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'Henry V' Movie Actress Renée Asherson dead at 99: Laurence Olivier leading lady in acclaimed 1944 film (image: Renée Asherson and Laurence Olivier in 'Henry V') Renée Asherson, a British stage actress featured in London productions of A Streetcar Named Desire and Three Sisters, but best known internationally as Laurence Olivier's leading lady in the 1944 film version of Henry V, died on October 30, 2014. Asherson was 99 years old. The exact cause of death hasn't been specified. She was born Dorothy Renée Ascherson (she would drop the "c" some time after becoming an actress) on May 19, 1915, in Kensington, London, to Jewish parents: businessman Charles Ascherson and his second wife, Dorothy Wiseman -- both of whom narrowly escaped spending their honeymoon aboard the Titanic. (Ascherson cancelled the voyage after suffering an attack of appendicitis.) According to Michael Coveney's The Guardian obit for the actress, Renée Asherson was "scantly...

For those who are big fans of any crime-related shows on American television whose names consist exclusively of, or include, acronyms, it's probably safe to suggest that you give Pie in the Sky a miss.

Things get trickier after that though, because the mid-90s BBC show is hard to compare to anything, much less any other criminal investigation series. Fans of British television surely want to give it a chance, especially anything that falls in the general category of episodic drama, but you don't want to look here for your fix of detective programming.

Much as you might like to try to explain the show in simple terms, it's actually just a show about Henry Crabbe (Richard Griffiths), and though he is a police detective, and it is hard to argue against the idea that "crimes" "happen," and he "investigates" them, but there the similarity to any police or detective drama ends.

DVD Playhouse—August 2010

By

Allen Gardner

Black Orpheus (Criterion) Winner of the 1959 Best Foreign Film Oscar and that same year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes, Black Orpheus is a modern-day update of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice reset in 20th century Brazil during Carnival in Rio. Director Marcel Camus offers up a visual feast with some of the decade’s most ravishing color cinematography. A classic. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Archival interviews with Camus and actress Marpessa Dawn; Interviews with Brazilian cinema scholar Robert Stam, jazz historian Gary Giddins, and Brazilian author Ruy Castro; Documentary on the film; Trailer. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.

The Last Song (Touchstone) Sentimental adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ (by Sparks and Jeff Van Wie) sentimental novel about a father and daughter attempting to repair their damaged relationship. Greg Kinnear, as the dad in question, comes off best, while tween sensation Miley Cyrus...

Here is a treat for all who love the genre of English village murder mystery. In the 14th set of Midomer Murders viewers will have a collection of four cases to be investigated by the intrepid Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) and his crew. Each of these four mysteries is a gem of production and story. Of particular interest to those who love this series, is that John Nettles has said that Barnaby will soon be retiring, so these may be some of his last cases. Joining him in these are Jane Wymark and Laura Howard and Joyce and Cully Barnaby, as well as Jason Hughes as Detective Sergeant Ben Jones. Guest stars include Gareth...