"Actor: John S"

• Good, The Bad And The Ugly, The / The Magnificent Seven / The Alamo | DVD | (04/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The Good The Bad And The Ugly Director Sergio Leone substitutes for the upright puritan Protestant ethos so familiar in Hollywood westerns a seedy cynical standpoint towards death and mortality as a team of brutal bandits battle to unearth a fortune buried beneath an unmarked grave. Joining Clint clearly The Good is the irredeemably Bad Lee and the resolutely Ugly Eli Wallach. The complete plot of bloodshed and betrayal winds its way through the American Civil War filmed to resemble the French battlefields of World War One to end in the climatic Dance Of Death. The Magnificent Seven Yul Brynner stars as one of seven master gunmen who aid the helpless farmers of an isolated village pitted against an army of marauding bandits in this rousing action tale based on Akira Kurosawa's classic 'Seven Samurai'. Released in 1960 John Sturges' masterpiece garnered an Oscar nomination for Elmer Bernstein (for Best Score) and launched the film careers of Steve McQueen Charles Bronson Robert Vaughn and James Coburn. The Alamo At the Alamo a crumbling adobe mission 185 exceptional men joined together in a sacred pact: they would stand firm against an army of 7 000 and willingly give their lives for freedom. Filmed entirely in Texas only a few miles from the site of the actual battle 'The Alamo' is a visually stunning and historically accurate celebration of courage and honour. John Wayne produces directs and stars in this larger than life chronicle of one of the most remarkable events in American history.

• Inspector Morse - Disc 27 And 28 - Day Of The Devil / Twilight Of The Gods | DVD | (09/09/2002) from £11.60   |  Saving you £4.65 (44.97%)   |  RRP £14.99

  When Inspector Morse first appeared on television in 1987, nobody could have predicted that it would run into the next century, maintaining throughout a quality of scripts and storylines that raised the genre of the detective series to a new level. Much of its success can be attributed to John Thaw's total immersion in the role. Morse is a prickly character and not obviously easy to like. As a detective in Oxford with unfulfilled academic propensities, he is permanently excluded from a world of which he would dearly love to be a part. He is at odds with that world--and with his colleagues in the police force--most of the time. Passionate about opera and "proper beer", he is a cultural snob for whom vulgarity causes almost physical pain. As a result, he lives from one disillusionment to another. And he is scarred--more deeply than he would ever admit--by past relationships. But he also has a naïve streak and, deep down, sensitivity, which makes him a fascinating challenge for women. At the heart of Morse's professional life is his awkward partnership with Detective Sergeant Lewis, the resolutely ordinary, worldly sidekick who manages to keep his boss in an almost permanent state of exasperation while retaining his grudging respect. It's a testament to Kevin Whately's consistently excellent performance that from such unpromising material, Lewis becomes as indispensable to the series as Barrington Pheloung's hypnotic, classic theme music. Morse's investigations do occasionally take him abroad to more exotic locations, but throughout 14 successful years of often gruesome murders, the city of Oxford itself became a central character in these brooding two-hour dramas: creator Colin Dexter said he finally had to kill Morse off because he was giving Oxford a bad reputation as a dangerous place! --Piers Ford

• The Black Torment | Blu Ray | (02/02/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £21.99

  Heather Sears and Patrick Troughton star in this gothic British chiller! Sir Richard (John Turner) returns to his manor with a new bride - only to discover that a man matching his description has been slaying beautiful young women in the area; and his first wife’s ghost appears on the lawn and accuses Sir Richard of her murder.

• Martha Marcy May Marlene | Blu Ray | (03/06/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Martha Marcy May Marlene creates a sense of uneasy suspense within seconds of coming on screen: a young woman, who will be known by all the title names at various times in the movie, is escaping from a rural commune of some sort. And not just a commune, but by the looks of it, a cult--an impression that will grow as Martha flashes back to her experiences once she reaches the safety of her sister's antiseptic country place. It is part of director Sean Durkin's design that we experience the film as Martha's point of view, which means there may be some question about whether she's an emotionally unstable person to begin with or simply in a legitimate terror about the traumatising events that have unfolded for her in recent months. Although the film has one storytelling contrivance (Martha withholds her experiences from her sister, when a little exposition would help matters tremendously), in general Durkin keeps a lid on this simmering situation, and he's got a good compositional eye that only occasionally tips over into preciousness. Sarah Paulson and Hugh Dancy play Martha's complacent but concerned sister and brother-in-law, and John Hawkes (Winter's Bone) is a spellbinder as the commune leader, a manipulator of subtle skill. (With some stories like this, you have a hard time believing cult followers could fall for these creepy charismatics; in this one, Hawkes demonstrates how such things might happen.) The movie's most unexpected and alluring touch is the performance by Elizabeth Olsen, as Martha; this younger sister of the child-star Olsen twins brings a zonked-out centre of gravity to the part. She's got just a bit of blankness, too, which enhances the movie's well-wrought guessing game. --Robert Horton

• EDWARD II (DVD) **GERMAN IMPORT** REGION 2 **ENGLISH OR GERMAN SOUND** NEW & SEALED | DVD | (23/09/2008) from £9.53   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Angel And The Badman / John Wayne On Film | DVD | (01/11/1999) from £6.38   |  Saving you £-2.39 (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  John Wayne plays Quart Evans a rough tough womanising gunslinger and the revered ex-deputy sheriff of Wyatt Earp in Tombstone. After Evans is wounded in a gunfight a Quaker family take him in and offer him their humble hospitality. Their daughter played by Gail Russell falls for their tough but courteous guest and their attraction soon becomes mutual. The film is brimming with action scenes but the peaceable theme of the film prevails. Wayne's ensuing relationship with G

• John Mills - The Screen Icons Collection | DVD | (01/10/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  The Baby And The Battleship (Dir: Jay Lewis) (1956): After a quayside mix-up with the Italian family of his fiance able Seaman Knocker White finds himself literally left holding the baby. Unable to return it before his ship sails he enlists the help of best mate Puncher Roberts to smuggle the child aboard. But babies are surprisingly demanding and gradually the whole crew is drawn into helping keep it fed and washed - and undiscovered. Even so the officers above deck start to puzzle over the increasingly strange happenings on board. It's Great To Be Young (Dir: Cyril Frankel) (1956): Mr. Dingle is the popular music teacher in an English school but when the headmaster threatens to close down the school band the pupils and Mr. Dingle must unite and use their musical skills to save the school band. The Gentle Gunman (Dir: Basil Dearden) (1952): Terrance Sullivan is a member of the IRA and has moved to London along with his brother and a group of IRA members to wreak havock on London. However Terrance becomes weary of the constant violence and refuses duirect orders to blow up a railway station. The IRA soon place a price on the Gentle Gunman's head and brand him a traitor. The Family Way (Dir. Roy Boulting) (1966): When newly-wed Arthur Fitton (Hywel Bennett) fails to consummate his marriage his nervous bride Jenny (Hayley Mills) thinks it's her fault. But the root of the problem lies with his bullying father Ezra (John Mills) whose presence in the same Lancashire household has an inhibiting effect on his shy sensitive son. Features soundtrack composed by Paul McCartney.

• Torture Garden | DVD | (17/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Dare you see what Mr. Diablo sees? Dr Diablo a creepy circus entertainer promises to reveal to his customers their innermost desires and promptly proceeds to indulge in a quartet of horror yarns. This anthology of grizzly tales was produced by Amicus studios one of the few British studios in competition with Hammer. Enoch: Colin Williams murders his frail old uncle to get his hands on a fortune. But the uncle's telepathic cat uses Williams to stock up on its supply

• Blackrock | DVD | (02/04/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  In New South Wales, Jared surfs with his mates and has a first girl. He hosts a beach party for his older pal, Ricko, and witnesses four of his mates gang-rape a 15 year old. He does nothing, and the next day, she's found murdered. At school, the boys and the girls react: the girls with anger at the perpetrators, the boys with jeering at the dead girl's morality. The students' parents have their own responses. Jared retreats into angry silence, disgusted that he did nothing to help the dead girl. Meanwhile, his mother wants to talk to him about her impending cancer surgery, the police want to know what he saw, and his friend Ricko wants an alibi. Jared's cracking under the pressure.

• James Dean | DVD | (21/03/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Set against the backdrop of 1950's Hollywood 'James Dean' explores the tragedies and insecurities that fueled Dean's burning ambition to succeed as an actor and ultimately led to his downfall. From the devastating loss of his mother at an early age and his fractured relationship with his father; through his astonishingly rapid rise as one of the world's most celebrated icons 'James Dean' tells the story behind the legend.

• Going To Pieces | DVD | (25/06/2007) from £13.48   |  Saving you £6.51 (32.60%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In this candid sensational and gore-soaked feature-length documentary the titans of terror take you on a comprehensively terrifying trip to the very beginnings of the slasher phenomenon. This film features a gruesome array of rare flesh-cleaving clips from a host of genre classics including: Halloween Friday The 13th A Nightmare On Elm Street Scream Psycho Prom Night When A Stranger Calls From Dusk Til Dawn Sleepaway Camp Last House On The Left and Black Christmas. Join legendary actors directors and producers Wes Craven Rob Zombie John Carpenter Sean S Cunningham Tom Savini and many more founders and masters of the genre film as they guide you on this journey to the darkest recesses of blood-curdling cinematic shock.

• Permanent Vacation | DVD | (23/03/2015) from £7.49   |  Saving you £8.50 (53.20%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Film-maker Jim Jarmusch makes his feature debut with this early 1980s drama. The story follows Allie (Chris Parker), a twenty-something layabout, as he wanders aimlessly around the streets of New York City meeting a host of unusual characters and looking for some meaning in life.

• Hornblower - The Frogs And The Lobsters | DVD | (03/02/2003) from £7.97   |  Saving you £5.01 (100.60%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Based freely on the classic novels by C.S. Forester, Hornblower is a series of TV films following the progress of a young officer through the ranks of the British navy during the Napoleonic Wars. The series greatest asset is the handsome and charismatic Ioan Gruffudd in the lead role, surely a major star in the making. For television films the production values are very good, though as Titanic, Waterworld and The Perfect Storm demonstrated, filming an aquatic adventure is a very expensive business, and it is clear that the Hornblower dramas simply make the best of comparatively small budgets. No more faithful to Forester's books than the 1951 Gregory Peck classic Captain Horatio Hornblower, the real inspiration seems to have come from the success of Sharpe, starring Sean Bean, which likewise featured a British hero in the Napoleonic Wars. Nevertheless, while rather more easy going than the real British navy of the time, the Hornblower saga delivers an entertaining adventure, greatly enhanced by the presence of such guest stars as Denis Lawson, Cheri Lunghi, Ronald Pickup and Anthony Sher. "The Frogs and the Lobsters" provides a tough, complex and surprisingly violent drama concerning an attempt to mount a royalist counter-offensive against Revolutionary France.--Gary S Dalkin

• The Quiet Man/Rio Grande | DVD | (26/12/2006) from £13.99   |  Saving you £-1.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The Quiet Man (Dir. John Ford 1952): John Ford's The Quiet Man celebrates one of Hollywood's most romantic and enduring epics. The first American feature to be filmed in Ireland's picturesque countryside Ford richly imbued this masterpiece with his love of Ireland and its people. Sean Thornton is an American who swears off boxing after accidentally killing an opponent. Returning to the Irish town of his birth he finds happiness when he falls in love with the fiery Mary Kate. Though he is sorely tempted to pick up the gloves against her brother the town bully Sean is determined not to use his fists. Mary Kate and Sean wed but her brother refuses to pay the dowry. Sean would rather walk away than accept this challenge. Even when his new wife accuses him of cowardice Sean stands firm. But when she boards a train to leave he is finally ready to take matters into his own hands. The resulting fist-fight erupts into the longest brawl ever filmed followed by one of the most memorable reconciliation's in motion picture history! Rio Grande (Dir. John Ford 1950): John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara are embroiled in an epic battle with the Apaches and each other in this John Ford classic. Lt Col. Yorke (Wayne) heads to the Rio Grande to fight a warring tribe. But Yorke faces his toughest battle when his unorthodox plan to outwit the elusive Apaches leads to possible court-martial. Locked in a bloody war he must fight to redeem his honour and save his family.

• Midsomer Murders Series 13: Noble Art | DVD | (18/10/2010) from £11.93   |  Saving you £5.06 (42.41%)   |  RRP £16.99

  When local hero turned World Championship boxer returns to Midsomer a series of murders begin. Looking for a motive as well as the truth proves more difficult than ever and the murders continue... Nothing is as it seems behind the well-trimmed hedgers of the picturesque cottages in the idyllic English country of Midsomer. Beneath the tranquil surface of sleepy village life exist dark secrets scandals and downright evil. John Nettles stars as the humorous thoughtful and methodical Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby.

• Shrek The Third 3D (Blu-ray 3D + Blu ray + DVD) | Blu Ray | (05/12/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £26.99

  When Shrek married Fiona the last thing he had in mind was becoming the next King of Far Far Away. But when Shrek's father-in-law, King Harold, suddenly croaks, that is exactly what he faces. Recruiting Donkey and Puss In Boots for a new quest, Shrek sets out to bring back the rightful heir to the throne. Meanwhile back in the kingdom, Fiona's jilted Prince Charming storms the city with an army of fairy tale villains to seize the throne. Fiona and a band of princesses must stop him to ensure there will be a kingdom left to rule!

• Sickert's London | DVD | (23/07/2018) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Although Walter Sickert is considered the father of modern British painting he was born in Germany. He became Britain's most famous artist but after his death he drifted into obscurity ironically rejected for the same inventive spirit that had first made his name. He remains one of the undiscovered heroes of modern art. This vivid film discovers Howard Hodgkin rummaging in the Sickert archive follows Frank Auerbach around the streets of Camden Town encourages Professor Quentin Bell to recall what it was like to be drawn by the man himself; artist John Wannacott studies the drawings; Peter Ackroyd describes the context of London's back streets and secrets; Lady Mary Soames reveals the artists' friendship with her father Winston Churchill; solicitor Sir David Napley shares Sickert's fascination with The Camden Town Murder while Sickert's biographer Richard Shone explodes the myth that Sickert was Jack the Ripper. With music by Jools Holland and Sickert's writings read by Alan Bennett this film manages to conjure up the spirit of one of Europe's greatest artists.

• Ohne Filter - Musik Pur: John Miles in Concert | DVD | (17/12/2002) from £14.99   |  Saving you £-5.79 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.20

• 3 Classic Adventures - The Four Feathers / The African Queen / The Thirty Nine Steps | DVD | (20/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  The Four Feathers - A British army officer who resigns his commission on the eve of his unit's embarkation to a mission against Egyptian rebels seeks to redeem his cowardice by secretly aiding his former comrades disguised as an Arab... The Africa Queen - The boozing smoking cussing captain of a tramp steamer Charlie Allnut saves prim and proper Rose Sayer after her brother is killed by German soldiers at the beginning of World War I in Africa. Many quarrels later the two set sail on the Ulonga-Bora in order to sabotage a German ship. Based on the 1935 novel by C.S. Forester the wonderful combination of Hepburn and Bogie (who won an Oscar) makes this a thoroughly enjoyable blend of comedy and adventure. Later came the book (and Clint Eastwood film) White Hunter Black Heart which chronicled screenwriter Peter Viertel's experiences observing Huston throughout the making of the picture. The 39 Steps (1978) - It is 1914. Europe is on the brink of war. London seems peaceful enough but a dangerous conspiracy is underway... Colonel Scudder of the British Intelligence has unearthed a plot to assassinate the Greek Prime Minister on a visit to London and thus precipitate World War 1. Richard Hannay an engineer on leave in London becomes implicated and there follows an exciting series of hair's breadth escapes of plot and coounterplot as Hannay attempts to solve the riddle of the Thirty Nine Steps...

• Crime Story Season 1 | DVD | (06/04/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Following the phenomenal success of Miami Vice executive producer Michael Mann returned to the small screen with a new kind of gritty police drama one that talked tougher and hit harder than anything TV had ever seen before. Crime Story is the hard boiled saga of hair-trigger cop Mike Torello (Dennis Farina) and his obsessive pursuit of ruthless gangster Ray Luca (Anthony Dennison) from the mean streets of early 1960s Chicago to the neon nights of mob paradise Las Vegas. Episodes comprise: 1. Pilot 2. Final Transmission 3. Shadow Dancer 4. The Saint Louis Book Of Blues 5. The War 6. Abrams For The Defense 7. Pursuit Of A Wanted Felon 8. Old Friends Dead Ends 9. Justice Hits The Skids 10. For Love Or Money 11. Hide And Go Thief 12. Strange Bedfellows 13. Fatal Crossroads (aka Fortune On Men's Eyes) 14. Torello On Trial 15. The Kingdom Of Money 16. The Battle Of Las Vegas 17. The Survivor 18. The Pinnacle 19. Top Of The World (aka The King In A Cage) 20. Ground Zero