The 1959 Newport Jazz Festival was a true musical watershed, as Jazz on a Summers Day reveals. This 75-minute film captures an event poised on the cusp of a new era, as the cool jazz of Jimmy Guiffre and the effortless scat of Anita ODay intermingle with the hard bop of the Gerry Mulligan Quartet and the smouldering fusion overtones of the Chico Hamilton Quintet. Theres a crisp contribution from Chuck Berry, a typically feel-good set from Louis Armstrong--including a hilarious duo with Jack Teagarden--and, as evening shades into night, a heartfelt performance from Mahalia Jackson, closing with a melting rendition of "The Lords Prayer". Bert Stern has assembled all these and more into a satisfying sequence, complete with footage of an enthusiastic and informal audience. Shots of the yachting line-up from the Americas Cup round out a blissful and what now seems blissfully naïve occasion. On the DVD: Colour picture quality has worn well, whereas sound has deteriorated notably at times: Thelonius Monks quarter-tones could easily be a semitone flat! Even so, its worth putting up with this to enjoy a tour through music-making whose relaxed spontaneity would be impossible to emulate today. --Richard Whitehouse
Love. Betrayal. Obsession. Using the Emily Bront's classic novel Wuthering Heights as inspiration writer Sally Wainwright has created Sparkhouse another superb drama from the BBC. Carol Bolton is feisty passionate and reckless. Life has dealt her a raw deal. She lives in poverty-stricken Sparkhouse Farm with a drunken father Richard but she is determined to protect those closest to her - younger sister Lisa and her soul mate since childhood Andrew Lawton.
"Now you see it. You're amazed. You can't believe it. Your eyes open wider. It's horrible, but you can't look away. There's no chance for you. No escape. You're helpless, helpless. There's just one chance, if you can scream. Throw your arms across your eyes and scream, scream for your life!" And scream Fay Wray does most famously in this monster classic, one of the greatest adventure films of all time, which even in an era of computer-generated wizardry remains a marvel of stop-motion animation. Robert Armstrong stars as famed adventurer Carl Denham, who is leading a "crazy voyage" to a mysterious, uncharted island to photograph "something monstrous ... neither beast nor man." Also aboard is waif Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) and Bruce Cabot as big lug John Driscoll, the ship's first mate. King Kong's first half-hour is steady going, with engagingly corny dialogue ("Some big, hard-boiled egg gets a look at a pretty face and bang, he cracks up and goes sappy") and ominous portent that sets the stage for the horror to come. Once our heroes reach Skull Island, the movie comes to roaring, chest-thumping, T. rex-slamming, snake-throttling, pterodactyl-tearing, native-stomping life. King Kong was ranked by the American Film Institute as among the 50 best films of the 20th century. Kong making his last stand atop the Empire State Building is one of the movies' most indelible and iconic images. --Donald Liebenson
Sarah Lancashire stars as Catherine Cawood a police sergeant in a small town where drunkards drug addicts and teenage pregnancies are a way of life. Her world is turned upside down when the man she thinks is responsible for her daughter’s death – Tommy Lee Royce - is released from prison. Meanwhile quiet middle-class accountant Kevin Weatherill feels underappreciated and underpaid at work. Desperate to give his daughters a decent education he asks for a pay rise so he can send them to private school. But when his wealthy boss Nevison refuses something finally snaps for Kevin and he enlists the help of local drug lord Ashley to kidnap Nevison’s daughter and hold her for ransom. Things quickly spiral out of control when Ashley involves Tommy Lee in the plan. How far will any of them go to get what they really want? Special Feature: Behind The Scenes
When Jo witnesses the gruesome murder of her parents, she becomes a key witness against a notorious crime boss. She is placed into the Witness Protection Program and is relocated thousands of miles away from her big city home to the rural countryside of Montana. Now she has a new name, a new look and a new family. Jo slowly begins to make new friends and builds a new life when her past catches up to her and the fight of her life has begun.
International secret-agent Danger Mouse and best friend Penfold return in this all-new series where they embark on the craziest, action-packed missions from London to Mars......to the 6th dimension......to the future! Combining high energy, top class storytelling and surreal spin-out comedy with brilliant visuals, this new series re-invents our favourite secret agent for today's tech savvy audience while maintaining everything you ever loved about the original series! Featuring an all-star voice cast including Alexander Armstrong (Pointless, Armstrong & Miller) as Danger Mouse, Kevin Eldon (It's Kevin, Ruddy Hell It's Harry & Paul) as Penfold, Stephen Fry (British national treasure!) as Colonel K, Ed Gaughan as Baron Greenback and Shauna MacDonald (The Descent, Filth) as the voice of Professor Squawkencluck and introducing Dave Lamb, the voice of Come Dine With Me, brining his inimitable vocal style to the iconic, sardonic Narrator! And if that wasn't enough, a whole host of other great voice-talent including guest appearances from Richard Osman (Pointless) as Professor Strontium P. Jellyfishowitz, Lena Headey (Game Of Thrones) and John Oliver (Last Week Tonight) with Morwenna Banks and Kayvan Novak, lending their vocal talents to a variety of roles across the series.
Legendary producer-director Howard Hawks teams with two equally legendary stars, John Wayne and Robert Mitchum, in this classic Western drama. Mitchum plays to perfection an alcoholic but gutsy sheriff who relentlessly battles the dark side of the wild West, ruthless cattle barons and crooked businessmen. The Duke gives an equally adept performance as the sheriff's old friend who knows his way around a gunfight. Filled with brawling action and humor, El Dorado delivers the goods. James Caan and Ed Asner co-star.
Bob (Rodney Bewes) and Terry (James Bolam) find their lifelong friendship beginning to change as Terry becomes involved with a new woman and the lads' weekly drinks sessions stop. Bob is dismayed but his wife sees the opportunity to get Terry married off and put a wedge between the friends. Of course this being a spin-off from the popular BBC sitcom nothing runs smoothly as they all embark on a caravan touring holiday!
Set in London's East End, The 14 (aka The Wild Little Bunch aka Existence) is based on the true story of fourteen children who struggle against overwhelming pressures to stay together after the death of their single mother. Heading the cast is Oliver! star Jack Wild, who plays Reg - at 17 the eldest of the children, and committed to keeping his young family together after a promise he made to his mum; his mischievous siblings are portrayed by largely untrained juvenile actors. The 14 was the...
El Dorado doesn't quite have the scope or ambition of Howard Hawks' greatest Westerns, Red River and Rio Bravo. But this relaxed picture, made near the end of Hawks' marvellous career, still shows the steady, sure hand of a master. Hawks reunites with John Wayne, playing a hired gun mixed up in a range war; Robert Mitchum is Wayne's old pal, now a sheriff in the midst of a hopeless drunken bender. James Caan, in one of his first sizable roles, plays a kid who can't shoot straight and wears a funny hat (every character in the movie makes fun of this hat). As the plot moves along, it begins to resemble Rio Bravo rather closely ("I steal from myself all the time", Hawks was fond of admitting). But in El Dorado the heroes are a bit older, their powers a bit weaker; at the end Wayne must revert to a bit of subterfuge in order to get the drop on the steely gunslinger (ice-cold Christopher George) he needs to put down. As relaxed as the movie is, Hawks and Wayne and company are in good spirits, with plenty of broad humour and easy camaraderie on display. Hawks and Wayne would make just one more film, the disappointing Rio Lobo, before ending their fruitful partnership. --Robert Horton
The Nightmare on Elm Street series continues to run out of steam, with director Stephen Hopkins (Lost in Space ) applying something approaching brilliance to a script (partly by horror novelists John Skipp and Craig Spector) that falls apart under the light. Among the impressive horror-weird sequences include a boy being absorbed by a motorbike or the characters straying into a superhero comic, but it still has boring Freddy wisecracks, a parade of indistinguishable and annoying teenage cannon fodder, an incomprehensible premise about the dreams of an unborn baby and lots of pompous would-be scariness to drag it down into the morass. Lisa Wilcox returns, but there's no particular reason to be excited about that. -- Kim Newman
In the last days of the Neanderthals, Ayla, a young orphan, must overcome prejudice when she joins a new tribe.
There's nowhere to turn nowhere to hide no way to stop... A monstrous black sedan roars out of the desert without warning and mercilessly begins to terrorize the residents of a small New Mexico town. Is it a phantom a demon...or even the Devil himself?
In any war there are covert groups whose moral flexibility makes them ideal for intelligence and assassination duties: they are The Point Men. Tony Eckhart (Christopher Lambert) heads up one such team protecting the Middle East peace process. In what seems to be a bungled operation, he's the only one who believes they've killed the wrong man. When the other members of his team start dropping dead, the matter becomes a personal vendetta. Unfortunately, that's exactly what the master of disguise Amar (Vincent Regan) is hoping for (aided by some fast-healing plastic surgery). Personal back stories become clear as the plot ranges all over the world from Luxembourg to Jerusalem, Zurich, Tel Aviv, New York and Monaco. There's lots of espionage intrigue and assassins' technology in this adaptation of the novel The Heat of Ramadan by Steven Hartov. Director John Glen, who helmed the James Bond films during the Roger Moore-to-Timothy Dalton era, knows how to choreograph action, and with Maryam d'Abo (from The Living Daylights) plus the fiery Kerry Fox as Maddy he also maintains a believable pair of love interests. A cross between Ronin and Face/Off, The Point Men inhabits familiar film territory, but as always Lambert is eminently watchable.On the DVD: A crisp 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer and 5.1 Surround makes this as clean a presentation of a modern film as possible. One trailer and page-long filmographies of Christopher Lambert and director John Glen also make it a cheap one. --Paul Tonks
'Bedtime' takes a peek behind the curtains and watches the night-time rituals of three contrasting couples in the last half hours of their day. Written by Andy Hamilton (Drop The Dead Donkey) 'Bedtime' is a funny moving and compelling mini-soap set in the bedrooms of adjoining house in an ordinary street in an ordinary London suburb... This DVD contains all six episodes of the second series of 'Bedtime'.
Evacuated to a house in Dorset from war-torn London, Madge Arwell and her two children, Lily and Cyril, are greeted by a madcap caretaker whose mysterious Christmas gift leads them into a magical wintry world.
A Hollywood remake of French hit Les Visiteurs featuring the same male leads and director. Thibault (Jean Reno) is a brave medieval knight who likes riding horses rescuing damsels in distress and ordering his servant Andre (Christian Clavier) around. Now he is about to marry the most beautiful princess in the kingdom (Christina Applegate). But on the eve of his wedding a horrible tragedy occurs and a wizard's terrible mistake means that suddenly Thibault and Andre find themselves sp
The Complete 12 and a half hour series on 4 DVDs Jazz is an extraordinary amazing tour de force. This is what classic brilliant television looks like... The Sunday Times Over twelve and a half hours long Jazz is the critically acclaimed definitive history of Jazz music from its roots in the 19th century up to today. Produced by Ken Burns - one of America's most celebrated and respected documentary film-makers - this BBC co-production cost in excess of 000 000 and took over six years to make. Jazz features literally hundreds of rare and classic recordings and live performances from a century of Jazz music supported by exclusive interviews and rare or never before seen film clips and still photographs.
Written by BAFTA award winning writer Kay Mellor comes this witty emotional story centred around a unique selection of people whose lives are inextricably intertwined on a journey of discovery as they come face to face with their sexual problems....
A DEADLY NEW ATTRACTION! The most famous shark of all time is back bigger and more terrifying than ever in Jaws 3 starring Dennis Quaid, Bess Armstrong, Simon MacCorkindale and Louis Gossett Jr. Everyone at Florida's Sea World is thrilled with the new Undersea Kingdom, a maze of underwater plexiglass tunnels that permits visitors to get closer to marine life than ever before. The opening ceremonies include many important guests and one uninvited baby shark who accidentally enters the park's lagoon through a faulty sea gate and subsequently dies. The young shark's 35-foot mother soon follows her offspring, creating the most horrifying tale of terror ever flmed in the water. Directed by Joe Alves, the original Jaws designer, and co-written by Carl Gottlieb who penned the frst two blockbusters, this action-packed adventure will have you screaming for your life.
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