IDS 101: From Pygmalion to the Phantom of the Opera : Websites and Films

Animated, musical adaptation of the story of Hercules.

An animated reinterpretation of the Indian epic Ramayana blends the stories of Sita, a goddess separated from her husband Rama, and Nina, an animator whose husband moves to India, then dumps her by email.

A reluctant leader, Arthur wishes only to leave Britain and return to the peace and stability of Rome. Before he can, one final mission leads him and his Knights of the Round Table - Lancelot, Galahad, Bors, Tristan, and Gawain...

Nijinsky, the most celebrated dancer of the early 20th century, performed Stravinsky's L'après-midi d'un faune (or The Afternoon of a Faun) with the Ballet Russes.

When a sportswriter tries to track down the mother of his adopted son, he discovers she is a prostitute and pornographic film star.

The Pygmalion-like story of a Greek prostitute and the American who decides to educate her in the hope that she will abandon her streetwalking.

Loosely based on Homer's "Odyssey", this is the story of three convicts-- escapees from a prison farm in Mississippi-- and their adventure as they travel home in hopes of recovering buried loot before it's lost forever in a flood.

A story of a convict who rescues a pregnant woman in a great flood. The experience changes both of their lives.

When young Lillian's mother dies during childbirth, the father soon re-marries the well-intentioned Lady Claudia. However, Claudia's heart is ruled not by her husband, but by an evil mirror with the power to make Claudia Queen over all living things, until they are dead...

The world of The Mahabharata is of profound storytelling power and spiritual import; within it a civilization rises, falls and is reborn.

The fairy tale characters of Little Red Ridinghood, Cinderella, and Jack (and the Beanstalk) are linked together with the characters of a baker and his wife...

Disc 4: Beauty and the beast

In this version of the Pygmalion love story an abused young woman finds safety and eventually love in the arms of a famous novelist.

Part one of a silent extravaganza based on the legends of the Nibelungen. In a time when magic was real and legends walked, a hero, Siegfried, pure of heart and of unblemished virtue, is brought down by the powers of darkness and his own innocence.

Professor Henry Higgins works to make a pretty flower girl into a young lady of society.

The Big Apple is besieged by the monstrous ape, King Kong. The gargantuan ape battles attacking aircraft high above the streets of New York and plunges to his death from the top of the World Trade Center.

Adventure story of the giant ape King Kong, discovered on Skull Island, his voyage to New York and his fatal attraction to a young woman, leading to death and destruction as he pursues

A Cockney waif is transformed by a linguistics professor into an elegant lady.

An inventor's sudden death leaves his greatest creation unfinished with sharp shears of metal for hands.

A restoration of the original 1946 French film, telling the fable of the kindly beast and the self-sacrificing beauty whose love releases the prince in him.

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A horror/melodrama about a hideous-looking man who lives in the catacombs below the Paris Opera House and his unrequited love affair with an opera starlet whom he tutors

The mythical tale of a young queen, Alphise, determined to abdicate rather than contemplate an enforced marriage to a descendant of Boreas.

An opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck.

1. The Hero's adventure -- 2. The Message of the myth -- 3. The First storytellers -- 4. Sacrifice and bliss -- 5. Love and the goddess -- 6. Masks of eternity.
Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell discuss the themes and roots of human myth which is seen as man's attempt to relate himself to the universe. Starting with various topics Campbell shows both how man creates his universe and is controlled by the myth he has created.

Inspired by the Greek legend of Orestes, Pasolini views post-colonial African history through the lens of mythology in this metaphorical film.

In Flemish legend, Malpertuis is the devil's lair. It is also the name of the sinister and labyrinthine house belonging to the dying Cassavius, whose relatives have gathered in anticipation of his death and their inheritance. All is not as it seems, and Jan, Cassavius's nephew, finds himself trapped in a nightmare world of Greek gods, temptresses, and stairways and corridors to nowhere.

Alwina is discovered by a French aristocrat while he is in Tunisia seeking inspiration for a new novel. He becomes infatuated with this innocent gamin and constructs a plot to polish her charms and bring her to Paris where he presents her to society as an Indian princess.

In his last film Cocteau portrays an 18th century poet who travels through time on a quest for divine wisdom. In a mysterious wasteland, he meets several symbolic phantoms that bring about his death and resurrection.

Jupiter takes the shape of Amphitryon in order to enjoy the love of Amphitryon's wife, Alcmene. Based on the play by von Kleist, this cabaret-style treatment was one of the most successful films of the 1930's.

Against a background of the Rio carnival, a black tram driver accidentally kills his girlfriend, and after seeking her in the nether regions kills himself to be with her.

Based on ritual and legends from the Popul vuh and Mayan stories, the film focuses on a small Tzeltal village during a terrible drought. Desperate for relief, thirteen men set out on a quest to save their people by seeking a solitary diviner who lives in the mountains and knows the ways of the ancients. Hoping that he can summon Chac, the rain god, the men follow the diviner who takes them on a strange journey that challenges their beliefs and even their sanity.