"Actor: Harold J. Stone"

• The Harder They Fall | DVD | (27/01/2003) from £7.33   |  Saving you £5.66 (77.22%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A movie that proved a fine swansong for Humphrey Bogart, The Harder They Fall is a gripping drama set against a background of fixed boxing matches. Not so much about the fights as the exploitation of the sport, the film is based on a novel by Budd Schulberg, whose Oscar-winning screenplay for On the Waterfront (1954) helped turn Rod Steiger into a star. Here Steiger delivers an equally bravura performance as the chillingly corrupt manager, Nick Benko, a man who will do anything to turn a buck. Bogart meanwhile is outstanding as unemployed sports writer Eddie Willis, hired against his better judgement to promote a no-hope Argentinean boxer, Toro Moreno (Mike Lane). Powerfully written, if built around the unlikely premise of building a 10th-rate fighter into a world-class contender, the drama is essentially a battle for Willis's soul as he is torn between money and conscience. Though the scenes with Bogart and Steiger facing off are the strongest and a veritable masterclass of hardboiled characterisation, Mark Robson, who also helmed the Kirk Douglas boxing classic Champion (1949), directs with a convincingly dirty realism, the final punishing and bloody match a clear influence on Scorsese's Raging Bull (1980). On the DVD: The Harder They Fall's anamorphic 1.77:1 transfer is excellent with only one brief scene showing any significant print damage. Burnett Guffey's noir-ish black-and-white cinematography looks sharp and fresh as the day it was shot, with only minimal grain. The mono sound is strong and clear, without a hint of distortion or compression. The only extra is a scored gallery of posters and lobby cards from other Bogart films available on Columbia. There are dubbed versions in French, German, Spanish and Italian, and a plethora of subtitle options. --Gary S Dalkin

• Legend Of Valentino | DVD | (17/11/2003) from £5.50   |  Saving you £4.49 (81.64%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Rudolph Valentino was the first male sexual icon of the modern media world. For 5 years from 1921 until 1926 other men watched with envy as Valentino the quintessential Latin screen lover made women swoon over the mere thought of his embrace. This romanticised film covers the career of Valentino from his arrival in Hollywood in 1917 and his emergence in 1921 as American cinema's first great lover.

• Le Faux coupable | DVD | (24/11/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A