"Actor: Cathy Howard"

• Dallas: Seasons 1 and 2 | DVD | (01/11/2004) from £32.99   |  Saving you £18.00 (54.56%)   |  RRP £50.99

  Dallas: The Complete First and Second Seasons is an American equivalent to those British mini-series about historical chapters in that country's royal monarchy. Full of family in-fighting, political intrigue crossed with personal triumph or disappointment, and plenty of sensational infidelities and betrayals, Dallas is a captivating story of a wealthy oil family's power and travails. It is also uniquely fun and daringly absurd, albeit with a straight face; this hugely successful, primetime soap opera began in the late 1970s and ran 14 seasons in all, built on a handful of primary relationships that stretch credulity but never descend into self-parody. Not unexpectedly, Dallas begins with a Romeo and Juliet tale that instantly exposes an old feud between two families and strips the civilized veneer from several major characters. Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy), youngest of three sons of independent oilman Jock Ewing (Jim Davis), arrives at the Ewing clan's Southfork ranch just outside Dallas, Texas, with a new wife, Pam Barnes Ewing (Victoria Principal). Pam is the daughter of Digger Barnes (David Wayne), an old business rival of Jock's and one-time suitor of the Ewing matriarch, Eleanor (or "Miss Ellie", played by Barbara Bel Geddes). Pam's also the sister of a state senator, Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval), whose vendetta against the Ewings is played out in the legislature, imposing costly regulations on their business and holding committee investigations into questionable practices of company president J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman). Pam's status as the newest Ewing causes an uproar in the family (besides being a Barnes, she also dated the Ewings' genial but lonely foreman, Ray Krebbs, played by Steve Kanaly) and prompts Dallas' charming villain, J.R., to make many Iago-like attempts, over the first two seasons, to drive her from Bobby's arms. Pam has a different set of problems with the other, jealous Ewing women, including J.R.'s possibly barren and alcoholic wife, Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), and teenage Lucy (Charlene Tilton), daughter of exiled Ewing son Gary (Ted Shackleford). With new and old resentments flying and everyone deeply suspicious of everyone else's motives (even the ailing Jock doesn't trust J.R.), there's plenty of drama to chew on. Still, storylines are often larger than the sum of these parts, with lots of kidnappings, marital affairs, plane crashes, and shootings ratcheting up suspense. Dallas is pure pleasure, a little guilty, perhaps, but not a sin. --Tom Keogh

• They Live By Night (1948) (CRITERION COLLECTION) UK Only | Blu Ray | (20/04/2020) from £17.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Legendary director NICHOLAS RAY (In a Lonely Place, Rebel Without a Cause) began his career with this lyrical film noir, the first in a series of existential genre films overflowing with sympathy for America's outcasts and underdogs. When the wide-eyed fugitive Bowie (Rope's FARLEY GRANGER), having broken out of prison with some bank robbers, meets the innocent Keechie (Ben-Hur's CATHY O'DONNELL), each recognizes something in the other that no one else ever has. The young lovers envision a new, decent life together, but as they flee the cops and contend with Bowie's fellow outlaws, who aren't about to let him go straight, they realize there's nowhere left to run. Ray brought an outsider's sensibility honed in the theatre to this debut, using revolutionary camera techniques and naturalistic performances to craft a profoundly romantic crime drama that paved the way for decades of lovers-on-the-run thrillers to come. Special Features New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray Audio commentary featuring film historian Eddie Muller and actor Farley Granger New video interview with film critic Imogen Sara Smith Short piece from 2007 with film critic Molly Haskell, filmmakers Christopher Coppola and Oliver Stone, and film noir specialists Alain Silver and James Ursini Illustrated audio interview excerpts from 1956 with producer John Houseman PLUS: A new essay by film scholar Bernard Eisenschitz

• Secrets Of Sex | DVD | (18/01/2010) from £17.53   |  Saving you £-4.54 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Celebrated filmmaker Antony Balch directs one of the most idiosyncratic and unforgettable British movies of all time - the film the censor tried to stop! From beyond the grave a 1 000-year-old mummy (voiced by Valentine Dyall) narrates a series of kinky stories to illustrate the age-old battle of the sexes. From cosmic thrills supernatural kinks and swinging permissiveness this is boy versus girl in a hip psychedelic mix of vintage glamour and grotesque horror. Now fully restored from the original negatives Secrets of Sex features a cast of gorgeous young models including Sue Bond (The Benny Hill Show) Cathy Howard (School for Sex) and Nicola Austine (Come Play with Me) and is presented here completely uncut for the very first time in the UK.