Mesmerized (1986) / The Lady And The Highwayman (1989)

Mesmerized (Color, 1986): Based on the true story of the sensational murder trial that rocked New Zealand in 1880!

Seventeen-year-old Victoria weds a man decades older to escape her life as a destitute orphan. Oliver Thompson is a cruel and unscrupulous brute, and Victoria's days - and especially her nights - with her new husband are unendurable. When all of her attempts to escape are thwarted, she turns to the new science of hypnotism, combining it with daily doses of poison to slowly and methodically snuff out the life of her tormentor. When Oliver dies, Victoria is arrested and put on trial for murder. The entire nation of New Zealand was fixated on a trial whose outcome still shocks today!

Two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster (The Accused, 1988, and The Silence Of The Lambs, 1991) made her first appearance at age three in a Coppertone commercial, and remains one of Hollywood's premier actresses. John Lithgow is best known for his TV role as Dr. Dick Solomon on "3rd Rock From The Sun." His distinguished film career includes Oscar nominations for best supporting actor in The World According To Garp (1983), and Terms Of Endearment (1984).

Starring Jody Foster, John Lithgow, Michael Murphy, Dan Shor, Harry Andrews Directed by Michael Laughlin.

The Lady and the Highwayman (Color, 1989): Beautiful Lady Panthea is forced to marry a sadistic, depraved nobleman twice her age. Her monstrous husband is killed in a duel with a black-masked highwayman who treats the lady with gallantry and leads her to safety. She becomes one of the wealthiest women in England and a favorite at the court of King Charles II, but is secretly in love with her rescuer. Jealous conspirators put in motion a devious plot designed to place Lady Panthea and her secret paramour on the executioner's block!

An all-star cast led by Hugh Grant and sweeping vistas of the English countryside bring this best-selling Barbara Cartland romance novel to swashbuckling, bodice-ripping life.

Starring Hugh Grant, Oliver Reed, Claire Bloom, Michael York, Lysette Anthony, John Mills, Emma Samms, Robert Morley; Directed by John Hough.

• drama