"Actor: Joan"

• Carry On Follow That Camel | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £5.93   |  Saving you £4.06 (68.47%)   |  RRP £9.99

  In Carry On Follow That Camel, Sergeant Bilko himself, Phil Silvers, lends lustre and trademark spectacles to this 1967 desert spectacle following the adventures of a group of foreign legionnaires who find themselves besieged by a bloodthirsty band of Bedouins. Silvers plays Sergeant Nocker, a rogue cast firmly in the Bilko mould, who takes a dislike to new recruit Jim Dale, a young upper class gent forced to join the legion following disgrace at a cricket match. He's accompanied, naturally, by his faithful manservant (Peter Butterworth), with the pair showing a fine disregard for the austere requirements of the Foreign Legion. However, once they reach an agreement with Sergeant Nocker, they can join forces to repel the Bedouins, led, not unpredictably, by Bernard Bresslaw. This is vintage Carry On, in spite of Sid James' absence. Kenneth Williams' performance is subdued by having to deliver the usual puns ("zere are a couple of points I still need to go over", he informs busty Joan Sims) in a mangled French accent but Silvers gets into the right mode of delivering broad comedy with subtle inflections. Peter Butterworth draws the short straw this time and must feature in the obligatory cross-dressing scene, while Charles Hawtrey is a splendidly unconvincing hardened legionnaire. As for Bresslaw, can any other British actor, with the exception of Sir Alec Guinness, have distinguished himself in such a variety of multi-ethnic roles? On the DVD: Sadly, there are no extra features except scene selection. The picture ratio is 4:3. --David Stubbs

• Roseland (the Merchant Ivory Collection) | DVD | (06/09/2004) from £12.99   |  Saving you £-3.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Three interlocking stories set in the legendary New York City dance palace make up this charming film the third to be shot by Merchant Ivory Productions in America. In the first segment The Waltz Teresa Wright is a widow who comes to Roseland in order to sustain the memory of her late husband where she meets Stan (Lou Jacobi) a man who offers her an opportunity for happiness in the present. In The Hustle Christopher Walken stars as a gigolo with three women in his life all of whom depend on him for different degrees of romance and companionshiop. In the final segment The Peabody an older Vietnamese woman (Lilia Skala) sets out to win a dance competition despite warnings that it could imperil her health. Ruth Prawer Jhabvalas understated screenplay received accolades and delivers an uncharacteristic bit of sentiment not present in other Merchant Ivory efforts.

• Till The Clouds Roll By | DVD | (21/04/2003) from £4.99   |  Saving you £-1.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  A fascinating and colourful screen biography of Jerome Kern (Robert Walker). It starts with the opening night of his smash hit Showboat and flashes back to his beginnings as an almost penniless songwriter. The film follows his friendship with James I. Hessler and journeys to England where the best songwriters are reputed to be and where he finds his early successes - and the future Mrs Kern (Dorothy Patrick). After some difficult times in the USA he collaborates with Oscar Hammerstein; the result being the classic adaptation of Edna Ferber's Showboat. The picture's grand finale features Frank Sinatra singing Ol' Man River. This is one huge and lavish theatrical feast; great entertainment!

• On The Up - Season 1 | DVD | (01/08/2005) from £6.85   |  Saving you £9.14 (133.43%)   |  RRP £15.99

  ""Just the one Mrs Wembley!"" The complete first series of the culture clash sitcom in which working-class boy done good Tony Carpenter (Dennis Waterman) rubs shoulders with the less than appreciative well-to-do... Tony Carpenter (Dennis Waterman) is a self-made millionaire and owner of a booming executive car hire business. He's made his way to the top but hasn't forgot his East-end roots and much to his snooty wife's disgust he treats his employee's like friends. There's

• Carry on | DVD | (01/09/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  This Carry On collection includes the following films: Carry On Girls: You might think that a beauty contest would be the perfect place for the Carry On team to discover new heights of hilarity and new depths of depravity - well you'd be right! Sidney Fiddler brings a beauty contest to a quiet seaside resort. His problems start with two curvaceous Hells Angels Miss Easy Rider and Miss Dawn Brakes. There's Major Bumble Bernard Bresslaw as Britain's first drag beauty queen and last but not least Mrs Angel Prodworthy who is fighting on behalf of Women's Lib. Carry On Dick: Notorious outlaw Dick Turpin (More commonly referred to as Big Dick) is running rings around King George's Bow Street runners. Can the half-witted Captain Desmond Fancey Sir Roger Daley and Sergeant Jock Strapp succeed in bringing the wily rogue to justice? Sid James and the rest of the 'Carry On' gang are having a ball and everyone is invited merry England was never merrier. Carry On England: Make love not war! The Carry On team are part of an experimental mixed anti-aircraft battery during World War II. The Luftwaffe never had it so easy! Recruits ready (Jack Douglas) Willing (Judy Geeson) and Able (Patrick Mower) join forces to strike terror into the heart of the enemy and run rings round their pompous captain S. Melly (Kenneth Connor). Discover where Churchill's famous Victory sign originated from in this classic khaki caper: patriotism has never been funnier! Carry On Behind: Archaelogists Professors Anna Vooshka (Elke Sommer) and Roland Crump (Kenneth Williams) are desparate to begin poking round the remains of a Roman encampment. Unfortunately the local caravan site has been built over the historic site. Holiday pals Ernie Bragg (Jack Douglas) and Fred Ramsden (Windsor Davies) have their sites set on the local beauty spots - campers Sandra (Carol Hawkins) and Carol (Sherrie Hewson)! All the usual Carry On crew are at hand to fuel the 'in-tents' humour!

• The Joan Crawford Collection (4 Disc Box Set) | DVD | (17/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Humoresque (Dir. Jean Negulesco 1946): Helen Wright a neurotic society woman sets her sights on ambitious young violinist Paul Boray who returns her love but is undeterred from his music. She becomes his patroness helping him to great success but cannot abide being of secondary importance (""second fiddle?"") in his life. Tragedy ensues. Possessed (Dir. Jean Negukesco 1947): A dazed woman walks the streets of Los Angeles looking for a man named David. After collapsing in a diner she's taken to the psychiatric ward of a nearby hospital. Flashbacks reveal her obsession for David as a result of borderline personality disorder which ultimately leads to murder. The Damned Don't Cry (Dir. Vincent Sherman 1950): The murder of gangster Nick Prenta touches off an investigation of mysterious socialite Lorna Hansen Forbes who seems to have no past and has now disappeared. In flashback we see the woman's anonymous roots; her poor working-class marriage which ends in tragedy and her determination to find ""better things."" Soon finding that sex appeal is her only salable commodity she climbs from man to man toward the center of a nationwide crime syndicate...a very perilous position. Grand Hotel (Dir. Edmund Goulding 1932): Berlin's plushest most expensive hotel is the setting where in the words of Dr. Otternschlag ""People come people go. Nothing ever happens."". The doctor is usually drunk so he missed the fact that Baron von Geigern is broke and trying to steal eccentric dancer Grusinskaya's pearls. He ends up stealing her heart instead. Powerful German businessman Preysing brow beats Kringelein one of his company's lowly bookkeepers but it is the terminally ill Kringelein who holds all the cards in the end. Meanwhile the Baron also steals the heart of Preysing's mistress Flaemmchen but she doesn't end up with either one of them in the end...

• After Henry - Series 2 | DVD | (09/02/2009) from £13.98   |  Saving you £8.00 (66.72%)   |  RRP £19.99

  BAFTA-nominated comedy After Henry follows the comfortable middle-class lives of three women - except that for one of them life isn't all that comfortable... Sarah has been left well provided-for by her late husband but unfortunately she has also been left with a demanding mother and a prickly adolescent daughter who craves independence - just as long as mother is there to clear up the mess... Starring Prunella Scales as the put-upon Sarah and Joan Sanderson as Eleanor her interfering waspish mother After Henry is written by multiple-BAFTA nominee Simon Brett (Rosemary and Thyme) and directed by sit-com legend Peter Frazer-Jones (Man About the House George and Mildred).

• Female Drama Collection - The Banger Sisters/Working Girl/Le Divorce | DVD | (09/04/2007) from £21.46   |  Saving you £-8.47 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The Banger Sisters (Dir. Bob Dolman 2002): Some friendships last forever... like it or not. They were a pair of groupies who rocked the worlds of every late '60s music legend with a guitar and a Y chromosome! Now over two decades later Suzette is still her brassy self and Lavinia is a prim proper suburban wife and mother. Their two different worlds are about to collide! Working Girl (Dir Mike Nichols 1988): For anyone who's ever won. For anyone who's ever lost. And for anyone who's still in there trying.... When a secretary's idea is stolen by her boss she seizes the opportunity to steal it back. Her boss breaks her leg in a skiing accident and the daring secretary decides to take her office her apartment and even her wardrobe! it's make or break time.... Le Divorce (Dir. James Ivory 2003): A Merchant-Ivory comedy of manners where an American woman travels to Paris to visit her Frenchman-wed sister and finds that the two trans-Atlantic cultures are about to clash!

• Festival! | DVD | (01/12/2008) from £17.53   |  Saving you £-4.54 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Murray Lerner's classic film originally released in 1967 now on DVD for the first time! Filmed across three Newport Folk Festivals in the early 1960s it combines live footage and interviews with the artists and with members of the audience.

• The Affairs of Susan | DVD | (21/03/2016) from £12.10   |  Saving you £0.89 (7.36%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Oscar-winning screen idol Joan Fontaine (Suspicion, Rebecca) stars as Susan Darrell, a stunning but naïve actress from New York who is about to get married. Though she only met her fiancé Richard (Walter Abel) a few weeks previously, the lovebirds are set on tying the knot and throw a party to celebrate. Mingling amongst their guests, Richard finds three former because of Susan's and starts probing them on how they met. All the men clearly still carry a torch for Susan, but each of them knows a very different woman not so naïve after all. Broadway big-shot Roger (George Brent), Millionaire Mike (Don DeFore) and novelist Bill (Dennis O'Keefe) each give Richard a conflicting portrait of his fiancée. With their wedding rapidly approaching, Richard is left wondering exactly what kind of woman he will be facing at the altar William A. Seiter (Laurel and Hardy Sons of the Desert) directs an all-star cast in this sharp, witty comedy-drama as chaotic and enchanting as Susan herself. Also stars Byron Barr.

• The Groom Wore Spurs | DVD | (31/12/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  In this light comedy Rogers plays an attorney who marries then divorces a rugged cowboy. When he gets into trouble with the law she feels compelled to defend him. Naturally he turns out to be not so tough after all.

• The Nine Lives Of Fritz The Cat | DVD | (30/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  He's come a long way baby! Fritz now married and with a son is desperate to escape from the domestic hell in which he now finds himself... Lighting up a joint he begins to dream about his eight other lives hoping to find one that will provide a pleasant distraction. The drug-induced journeys he takes include spells as an astronaut Hitler's psychiatrist a courier travelling in hostile territory during a race war and as a pupil of an Indian guru living in the sewers of New York

• The Last Seduction 2 | DVD | (17/02/2003) from £21.25   |  Saving you £-11.26 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Bridget Gregory having successfully killed her husband and framed Mike Swale for it flees to Barcelona in Spain to avoid an investigation. Here she meets Troy Fenton who runs a phone sex line and soon lets Bridget in on his secret operation where she begins another devious plan...

• On The Up - Season 3 | DVD | (23/01/2006) from £8.22   |  Saving you £9.03 (129.74%)   |  RRP £15.99

  ""Just the one Mrs Wembley!"" The complete third series of the culture clash sitcom in which lower class boy done good Tony Carpenter (Dennis Waterman) rubs shoulders with the less than appreciative well-to-do... Episodes comprise: 1. The Golf Tournament 2. The Fishing Trip 3. Temporary Secretary 4. Parental Choice 5. Stephanie 6. Divorce Features a theme tune written and performed by Dennis Waterman!

• Secret Window / Panic Room / Enough | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Secret Window (Dir. David Koepp 2004): Following a bitter separation from his wife (Bello) famed mystery writer Mort Rainey (Depp) is unexpectedly confronted at his remote lake house by a dangerous stranger named John Shooter (Turturro). Claiming Rainey has plagiarised his short story the psychotic Shooter demands justice. When Shooter's fearful demands turn to threats - and then murder - Rainey turns to a private detective for help. But when nothing stops the horror from spiralling out of control Rainey soon discovers he can't trust anyone or anything... Panic Room (Dir. David Fincher 2002): Meg Altman is at a crossroads. Suffering through a painful divorce from her husband pharmaceuticals millionaire Stephen Altman Meg moves from their suburban home in Greenwich Connecticut and buys and Upper West Side Manhattan townhouse for herself and her eleven-year-old daughter Sarah. She intends to go back to school raise her child and start a new life. But the panic she feels at starting over pales in comparison to her fear and desperation when intruders break into her new home. Enough (Dir. Michael Apted 2002): In this Michael Apted thriller Jennifer Lopez plays former waitress Slim who marries a customer who has defended her honour but later discovers her husband (Bill Campbell) is a womaniser prepared to enforce the rule of law with regular beatings if Slim decides not to tow the line and accept his philandering. Enough is enough for Slim who skips town and begins a cross country trek as she and her daughter attempt to stay one step ahead of her husband...

• Carry On Doctor | DVD | (04/05/2001) from £9.12   |  Saving you £0.87 (9.54%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Bedpan humour rules in Carry On Doctor, the vintage 1968 offering from the familiar gang, assisted by guest star Frankie Howerd as bogus faith healer Francis Bigger. Hospitals, of course, always provided the Carry On producers with plenty of material. Today, these comedies induce a twinge of serious nostalgia for the great days of the National Health Service when Matron (Hattie Jacques, naturally) ran the hospital as if it was a house of correction, medical professionals were idolised as if they were all Doctor Kildare and Accident and Emergency Departments were deserted oases of calm. But even if you aren't interested in a history lesson, Talbot Rothwell's script contains some immortal dialogue, particularly when Matron loosens her stays. "You may not realise it but I was once a weak man", says Kenneth Williams' terrified Doctor Tinkle to Hattie Jacques. "Once a week's enough for any man", she purrs back, undaunted. Other highlights include Joan Sims, excellent as Frankie Howerd's deaf, bespectacled sidekick, Charles Hawtrey suffering from a phantom pregnancy, 1960s singer Anita Harris in a rare film role, and Barbara Windsor at her most irrepressible as nurse Sandra May. This is one of the best. On the DVD: Presented in 1.77:1 format for a pseudo-widescreen effect, the picture quality is good and sharp, accompanied by a standard mono soundtrack. The same no-frills approach is taken with the packaging; a functional scene index and no extras. Yet again, a missed opportunity to use the DVD release to provide some context. At their best, the Carry On films are rightly seen as classic comedies of their type. They really deserve to be better celebrated. --Piers Ford

• Carry On Again Doctor | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £6.38   |  Saving you £3.61 (56.58%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The title of Carry On Again Doctor (1969) says it all; almost the same cast playing similar characters to their previous year's outing in Carry On Doctor. This one rejoices in the alternative title "Bowels are Ringing". But the enduring popularity of these films owes almost everything to their basic formula and if this one occasionally seems a bit cobbled together, all the old favourites are still there, working away. This time, the setting moves from the National Health Service to the private sector and even stretches as far as the "Beatific Islands" when Jim Dale is exiled to a missionary clinic for his overzealous attention to the female patients, who include Barbara Windsor of course. There, orderly Sid James rules the roost of the clinic with his harem of local women. Trivia addicts can spot Mrs Michael Caine in a brief role as a token dusky maiden. The second half of the Talbot Rothwell script picks up nicely as the characters converge on the private hospital back in England where Dale rakes in the money with a bogus weight loss treatment. Hattie Jacques is in fine form as Matron, Kenneth Williams fascinates with his usual mass of mannerisms and Joan Sims is stately as the Lady Bountiful figure financing most of the shenanigans. It's a tribute to their professionalism that we can still lose ourselves in some of the creakiest old jokes around. On the DVD: Bog standard 4:3 picture format and mono soundtrack provide an adequate viewing experience, especially as today most people will be more familiar with these films from television transmissions than from their cinema release. However, the lack of extras is a shame. Apart from the scene index, there is nothing to distinguish the DVD from its video equivalent. At the very least, a cast list or star biographies would add a little value. --Piers Ford

• The Bigamist | DVD | (22/10/2007) from £13.48   |  Saving you £-0.49 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The Bigamist goes where no movie has gone before; it gives us a bigamist as the central character and manages to make us sympathise with his plight. Harry Graham is a salesman who longs to spend time with his wife played by Joan Fontaine but she's a workaholic businesswoman who rarely finds time in her schedule for her husband. While on a sales trip Graham befriends a waitress played by Ida Lupino and as friendship turns to love Graham calls and teases wife about meeting another woman; we see a quick flash of fear in her eyes but then she immediately changes the conversation in a fake chirpy tone and pretends nothing bothers her. The well-detailed characters bring the drama of The Bigamist to life. The waitress is a tough but compassionate character much more full of life than Fontaine's Eisenhower era wife. Significantly we also discover that the waitress is much more fertile than Fontaine - who cannot bear children. This subtle critique of '50s families and the sterility of home life when business becomes more important than family communication makes The Bigamist just as relevant today as when it was made in 1953.

• Royal Wedding / Second Chorus | DVD | (08/05/2006) from £9.94   |  Saving you £-4.95 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Royal Wedding (Dir. Stanley Donen 1951): Brother and sister dance act Tom and Ellen Bowen finish an engagement in New York and journey to London at around the same time as a Royal wedding. On board the cruise ship Ellen meets and falls in love with Lord John Brindale with the result she pays less attention to her dancing. Upon arrival in London Tom auditions for a new partner and meets Anne Ashmond but romance starts to threaten the act... Second Chorus (Dir. H.C. Potte

• Not Now, Darling | DVD | (08/10/2007) from £11.70   |  Saving you £-5.71 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Gilbert Bodley (Leslie Philips) the boss of an exclusive West End furriers has an insatiable appetite for beautiful women. In order to give his prospective mistress Janie a gift of an expensive mink without upsetting her husband Gilbert agrees to sell it to her cheap and pay the majority of the price himself. However things are never as simple as they seem and what appears at first to be a fairly uncomplicated transaction turns into a hilarious and chaotic turn of events. Watch on to see the hilarious comic capers from this British Comedy Classic