"Actor: Norman Wisdom"

• A Stitch In Time | DVD | (12/11/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Norman Wisdom returns as his famous "Pitkin" character, but also for the first time since his appearance in 1958's The Square Peg, Edward Chapman is also back to provide Norman with the excuse to reprise his immortal catch-phrase "Mr Grimsdale". Following on from the previous year's On the Beat, this is actually Wisdom's third adventure as Norman Pitkin, and he certainly has a thing about uniforms. In the previous pictures he was in the army then the police, while here he succeeds in causing chaos in a St. John's Ambulance unit, as well as donning drag to play a blonde nurse complete with suspender belt and silk stockings. Each Norman Wisdom movie usually sees him as the accidental Lord of Misrule in one institution or another, and this time its the NHS: after being banned from his local hospital, Norman resorts to subterfuge to visit a little orphan girl. There's an autobiographical touch here, as Wisdom himself was raised in an orphanage and centred the plot of One Good Turn (1954) around such an establishment. It's all good fun and clearly shows where such later British comedy as Michael Crawford's BBC TV series Some Mothers Do 'Av 'Em (1973-78) found its inspiration. --Gary S. Dalkin

• Norman Wisdom - The Square Peg | DVD | (28/04/2010) from £11.52   |  Saving you £-6.53 (-130.90%)   |  RRP £4.99

  United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Subtitles ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Black & White, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: Norman Wisdom's immense popularity stems from his hilarious portrayal of the little guy who always seems to win out in the end. The cloth capped bumbler is one of the great creations of British comedy. It is the second world war and Norman Pitkin (Norman Wisdom) is proud of his role in the war effort he is a road mender for the council until he is recruited into the pioneer corps. From the beginning, the worst fears of the commander are confirmed. But trying to turn Norman Pitkin into a soldier is like trying to fit a square peg in a round hall. ...The Square Peg ( The Square Peg - Norman Wisdom )

• Bulldog Breed, The / One Good Turn | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In 1960, Norman Wisdom was left all at sea in The Bulldog Breed. He had already made a farce of the army in The Square Peg (1958), so what better than to join the navy? Back in the real world, the Russians had kick-started the space race putting Sputnik into orbit, so Norman rapidly finds himself selected to be the first Brit in space. Playing to type, the result is excellent physical comedy and copious tomfoolery at the expense of the upper ranks. With support from John Le Mesurier and Edward Chapman (the legendary "Mr Grimsdale") and uncredited appearances from Oliver Reed and Michael Caine, this is a notable British comedy, with an unusually direct reference to the risqué Carry On movies. For his second starring role Norman Wisdom played the oldest orphan of Greenwood Children's Home in 1954's One Good Turn. Not only does he have to find the money to buy one of the orphans a model car, but after a visit to Brighton he discovers Greenwood is due to be closed down by the home's own unscrupulous chairman, a property developer with plans to build a factory on the site. Also starring Thora Hird, One Good Turn was surely a film with a personal resonance for Wisdom who was himself brought-up in an orphanage after his mother died and his father was unable to raise him. As would become a tradition, he contributes a song, "Please Opportunity", and the movie, though produced by Rank, now sits easily in that classic Ealing era where the ordinary man took on the big guys and won. The innocent knockabout humour remains appealing. --Gary S Dalkin

• Norman Wisdom - Press for Time | DVD | (30/09/2010) from £8.53   |  Saving you £-3.54 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Norman Wisdom - Press For Time

• The Night They Raided Minsky's | DVD | (20/10/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Sometimes Being A Nice Girl Is Too Much To Bare! Britt Ekland portrays Rachel a beautiful young Amish woman who leaves her Pennsylvania home and comes to New York City in hopes of becoming a dancer and ends up doing something quite different: inventing the striptease! Jason Robards gives a wonderful performance as Raymond Paine the somewhat sleazy star of Minsky's burlesque show who takes on interest in Rachel's many charms. But his admiration is challenged by Chick Williams (Norman Wisdom) Raymond's comedy partner for the past ten years. And when Rachel's dress is torn accidentally she plays it up and finds herself the object of even more affection - from the very appreciative audience! The leader of an anti-vice group has everyone arrested but not before Rachel becomes the toast of the town in this hilarious - and scandalous - hit!

• Early Bird, The / Press For Time | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Norman Wisdom reprises his best-loved character, the comically inept Pitkin, in 1965's The Early Bird, ably supported once again by Edward Chapman in his final appearance as Mr Grimsdale. This time around Wisdom is the only milkman working for Grimsdale's Dairy, a small business threatened by a menacing large corporation in the shape of Consolidated Dairies and their electric milk floats. Grimsdale and Pitkin must evoke the Dunkirk spirit to save their family firm from the grasp of the faceless giant. Of course, the wafer-thin plot is the merest excuse for a series of calamitous set pieces in which Wisdom wreaks havoc in his trademark bumbling manner. The best bits involve a disastrous game of golf, the usual shenanigans with a fire hose and a virtuoso tour de force opening sequence as the household struggles to wake up in the morning, all set to Ron Goodwin's tongue-in-cheek music score. --Mark Walker In Press for Time Norman Wisdom offered his version of the crusading reporter movie, though by 1966 time was running out for Norman's style of big-screen comedy. Perhaps a sign of his growing frustration with the formulaic nature of his pictures was that he stretched himself to play not just his usual underdog hero, but also his own mother and his grandfather, the Prime Minister. Wisdom also cowrote the movie in which, as a reporter in a small seaside town, he causes chaos for the council, organises a beauty parade and dresses as a suffragette. Though now nearing the end of his years as a movie star, Wisdom shows himself to still be as polished as ever at his own brand of good-natured slapstick. --Gary S Dalkin

• Norman Wisdom - A Stitch in Time | DVD | (28/04/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  1963 90 minutes Colour

• Cadfael - Complete Collection | DVD | (21/10/2009) from £21.25   |  Saving you £-16.26 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Man of the world turned man of the cloth - Cadfael (Derek Jacobi) is a rare hero. He is a man who has chosen to live as a monk - yet he's no saint. Once a solider who fought in the Crusades he has lived - and loved. Even his devotion to the church is not enough to suppress his curiosity to quell his love of mystery. This release features all the storylines from Series One to Four based on the novels by Ellis Peters.

• Press For Time | DVD | (12/11/2001) from £6.28   |  Saving you £3.71 (59.08%)   |  RRP £9.99

  In Press for Time Norman Wisdom offered his version of the crusading reporter movie, though by 1966 time was running out for Norman's style of big-screen comedy. Wisdom had played duel roles in The Square Peg (1958) and On the Beat (1962), but perhaps a sign of his growing frustration with the formulaic nature of his pictures was that he stretched himself to play not just his usual underdog hero, but also his own mother and his grandfather, the Prime Minister. Wisdom also co-wrote the movie, and as a reporter in a small seaside town causes chaos for the council, organises a beauty parade and manages to reprise his drag act (he dressed as a female nurse in A Stitch in Time) as a suffragette. This was really the penultimate Norman Wisdom comedy, since apart from What's Good for the Goose (1969), he has only made two more features, William Friedkin's The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and the belated thriller Double X (1992). Though now nearing the end of his years as a movie star, Wisdom shows himself to still be as polished as ever at his own brand of good-natured slapstick. Fans can be sure that with Norman around there's Trouble in Store (1953). --Gary S. Dalkin

• Double X - The Name Of The Game | DVD | (25/02/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Arthur Clutten (Norman Wisdom) is an expert safecracker who masterminds every heist for the crime syndicate he belongs to. But when he witnesses the brutal methods of persuasion being meted out the gang's leader Ignatius Smith (Bernard Hill) Clutten decides to quit the gang. However he soon realises that the gang would rather see him dead than leave them and so he decides to steal some documents that would incriminate the criminal mastermind Edward Ross (Simon Ward) and expose his honest facade.

• What's Good for the Goose | DVD | (02/04/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Norman Wisdom is an assistant bank manager who lives the routine humdrum life of taking his work home with him working as he eats meals kissing his children goodnight on the cheek his wife goodnight on her forehead and next morning work. On his way to a bankers' conference in Southport he meets hippy-happy Sally Gleeson. The brief interlude is over almost before it began but it gived the man anew look on life the chance of a better understanding with his wife and even a fresh approach to...his work. A tender mildly sexy and amusing story starring one of Britain's most loved comic actors. Also features an appearance by The Pretty Things.

• The Early Bird | DVD | (12/11/2001) from £16.24   |  Saving you £-3.26 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Norman Wisdom reprises his best-loved character, the comically inept Pitkin, in 1965's The Early Bird, ably supported once again by Edward Chapman in his final appearance as Mr Grimsdale. This time around Wisdom is the only milkman working for Grimsdale's Dairy, a small business threatened by a menacing large corporation in the shape of Consolidated Dairies and their electric milk floats. Grimsdale and Pitkin must evoke the Dunkirk spirit to save their family firm from the grasp of the faceless giant. Of course, the wafer-thin plot is the merest excuse for a series of calamitous set pieces in which Wisdom wreaks havoc in his trademark bumbling manner. The best bits involve a disastrous game of golf, the usual shenanigans with a fire hose and a virtuoso tour de force opening sequence as the household struggles to wake up in the morning. Wisdom's own brand of Jerry Lewis-inspired clowning, with mugging and pratfalls aplenty, is all good clean fun with little or none of the smutty innuendo that characterised the contemporary Carry On series. He carries this film, as he does all his others, solely on the strength of his winningly naïve charm: this is innocent comedy from the days before supermarkets really did wreck all the local businesses, not to mention from the days before The Godfather gave a whole new spin on the comedy value of going to bed with your horse. On the DVD: There are no extra features on this disc at all. Given Wisdom's household-name status and the longevity of these much-loved movies, this seems like a sadly missed opportunity. The 4:3 picture has not been digitally remastered and shows its age, as does the muddy mono soundtrack. Only Ron Goodwin's wonderfully tongue-in-cheek music score comes across reasonably well. --Mark Walker

• On The Beat / Man Of The Moment | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In 1962's On the Beat, Norman Wisdom's Pitkin, the most famous incarnation of his riotous buffoon character, is dreaming of something better as usual. Pitkin wants to follow in his father's footsteps and become a policeman, but being decidedly on the short side, has to settle for washing police cars. Of course it's not long before Norman is impersonating an officer of the law. Wisdom also plays his nemesis here, the German General Schreiber, as well as the chief suspect in a series of jewel robberies which only Pitkin's chaotic antics can solve. Terence Alexander effectively reprises his character from The Square Peg (1958), and Wisdom regular David Lodge, previously seen costarring in The Bulldog Breed (1960), is also on hand, though otherwise the supporting cast is less stellar than before. By the time of 1955's Man of the Moment, Wisdom was firmly established as Britain's favourite movie comedian, his shy, helpful and good-natured "gump" character forever unintentionally causing catastrophe in the great tradition of Charlie Chaplin. However, while Chaplin ventured into politics in Modern Times (1936) for satirical purposes, when Norman's minor civil servant here accidentally becomes the UK delegate at a conference in Geneva the emphasis is on farce and pratfalls. The plot sees Norman sticking up for the rights of the fictional kingdom of Tawaki against less-than-honest government interests, while his new-found status brings the attention of the ladies, including the return of his Trouble in Store (1953) costar Lana Morris. Continuing his collaboration with veteran director John Paddy Carstairs, the film is a polished laughter machine that continues to entertain. --Gary S Dalkin

• The Legend of Harrow Woods 3D | DVD | (01/08/2011) from £9.02   |  Saving you £6.97 (77.27%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The Legend of Harrow Woods is about a group of students who visit a haunted forest called Harrow Woods in New England for a weekend vacation to investigate the disappearance of horror novelist George Carney and his family who went missing presumed dead two years earlier led by lecturer Karl Mathers. The group of students embark on their investigation to learn that the forest has more horrors to offer then first realised as they discover that in the 17th Century the infamous witch Lenore Selwyn was burnt at the stake within Harrow Woods. As she struggled against the flames she cursed the very land that her ashes fell upon. With the knowledge of this information the group are murdered one by one on their weekend of horrors.

• A Date With A Dream | DVD | (28/08/2006) from £21.02   |  Saving you £-8.03 (-61.80%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A period piece comedy from the post-war British cinema. Four war-time concert party performers have a reunion and decide they are good enough to form a successful nightclub act. But will their audiences think the same? As well as a young Terry Thomas the film also stars Norman Wisdom Wally Patch and Jeanie Carson.

• What's Good for the Goose | DVD | (26/09/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  It is the Swingin' Sixties and Timothy Bartlett (Norman Wisdom) is a middle-aged, timid banker whose lot has blessed him with a hum-drum, uneventful married life with children. Having to attend the bank's conference at a seaside resort, Timothy drives there and picks up two attractive, teenage, hitchhikers on the way. Nikki (Sally Geeson) and Meg (Sarah Atkinson) open up Timothy's eyes to the fun-filled free-love world of the late 1960's and despite Timothy's reluctance...the only way is up!Pitkin and Mr Grimsdale this feast of flesh and pathos is certainly not! But for lovers of lightweight swinging sixties sex comedies and The Pretty Things appearing in a psychedelic club scene What's Good for the Goose is a must. Groovy Man!

• Best Of British Comedy | DVD | (23/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £21.99

  A Box Set featuring 3 fabulous Comedy films from the Golden Age of British Cinema

• The Girl On The Boat | DVD | (25/09/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Sam Marlowe travels to the States with the intention of convincing his aunt to let him rent out her summer house in England. But when the aunt discovers that Eustace Sam's cousin is planning to secretly marry she sends them back to England. On the return trip Sam meets and falls for Eustace's ex-fiancee Billie with hilarious results. Adapted from the P.G. Wodehouse novel.

• Norman Wisdom - Trouble On Tour | DVD | (28/04/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Featuring Norman Wisdom live at his annual show.

• One Good Turn | DVD | (12/11/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Reunited with many of the team behind Trouble in Store (1953), his smash hit of the previous year, for his second starring role Norman Wisdom played the oldest orphan of Greenwood Children's Home. Having being raised in the home Norman has stayed on as odd-job man, a role which ideally suits his man-child persona. Not only does he have to find the money to buy one of the orphans a model car, but after a visit to Brighton he discovers Greenwood is due to be closed down by the home's own unscrupulous chairman, a property developer with plans to build a factory on the site. Also starring Thora Hird, One Good Turn was surely a film with a personal resonance for Wisdom who was himself brought-up in an orphanage after his mother died and his father was unable to raise him. As would become a tradition, he contributes a song, "Please Opportunity", and the movie, though produced by Rank, now sits easily in that classic Ealing era where the ordinary man took on the big guys and won. The innocent knockabout humour remains appealing and it is simply impossible not to like Norman Wisdom. The film's success led directly to the aptly named Man of the Moment (1955). --Gary S Dalkin