"Actor: Barbara Jones"

• Vertigo | DVD | (17/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Dreamlike and nightmarishly surreal, Vertigo is Hitchcock's most personal film because it confronts many of the convoluted psychological issues that haunted and fascinated the director. The psychological complexity and the stark truthfulness of their rampant emotions keeps these strangely obsessive characters alive on screen, and Hitchcock understood better than most their barely repressed sexual compulsions, their fascination with death and their almost overwhelming desire for transcendent love. James Stewart finds profound and disturbing new depths in his psyche as Scotty, the tortured acrophobic detective on the trail of a suicidal woman apparently possessed by the ghost of someone long dead. Kim Novak is the classical Hitchcockian blonde whose icy exterior conceals a churning, volcanic emotional core. The agonised romance of Bernard Herrmann's score accompanies the two actors as a third and vitally important character, moving the film along to its culmination in an ecstasy of Wagnerian tragedy. Of course Hitch lavished especial care on every aspect of the production, from designer Edith Head's costumes (he, like Scotty, was most insistent on the grey dress), to the specific colour scheme of each location, to the famous reverse zoom "Vertigo" effect (much imitated, never bettered). The result is Hitch's greatest work and an undisputed landmark of cinema history. On the DVD: This disc presents the superb restored print of this film in a wonderful widescreen (1.85:1) anamorphic transfer, with remastered Dolby digital soundtrack. There's a half-hour documentary made in 1996 about the painstaking two-year restoration process, plus an informative commentary from the restorers Robert Harris and James Katz, who are joined by original producer Herbert Coleman. There are also text features on the production, cast and crew, plus a trailer for the theatrical release of the restoration. This is an undeniably essential requirement for every DVD collection. --Mark Walker

• 1990: The Complete Collection | DVD | (20/11/2017) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Simply Media are delighted to announce the DVD release of the critically acclaimed dystopian drama 1990: The Complete Collection, on 20th November 2017. This collection contains all 16 episodes from series 1 and 2, originally broadcast on BBC Two in 1977. 1990 has been lauded as a TV landmark by Junsui Films Limited, a minor miracle it has been finally released by We Are Cult, and a well-crafted British character drama by Archive TV Musings. The Guardian has described the series creator Wilfred Greatorex (Secret Army) as one of the most prolific and assured television script-writers and editors from the 1960s into the 1980s. 1990 tells a chilling tale of a bleak and nightmarish future Britain where individual rights have been replaced by rights only for the common good. Government bureaucracy is out of control. The lives of ordinary citizens are in the hands of the Home Office's corrupt and overbearing Public Control Department (PCD), which has its watchful eye on everyone to monitor and expose all possible and imaginary threats to the country. Greatorex described his series as Nineteen Eighty-Four plus six because of the parallel themes with Orwell's prophetic novel. The PCD uses sophisticated surveillance systems to expose anyone threatening the status quo. Special State-sanctioned brainwashing units, cunningly disguised as caring rest-homes, are ruthlessly used to suppress independent thought and cure dissidents. A strict rationing of food, alcohol and travel is imposed, and ID cards are required to work, which can be withdrawn by the state at any time. Free speech is forbidden, censorship is rife, and with no rule of law to protect the vulnerable, all citizens are left at the mercy of the state's tyrannical control. Or so it seems.... 1990 stars Golden Globe winner Edward Woodward (The Wicker Man) in the lead role as the calm, witty and charming rebel Jim Kyle. He's a journalist working for one of the last remaining independent newspapers, and a secret dissident who is fighting the corrupt establishment by covertly helping others escape. He risks prison or even death if identified. Woodward leads a strong supporting cast including Robert Lang (Othello (1965)), who gives an unforgettable performance as the PCD's ruthless controller Herbert Skardon; and Barbara Kellerman (The Sea Wolves) shines as his provocatively alluring deputy, Delly Lomas. Series two sees Lynn Blake (Lisa Harrow) join the cast as Kyle's ex-lover, who becomes the new Deputy Controller of the PCD. She's even more determined to expose his informer and finally get her man. 1990 also takes a rare and fascinating original spin on the dystopian fiction genre, unusually depicting a totalitarian regime where the government follows a socialist agenda, instead of the more usual fascist regime. In a society today where the Snoopers Charter has been passed by the British Government, justified as a means of combating terrorism, Greatorex's fictional vision of the future may not be so different from our real present.

• Lone Wolf McQuade | DVD | (12/01/2004) from £18.21   |  Saving you £-5.22 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Chuck Norris is Lone Wolf McQuade a legendary Texas Ranger feared by outlaws and respected by other lawmen. When McQuade uncovers a gun smuggling operation led by an American gangster the action explodes with McQuade wreaking havoc on all those who come between him and the law...

• Sex, Love, Marriage | DVD | (04/02/2019) from £9.39   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Directed by self acclaimed King of British Sexploitation David Grant, learn 70's sex education from the best! All matters, unmentionable or otherwise, are dealt with here in this truely unique title. Enlightening, entertaining and surprising, the range of works presented here will interest film fans, social historians and anyone interested to ensure that they stay on the road to health.

• Paperhouse | DVD | (24/09/2007) from £6.19   |  Saving you £9.80 (158.32%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A drawing that became a dream. A dream that became reality. A highly imaginative 11-year-old girl who misses her constantly absent father discovers that somehow the images she draws on paper can become frighteningly real. At first she finds them comforting but gradually the pictures become more and more threatening until they capture her in a nightmarish world from which she doesn't know how to escape.

• The Chronicles Of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe | DVD | (14/11/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  It is a quiet sort of a day in the heart of the English countryside when Peter Susan Edmund and Lucy stumble through the back of an old wardrobe into the enchanted land of Narnia. They embark on an extraordinary adventure discovering talking fauns friendly beavers giants and flying horses. When the White Witch learns of their presence in Narnia their lives are in danger but there is talk that Aslan the Great Lion is on the move. Originally broadcast in 1988 this adaptation o

• Space: 1999 - Vol. 1 | DVD | (30/04/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  For the time, there had never been a more lavishly produced science-fiction TV series than Space: 1999, which was British-made on a first-season budget of 3.25 million pounds--an astounding amount--and ran for two seasons from 1975 to 77. What keeps fans enthralled after all these years has only partly to do with the first-rate production values, the plausibly constructed spaceship models and expert special effects. The tone of the show is one of scientific dispassion, setting it apart from its TV SF predecessors such as Star Trek in which the mood is more generally convivial. Our heroes here are in dire circumstances that require cool heads as a survival trait. Those circumstances are: the moon and the 311 crew members of Moonbase Alpha experience a cataclysm that causes the moon to break away from its orbit and travel endlessly through space, making our heroes into unintentional explorers. No TV series has created a more palpable feel of hard science fiction than this. Of course the show is not without its detractors, having been soundly lambasted for its many scientific errors. No less august a figure than Isaac Asimov criticised the show for its premise in the opening episode "Breakaway", which had nuclear explosions on the "dark side of the moon" somehow propel it out of orbit and sent it flying through space without regard for any physical laws. In "Earthbound", aliens travelling to Earth state it will take them 75 years to reach their destination, making one wonder why it didn't take the moon that long to encounter the aliens. While these are serious complaints, fans tend to remember the scientific seriousness of the series and the sense of awe created by the many strange creatures and phenomena they encounter on their journey through the galaxy. --Jim Gay, Amazon.comOn this DVD: Presented in production order (not the sequence they were transmitted in), this first volume from Space: 1999's first year nonetheless begins with the all-important "Breakaway". Commander Koenig arrives at Moonbase Alpha as planet Meta is passing Earth. He's there to investigate why people are dying of what seems to be radiation poisoning and ensure the Meta Probe is launched in time. Everything is tied into what's wrong with their nuclear waste disposal. Then on September 13, 1999, the unthinkable happens, and the Moon with its 311 inhabitants is catapulted out of Earth's orbit. Some time later they pass planet Terra Nova which seems too good to be true. When Dr Russell's supposed dead husband (Richard Johnson) re-appears from the long-lost Astro 7 mission, it becomes a "Matter of Life and Death" in determining whether to settle on a Paradise populated by parrots! Another passing stellar body accidentally drags them towards a "Black Sun" in the next episode. Given three days to live, there's a graceful acceptance of fate by the team that is paid off by what seems to be some sort of guiding hand watching over them all. Finally an orange eye appears and emits a "Ring Around the Moon", a mysterious enveloping beam that exerts mind-control over various crew members. After a warning from the mythic planet Triton, Dr Russell is taken as their "conduit" (much like Ilia in Star Trek: The Motion Picture). Three publicity stills, 15 production drawings and eight character biographies may seem a little stingy as extra features. The neat CGI-animated menus make up for that a little though: an Eagle has never looked so agile. --Paul Tonks

• Vertigo | DVD | (04/06/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Set in San Francisco James Stewart portrays an acrophobic detective hired to trail a friend's suicidal wife (Kim Novak). After he successfully rescues her from a leap into the bay he finds himself becoming obsessed with the beautifully troubled woman. One of cinema's most chilling romantic endeavours: its fascinating myriad of haunting camera angles shot among some of San Francisco's renowned landmarks. This film is a must for collectors: Leonard Maltin gives Vertigo four stars.

• Sam - Series 1 - Part 2 | DVD | (12/07/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  It is 1934 and Sam Wilson is ten years old when his mother Dora leaves her husband and brings Sam to Skellerton the Yorkshire mining village where she grew up. Her father jack has been unemployed for more than eight years and her family has little enough money to support themselves. Will they manage with another two mouths to feed and how will Sam's boyhood change? Episodes Featured The Cost of Living Out of the Blue United We Stand The Beginning Of Winter

• Space: 1999 - Series 1 | DVD | (25/06/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £84.99

  Featured episodes include: Breakaway A Matter Of Life & Death Black Sun Ring Around The Moon Earthbound Another Time Another Place Missing Link Guardian of Piri Force Of Life Alpha Child The Last Sunset Voyager's Return

• The Signifyin' Works of Marlon Riggs (The Criterion Collection) (Ethnic Notions/Tongues Untied/Affirmations/Anthem/Color Adjustment/Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien (No Regret)/Black Is . . . | Blu Ray | (22/06/2021) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Box Of The Banned 2 | DVD | (13/03/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A second volume of nasties that were at one time banned in the UK. Even more depraved and even more corrupt! Tenebrae (Dir. Dario Argento 1982): Shortly after American mystery-thriller novelist Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa) arrives in Rome to promote his new book (the Tenebrae of the title) an attractive young woman is murdered by a razor-wielding maniac who stuffs pages of Neal's latest novel into the mouth of his victim before slashing her throat. So begins a biza

• Space: 1999 - Series 2 Complete | DVD | (12/11/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £79.99

  Many fans don't rate the second series of Space: 1999 as highly as the first. Responding to audience feedback, as well as the separation of producers Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, the programme makers drafted in new producer Fred Freiberger, the man responsible for the third and weakest season of the original Star Trek. Under his guidance the storylines drifted away from the hard sci-fi of the first season in favour of more action and a faster pace. The theme music, sets and costumes all changed, as did some key personnel. Out went professorial (and very dull) Barry Morse, in came dashing Tony Anholt as security officer Tony Verdeschi, while the glamour quotient was upped considerably by Catherine Schell as the shape-shifting Maya (a much-needed change, since the frosty Barbara Bain had reduced the show's sex appeal to nil in Series 1). Series 2 also introduced lots and lots more aliens kitted out in badly fitting costumes and dodgy glam-rock era makeup. Responding to yet more feedback from American TV executives the protagonists now had to encounter more highly unconvincing monsters than even Dr Who ever dared imagine: "The Beta Cloud", for example, is a classic rampaging-bloke-in-a-suit scenario. That said, this second season has more emphasis on characters other than the headline stars, as various stranded Alphans are allowed to come to the fore instead of just blankly following Commander Koenig's orders. It's all good fun in a silly, nostalgic sort of way, and fans of the more vintage Season 1 will find it hard to resist this second season as well.On the DVD: There aren't many extras here, although sundry interviews with principal cast and crew are scattered across the six discs in this complete box set. There's also a commentary on some episodes with special effects man Brian Johnson, a couple of deleted scenes, production stills and some text features. Each disc has a small booklet that gives some useful background information on the episodes. The remastered 4:3 ratio picture and mono sound are fine. --Mark Walker

• Space: 1999 - Series 1 | DVD | (14/11/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £79.99

  Space 1999 is a Gerry Anderson cult classic as unmissable today as it was when first conceived in 1973. Starring husband and wife team Martin Landau and Barbara Bain Space 1999 revolves around the crew of Moonbase Alpha where scientific experiments are conducted and space data gathered. Disaster strikes and the Moon is blown out of the Earth's orbit by a huge explosion emanating from man-made nuclear waste pits causing it to drift endlessly through t

• Rear Window/The Birds/Vertigo | DVD | (02/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Rear Window (1954): Alfred Hitchcock amply demonstrates why he's been called ""The Master of Suspense"" with this both witty and macabre tale of voyeurism and murder starring two of cinema's all-time favourites James Stewart and Grace Kelly. L.B. Jeffries (Stewart) a photographer with a broken leg takes up the fine art of spying on his Greenwich Village neighbours during a summer heat wave. But things really hot up when he suspects one neighbour of murdering his invalid wife and burying the body in a flower garden. The Birds (1963): Wealthy reformed party girl Melanie Daniels enjoys a brief flirtation with lawyer Mitch Brenner in a San Francisco pet shop and decides to follow him to his Bodega Bay home. Bearing a gift of two lovebirds Melanie quickly strikes up a romance with Mitch while contending with his possessive mother and boarding at his ex-girlfriend's house.One day during a birthday party for Mitch's younger sister a flock of birds attacks the children in what seems to be a random incident. In fact it signals the beginning of a massive and organized avian assault on the residents of the town--a mysterious assault that no one can explain...and from which no one might come out alive. Vertigo (1958): Set in San Francisco James Stewart portrays and acrophobic detective hired to trail a friend's suicidal wife (Novak). After he successfully rescues her from a leap into the bay he finds himself becoming obsessed with the beautiful and troubled woman...

• The Hitchcock Collection, Volume 2 | DVD | (06/03/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  A welcome second volume of classics from the Master of Suspense, this seven-disc Hitchcock Collection box-set consists of the following: The Birds: Based on a Daphne Du Maurier short story, The Birds (1963) is Hitchcock at his most terrifying, as the residents of a small town are attacked by thousands of apparently homicidal birds. Marnie: Tippi Hedren and newly Bonded Sean Connery star in this excellent 1964 thriller, which finds a calculating thief who robs her employers pursued by a her new boss, who is desperate to unlock her secrets Torn Curtain: This 1966 spy thriller, pairing Paul Newman and Julie Andrews, finds Newman as a world-famous physicist intent on defecting to East Berlin in order to obtain funding for his latest project. Topaz: Based on the Leon Uris novel, Hitch's 51st film, made in 1969, concerns a CIA agent who learns of Russian missiles in Cuba. With the aid of a French agent, they negotiate a plethora of corruption and murder. Frenzy: This critically acclaimed 1972 film was Hitch's first British-made film for more than 20 years. A classic Hitch story of an innocent man accused of being the "necktie murderer"--a vicious sex criminal terrorising London--he eludes the authorities and seeks the real killer. Family Plot: Hitchcock's final film, made in 1976, is a blackly funny mix of murder, theft and kidnapping as a cab-driver and a psychic team up to find a dead man--not actually dead--in exchange for a $10,000 reward. Bonus Disc--Vertigo: An irreducible masterpiece, this 1958 double-identity thriller finds Hitch serving aces, as Jimmy Stewart's detective is drawn in to a complex plot when the girl he loves apparently falls to her death. On the DVD: Like the first volume, this is an equally impressive package that will satisfy the rotund fright-master's fans. Along with the standard selection of trailers, production notes and picture galleries, each disc houses an impressive "making of" documentary, each expertly detailing Hitch's meticulous work. The Birds features Tippi Hedren's screen test and--in storyboard form--deleted scenes and the alternative ending. Topaz has no less that three alternative endings, while Torn Curtain includes scenes scored by composer Bernard Herrmann before his music was rejected by Hitch. The Vertigo disc features an excellent group commentary from producer Herbert Coleman and restoration experts Robert A Harris and James Katz, as well as a documentary, "Obsessed with Vertigo". Housed in attractive fold-out packaging, this is an excellent opportunity to obtain a rich slice of Hitchcock's dark magic.--Danny Graydon

• Crazy Moon | DVD | (04/03/2002) from £7.90   |  Saving you £-0.91 (N/A%)   |  RRP £6.99

  Crazy Moon

• Splitting Heirs (Retro VHS Packaging) | Blu Ray | (19/10/2021) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Space: 1999 - Series 2 - Vol. 6 | DVD | (12/11/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Dorzak: A spaceship lands on the moon. A beautiful young woman emerges from inside seeking medical attention for a colleague who was injured by a criminal that they had captured. The criminal turns out to be a man from Maya's home planet Psychon named Dorzac and persuades Maya that he was not responsible for the injury signalling the start of the troubles to come. Devil's Planet: Answering a distress signal Koenig and Blake Maine go to Entra. The first thing they see is a man being chased by three beautiful girls carrying long electric whips! Maine is killed and then Koenig imprisoned. Can he escape? The Immunity Syndrome: On a seemingly inhabitable planet a series of misfortunes befall Alpha's advance party. Tony Verdeschi is rendered insane by a piercing sound. The metal in the Eagle corrodes and the craft starts to fall apart. Two Alphans die after drinking spring water. Then a skeleton is found inside a geodetic structure with a video beside it explaining how any future visitors might survive. The Dorcons: A huge alien Dorcon ship materialises nearby. When the three leaders demand Maya be sent to them Koenig refuses. A leader comes aboard the spaceship and takes Maya and Alpha by force. But Koenig manages to come along too and using the power struggle between the three leaders tries to rescue Maya.

• Space: 1999 - Vol. 4 - Episodes 13-16 | DVD | (11/06/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  For the time, there had never been a more lavishly produced science fiction TV series than Space: 1999, which was British-made on an astounding first-season budget of 3.25 million pounds, and ran for two seasons from 1975-77. What keeps fans enthralled after all these years has only partly to do with the first-rate production values, the plausibly constructed spaceship models and expert special effects. The tone of the show is one of scientific dispassion, setting it apart from its TV SF predecessors such as Star Trek in which the mood is more generally convivial. Our heroes here are in dire circumstances that require cool heads as a survival trait. Those circumstances: the moon and the 311 crew members of Moonbase Alpha experience a cataclysm that causes the moon to break away from Earth orbit and travel endlessly through space, making our heroes into unintentional explorers. No TV series has created a more palpable feel of hard science fiction than this. Of course, the show is not without its detractors, having been soundly lambasted for its many scientific errors. No less august a figure than Isaac Asimov criticised the show for its premise in the opening episode "Breakaway", which had nuclear explosions on the "dark side of the moon" somehow propelling it out of Earth orbit and flying through space without regard to physical law. In "Earthbound", aliens travelling to Earth state it will take them 75 years to reach their destination, making one wonder why it didn't take the moon that long to encounter the aliens. While these are serious complaints, fans tend to remember the scientific seriousness of the series and the sense of awe created by the many strange creatures and phenomena they encounter on their journey through the galaxy. --Jim Gay, Amazon.com