next morning, The Washington Post assigns new reporter Bob Woodward to the local courthouse to cover the story, which is considered of minor importance. Woodward learns that the five men, four Cuban-Americans from Miami and James W. McCord, Jr., had electronic bugging equipment and are represented by a high-priced "country club" attorney. At the arraignment, McCord identifies himself in court as having recently left the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the others are also revealed to have CIA ties. Woodward connects the burglars to E. Howard Hunt, a former employee of the CIA, and President Richard Nixon's White House Counsel, Charles Colson. Carl Bernstein, another Post reporter, is assigned to cover the Watergate story with Woodward. The two young men are reluctant partners, but work well together. Executive editor Benjamin Bradlee believes their work lacks reliable sources and is not worthy of the Post's front page, but he encourages further investigation. Woodward contacts a senior government official, an anonymous source whom he has used before and refers to as "Deep Throat." Communicating secretly, using a flag placed in a balcony flowerpot to signal meetings, they meet at night in an underground parking garage. Deep Throat speaks in riddles and metaphors, avoiding substantial facts about the Watergate break-in, but keeps advising Woodward to "follow the money". Woodward and Bernstein manage to connect the five burglars to corrupt activities around campaign contributions to Nixon's Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP or, more common at the time, CREEP). This includes a check for $25,000 paid by Kenneth H. Dahlberg, whom Miami authorities identified when investigating the Miami- based burglars. Still, Bradlee and others at the Post doubt the investigation and its dependence on sources such as Deep Throat, wondering why the Nixon administration should break the law when the President is almost certain to defeat his opponent, Democratic nominee George McGovern. Through former CREEP treasurer Hugh W. Sloan, Jr., Woodward and Bernstein connect a slush fund of hundreds of thousands of dollars to White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman--"the second most important man in this country"--and to former Attorney General John N. Mitchell, now head of CREEP. They learn that CREEP was financing a "ratfucking" campaign to sabotage Democratic presidential candidates a year before the Watergate burglary, when Nixon was lagging Edmund Muskie in the polls. While Bradlee's demand for thoroughness compels the reporters to obtain other sources to confirm the Haldeman connection, the White House issues a non-denial denial of the Post's above-the-fold story. The editor continues to encourage investigation. Woodward again meets secretly with Deep Throat, and demands he be less evasive. Deep Throat reveals that Haldeman masterminded the Watergate break-in and cover-up. He also states that the cover-up was not just to camouflage the CREEP involvement but to hide "covert operations" involving "the entire U.S. intelligence community", including the CIA and FBI. He warns Woodward and Bernstein that their lives, and others, are in danger. When the two relay this to Bradlee, he urges them to carry on despite the risk from Nixon's re-election. On January 20, 1973, Bernstein and Woodward type the full story, while a television in the foreground shows Nixon taking the Oath of Office for his second term as president. A montage of Watergate-related teletype headlines from the following year is shown, ending with Nixon's resignation and the inauguration of Vice President Gerald Ford on August 9, 1974. =====