"Actor: Max Von Sydow"

• Never Say Never Again | DVD | (23/04/2001) from £16.25   |  Saving you £-0.26 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  After years of enduring Roger Moore in the role of James Bond, it was good to have Sean Connery back in 1983 for Never Say Never Again, a one-time-only trip down 007's memory lane. Connery's Bond, a bit of a dinosaur in the British secret service at (then) 52, is still in demand during times of crisis. Sadly, the film is not very good. In this rehash of Thunderball, Bond is pitted against a worthy underwater villain (Klaus Maria Brandauer); and while the requisite Bond Girls include beauties Kim Basinger and Barbara Carrera, they can't save the movie. The script has several truly dumb passages, among them a (gasp) video-game duel between 007 and his nemesis that now looks utterly anachronistic. For Connery fans, however, this widescreen print of the Irvin Kershner (The Empire Strikes Back) film is a chance to say a final goodbye to a perfect marriage of actor and character. --Tom Keogh

• Winter Light | DVD | (19/11/2001) from £10.35   |  Saving you £9.64 (93.14%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The second of an Ingmar Bergman trilogy, 1962's Winter Light is a deliberate repudiation of the "God is love" message of its predecessor Through a Glass Darkly. Gunnar Bjornstrand stars as Tomas, a pastor in a remote parish tending to a dwindling congregation, as tense and distracted as David--the novelist Bjornstrand plays in Through a Glass Darkly. He finds himself trying to counsel a local fisherman Jonas, who is plagued by a sense of impending atomic doom but realises that the religious platitudes he consoles him with--"put your faith in the Lord"--are mere drivel. He himself is wracked by religious doubts, unable to tolerate "God's silence" and unable to prevent the fisherman from committing suicide. He finds himself taking out his inner woe on his eczema-riddled mistress, played by an unflatteringly made up Ingrid Thulin. Described by Bergman's own wife as a "dreary masterpiece", the synopsis to Winter Light seems almost comically miserable, yet this passion play is gripping in its unsparing bleakness, bathed in the stark illumination implied by the title, ironically akin to the light of a religious epiphany. Released at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, its preoccupations and all-pervasive anxieties are especially apt. On the DVD: Bergman's own notes reveal that Winter Lightis among his own favourites and he explains the evolution of the film's ideas at some length. Critic Philip Strick's background notes reveal that Gunnar Bjornstrand was exhausted and ill for much of the making of the film, which doubtless enhanced his anguished performance here. --David Stubbs

• Dune | DVD | (28/03/2016) from £5.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  David Lynch writes and directs this adaptation of Frank Herbert's epic sci-fi novel. Set in the distant future on the barren desert planet Arrakis, aka Dune, where a precious life-enhancing spice is guarded by monster sandworms, young nobleman Paul Atreides (Kyle MacLachlan) leads his family and the native Freman people against the territorial designs of his family's arch-enemies, the Harkonnens. However, once on Dune, Paul discovers he is earmarked for an even greater destiny. The cast also includes Francesca Annis, Max von Sydow, Linda Hunt and Sting.

• Conan The Barbarian | DVD | (18/04/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Thief. Warrior. Gladiator. King. Through the history of mankind the times that are most recorded in mythology and song are those of the great deeds and fantastic adventures. Such a time was the Hyborean Age. Such a tale is the story of 'Conan The Barbarian'. Cimmeran Conan witnesses his parents' savage murder at the hands of the raiding Vanir and their master Thulsa Doom also leader of the snake-cult of Set. Fifteen years of agony first chained to the Wheel Of Pain grinding grain and then enslaved as a pit fighter forge a magnificent body and indominitable spirit. Freed miraculously one day by his owner Conan with his companions Subotai the Mongol and Valeria the Queen of Thieves sets forth upon his quest to learn the riddle of steel which his father has prophesied will confer ultimate power; and to kill the arch-villian Thulsa Doom...

• The Seventh Seal | Blu Ray | (01/11/2021) from £20.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  As the plague tears through medieval Europe, a knight (Max von Sydow), returning from the crusades, challenges Death to a game of chess in order to postpone his demise. An allegorical masterpiece asking big questions about faith and superstition, Ingmar Bergman's iconic The Seventh Seal remains one of cinema's most important and influential films. Presented here for the first time on 4K Ultra HD the BFI's first ever UHD release experience Bergman's timeless classic like never before. Special Features Presented on 4K UHD Blu-ray and High Definition Blu-ray Audio commentary on The Seventh Seal by film critic and editor-in-chief of Diabolique magazine, Kat Ellinger Other extras TBC

• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Triple Play (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy | Blu Ray | (11/06/2012) from £33.73   |  Saving you £-8.74 (-35.00%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Adapted from the acclaimed bestseller by Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is a story that unfolds from inside the young mind of Oskar Schell, an inventive eleven year-old New Yorker whose discovery of a key in his deceased father's belongings sets him off on an urgent search across the city for the lock it will open.A year after his father died in the World Trade Center on what Oskar calls The Worst Day, he is determined to keep his vital connection to the man who playfully cajoled him into confronting his wildest fears. Now, as Oskar crosses the five New York boroughs in quest of the missing lock - encountering an eclectic assortment of people who are each survivors in their own way - he begins to uncover unseen links to the father he misses, to the mother who seems so far away from him and to the whole noisy, dangerous, discombobulating world around him.

• Ingmar Bergman Vol.2 | Blu Ray | (08/11/2021) from £34.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  For over 50 years, Ingmar Bergman produced ground-breaking works of cinema that established him as one of the world's most acclaimed, enduring and influential filmmakers. In the 1950s he firmly established himself at the vanguard of world cinema. Following his breakthrough success Summer with Monika (1953), Bergman continued with a series of ground-breaking productions. Many of which are still considered some of the greatest films ever made. Presented over six discs, Ingmar Bergman: Volume 2 features eight landmark titles by the iconic filmmaker presented together on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK. These include the Palme d'Or-nominated comedy Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), the introspective meditation on old age and human existence, Wild Strawberries (1957) and the iconic exploration of faith and death, The Seventh Seal (1957) The films: Summer Interlude (1951), Waiting Women (1952), Summer with Monika (1953), A Lesson in Love (1954), Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), The Seventh Seal (1957), Wild Strawberries (1957), The Magician (1958) Special Features Audio commentary on The Seventh Seal by film critic and editor-in-chief of Diabolique magazine, Kat Ellinger Perfect-bound book featuring new essays by David Jenkins, Ellen Cheshire, Leigh Singer, Kieron McCormack, Philip Kemp, Jessica Land, Geoff Andrew and Alexandra Heller-Nicholas Other extras TBC Limited edition (5,000 units)

• Solomon Kane | Blu Ray | (17/04/2019) from £8.75   |  Saving you £16.24 (185.60%)   |  RRP £24.99

  "Solomon Kane" is an epic adventure adapted from the classic pulp stories by Robert E. Howard, creator of "Conan the Barbarian."

• Passion Of Anna | DVD | (02/08/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  On a windswept barren island Andreas lives simply and quietly until he becomes entangled with Anna a beautiful mysterious widow and a neighbouring couple harbouring their own sorrows and illusions. But soon secrets from Andreas and Anna's pasts threaten to destroy everything...

• Minority Report | Blu Ray | (17/05/2010) from £7.19   |  Saving you £12.80 (178.02%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Set in a future where killers are arrested before they commit murder, Tom Cruise stars as a detective accused of a murder that hasn't happened yet who must move quickly to solve the murder and prove his innocence.

• The Best Intentions | DVD | (26/04/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  With a screenplay by Academy Award Winner Ingmar Bergman (Fanny and Alexander) Bille August (Pelle the Conqueror) masterfully directs this heartwarming love story following the lives of Bergman's parents. Henrik Bergman an impoverished Lutheran pastor falls in love with a wealthy girl Anna. Despite her mother's attempts to discourage the relationship Anna's love grows stronger and the two eventually wed. A compelling look at the hardships extreme faith and rigid discipline of his father and his lifelong commitment to his wife Best Intentions sheds a powerful light onto the themes that have appeared in all of Ingmar Bergman's best movies.

• Rush Hour 3 | DVD | (26/12/2007) from £5.46   |  Saving you £14.53 (266.12%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan cause chaos in Paris in this, the third instalment of their comedy action franchise.

• Never Say Never Again/Casino Royale | DVD | (19/03/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £8.99

  Never Say Never Again (Dir. Irvin Kershner 1983): Sean Connery is back for his final performance as super agent James Bond in this high-velocity action thriller from the director of 'The Empire Strikes Back'. In this remake of the 1965 spy classic Thunderball two atomic warheads are hijacked by the evil SPECTRE organization forcing agent 007 out of retirement and hurling him into an explosive pulse-pounding race to save the world from nuclear terrorists. Casino Royale (Dir. Val Guest 1967): Things are looking decidedly bleak for British Intelligence in both senses of the term. SMERSH has begun to sabotage global stability no less than 11 agents have been lost and to make matters worse our greatest secret agent 007 is languishing in stately retirement. M - together with the heads of the CIA and KGB - have only one hope: to bring Sir James Bond (David Niven) out of retirement and into the field. Finding himself pitched against an opposition of fiendish intensity - an array of female secret agents armed with explosive grouse; a baccarat-playing illusionist (Orson Welles) and a neurotic megalomaniac (Woody Allen) - Bond launches his brilliant plan... ""from now on all agents will be known as James Bond including the girls"".

• The Greatest Story Ever Told | DVD | (25/03/2024) from £12.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• The Seventh Seal | DVD | (24/09/2001) from £11.39   |  Saving you £8.60 (75.50%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Ingmar Bergman's classic drama celebrates its 50th anniversary with this cinematic re-issue.

• The Virgin Spring | DVD | (28/10/2002) from £10.35   |  Saving you £9.64 (93.14%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Made in 1960 and set in mediaeval Sweden, Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring is based on a folk ballad. It also examines a society in transition from worshipping the old Norse gods to Christianity. The film starkly contrasts Ingeri--a dark, feral Odin-worshipping brunette, foster daughter to a Christian family headed by Max Von Sydow--and their own daughter, Karin, pretty and blonde but also vain and naive, and resented by Ingeri. They travel out together to a distant church where Karin is to offer votive candles to the Virgin Mary. However, en route, Karin is raped and murdered by two desperate goatherders, accompanied by a 13-year-old boy. By coincidence, the goatherders then seek refuge with Karin's parents and even try to sell them her clothes, which proves to be a mortal error. Bergman was greatly influenced by Kurosawa, the Japanese director of The Seven Samurai, when he made The Virgin Spring, as evinced in its ominous use of dark and shade and lengthy sequences without dialogue. However, this is more than pastiche. Although the Christian ending with which Bergman feels obliged to conclude the film doesn't quite sit well in a movie in which God is as palpably absent as in any Bergman movie, the slow, remorseless pace of the murder and subsequent retribution bring to mind Kieslowki's A Short Film About Killing in their sense of the futility of vengeance. On the DVD: The Virgin Spring arrives on disc in a restoration that vividly enhances the sense of light and shade which is integral to the movie. Notes from critic Phillip Strick provide background to the movie, including the legend on which the film was based, as well as observing that Bergman was later so embarrassed by the film's debt to Kurosawa that he disowned it, only to be told by Kurosawa himself not to be so silly. --David Stubbs

• Conan The Barbarian | Blu Ray | (11/07/2011) from £7.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (100.13%)   |  RRP £15.99

  An action packed tale of Conan the Cimmerian and his adventures across the continent of Hyboria on a quest to avenge the murder of his father and the slaughter of his village.

• Voyage Of The Damned | DVD | (20/11/2006) from £12.98   |  Saving you £2.00 (18.20%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The incredible story of the ship that shamed the world. This was not your standard passenger list. Some were concentration camp victims. Others just wanted to join relatives in Cuba. Some were wealthy enough to afford the voyage. Most left everything behind in the hope they could escape German terror. The passengers are unaware that the voyage is a sham simply one of Goebbels' propaganda exercises. This ship will not be able to dock in Havana and when the rest of the world turns the ship away the Jews will have to return to Germany. Just as hope has all but vanished the passengers receive word that some European countries may take them in. Come what may the passengers resolve not to return to the camps. This tragic true-life epic stars Lee Grant Julie Harris Ben Gazzara and Nehemiah Persoff.

• Flash Gordon 40th Anniversary | Blu Ray | (05/10/2020) from £19.65   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Get ready to kick some Flash, with an out-of-this world 4K restoration of the much loved, gloriously sparkly cult classic, FLASH GORDON directed by Mike Hodges. In celebration of Flash Gordon's 40th anniversary, this collection is the ultimate Flash release. Featuring an all-star cast, including Sam J Jones (Flash Gordon) Brian Blessed (Prince Vultan) Timothy Dalton (Prince Barin) Max Von Sydow (Ming The Merciless) and Melody Anderson (Dale) and accompanied by a brilliant soundtrack by the inimitable Queen, this is the ultimate version of the '80s cult classic. Features: New Lost in Space: Nic Roeg's Flash Gordon Audio commentary with Mike Hodges Audio commentary with Brian Blessed Behind the scenes of Flash Gordon Stills gallery Storyboards gallery Original theatrical trailer Interview with Mike Hodges Interview with comic book artist Alex Ross Interview with screenwriter Lorenzo Semple, Jr. Episode 24 of Flash Gordon (1979-1982): The Survival Game / Gremlin's Finest Hour Sam Jones's acting start Entertainment Earth on Flash Gordon merchandise Bob Lindenmayer discussed deleted scenes and original endings 35 th Anniversary Greenroom 35 th Anniversary reunion featurette Renato Casaro extended interview Brian Blessed anecdotes Melody's musings On the soundtrack The UHD and 2 Blu-ray discs

• The Magician | DVD | (24/09/2001) from £7.99   |  Saving you £14.00 (233.72%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A sort of existential horror movie set in what often feels like a darkly imaginary 1846, The Magician is Ingmar Bergman's meditation on the restrictive nature of modern rationalism. Max Von Sydow cuts a suitably melancholy and mystical figure as Dr Vogler, the mute hypnotist who travels with a group of players to Stockholm, only to be examined and humiliated by a team of sceptical inquisitors led by Gunnar Bjornstrand's Dr Vergerus and a hog-like police chief. Dr Vogler exacts his revenge on Vergerus, however, in an extraordinary feat of illusion.With its elaborate, occasionally expressionistic sets and its feel of a scrupulously re-enacted nightmare, The Magician is reminiscent at times of Poe or even The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. However, the "below stairs" characters--including Ake Fridell's ebullient Master of Ceremonies and a host of giggling wenches--add comic energy to what is otherwise a startling and sombre reflection of the nature of art and life. It would prove a turning point in Bergman's career as he moved away from his early, "romantic" period.On the DVD: Presented in the original academy ratio, the mix of soft light and harsh shade for which credit should go to photographer Gunnar Fischer, is well-restored here. In notes from his memoirs included here, Bergman relates how his adventures and privations as part of a theatre company in Malmo provided inspiration for The Magician, while critic Ronald Bergman's notes talk of "the ability of the artist to find truth in both fact and fantasy". --David Stubbs