"Actor: Leonard Mann"

• Bernstein - the Making of Westside Story (Te Kanawa) | DVD | (11/07/2005) from £14.29   |  Saving you £2.70 (18.89%)   |  RRP £16.99

  27 years after its Broadway premiere Leonard Bernstein went into a New York studio for Deutsche Grammophon to conduct his most famous work for the first time. In selecting his cast he decided to go for sound with the sumptuous operatic voices of Kiri Te Kanawa Jose Carreras and Tatiana Troyanos. This spellbinding film winner of the Prix Italia and the British Academy's Flaherty Award documents the stresses and strains exhilaration and eventual triumph in the making of a landmark recording.

• Fiddler On The Roof | DVD | (13/01/2014) from £6.35   |  Saving you £3.64 (57.32%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The heartwarming scenes and uplifting songs of a timeless musical masterpiece meet the spectacular sound and picture quality ofBlu-ray for the first time ever to celebrate the film’s 40th Anniversary—bursting with hours of extras that will keep you entertained from sunrise to sunset! Nominated for eight Academy Awards including Best Picture Best Actor (Topol) and Directing (Norman Jewison) Fiddler on the Roof tells the life-affirming story of a poor Jewish milkman whose love pride and faith help him cope with the challenges of raising a family in czarist Russia.

• Fiddler On The Roof | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Fiddler on the Roof arrived in cinemas in 1971, seven years after the Sheldon Harnick/Jerry Bock musical about Jewish life in a pre-Revolution Russian village first gripped Broadway. Based on the stories of Shalom Aleichem, with its potent mixture of sentiment and religious and historical context, it remains one of the most popular shows of the modern age. With the help of an outstanding performance from Topol as Tevye--the milkman with five daughters kicking at the constraints of tradition--Norman Jewison's captivating film retains a moving intimacy in its portrayal of relationships in changing times. But it also stretches the possibilities of location shooting--in this case the countryside of the former Yugoslavia--further than any musical movie before or since. The villagers are played by the inhabitants of the area, lending a poignant realism to the vibrant crowd scenes. And the cinematography is spectacular, with Jewison's clever use of distance generating an epic feel that helps to explain the story's continuing resonance and popularity. Topol's career-defining star turn is balanced by the warmth and sensitivity of the surrounding performances, particularly Norma Crane as his abrasive wife Golda. British sitcom fans will spot early appearances by Roger Lloyd Pack, and Ruth Madoc as the demonic butcher's wife, Fruma Sarah. At nearly three hours, it's a long emotional haul, but aided by some of the most beautiful songs in musical history, Jewison's Fiddler is ageless. On the DVD: Fiddler on the Roof Special Edition is presented on DVD in widescreen with a Dolby soundtrack that makes a mighty meal of John Williams' Oscar-winning musical adaptation. The most fascinating extras are a making-of documentary that shows a youthful, slightly tetchy Jewison at work, and a 2003 reminiscence in which all of his passion and feel for the piece has survived intact. He shares a commentary with Topol crammed with vivid memories and context. There is also a photographic gallery showing the resources that were used to give the film its authenticity, and Jewison reads extracts from original Aleichem stories. --Piers Ford

• Fiddler On The Roof | DVD | (01/02/2000) from £7.48   |  Saving you £5.51 (73.66%)   |  RRP £12.99

  This rousing musical, based on the stories of Sholem Aleichem, takes place in pre-revolutionary Russia and centres on the life of Tevye (Topol), a milkman who is trying to keep his family's traditions in place while marrying off his three older daughters. Yet, times are changing and the daughters want to make their own matches, breaking free of many of the constricting customs required of them by Judaism. In the background of these events, Russia is on the brink of revolution and Jews are feeling increasingly unwelcome in their villages. Tevye--who expresses his desire for sameness in the opening number, "Tradition"--is trying to keep everyone, and everything, together. The movie is strongly allegorical--Tevye represents the common man--but it does it dextrously, and the resulting film is a stunning work of art. The music is excellent (it won Oscars for the scoring and the sound), with plenty of familiar songs such as "Sunrise, Sunset" and "If I Were a Rich Man," which you'll be humming long after the movie is over. Isaac Stern's violin--he provides the music for the fiddler on the roof--is hauntingly beautiful. And despite the serious subject matter, the film is quite comedic in parts; it also well deserves the Oscar it won for cinematography. --Jenny Brown

• Fiddler on the Roof (40th Anniversary Edition) | Blu Ray | (17/10/2011) from £7.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (100.13%)   |  RRP £15.99

  This rousing musical, based on the stories of Sholem Aleichem, takes place in pre-revolutionary Russia and centres on the life of Tevye (Topol), a milkman who is trying to keep his family's traditions in place while marrying off his three older daughters. Yet, times are changing and the daughters want to make their own matches, breaking free of many of the constricting customs required of them by Judaism. In the background of these events, Russia is on the brink of revolution and Jews are feeling increasingly unwelcome in their villages. Tevye--who expresses his desire for sameness in the opening number, "Tradition"--is trying to keep everyone, and everything, together. The movie is strongly allegorical--Tevye represents the common man--but it does it dextrously, and the resulting film is a stunning work of art. The music is excellent (it won Oscars for the scoring and the sound), with plenty of familiar songs such as "Sunrise, Sunset" and "If I Were a Rich Man," which you'll be humming long after the movie is over. Isaac Stern's violin--he provides the music for the fiddler on the roof--is hauntingly beautiful. And despite the serious subject matter, the film is quite comedic in parts; it also well deserves the Oscar it won for cinematography. --Jenny Brown

• Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan - Directors Edition (Two Disc Set) | DVD | (18/11/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Director Nicholas Meyer's concept for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was to make it "Captain Horatio Hornblower in space". Equipped with a budget a fraction the size of that accorded the first movie, and bolstered by James Horner's swashbuckling score, Meyer accordingly delivered the most exciting of all the Trek big-screen outings, referencing both CS Forester's Hornblower and classic submarine dramas, as well as adding some literary flourishes and ground-breaking CGI work for good measure (the Genesis device sequence is a computer-animation landmark). Resurrected from the "Space Seed" episode of the TV series, Ricardo Montalban's Khan is the hammiest, most passionately alive Trek villain, infused with Captain Ahab's self-destructive single-mindedness and quoting Moby Dick and Shakespeare in his furious pursuit of Kirk. Given permission to be melodramatic, William Shatner has never been stronger, or made Kirk seem more vulnerable. And even after seeing all the later movies, no self-respecting Trekker can sit through Spock's ultimate illogical sacrifice with a dry eye. Unlike the major revisions made to The Motion Picture, this new Director's Edition of Wrath of Khan is only a very slightly extended version of the original, with some fairly minor additions--most notably scenes that establish Midshipman Peter Preston as Scotty's nephew, thereby explaining Scotty's grief at the young man's death. Some other scenes--such as Kirk and Spock discussing the Genesis Device--have also been expanded. On the DVD: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is now presented in a lovely 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen print with Dolby 5.1 sound. The first disc has an audio commentary from Nicholas Meyer, plus another fascinating all-you-ever-needed-to-know text commentary from Trek expert Michael Okuda (he did the same for The Motion Picture's DVD release). The second disc has a series of informative documentaries, the most substantial being a lengthy retrospective "Captain's Log", featuring contributions from Producer Harve Bennett, Meyer, Shatner, Nimoy and Montalban. Other featurettes focus on the production design ("Designing Khan"), "Visual Effects", and the writers of Star Trek novel spin-offs about Khan and the Kobayashi Maru ("The Star Trek Universe"). It's a shame that James Horner's major contribution goes unnoticed though. To round things off there are some promotional interviews from 1982, storyboards and the original trailer. --Mark Walker

• Pocketful Of Miracles | DVD | (03/05/2004) from £8.72   |  Saving you £4.27 (48.97%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Impoverished Broadway peddler ""Apple Annie"" (Bette Davis) has a problem. Her daughter Louise (Ann-Margret) educated abroad since infancy is coming for a visit and bringing her wealthy fianc with her. The problem is that Louise has believed all her life that Annie's a wealthy dowager and the poor old woman doesn't know what to do! Enter ""Dave The Dude"" (Glenn Ford) - a big-hearted racketeer - who enlists aid to pass Annie off as a high-society grande dame so Louise can marry her fa

• Flowers In The Attic | DVD | (07/06/2004) from £17.97   |  Saving you £-8.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  This screen adaptation of Flowers in the Attic, Virginia Andrews' classic teen novel of adolescent torment and forbidden love, shies away from what made the book so hugely popular, namely the incestuous sex between the two older children, Cathy (Kristy Swanson) and Chris (Jeb Stuart Adams). When the father of four beautiful blond children is suddenly killed, their mother (Victoria Tennant) takes them to the family home she fled 17 years earlier. Their fierce and frightening grandmother (Louise Fletcher) locks them in an upstairs room, from which the only escape is into the cluttered and cobwebbed attic. The children's isolation gets more and more extreme as their mother abandons them, finally even slowly poisoning them to gain her father's inheritance. The movie insinuates but does not make explicit incestuous longing in all directions: Cathy's father brings her special presents before he dies, Chris scrubs Cathy's back in the tub, Chris has a noticeably stronger attachment to their mother than Cathy does--not to mention that the grandmother whips the half-naked mother in front of the grandfather. Fletcher brings a bit of bite to her role, and the movie occasionally rises to absurdly lurid zest. --Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com

• Leonard Bernstein conducts West Side Story -- The Making of the Recording | DVD | (04/02/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Filmed in 1984 for the BBC, the feature-length documentary Leonard Bernstein conducts West Side Story follows the composer through one week as he records the first-ever complete album of his musical theatre masterpiece. (The previous Broadway cast and original soundtrack albums had both been cut down to single LP length.) Virtually the entire documentary takes place in a New York recording studio with a pick-up orchestra, session singers and headliners Kiri Te Kanawa (Maria), José Carreras (Tony), Tatiana Troyanos (Anita) and Kurt Ollmann (Riff). The 89-minute programme alternates rehearsal footage with complete final takes of the main numbers--including "Tonight", "America", and "Maria"--with a limited amount of comment from the principal players. Te Kanawa explains how much the music means to her, Troyanos notes how she grew-up in the very streets depicted on stage and Carreras provides a rare moment of tension when a session ends unsatisfactorily. Bernstein himself is by turns commanding, charming, enthusiastic or weary. For anyone wanting an extensive insight into what happens as a major album is recorded this is fascinating, though others who just want to enjoy the wonderful music will be better served by the resultant two-CD set. On the DVD: Though filmed for British television, Deutsche Grammophon have chosen to release a single region-free (Region 0) DVD for the entire world. Unfortunately this means the disc is in NTSC format rather than PAL, and requires an NTSC-compatible television for playback. It also means that while the sound has been effectively remastered for PCM stereo the picture shows all the signs of a bad NTSC copy--weak, washed-out colours and poor definition with a serious lack of detail. Most videos are far better. The DVD has subtitles in German, French, Spanish and Chinese. There are no extras, though the booklet adapts an interesting article by producer Humphrey Burton which originally appeared in Gramophone magazine in 1985.--Gary S Dalkin

• Vengeance Trail | DVD | (27/05/2002) from £6.49   |  Saving you £9.49 (271.14%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In this vintage Spaghetti Western young boy Jeremiah Bridger witnesses the massacre of his parents and little sister by Indians. He grows into a vengeful hate-filled young man (Leonard Mann) killing Indians and selling their scalps. After capturing a beautiful Indian girl Jeremiah falls foul of two of local businessman Perkins' (Ivan Rassimov) henchmen. Shot and bleeding Jeremiah is healed by travelling quack Doc (Steffen Zacharias) who also informs him that Indians doesn't m

• Schubert: Song Cycles (Winterreise/ Schone Mullerin/ Schwanengesang/ Documentary) | DVD | (30/11/2009) from £23.99   |  Saving you £6.00 (25.01%)   |  RRP £29.99

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