"Actor: George E. Stone"

• Some Like It Hot - Special Edition | DVD | (26/11/2001) from £6.18   |  Saving you £13.81 (223.46%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Maybe "nobody's perfect", as one character in this masterpiece suggests. But some movies are perfect, and Some Like It Hot is one of them. In Chicago, during the Prohibition era, two skirt-chasing musicians, Joe and Jerry (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon), inadvertently witness the St Valentine's Day Massacre. In order to escape the wrath of gangland chief Spats Colombo (George Raft), the boys, in drag, join an all-woman band headed for Florida. They vie for the attention of the lead singer, Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe), a much-disappointed songbird who warbles "I'm Through with Love" but remains vulnerable to yet another unreliable saxophone player. (When Curtis courts her without his dress, he adopts the voice of Cary Grant--a spot-on impersonation.) The script by director Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is beautifully measured; everything works, like a flawless clock. Aspiring screenwriters would be well advised to throw away the how-to books and simply study this film. The bulk of the slapstick is handled by an unhinged Lemmon and the razor-sharp Joe E. Brown, who plays a horny retiree smitten by Jerry's feminine charms. For all the gags, the film is also wonderfully romantic, as Wilder indulges in just the right amounts of moonlight and the lilting melody of "Park Avenue Fantasy". Some Like It Hot is so delightfully fizzy, it's hard to believe the shooting of the film was a headache, with an unhappy Monroe on her worst behaviour. The results, however, are sublime. --Robert Horton

• Guys And Dolls | DVD | (06/08/2001) from £7.24   |  Saving you £4.75 (65.61%)   |  RRP £11.99

  This CinemaScope treatment of Frank Loesser's hit Broadway musical Guys and Dolls is a deeply rewarding visual and musical experience. Frank Sinatra turns in one of his best screen performances running a close second to Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons, looking adorable and singing sweetly. In essence this is a piece of photographed theatre mounted on a handsome scale. The striking set designs and a brilliantly executed soundtrack are courtesy of two Broadway craftsmen Oliver Smith and conductor Jay Blackton. Photographer Harry Stradling brings a meticulous eye for detail when his camera stationed on the auditorium side of the frame, peers into Miss Adelaide's bathroom cupboard as she views the lines of medicine bottles in her celebrated "lament". Sinatra, in his vocal prime, sings a new number to Adelaide (Vivian Blaine)--arranged by Nelson Riddle--and Brando and Simmons strike chords in all their scenes from their opening duet "I'll Know" through to their evening out at a Havana bistro where she gets pie-eyed on a Bacardi milk-shake, tipsily wondering "If I were a Bell". Stubby Kaye also from the Broadway cast recreates the show-stopping "Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat". Michael Kidd's choreography for "Luck Be a Lady" is razor-sharp and superbly captured in the CinemaScope format, though the formalised staging of the opening ought to have been rethought for this medium. The biggest pity is that Loesser amended some of his lyrics and replaced several tunes from his original score with inferior material. On the DVD: The DVD trailer hosted by Ed Sullivan makes much of the $1,000,000 cheque producer Samuel Goldwyn paid for the rights and the previews of the picture he obtained for his weekly television show. There's no denying that the remastered stereophonic soundtrack captures the Broadway sound to thrilling effect without it being overglamorised. The picture looks splendid too--never settle for the compromise version we've endured all these years on television! --Adrian Edwards

• Some Like It Hot | DVD | (09/10/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Maybe "nobody's perfect", as one character in this masterpiece suggests. But some movies are perfect, and Some Like It Hot is one of them. In Chicago, during the Prohibition era, two skirt-chasing musicians, Joe and Jerry (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon), inadvertently witness the St Valentine's Day Massacre. In order to escape the wrath of gangland chief Spats Colombo (George Raft), the boys, in drag, join an all-woman band headed for Florida. They vie for the attention of the lead singer, Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe), a much-disappointed songbird who warbles "I'm Through with Love" but remains vulnerable to yet another unreliable saxophone player. (When Curtis courts her without his dress, he adopts the voice of Cary Grant--a spot-on impersonation.) The script by director Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is beautifully measured; everything works, like a flawless clock. Aspiring screenwriters would be well advised to throw away the how-to books and simply study this film. The bulk of the slapstick is handled by an unhinged Lemmon and the razor-sharp Joe E. Brown, who plays a horny retiree smitten by Jerry's feminine charms. For all the gags, the film is also wonderfully romantic, as Wilder indulges in just the right amounts of moonlight and the lilting melody of "Park Avenue Fantasy". Some Like It Hot is so delightfully fizzy, it's hard to believe the shooting of the film was a headache, with an unhappy Monroe on her worst behaviour. The results, however, are sublime. --Robert Horton

• Little Caesar | DVD | (19/06/2006) from £19.90   |  Saving you £-1.91 (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Edward G. Robinson stars as Enrico Bandelli in the role that made him a household name. Bandelli moves to the big city with partner in crime Joe Massara (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) and becomes a member of Sam Vettori's Mafia gang. In spite of the urgings of pretty girl Olga Strassoff (Glenda Farell) to quit the mob Rico quickly becomes the head of the Vettori gang and with a couple of quick kills scares mob boss Arnie Lorch back to Detroit. Bandelli dubbed Little Caesar by the press is known as a boss in his own right but what goes up must come down...

• The Man With the Golden Arm | DVD | (11/08/2003) from £3.90   |  Saving you £-1.91 (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  Frank Sinatra stars as professional poker player Frankie Machine who returns to Chicago after serving time for possession of heroin determined to become a changed character and make it as a jazz drummer. The odds are stacked against him however for with a neurotic and invalid wife and the presence of his old drug pushing friends it is not long before he gives in to temptation and is back on the drugs again....

• The Face Behind The Mask Bu-Ray (Imprint Collection # 44) | Blu Ray | (21/05/2021) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• The Stan And Ollie Collection - Lucky Dog / The Stolen Jools | DVD | (19/06/2003) from £6.15   |  Saving you £4.84 (78.70%)   |  RRP £10.99

  Lucky Dog: Stan befriends a stray dog and Oliver Hardy takes a liking to Stan's wallet. After causing so much chaos Stan's only option is to get rid of the dog. Just in time the dog comes up trumps saves the day and teaches the villain Hardy a lesson too. The Stolen Jools: A famous actress has her jewels stolen. Everyone from the police to the mob want to know the identity of the theif and almost everyone is under suspicion. A star studded cast of the most promi

• The Man With The Golden Arm | DVD | (23/02/2004) from £4.96   |  Saving you £1.03 (20.77%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Frank Sinatra stars with Kim Novak and Eleanor Parker in this riveting drama about a poker dealer/jazz musician who descends to skid row after becoming addicted to heroin. Will he make it back into the spotlight -- or even survive? Based upon the classic American novel by Nelson Algren The Man With The Golden Arm was far ahead of its time with its depiction of what drugs can do to even an ambitious person. Its cautionary tale still holds up today as heroin has come back to haunt not

• The Man With The Golden Arm | DVD | (01/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

• The Man With The Golden Arm | DVD | (17/06/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Frank Sinatra stars with Kim Novak and Eleanor Parker in this riveting drama about a poker dealer/jazz musician who descends to skid row after becoming addicted to heroin. Will he make it back into the spotlight -- or even survive? Based upon the classic American novel by Nelson Algren The Man With The Golden Arm was far ahead of its time with its depiction of what drugs can do to even an ambitious person. Its cautionary tale still holds up today as heroin has come back to haunt not

• The Vampire Bat | DVD | (02/01/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Thousands of monstrous bats fill the night sky of a terrified village while residents are murdered in their beds drained of all their blood. As the killings increase rumors of a vampire in their midst sends the townspeople into a frenzy of panic as even the most respected scientist of the community seems convinced by the evidence. Only one investigator refuses to believe the superstitious tales and argues that a maniac must be at the root of the killings. A mob gathers to hunt down the suspected vampire and drive a stake through his heart yet the exorcism fails to end the horrific slayings. Shot on borrowed sets used in Universal's seminal horror films and starring some of the genre's greatest supporting players The Vampire Bat stands with White Zombie as a low budget terror classic.

• Man With The Golden Arm, The / Suddenly | DVD | (08/05/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  The Man With The Golden Arm (Dir. Otto Preminger 1956): Frank Sinatra stars as professional poker player Frankie Machine who returns to Chicago after serving time for possession of heroin determined to become a changed character and make it as a jazz drummer. The odds are stacked against him however for with a neurotic and invalid wife and the presence of his old drug pushing friends it is not long before he gives in to temptation and is back on the drugs again.... Sud