"Actor: Fidelis Cheza"

• King Solomon's Mines | DVD | (02/02/2004) from £19.93   |  Saving you £-3.95 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  King Solomon's Mines had been filmed several times before, but this 1985 adaptation of H Rider Haggard's novel is far and away the most absurdly tongue-in-cheek. Making no disguise of riding Indiana Jones's coattails, the adventure starts fast and grows ever wilder. Richard Chamberlain wears Allan Quatermain's fedora and expression of grim determination. Supposedly concerned with the novel's quest for lost gold, the movie is really an excuse to string together numerous sight gags and low-budget attempts to upstage Raiders of the Lost Ark (hardly surprisingly, it fails). Pursued by a wax-moustachioed and Wagner-obsessed Herbert Lom, Quatermain and a dizzily blonde Sharon Stone escape an avalanche and crocodiles before being boiled in a cauldron with plastic vegetables at the Village of the Upside Down People. Nothing lingers in the memory, though, than the sight of Chamberlain skiing behind a locomotive. Cheap and rudely plagiaristic it may be, but Indy never got to be as (un)intentionally hilarious. On the DVD: King Solomon's Mines has come up exceptionally well on disc in this widescreen print. Sound is in Dolby 2.0 and is a faithful representation of the effort put into the film's sound design. The only extra is the original trailer. --Paul Tonks

• Return To The Lost World | DVD | (21/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The Lost World is in danger of extinction. Through bribes and brute force a greedy industrialist in search of oil is raping the land and slaughtering its wondrous dinosaurs. The Lost World natives urgently summon their friends and the old explorers reconvene in an effort to save the land they had once promised to protect. Upon their return the rescuers discover that man's greed has brought in this enchanted land to the brink of apocalyptic destruction. Bountiful trees are levelled the land is ravaged and the natives are being enslaved. The relentless hammering of oil drills has thrown this fragile ecosystem out of balance and a dormant volcano awakens in anger. The group must outwit man and nature in a desperate attempt to save themselves the land and the vulnerable inhabitants of The Lost World.

• The Lost World | DVD | (21/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  In this adaptation of Conan Doyle's 'The Lost World' Professor Challenger (John Rhys-Davies) endeavours to prove the existence of an ancient prehistoric world hidden away in the unexplored jungles of Africa - a place where dinosaurs still roam. Undaunted by the ridicule of the British scientific community Challenger sets off on a perilous expedition to find the mythical Lost World. Accompanying him is arch rival Professor Summerlee (David Warner) rich and beautiful photographer

• Return to the Lost World | DVD | (02/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  Return To the Lost World' the sequel to 'The Lost World' picks up where the first film left off. The idyllic beauty of the Lost World its people and the wondrous dinosaurs inhabiting it are in danger of extinction due to the actions of Dr. Haymans an immoral and greedy industrialist in search of oil. In an effort to save the land the native tribes summon the help of their explorer friends Professors Challenger (John Rhys-Davies) and Summerlee (David Warner) Ed Malone Jenny Nielson Malu and Jim all of whom had vowed to return to the Lost World should they ever be needed. On arrival they learn the relentless ravaging of the land has thrown the fragile ecosystem out of balance and awakened a dormant volcano. Again the intrepid team of explorers is hindered in its attempts to save the Lost World this time by a variety of perils including a school of prehistoric piranhas a river of molten lava Haymans' ruthless thugs and a very hungry T-Rex!