"Actor: Charles Herbert"

• Jamaica Inn | DVD | (11/06/2007) from £4.49   |  Saving you £5.50 (122.49%)   |  RRP £9.99

  It's generally acknowledged that the Master of Suspense disliked costume dramas and Jamaica Inn--a rip-roaring melodrama drawn from a Daphne du Maurier pot-boiler, set in 1820s Cornwall--is about as costumed as they come. So what was he doing directing it? Killing time, essentially. In 1939 Hitchcock was due to leave Britain for Hollywood, but delays Stateside left him with time on his hands. Never one to sit idle, he agreed to make one picture for Mayflower Productions, a new outfit formed by actor Charles Laughton and émigré German producer Erich Pommer. An innocent young orphan (the 19-year-old Maureen O'Hara in her first starring role) arrives at her uncle's remote Cornish inn to find it a den of reprobates given to smuggling, wrecking and gross overacting. They're all out-hammed, though, by Laughton at his most corseted and outrageously self-indulgent as the local squire to whom Maureen runs for help. Since his star was also the co-producer, Hitch couldn't do much with the temperamental actor. He contented himself with adding a few characteristic touches--including a spot of bondage (always a Hitchcock favourite), and the chief villain's final spectacular plunge from a high place--and slyly sending up the melodramatic absurdities of the plot. Jamaica Inn hardly stands high in the Master's canon, but it trundles along divertingly enough. Hitchcock fanatics will have fun comparing it with his two subsequent--and far more accomplished--Du Maurier adaptations, Rebecca and The Birds. --Philip Kemp

• 13 Ghosts (Standard Edition) | Blu Ray | (26/04/2021) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  When the Zorba family inherit a house from their late uncle, the occultist Plato Zorba, they didn't expect it come with a host of ghostly houseguests, including a headless lion tamer (and lion!), an aflame skeleton, a murderous chef and his victims, and an executioner. Despite this collection of sprites, 13 Ghosts is one of the lighter efforts of shockmeister William Castle but just as inventive as his best works, and is presented here in both its black-and-white and ˜Illusion-O' versions. Extras High Definition remaster Alternative feature presentations: the original ˜Illusion-O' version (85 mins) and the original black-and-white version (83 mins) On-disc ˜Ghost Viewer' options Original mono audio Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story (2007, 82 mins): Jeffrey Schwarz's acclaimed documentary, featuring interviews with John Landis, Joe Dante, Roger Corman, Stuart Gordon, Leonard Maltin, Budd Boetticher, Bob Burns and John Waters among others Spine Tingler! audio commentary with Jeffrey Schwarz and Terry Castle Larger Than Life: The Making of ˜Spine Tingler!' (2011, 9 mins) Stephen Laws Introduces ˜13 Ghosts' (2018, 13 mins): personal appreciation by the acclaimed horror author The Magic of ˜Illusion-O' (2001, 8 mins): archivist Bob Burns and filmmakers Michael Schlesinger and Fred Olen Ray discuss the film Isolated music & effects track Theatre lobby spot (1960, 3 mins): promotional recording originally played in cinema foyers Original theatrical trailer Sam Hamm trailer commentary (2008, 3 mins): short critical appreciation Image gallery: promotional and on-set photography, poster art and archive materials New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing

• Spartacus 4K 60th Anniversary | Blu Ray | (17/08/2020) from £23.05   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Relive the story of Spartacus, a genre-defining epic in 4K Ultra HD with HDR. Newly-remastered, this 60th Anniversary edition includes an extended version of the film and 4K Ultra HD bonus features. Spartacus from director Stanley Kubrick, is the legendary tale of a bold gladiator (Kirk Douglas) who led a triumphant Roman slave revolt. Restored from large format 35mm original film elements, this action-packed spectacle won four Academy Awards® including 'Best Cinematography' and 'Best Art Direction'. Featuring a cast of screen legends such as Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, Jean Simmons, John Gavin and Tony Curtis, this uncut and fully restored masterpiece is an inspirational true account of man's eternal struggle for freedom. Bonus Features: Extended Version with 12 additional minutes I am Spartacus: A Conversation with Kirk Douglas Restoring Spartacus Deleted Scenes Archival Interviews Behind The Scenes Footage Vintage Newsreels And More! (4k Disc Includes All Bonus Features In 4k Resolution!)

• Mutiny On The Bounty | DVD | (01/06/2006) from £8.67   |  Saving you £5.32 (61.36%)   |  RRP £13.99

  During a voyage to South America, a British naval captain is cast adrift...

• Spartacus | DVD | (27/11/2000) from £10.23   |  Saving you £2.76 (21.20%)   |  RRP £12.99

  For a limited time only, Universal Pictures are re-releasing five of their most beloved Cinema Classics in cinemas around the UK. The following films will be released: Spartacus, Blues Brothers, Scar Face, The Thing and Animal House.

• Carry On Cowboy | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Made in the "classic" period of the series, 1966's Carry On Cowboy is a spoof Western set in Stodge City, about to suffer the arrival of black-hatted outlaw The Rumpo Kid, played by the less-than-youthful Sid James. Kenneth Williams is the aptly named Judge Burke, who appeals to Washington for help to combat this gunslinger and his henchmen. Assistance arrives in the form of Jim Dale's Marshall P Knutt, a drainage, sanitation and garbage expert from England, with a reference from Lady Pushing for doing a "good job on her main sludge channel", whose Christian name provokes a predictable misunderstanding. Fortunately, he's accompanied by Annie Oakley. As ever, much fun is to be had cheering/groaning along to double-entendres about "big ones", but never mind the script, feel the characters. Joan Sims does a good Mae West impression; Syd James "Ha hwa-ha-ha!"s his way through his part with his usual aplomb; the underrated Peter Butterworth is excellent as an inept Doctor; while Bernard Bresslaw adds to his impressively multi-ethnic CV, playing a Native American, with Charles Hawtrey as his incorrigible firewater-loving Chief. On the DVD: No extras, sadly, other than scene selection but Alan Hume's splendidly authentic colour lensing is suitably refurbished here. --David Stubbs

• Houseboat | DVD | (13/01/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  This Academy Award-nominated film has the legendary Cary Grant as a government attorney who can't seem to shake his bad fortune. Living on a houseboat widowed and left with three unruly kids Tom Winters (Grant) hires Cinzia (Sophia Loren) as a governess only for her to turn his life upside down!

• Spartacus | DVD | (24/05/2004) from £6.24   |  Saving you £13.75 (220.35%)   |  RRP £19.99

  For a limited time only, Universal Pictures are re-releasing five of their most beloved Cinema Classics in cinemas around the UK. The following films will be released: Spartacus, Blues Brothers, Scar Face, The Thing and Animal House.

• The Fly | DVD | (18/04/2005) from £17.53   |  Saving you £-4.54 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  She had to kill the thing her husband had become.... but could she...? Scientist Andre Delambre becomes obsessed with his latest creation a matter transporter. He has varying degrees of success with it. He eventually decides to use a human subject - himself - with tragic consequences. During the transference his atoms become merged with a fly which was accidentally let into the machine. He winds up with the fly's head and one of it's arms and the fly with Andre's head and

• Fallen Angel | DVD | (29/03/2004) from £17.99   |  Saving you £2.00 (11.12%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Down on his luck Eric meets the wealthy June and formulates a plan to marry her then divorce her and steal her fortune that will enable him to live in comfort with Stella with whom he is in love. However when Stella is mysteriously murdered things start to go very wrong indeed...

• Forever And A Day | DVD | (25/05/2015) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  1940s drama made by the collaborative efforts of seven directors and 21 writers. Gates Trimble Pomfret (Ken Smith) travels from America to England during the Blitz in order to sell his family's home in London. When he gets to the house he discovers that Leslie Trimble (Ruth Warrick) has been living there and refuses to move. As Leslie tries to persuade Gates not to sell up, she recounts the house's 140-year history hoping to appeal to his romantic side.

• Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe - Vol. 2 - Episodes 5 - 8 | DVD | (06/05/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  This second volume of the classic Saturday morning serial featuring Buster Crabbe as the dashing Flash Gordon aided in his galactic struggle against Emperor Ming the Merciless by Dale Arden and Dr Hans Zarkov. Chapter Five: The Palace Of Terror. Chapter Six: Flaming Death. Chapter Seven: The Land Of The Death. Chapter Eight: The Fiery Abyss.

• Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe | DVD | (10/03/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  All 12 episodes of the Flash Gordon series Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe are featured on this three DVD box set. Starring Buster Crabbe as Flash with Carol Hughes as Dale and Charles Middleton as the Evil Mind the Merciless.

• Quatermass 2 | DVD | (31/03/2003) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-4.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Quatermass is intrigued by strange images on his radar. Thinking them to be meteorites he follows them to a village which on his arrival he finds has been completely destroyed...

• Carry On Jack | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £4.50   |  Saving you £11.49 (255.33%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Carry On Jack was the 1963 offering from a team which had, by then, become a repertory company with special guests dropping in for a dose of innuendo. "What's all this jigging in the rigging?" demands Kenneth Williams, this time playing a ship's captain, and the scene is set for 90 minutes of ribaldry involving cross-dressing, press-ganging and plank walking. The plot scarcely matters. It's set after the Battle of Trafalgar and the sea is awash with Spanish galleons and pirates as the British navy sets about defending its shores with as much incompetence as possible. Sally, a barmaid at the Dirty Duck (Juliet Mills in feisty principal boy mode), knocks Bernard Cribbins on the head and steals his uniform so that she can go in search of her childhood sweetheart. He is promptly press-ganged and they end up on the same ship. Williams, on the brink of his ascendancy as a star turn, just about keeps the mannerisms under control enough to build the character of the naïve and neurotic captain. Familiar Carry On faces on top form include Charles Hawtrey and Jim Dale, while Peter Gilmore--in his pre-Onedin Line days--appears as a pirate. Peter Rodgers' script is not quite vintage Carry On but the jokes keep coming and it's all good, clean fun. On the DVD: This was one of the first Carry On films to be made in colour. The print is in reasonable condition. The picture quality, apart from a couple of scratchy scenes of sailing ships that were probably drafted in from stock footage, is fair, as is the sound. But apart from the scene index there are no extras on the disc. Given the cult status of the Carry On films, and the wealth of documentary material which has been made about them and their stars, you'd think something extra could have been offered with the DVD releases to make them a more worthwhile alternative to the video. --Piers Ford

• Pot O' Gold | DVD | (10/11/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  A rare musical/comedy outing for James Stewart then at the peak of his career. Stewart plays James Hamilton Haskell a former music store worker who joins his uncle's health food business and befriends a band along the way. His uncle hates music his hatred not being helped by the fact that the band practice next door to his factory. Based on a popular radio show of the time (also called POT O' GOLD) the film gave both James Stewart and Paulette Goddard the opportunity of displayi

• Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe - Chapters 1 To 6 | DVD | (08/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £6.99

  Ming The Merciless Emperor of Mongo has unleashed his latest terrible weapon for the destruction of Earth a 'purple dust' that is killing the population. Flash Gordon Dale Arden and Dr Zarkov take off for the planet of Mongo to confront Ming and destroy his deadly factory. Before Flash Gordon can 'conquer the universe' he must confront Ming the Rock Men and Annihilations and protect the mining for Polarite the only known antidote to the purple dust.

• National Geographic - Secrets Of The Titanic | DVD | (20/10/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Breath-taking footage of an underwater expedition by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's team of researchers to find the ill-fated R.M.S Titanic which sank more than 70 years ago nearly two-and-a-half miles down in the icy Atlantic. Now along with Dr. Robert Ballard and his team be among the first humans to see the Titanic since its sinking as on-location footage presents this historic expedition as it happened.

• Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe - Chapters 7 To 12 | DVD | (08/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Ming The Merciless Emperor of Mongo has unleashed his latest terrible weapon for the destruction of Earth a 'purple dust' that is killing the population. Flash Gordon Dale Arden and Dr Zarkov take off for the planet of Mongo to confront Ming and destroy his deadly factory. Before Flash Gordon can 'conquer the universe' he must confront Ming the Rock Men and Annihilations and protect the mining for Polarite the only known antidote to the purple dust.

• Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe - Vol. 1 - Episodes 1 - 4 | DVD | (06/05/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  This first volume of the classic Saturday morning serial featuring Buster Crabbe as the dashing Flash Gordon aided in his galactic struggle against Emperor Ming the Merciless by Dale Arden and Dr Hans Zarkov. Chapter One: The Purple Death. Chapter Two: Freezing Torture Chapter Three: Walking Bombs. Chapter Four: The Destroying Ray