Classic Films

• Catlow | DVD | (19/10/2020) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Kind Hearts And Coronets | DVD | (13/11/2006) from £9.43   |  Saving you £3.56 (37.75%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The Ladykillers director Alexander Mackendrick's third Ealing farce is the final comedy produced by the famous British studio and one of its most celebrated. Like the equally applauded Kind Hearts And Coronets the film is more sophisticated and blacker in tone than typically lighthearted Ealing fare (such as Mackendrick's Whiskey Galore!). Alec Guinness stars as the superbly shifty toothily threatening Professor Marcus the leader of a crime ring planning a heist. Marcus rents rooms from a sweet eccentric old lady Mrs. Wilberforce (Katie Johnson) in her crooked London house. The professor and his co-conspirators blowhard Major Courtney (Cecil Parker) creepily suave Louis (Herbert Lom) chubby Harry (Peter Sellers) and muscleman One-Round (Danny Green) pose as an unlikely string quartet using the rooms for rehearsal. Dodging Mrs. Wilberforce's constant interruptions the hoods hit upon the idea to use her in the daring daylight robbery (filmed in and around London's King's Cross station). When the old girl discovers the truth Marcus and company cannot persuade her to stay buttoned up about it and thus decide to do her in. Accompanied by a noirish cacophony of screeching trains parrots and little old ladies at afternoon tea a series of unlikely events builds to the hilarious surprising finale.

• Pin Up Girl | DVD | (09/04/2012) from £9.43   |  Saving you £0.56 (5.94%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The title says it all! Gorgeous Betty Grable (in real life voted the Forces' all time favourite pin up girl), stars as a War Department typist, who doubles as a small-time USO entertainer desperate for a chance at the big-time. Her penchant for telling lies gets her into all sorts of trouble especially when she fibs her way into the company of war hero Tommy Dooley (John Harvey) by pretending she is a musical star.Her life gets more complicated when she is appointed secretary to the handsome war hero. Barely disguised, she manages to fool him for a time, but not when she flashed those million-dollar legs! Grable turns in a wonderful performance and there are several excellent musical numbers. Co-star veterans Martha Raye, Joe E. Brown and Dorothea Kent help the fun along, while the Condos Brothers and the Skating Vanities add their talents to spectacular sequences. Big band music is provided by Charlie Spivak and his Orchestra.

• Calamity Jane | DVD | (09/10/2006) from £14.78   |  Saving you £-1.79 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The Deadwood Stage is comin' to town bringing Doris Day and Howard Keel to fuss feud and fall in love as Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok in this entertainment from the golden age of movie musicals. At first curvaceous Calamity is too durned busy fighting Indians and cracking a bullwhip to pay much mind to such girlie what-alls as dresses and perfume. And Wild Bill is too danged busy wooing a dainty chanteuse to give a hoot about a hotheaded tomboy. But things change in a rootin'

• Alfred Hitchcock - The British Years | DVD | (25/02/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £59.99

  Celebrated for his suspense-packed thrillers macabre plots and endings with a twist Alfred Hitchcock born in London's East End in 1899 is one of cinema's greatest auteurs. He directed over 60 films throughout his career and this unique box set contains ten of his most significant pre-war British films from his rarely seen 1925 silent The Pleasure Garden through to landmarks such as Sabotage The 39 Steps The Lady Vanishes and Jamaica Inn. It was these films that would pave his way to success in Hollywood. Titles Comprise: 1. The Pleasure Garden 2. The Lodger (A Story of the London Fog) 3. Downhill 4. The Man Who Knew Too Much 5. The 39 Steps 6. Secret Agent 7. Sabotage 8. Young and Innocent 9. The Lady Vanishes 10. Jamaica Inn

• Laurel And Hardy Film Reel Collection | DVD | (21/05/2018) from £9.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (50.05%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Laurel and Hardy were a comedy double act during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema. The team was composed of thin Englishman, Stan Laurel (1890 1965) and heavyset American, Oliver Hardy (1892 1957). They became well known during the late 1920s through the mid- 1940s for their slapstick comedy with Laurel playing the clumsy and childlike friend of the pompous Hardy. As a team they appeared in 106 films with the pair starring in 34 short silent films, 45 short sound films & 27 full-length feature films. This nostalgic collection contains 6 of the duo s most popular films and 7 Stan Laurel classic comedy shorts, making it perfect for Laurel & Hardy fans and comedy lovers alike.

• The Fly | DVD | (05/11/2012) from £32.49   |  Saving you £-22.50 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  A scientist has a horrific accident when he tries to use his newly invented teleportation device.

• Just My Luck | DVD | (12/11/2001) from £6.94   |  Saving you £3.05 (43.95%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Just My Luck was an important step in the career of Norman Wisdom for several reasons. It's principally notable for the introduction of actor Edward Chapman, whom many would come to know as series regular Mr Grimsdale. Here he's the stuffy foil to Norman's romantic plans regarding his jewel-making job, where he'll do anything to possess some of the wealth about him. The chance comes in the form of an accumulator bet at Goodwood races thanks to a slimy Leslie Phillips. Another star cameo of note was a second appearance by Margaret Rutherford (after Trouble in Store) as an eccentric animal owner. But the real advance with the Wisdom formula was that--after a reasonably serious plot line--Norman finally gets the girl. On the DVD: This is a straight transfer from video. So although the mono sound and 4:3 ratio don't improve on anything previously available, at least it won't deteriorate further.--Paul Tonks

• The Overlanders | DVD | (26/01/2009) from £11.99   |  Saving you £4.00 (25.00%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The Overlanders

• The Guns of Navarone SteelBook (4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital) | Blu Ray | (07/11/2023) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Cottage On Dartmoor | DVD | (26/05/2008) from £16.51   |  Saving you £3.48 (21.08%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Shot at British Instructional Films' newly opened Welwyn Studios A Cottage on Dartmoor marked another milestone for Anthony Asquith following his impressive 1928 debut Shooting Stars. A straightforward but beautifully realised tale of sexual jealousy the film easily counters the entrenched criticism that British cinema in the silent era was staid stagy and lacking emotion. ""

• Annie Get Your Gun | DVD | (09/10/2006) from £9.21   |  Saving you £3.78 (29.10%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The story of the great sharpshooter, Annie Oakley, who rises to fame while dealing with her love/professional rival, Frank Butler.

• It Happened One Night | DVD | (26/02/2001) from £14.98   |  Saving you £-8.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Director Frank Capra (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) took home every Oscar in the book (well, okay, all the major ones) for this seminal 1934 comedy starring Clark Gable as a hard-bitten reporter who stays close to a runaway heiress (Claudette Colbert) so not to lose a good story. Funny and sexy, the film is full of memorable scenes often referred to in other films, such as the "Wall of Jericho" (a mere bedcover hung on a clothesline down the middle of the room), and Colbert's famous flash of thigh to stop a speeding car in its tracks. Capra's brisk, urbane brand of wit was a perfect complement to his populist faith in the common man (in this case, Gable's character), and this inspiration makes this film a spirited entertainment and an uplifting experience. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

• Sabotage | DVD | (18/08/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  An innocent boy becomes the innocent victim of a foreign agitator when he unwittingly carries a bomb aboard a busy bus...

• Cinerama: Seven Wonders of the World | Blu Ray | (18/11/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Woman Times Seven | DVD | (16/03/2009) from £10.18   |  Saving you £7.81 (76.72%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Shirley MacLaine lights up the screen in this collection of seven sexy stories of love and adultery set against the romantic backdrop of Paris. Whether she's playing an amorous widow a meek housewife gone wild or a socialite who will literally kill for a dress Shirley MacLaine displays the irresistible charm beauty and humor that catapulted her to stardom. Famed Italian filmmaker Vittorio De Sica (Bicycle Thieves) directs this tour de force performance that earned Shirley MacLaine a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical/Comedy.

• Dracula, Prince Of Darkness | DVD | (23/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Ignoring a strange warning a young party travelling to the Carpathian Mountains are abandoned by their coachman. Their luck changes however when another mysterious coach appears and delivers them to the hospitality of Count Dracula...

• Angel and the Badman | DVD | (03/09/2001) from £6.54   |  Saving you £-3.55 (-118.70%)   |  RRP £2.99

  A womanising cowboy and former deputy sheriff is taken in by a Quaker family after being wounded in a fight...

• LES COUSINS | Blu Ray | (08/04/2013) from £62.57   |  Saving you £-42.58 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Made barely a year after Claude Chabrol's debut Le Beau Serge, Les Cousins featured the earlier film's same starring pair of Jean-Claude Brialy and Grard Blain, here reversing the good-guy/bad-guy roles of the previous picture. The result is a simmering, venomous study in human temperament that not only won the Golden Bear at the 1959 Berlin Film Festival, but also drew audiences in droves, and effectively launched Chabrol's incredible fifty-year-long career. A gripping and urbane examination of city and country, ambition and ease, Les Cousins continues to captivate and shock audiences with its brilliant scenario, the performances of Brialy and Blain, and the assuredness of Chabrol's precocious directorial hand. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Claude Chabrol's breakthrough film in a beautiful new Gaumont restoration on Blu-ray and DVD for the first time in the UK. Special Features: Gorgeous new Gaumont restoration of the film in its original aspect ratio, presented in 1080p on the Blu-ray New and improved English subtitles Original theatrical trailer A 47-minute documentary about the making of the film L'Homme qui vendit la Tour Eiffel [The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower], Chabrol's 1964 short film A lengthy booklet with a new and exclusive essay by critic Emmanuel Burdeau; a new and exclusive translation of a rare text about actress Franoise Vatel provided for this release by its author, the filmmaker and critic Luc Moullet; excerpts of interviews and writing by Chabrol; and more

• The League Of Gentlemen | DVD | (15/01/2001) from £14.98   |  Saving you £0.01 (0.07%)   |  RRP £14.99

  The League of Gentlemen is a sardonic crime drama in which Jack Hawkins plays an embittered retired army officer who recruits seven fellow ex-soldiers to carry out a bank raid with military precision. The film presents an England between post-war austerity and the more liberated 1960s where traditional moral certainties were rapidly being discarded; a London where ex-officers left on the scrapheap at war's end could justify turning their military experience to armed robbery. Unfortunately the tale is neither particularly amusing or thrilling, with an overlong central detour via an army camp prefacing the exciting heist and a largely anti-climactic ending. Nevertheless Hawkins effectively subverts his heroic officer type from The Cruel Sea (1953) and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), and there's excellent support from a great cast including Nigel Patrick, Richard Attenborough and Roger Livesey. Bryan Forbes not only wrote the cynical screenplay but costarred with wife Nanette Newman in her first significant screen role. More influential than truly classic, The League of Gentlemen has lent its name to a modern BBC comedy, an "Extraordinary" comic strip-turned-movie, and proved the template for heist films ever since, including both versions of The Italian Job (1969 and 2003). On the DVD:The League of Gentlemen is presented in an anamorphically enhanced 16:9 transfer from an excellent condition print and mostly looks and sounds fine. There's minimal print damage, though sadly Philip Green's ironically patriotic main title music suffers from significant distortion. The only extra is the original trailer, which is now something of a period piece itself. --Gary S Dalkin