"Actor: Alec"

• Ealing Boxset | Blu Ray | (31/03/2014) from £19.99   |  Saving you £20.00 (100.05%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Ealing Studio output from the 1940s and the 1950s helped define what was arguably the golden age for British cinema. This Blu-ray collection brings together three much loved comedy classics directed by Ealing stalwarts Robert Hamer Charles Crichton and Alexander Mackendrick and starring the great Sir Alec Guinness in some of his most memorable roles.

• The Quiller Memorandum | Blu Ray | (28/07/2014) from £11.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (50.05%)   |  RRP £14.99

  George Segal gives a bravura performance as an unorthodox secret agent on the run from a neo-Nazi organisation in this stylish espionage thriller directed in West Berlin by Michael Anderson. Tautly scripted by Harold Pinter, this multiple BAFTA-nominated film also features Alec Guinness, Max von Sydow and Senta Berger. The Quiller Memorandum is featured here in a High Definition transfer made from original film elements in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio. Quiller is assigned.

• Family Guy, Series 1 | DVD | (29/03/2004) from £4.99   |  Saving you £20.00 (400.80%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Family Guy shouldn't work at all. Even by the witless standards of modern television, it is breathtakingly derivative: does an animated series about the travails of a boorish, suburban yob with a saintly wife, a hopeless son, a clever daughter and a baby sound familiar at all? Even the house in Family Guy looks like it was built by the same architects who sketched the residence of The Simpsons. However, Family Guy does work, transcending its (occasionally annoyingly) obvious influences with reliably crisp writing and the glorious sight gags contained in the surreal flashbacks which punctuate the episodes. Most importantly, the show's brilliance comes from two absolutely superb characters: Stewie, the baby whose extravagant dreams of tyrannising the world are perpetually thwarted by the prosaic limitations of infanthood, and the urbane family dog Brian--Snoopy after attendance at an obedience class run by Frank Sinatra. Family Guy does not possess the cultural or satirical depth of The Simpsons--very little art in any field does. But it is a genuinely funny and clever programme. --Andrew Mueller

• Alice | DVD | (11/02/2002) from £7.45   |  Saving you £8.54 (114.63%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Critics greeted Woody Allen's 1990 opus Alice with sighs of resignation. Here was yet another of Allen's bemused heroines-at-a-crossroads/crisis, falling prey to all kinds of temptation and fantasy and emerging at the other end a more complete, fulfilled or at least self-aware human being. But, though it's a minor work by his highest standards, it has weathered rather well. This is a softer exploration of territory Allen had previously covered rather more intensely and seriously in Another Woman (1988). It's often very funny and ultimately affirms one of Allen's most persistent themes: however confused you think you are, the answer probably lies somewhere inside you rather than in anybody else. As Alice, Mia Farrow gives one of her most versatile and unmannered performances, revealing a real gift for comedy. However bitter the breakdown of her long personal relationship with Allen, there is no doubt that he took her to new professional heights in their cinematic collaborations. At the start, Alice is little more than a well-heeled housewife and mother, a lady who lunches with bitchy friends. Her dissatisfaction with her marriage (to patronising rich guy William Hurt) leads her into the path of Chinese herbalist Dr Yang, whose potions set her off on a series of experiences which include the affair she has been considering, becoming invisible (cue some great gags, especially one involving a New York cab) and a brief flirtation with opium (here Allen's trademark soundtrack of old standards includes the evocative "Limehouse Blues"). There's also some great dialogue. "He's very deep," says Farrow of her putative lover (Joe Mantegna). "Yeah, and very deep is where he wants to put it", cracks back her visiting muse (a glittering cameo from Bernadette Peters). On the DVD: Presented in widescreen (1.85:1) format with a Dolby Digital stereo soundtrack, Alice on DVD replicates the hallmark intimacy of Allen's films in the cinema with good picture and lush sound quality (the importance of his romantic, referential musical choices should never be underestimated). There are no extras, apart from the original theatrical trailer. --Piers Ford

• Tim Burton 9-Film Collection | Blu Ray | (03/10/2022) from £45.55   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Pee-Wee's Big Adventure: When Pee-wee Herman's idyllic world is destroyed by the theft of his fire-engine red bicycle, the pre-pubescent adult sets out on a manic cross-country odyssey to recover his most valued possession. Director Tim Burton makes his feature-film debut with this comic masterpiece./p> Beetlejuice: A couple of home-loving ghosts need to be rid of a group of pretentious, trendsetting humans, who have taken over their house and made 'living' extremely difficult. They enlist the aid of a bio-exorcist in the hope that he can scare the unwanted guests away. Batman: After witnessing his parents brutal murder as a child, millionaire-philanthropist Bruce Wayne pledges his life to fighting crime disguised as Batman. His long-time nemesis, the Joker, has sinister plans for the citizens of Gotham City. His greed is matched by his obsession with photojournalist Vicki Vale. But Batman is there to counter the Joker's every move. With the fate of Gotham and Vicki in the balance, will good or evil prevail? Batman Returns: Batman the Caped Crusader is pitted against the demented, ravenous Penguin; a pitiful, orphaned psychopathic freak who once went on a baby-killing spree, and a 'power' hungry capitalist villain, Max Shreck. As the two criminals plot to gain domination over Gotham City, Batman must plot to stop them. In the highly stylized Batman Returns, Batman is thrown a third enemy, a terrible distraction: the slinky, sharp-clawed Cat Woman./p> Mars Attacks: When a shiny silver flying saucer lands in the Nevada desert, a group of skull-faced Martians exit the gleaming craft. Although they claim to be peaceful, they promptly vaporize a gathering of unfortunate Earthling s, kicking off a bizarre high-tech war with wild special effects. Sweeney Todd: Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) is living a simple life with his wife Lucy and his daughter when the lust of a judge (Alan Rickman) throws their lives into chaos. The judge has Barker deported to Australia, and many years later he returns to England with revenge in his heart. Corpse Bride: Set in a 19th century European village, this stop-motion, animated feature follows the story of Victor (voiced by JOHNNY DEPP), a young man who is whisked away to the underworld and wed to a mysterious Corpse Bride, while his real bride, Victoria, waits bereft in the land of the living. Though life in the Land of the Dead proves to be a lot more colorful than his strict Victorian upbringing, Victor learns that there is nothing in this world, or the next, that can keep him away from his one true love. Charlie & The Chocolate Factory: Acclaimed director Tim Burton brings his vividly imaginative style to the beloved Roald Dahl classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, about eccentric candy-maker Willy Wonka and Charlie Bucket, a good-hearted boy from a poor family who lives in the shadow of Wonka's extraordinary factory.

• Little Dorrit | DVD | (27/10/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £25.99

  The original 1987 BBC feature film adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic tale Little Dorrit starring Alec Guinness and Derek Jacobi. A story told in two films the life of Arthur Clennam and the life of Amy Dorrit in the London of the 1850's.

• Mission: Impossible - Fallout - 3D - Turbine Collector Series #04 (Blu-ray 3D) | Blu Ray | (03/04/2025) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• A Foreign Field - BBC | DVD | (07/05/2018) from £9.95   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A heart-warming comedy/drama about old comrades reuniting through love and bittersweet memories. Originally shown as a part of the BBC One's series of plays for Screen One in 1993. Two veterans of the D-Day landings, Cyril (Leo McKern) and Amos (Alec Guinness) return to Normandy for the first time in 50 years. Amos, who took some shrapnel in the skull during the battle of Normandy, has been mentally scarred ever since. Cyril has brought Amos to visit the grave of their wartime buddy, Briggsy, but is also keen to catch up on another wartime friend, Waldo (John Randolph). Reminiscing about Angelique (Jeanne Moreau), a French woman they were both enamored with in their soldiering days, Cyril & Waldo decide to try and track her down, and fight for her affections once again, but where is Angelique, their former French sweetheart? And who exactly is Lisa (Lauren Bacall) the sorrowful American staying at the same hotel, and what is the guilty secret she appears to be nursing? Secrets will be revealed, rivalries stoked, and memories evoked at the Normandy cemeteries as the parties converge to pay their respects.

• Lawrence Of Arabia | DVD | (08/09/2003) from £16.80   |  Saving you £-2.55 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  ""A Miracle of a Film"" - Steven Spielberg This remarkable film follows the struggles of T.E. Lawrence (played by Peter O'Toole - My Favourite Year The Last Emperor) in uniting the hostile Arab factions during the First World War and leading them to victory over the ruling Turkish Empire. The film was released originally in 1962 to huge critical acclaim winning 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director for David Lean.

• Blue Jasmine | Blu Ray | (17/02/2014) from £8.49   |  Saving you £14.50 (170.79%)   |  RRP £22.99

  After everything in her life falls to pieces, including her marriage to wealthy businessman Hal (Alec Baldwin), elegant New York socialite Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) moves into her sister Ginger's (Sally Hawkins) modest apartment in San Francisco to try to pull herself back together again. Jasmine arrives in San Francisco in a fragile mental state, her head reeling from the cocktail of anti-depressants she's on. While still able to project her aristocratic bearing, Jasmine is emotionally pre...

• The Lavender Hill Mob (60th Anniversary Edition) | Blu Ray | (01/08/2011) from £11.99   |  Saving you £10.99 (122.11%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Directed by Charles Crichton, who would much later direct John Cleese in A Fish Called Wanda (1988), 1951's The Lavender Hill Mob is the most ruefully thrilling of the Ealing Comedies. Alec Guinness plays a bowler-hatted escort of bullion to the refineries. His seeming timidity, weak 'r's and punctiliousness mask a typically Guinness-like patient cunning. "I was aware I was widiculed but that was pwecisely the effect I was stwiving to achieve". He's actually plotting a heist. With more conventionally cockney villains Sid James and Alfie Bass in tow, as well as the respectable but ruined Stanley Holloway, Guinness' perfect criminal plan works in exquisite detail, then unravels just as exquisitely, culminating in a nail-biting police car chase in which you can't help rooting for the villains. The Lavender Hill Mob depicts a London still up to its knees in rubble from World War II, a world of new hope but continued austerity, a budding new order in which everything seems up for grabs; as such it could be regarded as a lighter hearted cinematic cousin to Carol Reed's 1949 masterpiece The Third Man. The Lavender Hill Mob also sees the first, fleeting on-screen appearance of Audrey Hepburn in the opening sequence. --David Stubbs

• Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade Of Cartoon Comedy | DVD | (25/01/2010) from £5.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (116.86%)   |  RRP £12.99

  From the creator of Family Guy and the co-creator of American Dad! comes a brand-new animated series of pop culture parodies hilarious shorts and superb non-sequiters. Uncensored uninhibited and unbelievably funny Seth MacFarlane's Calvalcade of Cartoon Comedy is brimming with the kind of smart raunchy and twisted humour you can't see on television no matter how hard you try. So sit back relax and enjoy the show. The possibilities are endless... and so are the laughs!

• The Best of BTF Vol.2 | Blu Ray | (27/09/2021) from £10.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Experience the very best of British Transport Films (BTF) on Blu-ray, with this second volume of stunning High Definition transfers.A descendant of the British sponsored documentary tradition, British Transport Films was established in 1949 to focus a spotlight on transport as a Nationalised undertaking, to create an appetite for travel and to entice the public to use nationalised transport. Over a period of more than 35 years, BTF produced an unrivalled documentary film legacy for generations of film and transport enthusiasts.This new 2-disc Blu-ray compilation gathers together 21 films representing some of BTF collection's most celebrated titles.Remastered films include:Transport (1950, 21mins)Berth 24 (1950, 40mins)Bridge of Song (1955, 15mins)A Day of One's Own (1955, 20mins)Holiday (1957, 18mins)The England of Elizabeth (1957, 27mins)I'm a Litter Basket (1959, 7mins)Under the River (1959, 27mins)Link Span (1956, 23mins)Journey Into Spring (1957, 30mins)Snow (1963, 8mins)Reshaping British Railways (1963, 23mins)Thirty Million Letters (1963, 30mins)Glasgow Belongs to Me (1966, 17mins)Contact With The Heart of England (1967, 9mins)The Site in the Sea (1970, 35mins)E for Experimental (1975, 20mins)Inter-City 125 (1976, 23mins)Promises Promises (1982, 23mins)Inter-City 1250 (1982, 4mins)Extras**FIRST PRESSING ONLY** booklet with writing on all of the included filmsOther extras TBC

• The Prisoner | Blu Ray | (11/03/2019) from £16.39   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Banned from the Cannes and Venice Films Festivals for being anti-Communist and excoriated elsewhere as pro-Soviet propaganda, Peter Glenville s The Prisoner stoked controversy at the time of its original release and remains a complex, challenging and multifaceted exploration of faith and power. In an unnamed Eastern European capital, an iron-willed Cardinal (Academy Award®-winner Alec Guinness, The Ladykillers) is arrested by state police on charges of treason. Tasked with securing a confession from him by any means necessary is a former comrade-in-arms from the anti-Nazi resistance (Jack Hawkins, The Bridge on the River Kwai). Knowing the Cardinal will never fold under physical torture, the Interrogator instead sets out to destroy him mentally, breaking his spirit rather than his body. Adapted by acclaimed playwright Bridget Boland (Gaslight) from her own stage-play and showcasing powerhouse performances by two actors at the height of their game, The Prisoner is a tense, thought-provoking and disturbing drama about the endurance of the human spirit. SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS: High Definition Blu-rayTM (1080p) presentation Original lossless mono audio Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Interrogating Guinness, a new video appreciation of the film by author and academic Neil Sinyard Select scene commentary by author and critic Philip Kemp Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Peter Strain FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Mark Cunliffe

• H.M.S. Defiant | DVD | (18/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Set in 1797 at the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars, HMS Defiant is an enthralling British naval drama made to capitalise upon MGM's epic remake of Mutiny on the Bounty, also released in 1962. Based on the novel Mutiny by Frank Tilsey and starring Alex Guinness as a fair-minded captain locked in psychological conflict with Dirk Bogarde, his manipulative, coldly malicious first officer, the parallels with the famous true story are clear. However there were many naval mutinies at this period and this large-scale saga, which includes some spectacularly staged widescreen naval battles, offers a realistic depiction of life in the British navy at the time--from the press gangs and floggings, to the appalling food and living conditions. Director Lewis Gilbert--who previously helmed Sink the Bismarck! (1960)--strikes a good balance between the personal drama and sweeping maritime adventure. Guinness successfully varies his firm-but-fair officer from The Bridge on the River Kwai, Bogarde is chillingly hateful and Anthony Quayle gives strong support. ITV's recent Hornblower cumulatively offers a more detailed portrait of the British navy during the Napoleonic Wars, though the TV series cannot match the visual scale of this big-screen production. On the DVD: HMS Defiant is presented anamorphically enhanced at 2.35:1, though a little of the original CinemaScope frame is still cropped at the sides. The image is generally very good, though a handful of scenes near the end show considerable print damage and there is an inconstancy of colour grading between some shots. Grain is variable, but not generally a problem, though some unattractive "ringing" from edge enhancement is noticeable, particularly around Alex Guinness when he stands against a bright sky. The sound is in very clear mono with just occasional distortion on the music score. The disc offers the option of watching with dubbed French, German, Italian or Spanish soundtracks. The original trailer is included--under the American title of Damn the Defiant!--as are trailers for three other classic war films. The only other extra features are a small gallery of original publicity materials and three very basic filmographies. --Gary S Dalkin

• The Shadow | DVD | (06/07/2009) from £6.73   |  Saving you £3.26 (48.44%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Another masked avenger is reincarnated as a big budget movie. Idle playboy Lamont Cranston (Alec Baldwin), schooled in Tibetan mysticism, fights crime in late '30s New York while wearing a natty hat and false beak. He finds time to romance telepathic sweetie Margo Lane (Penelope Miller), whose crusty old scientist Dad (Ian McKellen) has just invented an atom bomb which is in danger of falling into the hands of Shiwan Khan (John Lone), conquest-happy last descendent of Genghis Khan.Director Russell Mulcahy turns out the regulation death traps (a locked chamber filling with water, a bomb timer which ticks away during the climax) and the Shadow breezes through via nifty "invisible" effects. It evokes the conventions and charms of 1930s' pulp fiction in rather more nostalgic mode than Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, and adds little of its own attitude, although a sly camp sensibility (notably in the extremely chi-chi Tim Curry and John Lone as the villains) goes for snickering at the expense of tension. A pleasant, eye-pleasing movie but, after the super-heroic likes of Batman, The Crow and The Mask, the merely mysterious Shadow seems somewhat grandfatherly and remote. --Kim Newman

• Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings Of Sherlock Holmes (1999) | DVD | (24/03/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

• Talk Radio | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Academy Award winning writer/director Oliver Stone brings shock radio to the screen in this relentlessly fast-paced suspense thriller. Dallas talk radio host Barry Champlain (Eric Bogosian) discovers one weekend that his skills in pushing people's buttons have won him a chance for national syndication. But instead of celebrating he subjects his ex-wife (Ellen Greene) and co-workers to a darkly comic marathon bout of compulsive risk-taking with his unstable radio audience. Barry and

• Alec Guinness - The Screen Icons Collection | DVD | (01/10/2007) from £24.89   |  Saving you £10.10 (40.58%)   |  RRP £34.99

  This box set contains the following films: The Last Holiday (Dir: Henry Cass) (1950): Alec Guinness plays a salesman of agricultural machinery who finds out that he hasn't long to live. He decides to enjoy his last months to the fullest. Kind Hearts And Coronets (Dir: Robert Hamer) (1949): Dennis Price plays Louis D'Ascoyne the would-be Duke of Chalfont whose mother was spurned by her noble family for marrying an Italian singer for love. Louis resolves to avenge his mother by murdering the relatives ahead of him in line for the dukedom all of whom are played by Alec Guinness! The Man In The White Suite (Dir: Alexander Mackendrick) (1951): Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness) invents a new strong fibre which repels dirt and never wears out! He uses this material to make a brilliant white suit and attempts to sell his product to the textile industry. However all is not as it seems when those in the industry realise that Stratton's new fibre could mean the end of their livelihood - the race is on to catch Stratton! Captain's Paradise (Dir: Anthony Kimmins) (1953): Henry St. James is the Captain of an international ferry. He enjoys his life at Sea especially as he has a loving English wife waiting for him in Gibraltar and another in Tangiers! A perfect life - so long as neither woman decide to travel with him! Barnacle Bill (1957) A British Naval Captain who is plagued by incurable seasickness retires from service and buys a decrepit amusement pier in a small coastal town. After discovering the local commissioners seek to condemn and seize his pier Captain Ambrose must do all in his power to save his pier.

• The Ladykillers | DVD | (13/11/2006) from £8.46   |  Saving you £4.53 (53.55%)   |  RRP £12.99

  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 he