"Actor: Florence Turner"

• Silent Shakespeare | DVD | (25/10/2004) from £8.95   |  Saving you £11.04 (123.35%)   |  RRP £19.99

  At the turn of the 20th century the film industry sought to elevate its lowbrow status by imitating the theatre. While cinemas decked themselves out like theatres filmmakers signed up stage stars and turned to the classics. Shakespeare provided the greatest challenge especially since many of the films made before the First World War were only one or two reels long.

• College | DVD | (09/04/2001) from £9.94   |  Saving you £10.05 (101.11%)   |  RRP £19.99

  For many, Buster Keaton is the greatest comedian of the silent era rated even above Chaplin, and College (1927) is one of his finest films. A poor student who has to work his way through college, Buster is desperate to win the attention of a pretty girl and takes up sports. His attempt at the high jump is a classic piece of clowning, and as the cox in a boat race Buster displays his full genius for comic invention. Through every disaster, the great "stone face" as he was nicknamed betrays not a flicker of emotion, enduring all humiliations with aplomb. If not quite the equal of The Navigator (1924) or its immediate predecessor The General (1927), College shows Keaton at the top of his form. Tragically, the following year he lost his independence when he signed for MGM. His career collapsed, his marriage broke up and he became an alcoholic, never to regain former glories. On the DVD: The organ music accompanying this silent feature is pleasantly unobtrusive, and apart from a short section in the middle where it deteriorates, the print quality is reasonable. In addition there are two excellent Keaton shorts, One Week (1920) and The Blacksmith (1922).-- Ed Buscombe

• Buster Keaton - Vol. 6 | DVD | (25/04/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £23.99

  CollegeKeaton stars as Ronald an idealistic freshman who attends Clayton College in pursuit of higher learning but finds himself instead embroiled in a war of athletics as he fights for the love of his coed Mary. More than he had in any other feature Keaton stretched the boundaries of solo physical comedy.Pale FaceIn this hilarious gag-bound short Buster helps a Native American tribe in defending their land from greedy developers.BlacksmithThis hilari