Drama

• Queen Bee (Limited Edition) | Blu Ray | (17/02/2025) from £16.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Joan Crawford (Berserk) and Barry Sullivan (Framed) lead the cast of the atmospheric melodrama Queen Bee. Domineering socialite Eva (Crawford) and her alcoholic husband Avery (Sullivan) are trapped in a hostile and loveless marriage. When Eva's cousin Jennifer (Lucy Marlow, A Star Is Born) comes to stay, she is sucked into a dangerous whirlwind of lies and vengeance... Reuniting Crawford with Mildred Pierce screenwriter Ranald MacDougall, and featuring cinematography by the great Charles Lang (The Shepherd of the Hills), Queen Bee is a riveting slice of Southern Gothic.

• Earthquake | Blu Ray | (27/01/2020) from £21.75   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Various interconnected people struggle to survive when an earthquake of unimaginable magnitude hits Los Angeles, California.

• Hell | DVD | (21/08/2006) from £7.09   |  Saving you £12.90 (181.95%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Three sisters, estranged after a shared childhood trauma, are gradually reunited by a young stranger with a surprising revelation.

• The Lost Prince | DVD | (20/01/2003) from £6.12   |  Saving you £9.87 (161.27%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A marvellous reinvention of the costume epic, The Lost Prince is Stephen Poliakoff's absorbing study of the turbulent years leading up to and during the First World War, seen through the percipient eyes of a scarcely remembered royal child. Extensively researched, impeccably cast, beautifully filmed, written and directed by Poliakoff himself with masterly economy and restraint, this is a timely reminder that original, intelligent drama can work as prime time entertainment while appealing on multiple levels; and there isn't an escaped soap star in sight. Johnnie, the prince kept hidden away by his parents Queen Mary and George V for fear that his epileptic fits and idiosyncratic ways might draw unwelcome attention, is not presented as a tragic figure. His view of the great events which shatter his family and change the world forever is direct and uncluttered. Poliakoff celebrates his apartness--and that of all children who are different--as a force for good, without judging the standards, protocols and contemporary medical theories which kept him on the periphery of society. The series makes the most of its well-chosen locations, and from Johnnie's garden at Sandringham to the assassination of the Russian imperial family, it maintains a hypnotic and elegiac quality The acting is first-rate, too. Gina McKee is profoundly moving as Johnnie's devoted nurse Lalla; and Miranda Richardson's Mary is an extraordinary performance, the controlled façade of single-minded focus occasionally fracturing to reveal a flash of humanity. This production is exquisite in every respect. On the DVD: The Lost Prince is presented in its original transmission format of 16:9. The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, enhanced by Adrian Johnston's haunting score is crystal clear. Extras include Poliakoff's revealing commentary, with occasional input from Johnston and designer John-Paul Kelly, and a couple of documentary fragments which show the production in progress and place it in context with the rest of Poliakoff's work. --Piers Ford

• The Ship That Died of Shame (Vintage Classics) | Blu Ray | (11/09/2023) from £11.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Based on a short story by Nicholas Monsarrat (author of The Cruel Sea) and directed by Basil Dearden (The Blue Lamp, The League Of Gentleman) The Ship That Died Of Shame takes place during the bleak aftermath of the Second World War a crew of navy veterans, played by screen legend Richard Attenborough, George Baker (The Dam Busters) and Bill Owen (Last Of The Summer Wine), are forced into smuggling black market goods across the English Channel to make ends meet. But it isn't long before wine and cigarettes are replaced by more lucrative cargo. A crisis of conscience lies upon the horizon when one of the crew refuses to turn a blind eye after discovering that the mysterious stranger, they've been asked to smuggle into England hides a dark and harrowing secret. Product Features Interview with Author/Professor of Film Neil Sinyard Behind the scenes stills gallery

• O Brother Where Art Thou? | Blu Ray | (12/08/2013) from £9.59   |  Saving you £5.40 (56.31%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Only Joel and Ethan Coen, masters of quirky and ultra-stylish genre subversion, would dare nick the plotline of Homer's Odyssey for O Brother, Where Art Thou?, their comic picaresque saga about three cons on the run in 1930s Mississippi. Our wandering hero in this case is one Ulysses Everett McGill, a slick-tongued wise guy with a thing for hair pomade (George Clooney, blithely sending up his own dapper image) who talks his chain-gang buddies (Coen-movie regular John Turturro and newcomer Tim Blake Nelson) to light out after some buried loot he claims to know of. En route they come up against a prophetic blind man on a railroad truck, a burly one-eyed baddie (the ever-magnificent John Goodman), a trio of sexy singing ladies, a blues guitarist who's sold his soul to the devil, a brace of crooked politicos on the stump, a manic-depressive bank robber, and--well, you get the idea. Into this, their most relaxed film yet, the Coens have tossed a beguiling ragbag of inconsequential situations, a wealth of looping, left-field dialogue and a whole stash of gags both verbal and visual. O Brother (the title's lifted from Preston Sturges' classic 1941 comedy Sullivan's Travels) is furthermore graced with glowing, burnished photography from Roger Deakins and a masterly soundtrack from T-Bone Burnett that pays loving homage to American 30s folk-styles: blues, gospel, bluegrass, jazz and more. And just to prove that the brothers haven't lost their knack for bad-taste humour, we get a Ku Klux Klan rally choreographed like something between a Nuremberg rally and a Busby Berkeley musical. --Philip KempOn the DVD: This two-disc set duplicates the original single-disc release of the film which included a handful of cast and crew interviews, and adds an additional disc with more interviews, two brief behind-the-scenes featurettes about the production design and the post-production digital colouring of the film, a couple of storyboard-to-scene comparisons and a music video of "Man of Constant Sorrow". There's also a 16-minute documentary to promote the companion Down from the Mountain concert. Frankly there's not a lot here to justify spreading it across two discs: a more pleasing not to say generous offering would have been to cram all these extras onto Disc 1 and give us Down from the Mountain as the second disc. --Mark Walker

• Villain | DVD | (03/09/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Murderous sadistic London gang leader Vic Dakin a mother-obsessed homosexual modeled on real-life gangster Ronnie Kray is worried about potential stool pigeons that may bring down his criminal empire. The brutal Vic cuts the throat of one bloke who has been a little too loose-lipped afraid that his gossiping may turn into a grand operatic performance for the coppers. Vic who enjoys playing at rough trade with his sidekick Wolfe plans a payroll robbery and directs the blackmail

• Almost Famous | DVD | (10/04/2002) from £9.90   |  Saving you £19.08 (276.12%)   |  RRP £25.99

  Inspired by director Cameron Crowe's own experiences and set in the 1970s, the film follows a fifteen year old wannabe journalist who gets the opportunity to interview and go on the road with a hard living rock band.

• Whiskey Tango Foxtrot | DVD | (19/09/2016) from £4.99   |  Saving you £2.86 (57.31%)   |  RRP £7.85

  A journalist recounts her wartime coverage in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

• The Piano | DVD | (01/10/1999) from £5.57   |  Saving you £10.42 (187.07%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Jane Campion's The Piano struck a deep chord (if you'll excuse the expression) with audiences in 1993, who were mesmerised by the film's rich, dreamlike imagery. It is the story of a Scottish woman named Ada (Holly Hunter), who has been mute since age 6 because she simply chose not to speak. Ada travels with her daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) and her beloved piano to a remote spot on the coast of New Zealand for an arranged marriage to a farmer (Sam Neill). She gives piano lessons to a gruff neighbor (Harvey Keitel) who has Maori tattoos on his face, and, well, things develop from there. The picture takes on a powerful dream logic that simply defies synopsis. It's a breathtakingly beautiful and original achievement from Campion, a unique stylist. The Piano won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and Oscars for Hunt, Paquin and Campion's screenplay. --Jim Emerson

• The African Queen (Vintage Classics) | DVD | (21/10/2024) from £7.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Rory's Way | DVD | (30/09/2019) from £5.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• The Piano | DVD | (06/02/2006) from £7.99   |  Saving you £14.00 (233.72%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Ada her nine-year-old daughter and her piano arrive to an arranged marriage in the remote bush of nineteenth century New Zealand. Of all her belongings her husband refuses to transport the piano and it is left behind on the beach. Unable to bear its certain destruction Ada strikes a bargain with an illiterate tattooed neighbour. She may earn her piano back if she allows him to do certain things while she plays; one black key for a lesson. The arrangement draws all three deeper in

• Gormenghast | DVD | (05/06/2000) from £7.59   |  Saving you £-1.59 (N/A%)   |  RRP £6.00

  The BBC's lavish, glowingly designed adapation of Mervyn Peake's eccentrically brilliant novels Titus Groan and Gormenghast is a triumph of casting. Ian Richardson's Lear-like depiction of the mad earl of a remote, vast, ritual-obsessed building is matched by the brutal pragmatism of Celia Imrie as his wife, the synchronised madness of Zoe Wanamaker and Lynsey Baxter as his twin sisters and the duplicitous charm of Jonathan Rhys-Meyer as Steerpike, the kitchen-boy determined to take over no matter how many deaths it costs. John Sessions is surprisingly touching as Prunesquallor, the family doctor who realises almost too late what Steerpike intends. It is always tricky to film a book dear to the hearts of its admirers: Wilson and his design team achieve a look rather more pre-Raphaelite than Peake's own illustrations, shabby velvets, garish sunlight and dank stone passages. The score by Richard Rodney Bennett is full of attractive surprises--fanfares and waltzes and apotheoses--and John Tavener's choral additions are plausibly parts of the immemorial ritual of Gormenghast. On the DVD: The double DVD comes with scene selection, an informative half-hour documentary on the making of the serial and a slide gallery of costume designs, characters and their dooms. --Roz Kaveney

• God On Trial | DVD | (31/10/2022) from £9.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Set in notorious killing factory of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Southern Poland during World War II. A group of Jewish prisoners at Auschwitz; some of whom are awaiting execution, the others unsure of their fate are driven to debate the meaning of God's supposed covenant with the Jewish people. The circumstances of their current existence lead them to put God on trial in absentia for abandoning the Jewish people. The question is whether God has broken his covenant with the Jewish people by allowing the Germans to commit genocide on a scale beyond human comprehension. This drama confronts one of the central issues of human existence - the basis of faith - and sets it in a time and place that has become a by-word for inhumanity.

• Beau Travail | DVD | (25/02/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Inspired by Herman Melville's 'Billy Budd', filmmaker Claire Denis' 'Beau Travail' is a stunning combination of literature, music and dance that explores the near-mythical world of the French Foreign Legion. Dennis Lavant stars as Galoup, a sergeant-major whose position and power are threatened when the bravery and heroism of new recruit Sentain (Gregoire Colin) attracts the attention of the platoon's commandant (Michel Subor). Enraged, Galoup plots Sentain's downfall, a doomed course of action that leads to his own undoing. Director Denis creates a dark mounting tension that underlies the exquisite cinematography of Agnes Godard, whose stark visual style contrasts vividly with the graceful training rituals of the sculpted young soldiers.

• Dark River | DVD | (25/06/2018) from £2.90   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Clio Barnard, one of Britain's most distinctive contemporary filmmakers, follows The Selfish Giant and The Arbor with Dark River, a searing Yorkshire-set drama inspired by Rose Tremain's acclaimed rural novel Trespass. Following the death of her father, Alice (Ruth Wilson, Saving Mr. Banks) returns home for the first time in 15 years, to claim the tenancy of the family farm she believes is rightfully hers. Once there she encounters her older brother Joe (Mark Stanley, Game of Thrones), a man she barely recognizes, worn down by years of struggling to keep the farm going whilst caring for their sick father (Sean Bean, Lord of the Rings). Joe is thrown by Alice's sudden arrival, angered by her claim and finds her presence increasingly difficult to deal with. Battling to regain control in a fraught situation, Alice must confront traumatic memories and family betrayals to find a way to restore the farm and salvage the bond with her brother before both are irrevocably lost. Combining the poetic realism of The Selfish Giant with a heightened strain of tragedy, Dark River is a dark folk tale of family secrets which has impressed critics and is set to become a modern classic of British drama. SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS Standard Definition presentation Original 5.1 surround sound Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Audio description track Interviews with director Clio Barnard, and stars Ruth Willson, Mark Stanley, Sean Bean and Esme Creed-Miles Behind the scenes Stills gallery Original trailer Reversible sleeve featuring two artwork options

• The King's Speech | Blu Ray | (09/05/2011) from £11.35   |  Saving you £11.64 (102.56%)   |  RRP £22.99

  The King's Speech tells the story of the relationship between Britain's reluctant King George VI, plagued by a nervous stammer, and the unorthodox Australian speech therapist who helps him.

• The Coen Brothers Collection | DVD | (29/08/2011) from £34.21   |  Saving you £-23.28 (N/A%)   |  RRP £10.93

  Academy Award Winners Joel and Ethan Coen have been writing directing editing and producing some of the most original films to come out of Hollywood. This box set contains six of their most unique and imaginative classics including their most recent hit A Serious Man. Titles Comprise: A Serious Man: Larry Nidus is a good man. He is a loving husband a committed father and a dedicated professor who always does the fair and just thing in the face of daily temptations. But one day everything starts to go wrong. His wife leaves him for reasons she can't explain and her smug new lover manages to convince Larry that he should be the one to move out of the house and into a cheap motel - all for the children's benefit of course. Burn After Reading: An outrageous spy comedy about murder blackmail sex addiction and physical fitness! When a disc filled with some of the CIA's most irrelevant secrets gets in the hands of two determined but dim-witted gym employees the duo are intent on exploiting their find. But since blackmail is a trade better left for the experts events soon spiral out of everyone's and anyone's control resulting in a non-stop series of hilarious encounters! The Big Lebowski: It takes guys as simple as the Dude and Walter to make a story this complicated... and they'd really rather be bowling. 'The Dude' Jeff Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) is unemployed and laid-back. That is until he becomes a victim of mistaken identity two thugs breaking into his apartment in the errant belief that they are accosting Jeff Lebowski the Pasadena millionaire. In hope of getting a replacement for his soiled carpet 'the Dude' visits his wealthy namesake and with buddy ex `Nam' vet. Walter Sobchak he is swept into a labyrinthine comedy/thriller of extortion embezzlement sex dope German Nihilists White Russians mysterious cowboys Shomer Shabbos bowling and sever The Hudsucker Proxy: Hudsucker Industries is flourishing. Profits are stupendous and stock is at an all-time high. So when their founder Waring Hudsucker leaps to his death from the 44th floor his board of directors is thrown into panic. Hudsucker has not left a will and his majority shareholding in the company must therefore soon be offered for sale to the public. But scheming Vice President Sidney J. Mussburger has a plan. He'll install a complete imbecile as Chairman and devalue the stock to a level where the rest of the board can acquire controlling interests for themselves. Barton Fink: Between Heaven and Hell There's Always Hollywood! John Turturro shines in the lead role in Barton Fink the Coen Brothers' hilarious satire set in the 1940s Hollywood. Fink is a New York playwright who reluctantly relocates to Hollywood to write screenplays. Ordered to write a low budget screenplay about wrestling Fink manages to type one sentence and then...nothing! Although his chatty insurance salesman neighbour Charlie helps out by teaching Fink about wrestling the clock ticks the temperature rises and Fink's life spins more and more out of control. Intolerable Cruelty: From the Coen brothers comes this witty sharp comedy about a man who wins in court and courts to win! Divorce attorney Miles Massey has got it all. Serial gold-digger Marilyn Rexroth wants it all. A hilarious battle of deceit and cunning ensues when Miles falls for Marilyn with each one trying to outsmart the other. Underhand tactics deceptions and an undeniable attraction escalate as Marilyn and Miles square off in this classic battle of the sexes...

• The Quiet Girl | DVD | (05/09/2022) from £5.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Nine-year-old Cait (Catherine Clinch) is neglected by her pregnant mother, boorish father and louder siblings. At school, she feels ignored. But things change when her father takes her to live with in-laws for the summer. Eibhlin (Carrie Crowley) and her farmer husband Sean (Andrew Bennett) take Cait in to alleviate her parent's financial woes. At first, Cait feels a little intimidated by her new environment, though she soon finds freedom in this new world along with the attention she so desperately needs. But even as this new home becomes an idyll for her, Cait senses that something is plaguing her new foster parents. There is unspoken grief that exists in the house, one that Eibhlin and Sean never discuss, but which Cait's youthful curiosity begins to uncover. An adaptation of Claire Keegan's acclaimed short story Foster', Bairead's Irish-language film is understated in both its visual style and the subtlety of the unfolding drama. The pastoral backdrop is a verdant playground for Cait, while Stephen Rennick's wistful score not only accentuates the beauty of this world but also the secrets that lay hidden within it. At its heart lies an astonishing performance by Clinch. She quietly draws us into Cait's world, her gestures allowing us to witness the lives of adults through her innocent yet understanding eyes.