"Actor: Simon West"

• The Railway Children | DVD | (14/04/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The Railway Children (1970) and Swallows and Amazons (1974) are perfect bedfellows: two classic children's novels, simply and faithfully adapted for the big screen. Together they evoke a poignant nostalgia for the periods in which they are set--Edwardian and 1920s England, respectively--and for the childhood of anyone who has grown up watching them. Sentimentality reigns, of course, but it's never cloying. The truthfulness of the juvenile performances, balanced with restrained sympathy from the adults, sees to that. Flourishing under Lionel Jeffries' delicate direction, Jenny Agutter dominates The Railway Children as the oldest daughter of a family thrown on hard times when their father is wrongly sent to prison. They avert a train disaster, save an imperilled steeple chaser and reunite an exiled Russian with his wife, all with equal enterprise. Happy endings prevail after every crisis. And no number of repeat viewings can ever diminish the impact of father's return. One of the most expert tear-duct work-outs in film history, it hits the spot every time. Perhaps the lack of such a pivotal scene has kept Swallows and Amazons in the relative shade. But its gentle appeal survives with equal charm, not least in the resourcefulness of the eponymous children and the period detail. Together this pairing makes a double bill to treasure, and a piquant reminder that Disney doesn't have a complete monopoly on the rich heritage of children's cinema. On the DVD: The Railway Children and Swallows and Amazons is presented in standard 4:3 picture format, from so-so prints, and with acceptable mono soundtracks. Both films envelope the viewer in a comforting Sunday-afternoon haze. There are no extras, apart from scene indexes. --Piers Ford

• Wallis And Edward | DVD | (09/01/2006) from £8.08   |  Saving you £8.91 (110.27%)   |  RRP £16.99

  When Wallis Simpson meets Edward Prince of Wales he is charmed by her flirtatious and straight-talking manner and begs her to divorce her husband Ernest. George V dies and Edward becomes King but he has no desire to give up Wallis for a life of Royal duty. As a constitutional crisis grips the nation Edward and the British Government lock horns. The Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin insists that Wallis cannot become Queen. Despite Wallis's pleas for him to remain King Edward feel

• Simon Schama - A History of Britain : The Complete Series | DVD | (18/11/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £59.99

  Stretching from the Stone Age to the year 2000, Simon Schama's Complete History of Britain does not pretend to be a definitive chronicle of the turbulent events which buffeted and shaped the British Isles. What Schama does do, however, is tell the story in vivid and gripping narrative terms, free of the fustiness of traditional academe, personalising key historical events by examining the major characters at the centre of them. Not all historians would approve of the history depicted here as shaped principally by the actions of great men and women rather than by more abstract developments, but Schama's way of telling it is a good deal more enthralling as a result. Schama successfully gives lie to the idea that the history of Britain has been moderate and temperate, passing down the generations as stately as a galleon, taking on board sensible ideas but steering clear of sillier, revolutionary ones. Nonsense. Schama retells British history the way it was--as bloody, convulsive, precarious, hot-blooded and several times within an inch of haring off onto an entirely different course. Schama seems almost to delight in the goriness of history. Themes returned to repeatedly include the wars between the Scots and the Irish and the Catholic/Protestant conflicts--only the Irish question remains unresolved by the new millennium. As Britain becomes a constitutional monarchy, Schama talks less of Kings and Queens but of poets and idea-makers like Orwell. Still, with his pungent, direct manner and against an evocative visual and aural backdrop, Schama makes history seem as though it happened yesterday, the bloodstains not yet dry. On the DVD: The Complete History of Britain extras are generously packaged on a separate disc and include the original score and a Simon Schama biography. There's an interesting "promotional message" to camera in which Schama explains the role of a cab driver, Wally, in inspiring the series, along with an interview with Mark Lawson in which Schama stresses the deliberate subjectivity of these programmes and an inaugural BBC History lecture in which he defends TV's ability to transpose history to camera. --David Stubbs

• Swallows And Amazons | DVD | (04/08/2014) from £9.79   |  Saving you £8.20 (83.76%)   |  RRP £17.99

  SWALLOWS & AMAZONS was the first novel in Arthur Ransome's much-loved series following the adventures of four children and their sailing boat Swallow. In this film of the first installment, Roger, Titty, Susan and John are taken on holiday by their mother to the Norfolk Broads, where they are allowed to sail their boat to a nearby island and set up camp. However they soon discover another boat: the Amazon, manned by potential rivals for dominion of the island. Evoking an England and way of li.

• Swallows And Amazons | Blu Ray | (04/08/2014) from £6.99   |  Saving you £16.00 (228.90%)   |  RRP £22.99

  Swallows and Amazons was the first novel in Arthur Ransome's much-loved series following the adventures of four children and their sailing boat Swallow. In this film of the first instalment Roger Titty Susan and John are taken on holiday by their mother to the Norfolk Broads where they are allowed to sail their boat to a nearby island and set up camp. However they soon discover another boat: the Amazon manned by potential rivals for dominion of the island. Evoking an England and way of life long forgotten Swallows and Amazons turns an enduring model of idyllic and innocent childhood into a lyrical and beautifully realized film. Special Features: Interviews with Sophie Neville Suzanna Hamilton and Virginia McKenna Locations Featurette Behind the Scenes Footage with Commentary from sophie neville Stills Gallery Trailer

• Swallows And Amazons | DVD | (21/08/2006) from £6.10   |  Saving you £6.89 (112.95%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Six young children experience a holiday in the Lake District during the peaceful summer of 1929.... Based on the novel by Arthur Ransome.

• Sacred Flesh | DVD | (26/03/2007) from £6.75   |  Saving you £8.24 (122.07%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Torn between sexual desire her vows of chastity and her fear of eternal damnation a medieval nun struggles with her sanity. Bordering on madness she seeks solace in the savage words of sexual denial that are spoken to her by a disturbing death Nun vision. Her sanity is further threatened by the imagined figure of Mary Magdalene who challenges her concepts of sex as an evil malignant force. In between these discussions the nun's mind is filled with brooding violent sexual fantasies that push her into a world of blackness blood and orgasmic destruction.

• Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song | DVD | (28/11/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song is the story of a young hustler (Van Peebles) whose aimless pleasure-seeking turns to radicalism after witnessing the beating of a black revolutionary by two white cops. Sweetback driven to a state of blind rage takes brutal revenge on the cops forcing him into a desperate life on the run. Despite a minor opening at only two theaters followed by a torrent of negative reviews 'Sweetback' mushroomed to $10 000 000 at the box office

• Komodo | DVD | (27/01/2003) from £22.98   |  Saving you £-6.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  I think they're contesting our place in the food chain", quips an Imperilled teen at an especially low moment of Komodo, a regulation trapped-with-monsters straight-to-video quickie. There was a millennial blip of such nature-on-the-rampage horrors in the year 2000 and Komodo settles comfortably onto the shelf with King Cobra, Blood Surf, They Nest, Crocodile, Spiders and Octopus. If you've seen all of them, you'll probably want to see this too--but don't say we didn't warn you. Komodo familiarly packs a few no-name actors to an island supposedly off the shore of Carolina (actually somewhere in Australasia and has them menaced by CGI creatures, then fighting back and beating the beasts. Though the title gives away the nature of the menace, ex-effects technician-turned-director Michael Lantieri keeps the monsters off-screen and purportedly mysterious for half the running time. Teenage Patrick (Kevin Zegers) is traumatised by the deaths of parents (and his dog) and retreats into an amnesiac fugue, but his psychiatrist Victoria (Jill Hennessy) brings him back to the site of the tragedy to stir his memories. It turns out that the local evil oil company has always known that a bunch of giant, flesh-eating lizards were on the loose but kept quiet about it for nebulously nefarious purposes. Oates (Billy Burke), a rebellious company minion, hooks up with Patrick (who shows unexpected resourcefulness in whipping up lizard traps) and the shrink and they have a last-reel confrontation with the monsters that allow for some very distant echoes of Jurassic Park. The CGI and model work is seamless but the monsters have too little personality and, despite their voracious appetites, require all manner of contrivances to bring their victims within snapping distance. Nice bit at the end though with a gory if not dramatic finale. --Kim Newman

• The Lodger | DVD | (09/03/2009) from £12.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (53.89%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2) Hope Davis (About Schmidt) Shane West (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) and Simon Baker (TV's The Mentalist) star in this terrifying thriller. The Lodger follows a seasoned detective on the trail of a ruthless killer intent on slaughtering prostitutes along West Hollywood's Sunset Strip. It appears that the murderer's grisly methods are identical to that of London's infamous 19th century psychopath Jack the Ripper - a relentless serial killer who was never caught by police. To make matters worse the detective soon notices the parallels between the crimes committed by the West Hollywood stalker and those of a serial murderer incarcerated years ago. Could the wrong man be behind bars? Also starring Rachael Leigh Cook (Nancy Drew).

• Ben Folds & West Australian Symphony Orchestra Live in Perth | DVD | (14/04/2007) from £7.87   |  Saving you £4.12 (34.40%)   |  RRP £11.99

  Recorded in March 2005 in an outdoor venue in Perth Australia this 80-minute concert finds the singer-songwriter-pianist in the company of conductor Simon Kenway and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. Favouring material from his Rockin' the Suburbs Whatever and Ever Amen CDs Folds used local musicians for most of the arrangements with the result that the orchestra enhances the songs rather than merely augmenting them. By the time you get to ""Narcolepsy "" the twelfth of the 14 songs performed here and one that features a co-vocal by operatic tenor Stuart Haycock you can't help but be won over by this thoroughly charming show! Track Listing 1. Zak and Sara 2. Smoke 3. Fred Jones Part 2 4. Steven's Last Night in Town 5. Boxing 6. Annie Waits 7. Brick 8. Evaporated 9. Not the Same 10. The Ascent of Stan 11. Lullabye 12. Narcolepsy 13. Rock This Bitch 14. The Luckiest

• Agony - Series 3 - Complete | DVD | (17/08/2009) from £5.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (53.90%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Agony: Series 3

• Agony - Series 1 - Complete | DVD | (05/11/2007) from £8.98   |  Saving you £8.00 (114.45%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Jane Lucas an Agony Aunt with a call-in radio show has her own set of troubles with her very Jewish mother and her husband Laurence. Then there's the crazy lives of her station co-workers and the nice gay couple who live upstairs.

• Sacred Flesh | DVD | (10/07/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Torn between sexual desire her vows of chastity and her fear of eternal damnation a medieval nun struggles with her sanity. Bordering on madness she seeks solace in the savage words of sexual denial that are spoken to her by a disturbing death Nun vision. Her sanity is further threatened by the imagined figure of Mary Magdalene who challenges her concepts of sex as an evil malignant force. In between these discussions the nun's mind is filled with brooding violent sexual fantasies that push her into a world of blackness blood and orgasmic destruction.

• When Love Comes | DVD | (13/05/2002) from £17.95   |  Saving you £5.03 (33.62%)   |  RRP £19.99

  'When Love Comes' is set against an exciting urban lifestyle where creative energy runs rampant and illicit substances fuel the artistic juices where sex is always available but love is elusive. Katie (Rena Owen) is a singer who had a brief period of popularity in the 1970s. She goes to visit friend Stephen who hangs out with a bunch of younger people on the music scene. Combining their talents these characters desires become realised; when love comes...

• Wallis And Edward | DVD | (09/01/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  When Wallis Simpson meets Edward Prince of Wales he is charmed by her flirtatious and straight-talking manner and begs her to divorce her husband Ernest. George V dies and Edward becomes King but he has no desire to give up Wallis for a life of Royal duty. As a constitutional crisis grips the nation Edward and the British Government lock horns. The Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin insists that Wallis cannot become Queen. Despite Wallis's pleas for him to remain King Edward feels forced to choose between his royal destiny and the woman he loves...