"Actor: Bernard Bennet"

• Shirley Valentine | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £4.89   |  Saving you £8.10 (165.64%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Pauline Collins repeats her stage success as the character Shirley Valentine, a married woman who decides in her middle years that she wants more out of life. Leaving her spouse behind, she heads to Greece, where she grows close to a low-key local bloke (Tom Conti). Collins and director Lewis Gilbert (Educating Rita) choose to let the character, as she did in the play, speak directly to the audience at times and the gamble works in terms of creating a gentle, intimate atmosphere. Conti is a bonus, a warm presence and funny to boot. --Tom Keogh

• Blue Lamp, The / The Nanny | DVD | (23/06/2003) from £14.99   |  Saving you £1.00 (6.67%)   |  RRP £15.99

  This is a double-feature of two British crime classics, The Blue Lamp (1949) and The Nanny (1965). The Blue Lamp is the film that introduced PC George Dixon, played by Jack Warner, later immortalised in the BBC's long-running Dixon of Dock Green (1955-76). Here Dixon's murder is the catalyst for an exciting London manhunt, shot largely on location in a fast-moving, starkly efficient style showing the influence of The Naked City (1948). The war-damaged East End and the car chases through almost vehicle-free streets offer a documentary-like vision of a London now long gone, and a young Dirk Bogarde makes a serious impact in an early starring role. In contrast, The Nanny has a superstar, the imported Hollywood legend Bette Davis, in the declining years of her career. Just one of three psychological thrillers Hammer produced in 1965 (the others were Frantic and Hysteria), the film capitalises on the popularity of Davis's Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) with a comparable mix of hateful insanity and paranoia. The screenplay skilfully juggles the audience's sympathies between a superb Davis and the dysfunctional family of which she becomes a part, developing a powerful sense of dread which shows such clichéd later fare as The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992) how to do this sort of thing with real class. On the DVD: The Blue Lamp and The Nanny are presented in black and white with adequate mono sound. The Blue Lamp is in its original 4:3 ratio; The Nanny is cropped from its theatrical 1.85:1 to 4:3, though it's only in a few shots that it becomes obvious that information is missing at the sides of the screen. The print of The Blue Lamp is soft and grainy, while The Nanny is grainy with a considerable amount of flicker. There are no extras. --Gary S. Dalkin

• Jackanory - Peter Pan | DVD | (09/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The classic J.M. Barrie tale as told by Jan Francis.

• The Plague Dogs | DVD | (09/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  An animated adventure from the artistic team behind 'Watership Down'. A pair of dogs Rowf (Christopher Benjamin) and Snitter (John Hurt) escape from an animal research facility situated in a remote part of the English countryside. Rowf is cynical and mistrusting of humans having only known the tortured existence of being a laboratory animal. Snitter on the other hand had previously enjoyed life as a domestic pet and longs to be loved and cared for by a human master once again. Unprepared for life in the wild the pair befriend a fox The Tod (James Bolam) who helps them learn to survive in the bleak environment by feeding on the area's livestock. As the authorities attempt to track down the escapees things take a turn for the worse when a deliberately leaked story suggests the dogs may be infected with the bubonic plague...

• Madagascar Skin | DVD | (31/07/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  Harry a shy young man with a Madagascar shaped birthmark flees the city and his unhappy life there and ends up alone on a beach. In strange circumstances he bumps into Flint and hiding out in an abandoned cottage their suspicions of one another start to disappear...

• Jackanory - Charlotte's Web | DVD | (09/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The adventures of brave little pig Wilbur and Charlotte the friendly spider...

• Where The Wild Things Are/Higglety Pigglety Pop | DVD | (01/01/2011) from £20.23   |  Saving you £-7.98 (-65.10%)   |  RRP £12.25

  This Glyndebourne double bill of Where The Wild Things Are and Higglety Pigglety Pop! is the result of the collaboration between one of Britain's foremost composers Oliver Knussen with the vivid magical images of American artist and author Maurice Sendak. Together they have evoked a very special form of theatre - fantasy opera. The antics of young Max and his journey to the Land of the Wild Things and Jennie the Sealyham terrier's search for something more than everything are set against beautifully intricate designs which adhere faithfully to the illustrations in the famous children's books by Maurice Sendak. The music is skilfully orchestrated with an unerring ability to depict fantasy characters and scenarios - a rare fusion of wit and lyricism. In Where The Wild Things Are Karen Beardsley sings the role of Max and Cynthia Buchan takes the role of the terrier Jennie in Higglety Pigglety Pop! Other singers include: Andrew Gallacher Rosemary Hardy Hugh Hetherington Neil Jenkins Mary King Jeremy Munro Stephen Rhys-Williams Deborah Rees and Stephen Richardson. Oliver Knussen conducts The London Sinfonietta in these performances which were first shown on BBC TV in 1985.

• Jackanory | DVD | (08/01/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Four stories for children taken from the hugely popular and fondly remembered television series: 'Peter Pan' (read by Jan Francis) 'Alice's Adventures In Wonderland' (read by Penelope Wilton) 'Alice Through The Looking Glass' (read by Peter Davison) and 'Charlotte's Web' (read by Connie Booth).