"Actor: D Urville Martin"

• Guess Who's Coming To Dinner | DVD | (04/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Spencer Tracy's last performance was in this well-meaning, handsome film by Stanley Kramer about a pair of white parents (Tracy and Katharine Hepburn) trying to make sense of their daughter's impending marriage to an African American doctor (Sidney Poitier). Guess Who's Coming to Dinner has been knocked over the years for padding conflict and stoking easy liberalism by making Poitier's character in every socioeconomic sense a good catch: but what if Kramer had made this stranger a factory worker? Would the audience still find it as easy to accept a mixed-race relationship? But there's no denying the drawing power of this movie, which gets most of its integrity from the stirring performances of Tracy and Hepburn. When the former (who had been so ill that the production could not get completion insurance) gives a speech toward the end about race, love and much else, it's impossible not to be affected by the last great moment in a great actor's life and career. --Tom Keogh

• Watermelon Man (Limited Edition) | Blu Ray | (25/05/2020) from £14.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A bigoted, white salesman (played by stand-up comedian Godfrey Cambridge) wakes up one morning to find he has become black. Although it has been somewhat overshadowed by Melvin Van Peebles' next film, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, Watermelon Man has never felt more relevant than it does today. Extras High Definition presentation Introduction by Melvin Van Peebles (2004) The Guardian Interview with Melvin Van Peebles (1996): archival audio recording of the filmmaker and actor in conversation with broadcaster Darcus Howe at London's National Film Theatre Racquel Gates on ˜Watermelon Man' (2020): appreciation by the academic and author of Double Negative: The Black Image and Popular Culture Image gallery: on-set and promotional photography New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Sergio Mims, a 1970 profile of director Melvin Van Peebles, archival interviews with Van Peebles, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits World premiere on Blu-ray Limited edition of 3,000 copies Extras subject to change

• Sheba, Baby | Blu Ray | (08/02/2016) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  HOTTER ˜N' COFFY MEANER ˜N' FOXY BROWN! Fresh off her career defining roles for Jack Hill in Coffy and Foxy Brown, Pam Grier returned to pure Blaxploitation (after turns in Blaxploitation-horror and action), in cult filmmaker William Girdler's (The Manitou, Abby) ˜Sheba, Baby' Grier plays Sheba Shayne, a private eye based in Chicago who is called to her hometown to stop the local mob boss (played by that bad D'Urville Martin, Black Caesar, Dolemite) from moving in on her father's loan business. Aided by her father's partner, Brick Williams (Austin Stoker, Assault on Precinct 13, Battle for the Planet of the Apes), Sheba finds out that the violent thugs aren't going go away with a fight. Car bombs, gun fights and boat chases ensue whilst armed with her curves, street smarts and a .44, Sheba is in for a bloodbath! Grier would appear in three Blaxploitation classics in 1975 (the others were Bucktown and Friday Foster), where she was at the top of her game and genre, with the Los Angeles Times calling her cool, tough and glamorous a female fantasy Wonder Woman, further cementing her status as the first female action star. SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS: High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations Original mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray) Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Audio commentary with producer-screenwriter David Sheldon, moderated by critic Nathaniel Thompson Sheldon: Baby a brand new interview with David Sheldon Pam Grier: The AIP Years a look over the wonder years of the Blaxploitation queen with film historian Chris Poggiali Trailer Gallery featuring rare publicity images and Lobby Cards Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sean Phillips Booklet featuring brand new writing on the film by Patty Breen, webmaster of WilliamGirdler.com, illustrated with archive stills and posters

• Black Caesar | DVD | (07/07/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Fred Williamson is imposing tough and unflappable as a street kid who muscles his way into the big-time mob racket in this super-slick drama from writer/director Larry Cohen which became a smash hit of the Blaxploitaion genre and spawned a successful sequel (Hell Up In Harlem). Tommy Gibbs (Williamson) has always had it tough. Growing up on the streets without a father and trying to make his mother proud Tommy resorts to running errands for The Man. But when a crooked cop beats h