"Actor: Nicholas Selby"

• Macbeth | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £6.99   |  Saving you £13.00 (185.98%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Roman Polanski's adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy Macbeth remains one of the most infamous for a number of reasons: the copious amounts of bloody gore, its expert use of location settings (filmed in North Wales) and Lady Macbeth's nude sleepwalking scene. Despite its notoriety, though, this does remain one of the more compelling film adaptations of the Scottish tragedy, if one of the more pessimistic takes on the story of Macbeth and his overreaching ambition. If you think the play is normally a bit of a downer, you haven't seen Polanski's bleak version of it, made in reaction to the murder of his wife, Sharon Tate, by the Manson "family". Jon Finch (Hitchcock's Frenzy) is a forceful Macbeth, bringing out the Scot's warrior instincts, and Francesca Annis is a memorable Lady Macbeth but the main thrust of the film belongs to Polanski's and noted British playwright and critic Kenneth Tynan's take on the play: extremely violent, nihilistic and visceral; this is down-in-the-dirt, no-holds-barred Shakespeare, not fussy costume drama. Pay close attention to the end, a silent coda that puts a chilling twist on all the action that has come beforehand and foreshadows more tragedy to come. --Mark Englehart

• Elizabeth R | DVD | (20/03/2006) from £9.99   |  Saving you £20.00 (200.20%)   |  RRP £29.99

  A chronicle of England's Golden Age during the late 16th century recounting the life and times of the remarkable Elizabeth I in a cycle of six plays. Academy Award-winning actress Glenda Jackson stars in one of the most popular and acclaimed Masterpiece Theatre presentations ever created the story of England's Queen Elizabeth I. Filled with palace intrigue royal romance and stunning historical detail it traces her reign from a young Princess through almost 50 years of rule over

• The Tragedy of Macbeth | Blu Ray | (18/04/2016) from £13.35   |  Saving you £14.64 (109.66%)   |  RRP £27.99

  Roman Polanski imbues his unflinchingly violent adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy of ruthless ambition and murder in medieval Scotland with grit and dramatic intensity. Jon Finch and Francesca Annis give performances charged with fury and sex appeal as a decorated warrior rising through the ranks and his driven wife, scheming together to take the throne by any means. Co-adapted by Polanski and the great theatre critic and dramaturge Kenneth Tynan, and shot against a series of stunning, stark British Isle landscapes, this version of Macbeth is among the most atmospheric and authentic of all Shakespeare films.