"Actor: Doghmi Larbi"

• The Man Who Would Be King | DVD | (17/05/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £8.99

  A grandly entertaining, old-fashioned adventure based on the Rudyard Kipling short story, The Man Who Would Be King is the kind of rousing epic about which people said, even in 1975, "Wow! They don't make 'em like that anymore". When director John Huston first started trying to make the film, with Gable and Bogart, the project was derailed by the latter's death. It was a few decades before Huston was finally able to realise his dream movie--and with an unimprovable cast. Sean Connery and Michael Caine are, respectively, Daniel Dravot and Peachy Carnahan, a pair of lovably roguish British soldiers who set out to make their fortunes by conning the priests of remote Kafiristan into making them kings. It's a rollicking tale, an epic satire of imperialism, and the good-natured repartee shared by Caine and Connery is pure gold. Huston lets the humour emerge naturally from the characters, for whom we wind up caring more deeply than we ever expected. --Jim Emerson

• The Black Stallion | DVD | (07/04/2003) from £16.25   |  Saving you £-2.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Adapted from the beloved novel by Walter Farley, The Black Stallion is a 1979 family classic that was hailed by no less than hard-to-please critic Pauline Kael as "may be the greatest children's movie ever made". A visual feast from start to finish, the timeless tale plays out on almost mythic terms. A young boy survives a shipwreck and is stranded on a deserted island with a graceful black stallion, with whom the boy develops an almost empathic friendship. After being rescued and returning home, the two make a winning team as jockey and lightning-fast racehorse under the tutelage of a passionate trainer, played by Mickey Rooney in an Oscar-nominated role. From its serenely hypnotic island sequence to the breathtaking race scenes, this delightful film is guaranteed to enthral any viewer, regardless of age. The Black Stallion is a genuine masterpiece of family entertainment.--Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• The Black Stallion Returns | DVD | (07/04/2003) from £6.81   |  Saving you £6.18 (90.75%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A young boy stows away from America to North Africa to rescue his black stallion from the Berber sheikh who stole the horse.

• Allan Quatermain And The Lost City Of Gold | DVD | (02/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold had the task of bettering its hilarious predecessor, King Solomon's Mines. It failed. Looking back from the age of slick computer graphics, it's painfully distracting to spot obvious back-projection, shoddy miniatures and some of the worst wire-work ever. Instead one must concentrate on the easy chemistry between Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone reprising their roles, this time in a quest for Quatermain's lost brother. Together they traipse across Africa, encountering all the usual pitfalls (literally) as well as jungle animals, restless native tribes and fast-flowing rivers and so on. James Earl Jones takes the money and runs through his wooden dialogue, all the time backed by endless repetitions of Jerry Goldsmith's sub-Indiana Jones hero theme. Taken on its own it's pretty atrocious viewing, but played back-to-back with the first movie The Lost City of Gold's surreal self-contained universe of hilarious adventure movie clichés is a lot of fun. Sharon Stone's hair remains perfect throughout, of course. On the DVD: Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold, like King Solomon's Mines, is presented on disc in a surprisingly pristine print, and in 2.35:1 widescreen. Also like its predecessor, the sound is in Dolby 2.0, which again reflects the limited number of spot effects layered into the soundtrack. The original trailer is the only extra feature. --Paul Tonks