"Actor: Guy Doleman"

• The Ipcress File | DVD | (20/10/2003) from £17.00   |  Saving you £-7.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  In the spy-crazed film world of the 1960s, Len Deighton's antihero Harry Palmer burst onto the scene as an antidote to the James Bond films. Here was a British spy who had a working-class accent and horn-rimmed glasses and above all really didn't want to be a spy in the first place. As portrayed by Michael Caine, Palmer was the perfect antithesis to Sean Connery's 007. Unlike that of his globetrotting spy cousin, Palmer's beat is cold, rainy, dreary London, where he spends his days and nights in unheated flats spying on subversives. He does charm one lady, but she's no Pussy Galore, just a civil servant he works with, sent to keep an eye on him. Eventually he's assigned to get to the bottom of the kidnapping and subsequent "brain draining" of a nuclear physicist, all the while being reminded by his superiors that it's this or prison. Things begin to get pretty hairy for Harry. Produced by Harry Saltzman in his spare time between Bond movies, the film also features a haunting score by another Bond veteran, composer John Barry. --Kristian St. Clair, Amazon.com

• The Ipcress File | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £8.98   |  Saving you £10.00 (166.95%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The tense spy thriller by Len Deighton that turned Michael Caine into a superstar. Cynical and rebellious ex-army sergeant Harry Palmer has been blackmailed into working for Britain's security service. Hot on the trail of a kidnapped scientist Palmer finds himself enmeshed in a sinister conspiracy involving horrifying brainwashing techniques murder and treachery that reaches up to the highest levels of the security service itself. Often hailed as Len Deighton's finest spy story

• The Ipcress File | Blu Ray | (28/07/2014) from £54.99   |  Saving you £-40.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Featuring a quintessential performance from double-Oscar winner Sir Michael Caine and an iconic score from the legendary John Barry this stylised and compelling Cold War spy movie won multiple awards on its theatrical release - including three BAFTAs. The Ipcress File is featured here in a High Definition transfer made from original film elements in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio. Harry Palmer a stubbornly insolent sergeant working for the Ministry of Defence is less than thrilled to be transferred under threat of blackmail to an elite counter-intelligence unit. Palmer and the rest of his unit follow the trail of a missing scientist but when he finds a piece of tape marked 'IPCRESS' in an abandoned warehouse he suddenly becomes a marked man... Special Features: (Standard Definition unless otherwise stated) Michael Caine is Harry Palmer - exclusive interview with Sir Michael Caine The Design File - exclusive interview with production designer Sir Ken Adam Commentary with director Sidney Furie and film editor Peter Hunt Michael Caine Goes Stella comedy short 1969 documentary: Candid Caine Original theatrical trailer (HD) text less material (HD) and US radio commercials Extensive image galleries (HD) Commemorative booklet

• Thunderball | DVD | (03/11/2003) from £4.00   |  Saving you £15.99 (399.75%)   |  RRP £19.99

  James Bond's fourth adventure takes him to the Bahamas, where a NATO warplane with a nuclear payload has disappeared into the sea. Bond (Sean Connery) travels from a health spa (where he tangles with a mechanised masseuse run amuck) to the casinos of Nassau and soon picks up the trail of SPECTRE's number-two man, Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), and his beautiful mistress, Domino (Claudine Auger), whom Bond soon seduces to his side. Equipped with more gadgets than ever, courtesy of the resourceful Q (Desmond Llewellyn), agent 007 escapes an ambush with a personal-size jet pack and takes to the water as he searches for an underwater plane, battles Largo's pet sharks, and finally leads the battle against Largo's scuba-equipped henchmen in a spectacular underwater climax. This thrilling Bond entry became Connery's most successful outing in the series and was remade in 1983 as Never Say Never Again, with Connery returning to the role after a 12-year hiatus. Tom Jones belts out the bold theme song to another classic Maurice Binder title sequence. --Sean Axmaker, Amazon.com--On the DVD: The absence of any new contribution from Sean Connery leaves a hole in the behind-the-scenes selection, but the "making of" documentary still has plenty to talk about, including why Bond wore a crash helmet for the jet-pack flight, and what was for the time the utterly unique situation of having to stage an underwater battle (one of the Bond series' enduring legacies is its pioneering stunt work). A supplemental documentary describes the "Thunderball Phenomenon" that swept the world on the release of what was the most successful Bond movie to date (back in those innocent days when blanket retail saturation of movie merchandise was still a novelty). Two audio commentaries flesh out even more of the background: the first is another edited selection of various interviews, the second has editor Peter Hunt in conversation with the host John Quark of the Ian Fleming Foundation, as well as more sundry interview snippets, notably from screenwriter John Hopkins. Any contribution from series composer John Barry is also sadly absent. --Mark Walker

• Funeral In Berlin | DVD | (05/01/2004) from £5.50   |  Saving you £10.49 (190.73%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Funeral in Berlin (1967) is the sequel to 1965's The Ipcress File, again featuring Michael Caine as reluctant spy Harry Palmer. It was clearly the filmmakers' intention to make Palmer a harder-nosed James Bond, and director Guy Hamilton was brought to this project in between Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever for that purpose. There's espionage intrigue, easy women (Eva Renzi as Samantha Steel), and gunplay. But without the gadgetry, one-liners, or even the John Barry score of the first movie, the Bond comparison runs dry. Against the backdrop of a bombed-out industrial wasteland that was Berlin in the mid-Sixties, Palmer is sent to facilitate the defection of Col. Stock (Oscar Homolka). Numerous sub-plots weave together involving indifferent chief Ross (Guy Doleman from IPCRESS), mission aide Johnnie Volkon (Paul Hubschmid), and the untrustworthy Kreutzman (Günter Meisner, who was more memorable as Slugworth in Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory). It all comes down to revealing who's working for whom and who's really defecting in the set-piece funeral of the title. The main reason the series continued (Ken Russell's OTT Billion Dollar Brain came next) was the commanding presence of Caine. It's fun to hear him try German, and he manages a few subtle comic gems, such as when a waiter asks "Bitte mein heir?" and he replies, "No. Lager please", but the best moment of characterisation recalling the womanising Palmer of Len Deighton's novels is the put down guaranteed to win any woman: "You're useless in the kitchen. Why don't you go back to bed?" --Paul Tonks

• The Deadly Bees (Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (06/05/2019) from £9.45   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  NOTICE: Polish Release, cover may contain Polish text/markings. The disk DOES NOT have English audio and subtitles.

• On The Beach | DVD | (03/05/2004) from £23.24   |  Saving you £-10.25 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The war is over. Nobody won. Only the inhabitants of Australia and the men of the U.S. submarine Sawfish have escaped the nuclear destruction. Captain Dwight Towers (Gregory Peck) takes the Sawfish on a mission to see if an approaching radiation cloud has weakened but returns with grim news: the cloud is lethal. With the days and hours dwindling each person confronts the grim situation in his or her own way as the final chapter of human history is coming to a close...

• Billion Dollar Brain | DVD | (06/09/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Ken Russell's big budget film is an adaptation of Len Deighton's novel a sequel to 'The Ipcress File' in which Michael Caine reprises his role as bespectacled British Intelligence officer Harry Palmer this time stumbling into a plot to overthrow the Soviet Communist regime using a supercomputer. But who is working for whom and will Harry live long enough to find out?

• The Ipcress File | Blu Ray | (10/11/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Michael Caine cuts a cool dash as the sceptical working-class secret service man Harry Palmer...stylistically extravagant slyly anti-American and pays homage to classic movies' Philip French This espionage thriller represents a landmark in spy movies jettisoning the excesses of 007 and introducing the sly dry intelligence agent Harry Palmer played by Michael Caine relishing a role that marked him for stardom. The story based on Len Deighton's novel centres on Palmer's investigation into British Intelligence security. He's soon enmeshed in a world of double-dealing kidnap and murder and finds a traitor is operating at the heart of the secret service. Will the mysterious 'Ipcress File' reveal who the traitor is? Produced by Harry Saltzman (the early Bond movies) and with an evocative score by Academy Award winning John Barry The Ipcress File emerges as one of cinema's wittiest and grittiest thrillers.

• The Prisoner - 35th Anniversary Companion | DVD | (30/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Primarily aimed at fanatic completists, The Prisoner 35th Anniversary Companion gives us an alternative version of the opening episode "Arrival" recently rediscovered from Canadian archival material, along with the broadcast version for comparison. The collection also has text files on associative material like the score for the music, the novelisations and the Dinky model of the mini-moke, clips of the interval bumpers, alternative clips of the opening credits and a sequence in which the opening credits shot of a filing cabinet labelled "Resignations" is reshot in a variety of languages for foreign markets. The episode included reminds us, in both its versions, what an innovative and sinister show The Prisoner was--George Baker in particular is an impressive foil to Patrick McGoohan. There are also text files on the careers of McGoohan and his collaborator George Markstein, as well as an extended interview with Bernard Williams in which he talks frankly about the difficulties of producing a show whose scripts were being written by the star as it was being shot, and tells us of the last-minute improvisation of the sinister balloon, Rover. There is also a short documentary about the show, its fans and the memorabilia shop at Portmeirion, plus a Prisoner parody Renault ad. On the DVD: The Prisoner 35th Anniversary Companion is presented in standard 4:3 television visual ratio; the mono sound has not worn well, especially in the alternative version of "Arrival" where it is at times painfully scratchy. The interface is user-confusing; if you don't already know the shape of The Village it is not immediately obvious that the menu continues on two screens. The packaging includes a lavish booklet that includes a facsimile of the production notes for the show. --Roz Kaveney

• The Michael Caine Collection--The Ipcress File, Educating Rita, The Eagle Has Landed, Without a Clue | DVD | (12/11/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  The Ipcress File: The tense spy thriller by Len Deighton that turned Michael Caine into a superstar. Cynical and rebellious ex-army sergeant Harry Palmer has been blackmailed into working for Britain's security service. Hot on the trail of a kidnapped scientist Palmer finds himself enmeshed in a sinister conspiracy involving horrifying brainwashing techniques murder and treachery that reaches up to the highest levels of the security service itself... Educating Rita: Rita a hairdresser with a sharp wit is married to Danny and at 26 doesn't want a baby. She wants to discover herself - so she joins the Open University. Dr Frank Bryant is a disillusioned university professor of literature. His marriage has failed his girlfriend is having an affair with his best friend and he can't get through the day without downing a bottle or two of whiskey. He refers to himself as an appalling teacher of appalling students. What Frank needs is a challenge - and along comes Rita. In this hilarious and often moving drama the story tells how two people find a new lease of life through each other. The Eagle Has Landed: A Nazi strike force plots to assassinate Winston Churchill while he is resting in a desolate Norfolk Village. Colonel Radl masterminds the plot which if successful would change the outcome of the war. He enlists the help of Colonel Steiner (Caine) and Liam Devlin (Sutherland). Disguised as Polish airmen German paratroopers land in England. Radl's plan appear to be going smoothly until an unforeseeable incident exposed the Germans. But the kidnap continues and Steiner Luger in hand approaches the unmistakable figure of Churchill... Without A Clue: A madcap comedy which takes a fresh look at the classic Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson escapades. Holmes is actually a figment of Dr. Watson's own success in crime detection a character who Watson uses when he writes in 'The Strand' magazine. But when the printing plates for five pound notes are stolen Queen Victoria herself calls for the country's greatest detective...

• The Ipcress File | UMD | (30/01/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

• Ipcress File | DVD | (24/07/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  James Bond was not the only British secret agent who in the sixties made an impact on the film world. Harry Palmer, a creation of writer Len Deighton thriller, made his first appearance in this dark and thrilling espionage thriller. Palmer, cool and laconic played by Michael Caine, investigates the disappearance of some British nuclear scientists. The trail leads to a secret organization called Ipcress, the scholars who abduct and brainwash. Harry suspects that.

• The Ipcress File | DVD | (16/01/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  The tense spy thriller by Len Deighton that turned Michael Caine into a superstar! Cynical and rebellious ex-army sergeant Harry Palmer has been blackmailed into working for Britain's security service. Hot on the trail of a kidnapped scientist Palmer finds himself enmeshed in a sinister conspiracy involving horrifying brainwashing techniques murder and treachery that reaches up to the highest levels of the security service itself... Often hailed as Len Deighton's finest spy story