Comedy

• Charlie Chaplin - Circus | DVD | (22/09/2003) from £19.22   |  Saving you £-5.23 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Made in 1928 while he was in the middle of a painful divorce case, Charlie Chaplin's The Circus was so associated with bad memories for its maker that he refused even to mention it in his 1964 autobiography. Consequently, it has enjoyed less of a reputation than films such as The Gold Rush (1925) and City Lights (1931). However, while it's not quite in their league, The Circus undoubtedly deserves to be rescued from relative obscurity. Here, Chaplin's Tramp is taken on as a clown at the circus, having been chased into the big tent by a policeman wrongly suspected of theft and wowing the audience with his pratfalls. He falls in love with the ill-treated ringmaster's daughter (Merna Kennedy) but is swiftly rivalled by a new addition to the circus, a handsome tightrope walker. To try to win back her affections the Tramp attempts the same act, culminating in the best sequence of the film, when he is assailed by monkeys as he totters amateurishly and precariously along a rope suspended high in the tent. Although The Circus is marred by the rather hackneyed and (even in 1928) stale melodramatic device of the cruel father and imploring daughter, it scores high on its slapstick content, with routines involving a hall of mirrors and a mishap with a magician's equipment demonstrating Chaplin's dazzling ability to choreograph apparently improvised mayhem. On the DVD: The Circus features a generous trove of extras on this two-disc set, including extracts from Lord Mountbatten's home movies of Chaplin, a deleted scene involving a prankster prize-fighter, as well as original footage showing how the perfectionist Chaplin would shoot and reshoot scenes. An introduction from David Robinson explains the adverse circumstances which held up the shooting of The Circus, including a fire and gales, which destroyed the set, while a further documentary delves into Chaplin's earliest work to provide context for the film. On the first disc, the film itself is an excellent transfer. --David Stubbs

• Liberal Arts | DVD | (29/07/2013) from £21.58   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  When 30-something Jesse returns to his alma mater for a professor's retirement party, he falls for Zibby, a college student, and is faced with a powerful attraction that springs up between them.

• Charlie Chaplin - The Kid | DVD | (22/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  The Tramp cares for an abandoned child but events put that relationship in jeopardy. 'The Kid' was director Charlie Chaplin's first full-length film and is considered one of his best. Co-starring five-year-old Jackie Coogan whom Chaplin discovered on a Los Angeles vaudeville stage The Kid is the story of a child abandoned in a limousine by his unwed mother. When The Little Tramp finds him he tries unsuccessfully to find a home for the boy. Obliged to keep him The Little Tramp tea

• Charlie Chaplin - The Great Dictator | DVD | (22/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  The Great Dictator was Charles Chaplin's first fully talking picture, a scathing comic assault on Adolf Hitler, which these days will mostly play like brilliant slapstick. But in 1940, with America still neutral, it was the boldest anti-Nazi statement Hollywood had then put on screen. The thin plot doesn't matter, being just a peg for writer-director Chaplin's almost consistently inventive and hilarious set-pieces featuring himself in the duel roles of Adenoid Hynkel, the ludicrous anti-Semitic Dictator of Tomania, and an innocent Jewish barber who happens to be a Tomanian hero of the Great War. In the latter role he affectionately spins a variation on his beloved Tramp character while briefly romancing a lacklustre Paulette Goddard, costar of his equally satirical Modern Times (1936). Yet it's as Hynkel/Hitler that Chaplin really shines, from a side-splitting opening speech to some Duck Soup-style madness with rival leader Napaloni, played with flamboyant swagger by Jack Oakie. While the finale, a clarion call for a brave new world united by science and technological progress that seems to emanate straight from 1936's Things to Come, may jar, the comedic approach to a deadly serious subject has proved lastingly influential, from Dr Strangelove (1964) to Life is Beautiful (1997). On the DVD The Great Dictator is presented in the original 4:3 black and white with strong, clear mono sound and a picture so sharp and detailed that, bar a few very minor instances of damage, the film could have been shot yesterday. Also included are French and Italian dubbed versions and an English Dolby Digital 5.1 version of the soundtrack, which is best avoided. The disc features multiple subtitle options, including English for hard of hearing. Disc Two begins with a superb 55-minute documentary, directed by film historian Kevin Brownlow and Michael Kloft, narrated by Kenneth Branagh and coproduced by the BBC. The Tramp and the Dictator goes seriously in-depth to explore the parallels between the world's most loved and hated men, drawing on many interviews and remarkable rare footage, including colour sequences of the making of The Great Dictator shot by Chaplin's brother, Sydney. Next comes the complete 25 minutes of that home-movie footage, including coverage of the original abandoned ending, and a seven-minute deleted scene from Sunnyside (1918), which inspired the barber scene. Finally there is a poster gallery and a scene from Monsieur Verdoux (1947) concerning the rise of Hitler and fascism. Marvellous stuff, though a commentary could have added considerably to the already remarkable silent colour material. --Gary S Dalkin

• My Favourite Brunette | DVD | (01/07/2002) from £9.96   |  Saving you £10.02 (143.76%)   |  RRP £16.99

  In My Favorite Brunette we witness Bob Hope's own unique brand of film comedy as he teams up with the great screen beauty Dorothy Lamour (who later co-starred with him in many of the classic Road To... movies along with Bing Crosby). Co-starring Peter Lorre and Lon Chaney Jr. Hope romps through this yarn playing a bumbling photographer turned private eye and finds himself involved with a spy caper the mob and a dangerous brunette.

• Keystone Komedies - Vol. 1 | DVD | (07/02/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  In 1912 Mack Sennett and two friends decided to invest their money to form the soon to be acclaimed Keystone Production Company. The new film company went on to produce highly successful classic comedies which encapsulate the era with their fast furious slapstick comedy. These short movies are fondly looked upon as they include such performers as Fatty Arbuckle Mark Swain and the much loved Keyston Kops which were to become some of the most infamous movies of the silent era.

• Bringing Up Baby | DVD | (10/01/2005) from £13.34   |  Saving you £2.65 (19.87%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A dog belonging to an eccentric heiress (Hepburn) steals a dinosaur bone from David (Grant) an absent-minded Zoology professor. David follows the heiress to her home and all hell breaks loose when he loses his pet leopard known as 'Baby'. Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn give fantastic performances in one of Hollywood's finest screwball comedies superbly directed by Howard Hawks.

• Charlie Chaplin Collection - Vol. 2 | DVD | (08/09/2003) from £4.98   |  Saving you £-2.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  A Jitney Elopement: Edna's father wants her to marry wealthy Count He-Ha whilst he wants to marry Charlie. Charlie impersonates the Count at a dinner but is found out when the real Count turns up and thrown out.Burlesque On Carmen: A parody of both the opera and earlier film version in which Charlie plays Spanish officer Darn Hosiery who is led astray by gypsy girl Carmen (Edna Purvience).A Night In The Show: Mr Pest (Charlie Chaplin) has to try several seats in the

• Long Pants - Harry Langdon | DVD | (06/01/2006) from £17.53   |  Saving you £-4.54 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  When a sheepish young man yearning for romance is given his first pair of grown-up trousers he springs into adulthood and is immediately smitten by the wrong women a hard-boiled drug smuggler (Alma Bennett). When the ""snow"" queen is jailed Harry abandons his more sincere small-town sweetheart and comes to the brazen woman's rescue ushering his fugitive moll (who is nailed inside an enormous wooden crate) through a series of riotous scrapes with the police an alligator and a bevy

• Run Ronnie Run | DVD | (22/03/2004) from £20.00   |  Saving you £16.99 (84.95%)   |  RRP £36.99

  Ronnie Dobbs (David Cross) is in trouble on a nightly basis. A small town redneck with a pea sized brain, Ronnie finds a way to get locked up and then spins yarns to his friends about his experiences. One person who sees something in Ronnie's stories is Terry Twillstein (Bob Odenkirk), a TV info-mercial director who needs a subject to rejuvinate his career. In the process, he makes a reality TV star out of good ol' boy Ronnie, whose only goal is to earn the love of Kayla (Nikki Cox). This white trash comedy is based on a character created for US television's MR. SHOW and features many cast members from the same comedy sketch series.

• Allo Allo - The Complete Series | DVD | (09/11/2009) from £64.99   |  Saving you £9.00 (13.85%)   |  RRP £73.99

  Welcome to the Cafe Rene in the French village of Nouvion where you can get fine wines paintings by Van Clomp (not all originals) and a selection of German and British officers. The owner Rene Artois who may have his mind on other things ''- like his waitresses Yvette and Maria ''- will look after you. Just don''t tell his wife Edith!

• Bring It On Again | DVD | (21/06/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £58.99

• Comedy - Six Pack | DVD | (05/11/2012) from £43.18   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Role ModelsAfter unconventional salesmen, Danny (Paul Rudd) and Wheeler (Seann William Scott), trash their company truck they are given one hundred and fifty hours as mentors for troubled children. These unlikely role models are assigned the most difficult children on offer! Let the fun begin! Pineapple ExpressRide high on the Pineapple Express, the outrageously hysterical pot-fuelled adventure from director Judd Apatow. Lazy stoner (Seth Rogen) is the sole witness to a murder and is running for his life, joined by his dealer (James Franco) and supplier (Danny McBride). Grown UpsComedy superstars Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade and Rob Schneider are at their hilarious and outrageous best playing childhood friends who reunite one holiday weekend to relive the good old days. Once they get back together, nothing is going to stop these kids-at-heart from having the time of their adult lives! Step BrothersBox office superstar Will Ferrell re-teams with his Talladega Nights co-star John C. Reilly in this hilarious film, as two spoiled guys who live with their single parents. Their folks fall in love and marry, making the guys competitive step brothers. Kick AssWhen ordinary teenager Dave Lizewski sets about trying to become the no-power vigilante Kick-Ass, he soon discovers he's not alone - a fearless and highly trained father-daughter crime-fighting duo, Big Daddy and Hit Girl, have declared war New-York's mafia. As Kick-Ass gets drawn into their no-holds-barred world of bullets and blood, the stage is set for a final showdown - in which the DIY hero will have to live up to his name... or die trying. SuperbadSeth and Evan want nothing more than to hook up with the girls they like before heading off to college. To start, they need to get alcohol for the big party that night. With the help of their friend and his fake I.D., the friends go on a chase for that elusive booze, dodging cops while attempting to reverse a lifelong losing streak in one hilarious night.

• Jesus Henry Christ | DVD | (25/03/2013) from £21.58   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• What The Swedish Butler Saw | DVD | (26/09/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Diana Dors and Sue Longhurst star in this sex farce set in Madame Helena's bordello. Directed by Vernon P. Becker the director of Dagmar's Hot Pants and producer of The Seduction of Inga. Jack is an impoverished youth whose entire legacy consists of Samson a deaf servant a rusty suit of armor and the address of his dead dad's favourite hang-out Madame Helena's Bordello. Despite some pointers by Madame Helena and her voluptuous staff of prostitutes Jack is unable to win the hand (

• Coyote Ugly - Director's Cut | DVD | (01/08/2005) from £4.50   |  Saving you £13.49 (299.78%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Tonight they're calling the shots. It's the intoxicating romantic comedy starring an unbeatable cast of hot stars from hit-making producer Jerry Bruckheimer; now presented in a longer and racier (now rated 15!) Director's Cut! Moving to New York to pursue her dream of becoming a famous songwriter Violet Sanford (Perabo) finds herself desperate and broke. Through a twist of fate the shy innocent Violet lands a job as one of the barmaids at the hottest nightclub in town -

• Dorothy Paul - Dorothy! | DVD | (01/08/2001) from £12.96   |  Saving you £-2.97 (-29.70%)   |  RRP £9.99

• Happy Gilmore | Blu Ray | (13/07/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Adam Sandler fans are sure to enjoy this no-brainer comedy, but everyone else is strongly advised to proceed with caution. Before scoring a more enjoyable hit with his 1998 comedy The Wedding Singer, the former Saturday Night Live goofball played Happy Gilmore, a hot-tempered guy whose dreams of hockey stardom elude him. But when he discovers his gift for driving golf balls hundreds of yards, he joins a pro tour to win the prize money needed to rescue his beloved grandma's home from IRS repossession. The trouble is, Happy's not so happy. He's got a temper that frequently flares on the golf course (he even dukes it out with celebrity golfer Bob Barker), but a retired golf pro (Carl Weathers) and a compassionate publicist (Julie Bowen) help him to perfect his putting game and adjust his confrontational attitude. How much you enjoy this lunacy depends on your tolerance for Sandler's loudmouthed schtick and a shocking number of blatant product-placement endorsements, but if you're looking for broad comedy you've come to the right teeoff spot. --Jeff Shannon

• Rip Tide | DVD | (23/07/2018) from £6.45   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  After a fashion faux pas - every model's nightmare becomes Cora's (Debby Ryan) reality. Humiliated, Cora books a one-way ticket out of New York, final destination: Australia. Expecting a five star holiday with her Aunt Margot (Genevieve Hegney), Cora realises all too late that her idyllic beachside retreat has no internet access and is miles from the nearest city. As time goes by Cora learns to surf and embrace her passion for design, friendships bloom and romance sparks between Cora and handsome local, Tom.

• My Favourite Wife | DVD | (04/04/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  When his wife is believed dead after seven years missing at sea, a dashing attorney marries again only to have his first wife return on his honeymoon night.