"Actor: James Ma"

• Pot O' Gold | DVD | (25/08/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  While 'Born To Dance' is the movie musical most associated with James Stewart the largely forgotten Pot o' Gold is the one in which he is most involved with music. The plot has Stewart as Jimmy Haskell a music-loving harmonica-playing man who comes across a poor but excellent band (led by Horace Heidt) that rehearses on a boarding-house roof. Jimmy becomes interested in the people who own the boarding-house Ma McCorkle (Mary Gordon) and her lovely daughter Molly (Paulette Goddard). Jimmy and Molly combine forces to promote the career of Horace and the lads but that task is made difficult by Jimmy's wealthy Uncle Charley. This is a rare opportunity to hear Stewart sing with surprisingly pleasant results. Songs from a group of writers include: Do You Believe In Fairy tales? (Mack David Vee Lawnhurst) When Johnny Toots His Horn (Hy Heath Fred Rose) Slap happy Band Hi Cy What's Cookin'? Pete The Piper Broadway Cabellero (Henry Sullivan Lou Forbes). The movie was produced by James Roosevelt son of FDR.

• Class Of Nuke 'Em High | DVD | (20/11/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  Welcome to Tromaville High School the most bizarre High School you'll ever attend and it is conveniently located a stone's throw from the local Nuclear Power Plant. Meet the students as they transform into horrifying mutations! Become a member of The Cretins - a psychotic punk gang who ride motorcycles through the classrooms trashing the school. If you're thinking of bunking off classes you had better beware - there is a gigantic gremlin-like creature growing in the hot water pipes and a gigantic slime drenched monster growing in the basement - just waiting for you!

• Meet John Doe | DVD | (07/03/2005) from £7.95   |  Saving you £-2.96 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  In protest at the corruption and hypocrisy he sees all around him an unemployed man calling himself ""John Doe"" has written to the New Bulletin newspaper pledging to throw himself from the top of City Hall on Christmas Eve. Written by a discharged journalist as a publicity stunt and as a parting shot at the paper's new editor the premise of the letter unexpectedly fires the imagination of the bulletin's readers and the wider American public. Its real author Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck) is rehired and now needs to find someone to play the part of the fictional ""John Doe""... Meet John Doe is often held to be part of a thematic trilogy that includes Mister Deeds Goes To Town and Mister Smith Goes To Washington. It explores a recurring notion in Capra's work that of the universal everyman exploited by a corrupt and powerful establishment. The film's reflections on corporate control of both the media and of ordinary people's lives is still as resonant as ever.

• Inspector Morse - Disc 7 And 8 - Last Bus To Woodstock / The Ghost In The Machine | DVD | (24/06/2002) from £6.66   |  Saving you £8.33 (125.07%)   |  RRP £14.99

  When Inspector Morse first appeared on television in 1987, nobody could have predicted that it would run into the next century, maintaining throughout a quality of scripts and story lines that raised the genre of the detective series to a new level. Much of its success can be attributed to John Thaw's total immersion in the role. Morse is a prickly character and not obviously easy to like. As a detective in Oxford with unfulfilled academic propensities, he is permanently excluded from a world of which he would dearly love to be a part. He is at odds with that world--and with his colleagues in the police force--most of the time. Passionate about opera and "proper beer", he is a cultural snob for whom vulgarity causes almost physical pain. As a result, he lives from one disillusionment to another. And he is scarred--more deeply than he would ever admit--by past relationships. But he also has a naïve streak and, deep-down sensitivity, which makes him a fascinating challenge for women. At the heart of Morse's professional life is his awkward partnership with Detective Sergeant Lewis, the resolutely ordinary, worldly sidekick who manages to keep his boss in an almost permanent state of exasperation while retaining his grudging respect. It's a testament to Kevin Whateley's consistently excellent performance that from such unpromising material, Lewis becomes as indispensable to the series as Barrington Pheloung's hypnotic, classic theme music. Morse's investigations do occasionally take him abroad to more exotic locations, but throughout 14 successful years of often gruesome murders, the city of Oxford itself became a central character in these brooding two-hour dramas: creator Colin Dexter stating he finally had to kill Morse off because he was giving Oxford a bad reputation as a dangerous place! --Piers Ford

• Studio Classic: Classic War Movies | DVD | (10/10/2005) from £28.33   |  Saving you £6.66 (19.00%)   |  RRP £34.99

  The Longest Day (Dir. Ken Annakin and Andrew Marton 1962): On June 6 1944 the Allied Invasion of France marked the beginning of the end of Nazi domination over Europe. The attack involved 3 000 000 men 11 000 planes and 4 000 ships comprising the largest armada the world has ever seen. Presented in the original black & white version The Longest Day is a vivid hour-by-hour re-creation of this historic event. Featuring a stellar international cast and told from the perspectives of both sides it is a fascinating look at the massive preparations mistakes and random events that determined the outcome of one of the biggest battles in history. Sink The Bismarck! (Dir. Lewis Gilbert 1960): In the Spring of 1941 Nazi Germany's greatest battleship - the Bismarck scourge of Atlantic shipping - is pinned down at her anchorage in Norway. Making a break for freedom and the safety of air cover from the Luftwaffe the great ship is chased by the Royal Navy. Eventually after heavy casualties including the loss of HMS Hood the Bismarck is finally trapped and sunk. Kenneth More stars as Captain Shepherd - the Admiralty's Director of Naval Operations - who embittered by the death of his wife in an air raid is assigned to this post just as the Bismarck makes its escape. The Desert Rats (Dir. Robert Wise 1953): Richard Burton stars in this exciting film about the courageous men who held off notorious German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel despite being hopelessly outnumbered. The year is 1941 and all that stands between Rommel and the Suez Canal is the fortress of Tobruk which is manned only by a small Australian battalion whom Captain MacRoberts (Burton) must whip into shape - fast! James Mason co-stars in a stunning portrayal as Rommel in this stirring action-packed story of the World War II heroes known as the Desert Rats. Twelve O'Clock High (Dir. Henry King 1949): Convinced an Air Force Commander is at breaking point Brigadier General Savage (Gregory Peck) takes over his struggling bomber group. At first resentful and rebellious the flyers gradually change as Savage guides them to amazing feats. But the stress of command soon takes its toll and the weary general reaches his own breaking point. Authentic aerial battle footage and numerous acclaimed performances make Twelve O'Clock High a credible stirring tale of courage and sacrifice. A Farewell To Arms (Dir. Charles Vidor 1957): This dense adaption of Ernest Hemingway's novel features Rock Hudson as American soldier Lt. Henry and his ill-fated love affair with British Nurse Catherine portrayed by Jennifer Jones during World War I. The two lovers will stop at nothing to be together but Lt. Henry's internal struggles ultimately threaten the relationship. Hemingway's theme of questioning the nature of war and fighting is fully recognised under Charles Vidor's direction.

• Return To The Blue Lagoon | DVD | (02/12/2002) from £7.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (62.58%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Orphaned at the age of 8 on a deserted island a young boy and girl grow up together and learn about survival love and their own sexuality. Once a captain and his daughter sail upon their deserted shore and tempts them back to civilization they must now learn what is most important: each other...

• Police Assassins | DVD | (25/02/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Police Assassins combines a mismatched detective buddy movie with Three Stooges-style buffoonery. Making the mixture more unusual still, both detectives are female, Michelle Yeoh (Magnificent Warriors), in only her second film, joining forces with American martial arts legend Cynthia Rothrock (China O'Brien), in her then debut, to track down some missing microfilm. After introducing Yeoh in a direct steal from Dirty Harry the plot stagnates as the microfilm falls into the hands of small-time crooks, Asprin (Hoi Mang), Strepsil (John Sham) and Panadol (action movie producer Hark Tsui). Though their physical comedy is ingeniously choreographed the routine rapidly becomes tiresome, far too little space being given to Yeoh and Rothrock. The latter's 1980s' fashions date the movie and the dubbing is dreadful, though entertainment is to be had from a supporting villain who looks strangely like Groucho Marx on a very bad hair day. For martial arts fans the film nevertheless delivers several excellent fight scenes and an inventive and exciting finale. Collectors should know Police Assassins has also been released as In the Line of Duty 2, Super Cops and Yes, Madam, the last of which is actually the English title on this print. --Gary S Dalkin

• Desert Mice | DVD | (22/03/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A fantastic cast star in this World War II comedy farce featuring the antics of an eclectic mix of entertainers of an organisation that called itself Entertainment National Service Association. Known as ENSA for short or rather cruelly Every Night Something Awful! Fresh from the music halls they certainly give the camp the run around in more ways than one and bumble their way to triumph!

• Batman: The Brave and the Bold Vol 8 | DVD | (19/03/2012) from £5.38   |  Saving you £0.61 (11.34%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Batman isn't going at it alone this time! The Caped Crusader teams up with heroes from across the DC Universe, delivering nonstop action and adventure with a touch of comic relief. Blue Beetle, Green Arrow, Aquaman and others fight crime alongside Batman, although their differing powers and personalities are often at odds with the Dark Knight's style. While still based in Gotham, Batman often travels beyond the Gotham City limits, facing situations both unfamiliar and exhilarating. With formidable foes around every corner, Batman still relies on his stealth, resourcefulness and limitless supply of cool gadgets to uphold justice.

• Cary Grant | DVD | (07/06/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  A hapless New York advertising executive is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive

• Bigger Than Life | DVD | (30/07/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Schoolteacher and family man Ed Avery who's been suffering bouts of severe pain and even blackouts is hospitalized with what's diagnosed as a rare inflammation of the arteries. Told by doctors that he probably has only months to live Ed agrees to an experimental treatment: doses of the hormone cortisone. Ed makes a remarkable recovery and returns home to his wife Lou and their son Richie. He must keep taking cortisone tablets regularly to prevent a recurrence of his illness. But the miracle cure turns into its own nightmare as Ed starts to abuse the tablets causing him to experience increasingly wild mood swings...

• Heaven Can Wait | DVD | (16/01/2006) from £17.87   |  Saving you £-4.88 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Newly deceased playboy Henry Van Cleve (Don Ameche) presents himself to the outer offices of Hades where he asks a bemused Satan for permission to enter the gates of hell. Though the Devil doubts Henry's sins will qualify him for eternal damnation Henry proceeds to recount a lifetime spent wooing and pursuing women his long happy marriage to Martha (Gene Tierney) not withstanding. Nominated for Academy Awards for best picture and director Heaven Can Wait is an end

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Complete Season 5 | DVD | (18/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £79.99

  The fifth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is about illusions and the truth that they often reveal; suddenly Buffy has a younger sister, has always had a younger sister. Michelle Trachtenberg as the moody, gawky Dawn achieves the considerable triumph of walking into an established stock company of well-known characters--Xander, Willow, Giles and so on--with the perfect assurance of a long-term member of the cast. Of course, nothing is as it seems; even Glory, the mad brain-sucking beauty in a red dress who is the villain of the year, turns out to be even more than she seems. Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy manages to convey heartbreak, self-involvement and real heroism as her relationship with her emotionally dense soldier boyfriend Riley hits the shoals and the blonde vampire Spike starts to show an altogether inappropriate interest. This season is also about the hard truth that there are some enemies it is impossible to fight. Even being around Buffy and Dawn is dangerous for their friends, as Glory and her minions proceed by a process of elimination. The eventual confrontation, when it comes, is genuinely shocking. Meanwhile, the vampire Spike's obsessed desire for Buffy takes them both to some very strange places and Willow and Tara have their love tested in the most gruelling of ways. And in the quietly upsetting episode "The Body", the cast produce their most impressive performances yet as they have to deal with another enemy they cannot fight. --Roz Kaveney

• The Luzhin Defence | DVD | (19/02/2001) from £5.99   |  Saving you £14.00 (233.72%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A lush historical drama from Marlene Gorris director of the Oscar-winning 'Antonia's Line'. The year is 1929 and in the beautiful Italian lakeside town of Como Alexander Luzhin a talented Russian chess player arrives for the World Chess Championship. The beautiful socialite Natalia is also visiting Como to meet her mother at an affluent lakeside hotel. Vera wants Natalia to marry a wealthy French count. However Natalia instead sets her sights on Luzhin who returns her affecti

• Feast Of July | DVD | (05/04/2004) from £16.62   |  Saving you £1.36 (9.98%)   |  RRP £14.99

  An acclaimed story of secrets passion and betrayal based on the novel by H.E. Bates.... A compelling tale of passion's dark secrets - critics applauded Feast Of July as one of the best films of the year! A mysterious young beauty Bella Ford searches hopelessly for the lover who betrayed her. Weary and alone she is offered shelter by the Wainwright family who help her find new hope ... and whose three handsome sons battle for her affections! But just when she is ready to begin h

• Angel: Complete Season 2 | DVD | (18/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £79.99

  It is with this second series that Angel, the darker Los Angeles mean-streets spin-off from Buffy, comes entirely into its own. Angel, the vampire with a soul and rather too much hair gel, is driven partly by his need for atonement and partly by his anger at the manipulations of the satanic law firm Wolfram and Hart, especially the morally equivocal Lindsey (Christian Kane). At the end of the previous season, they set his emotional destruction in motion by bringing back from hell Darla, the vampire who turned him, whom he loved for centuries and then killed to save Buffy. Julie Benz's soft-voiced passion--"God doesn't want you, but I still do"--makes her a perfect tragic foil for David Boreanaz's "billowy coat King of Pain" hero and mid-season offers further cause for Angel's despairing rage at his failure to save Darla from being turned vampire again. There is a nice balance of comedy, horror and the starkly tragic here--fake swamis, accursed shrouds, sexually abused telekinetic assassins all come into the mix along with Angel's gang of sidekicks--pedantic Wesley, abrasive Gunn, flighty clairvoyant Cordelia--and a new and wonderfully improbable character who starts as a running joke and becomes so much more--the Host (Andy Hallett), a green demon with red horns, eyes and hair, who sees into the souls of those who sing karaoke at his bar. And in a four-part finale, the group's friendship with the green karaoke demon Lorne sends them off to his home dimension to rescue Cordelia, right wrongs and acquire an important new character. On the DVD: Angel, Season 2 on disc presents all the episodes in their original 16x9 widescreen format (2.35:1), which enables viewers to see shots as they were originally conceived, for example in impressive moments like the march of the four vampires through a burning Shanghai or the climaxes of the mediaeval Pylea sequence. The sound is a sumptuous Dolby Surround 2.0. The first Pylea episode, "Over the Rainbow", has a commentary by its director Fred Keller; the 1959 flashback episode "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?" has a commentary by writer Tim Minnear. There are also featurettes on the set designs--specifically concentrating on the huge hotel set which dominates Season 2. --Roz Kaveney

• Adam Sandler Box Set: Billy Madison/Bulletproof/Happy Gilmore | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £19.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A triple bill of Adam Sandler movies including Billy Madison Bulletproof and Happy Gilmore. Billy Madison: He's heir to the Madison Hotel millions but the only subjects Billy has studied lately are babes and booze. For him life has been a ten-year party since he left high school: drinking bottomless daiquiris catching rays by the pool pulling moronic pranks and chasing anything in (or out of!) a skirt. But when Brian Madison informs his goofball son that he plans to turn over his Fortune 500 company to vice president and corporate weasel Eric Gordon Billy makes the bet of his life. He's going back to school - grades 1 through 12 in 24 weeks! - with hilarious results. And this time Mr Madison's cheque book won't be the source of Billy's academic advancement. Can bona fide blockhead Billy clean up his act to win his father's respect the family fortune and the love of his beautiful teacher Veronica? Hey it's worth a shot! Bulletproof: Once inseparable pals Archie Moses (Sandler) and Rock Keats (Wayans) find themselves on opposite sides of the law each feeling betrayed by the other. In fact the only person who hates them more than they hate each other is ruthless drug kingpin Frank Colton (James Caan) who wants to put them both six feet under! Now through a strange twist of fate Moses and Keats are on the run - together. With a little luck the bungling boys just might get out of this one alive... if they don't kill each other first! Happy Gilmore: Happy a raucous hockey player turned golfer sends the sedate sport of golf into overdrive after he becomes a media sensation with his outlandish antics on the links!

• Dirty Tricks | DVD | (19/06/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  'Dirty Tricks' follows the hapless exploits of an unscrupulous English tutor at a seedy language school in Oxford. On the surface he is an eternal student: charming witty and accomplished. Beneath the facade however he displays a brilliant and ruthless talent for lying and manipulating everyone around him. Our 'hero' becomes friendly with wealthy couple Dennis and Karen Parsons but his initial feelings of bitterness regarding their success become complicated by a frenzied affair wit

• Be Cool / Get Shorty | DVD | (12/09/2005) from £33.73   |  Saving you £-8.74 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Be Cool (2005): Everyone is looking for the next big hit... Disenchanted with the movie industry Chili Palmer (Travolta) decides to try his hand in the music industry he romances the sultry widow (Thurman) of a recently whacked music exec poaches a hot young singer (Christina Milian) from a rival label and discovers that the record industry is packin' a whole lot more than a tune! Get Shorty (1995): Drug Smuggling. Racketeering. Loan Sharking. Welcome to Hollywood!

• Thief | DVD | (21/07/2003) from £12.10   |  Saving you £3.88 (42.59%)   |  RRP £12.99

  James Caan stars as Frank a professional thief specialising in high profile jewel jobs. Desperate for one last glorious high paying job so that he can settle down for good with his girlfriend Frank gets involved with vicious gangland bosses. But his final job turns into a nightmare when he finds that getting away from the mob is harder than he thought...