"Actor: Scala"

• The Guns Of Navarone | DVD | (04/12/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  This rousing, explosive 1961 World War II adventure, based on Alistair MacLean's thrilling novel, turns the war thriller into a deadly caper film. Gregory Peck heads a star-studded cast charged with a near impossible mission: destroy a pair of German guns nestled in a protective cave on the strategic Mediterranean island of Navarone, from where they can control a vital sea passage. As world-famous mountain climber turned British army Captain, Mallory (Peck) leads a guerrilla force composed of the humanitarian explosives expert, Miller (David Niven), the ruthless Greek patriot with a grudge, Stavros (Anthony Quinn), veteran special forces soldier Brown (Stanley Baker) and the cool, quiet young marksman Pappadimos (James Darren). This disparate collection of classic types must overcome internal conflicts, enemy attacks, betrayal and capture to complete their mission. Director J. Lee Thompson sets a driving pace for this exciting (if familiar) military operation, a succession of close calls, pitched battles and last-minute escapes as our heroes infiltrate the garrisoned town with the help of resistance leader Maria (Irene Papas) and plot their entry into the heavily guarded mountain fort. Carl Foreman's screenplay embraces MacLean's role call of clichés and delivers them with style, creating one of the liveliest mixes of espionage, combat and good old-fashioned military derring-do put on film, while Dimitri Tiomkin's score is as sturdy as the rock of Navarone itself. --Sean AxmakerOn the DVD: This special-edition DVD gives the modern-day viewer a taste of what movies were like in 1961. Four curious featurettes are included, produced as publicity for the film. James Darren narrates a little ditty at his honeymoon in Malta during filming; Irene Papas narrates a giddy, old-fashioned look at "Two Girls on the Town". There is even a filmed bit with producer-writer Carl Foreman that was shown once at the premiere. The 30-minute retrospective, "Memories of Navarone", made in 1999 has the expected reminiscences from Gregory Peck and Anthony Quinn. Director J. Lee Thompson's audio commentary is a bit frustrating; he's now in his 80s, and most of his recollections are slow in coming. A historian could have brought out the film's history (it was the most expensive movie ever made at time of release) and produced a more vital viewing. --Doug Thomas

• The Guns Of Navarone - 60th Anniversary (2 Discs - UHD & BD) | Blu Ray | (01/11/2021) from £19.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.

• I Vespri Siciliani - Teatro Alla Scala | DVD | (24/09/2004) from £10.02   |  Saving you £-0.03 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Riccardo Muti conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro alla Scala.

• Cosi Fan Tutte - Mozart | DVD | (23/07/2004) from £11.35   |  Saving you £-1.36 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Daniela Dessi and Delores Ziegler lead the cast in Mozart's brilliant and witty opera as the two women whose faithfulness in the face of romantic love is ruthlessly tested in Da Ponte's comic tale. Mozart lavishes some of the finest music ever written on the unfolding story of the two sisters' chaotic and fickle love affairs with their two Italian army officers. Unlocked from the archives of RAI television this 1989 recording is a classic from one of the world's great opera houses.

• La Fanciulla Del West | DVD | (21/05/2004) from £15.25   |  Saving you £-5.26 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Puccini's Wild West opera based on Belasco's play The Girl of the Golden West has the California gold rush as its dramatic backdrop for a story in which Minnie the only woman in a mining camp gambles on her one chance of happiness. Lorin Maazel conducts a fine cast in Jonathan Miller's 1991 production of the compelling and evocative opera which Puccini himself considered his best work. Unlocked from the archives of RAI television this is a classic recording from one of the world's great opera houses.

• Don Giovanni - Mozart | DVD | (23/04/2004) from £9.77   |  Saving you £0.22 (2.20%)   |  RRP £9.99

  A performance of the Mozart opera Don Giovanni.

• Verdi - Messa Da Requiem | DVD | (15/08/2005) from £15.79   |  Saving you £1.20 (7.60%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Acknowledged to be the finest Karajan recording of this overwhelming sacred masterpiece. This 1967 performance features four of the 20th century's greatest Verdi singers - Price Cossotto and Ghiaurov were at the peak of their careers while the young Pavarotti was still comparatively unknown (though not for long).

• La Boheme - Puccini | DVD | (06/12/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  La Boheme - Recorded live at the Teatro degli Arcimboldi Milan February 2003 - Staged by the Teatro all Scala.

• Puccini: Madama Butterfly -- La Scala/Maazel | DVD | (31/10/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  This 1986 production of Madama Butterfly strives, with its Japanese director and designer, for authenticity in the Japanese setting, yet is somehow entirely Italian at the same time. Yasuko Hayashi's Cio-Cio-San is surprisingly tough, rejecting the arguments of her uncle and the marriage broker with more anger than usual, and her suicide is as much a moral statement of integrity as a sentimental gesture. Accordingly, Dvorsky's sexually magnetic Pinkerton is even less sympathetic--you can see what she sees in him, but he is arrogant and a user, except when he is being lyrical--and Zancanaro's Sharpless, the consul who expedites Pinkerton's betrayal of his wife but develops his own compassion for her, is all the more complex and interesting. The production has real charm as well as authenticity on its side; the staging of the love duet is impressive in its use of shadow and delicate light. Maazel's interpretation has a forceful energy that the recording impressively conveys. --Roz KaveneyOn the DVD: The DVD has scene selection, and subtitles in German, French and English; the menu adds Spanish.

• The Garment Jungle (Standard Edition) | Blu Ray | (19/09/2022) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Kerwin Matthews (5 Against the House) and J Lee Cobb (The Family Secret) star in a film noir exposé of murder and corruption in the fashion world. When a Korean war veteran takes a job at his father's fashion business, he finds they are paying the mob to shut out the union. When pro-union employees begin getting murdered, he decides to take on the gangsters. Based on true stories about mob involvement in the garment industry, The Garment Jungle stands as a pro-union response to On the Waterfront, and is no less tough and controversial than that film original director Robert Aldrich (Kiss Me Deadly) was fired for his refusal to compromise, with Vincent Sherman (Affair in Trinidad) stepping in to complete production. Extras: Indicator Standard Edition Special Features 2K restoration Original mono audio Audio commentary with film historian Kevin Lyons (2020) It's a Jungle Out There (2007, 20 mins): archival interview with actor Robert Loggia, conducted by Alan K Rode of the Film Noir Foundation following a screening of The Garment Jungle Law of the Jungle (2020, 15 mins): writer and film programmer Tony Rayns discusses Robert Aldrich and The Garment Jungle Rip, Sew and Stitch (1953, 17 mins): comedy starring the Three Stooges, in which the trio play tailors who find themselves caught up in criminal activities Original theatrical trailer Image gallery: publicity and promotional material New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Species 2 | DVD | (29/07/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  They could fuck the human race out of existence!" warns Michael Madsen in this inevitable--and inevitably contrived--sequel to 1995's surprise sci-fi hit. He's referring to a celebrated astronaut (Justin Lazard) infected with alien DNA from his history-making Mars landing, and the half-alien Eve (Natasha Henstridge), who was created from alien-human embryo splicing by biochemist Dr Laura Baker (Marg Helgenberger) in an effort to discover the alien species' vulnerabilities on Earth. While the astronaut sows his gruesomely wild oats with doomed women (resulting in a bevy of creepy kids in alien cocoons), Eve goes into heat until she and the astronaut can consummate their procreative lust. Sex and death are served up like money-shots in a porno flick, with an emphasis on gory flesh-regeneration, explosive pregnancies and slimy-tentacled intercourse. All of which makes this is the kind of derivative schlock that only a true fan could love, but it's boosted to a tolerable level of entertainment by the returning cast (Madsen, Henstridge and Helgenberger) from the previous film. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• The Guns of Navarone SteelBook (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital) | Blu Ray | (07/11/2023) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Giselle | DVD | (15/05/2000) from £24.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Alolphe Adam's Giselle is the first of the great classical ballets and this production was choreographed by Patrice Bart and filmed at La Scala in Milan.

• Lucia Di Lammermoor | DVD | (21/05/2004) from £13.79   |  Saving you £-3.80 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Donizetti's great tragedy is his undisputed masterpiece of melancholic romanticism with the doomed love between Lucia and Edgardo retold from Scott's novel The Bride of Lammermoor. The 1992 production heightens the story's powerful libretto with its dramatic visual design and first-class musical performances. Unlocked from the archives of RAI television this is a classic recording from one of the world's great opera houses.

• The Grind | DVD | (23/07/2007) from £12.96   |  Saving you £6.03 (31.80%)   |  RRP £18.99

  Go Big Or Go Home While the rest of his high school graduating class is heading to the same old grind of college skateboarder Eric Rivers and his best friends Dustin; a goal-oriented workaholic; and misfit slacker Matt; have one last summer roadtrip together to follow their dream of getting noticed by the professional skateboarding world - and getting paid to skate. When skating legend Jimmy Wilson's skate demo tour hits town the boys figure that as soon as he sees their fierce tricks he'll sign them up for his renowned skate team immediately right? Unfortunately the guys are intercepted by Jimmy's road manager and they can't get their foot in the door much less their boards. But they do get some free advice: keep skating stay true to yourself and stay in the game - if you're good you'll get noticed. Following their dream - and Jimmy's national tour - Eric Dustin and Matt start their own skate team reluctantly sponsored by Dustin and his college fund. After recruiting laid-back ladies man Sweet Lou to join their crew and provide the wheels for their tour team ""Super Duper"" launches the ride of their lives in an outrageous road trip from Chi-town to Santa Monica. The professional scene doesn't exactly welcome ""nobody"" skaters but these outsiders stick together through extreme misadventures. In their quest to go pro they meet professional vert skating champions Bucky Lasek Bob Burnquist and Pierre Luc Gagnon skate pro Bam Margera and his crew Preston Lacy Ehren ""Danger"" McGhehey and Jason ""Wee Man"" Acua as well as sexy skate chick Jamie as they grind handrails across America and force the skateboarding world to give 'em a piece of the action.

• Gugielmo Tell - Rossini | DVD | (23/04/2004) from £17.93   |  Saving you £-4.94 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A performance of Rossini's 'Guglielmo Tell'. Sung in Italian with subtitles.

• Attila - Verdi | DVD | (22/10/2004) from £13.79   |  Saving you £-3.80 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Attila Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)Ricardo Muti conducts a fine cast in the powerful and atmospheric 1991 production of Verdi's ninth opera whose story of the heroic tussle between Ezio a Roman general and Attila the Nordic invader was written for the 1846 Teatro la Fenice season and premiered there to huge acclaim. Unlocked from the archives of RAI televvision this is a classic recording from one of the world's great opera houses.Sung In Italian

• Puccini - La Boheme, Madama Butterfly | DVD | (02/12/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  La Boheme: Recorded in the San Francisco Opera House in 1988, this performance of Puccini's La Boheme contains an international cast of singers and players. ; ; Madama Butterfly: Puccini's classic opera which was completed in 1904. This performance is the 1986 La Scala production.

• La Donna Del Lago - Rossini | DVD | (22/10/2004) from £9.15   |  Saving you £0.84 (8.40%)   |  RRP £9.99

  La donna del lagoGiachino Rossini (1792-1868)Director Werner Herzog and conductor Riccardo Muti combine with the finest of casts to lavish Rossini's rarely performed Neapolitan masterpiece set in feudal sixteenth-century Scotland with the genius it deserves. June Anderson is an outstanding Elena (the Lady of the Lake) in the 1992 production of the melodrama based on Sir Walter Scott's poem. Unlocked from the archives of RAI television this is a classic recording from one of the world's great opera houses.

• Adriana Lecouvreur - Cilea | DVD | (22/10/2004) from £13.74   |  Saving you £-3.75 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Adriana LecouvreurFrancesco Cilea (1866-1950)Cilea's four-act opera of jealousy and tangled love first performed in Milan in 1902 is based on the true story of Adriana Lecouvreur an 18th-Century actress at the Comedie Francaise whose rival for the love of Maurizio count of Saxony is the married Principessa di Bouillon. Unlocked from the archives of RAI television this 1989 classic recording comes from one of the world's great opera houses.