"Actor: Ann D"

• Meyerbeer: L'Africaine | DVD | (03/09/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Enormously popular and influential in its time, Meyerbeer's L'Africaine has become a rarity--the conventions of grand opera which it embodies so thoroughly are only familiar as adapted by Verdi and Wagner, so this work usefully reminds us of how radical they were. Meyerbeer and his librettist Scribe give us a five-act plot full of confrontations and threats of death, a shipwreck and the suicide of the Indian heroine Selika and her rejected suitor by inhaling the poisonous aromas of a deadly tree. The expedition of Vasco Da Gama round the Cape of Good Hope and up to the spice ports of India becomes less a story about the crusade for profit and more a matter of messy triangular love affairs. Heavy fathers, Brahmin priests and Grand Inquisitors are handled with much facility and no intensity. What L'Africaine really amounts to is a singers' display piece, and the two principals here--Shirley Verrett as Selika and Placido Domingo as Vasco--are entirely up to its demands. Domingo reminds us that Vasco's Act 4 aria "Oh Paradis" was for decades a standard tenor showstopper. The other principals, Ruth Ann Svenson and Justino Diaz, are entirely admirable and Marco Arena and the San Francisco Opera give the work as a whole both the grandeur it certainly possesses and rather more subtlety than one might have expected. On the DVD: The DVD, presented in 4:3 ratio, and in PCM stereo, has no features apart from instructions and subtitles in French, German, English and Spanish. This failure to provide extras, or even an especially informative leaflet, becomes especially regrettable with a work whose conventions are now far out of the operatic mainstream. --Roz Kaveney

• Death In Small Doses | DVD | (25/03/2002) from £4.90   |  Saving you £-2.91 (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  When successful Dallas architect Nancy Lyon died in agony from arsenic poisoning it seemed that no-one could unravel the mystery surrounding her death; someone was about to get away with murder. However District Attorney Jerry Sims is determined to find the truth... Based on a true story.

• Die Zauberflote - Mozart | DVD | (29/05/2006) from £24.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Mozart: Die Zauberflote (Ostman)

• Supreme Sanction | DVD | (17/06/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  A journalist holds potentially threatening information and the government will not rest until he is dead. The government's trained assassin is undecided which side to choose...

• My Girl / My Girl 2 | DVD | (15/04/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £22.99

  Doubling My Girl with its sequel makes sense since they tell a two-part tale. In the first film, 11-year-old Vada Sultenfuss (astounding newcomer Anna Chlumsky) lives with her widowed father, a distracted tuba-playing mortician (Dan Aykroyd). Rather understandably Vada is confused and disturbed about the nature of death. In her narration to camera we learn what it feels like to be a girl growing up in Pennsylvania in the early 1970s, as her father become involved with make-up artist Jamie Lee Curtis. Macaulay Culkin (in a performance reminding us that once there was a good child actor behind the name) is the best friend who assists her rite of passage. Jumping forwards two years into the sequel, My Girl 2, Culkin is replaced by Austin O'Brien. Now 13 and with a baby on the way in the Aykroyd /Jamie Lee Curtis home, Vada's growing-up continues further afield. She investigates the life of her mother in an attempt to understand her own. Los Angeles becomes the backdrop as she deals with the inevitable problems of puberty. Ultimately this is the story of a teenager's grounding in the ways of the world told simply and with charm. On the DVD: My Girl/My Girl 2 on disc sadly has no extras beyond a trailer for each film. It's also a shame the 1.85:1 transfer remains grainy for both. At least the three-channel surround picks out the period songs nicely. --Paul Tonks

• Hendrix | DVD | (12/04/2005) from £6.98   |  Saving you £-0.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Hendrix. The man the musician the legend. From his youth in Seattle to his death in London Jimi Hendrix (Wood Harris - Remember the Titans The Siege) was a unique talent who never compromised his dream of making music that brought the people together. Jimi soon finds his own band to play at the hip 'Cafe Wha?' where Jimi meets Chas Chandler a musician and record producer. The pair head to England where his new band The Jimi Hendrix Experience captivates the British music scene. During one incredible performance Jimi catches the eye of manager Michael Jeffrey (Billy Zane - Titanic The Phantom) and soon after they sign a contract. In 1969 Jimi reaches the apex of his career with his classic rendition of the 'Star Sprangled Banner' at Woodstock. Soon however his drug abuse takes it's toll and in 1970 he dies of asphxia while in a barbiturate-induced sleep. In the end his dream did come true... even today Hendrix fans are united around the world by the love of his music.

• The Cellar Door | DVD | (26/05/2008) from £4.98   |  Saving you £8.01 (160.84%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A young woman awakes to find herself imprisoned in a serial killer's basement. She is not the first to captivate his perverse affection Herman has been searching for the perfect girl but all he's collected are pieces - a chunk of hair; a severed finger; a jar of blood - and now the alluring and beautiful Rudy. Imprisoned in a wooden cage and yet refusing to play along in his twisted game she has only her wits to use against his savage and murderous insanity. Will she win the desperate hallucinatory game of cat and mouse and escape through The Cellar Door or die trying?

• Zombie Apocalypse | Blu Ray | (04/06/2012) from £7.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (100.12%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Months after a zombie plague has wiped out 90 per cent of the American population, a small group of survivors fight their way cross-country to a rumoured refuge on the island of Catalina.

• The Big Swap | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The Big Swap is the sexiest movie of the 90's. It takes the frankest look yet at one of society's last remaining taboos partner swapping! This is cinema at it's most challenging. It is compelling explicit and intelligent. One drunken night five couples decide to swap partners. At first it seems like harmless fun but events begin to move swiftly out of their control; events that take them to extremes of human emotions. A cross between 'Sex Lies and a Videotape' and 'This Life'

• Flesh And Blood - Series 1 | DVD | (11/07/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £49.99

  BAFTA award winner the late Thora Hird and Bill Fraser star in this BBC drama written by John Finch (A Family At War). Flesh And Blood follows the fortunes of a powerful northern family the Brassingtons who Ledston Cement. Like all families were money is God conflict of opinion strategic alliances divided loyalties love affairs and shattered marriages are rife.

• Little Women | DVD | (23/05/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Set in New England during the Civil War, LITTLE WOMEN chronicles the lives and loves of four sisters - Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth - who after their father leaves for battle, must rely on each other for strength in the face of tragedies both large and small.

• Infested | DVD | (07/06/2004) from £14.82   |  Saving you £5.17 (34.89%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A tragic death brings the old gang back to their hometown and they decide to spend the weekend at the vacation getaway from their childhood. What they don't know is that the home is host to a strain of mutant flies that feed on human flesh! One by one the flies claim their victims inhabiting their bodies and laying more of the deadly creature's eggs - and no one is getting out alive.

• They Call It Murder | DVD | (01/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

• Shampoo | DVD | (13/01/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Shampoo was billed as a sex comedy when it was first released in 1975, cashing in on the priapic reputation of its leading man and producer Warren Beatty. More than a quarter of a century on, that tag looks somewhat inadequate. Against a background of aimless bed-hopping and power-broking, Shampoo satirises the cultural and political wasteland of late-1960s Beverley Hills society. Ladies who lunch are married to ambitious, unfaithful husbands with mistresses; their daughters are dysfunctional; and the mistresses spend more time with their dogs than their lovers. George, the philandering hairdresser, is the common denominator who services them all. But he has private ambitions and is hustling for investment in his own salon. Beatty's restless performance as the man who can't say "no" is intriguing, waking up suddenly and too late to the chaos and vapidity of his life. The humour is bleak, sharpened by the background of Nixon's ascent to the White House: Shampoo is a cynical by-product of the Watergate scandal. There are good performances from Julie Christie and Goldie Hawn as two of George's leading conquests, and from a pre-Star Wars Carrie Fisher as the teenager who tries to seduce him. But Lee Grant garnered the awards as the embittered wife who finally calls "time". On the DVD: Shampoo is presented in 1:85.1 anamorphic widescreen, replicating the glossy production values of the original theatrical experience. The mono Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is well balanced. There are no extras apart from standard subtitles. --Piers Ford

• The Twilight Zone - Season 4 | DVD | (18/09/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £59.99

  ""There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow between science and superstition and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area we call... The Twilight Zone!"" All the episodes from Season 4! Episodes Comprise: 1. In His Image 2. The Thirty Fathom Grave 3. Vall

• The Day Of The Triffids | DVD | (02/04/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  All reports confirm that the world is witnessing an unprecedented shower of meteorites - a once in a lifetime spectacle that must be seen.' Bill Masen lies in his hospital bed and listens to the radio broadcast in frustration - the bandages on his eyes are not meant to be removed until the following morning. When the time comes he is relieved to find he can see perfectly. But is soon to discover that he is one of the few people left in the world that can. The previous night's light show has blinded all those who watched. With the meteorites have come the spores of a man-eating alien plant form - Triffidus Celestus. Multiplying quickly they uproot themselves in search of a prey that stumbles helplessly in the dark. The fate of the world is in the hands of a few as the Triffids threaten the future of mankind in this classic adaptation of John Wyndham's sci-fi chiller.

• Rudy - The Rudolph Giuliani Story | DVD | (01/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  With an outstanding performance by James Woods, Rudy: The Rudolph Giuliani Story is a warts-and-all portrait of New York City's lame-duck mayor, who rose from political disfavour to unexpected heights of heroism and leadership in the wake of September 11, 2001. Originally broadcast on the USA Network and based on Wayne Barrett's muckraking biography, it's a condensed, Cliff's Notes rendition of Giuliani's political career, with each commercial break serving as a chapter stop, beginning on the eve of 9/11 and alternating past and present highlights from Giuliani's rise to power. The film offers an unflinching portrait of a devoted public servant who's as fallible as he is competent: his wife (Penelope Ann Miller) understandably suffers while extramarital affairs and political fearlessness are all seen as by-products of Giuliani's compulsion to improve the city he loves. As Robert Dornhelm's clunky direction combines actual news footage with exacting recreations of 9/11 and its aftermath, Woods' charismatic performance wisely avoids mimicry to show us a flawed but noble man who, in the final analysis, deserves our conditional respect. --Jeff Shannon

• Cosi Fan Tutte - Mozart | DVD | (02/05/2006) from £6.55   |  Saving you £14.70 (277.88%)   |  RRP £19.99

  From his initial appointing as Drottningholm's Artistic Director Arnold Ostman set about establishing a unique Mozart style attempting to recapture an authentic flavour through detailed historical research and the use of period instruments / he collaborates with German producer Willy Decker on this ever-popular Mozart comedy with an extensively rehearsed cast of young swedish singers.

• Daybreak | DVD | (06/02/2006) from £14.99   |  Saving you £1.00 (6.67%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Swedish director Bjrne Runge directs a splendid cast in this dark drama about the destructive nature of dishonesty and betrayal. Over a fateful 24-hour period in a dreary Swedish town three separate storylines unwind united at times by loose connections among characters and at other times only by theme. Anita has been consumed by bitter rage ever since her husband left her three years earlier for a younger woman. A toxic presence to all those around her Anita decides to take mat

• The One And Only, Genuine, Original, Family Band | DVD | (17/07/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  The Bower Family Band petitions the Democratic National Committee to sing a Grover Cleveland rally song at the 1888 convention but decide instead to move to the Dakota territory on the urging of a suitor to their eldest daughter. There Grampa Bower causes trouble with his pro-Cleveland ideas as Dakota residents are overwhelmingly Republican and hope to get the territory admitted as two states (North and South Dakota) rather than one in order to send four Republican senators to Was