"Actor: Hans Helm"

• THE BLUE ANGEL | Blu Ray | (28/01/2013) from £13.35   |  Saving you £6.64 (49.74%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The Blue Angel is one of the first German language sound films (filmed simultaneously in an English-language version), and the picture that represents the initial collaboration between Josef von Sternberg and his immortal muse, Marlene Dietrich. Following up his role in Sternberg's great silent The Last Command, Emil Jannings portrays a schoolteacher named Immanuel Rath, whose fateful expedition to catch his students frequenting the cabaret known as The Blue Angel leads to his own rapture with the establishment's main attraction Lola (Dietrich) - and, as a result, triggers the downward spiral of his life and fortune. Directed by Sternberg while on loan from America to the pioneering German producer Erich Pommer, The Blue Angel is at once captivating, devastating, and powerfully erotic, laced-through with Sternberg's masterful cinematography. From here, the director and Dietrich would go on to make six more films together in the span of five years, and leave a legacy of some of the most indelible iconography in the cinema of glamour and obsession. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present The Blue Angel in a new Dual Format presentation that incorporates both versions of the film in 1080p HD for the first time in the UK. Special Features: 1080p HD Presentation of both the German-language and English-language versions of the film, with progressive encodes on the DVD Newly translated optional subtitles on the German-language version, and SDH on the English-language version New and exclusive video essay on the films by critic and scholar Tag Gallagher New and exclusive feature-length audio commentary by critic and scholar Tony Rayns on the German-langauage version Original screen test with Marlene Dietrich Archival interview clips with Marlene Dietrich Substantial booklet containing writing on the film, vintage excerpts, and rare archival imagery

• Munchhausen | DVD | (18/08/2003) from £8.98   |  Saving you £13.00 (185.98%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Enjoying the dubious billing of being the Third Reich's "finest fictional moment", Münchhausen lives up to the hype. Commissioned by propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels to mark the 25th anniversary of the UFA film studio in 1943, director Josef von Baky was given every incentive artistic, technical and financial to create a state-of-the-art film outflanking Hollywood--and, in most respects, he succeeded. Hans Albers is understatedly right as the buccaneer aristocrat, his adventures over the centuries made possible by preternatural longevity. Hermann Speelmans gives sterling support as loyal manservant Kuchenreutter, while Brigitte Horney has appealing decadence as Catherine the Great. The spectacular Venice canal sequence and whimsical moon episode are balanced by strong scriptwriting from "Berthold Bürger" (Erich Kästner of Emil and the Detectives fame), with Georg Haentzschel's lushly eclectic score scarcely inferior to those by his more famous Hollywood counterparts. A tendency to send-up non-German nationalities hints at Nazi ideology, but otherwise this is pure--though never soulless--escapism, produced to the highest artistic standards. On the DVD: Münchhausen on disc is presented in a restored print which recaptures the original's breathtaking interplay of colour, and the soundtrack has been very adequately cleaned up. Just eight access points and subtitles in English only, but a photo gallery of over 100 stills and memorabilia to chart the course of the film in detail. R Dixon Smith's insightful documentary feature gives the lowdown on why the film was made. All the more remarkable, then, that it's survived the vicissitudes of its era so handsomely. --Richard Whitehouse

• Beethoven - Fidelio | DVD | (11/09/2006) from £14.39   |  Saving you £2.60 (18.07%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Opera in two acts - Libretto/Livret: Joseph von Sonnleithner with revision by Stephan von Breuning and George Friedrich Treitschke after Jean-Nicolas Bouilly's Leonore, ou L'amour conjugal.Leonard Bernstein's acclaimed 1978 performance of Beethoven's only opera have gone down in the annals as a landmark in Vienna State Opera history - brilliantly staged by the great Viennese producer Otto Schenk and featuring some of the most remarkable singers of the time.

• Massenet-Manon | DVD | (13/11/2006) from £16.60   |  Saving you £0.39 (2.30%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Massenet: Manon (Fischer Wiener Staatsoper Gruberova)

• Evil Ed | Blu Ray | (03/02/2020) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  WHEN HIS MIND BLOWS, ANYTHING GOES! A blood-soaked love letter to the splatter films of the '80s, video rental favourite Evil Ed returns in an extended Special ED-ition cut alongside hours of stomach-churning bonus features! Mild-mannered film technician Edward enjoys his job. That is, until he finds himself transferred from his regular post to the Splatter and Gore department , where he's forced to edit hours upon hours of grisly video nasty footage. Traumatised by the onscreen violence, Ed starts to lose his grip on reality with ghastly (and bloody) consequences... Owing a debt to such films as The Evil Dead, Re-Animator and the early splatter classics of Peter Jackson, Evil Ed is a special FX fiend's dream offering up a veritable smorgasbord of flying limbs, exploding heads and creepy creatures! SPECIAL ED-ITION CONTENTS Special ED-ition cut [99 mins] Original Stereo and 5.1 DTS-HD MA Audio Options Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Introduction by writer/director Anders Jacobsson and editor Doc You Keep 'Em Heads Rollin' extensive making-of documentary featuring interviews with cast and crew Beyond Ed the filmmakers discuss their careers following Evil Ed Deleted Scenes Featurette Reconstructing Edward featurette looking at the preparation of the Special ED-ition cut New Scenes Featurette a closer look at the scenes that were added to the Special ED-ition cut Trailers and Teasers Image Gallery Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys

• Giordano - Andrea Chenier (Santi) | DVD | (19/09/2005) from £15.37   |  Saving you £1.62 (9.50%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Political intrigue during the French Revolution and the fate of a woman desired by two men are the focal points of Giordano's gripping drama Andrea Chenier. Placido Domingo sings the title role with great passion and tenderness in this acclaimed 1981 Vienna State Opera production; Gabriela Benackova portrays the hero's beloved Maddalena.

• Gold | Blu Ray | (08/11/2018) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A