Karel Reisz

The French Lieutenant's Woman -- Anna and Mike portray two characters in a film set in 19th century England who fall in love despite the fact that Mike's character is engaged.

When pretty Angela Crispini (Debra Winger) hires private detective Tom O'Toole (Nick Nolte) to clear a teenager of murder, the rumpled gumshoe dives into the case headfirst. But the more he learns about his client, the more he doubts her veracity -- and her sanity. Jack Warden, Judith Ivey and Frank Converse co-star in this riveting drama based on a stage play by the legendary Arthur Miller (who also penned the film script).

Two intertwining and related love stories... In the first story (set in 1867 England), a strange young woman is dishonored by her affair with a French officer, and loved by a proper young Victorian gentleman who falls hopelessly in love with her. The second story (set in the present) chronicles the similar relationships of the actors who are portraying the protagonists of the first story in a film. In both stories, the lovers are affectingly played by Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons. John Fowles' novel was adapted for the screen by Harold Pinter and directed by Karel Reisz. Cinematographer Freddie Francis has been praised for his painterly re-creation of 19th-century Dorset, as well as his complementary 20th-century mise-en-scene.

Director Karel Reisz's unforgettable masterwork uses a film-within-a-film framing technique to trace the parallel relationships of two ill-fated couples separated by a century. Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons portray the star-crossed, Victorian lovers Sarah and Charles, while doubling as the contemporary thespians who embark on their own tumultuous tryst as they're filming a movie about … the lives of Sarah and Charles.

Anna and Mike portray two characters in a film set in 19th century England who fall in love despite the fact that Mike's character is engaged.

Anna and Mike portray two characters in a film set in 19th century England who fall in love despite the fact that Mike's character is engaged.

Alex Freed is a literature professor. He has the gambling vice. When he has lost all his money, he borrows from his girlfriend, then his mother and finally some bad guys that chase his. Despite of all this he cannot stop gambling.

Alex Freed is a literature professor. He has the gambling vice. When he has lost all his money, he borrows from his girlfriend, then his mother and finally some bad guys that chase his. Despite of all this he cannot stop gambling.

James Caan portrays a compulsive gambler who can't quit or win. He falls into debt to the mob for $40,000 but seems to relish the thrill of gambling against the long shot. He is in over his head and his future is in the mob's hands.

One of the finest British films ever made, this benchmark of “kitchen-sink realism” follows the self-defeating professional and romantic pursuits of a miner turned rugby player eking out an existence in drab Yorkshire. With an astonishing, raging performance by a young Richard Harris, an equally blistering turn by fellow Oscar nominee Rachel Roberts as the widow with whom he lodges, and electrifying direction by Lindsay Anderson, in his feature-film debut following years of documentary work, This Sporting Life remains a dramatic powerhouse.