"Actor: Sidney James"

• And The Same To You | DVD | (14/06/2004) from £19.19   |  Saving you £-3.21 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A boxing promoter who shares a church hall with a prudish reverend is the knockout formula for this sparkling Brian Rix farce.

• Jackie Chan - Dragon Lord / Crime Story / Heart Of The Dragon | DVD | (06/02/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Dragon Lord (1982): Dragon (Jackie) and his buddy Cowboy get mixed up in a plot to swipe some valuable Chinese antiques and are forced to kick butt. However the real attraction here is a number of showstopping set pieces that involve Jackie and Cowboy playing some pretty demented versions of Badminton and Football all while trying to win the heart of a local beauty. Also known as Young Master In Love and Dragon Strike! Crime Story (1993): Jackie Chan plays a police man assigned to track down kidnappers unaware that his partner is also a villian. Blazing through incredible stunts car chases and brutal rooftop brawls (not forgetting the heart attack victim brought back to life with jump leads and a revving engine!) we see Jackie the maverick cop in full throttle to bring this case to its final and bloody conclusion. Heart Of The Dragon (1985): Respected cop Fung (Jackie Chan) gives up his dreams of sailing around the world in order to care for his mentally disabled brother (Sammo Hung). However having been innocently caught up in a gangland dispute the brother is kidnapped to force Fung to divulge the identity of a police informant... A DVD premiere for this Jackie Chan thriller offering a decidedly different change of pace with heart-wrenching drama and action choreography by Yuen Biao. Heromakers: Experience an action-packed stunt filled journey behind the scenes of the world famous Hong Kong action cinema industry. Join Jackie Chan Sammo Hung and the leading members of the Hong Kong Stuntman Association as they reveal the secrets of their trade and disclose fascinating anecdotes relating to their groundbreaking work in some of the most daring and innovative action movies ever made. Featuring a series of exclusive interviews recorded for the first time with the official approval of the HHSA Heromakers will illuminate the raw courage ingenuity and selfless dedication of the men and women who have elevated movies like Project A Police StoryThe Killer into cinematic legend!

• Quatermass 2 | DVD | (31/03/2003) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-4.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Quatermass is intrigued by strange images on his radar. Thinking them to be meteorites he follows them to a village which on his arrival he finds has been completely destroyed...

• Carry On Dick | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £14.26   |  Saving you £-4.27 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The 18th century, with its frills and bawds, was ideal territory for the Carry On movies: Carry On Dick is one of the few of the series where one notices the quality of the art direction in intervals between terrible old Talbot Rothwell jokes and the creaking of standard farce moments. Captain Fancy (Kenneth Williams) is sent to the remote village of Upper Denture to arrest Big Dick Turpin (Sid James) and makes the mistake of confiding in the local Rector, the Reverend Flasher (who is Big Dick's secret alter-ego). Dick has troubles of his own: his liaison with his housemaid and henchperson Harriet (Barbara Windsor) is perpetually interrupted by his amorous housekeeper Hattie Jacques). Meanwhile, Joan Sims struts around the plot as the proprietor of a touring show of scantily clad young women. This is not one of the best of the series--a certain mean-spiritedness creeps in to the humour as does the self-conscious awareness that 1974 was a date a little late for some of the more sexist jokes--but any film with Kenneth Williams discussing satin coats with his tailor has something going for it. On the DVD: Sadly, the DVD has no frills: it is presented in mono and 4:3 screen ratio.--Roz Kaveney

• Carry On Girls | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £15.05   |  Saving you £-5.06 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Carry On Girls was the last really successful instalment of the epic series of British film comedies. It's studded with gems of cameo performances and a tremendously innuendo-laden Talbot Rothwell script that is easily the equal of any of its predecessors. The setting, a beauty contest to raise the profile of the dismal resort Fircombe-on-Sea, is ripe for politically incorrect activity of the sort that could only be conducted by Sid James at the height of his lecherous powers. Enter Bernard Bresslaw in a corset, Wendy Richard as Ida Downs, Barbara Windsor as Miss Easy Rider and a host of other semi-clad lovelies and watch as the whole thing rises to a slapstick climax of frisky old colonels, bikinis, bosoms and itching powder. In the smaller roles, Joan Hickson (BBC television's Miss Marple) is hilarious as an elderly woman who believes she is a man-magnet and the always under-used Patsy Rowlands excels as the downtrodden mayor's wife, a worm who finally turns. But in many ways this is June Whitfield's film. As the terrifying reactionary councillor Mrs Prodworthy, with a butch lesbian sidekick, she plots the downfall of her male colleagues with classic lines. "Rosemary, get the candle", she orders as Patsy Rowlands requests initiation into the cause. Margaret Thatcher never sounded so ominous. On the DVD: Like most of the other DVD Carry On releases, this one is presented in 4:3 format with a mono soundtrack. All right, you don't really need anything more sophisticated to recreate the cosy ritual of Carry On watching in your living room. And the print is good and sharp. But apart from the usual scene index, the lack of extras reflects a disappointingly unimaginative approach to celebrating a genre of film comedy that, for all its low budget reputation, provided a showcase for the cream of a whole generation of British comic actors. They deserve better.--Piers Ford

• Blood On The Sun / James Cagney On Film | DVD | (01/03/2000) from £4.49   |  Saving you £-0.50 (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  This is one of the first American martial arts movies and features some gripping action with James Cagney doing his own stunts for which he trained intensively with Ken Kuniyuki a fifth degree judo master before shooting. This is Cagney at his best.

• Carry On Doctor | DVD | (04/05/2001) from £6.22   |  Saving you £3.77 (60.61%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Bedpan humour rules in Carry On Doctor, the vintage 1968 offering from the familiar gang, assisted by guest star Frankie Howerd as bogus faith healer Francis Bigger. Hospitals, of course, always provided the Carry On producers with plenty of material. Today, these comedies induce a twinge of serious nostalgia for the great days of the National Health Service when Matron (Hattie Jacques, naturally) ran the hospital as if it was a house of correction, medical professionals were idolised as if they were all Doctor Kildare and Accident and Emergency Departments were deserted oases of calm. But even if you aren't interested in a history lesson, Talbot Rothwell's script contains some immortal dialogue, particularly when Matron loosens her stays. "You may not realise it but I was once a weak man", says Kenneth Williams' terrified Doctor Tinkle to Hattie Jacques. "Once a week's enough for any man", she purrs back, undaunted. Other highlights include Joan Sims, excellent as Frankie Howerd's deaf, bespectacled sidekick, Charles Hawtrey suffering from a phantom pregnancy, 1960s singer Anita Harris in a rare film role, and Barbara Windsor at her most irrepressible as nurse Sandra May. This is one of the best. On the DVD: Presented in 1.77:1 format for a pseudo-widescreen effect, the picture quality is good and sharp, accompanied by a standard mono soundtrack. The same no-frills approach is taken with the packaging; a functional scene index and no extras. Yet again, a missed opportunity to use the DVD release to provide some context. At their best, the Carry On films are rightly seen as classic comedies of their type. They really deserve to be better celebrated. --Piers Ford

• Carry On Again Doctor | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The title of Carry On Again Doctor (1969) says it all; almost the same cast playing similar characters to their previous year's outing in Carry On Doctor. This one rejoices in the alternative title "Bowels are Ringing". But the enduring popularity of these films owes almost everything to their basic formula and if this one occasionally seems a bit cobbled together, all the old favourites are still there, working away. This time, the setting moves from the National Health Service to the private sector and even stretches as far as the "Beatific Islands" when Jim Dale is exiled to a missionary clinic for his overzealous attention to the female patients, who include Barbara Windsor of course. There, orderly Sid James rules the roost of the clinic with his harem of local women. Trivia addicts can spot Mrs Michael Caine in a brief role as a token dusky maiden. The second half of the Talbot Rothwell script picks up nicely as the characters converge on the private hospital back in England where Dale rakes in the money with a bogus weight loss treatment. Hattie Jacques is in fine form as Matron, Kenneth Williams fascinates with his usual mass of mannerisms and Joan Sims is stately as the Lady Bountiful figure financing most of the shenanigans. It's a tribute to their professionalism that we can still lose ourselves in some of the creakiest old jokes around. On the DVD: Bog standard 4:3 picture format and mono soundtrack provide an adequate viewing experience, especially as today most people will be more familiar with these films from television transmissions than from their cinema release. However, the lack of extras is a shame. Apart from the scene index, there is nothing to distinguish the DVD from its video equivalent. At the very least, a cast list or star biographies would add a little value. --Piers Ford

• Carry On Henry | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £13.97   |  Saving you £-3.98 (-39.80%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Shot in the bright postal colours of a seaside postcard, Carry on Henry applies the usual Carry On sniggering to the married life of Henry VIII. Talbot Rothwell's script is standard bedroom farce and full of jokes about choppers, while the threat of beheading and the actuality of torture are constantly present but only as the terrible things that happen to cartoon characters who will be back next time. Sid James turns in one of his better performances as the endlessly lecherous and fickle Henry, married to Joan Sims and lusting after Barbara Windsor. There is a genuine sexual chemistry between James and Windsor which at times almost breaks open the farce formula. The usual regulars--Kenneth Williams as Thomas Cromwell, Terry Scott as Cardinal Wolsey, Charles Hawtrey as Sir Roger--do their usual turns; Williams is more subdued than usual, while Hawtrey hugely enjoys playing the Queen's secret lover. This was not one of the high points of the series, but it has its own curious charm. On the DVD: The DVD has no extras whatever, but is a good clean print in 1.77:1 ratio with crisp mono sound. --Roz Kaveney

• Carry On Don't Lose Your Head | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £6.66   |  Saving you £3.33 (50.00%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Carry On Don't Lose Your Head parodies the adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel, with crinkly, cackling Sid James as master of disguise the Black Fingernail and Jim Dale as his assistant Lord Darcy. He must rescue preposterously effete aristo Charles Hawtrey from the clutches of Kenneth Williams' fiendish Citizen Camembert and his sidekick Citizen Bidet (Peter Butterworth). The Black Fingernail is assisted in his efforts to thwart the birth of the burgeoning republic by the almost supernatural stupidity of his opponents, who fail to recognise the frankly undisguisable Sid James even when dressed as a flirty young woman. What with an executioner who is tricked into beheading himself in order to prove the efficacy of his own guillotine, it's all a little too easy. As usual, no groan-worthy pun is left unturned, nor unheralded by the soundtrack strains of a long whistle or wah-wah trumpet. This is pretty silly stuff even by Carry On standards, with most of the cast barely required to come out of first gear and an overlong climactic swordfight sequence hardly raising the dramatic stakes. Most of the humour here resides neither in the script nor the characterisation but in the endlessly watchable Williams' whooping, nasal delivery (occasionally lapsing into broad Cockney) and the jowl movements of the always-underrated Butterworth. On the DVD: There are no extra features except scene selection. The picture is 4:3 full screen ratio.--David Stubbs

• Duel in Diablo | Blu Ray | (09/04/2020) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Blood On The Sun | DVD | (17/11/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  While much of the world watched the early success of 'Mein Kampf' and the bombing of Pearl Harbour was ten years in the future few were aware of the existence of an oriental 'Hitler' ... Baron Giichi Tankara. But the war had already started in Japan for James Condon American journalist and editor of the Japanese Chronicle whose intuition has led him to believe that major trouble was brewing. The role of Condon man of hard words and harder fists is just the kind of tough guy that first brought James Cagney stardom and in this movie you will not be disappointed as he battles to stay alive long enough to warn the rest of the world against a Japanese militarist plot called the 'Tanaka Plan' that has world domination as its objective. This is one of the first American martial arts movies and features some gripping action with Cagney doing his own stunts for which he trained intensively with Ken Kuniyuki a fifth degree judo master before shooting. This is Cagney at his best.

• Carry On Camping | DVD | (01/10/1999) from £9.32   |  Saving you £10.67 (114.48%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Prepare for an onslaught of robust breezy humour when the Carry On team take to the great Outdoors.

• Carry On Loving | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £7.93   |  Saving you £2.06 (25.98%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Setting a Carry On film in a marriage bureau has a certain self-serving obviousness, so it's hardly surprising that Carry On Loving milks the idea for all it's worth. The Wedded Bliss Agency is of course a pretty dubious outfit, being run by Sid (James) and Sophie Bliss (Hattie Jacques), who together are the worst possible argument both for marriage and for their own profession: they constantly snipe at each other, they aren't actually married and their sophisticated computer matching system is in fact a complete fake. The remainder of the team are mostly cast as hapless clients, with predictable but often very funny situations arising from the various mismatches engineered by the agency, such as the inevitable misunderstanding over one client's interest in modelling. Yes, the humour is about as subtle as a flatulent elephant, but you can't help entering into the spirit of the thing. If there's an outstanding performance it has to be that of Imogen Hassall, who handles her transformation from round-shouldered frump to well-bred love goddess with considerable expertise and a genuine sense of fun. On the DVD: The picture ratio is 4:3, and as is usual for this series the disc has no added features, which always seems like a terribly missed opportunity.--Roger Thomas

• Blood On The Sun | DVD | (01/12/2003) from £8.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (88.99%)   |  RRP £16.99

  While much of the world watched the early success of 'Mein Kampf' and the bombing of Pearl Harbour was ten years in the future few were aware of the existence of an oriental 'Hitler' ... Baron Giichi Tankara. But the war had already started in Japan for James Condon American journalist and editor of the Japanese Chronicle whose intuition has led him to believe that major trouble was brewing. The role of Condon man of hard words and harder fists is just the kind of tough guy t

• Blood On The Sun | DVD | (11/08/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  While much of the world watched the early success of 'Mein Kampf' and the bombing of Pearl Harbour was ten years in the future few were aware of the existence of an oriental 'Hitler' ... Baron Giichi Tankara. But the war had already started in Japan for James Condon American journalist and editor of the Japanese Chronicle whose intuition has led him to believe that major trouble was brewing. The role of Condon man of hard words and harder fists is just the kind of tough guy t

• The Titfield Thunderbolt | DVD | (21/06/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  When an antiquated railway line is threatened with closure the villagers decide to run it themselves and enter into frenzied competition with the local bus route with hilarious consequences! Director Charles Crichton and writer Tibby Clarke team up again for the first Ealing comedy to be produced in Technicolor. The defiance of authority by local inhabitants was a favourite topic in the 40's and 50's and embellishes the characteristic Ealing theme - 'small is beautiful and big is bad'.

• Red Surf/Corrupt/Riot/Justice | DVD | (14/01/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £18.99

  Red Surf (Fullscreen 4:3 / English - Dolby (2.0) Stereo / Cert. 18); When pro surfer Remar (Clooney) turns to drug dealing to support himself and his girlfriend, he struggles to change his ways before becoming a victim of the streets...; ; Corrupt (Fullscreen 4:3 / English - Dolby (2.0) Stereo / Cert. 18); Detective Fred O'Connor (Keitel) lives the high life, financed by illicit drug dealing. However, his life is shattered when his partner (Lydon) confesses to a series of murder...

• Last Holiday | DVD | (09/03/2020) from £7.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  LAST HOLIDAY is a 1950 black comedy starring Alec Guinness in fine form as George Bird, a mild-mannered salesman, who's been told by his Doctor that he only has a short time left to live. Determined not to waste his final days, he decides to go on one last holiday to live the rest of his life to the full. Written by renowned novelist and playwright J.B. Priestley, LAST HOLIDAY is a timeless parable on the notion that life is not just about how long you live, but how well. Extras: NEW: Interview With Cultural Historian Matthew Sweet Personalities: J.B. Priestley (1944) Behind The Scenes Stills Gallery