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Christian Bale
Born 30 Jan 1974, in Haverfordwest, Wales
Bale first caught the public eye when he was cast in the starring role of Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun at the age of 13. He has since risen in stature with each role, often choosing unusual roles, as much for his interest in them as for their ability to develop his career.
Standout roles are the lead in American Psycho and more recently the title role in the psychological thriller The Machinist. Bale devoted himself to the role to an extent he had never gone to, sacrificing his mental and physical well being to achieve Reznik's emaciated, skeletal appearance for the sake of an authentic, natural performance. He lost 60 pounds (27 kilograms) in a matter of months.[21] Bale wanted to lose more, but everyone from the director to his doctor forbade him (Bale weighed 130 pounds (54 kg) by the end of filming).
Next came Batman Begins, which returned the Batman franchise to the darkness of its comic book roots and once again re-ignited the franchise as much due to Bales performance as an ensemble cast and superb director in Christopher Nolan.
"At first, I was somewhat hesitant to do the role. I mean, after all, Batman is an icon. But I remember, as clear as day, being at the grocery store the day the movie opened, and this little boy saw me. He couldn't have been more than five years old. He just walked right up to me and hugged me. He hugged me, and I was so moved by it that I hugged him back. Then he looked up at me and said "You're my hero." And in that moment, I knew that not only as an actor that I had done my job, but that I had made the right decision to play Batman. And I've never looked back on my the decision to play Batman since."
The Prestige gave Bale a chance to show another side of his character skills. The film is split into three storylines, each resembling one of the three stages of magic. Bale played opposite Hugh Jackman as rival magicians consumed the desire to upstage each other and deliver the perfect third act; know as the "prestige".
3:10 to Yuma saw Bale in a Western that also featured Russell Crowe and opened to raputrous reviews.
Bale returns to Batman in this summers The Dark Knight which is notable for also being the swansong of Heath Ledger, who takes on the role of The Joker.
Then came the epic finale of The Dark Knight Rises in the summer of 2012, named by many fans as the greatest film of 2012, as well as that the whole trilogy has been nominated as Best Film Franchise at this year's (2012) Critics' Choice Movie Awards. Vote for The Dark Knight here: http://bit.ly/DarkKnightFavFranchise
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What members say |
Filmography
Christian Bale - news / articles
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Christian Bale takes sick youngster to Disneyland -
9 September 2012
-Actor Christian Bale proved himself a real life hero this week (ends09Sep12) by taking a young leukaemia patient out to California for a trip to Disneyland.-Friends and family of four-year-old Jayden Barber set up a Facebook.com page in a bid to grant the youngster's w
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Christian Bale visits Batman screening massacre survivors -
24 July 2012
-Christian Bale visited the survivors of Friday's (20Jul12) deadly cinema massacre in Denver, Colorado on Tuesday (24Jul12).-Twelve film fans were killed and 58 injured when suspected gunman James Holmes entered a packed Aurora theatre and allegedly opened fire in the e
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Christian Bale's emotional goodbye to Batman -
17 July 2012
-Actor Christian Bale spent "a good 20 minutes" alone in his Batman costume after The Dark Knight Rises wrapped as he prepared to mark the end of an era.-The superstar cast wrapped the final instalment of moviemaker Christopher Nolan's blockbuster trilogy in December (1
Christian Bale - what members say
review by from Southport, Merseyside
Oooooh Batman. 2 July 2005
review by from London
Stunning Performances 4 July 2006
review by Brem from Newcastle, England
Better then I thought. 20 February 2007
Christian Bale - filmography
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Out of the Furnace
(2013)
Starring: Christian Bale, Zoe Saldana, Forest Whitaker
Director: Scott Cooper
Certificate: 
Two brothers live in the economically-depressed Rust Belt, when a cruel twist of fate lands one in prison. His brother is then lured into one of the most violent crime rings in the Northeast.
 
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Currently unavailable
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The Dark Knight Rises
on DVD
(2012)
Starring: Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy
Director: Christopher Nolan
Certificate: 
Eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, the terrorist leader Bane arrives in Gotham City, pushing it and its police force to their limits, forcing its former hero Batman to resurface after taking the fall for Harvey Dent's crimes.
77%
from 10,649 members
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The Flowers of War - Blu-ray
(2011)
Starring: Christian Bale, Paul Schneider, Shigeo Kobayashi
Director: Yimou Zhang
Certificate: 
Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
It's 1937 and China is on the brink of collapse. Nanking is under siege from the Japanese Imperial Army, the streets awash with violence, the civilians desperate. The protective walls of a western church provide the only haven from the vicious battles outside. Here, an American John Miller (..read more »
71%
from 1,142 member
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The Flowers of War
on DVD
(2011)
Starring: Christian Bale, Paul Schneider, Shigeo Kobayashi
Director: Yimou Zhang
Certificate:
Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
It's 1937 and China is on the brink of collapse. Nanking is under siege from the Japanese Imperial Army, the streets awash with violence, the civilians desperate. The protective walls of a western church provide the only haven from the vicious battles outside. Here, an American John Miller (..read more »
77%
from 3,549 members
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The Fighter - Blu-ray
(2010)
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams
Director: David O. Russell
Certificate:
Drama about boxer "Irish" Micky Ward's unlikely road to the world light welterweight title. His Rocky-like rise was shepherded by half-brother Dicky, a boxer-turned-trainer who rebounded in life after nearly being KO'd by drugs and crime.
77%
from 16,841 members
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The Fighter
on DVD
(2010)
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams
Director: David O. Russell
Certificate:
Drama about boxer "Irish" Micky Ward's unlikely road to the world light welterweight title. His Rocky-like rise was shepherded by half-brother Dicky, a boxer-turned-trainer who rebounded in life after nearly being KO'd by drugs and crime.
76%
from 39,749 members
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Terminator - Salvation
on DVD
(2009)
Starring: , ,
Director: McG
Certificate:
Fourth film in the hugely popular 'Terminator' franchise. The film is set in 2018 in a post-apocalyptic world where the human race is at war with Skynet and its army of deadly Terminators. John Connor (Christian Bale) is a young soldier who is destined to become the leader of the human resistance. ..read more »
68%
from 58,752 members
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Public Enemies - Blu-ray
(2009)
Starring: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard
Director: Michael Mann
Certificate:
Michael Mann directs this action thriller set in 1930s gangland America. Johnny Depp stars as the charismatic bank robber John Dillinger, whose audacious raids and subsequent jailbreaks thrilled the American public as their sympathy for the banks that had plunged the country into Depression reached ..read more »
62%
from 866 members
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Terminator - Salvation - Blu-ray
(2009)
Starring: , ,
Director: McG
Certificate:
Fourth film in the hugely popular 'Terminator' franchise. The film is set in 2018 in a post-apocalyptic world where the human race is at war with Skynet and its army of deadly Terminators. John Connor (Christian Bale) is a young soldier who is destined to become the leader of the human resistance. ..read more »
69%
from 17,058 members
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Public Enemies
on DVD
(2009)
Starring: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard
Director: Michael Mann
Certificate:
Michael Mann directs this action thriller set in 1930s gangland America. Johnny Depp stars as the charismatic bank robber John Dillinger, whose audacious raids and subsequent jailbreaks thrilled the American public as their sympathy for the banks that had plunged the country into Depression reached ..read more »
66%
from 4,640 members
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The Dark Knight
on DVD
(2008)
Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Director: Christopher Nolan
Certificate:
Watch now: Unavailable
Batman and James Gordon join forces with Gotham's new District Attorney, Harvey Dent, to take on a psychotic bank robber known as The Joker, whilst other forces plot against them, and Joker's crimes grow more and more deadly.
80%
from 110,972 members
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The Dark Knight - Blu-ray
(2008)
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine
Director: Christopher Nolan
Certificate:
Watch now: Unavailable
Director Christopher Nolan's sequel to his own 'Batman Begins' sees Gotham's avenging angel squaring-up to a new kid on the block - psychotic prankster, the Joker (Heath Ledger, in the role that won him a posthumous Oscar for Best Supporting Actor). In the space of a year, Batman (Christian Bale), ..read more »
84%
from 24,552 members
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I'm Not There - Blu-ray
(2007)
Starring: Garth Giker, Bruce Greenwood, Michelle Williams
Director: Todd Haynes
Certificate:
Impressionistic biopic of legendary singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, directed by Todd Haynes. The movie features six actors playing different versions of the great artist at various stages of his life. Marcus Carl Franklin plays an 11-year-old who passes himself off as a reincarnated Woody Guthrie; ..read more »
55%
from 518 members
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I'm Not There
on DVD
(2007)
Starring: Garth Giker, Bruce Greenwood, Michelle Williams
Director: Todd Haynes
Certificate:
Impressionistic biopic of legendary singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, directed by Todd Haynes. The movie features six actors playing different versions of the great artist at various stages of his life. Marcus Carl Franklin plays an 11-year-old who passes himself off as a reincarnated Woody Guthrie; ..read more »
55%
from 12,004 members
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Rescue Dawn - Blu-ray
(2007)
Starring: Francois Chau, Mr. Tony B. King, Marshall Bell
Director: Werner Herzog
Certificate:
Acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog directs this action drama telling the true story of downed Vietnam pilot Dieter Dengler. Based on the director's 1997 documentary 'Little Dieter Needs to Fly', the film follows Dengler (Christian Bale) as he fulfils his lifelong dream by making his way to the ..read more »
68%
from 2,427 members
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3:10 to Yuma
on DVD
(2007)
Starring: Christian Bale, Chris Browning, Chad Brummett
Director: James Mangold
Certificate:
Watch now: Unavailable
A small-time rancher agrees to hold a captured outlaw who's awaiting a train to go to court in Yuma. A battle of wills ensues as the outlaw tries to psych out the rancher.
72%
from 56,958 members
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Harsh Times
on DVD
(2006)
Starring: Freddy Rodríguez, Adriana Millan, Tammy Trull
Director: David Ayer
Certificate:
Jim Davis is an ex-Army Ranger recently discharged from the military, yet still haunted by nightmares of his former occupation. While seeking a position with the LAPD that will allow him to marry his Mexican girlfriend and bring her to the United States, Jim kills time chilling with his best friend,..read more »
58%
from 16,559 members
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The Prestige
on DVD
(2006)
Starring: Piper Perabo, Scarlett Johansson, Hugh Jackman
Director: Christopher Nolan
Certificate:
Watch now: Unavailable
Thriller starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. Rupert Angier (Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Bale) are London-based magicians of the highest order, both blessed with spectacular powers of deception and both cursed with unrelenting envy for one another's skills. When Alfred performs an awe-..read more »
74%
from 100,778 members
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The Prestige - Blu-ray
(2006)
Starring: Piper Perabo, Scarlett Johansson, Hugh Jackman
Director: Christopher Nolan
Certificate:
Watch now: Unavailable
Thriller starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. Rupert Angier (Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Bale) are London-based magicians of the highest order, both blessed with spectacular powers of deception and both cursed with unrelenting envy for one another's skills. When Alfred performs an awe-..read more »
78%
from 7,723 members
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The New World
on DVD
(2005)
Starring: Christopher Plummer, Raoul Trujillo, August Schellenberg
Director: Terrence Malick
Certificate:
This epic adventure is set amid the encounter of European and Native American cultures during the founding of the Jamestown Settlement in 1607. Inspired by the legend of John Smith and Pocahontas, this story is a sweeping exploration of love, loss and discovery -- both a celebration and an elegy of ..read more »
48%
from 22,145 members
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Batman Begins - Blu-ray
(2005)
Starring: Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Morgan Freeman
Director: Christopher Nolan
Certificate:
Watch now: Unavailable
The fifth outing in the 'Batman' movie franchise explores the origins of the Batman legend and the Dark Knight's emergence as a force for good in Gotham. In the wake of his parents' murder, disillusioned industrial heir Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) travels the world seeking the means to fight ..read more »
85%
from 12,009 members
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Batman Begins
on DVD
(2005)
Starring: Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Morgan Freeman
Director: Christopher Nolan
Certificate:
Watch now: Unavailable
The tale finds the disillusioned industrial heir Bruce Wayne, in the wake of his parents' murder, traveling the world to seek the means to fight injustice and turn fear against those who prey on the fearful. He returns to Gotham and unveils his alter-ego: Batman, a masked crusader who uses his ..read more »
74%
from 139,469 members
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Howl's Moving Castle
on DVD
(2004)
Starring: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Akio Ohtsuka, Haruko Kato
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Certificate: 
Sophie, a diligent teenage girl working in her family's hat shop, finds her life thrown into turmoil when a handsome-but-mysterious wizard named Howl sweeps her off her feet. This innocent encounter enrages the vain and conniving Witch of the Waste, who transforms Sophie into a 90-year-old woman. ..read more »
79%
from 26,730 members
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The Machinist
on DVD
(2004)
Starring: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon
Director: Brad Anderson
Certificate:
Watch now: Unavailable
Brooding psychological thriller, starring Christian Bale. Trevor Reznik (Bale) is a factory machine-operator who is suffering from crippling insomnia. His weight has plummeted, he suffers from hallucinations, and he finds himself unable to concentrate at work, leading to a horrific accident ..read more »
65%
from 61,705 members
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Equilibrium - Blu-ray
(2002)
Starring: Emily Watson, Sean Bean, Angus Macfadyen
Director: Kurt Wimmer
Certificate:
Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
Cleric John Preston (Christian Bale) is a top government agent responsible for enforcing the law that bans emotion in the futuristic state of Libria. This is a world at peace, where war is a distant memory, and so is music, art and poetry. Here, emotion is illegal and is punishable by death. But ..read more »
69%
from 2,923 members
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Reign Of Fire - Blu-ray
(2002)
Starring: Alexander Siddig, Izabella Scorupco, Gerard Butler
Director: Rob Bowman
Certificate:
A London tunnelling project unearths a fire breathing creature that burns the land and feeds on the ash. Quinn (Christian Bale) and Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey) discover must put their differences aside and work together if they are to defeat the dragons to save the world.
62%
from 2,473 members
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Equilibrium
on DVD
(2002)
Starring: Emily Watson, Sean Bean, Angus Macfadyen
Director: Kurt Wimmer
Certificate:
Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
Cleric John Preston (Christian Bale) is a top government agent responsible for enforcing the law that bans emotion in the futuristic state of Libria. This is a world at peace, where war is a distant memory, and so is music, art and poetry. Here, emotion is illegal and is punishable by death. But ..read more »
65%
from 27,433 members
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Reign Of Fire
on DVD
(2002)
Starring: Alexander Siddig, Izabella Scorupco, Gerard Butler
Director: Rob Bowman
Certificate:
A London tunnelling project unearths a fire breathing creature that burns the land and feeds on the ash. Quinn (Christian Bale) and Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey) discover must put their differences aside and work together if they are to defeat the dragons to save the world.
59%
from 13,320 members
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Laurel Canyon
on DVD
(2002)
Starring: Alessandro Nivola, Imaad Wasif, Natascha McElhone
Director: Lisa Cholodenko
Certificate: 
Jane (Frances McDormand) is a record producer trying to come up with a song for her band, whose lead singer Ian (Alessandro Nivola) is her younger lover. When Jane's son Sam (Christian Bale) and his fiance Alex (Kate Beckinsale) turn up, people begin to explore their relationships and realise the ..read more »
53%
from 5,058 members
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Captain Corelli's Mandolin
on DVD
(2001)
Starring: David Morrissey, Patrick Malahide, Nicolas Cage
Director: John Madden
Certificate:
Big budget Hollywood adaptation of the novel set on the Italian-occupied Greek island of Cephalonia during the 1940s. Captain Corelli (Nicolas Cage), an opera-loving mandolin player, finds the population resentful when he first arrives on the island. But soon his involvement with local beauty ..read more »
61%
from 12,369 members
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Shaft
on DVD
(2000)
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Josef Sommer, Richard Roundtree
Director: John Singleton
Certificate:
Remake of the 1971 blaxploitation classic with Samuel L. Jackson taking over from Richard Roundtree in the title role. When waitress Diane (Toni Collette) sees ultra-rich playboy Wade (Christian Bale) murder a young black man outside a nightclub, she knows that she will be next and promptly goes ..read more »
60%
from 6,064 members
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American Psycho
on DVD
(2000)
Starring: Guinevere Turner, Chloe Sevigny, Josh Lucas
Director: Mary Harron
Certificate:
Bret Easton Ellis' disturbing novel is brought to the screen by Mary Harron. In 1987, twentysomething Wall Street broker Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) seems to have it all: he is handsome, successful and engaged to the beautiful Evelyn (Reese Witherspoon). However, Patrick is also engaged in an ..read more »
66%
from 25,618 members
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Velvet Goldmine
on DVD
(1998)
Starring: Eddie Izzard, Christian Bale, Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Director: Todd Haynes
Certificate:
Set in London in the early '70's during the emergence of the glam-rock scene- this film follows the rise of Brian Slade, a mythical rock icon who finds himself at the very epicenter of the pleasures and decadence of his day. At the peak of his fame, Brian and his wife Mandy cruise the nightspots ..read more »
56%
from 5,043 members
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Metroland
(1997)
Starring: Elsa Zylberstein, Emily Watson, Lee Ross
Director: Philip Saville
Certificate:
The sudden reappearance of his best friend Toni, after ten years absence, causes Chris to remember his past, to question some of his lifestyle decisions and to re-evaluate his life and marriage to Marion.
55%
from 369 members
Currently unavailable
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The Secret Agent
(1996)
Starring: Bob Hoskins, Patricia Arquette, Gerard Depardieu
Director: Christopher Hampton
Certificate:
The life of an undercover Russian agent, posing as a quiet shopkeeper in London in order to infiltrate a ring of anarchists, is thrown into turmoil when his employers order him to plant a bomb at the Greenwich Observatory. Based on the novel by Joseph Conrad.
42%
from 31 members
Currently unavailable
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Little Women
on DVD
(1994)
Starring: Winona Ryder, Eric Stoltz, Samantha Mathis
Director: Gillian Armstrong
Certificate:
Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
This 90s update of the classic Civil War tale follows the lives of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, four sisters left at home with their mother during the war. Hardships abound but the girls always retain hope and their strong family loyalty as each grows in her own way into a 'little woman'. Starring Winona ..read more »
70%
from 5,141 members
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Swing Kids
on DVD
(1993)
Starring: Robert Sean Leonard, Barbara Hershey, Frank Whaley
Director: Thomas Carter
Certificate:
Glossy musical portrayal of Nazi Germany produced by Disney, in which a group of teenagers calling themselves the 'Swing Kids' express their rebellion against Hitler's regime by adopting American and British fashion, modes of speech and the swing music prevalent in the US in the late 30s and early ..read more »
63%
from 624 members
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Newsies
(1992)
Starring: David Moscow, Max Casella, Ele Keats
Director: Kenny Ortega
Certificate:
A musical based on the 1899 strike by the newspaper boys against publisher Joseph Pulitzer (Robert Duvall). The 'newsies' get together to create a union to ensure fair wages for themselves after Pulitzer announces a pay cut. Medda (Ann-Magret), a local dancer, helps the boys to protect their rights.
70%
from 92 members
Currently unavailable
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A Murder Of Quality
(1991)
Starring: Glenda Jackson, Brid Brennan, Denholm Elliott
Director: Gavin Millar
Certificate: 
A return of John le Carré's secret agent George Smiley (Denholm Elliott). Now living in retirement, Smiley receives a letter from a teacher at a boarding school who fears her husband is planning to murder her, but by the time he decides to phone her he is too late. Consequently he becomes drawn ..read more »
58%
from 577 members
Currently unavailable
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Treasure Island
(1990)
Starring: Charlton Heston, Christian Bale, Richard Johnson
Director: Fraser Clarke Heston
Certificate:
Young Jim Hawkins, while running the Benbow Inn with his mother, meets Captain Billy Bones, who dies at the inn while it is besieged by buccaneers led by Blind Pew. Jim and his mother fight off the attackers and discover Billy Bones' treasure map for which the buccaneers had come. Jim agrees to ..read more »
72%
from 15 members
Currently unavailable
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Empire of the Sun
on DVD
(1987)
Starring: Christian Bale, John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson
Director: Steven Spielberg
Certificate:
Watch now: Unavailable
Based on J.G. Ballard's autobiographical novel, Empire of the Sun stars Christian Bale as a spoiled young British boy, living with his wealthy family in pre-World War II Shanghai. During the Japanese invasion, Bale is separated from his parents. With the help of soldier-of-fortune John Malkovich, ..read more »
76%
from 9,935 members
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Christian Bale facts
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...een killed off after those last few films that I can't bring myself to mention. Christian Bale is superb as Wayne/Batman and Michael Caine is as good as ever. Cillian Murphy ...
