Leibstandarte started life in the early days of the NSDAP as Hitler's personal elite bodyguard. As the Waffen SS increased in size throughout the 1930s and into the war years so the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler evolved into a full sized panzer division a detachment of which was always close to Hitler. It went from being ""asphalt soldiers"" to one of the most famous military divisions of the war.
Mystery buffs will find Hetty Wainthropp to be delightful and uniquely entertaining company. Hetty has just turned 60, but she is not about to "ride serene into the evening tide," as her doting husband so poetically puts it. "I'm not 60 and I never will be," Hetty proclaims. "I'm not a senior citizen." Hetty wants to matter, so she gets a job at her local Lancashire post office. But that wouldn't make for much of a miniseries. Before you can say "cheeky monkey," she has involved herself in a deadly case of pension-fund fraud, and made a splash on the front pages as a "Super Gran Sleuth." The redoubtable Patricia Routledge, best known as Hyacinth Bucket on the beloved Keeping Up Appearances), does lovely work as Hetty, who first appeared in David Cook's 1986 novel, Missing Persons (Cook co-wrote the six first-season episodes contained here). Hetty is not as quaint as Miss Marple, nor her cases as seamy as Jane Tennison's Prime Suspect mysteries. She is a formidable character in her own right, opening her own private detective agency, and recruiting a 17-year-old shoplifter (Dominic Monaghan from the Lord of the Rings trilogy) to be her "devoted sidekick." A rogue cop, a roving arsonist, and other unsavory characters are no match for the woman who won't rest until things add up. As one police inspector grudgingly admits, "She's an extraordinary woman. She's no Miss Marple, but..." But, indeed. --Donald Liebenson
An adaptation from maverick Alex Cox of Thomas Middleton's celebrated play from 1607 Revenger's Tragedy tells the story of a man whose wife is murdered on their wedding day and his desire to exact revenge on the murderer. In a post-apocalyptic Liverpool of the future Vindici (Christopher Eccleston) returns from a self-imposed exile to bring down those responsible for his wife's murder. While Vindici's family have fallen on hard times the murderer - known as the Duke (Derek Jaco
Fresh out of jail motor-mouth con man Gabriel Cane (Woods) sets up a bet with local gangster John Gillon (Dern) in which ageing prize fighter 'Honey' Roy Palmer must knock out 10 opponents within 24 hours. The con is on but exactly who is scamming who?
The Will Hay Collection is a nine-disc box containing the following films: Ask a Policeman / Boys Will Be Boys Oh, Mr Porter! / Convict 99 Old Bones of the River / Where There's a Will Good Morning Boys / Hey! Hey! USA! Windbag the Sailor (exclusive to this box set): dating from 1936 this is the first film to unite Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt. The hapless trio find themselves as the crew of a decrepit ship.
"The Damned United" centres around controversial football manager Brian Clough, set in 1974 but flashing back to the 1960s, about the famed manager's ill-fated 44-day reign as coach of Leeds United, then one of the country's most successful teams.
Filmed in VIDECOLOR [explosions, drum roll, music builds to a climax] and SUPERMARIONATION"! The opening sequence of Thunderbirds is itself a masterclass in Gerry Anderson's marionette hyperbole: who else would dare to make a virtue out of the fact that (a) the show is in colour and (b) it's got puppets in it? But everything about this series really is epic: Thunderbirds is action on the grandest scale, pre-dating such high-concept Hollywood vehicles as Armaggedon by 30 years and more (the acting is better, too), and fetishising gadgets in a way that even the most excessive Bond movies could never hope to rival. Unsurprisingly, it transpires that the visual effects are by Derek Meddings, whose later contributions to Bond movies like The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker echo his pioneering model work here. As to the characters, the clean-cut Tracey boys take second place in the audiences' affections to their cool machines--the real stars of the show--while comic relief is to be found in the charming company of Lady Penelope and her pink Rolls (number plate FAB1), driven by lugubrious chauffeur Parker, whose "Yes, milady" catchphrase resonated around school playgrounds for decades. (Spare a thought for poor old John Tracey, stuck up in space on Thunderbird 5 with only the radio for company.) The puppet stunt-work is breathtakingly audacious, and every week's death-defying escapade is nailbitingly choreographed in the very best tradition of disaster movies. First shown in 1964 and now digitally remastered, Thunderbirds is children's TV that still looks and sounds like big-budget Hollywood. On this DVD: International Rescue's very first adventure provides a template for all the rest: in "Trapped in the Sky" an experimental new aircraft becomes the target of an evil Bond-style megalomaniac who wants to get his hands on all the neat pieces of kit operated by the Tracey siblings. The show introduces, in fetishistic detail, the recurring set-pieces: Thunderbird 1 taking off from the roll-back swimming pool, which pod will Thunderbird 2 use this week--the mole or the submarine perhaps?--and so on. Nostalgia fans will be pleased to learn that despite digital remastering the puppet strings are still in evidence, and no amount of high-tech restoration could remove the clunky expository dialogue: Stewardess: "It's the maiden flight of the new atomic-powered Fireflash." Passenger: "Isn't that the new aircraft that flies six times the speed of sound?" Stewardess: "That's right, but don't worry: it's perfectly safe." [Cut to: interior, Fireflash landing gear, a device clearly labelled "Auto-Bomb Detonator Unit"] Sinister bad guy (talking to himself for no readily apparent reason): "Perfect. Enough explosives to smash the Atomic Reactor." In the second episode, "Pit of Peril", an absurdly impractical US Army vehicle falls into the eponymous pit, necessitating use of pod five, the mole. Joy! Lady Penelope indulges in some James-Bond-style counter-espionage measures in the third episode, "The Perils of Penelope", while Parker indulges some of his famous Eliza Dolittle-isms; although he is trumped by the Cary Grant sound-a-like character Sir Jeremy Hodge (or 'odge as Parker would have it), whose response to a crisis is, "I say, open the door, we're British!". Then it's back to the action for the fourth episode, "Terror in New York City", in which poor Virgil is shot down by the US Navy in Thunderbird 2 before the boys must rescue an unscrupulous newshound from the wreckage of the Empire State Building (featuring the first appearance of their very own yellow submarine, Thunderbird 4) --Mark Walker
Dantes Inferno
Skippy And The Intruders
Tommy Bobby and Queenie are three quails whose sole aim in life is to find a decent breakfast - this is until the day they overhear an angel telling Mary she's going to give birth to the Son of God. And that's just the beginning. Still stunned by this momentous news the birds suddenly find themselves trapped and thrown into a cage at King Herod's court ready to be served up as the main course at a royal banquet! Life for the quarrelsome threesome will never be the same again as they eventually discover to their horror that Herod wants Mary's baby dead. Together they must embark on a daring mission to find the infant before it's too late. But will they be able to escape the clutches of the evil King? Superbly animated and featuring a host of celebrity voices this fast-paced action-packed caper tells the amazing story of the birth of Christ in a way you'll never forget. It's A Boy! is a fun-filled feel-good experience the whole family will want to share time and again - Why wait till Christmas? Features a soundtrack from Sir Cliff Richard.
It seemed like a good idea in 1973: a musical scored by Donovan about the life and times of St. Francis of Assisi, the passionate ascetic who expressed love for God by loving nature. But the finished product was something else. Filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli (Endless Love) makes a decorous effort at communicating the ideals of Francis and even tweaking the character toward flower-power relevance. But the result is feel-good fluff, a boring movie that doesn't penetrate its subject as much as reinvent him toward a modern bias. Graham Faulkner is entirely forgettable in the lead and Donovan's songs on this project aren't exactly first-rate, either. --Tom Keogh
It's days before Christmas and reindeer are found running loose through the streets of London. Meanwhile an astonished 9 year-old Tom (newcomer Kit Connor) discovers Santa (Jim Broadbent) in the garden shed. He has crash landed while test driving his new sleigh and enlists Tom and his father Steve (Rafe Spall) to help him get back to Lapland. But what happens when Santa is arrested and thrown into prison? Will Steve and Tom be able to break him out in time for Christmas? Get Santa is a heart-warming and funny family adventure about a father and son reconnecting to discover the magic of Christmas.
One of the BBC's flagship dramas Casualty depicts the lives of the patients doctors nurses and paramedics attending the frantically busy accident and emergency department of Holby General Hospital. Now approaching its twentieth year on television this is where it all started: the hard-hitting storylines; the accurate portrayal of life in the casualty department; and that theme tune. At a time when medical dramas produced in the UK were thin-on-the ground this was a truly ground-breaking show often eclipsing equivalent drama programmes from the other side of the pond. This 4 disc box set contains all the episodes from the third series. Episodes comprise: 1. Welcome To Casualty 2. Desperate Odds 3. Drake's Drum 4. Absolution 5. Burn-Out 6. A Quiet Night 7. A Wing And A Prayer 8. Living Memories 9. Inferno 10. Caring
The sequel to Granada Television's cult '60s crime series The Odd Man and It's Dark Outside, Mr. Rose sees Scotland Yard's acerbic Chief Inspector Rose emerging from a restless retirement to take on a further series of cases. With a memorable central performance from William Mervyn as Rose, this complete series set includes guest appearances from Terence Alexander, Nicola Pagett, John Le Mesurier, Judy Geeson, Barrie Ingham, Barbara Shelley, Tenniel Evans, Robert Urquhart, Geraldine Newman and Derek Newark. Mr. Rose has retired from the force to cultivate his cottage garden and concentrate on writing his memoirs. A number of people have good reason to fear Rose's vast personal collection of case files, however, which contain a wealth of incriminating detail that villains and former colleagues alike would rather remain unpublished... SPECIAL FEATURES: Image galleries (discs 1, 6 and 8) Promotional and Script PDFs (disc 8)
Prepare to be corrupted and depraved once more as Nucleus Films releases the definitive guide to the Video Nasties phenomenon - one of the most extraordinary and scandalous eras in the history of British film. For the first time ever on DVD trailers to all 72 films that fell foul of the Director of Public Prosecutions are featured with specially filmed intros for each title in a lavish three-disc collector's edition box-set alongside a brand new documentary - Video Nasties: Moral Panic Censorship And Videotape. Disc One: Presents the 39 titles which were successfully prosecuted in UK courts and deemed liable to deprave and corrupt. Disc Two: Presents the 33 titles that were initially banned but then subsequently acquitted and removed from the DPP's list. Disc Three: This era-defining documentary features interviews with filmmakers Ruggero Deodato ('Cannibal Holocaust') Neil Marshall ('The Descent' 'Doomsday') Christopher Smith ('Severance' 'Black Death') and MP Graham Bright as well as rare archive footage featuring James Ferman (director of the BBFC 1975-1999) & Mary Whitehouse. Taking in the explosion of home video the erosion of civil liberties the introduction of draconian censorship measures hysterical press campaigns and the birth of many careers born in blood and videotape West's documentary also reflects on the influence this peculiar era still exerts on us today.
15 August 1998: the Real IRA exploded a bomb on a crowded street in Omagh just into Northern Ireland to halt the Good Friday accords and peace process; 29 people died. Families formed the Omagh Support Group to press the police in their inquiries. The film focuses on the Gallagher family who lose their son Aiden. His father Michael a mechanic becomes chair of the support group. The press for answers strains his relationship with his wife. High-ranking police speak in bromides. Shadowy figures offer intelligence that calls into question the integrity before and after the bombing of the Royal Ulster Constabulary and its Special Branch. Will the murders remain unsolved?
The ultimate American action hero returns - with a vengeance! After spending several years in Northern Thailand operating a longboat on the Salween River John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) reluctantly agrees to carry a group of Christian missionaries into war torn Burma. But when the aid workers are captured by ruthless Nationalist Army soldiers Rambo leads a group of battle-scarred combat-hardened mercenaries on an epic last ditch mission to rescue the prisoners - at all costs.
Die Hard New York cop John McClane facing Christmas alone flies to Los Angeles to see his estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) and their kids in an attempt to patch things up. He arrives at his wife's high tech office building in the middle of their Christmas party just as it is gatecrashed by the ruthless master criminal Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) and a dozen fellow activists intent on relieving the Nakatomi Corporation of six hundred million dollars in negotiable bonds...
Jay Bulworth is your typical senator going through a nervous breakdown. The empty speeches, lies, money and pressure have led him to plan his own assassination on a weekend trip home to California just before the election. However, a cord snaps in him and like Jim Carrey's rambling lawyer in Liar, Liar, Bulworth can only tell the truth. This new freedom turns Bulworth on and he spews the ugly truth about politics: he tells mass media they are as corrupt as insurance companies; lambastes a black church for not having leaders; and riles the Jewish power elite of Hollywood. He enters South Central running away from advisors (including a bemused Oliver Platt) and mixing it up with a potential new girlfriend (Halle Berry) and a local boss (Don Cheadle). He offends across the board, even developing an inherent knack to rap his speeches. And the public loves it. The weekend becomes a clarifying point for Bulworth: he finds a reason to live.Beatty's rude and relevant comedy is a one-joke movie but the joke is pretty good. It's a courageous film that is always sharp even though it loses narrative focus. Beatty's hilarious raps are so inspired they deserve repeated viewings. As usual, Beatty surrounds himself with a great crew, Ennio Morricone's music and Vittorio Storaro's cinematography being especially noteworthy. Beatty and Storaro even have the audacity to imitate two very famous photographs in the film's final seconds. The script by Beatty and Jeremy Pikser won the LA Film Critics award and was nominated for an Oscar. --Doug Thomas
Following the disappearance of Inspector Clouseau Surete call on the world's second-best detective to bring him back. However Clouseau's nemesis the evil Chief Inspector Dreyfus interferes with the computer which assigns the world's worst detective to the case Detective-Sergeant Clifton Sleigh! Hilarity ensues as the bumbling Sleigh stumbles from disaster to disaster!
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