"Actor: Veronica Lang"

• The Birds | DVD | (17/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Vacationing in northern California, Alfred Hitchcock was struck by a story in a Santa Cruz newspaper: "Seabird Invasion Hits Coastal Homes". From this peculiar incident, and his memory of a short story by Daphne du Maurier, the master of suspense created one of his strangest and most terrifying films. The Birds follows a chic blonde, Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), as she travels to the coastal town of Bodega Bay to hook up with a rugged fellow (Rod Taylor) she's only just met. Before long the town is attacked by marauding birds, and Hitchcock's skill at staging action is brought to the fore. Beyond the superb effects, however, The Birds is also one of Hitchcock's most psychologically complicated scenarios, a tense study of violence, loneliness, and complacency. What really gets under your skin are not the bird skirmishes but the anxiety and the eerie quiet between attacks. The director elevated an unknown model, Tippi Hedren (mother of Melanie Griffith), to being his latest cool, blond leading lady, an experience that was not always easy on the much-pecked Ms. Hedren. Still, she returned for the next Hitchcock picture, the underrated Marnie. Treated with scant attention by serious critics in 1963, The Birds has grown into a classic and--despite the sci-fi trappings--one of Hitchcock's most serious films. --Robert Horton

• Napoleon and Love | DVD | (15/06/2009) from £32.38   |  Saving you £-7.39 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Featuring an illustrious cast headed by Ian Holm this dramatised account of the life and loves of Napoleon Bonaparte is a much sought-after classic series from Thames Television. Billie Whitelaw stars as Napoloeon's first wife Josephine with mistresses Desiree Clary and Marie Walewska played by Karen Dotrice and Catherine Schell. Featuring high calibre actors Ronald Hines Peter Bowles Gary Waldhorn and Stephanie Beacham this complete series features all nine hour-long episodes originally transmitted in 1974. At 25 Napoleon is already a general in the French army although on the unemployed list. In Marseilles he woos Desiree Clary the daughter of a rich merchant; but her family refuse a marriage until he has position and money. Napoleon leaves for Paris where he is put in charge of the Tuilleries and is soon made Commander of the Army of the Interior. There he meets and falls passionately in love with Jos''phine Beauharnais...