Drama

• Purple Rain | Blu Ray | (13/02/2017) from £10.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  While "rock musical" remains a phrase used by sadistic parents to give their offspring nightmares the genre does occasionally throw up the odd gem, Purple Rain being perhaps the shiniest example. Given the theatricality of Prince's stage shows, it was only a matter of time before the diminutive pop potentate found himself a big-screen vehicle but few could have predicted that Purple Rain would become nothing less than a cultural phenomenon. The story, co-written by one-time Starsky & Hutch scripter William Blinn, may be a somewhat hackneyed tale with His Purpleness overcoming a troubled background and musical rival Morris Day to achieve his dreams of rock stardom. However, the cast, which also includes Prince protegée Appollonia, rises above the clichés to hand in a set of performances which, while never likely to trouble the Oscars, prove that all concerned can at least play a rough approximation of themselves with minimal difficulty. What really helped push the film's box-office receipts through the roof, however, was its soundtrack featuring a clutch of hit singles--notably "When Doves Cry"--and which cemented our pint-sized hero's position as one of the globe's premiere performing artists. Sadly, subsequent attempts to re-bottle this particular brand of lightning with Under a Cherry Moon and Graffiti Moon would prove substantially less successful but Purple Rain still looks--and, more importantly sounds--rarely less than funktastic. --Clark Collis

• Swimfan | DVD | (07/04/2003) from £4.99   |  Saving you £9.00 (180.36%)   |  RRP £13.99

  A high school senior with a promising swimming career has a one-night stand...with sinister consequences.

• The Zoo Gang | DVD | (03/06/2019) from £13.05   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Four veterans of the French Resistance, reunited nearly thirty years after the war, join forces to meet adventure, danger and excitement in this hit series based on Paul Gallico's best-selling novel. Starring Brian Keith, John Mills, Lilli Palmer and Barry Morse, The Zoo Gang has been newly remastered in HD from the original 35mm film elements for this Blu-ray edition it has certainly never looked better! Special Features: 60 second trailers for each episode Commercial Break Bumpers Damaged section (from The Counterfeit Trap) Monochrome Mute Takes (from The Twisted Cross) Monochrome and Colour Mute Title Sequence Offcuts Extensive Image Galleries

• The Light Between Oceans | Blu Ray | (13/03/2017) from £6.49   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  As beautiful as it is heart-breaking, The Light Between Oceans features an incredible cast including Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander and Rachel Weisz. This breath-taking story is set to remind us all of the infinite power of love, the overwhelming fear of loss and the complexities of human nature that bind the two. When lighthouse keeper Tom Sherbourne (Michael Fassbender) and his adored wife Isabel (Alicia Vikander) discover a baby adrift in a boat off the remote coast off Western Australia, they must make a choice. When they decide to raise the child as their own, the shattering consequences of this choice will change their lives forever.

• Play it Cool | Blu Ray | (20/01/2020) from £20.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Featuring the big-screen debut of Liverpudlian pop idol Billy Fury 'Britain's Elvis Presley' this charming, pre-Beatles-era musical feature was among Michael Winner's earliest films. A 1962 box-office hit spawning a Top-Ten single and EP, Play It Cool features cameos from some of the most recognisable stars of the Sixties, with Bobby Vee, Helen Shapiro and Shane Fenton (aka Alvin Stardust) among the artistes encountered by Fury and his fictional band. The film is presented here as a brand-new High Definition restoration from original film elements.Billy Universe and the Satellites, a happy-go-lucky rhythm and twist group, are en route to Brussels to compete in a song contest; on the same flight is Ann Bryant, who's being sent abroad by her wealthy father to try to curb her infatuation with disreputable popster Larry Granger. When fog forces the plane to return to the airport, Billy and friends persuade Ann to join them in the West End, where they will search for Larry. What follows is a whirlwind musical tour of London's nightclubs!

• Waterloo Road - Series 1 | DVD | (26/03/2007) from £23.43   |  Saving you £6.56 (28.00%)   |  RRP £29.99

  In a failing inner-city comprehensive every day is a battle for acting headteacher Jack Rimmer and his disillusioned staff. Can the arrival of hard-nosed public school idealist Mr Treneman really turn things around? Or would these troubled teens benefit more from the sympathetic approach of his colleague and sparring partner Kim Campbell? The lives and loves of the teachers parents and pupils become inextricably intertwined in this gritty engaging and ultimately uplifting drama in which those who can teach and those who can't have a lot to learn...

• The Perks of Being a Wallflower | Blu Ray | (11/02/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  A funny and touching coming-of-age story based on the beloved best-selling novel by Stephen Chbosky, THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER is a modern classic that captures the dizzying highs and crushing lows of growing up.

• Her Pen Pal | DVD | (04/01/2022) from £15.88   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Edward Scissorhands - 25th Anniversary Edition | DVD | (30/11/2015) from £5.99   |  Saving you £4.00 (66.78%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Edward Scissorhands achieves the nearly impossible feat of capturing the delicate flavour of a fable or fairy tale in a live-action movie. The story follows a young man named Edward (Johnny Depp), who was created by an inventor (Vincent Price, in one of his last roles) who died before he could give the poor creature a pair of human hands. Edward lives alone in a ruined Gothic castle that just happens to be perched above a pastel-coloured suburb inhabited by breadwinning husbands and frustrated housewives straight out of the 1950s. One day, Peg (Dianne Wiest), the local Avon lady, comes calling. Finding Edward alone, she kindly invites him to come home with her, where she hopes to help him with his pasty complexion and those nasty nicks he's given himself with his razor-sharp fingers. Soon Edward's skill with topiary sculpture and hair design make him popular in the neighbourhood--but the mood turns just as swiftly against the outsider when he starts to feel his own desires, particularly for Peg's daughter Kim (Winona Ryder). Most of director Tim Burton's movies (such as Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice and Batman) are visual spectacles with elements of fantasy but Edward Scissorhands is more tender and personal than the others. Edward's wild black hair is much like Burton's, suggesting that the character represents the director's own feelings of estrangement and co-option. Johnny Depp, making his first successful leap from TV to film, captures Edward's child-like vulnerability even while his physical posture evokes horror icons like the vampire in Nosferatu and the sleepwalker in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Classic horror films, at their heart, feel a deep sympathy for the monsters they portray; simply and affectingly, Edward Scissorhands lays that heart bare. --Bret Fetzer

• Sylvia | DVD | (26/07/2004) from £7.36   |  Saving you £8.63 (117.26%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Starring Academy Award winner Gwyneth Paltrow, "Sylvia" is a story of the love, passion, wit and despair between two of the 20th century's most brilliant minds, the American poet Sylvia Plath and the British poet Ted Hughes.

• Wildlife | Blu Ray | (18/03/2019) from £6.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Fourteen-year-old Joe is the only child of Jeanette and Jerry - a housewife and a golf pro - living a seemingly idyllic life in 1960s Montana. His family s carefully constructed façade is about to come crashing spectacularly down however, when Jerry loses his job and his sense of purpose. In an attempt to restore his pride, Jerry takes off for the summer to help fight the wildfires raging near the Canadian border, a life-threatening job, for very little pay. An angry and bereft Jeanette must quickly learn to fend for herself, and does so with gusty, challenging cultural expectations and taking a quietly bewildered Joe along for the ride. An elegant adaption of the Richard Ford novel of the same name, Wildlife is an impressive directorial debut from Golden Globe nominee Paul Dano, starring Carey Mulligan (Never Let Me Go, An Education, Shame, Suffragette), Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler, Brokeback Mountain, Donnie Darko), Ed Oxenbould (The Visit, Paper Planes) and Bill Camp (The Night Of, Loving, Midnight Special).

• Inherit The Wind | DVD | (03/05/2004) from £13.71   |  Saving you £-0.72 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Two-time Best Actor winners Spencer Tracy and Fredric March go toe-to-toe in this thrilling re-creation of the most titanic courtroom battle of the twentieth century. Garnering four Academy Award nominations including Best Actor (Tracy) and featuring Gene Kelly in a rare critically acclaimed dramatic role Inherit the Wind is powerful provocative cinema and a helping measure of entertainment. The controversial subject of evolution versus creation causes two polar opposites to enga

• Monarch Of The Glen - Series 7 | DVD | (03/04/2006) from £20.00   |  Saving you £4.99 (24.95%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The seventh and final series of this wonderful Highland drama brings with it a host of new problems for the McDonald family to contend with introducing a few new faces as well as revisiting one or two old ones. Following the sudden death of his partner Meg Golly now finds himself as a single parent struggling to cope with the demands of both his son and his job. He soon learns that he is not alone and he and Molly become become closer than they have been for a long time. Meanwhile

• SUS | DVD | (06/09/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £14.99

  From Barrie Keeffe, the writer of the British classic The Long Good Friday and based on a true story, SUS is a gripping and emotionally fuelled drama, with dialogue crackling in humour and insight.

• Apostle Peter and the Last Supper | DVD | (09/04/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £10.99

  Set in Rome A.D. 67, two jailers at the ancient Mamertine Prison take custody of a famous criminal. He is Simon Peter of Galilee - apostle, disciple and personal-friend of Jesus, also called the Christ. Condemned to death, the elderly Peter (Robert Loggia- Season 1 The New Hawaii Five O) recounts his life as a simple fisher man who became one of the boldest figures in all of Christianity. As Peter prepares to depart this earthly life, he will make an unforgettable impression on his jailers through the saving power of the Gospel. A dramatic encounter with an incredible finale.

• The King Of Comedy | Blu Ray | (07/04/2014) from £9.99   |  Saving you £6.00 (60.06%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A struggling comedian gambles his uncertain future on a hare-brained scheme to ransom his way onto television by kidnapping a popular talk-show host.

• Suspected Person | DVD | (01/02/2016) from £11.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The Power Game's Clifford Evans gives a strong performance as a man on the run in this suspenseful wartime drama co-starring Patricia Roc, David Farrar and William Hartnell. Written and directed by Lawrence Huntington, Suspected Person is presented here in a brand-new transfer from the original film elements, in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio.After a $50,000 heist in New York, two of the suspected robbers walk free from the courtroom and they waste no time in heading to London in search of the missing loot. This means bad news for their former accomplice Jim Raynor, who has the money hidden away not least because they're not the only ones on his tail; Scotland Yard is also on the case...SPECIAL FEATURE:Image GalleryOriginal script PDF

• Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind | DVD | (29/12/2003) from £4.75   |  Saving you £10.24 (215.58%)   |  RRP £14.99

  George Clooney's directorial debut is an adaptation of the cult memoir of TV game show impressario Chuck Barris, in which he purports to have been a CIA hitman!

• The Dressmaker | Blu Ray | (14/03/2016) from £8.99   |  Saving you £6.00 (66.74%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Jocelyn Moorhouse directs this Australian revenge comedy starring Kate Winslet as Myrtle Dunnage, a woman who returns to her hometown to take care of her ailing mother Molly (Judy Davis). Myrtle's return sparks much debate between the residents of the town as she was accused of murdering someone many years ago. Now an expert dressmaker, Myrtle goes about transforming the local fashion while exacting her revenge upon those who have wronged her in the past... The supporting cast includes Liam Hemsworth and Hugo Weaving.

• CITY OF WOMEN | DVD | (25/02/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Federico Fellini's epic 1980 fantasia introduced the start of the Maestro's delirious late period. A surrealist tour-de-force filmed on soundstages and locations alike, and overflowing with the same sensory (and sensual) invention heretofore found only in the classic movie-musicals (and Fellini's own oeuvre), La citta delle donne [City of Women] taps into the era's restless youth-culture, coalescing into nothing less than Fellini's post-punk opus. Marcello Mastroianni appears as Fellini's alter ego in a semi-reprise of his character from 8-1/2, Snaporaz. As though passing into a dream, the charismatic avatar finds himself initiated into a phantasmagoric world where women - or an idea of women - have taken power, and which is structured like an array of psychosexual set-pieces - culminating in a bravura hot-air balloon that decisively sticks the anti up into climax. A great adventure through the looking-glass, as it were, of Fellini's own phallic lens and life-long libidinal ruminations, La citta delle donne sharply divided critics at the 1980 Festival de Cannes, some of whom had merely anticipated a nostalgic retread of the earlier Mastroianni works. What they were greeted with, and what remains today, is, in the words of Serge Daney, a victory of cinema. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present La citta delle donne on Blu-ray and DVD in Gaumont's glorious new HD restoration. Special Features: Newly Translated Optional Subtitles Substantial Booklet Containing Writing on the Film, Vintage Exerpts and Rare Archival Imagery