"Actor: Sydney Tafler"

• Square Peg, The / Follow A Star | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £4.31   |  Saving you £8.68 (201.39%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In The Square Peg Norman Wisdom plays one of a pair of council workmen who, while repairing the road outside an army base, come to illustrate the oxymoronic nature of the phrase "military intelligence". Finding themselves drafted, the workmen are sent to repair the roads ahead of the Allied advance through war-torn Europe by the sergeant they previously embarrassed. Norman finds himself behind the German lines, joins up with French Resistance, gets captured then sets out to rescue British prisoners from a German military HQ by impersonating General Schreiber. Of course Wisdom plays Schreiber too. The Square Peg is the film that introduced Norman Wisdom's famous catch-phrase, "Mr. Grimsdale!". Also here Hattie Jacques gets to sing a remarkable duet with Wisdom, and a pre-Goldfinger Honor Blackman provides the love interest. Following his rising star was just what Norman Wisdom's audience had been doing all through the 1950s and, by 1959, and after six films with director John Paddy Carstairs, it was time for a change. Hence Robert Asher made his directorial debut with Follow a Star. The plot is a comedy version of A Star is Born (1954), with Norman yet again playing a dreaming shop worker, this time aspiring to singing stardom. Vernon Carew (played by Wisdom regular Jerry Desmonde) is the fading singer who schemes to use Wisdom's talent to sustain his own rapidly failing career, while the girl is overlooked starlette June Laverick. Norman is surrounded by a particularly strong supporting cast, with Hattie Jacques returning from The Square Peg (1958), Richard Wattis, John Le Mesurier, Fenella Fielding, Ron Moody and, uncredited, future Bond villain Charles Grey. --Gary S Dalkin

• Hotel Sahara | DVD | (25/05/2015) from £12.59   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Ken Annakin directs this 1950s comedy starring Yvonne De Carlo, Peter Ustinov and David Tomlinson. The Hotel Sahara, located in the middle of the desert, is run by husband and wife team Emad and Yasmin Pallas (Ustinov and De Carlo). As the devastation of World War II reaches North Africa, Yasmin takes it upon herself to figure out a way to save the hotel from destruction.

• Mystery Junction | Blu Ray | (23/09/2019) from £10.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Sydney Tafler stars as a celebrated crime writer who finds life imitating art when he boards a train on which murder is a travelling companion... Also featuring Barbara Murray and soon-to-be Hollywood star Patricia Owens, Mystery Junction is a rare and inventive addition to the classic whodunnit genre. Believed to be lost for decades, it is presented here in a new High Definition transfer from the original film elements in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio. Miss Owens, an avid reader of detective stories, finds herself travelling in the same railway compartment as crime writer Larry Gordon neither of them realising that amongst their fellow passengers is a prisoner under escort to trial for murder. When a rescue attempt claims a policeman's life and the passengers become snowbound at a remote railway station, it's a race against time to unmask the culprit before the murderer strikes again!

• The 7th Dawn | Blu Ray | (11/01/2022) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Van Der Valk - Series 1 - Part 1 Of 4 | DVD | (03/03/2003) from £13.45   |  Saving you £2.54 (18.88%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Van der Valk - Series 1 (Part 1)

• Saturday Morning Pictures - The Best Of The Children's Film Foundation - Vol. 4 | DVD | (28/10/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Runaway Railway Some young railway enthusiasts repair a derelict locomotive and find themselves inadvertently involved in a mail train robbery! Junket 89 Junket always seems to be in trouble at school but his troubles really begin when the absent minded science master allows him to borrow his experimental instant transportation machine to journey to faraway places...

• There Was A Young Lady | DVD | (07/12/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In this comedy a diamond merchant's secretary gets fired by her new boss for being too efficient. She ends up kidnapped by a ring of jewel thieves.

• Van Der Valk - Series 1 - Part 2 Of 4 | DVD | (03/03/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Van der Valk - Series 1 (Part 2)

• Follow A Star | DVD | (12/11/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  In The Square Peg Norman Wisdom plays one of a pair of council workmen who, while repairing the road outside an army base, come to illustrate the oxymoronic nature of the phrase "military intelligence". Finding themselves drafted, the workmen are sent to repair the roads ahead of the Allied advance through war-torn Europe by the sergeant they previously embarrassed. Norman finds himself behind the German lines, joins up with French Resistance, gets captured then sets out to rescue British prisoners from a German military HQ by impersonating General Schreiber. Of course Wisdom plays Schreiber too. The Square Peg is the film that introduced Norman Wisdom's famous catch-phrase, "Mr. Grimsdale!". Also here Hattie Jacques gets to sing a remarkable duet with Wisdom, and a pre-Goldfinger Honor Blackman provides the love interest. Following his rising star was just what Norman Wisdom's audience had been doing all through the 1950s and, by 1959, and after six films with director John Paddy Carstairs, it was time for a change. Hence Robert Asher made his directorial debut with Follow a Star. The plot is a comedy version of A Star is Born (1954), with Norman yet again playing a dreaming shop worker, this time aspiring to singing stardom. Vernon Carew (played by Wisdom regular Jerry Desmonde) is the fading singer who schemes to use Wisdom's talent to sustain his own rapidly failing career, while the girl is overlooked starlette June Laverick. Norman is surrounded by a particularly strong supporting cast, with Hattie Jacques returning from The Square Peg (1958), Richard Wattis, John Le Mesurier, Fenella Fielding, Ron Moody and, uncredited, future Bond villain Charles Grey. --Gary S Dalkin

• The Bulldog Breed | DVD | (12/11/2001) from £7.98   |  Saving you £2.01 (20.10%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The Navy's newest recruit is Norman Puckle (Norman Wisdom). He's no ordinary sailor and that's just as well because he soon finds himself lined up for an extraordinary adventure. It is planned that the Navy will put a rocket into orbit and Norman is chosen to man it. Hilarious setbacks and chaos are Norman's constant companions as he undertakes the strenuous tests and training required. Eventually doubts arise as to whether the right person has been chosen but surely the whims of admirals and officers will not be enough to deny Norman his moment of glory!

• Van Der Valk - Series 1 Boxset | DVD | (08/07/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  Complete series one of the famous Dutch Detective Van der Valk.

• Berserk! | Blu Ray | (18/03/2022) from £31.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Joan Crawford (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?) stars as Monica Rivers, the owner of a traveling circus plagued by a series of mysterious deaths. When a high-wire performer becomes the first victim, he is replaced by Frank Hawkins (Ty Hardin, Battle of the Bulge), an even more daring aerialist. But Frank's attentions to Monica make her business manager, Dorando (Michael Gough, Batman), jealous.After Dorando becomes the brutal killer's next victim, Police Superintendent Brooks (Robert Hardy) arrives at the scene, but the mystery is not so easy to unravel with a cast of suspects with motives including jealousy and revenge. This campy horror flick with a surprising climax also features Judy Geeson (To Sir, With Love) and Diana Dors (There's a Girl In My Soup).