"Actor: Michael Hordern"

• Where Eagles Dare | DVD | (27/01/2020) from £7.19   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Middlemarch (Repackaged) | DVD | (23/01/2012) from £6.85   |  Saving you £3.14 (45.84%)   |  RRP £9.99

  To do good small work for Middlemarch and great work for the world. This is the intention of the ambitious young Doctor Lydgate as he takes up his position at Middlemarch's new hospital. Elsewhere in town, Dorothea Brooke, seeking a purpose to her young life, finds herself drawn to the elderly, but scholarly, Edward Casaubon. Soon both find their cherished idealism tested by the demands of marriage and society... Set during the political upheavals of 19th Century England, Middlemarch is an epic story of love, politics and frustrated passion. Special Features: The Making of Middlemarch An additional 30 minutes (in 5.1 Surround Sound) of the original music composed by Stanley Myers and Chris Gunning. Compiled and digitally edited by David Maurice.

• The Taming of the Shrew (Limited Edition) | Blu Ray | (21/07/2025) from £17.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Richard Burton (Absolution) and Elizabeth Taylor (Secret Ceremony) star in The Taming of the Shrew, a vibrant and bawdy adaptation of Shakespeare's immortal romantic comedy from director Franco Zeffirelli (Romeo and Juliet). Nobleman Baptista (Michael Hordern, Girl Stroke Boy) seeks husbands for his two daughters. Bianca (Natasha Pyne, The Devil-Ship Pirates) has no trouble attracting suitors, but the headstrong and acerbic Kate (Taylor) drives men away... until the nobleman Petruchio (Burton) is inspired by a sizeable dowry to take on the challenge. This lavish production's all-star cast is rounded out by Cyril Cusack (Gideon's Day), Michael York (Cabaret), Alan Webb (The Third Secret), and Victor Spinetti (A Hard Day's Night), and features a lush soundtrack by the great Nino Rota (The Godfather, 8½). INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES High Definition remaster Original mono audio Audio commentary with film historians Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson (2025) Matthew Sweet on ˜The Taming of the Shrew' (2025): the broadcaster and writer examines the background behind the film's production Royal Film Performance screening (1967): newsreel footage capturing an audience of special guests, including Princess Margaret and a who's who of British cinema greats French premiere (1967): newsreel footage of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton attending the film's Paris premiere Original theatrical trailer Teaser trailer Image gallery: promotional and publicity material New English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Limited edition exclusive booklet with new essay by Bethan Roberts, a contemporary on-set report by John Francis Taylor, an overview of critical responses, and film credits UK premiere on Blu-ray Limited edition of 3,000 copies for the UK All features subject to change

• The Slipper And The Rose (Blu-Ray) | Blu Ray | (20/11/2017) from £17.48   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  You know the story: Cinderella rides in a magical pumpkin to the ball, enchants the prince and flees at midnight. He finds her slipper and tracks her down, and they live happily ever after. But wait! In The Slipper and the Rose, it turns out there's more to the life of a prince than being charming. The king prefers to choose the prince's wife, one of proper social station who would provide a strong political alliance to ward off the kingdom's enemies. That's one of the twists in this 1976 British take on the classic fairy tale, one of a long line of musical versions. The disgruntled prince, who's as much of a focal point here as the lady with the footwear, is played by Richard Chamberlain, during the years when he was taking on the classics and had not yet been crowned king of the TV mini-series. He displays a pleasant voice opposite Gemma Craven as Cinderella, and veteran character actor Michael Hordern as the king leads the supporting ensemble. Add lavish sets and lush scenery (partially filmed in Austria), humour, fun choreography, and an Oscar-nominated score full of charming songs by Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman (veterans of such Disney movies as Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book, and who also co-wrote the script with director Bryan Forbes), and you have a grand, engaging family musical. The 143-minute running time and dreamy, deliberate pace might test the patience of antsy viewers, but The Slipper and the Rose's legion of fans wouldn't have it any other way. --David Horiuchi, Amazon.com

• Charles Dickens Collection (Repackaged) | DVD | (23/01/2012) from £22.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £22.99

  Titles Comprise:Martin Chuzzlewit: Martin Chuzzlewit is a wealthy old man. But who will inherit his riches? He has disinherited his grandson, young Martin, suspecting the motives of the young man's love for Mary, Chuzzlewit's nurse and companion. With such a prize to play for, the rest of his family - including the snivelling hypocrite Pecksniff and the fabulously evil Jonas - bring forth all of their cunning, greed and selfishness. With his grandson floundering in America, these increasingly desperate relatives close in on the vulnerable old manOliver Twist: One of the most faithful productions of Dickens' favourite tale - with an authentic and compulsive twist to an old and classic tale. A Christmas Carol: First broadcast in 1977, repeated in 1993 with a stunning cast, the perennial favourite morality tale is vividly brought to life by Michael Hordern as Scrooge, with John le Mesurier and Bernard Lee.A Tale of Two Cities: Two cities intertwined during the French revolution by tyranny and love in this absorbing and heart-rending production. It tells the story of Syney Carton, a man of no consequence, who gives up his life to save Charles Darnay.Great Expectations: Pip is a young orphan who is taken under the protection of a kindly family. He is also brought into contact with Miss Havisham and the aloof Estella who he loves from afar. Miss Havisham becomes his benefactor and he is allowed to grow into a young gentleman, but is haunted by his past, in particular an encounter with Magwitch on the marshes when he was young. He is besotted with Estella but she shows no affection towards him to begin with and teases him by flirting with a number of eligible suitors. The story climaxes with a fire at Miss Havisham's house where old secrets are revealed and Pip and Estella finally realise their love for each other.David Copperfield: Bob Hoskins leads an all-star cast in an adaptation of one of Charles Dickens' most famous novels. Drawing on his own life Dickens tells the tale of David from birth and idyllic upbringing through hardship and adventure leadingto the eventual discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist. On his journey David encounters a gallery of Dickens's most memorable characters. Mr Micawber, Uriah Heep & Steerforth are among those who share his development. Pickwick Papers: Nigel Stock stars as Mr. Pickwick in this colourful BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens' first and much-loved best-seller about the chaotic and amusing adventures of the Pickwick Club, consisting of Mr. Pickwick and his companions.Our Mutual Friend: From the dark waters of Victorian London, Charles Dickens weaves a tale of crime and compassion. Poor Lizzie and her father eke out a living on the banks of the Thames until one day they recover a body that links them with another world - the world of dinner parties and the household of the Wilfers. As their lives intertwine a complex story of money and love emerges.

• Where Eagles Dare | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £7.48   |  Saving you £6.51 (87.03%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Scorned by reviewers when it came out, Where Eagles Dare has acquired a cult following over the years for its unashamed and highly concentrated dose of commando death-dealing to legions of Nazi machine-gun fodder. In 1968 Clint Eastwood was just getting used to the notion that he might be a world-class movie star; Richard Burton, whose image had been shaped equally by classical theatre and his headline-making romance with Elizabeth Taylor, was eager to try his hand at the action genre. Author Alistair MacLean's novel The Guns of Navarone had inspired the film that started the 1960s vogue for World War II military capers, so he was prevailed upon to write the screenplay (his first). The central location, an impregnable Alpine stronghold locked in ice and snow, is surpassing cool, but the plot and action are ultra-mechanical, and the switcheroo gamesmanship of just who is the undercover double (triple?) agent on the mission becomes aggressively silly. --Richard T Jameson

• Cast A Giant Shadow | DVD | (20/05/2002) from £11.42   |  Saving you £1.57 (13.75%)   |  RRP £12.99

  1966’s Cast a Giant Shadow is based on Ted Berkman’s biography of Colonel "Mickey" Marcus, the American soldier who served as an adviser in the fight to establish the state of Israel in 1948. It stars Kirk Douglas as the likeable "stiffneck" and WWII veteran persuaded to take up the cause. Israel back then was depicted as a negligible military force under threat of extinction at the hands of its Arab neighbours, hamstrung by a UN embargo on arms supplies. It takes Douglas at his most square-jawed to see off the Egyptian military and defy a blockade to beat a path through to Jerusalem. This is not cinema verité but Hollywood. Marcus’ dilemma--to settle into peacetime in America or follow his more natural, combative instincts abroad--is symbolised by a love triangle, involving wife Angie Dickinson and Santa Berger as Magda, the soldier whom he falls for in Palestine. Although lavish and spectacular, especially in the war scenes--filmed in the actual Middle Eastern locations in which they occurred--Cast a Giant Shadow is not entirely authentic (for a start, they’re driving 1950s vehicles in the 40s). Moreover, in the light of later troubles in the region, not everyone will be heart warmed by this depiction of plucky little Israel coping against Arab foes who are barely depicted as human throughout the film, merely as tanks and gunfire. Still, it’s an impressive enough relic of epic 1960s cinema, with cameos from Yul Brynner, John Wayne as Marcus’ wartime general, and Frank Sinatra as a pilot scattering the enemy by dropping soda dispensers on them. On the DVD: Cast a Giant Shadow‘s restoration here is visually immaculate. The mono sound, however, is often indistinct, with a good deal of sibilant hiss. Disappointingly, the only extra is the original trailer.--David Stubbs

• The Wind In The Willows - The Original Movie (Digitally Restored Edition - 2013) | DVD | (28/10/2013) from £6.99   |  Saving you £-1.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  First published in 1908, Kenneth Grahame's 'The Wind In The Willows' has become one of the best loved books of all time, enchanting generations of children and adults alike. Voiced by an all-star cast including DAVID JASON as Toad, MICHAEL HORDERN as Badger, RICHARD PEARSON as Mole and IAN CHARMICHAEL as Ratty with UNA STUBBS and BERYL REID. Brought to the screen by award winning animation team Cosgrove Hall, 'The Wind In The Willows' original movie introduces us, for the first time, to our...

• Anne Of The Thousand Days | DVD | (06/03/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  He was King. She was barely 18. And in their thousand days they played out the most passionate and shocking love story in history! This lush perfectly cast 1969 drama concerns both a doomed royal love affair and a pivotal moment in British history. Based on Maxwell Anderson's 1948 play Anne of the Thousand Days concerns the mess that surrounded King Henry VIII's decision to rid himself of his first wife Catherine of Aragon (Irene Papas) and marry the young Anne Boleyn (G

• The Shakespeare Collection | DVD | (23/11/2020) from £89.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  ALL 37 PRODUCTIONS FROM THE BBC TELEVISION SHAKESPEARE SERIES William Shakespeare's repute spans the world the beauty of his language, his profound insight into human nature and the complexity and integrity of his characters, confirming him as the greatest ever playwright. These BBC adaptations, renowned for their loyalty to the text, utilise the best theatrical and television talent to bring the full glory of his plays to the small screen. In 1978, the BBC set itself the task of filming all of William Shakespeare's plays for television. The series beginning with Romeo and Juliet and concluding, nearly seven years later, with Titus Andronicus featured adaptations of all 36 First Folio plays, plus Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Ranging from traditional interpretations to adventurous, stylised approaches and featuring such great actors as John Gielgud, Jane Lapotaire, Claire Bloom, Derek Jacobi, Anthony Hopkins, Prunella Scales, Patrick Stewart, Helen Mirren and John Cleese the resulting productions form a magnificent and unique collection of the Shakespeare canon. THE SHAKESPEARE COLLECTION Titles arranged in alphabetical order ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA AS YOU LIKE IT THE COMEDY OF ERRORS CORIOLANUS CYMBELINE HAMLET HENRY IV PART I HENRY IV PART II HENRY V HENRY VI PART I HENRY VI PART II HENRY VI PART III HENRY VIII JULIUS CAESAR KING LEAR THE LIFE AND DEATH OF KING JOHN LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST MACBETH MEASURE FOR MEASURE THE MERCHANT OF VENICE THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING OTHELLO PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE RICHARD II RICHARD III ROMEO AND JULIET THE TAMING OF THE SHREW THE TEMPEST TIMON OF ATHENS TITUS ANDRONICUS TROILUS AND CRESSIDA TWELFTH NIGHT THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA THE WINTER'S TALE

• The Heart Of The Matter | DVD | (25/09/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Adapted from Graham Greene's novel Trevor Howard stars as Harry Scobie an assistant police commisioner working in Sierra Leone during WWII. Harry finds himself drawn to Helen a survivor of a U-boat attack and whilst the cat is away he decides that he can no longer stay married. However as his Catholic union threatens the outcome of both relationships Harry soon convinces himself that desperate measures need to be taken....

• Lady Jane | DVD | (17/05/2004) from £5.75   |  Saving you £10.24 (178.09%)   |  RRP £15.99

  This historical drama from acclaimed director Sir Trevor Nunn tells the true story of young royal Lady Jane Grey and how she was supplanted on the throne of England for a mere nine days by plotting ministers after the death of Henry VIII. Starring Helena Bonham Carter in her feature film debut and with a strong supporting cast including Patrick Stewart Lady Jane is a powerful and moving story of political corruption and the tragedy of love. Helena Bonham Carter gives a remarkable

• Up Pompeii | DVD | (14/02/2011) from £6.75   |  Saving you £9.24 (136.89%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A funny thing happens to Lurcio (Frankie Howerd) on the way to the rent-a-vestal-virgin market stall. A mysterious scroll falls into his hands listing the names of all the conspirators plotting to murder Emperor Nero. And when the upstart slave is elected to infiltrate the ringleader's den the comical ups-and-downs lead to total uproar.

• Ghost Stories for Christmas (Expanded 6-Disc Collection Box Set) | DVD | (28/10/2013) from £34.99   |  Saving you £25.00 (71.45%)   |  RRP £59.99

  This newly re-packaged and expanded Ghost Stories for Christmas 6-DVD box set from the BFI includes a total of 20 spine-tingling adaptations of the stories of M R James plus three additional Ghost Stories for Christmas broadcast by the BBC between 1968 and 2010. Highlights include Jonathan Miller’s Whistle and I’ll Come to You (1968) Lawrence Gordon Clark’s A Warning to the Curious (1972) and the Andrew Davies adaptation of Charles Dickens’ The Signalman (1976). These adaptations which have a subtlety and style all of their own have been a major influence on many contemporary British horror filmmakers and have come to be regarded as some of the most acclaimed and brilliant British TV titles of all time. Contents: Disc One: Whistle and I’ll Come to You (1968); Whistle and I’ll Come to You (2010) Disc Two: The Stalls of Barchester (1971); A Warning to the Curious (1972) Disc Three: Lost Hearts (1973); The Treasure of Abbot Thomas (1974); The Ash Tree (1975) Disc Four: The Signalman (1976); Stigma (1977); The Ice House (1978) Disc Five: A View from a Hill (2005); Number 13 (2006); Disc Six: Classic Ghost Stories (1986) – Robert Powell reads ‘The Mezzotint’ ‘The Ash Tree’ ‘Wailing Well’ ‘The Rose Garden’ and ‘Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You My Lad’ Extras Three episodes of Ghost Stories for Christmas with Christopher Lee (2000): ‘The Stalls of Barchester’. ‘A Warning to the Curious’ and ‘Number 13’ Three episodes of Spine Chillers (1980): ‘The Mezzotint’ ‘A School Story’ and ‘The Diary of Mr Poynter’ Filmed introductions with director Lawrence Gordon Clarke Extensive booklet with essays biographies film notes and full credits

• Where Eagles Dare | Blu Ray | (17/04/2019) from £8.75   |  Saving you £9.24 (105.60%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Scorned by reviewers when it came out, Where Eagles Dare has acquired a cult following over the years for its unashamed and highly concentrated dose of commando death-dealing to legions of Nazi machine-gun fodder. In 1968 Clint Eastwood was just getting used to the notion that he might be a world-class movie star; Richard Burton, whose image had been shaped equally by classical theatre and his headline-making romance with Elizabeth Taylor, was eager to try his hand at the action genre. Author Alistair MacLean's novel The Guns of Navarone had inspired the film that started the 1960s vogue for World War II military capers, so he was prevailed upon to write the screenplay (his first). The central location, an impregnable Alpine stronghold locked in ice and snow, is surpassing cool, but the plot and action are ultra-mechanical, and the switcheroo gamesmanship of just who is the undercover double (triple?) agent on the mission becomes aggressively silly. --Richard T Jameson

• The Missionary | DVD | (29/07/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Fallen women? Does it mean they've hurt their knees? After a decade of soul-saving in Africa Charles Fortescue is asked to minister to the ladies of the night in 1906 London. So Fortescue feeds them shelters them and not infrequently provides them a bed: his! A naive man of the cloth becomes a man of the sheets in this playfully naughty yet always tasteful comedy that stars Monty Python's Michael Palin (who also wrote the script) as Fortescue and features a colourful array of cockeyed characters: a blissful airhead (Phoebe Nicholls) a lusty mission sponsor (Maggie Smith) a bewildered butler (Michael Hordern) an earthy bishop (Denholm Elliott) a cantankerous John Bull (Trevor Howard) and more. Jolly good fun!

• El Cid | DVD | (16/05/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Sumptuous in every way, visually magnificent, with grandiose sets, panoramic Spanish vistas and intricately detailed costumes, possessor of one of cinema's greatest music scores, boasting vast and astonishingly kinetic battles, and breathing heroic virtue in every scene, El Cid is the very epitome of epic. For this reworking of the medieval legend of the Cid (Arabic for "Lord") who united warring factions and saved 11th-century Spain from invasion, producer Samuel Bronston and director Anthony Mann insisted every set had to be created from scratch, every costume specially made for this movie alone; they also shot entirely on location in La Mancha and along the Mediterranean coast of Spain to enhance the film's authenticity. The cinematography is saturated with the burnished hues of the Spanish landscape, as are the palatial sets and rich costumes; Miklos Rozsa's resplendent score is also the result of painstaking research into medieval Spanish sources. The screenplay is imbued with knightly gravitas and more than a little salvation imagery, from the opening scene of the young Rodrigo rescuing a cross from a burning church, to the movie's indelible finale as The Cid rides "out of the gates of history into legend". Charlton Heston is at his most indomitable as Rodrigo, "The Cid", a natural leader of men and the embodiment of every manly virtue (note that he fathers twins--a sure token of his virility); Sophie Loren is ravishing as Chimene, the woman whose love for Rodrigo conflicts with her filial instincts after he kills her father, the king's champion, over a point of honour. Their scenes together create a humane warmth at the heart of this vast movie: the moment when Chimene finally declares her love (beneath a shrine of three crosses--more symbolism) to the exiled Rodrigo forms a pivotal and very intimate centrepiece. Shortly thereafter he must rise from their rural marriage bed to lead his followers into battle, and the tension between his public and private lives adds a piquancy to the film's stunning battle sequences. The international supporting cast sometimes look like makeweights, especially when chewing on the occasionally stilted dialogue, but any such faults are easily forgiven as the scale and spectacle of El Cid carries the viewer away on a tide of chivalry. --Mark Walker

• Sink the Bismarck / The Enemy Below (Double Pack) | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £14.35   |  Saving you £0.64 (4.46%)   |  RRP £14.99

  The Enemy Below and Sink the Bismarck! form a double feature of semi-classic CinemaScope-era WWII naval dramas sailing from the Fox vault onto DVD for the first time. In The Enemy Below Robert Mitchum and Curt Jurgens are respectively captains of a US destroyer and a German U-boat whose vessels come into conflict in the South Atlantic. Both are good men with a job to do, the script noting Jurgens' distaste for Hitler and the Nazis and engaging our sympathy with the German sailors almost as much as the Americans. Made at the height of the Cold War of the 1950s, the film delivers a liberal message of cooperation wrapped inside some spectacular action scenes and a story that builds to a tense and exciting, moving finale. Sink the Bismarck! is a British film dating from three years later and adopts a more documentary style in recounting the race against time to track and destroy what was in 1941 the most powerful battleship then built, the Bismarck. Shot in gleaming black and white so as to make use of genuine WWII archive footage, the film is held together by the introduction of a fictional naval officer in overall command of the operation, played excellently by Kenneth More. To add some human warmth he is given a tentative romantic subplot with a WREN played by the luminous Dana Wynter. Though initially slow to gather steam, Sink the Bismarck! finally delivers an epic, thoroughly horrifying conclusion. On the DVD: The Enemy Below and Sink the Bismarck! come as a two-disc set with multiple language and subtitle options, including English for Hard of Hearing, but no extras other than the original trailers. These are presented at 16:9 and 2.35:1. Both are rather faded, but are fine examples of an era when watching the previews didn't guarantee a migraine. Both films are anamorphically enhanced in their original 2.35:1 CinemaScope, and, bar a little grain in some shots and the inevitably inferior archive footage, the picture quality is excellent. The Enemy Below boasts sturdy three-channel sound (left, front, right) while Sink the Bismarck! is in very well mixed stereo. --Gary S Dalkin

• Ghost Stories for Christmas Volume 1 (3 x Blu-ray discs) | Blu Ray | (05/12/2022) from £24.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  !Broadcast in the dying hours of Christmas Eve, the BBC's A Ghost Story for Christmas series was a fixture of the seasonal schedules throughout the 1970s and spawned a long tradition of chilling tales, which terrified yuletide viewers for decades to come. This much-requested release gives four landmarks of the series their Blu-ray debut, having been newly remastered by the BFI from original film materials. All based on classic short stories by acclaimed writer MR James, his atmospheric settings and creeping unease are eerily realised in these seminal dramas that unleash evil spirits that will haunt and unnerve. The Films: Whistle and I'll Come to You (1968), The Stalls of Barchester (1971), A Warning to the Curious (1972), Lost Hearts (1973) Extras Presented in High Definition (Limited Edition) Whistle and I'll Come to You (2010, 52 min): John Hurt stars in this more recent reinterpretation of MR James' chilling tale Newly recorded commentaries on Whistle and I'll Come to You (1968) and The Stalls of Barchester by Jon Dear Lawrence Gordon Clark introductions (2012, 33 mins): introductions to The Stalls of Barchester, A Warning to the Curious and Lost Hearts previously recorded for the BFI's DVD release Ramsay Campbell on MR James (2001, 16 mins) Jonathan Miller and Christopher Frayling discuss Whistle and I'll Come to You (2012, 3 mins) Neil Brand reads MR James' Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You My Lad (2001, 42 mins, audio only) Ramsey Campbell reads his own MR James-inspired story The Guide (2001, 27 mins) Ghost Stories for Christmas with Christopher Lee: The Stalls of Barchester and A Warning to the Curious (2000, 60 mins total) **LIMITED EDITION ONLY** Illustrated booklet with essays by Reggie Oliver, Jonathan Rigby, Adam Easterbrook and Ramsey Campbell Newly commissioned sleeve art by Matt Needle Other extras TBC

• Alexander The Great | DVD | (03/01/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Richard Burton stars in Alexander the Great, a middling entry in the 1950s CinemaScope epic cycle. The film boasts excellent production values and a fine cast--including Frederic March, Claire Bloom, Harry Andrews, Stanley Baker, Peter Cushing and Michael Hordern--but it rarely comes to life other than as a big fat ancient Greek wedding of the talents of Burton and Bloom. They strike real dramatic sparks together, so much so they would be reunited in Look Back in Anger (1958) and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965). The film's failures must be laid at the feet of writer, director and producer Robert Rossen, who never before or after helmed anything remotely on this scale; his best work would follow with the intimate The Hustler (1961). Rossen simply shows little sensibility for the epic, staging lavish but brief and rather pedestrian battles and somehow drawing from the usually mesmerising Burton a performance lacking the charisma essential to a great military commander. Burton fans can enjoy him at his epic best as Marc Anthony in Cleopatra (1963). On the DVD: Alexander the Great is presented anamorphically enhanced at 2.35:1, although the picture is still obviously cropped at either side of the screen throughout. The print is very variable, in places quite grainy and soft with some serious flickering blotchiness, but otherwise it has strong colours, detail and contrast. The sound is primitive stereo. The only extra is the theatrical trailer, effectively presented in anamorphic 2.35:1. --Gary S. Dalkin