"Actor: Robert Benchley"

• You'll Never Get Rich | DVD | (03/11/2003) from £10.00   |  Saving you £2.99 (29.90%)   |  RRP £12.99

  After his wife discovers a telltale diamond bracelet impresario Martin Cortland tries to show he's not chasing after showgirl Sheila Winthrop. Choreographer Robert Curtis gets caught in the middle of the boss's scheme. Army conscription offers Robert the perfect escape from his troubles - or does it?

• You'll Never Get Rich (Limited Edition) | Blu Ray | (23/09/2024) from £13.32   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Following his immortal collaborations with Ginger Rogers and Eleanor Powell, Fred Astaire was paired with an up-and-coming Rita Hayworth for You'll Never Get Rich, a brilliant musical comedy with songs by Cole Porter. When womanising impresario Martin (Robert Benchley, Foreign Correspondent) tasks choreographer Robert (Astaire, Top Hat) with helping him woo headstrong dancer Sheila (Hayworth, The Lady from Shanghai), a series of comic misunderstandings involving Martin's wife (Frieda Inescort, Pride and Prejudice) and Sheila's fiancé (John Hubbard, Bullfighter and the Lady) results in Robert running away to join the Army... for his own safety! Directed by Sidney Lanfield (The Hound of the Baskervilles), You'll Never Get Rich was credited with reviving Astaire's career and elevating Hayworth to stardom. INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES High Definition remasterOriginal mono audioAudio commentary with film historian Peter Tonguette (2024)Christina Newland on Rita Hayworth (2024): the critic and writer discusses the career of the iconic performerFred Astaire's Approach to Filmmaking (1985): archival audio recording of a lecture delivered by John Mueller, author of Astaire Dancing: The Films of Fred Astaire, at the National Film Theatre, LondonSuper 8 version: cut-down home cinema presentationOriginal theatrical trailerImage gallery: promotional and publicity materialNew and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearingLimited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Rick Burin, an archival interview with Rita Hayworth, extracts from an archival profile of Fred Astaire, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film creditsUK premiere on Blu-rayLimited edition of 3,000 copies for the UK All extras subject to change

• The Deep | DVD | (06/06/2005) from £29.99   |  Saving you £-24.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  An obvious attempt to cash in on the success of Jaws, this 1977 thriller was also based on a best-seller by Peter Benchley, and it features a memorable performance by Robert Shaw (the doomed shark hunter in Jaws) in one of the last roles of his career. Looking very tanned and healthy, Nick Nolte and Jacqueline Bisset play a young couple enjoying a tropical vacation who discover a glass ampoule while scuba diving off the coast of Bermuda. It takes a seasoned treasure hunter (Shaw) to identify the ampoule as part of a valuable shipment of World War II morphine lost at sea, coincidentally, atop the even greater treasure of a sunken Spanish galleon. Thus begins a race for drugs and treasure pitting Nolte, Bisset and Shaw against a ruthless drug lord (Louis Gossett Jr) who will do anything--even resort to Haitian voodoo--to get what he wants. It's all rather contrived and exploitative (after all, the movie's best known for Bisset's wet T-shirt scuba-dive), but as escapist entertainment goes it's got some exciting highlights including a moray eel that attacks on cue and... well, uh, Jacqueline Bisset in a wet T-shirt. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Criterion Collection: Foreign Correspondent | Blu Ray | (07/10/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Foreign Correspondent | DVD | (21/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The first of Alfred Hitchcock's World War II features, Foreign Correspondent was completed in 1940, as the European war was only beginning to erupt across national borders. Its titular hero, Johnny Jones (Joel McCrea), is an American crime reporter dispatched by his New York publisher to put a fresh spin on the drowsy dispatches emanating from overseas, his nose for a good story (and, of course, some fortuitous timing) promptly leading him to the "crime" of fascism and Nazi Germany's designs on European conquest. In attempting to learn more about a seemingly noble peace effort, Jones (who's been saddled with the dubious nom de plume Hadley Haverstock) walks into the middle of an assassination, uncovers a spy ring, and, not entirely coincidentally, falls in love--a pattern familiar to admirers of Hitchcock's espionage thrillers, of which this is a thoroughly entertaining example. McCrea's hardy Yankee charms are neatly contrasted with the droll English charm of colleague George Sanders; Herbert Marshall provides a plummy variation on the requisite, ambiguous "good-or-is-he-really-bad" guy; Laraine Day affords a lovely heroine; and Robert Benchley (who contributed to the script) pops up, albeit too briefly, for comic relief. As good as the cast is, however, it's Hitchcock's staging of key action sequences that makes Foreign Correspondent a textbook example of the director's visual energy: an assassin's escape through a rain-soaked crowd is registered by rippling umbrellas, a nest of spies is detected by the improbable direction of a windmill's spinning sails and Jones's nocturnal flight across a pitched city rooftop produces its own contextual comment when broken neon tubes convert the Hotel Europe into "Hot Europe". --Sam Sutherland

• Road To Utopia | DVD | (10/01/2005) from £7.61   |  Saving you £2.38 (31.27%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The fourth in the hilarious Bob Hope/Bing Crosby 'Road To...' series is a blizzard of laughs with Bob and Bing playing turn-of-the-century vaudevillians who search for Klondike gold - and find the beautiful Dorothy Lamour instead! After stealing the map to a gold mine from two Alaskan ne'er-do-wells Hope and Crosby assume the identities of the bad guys swagger into Skagway and meet saloon singer Lamour. A series of misadventures ensues as the boys Lamour the criminals and other c

• Road To - The Complete Collection | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  The Road To Morocco: Two bumbling buffoons are shipwrecked on an island off the coast of North Africa. When the beautiful Princess Shalimar comes to their rescue Jim and Turkey think they've died and gone to heaven. But once her brawny jealous husband finds out what these clowns have been up to they're going to wish they had never left their island. The Road To Singapore: Josh Mallon and his best buddy Ace Lannigan are avowed playboys. They won't even consider getting married. But Josh's shipping magnate father is tired of his prodigal son's whimsical ways. So he forces him to settle down and get a job. Rebellious to the bone Josh puts and end to those plans when -- on the eve of his big engagement party -- he and Ace set sail for Singapore. They accidentally wind up in Kaigoon instead but these free-spirited bachelors couldn't care less. Unfettered by money or responsibility they're as happy as can be. Their trouble begins when they both fall in love with the same lovely native lass. The Road To Utopia: The irrepressible Chester and Duke are back on the road again. This time around the vaudevillians -- disguised as Alaskan bruisers -- are trekking to the Klondike with a newly-found map to a gold mine. A comedy of errors begins when the citizens of a rough and tumble miner's town mistake the boys for claim-jumpers. Saloon mistress Sal goes gunning for the luckless pair whose treasure map just happens to have been her late father's property. Eventually the three gold-hunters team up and begin searching for the mine together. The Road To Zanzibar: After Chucks and Fearless sell a phony diamond mine to a crook the two escape to Zanzibar where they meet comely Brooklyn gals Donna and Julia. Amid jokes and songs the foursome embark on a wacky safari but the women are only going along in hopes of finding Donna's missing brother. When the guys discover the true reason for the safari they decide to return to Zanzibar; that is until they encounter a band of wild cannibals -- who have their own plans for the duo. The Road To Rio: To avoid being charged with arson after burning down a circus Hot Lips Barton (Bob Hope) and Scat Sweeney (Bing Crosby) stow away on an ocean bound ship. Aboard the vessel the duo fall for Lucia Maria de Andrade (Dorothy Lamour) who is under the spell of her evil aunt (Gale Sondergaard) who has arranged a marriage for the young beauty. This film was in good hands since many of Hope's best collaborators worked on the picture. Director Norman Z. McLeod went on to direct Hope in four more features -- Alias Jesse James Casanova's Big Night My Favourite Spy and The Paleface. McLeod had a remarkable career behind the cameras working with such Hollywood greats as Danny Kaye (The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty) W.C. Fields (It's A Gift) and Cary Grant (Topper). Writer Edmund Beloin supplied the stories for both My Favorite Spy and The Lemon Drop Kid. His collaborator Jack Rose penned My Favourite Brunette The Great Lover Sorrowful Jones and The Seven Little Foys. This The Road To Bali: Hope and Crosby play George Cochran and Harold Gridley American vaudevillains on the run from some angry fathers in Australia. To avoid a dual shotgun wedding George and Harold end up on the island of Bali and sign on as deep sea divers for Prince Arok - and become smitten with the princess Lalah. The Road To Hong Kong: Vaudevillians Harry (Crosby) and Chester (Hope) travel to Tibet to search for a drug to restore Chester's memory. Once they find the cure Chester's memory becomes so good that he accidentally memorizes a secret formula for space navigation. Soon the two meet up with a beautiful spy (Collins) and get slightly sidetracked... to another planet!

• Deanna Durbin The Collection Box Set 3 (DVD) | DVD | (03/10/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £35.99

  From the late 1930s to the mid 1940s,Deanna Durbin was one of the most popular singing stars in the world. Her Hollywood musicals were a hit with the critics and the public alike and she was adored by countless millions of fans.The world reeled when, in 1948, Deanna suddenly announced that she was to retire from film-making at the age of just 27 and her name has since passed into Hollywood legend.Blessed with the voice of an angel, Deanna Durbin is now best remembered for her superb performances as a singer, but she was also an exceptionally gifted actress and comedienne.The five films included in this collection capture Deanna at the height of her career, singing many of her best-loved songs and leaving us with performances to cherish.Titles comprise:It Started With EveUp In Central ParkHers To HoldNice Girl?His Butler's Sister

• The Sky's The Limit | DVD | (04/10/2010) from £18.23   |  Saving you £-5.24 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  One of Fred Astaire's least known but double Oscar nominated dance movies features Fred performing his legendary breaking glass dance routine. Fred Atwell (Fred Astaire) is a decorated Air Force pilot home on leave and expected to act as a cardboard hero for a morale-boosting tour of his Flying Tiger squadron. Bored by the whole affair however Fred takes off his uniform and goes incognito in New York for a few days bumping into Joan Mannion (Joan Leslie) a bright-eyed photographer who sings and dances. Determined to win over the girl for what he is and not his reputation Fred allows Joan to think he's a waster who doesn't want to serve his country. Naturally Joan wants nothing to do with this shirker but then she sees him dance...

• Hired Wife | DVD | (06/06/2016) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Five-time Golden Globe winner Rosalind Russell (His Girl Friday, Auntie Mame) stars in this 1940 romantic comedy as Kendal Browning, the crafty and quick-witted assistant to business tycoon Stephen Dexter (Brian Aherne, Juarez). When Stephen a bigwig bachelor with a penchant for blondes faces a hostile takeover from a rival company, he's advised to enter into a sham marriage, putting his assets in a new wife's name to avoid bankruptcy. Though the CEO fancies model Phyllis Walden (Virginia Bruce), Kendal whose love for Stephen has burned secretly for months has other ideas about her boss's impending engagement. As Kendal wards off Phyllis and Stephen fights to keep his business afloat, sparks fly, and fizzle, and fly again while laughs abound throughout it all. With strong supporting performances from John Carroll (Go West) and Robert Benchley (Foreign Correspondent), who ˜comes close to stealing the show as a comic lawyer-pal' (The Times), Hired Wife remains a timeless, sparkling showcase of some of the era's brightest comic talents.

• Deanna Durbin | DVD | (15/11/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £195.99

  A nineteen disc set of films starring Deanna Durbin. Includes: Up in Central Park Hers to Hold Nice Girl? It Started with Eve His Butler's Sister Mad about music Three Smart Girls 100 Men and a Girl Christmas Holiday Because of Him First Love Three Smart Girls Grow Up Can't Help singing The Amazing Mrs Holliday and For the Love of Mary.