Classic Films

• Marathon Man | Blu Ray | (03/06/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  John Schlesinger (Midnight Cowboy) directed this gripping, entertaining 1977 thriller that centres on graduate student Dustin Hoffman (The Graduate, Tootsie). Hoffman plays a sullen and cowardly loner haunted by the suicide of his father, a suspected communist. He is drawn into a murky web of international intrigue when his brother, CIA agent Doc Levy, played by Roy Scheider (Jaws, The French Connection), is murdered by a former Nazi (Laurence Olivier) who has come to the United States to reclaim a valuable stash of diamonds. Babe (Hoffman) must confront his fears of the past as he runs for his life and tries to avenge his brother's death at the same time. Featuring a classic torture sequence and a terrific cast that includes William Devane and Marthe Keller, Marathon Man written by William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men) stands as a great entertainment and as one of the seminal films of the 1970s. --Robert Lane

• The True Story Of Jesse James | DVD | (03/09/2007) from £12.96   |  Saving you £0.03 (0.20%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The Real Story Really Told for theiFirst Time! What sets a preacher's son on the path to violence? Against the backdrop of post-Civil War brutality Jesse James (Robert Wagner) goes from teenage Missouri farm boy to Confederate vigilante and then to outlaw king - as he ""invents"" the train robbery and his exploits virtually change Missouri's name to ""The Robber State!"" With director Nicholas Ray (Rebel Without A Cause) at the reins this re-telling of the life of Jesse

• Elvis Presley - Ed Sullivan Show: The Definitive Performances | DVD | (01/03/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Track Listing:01 SEPTEMBER 9, 1956 02 DON'T BE CRUEL 03 LOVE ME TENDER 04 READY TEDDY 05 HOUND DOG 06 END CREDITS 07 OCTOBER 28, 1956 - OCTOBER 28, 1956 08 DON'T BE CRUEL - OCTOBER 28, 1956 09 LOVE ME TENDER - OCTOBER 28, 1956 10 LOVE ME - OCTOBER 28, 1956 11 HOUND DOG - OCTOBER 28, 1956 12 END CREDITS - OCTOBER 28, 1956 13 JANUARY 6, 1957 - JANUARY 6, 1957 14 MEDLEY: HOUND DOG/LOVE ME TENDER/HEARTBREAK HOTEL - JANUARY 15 DON'T BE CRUEL - JANUARY 6, 195716 TOO MUCH - JANUARY 6, 1957 17 WHEN MY BLUE MOON TURNS TO GOLD AGAIN - JANUARY 6, 1957 18 PEACE IN THE VALLEY - JANUARY 6, 1957 19 END CREDITS - JANUARY 6, 195720 WHY ED DIDN'T HOST ELVIS' FIRST APPEARANCE 21 TWO MONTHS BEFORE ELVIS' FIRST APPEARANCE (JULY 15, 195622 PATTI PAGE INTRODUCES NEXT WEEK'S HEADLINERS (SEPTEMBER 2, 23 ED SULLIVAN RETURNS ONE WEEK AFTER ELVIS' FIRST APPEARANCE 24 ONE WEEK BEFORE ELVIS' SECOND APPEARANCE (OCTOBER 21, 1956) 25 ED INTRODUCES ELVIS' FIRST MOTION PICTURE, LOVE ME TENDER 26 ED TALKS ABOUT ELVIS IN THE ARMY (APRIL 27, 1958) 27 JOHN BYNER COMEDY ROUTINE (JUNE 21, 1964) 28 ELVIS AND COLONEL PARKER CONGRATULATE ED SULLIVAN (NOVEMBER 29 JACK CARTER COMEDY ROUTINE (NOVEMBER 26, 1965) 30 ELVIS AND THE COLONEL SEND A TELEGRAM TO THE BEATLES (FEBRUA 31 CAUGHT ON CELLULOID: THE FIRST MOVING PICTURES OF ELVIS 32 JERRY SCHILLING'S HOME MOVIES33 SAM PHILLIPS 34 GORDON STOKER 35 MARLO LEWIS 36 WINK MARTINDALE 37 GEORGE KLEIN

• Psycho Collection 1-3 | DVD | (02/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Psycho: The classic Hitchcock thriller involving a series of murders at a lonely motel where the deaths are attributed to the mother of the young owner. (Dir. Alfred Hitchcock 1960) (Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono - English Spanish French) Psycho 2: Norman Bates is coming home after spending 22 years in a mental institution. He plans to renovate the old Bates Motel the place where his first murders occurred... (Dir. Richard Franklin 1983) (Dolby Digital 5.1 - English French German ; Dolby Digital 2.0 - Italian Spanish) Psycho 3: The Bates Motel is again the site of some nasty doings as the rehabilitated Norman who has installed a new ice machine attempts to put his life back together. But old habits die hard... (Dir. Anthony Perkins 1986) (Dolby Digital 5.1 - English French Italian ; Dolby Digital 2.0 - German Spanish)

• Road To Bali | DVD | (04/12/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Bob Hope Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour team up in their sixth ""Road"" picture Road To Bali which was the only film in the series to be shot in color. Hope and Crosby star as two out-of-work vaudeville performers who are on the lam. The two are hired by a South Seas prince as deep-sea divers in order to recover a buried treasure. They meet beautiful Princess Lala (Lamour) and vie for her affections. Of course the boys run into the usual perils such as cannibals a giant squid and numerous cameos from some of Hollywood's biggest stars. Director Hal Walker was no stranger to the three actors having directed the trio in Road To Utopia. The final ""Road"" picture Road To Hong Kong would be released 10 years later with Lamour only making a brief cameo appearance.

• Off Limits | DVD | (18/06/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Being a cop is tough. But in Saigon 1968 being a cop is crazy. Saigon 1968: Someone - possible a high-ranking American officer - is brutally murdering Vietnamese prostitutes with children by American fathers and plainclothes military cops Sgt. Buck McGriff (Academy Award Nominee - 1987 Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Willem Dafoe Platoon) and Sgt. Albaby Perkins (Tony Nominee Gregory Hines Cotton Club) are put in the case that no one wants solved. But things are never what they seem in the ""Nam including a novice nun (Amanda Pays) a deranged Colonel (Scott Glenn) and a twisted trail of clues that takes McGriff and Perkins from back alleys to battlefields in search of a serial killer who's ready to make them the next victims. Fighting incredible odds placed in impossible situations can they solve the case before they lose their sanity or their lives? Fred Ward Keith David and David Alan Grier co-star in this explosive action thriller where everyone is a suspect anything can be covered up and no crime or place is ever ""off limits"".

• Mon Oncle (DVD and Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (29/10/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The BFI’s acclaimed Jacques Tati remaster series continues with the world premiere High Definition release of Tati’s multi-award-winning third feature, Mon Oncle, in two different versions. This 1958 box-office hit confirmed his reputation as the foremost comic artist of his day and picked up a string of awards, including the 1959 Oscar for Best Foreign Film.Tati’s second outing as the accident-prone Monsieur Hulot takes him to Paris where the high-tech lifestyle of his relatives, the Arpels, is contrasted with his old-fashioned ways in a scruffy part of town. With an eye on the international market, and wishing to avoid subtitles (which he always disliked), Tati shot two versions of the film – Mon Oncle and My Uncle, the latter replacing French signs such as ‘Ecole’ and ‘Sortie’ with their English equivalents and dubbing much of the main dialogue into English. This specially remastered edition contains both versions.

• Errol Flynn Collection | DVD | (29/09/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Set Comprises: Montana (1950): The star who brought frontier justice to Dodge City and San Antonio heads for the wide-open spaces of Montana in this adventure saga about a bitter range war. Errol Flynn plays an Australian transplant looking to buy grazing land. But the cattle-raising locals won''t sell to interlopers especially one they consider the most contemptible excuse for a human being ever to cross the Great Plains: a sheep rancher. Flynn''s San Antonio co-star Alexis Smith is a flame-haired beauty with an eye for the newcomer... until she learns his occupation. In time she''ll put aside her disdain for the handsome stranger. So will all the others. Or else. Rocky Mountain (1950): Errol Flynn saddles up for his final Western to play Barstow in a brawny tale directed by William Keighley (co-director of Flynn''s The Adventures of Robin Hood) and filmed wholly in the rugged environs of Gallup New Mexico. Co-star Patrice Wymore became Mrs. Flynn weeks before the film''s release. And drawling character actor Slim Pickens (Blazing Saddles) makes his debut as one of Barstow''s Johnny Rebs. San Antonio (1945): Despite his Tasmanian roots and elegant British diction Flynn made an ideal all-American cowboy. With his steely gaze lean frame and understated humor he tamed the West in eight thrilling sagebrush sagas. San Antonio features blazing action (a ripsnorting saloon gunfight) suspense (a tense showdown in the granddaddy of Texas monuments the Alamo) and a beautiful girl (Alexis Smith as a sultry songbird) to add romantic luster to the heroics. Welcome to San Antonio where excitement is as big as Texas!

• The Third Man | DVD | (17/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  The fractured Europe post-World War II is perfectly captured in Carol Reed's masterpiece thriller, set in a Vienna still shell-shocked from battle. Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) is an alcoholic pulp writer come to visit his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles). But when Cotton first arrives in Vienna, Lime's funeral is under way. From Lime's girlfriend and an occupying British officer, Martins learns of allegations of Lime's involvement in racketeering, which Martins vows to clear from his friend's reputation. As he is drawn deeper into post-war intrigue, Martins finds layer upon layer of deception, which he desperately tries to sort out. Welles' long-delayed entrance in the film has become one of the hallmarks of modern cinematography and it is just one of dozens of cockeyed camera angles that seem to mirror the off-kilter post-war society. Cotten and Welles give career-making performances and the Anton Karas zither theme will haunt you. --Anne Hurley

• The Vampire Lovers | Blu Ray | (30/04/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• A Farewell To Arms | DVD | (18/12/2006) from £4.48   |  Saving you £3.51 (78.35%)   |  RRP £7.99

  This dense adaption of Ernest Hemmingway's novel features Gary Cooper as American soldier Lt. Henry and his illfated love affair with British Nurse Catherine portrayed by Hellen Hayes during World War I. Filmed in beautiful Italy the two lovers will stop at nothing to be together but Lt. Henry's internal struggles ultimately threaten the relationship. Hemmingway's theme of questioning the nature of war and fighting is fully recognised under Frank Borzage's direction.

• To Catch a Thief / The Country Girl Double Pack | DVD | (22/04/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  To Catch a ThiefThis minor 1955 work by Alfred Hitchcock, one of the lighter entries of his creative peak in the 1950s, is still imbued with the master's stock themes of shared guilt and romantic ambivalence. It is also hardly lacking in Hitchcockian cinematic inventiveness, such as a famous, often-imitated sequence in which some smooching between stars Cary Grant and Grace Kelly is intercut with a fireworks show that just happens to be going on outside in a Riviera setting. Grant plays a reformed cat burglar who is suspected of reviving his trade, though he knows someone else is using his old methods. A very enjoyable experience, but don't get this confused with Hitchcock's other Cary Grant film of that decade, a true masterpiece: North by Northwest. --Tom Keogh The Country GirlIn retrospect, George Seaton's adaptation of The Country Girl seems like the movie that was made to prove that both Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly could act. The tale of an alcoholic actor and singer (Crosby) and his long-suffering wife (Kelly) whose marriage is put to the test when he gets a second chance at stardom, Clifford Odets' drama is chock full of twists and turns designed to give actors a gruelling workout, with its hidden secrets, tortured love story, and frank depiction of the horrors of alcohol abuse. Crosby and Kelly sank their teeth into the meaty roles with gusto (it helped that a rock-solid William Holden was there for each to spark off of), and both were showered with accolades that remained high points of their careers. Crosby was lauded with kudos for turning his charming persona inside-out, but it was Kelly who stole the show, possibly because at the time she was one of the hardest working women in show business. In 1954, the actress appeared in four films, including the Alfred Hitchcock classics Dial M for Murder and Rear Window, and finally ascended to leading-lady status after her stellar supporting turns in High Noon and Mogambo. In typical Hollywood fashion, though, it was only when Kelly shrouded her breathtaking beauty in plain clothes and a dowdy hairdo that she was taken seriously and awarded a Best Actress Oscar--one of the most highly contested ever, as she beat out comeback star Judy Garland's ferocious performance in A Star Is Born. --Mark Englehart

• Buddy | DVD | (24/04/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Since 1989 the smash hit musical Buddy has been rocking them in the aisles. Now the live magic has at last been captured on DVD! Yes the best Rock 'n' Roll theatrical experience of all time can now be enjoyed again and again. It's a great story with great music and above all it's great fun! Buddy tells the compelling story of the legendary Buddy Holly and his timeless music; and ends with the fantastic 'Winter Dance Party' at Clear Lake Iowa where Buddy is joined on stage with the larger-than-life Big Bopper (Chantilly Lace) and the pelvis thrusting Ritchie Valens (La Bamba). Filmed specially for DVD at the Strand Theatre in London's West End Buddy will have you dancing from beginning to end.

• Star Trek: Der Film - The Director's Edition - The Complete Adventure | Blu Ray | (08/09/2022) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Russia In Revolt | DVD | (06/05/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  No revolution has been portrayed on screen more vividly than that in St Petersburg (aka Petrograd) during October 1917, and if what we see in Russia in Revolt is not the truth as it happened, this box set confirms that fiction can be much more potent than fact. Sergei Eisenstein came of age as a director during this period, putting his innovations into practice and redefining history in the process. Strike (1924) was Eisenstein's first film. Its combination of physical impact and studio experimentation is still impressive, and if the abundance of symbolic images leads to visual overload, the feeling of a "them-against-us" confrontation still packs its punch. The Battleship Potemkin (1925) refines Eisenstein's thinking in 73 minutes of heightened realism that, as late as 1958, was still considered the finest film ever made. The 1905 Potemkin mutiny, the murder of sailor Vakulinchuk, the massacre on the Odessa steps, the triumphal return of the ship to port--these images made history as surely as if they were the real thing. A scrolling synopsis sets the scene, and extracts from Dmitry Shostakovich's symphonies heighten tension. October 1917 (1928), also known as "10 Days that Shook the World", charts the period leading from the Czar's abdication, through the months of indecisive Provisional Government to the Bolshevik storming of the Winter Palace. Eisenstein takes montage technique to new limits, as images of individuals and institutions overwhelm the viewer. The scrolling background story details events as they really were, and Shostakovich's music again sets the scene. Dating from 1927 Esfir Shub's The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty documentary uses archive footage from the Romanov tercentenary in 1913 to the Bolshevik takeover four years on. Here truth really is fashioned into myth. The musical score consists of a medley of Russian favourites, pounded out on an electric piano, making for a rather limited, though not inappropriate, soundtrack. The additional documentary essay is a useful overview, and the on-screen photo collection a valuable bonus. On the DVD: it's good to have Oleg Donskikh's DVD commentary on The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty disc, as he points out economies with the actualité on a scene-by-scene basis. Yuri Sivrin's continuous commentary is required listening as a guide to the film-maker's art, as well as for shutting out the bizarre electronic score which otherwise serves as backing. All four films have been digitally remastered, and the 4:3 aspect ratio has excellent clarity. Stylishly packaged, there's no better way into the absorbing world of Soviet film than this. ---Richard Whitehouse

• A Dispatch From Reuters | DVD | (12/07/2016) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Thirteen Ghosts / Darkness Falls / Night Of The Living Dead | DVD | (17/05/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Thirteen Ghosts: The family may have moved in but the ghosts aren't moving out in this special-effects update of William Castle's classic 1960s shocker... Darkness Falls: A young man Kyle (Kley) is considered insane by everyone in town with the exception of his childhood girlfriend Caitlin (Caufield) and her younger brother Michael (Cormie). Kyle must confront his fears and his past to save Michael from the hands of a small town's legendary evil the Tooth Fairy. Night Of The Living Dead - The Remake: It's a new night for terror ... and a new dawn in horror movie-making when special-effects genius Tom Savini (creator of the spectacularly gruesome make-up in 'Friday The 13th' and 'Creepshow') brings modern technology to this colourful remake of George A. Romero's 1968 cult classic. Dead bodies are returning to life and eating human flesh! A group of survivors seeks refuge in a farmhouse hoping to protect themselves from the hordes of advancing zombies. Trapped and alone they fight for their lives... hoping this horrible nightmare will come to an end. Who will survive the night of the living dead?

• There Goes The Bride | DVD | (25/05/2009) from £5.95   |  Saving you £4.04 (67.90%)   |  RRP £9.99

  On the morning of an unwonted marriage reluctant bride Annette runs away to Paris. On the train she is robbed of her purse and meets a dashing wealthy young man Max who allows her to stay with him for 24 hours. Detectives trace the runaway and take her home but Max follows her and together they elope after eluding her captors.

• Scarlet Street | DVD | (18/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  In a way, Scarlet Street is a remake. It's taken from a French novel, La Chienne (literally, "The Bitch") that was first filmed by Jean Renoir in 1931. Renoir brought to the sordid tale all the colour and vitality of Montmartre; Fritz Lang's version shows us a far harsher and bleaker world. The film replays the triangle set-up from Lang's previous picture, The Woman in the Window, with the same three actors. Once again, Edward G Robinson plays a respectable middle-aged citizen snared by the charms of Joan Bennett's streetwalker, with Dan Duryea as her low-life pimp. But this time around, all three characters have moved several notches down the ethical scale. Robinson, who in the earlier film played a college professor who kills by accident, here becomes a downtrodden clerk with a nagging, shrewish wife and unfilled ambitions as an artist, a man who murders in a jealous rage. Bennett is a mercenary vamp, none too bright, and Duryea brutal and heartless. The plot closes around the three of them like a steel trap. This is Lang at his most dispassionate. Scarlet Street is a tour de force of noir filmmaking, brilliant but ice-cold. When it was made the film hit censorship problems, since at the time it was unacceptable to show a murder going unpunished. Lang went out of his way to show the killer plunged into the mental hell of his own guilt, but for some authorities this still wasn't enough, and the film was banned in New York State for being "immoral, indecent and corrupt". Not that this did its box-office returns any harm at all. On the DVD: sparse pickings. There's an interactive menu that zips past too fast to be of much use. The full-length commentary by Russell Cawthorne adds the occasional insight, but it's repetitive and not always reliable. (He gets actors' names wrong, for a start.) The box claims the print's been "fully restored and digitally remastered", but you'd never guess. --Philip Kemp

• Part Time Wife | DVD | (16/11/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Tom is an unsuccessful insurance salesman with only one ray of sunshine in his life his beautiful new bride Jenny. When Tom looks up his old army buddy Drew in an attempt to sell him some car insurance for the company fleet Drew hatches a plan to convince his uncle and owner of the company that far from being a playboy crook he is a happily married man. The only problem is he's chosen Jenny to be his pretend wife. Drew and Jenny must play the perfect husband and wife until Drew's uncle returns to America while Tom must do everything he can to ensure the plan goes without a hitch in order to secure the biggest insurance deal of his life... and to guarantee the innocence of his wife!