"Actor: Barbara Randolph"

• Guess Who's Coming To Dinner | DVD | (04/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Spencer Tracy's last performance was in this well-meaning, handsome film by Stanley Kramer about a pair of white parents (Tracy and Katharine Hepburn) trying to make sense of their daughter's impending marriage to an African American doctor (Sidney Poitier). Guess Who's Coming to Dinner has been knocked over the years for padding conflict and stoking easy liberalism by making Poitier's character in every socioeconomic sense a good catch: but what if Kramer had made this stranger a factory worker? Would the audience still find it as easy to accept a mixed-race relationship? But there's no denying the drawing power of this movie, which gets most of its integrity from the stirring performances of Tracy and Hepburn. When the former (who had been so ill that the production could not get completion insurance) gives a speech toward the end about race, love and much else, it's impossible not to be affected by the last great moment in a great actor's life and career. --Tom Keogh

• It's In The Water | DVD | (08/07/2002) from £10.78   |  Saving you £9.21 (85.44%)   |  RRP £19.99

  We're not talking about monsters of the deep here. It's In the Water is set in the imaginary town of Azalea Springs, Texas, where the community is blighted by wealth and smugness and where the greatest crime is not to fit in--and that includes being gay. When the outrageous and fearless Spencer (John Hallum, camping it up) playfully lets on that there's something in the water supply that encourages homosexuality, the temperature of local gossip rises as fast as the sales of bottled water. Kelli Herd, in her directorial debut, aims to cast scorn on such phobic behaviour by sending up the straight guys and idealising the gays. Thus we have our central character, Alex (Keri Jo Chapman), whose life consists of lunches and charitable works, and who is married to Robert, a cold Action Man lookalike (and about as plastic in his acting skills). It's enough of a scandal when she gets enthusiastic about working in the local AIDS hospice, but when she has a lesbian fling with an old school friend, Grace (Teresa Garrett), who has returned to town, freshly divorced after discovering her true leanings, then even Alex's own mother--a complete nightmare of a woman--turns against her. The movie does have occasional witticisms, but it's too cliché-ridden and too sanitised (dying of AIDS was never this pretty) to do more than raise an occasional grim smile. Yes, there's a serious message underlying the film, but it would have needed more plot, stronger dialogue and less histrionic play-acting to give it true power. On the DVD: It's In the Water has only the most basic additional features: two trailers for similarly themed movies, but no subtitles or additional languages. The picture quality is bright and sharp, sparing us no detail in the Versace-inspired interiors and relentlessly garish mode of dress favoured by Azalea Springs inmates. --Harriet Smith

• Don't Forget The Motorcity | DVD | (19/11/2007) from £24.15   |  Saving you £0.84 (3.48%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The Motorcity reunion came about from Ian Levine's love of The Motown Sound. By the age of fourteen he'd collected every British Motown release. After a huge run of hits in the 1980's he went to Detroit and Los Angeles and recorded over a hundred different artists who were signed to Motown in the 60's and 70's; a staggering total of over eight hundred songs. Sadly over half these artists are no longer with us but priceless footage remains much of it never seen before the release of this DVD. This priceless footage captures the magic of a long gone era - music to make your feet tap your hair tingle your fingers snap and a feel good factor like driving down to the beach on a warm summer's day. Sit back press play and enter the spirit of the Detroit Sound.

• The Execution | DVD | (18/12/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  A Group of holocaust survivors recognise a local restaurant owner as the Nazi doctor who tortured them as girls. To their horror he has already been tried for his crimes and served only a few years. They therefore decide to perform their own execution.

• Two Classic Pirate Films Of The Silver Screen | DVD | (02/10/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Featuring Long John Silver's Return To Treasure Island and Captain Kidd! Long John Silver's Return To Treasure Island: The pirate adventure sequel to the classic Treasure Island. Robert Newton reprising his bravura performance as the one-legged buccaneer saving Jim Hawkins and the Colonial Governor's daughter from the evil Captain Medosa. Naturally there is more to his rescue plan than meets the eye; Jim has a medallion which is the key to finding more