"Actor: James Owen"

• The Servant | DVD | (25/02/2002) from £12.00   |  Saving you £1.99 (16.58%)   |  RRP £13.99

  For anyone interested in voyeurism, role playing, class envy and sexual humiliation, The Servant is an essential buy. Directed by Joseph Losey, scripted by Harold Pinter, it probes away remorselessly at areas other British film-makers would not go near. Dirk Bogarde, the golden boy of 50s British cinema, is transformed into a scheming, unctuous butler, Barrett. Hired by dapper young toff Tony (James Fox), he proceeds gradually to take over his master's life. In one scene, he seduces Tony's fiancée (Wendy Craig). Tony is soon slavering over the voluptuous but vaguely sinister Vera (Sarah Miles), whom he has been told is his butler's sister (in fact, she's Barrett's mistress). Gradually, the lines between master and servant are blurred. Tony becomes beholden to his butler's every whim.Nobody does queasy quite as well as Losey. The American-born director relishes the chance to disrupt the smooth workings of what seems a typical upper-class household. Compared to the bland comedies made at Pinewood in the late 50s, The Servant couldn't help but seem groundbreaking. Thanks to his performance, Bogarde, who'd starred in so many of those comedies, was at last taken seriously as more than a matinee idol. The critics adored the film, which was first released at around the time of the Profumo crisis. "Even if I make 10 better pictures in my lifetime", Losey observed, "I don't suppose one could expect to have such unanimous appreciation and approval again". --Geoffrey Macnab

• Catherine Cookson - The Complete Collection | DVD | (21/08/2006) from £71.96   |  Saving you £48.03 (66.75%)   |  RRP £119.99

  Catherine Cookson was born Catherine McMullen in 1906. Her life began in poverty and she grew up believing her real mother was her sister. In a life that could have been taken from any of her own novels Catherine aspired to achieve more than many of her time. From poverty to wealth she left the sadness behind to start a new life in Hastings where she was to meet her husband Tom Cookson. As a form of therapy Catherine began to write and never stopped and became one of the world's be

• The Thrill Of It All / Lover Come Back / It Happened To Jane | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £14.90   |  Saving you £5.09 (34.16%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The Thrill Of It All (Dir. Norman Jewison 1963): This romantic comedy takes a satirical aim at the frenetic world of television. Happily married Beverly Boyer is the ultimate housewife but her life is about to change dramatically. It seems that the president of a soap company who she has just met sees the clean-cut Beverly as the perfect TV pitchwoman for his product. After the ads air Beverly becomes famous from coast to coast and an even better breadwinner than her husband - who isn't coping with either of these occurrences very well. Can the Boyers patch up their crumbling marriage before it's too late? Lover Come Back (Dir. Delbert Mann 1961): Jerry Webster (Hudson) and Carol Templeton (Day) are rival Madison Avenue advertising executives who each dislike each other's methods. After he steals a client out from under her cute little nose revenge prompts her to infiltrate his secret VIP campaign in order to persuade the mystery product's scientist to switch to her firm. Trouble is the product is phony and the scientist is Jerry who uses all his intelligence and charm to steal her heart! It Happened To Jane (Dir. Richard Quine 1959): A little-known gem from 1959 this romantic comedy stars Doris Day Jack Lemmon and Ernie Kovacs in a classic tale of a small-town underdog triumph over corrupt big-business interests. Jane Osgood (Day) is a widowed mother who runs a struggling lobster business in coastal Maine while Harry Malone (Kovacs) is a wealthy businessman who has bought out the local railroad. He harbors big plans for it aiming to transform it into a luxury passenger train replacing the freight train the residents of the area depend upon. When a large lobster shipment of Jane's is rerouted and returned to her dead she decides to fight back and sues Malone with the help of her longtime friend and lawyer George Denham. This instigates a battle of increasingly epic proportions as Malone uses every trick in the book--as well as his massive bank account--to quell the resolve of the spitfire businesswoman; Jane for her part has public sympathy on her side. A reporter for the national news doing a story on Jane (Steve Forrest) begins to fall in love with her and she is forced to decide between the romantic journalist and her childhood friend George. The magical pairing of Lemmon and Day is augmented by the beautiful location photography in Maine and a stellar supporting cast including Mary Wickes Russ Brown and a rare film appearance from Kovacs.

• It's Alive | DVD | (07/09/2009) from £3.98   |  Saving you £12.01 (301.76%)   |  RRP £15.99

  It's Alive

• When We Were Kings (Criterion Collection) | Blu Ray | (22/10/2019) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Faces Of Death 2 | DVD | (04/12/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Banned in 46 countries! A 'mockumentary' hosted by Dr. Francis B. Gross a coroner. He is trying to show you the different 'faces' of people while dying. There are faked scenes of people getting killed intermixed with footage of real accidents. There are executions by decapitation (in an Arab country) and the electric chair. One scene shows a group of tourists in Egypt smashing a monkey's head while still alive and eating its brains. There are shots of animals eating people and satanic orgies using dead bodies. There is a segment that deals with an alligator that accidentally entered 'residential' waters. The local warden goes in his boat to get the crocodile back into the sea when he accidentally falls over and becomes gator bait. The film ends with news clippings of people jumping off buildings and major accidents. This movie continues in the same vein as F.O.D. 1 &2 with short scenes of death related material. Mortuarys accidents police work are filmed by TV crews and home video cameras. Some of the material are most likely fake some not as likely

• The X-Files: The Truth | DVD | (27/01/2003) from £21.58   |  Saving you £-5.59 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The guest cast list for The X-Files: The Truth runs almost to the first commercial break, suggesting how many plot strands this season-and-series finale needs to make room for, with many old characters (including ghostly appearances for the dead ones) popping up. Mulder (David Duchovny), teasingly absent for the final season, is suddenly back, accused of murdering a super-soldier who isn't supposed to be able to die. He faces a military tribunal, defended by AD Skinner (Mitch Pileggi), as guest stars trot out testimony that fills the double-length episode with explanations recapping nine years of confusion as creator Chris Carter tries to spatchcock his impromptu conspiracy theories into a real plot. Last-season regulars Robert Patrick and Annabeth Gish are shunted aside as Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Mulder get to dodge a last-scene explosion and wind up in a pretty silly clinch-with-philosophy in the face of vaguely imminent apocalypse. Seriously, if the franchise is to continue on the big screen, how about ditching the embarrassing alien conspiracy mess and doing a monster story? On the DVD: The X-Files: The Truth comes to disc with a lovely widescreen transfer, a 13-minute "Reflections on the Truth" featurette that, though it hits the self-congratulation button a couple too many times, has a little more meat than the puff pieces included on previous releases, and a bonus episode ("William") that is unfortunately another of the maudlin ones, this time resolving the plotline about Scully's super-baby. --Kim Newman

• Urban Ghost Story | DVD | (12/04/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  After an ecstatsy induced car accident 12 year old Lizzie lies dead on the roadside - slowly she is taken into the light - but is pulled back to earth when she is revived by the doctors. Lizzie feels sure that during the 184 seconds that she lay dead something latched on to her and came back into her world. The nightmares and visions that follow only crystalise her belief that she should have died in the crash... Then the disturbances start at first merely tappings and bad smells - but soon the activity escalates. Lizzie seems to be the focus but according to others she's just playing games for attention. Only when Kate her mother is confronted with inexplicable events does she face the possibility that they may be the victims of a poltergeist infestation.

• Pot O' Gold | DVD | (10/11/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  A rare musical/comedy outing for James Stewart then at the peak of his career. Stewart plays James Hamilton Haskell a former music store worker who joins his uncle's health food business and befriends a band along the way. His uncle hates music his hatred not being helped by the fact that the band practice next door to his factory. Based on a popular radio show of the time (also called POT O' GOLD) the film gave both James Stewart and Paulette Goddard the opportunity of displayi

• The Encounter | DVD | (28/03/2016) from £7.49   |  Saving you £8.50 (113.49%)   |  RRP £15.99

  When Collin Bastrow is discovered naked, disoriented and alone in the forest he has an unbelievable tale to tell. As he struggles to recount the events of the previous night his memories return in a series of horrific flashes of what became of his friends and fiancée. What started as a simple camping trip in the mountains of Northern Arizona quickly descended into an amazing and terrifying story that is truly out of this world. As the sole survivor of this deadly close encounter, Collin must try and explain the unexplainable.

• The Catherine Cookson Collection (23 Disc Boxset) | DVD | (28/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £159.99

  A complete collection of the filmed adaptations of Catherine Cookson novels. Includes: The Mallen Secret / The Mallen Curse / The Mallen Girls / The Mallen Streak / The Fifteen Streets / The Wingless Bird / The Round Tower / The Black Velvet Gown / The Black Candle / The Rag Nymph / The Moth / The Girl / The Tide Of Life / The Glass Virgin / The Gambling Man / The Man Who Cried / The Cinder Path / The Dwelling Place / The Colour Blind / The Tilly Trotter / The Storyteller / The Secret / Dinner Of Herbs

• Zane Grey - Box Set 2 | DVD | (22/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Zane Grey (1872-1939) was one of the most popular authors of western fiction ever, and 60 years after his death many of his 78 books, such as Riders of the Purple Sage, are still in print. In the silent era Hollywood filmed many of his stories with stars such as Tom Mix and Jack Holt. Grey knew the west well, particularly the deserts of Arizona and Utah, and demanded accurate locations for the films. Later, however, many of these films were remade, sometimes two or three times, without Grey's involvement, and the relation between novels and films grew much looser. The films are quintessential B-moveis: black and white, just over an hour, featuring minor stars and formulaic plots with some music and comedy thrown in. Committed fans of the western genre will not be disappointed, and others will derive pleasure from the delightful Jane Greer in Sunset Pass and Tim Holt, son of Jack, in the other three films. The location shooting, mostly in the Lone Pine area of California, has an authentic feel. Titles are: Under the Tonto Rim (1947); Thunder Mountain (1947); Sunset Pass (1946); Wild Horse Mesa(1947). On the DVD: This box set contains two DVDs, each of which include two movies deriving from Zane Grey novels. Print quality and sound is generally acceptable, though Under the Tonto Rim has poor definition and is a bit scratchy. Aspect ratio is 14:9. The DVDs contain no extras of any kind. --Ed Buscombe

• Murphy's Law | DVD | (03/05/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  James Nesbitt stars as a tough unorthodox cop who does what it takes to get the job done.... This release includes the pilot of Murphy's Law plus four episodes which comprise: Electric Bill Manic Monday Reunion Kiss And Tell.