More than half a century after its release in 1950, Sunset Boulevard is still the most pungently unflattering portrait of Hollywood ever committed to celluloid. Billy Wilder, unequalled at combining a literate, sulphurous script with taut direction, hits his target relentlessly. The humour--and the film is rich in this, Wilder's most abundant commodity--is black indeed. Sunset Boulevard is viciously and endlessly clever. William Holden's opportunistic scriptwriter Joe Gillis, whose sellout proves fatal, is from the top drawer of film noir. Gloria Swanson's monstrously deluded Norma Desmond, the benchmark for washed-up divas, transcends parody. And her literal descent down the staircase to madness is one of the all-time great silver-screen moments. Sunset Boulevard isn't without pathos, most notably in Erich von Stroheim's protective butler who wants only to shield his mistress from the stark truths that are massing against her. But its view of human beings at work in a ruthlessly cannibalistic industry is bleak indeed. Nobody, not even Nancy Olson's sparkily ambitious writer Betty Schaefer, is untainted. And neither are we, "those wonderful people out there in the dark". Norma might be ready for her close-up, but it's really Hollywood that's in the frame. No wonder Wilder incurred the charge of treachery from his peers. It's cinematic perfection. On the DVD: Sunset Boulevard lends itself effortlessly to a collector's edition of this quality. The film itself is presented in full-frame aspect ratio from an excellent print and the quality of the mono soundtrack is faultless: the silver screen comes to life in your living room. The extras are superb, including a commentary from film historian Ed Sikov and a making-of documentary which includes the memories of Nancy Olson. Interactive features such as the Hollywood location map add to the fun. --Piers Ford
1970s Hammer horror sequel starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Count Dracula (Lee)'s arch enemy Professor Van Helsing (Cushing) is investigating a Black Magic circle when he stumbles across the Count's plan to unleash a deadly viral plague on mankind.
1876, the Black Hills of South Dakota. In an age of plunder and greed, the richest gold strike in American History draws a throng ofrestless misfits to an outlaw settlement where everything and everyone has a price. Welcome to Deadwood ... a hell of a place to make your fortune.Timothy Olyphant, Ian McShane, Molly Parker and Keith Carradine star in Deadwood.
... but I like you! After cheating the Mafia out of a fortune comedy conman Dick Emery trusts his partner to stash the loot in a Swiss bank. As the number of the account is tattooed on the rear of one of his girlfriends a cheeky undercover operation begins. The bottom line is to photograph the evidence for posterity or he'll make a complete ass of himself. And Dick Emery butting in with all his other impersonations could mean another bum rap!
The Railway Children: Three Edwardian children travel with their mother to live by a railway in Yorkshire when their father is wrongly imprisoned as a spy. Based on the novel by Edith Nesbit. (Dir. Lionel Jeffries 1971) Swallows And Amazons: Six young children experience a holiday in the Lake District during the peaceful summer of 1929.... Based on the novel by Arthur Ransome. (Dir. Claude Whatham 1974)
Morecambe and Wise are special agents 00 oh oh! in this hilarious spy caper. James Bond has nothing to fear when Eric and Ernie get mixed up with Colonel Grant MI5 and the KGB. Their task: to protect the Ballerina Madam Petrovna the idol of the Russian people and God help Madam Petrovna. Her life is in the hands of two of the world's most incompetent spies dressed as Ballerina's and one of them showing off his short fat hairy legs. Intelligence work has never been so funn
The Morecambe & Wise Collection brings together the total cinematic oeuvre of Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise: The Intelligence Men (1965), That Riviera Touch (1966) and The Magnificent Two (1967). Though intermittently amusing, they serve mostly to confirm that Morecambe & Wise did the smart thing in devoting the majority of their career to television sketch show. Their comedy was most potent in small doses. The Intelligence Men is an obvious but likeable parody of the early Bond films and sets the pattern for all three films: Eric and Ernie as two well-meaning blunderers cast into an unfamiliar milieu (in this case, international espionage) and forced to survive armed with little more than a repertoire of wince-inducing puns. That Riviera Touch is an obvious but likeable parody of the heist genre. Again, Eric and Ernie are cast as hapless ingénues, in this case a pair of traffic wardens whose holiday in France intersects with the plottings of a gang of jewel thieves. If anything, its even more contrived than that sounds, but the scenes in which Eric cleans out the casino by accident are wonderfully understated, and a reminder of a peerless comic actor. The Magnificent Two, the final and by some distance the least funny of the three, is an updated though rather laboured subversion of the Spaghetti Western, relying rather too much on the notion that anything and everything to do with foreigners is inherently hilarious. On the DVD: The Morecambe & Wise Collection has English subtitles for all three discs and all include the original cinematic trailer. That Riviera Touch is presented in 4:3 format, the remaining two in 16:9. As special features go, these are annoyingly desultory for a release that will certainly only be purchased by die-hard fans. It wouldnt have killed the producers to commission some liner notes at the very least.--Andrew Mueller
Long Lost Comedy Classics is a collection of films from a golden age of British Cinema remembered for timeless stars and some unique movies that have stood the test of time. So why not take a trip down memory lane and see how cinema used to be? After being arrested for assaulting a football referee desperate train driver Bill (Arthur Askey) raids the railwaymen's holiday fund to cover his ''55 fine. He knows he's going to be discovered though leaving him no choice but to get the money back by hook or by crook! His last chance is to run a book on the United v City football derby. If that wasn't tense enough Bill's son is also making his debut for United. It looks like it's going to be a day to remember - do you dare look?
Pit Of Darkness
A boxing promoter who shares a church hall with a prudish reverend is the knockout formula for this sparkling Brian Rix farce.
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...
After cheating the Mafia out of a fortune comedy conman Dick Emery trusts his partner to stash the loot in a Swiss bank. As the number of the account is tattooed on the rear of one of his girlfriends a cheeky undercover operation begins. The bottom line is to photograph the evidence for posterity or he'll make a complete ass of himself. And Dick Emery butting in with all his other impersonations could mean another bum rap!
Margaret Lockwood, one of British cinema s greatest stars, takes on the role of a no-nonsense female barrister in this outstanding series from the makers of Yorkshire Television s classic legal drama The Main Chance. Intuitive, adept and deeply conscientious, Harriet Peterson possesses a steely determination and the necessary tenacity to fight for her clients. But she is not infallible and a turbulent personal life occasionally spills over into her professional life as she takes on a range of cases, from child custody battles to murder, medical negligence to treason. This first series sees Harriet making the move from the north of England to London. Executive producer Peter Willes marshalled key members of the Main Chance team, including legal consultant John Batt and writer Edmund Ward, to create a rigorously researched and compelling courtroom drama. This set comprises both Justice and the single Screenplay drama which preceded it, Justice Is a Woman also starring Lockwood as Julia Stanford, a barrister who, convinced of her client s innocence, defends a young man accused of rape and murder
A series of daring robberies has taken place on Rue des Anges a quiet street in the town of La Bandelette. Standing by an open window in his study Sir Maurice Lawes (Wilfred Hyde White) sees a gendarme beaten to death and the killer who also sees Lawes escape in a car. The next evening the residents hear a shattering scream from Janice Lawes (Petula Clark) when she finds her father murdered. Chief Inspector Garon (Guido Lorraine) of the French police and private investigator Dermot Kinross (Dan OHerlily) are puzzled as to who would want to kill the kindly Lawes?
A small coastal village is the setting for smuggling and ship wrecking. Only the Squire's son is prepared to speak out against the man responsible...
A mismatched couple (he effeminate and petulant she sensual and enigmatic) share a bizarre sexual relationship living in a remote castle. Their very isolation from the world prevents their eccentric partnership from foundering. Only an outsider can disrupt their make-believe lifestyle. That disruption arrives in the belligerent form of Richard and Albert two oddball gangsters straight out of a 1940's film noir wounded desperate and on the run. They demand shelter and as Rich
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