"Actor: Robert Stephens"

• Tales Out of School - Four Plays by David Leland | DVD | (04/07/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  These four television films originally screened by Channel 4 in 1983 brought the emerging writing talent of former actor David Leland to national attention. He would subsequently win a BAFTA Award for his directorial debut Wish You Were Here and an Emmy Award for his contribution to Band of Brothers and work on screenplays for Mona Lisa and Personal Services. Featuring early roles for Tim Roth and Jim Broadbent the plays form a scathing portrait of British society in the early 1980s focusing in particular on the polarisation of attitudes towards the role and methods of education in an increasingly fragmented society. Without overtly offering solutions Leland s plays depict - often with unnerving acuity and foresight - the experience of individuals within systems that have become inadequate in dealing with the fallout of social breakdown. Of the four plays presented here Made in Britain directed by Alan Clarke (Scum) inevitably aroused the strongest controversy with Tim Roth s astonishing portrayal of a nihilistic racist teenage skinhead captured by Chris Menges innovative cinematography; the screenplay won Leland the Prix Italia in 1983. Birth Of A Nation: Featuring Jim Broadbent the play dramatises the conflict between old authoritarian teaching methods and the more relaxed approach of progressive educationalists. Flying Into The Wind: Graham Crowden stars in a play depicting the battle between parents who want to home-educate their children and the local education authority. R.H.I.N.O.: The harrowing story of Angela a disenfranchised young black girl living in 1980s London and her encounters with a well-meaning but often ineffectual social system. Made In Britain: Directed by Alan Clarke Tim Roth makes his TV debut as a hate-filled teenage skinhead on a self-destructive campaign destined to lead to permanent incarceration.

• Rivals of Sherlock Holmes | DVD | (15/06/2009) from £13.98   |  Saving you £28.00 (233.53%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Rivals Of Sherlock Holmes: Series 1 (4 Discs)

• The Shout | DVD | (22/10/2007) from £7.75   |  Saving you £2.24 (28.90%)   |  RRP £9.99

  It's a gorgeous Summer's day and two teams play a cricket game with a difference. It's the annual match between the local mental asylum and the villagers and in the scoring hut patients Crossley and Graves sit side-by-side recording every run over and fallen wicket. To keep themselves entertained Crossley recounts a terrifying story of how he came to possess supernatural powers that enable him to kill with a shout. It was he claims an ancient magic he learnt from spending many years with the Australian Aborigines. Although Graves dismisses the tale as an insane fantasy as the match continues the proceedings take on an emphatically sinister turn...

• A Taste Of Honey | DVD | (21/10/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Shelagh Delaney's play 'A Taste of Honey' had already played in the West End and on Broadway when Tony Richardson made his film adaptation shot on location in Salford and Blackpool. Rita Tushingham made her indelible screen debut as Jo a young girl who falls pregnant after leaving home and her floozie of a mother - a revelatory performance by Dora Bryan. Jo befriends Geoff (Murray Melvin) a gentle kind-hearted gay man and they move in together like two children playing house for a while finding an innocent but fragile happiness. Richardson always skilled with actors draws fine performances from his entire cast and 'A Taste of Honey' remains an outstanding example of the British New Wave shot by its star cinematographer Walter Lassally.

• Heartstopper | DVD | (29/01/2007) from £8.38   |  Saving you £4.61 (55.01%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Each beat may be your last... Watch in terror as two hospitalized young people realise the dilapidated institution in which they reside is stranded by a severe storm. It would be a slight understatement to say that things go from bad to worse when they discover that a maniac is stalking the corridors butchering patients and staff by punching them through the rib cage and ripping out their still beating hearts....

• Anyone for Denis? | DVD | (03/09/2018) from £12.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Written by actor, best-selling author and noted satirist John Wells and based on his and Richard Ingrams' hilarious Dear Bill letters for Private Eye Anyone for Denis? was a major West End hit in the early 1980s and remains an unequivocally high watermark of British farce. Starring Wells himself as the much-put-upon Denis and Angela Thorne in an arguably career-best performance as The Iron Lady, a remarkable supporting cast includes Robert Stephens, Joan Sanderson, Alfred Molina, Roy Kinnear, Nicky Henson and John Cater. This television adaptation for Thames Television one of the hits of the ITV network's 1982 Christmas season was directed award-winning writer/director (and comedy legend in his own right) Dick Clement. While Maggie is away at a Euro-Conference, Denis invites two of his drinking chums for a weekend of mischief at Chequers. Things start to go seriously wrong, however, when she returns unexpectedly and mistakes her husband's friends for EEC Commissioners!

• The Christopher Reeve Superman Collection | DVD | (20/11/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £50.99

  Featuring the 4 disc SE of Superman the 3 disc SE of Superman 2 and both double disc Deluxe Editions of 3 and 4 this beast of a box set is a must for any hardened fan of the franchise. Superman The Movie: The movie that makes a legend come to life. You know the story. The planet Krypton is doomed. Only one man Jor-El knows it and rockets his infant son to refuge on a distant world called Earth. As Jor-Els son grows to manhood he learns he possesses super-powers he must hide from ordinary mortals around him. It takes a big movie to contain the considerable talents of Marlon Brando Gene Hackman Jackie Cooper Glen Ford Margot Kidder Valerie Perrine and at its heart the most human portrayal of the Man of Steel Christopher Reeve. Superman an Academy Award winner (1978) for special achievement in visual effects is more than big enough. Directed by Richard Donner Superman: The Movie makes us believe this epic story all over again. Superman II: A nuclear explosion in outer space has freed rebel General Zod and his evil cohorts from their captivity in a fragment of Kryptonite. Having been banished from Krypton for their treachery against Jor-El they now plot revenge on his son - Superman. Arch villian Lex Luthor offers his services to Zod meanwhile Lois Lane has discovered Clark Kents identity. Will Superman surrender his superhuman powers to marry her or will he save the city of Metropolis? Original cast members from Superman create a blend of thrills humour and humanity that makes this sequel great fun for the whole family. Superman III: After Superman: The Movie's epic storytelling and Superman II's awesome battles how could the first two hits be topped? In Superman III meet Gus Gorman (Richard Pryor) a half-witted computer programming natural. For him a keyboard is a weapon and Superman faces the microelectronic menace of his life. Christopher Reeve reprises his most beloved role deepening his character's human side as Clark Kent reunites with an old flame (Annette O'Toole) at a Smallville High class reunion. And when Superman becomes his own worst enemy after Kryptonite exposure Reeve pulls off both roles with dazzling conviction. Incredible visual effects abound - but above all it has heart heroism and high-flying humor. All in superabundance of course. Superman IV: Christopher Reeve not only dons the hero's cape for the fourth time in Superman IV: The Quest For Peace but also helped develop the film's provocative theme: nuclear disarmament. ""For me it's the most personal of the entire series "" Reeve says. ""It directly reflects what Superman should be and should be doing."" Superman does a lot this time around. To make the world safe for nuclear arms merchants archvillain Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) creates a new being to challenge the Man of Steel: the radiation-charged Nuclear Man (Mark Pillow). The two foes clash in an explosive extravaganza that sees Superman save the Statue of Liberty plug a volcanic eruption of Mount Etna and rebuild the demolished Great Wall of China. Your quest for superheroic excitement is over!

• The Fruit Machine | DVD | (16/07/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Lovers Eddie and Michael witness a murder and go on the run with a professional hitman on their trail.

• Son (SHUDDER) | DVD | (11/10/2021) from £13.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  After a mysterious group of individuals breaks into Laura's home and attempts to steal her eight-year-old son David, the two of them flee town in search of safety. But soon after the failed kidnapping, David becomes extremely ill, suffering from increasingly sporadic psychosis and convulsions. Following her maternal instincts to save him, Laura commits unspeakable acts to keep him alive but soon, she must decide how far she is willing to go to save her son. Special Features Interviews with Cast and Crew Deleted Scenes

• Tales Out Of School - Four Plays by David Leland | Blu Ray | (04/07/2011) from £28.55   |  Saving you £1.44 (5.04%)   |  RRP £29.99

  These four television films originally screened by Channel 4 in 1983 brought the emerging writing talent of former actor David Leland to national attention. He would subsequently win a BAFTA Award for his directorial debut Wish You Were Here and an Emmy Award for his contribution to Band of Brothers and work on screenplays for Mona Lisa and Personal Services. Featuring early roles for Tim Roth and Jim Broadbent the plays form a scathing portrait of British society in the early 1980s focusing in particular on the polarisation of attitudes towards the role and methods of education in an increasingly fragmented society. Without overtly offering solutions Leland s plays depict - often with unnerving acuity and foresight - the experience of individuals within systems that have become inadequate in dealing with the fallout of social breakdown. Of the four plays presented here Made in Britain directed by Alan Clarke (Scum) inevitably aroused the strongest controversy with Tim Roth s astonishing portrayal of a nihilistic racist teenage skinhead captured by Chris Menges innovative cinematography; the screenplay won Leland the Prix Italia in 1983. Birth Of A Nation: Featuring Jim Broadbent the play dramatises the conflict between old authoritarian teaching methods and the more relaxed approach of progressive educationalists. Flying Into The Wind: Graham Crowden stars in a play depicting the battle between parents who want to home-educate their children and the local education authority. R.H.I.N.O.: The harrowing story of Angela a disenfranchised young black girl living in 1980s London and her encounters with a well-meaning but often ineffectual social system. Made In Britain: Directed by Alan Clarke Tim Roth makes his TV debut as a hate-filled teenage skinhead on a self-destructive campaign destined to lead to permanent incarceration.

• Innocent Moves | DVD | (22/09/2003) from £22.94   |  Saving you £-6.95 (-43.50%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A prepubescent chess prodigy under pressure from his sports reporter father (Mantegna) and also his mentor (Kingsley) refuses to harden himself in order to become a champion like the famous but unfathomable Bobby Fischer...

• Morgan, A Suitable Case For Treatment | DVD | (17/01/2011) from £9.64   |  Saving you £6.35 (65.87%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Anarchic Londoner Morgan Delt a working class artist and self-confessed dreamer with a gorilla-fixation tries to regain the affections of his upper-class ex-wife Leonie. Leonie rejects Morgan's attempts at reconciliation and when she informs him of her plans to marry stuffy art dealer Charles Napier Morgan slips off the mental deep end into a vivid fantasy life. Morgan enacts a series of bizarre gags and stunts in an often hilarious campaign to win Leonie back... Boasting a brilliant cast including Vanessa Redgrave (Howard's End Blow Up) who earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her role and David Warner (Tron The Omen) Morgan A Suitable Case For Treatment is a 60s cult classic adapted from David Mercer's BBC Sunday night play and directed by Karel Reisz (The French Lieutenant's Woman Saturday Night And Sunday Morning). Cut with dream sequences from King Kong and Tarzan films Morgan's depiction of surreal madness and dark humour made it the swinging sixties wildest funniest and most provocative comedy.

• Lunch Hour (DVD) | DVD | (22/06/2015) from £6.98   |  Saving you £11.01 (157.74%)   |  RRP £17.99

  In this inventive and gripping drama written by John Mortimer (Rumpole of the Bailey) and directed by James Hill (Black Beauty Born Free) Shirley Anne Field (Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Alfie) gives an unforgettable fiery performance as a young designer on the brink of an affair with a married male executive (Robert Stephens – The Shout Comrades). With its tightly-focused plot telling the story of an illicit rendezvous in real time Lunch Hour is presented here in a stunning digitally remastered transfer and is accompanied by a selection of director James Hill’s colourful and award-winning short films. Extras: Skyhook (1958 17 mins): the adventure of oil exploration deep in the tropics of Papua New Guinea Giuseppina (1959 32 mins): a young girl observes different characters at her father’s rural petrol station The Home-Made Car (1963 28 mins): a man restores his dilapidated car as a curious young neighbour watches

• Oliver Twist / Great Expectations | DVD | (17/03/2008) from £17.53   |  Saving you £-4.54 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  An astonishingly good David Lean double-bill featuring his two Dickensian adaptations, Great Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948), this is a reminder that cinema does not necessarily have to debase its literary sources, sometimes it can enhance them. Lean's painterly eye for evocative locations--be they windswept marshes or bustling London streets--provides the backdrop, but his focus on smaller details--the ominous tree in the graveyard with its almost human face, the reaction of Bill Sikes' dog to Nancy's murder--adds the vital ingredient that brings both place and character to life. Starring a youthful John Mills as Pip, Lean's Great Expectations is an unadulterated delight, a serendipitous gelling of screenplay, direction, cinematography and acting that produces an almost perfect film. The cast is exemplary, with Alec Guinness in his first (official) role as Pip's loyal pal Herbert Pocket; Martita Hunt is a cadaverous Miss Havisham; Finlay Currie transforms himself from truly threatening to entirely sympathetic as Magwitch; while the young Jean Simmons makes more of an impact as the girl Estella than Valerie Hobson does as the older incarnation. Perhaps best of all, though, is Francis Sullivan as the pragmatic but kindly attorney Jaggers. The cinematography alone (courtesy of Guy Green) would qualify Oliver Twist as a classic: the opening sequence of a lone woman struggling through the storm is an indelible cinematic image. Fortunately, Lean's film has many more aces up its sleeve thereafter, notably Alec Guinness' grotesque Fagin--a caricature certainly, but a three-dimensional one--and Robert Newton's utterly pitiless Bill Sikes. The skewed angles and unsettling chiaroscuro lighting transform London itself into another threatening character. --Mark Walker

• Empire Of The Sun - Special Edition | DVD | (06/03/2006) from £7.49   |  Saving you £9.50 (55.90%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Roundly dismissed as one of Steven Spielberg's least successful efforts, this very underrated film poignantly follows the World War II adventures of young Jim (a brilliant Christian Bale), caught in the throes of the fall of China. What if you once had everything and lost it all in an afternoon? What if you were only 12 years old at the time? Bale's transformation, from pampered British ruling-class child to an imprisoned, desperate, nearly feral boy, is nothing short of stunning. Also stunning are exceptional sets, cinematography and music (the last courtesy of John Williams) that enhance author J.G. Ballard's and screenwriter Tom Stoppard's depiction of another, less familiar casualty of war. In a time when competitors were releasing "comedic", derivative coming-of-age films, Empire of the Sun stands out as an epic in the classic David Lean sense--despite confusion or perceived competition with the equally excellent The Last Emperor (also released in 1987, and also a coming-of-age in a similar setting). It is also a remarkable testament to, yes, the human spirit. And despite its disappointing box-office returns, Empire of the Sun helped to further establish Spielberg as more than a commercial director and set the standard, tone and look for future efforts Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. --N.F. Mendoza

• Searching for Bobby Fischer - Imprint Limited Edition Blu-Ray | Blu Ray | (08/09/2023) from £28.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Son (SHUDDER) | Blu Ray | (11/10/2021) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  After a mysterious group of individuals breaks into Laura's home and attempts to steal her eight-year-old son David, the two of them flee town in search of safety. But soon after the failed kidnapping, David becomes extremely ill, suffering from increasingly sporadic psychosis and convulsions.

• Lunch Hour | Blu Ray | (25/04/2011) from £15.99   |  Saving you £4.00 (25.02%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Shirley Anne Field gives a fiery performance as a young designer on the brink of starting an affair with a married male supervisor (Robert Stephens) at the wallpaper factory where she works. Based on the play by acclaimed writer John Mortimer (Rumpole of the Bailey) Lunch Hour is directed by James Hill (Black Beauty Born Free). With its tightly-focused plot and 'real-time' narrative this stylish examination of an illicit lunch-hour rendezvous features an underlying sexual radicalism that tells us much about the time in which it was made. Also presented here are three of James Hill's critically acclaimed and fondly remembered short films all of which have more recently garnered an appreciative fan-base amongst enthusiasts of so-called Trade Test films (which were broadcast to test the then-new colour transmission system by BBC TV engineers during the 60s and 70s).

• 99-1 - The Complete First Series | DVD | (14/02/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Leslie Grantham (EastEnders) stars as maverick cop Mick Raynor in this six-part thriller set in the no-man's land where the underworld meets the establishment. While Raynor is posing as a bent ex-policeman he is still very much part of the force - using his current identity to gain information on a complex web of organised crime and high-level corruption lurking beneath the surface of British public life. Raynor doesn't make arrests every week. He's after the big fish: the gangsters with knighthoods; the politicians who are laundering the money. In their pursuit he faces the most dangerous assignments that will stretch his nerves - and his conscience - to the very limit. Also starring Robert Stephens (as Raynor's controller Commander Oakwood) with appearances by Robert Carlyle and Sharon Duce 99-1 was written by British playwright and dramatist Terry Johnson recipient of nine British theatre awards including Olivier Awards for Best Comedy Playwright of the Year at the Critics Circle Theatre Awards Writers Guild Awards for Best Play for two consecutive years and the 2010 Tony Award; this first series was produced by BAFTA winner Steve Clark-Hall. Originally broadcast in 1994 Series One is available here for the first time on DVD.

• Superman 3 | DVD | (06/11/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £10.99