"Actor: Mary Martin"

• The West Wing - Complete Season 3 | DVD | (29/03/2004) from £6.17   |  Saving you £53.82 (872.28%)   |  RRP £59.99

  There is no letdown in talent or skill for the third season of this blue ribbon drama. One could say these 22 episodes play as a continuation of the second season; there are no major new characters or earth-shattering plots and the Emmys rewarded the series with its third straight award for Best Drama (and unlike season 4, no one argued about the laurels). The third year starts with a stand-alone episode "Isaac & Ishmael", a special show created, shot, and broadcast 22 days after the 9/11 events. Although the final results tend to be sermonic, the fact the show was able to drop everything and commit to a new season opener is evident not only of talent, but of a disciplined work force operating at the top of their game. President Bartlet's (Martin Sheen) decision to run for reelection after the disclosure of suffering MS fuels the fire for the first half of the season. Depositions are filed against the staff, minor mistakes take on more significance, and the White House consul (Oliver Platt) has the run of the table warning of worst-case scenarios. The focus soon turns to the First Lady (Stockard Channing) as the potential "Lady Macbeth" of the scandal. Channing aces her role and turns her birthday celebration ("Dead Irish Writers") into one of the season's highlights. Assistant Donna (Janel Moloney), her boss Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford), and press secretary C.J. (Alison Janney) all have charismatic romances, but the ace supporting player this year is John Spencer as the relentlessly loyal Chief of Staff Leo McGarry. Whether delivering the hard truth, accepting the proverbial bullet for the President, or being our guide to how Bartlet ran in the first place (in another wonderful flashback episode, "Bartlet for America"), all roads lead to McGarry. Acting Emmys went to Channing, Spencer, and Janney, but the strength of this show is that the entire cast has glorious moments (Toby's taking on the President's mode of operation, Sam's belief in government, or the President's peculiarities of Thanksgiving are just a few). Recurring guest stars--the likes of Ron Silver, Tim Matheson, Mary Louise Parker, and Mark Harmon--deliver some of their career-best work. Crack writing, a breathless pace, plus you learn a bit about government. What else do you want from a TV drama? --Doug Thomas

• Shootfighter | DVD | (12/04/2005) from £19.98   |  Saving you £-13.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Two heroes are manipulated by the villain into participating in an illegal martial arts competition funded by bloodthirsty high rollers. The contests often end in death for the loser and the two heroes must face each other after the preliminary rounds are over. It'll tear your heart out!

• Jimmy Neutron - Boy Genius | DVD | (14/10/2002) from £8.08   |  Saving you £4.91 (60.77%)   |  RRP £12.99

  This new CGI comedy tells the simple story of a 10 year-old boy... his robot dog... battling evil... rescuing his parents... saving the Earth... and returning home in time for dinner!

• For The Boys | DVD | (07/06/2004) from £13.14   |  Saving you £2.84 (27.98%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Bette Midler poured her heart and soul into For the Boys, the story of a pair of entertainers who repeatedly took time from their careers to entertain US troops at war, from World War II to Vietnam--and it sank like a stone at the box office. Granted, it's corny and emotionally over the top. It is the tale of an unlikely team of singer and comedian (played by Midler and James Caan), who are brought together for a reunion show in their dotage. As they nervously anticipate seeing each other for the first time in years, they are flooded with memories of their earlier days as a hot show-biz couple whose own troubles always took second place to their patriotic urge to buoy the boys in uniform. Some say this was a veiled film version of the Martha Raye story; Midler gives it her all and Caan isn't bad. But director Mark Rydell lays on the schmaltz so thickly at times that it overpowers the tougher material. --Marshall Fine, Amazon.com

• Columbo - Series 1 | DVD | (13/09/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  TV detective fans rejoice: Peter Falk's rumpled and infallible Lt. Columbo joins the DVD precinct with a five-disc set that features the detective's first nine appearances for NBC. Though Falk as Columbo (no first name) made his TV debut in 1967, the detective had actually first appeared on an episode of the 1960-61 Chevy Mystery Show (Bert Freed played the role) written by veteran TV scribes Richard Levinson and William Link (The Fugitive, Alfred Hitchcock Presents). The pair turned the episode into a stage play titled Prescription: Murder, which was adapted into a TV movie in 1967 with Falk in the lead. NBC greenlit a two-hour Columbo pilot (Ransom for a Dead Man) in 1971, and the series was launched that fall as part of the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie, a rotating 90-minute program that alternated Columbo with episodes of MacMillan and Wife and McCloud (another Levinson/Link creation). Viewers were quickly won over by Falk's shrewd performance as he matched wits with a host of exceptional guest stars (including Gene Barry, Patrick McGoohan, and others), all of whom assumed that the disheveled detective would never figure out their "perfect crimes"; the popularity and quality of the original series allows Falk to continue to don the trenchcoat some 30 years later for occasional Columbo TV movies. All seven 90-minute episodes of the 1971-72 debut season are included here, along with Prescription: Murder and Ransom for a Dead Man; unfortunately, as the lieutenant himself would say, "Oh, just one more thing"--no extras are included in the set, but having these fine TV mysteries in one set should be reward enough for armchair sleuths. --Paul Gaita

• New York Minute | DVD | (14/02/2005) from £5.38   |  Saving you £8.61 (160.04%)   |  RRP £13.99

  US teenage stars Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen hit the big-screen as two very different 17-year-old twins who have to pull together when a trip to the Big Apple goes awry.

• Love On The Dole | DVD | (09/02/2004) from £24.50   |  Saving you £-11.51 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A stylish British drama which studies love and life in a depressed industrial town in Northern England. Deborah Kerr stars in this vividly characterised story of a penniless family struggling through the depression years. Kerr is a mill girl in love with Evans who loses his job and refuses to marry her on ""dole money"". He is killed in a demonstration against conditions and unemployment so Kerr marries an old bookie she doesn't love in order to get jobs for her father and brother. Thi

• Tenko - Complete | DVD | (11/07/2005) from £52.70   |  Saving you £97.29 (184.61%)   |  RRP £149.99

  The story of European women living in Singapore at the outbreak of war in the Far East and their capture by the Japanese. Features the complete episodes from the television series.

• One Night At McCool's | DVD | (22/10/2001) from £4.95   |  Saving you £15.04 (303.84%)   |  RRP £19.99

  It all started one night at McCool's: three unsuspecting men and one woman with a dream are brought together by lust, mayhem, DVDs, and the finer points of home decorating. Starring Liv TYler, Matt Dillon, John Goodman and Paul Reiser.

• Bing Crosby Collection - Rhythm On The River / Rhythm On The Range | DVD | (08/05/2006) from £5.03   |  Saving you £10.96 (217.89%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Rhythm On The River (Dir. Victor Schertzinger 1940): Bing Crosby and Mary Martin play a pair of star-crossed ghostwriters he of melody and she of lyrics who discover that the man they write for is a fake but their love for each other is real. Rhythm On The Range (Dir. Norman Taurog 1936): Bing plays a singing cowboy out where the b-b-b-buffalo roam in this lighthearted musical western.

• Tess | DVD | (27/09/2004) from £8.82   |  Saving you £4.17 (47.28%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Roman Polanski adapted Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles and came up with this moody, haunting film starring Nastassia Kinski as the farm girl who is misused by the aristocrat for whom she works and who is then caught in a marriage where her initial happiness soon turns to grief. Fans of the novel may feel unpersuaded by Polanski's effort to marry Hardy's Dorset vision with his own fascination with psychosexual impulses toward survival, but the film is an often stunning thing to see, and Kinski's sensitive, intelligent performance lingers in the memory. --Tom Keogh

• Death Race 2000 | DVD | (08/03/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A brutal coast-to-coast annual race in America in the year 2000. Spectacular action in this win-at-all-costs movie.

• Bing Crosby Collection - Birth Of The Blues / Blue Skies | DVD | (08/05/2006) from £8.44   |  Saving you £7.55 (89.46%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A fantastic double bill from the legendary Bing Crosby. Birth Of The Blues (Dir. Victor Schertzinger 1941): Bing Crosby and Mary Martin star as two jazz artists in the swinging world of 1920's New Orleans. Crosby is Jeff Lambert a clarinet player who is out to start a band called the Basin Street Hot-Shots. When Betty Lou (Martin) joins as vocalist romance ensues between everyone involved stirring things up a bit. The film pays homage to Dixieland greats such as Duke Ellin

• John Hughes 5 Movie Collection | Blu Ray | (08/03/2021) from £23.60   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  PRETTY IN PINK - Andie is a high school girl from the other side of town. Blane's the wealthy heartthrob who asks her to the prom. As fast as their romance builds, it's threatened by the painful reality of peer pressure. Written and produced by John Hughes, this essential ˜80s movie comes newly remastered for Blu-ray by director Howard Deutch. FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF - High-schooler Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick), his girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara), and his best bud Cameron (Alan Ruck) are skipping school by taking a wild romp through Chicago, in one of the greatest comedy films of all time. So, barf up a lung, forge a sick note from the parents, and tag along on the infinitely quotable, always entertaining classic written and directed by John Hughes. PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES - Turning from coming-of-age teens to the adult peril of making it home for the holidays, filmmaker John Hughes creates one of his most outrageous, and heartfelt, comedies in this tale of an uptight advertising executive (Steve Martin) reluctantly partnered with an obnoxious yet lovable salesman (John Candy). Their adventure, which includes various modes of transportation, is a non-stop series of hilarious mishaps and mistakes. SHE'S HAVING A BABY - FIRST TIME ON BLU-RAY! It seems only yesterday that Jake and Kristi were two crazy single kids in love. Now they're two crazy married adults in transition, balancing work, parental expectations, and tuna casserole. But Kristi just got some news that really ought to make things interesting she's having a baby. It's an irresistible John Hughes comedy about the labor of life. SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL - FIRST TIME ON BLU-RAY! Before they could stand together, they had to stand alone. Writer/Producer John Hughes and director Howard Deutch (PRETTY IN PINK) reteam for another unforgettable romantic comedy of unconditional, but sometimes unclaimed, love in the time of teen angst.

• Passport To Paris | DVD | (30/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  When Mary-Kate and Ashley visit France they pack their bags for fun... and plot a rendezvous with adventure. Sent to Paris to visit their grandfather the girls fall in love with the city and fall head-over-heels for two French boys. Sightseeing on mopeds they race around Paris on a mission to see the city make new friends and stay one step ahead of their uptight chaperone! From shopping at the stylish French boutiques to exploring the sights and delicious dinner dates at the E

• Challenge, The / New York Minute | DVD | (24/04/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £10.99

  The Challenge: Estranged teen sisters who live on opposite sides of the country are brought together as teammates in the TV show ""The Challenge"" much to their surprise. In order to win the grand prize - college scholarships - they'll need to reconcile their differences work together and keep their romances a secret from the producers all at the same time! (Dir. Craig Shapiro 2003 Cert. PG) New York Minute: This action comedy follows one monumental day in the lives

• The Point Men | DVD | (10/09/2001) from £5.35   |  Saving you £14.64 (273.64%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In any war there are covert groups whose moral flexibility makes them ideal for intelligence and assassination duties: they are The Point Men. Tony Eckhart (Christopher Lambert) heads up one such team protecting the Middle East peace process. In what seems to be a bungled operation, he's the only one who believes they've killed the wrong man. When the other members of his team start dropping dead, the matter becomes a personal vendetta. Unfortunately, that's exactly what the master of disguise Amar (Vincent Regan) is hoping for (aided by some fast-healing plastic surgery). Personal back stories become clear as the plot ranges all over the world from Luxembourg to Jerusalem, Zurich, Tel Aviv, New York and Monaco. There's lots of espionage intrigue and assassins' technology in this adaptation of the novel The Heat of Ramadan by Steven Hartov. Director John Glen, who helmed the James Bond films during the Roger Moore-to-Timothy Dalton era, knows how to choreograph action, and with Maryam d'Abo (from The Living Daylights) plus the fiery Kerry Fox as Maddy he also maintains a believable pair of love interests. A cross between Ronin and Face/Off, The Point Men inhabits familiar film territory, but as always Lambert is eminently watchable.On the DVD: A crisp 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer and 5.1 Surround makes this as clean a presentation of a modern film as possible. One trailer and page-long filmographies of Christopher Lambert and director John Glen also make it a cheap one. --Paul Tonks

• Spotlight On A Murderer | Blu Ray | (29/05/2017) from £11.39   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  When the terminally ill Count Hervé de Kerloquen (Pierre Brasseur, Goto, Isle of Love) vanishes without trace, his heirs are told that they have to wait five years before he can be declared legally dead, forcing them to devise ways of paying for the upkeep of the vast family château in the meantime. While they set about transforming the place into an elaborate son et lumière tourist attraction, they are beset by a series of tragic accidents if that's really what they are The little-known third feature by the great French maverick Georges Franju (Eyes Without a Face, Judex) is a delightfully playful romp through Agatha Christie territory, whose script (written by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac of Les Diaboliques and Vertigo fame) is mischievously aware of the hoariest old murder-mystery clichés and gleefully exploits as many of them as possible. They're equally aware of the detective story's antecedents in the Gothic novel, a connection that Franju is only too happy to emphasise visually at every opportunity thanks to his magnificent main location. A young Jean-Louis Trintignant (The Conformist, Amour) is amongst the Kerloquen heirs. SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS: High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations of the feature, restored by Gaumont Uncompressed French Mono 1.0 PCM Audio Optional English subtitles Vintage production featurette from 1960, shot on location and including interviews with Georges Franju and actors Pascale Audret, Pierre Brasseur, Marianne Koch, Dany Saval and Jean-Louis Trintignant Original theatrical trailer Reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork by Peter Strain FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Chris Fujiwara

• Limbo | DVD | (10/07/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  There are three unforgettable characters in John Sayles's contemporary adventure-drama set in Alaska. They are never seen but live only in a frontier diary found by teenager Noelle De Angelo (Vanessa Martinez). The life of the diary's narrator is much like everything in this movie: hanging in limbo. The first half of the film focuses on why men and woman turn to Alaska, a land still ripe with opportunity. A small town is at a crossroads, with its pulp mill and canning factory closed and new investors seeing different directions in which to take the area (one even boasts the state is the ultimate theme park). A local (Sayles regular David Strathairn) is just escaping his past, taking up commercial fishing again. He attracts a travelling nightclub singer (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio in her best role in years) who struggles daily with her daughter Noelle. Like any good theme park, Limbo presents the threesome with an unexpected adventure. In the wilderness, the three relative strangers learn more about themselves than was ever possible in town. Sayles's usual craftsmanship creates a singular blend of drama and suspense with an ending designed to ruffle feathers. Not as accessible as his breakthrough hit Lone Star, Limbo is nevertheless a hearty film from one of America's best storytellers. --Doug Thomas

• Tenko - Series 2 - Part 2 | DVD | (08/09/2003) from £17.97   |  Saving you £7.02 (28.10%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The story of ex-patriot European women living in Singapore at the outbreak of war in the Far East and their capture by the Japanese.