"Actor: Jill Jones"

• Purple Rain | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £7.19   |  Saving you £11.80 (164.12%)   |  RRP £18.99

  While "rock musical" remains a phrase used by sadistic parents to give their offspring nightmares the genre does occasionally throw up the odd gem, Purple Rain being perhaps the shiniest example. Given the theatricality of Prince's stage shows, it was only a matter of time before the diminutive pop potentate found himself a big-screen vehicle but few could have predicted that Purple Rain would become nothing less than a cultural phenomenon. The story, co-written by one-time Starsky & Hutch scripter William Blinn, may be a somewhat hackneyed tale with His Purpleness overcoming a troubled background and musical rival Morris Day to achieve his dreams of rock stardom. However, the cast, which also includes Prince protegée Appollonia, rises above the clichés to hand in a set of performances which, while never likely to trouble the Oscars, prove that all concerned can at least play a rough approximation of themselves with minimal difficulty. What really helped push the film's box-office receipts through the roof, however, was its soundtrack featuring a clutch of hit singles--notably "When Doves Cry"--and which cemented our pint-sized hero's position as one of the globe's premiere performing artists. Sadly, subsequent attempts to re-bottle this particular brand of lightning with Under a Cherry Moon and Graffiti Moon would prove substantially less successful but Purple Rain still looks--and, more importantly sounds--rarely less than funktastic. --Clark Collis

• Ash vs Evil Dead - Season 1 | DVD | (19/09/2016) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Bruce Campbell will be reprising his role as Ash, the stock boy, aging lothario and chainsaw-handed monster hunter who has spent the last 30 years avoiding responsibility, maturity and the terrors of the Evil Dead. When a Deadite plague threatens to destroy all of mankind, Ash is finally forced to face his demons personal and literal. Destiny, it turns out, has no plans to release the unlikely hero from its Evil grip.

• Graffiti Bridge | DVD | (18/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Bonus features are minimal but apt: a surprisingly good movie trailer and a quartet of relevant music videos, three drawn from the film and one, "Question of U," a characteristically electric concert clip. --Michael Mikesell

• Ash vs Evil Dead Season 1-3 | Blu Ray | (22/10/2018) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Ash, having gone from urban legend to hometown hero, discovers that he has a daughter. When Kelly witnesses a massacre with Ruby's fingerprints all over it, she returns to warn Ash and Pablo.

• Purple Rain | Blu Ray | (13/02/2017) from £10.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  While "rock musical" remains a phrase used by sadistic parents to give their offspring nightmares the genre does occasionally throw up the odd gem, Purple Rain being perhaps the shiniest example. Given the theatricality of Prince's stage shows, it was only a matter of time before the diminutive pop potentate found himself a big-screen vehicle but few could have predicted that Purple Rain would become nothing less than a cultural phenomenon. The story, co-written by one-time Starsky & Hutch scripter William Blinn, may be a somewhat hackneyed tale with His Purpleness overcoming a troubled background and musical rival Morris Day to achieve his dreams of rock stardom. However, the cast, which also includes Prince protegée Appollonia, rises above the clichés to hand in a set of performances which, while never likely to trouble the Oscars, prove that all concerned can at least play a rough approximation of themselves with minimal difficulty. What really helped push the film's box-office receipts through the roof, however, was its soundtrack featuring a clutch of hit singles--notably "When Doves Cry"--and which cemented our pint-sized hero's position as one of the globe's premiere performing artists. Sadly, subsequent attempts to re-bottle this particular brand of lightning with Under a Cherry Moon and Graffiti Moon would prove substantially less successful but Purple Rain still looks--and, more importantly sounds--rarely less than funktastic. --Clark Collis

• Show Boat (1936) (Criterion Collection) UK Only | Blu Ray | (14/09/2020) from £17.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  JEROME KERN and OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II's immortal musical adaptation of EDNA FERBER's sprawling novel receives its most faithful and enduring cinematic adaptation under the elegant direction of JAMES WHALE (Bride of Frankenstein). A rich portrait of changing American entertainment traditions and race relations, Show Boat spans four decades and three generations as it follows the fortunes of the stage-struck Magnolia (The Awful Truth's IRENE DUNNE), an aspiring actor whose journey takes her from her family's humble floating playhouse in the 1880s South to the height of fame in the 1930s North. The cast of show-business legends includes HELEN MORGAN (Applause), HATTIE McDANIEL (Gone with the Wind), CHARLES WINNINGER (Beyond Tomorrow), and the great PAUL ROBESON (The Emperor Jones), whose iconic, soul-shaking rendition of Ol' Man River is one of the crowning glories of the American stage and screen. Special Features: New, restored 4K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack Audio commentary from 1989 featuring American musical historian Miles Kreuger New interview with James Whale biographer James Curtis Recognizing Race in Show Boat, a new interview program featuring professor and author Shana L. Redmond Paul Robeson: Tribute to an Artist (1979), an Academy Awardwinning short documentary by Saul J. Turell, newly restored Two performances from the sound prologue of the 1929 film version of Show Boat, plus twenty minutes of silent excerpts from the film, with audio commentary by Kreuger Two radio adaptations of Show Boat, featuring stage and screen cast members Allan Jones, Helen Morgan, and Charles Winninger; actor Orson Welles; and novelist Edna Ferber PLUS: An essay by critic Gary Giddins

• Varsity Blues | DVD | (04/09/2000) from £5.95   |  Saving you £7.04 (118.32%)   |  RRP £12.99

  James Van Der Beek (Dawson's Creek) leads the action in this exciting funny coming-of-age story about a small-town high schooler confronting the pressures and temptations of grid-iron glory. At first backup quarterback Jonathan 'Mox' Moxon (Van Der Beek) is nowhere close to being a football star. He's perfectly content to stay on the bench and out of the win-at-all-cost strategies of coach Bud Kilmer (Jon Voight in a powerful performance). But when the starting quarterback is inj

• Ash vs Evil Dead Season 1 BD | Blu Ray | (23/10/2017) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Ash has spent the last 30 years avoiding responsibility, maturity and the terrors of the Evil Dead until a Deadite plague threatens to destroy all of mankind and Ash becomes mankind's only hope.

• Purple Rain (Two Disc Special Edition) | DVD | (18/10/2004) from £14.20   |  Saving you £-0.21 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  While "rock musical" remains a phrase used by sadistic parents to give their offspring nightmares the genre does occasionally throw up the odd gem, Purple Rain being perhaps the shiniest example. Given the theatricality of Prince's stage shows, it was only a matter of time before the diminutive pop potentate found himself a big-screen vehicle but few could have predicted that Purple Rain would become nothing less than a cultural phenomenon. The story, co-written by one-time Starsky & Hutch scripter William Blinn, may be a somewhat hackneyed tale with His Purpleness overcoming a troubled background and musical rival Morris Day to achieve his dreams of rock stardom. However, the cast, which also includes Prince protegée Appollonia, rises above the clichés to hand in a set of performances which, while never likely to trouble the Oscars, prove that all concerned can at least play a rough approximation of themselves with minimal difficulty. What really helped push the film's box-office receipts through the roof, however, was its soundtrack featuring a clutch of hit singles--notably "When Doves Cry"--and which cemented our pint-sized hero's position as one of the globe's premiere performing artists. Sadly, subsequent attempts to re-bottle this particular brand of lightning with Under a Cherry Moon and Graffiti Moon would prove substantially less successful but Purple Rain still looks--and, more importantly sounds--rarely less than funktastic. --Clark Collis

• Stitch In Time, A / Just My Luck | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £7.26   |  Saving you £6.99 (116.50%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Norman Wisdom reprises his famous Pitkin character for the third time in A Stitch in Time, and Edward Chapman is also back to provide Norman with the excuse to reprise his immortal catch-phrase "Mr Grimsdale!". Here he succeeds in causing chaos in a St John Ambulance unit, as well as donning drag to play a blonde nurse complete with suspender belt and silk stockings. Each Norman Wisdom movie usually sees him as the accidental Lord of Misrule in one institution or another, and this time it's the NHS: after being banned from his local hospital, Norman resorts to subterfuge to visit a little orphan girl. There's an autobiographical touch here, as Wisdom himself was raised in an orphanage and centred the plot of One Good Turn (1954) around such an establishment. --Gary S Dalkin An important step in the career of Norman Wisdom, Just My Luck is principally notable for the introduction of actor Edward Chapman, whom many would come to know as series regular Mr Grimsdale. Here he's the stuffy foil to Norman's romantic plans regarding his jewel-making job, where he'll do anything to possess some of the wealth about him. The chance comes in the form of an accumulator bet at Goodwood races thanks to a slimy Leslie Phillips. Another star cameo of note was a second appearance by Margaret Rutherford (after Trouble in Store) as an eccentric animal owner. But the real advance with the Wisdom formula was that--after a reasonably serious plot line--Norman finally gets the girl. --Paul Tonks

• Ash vs Evil Dead Season 1-2 DVD | DVD | (23/10/2017) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Ash has spent the last 30 years avoiding responsibility, maturity and the terrors of the Evil Dead until a Deadite plague threatens to destroy all of mankind and Ash becomes mankind's only hope.

• She Fought Alone | DVD | (25/09/2000) from £17.48   |  Saving you £-11.49 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Caitlin Rose wants to be part of the 'in' crowd at Lockhart High School and will do anything to achieve this. She is not prepared however for rape and when she accuses her attacker her friends turn against her. She is regarded as an outcast by the school and town but she begins a long fight to clear her name...

• A Stitch In Time | DVD | (12/11/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Norman Wisdom returns as his famous "Pitkin" character, but also for the first time since his appearance in 1958's The Square Peg, Edward Chapman is also back to provide Norman with the excuse to reprise his immortal catch-phrase "Mr Grimsdale". Following on from the previous year's On the Beat, this is actually Wisdom's third adventure as Norman Pitkin, and he certainly has a thing about uniforms. In the previous pictures he was in the army then the police, while here he succeeds in causing chaos in a St. John's Ambulance unit, as well as donning drag to play a blonde nurse complete with suspender belt and silk stockings. Each Norman Wisdom movie usually sees him as the accidental Lord of Misrule in one institution or another, and this time its the NHS: after being banned from his local hospital, Norman resorts to subterfuge to visit a little orphan girl. There's an autobiographical touch here, as Wisdom himself was raised in an orphanage and centred the plot of One Good Turn (1954) around such an establishment. It's all good fun and clearly shows where such later British comedy as Michael Crawford's BBC TV series Some Mothers Do 'Av 'Em (1973-78) found its inspiration. --Gary S. Dalkin

• Ash Vs. Evil Dead Ssn 1-3 Coll | DVD | (16/10/2018) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Graffiti Bridge | Blu Ray | (13/02/2017) from £10.30   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Bonus features are minimal but apt: a surprisingly good movie trailer and a quartet of relevant music videos, three drawn from the film and one, "Question of U," a characteristically electric concert clip. --Michael Mikesell

• Prince (Boxset) | DVD | (05/06/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £30.99

  Purple Rain: The Special Edition (Dir. Albert Magnoli, 1984): Winner of Grammy and Academy Awards for its pulsating song score, 'Purple Rain' marks the electrifying movie debut of Prince as the Kid, a Minneapolis club musician as alienated as he is talented. The Kid struggles with a tumultuous homelife and his own smouldering anger while taking refuge in his music and his steamy love for sexy Apollonia Kotero. Under The Cherry Moon (Dir. Prince, 1986): Prince takes on his first...

• Legendary Ladies of Hollywood | DVD | (08/12/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Legendary Ladies Of Hollywood includes performances from Lucille Ball Cher Raquel Welch Jill St. John Brooke Shields Cybill Shephard Gladys Knight Tom Jones Tina Turner Ella Fitzgerald Sondra Locke Dusty Springfield Marisa Berenson Dionne Warwick Linda Ronstadt Chaka Khan Rita Coolidge Freda Payne and many more.