"Actor: Paul Humpolet"

• World War 2 - Behind Closed Doors | DVD | (24/11/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  For the first time on television this series tells the true story of Stalin's encounters first with the Nazis and then with Churchill and Roosevelt and consequently their enormous impact on World War II and later the fate of post-war Europe. An enthralling mix of high politics - including the inside story of the Allies' meetings at Tehran Yalta and Potsdam - and the dramatic personal experiences of those who bore the consequences of the decisions made by the powerful. Astonishing dramatic reconstructions carefully sourced from archive material reveal how the great leaders decided the future shape of the post-war world. These decisions had immediate and often harrowing effects for those on the ground. Their story is told through documentary footage dramatic reconstructions and illuminating interviews - including contributions from former Soviet secret policemen Allied seamen who served on the Arctic convoys and Red Army veterans who experienced hand-to-hand fighting on the Eastern Front. Written and produced by award-winning film-maker Laurence Rees (Auschwitz - The Nazis & the 'Final Solution' War of the Century Nazis - A Warning from History ) this series is a compelling new way of understanding the most secret and dramatic events of the Second World War.

• Shackleton | DVD | (14/04/2003) from £6.99   |  Saving you £3.00 (42.92%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Shackleton is not a biopic of the great Anglo-Irish explorer but a dramatisation of the failed trans-Antarctic expedition of 1914-16. As written and directed by Charles (Longtitude) Sturridge the production, filmed on real ice floes in Greenland, stays remarkably close to the facts, capturing the look of the surviving expedition photos of Frank Hurley (collected in the book South With Endurance) with great fidelity. Kenneth Branagh makes no attempt at an authentic accent but otherwise gives a powerful impression of a most commanding personality. When the expedition ship Endurance became locked in the Antarctic ice Shackleton vowed to bring every man home alive, and against virtually impossible odds, including a 700-mile journey in an open boat through some of the worst seas in the world, he did just that. This superlative mini-series realises the story with production values and cinematography which would not disgrace a big-budget feature (Hurley's own 1919 documentary film can be seen on video in South). Intense physical drama, strong performances and Adrian Johnston's fine score combine here to deeply moving effect, marred only a little by a rushed conclusion. With Roland Huntford, author of the definitive Shackleton biography, as production advisor, this easily stands as the benchmark for all future comparable films. --Gary S Dalkin

• Force 10 From Navarone | DVD | (08/08/2005) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-7.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Explosive high adventure! A mission more daring than silencing the ""Guns"". The survivors of The Guns Of Navarone (Dir. J. Lee Thompson 1961) are given an even more dangerous mission - they must destroy a huge bridge deep in the Balkans. During their journey they join up with 'Force 10' a group of tough American commandoes led by the daring Lt. Colonel Barnsby (Harrison Ford). But on their arrival in Yugoslavia they are captured by the Germans and failure of

• TV Drama: Sword Of Honour, Shackleton, Longitude | DVD | (30/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Sword Of HonourAward-winning novelist and screenwriter William Boyd brings Evelyn Waugh's classic trilogy of the Second World War vividly to life in this epic two-part drama starring Daniel Craig Megan Dodds Leslie Phillips Julian Rhind-Tutt Robert Pugh and Katrina Cartlidge. ShackletonDirected by Charles Sturridge (Brideshead Revisited Gulliver's Travels Longitude) this biopic of explorer Ernest Shackleton (Kenneth Branagh) is at once a fascinating character study of a driven man and a thrilling true life adventure. Concentrating on Shackleton's 1914 Endurance expedition to the the South Pole it details the incredible struggle he undertook to lead his 28 man crew to safety after his ship was trapped and then crushed in the pack ice. LongitudeLongitude is the fascinating story of John Harrison (Gambon) who in the 18th century believed he could make a clock that would work on board a ship - and so solve the problem of finding longitude at sea. Harrison has to struggle against a bigoted establishment in order to win recognition for his achievements. This story is intertwined with that of Rupert Gold (Irons) the former naval officer who in the 1920s discovered Harrison's clocks and - at the cost of his health his reputation and his marriage began the mammoth task of restoring them.