"Actor: Angelo"

• Puccini - La Boheme | DVD | (12/06/2006) from £14.78   |  Saving you £-3.79 (N/A%)   |  RRP £10.99

  Zeffirelli's 1963 Milan production of La Boheme, preserved in this 1965 film, provides a richly satisfying take on Puccini's much-loved romantic tragedy. The staging is opulent, not least in the way Zeffirelli opens up the Cafe Momus and turns it into a warm, vibrant haven for the bohemians and their followers. But it's the relationships which really matter here. Puccini's score--conducted with restrained passion by Herbert von Karajan--develops in a wonderfully linear way, with some of his most intensely moving arias and duets underpinning the evolution of the bohemian artists, particularly Rodolfo and Marcello, from immature egotists to rounded human beings, touched by tragedy. The film does look dated now--Mirella Freni's Mimi, sung with moving clarity, has the doe-eyed look of a 1960s pop star and the camera work is a tad unsophisticated--but the singing still puts the listener through the wringer. Gianni Raimondi's Rodolfo ("Che gelida manina") struggles manfully to come to terms with his emotional shortcomings and Adriana Martino (Musetta) has some fine comic moments before playing her vital part in the overwhelming sadness of the final scenes. Soul food for the tragically inclined. On the DVD: La Boheme has no extras here, but excellent booklet notes accompany the disc. The PCM Stereo soundtrack has been digitally remastered to decent effect. The 4:3 picture format inevitably imposes some limitations and the 1960s video quality is a little dull, but after all, this is a product of its time and a vital record of one of Zeffirelli's most successful productions.--Piers Ford

• Years of Lead: Five Classic Italian Crime Thrillers 1973-1977 | Blu Ray | (13/12/2021) from £29.85   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The 1970s were a time of intense uncertainty and instability in Italy. Political corruption and widespread acts of left and right-wing terrorism, alongside a breakdown in social cohesion and a loss of trust in public institutions such as the government and police, created a febrile atmosphere of cynicism, paranoia and unexploded rage. Throughout this period, these sentiments found expression in a series of brutal, often morally ambiguous crime thrillers which tapped into the atmosphere of violence and instability that defined the so-called Years of Lead. This box set gathers five films from the heyday of the poliziotteschi the umbrella term used to describe this diverse body of films. In Vittorio Salerno's Savage Three (1975) and Mario Imperoli's Like Rabid Dogs (1976), random acts of violence committed by vicious young sociopaths threaten the fragile fabric of respectable society. In Massimo Dallamano's Colt 38 Special Squad (1976) and Stelvio Massi's Highway Racer (1977), renegade cops battling against red tape and political corruption turn to new and morally dubious methods to dispense justice. Finally, class dynamics are explored in Salerno's No, the Case is Happily Resolved (1973) as an innocent man finds himself under suspicion for a savage crime committed by a highly respected member of society. Decried by critics for their supposedly fascistic overtones, the poliziotteschi were in fact more ideologically varied and often considerably more nuanced than such superficial readings would suggest, and proved a huge hit with theatregoers, who responded to their articulation of present day social concerns. Featuring an impressive line-up of Euro-cult stars, including Joe Dallesandro (The Climber), Ivan Rassimov (Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key), Maurizio Merli (Violent City) and Enrico Maria Salerno (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage), this collection of stylish, hard-hitting Euro-crime thrillers showcases the range and breadth of the genre and is a must-have for newcomers and grizzled veterans alike. Special Features High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations of all five films, restored from the original camera negatives Original lossless mono Italian audio on all five films Original lossless mono English audio on Colt 38 Special Squad and Savage Three English subtitles for the Italian soundtracks Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack on Colt 38 Special Squad and Savage Three Poliziotteschi: Violence and Justice in the Years of Lead, a visual essay by critic Will Webb exploring the recurring traits and themes of the genre Rat Eat Rat, an interview with writer/director Vittorio Salerno and actress Martine Brochard on Savage Three The Savage One, an interview with actor Joe Dallesandro on Savage Three When a Murderer Dies, an interview with cinematographer Romano Albani and film historian Fabio Melelli on Like Rabid Dogs It's Not a Time for Tears, an interview with assistant director Claudio Bernabei on Like Rabid Dogs Music sampler for Like Rabid Dogs Always the Same Ol' 7 Notes, an interview with composer Stelvio Cipriani on Colt 38 Special Squad A Tough Guy, an interview with editor Antonio Siciliano on Colt 38 Special Squad Archival introduction to Colt 38 Special Squad by Stelvio Cipriani Faster Than a Bullet, an interview with film historian Roberto Curti on Highway Racer Mother Justice, an interview with writer/director Vittorio Salerno on No, the Case is Happily Resolved Alternate ending to No, the Case is Happily Resolved Original trailers for Like Rabid Dogs, Colt 38 Special Squad and No, the Case is Happily Resolved Poster galleries Reversible sleeves featuring original artwork for all five films

• National Lampoon's Vacation Ultimate Collector's Edition | Blu Ray | (26/06/2023) from £24.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The Griswolds are going on vacation. In the driver's seat is Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase), an everyman eager to share the open road and the wonders of family togetherness with his long-suffering wife (Beverly D'Angelo) and their two frustrated teens. After myriad mishaps; 2,460 miles; and a run-in with a hapless security guard (John Candy), it's a wonder the Griswolds are still together. There's never been a family vacation like it. Product Features Film on 4K UHD and Blu-Ray Rigid Slipcase with Original Theatrical Art Double-Sided A3 Poster 4 Double Sided Art Cards Bumper Sticker Capacity Envelope On Disc Special Features: Commentary by Harold Ramis, Chevy Chase, Randy Quaid, Anthony Michael Hall, Dana Barron and Matty Simmons

• Mad Max 3 - Beyond Thunderdome | Blu Ray | (27/04/2015) from £8.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Mad Max - Beyond Thunderdome

• Hustle - Complete BBC Series 5 | DVD | (11/01/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The Con Is On The Con. An invisible crime built on the premise of finding someone who wants something for nothing then giving them nothing for something. Choose the mark play on their desires set them up and then reel them in.

• Hustle - Complete BBC Series 7 | DVD | (09/01/2012) from £15.83   |  Saving you £4.16 (26.28%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The Hustle team return ready to con societies greediest and separate them from their ill-gotten gains. Stolen diamonds, old flames and corrupt football club chairmen all make an appearance in this seventh season starring Adrian Lester, Robert Vaughn, Robert Glenister, Kelly Adams and Matt D'Angelo

• The Black Stallion Returns | DVD | (07/04/2003) from £6.81   |  Saving you £6.18 (90.75%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A young boy stows away from America to North Africa to rescue his black stallion from the Berber sheikh who stole the horse.

• Any Which Way You Can / Every Which Way But Loose | DVD | (27/02/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Every Which Way But Loose (Dir. James Fargo 1978): Clint Eastwood smashed box-office records as trucker Philo Beddoe the best bar-room brawler west of the Rockies who lives with a 165-pound orangutan named Clyde. With a fun country soundtrack and co-stars like Sondra Locke Geoffrey Lewis Beverly D'Angelo and the great Ruth Gordon it's in every which way possible a grand time for all. Any Which Way You Can (Dir. Buddy Van Horn 1980): They're back. Philo Beddoe th

• Tenebrae | DVD | (27/01/2003) from £17.90   |  Saving you £-0.91 (N/A%)   |  RRP £16.99

  After several excursions into supernatural horror, Dario Argento returned to the homicidal frenzy that made his reputation with this mystery that plays more like a grown-up slasher movie than a detective thriller. Anthony Franciosa stars as Peter Neal, a best-selling horror novelist whose promotional tour in Italy takes a terrible turn when a mysterious killer recreates the brutal murders from his book with real-life victims. The first to die are so-called "deviants", Neal's own friends and finally there comes a promise that the author himself is next on the list. Columbo it ain't, but Argento has always been more concerned with style than story and his execution of the crimes is pure cinematic bravura. From the simple beauty of a straight razor shattering a light bulb (the camera catches the red-hot filament slowly blacking out) to an ambitious crane shot that creeps up and over the sides of a house under siege in a voyeuristic survey that would make Hitchcock proud, Argento turns the art of murder into a stylish spectacle. He even lets his kinkier side show with flashbacks of an adolescent boy and a teasing dominatrix in red stiletto heels that become a key motif of the film. The objects of Argento's homicidal tendencies are traditionally lovely, scantily clad Italian beauties, and with self-deprecating humour he even inserts a scene in which Neal is taken to task for the misogynist violence of his stories--an accusation Argento himself has weathered for years. --Sean Axmaker

• Shaft's Big Score | DVD | (05/03/2001) from £21.15   |  Saving you £-7.16 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Shaft's Big Score is the first sequel to the super-hip 1971 original. When a pal of detective John Shaft is murdered in a bombing (and $250,000 goes missing), New York's coolest private eye finds himself caught in the middle of a power struggle between black and white gangsters over the numbers racket in Queens. Directed by Gordon Parks (who does a brief cameo as a croupier in an illegal casino) and written by Ernest Tidyman (both of whom made the original Shaft), this film lacks the pacing of its progenitor. Roundtree is at his best when he's questioning a woman he's just met about a suspect, while at the same time beguiling her into the sack (ah, those lazy, crazy days of the sexual revolution). The finale--a shootout in a cemetery, followed by a car-boat-helicopter chase through Queens and up the Harlem River--is preposterously drawn out: Shaft, impervious to machine-gun fire, winds up tripping, spraining his ankle and limping while running from the chopper; two shots later, he's sprinting like a halfback. Look for late Muhammad Ali-trainer Drew Bundini Brown as a wisecracking mobster. --Marshall Fine, Amazon.com

• Smurfs And The Magic Flute | DVD | (11/10/2010) from £5.89   |  Saving you £2.10 (35.65%)   |  RRP £7.99

  The Smurfs And The Magic Flute

• Strictly Come Dancing - Live Tour 2008/2009 | DVD | (16/11/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Strictly Come Dancing: Live Box Set 2008 & 2009

• The Smoke | DVD | (20/10/2014) from £5.46   |  Saving you £9.53 (174.54%)   |  RRP £14.99

  48 hours in the life of a burnt-out City lawyer who loses his job, falls for a call girl and steals £400,000 from a gangland boss - who wants every penny of it back.

• Verdi - Rigoletto (Campori, Teatro Regio Di Parma) | DVD | (01/11/2004) from £11.95   |  Saving you £11.04 (92.38%)   |  RRP £22.99

  The exceptional nature and high artistic quality of this performance justify publication of this video even though the filming was done only to preserve the performance of Teatro Regio's archives and therefore offers few close-up shots and occasionally unclear lighting.Parma Teatro Regio Rebbraio 1987

• A Streetcar Named Desire | DVD | (23/02/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  A drama about a brutish insensitive man who sexually terrorises his neurotic sister-in-law and drives her over the brink of sanity....

• Honky Tonk Freeway | DVD | (11/08/2014) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Directed by Oscar winner John Schlesinger and starring William Devane Beau Bridges Beverly D'Angelo Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy Honky Tonk Freeway is an exuberant satire on America's undying love affair with all things on wheels. This wildly good-natured and outrageously entertaining roadside farce is presented here in a brand-new digital transfer in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio. It's vacation time and carloads of Americans are making their way to Florida in relentless pursuit of a good time; among the travellers are an aspiring children's author a couple of bank-robbers an elderly lady with a drink problem and two nuns. They little realise they're about to be caught up in a small-time mayor's madcap scheme to turn his neglected town into a tourist trap! Special Features: Original Theatrical Teaser and Trailer Image Gallery Original Promotional Material PDF

• Muhammad Ali - the Greatest | DVD | (12/04/2005) from £10.35   |  Saving you £-0.36 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Charting the life and times of Muhammad Ali this documentary begins in Louisville Kentucky the birthplace of the future World Heavyweight Champion and follows his career from his first amateur fight against Ronnie O'Keefe (for which he was paid the princely sum of $4.00) to the most infamous fights of his life: ""The Rumble in the Jungle"" and ""The Thrilla in Manila"". Featuring classic footage from legendary fights as well as interviews with his trainer Angelo Dundee and contribu

• Harold And Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay | Blu Ray | (22/09/2008) from £10.98   |  Saving you £17.00 (212.77%)   |  RRP £24.99

  "Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo" marks the triumphant return of two hilarious, slacker anti-heroes.

• Relative Strangers | DVD | (22/01/2007) from £6.96   |  Saving you £6.02 (151.64%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Dr Richard Clayton (Ron Livingston) has it all: a loving fiance (Neve Campbell) two wonderful supportive parents a successful career as a psychiatrist and a self-help book on anger management climbing the best seller list. Everything in his life is right on course including a wedding date only a few weeks away. Until one fateful night when his jealous brother tells him the truth about his upbringing...he was adopted. Enter Frank and Agnes Manure (Danny DeVito and Kathy Bates)

• Zombie Holocaust | DVD | (27/09/2004) from £25.63   |  Saving you £-19.64 (-327.90%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Bizarre morgue desecrations in a New York hospital finds Dr. Peter Chandler and the beautiful Dr. Laurie Miller at the head of an expedition to an island of terror. The remote tropical island is also peopled by a tribe of blood thirsty natives and soul devouring Zombies. One by one the members of the expedition die unspeakable deaths... Not for the faint-hearted...