"Actor: Francis"

• A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies | DVD | (05/06/2000) from £4.99   |  Saving you £15.00 (300.60%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Scorsese's invigorating history of American movies avoids the straitjacket of chronology. Although he makes dutiful nods in the direction of Edwin S. Porter, D.W. Griffith and Orson Welles, he is equally interested in figures working at the margins, film-makers such as Andre De Toth, Ida Lupino, Sam Fuller and Edgar Ulmer, "who circumvented the system to get their vision onto the screen". He describes them as "illusionists", "smugglers", con artists who managed to hoodwink the money men into allowing them to make the films they wanted. Some worked in B-movies ("less money, more freedom") others (like Scorsese himself) struck their own Faustian bargains with the studios, making "one movie for them, one for yourself"His heroes are the outsiders, the film-makers who chafe against the assurances of the American dream. He offers a vivid, guilty vignette of himself as a four-year-old child, sitting in a darkened auditorium watching in amazement as Gregory Peck overpowers Jennifer Jones in Duel in the Sun, one of the first films his mother took him to. "The savage intensity of the music, the burning sun, the overt sexuality ... it seems that the two could only consummate their passion by killing each other". There's a certain irony in Scorsese, who once seriously considered becoming a priest, succumbing to a David O. Selznick Technicolor extravaganza which had already been condemned by the church.While often sounding like a serious-minded apprentice who watches old movies to pick up tips which will help him in his own work ("study the old masters, enrich your palette, expand the canvas-there's always so much more to learn") he never overlooks the illicit pleasure that cinema can bring. "I don't really see a conflict between the church and the movies, the sacred and the profane". --Geoffrey Macnab

• The Owl Service - Series 1 - Complete | DVD | (28/04/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  The definitive adaptation of Alan Garner's award-winning novel The Owl Service combines mystery adventure history and the legend surrounding a complex set of human relationships. Alison and her step-brother Roger go for the summer family holiday to a remote cottage in the Welsh Valleys. After hearing a scratching noise coming from the attic Alison discovers some old dinner plates which have a strange floral pattern on them and when she traces the pattern on paper discovers that the flowers turn into owls. But what is the connection between the plates the gardener the angry housekeeper and the mysterious local legend?

• Nicolas On Holiday | DVD | (27/03/2017) from £11.49   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  It's the end of the school year. The long-awaited holidays have finally arrived. Petit Nicolas and his family head to the sea and move in to the Beau-Rivage Hotel. At the beach, Nicolas wastes little time making new friends, and they set about causing havoc in the holiday resort. He also attracts an admirer in the form of Elizabeth, a little girl who follows him everywhere. Nicolas is really going to enjoy a holiday to remember. Based on Sempé's beloved character, Petit Nicolas.

• Stewart Francis Live: Outstanding in His Field | DVD | (26/11/2012) from £11.63   |  Saving you £11.35 (131.37%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Live from London's Hammersmith Apollo, this specially-filmed performance of the 2012 stand-up show from killer-gag purveyor, Stewart Francis, features a brand new crop of brilliant one liners and wisecracks - including the gag that won the funniest joke award at the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe. Delivering devastating jokes at maximum laughs-per-minute, Francis has earned rave reviews, including a brilliant comic brain... some of the best one liners I've ever heard (The Guardian) and a veritable barrage of perfectly crafted gags (Sunday Times). Having regularly stolen the show on the BBC's Mock the Week, Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow and Live at The Apollo, he has established himself as a premier league comedian and has produced one of the year's most eagerly-awaited comedy DVDs.

• Billy Wilder Collection - Vol. 1 - Avante!/Irma La Douce/Kiss Me, Stupid/One, Two, Three/Some Like It Hot | DVD | (22/01/2007) from £38.39   |  Saving you £-23.75 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.64

  Avanti: In this hilarious lighthearted comedy from acclaimed writer/director Billy Wilder and screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond (The Apartment) a wealthy American discovers romance and the meaning of avanit while in Italy. American businessman Wendell Armbruster (Lemmon) is summoned to Italy after a car accident claims the lives of his father and his father's secret mistress! And when the mistress' daughter (Juliet Mills) also arrives - and the bodies of both of their parents disappear - the two instant foes are brought together in a baffling mystery... and an affair of the heart! Irma La Douce: Meet Nestor (Jack Lemmon) a young man with a very complicated love life. Employed as business manager to Irma La Douce (Shirley MacLaine) - a proud and profitable lady of the streets - the poor guy had gone and fallen in love with her! So how do you keep a popular Parisiennne like Irma faithful? Simple. Disguise yourself as an elderly English Lord who immediately becomes Irma's sole client and means of support! But what's a jealous manager to do when the illustrious Irma claims that the man she's really in love with is not the smitten Nestor but the dotty old lord himself? Kiss Me Stupid: When the world-renowned singer ""Dino"" (Martin in a hilarious self-parody) passes through Climax Nevada he doesn't count on meeting two would-be songwriters with a plan to trap him there and serenade him with their songs. But then again they weren't counting on Dino's insatiable appetite... for wine and women! And when one of the men learns that his own wife was once president of Dino's fan club he hires a replacement wife (Kim Novak) to help lure the carousing star into a song-buying mood! One Two Three: C.R. MacNamara (Cagney) a top-ranking executive stationed in West Berlin is charged with the care of his boss' visiting daughter. But when he learns that she's gone and married a fierce young communist - and that his boss will be arriving in town in 24 hours - Mac must transform the unwilling beatnik into a suitable son-in-law or risk losing his chance for advancement! Before you can say ""one two three "" his plans have spun out of control and into an international incident that could infuriate the Russians the Germans and worst of all his own suspicious wife (Arlene Francis)! Some Like It Hot: Marilyn Monroe Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon star in Some Like It Hot hailed by the American Film Institute as the funniest American movie of all time. When two Chicago musicians accidentally witness the St. Valentine's Day Massacre they trade in their union suits for flapper frocks and hightail it down to Florida as the newest members of an all-girl jazz band.

• TROUBLE IN PARADISE (Masters of Cinema) (DVD) | DVD | (12/11/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Jean Renoir once said of Ernst Lubitsch (Ninotchka, The Shop Around the Corner, and To Be or Not to Be): He invented the modern Hollywood. And none of the director's films has had greater influence or impact than Trouble in Paradise. With his first comedy of the sound era, Lubitsch created one of cinema's supreme visions of shimmering romance and worldly sophistication.When career thief Gaston Monescu (Herbert Marshall) meets glamorous pickpocket Lily (Miriam Hopkins), their love soon takes on a professional dimension as they initiate a plot to rob beautiful perfume magnate Mariette Colet (Kay Francis). But as Gaston gets ever closer to his intended prey, his romantic confusion, as well as the threat that his past will catch up with him, throws their plan into jeopardy.A breathtakingly nimble and elegant examination of the perils of mixing business with pleasure, this gloriously adult and witty comedy features a peerless screenplay by Samson Raphaelson, effervescent performances by its stars (including Charlie Ruggles and Edward Everett Horton), and exquisite direction by the legendary Lubitsch.

• Forbidden Planet | Blu Ray | (04/10/2010) from £8.75   |  Saving you £9.24 (105.60%)   |  RRP £17.99

  This 1956 pop adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest is one of the best, most influential science fiction movies ever made. Its space explorers are the models for the crew of Star Trek's Enterprise, and the film's robot is clearly the prototype for Robby in Lost in Space. Walter Pidgeon is the Prospero figure, presiding over a paradisiacal world with his lovely young daughter and their servile droid. When the crew of a spaceship lands on the planet, they become aware of a sinister invisible force that threatens to destroy them. Great special effects and a bizarre electronic score help make Forbidden Planet as fresh, imaginative and fun as it was when first released.

• Jabberwocky | Blu Ray | (20/11/2017) from £17.44   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Welcome to the kingdom of Terry Gilliam: his solo-directing debut, a gonzo medieval comedy Amid the filth and muck of England in the Dark Ages, a fearsome dragon stalks the land, casting a shadow of terror upon the kingdom of Bruno the Questionable. Who should emerge as the town's only possible saviour but Dennis Cooper (Life of Brian's MICHAEL PALIN), an endearingly witless bumpkin who stumbles onto the scene and is flung into the role of brave knight? The first outing as a solo director by TERRY GILLIAM (Brazil)inspired by Lewis Carroll's poem Jabberwocky and made on the heels of Gilliam's success as a member of the iconic comedy troupe Monty Pytho - showcases his delight in comic nonsense, with a cast chock-full of beloved British character actors. A giddy romp through blood and excrement, this fantasy remains one of the filmmaker's most uproarious visions of society run amok. BONUS FEATURES DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES New 4K digital transfer from a restoration by the BFI National Archive and The Film Foundation, approved by director Terry Gilliam 5.1 surround mix, supervised by Gilliam and presented in DTS-HD Master Audio Audio commentary from 2001 featuring Gilliam and actor Michael Palin New documentary on the making of the film, featuring Gilliam, producer Sandy Lieberson, Palin and actor Annette Badland New interview with Valerie Charlton, designer of the Jabberwock, featuring her collection of rare behind-the-scenes photographs Selection of Gilliam's storyboards and sketches PLUS: An essay by critic Scott Tobias

• Rapture-Palooza | DVD | (28/10/2013) from £17.47   |  Saving you £-1.48 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  When the Apocalypse actually happens and a billion people are raptured up to heaven Lindsey (Kendrick) and her boyfriend Ben (Daley) are left behind in suburban Seattle. The young couple try their best to lead a normal life surrounded by talking locusts blood rain showers and pot-smoking wraiths. But when the Anti-Christ (Robinson) makes his home base in their neighbourhood Lindsey finds herself the object of his affection. With the help of her family friends and a lawn-mowing zombie neighbour the young couple set off to stop the Anti-Christ from taking her as his bride... and just maybe saving the world in the process. Special Features: Audio Commentary with Craig Robinson Rob Corddry and Rob Heubel It's Good to Be the Beast Deleted Scenes Gag Reel

• Treasure Island | DVD | (12/02/2001) from £5.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (166.94%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Strap on your pantaloons and prepare to travel with Jim Hawkins and Blind Pew to one of the most famous fictional islands in history, Treasure Island. Walt Disney's 1950 adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's swashbuckling masterpiece has held up extremely well, with action and characterisations that feel freshly minted (although it's unlikely that the Mouse of today would sanction the high level of booze flowing throughout the picture). Great fun, with nary a wasted frame and, in the character of Robert Newton's much-imitated Long John, one of cinema's most boisterously crowd-pleasing villains ever. (Proving that you can't keep a good--er, bad man down, Newton would return with director Byron Haskins for the enjoyable sequel, Long John Silver.) Watching this classic is like having a flashback to some perfect Technicolor childhood. --Andrew Wright

• To The Devil A Daughter (Doubleplay) | Blu Ray | (29/01/2018) from £15.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Hammer's To the Devil a Daughter was the last film made by the once great studio. Clearly ailing, Hammer again adapted a novel by Dennis Wheatley, the author behind one of their greatest successes, The Devil Rides Out (1967). Unfortunately for the studio, films such as Rosemary's Baby (1968) and The Exorcist (1973) had, in the intervening decade, radically changed horror cinema. With American star Richard Widmark echoing Gregory Peck's role in the far more polished The Omen (1976), the film seemed, rather than setting the pace as Hammer once had, to be very much jumping on the 1970's occult band-wagon. Christopher Lee is the satanic ex-communicated priest whose coven plan to incarnate the ancient demon Ashteroth, while a supernaturally beautiful Nastassja Kinski demonstrates the same willingness to disrobe as in Cat People (1982). Even so, this lacklustre, misogynistic film couldn't compete with Carrie and Suspiria (both also 1976) and Hammer thereafter concentrated on TV productions. Surprisingly, director Peter Sykes' next film, Jesus (1979), as well as being the most seen and internationally distributed film ever (with an audience of over two billion by 2000), is also the most faithful portrayal of Christ yet committed to celluloid. --Gary S. Dalkin

• She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (John Wayne) | DVD | (05/06/2006) from £13.89   |  Saving you £-3.90 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Dutiful cavalry officer Nathan Brittles (John Wayne) is reluctant to retire in the face of an imminent Native American uprising. His last official task is to escort the commander's wife and her niece to the Sudrow's Wells stagecoach stop but it proves to be a journey fraught with danger. This film the second in John Ford's cavalry trilogy is a masterpiece of the cinema and is acclaimed as one of the greatest Westerns ever made.

• The Incredible Hulk 1996 Complete Season 2 | DVD | (06/09/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £6.99

  The Incredible Hulk tells the story of scientist Bruce Banner and his raging alter ego - the Incredible Hulk! Bombarded by gamma rays from an ill fated reactor test Banner must now search for a cure for the creature within him whilst on the run from General Ross and battling the Abomination Gargoyle Ogress and an alien demon that turns him into the awesome dark Hulk. The series also features an appearance by She-Hulk! Episodes Comprise: 1. A Hulk of A Different Colour 2. Down Memory Lane 3. Mind Over Anti-Matter 4. They Call me Mr Fixit 5. Fashion Warriors 6. Hollywood Rocks 7. The Lost Village 8. Mission:Incredible

• Dracula Prince Of Darkness (DOUBLE PLAY) | DVD | (30/04/2012) from £12.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (76.98%)   |  RRP £22.99

  Four English tourists find themselves stranded in the mysterious village of Karlsbad, a sinister and remote place of deadly, dark legend. Their journey leads them to an abandoned castle where a nightmarish destiny awaits them. However, it wasn't just fate that brought them here, but an evil force in need of resurrection, a blood craving beast known only as Count Dracula, Prince Of Darkness. Released in 1966 this is Christopher Lee's second outing as Dracula, with Hammer Films pushing the cinematic boundaries of graphic gore and terror.

• The Caine Mutiny | Blu Ray | (04/06/2012) from £16.25   |  Saving you £3.74 (23.02%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Humphrey Bogart is heartbreaking as the tragic Captain Queeg in this 1954 film, based on a novel by Herman Wouk, about a mutiny aboard a navy ship during World War II. Stripped of his authority by two officers under his command (played by Van Johnson and Robert Francis) during a devastating storm, Queeg becomes a crucial witness at a court martial that reveals as much about the invisible injuries of war as anything. Edward Dmytryk (Murder My Sweet, Raintree County) directs the action scenes with a sure hand and nudges his all-male cast toward some of the most well-defined characters of 1950s cinema. The courtroom scenes alone have become the basis for a stage play (and a television movie in 1988), but it is a more satisfying experience to see the entire story in context. --Tom Keogh

• Flood | DVD | (14/08/2023) from £7.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Sabrina | DVD | (03/09/2001) from £3.99   |  Saving you £12.00 (300.75%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Audrey Hepburn is the delightful, young, eponymous Sabrina, the daughter of a chauffeur who is hopelessly in love with David Larrabee (William Holden), the playboy younger son in the rich Long Island household her father works for. In order to help her forget her woes, Sabrina is shipped off to cooking school in Paris. While there, she befriends a baron who provides a bit of culture--and the encouragement to snip off her childlike ponytail. Upon her return to New York, Sabrina is transformed into a sophisticated woman, and David is entranced by her. However, his older brother Linus (Humphrey Bogart) has arranged David's marriage to Elizabeth Tyson in order to seal a business merger and thus must steer David away from Sabrina. To do this, Linus takes on the task of wooing her for himself. Full of great dialogue ("A woman happy in love, she burns the soufflé; a woman unhappy in love, she forgets to turn on the oven") and wonderful performances, this film is a romantic masterpiece. Also enjoyable is the 1995 remake, starring Julia Ormond and Harrison Ford. --Jenny Brown

• Jabberwocky | DVD | (17/02/2003) from £6.91   |  Saving you £6.08 (87.99%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A medieval comedy-adventure starring Michael Palin and directed by Terry Gilliam, Jabberwocky is an episodic adaptation of Lewis Carrolls surreal poem. Having previously directed Monty Python and The Holy Grail (1975) with Terry Jones, Jabberwocky marked Gilliams solo directorial debut--is it coincidental that Jones is killed by the titular monster in the opening scene? Palin plays the naive Dennis Cooper, a man seeking his fortune just as the Jabberwocky is laying waste to the country. Its much the same world as Holy Grail, with all the trappings of the romantic Hollywood epic being liberally coated with literal and metaphorical muck. Palins character causes unwitting mayhem wherever he goes--one stand-out scene involves the destruction of a maintenance shop for damaged knights-in-armour--though as much humour comes from exposing the foibles of the people he meets. And those people constitute a roll call of contemporary British comedy: Harry H Corbett as a sex-mad squire, Warren Mitchells Mr Fishfinger, plus Annette Badland, Max Wall, John Le Mesurier, Rodney Bewes, John Bird, Neil Innes and John Gorman. Jabberwocky lacks the hilarity of Holy Grail, but is a consistently amusing, exceptionally atmospheric, gleefully gory yarn which points the way to Gilliams Time Bandits (1981) and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988). On the DVD Jabberwocky is distinguished by an engaging and enthusiastic commentary from Gilliam and Palin, in which they delight in the amazing cast and ponder how such a handsome film was made. Otherwise the extras are a short sketch-to-screen comparison, three posters and three trailers (only one for Jabberwocky). Transferred anamorphically enhanced at 1.77:1, the picture is variable, with many beautifully lit indoor scenes looking fine, while other exterior, daylight shots appear washed out. There is some minor print damage. The sound is a revelation for a low-budget 1970s film originally released in mono. Given a full Dolby Digital 5.1 remix the tremendously detailed, rich and involving soundscape really brings Gilliams world alive and puts many much more recent and expensive titles to shame. --Gary S Dalkin

• Celebrity Juice: T'Box Set - Series 1-3 | DVD | (04/11/2013) from £3.79   |  Saving you £26.20 (691.29%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Word t'ya mum! These are all the Celebrity Juice DVDs in one 'andy box set. Inside you'll find all the best bits from Series 1 - 9 as well as hours of unseen stuff that the ITV sex scientists said was too rude for TV behind the scenes footage bloopers and tons more extra juicy stuff... Featuring Ant and Dec! Pamela Anderson! Kelly Brook! Gino D'Acampo! Danny Dyer! Olly Murs! Phillip Schofield! JLS! Jonathan Ross! The Wanted! Joey Essex!

• Shining Through | DVD | (30/06/2003) from £9.95   |  Saving you £-3.96 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Based on a novel by Susan Isaacs, Shining Through is uncomfortably close to Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious. This World War II drama concerns a love affair between a spy (Michael Douglas) and a secretary (Melanie Griffith) that goes south when duty turns him cold and pushes her into dangerous, behind-the-lines intelligence work. Liam Neeson plays the gentleman Nazi unwittingly providing Griffith with cover as domestic help. The best parts of the film are the twists and turns in the romance (Douglas is very good at playing a character who can turn off all feeling at will) at the beginning; the German scenes are less compelling despite such high stakes for the heroine. The climax--taking us back to Notorious whether it wants to or not--is quite gripping, largely due to Douglas's performance.--Tom Keogh