Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac was a triumph from the moment of its premiere on December 28, 1897. It has become the most popular play of the modern French theater, and Cyrano, despite an ugly visage dominated by an enormous nose, has become a world-beloved symbol of generosity, magnanimity of spirit and beauty of soul. The wonderful Cyrano of this film, Pierre Magnier, understudied Coquelin in the original stage production. He toured with Coquelin...

Very loosely based on the life of a French duelist and playwright, Cyrano de Bergerac is a play in verse that tells the tale of soldier who is gifted with every imaginable positive attribute—except that of a handsome appearance. Because of his perceived ugliness (including a disproportionately large nose), Cyrano feels unworthy of the woman he loves and vents his emotions via other—sometimes amusing, sometimes tragic—channels.

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Features analysis of the plays most frequently studied in literature classes. Entries include: introduction providing overview of play; brief biography of playwright; plot summary; discussion of play's principal themes; essays on play's construction; and excerpted critical commentary.

Small-town fire chief C.D. Bales has a secret crush on astronomy student Roxanne, but because of his huge nose, he is shy in approaching her. So when one of his bumbling but handsome firemen wants to woo Roxanne, C.D. volunteers to coach the fireman in his suit, in the hope of getting near her himself.

Edmond Rostand is not yet thirty but already has two children and too much anxiety. He has not written anything for two years. In desperation, he offers the great Constant Coquelin a new play, a heroic comedy, in verse, for the holidays. There’s one problem: it is not written yet. Ignoring the whims of actresses, the demands of his producers, the jealousy of his wife, the stories of his best friend’s heart and the lack of enthusiasm of all those...

Mise-en-scene looks at how filmmakers make decisions about what is put before the camera. It includes costumes, props, set design, positioning of actors and much more. Mise en scene is a term that refers to all visual elements that appear within each frame of a motion picture. Without various features of mise en scene, a moving picture would consist of only a series of flickering black or light-infused frames, since even a colored screen would provide...

"An alien virus ravages the world, its results as random as a hand of cards. Those infected either draw the black queen and die, draw and ace and receive superpowers, or draw the joker and are bizarrely mutated. Nevertheless, human nature reigns supreme. And one fo the most enduring human drives is the search for love. Aces and jokers alike both want to find it, or have lost it...or perhaps just want to use it for personal gain. Within these stories,...