"Actor: Michael Ball"

• World War II Classics - Above Us The Waves / In Which We Serve | DVD | (29/10/2001) from £20.23   |  Saving you £-5.24 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Even if all written and documentary evidence were to disappear, you could still get a real insight into Britain's involvement in the Second World War through feature films such as Above Us the Waves (1955) and In Which We Serve (1942). Directed by Ralph Thomas, Above Us the Waves tells of a Royal Navy mission to sink the "invincible" German battleship Tirpitz off the Norwegian coast. John Mills is calm and confident as the mission commander, with strong support from John Gregson and Donald Sinden--all treated by the German personnel as fellow gentlemen when captured. Despite stirring music from Arthur Benjamin, the action sequences are visually no more than adequate, and the film is only a partial success compared with the naval and domestic drama of the earlier In Which We Serve. Noël Coward wrote the screenplay and musical score, co-directed (with David Lean) and gave possibly his finest screen performance as the commander of HMS Torrin. His speech to the survivors of the sunken ship, as they prepare for reassignment, is just the highlight of a film packed with memorable visuals and perceptive dialogue. On the DVD: Though there are no additional features the black-and-white prints have come up excellently in the 4:3 video aspect ratio. There are 15 access points for each film, though the lack of subtitles is an unfortunate omission. These are period pieces that capture the mood of an era.--Richard Whitehouse

• In Which We Serve | DVD | (01/10/1999) from £14.64   |  Saving you £-4.65 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Noel Coward's great British war film made at the height of World War II in 1942 tells the story of a naval destroyer and its crew as they fight for their lives in a life raft after their ship is sunk.

• Fly Away Home | DVD | (09/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  There are some filmmaking teams that invariably bring out the best in each other, and that's definitely the case with director Carroll Ballard and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel. They previously collaborated on The Black Stallion and Never Cry Wolf, and Fly Away Home is their third family film that deserves to be called a classic. Inspired by Bill Lishman's autobiography, the movie tells the story of a 13-year-old girl (Anna Paquin) who goes to live with her estranged, eccentric father (Jeff Daniels) following the death of her mother. At first she's withdrawn and reclusive, but finds renewed happiness when she adopts an orphaned flock of baby geese and, later, teaches them to migrate using an ultralight. Sensitively directed and stunningly photographed, the movie has flying sequences that are nothing short of astonishing, and Daniels and Paquin (Oscar winner for The Piano) make a delightful father-daughter duo. --Jeff Shannon

• Prokofiev - Cinderella | DVD | (24/09/2003) from £28.55   |  Saving you £-0.56 (N/A%)   |  RRP £27.99

  Perrault's timeless fairy tale of the mistreated waif turned princess has inspired a number of composers and choreographers since its first incarnation as a major ballet by Petipa in 1893. But none has gained the popularity of the version set by Frederick Aston for Sadler's Wells Royal ballet in 1948. It was the first full-length ballet devised by a British choreographer.Though the role of Cinderella was danced by Moira Shearer at the premier it soon became a signature piece for Margot Fonteyn and a mainstay of the company's repertoire. In addition to providing the choreography Ashton also gave himself a plum role as one of the Ugly Sisters and appears on this video in tandem with Kenneth MacMillan another celebrated British choreographer en travesti.

• Michael Ball - This Time... It's Personal | DVD | (13/11/2000) from £10.78   |  Saving you £5.21 (48.33%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A special concert at the Cafe De Paris in London's West End. Tracks include 'Walking In Memphis' 'Think Twice' and 'No Matter What'. Also features exclusive footage of Michael in New York and Washington DC.

• Sunset Heights | DVD | (14/10/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Law and order is enforced in the city by the rival punishment squads of the Boilerman and the Westies. When Luke Bradley's son is found murdered rumour leads the squads to Sam Magee The Preacher who protests his innocence. Despite this he is taken to Sunset Heights where Luke Bradley is chosen to become his reluctant executioner. But another child goes missing and terror sweeps the city. It is said that the Preacher has risen from his grave seeking vengeance...

• Children Of The Corn - Revelation | DVD | (18/04/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  When calls to her eccentric grandmother go unanswered Jamie Lowell is shocked to discover that her grandmother's last known address is a condemned tenement building overrun by uncontrollable children! But as Jamie slowly uncovers the truth behind her grandmother's mysterious disappearance she disturbs a powerful evil that now seeks to destroy her as well!

• L'Africaine - Meyerbeer | DVD | (02/08/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Meyerbeer - L'Africaine (Arena Orch/Chorus/Ballet SFO)

• Susan's Plan | DVD | (15/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Susan (Kinski) has her greedy eye on the substantial insurance pay-out due should her ex-husband meet an untimely end. So she conspires with her lover (Zane) to plan the perfect murder but even the best laid plans can go wrong especially if you hire a pair of bumbling losers to do the deed then a biker (Aykroyd) with a bad attitude to have a go. As the would-be assassins stumble from one blunder to another it becomes an ever-growing conspiracy. With its superb cast this movie brings new meaning to the term criminal behaviour.

• Warriors Of Virtue - The Return To Tao | DVD | (07/02/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £8.99

  Set a few years after the original film "Warriors of Virtue," the sequel finds Ryan and his best friend Chucky arrive at a martial arts competition in Beijing and thrust into the parallel land of Tao to do battle as the next Warriors of Virtue!

• The Pallbearer | DVD | (05/08/2002) from £15.77   |  Saving you £-0.78 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  David Schwimmer plays a drifting twentysomething who receives a telephone call out of the blue to be a pallbearer at the funeral of someone he supposedly knew in school. Trouble is, the caller has mistaken Schwimmer's character for someone else, but our hapless hero--who still lives with his mother at home--doesn't know how to say no. An encounter with the dead man's mother (Barbara Hershey) leads to a sexual relationship, while an old flame (Gwyneth Paltrow) from high school is suddenly on the horizon if only Schwimmer's loser character can quickly get his act together. The Pallbearer is the umpteenth variation on the Oedipal conflicts made famous in Mike Nichols's The Graduate, but it doesn't have the imagination, vitality, or authority to take classic themes about growing up all the way to the finish line. But in its brooding, comic way, The Pallbearer is honest about the difficulties of crossing the line into adulthood when one doesn't know how. --Tom Keogh

• Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake | DVD | (02/01/2007) from £20.45   |  Saving you £4.54 (22.20%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Agnes Letestu, a feminine and warm Odette, Jose Martinez, a convincing, pale vulnerable Prince Siegfried, and Karl Paguette, doubling as a dutiful Wolfgang and an equally devious Rothbart, are the stars of this deeply passionate, 'dream' version of Swan Lake, Rudolf Nureyev's interpretation of Tchaikovsky's lyrical ballet, far from being a cliched stereotype of this celebrated masterpiece, is an expose of astonishingly powerful and recognisable human emotions. Under the inspired and clear-cut musical direction of Vello Pahn, this production of one of the jewels of the Paris Opera Ballet's repertoire brilliantly displays the meticulous precision, technical prowess and pure, unmanbnered style of the company's unrivalled female corps de ballet, eliciting an ethereal, intense beauty, captured for DVD in High Definition video and superb surround sound.

• Dead Long Enough | DVD | (13/09/2010) from £8.75   |  Saving you £1.24 (14.17%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Michael Sheen stars in the role that began his glittering film career as one of two brothers on a stag night in Donegal where they last spent a holiday 16 years ago. Here old passions and love are reignited amidst the unlikely mix of an ex- local gun runner a suspicious Garda and the British Army. This begins a sequence of misunderstandings and mishaps with hilarious consequences. With breathtaking scenery Dead Long Enough is in the very best tradition of Irish comedy film making.

• Henry Purcell - England My England | DVD | (03/07/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Tony Palmer directs this unique film drama about the great English composer Henry Purcell. Very little is known about his life but the script - by Charles Wood and the late John Osborne - solves this problem by launching a group of actors in the 1960s on a voyage of discovery into the 1660s & late-17th century England the extraordinary period in which Purcell lived. The all-star cast includes Michael Ball Simon Callow Corin Redgrave Letitia Dean John Shrapnel Robert Stephens and many other well-known names. But it is Purcell's music which is the driving force of this dramatisation with a stunning soundtrack performed by a line-up of superb artists such as Susan Graham Stephen Varcoe Lynne Dawson Nancy Argenta James Bowman and Michael Chance. The Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists are conducted by John Eliot Gardiner.

• The Royal Ballet | DVD | (15/03/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  This 1960 Film features a variety of dances from different ballets including Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake Stravinsky's The Firebird and Neze's Ondine. It is an excellent showpiece for the talents of the Royal Ballet.

• Elvis Presley Box Set (Volume 2) | DVD | (30/08/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £30.99

  Includes the films Viva Las Vegas Speedway and Harum Scarum. Viva Las Vegas: Lucky Jackson (Elvis) is a Vegas gambling car racing singing and dancing ladies man. But all does not go the way he plans when he finds himself distracted by the lovely pool manageress... Speedway: Stock car racer Steve Grayson (Elvis) has a generous disposition and a wastrel manager (Bill Bixby) - it's no surprise that he finds himself owing the taxman 5 000. Sparks fly when gorgeous tax inspector Susan Jacks (Nancy Sinatra) arrives on the scene... Harum Scarum: Johnny Tyronne (Elvis) is a swashbuckling action-adventure movie star on a goodwill tour of the Middle East to promote his latest film. Disaster strikes when he is kidnapped by a clandestine group of assassins who want him to kill a desert king!

• The Commitments (Special Edition) | DVD | (08/02/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  This is based on the first story of Roddy Doyle's 'Barrytown Trilogy'. Dubliner Jimmy Rabbitte is a man with a vision - to bring soul music to Dublin. His friends Derek and Outspan ask him to manage their band and Jimmy agrees but only on his terms. He places an ad in the local paper which simply reads have you got soul? If so the World's Hardest Working Band is looking for you. And so were born The Commitments... However all does not go smoothly and soon their success on stage is overshadowed by their off-stage rivalry. This is one of the best Irish feel-good movies of the early 1990's it is guaranteed to have you laughing cringing and singing along. Watch out for the bit parts and cameos by Andrea and Jim Corr and the man himself Alan Parker. Strong soul music soundtrack.

• Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake (Nureyev) | Blu Ray | (02/06/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake performed by Opera National de Paris and directed by Gerard Mortier.

• The Queen's Castle | DVD | (15/05/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  For the best part of a millennium Windsor Castle has been at the heart of the national story; the awesome fortress; family home; treasure chest; and burial ground for the Royal dynasty who went on to take its name. But there is another unseen side to the Castle which the tourists never see... It is the real Windsor - home workplace playground and paradise. The Queen's Castle explores this hidden world in all its glory. Last year for the first time ever Windsor opened its doors to an observational documentary team with the full approval of the Queen. The cameras chronicled a year in the life of the world's largest inhabited castle to produce a spectacular landmark documentary for BBC1. Delving behind-the-scenes the team meet not only the Royal family but also some of their four hundred staff at work; from the Queen's housekeeper to her grooms; fender smiths and flag men; picture restorers; military knights and priests - all of whom live and work within the Castle's nine hundred rooms... Windsor Castle's 'back garden' is the 15 000 acre Great Park; together they play host to a unique collection of events - the pageantry of Garter Day the glamour of Cartier Polo and the tradition of Royal Ascot. November sees the Castle thrown into the international spotlight when President and Madame Chirac spent two days at the Castle attending an official State Dinner and even an abridged version of Les Miserables organised by the Queen in the Waterloo Room (renamed the Music Room for that one night!). For all these events and activities both big and small the cameras were there with unique access following the people who made them happen. The Queen and Prince Philip spend most weekends of the year at Windsor. Throughout the series the rpogramme tries to explain why the Queen loves Windsor so much using exclusive interviews with Prince Philip to explain how a young Royal couple made Windsor a family home for their four children; even installing a solar powered swimming pool in the Georgian Orangery. Watch as the young Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie support Prince Harry playing polo. Throughout the series the Ranger of Windsor Great Park guides viewers through the vast expanse of Windsor Castle; whether on the polo field in the private Windsor Chapel or through the vast Crown Estate. Since the Ranger happens to be the Duke of Edinburgh - the longest serving Ranger in history you'll be in good company! This is a sight-seeing journey that no tourist has ever been on!

• Screwball Hotel | DVD | (05/07/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Please do not disturb the guests: they already are! It's not the Ritz but if you want to have fun then the Screwball hotel is the place to check in! It's full of guys who are willing to do anything girls in spray-on swimsuits some very shady villains and some very funny heroes...