"Actor: William Mays"

• Born Yesterday | DVD | (05/08/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Born Yesterday was the box-office comedy hit of 1950 and won a Best Actress Oscar for the exceptional Judy Holliday, recreating her long-running Broadway triumph as Billie Dawn, the quintessential dumb blonde who finally gets herself some smarts. The film resonates with the sophisticated sparring in Garson Kanin's script and there are tightly controlled performances from William Holden as the cynical journalist hired to polish Billie up for Washington society and Broderick Crawford as Harry Brock, her rough, crooked and ambitious boyfriend. But Born Yesterday is Holliday's picture, as she runs the gamut from brassy insouciance to tentative, vulnerable enlightenment. She hasn't thought of her estranged father in five years: "It's nothing against him. I haven't thought of anything in five years." Her gradual awakening to the realisation that she is a stooge for Brock's corrupt business deals, and the way she sheds her chorus girl's intellect in the face of growing political awareness, are brilliantly traced. Holliday's dead-pan delivery makes the pathos of her self-discovery both hilarious and deeply touching; it's the hallmark of a comic genius, which makes the sparseness of her subsequent film appearances all the more regrettable. On the DVD: Born Yesterday is presented in full screen (1.33:1) ratio. Like the mono soundtrack, the black and white picture quality has triumphantly survived its more than half century. Extras include a gallery of vintage advertisements and an original theatrical trailer, plus filmographies and welcome, comprehensive booklet notes. --Piers Ford

• Spontaneous Combustion | DVD | (29/08/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  1955 The Nevada Desert. A young couple Brian and Peggy become known as America's First Nuclear Family after miraculously surviving an atomic weapons experiment. Soon after the test Peggy gives birth to a baby boy with a small red perfectly circular birthmark on his hand. Only a few days later Brian and Peggy spontaneously erupt in flames - melting plastic but leaving everything else in the room untouched. Thirty four years later Sam Kramer - his red circular birthmark now more pronounced is finding out that the results have had some unexpected effects on him....

• The Big Brass Ring | DVD | (15/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99