"Actor: Joan"

• Bellini: Norma | DVD | (02/04/2001) from £26.98   |  Saving you £-1.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Bellini's Norma, first performed in 1831, is one of the most glittering jewels in the bel canto repertoire, placing huge vocal demands on the soprano in the title role. The druid priestess who falls prey to human frail ties before redeeming her grace in the flames of the sacrificial fire must also be played with a high degree of dramatic truth. In the 20th century, two singers scaled new heights in combining these requirements: Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland. Sutherland's great achievement, preserved in this 1978 recording of Opera Australia's production at Sidney Opera House, was to render Norma a very human being, unravelling her complex reactions to the events which bring her personal world tumbling down around her. Using Bellini's deceptively simple melodies to tender effect, she reveals the essential purity of many of his greatest arias, not least "Casta diva": an equally valid alternative to Callas' pyrotechnics. Ronald Stevens as Norma's errant Roman lover Pollione and Margreta Elkins as Adalgisa, the unwitting agent of the priestess's ultimate downfall, strike vocal sparks in their duets with Sutherland. But this is essentially a treasurable record of one of the all-time great divas in a role that brought her some of her finest notices, with her husband and long-time collaborator Richard Bonynge in the conductor's box. On the DVD: In all respects, this is a solid offering with few frills. The only extra is an Arthaus trailer. The 4:3 picture format and PCM stereo-sound quality are adequate media for a theatrical performance which is very much of its time: crudely-edited plot explanations separate the acts and there is the imposition of some rather naff stills of the ill-fated lovers on flickering flames to suggest the pyre. But Sutherland's performance triumphs over all. --Piers Ford

• Mad Love | DVD | (12/04/2004) from £19.44   |  Saving you £-4.45 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Soon after their first meeting Matt and Casey's relationship turns into a love affair. Under pressure from their parents to break up they decide to hit the road in a desperate attempt to stay together....

• Girl Stroke Boy (UK Limited Edition) | Blu Ray | (17/01/2022) from £15.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Based on David Percival's acclaimed play Girlfriend, Girl Stroke Boy is a one-of-a-kind comedy which tells of two everyday, middle-class parents who are confounded when their son brings home his new partner: an elegant, confusingly androgynous West Indian (actor and pop star Peter Straker in a pioneering performance). Directed with an affectionate, light touch by Bob Kellet (Up Pompeii, Space: 1999) and featuring a superb cast, including Joan Greenwood (Mysterious Island, Kind Hearts and Coronets), Michael Hordern (The Missionary, Barry Lyndon), Patricia Routledge (To Sir, with Love), and Clive Francis (A Clockwork Orange), Girl Stroke Boy still packs a punch today thanks to Straker's flamboyant performance (British cinema's first gay leading role to be played by a black actor) and the prescient subject matter. Long out of circulation, this new, restored edition marks the film's worldwide Blu-ray premiere.

• Worzel Gummidge - The Crowman / A Little Learning / Worzel Pays A Visit | DVD | (23/09/2002) from £4.90   |  Saving you £1.09 (22.24%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Worzel has misplaced one of his turnip heads; this time it's his 'learning' head which makes him very clever. Meanwhile Mr Peters working on the school roof makes a welcome discovery...

• Alexei Sayle's Stuff - Series 2 | DVD | (23/01/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  This DVD features complete second series of the popular Liverpudlian comedian in his pomp; a winning combination of Pythonesque surrealism and 'alternative' comedy philosophy honed with a satirical edge.

• Born to Be Bad | DVD | (09/05/2011) from £15.96   |  Saving you £-2.97 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  When Christabel (Joan Fontaine) comes to live with her cousin Donna Foster (Joan Leslie) she fools everyone with her sugary exterior. But soon the calculating, rapacious Christabel begins to sow seeds of discontent between Donna and her wealthy fianc Curtis (Zachary Scott) by convincing Curtis that his fianc is a gold-digger. When their engagement is broken and Donna leaves for London, Christabel tricks Curtis into marrying her. But it is only his money that Christabel is passionate about because she is in love with Nick (Robert Ryan), a rugged writer who loves her in return, but hates her for what she had done and who she is.

• Man on the Run | Blu Ray | (06/04/2020) from £20.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A key post-war British Noir unseen since the late 1940s, Man on the Run stars Derek Farr as an army deserter unjustly accused of murdering a policeman during an armed robbery. Co-starring Edward Chapman, Laurence Harvey and Kenneth More, it is presented here as a brand-new High Definition transfer from original film elements in its original theatrical aspect ratio. A prison escapee, army deserter Peter Burdon makes a new life for himself in London. Short of cash, he tries to pawn his old service revolver and is caught up in an armed robbery, during which a constable is shot and killed. Suspected of being part of the gang, Burdon must go on the run to prove his innocence. SPECIAL FEATURE: Image gallery

• Carry On Girls | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £14.98   |  Saving you £-4.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Carry On Girls was the last really successful instalment of the epic series of British film comedies. It's studded with gems of cameo performances and a tremendously innuendo-laden Talbot Rothwell script that is easily the equal of any of its predecessors. The setting, a beauty contest to raise the profile of the dismal resort Fircombe-on-Sea, is ripe for politically incorrect activity of the sort that could only be conducted by Sid James at the height of his lecherous powers. Enter Bernard Bresslaw in a corset, Wendy Richard as Ida Downs, Barbara Windsor as Miss Easy Rider and a host of other semi-clad lovelies and watch as the whole thing rises to a slapstick climax of frisky old colonels, bikinis, bosoms and itching powder. In the smaller roles, Joan Hickson (BBC television's Miss Marple) is hilarious as an elderly woman who believes she is a man-magnet and the always under-used Patsy Rowlands excels as the downtrodden mayor's wife, a worm who finally turns. But in many ways this is June Whitfield's film. As the terrifying reactionary councillor Mrs Prodworthy, with a butch lesbian sidekick, she plots the downfall of her male colleagues with classic lines. "Rosemary, get the candle", she orders as Patsy Rowlands requests initiation into the cause. Margaret Thatcher never sounded so ominous. On the DVD: Like most of the other DVD Carry On releases, this one is presented in 4:3 format with a mono soundtrack. All right, you don't really need anything more sophisticated to recreate the cosy ritual of Carry On watching in your living room. And the print is good and sharp. But apart from the usual scene index, the lack of extras reflects a disappointingly unimaginative approach to celebrating a genre of film comedy that, for all its low budget reputation, provided a showcase for the cream of a whole generation of British comic actors. They deserve better.--Piers Ford

• The Lady Says No | DVD | (01/09/2003) from £4.98   |  Saving you £-0.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

• Luciano Pavarotti: A Life in Seven Arias | DVD | (09/02/2009) from £24.82   |  Saving you £-8.83 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

• The Last Emperor | Blu Ray | (19/04/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Winner of nine Oscars including Best Director and Best Picture Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor following Pu Yi the last of the Emperor's of China from his birth in 1908 through his childhood in the fortress-like Forbidden City and his later misguided collaboration with the Japanese in World War II THE LAST EMPEROR tells the history of modern China through the eyes of the man brought up to believe that he was the country's divine ruler. One of the biggest and most ambitious films of the era filmed almost entirely on location in China in 1986 Bertolucci and his producer Jeremy Thomas were the first Western film-makers to be allowed to make a film about modern China.

• Deadly Nightshade | DVD | (04/03/2013) from £6.49   |  Saving you £6.50 (100.15%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Robert Matthews (Emrys Jones) is arrested in Cornwall when he is mistaken for convict John Barlow, to whom he bears a striking resemblance. When Barlow hears of this, he makes his way to Matthews' cottage and takes his place. When there is a local shipwreck, one of the survivors is Anne Farrington, Matthews' fiancée. Barlow takes her in, maintaining his imposture, but soon discovers that Matthews is not all he seems.

• Worzel Gummidge - The Return Of Dolly Clothes-Peg / Worzel Revolt / Worzel's Birthday | DVD | (01/09/2001) from £4.90   |  Saving you £1.09 (22.24%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Episodes are: 'The Return Of Dolly Clothes-Peg' 'Worzel In Revolt' and 'Worzel's Birthday'.

• Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave | DVD | (19/12/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £8.99

  The Night Evelyn Came Out Of The Grave

• The Best Of British B Movies - The Corsair Collection: Volume 1 | DVD | (08/07/2013) from £10.99   |  Saving you £4.00 (36.40%)   |  RRP £14.99

  The Harassed Hero (1954)Poor Mr. Murray Selwyn (Guy Middleton)! He's suffering from 'Acute Apprehension Complex' and his doctors have strongly recommended that he avoid any stress or excitement in his life. Unfortunately - thanks to a chance encounter in a London taxi cab - he now finds himself at the very centre of an explosive international criminal caper and his life is filled with suitcases full of hot money desperate gunmen and vanishing bodies! More dangerous still he's been cared for by the rather ravishing Nurse Brook (Joan Winmill Brown) - a girl guaranteed to stimulate any red-blooded English gentleman! How much excitement can one man take? The Night Won't Talk (1952)When a beautiful young artist's model is strangled in her bed Scotland Yard find themselves with three suspects - her sinister ex-husband (Elwyn Brook-Jones) a sexually disturbed artist (Ballard Berkeley) and her violent new boyfriend (John Bailey) who is prone to unexplained blackouts. To catch the killer the police must set a dangerous trap with the aid of a famous sculptress (Hy Hazell).

• The Bravados | DVD | (01/08/2005) from £5.92   |  Saving you £7.07 (119.43%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A Powerful Western Tale of Revenge and Redemption. When a farmer's wife is raped and murdered the farmer (Gregory Peck) teams up with his old flame (Joan Collins) to trail and kill the four outlaws he believes to be responsible. Arriving in a town he discovers that the men are in jail and will be hanged the following day. When they escape driven by a blinding need for revenge the farmer gives chase kills one and has another two cornered. But then they protest their innoc

• The Man In The White Suit | DVD | (13/11/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness) works quietly at Michael Corland's (Michael Gough) textile mill until his mysterious costly lab experiment is discovered. Fired by Corland Stratton takes a menial job at Alan Birnley's (Cecil Parker) mill in order to continue his work on the sly. When Daphne (Joan Greenwood) Corland's fiance and Birnley's daughter discovers his secret she threatens to expose Stratton. The desperate scientist reveals to Daphne that he has invented an indestructible cloth that never gets dirty. Close to realizing his vision Stratton celebrates by having a white suit made of the fabric (because it repels dye). The trouble however is just beginning. The lowly mill workers (who spout market economics in rough accents) fear for their jobs while the mill owners led by the decrepit Godfather-esque Sir John Kierlaw (Ernest Thesiger) worry about their profits.

• Dear Ruth | DVD | (09/05/2016) from £4.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (61.60%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Based on the smash hit Broadway show, Dear Ruth is a wartime romantic comedy that's as endearingly funny today as it ever was! Ruth Wilkins (Joan Caulfield) is engaged to her uninspiring boss Albert which makes things a little tricky when a handsome Air Force Lieutenant Bill Seacroft (William Holden) turns up out of the blue claiming to be her pen-pal! It turns out that Ruth's patriotic younger sister Miriam has been writing rather passionately to him in the name of building wartime morale! And not only has she been using Ruth's name she's sent him her photo too. It seems only polite that Ruth humours the lonely lieutenant. After all he only has two days' leave and he's come all the way from the perils of war in the hope of making her his wife! The laughs come thick and fast in this genial and genuinely witty romantic comedy.

• Alice Darling | DVD | (23/07/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The Cockney Casanova is back. From the bedrooms of Bordeaux to the boardrooms of magazine editors trucker Alfie travels across Europe driving the French girls wild..... until tragedy strikes.....

• 24 City | DVD | (27/09/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Chengdu, nowadays. The state-owned factory 420 shuts down to give way to a complex of luxury apartments called "24 CITY".