"Actor: Lilia Skala"

• Flashdance | DVD | (07/10/2002) from £5.23   |  Saving you £12.02 (302.77%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Flashdance was the aspirational feel-good movie of 1983, with its thudding Giorgio Moroder soundtrack, Fame-meets-An Officer and a Gentleman storyline and a doe-eyed but iron-willed heroine played by the promising Jennifer Beals. By day Alex (Beals) is a Pittsburgh welder. By night she dances self-choreographed pieces for beer swillers in a seedy nightclub. Then she goes home and dreams of entering the city's ballet school and a professional career. Adrian Lyne's film is full of compromises. It never really gets to grips with Alex's misfit status in a male-dominated world. And in the end, she is given the leg-up she needs by her boss (Michael Nouri) who won't take "no" for an answer. That's called stalking these days. But Flashdance also has some fascinating surreal moments. The infernal qualities of life on an industrial site are well described by good lighting and the dances take on a bizarre life of their own within the film. Beals is often in shadowy long shot for these scenes and, in fact, most of the actual dancing was done by a more qualified stand-in. On the DVD: Flashdance is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtrack. On disc the film still pulsates with that 1980s anything-is-possible energy. Apart from standard subtitle options and scene selections, there are no extras. --Piers Ford

• Lilies Of The Field | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £24.62   |  Saving you £-11.63 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Homer Smith an itinerant handyman is driving through the Arizona desert when he meets five impoverished nuns. Stopping to fix their leaky farmhouse roof Homer discovers that not only will the Mother Superior not pay him for the job but she also wants him to build their chapel - for free! Hesitant at first Homer soon finds himself single-handedly raising the chapel and the financing. But although he will not receive monetary reward Homer knows that when his work is done he'll

• Flashdance (Special Collectors Edition) | DVD | (10/09/2007) from £3.88   |  Saving you £6.11 (157.47%)   |  RRP £9.99

  In Adrian Lyne's Flashdance a young woman Alex (Jennifer Beals) strives to achieve success as a classical dancer but economic forces require her to work as a welder by day and an exotic dancer by night. Standing in her way is an abundance of profound social obstacles not the least of which is her boss at the welding factory Nick (Michael Nouri) who is also her boyfriend. Alex strives to be accepted into a prestigious ballet academy and she is furious when she realizes t

• Flashdance 4K UHD | Blu Ray | (10/04/2023) from £16.80   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The hit movie that became a cultural sensation dazzles on 4K Ultra-HD™, approved by director Adrian Lyne. Delivering an electrifying mix of music, drama and dance, Jennifer Beals stars as Alex, a fiercely determined 18-year-old with one all-consuming dream to study at the Pittsburgh Conservatory of Dance. Working during the day as a welder and at night as an exotic dancer, she bravely pursues her dream and undertakes an unforgettable journey that reveals the power of her convictions. Featuring the Oscar®-winning* song Flashdance What a Feeling, performed and co-written by Irene Cara, and the iconic global hit Maniac. Product Features FILMMAKER FOCUS: Director Adrian Lyne on Flashdance The Look of Flashdance Releasing the Flashdance Phenomenon

• Sidney Poitier Collection - In The Heat Of The Night/Lilies Of The Field/The Organization/They Call Me Mr Tibbs! | DVD | (22/01/2007) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-2.97 (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.03

  In The Heat Of The Night (Dir. Norman Jewison 1967): The winner of the 1967 Oscar for Best Picture ""In the Heat of the Night"" is set in a small Mississippi town where an unusual murder has been committed. Rod Steiger plays sheriff Bill Gillespie a good lawman despite his racial prejudices. When Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) a well-dressed African-American and Philadelphia police detective comes to town the two must betray culturally dictated conclusions of the other to grudgingly work together to solve the murder case. Lilies Of The Field (Dir. Ralph Nelson 1963): Homer Smith an itinerant handyman is driving through the Arizona desert when he meets five impoverished nuns. Stopping to fix their leaky farmhouse roof Homer discovers that not only will the Mother Superior not pay him for the job but she also wants him to build their chapel - for free! Hesitant at first Homer soon finds himself single-handedly raising the chapel and the financing. But although he will not receive monetary reward Homer knows that when his work is done he'll leave that dusty desert town a much better place than when he found it. The Organization (Dir. Don Medford 1971): Sidney Poitier reprises his role as Lt. Virgil Tibbs in this taut drama that exposes the ruthless high-stakes world of international drug trafficking. Co-starring Raul Julia this action-packed crime thriller delivers edge-of-the-seat entertainment. Under the cover of darkness six masked figures raid a seemingly respectable furniture factory - and steal a multimillion-dollar cache of heroin! But these are no ordinary crooks. They're a passionate band of former users-turned-vigilantes whose frustration with the law's inability to combat the city's drug problem spurs them to take on a powerful narcotics ring. After contacting Tibbs they confess to the break-in beg him to keep silent and ask for his help. But once he reluctantly agrees to operate outside the law Tibbs soon finds himself at odds with the police and a ruthless drug syndicate that will stop at nothing to silence him! They Call Me Mr. Tibbs (Dir. Gordon Douglas 1970): In this suspenseful sequel to In The Heat Of The Night Sidney Poitier reprises his role as the intrepid investigator who this time must solve a puzzling murder in the City by the Bay. Featuring an original score by Quincy Jones and co-starring Martin Landau and Edward Asner They Call Me Mister Tibbs! is an absorbing mystery that ranks as one of the best. When a prostitute is murdered in San Francisco's ritzy Nob Hill district an anonymous tip implicates minister and political crusader Reverand Logan Sharpe (Landau). Lt. Virgil Tibbs (Poitier) who has known Sharpe for many years asks to be assigned to the case in hopes of clearing his friend's name. So begins the detective's journey through a twisted maze of baffling evidence frantic chases deadly gunfire and bad alibis. Before long Tibbs finds himself bitterly torn between his duty as a cop... and his loyalty to a friend.

• Flashdance | Blu Ray | (27/02/2023) from £8.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The hit movie that became a cultural sensation, Flashdance delivers an electrifying mix of music, drama and dance that dazzles the senses as it touches the heart; now remastered from a 4K film transfer supervised by director Adrian Lyne. Jennifer Beals stars as Alex, a fiercely determined 18-year-old with one all-consuming dream: to study at the Pittsburgh Conservatory of Dance. Working during the day as a welder and at night as an exotic dancer. Alex bravely pursues her dream, undertaking an unforgettable journey that reveals the power of her convictions. Featuring the Oscar®winning* song Flashdance What a Feeling. Product Features New Feature FILMMAKER FOCUS: Director Adrian Lyne discusses Flashdance Original Special Features The Look of Flashdance Releasing the Flashdance Phenomenon Theatrical Trailer

• Flashdance 4K UHD Steelbook | Blu Ray | (10/04/2023) from £29.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A Pittsburgh woman with two jobs as a welder and an exotic dancer wants to get into ballet school.

• House Of Games | DVD | (02/02/2004) from £9.43   |  Saving you £3.56 (37.75%)   |  RRP £12.99

  David Mamet's 1987 directorial debut House of Games is mesmerising study of control and seduction between two kinds of detached observers: a gambler who is also a con artist and a psychotherapist who is also an emerging pop-psych guru in the book market. The latter (played by Lindsay Crouse) meets the former (Joe Mantegna) when one of her clients is driven to despair from his debts to the card shark. Mantegna's character agrees to drop the IOUs in exchange for Crouse's attention at the seedy House of Games in Seattle, a mecca for conmen to talk shop and hustle unsuspecting customers. The shrink gets so caught up in the arcane rules and world view of her guide over subsequent days that she observes--with no false rapture--various stings in progress inside and outside the club. Mamet's story finally becomes a fascinating study of two people protecting and extending their respective cosmologies the way rival predators fight for the same piece of turf. The psychological challenge is compelling; so is the stylised dialogue, with its pattern of pauses and hiccups and humming meter. Mostly shooting at night, Mamet also gave Seattle a different look from previous filmmakers, turning its familiar puddles into concentrations of liquid neon and poisonous noir. --Tom Keogh

• Charly | DVD | (02/07/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Released in 1968, Charly is a period-piece from the summer of love when "natural" was nirvana, the air hummed with the mantra "Everybody's beautiful", and all ills stemmed from institutional monoliths such as Science, Government, Education, and Religion. It is adapted from Daniel Keyes' novel Flowers for Algernon and its hero, Charly (Cliff Robertson), is 30 years old and mentally handicapped. His innocent sweetness makes him superior to most able-minded folk, whether they're the bigoted dolts he sweeps floors for or the ambitious scientists who see him as the human equivalent of Algernon, a mouse they've surgically (but impermanently) smartened up. Naturally, post-op Charly, sporting a genius IQ, "sees things as they are". Trotted out as the neurosurgeons' poster boy, he stands up to the "learned" audience--shot as faceless, inhuman interrogators. He's every 60s flower child, berating his "elders" for blighting their brave new world. The one reward Charly derives from his higher IQ is sex. In a lengthy montage resembling a retro TV commercial, he and his teacher (Claire Bloom, a madonna with an eternal Mona Lisa smile) romp through Edenic gardens, their embraces hallowed by sunlight glinting through leaves, moonlight glinting on water, and sappy Ravi Shankar music (stylistic clichés also include embarrassing outbreaks of split screens and multiple small screens within the frame, notably when rebellious Charly turns biker). Robertson's performance is well-meaning but mawkishly sentimental. Still, in the penultimate moments when Charly begins to slide back into mental illness, the actor achieves a genuine tragic gravity, and he became a surprise Oscar winner for his pains. --Kathleen Murphy, Amazon.com

• Roseland (the Merchant Ivory Collection) | DVD | (06/09/2004) from £14.24   |  Saving you £-4.25 (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.