"Actor: Barbara Brown"

• You Were Never Lovelier | DVD | (24/05/2004) from £9.98   |  Saving you £5.00 (62.58%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In this lavish Hollywood musical the headstrong daughter (Hayworth) of a powerful Argentine hotelier has to contend with her father's attempts to get her to marry...

• Born Yesterday | DVD | (05/08/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Born Yesterday was the box-office comedy hit of 1950 and won a Best Actress Oscar for the exceptional Judy Holliday, recreating her long-running Broadway triumph as Billie Dawn, the quintessential dumb blonde who finally gets herself some smarts. The film resonates with the sophisticated sparring in Garson Kanin's script and there are tightly controlled performances from William Holden as the cynical journalist hired to polish Billie up for Washington society and Broderick Crawford as Harry Brock, her rough, crooked and ambitious boyfriend. But Born Yesterday is Holliday's picture, as she runs the gamut from brassy insouciance to tentative, vulnerable enlightenment. She hasn't thought of her estranged father in five years: "It's nothing against him. I haven't thought of anything in five years." Her gradual awakening to the realisation that she is a stooge for Brock's corrupt business deals, and the way she sheds her chorus girl's intellect in the face of growing political awareness, are brilliantly traced. Holliday's dead-pan delivery makes the pathos of her self-discovery both hilarious and deeply touching; it's the hallmark of a comic genius, which makes the sparseness of her subsequent film appearances all the more regrettable. On the DVD: Born Yesterday is presented in full screen (1.33:1) ratio. Like the mono soundtrack, the black and white picture quality has triumphantly survived its more than half century. Extras include a gallery of vintage advertisements and an original theatrical trailer, plus filmographies and welcome, comprehensive booklet notes. --Piers Ford

• Barnaby Rudge - Charles Dickens Classics | DVD | (22/08/2017) from £22.48   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The acclaimed BBC adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic, Barnaby Rudge (1960) is now available to own on DVD for the first time. Starring John Wood (War Games) , Barbara Hicks (Brazil), Timothy Bateson (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) and BAFTA-nominee Joan Hickson. On a stormy night in 1775 a ragged stranger (Nigel Arkwright) wanders into the Maypole Inn. Edward Chester (Bernard Brown), whose horse is lame, leaves the inn on foot to meet his beloved Emma Haredale (Eira Heath) at a masked ball. Joe Willet (Alan Hayward), quarrels with his father, Maypole landlord John (Arthur Brough), and joins the army, only saying goodbye to Dolly (Jennifer Daniel), the pretty daughter of locksmith Gabriel Varden (Newton Blick). Varden s household includes his formidable wife (Joan Hickson) and dithering maid Miss Miggs (Barbara Hicks). Simple-minded Barnaby Rudge (John Wood) wanders in and out of the story, chattering with his pet raven Grip. Barnaby s mother Mary (Isabel Dean) is visited by the stranger, and feels compelled to protect him. As the stories interweave, Barnaby is caught up in the Gordon Riots, a violent demonstration against Catholics. Jailed with the ringleaders, will he hang for their actions? Michael Voyseys 1960 BBC adaptation remains the only TV portrayal of Dickens tantalizing gothic drama.

• American Splendor | DVD | (24/05/2004) from £7.39   |  Saving you £12.60 (170.50%)   |  RRP £19.99

  An original mix of fiction and reality illuminates the life of American comic book writer Harvey Pekar.

• Brass Eye | DVD | (06/05/2002) from £9.17   |  Saving you £10.82 (117.99%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Chris Morris' Brass Eye is a brilliantly funny spoof on current affairs media that carries on where his previous The Day Today left off. The show ran for one single, contentious series in 1997, to be followed by an even more controversial one-off in 2001. While these episodes might cause offence to those not versed in Morris' satirical methods, and while one occasionally suspects his work is informed by a dark seam of malice and loathing rather than a desire to educate, Brass Eye remains vital satire, magnificently hilarious and, in its own way, fiercely moral viewing. Brass Eye satirises a media far too interested in generating dramatic heat and urgency for its own sake than in shedding light on serious issues. Morris mimics perfectly the house style of programmes such as Newsnight and Crimewatch, with their spurious props and love of gimmickry. Meanwhile his presenter--an uncanny composite of Jeremy Paxman, Michael Buerk and Richard Madeley among others--delivers absurd items about man-fighting weasels in the East End and Lear-esque lines such as "the twisted brain wrong of a one-off man mental" with preposterously solemn authority. Much as the media itself is wont to do, each programme works itself up into a ridiculous fever of moral panic. Most telling is the "drugs" episode, in which, as ever, real-life celebrities, including Jimmy Greaves and Sir Bernard Ingham, are persuaded to lend their name to a campaign against a new drug from Eastern Europe entitled Cake. The satirist's aim here isn't to trivialise concern about drugs but to point up the media's lack of attention to content. A response to the ill-conceived News of the World witch-hunt, in the wake of the Sarah Payne affair, the 2001 "paedophilia" special was the most supremely controversial of the series. It followed the usual formula--duping celebs such as Phil Collins into endorsing a campaign entitled "Nonce Sense", urging parents to send their children to football stadiums for the night for their own safety and mooting the possibility of "roboplegic" paedophiles--and prompted the sort of hysterical and predictable Pavlovian response from the media that Brass Eye lampoons so tellingly. On the DVD: Brass Eye on DVD includes brief outtakes, such as "David Jatt" interviewing celebrities about breeding hippos for domestic purposes, an hilarious exchange with Jeffrey Archer's PA ("He's a very wicked little man") as well as trailers for the paedophilia special.--David Stubbs

• Piranha | DVD | (21/10/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  As a producer, Roger Corman has always loved to make low-budget rip-offs of hit movies, and Piranha is his typically cheeky take on Jaws--and, as so often with Corman, in many ways it's funnier and more entertaining than the original. Directed with gusto by schlock-horror specialist Joe Dante and sharply scripted by John Sayles, it replaces one huge underwater toothy monster with dozens of little ones and ups the body count by a factor of 10 or so. Two hapless teenagers, hiking in a remote mountain region, stumble on a secret US military research lab. They don't last long, but their intrusion leads to the release into the local river system of a huge shoal of super-intelligent piranha, originally specially bred for use in Vietnam. Downstream from the virulent little munchers lie a kiddies' holiday camp and a tacky new waterfront theme park. Lunch time, fellas! Sayles, with his staunch left-wing credentials, slips in some mordant political satire at the expense of the military-industrial complex, and authority figures of any kind come off pretty badly, but the satire never gets in the way of the gleeful black humour. The two leads, Bradford Dillman and Heather Menzies, are fairly pallid, but there are ripe cameos from such cult horror-movie icons as Kevin McCarthy, Dick Miller and Barbara Steele. Pino Donaggio's score impudently borrows aspects of John Williams' famous Jaws theme while never quite infringing copyright. The movie was successful enough to spawn a much-inferior sequel, Piranha II: The Spawning (1982), which marked the inauspicious directing debut of one James Cameron. On the DVD: Piranha on disc comes with just the theatrical trailer as an extra. The transfer is a respectable job, reproducing the original's full-screen ratio. --Philip Kemp

• Space Cowboys | DVD | (14/05/2001) from £13.24   |  Saving you £0.75 (5.66%)   |  RRP £13.99

  In the 1950s four pilots were passed over for astronaut training, but forty years later they finally get their chance.

• Dracula, Prince Of Darkness | DVD | (23/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Ignoring a strange warning a young party travelling to the Carpathian Mountains are abandoned by their coachman. Their luck changes however when another mysterious coach appears and delivers them to the hospitality of Count Dracula...

• Dracula Prince Of Darkness | DVD | (29/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  As the third in what became a series of eight, Prince of Darkness was distinguished among the Hammer Dracula movies for several reasons. It was the third and last directed by Terence Fisher and his familiarity with the mythos and studio practices meant the rushed production still came out looking spectacular in places. Moving into the tail end of the 1960s, Hammer looked for ways of cost cutting: the film's dramatic finale on a frozen river takes place on a two-for-one set being used simultaneously for another shoot. This was also the series entry that included a substitute for the Renfield character missing from the first movie. Thorley Walters as Ludwig is a colourful cameo and that's also all that can be said of Christopher Lee. Despite top billing, the mute monster occupies but a fraction of the overall on-screen time. The real frights come from gaunt butler Klove who scares the life (literally) out of hapless travellers Alan, Charles, Helen and Diana. Surely their fate would ensure no-one else took the mountain pass to Carlsbad? But only two years later, audiences discovered Dracula Has Risen from the Grave. On the DVD: apart from scene access there's nothing making use of the DVD format here. The 2.55:1 presentation is certainly welcome, and the mono audio somehow feels appropriate. --Paul Tonks

• The Concrete Jungle | DVD | (19/06/2000) from £7.95   |  Saving you £-1.96 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  An innocent women is jailed for smuggling cocaine. During her sentence she is at the mercy of the warden and her inmates forcing her to find a way out...

• Between Two Women | DVD | (13/03/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  It was a forbidden love but they could not deny Both a surebly observed re-creation of working class life in 1950's industrial Northern England and a deeply moving romance the award-winning Between Two Women assembles an all-star British cast including Barbara Marten Andrina Carroll and Paul Shane. Against the backdrop of a bleak Northern England town in the 1950s an unlikely love story unfolds. Between Two Women is the intelligent and moving

• Rita Hayworth: The Collection (Box Set) | DVD | (06/12/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  You Were Never Lovelier (1942) In this lavish Hollywood musical, the headstrong daughter (Hayworth) of a powerful Argentine hotelier has to contend with her father's attempts to get her to marry...; ; Cover Girl (1944) Rusty Parker (Hayworth), a red-headed leggy dancer at Danny McGuire's Night Club in Brooklyn, wants to be a successful Broadway star. She enters a contest to be a 'Cover Girl' as a stepping-stone in her career...; ; Gilda (1946) In the story of Gilda, Johnn...

• Marilyn Monroe | DVD | (17/10/2005) from £39.90   |  Saving you £10.09 (25.29%)   |  RRP £49.99

  A bumper box set of classic films featuring the incomparable Marilyn Monroe! Ladies Of The Chorus (Dir. Phil Karlson 1948): An early Monroe feature with Marilyn starring as Burlesque singer Peggy Martin. Despite her overwhelming attraction to the wealthy Randy Peggy's mother worries that class differences will come between them. Some Like It Hot (Dir. Billy Wilder 1959): Nominated for 6 Academy Awards and winner for costumes Some Like It Hot is the quintessential madcap farce from legendary director Billy Wilder and screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond. With dazzling performances by Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis and a memorably comic turn by Marilyn Monroe Some Like It Hot is not only one of Wilder's funniest satires but is one of the greatest of all film comedies. When Chicago musicians Joe and Jerry accidentally witness a gangland shoting they quickly board a southbound train to Florida disguised as Josephine and Daphne the two newest - and homeliest - members of an all-girl jazz band. their cover is perfect... until a lovelorn singer falls for Josephine an ancient playboy falls for Daphne and a mob boss who refuses to fall for their hoax wants them put on ice for good! Marilyn Monroe At The Movies: A detailed filmography trailers from 15 of her classic movies and fascinating newsreel footage accompanies the vintage 1962 'Legend Of Marilyn Monroe' documentary narrated by John Huston. The Misfits (Dir. John Huston 1961): A down-on-her-luck divorced woman meets and falls for a disenchanted outcast cowboy who earns his living by capturing wild mustangs. When she witnesses this cruel spectacle she teams up with a jaded rodeo performer in an attempt to free the horses. Last screen appearance for both Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe who was married to playwright Arthur Miller during the course of the filming. Portrait Of A Legend: Examines Marilyn through an in-depth investigation of her private life. From her turbulent childhood when her mother vanished beyond the dark wall of mental illness through her short stays at various orphanages and foster homes...to her marriage at sixteen to James Dougherty. Relive Marilyn's first exposure during WWII as a calendar girl for the war efforts her first performance in Ladies of the Chorus and acting debut in Asphalt Jungle then into the glamorous Hollywood superstar. Hometown Story (Dir. Arthur Pierson 1951): Jeffery Lynn plays an ex-politician who blames big business for his failure to get re-elected. To expose big business as an evil monster he joins his uncle's newspaper. When his little sister is caught in a cave-in the town's largest company comes to her aid and he must now reconsider.

• Abbott And Costello - Jack And The Beanstalk | DVD | (21/01/2002) from £10.23   |  Saving you £5.75 (79.42%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Bud and Lou take on a babysitting job and find themselves involved in the Jack And The Beanstalk fairy tale.

• Moonlight Sonata | DVD | (28/08/2006) from £11.99   |  Saving you £-8.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  In this romantic tale Paderewski the famed pianist and two other plane crash survivors are guests of a Swedish baroness. Interwoven throughout this gentle and charming story are exquisite piano solos performed superbly by the elderly pianist Paderewski.

• 3 Classic Comedies Of The Silver Screen - Vol. 2 - Jack And The Beanstalk / Utopia / Spooks Run Wild | DVD | (07/02/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Jack And The Beanstalk: The legendary comedic duo Abbott and Costello provide fairy tale fun for kids (of ALL ages!). The wacky pair pretty much stick to the outline of the original childrens fairytale but add their own signature comic flourishes and slapstick details. Utopia: Stan and Ollie inherit a yacht along with a small island. They set sail accompanied by a stateless refugee and a stowaway. A violent storm causes our heroes to crash on their island. Together

• Jack And The Beanstalk / Africa Screams | DVD | (08/05/2006) from £6.15   |  Saving you £-1.16 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Africa Screams (Dir. Charles Barton 1949): Abbott and Costello go on an African safari armed with a secret map which will lead them to hidden diamonds... Jack And The Beanstalk (Dir. Jean Yarbrough 1952): Bud and Lou take on a babysitting job and find themselves involved in the Jack And The Beanstalk fairy tale! One of the very few colour films that Abbott and Costello made beginning in black and white but then turning into a full on colourful fairy tale. One of the

• Home Town Story | DVD | (08/09/2003) from £4.15   |  Saving you £1.84 (30.70%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Hometown Story: Released in May 1951 featuring a stunning young Marilyn Monroe on the brink of stardom. It is a rare glimpse of Monroe before her breakthrough roles in 'Niagara' and 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' which catapulted her to fame... and into history. Monroe plays Iris Martin a secretary whose boss is an editor of a newspaper who suspects that big business is reponsible for his recent defeat in a state legislature election. He begins a campaign against his opponent...

• The Marilyn Monroe Story | DVD | (14/01/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  The Marilyn Monroe Story a documentary about the life and career of this much loved star narrated by director John Huston (who worked with her on ""The Misfits"") includes interviews with friends cast and crew who worked with Monroe and others who knew her clips from her films and some scenes that were cut from her earliest movies and not seen for many years.

• Home Town Story | DVD | (12/01/2004) from £3.45   |  Saving you £1.54 (44.64%)   |  RRP £4.99

  One of Marilyn Monroe's earliest starring roles (of her ten previous films she had been uncredited in four of them) finds her playing the newspaper office receptionist Iris. The paper is run by Blake Washburn who has just been defeated in a bid for re-election to the state senate and uses the paper to ruffle big business.