Classic Films

• Oliver | DVD | (06/02/2006) from £4.29  |  Saving you £15.70 (78.50%)  |  RRP £19.99

  Film buffs and critics can argue until their faces turn blue about whether this lavish Dickensian musical deserved the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1968, but the movie speaks for itself on grandly entertaining terms. Adapted from Dickens's classic novel, it's one of the most dramatically involving and artistically impressive musicals of the 1960s, directed by Carol Reed with a delightful enthusiasm that would surely have impressed Dickens himself. Mark Lester plays the waifish orphan Oliver Twist, who is befriended by the pick-pocketing Artful Dodger (Jack Wild) and recruited into the gang of boy thieves led by Fagin (played to perfection by Ron Moody). The villainous Bill Sikes (Oliver Reed) casts his long shadow over Oliver and his friends, but the young orphan is still able to find loving care in the most desperate of circumstances. Full of memorable melodies and splendid lyrics, Oliver! is a timeless film, prompting even hard-to-please critic Pauline Kael to call it "a superb demonstration of intelligent craftsmanship," and to further observe that "it's as if the movie set out to be a tribute to Dickens and his melodramatic art as well as to tell the story of Oliver Twist". --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Mary Poppins - 45th Anniversary Edition | DVD | (02/03/2009) from £5.69  |  Saving you £12.30 (68.40%)  |  RRP £17.99

  Mary Poppins is one of Disney's most enchanting fantasies and the motion-picture hit that made 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' a household word! Julie Andrews stars as the loveable nanny who soars out of the skies and into the hearts of everyone she encounters. Toting a carpetbag full of magical adventures Mary and her fun-loving sidekick Bert (Dick Van Dyke) deliver endless joy and surprises to a troubled family.

• The Birds - 50th Anniversary Limited Edition | Blu Ray | (13/05/2013) from £12.29  |  Saving you £5.70 (31.70%)  |  RRP £17.99

  Vacationing in northern California, Alfred Hitchcock was struck by a story in a Santa Cruz newspaper: "Seabird Invasion Hits Coastal Homes". From this peculiar incident, and his memory of a short story by Daphne du Maurier, the master of suspense created one of his strangest and most terrifying films. The Birds follows a chic blonde, Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), as she travels to the coastal town of Bodega Bay to hook up with a rugged fellow (Rod Taylor) she's only just met. Before long the town is attacked by marauding birds, and Hitchcock's skill at staging action is brought to the fore. Beyond the superb effects, however, The Birds is also one of Hitchcock's most psychologically complicated scenarios, a tense study of violence, loneliness, and complacency. What really gets under your skin are not the bird skirmishes but the anxiety and the eerie quiet between attacks. The director elevated an unknown model, Tippi Hedren (mother of Melanie Griffith), to being his latest cool, blond leading lady, an experience that was not always easy on the much-pecked Ms. Hedren. Still, she returned for the next Hitchcock picture, the underrated Marnie. Treated with scant attention by serious critics in 1963, The Birds has grown into a classic and--despite the sci-fi trappings--one of Hitchcock's most serious films. --Robert Horton

• Rebecca | DVD | (01/01/2008) from £3.99  |  Saving you £2.00 (33.40%)  |  RRP £5.99

  Whilst on holiday, young timid ladies companion (Joan Fontaine) meets handsome and wealthy widower Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier) whose wife Rebecca has recently died in a boating accident.The two fall in love and marry. However, her joy is short lived when she returns to the de Winter estate and soon discovers that Rebecca still has a strange, unearthly hold over everyone there.

• Rear Window | Blu Ray | (13/05/2013) from £10.25  |  Saving you £4.74 (31.60%)  |  RRP £14.99

  Alfred Hitchcock playfully explores the role of the voyeur in one of his best-loved suspense thrillers. After breaking his leg during a shoot, photo-journalist L.B. 'Jeff' Jeffries (James Stewart) is forced to spend a humid summer recuperating in his Greenwich Village apartment. The wheelchair-bound Jeff whiles away his time observing his neighbours through a telephoto lens, bestowing them with nicknames and growing familiar with their daily routines. However, his society girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly) is exasperated and then alarmed when Jeff becomes obsessed with the notion that Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr), who lives in the apartment opposite, has murdered his wife. A 53-minute making of feature, 'Rear Window Ethics', is also included. Special Features: Rear Window Ethics: An Original Documentary A Conversation with Screenwriter John Michael Hayes Pure Cinema: Through the Eyes of The Master Breaking Barriers: The Sound of Hitchcock Rear Window Re-Release Trailer Narrated by James Stewart Feature Commentary with John Fawell Author of Hitchcock's Rear Window

• Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | DVD | (06/10/2008) from £3.03  |  Saving you £6.96 (69.70%)  |  RRP £9.99

  Never Forget. Never Forgive. Based on the 19th century legend of Sweeney Todd and the hit Broadway musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (Johnny Depp) returns to London after being sent to prison unjustly by Judge Turpin. Sweeney opens a barber shop and vows to get his revenge not only for that cruel punishment but for the devastating consequences of what happened to his wife and daughter. Joining Depp is Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett Sweeney's amorous accomplice who sells the worst pies in London. With the help of Mrs. Lovett Sweeney tries to rid of all the people who have ever done him wrong and hopes to be reunited with his daughter Joanna who is now Judge Turpin's ward.

• The Best Of Ealing Collection | DVD | (01/06/2009) from £11.95  |  Saving you £23.04 (65.80%)  |  RRP £34.99

  Titles Comprise: Kind Hearts And Coronets: Set in the stately Edwardian era Kind Hearts And Coronets is black comedy at is best with the most articulate and literate of all Ealing screenplays. Sir Alec Guinness gives a virtuoso performance in his Ealing comedy debut playing all eight victims standing between a mass-murderer and his family fortune. Considered by some to be Ealing's most perfect achievement of all the Ealing films. The Ladykillers director Alexander Mackendrick's third Ealing farce is the final comedy produced by the famous British studio and one of its most celebrated. Like the equally applauded Kind Hearts And Coronets the film is more sophisticated and blacker in tone than typically lighthearted Ealing fare (such as Mackendrick's Whiskey Galore!). Alec Guinness stars as the superbly shifty toothily threatening Professor Marcus the leader of a crime ring planning a heist. Marcus rents rooms from a sweet eccentric old lady Mrs. Wilberforce (Katie Johnson) in her crooked London house. The professor and his co-conspirators blowhard Major Courtney (Cecil Parker) creepily suave Louis (Herbert Lom) chubby Harry (Peter Sellers) and muscleman One-Round (Danny Green) pose as an unlikely string quartet using the rooms for rehearsal. Dodging Mrs. Wilberforce's constant interruptions the hoods hit upon the idea to use her in the daring daylight robbery (filmed in and around London's King's Cross station). When the old girl discovers the truth Marcus and company cannot persuade her to stay buttoned up about it and thus decide to do her in. Accompanied by a noirish cacophony of screeching trains parrots and little old ladies at afternoon tea a series of unlikely events builds to the hilarious surprising finale. The Man In The White Suit: Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness) works quietly at Michael Corland's (Michael Gough) textile mill until his mysterious costly lab experiment is discovered. Fired by Corland Stratton takes a menial job at Alan Birnley's (Cecil Parker) mill in order to continue his work on the sly. When Daphne (Joan Greenwood) Corland's fianc''e and Birnley's daughter discovers his secret she threatens to expose Stratton. The desperate scientist reveals to Daphne that he has invented an indestructible cloth that never gets dirty. Close to realizing his vision Stratton celebrates by having a white suit made of the fabric (because it repels dye). The trouble however is just beginning. The lowly mill workers (who spout market economics in rough accents) fear for their jobs while the mill owners led by the decrepit Godfather-esque Sir John Kierlaw (Ernest Thesiger) worry about their profits. Passport To Pimlico: An archaic document found in a bombsite reveals that the London district of Pimlico has for centuries technically been part of France. The local residents embrace their new found continental status seeing it as a way to avoid the drabness austerity and rationing of post-war England. The authorities do not however share their enthusiasm... The Lavender Hill Mob: Mr. Holland (Alec Guinness) has supervised the bank's bullion run for years. He is fussy and unnecessarily overprotective but everyone knows he is absolutely trustworthy. And so on the day the bullion truck is robbed he is the last person to be suspected. But there is another side to Mr. Holland; he is also Dutch the leader of the Lavender Hill Mob.

• The Great Gatsby | DVD | (15/12/2003) from £5.35  |  Saving you £10.64 (66.50%)  |  RRP £15.99

  Perhaps no movie could capture F Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby in its entirety, but this adaptation, scripted by Francis Ford Coppola, is certainly a handsome try, putting costume design and art direction above the intricacies of character. Robert Redford is an interesting casting choice as Gatsby, the millionaire isolated in his mansion, still dreaming of the woman he lost. And Sam Waterston is perfect as the narrator, Nick, who brings the dream girl Daisy Buchanan back to Gatsby. The problem seems to be that director Jack Clayton fell in love with the flapper dresses and the party scenes and the jazz age tunes, ending up with a Classics Illustrated version of a great book rather than a fresh, organic take on the text. While Redford grows more quietly intriguing in the film, Mia Farrow's pallid performance as Daisy leaves you wondering why Gatsby, or anyone else, should care so much about his grand passion. The effective supporting cast includes Bruce Dern as Daisy's husband, and Scott Wilson and Karen Black as the low-rent couple whose destinies cross the sun-drenched protagonists. (That's future star Patsy Kensit as Daisy's little daughter.) The film won two Oscars--not surprisingly, for costumes and musical score. --Robert Horton

• Hello, Dolly! | DVD | (09/04/2012) from £3.59  |  Saving you £6.40 (64.10%)  |  RRP £9.99

  Barbra Streisand is a knockout as Dolly Levi, the woman who arranges things...like furniture and daffodils and lives. The famed plot concerns Dolly, a young widow and professional matchmaker who sets her sights on conquering tight-fisted Yonkers merchant, Horace Vandergeider, beautifully played by Walter Matthau. Over $20,000,000 was spent on DOLLY and you can see and hear every penny. The painstakingly re-created streetcars, shops, skyscrapers and town itself (circa 1900), the magnificent Harmonia Gardens set, Irene Sharoff's colour splashed costumes, Jerry Herman's hummingly tuneful direction. So, spend a magical evening with the incomparable Barbra - and see what great musicals are all about.

• Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit | DVD | (30/06/2008) from £6.75  |  Saving you £9.24 (57.80%)  |  RRP £15.99

  A story of love freedom and choice based on Whitbread prize winning author Jeanette Winterson. Her adopted mother is a passionate Pentecostalist whose world view is so entirely governed by the Bible that she believes her daughter to be the Chosen One from God. But Jess's feelings for other girls and her mother's fury at her daughter's 'unnatural passions' leads to her abrupt expulsion from the church and the beginning of her search to be herself.

• Les Miserables Double Pack | DVD | (17/12/2012) from £3.95  |  Saving you £6.04 (60.50%)  |  RRP £9.99

  Les Miserables 1935Victor Hugo's most acclaimed novel comes brilliantly to life in this impeccably performed, magnificently filmed screen adaptation. Fredric March stars as Valjean, the ex-convict who rises against all odds from galley slave to mayor. Charles Laughton is Javert, the fanatical police inspector who dedicates his life to recapturing Valjean. A vivid depiction of the appalling poverty and social strife of 19th-century France, this version of Les Miserables does splendid justice to the original novel. Les Miserables 1952Michael Rennie, fresh from his success in the sci-fi classic The Day the Earth Stood Still, cuts a very handsome figure as Jean Valjean, and Debra Paget, who would later reteam with Rennie in four more films, makes for a stunning Cosette in this powerful retelling of the classic epic. Costars include Robert Newton (Treasure Island), Edmund Gwenn (Miracle on 34th Street), Cameron Mitchell (How to Marry a Millionaire), Sylvia Sidney (Mars Attacks!) and Elsa Lanchester (The Bride of Frankenstein)!

• Lord Of The Flies | DVD | (23/07/2007) from £7.49  |  Saving you £12.50 (62.50%)  |  RRP £19.99

  Following a plane crash a group of schoolboys find themsleves on a deserted island. They appoint a leader and attempt to create an organised society for the sake of their survival. Democracy and order soon begin to crumble when a breakaway faction forms and quickly regresses to brutal savagery with horrifying consequences. Peter Brook's classic adaptation of William Golding's novel has lost none of the impact it made when given an 'X' certificate on its 1963 release. Shot with a raw

• The Glenn Miller Story | DVD | (04/06/2007) from £3.69  |  Saving you £6.30 (63.10%)  |  RRP £9.99

  The true story of an unassuming band leader and trombonist Glenn Miller (played by James Stewart) who got his first break playing his own arrangement of 'Everybody Loves My Baby' at an audition. He never looked back. He married his childhood sweetheart and everything he played became an instant hit...songs like 'Moonlight Serenade' 'String of Pearls' and 'Tuxedo Junction'. Hollywood beckoned and success piled upon success. But then came World War II. A war from which Glenn Miller never returned. He was on his way to Paris to entertain the American Forces when his plane disappeared. But the show had to go on...and Glenn Miller became a legend. The film features all of Glenn Miller's hits and there are many guest performances who make this film an all time classic. Winner of an Oscar for Best Sound in 1955.

• Doctor Who - The Masque Of Mandragora | DVD | (08/02/2010) from £5.39  |  Saving you £14.60 (73.00%)  |  RRP £19.99

  Doctor Who: Masque Of Mandragora (Dr Who)

• Kind Hearts And Coronets | DVD | (05/09/2011) from £6.49  |  Saving you £9.50 (59.40%)  |  RRP £15.99

  Set in the stately Edwardian era Kind Hearts And Coronets is black comedy at is best with the most articulate and literate of all Ealing screenplays. Sir Alec Guinness gives a virtuoso performance in his Ealing comedy debut playing all eight victims standing between a mass-murderer and his family fortune. Considered by some to be Ealing's most perfect achievement of all the Ealing films.

• The Dam Busters | Blu Ray | (14/06/2010) from £10.39  |  Saving you £9.60 (48.00%)  |  RRP £19.99

  Dr Barnes Wallis was possessed with a seemingly crazy idea - the creation of a bouncing bomb designed to destroy the Ruhr dams and paralyse the enemy's industrial nerve centre. He fought persistent scepticism and disbelief that such a feat was possible though even with the matchless skill of RAF Wing Commander Guy Gibson and his squadron could such a mission succeed?

• Breakfast At Tiffany's | DVD | (14/09/2009) from £2.53  |  Saving you £7.46 (74.70%)  |  RRP £9.99

  Holly is a deliciously eccentric New York City playgirl determined to marry a Brazilian millionaire. George Peppard plays her nextdoor neighbour a writer who is 'sponsored' by wealthy Patricia Neal. Guessing who's the right man for Holly is easy. Seeing just how that romance blossoms is one of the enduring delights of this classic set to Henry Mancini's Oscar-winning score and the Oscar-winning Mancini/Johnny Mercer song 'Moon River'. The names Audrey Hepburn and Holly Golightly have become synonymous since this dazzling romantic comedy was translated to the screen from Truman Capote's best-selling novella.

• Cool Hand Luke | DVD | (15/09/2008) from £3.41  |  Saving you £16.58 (82.90%)  |  RRP £19.99

  His crime: nonconformity. His sentence: the chain gang. Now you can own the Director's Cut of the 1967 classic Cool Hand Luke in which Paul Newman plays one of his best-loved roles as the loner who won't or can't conform to the arbitrary rules of his captivity. A cast of fine character actors including George Kennedy in his Academy Award-winning role of Dragline gives Newman solid support as fellow prisoners. And Strother Martin is the Captain who taunts Luke with the famous line '""What we've got here is...failure to communicate."" No failure here. With rich humour and vibrant storytelling power 'Cool Hand Luke' succeeds resoundingly.

• Doctor Who - The War Games | DVD | (06/07/2009) from £8.00  |  Saving you £16.99 (68.00%)  |  RRP £24.99

  Doctor Who: War Games (3 Disc)

• A Man For All Seasons | DVD | (12/02/2007) from £4.49  |  Saving you £8.50 (65.40%)  |  RRP £12.99

  A Man For All Seasons: a motion picture for all time! Winner of six Academy Awards - including 1966 Best Picture - 'A Man For All Seasons' stars Paul Scofield as Sir Thomas More a respected English statesman whose steadfast refusal to recognise King Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn cost him his head. Featuring an all-star supporting cast - Wendy Hiller Leo McKern Robert Shaw Orson Welles Susannah York and Vanessa Redgrave - and directed by two-time Oscar-winner Fred Zinnemann Robert Bolt's A Man For All Seasons is ""a picture that inspires admiration courage and thought."" - The New York Times.