"Actor: Pierre"

• Space: 1999 - Vol. 1 | DVD | (30/04/2001) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-4.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  For the time, there had never been a more lavishly produced science-fiction TV series than Space: 1999, which was British-made on a first-season budget of 3.25 million pounds--an astounding amount--and ran for two seasons from 1975 to 77. What keeps fans enthralled after all these years has only partly to do with the first-rate production values, the plausibly constructed spaceship models and expert special effects. The tone of the show is one of scientific dispassion, setting it apart from its TV SF predecessors such as Star Trek in which the mood is more generally convivial. Our heroes here are in dire circumstances that require cool heads as a survival trait. Those circumstances are: the moon and the 311 crew members of Moonbase Alpha experience a cataclysm that causes the moon to break away from its orbit and travel endlessly through space, making our heroes into unintentional explorers. No TV series has created a more palpable feel of hard science fiction than this. Of course the show is not without its detractors, having been soundly lambasted for its many scientific errors. No less august a figure than Isaac Asimov criticised the show for its premise in the opening episode "Breakaway", which had nuclear explosions on the "dark side of the moon" somehow propel it out of orbit and sent it flying through space without regard for any physical laws. In "Earthbound", aliens travelling to Earth state it will take them 75 years to reach their destination, making one wonder why it didn't take the moon that long to encounter the aliens. While these are serious complaints, fans tend to remember the scientific seriousness of the series and the sense of awe created by the many strange creatures and phenomena they encounter on their journey through the galaxy. --Jim Gay, Amazon.comOn this DVD: Presented in production order (not the sequence they were transmitted in), this first volume from Space: 1999's first year nonetheless begins with the all-important "Breakaway". Commander Koenig arrives at Moonbase Alpha as planet Meta is passing Earth. He's there to investigate why people are dying of what seems to be radiation poisoning and ensure the Meta Probe is launched in time. Everything is tied into what's wrong with their nuclear waste disposal. Then on September 13, 1999, the unthinkable happens, and the Moon with its 311 inhabitants is catapulted out of Earth's orbit. Some time later they pass planet Terra Nova which seems too good to be true. When Dr Russell's supposed dead husband (Richard Johnson) re-appears from the long-lost Astro 7 mission, it becomes a "Matter of Life and Death" in determining whether to settle on a Paradise populated by parrots! Another passing stellar body accidentally drags them towards a "Black Sun" in the next episode. Given three days to live, there's a graceful acceptance of fate by the team that is paid off by what seems to be some sort of guiding hand watching over them all. Finally an orange eye appears and emits a "Ring Around the Moon", a mysterious enveloping beam that exerts mind-control over various crew members. After a warning from the mythic planet Triton, Dr Russell is taken as their "conduit" (much like Ilia in Star Trek: The Motion Picture). Three publicity stills, 15 production drawings and eight character biographies may seem a little stingy as extra features. The neat CGI-animated menus make up for that a little though: an Eagle has never looked so agile. --Paul Tonks

• Janacek - From The House Of The Dead | DVD | (17/03/2008) from £6.30   |  Saving you £8.95 (177.58%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Leos Janacek: From The House Of The Dead, performed by various performers and conducted by Pierre Bouelz.

• The Pornographer | DVD | (23/09/2002) from £11.69   |  Saving you £8.30 (71.00%)   |  RRP £19.99

  An art house movie that asks questions about the morality of art both on and off screen, The Pornographer is a hard-hitting yet strangely unmoving film. Very much a product of the French school of intellectual cinema, the filmmaker of the title is Jacques Laurent (played by Jean Pierre Leaud), a one-time director of adult films who, finding himself down on his luck, is forced to return to his old medium. Far from being a gaudy Boogie Nights style exposé of an unknown world, the film focuses on Laurent's inner turmoil and his rapidly disintegrating relationship with his wife, as well as his restored one with his son Joseph (Jeremie Renier). Director Betrend Bonello handles this material well, if overdoing the art house clichés a little, but the problem with the film (or for some its strong point) comes with the fairly hardcore sex scenes, presented as part of Laurent's movie. While intended to reflect the emptiness of the character's soul, it is hard to see past them as just an attention-grabbing device. Then again, can a film about pornography legitimately not feature sex? One suspects that this debate will run and run and, in its way, The Pornographer has much to say on the subject. On the DVD: The Pornographer's intended release fell foul of the BBFC, who objected to one particularly explicit scene, a continuing argument that provides much of the material for the DVD's extra features. There is a reproduction of the BFFC ruling, a statement in reply from Bonello (which demonstrate the similarities he shares with his fictional counterpart, certainly when it comes to a vision of erotica) and an excellent essay from critic Pierre Perrene. In addition there are biographies, the cinematic trailer and an option to view the film with or without English subtitles. Whatever the moral questions involved, Bonello's film is a visual treat and his stylish eye is well represented by this format. --Phil Udell

• The Jean-Pierre Melville Collection | DVD | (02/03/2009) from £48.83   |  Saving you £-3.84 (N/A%)   |  RRP £44.99

  Jean-Pierre Melville (1917 - 1974) is one of the most revered French film directors of all time. Born in Paris he was to become a member of the French Resistance in the Second World War an experience which he drew on as a film director creating underworlds of secrecy and deception. The reluctant godfather of the French New Wave Melville''s highly individual style was influenced by the ideas of existentialism and surrealism but arguably his greatest debt was to the American film noirs of 1930s and '40s Hollywood the traditions of which he wove with inimitable style into his quintessentially French films seeing him hailed by many as the father of the French gangster movie. This set contains six of his finest films from his early bittersweet masterpiece Bob Le Flambeur to his final film Un Flic his wonderfully fatalistic study of loss and deception; a fitting epitaph to one of contemporary cinema''s most exceptional careers. Titles Comprise: Army of Shadows (1969): Regarded as one of the best films ever made about wartime France. Members of the French resistance fight for freedom in the face of constant danger. Extras: Ginette Vincendeau Commentary / Le Journal de la Resistance - a 33 minute documentary / Melville short film Le Doulos (1962): An unforgettable story of trust betrayal and honour. A criminal just free from jail goes in search of revenge. Extras: Selected Scene Commentary / Ginette Vincendeau Introduction / Interview with Assistant Director Volker Schlondorff / Original Trailer Leon Morin Pretre (1961): Unforgettable drama set in occupied France. A beautiful but disillusioned woman becomes friends with a priest but her feelings for him soon deepen dangerously. Extras: Selected Scene Commentary / Ginette Vincendeau Introduction / Interview with Assistant Director Volker Schl''ndorff / Original Trailer Le Cercle Rouge (1970): A suave jewel thief teams up with a fugitive and a reckless ex-cop to carry out an elaborate heist. Extras: Ginette Vincendeau Commentary and Introduction / Interview with Assistant Director Bernard Stora / Original Trailer Bob Le Flambeur (1956): An early foray into the gangster genre Melville's self-confessed 'love letter to Paris' follows the world-weary eponymous hero Bob a down on his luck gambler embarking on his final crime. Extras: Introduction by Melville expert Ginette Vincendeau. Un Flic (1972): A Parisian police commissioner and the leader of a gang of criminals in love with the same woman clash when a daring bank robbery takes place.

• The Odyssey (L'odyssée) | Blu Ray | (11/12/2017) from £8.15   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Summer, 1946. The Cousteau family - Jacques, his wife Simone and their two children Philippe and Jean-Michel - live in their beautiful house by the Mediterranean sea. By day they dive, by night they watch the stars. Jacques lives and breathes adventure and with his invention, the aqualung, his recently acquired vessel the Calypso, and a crew of free-spirited adventurers he is ready to cross the world's oceans. Jacques is willing to sacrifice everything to achieve his dream.

• La Nouvelle Eve | DVD | (03/09/2007) from £19.99   |  Saving you £-5.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Camille (Karin Viard) is a swimming pool attendant in her thirties who revels in her sexually promiscuous hard-drinking lifestyle. However she also suffers from depression and when she meets the older married Alexis (Pierre-Loup Rajot) finds herself falling in love for the first time. Camille becomes increasingly obsessed with Alexis joining his political group and making friends with his wife and family but frustrated by his unavailability turns to Ben (Sergi Loprez) a younger man for comfort.

• The Jacques Tati Collection (Jour de fête / Les Vacances de M. Hulot / Mon Oncle / Playtime / Parade) | DVD | (02/11/2009) from £56.99   |  Saving you £-17.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  The Jacques Tati Collection (5 Discs)

• Litan | Blu Ray | (15/09/2025) from £16.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Worried by a disturbing dream, Nora wakes to find her husband missing during a trip to Litan. She goes out to find him but encounters one bizarre event after another taking place at the village festival, including uncanny acts and a masked marching band. As Nora and Jock attempt to escape the village, a series of strange murders take place against the backdrop of a mad doctor performing experiments on the recently deceased. Jean-Pierre Mocky's Litan is a classic cult Euro-horror and a Kafkaesque fever dream of surrealist imagery, arrestingly shot by Edmond Richard (The Trial, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie).BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES:New 4K restoration, available on Blu-ray (1080p) for the first time outside of FranceUncompressed mono PCM audioSmall Town Masquerade: Love, Death and Dreams in Litan - a visual essay by journalist Anton Bitel (2024, 17 mins)Archival behind-the-scenes documentary for Litan from French television (1982, 26 mins)Archival interview with Jean-Pierre Mocky about his relationship to the fantastic (1982, 12 mins)New and improved optional English subtitlesSleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow

• Hawks and Sparrows (1966) / Pigsty (1969) | Blu Ray | (22/02/2016) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  From its sung opening credits, Hawks and Sparrows (Uccellacci e uccellini) is a wonderfully free-form picaresque fable that lampoons politics, religion and the state of modern Italy, as the beloved comic actor Totò, Pasolini regular Ninetto Davoli and a talking crow wander the landscape through a gauntlet of unexpected encounters. Pigsty (Porcile) is one of his most controversial works, interspersing the mute wanderings of cannibalistic savages against a barren, volcanic earth with the tale of Julian (played by Nouvelle Vague icon Jean-Pierre Léaud), his radically politicised fiancée Ida (Anne Wiazemsky, Au Hasard Balthazar), and the financial machinations of his father Herr Klotz in contemporary industrialised Germany. Both films demonstrate a restless, pioneering artist's exploration of the natural world contrasted with the societal structures that govern human life. Visually inspired and playing by no-one's rules other than his own, these two brilliant works by Pasolini are presented on Blu-ray for the first time in a new limited edition.

• Hotel Du Nord | Blu Ray | (10/02/2020) from £23.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Classic French drama from director Marcel Carné. At the family-run Hotel Du Nord, a young couple check in, planning to commit a double-suicide. Pierre (Jean-Pierre Aumont) shoots his lover Renée (Annabella), but then panics and flees, leaving the gun behind. Renée survives her wound after being found by pimp Edmond (Louis Jouvet). After taking a job at the hotel as a chambermaid, Renée slowly becomes involved in the shifting allegiances and relationships between the people who live and work in the hotel.

• Alice Et Martin | DVD | (23/02/2009) from £16.18   |  Saving you £1.81 (11.19%)   |  RRP £17.99

  After the mysterious death of his father 20-year-old Martin (Alexis Loret) spends three weeks on the run eventually arriving in Paris at the door of his half-brother Benjamin (Mathieu Amalric The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Quantum of Solace) a struggling actor.Benjamin's friend Alice (Juliette Binoche The English Patient) answers hesitantly inviting Martin into the apartment and into the unconventional life she shares with Benjamin. Alice is nervous and brittle obviously harbouring her own private grief. At first she resents Martin's presence in the apartment however she gradually begins to care for the young man and eventually falls deeply in love with him. Their happiness is short lived when Martin's past comes back to haunt him and Alice begins a quest to find out exactly how Martin's father died.Alice et Martin is a meditation on family romance and the search for contentment from French director Andr'' T''chin'' (Les Voleurs Ma Saison Pr''f''r''e).

• Jules And Jim | DVD | (25/09/2006) from £9.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (100.10%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Jules and Jim meet in Paris just before the start of World War I where they also meet Catherine an enchanting but unpredictable woman. This story focuses on the life-long friendship of Jules and Jim and their mutual love for the same woman and what becomes the most amicable of love triangles.

• Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece | DVD | (17/10/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  A surprise message from Istanbul is about to ruin Captain Haddock's day. Named as sole beneficiary in the will of his late comrade Paparanic, Haddock and his best friend, intrepid boy reporter Tintin (Jean-Pierre Talbot), journey to Turkey to claim a strangely disappointing bounty - but is all as it seems? One of the very few adaptations to meet with Tintin creator Herg's approval, Tintin and the Golden Treasure is a spirited live-action take on his iconic comic creation and features all his best-loved characters. Uncanny Tintin-alike, Jean-Pierre Talbot's martial arts skills and the larger-than-life Georges Wilson as Captain Haddock make for lively performances in a film which no Tintin fan, young or old, will want to be without.

• The Agatha Christie Collection | DVD | (25/09/2006) from £70.36   |  Saving you £-30.37 (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Murder On The Orient Express: The first of several lavish Christie adaptations from producers John Brabourne and Richard Goodwin introducing Albert Finney as the first screen Hercule Poirot. This 1974 production of Agatha Christie's 1934 classic is a judicious mixture of mystery murder and nostalgia. Which member of the all-star cast onboard the luxurious train perforated the no-good American tycoon with a dagger twelve times? Was it Ingrid Bergman's shy Swedish missionary; or Vanessa Redgrave's English rose; Sean Connery as an Indian Army Colonel: Michael York or Jacqueline Bisset; perhaps Lauren Bacall; Anthony Perkins or John Gielgud as the victim's impassive butler. Finney spreads unease among them with subdued wit and finesse. Arguably the most successful screen adaptation of a Christie novel in addition to Bergman's Oscar for Best Supporting Actress 'Murder On The Orient Express' achieved nominations for Best Actor Screenplay Photography Costume Design and Music Score. (Dir. Sidney Lumet 1974) Death On The Nile: Peter Ustinov makes his debut as Agatha Christie's brilliant Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in this lavish and star-studded follow-up to Murder On The Orient Express:. As Poirot enjoys a luxurious cruise down the Nile a newlywed heiress is found murdered on board and every elegant passenger becomes a prime suspect. Can Poirot identify the killer and motive before the ship of clues reaches the end of its murderous journey? Bette Davis David Niven Angela Lansbury Maggie Smith Mia Farrow George Kennedy Olivia Hussey Simon MacCorkindale Jane Birkin Jack Warden and Lois Chiles co-star in this sumptuous Oscar-winning classic adapted by Anthony Shaffer (Sleuth) and filmed on location throughout exotic Egypt. (Dir. John Guillermin 1978) The Mirror Crack'd: Mirror mirror on the wall who is the murderer among them all? The year is 1953. The small English village of St. Mary Mead home to Miss Jane Marple is delighted when a big American movie company arrives to make a movie telling of the relationship between Jane Grey and Elisabeth I starring the famous actresses Marina Rudd and Lola Brewster. Marina arrives with her husband Jason and when she discovers that Lola is going to be in the movie with her she hits the roof as Lola and Marina loathe each other on sight. Marina has been getting death threats and at a party at the manor house Heather Babcock after boring Marina with a long story drinks a cocktail made for Marina and dies from poisoning. Everybody believes that Marina is the target but the police officer investigating the case Inspector Craddock isn't sure so he asks Miss Marple his aunt to investigate... (Dir. Guy Hamilton 1980) Evil Under The Sun: Evil is everywhere. Even in paradise... Hercule Poirot is called in to investigate a case for an insurance company regarding firstly a dead woman's body found on a moor and then a important diamond sent to the company to be insured turns out to be a fake. Poirot discovers that the diamond was bought for Arlena Marshall by Sir Horace Blatt and Arlena is on her honeymoon with her husband and step-daughter on a tropical island hotel. He joins them on the island and finds that everybody else starts to hate Arlena for different reasons - refusing to do a stage show stopping a book and for having an open affair with Patrick Redfern another guest in full view of his shy wife. So it's only a matter of time before Arlena turns up dead strangled and Poirot must find out who it is.... (Dir. Guy Hamilton 1982)

• The Francois Truffaut Collection - 6 Disc Box Set (Exclusive to Amazon.co.uk) | DVD | (23/10/2006) from £99.90   |  Saving you £-9.91 (N/A%)   |  RRP £89.99

  The Woman Next Door (1981) Madame Jouve the narrator tells the tragedy of Bernard and Mathilde. Bernard was living happily with his wife Arlette and his son Thomas. One day a couple Philippe and Mathilde Bauchard moves into the next house. This is the accidental reunion of Bernard and Mathilde who had a passionate love affair years ago. The relationship revives... A somber study of human feelings. The 400 Blows (1959) For his feature-film debut critic-turned-director Franois Truffaut drew inspiration from his own troubled childhood. The 400 Blows stars Jean-Pierre Laud as Antoine Doinel Truffaut's preteen alter ego. Misunderstood at home by his parents and tormented in school by his insensitive teacher (Guy Decomble) Antoine frequently runs away from both places. The boy finally quits school after being accused of plagiarism by his teacher. He steals a typewriter from his father (Albert Remy) to finance his plans to leave home. The father angrily turns Antoine over to the police who lock the boy up with hardened criminals. A psychiatrist at a delinquency center probes Antoine's unhappiness which he reveals in a fragmented series of monologues. Shoot the Pianist (1960) Charlie Kohler is a piano player in a bar. The waitress Lena is in love with him. One of Charlie's brother Chico a crook takes refuge in the bar because he is chased by two gangsters Momo and Ernest. We will discover that Charlie's real name is Edouard Saroyan once a virtuose who gives up after his wife's suicide. Charlie now has to deal wih Chico Ernest Momo Fido (his youngest brother who lives with him) and Lena... Jules and Jim (1962) Acclaimed French director Franois Truffaut's third and for many viewers best film is an adaptation of a semi-autobiographical novel by Henri-Pierre Roch. Set between 1912 and 1933 it stars Oskar Werner as the German Jules and Henri Serre as the Frenchman Jim kindred spirits who while on holiday in Greece fall in love with the smile on the face of a sculpture. Back in Paris the smile comes to life in the person of Catherine (Jeanne Moreau); the three individuals become constant companions determined to live their lives to the fullest despite the world war around them. When Jules declares his love for Catherine Jim agrees to let Jules pursue her despite his own similar feelings; Jules and Catherine marry and have a child (Sabine Haudepin) but Catherine still loves Jim as well. Anne and Muriel (1971) Story of two British sisters who are in love with the same Frenchman over a period of 20 years. Screenplay by Francois Truffaut Jean Grault Based on the novel by Henri-Pierre Roche. Finally Sunday! (1963) Claude Massoulier is murdered while hunting at the same place than Julien Vercel an estate agent that knew him and whose fingerprints are found on Massoulier's car. As the police discovers that Marie-Christine Vercel Julien's wife was Massoulier's mistress Julien is very suspected. But his secretary Barbara Becker while not quite convinced he is innocent defends him and leads her private investigations...

• Lost In Paris | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £8.52   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Fiona visits Paris for the first time to assist her myopic Aunt Martha. Catastrophes ensue, mainly involving Dom, a homeless man who has yet to have an emotion or thought he was afraid of expressing.

• UFC Best of 2012: The Year In Review | DVD | (22/04/2013) from £4.53   |  Saving you £4.46 (98.45%)   |  RRP £8.99

  Re-live every great moment knockout submission and fights with the UFC Best of 2012: Year in Review. All the UFC superstars are featured in their most spectacular bouts.

• Les Enfants Du Paradis | DVD | (25/09/2000) from £16.96   |  Saving you £3.03 (17.87%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A film which regularly charts high in critics' polls of the best films of all time, director Marcel Carné and screenwriter Jacques Prévert's masterpiece Les Enfants du Paradis is as solid a landmark in French film history as the Eiffel Tower is on the Parisian landscape. And at 187 minutes running time, it's a massy edifice indeed, built from a rambunctious cast of characters--ranging from pickpockets and prostitutes to aristocrats and actors--whose lives intersect around the Theatre des Funambules, a popular Parisian theatre on the Boulevard du Crime, during the 1840s. (The title refers to the poor who can only afford seats in the upper galleries of the theatre.) The heart of the plot is a love story between mime artiste Baptiste (Jean-Louis Barrault) and streetwalker Garance (the magnificent, sand-paper-voiced Arletty). When Garance is falsely accused of pickpocketing, Baptiste provides a mimed alibi for her to the police (one of the film's most famous set pieces). The rose she later throws him in gratitude sets off a romantic obsession, one of several that structure the film, as do love triangles, duels, and tortured confessions of feeling. Thematically, Les Enfant du Paradis gnaws over typically French cinematic preoccupations: illusion and reality, the nature of performance, the indomitable spirit of the proletariat and so on, all made the more charged and poignant when you know the film was shot during the Nazi occupation. (One actor, Robert Le Vigan, was reportedly a Nazi collaborator and disappeared during the filming under mysterious circumstances and so had to be replaced by Pierre Renoir.) --Leslie Felperin

• Look At Me | DVD | (21/03/2005) from £5.58   |  Saving you £14.41 (258.24%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Quite unlike the models in her magazines, French girl Lolita struggles with her self-esteem and tries to win her father's affection.

• Goto, Isle of Love | Blu Ray | (08/09/2014) from £21.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Walerian Borowczyk’s second feature was just as original as his first. Almost entirely live action this time it is situated on the archipelago of Goto which has been cut off from the rest of human civilisation by a massive earthquake and has consequently developed its own arcane rules. Melancholic dictator Goto III (Pierre Brasseur) is married to the beautiful Glossia (Ligia Branice) who in turn is lusted after by the petty thief Gozo (Guy Saint-Jean) as he works his way up the hierarchy.