"Actor: Rose Martin"

• Vigil: Series 1-2 | DVD | (29/01/2024) from £19.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• For The Boys | DVD | (07/06/2004) from £13.14   |  Saving you £2.84 (27.98%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Bette Midler poured her heart and soul into For the Boys, the story of a pair of entertainers who repeatedly took time from their careers to entertain US troops at war, from World War II to Vietnam--and it sank like a stone at the box office. Granted, it's corny and emotionally over the top. It is the tale of an unlikely team of singer and comedian (played by Midler and James Caan), who are brought together for a reunion show in their dotage. As they nervously anticipate seeing each other for the first time in years, they are flooded with memories of their earlier days as a hot show-biz couple whose own troubles always took second place to their patriotic urge to buoy the boys in uniform. Some say this was a veiled film version of the Martha Raye story; Midler gives it her all and Caan isn't bad. But director Mark Rydell lays on the schmaltz so thickly at times that it overpowers the tougher material. --Marshall Fine, Amazon.com

• Columbo - Series 1 | DVD | (13/09/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  TV detective fans rejoice: Peter Falk's rumpled and infallible Lt. Columbo joins the DVD precinct with a five-disc set that features the detective's first nine appearances for NBC. Though Falk as Columbo (no first name) made his TV debut in 1967, the detective had actually first appeared on an episode of the 1960-61 Chevy Mystery Show (Bert Freed played the role) written by veteran TV scribes Richard Levinson and William Link (The Fugitive, Alfred Hitchcock Presents). The pair turned the episode into a stage play titled Prescription: Murder, which was adapted into a TV movie in 1967 with Falk in the lead. NBC greenlit a two-hour Columbo pilot (Ransom for a Dead Man) in 1971, and the series was launched that fall as part of the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie, a rotating 90-minute program that alternated Columbo with episodes of MacMillan and Wife and McCloud (another Levinson/Link creation). Viewers were quickly won over by Falk's shrewd performance as he matched wits with a host of exceptional guest stars (including Gene Barry, Patrick McGoohan, and others), all of whom assumed that the disheveled detective would never figure out their "perfect crimes"; the popularity and quality of the original series allows Falk to continue to don the trenchcoat some 30 years later for occasional Columbo TV movies. All seven 90-minute episodes of the 1971-72 debut season are included here, along with Prescription: Murder and Ransom for a Dead Man; unfortunately, as the lieutenant himself would say, "Oh, just one more thing"--no extras are included in the set, but having these fine TV mysteries in one set should be reward enough for armchair sleuths. --Paul Gaita

• Tenko - Complete | DVD | (11/07/2005) from £52.70   |  Saving you £97.29 (184.61%)   |  RRP £149.99

  The story of European women living in Singapore at the outbreak of war in the Far East and their capture by the Japanese. Features the complete episodes from the television series.

• Tess | DVD | (27/09/2004) from £8.82   |  Saving you £4.17 (47.28%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Roman Polanski adapted Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles and came up with this moody, haunting film starring Nastassia Kinski as the farm girl who is misused by the aristocrat for whom she works and who is then caught in a marriage where her initial happiness soon turns to grief. Fans of the novel may feel unpersuaded by Polanski's effort to marry Hardy's Dorset vision with his own fascination with psychosexual impulses toward survival, but the film is an often stunning thing to see, and Kinski's sensitive, intelligent performance lingers in the memory. --Tom Keogh

• James Bond - Thunderball (Ultimate Edition 2 Disc Set) | DVD | (17/07/2006) from £6.03   |  Saving you £10.96 (181.76%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Sean Connery reprises his role as James Bond in a film that he would later re-make as Never Say Never Again under controversial circumstances. The thrills never stop as Agent 007 (Sean Connery) goes above the call of duty - and to the bottom of the ocean - to track down a villainous criminal who's holding millions hostage and threatening to plunge the world into a nuclear holocaust!

• Orphans | DVD | (27/11/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Orphans is the poignant and often hilarious story of the night before four sibling bury their mother. Gathering at the family home they prepare for her funeral. Thomas the eldest son decides to spend the night in the chapel of rest Michael becomes involved in a pub brawl Sheila is left stranded in her wheelchair after leaving Thomas and John plans a revenge attack after hearing about Michael... Peter Mullan won a range of international film awards for his direction of a fil

• Can't Hardly Wait | DVD | (22/11/1999) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  This underrated teen comedy from 1998 is guilty of being a proud underachiever, and it doesn't bring anything new to the genre, but look closely and you'll find the makings of a much better movie buried under all the keg-party antics. The basic story is typical for this kind of comedy. A young, aspiring writer named Preston (Ethan Embry) has been lusting after class beauty Amanda (Jennifer Love Hewitt, from TV's Party of Five) for four years of high school, but he's never had the nerve to tell her. Now that they're about to graduate he has finally worked up the courage to write her a soul-baring love letter. At the raucous graduation keg party that takes up most of the movie's 98 minutes, Preston agonises while Amanda's selfish jock ex-boyfriend tries to win her back, and delivering his love letter turns out to be more difficult than he ever imagined. What's interesting about Can't Hardly Wait has little to do with its attractive leads, however. The most engagingly real and entertaining characters are the misfits who show up in the sub-plots, including a geek (Charlie Korsmo) who turns into the life of the party and a pair of old friends (Seth Green, Lauren Ambrose) who confront each other about their mutual needs and insecurities. There are some really good scenes between these two and this modest movie has a few other pleasant surprises up its sleeve. That doesn't make it particularly good but it does make it an agreeable waste of time. --Jeff Shannon

• Tenko - Series 2 - Part 2 | DVD | (08/09/2003) from £17.97   |  Saving you £7.02 (28.10%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The story of ex-patriot European women living in Singapore at the outbreak of war in the Far East and their capture by the Japanese.

• Earthly Possessions | DVD | (09/05/2003) from £3.88   |  Saving you £2.11 (54.38%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Charlotte is a seemingly mild-mannered middle-aged housewife - who's decided to leave her husband and skip town. Her mind is made up and all that's left to do is go to the bank and withdraw her money. But while she's waiting in line her plans are suddenly changed when a desperate young man robs the bank - and takes Charlotte along as a hostage. What ensues is a wild and quirky road trip that includes car theft demolition derbies a cat named Murder and maybe even romance...

• Fubar | DVD | (06/09/2004) from £4.79   |  Saving you £11.20 (233.82%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Headbangers Terry and Dean explore the depths of friendship, not to mention the art and science of drinking beer like a man!

• Tenko - Series 2 Complete | DVD | (11/08/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  This box set contains two double DVD's featuring the entire second series. Based on real-life experiences this is the powerful story of women whose lives are changed forever. Thrown together by the chaos of war and fearing for their lives they learn to survive the harsh conditions and regime of prison camp life. It is 1942 and the women have been split into two groups to march to their new camp....

• Cracker - True Romance | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £7.98   |  Saving you £5.00 (100.20%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Fitz has to increase his lectures at several universities as he is broke. The attentions of one of his pupils leave him unaffected until he realises that she may be involved in murder and harming his family.

• Columbo - Season 1 Episodes 1 - 6 | DVD | (02/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Peter Falk stars as the iconic crumpled trenchcoat-clad detective Columbo. Features a collection of classic episodes from Season One.

• Gone To The Dogs | DVD | (07/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Made for televison comedy which follows the antics of trio anxious to make it big on the greyhound racing circuit...

• Cider With Rosie | DVD | (03/03/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Based on a memoir of English writer Laurie Lee and featuring narration by Lee himself, this made-for-television adaptation begins in wartime 1918 with Lee's family moving to the Gloucestershire countryside. Juliet Stevenson (Truly, Madly, Deeply) shines as the matriarch of this large blended family, a compassionate and distracted woman who pines for the brood's missing father. The movie takes Lee from a young boy sleeping in his mother's bed through his girl-obsessed adolescence, fondly dealing with an assortment of relatives, schoolmates and villagers along the way. Lee doesn't actually have cider with girlfriend Rosie until a few minutes before the 82-minute movie ends, but in the meantime Charles Beeson, directing from an adaptation by John Mortimer, has offered up a gentle homage to long-passed era. --Kimberly Heinrichs, Amazon.com

• Whatever Happened To Aunt Alice? | DVD | (02/07/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? sees a change of direction for Robert Aldrich's unofficial trilogy which all involve "ageing actresses" in macabre thrillers (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte). The busy Aldrich only produced What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?, calling in TV director Lee H Katzin (a Mission: Impossible regular) to handle the megaphone. Aldrich also opted to shoot the film in pastel colours appropriate to the unusual Arizona desert setting rather than the gothic black and white of the earlier films. The film cast the less iconic Geraldine Page as the genteelly unpleasant Mrs Clare Marrable. Left apparently penniless by her departed husband, Mrs M opts to keep up appearances by hiring a succession of timid elderly housekeepers, bossing them around with well-spoken nastiness, duping them out of their life savings and, on the pretence of getting help with a midnight tree-planting program, lures them into their own graves, batters them to death and plants lovely pines over them. Page gets her own way with the meek likes of Mildred Dunnock, until the feistier, red-wigged R!uth Gordon applies for the job and gets down to amateur sleuthing. While Bette Davis and her partners went wildly over the top in previous films, Page and Gordon play more subtly, finding odd pathetic moments in between the monstrous, irony-laced horror stuff. The supporting cast of pretty or handsome young things, mostly putty in the hands of the manipulative Page, contribute striking little cameos (Rosemary Forsyth sports a pleasing 1969 hairdo as the kindly but intimidated neighbour), but the film belongs to its leading ladies, delivering a fine line in twist-packed cat-and-mouse theatrics. The video is handsomely letterboxed, as befits a film made before widescreen films were shot with all the action in the middle of the frame to facilitate television sales. --Kim Newman

• Cracker - True Romance | DVD | (16/10/2006) from £9.43   |  Saving you £3.56 (37.75%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Fitz has to increase his lectures at several universities as he is broke. The attentions of one of his pupils leave him unaffected until he realises that she may be involved in murder and harming his family.

• Fox | DVD | (10/03/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  This BAFTA nominated series follows the fortunes and feuds of old Billy Fox (Peter Vaughan) and his family in South London. With a superb cast including Ray Winstone and Bernard Hill and shot entirely on location in pubs clubs and streets 'Fox' evokes a strong London atmosphere through a wonderfully tense and involving story.

• Silas Marner | DVD | (09/10/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Silas Marner, a member of a strict religious community, is wrongly accused of theft and has no choice but to move to a faraway village. For 15 years he lives alone, hoarding the money he makes from his weaving and gaining a reputation as a recluse, a miser and perhaps even a witch. Marner's life changes dramatically one Christmas season, when his gold is stolen and a mysterious woman dies in the woods outside his cottage. She leaves behind a child that Marner, to the surprise of the other villagers, takes into his home to raise as his daughter. The arrival of the infant, who he names Eppie after his mother, transforms Marner. His bitterness evaporates, he no longer cares about his lost money, and he commits himself completely to his adopted child, who grows up into a loving and beautiful daughter. But Marner's happiness may be threatened when Eppie's real father wants to claim Eppie as his own. Ben Kingsley gives a subtle and moving performance as the simple weaver, and a strong cast gives him ample support in this 1985 BBC adaptation of George Eliot's novel. Silas Marner is not particularly complex--it's certainly a more modest undertaking than Eliot's most famous novel, Middlemarch--but this sentimental Victorian tale, filled with historical detail, potential tragedy, heartless villains and the redeeming power of childhood, makes for a very satisfying film. --Simon Leake, Amazon.com