Drama

• Ladies of Letters | DVD | (20/07/2009) from £23.99   |  Saving you £-4.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  For Irene (Lipman) and Vera (Reid) a tipsy under-the-table conversation at a wedding sparks a correspondence of exploits and adventures of blissful holidays delicious recipes and grateful grandchildren. As the pensioner pen-pals keep their spirits up with sherry and shared recipes their attempts at long-distance one-upmanship are strained by fractious families misfiring romance and personal misfortune. In reality they are both lonely and taken for granted by their families. Whether they are discussing the annual cricket club dance a protest at a nuclear fuel dump or the prison ship in which they both wind up the well-mannered acrimony-laced missives just keep on coming. But for all the unspoken animosity it is clear that their correspondence is a lifeline for them and for all the unspoken animosity they need each other.

• A Kind Of Loving | Blu Ray | (01/08/2016) from £10.99   |  Saving you £12.00 (109.19%)   |  RRP £22.99

  Pity poor Vic (Alan Bates): when he begins a relationship with Ingrid (June Ritchie), a typist at the Lancashire factory where he works as a draughtsman; his life comes apart at the seams. Ingrid's gossiping, malicious friends are bad enough, but her mother Mrs Rothwell (the terrifying Thora Hird) is something else. Vic has to marry Ingrid-she's pregnant--and the only place for them to stay is chez Rothwell. There's a tenderness about A Kind of Loving which you don't find in the more abrasive "kitchen sink" films of the 60s. Vic is not a rebel like Arthur Seton in Saturday Night, Sunday Morning or a macho lunk like Richard Harris' rugby-league player in This Sporting Life. He's a likable, easygoing youngster who soon discovers that real-life love affairs are infinitely messier than he and his mates could ever have imagined. The acute, witty screenplay, adapted by Willis Hall and Keith Waterhouse from Stan Barstow's novel, shows how limited Vic and Ingrid's choices really are. They have no privacy or independence. Bounced into a marriage that neither necessarily wants, their romance quickly sours. Mrs Rothwell is truly the mother-in-law from Hell--a busybody and a tyrant. Look out for the Queen Victoria-like expression on her face when a drunken Vic throws up in her front room. Debut-feature director John Schlesinger captures the humour and the pathos in the young lovers' plight without ever making fun of them. --Geoffrey Macnab

• Silent Dust | DVD | (16/02/2015) from £12.98   |  Saving you £-1.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  This powerfully emotional post-war drama from acclaimed British director Lance Comfort features commanding performances from Sally Gray, Stephen Murray, Nigel Patrick and Seymour Hicks, among others, with an excellent score by leading French composer Georges Auric. Released in 1949, Silent Dust is presented here in a brand-new digital transfer, in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio.Sir Robert Rawley is a self-made man in the most successful sense. The spur for his ambition had always been his son, Simon, but since Simon's death under fire his love has grown into an obsession. All is not as it seems, however - Simon deserted his post and faked his own death, and is now on the hunt for money...Special Feature: Original Theatrical Trailer

• Gone With The Wind | DVD | (07/02/2005) from £24.99   |  Saving you £-11.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  First off, if you're a GwtW fanatic, you must buy this four-disc collection. But then again, you probably don't need to read this to make that decision. For the rest of us, know that the kitchen-sink approach has been established here with two full discs of extras. The film's restoration under Warner's brilliant Ultra-Resolution process is the major contribution to the set. However, the bare-bones version released years ago isn't bad and the film still doesn't pop off the screen as do films from the headier days of Technicolor (like the earlier Ultra-Resolution DVD release of Meet Me in St. Louis). That said, the set is worthy of the most popular movie ever made. Rudy Behlmer's feature-length commentary is dry but an exhaustive reference guide to the entire history of the film. Need more? There's the excellent full-length documentary The Making of a Legend (1989) narrated by Christopher Plummer, plus two hour-long older biographies on the two main stars. There are many new vignettes on the rest of the cast, all narrated by Plummer (a nice touch to tie everything together). The new 30-minute interview/reminisce with Oliva de Havilland will be interesting to older fans, but tiresome for the younger set. The usual sort of trailers and premiere footage is here along with a curious short ("The Old South", directed by Fred Zinnemann) that was produced to help introduce the world to the history of the South. --Doug Thomas

• Dawson's Creek - Season 6 | DVD | (30/01/2006) from £15.98   |  Saving you £19.01 (118.96%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Dawson (James Van Der Beek) returns to Boston after working as an assistant director in Los Angeles over the summer and reunites with Joey (Katie Holmes) who has spent a relatively angst-free summer in Capeside. However there are plenty of obstacles to overcome for the long-time star-gazers. Meanwhile Pacey is trying to make it in the world of business without selling his soul; Jack worries that Professor Freeman might be aware of his crush; and could Audrey have developed a drin

• Secondhand Lions | DVD | (16/02/2004) from £31.73   |  Saving you £-11.74 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A coming-of-age tale following the comedic adventures of an introverted 14-year-old packed off to spend the summer with a pair of cranky, eccentric great-uncles.

• The Last Temptation of Christ | DVD | (07/11/2011) from £9.00   |  Saving you £0.99 (11.00%)   |  RRP £9.99

  It isn't difficult to imagine why this 1988 retelling of the Crucifixion story was picketed so vociferously on its release in the US--this Jesus bears little resemblance to the classical Christ, who was not, upon careful review of the Gospels, ever reported to have had sex with Barbara Hershey. Heavily informed by Gnostic reinterpretations of the Passion, The Last Temptation of Christ (based rather strictly on Nikos Kazantzakis's novel of the same name) is surely worth seeing for the controversy and blasphemous content alone. But the "last temptation" of the title is nothing overtly naughty--rather, it's the seduction of the commonplace; the desire to forgo following a "calling" in exchange for domestic security. Willem Dafoe interprets Jesus as spacey, indecisive and none too charismatic (though maybe that's just Dafoe himself), but his Sermon on the Mount is radiant with visionary fire; a bit less successful is method actor Harvey Keitel, who gives the internally conflicted Judas a noticeable Brooklyn accent, and doesn't bring much imagination to a role that demands a revisionist's approach. Despite director Martin Scorsese's penchant for stupid camera tricks, much of the desert footage is simply breathtaking, even on small screen. Ultimately, Last Temptation is not much more historically illuminating than Monty Python's Life of Brian, but hey, if it's authenticity you're after, try Gibbon's. --Miles Bethany

• The Blue Lamp (Digitally Restored) | DVD | (12/12/2016) from £9.21   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Fifty years on, it's hard to appreciate just how shocking one key scene in The Blue Lamp was considered by British audiences. Young delinquent Tom Riley (played with sensuous malevolence by Dirk Bogarde) guns down kindly, benevolent copper, PC Dixon (Jack Warner.) In early 1950s Britain, murdering a policeman was the ultimate taboo. Even the underworld's denizens help the police flush Riley out. Made by Ealing Studios, The Blue Lamp is not a comedy but shares many of the studio's characteristic comic hallmarks, as well as the same writer (TEB Clarke) for their classics Hue And Cry and The Lavender Hill Mob. Consensus and tolerance are the watchwords. Individualism is frowned upon. There are no extravagant displays of emotion, not even from Mrs Dixon (Gladys Henson) when she learns what happened to her husband. The understatement is very moving, although by today's standards the representation of the police seems absurdly idealised. Were they ever the doughty, patient sorts depicted here? It is no surprise to learn that Scotland Yard co-operated in the making of the film but this is much more than just police propaganda. Well-crafted, full of finely judged character performances, it ranks with Ealing's best work. It was made at an intriguing historical moment: before rock and roll and the era of teenage affluence, there was simply no place for young tearaways like Tom Riley. --Geoffrey Macnab

• Wycliffe - The Complete Fourth Series | DVD | (18/10/2010) from £14.30   |  Saving you £5.69 (39.79%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Based on the novels by W.J. Burley and set against the magnificent and windswept Cornish coast this acclaimed detective series follows the exploits of the extremely meticulous and very clever Detective Superintendent Wycliffe. Far from being idyllic Cornwall is alive with serious crime and Wycliffe (Jack Shepherd) leads an investigative team charged with solving each intriguing mystery. Series Four highlights the fact that things are not always as they seem. Scrutiny from internal investigations into Wycliffe and his team continue to surround their mysterious cases of murder blackmail and dramatic rescues. Includes the gripping special bonus feature 'Dance Of The Scorpions' - Wycliffe once again clashed with his superiors over the handling of a particularly gruesome double murder case. This time it will be Wycliffe who gets hurt!

• Maps to the Stars | DVD | (02/02/2015) from £7.20   |  Saving you £12.79 (177.64%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The Weiss family are an archetypical Hollywood dynasty - Dr Stafford Weiss (John Cusack) is a psychotherapist whose self-help books have made him a fortune. His wife Cristina (Olivia Williams) is the overbearing mom-ager of their thirteen-year old son Benjie a prodigious child star fresh out of drug rehab and their estranged daughter Agatha (Mia Wasikowska) has recently been released from a psychiatric hospital. Agatha is now back in Hollywood making friends with a wannabe actor named Jerome (Robert Pattinson) and has landed a new job as PA to one of Stafford’s clients - the neurotic and tempestuous actress Havana Segrand (Julianne Moore) whose dream of reprising her dead mother’s starring role from the 1960s is beginning to haunt her.

• The Master | Blu Ray | (21/09/2014) from £8.99   |  Saving you £16.00 (177.98%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Paul Thomas Anderson writes and directs this Academy Award-nominated drama about a US Navy veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder who seeks salvation in the company of a charismatic cult leader. Joaquin Phoenix stars as Freddie Quell, a troubled drifter who arrives home to post-WWII America shaken, disillusioned and fearful of the future. A raging alcoholic, Quell cannot begin to make sense of his deeply-rooted inner torment, let alone surmount it. When he meets Lancaster Dodd ...

• 10 Rillington Place (Blu-Ray) | Blu Ray | (16/10/2017) from £14.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  This classic British chiller is the horrifying true story of serial killer John Christie, played to unnerving effect by Richard Attenborough. When Timothy Evans (John Hurt) and his wife (Judy Geeson) rent a tiny room in Christie's terraced house, they are unaware that they have sealed their fates and that they will fall foul of Christie's perverse and murderous scheme. Shot in the original street where Christie's crimes were perpetrated, Richard Fleischer's stark, unsensational depiction uses exteriors from the actual house as part of its grim recreation of the events. INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES: ¢ 4K restoration ¢ Audio commentary with actress Judy Geeson and film historians Lem Dobbs and Nick Redman ¢ Audio commentary with acclaimed actor John Hurt ¢ Introduction by Sir Richard Attenborough (2 mins): an appreciation by the great actor ¢ Interview with Sir Richard Attenborough (20 mins): Attenborough discusses many aspects of the film ¢ Being Beryl (2016, 22 mins): new interview with Judy Geeson ¢ Isolated score track ¢ Image gallery: promotional photography ¢ Original theatrical trailer ¢ New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing

• The Fan | DVD | (25/10/1999) from £7.50   |  Saving you £12.49 (166.53%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Denzel Washington is a disillisioned soldier of fortune who grows close to a child he is paid to protect. When she is abducted, his fiery rage is unleashed on those he feels responsible, and he stops at nothing to save her.

• The Zookeeper's Wife DVD + digital download | DVD | (28/08/2017) from £4.73   |  Saving you £0.54 (11.42%)   |  RRP £5.27

  The Zookeeper's Wife tells the account of keepers of the Warsaw Zoo, Jan and Antonina Zabinski, who helped save hundreds of people and animals during the Nazi invasion. Click Images to Enlarge

• Captain Fantastic | Blu Ray | (23/01/2017) from £6.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Deep in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, a father (Viggo Mortensen) devoted to raising his six kids with a rigorous physical and intellectual education is forced to leave his paradise and enter the world.

• In This Corner Of The World | DVD | (23/10/2017) from £7.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The award-winning animated feature from the director of Mai Mai Miracle and the producers of Millennium Actress & Tokyo Godfathers** In This Corner of the World follows a young lady named Suzu Urano, who in 1944 moves to the small town of Kure in Hiroshima to live with her husband s family. Suzu s life is thrown into chaos when her town is bombed during World War II. Her perseverance and courage underpin this heart-warming and inspirational tale of the everyday challenges faced by the Japanese in the midst of a violent, war-torn country. This beautiful yet poignant tale shows that even in the face of adversity and loss, people can come together and rebuild their lives.

• Heidi - Series 1 | DVD | (13/09/2004) from £17.99   |  Saving you £-3.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Heidi is a treasured story for all children one of many tales written by the Swiss authoress Johanna Spyri. This is a charming tale of a young orphan called Heidi who is taken to live with her Grandfather up in the mountains. A classic tale of childhood joys and friendships it has delighted and inspired generations of children. Episodes comprise: 1. The Village 2. Ohi Of The Alps 3. Peter The Goat Herder 4. The Grandmother 5. Winter 6. The Departure 7. Arrival In Frankfurt 8. The

• FingerSmith | DVD | (18/04/2005) from £8.05   |  Saving you £9.94 (123.48%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Adapted from the novel by Sarah Waters. London 1862 a young orphan named Susan Trinder (Sally Hawkins) grows up amongst the petty thieves known as Fingersmiths under the guidance of Mrs Suckerby (Imelda Staunton). One evening Richard 'The Gentleman' Rivers (Rupert Evans) pays them a visit. Rivers has an elaborate plan to defraud the wealthy heiress Maud Lilly (Elaine Cassidy). Susan agrees to help for a cut of the money and is quickly installed as Maud's maid. Upon arriving sh

• The Piano 25th Anniversary Edition | Blu Ray | (16/07/2018) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Winner of 3 Academy Awards, The Piano, starring Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill and Anna Paquin, is still as powerful and resolute now as when it was first released. Ada -mute since birth- 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 every lesson. The arrangement draws all three deeper and deeper into a complex emotional, sexual bond remarkable for its naive passion and frightening disregard for limits. Features: Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Jane Campion's Oscar and Palme D'Or-winning masterpiece THE PIANO with these great extras, including a brand new featurette that looks back at the film's production and reception 25 years later, including an interview with Jane Campion and Jan Chapman at the iconic New Zealand beach where the film was largely shot. Enjoy the original promotional Making Of featurette, and an informative Audio Commentary with Director Jane Campion. Disc 1: NEW The Piano at 25 A brand new featurette looking back at THE PIANO for its 25th Anniversary, featuring an extended interview with Director Jane Campion and Producer Jan Chapman filmed at Karekare beach, New Zealand. The Making Of A vintage featurette exploring the production of THE PIANO Audio Commentary with Jane Campion An informative commentary to the main feature from Director Jane Campion Disc 2: Original soundtrack CD Also Includes Booklet featuring new essays by: Film critic & broadcaster Anna Smith, Screenwriter & critic Kate Muir and Film journalist and Editor-at-large of Empire magazine Helen O'Hara Alternative artwork poster

• Harnessing Peacocks | DVD | (04/07/2011) from £8.96   |  Saving you £4.03 (44.98%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Sir John Mills Peter Davison and Serena Scott Thomas star in this warm funny and romantic story of a woman forced to make a new life for herself in a Cornish seaside town. Based on Mary Wesley's bestselling novel Harnessing Peacocks is adapted by the multi-award-winning Andrew Davies (The Way We Live Now Bridget Jones' Diary). As a teenager the beautiful Hebe was disowned by her family after becoming pregnant by a masked stranger during a fiesta in the Italian town of Lucca. Twelve years on she has established herself in an unattractive terraced street in Penzance. Her official profession is part-time cook catering to rich old ladies who value her personal attention. But Hebe has another source of income: she is a prostitute with a very limited set of wealthy male clients - her peacocks. The income from her dual role enables her to send her illegitimate son Silas to boarding school. Then a mysterious figure enters the network of discreetly intersecting relationships that exists between Hebe her clients and their families. And he is certain that he recognises her...