Poirot Collection 7
Times are hard for habitual guest of Her Majesty Norman Stanley Fletcher (Ronnie Barker). The new prison officer Beale makes Mackay (Fulton Mackay) look soft and what's more an escape plan is hatching from the cell of prison godfather Grouty and Fletcher wants no part of it. The breakout is set for the day of a morale-raising football match between a ""celebrity"" football team and the inmates of Slade. Everything is going to plan until Godber (Richard Beckinsale) is injured on th
Based on a short story by Nicholas Monsarrat (author of The Cruel Sea) and directed by Basil Dearden (The Blue Lamp, The League Of Gentleman) The Ship That Died Of Shame takes place during the bleak aftermath of the Second World War a crew of navy veterans, played by screen legend Richard Attenborough, George Baker (The Dam Busters) and Bill Owen (Last Of The Summer Wine), are forced into smuggling black market goods across the English Channel to make ends meet. But it isn't long before wine and cigarettes are replaced by more lucrative cargo. A crisis of conscience lies upon the horizon when one of the crew refuses to turn a blind eye after discovering that the mysterious stranger, they've been asked to smuggle into England hides a dark and harrowing secret. Product Features Interview with Author/Professor of Film Neil Sinyard Behind the scenes stills gallery
Murderous sadistic London gang leader Vic Dakin a mother-obsessed homosexual modeled on real-life gangster Ronnie Kray is worried about potential stool pigeons that may bring down his criminal empire. The brutal Vic cuts the throat of one bloke who has been a little too loose-lipped afraid that his gossiping may turn into a grand operatic performance for the coppers. Vic who enjoys playing at rough trade with his sidekick Wolfe plans a payroll robbery and directs the blackmail
The BBC's lavish, glowingly designed adapation of Mervyn Peake's eccentrically brilliant novels Titus Groan and Gormenghast is a triumph of casting. Ian Richardson's Lear-like depiction of the mad earl of a remote, vast, ritual-obsessed building is matched by the brutal pragmatism of Celia Imrie as his wife, the synchronised madness of Zoe Wanamaker and Lynsey Baxter as his twin sisters and the duplicitous charm of Jonathan Rhys-Meyer as Steerpike, the kitchen-boy determined to take over no matter how many deaths it costs. John Sessions is surprisingly touching as Prunesquallor, the family doctor who realises almost too late what Steerpike intends. It is always tricky to film a book dear to the hearts of its admirers: Wilson and his design team achieve a look rather more pre-Raphaelite than Peake's own illustrations, shabby velvets, garish sunlight and dank stone passages. The score by Richard Rodney Bennett is full of attractive surprises--fanfares and waltzes and apotheoses--and John Tavener's choral additions are plausibly parts of the immemorial ritual of Gormenghast. On the DVD: The double DVD comes with scene selection, an informative half-hour documentary on the making of the serial and a slide gallery of costume designs, characters and their dooms. --Roz Kaveney
Eddie Murphy takes on a plethora of roles in this hit comedy, as Professor Sherman Klump finds his life once again being taken over by his suave alter ego Buddy Love.
This pleasant, lightweight live-action version of the popular cartoon is about as good as you might expect. The kids should love the broad humour and the Henson Studios creatures but like The Addams Family movies, the look and the cast are the best things going for it. Considering that the nature of the material is so sparse, the thinly plotted story works better than other TV-to-movie fare. Our fabulous Stone Age man is promoted per a calculated move by a scheming exec (Kyle MacLachlan, whose casting ensured at least one cute guy). As a comedy, the humour is one-note and flat for anyone older than 12. The special-effects creatures look wondrous, though not as seamless as in other movies, such as in Roger Rabbit. The most joyous moments come during the full-scale re-creations of the famous credits. The Flintstones provided a major launching pad for Halle Berry as a vamping secretary. --Doug Thomas
The challenges are considered by the fans to be the best bit of Top Gear. The Challenges 4 will contain some of the highlights from Series 13 and 14 which were broadcast in 2009.
Bob a troubled but loveable therapy patient who fears everything calls upon a noted psychiatrist who helps him overcome his fears. When the doctor takes a quiet family holiday in New Hampshire Bob terrified of being alone keeps popping up unexpectedly at the family's retreat. That's right about when the fun begins....
A pivotal early film in the wave of racially progressive dramas of the 1950s and 60s, Joseph L. Mankiewicz's No Way Out is an electrifying film-noir about a doctor whose ethics are put to the test when he comes into conflict with a racist criminal. Dr. Luther Brooks (Sidney Poitier; The Defiant Ones) is assigned to treat two prisoners, the Biddle brothers, who were shot during an attempted robbery. Ray Biddle (Richard Widmark; Kiss of Death, Twilight's Last Gleaming) refuses to be treated by the black doctor, and when his brother John dies under Luther's care, Ray becomes consumed with vengeance. His anger and hatred ignites racial tensions within the community, and events quickly spiral out of control. Released during the early days of the civil rights movement, No Way Out received critical acclaim but faced censorship for many years due to its incendiary nature. It has since been recognised as one of Joseph L. Mankiewicz's greatest filmmaking achievements. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present No Way Out for the first time ever on Blu-ray (and in its debut on UK home video) in a special Dual Format edition. Features: 1080p presentation of the film on Blu-ray, with a progressive encode on the DVD LPCM mono soundtrack (Uncompressed on the Blu-ray) Optional English subtitles Audio Commentary by film noir historian Eddie Muller Archival Fox Movietone Newsreels Original theatrical trailer A collector's booklet featuring a new essay by Glenn Kenny Reversible Sleeve
One of TV's more interesting tough-girl action shows, Dark Angel is a distinctive blend of the personal, the adventurous and the politically aware. Cocreators James Cameron (yes, that James Cameron) and Charles Eglee present a complex scenario of biological super-science and social collapse in which their gene-manipulated heroine and hacker/journalist hero can genuinely make a difference. In this first series they also provide an adversary who is a lot more than just a conventional villain. Jessica Alba is impressive as Max, bred and trained as a super-soldier but reclaiming her individual humanity; Michael Weatherly is scruffily attractive as Eyes Only, who sits semi-paralysed in his eyrie above Seattle uncovering crime, corruption and other skulduggeries and sending the woman whom he hopelessly loves out on deadly errands. Jon Savage has real authority as Lydeker, a man who has stretched his conscience to breaking point, but is not personally corrupt. Some of the best episodes here--"Prodigy" for example--are ones in which Lydeker and Max are forced into temporary alliance. Early on the relationship between Max and the other workers at Jam Pony--the courier firm that provides her with a cover identity--is a little forced, but later on the two parts of Max's life are more successfully integrated: "Shorties in Love", for example, is a genuinely touching tale about Diamond, the doomed criminal ex-lover of Max's lesbian roommate. Dark Angel was never a perfect show, but at its occasional best it manages to be simultaneously funny and dramatic. On the DVD: Dark Angel, Series 1's Region 2 DVD is ungenerous with special features, providing only short interviews with James Cameron and Charles Eglee and with the stars, and giving us a preview of the Dark Angel computer game. The episodes are presented in widescreen and have excellent Dolby Digital sound which gives vivid presence to both the dialogue and the hard-driving contemporary rock score that is part of the show's style. --Roz Kaveney
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 Bombers motorcycle gang headed by the vicious Raven Shaddock kidnap diva Ellen Aim. Her hope for rescue lies with unlikely heroes: soldier of fortune Tom Cody and his sidekick the two-fisted beer-guzzling McCoy. Joined by Ellen's manager Billy Fish the trio plunge headfirst into a world of rain-splattered streets hot cars and deadly assassins.
A young English colonial and the Sarawak tribeswoman he takes as his tutor and his concubine fall in love. They are forced to separate but when the young man returns with his new bride the passions between the two reignite...
Written and directed by Peter Hyams 'Hanover Street' stars Harrison Ford as David a WWII American bomber pilot who meets and falls in love with a beautiful nurse during an air raid in London. Unbeknownst to him she is married. David is then shot down behind enemy lines while accompanying a British agent into France. In the midst of danger David comes to realise that the agent is his lover's husband...
Standing out in the crowded field of screen adaptations of the classic Dickens novel A Christmas Carol is hard to do, but this version pulls it off. When a transparent Jacob Marley walks through Ebenezer Scrooge's apartment door, you know you're seeing something both timeless and contemporary. Other strategically placed special effects--a funnel cloud that transports Scrooge and the ghost of Christmas present, the hollow spectre of Christmas future--keep you riveted without slipping into anachronism. But, as good as the technology is, the performances are what really power this 93-minute television interpretation. Patrick Stewart brings a depth to Scrooge that allows the character to go beyond the cartoonish qualities that have made him a Christmas mainstay. That doesn't mean he's any less heartless with his hapless employee Bob Cratchit (Richard E. Grant) or any less dismissive of his well-meaning nephew. A frail-looking Joel Grey makes an excellent ghost of Christmas past, and a superb cast ably fill the remaining roles. Director David Jones, shooting on location in England and at Ealing Studios, has achieved a balance of science and sentiment that will help this version hold up for many years to come. --Kimberly Heinrichs
British comedy spin-off from the popular 1970s sitcom. Robin (Richard O'Sullivan) is a young catering student who shares a flat with two girls, Chrissy (Paula Wilcox) and Jo (Sally Thomsett). Robin spends his time desperately trying to win Chrissie over with his charm, while the three of them must team up with their landlords (George and Mildred) to stop their home from being demolished.
This Alan Seymour dramatisation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was originally broadcast as a BBC series in 1988. Whether you take CS Lewis' unsubtle Christian symbolism on board or not, the fact remains that the cycle of Narnia novels, of which this was the first, are among the best children's fantasy stories of all time. For anyone who spent their formative years on Mars, the story concerns four children who find their way into a magical land benevolently ruled by the mystical lion, Aslan (voiced by Ronald Pickup, no less). Aslan has been deposed by the evil White Witch (played wonderfully by a screechingly camp Barbara Kellerman) who has cast all of Narnia into perpetual winter and whose eventual defeat entails a fearful sacrifice. While the special effects are firmly of the Doctor Who school, Lewis' writing is expertly transferred to the small screen and there are robust but credible performances from the four highly plausible young thesps cast in the leading roles. It's perfect for cosy family (early) evening viewing, and something that young viewers will return to again and again. --Roger Thomas
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