"Actor: Jo Martin"

• Ealing Comedy DVD Collection - The Ladykillers/Kind Hearts and Coronets/The Lavender Hill Mob/The Man in the White Suit | DVD | (02/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Four of the British film industry's best-loved comedies in one box set makes The Ealing Comedy Collection absolutely essential for anyone who has any passion at all for movies. The set contains Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), The Man in the White Suit (1951) and The Ladykillers (1955). Ealing's greatest comedies captured the essence of post-war Britain, both in their evocation of a land once blighted by war but now rising doggedly and optimistically again from the ashes, and in their mordant yet graceful humour. They portray a country with an antiquated class system whose crumbling conventions are being undermined by a new spirit of individual opportunism. In the delightfully wicked Kind Hearts and Coronets, a serial killer politely murders his way into the peerage; in The Lavender Hill Mob a put-upon bank clerk schemes to rob his employers; The Man in the White Suit is a harshly satirical depiction of idealism crushed by the status quo; while The Ladykillers mocks both the criminals and the authorities with its unlikely octogenarian heroine Mrs "lop-sided" Wilberforce. Many factors contribute to the success of these films--including fine music scores from composers such as Benjamin Frankel (Man in the White Suit) and Tristram Cary (The Ladykillers); positively symphonic sound effects (White Suit); marvellously evocative locations (the environs of King's Cross in Ladykillers, for example); and writing that always displays Ealing's unique perspective on British social mores ("All the exuberance of Chaucer without, happily, any of the concomitant crudities of his period")--yet arguably their greatest asset is Alec Guinness, whose multifaceted performances are the keystone upon which Ealing built its biting, often macabre, yet always elegant comedy. On the DVD: The Ealing Comedy Collection presents the four discs in a fold-out package with postcards of the original poster artwork for each. Aside from theatrical trailers on each disc there are no extra features, which is a pity given the importance of these films. The Ladykillers is in muted Technicolor and presented in 1.66:1 ratio, the three earlier films are all black and white 1.33:1. Sound is perfectly adequate mono throughout. --Mark Walker

• Fahrenheit 451 | DVD | (01/10/2018) from £9.57   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A dazzling, high-tech thriller that infuses Ray Bradbury's classic novel of the same name with a decidedly 21st Century sensibility, the HBO Films presentation of Fahrenheit 451 depicts an American future where the media is an opiate, internet bots control everyday routines, history is truncated or rewritten, and brigades of celebrity firemen engage in televised search-and-destroy missions to burn books and bring their shamed owners to justice. Within this paranoid world, a zealous fireman (Michael B. Jordan) who's being groomed to replace his longtime captain (Michael Shannon) begins to question long-held assumptions about the practice of torching books and other graffiti that leaders say caused widespread dissent and, as a result, a Second Civil War where millions perished. After meeting a young informant (Sofia Boutella) who's on probation for supporting those who value literature and history, the fireman makes a dangerous decision to assist a group of underground Eels who have a bold plan for preserving the contents of thousands of classic books, arts and culture if they can outwit the all-seeing forces intent on destroying them.

• Sons of Katie Elder | Blu Ray | (27/02/2023) from £8.00   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Katie Elder Bore Four Sons...and the day she is buried they all return home to Clearwater, Texas, to pay their last respects. John Wayne is the eldest and toughest son, the gunslinger. Tom (Dean Martin) is the gambler and good with a gun when he has to be. Matt (Earl Holliman) is the quiet one nobody ever called him yellow twice. Bud (Michael Anderson, Jr.) is the youngest. Any hope for respectability lies with him. Directed by Henry Hathaway (True Grit ), an acknowledged master of the Western, the story has a dual theme; not only is this a he-man's story, but it is also a drama of the maternal influence of Katie Elder, movingly portrayed from beginning to conclusion.

• Les Bronzees | DVD | (17/09/2007) from £9.71   |  Saving you £8.28 (85.27%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Holidaymakers arriving in a Club Med camp on the Ivory Coast are determined to forget their everyday problems and emotional disappointments. Games competitions outings bathing and sunburn accompany a continual succession of casual affairs.

• The Pajama Game | DVD | (12/07/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  A truly joyous tale starring Doris Day as the union leader in a clothing factory. From the novel 'Seven And A Half Cents' by Richard Bissell and adapted into a successful musical which the french director Jean Luc Goddard called the first left wing operetta!

• The Incredible Shrinking Man | DVD | (06/02/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  A fascinating adventure into the unknown! When an ordinary businessman encounters a mysterious radioactive mist during a boating trip his life takes a bizarre and frightening twist. Soon he finds he is shrinking and within weeks he's just two inches tall battling cats and spiders.

• Ed Wood | DVD | (14/10/2002) from £5.49   |  Saving you £9.50 (173.04%)   |  RRP £14.99

  The significance of Ed Wood, both man and movie, on the career of Tim Burton cannot be emphasised enough. Here Burton regurgitates and pays homage to the influences of his youth, just as he would continue to do with Mars Attacks! and Sleepy Hollow. Everything is just right, from the decision to shoot in black and white, the performances of Johnny Depp (as Ed) and Martin Landau (as Bela Lugosi), the re-creation of 1950s Hollywood and the evocative score by Howard (Lord of the Rings) Shore. The plot struck a poignant familiar chord with Burton, who saw the relationship between the Ed and Lugosi mirroring his own with Vincent Price. Most importantly Burton responded to the story of the struggling, misunderstood artist. For all Burton's big-budget blockbusters (Batman, Planet of the Apes), he still somehow retains the mantle of the kooky niche director. And in the mid-90s, this film actually represented the last vestiges of his independent film production. Fans can only hope he'll soon return to those roots soon. On the DVD: Ed Wood on disc has a good group commentary in which Burton is interviewed rather than expected to hold forth on his own, making his insights alongside the screenwriters, Landau, and various production heads very worthwhile. Also worthy are the featurettes on Landau's Oscar-winning make-up, the FX and the Theremin instrument employed in the score. Best of all is an extremely exotic Music Video based on that score. This doesn't seem to be a new transfer of the film, but in black and white you're less likely to notice. --Paul Tonks

• Breakfast at Tiffany's / Roman Holiday - Double Pack | DVD | (28/02/2005) from £20.98   |  Saving you £-7.99 (-61.50%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Breakfast At Tiffany's: The names Audrey Hepburn and Holly Golightly have become synonymous since this dazzling romantic comedy was translated to the screen from Truman Capote's best-selling novella. Holly is a deliciously eccentric New York City playgirl determined to marry a Brazilian millionaire. George Peppard plays her nextdoor neighbour a writer who is 'sponsored' by wealthy Patricia Neal. Guessing who's the right man for Holly is easy. Seeing just how that romance blossoms is one of the enduring delights of this classic set to Henry Mancini's Oscar-winning score and the Oscar-winning Mancini/Johnny Mercer song 'Moon River'. Roman Holiday: Audrey Hepburn won an Oscar for her portrayal of a modern-day princess rebelling against her royal obligations who explores Rome on her own. She meets Gregory Peck an American newspaperman who seeking an exclusive story pretends ignorance of her true identity. But his plan falters as they rapidly fall in love...

• La Gloire de Mon Père & Le Château de Ma Mère Box Set | DVD | (05/11/2012) from £8.99   |  Saving you £21.00 (233.59%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Based on the childhood memoirs of Marcel Pagnol, author of Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources, Yves Robert's La Gloire de Mon Pre and its sequel Le Chteau de Ma Mre are two of the most loved and successful French films ever made.An adult Marcel nostalgically recalls idyllic retreats with his family to the hills of Provence. A love affair with the country began and during those perfect days he found new respect for his school-teacher father as he adapted to life away from the city, while the long journey there would soon bring its own adventures.Together these timeless classics stand as one of cinema's greatest celebrations of childhood, filled with warmth, love and a poignant nostalgia for bygone days they continue to captivate audiences.

• Joe 90 - Complete Series | DVD | (30/09/2002) from £31.97   |  Saving you £38.02 (118.92%)   |  RRP £69.99

  Joe 90 was Gerry Anderson's penultimate puppet show of the 1960s, following Captain Scarlet (1968) and preceding the little-known The Secret Service (1969). In 2112 professor Ian McClaine has invented the BIG RAT (Brain Impulse Galvanoscope, Record And Transfer), a machine for copying knowledge and experiences from person to person. WIN (World Intelligence Organisation) uses this to prime their top undercover agent before sending him into the field on missions which range from foiling international terrorists to recovering a nuclear weapon from beneath the polar ice. So far so good, but in perhaps the most mind-boggling concept ever to reach children's TV, that agent is McClaine's nine-year-old adopted son, Joe. Somehow even as it stays true to the Gerry Anderson techno-fantasy formula of secret organisations, gadgetry, and action-packed adventure full of spectacular explosions and violent death, Joe 90 remains blithely unconscious of its own implications. The missions are as globe-trotting as anything in Anderson's classic Thunderbirds series, and sometimes Joe does save lives, performing a risky brain operation or rescuing trapped astronauts. Yet even then his criminally irresponsible father brainwashes the lad each episode before placing him in a highly dangerous adult situation. Though the production values remain way ahead of anything else being done on British TV at the time, the question remains how did this ever seem like a good idea? On the DVD: Joe 90 comes complete in a five-disc box set of the entire 30-episode series. Each disc contains six 25-minute episodes presented, as usual with Gerry Anderson DVDs, behind a lovingly crafted menu. As expected the 4:3 picture quality is superb and the mono sound is full, detailed and without a trace of distortion. Each disc contains several pages of character biography and background information on the show, a photo gallery and varied extras such as location stills or a gallery of promotional images. --Gary S Dalkin

• Columbo - Series 2 | DVD | (18/07/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £27.99

  ""Oh just one more thing..."" Peter Falk returns as Lt. Columbo for the complete second season which includes guest stars Robert Culp Valerie Harper Dean Stockwell Leonard Nimoy Martin Landau and Marc Singer and two episodes written by Stephen Boccho (Murder One). Expect plenty of cigar-chewing slouching and suspects being questioned about their shoes! Episodes comprise: 1. tude in Black 2. The Greenhouse Jungle 3. The Most Crucial Game 4. Dagger of the

• Assault on Precinct 13: 40th Anniversary Edition | DVD | (28/11/2016) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  John Carpenter's Assault On Precinct 13 is a riveting low-budget thriller from 1976, in which a nearly abandoned police station is held under siege by a heavily armed gang called Street Thunder. Inside the station, cut off from contact and isolated, convicts heading for death row and the cops must now join forces or die. That's the basic plot, but what Carpenter does with it is remarkable. Drawing specific inspiration from the classic Howard Hawks Western Rio Bravo (which included a similar siege on disadvantaged heroes), Carpenter used his simple setting for a tense, tightly constructed series of action sequences, emphasising low-key character development and escalating tension. Few who've seen the film can forget the "ice cream cone" scene in which a young girl is caught up in the action by patronising a seemingly harmless ice cream van. It's here, and in other equally memorable scenes, that Carpenter demonstrates his knack for injecting terror into the mundane details of daily life, propelling this potent thriller to cult favourite status and long-standing critical acclaim. From this Carpenter went on to make the original Halloween, one of the most profitable independent films of all time. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Blazing Magnum (Cult Classics) | Blu Ray | (11/09/2023) from £14.49   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A new restoration of the 1976 cop thriller Blazing Magnum (Shadows in an Empty Room) directed by Alberto De Martino starring Stuart Whitman, John Saxon (A Nightmare on Elm Street) and Oscar winner Martin Landau (North by Northwest). After his sister was poisend, tough cop Tony Saitta embarks an a violent journey to find her killer which turns into a whirlpool of revenge and betrayal. Product Features NEW SPECIAL SENTIMENTS: Alberto De Martino's Magnum Memories NEW CITY HUNTER: Interview with film historian Kim Newman Theatrical trailer Blu-Ray includes an exclusive set of artcards

• The Royle Family - The Complete Series 2 | DVD | (06/11/2000) from £4.94   |  Saving you £15.05 (304.66%)   |  RRP £19.99

  On paper, The Royle Family doesn't sound that promising: a working-class family from Manchester sit in their cluttered living room, watch the telly and argue over domestic details (the arrival of a telephone bill, for instance, provides the big dramatic event of the first episode, which aired in September 1998). But from such small everyday incidents, Royle Family creators Caroline Aherne and Dave Best (who play young couple Denise and Dave) have crafted one of the most successful shows on British television: a comedy about the joys and frustrations of family life that's warm, honest and very, very funny--Britain's answer to The Simpsons, whose success the show rivalled when it started broadcasting on BBC2 (the programme jumped channels to BBC1 for its second series).The Royle Family marked an on-screen reunion for Brookside-actors Ricky Tomlinson (who plays bearded, big-hearted, banjo-playing Jim Royle) and Sue Johnston as his wife Barbara, the driving force behind the Royle household. It is smart casting because The Royle Family is as much a soap opera as a situation comedy. Now in its third series, The Royle Family has seen its characters develop like real folk. Denise and Dave got married and now have a little sprog; Barbara starts menopause (how many sitcoms are brave enough to use that for laughs?) and Denise's kid brother Anthony shakes off his surly adolescence when he turned 18 in series two. Unlike Oasis, who provide the shows theme song "Halfway Round the World", this programme just keeps getting better.But no soap--not even Brookside in its dafter moments--has one-liners as brilliantly crafted as The Royle Family. (The scripts from the series are available to buy.) Slouched in his armchair, Jim's dour running commentary on the TV shows that are on at the time are particularly priceless: Changing Rooms, for instance, boils down to "a Cockney knocking nails into plywood... Is this what its come to?" Not quite: because as long as the Royle Family are around, there is something worthwhile to watch. --Edward Lawrenson

• My Name Is Lenny | DVD | (12/06/2017) from £5.19   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The life story of one of Britain's most notorious bare-knuckle fighters, Lenny McLean, also known as the Guv'nor.

• Return Of The Six Million Dollar Man And The Bionic Woman | DVD | (26/04/2010) from £6.99   |  Saving you £6.00 (85.84%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Steve Austin (Lee Majors) now a disenchanted loner is persuaded out of seclusion by his old friends at O.S.I. in order to help them put a stop to a group of international terrorists known as Fortress. His former lover Jamie Somers (Lindsay Wagner) is also begged to join in the struggle. Austin and Somers not only find their old powers are rusty they must also learn to overcome their personal suspicions of each other and work together especially when Austin's son is badly injured and then kidnapped by Fortress.

• Brassed Off | DVD | (17/09/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  It's 1992 and the miners of Grimley Colliery are facing uncertainty. Not only is their pit under threat but the Grimley Colliery Band is on the verge of breaking up - that is until Gloria (Tara Fitzgerald) arrives. As the only female member of the band she somehow manages to rekindle their enthusiasm for the forthcoming National Championship as well as rekindling a childhood romance with Andy (Ewan McGregor).

• City Hall | DVD | (21/08/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  This complex 1996 drama directed by Harold Becker (Sea of Love) attempts to explore big-city corruption and the flexibility of what's right and wrong in the political arena. John Cusack plays the senior aide to mayor John Pappas (Al Pacino), a popular and seasoned politician whose administration is threatened when what seems to be an accidental shooting of a child reveals a nest of corruption and lifelong personal debts. This tests Cusack's loyalty to the man he thought he knew. Pacino turns in a finely textured performance as a man who has his own lofty ideals, but whose pragmatism sets in motion a series of events with tragic results. Cusack admirably captures the essence of someone polished and savvy at his job but must cope with fundamental disillusionment. This political thriller suffers at times from a lack of focus, but still offers an insightful and poignant treatise on the quagmire of politics in the modern age and the human toll it sometimes exacts. --Robert Lane

• Ultraviolet | UMD | (30/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

• The Tax Collector (Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (02/11/2020) from £5.85   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  David Cuevas is a family man who works as a gangland tax collector for high ranking Los Angeles gang members. He makes collections across the city with his partner Creeper making sure people pay up or will see retaliation. An old threat returns to Los Angeles that puts everything David loves in harm's way. Bonus Features Chat with Sensei Extended Opening Extended Dress Scene Tax Collection Montage