"Actor: Alan Be"

• Laurence Olivier Presents | DVD | (21/05/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The greatest actor of the 20th century presents five works by great 20th-century playwrights. Stars include Olivier Natalie Wood Robert Wagner Maureen Stapleton Alan Bates Malcolm McDowell Helen Mirren Joanne Woodward Carrie Fisher Greta Scacchi and Joan Plowright.. The Plays: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (by Tennessee Williams): A rich plantation owner and his family come to grips with their greed envy and self-delusion. The Collection (by Harold Pinter): What did or did not take place in a Leeds Hotel ruffles the lives of four habitus of fashionable London. Hindle Wakes (by Stanley Houghton): An independent young mill worker refuses to bow to convention after an indiscretion with the boss's son. Come Back Little Sheba (by William Inge): Loss and regret bubble to the surface of a troubled marriage after a young boarder moves in. Saturday Sunday Monday (by Eduardo de Filippo): A monumental argument erupts smolders and subsides over a weekend in the life of a boisterous Italian family. The Ebony Towers (by John Fowles): Laurence Olivier portrays an elderly painter who has locked himself away from the world in a crumbling French chateau. Olivier is not quite a hermit; he enjoys the attentions of two nubile admirers played by Greta Scacchi and Toyah Willcox. This situation is disturbed by the arrival of young transient Roger Rees.

• Mesmer | DVD | (29/01/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Who knows what secrets lurk in the souls of man? In 18th century Vienna one man discovers the truth-and pays the price. His patients call him a miracle worker; his colleagues dismiss him as a quack. Meet Franz Anton Mesmer (Alan Rickman Galaxy Quest Dogma Sense and Sensibility): physician hypnotist self-promoter hopeless romantic and man ahead of his time. Employing revolutionary ideas about ""animal magnetism"" and the power of suggestion Mesmer gains local acclaim by curing his disturbed young cousin. Shortly thereafter beautiful blind pianist Maria Theresa Paradies (Amanda Ooms) seeks Mesmer's aid setting in motion a dizzying doomed love affair as her cure becomes both his greatest triumph and his downfall. In this thought-provoking film from acclaimed screenwriter Dennis Potter (The Singing Detective) and director Roger Spottiswoode (Tomorrow Never Dies) everything we know-or think we know-about the nature of consciousness is called into question. As the man who scandalized Vienna and Paris and threw the medical establishment into an uproar Alan Rickman delivers a tour de force performance that won the Best Actor Award at the Montreal Film Festival. Music composed by three-time Golden Globe Nominee Michael Nyman

• Psycho Collection | DVD | (26/09/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Psycho: The classic Hitchcock thriller involving a series of murders at a lonely motel where the deaths are attributed to the mother of the young owner. Psycho 2: Norman Bates is coming home after spending 22 years in a mental institution. He plans to renovate the old Bates Motel the place where his first murders occurred... Psycho 3: The Bates Motel is again the site of some nasty doings as the rehabilitated Norman who has installed a new ice machine att

• High Sierra (The Criterion Collection) | Blu Ray | (12/10/2021) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• My Man Godfrey | DVD | (26/01/2004) from £6.28   |  Saving you £-1.29 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

• The Anderson Tapes | DVD | (06/01/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  An early example of the techno-thriller, The Anderson Tapes--sharply directed by Sidney Lumet from the novel by Lawrence Sanders--follows just-out-of-stir Duke Anderson (a balding Sean Connery) as he plots the heist of an entire New York apartment building, enlisting a crew that includes Martin Balsam as a vintage 1971 gay stereotype and a very young Christopher Walken in perhaps the first of his jittery crook roles. The gimmick is that Anderson has been out of circulation so long that he doesn't realise his mafia backers are only supporting him because they feel nostalgic for the days before they were boring businessmen and that the whole setup is monitored by a criss-crossing selection of government and private agencies who don't care enough to thwart the robbery, which instead becomes unglued thanks to a gutsy young radio ham. With a cool Quincy Jones score, very tight editing, a lot of spot-on cameo performances from the likes of Ralph Meeker as a patient cop, this hasn't dated a bit: it's wry without being jokey and suspenseful without undue contrivance. On the DVD The Anderson Tapes offers a nice anamorphic transfer, a few trailers and various foreign language options. --Kim Newman

• The Howards Of Virginia | DVD | (10/01/2005) from £8.08   |  Saving you £1.91 (19.10%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Available for the first time on DVD! Leading man Cary Grant plays Matt Howard a common man who gains employment as a surveyor through the help of Thomas Jefferson. Howard quickly falls head over heels for his wealthy employer's daughter Jane Peyton (Martha Scott). The couple appear to be set for happiness until Matt becomes involved in politics and the War of Independence arrives...

• Secret Friends (Limited Edition) | Blu Ray | (24/02/2020) from £17.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Unfairly neglected since its original low-key cinema run, Secret Friends is the only feature to be written and directed by Dennis Potter (Pennies from Heaven, The Singing Detective). Made shortly after his hugely controversial mini-series Blackeyes, the film centres on a writer, played by Alan Bates (A Day in the Death of Joe Egg), who descends into a kind of madness during a train journey as memories, fantasies and psychotic visions collide. Extras: High Definition remaster Original stereo audio New audio commentary with Graham Fuller, editor of Potter on Potter Bon Vivant (2020): actor Ian McNeice recalls working with Dennis Potter Theatrical trailer Image gallery: publicity and promotional material New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing Limited edition exclusive 36-page booklet with a new essay by Jeff Billington, Dennis Potter on the making of Secret Friends, an extract from Potter on Potter, an overview of critical responses, and film credits World premiere on Blu-ray Limited edition of 3,000 copies All extras subject to change

• Berserker | DVD | (02/08/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  Berserker' is based upon an old Nordic legend. A 'Berserker' was a bloodthirsty warrior who was kept in chains and used as the first line of assult in Viking raids. Now in the present day America the 'Berserker' has risen out of hell to stalk a mixed group of college students camping in the woods. When the blood feast begins the screaming suspense starts clawing at the nerves. Can anything human destroy the Berserker? Or will the carnage continue over the centuries....?

• A Soldier's Story | DVD | (04/10/2010) from £6.73   |  Saving you £-0.74 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Charles Fuller adapted his Pulitzer Prize-winning A Soldier's Play for the big screen in 1984. The film version, A Soldier's Story is essentially a murder mystery, played out against a background of inter and intra-racial conflict at a Second World War training camp. To the consternation of his white opposite number at the camp, a black captain (Howard W Rollins) arrives to investigate the death of a black sergeant (Adolph Caesar). Suspicion immediately falls on a pair of bigoted white officers but as the tale unfolds in a series of flashbacks, it soon becomes clear that a different kind of prejudice is also at work. Assisted by some excellent performances, director Norman Jewison opens the story out from its stage roots. There's a wonderful baseball scene (filmed on location at Little Rock) in which the double standards of Dennis Lipscomb's fidgety white captain are exposed with neat irony; he'll cheer his successful black team all the way home in the name of sport. His gradual, forced liberalisation provides the film with an important comic element. A Soldier's Story wears its heart on its sleeve without being superficial in any way. It's a compelling tale, well told and often highly entertaining, in which nobody gets off lightly, least of all the good guy. On the DVD: The widescreen presentation helps give an epic feel to what could, in other hands, have been a claustrophobic production. The picture quality is fine. But the monaural sound track is often rather muffled, leaving you straining to catch some of the dialogue. This is also a shame because the blues music--an inspired job by Herbie Hancock, assisted by Patti Labelle singing her lungs out as bar owner Big Mary--is an important element of the film's underlying theme and deserves to be better heard. The extras are valuable. Norman Jewison's commentary is detailed and sensitive. As he says, the film deals with "ideas in racism never seen on screen before", and he acknowledges the strength of his actors in getting those ideas across. "March to Freedom" is an excellent short documentary which features the moving testimonies of black servicemen on the insufferable prejudices they encountered while attempting to defend their country during the Second World War; A Soldier's Story is thus put sharply into context. --Piers Ford

• In The Beginning | DVD | (22/09/2003) from £9.98   |  Saving you £-6.99 (-233.80%)   |  RRP £2.99

  The epic Old Testiment story of Hebrew patriarch Abraham and his descendants. A star-studded cast brings these compelling stories to life featuring: Abraham's call to find the promised land; the stories of Isaac Rebeccah Esau and Jacob; Joseph's remarkable rise to power despite being sold into slavery by his brothers; Moses receiving the ten commandments and the liberation of the jews from Egypt.

• The Gaelic King | DVD | (10/07/2017) from £5.00   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Set in the war-torn dark ages of 800AD Scotland, this is the story of a young Warrior-King named Alpin. When his family is murdered by a rival Pict King, Alpin and his infant brother Finn, are the sole escapees. Alpin swears to one day return, seeking vengeance and regain his rightful claim to the throne. Ten years later Alpin and Finn, return and come across a community whose children are being kidnapped by the mysterious dark ˜Shadow Warriors'. When Finn gets captured, Alpin sets out to rescue him, accompanied by a Druid-monk called Lachlan. What ensues is a gripping adventure, culminating in a final epic battle between Alpin and Nathara, the sorceress who awoke and controls the Shadow Warriors.

• The Entertainer | DVD | (01/03/2004) from £20.97   |  Saving you £-4.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The Entertainer of the title is Archie Rice, a mediocre music hall artist upholding a dying tradition in an English seaside against a background of the 1956 Suez Crisis. Laurence Olivier stars and is supported by a superb cast including a young Alan Bates as his son, Roger Livesey as his kindly, now retired, always more talented and popular father, and Joan Plowright as his daughter (who, ironically given the story, married Olivier the following year). Albert Finney makes his screen debut in a tiny role and the remarkable cast also features Daniel Massey, Shirley Anne Field, Thora Hird and Charles Gray. Archie himself is a hollow man who brings pain to all around him, and while Olivier's brilliant performance reveals the layers of cynicism which disguise the emptiness inside, the emotional resonance lies with those forced to endure Rice's manipulations, adulteries and deceits. On stage John Osborne's play proved to be a signature part for Olivier, and director Tony Richardson--who filmed Osborne's equally sour Look Back In Anger (1958)--handles the material with unvarnished realism. Unfolding like a dark variation on Chaplin's Limelight (1952), the film equally casts a shadow over the less stellar Tony Hancock vehicle The Punch and Judy Man (1963), ultimately working as both family tragedy and allegory for a declining post-war England. Surprisingly an American 1976 TV movie remake starring Jack Lemmon held its own against this minor British classic. On the DVD: The Entertainer is presented letterboxed at 1.66:1, and sourced from an excellent print preserves the look of the original black and white cinematography very well. Even so a little material is clipped from either side of the image, though this is most notable on the left of the picture. The mono sound is very good. There are no features other than optional subtitles, including English for those hard of hearing. --Gary S Dalkin

• Die Hard | Blu Ray | (28/01/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Bruce Willis is John McClane, a New York cop who flies to L.A. on Christmas Eve to visit his wife at a party in her company's lavish high-rise. Plans change once a group of terrorists, led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), seize the building and take everyone hostage. McClane slips away and becomes the only chance anyone has in this heart-stopping action thriller. Special Features: Commentary by Director John McTiernan and Jackson De Govia Scene Specific Commentary by Richard Edlund The Newscasts Interactive Still Gallery Trailers TV Spots Bonus Disc: Decoding Die Hard: Join the stars and filmmakers of the first four films for an unprecedented behind-the-scenes journey. Seven all-new featurettes take you so deep inside the world of Die Hard, you may have to shoot your way out. All-New Featurettes: Origins - Reinventing the Action Genre John McClane - Modern Day Hero Villains - Bad to the Bone Sidekicks - Along for the Ride Fight Sequences - Punishing Blows Action - Explosive Effects The Legacy - The Right Hero for the Right Time Die Hard Trailers - Die Hard - Die Hard 2 - Die Hard With a Vengeance - Die Hard 4.0 - A Good Day to Die Hard

• Tin Man | DVD | (04/08/2014) from £9.79   |  Saving you £3.20 (32.69%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The once-beautiful 'Outer Zone' has become a decaying wasteland and its subjects imprisoned under the control of the evil Azkadellia. While the witch hatches a nefarious plot to suck the souls out of her minions, it seems only one person can stop her. DG (Zooey Deschannel, Elf, New Girl) a rebellious young woman sets out to save O.Z. and those captured from her wicked sister. Enlisting the help of Glitch (Alan Cumming, X-Men 2) who has half a brain, Cain who has no heart and the gentle Raw.

• Larger Than Life | DVD | (06/10/2003) from £11.47   |  Saving you £-2.49 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A man inherits his dead father's estate in the shape of an elephant. To sell his inheritance he must first cross America taking his oversized companion along for the ride...

• Baron Blood | Blu Ray | (29/01/2018) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  HE SOUGHT THE ULTIMATE IN HUMAN AGONY... One of the horror giant Mario Bava's biggest hits, Baron Blood returns to the all-stops-out Gothic atmosphere and the central theme of a witch's curse that fuelled his breakthrough film Black Sunday twelve years later. This time, the curse was placed on Baron Otto von Kleist, Austria's legendarily murderous 'Baron Blood', whose corpse is inadvertently revived when an ancient incantation is read out as a joke by a descendant and his girlfriend. Naturally, the Baron decides to carry on where he originally left off, with the help of an entire vault of elaborate torture devices. Jospeh Cotten (Citizen Kane, The Third Man) has a whale of a time as the deceptively charming Baron, and is given sterling support from Elke Sommer (Lisa and the Devil), who is chased through fog-shrouded alleyways in one of Bava's modst memorably atmospheric set-pieces.

• Young At Heart | DVD | (08/03/2004) from £11.51   |  Saving you £6.48 (56.30%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Barney Sloan (Frank Sinatra) is a cynical down-on-his-luck musician who reluctantly agrees to help his composer friend Alex Burke (Gig Young) with a new comedy he is working on. However Barney gains a new perspective on life and love when he meets Alex's irrepressibly perky fiancee Laurie (Doris Day) - and promptly falls in love with her! A musical remake of the 1938 film 'Four Daughters' with Sinatra offering definitively gloomy renditions of 'Someone to Watch Over Me' and 'One More for My Baby' before Day manages to put a smile on his face featuring a superb score written by Cole Porter and George and Ira Gershwin.

• See No Evil, Hear No Evil | DVD | (05/09/2011) from £11.99   |  Saving you £-6.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Two men are witness to a murder - a blind man who couldn't see it and a deaf man who couldn't hear it but somehow they become prime suspects in the case. They escape the police and set out to catch the bad guy themselves...

• Ballykissangel - Series 5 | DVD | (12/06/2006) from £16.98   |  Saving you £8.01 (47.17%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Series 5 of Ballykissangel featuring Hollywood actor Colin Farrell before he rose to prominence. Episodes Comprise: 1. Two Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest 2. Hello and Farewell 3. Catch of the Day 4. Moving Out 5. Eureka 6. Behind Bars 7. Brendan's Crossing 8. A Few Dollars More 9. The Outsiders 10. With a Song in My Heart 11. Love's Labours 12. The Wedding