"Actor: George Voskovec"

• Somewhere In Time | DVD | (10/11/2003) from £7.96   |  Saving you £2.03 (25.50%)   |  RRP £9.99

  It's silly, it's superficial, it's so desperately earnest about its tale of time-spanning love that you almost wish for a cheap flatulence gag just to break the solemn mood. But there is something so unabashedly gushy and entertaining about Somewhere in Time that you can't begrudge its enduring popularity. The film has become a staple of romantic-movie lovers since its release in 1980, and endless showings on cable TV have turned it into a dubious classic of sorts--a three-hanky weepy that anyone can enjoy as a guilty pleasure or a beloved favourite, with no apologies necessary. In his first film after the star-making success of Superman, Christopher Reeve stars as a contemporary playwright who visits a posh hotel and sees the portrait of an actress (Jane Seymour) who had performed there in 1912. He becomes obsessed with this beautiful woman and learns all he can about her, and then discovers a method of hypnotically transporting himself backward in time to meet her. "Is it ... you?" she says upon seeing the lovestruck playwright, and it's clearly a mutual attraction. But even the slightest reminder of the playwright's modern time can jar him from his seemingly real existence in the past, so his wonderful love affair is constantly just a step from being stolen away. Based on Richard Matheson's novel Bid Time Return, this flaky film may strain one's tolerance for plot holes and corny romance, but it's hard to deny its lasting appeal--and let's face it, guys, it'll make wives and girlfriends swoon if they are in a tearjerker mood. --Jeff Shannon

• Twelve Angry Men | DVD | (19/03/2001) from £5.82   |  Saving you £7.17 (123.20%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Sidney Lumet's directorial debut Twelve Angry Men remains a tense, atmospheric (though slightly manipulative and stagey) courtroom thriller, in which the viewer never sees a trial and the only action is verbal. As he does in his later corruption commentaries such as Serpico or Q & A, Lumet focuses on the lonely one-man battles of a protagonist whose ethics alienate him from the rest of jaded society. As the film opens, the seemingly open-and-shut trial of a young Puerto Rican accused of murdering his father with a knife has just concluded and the 12-man jury retires to their microscopic, sweltering quarters to decide the verdict. When the votes are counted, 11 men rule guilty, while one--played by Henry Fonda, again typecast as another liberal, truth-seeking hero--doubts the obvious. Stressing the idea of "reasonable doubt", Fonda slowly chips away at the jury, who represent a microcosm of white, male society--exposing the prejudices and preconceptions that directly influence the other jurors' snap judgments. The tight script by Reginald Rose (based on his own teleplay) presents each juror vividly using detailed soliloquies, all which are expertly performed by the film's flawless cast. Still, it's Lumet's claustrophobic direction--all sweaty close-ups and cramped compositions within a one-room setting--that really transforms this contrived story into an explosive and compelling nail-biter. --Dave McCoy, Amazon.com

• 12 Angry Men | Blu Ray | (15/05/2017) from £21.39   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  SIDNEY LUMET'S UNPARALLELED TRIAL DRAMA STARRING HENRY FONDA ONE OF THE TEN MOST POPULAR FILMS OF ALL TIME, ACCORDING TO IMDB.COM! 12 Angry Men, by SIDNEY LUMET (Network), may be the most radical big-screen courtroom drama in cinema history. A behind-closed-doors look at the American legal system as riveting as it is spare, the iconic adaptation of Reginald Rose's teleplay stars HENRY FONDA (Young Mr. Lincoln) as the initially dissenting foreman on a jury of white men ready to pass judgment on a Puerto Rican teenager charged with murdering his father. What results is a saga of epic proportions that plays out in real time over ninety minutes in one sweltering room. Lumet's electrifying snapshot of 1950s America on the verge of change is one of the great feature-film debuts. SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES: New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack Frank Schaffner's 1955 television version, with an introduction by Ron Simon, director of the Paley Centre for Media Studies 12 Angry Men: From Television to the Big Screen, a video essay by film scholar Vance Kapley comparing the Sidney Lumet and Schaffner versions Archival interviews with Lumet New interview about the director with writer Walter Bernstein New interview with Simon about television writer Reginald Rose New interview with cinematographer John Bailey in which he discusses cinematographer Boris Kaufman Tragedy in a Temporary Town (1956), a teleplay directed by Lumet and written by Rose Original theatrical trailer PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by writer and law professor Thane Rosenbaum Click Images to Enlarge

• Spy Who Came In From The Cold | DVD | (06/11/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Oscar nominee Richard Burton is a burnt-out British agent who refuses to ""come in from the cold"" to take a desk job-but instead launches into the most dangerous assignment of his career stalking East German agent Oskar Werner. John Le Carre's best-selling novel provides the basis for this breathtaking thriller of espionage intrigue crosses and double crosses. First-rate performances from the entire cast are matched by a tension-packed and brilliantly plotted screenplay with masterful direction from Martin Ritt.

• The Bravados | DVD | (01/08/2005) from £5.95   |  Saving you £7.04 (118.32%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A Powerful Western Tale of Revenge and Redemption. When a farmer's wife is raped and murdered the farmer (Gregory Peck) teams up with his old flame (Joan Collins) to trail and kill the four outlaws he believes to be responsible. Arriving in a town he discovers that the men are in jail and will be hanged the following day. When they escape driven by a blinding need for revenge the farmer gives chase kills one and has another two cornered. But then they protest their innoc

• The Boston Strangler | DVD | (18/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The unexpected casting of Tony Curtis as the presumed Boston Strangler, Albert DeSalvo, is only the first of the attractions of this hard-nosed suspense picture. Although the style of The Boston Strangler looks dated today, with its split-screen experiments and post-Bonnie and Clyde permissiveness, the film still has the clean, strong lines of a methodical policier. For the first hour, we don't focus on the Strangler, instead following the Beantown cops (led by Henry Fonda) as they track down leads; the best sequence is the near-accidental connection made between burglary suspect DeSalvo and the killings. Director Richard Fleischer had a forceful hand with true-crime material (Compulsion, 10 Rillington Place) and he takes an unblinking look into the then-taboo subject of sexual pathology. Curtis's physical transformation into a dumpy, dull-eyed brute is the best aspect of his performance; it's a role he lobbied hard for, but it did not lead to more challenging work. --Robert Horton

• Happy Days | DVD | (01/01/1980) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Suffused with tenderness, lucidity and humour, this Samuel Beckett play is a comedy in pure, music hall style. Legendary actress, Irene Worth, stars as Winnie, an optimist who deep down senses she has little to feel happy about. Irene Worth gives a tour-de-force performance as she chatters incessantly and cheerily on a variety of subjects. Winnie never allows a day to pass without looking her best and hoping for better. Worth portrays Winnie as the embodiment of humankind's nobler virtues: wise, just, majestic, and committed to her conviction that this will have been a happy day.