English Literature

Directed by John Glenister.
270 minutes; released 1972.
A BBC television production of what may be Jane Austen's best novel. Having successfully orchestrated her friend's marriage, a young woman has another go at matchmaking, only this time things do not go according to plan. Starring Doran Godwin and John Carson.

Directed by Diarmuid Lawrence.
107 minutes; released 1996.
An A&E adaptation of the Austen favourite. Starring Kate Beckinsale, Mark Strong and Prunella Scales.

Directed by Jim O'Hanlon.
240 minutes; released 2009.
Starring Romola Garai and Jonny Lee Miller.

Directed by David Giles.
312 minutes; released 1983.
A BBC production of the popular Austen novel about a young woman sent to live with her rich cousins. Starring Sylvestra le Touzel and Nicholas Farrell.

Directed by Patricia Rozema.
102 minutes; released 1999.
A young woman is sent to live at the country estate of her rich cousins to learn how to be a proper lady. Starring Embeth Davidtz, Jonny Lee Miller, Alessandro Nivola and Harold Pinter.

Directed by Iain B. MacDonald.
86 minutes; released 2007.
A television production of the classic Austen novel.
Starring Billie Piper, Jemma Redgrave and Blake Ritson.

Directed by Giles Foster.
90 minutes; released 1987.
A young woman's romantic inclinations get the best of her when her wealthy neighbour invites her to Bath. Starring Peter Firth, Googie Withers, and Robert Hardy.

Directed by Julian Mitchell.
225 minutes; released 1971.
A BBC production of the Austen novel about a young man who finds himself thrown into the company of the woman who had rejected his offer of marriage. Starring Ann Firbank and Bryan Marshall.

Directed by Roger Michell.
106 minutes; released 1995.
A young man on his return to England finds himself thrown into the company of the young woman who, years before, had rejected his offer of marriage. Starring Amanda Root and Ciarán Hinds.

Directed by Cyril Coke.
265 minutes; released 1980.
An earlier BBC adaptation of Jane Austen's classic tale about love and misunderstanding, which many feel is superior to the Simon Langton version. Starring Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul.

Directed by Simon Langton.
300 minutes; released 1995.
Langton's adaptation of Jane Austen's classic tale about love and misunderstanding. Includes a Jane Austen biography and bibliography. Starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.

Directed by Joe Wright.
129 minutes; released 2005.
Joe Wright's film adaptation of Jane Austen's classic tale of love and misunderstanding. Starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen.

Directed by Rodney Bennett.
174 minutes; released 1981.
A BBC production of the classic Austen novel. The marriage prospects of two sisters--one romantic, the other practical--seems bleak at first, as their family has lost its fortune. But both gain the attention of men they admire. Starring Irene Richard and Tracey Childs.

Directed by Ang Lee.
136 minutes; released 1995.
The marriage prospects of two sisters--one romantic, the other practical--seems bleak at first, as their family has lost its fortune. But both gain the attention of men they admire. Starring Hugh Grant, Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson.

Directed by Sturla Gunnarsson.
104 minutes; released 2005.
Based on the epic Anglo-Saxon poem, this medieval adventure tells of a Norse warrior's battle against the great and murderous troll, Grendel. Starring Stellan Skarsgård, Sarah Polley and Gerard Butler.

Directed by Robert Zemeckis.
114 minutes; released 2007.
Starring Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Brendan Gleeson, and Angelina Jolie.

Directed by Mike Barker.
159 minutes; released 1996.
A young mother leaves her decadent husband and moves to a small community with her son. A handsome young farmer shows interest in her but is unprepared for what he learns about her past. Starring Rupert Graves, Toby Stephens, and Tara Fitzgerald.

Directed by Julian Amyes.
311 minutes; released 1983.
BBC version of the classic novel. Starring Timothy Dalton and Zelah Clarke.

Directed by Robert Young.
108 minutes; released 1997.
A&E version of the classic novel.

Directed by Susanna White.
228 minutes; released 2006.
Originally prepared for public television.

Directed by Franco Zeffirelli.
Starring William Hurt, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Joan Plowright, and Anna Paquin.
116 minutes; released 1996.
Miramax adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's 1847 novel about an orphan who becomes a governess.

Directed by David Skynner.
182 minutes; released 1967.
Originally produced as a BBC television mini-series. Starring Ian McShane, Angela Scoular, and Drewe Henley.

Directed by Peter Kosminsky.
105 minutes; released 1992.
Originally released as a motion picture by Paramount Pictures. Starring Juliette Binoche, Ralph Fiennes, Janet McTeer, and Jeremy Northam.

Directed by David Skynner.
114 minutes; released 1998.
Television adaptation of the timeless tale of love, obsession, and revenge.

Directed by Ken Anderson.
72 minutes; released 1978.
Screen adaptation of the celebrated 17th century Christian allegory about an everyman's arduous journey from The City of Destruction to The Celestial City. Starring Liam Neeson and Maurice O'Callaghan.

Directed by Stanley Kubrick.
137 minutes; released 1971.
The adventures of a man whose principal interests are rape, murder, and Beethoven.

Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.
124 minutes; released 1944.
Adapted from Geoffrey Chaucer's 14th-century tales, this film centres on three modern-day incarnations of Chaucer's pilgrims: a plainspoken American Army sergeant, a resourceful British sergeant, and a melancholy landgirl. While enroute to Canterbury, they are waylaid and forced to solve a bizarre village crime.

Directed by Robert Hamer.
86 minutes; released 1954.
Alec Guiness stars as Father Brown, an eccentric priest who spends his spare time working as an amateur private-eye to capture and reform criminals.

Directed by Robert Tronson et al.
52-minute episodes; released 1974.
A television series based on the Father Brown mystery short stories. Starring Kenneth More and Dennis Burgess.

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
202 minutes; released 1979.
An army captain is sent on a mission to assassinate a renegade officer who has set himself up as a god in the jungles of Cambodia. Based on the novel Heart of Darkness. Starring Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando and Robert Duvall.

Directed by David Lean.
86 minutes; released 1946.
A married man and a suburban housewife have an affair in 1945 Britain. Based on the play Still Life.

Directed by Philip Dudley et al.
1281 minutes; released 2007.
Dramatic presentations of twenty-three works. Includes The Vortex (70 min.; 1969), Hay Fever (91 min.; 1984), Private Lives (92 min.; 1976), Design for Living (120 min.; 1979), Mrs. Capper's Birthday (58 min.; 1985), What Mad Pursuit? (55 min.; 1985), Tonight at 8:30 (eight 30-minute episodes; 1991), Present Laughter (147 min.; 1981), Star Quality (75 min.; 1985), Me and the Girls (54 min.; 1985), Bon Voyage (58 min.; 1985), Mr. and Mrs. Edgehill (82 min.; 1985), Come into the Garden, Maud (56 min.; 1982), A Song at Twilight (83 min.; 1982). Bonus features include radio plays and interviews with the playwright.

Directed by Ross Devenish and Susanna White.
418 minutes; released 1985.
A legal case is held up in the courts for years. The lawyers benefit, but nobody else does.

Directed by Justin Chadwick.
465 minutes; released 2005.
A young woman accepts a position in a bachelor's house, befriends his young charges, and slowly begins to learn about her mysterious neighbour, Lady Dedlock. Starring Gillian Anderson.

Directed by Brian Desmond Hurst.
86 minutes; released 1951.
The best-known movie version of Charles' Dickens tale about the transformation of a miserly man in 19th century London. Starring Alastair Sim.

Directed by Simon Curtis.
180 minutes; released 1999.
Dickens' most autobiographical novel follows the life of David Copperfield from boyhood to manhood.

Directed by Rodney Bennett.
295 minutes; released 1983.
A proud businessman's selfish ambitions cost him his family and fortune.

Directed by David Lean.
118 minutes; released 1946.
A poor orphan befriends an escaped convict and grows up in the company of a bitter old woman and her haughty but beautiful ward. Starring John Mills, Jean Simmons and Alec Guinness.

Directed by Julian Amyes.
351 minutes; released 1981.
A poor orphan befriends an escaped convict and grows up in the company of a bitter old woman and her haughty but beautiful ward. Starring Gerry Sundquist and Joan Hickson.

Directed by Alfonso Cuarón.
122 minutes; released 1998.
In contemporary New York City, a man of modest background falls in love with a rich girl who scorns him. But then a mysterious benefactor arrives. Starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Ethan Hawke, Anne Bancroft and Robert De Niro.

Directed by Peter Barnes.
104 minutes; released 1994.
The son and daughter of a schoolmaster grow to adulthood in this dark treatise on capitalism without a conscience.

Directed by Pedr James.
344 minutes; released 1994.
The son of a mercenary family of London businessmen determines not to become corrupted by selfishness.

Directed by Julian Amyes.
265 minutes; released 1979.
Determined to provide for his granddaughter's future, an old man borrows from a miserable moneylender. When the money is gambled away, the moneylender has them evicted.

Directed by David Lean.
116 minutes; released 1948.
A penniless orphan seeks his true home in nineteenth-century London. Starring John Howard Davies.

Directed by Gareth Davies.
352 minutes; released 1985.
A penniless orphan seeks his true home in nineteenth-century London. Starring Ben Rodska.

Directed by Roman Polanski.
130 minutes; released 2005.
A penniless orphan seeks his true home in nineteenth-century London. Starring Barney Clark.

Directed by Julian Farino.
351 minutes; released 1998.
A sweeping tale of two turbulent love affairs set against a tangled web of wealth, corruption, passion and betrayal in 1860s London.

Directed by Brian Lighthill.
350 minutes; released 1985.
A retired businessman and his three colourful gentleman friends travel through the English countryside where they find adventure and mischief at every turn.

Directed by Jack Conway.
126 minutes; released 1935.
During the French Revolution, a dissolute man finds redemption in a story of love, danger, and sacrifice. Starring Ronald Colman.

Directed by Giles Foster.
102 minutes; released 1992.
A young carpenter plans to marry his longtime sweetheart but receives a shock when she is seduced and impregnated by a local cad for whom she still pines. Starring Iain Glen, Patsy Kensit and Susannah Harker.

Directed by Tom Hooper.
210 minutes; released 2002.
A young man must choose between a charming gambler and a Jewish singer. Starring Hugh Dancy, Romola Garai and Hugh Bonneville.

Directed by Anthony Page.
420 minutes; released 1994.
Middlemarch is Eliot's most ambitious work, a sprawling study of provincial life set at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution which explores the pressing issues of the day: the status of women, marriage, science, class, individualism. Starring Juliet Aubrey, Robert Hardy, Douglas Hodge and Michael Hordern.

Directed by Ronald Wilson.
212 minutes; released 1978.
A clever young woman ignores family loyalties and social norms to pursue friendship and romance on her own terms. Starring Pippa Guard, Christopher Blake, and Anton Lessor.

Directed by Giles Foster.
90 minutes; released 1985.
After he is driven from his religious community and robbed of his fortune, a linen-weaver's hard-luck changes when a baby girl is left at his home. He adopts the girl and lovingly raising her as his own; he he happier than he has ever been. But when the girl's biological father decides he wants her back, the linen-weaver stands to lose everything again. Starring Ben Kingsley, Jenny Agutter, and Patrick Ryecart.

Directed by James Ivory.
142 minutes; released 1992.
Two free-spirited sisters in Edwardian Britain become acquainted with a prosperous but conservative family while also befriending a passionate but poverty-stricken clerk. Starring Emma Thompson, Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Hopkins and Helena Bonham-Carter.

Directed by James Ivory.
140 minutes; released 1987.
In pre-World War I England, two Cambridge students fall in love but find they must keep their homosexuality secret in the face of disapproval and misunderstanding. Starring James Wilby, Hugh Grant and Rupert Graves.

Directed by David Lean.
164 minutes; released 1984.
An Indian under British rule in the 1920's is asked to accompany a young Englishwoman around some local caves. Possibly delusional, she accuses Aziz of molesting her. He is arrested and brought before the courts, and soon learns that the British administration would like to see him found guilty.

Directed by James Ivory.
117 minutes; released 1985.
Visiting Italy with her chaperone in the early 1900s, a young woman encounters two very different suitors. Starring Helena Bonham Carter, Julian Sands, Maggie Smith and Daniel Day Lewis.

Directed by Charles Sturridge.
112 minutes; released 1991.
A widowed woman, desperate to escape her oppressive, upper-class in-laws, finds refuge in rural Italy and impulsively marries. But when a child is born, tragedy strikes, and her scandalized relatives plot to kidnap her baby. Starring Helen Mirren, Helena Bonham-Carter and Rupert Graves.

Directed by Simon Curtis and Steve Hudson.
291 minutes; released 2007.
A network of ladies welcomes a new doctor to their 1840s market town.

Directed by Brian Percival.
233 minutes; released 2004.
A young woman from the south of England moves to a northern town where she meets the owner of a cotton mill.

Directed by Nicholas Renton.
300 minutes; released 1999.
A young girl's widowed father remarries bringing new people into her life.

Directed by Peter Brook.
90 minutes; released 1963.
A group of English schoolboys are marooned on a deserted island after their airplane crashes, killing all the adults on board.

Directed by Harry Hook.
90 minutes; released 1990.
After an airplane crash, a group of school-aged military cadets are marooned on a deserted island.

Directed by Herbert Wise.
50-minute episodes; released 1976.
The story of the Roman emperor Claudius and the deadly political climate he lived in--from the back-stabbing, cup-poisoning household of Caesar Augustus to the bloodthirsty madness of Emperor Caligula. Starring Derek Jacobi, Brian Blessed, Siân Phillips and Patrick Stewart.

Directed by Edward Dmytryk.
105 minutes; released 1955.
A man has an affair with a married woman who abruptly and mysteriously breaks off their relationship. Set in London in 1939. Starring Deborah Kerr, Van Johnson and John Mills.

Directed by Neil Jordan.
101 minutes; released 1999.
A man has an affair with a married woman who abruptly and mysteriously breaks off their relationship. Set in London in 1939. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore and Stephen Rea.

Directed by John Mackenzie.
98 minutes; released 1983.
A British honorary consul becomes unwittingly involved with South American revolutionaries. Non-North American DVD.

Directed by Rodney Bennett.
118 minutes; released 1987.
A Catholic priest and a Communist mayor travel from their remote village to Madrid and back, exploring their friendship, the demands of belief and constancy of faith. Non-North American DVD.

Directed by David Giles.
368 minutes; released 1978.
Years ago, a drunken man sold his wife and child at a country fair; now, he's a respected, prosperous man. When his wife and daughter seek him out in Casterbridge, he tries to right the wrong he has done them. Starring Alan Bates.

Directed by David Thacker.
200 minutes; released 2003.
Television adaptation of the novel. Starring Ciarán Hinds and Jodhi May.

Directed by Roman Polanski.
172 minutes; released 1979.
A farm girl falls in love with a parson's son who abandons her when he learns she isn't a virgin.

Directed by Nick Laughland.
93 minutes; released 2005.
A beautiful schoolteacher moves to a small village in Victorian England and finds herself having to choose between three suitors.

Directed by Marilyn Fox and Alex Kirby.
505 minutes; released 2002.
Comprising The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (169 min.; 1988), Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader (168 min.; 1989) and The Silver Chair (168 min.; 1990), this BBC set is based on the classic fantasy children's novels by C.S. Lewis. In the first story, four children staying at a country house outside London during WWII stumble on an entrance to the Land of Narnia through an old wardrobe. Narnia is frozen in continual winter under the spell of the White Witch.

Directed by Andrew Adamson.
135 minutes; released 2005.
In this feature film based on the novel by C.S. Lewis, four children staying at a country house outside London during the Second World War stumble on an entrance to the Land of Narnia through an old wardrobe. Starring Tilda Swinton.

Directed by Andrew Adamson.
149 minutes; released 2008.
The four Pevensie children return to Narnia, only to discover that hundreds of years have passed and a tyrant has usurped the throne from the rightful heir.

Directed by Richard Marquand and Toby Robertson.
125 minutes; released 1969.
The BBC filming of the 1969 Edinburgh Festival production. Starring Ian McKellen.

Directed by Derek Jarman.
90 minutes; released 1991.
Weak-willed King Edward risks his throne so he can be with his lover Gaveston.

Directed by Joy Batchelor and John Halas.
72 minutes; released 1954.
An animated version of the classic novel about a group of farm animals who successfully revolt against their cruel human owner, only to be enslaved anew by an unscrupulous pig.

Directed by John Stephenson.
91 minutes; released 1999.
A live-action version of the classic novel about a group of farm animals who successfully revolt against their cruel human owner, only to be enslaved anew by an unscrupulous pig.

Directed by Michael Radford.
110 minutes; released 1984.
A man living under constant surveillance in a totalitarian country runs into trouble when he begins a forbidden love affair and starts thinking for himself. Starring John Hurt, Richard Burton, Suzanna Hamilton, and Cyril Cusack.

Directed by James Cellan Jones.
105 minutes; released 1989.
A Swiss soldier sneaks into the bedroom of a Bulgarian girl and causes her to rethink her ideas about love. Starring Helena Bonham Carter and Patsy Kensit.

Directed by David Jones.
120 minutes; released 1987.
A young man returns home to the unhappy family he revolted against years before.

Directed by Cedric Messina.
118 minutes; released 1977.
Shaw presents an elaborate dinner party in order to point out the foibles of British high society.

Directed by William Slater.
100 minutes; released 1972.
A rich young woman is only allowed to marry a man who can convert 150 pounds into 50,000 pounds within six months.

Directed by Herbert Wise.
109 minutes; released 1972.
A daughter is shocked to learn of her respectable mother's involvement in the brothel business.

Directed by George Cukor.
173 minutes; released 1964.
Professor Higgins, a linguist, has to win the bet that any common Cockney girl, once taught to speak properly, can pass as a duchess in London society. A musical based on the play Pygmalion.

Directed by Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard.
96 minutes; released 1938.
A Victorian speech expert bets he can teach a working-class girl to speak English so well that people will think she's a lady. Starring Wendy Hiller and Leslie Howard.

Directed by Otto Preminger.
111 minutes; released 1957.
Otto Preminger's feature-length movie adaptation of the play about the life of St. Joan of Arc. Starring Jean Seberg.

Directed by Nick Havinga and Michael Langham.
120 minutes; released 1975.
An eighteenth-century comedy of manners about two brothers who contend for a beautiful woman who happens to be their rich uncle's much younger wife. Starring Blair Brown, Pat Connolly, Kenneth Welsh, and Larry Gates. Part of the Broadway Theatre Archive.

Directed by Michael Winterbottom.
94 minutes; released 2005.
A narrator, played by an actor in a film called Tristram Shandy, experiences constant interruptions while trying to tell his story. Based on the novel by Laurence Sterne. Starring Steve Coogan.

Directed by Charles Sturridge.
187 minutes; released 1996.
An 18th century physician takes eight years to return home, during which time he experiences numerous fantastical adventures which no one but his wife believes. Starring Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen.

Directed by Marc Munden.
300 minutes; released 1998.
A beautiful, clever, but poor young woman attempts to improve her station in life.

Directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr.
78 minutes; released 1977.
An animated feature film based on the first book in J.R.R. Tolkien's classic about a young hobbit who joins a group of dwarfs in search of lost treasure.

Directed by Ralph Bakshi.
133 minutes; released 1978.
An animated feature based on the second and third novels in J.R.R. Tolkien's classic The Lord of the Rings trilogy. When a magical ring falls into the hands of the hobbit Frodo, he and a group of elves and warriors get caught up in a quest to save Middle Earth from an evil sorcerer.

Directed by Peter Jackson.
208 minutes; released 2001.
A hobbit named Frodo Baggins is entrusted with a powerful ancient ring. Starring Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Cate Blanchett, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom and John Rhys-Davies.

Directed by Peter Jackson.
223 minutes; released 2002.
Frodo Baggins continues his journey with his ring, while his companions try to divert the attention of evil Saruman away from him. Starring Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Cate Blanchett, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom and John Rhys-Davies.

Directed by Peter Jackson.
250 minutes; released 2003.
As Frodo and Sam enter Mordor in an attempt to destroy the ring, Gandalf, Aragorn and their companions try to save Minas Tirith from Sauron's armies. Starring Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Cate Blanchett, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom and John Rhys-Davies.

Directed by David Giles.
374 minutes; released 1982.
A wickedly satiric look at 19th century church politics. Based on Trollope's Barchester series of novels. Starring Donald Pleasence, Alan Rickman, Geraldine McEwan and Susan Hampshire.

Directed by Tom Vaughan.
235 minutes; released 2004.
Jealousy threatens to ruin a man's marriage in Victorian England. Includes an hour-long dramatized biography of Anthony Trollope. Starring Oliver Dimsdale, Laura Fraser and Bill Nighy.

Directed by David Yates.
300 minutes; released 2001.
An Austrian Jewish financier looking to establish himself as an "English country gentleman" but then has a great fall. Starring David Suchet, Matthew Macfadyen and Paloma Baeza.

Directed by Charles Sturridge and Michael Lindsay-Hogg.
660 minutes; released 1981.
The BBC television adaptation of the story of a man's relationship with a wealthy family in between-the-wars England. Starring Jeremy Irons, Anthony Andrews, and Sir Laurence Olivier.

Directed by Julian Jarrold.
133 minutes; released 2008.
The movie adaptation of the story of a man's relationship with a wealthy family in between-the-wars England. Starring Matthew Goode, Ben Whishaw, Hayley Atwell, Emma Thompson, and Michael Gambon.

Directed by Charles Sturridge.
114 minutes; released 1988.
A wealthy 1930s couple and their son live an idyllic life until the chance arrival of a penniless scrounger irrevocably shatters it. Starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Rupert Graves, James Wilby and Alec Guinness.

Directed by Bill Cartlidge.
90 minutes; released 2000.
A devious woman blackmails a rising politician.

Directed by Oliver Parker.
98 minutes; released 1999.
Another version of the popular play. Starring Rupert Everett, Julianne Moore, and Jeremy Northam.

Directed by Anthony Asquith.
95 minutes; released 1952.
A witty, delightful story about a lovestruck suitor named Jack whose fiancee can only love a man named Ernest.

Directed by Oliver Parker.
93 minutes; released 2002.
A more recent version of Wilde's delightful play. Starring Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Judi Dench, and Reese Witherspoon.

Directed by Stuart Burge et al.
456 minutes; released 2002.
Dramatic presentations of four works: The Importance of Being Earnest (110 min.; 1986), The Picture of Dorian Gray (100 min.; 1976), An Ideal Husband (82 min.; 1969), and Lady Windermere's Fan (118 min.; 1985).

Directed by Marleen Gorris.
97 minutes; released 1997.
A woman living in 1923 recalls a summer in 1890. Starring Vanessa Redgrave and Rupert Graves.

Directed by Colin Gregg.
115 minutes; released 1983.
A lecturer and his family spend a summer in an isolated house in Cornwall just before World War I. Starring Kenneth Branagh and Rosemary Harris.

Produced by the Teaching Company.
30-minute lectures; released 1998.
This course covers some of the greatest works of American literature by Irving, Hawthorne, Poe, Melville, Whitman, Thoreau, Twain, James, Faulkner, Crane, Hemingway, Frost, and Steinbeck, among many others. Professor Weinstein reveals the vitality in each work he discusses, finding in every one the "uncanny" quality that marks a masterpiece of the American canon.

Produced by the Teaching Company.
30-minute lectures; released 2004.
It is part of the human endeavor to invent and inhabit literary landscapes. Literature, though "fiction," provides experiential knowledge to readers who enter those landscapes. This course spans 30 centuries of the finest literature ever written and covers almost five dozen timeless works, from the epics and dramas of the ancient Hebrews and Greeks to the prose fiction of the 20th century.

Produced by the Teaching Company.
30-minute lectures; released 1998.
This course offers an overview of the English language that is literary, historical, cultural, political, and scientific in its scope and designed to give you greater insight into the written and spoken word. The lectures provide a thorough understanding of the history of the English language - from its origins as a dialect of the Germanic-speaking peoples through the literary and cultural documents of its 1,500-year span to the state of American speech today.

Produced by the Teaching Company.
30-minute lectures; released 2008.
This course introduces the student to the history of the English language, from its origins as a dialect of the Germanic-speaking peoples, through the literary and cultural documents of its 1500 year span, to the state of American speech of the present day.

Directed by David Allen Silvian.
25 minutes; released 1999.
A documentary about literary critic and English professor Hugh Kenner.

Produced by Maya International Vision.
240 minutes; released 2003.
Hosted by Michael Wood, this up-to-date mini-series documentary provides students with an intimate look at William Shakespeare and his world.

Produced by Kultur International Films.
63 minutes; released 2003.
This film combines biographies of some of Ireland's greatest writers--such as W.B. Yeats, Oscar Wilde and James Joyce--with a tour of the locations that inspired them.

Directed by Robert DiNapoli.
80 minutes; released 2004.
Discover why J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings has become an icon of 20th century culture. This program features 3D computerized animations of Middle Earth, illustrations by the Brothers Hildebrandt, rare archive footage of the author, and in-depth analysis by leading Tolkien scholars.

Produced by the Teaching Company.
30-minute lectures; released 2001.
This course is an excellent introductory guide to the many layers of James Joyce's landmark novel Ulysses. After considering the controversies it provoked when it first appeared and why it is considered a major contribution to 20th-century literature, the lectures show how Joyce's novel reconstructs the adventures of Ulysses, the protagonist of Homer's Odyssey.

Produced by the Teaching Company.
30-minute lectures; released 2002.
Professor Stephen Railton of the University of Virginia explores the private persona behind the public figure through literary analysis of some of his Mark Twain's most representative works. A series of 24 lectures on a college course level.

Produced by the Eternal Word Television Network.
30-minute episodes; released 2005.
Father John Wauck explains how history forges literature, and literature then forges the identity of nations and communities by creating a shared language of images and story.

Directed by John Carlaw et al.
50-minute episodes; released 1982.
A series of intensive acting workshops conducted by the legendary John Barton of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Starring Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Ben Kingsley, and David Suchet.

Directed by Fred Williams.
30-minute episodes; released 2009.
Popular biographer Joseph Pearce explores various theories about the identity of William Shakespeare, uncovering his Catholic roots.

Produced by the Teaching Company.
45-minute lectures; released 1995.
For almost 400 years, Shakespeare's work has been the standard against which all writers have been judged. This course acknowledges that understanding Shakespeare can be difficult because his plays were written 400 years ago.

Produced by the Teaching Company.
30-minute lectures; released 2004.
Dr. John McWhorter, one of America's leading linguists, is your guide on an in-depth tour of the development of human language, showing how a single tongue spoken 150,000 years ago evolved into the estimated 6,000 languages used around the world today.

Produced by the Teaching Company.
30-minute lectures; released 1995.
This course examines the three great forms of literary expression, drama, poetry, and narrative, in a chronological introduction to the major texts of Western culture, from antiquity onward.

Produced by the Teaching Company.
30-minute lectures; released 1999.
This course introduces the plays of Shakespeare and explores what makes Shakespeare the leading playwright in Western civilization.