"Actor: John Beck"

• Dad's Army - Christmas Special | DVD | (12/11/2007) from £4.97   |  Saving you £11.02 (221.73%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Episodes Comprise: 1. A happy wartime Christmas often meant pooling coupons even for simple festive fare such as shortbread biscuits and shelter cake. 2. Captain Mainwaring arranges for a sherry party for local dignitaries but during the festivities an unwelcome guest arrives. 3. As Christmas is coming the Vicar decides to hold a bazaar to raise money for comforts for troops on active duty and he asks for contributions from the troop.

• Dad's Army | Blu Ray | (14/06/2021) from £9.95   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  First time on Blu-Ray in the UK. The film spin-off from the much-loved TV comedy series starring Arthur Lowe as the commander of an incompetent Home Guard platoon in wartime Britain. With the trusted comedy genius from the TV series shining through, Mainwaring and company save the day when a crew of a German aircraft take the vicar and villagers hostage in the church.

• The Very Best of Dad's Army | DVD | (01/10/2001) from £6.19   |  Saving you £6.80 (109.85%)   |  RRP £12.99

  If the mark of a successful TV comedy is that repeat showings attract new viewers, then Dad's Army must be one of the best. The Very Best of Dad's Army includes five episodes almost covering its whole time span--from 1969's "Sons of the Sea", an entertaining caper when lost at home, to 1977's final episode "Never Too Old", in which sparky Corporal Jones marries his longtime sweetheart, and the ageing Second World War platoon drinks a toast to Britain's Home Guard. Along with these is 1973's "The Deadly Attachment", where a captive U-boat crew falls prey to dummy hand-grenades; 1972's "Keep Young and Beautiful", a touching tale of looking younger and sticking together; and the same year's "Asleep in the Deep", where the platoon uses its skill and judgement, plus a little luck, to escape a life-threatening situation. Fans and newcomers will enjoy the priceless interplay of Arthur Lowe and John le Mesurier, along with the contributions of Clive Dunn, John Laurie, Arnold Ridley, Ian Lavender and James Beck, in this nostalgic depiction of Britain as it once was. On the DVD: The 4:3 picture reproduction has come up well and the dual mono sound is more than adequate. Each episode features six scene selections, while the artist profiles provide brief but relevant biographical details. The half-hour Selection Box gives celebrities past and present a chance to pick their favourite extracts and explain just why they're hooked. Chances are you will be too.--Richard Whitehouse

• Asteroid | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £16.58   |  Saving you £-10.59 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A two-part US TV miniseries here edited into a 122-minute feature, Asteroid was originally rushed onto (television) screens in 1996, well before the one-two big screen punch of Deep Impact and Armageddon. Single mum-cum-astronomy boffin Dr Lily McKee (Annabella Sciorra) works out that a comet is about to divert a meteor shower towards Earth ("at its present rate, Helios would hit with the force of a thousand Hiroshimas and the heat of the Sun") and spends the first half of the film alerting the authorities to the danger, and the second half helping rugged rescue guy Jack Wallach (Michael Biehn) haul survivors out from under the rubble caused when a bunch of minor asteroids collide with the planet (well, America); all while as the usual shenanigans go on to cope with the big, preventable chunk. The script explains everything in children's science lecture terms ("Mom, are we going to die like the dinosaurs?" "I don't think so, honey, we're much smarter than the dinosaurs") and is written in pure comforting cliché-speak ("I'm sure she's serious, but is she for real?"). With its hymn to the quick-thinking authorities and intently cooperating heroes, this may be the most pro-Establishment disaster film ever made: only a few panicky civilians cause any trouble, and we need plot contrivances to get made-for-TV he-man Biehn into danger as he outruns a flood in Kansas City or searches for the heroine's missing kid (Zachary B Charles) in the burning wreckage of Dallas. A large supporting cast of no-name labcoats, uniforms and victims clutter up the screen between the effects. Of course, this can't compete with its big-screen counterparts, but it did get there first, coopting the CGI and modelwork techniques of Independence Day to the rock-from-space sub-genre (cf: Meteor) as cities are smashed, crowds submerged, the planet battered and multitudes saved to order. --Kim Newman

• Rollerball | DVD | (24/06/2002) from £23.36   |  Saving you £-2.11 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Norman Jewison's dystopian Rollerball portrays a near-future in the aftermath of the Corporate Wars, in which nations have crumbled and conglomerates rule. In place of freedom the people are given bread and circuses: material comfort and rollerball itself. Played on a circular, slanted track by men on skates and motorbikes, this extreme sport is the ultimate extrapolation of the primitive blood lust implicit in many team sports. James Caan is outstanding as Jonathan E, star player with the Houston team. In the elegant detachment of Jewison's direction, emphasised by the stark, alienating use of classical music, there are echoes of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Notwithstanding the brilliantly staged arena sequences, Rollerball is essentially about freedom versus conformity and the corruption of unfettered capitalism, with Caan leading an existential rebellion in the tradition of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 which leads to a chilling, apocalyptic finale. Certainly the most prophetic film of the 1970s, Rollerball has an intelligence and power overlooked by those who simply denounce its brutal violence. On the DVD: Rollerball arrives on DVD with clear three-channel Dolby Digital sound, although obviously it lacks the impact of a more modern 5.1 soundtrack. The 1.77:1 transfer is anamorphically enhanced and is generally very sharp and detailed with excellent colour. Some scenes show a lot of grain, but this is presumably a consequence of having to shoot with very fast lenses to capture the swift and dramatic action under indoor lighting conditions. "Return to the Arena--The Making of Rollerball" is a new 25-minute documentary (4:3 with letterboxed film clips) that features Jewison, Harrison and various other personnel reminiscing about the making of the film. The highlight of the extras are commentary tacks from the Jewison and Harrison, and while there is inevitably some overlap of information, and some quite lengthy gaps in Harrison's track, there is also much to interest the serious film buff. Also included is an original seven-minute promotional featurette "From Rome to Rollerball: The Full Circle", the chilling original trailer, the teaser trailer and a trailer for the remake.--Gary S Dalkin

• Dad's Army: The Movie | DVD | (23/11/2015) from £7.05   |  Saving you £-1.06 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Five fine episodes of the evergreen Home Guard sitcom here. Dad's Army endures because it combines a healthy dollop of self-mockery with a sense of pride in Britain's lonely defiance against Hitler's might in 1940, encapsulated in the pompous and incompetent yet courageous Captain Mainwaring. Arthur Lowe is sublime in this role. Though he generally acts as a foil to his flippant platoon of funny stereotypes (Walker, Frazier, Godfrey, etc.), his subtle double-takes and apoplectic facial expressions of exasperation are endlessly hilarious. Corporal Jones' doddery recklessness can generally be relied upon to culminate in a finale involving trousers, cries of "Don't panic!" and chases across country but the masterstroke of this series was the casting against type of John Le Mesurier as the vague, aristocratic Sergeant and Lowe as his military but not social superior. These episodes include "The Day The Balloon Went Up" (a typically frantic caper involving a stray barrage balloon), "The Two And A Half Feathers" (including a wonderful Jonesy flashback to his days in the Sudan) and "The Deadly Attachment", in which Pike cheeks the captain of a captive U-Boat crew, who demands his name to add to his "list" of insolent Englanders. "Don't tell him, Pike!" urges Mainwaring. --David Stubbs

• The Big Bus | DVD | (08/03/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The Bus of the title is the world's first nuclear-powered coach and this fabulous parody of early 70's disaster movies hits the mark with misfit stereotyped passengers rediscovering God sex and the will to live a saboteur from the oil companies and a cannibalistic driver all coming together for the maiden voyage of the block-long super-coach. The passengers on this fun-filled ride from New York to Denver including ensure that the one-liners come thick and fast in this very funn

• Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid : The Movie & More (2 Disc Special Edition) | DVD | (14/08/2006) from £7.85   |  Saving you £12.14 (154.65%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Best of enemies. Deadliest of friends. They are fast friends and worse foes. One is Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson) a law unto himself. The other is the law: Sheriff Pat Garrett (James Coburn) who once rode with Billy. Set to a bristling score by Bob Dylan (who also plays Billy's sidekick Alias) and with a `Who's Who' of iconic Western players Sam Peckinpah's saga of one of the West's great legends is now restored to its intended glory. For the first time since it left

• Serendipity | Blu Ray | (06/02/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  In one magical moment, Jonathan Trager and Sara Thomas meet unexpectedly and spend a romantic winter day together, although both are involved with other people. At the end of the night, Sara decides they must let fate determine if they are meant to be together and disappears without giving Jonathan a way of reaching her. Years later, they are both engaged to others but cannot give up the dream that they will meet again. And so begins their journey to find one another worlds apart!

• Xanadu | DVD | (28/06/2004) from £10.12   |  Saving you £-0.13 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  A wimpy remake of an already anaemic movie (the 1947 Rita Hayworth vehicle Down to Earth), this glitzy musical from 1980 improbably stars Olivia Newton-John as a heavenly muse sent here to help open a roller-derby disco. Gene Kelly is mixed up in this well-meaning but goofy effort to fuse nostalgia with late-70s glitter-ball trendiness, and he looks just plain silly. Directed by Robert Greenwald, the film doesn't even work as decent kitsch. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

• Sleeper | DVD | (19/02/2001) from £9.43   |  Saving you £6.56 (69.57%)   |  RRP £15.99

  If Interiors was Woody Allen's Bergman movie, and Stardust Memories was his Fellini movie, then you could say that Sleeper is his Buster Keaton movie. Relying more on visual/conceptual/slapstick gags than his trademark verbal wit, Sleeper is probably the funniest of what would become known as Allen's "early, funny films" and a milestone in his development as a director. Allen plays Miles Monroe, cryogenically frozen in 1973 (he went into the hospital for an ulcer operation) and thawed 200 years later. Society has become a sterile, Big Brother-controlled dystopia, and Miles joins the underground resistance--joined by a pampered rich woman (Diane Keaton at her bubbliest). Among the most famous gags are Miles' attempt to impersonate a domestic-servant robot; the Orgasmatron, a futuristic home appliance that provides instant pleasure; a McDonald's sign boasting how many trillions the chain has served; and an inflatable suit that provides the means for a quick getaway. The kooky thawing scenes were later blatantly (and admittedly) ripped off by Mike Myers in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. --Jim Emerson

• Genevieve | DVD | (01/10/1999) from £13.66   |  Saving you £-0.68 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  For anyone who travels the congested roads of Britain these days the utterly delightful Genevieve will provoke a wistful, nostalgic sigh of regret for times gone by when there were no motorways, traffic jams were almost non-existent and friendly police motorcyclists riding classic Nortons (without helmets) cheerfully let people driving vintage cars race each other along country lanes. Even in 1953, Henry Cornelius’ gentle comedy must have seemed pleasingly old-fashioned, concerned as it is with the antics of two obsessive enthusiasts on the annual London to Brighton classic car rally. The principal quartet could hardly be bettered: though John Gregson is something of a cold fish as Genevieve’s proud owner, the radiant warmth of Dinah Sheridan as his long-suffering wife more than compensates. Kenneth More is ideally cast in the role of boastful rival enthusiast and Kay Kendall has possibly the best comic moment of all when she astonishes everyone with her drunken trumpet playing. Cornelius also directed Ealing’s Passport to Pimlico, so his sure eye for gently mocking and celebrating British eccentricities is never in doubt. The screenplay by (American writer) William Rose now seems like an elegy to a way of life long disappeared: the pivotal moment when Gregson stops to humour a passing old buffer about his love of classic cars comes from a vanished era of politeness before road rage; as does the priceless exchange between hotel owner Joyce Grenfell and her aged resident: "No one’s ever complained before", says the mystified Grenfell after Gregson and Sheridan moan about the facilities, "Are they Americans?" asks the old lady, unable to conceive that anyone British could say such things. Genevieve is both a wonderful period comedy and a nostalgic portrait of England the way it used to be. On the DVD: the "Special Edition" version of Genevieve has a decent new documentary with reminiscences from Dinah Sheridan (still radiant), the director of photography and the film’s editor, who talk about the challenges of filming on location. Most treasurable of all, though, is legendary harmonica player Larry Adler, who remembers his distinctive score with much fondness and is not at all embittered by his Hollywood blacklisting, which meant he was denied an Academy Award nomination. There’s also a short piece on some of the locations used (which for economic reasons were mostly in the lanes around Pinewood studios), cast biographies and a gallery of stills. The 4:3 ratio colour picture looks pretty good for its age and the mono sound is adequate. --Mark Walker

• Satan Bug | Blu Ray | (22/09/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Scott Of The Antarctic | DVD | (13/11/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The true story of the British explorer Robert Falcon Scott and his ill-fated expedition to try to be the first man to discover the South Pole....

• Problem Child | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £4.99   |  Saving you £1.00 (20.04%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Attila the Hun. Ivan the Terrible. Al Capone. They were all seven once. Ben Healy (John Ritter) adopts Junior (Michael Oliver) a kid who's so bad that even the nuns want to kick him out of the orphanage in this hilarious heart-warming family comedy. When Ben and his infertile wife Flo (Amy Yasbeck) want a child right away Mr. Peabody (Gilbert Gottfried) cons them into taking little Junior but they have no idea what they're getting into! Before you can say ""bad seed "" Junior is setting his room on fire tormenting the cat and jeopardizing the mayoral campaign of Ben's father sporting goods king Big Ben (Jack Warden). But both Junior and his new father will learn what it really means to be a family in this comedy smash hit!

• True Believer | DVD | (14/05/2001) from £7.17   |  Saving you £12.82 (178.80%)   |  RRP £19.99

  True Believer is an effective mystery by thrillmeister director Joseph Ruben (Sleeping with the Enemy), that allows star James Woods to do some real acting as he conveys his character's denial and sense of disappointment in himself. Eddie Dodd (Woods) is a former '60s radical lawyer who now spends his time cynically defending drug dealers for the big bucks. But an idealistic young protégé (Robert Downey Jr.) convinces him to take one case from the heart: a young Chinese immigrant unjustly accused in a gang slaying. Woods (complete with add-on ponytail) fairly hums with energy once he gets cooking here. Playing the been-there-done-that mentor--not to mention legal gadfly--gives him plenty of opportunity to run off at the mouth with spicy one-liners and zingers. --Marshall Fine, Amazon.com

• Sky Riders | Blu Ray | (20/03/2017) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Action adventure directed by Douglas Hickox and starring James Coburn and Robert Culp. When a rich industrialist by the name of Bracken (Culp) finds that his wife and children have been kidnapped by terrorists, he has the police try to capture them and rescue his family. But the police fail in every attempt and Bracken's last hope lies in his wife's former husband McCabe (Coburn) who has his own plan of action and recruits a team of professional hang gliders for a daring mountain top rescue.

• Dad's Army - Series 5 | DVD | (23/01/2006) from £4.39   |  Saving you £11.60 (264.24%)   |  RRP £15.99

  ""Don't panic! Don't Panic!"" the hapless homeguard of Walmington-On-Sea have returned for series 5 of Dad's Army. Episodes comprise: 1. Asleep in the Deep 2. Keep Young and Beautiful 3. A Soldier's Farewell 4. Getting the Bird 5. The Desperate Drive of Lance Corporal Jones 6. If the Cap Fits... 7. The King Was in His Counting House 8. All is Safely Gathered In 9. When Did You Last See Your Money? 10. Brain Versus Brawn 11. A Brush Wit

• The Woody Allen Collection - Vol. 1 | DVD | (01/11/2004) from £34.99   |  Saving you £15.00 (42.87%)   |  RRP £49.99

  Annie Hall (1977): Starring Allen as New York comedian Alvy Singer and Diane Keaton (in a Best Actress Oscar-winning role) as Annie the film weaves flashbacks flash forwards monologues a parade of classic Allen one-liners and even animation into an alternately uproarious and wistful comedy about a witty and wacky on-again off-again romance. Manhattan (1979): 42-year-old Manhattan native Isaac Davis (Allen) has a job he hates a seventeen-year-old girlfriend (Mariel Hemingway) he doesn't love and a lesbian ex-wife Jill (Meryl Streep) who's writing a tell-all book about their marriage... and whom he'd like to strangle. But when he meets his best friend's sexy intellectual mistress Mary (Diane Keaton) Isaac falls head over heels in lust! Leaving Tracy bedding Mary and quitting his job are just the beginning of Isaac's quest for romance and fulfillment in a city where sex is as intimate as a handshake - and the gate to true love... is a revolving door. Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex (But Were Afraid To Ask) (1972): Woody Allen pushes the frontiers of comedy by consolidating his madcap sensibility and wickedly funny irreverence with his developing penchant for visually arresting humor. Giving complete indulgence to the zany eccentricity of his medium Allen revels himself as a filmmaker of wit sophistication and comic insight rising to the occasion with several hysterical vignettes that probe sexuality's stickiest issues! Aphrodisiacs prove effective for a court jester (Allen) who finds the key to the Queen's (Lynn Redgrave) heart but learns that the key to her chastity belt might be more useful... Sleeper (1973): When cryogenically preserved Miles Monroe (Allen) is awakened 200 years after a hospital mishap he discovers the future's not so bright: all women are frigid all men are impotent and the world is ruled by an evil dictator: a disembodied nose! Pursued by the secret police and recruited by anti-government rebels with a plan to kidnap the dictator's snout before it can be cloned Miles falls for the beautiful - but untalented - poet Luna (Diane Keaton). But when Miles is captured and reprogrammed by the government to believe he's Miss America it's up to Luna to save Miles lead the rebels and cut off the nose just to spite its face. Love And Death (1975): Woody Allen reinvents himself again with the epic historical satire Love and Death. A wonderfully funny and eclectic distillation of the Russian literary soul the film represents a bridge between Allen's early slapstick farces and his darker autobiographical comedies. One of his most visual philosophical and elaborately conceived films 'Love And Death' demonstrates again that Allen is an authentic comic genius. Bananas (1971): When bumbling product-tester Fielding Mellish (Allen) is jilted by his girlfriend Nancy (Louise Lasser) he heads to the tiny republic of San Marcos for a vacation only to become kidnapped by rebels!

• Sleeper | DVD | (03/10/2016) from £13.04   |  Saving you £4.95 (27.50%)   |  RRP £17.99

  If Interiors was Woody Allen's Bergman movie, and Stardust Memories was his Fellini movie, then you could say that Sleeper is his Buster Keaton movie. Relying more on visual/conceptual/slapstick gags than his trademark verbal wit, Sleeper is probably the funniest of what would become known as Allen's "early, funny films" and a milestone in his development as a director. Allen plays Miles Monroe, cryogenically frozen in 1973 (he went into the hospital for an ulcer operation) and thawed 200 years later. Society has become a sterile, Big Brother-controlled dystopia, and Miles joins the underground resistance--joined by a pampered rich woman (Diane Keaton at her bubbliest). Among the most famous gags are Miles' attempt to impersonate a domestic-servant robot; the Orgasmatron, a futuristic home appliance that provides instant pleasure; a McDonald's sign boasting how many trillions the chain has served; and an inflatable suit that provides the means for a quick getaway. The kooky thawing scenes were later blatantly (and admittedly) ripped off by Mike Myers in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. --Jim Emerson