"Actor: Barbara"

• Rollerball | DVD | (24/06/2002) from £23.36   |  Saving you £-2.11 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Norman Jewison's dystopian Rollerball portrays a near-future in the aftermath of the Corporate Wars, in which nations have crumbled and conglomerates rule. In place of freedom the people are given bread and circuses: material comfort and rollerball itself. Played on a circular, slanted track by men on skates and motorbikes, this extreme sport is the ultimate extrapolation of the primitive blood lust implicit in many team sports. James Caan is outstanding as Jonathan E, star player with the Houston team. In the elegant detachment of Jewison's direction, emphasised by the stark, alienating use of classical music, there are echoes of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Notwithstanding the brilliantly staged arena sequences, Rollerball is essentially about freedom versus conformity and the corruption of unfettered capitalism, with Caan leading an existential rebellion in the tradition of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 which leads to a chilling, apocalyptic finale. Certainly the most prophetic film of the 1970s, Rollerball has an intelligence and power overlooked by those who simply denounce its brutal violence. On the DVD: Rollerball arrives on DVD with clear three-channel Dolby Digital sound, although obviously it lacks the impact of a more modern 5.1 soundtrack. The 1.77:1 transfer is anamorphically enhanced and is generally very sharp and detailed with excellent colour. Some scenes show a lot of grain, but this is presumably a consequence of having to shoot with very fast lenses to capture the swift and dramatic action under indoor lighting conditions. "Return to the Arena--The Making of Rollerball" is a new 25-minute documentary (4:3 with letterboxed film clips) that features Jewison, Harrison and various other personnel reminiscing about the making of the film. The highlight of the extras are commentary tacks from the Jewison and Harrison, and while there is inevitably some overlap of information, and some quite lengthy gaps in Harrison's track, there is also much to interest the serious film buff. Also included is an original seven-minute promotional featurette "From Rome to Rollerball: The Full Circle", the chilling original trailer, the teaser trailer and a trailer for the remake.--Gary S Dalkin

• Nine Bullets | DVD | (13/06/2022) from £3.28   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Witness. Target. Protector. Gypsy Moon (Lena Headey - Game of Thrones) is a novelist by day but when night falls she dances to earn her keep. However, when the family next door is brutally murdered Gypsy finds herself on the run from crime boss Jack (Sam Worthington - Avatar) and his thugs. Finding herself as protector to a young boy and his dog, the only survivors of the brutal attack, Gypsy realises she is the only thing that stands between them and their survival in this truly edge-of-your seat thriller. Directed and written by Gigi Gaston. Also starring Cam Gigandet (Burlesque), Barbera Hershey (Once Upon a Time), La La Anthony (Power) and Martin Sensmeier (Westworld)

• Born Yesterday | DVD | (05/08/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Born Yesterday was the box-office comedy hit of 1950 and won a Best Actress Oscar for the exceptional Judy Holliday, recreating her long-running Broadway triumph as Billie Dawn, the quintessential dumb blonde who finally gets herself some smarts. The film resonates with the sophisticated sparring in Garson Kanin's script and there are tightly controlled performances from William Holden as the cynical journalist hired to polish Billie up for Washington society and Broderick Crawford as Harry Brock, her rough, crooked and ambitious boyfriend. But Born Yesterday is Holliday's picture, as she runs the gamut from brassy insouciance to tentative, vulnerable enlightenment. She hasn't thought of her estranged father in five years: "It's nothing against him. I haven't thought of anything in five years." Her gradual awakening to the realisation that she is a stooge for Brock's corrupt business deals, and the way she sheds her chorus girl's intellect in the face of growing political awareness, are brilliantly traced. Holliday's dead-pan delivery makes the pathos of her self-discovery both hilarious and deeply touching; it's the hallmark of a comic genius, which makes the sparseness of her subsequent film appearances all the more regrettable. On the DVD: Born Yesterday is presented in full screen (1.33:1) ratio. Like the mono soundtrack, the black and white picture quality has triumphantly survived its more than half century. Extras include a gallery of vintage advertisements and an original theatrical trailer, plus filmographies and welcome, comprehensive booklet notes. --Piers Ford

• The Skin I Live In | DVD | (26/12/2011) from £7.99   |  Saving you £14.00 (233.72%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Ever since his wife was burned in a car crash, Dr. Robert Ledgard, an eminent plastic surgeon, has been interested in creating a new skin with which he could have saved her.

• 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.

• Curse Of The Crimson Altar | Blu Ray | (13/10/2014) from £17.98   |  Saving you £6.00 (37.52%)   |  RRP £21.99

  When his brother disappears Robert Manning (Mark Eden) pays a visit to the remote country house he was last heard from. Althought his host Squire Morley (Christopher Lee) is outwardly welcoming and his housekeeper’s beautiful niece Eve (Virginia Wetherell) is willing to fulfil his needs. Manning detects a feeling of menace in the air with the legend of Lavinia (Barbara Steele) the Black Witch of Greymarsh hanging over everything. Will the village’s renowned expert on witchcraft Professor John Marshe (Boris Karloff) be able to shed light on the wicked going-ons at Craxted Lodge?

• Revenge of the Blood Beast (Limited Edition) | Blu Ray | (29/07/2024) from £17.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A young British couple, Philip (Ian Ogilvy, Death Becomes Her) and Veronica (Barbara Steele, Black Sunday), are honeymooning in the remote village of Vaubrac, Transylvania. After reluctantly booking into a sleazy guesthouse, the couple encounter Von Helsing (John Karlsen, Slaughter Hotel), a direct descendant of the legendary vampire-hunter, who tells them the town was placed under a curse over 200 years ago, following the brutal execution of Vardella, a grotesque figure accused of witchcraft. Dismissing his story, the couple plan to leave the next morning but a mysterious car accident is the catalyst for the return of Vardella and a murderous rampage of revenge Revenge of the Blood Beast (aka The She Beast) is the directorial debut from one of British horror's most important figures, Michael Reeves (The Sorcerers, Witchfinder General), and was written and directed when he was just 23 years old. Combining comedy and gruesome horror, Revenge of the Blood Beast is an outrageously entertaining slice of B-movie Eurohorror.

• Evidence of Love (Re Release) | DVD | (07/04/2008) from £4.93   |  Saving you £0.06 (1.22%)   |  RRP £4.99

  This isitheichilling account ofia horrific andiviolent axe murder. Candy Morrison (Barbara Hershey The Killer Beside Me Chicago Hope) is bored with her life as a wife and mother in a small town. She yearns for excitement and finds it in the arms of her husband's close friend Stan Blankenship. But the passionate affair ends almost as soon as it began. A few weeks later Stan's wife is found brutally murdered - axed to death. Never before in the town's history has someone been killed in such a violent manner. Unbelievably Candy becomes the prime suspect. Is Candy merely a scapegoat? Or does she harbor a secret that could push her past the brink of insanity?

• Wives And Daughters | DVD | (20/08/2001) from £33.73   |  Saving you £-8.74 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Andrew Davies' 1999 adaptation of Mrs Gaskell's Wives and Daughters was hailed as the rediscovery of a "forgotten" classic novel and found the BBC on the crest of a wave with costume dramas--led by Pride and Prejudice. Handsome and beautifully filmed, if anything, it surpassed the quality of even that highly praised landmark production. "We should all look pretty strange under a microscope," botanist Robert Hamley tells our heroine Molly Gibson and of course Mrs Gaskell places all her characters under intense scrutiny, with affection but without judgement. Davies' screenplay peals back the layers, giving full vent to the comedy, tragedy and satire that drive this tale of provincial life to its highly satisfactory conclusion. Justine Waddell imbues Molly with an increasingly exasperated but remarkably forbearing intelligence, while Francesca Annis, as the outrageously self-absorbed step-mother Hyacinth, paints a wonderful portrait of affectation without ever totally alienating our sympathy. Michael Gambon's immensely touching Squire Hamley won him a Best Actor BAFTA, but all the performances are uniformly excellent, contributing immeasurably to five hours of television drama of the highest calibre. On the DVD: Presented in 16:9 format with a Dolby Digital stereo soundtrack, this two-disc presentation retains all the hallmarks of the original BBC viewing experience. The picture quality is lush--the production lighting is excellent--and the sound quality sharp. The only gripe is with the extras: the Omnibus documentary "Who the Dickens is Mrs Gaskell?" is brutally truncated, cutting off talking heads like novelists Fay Weldon and Margaret Drabble in their prime and giving limited insight into how the production was made. As an audio bonus, there is also 30 minutes of John Keane's music.--Piers Ford

• Peggy Sue Got Married | DVD | (05/05/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Francis Ford Coppola's passable 1986 comedy stars Kathleen Turner as an unhappy, middle-aged woman who goes back in time to her high school years and meets her future husband (Nicolas Cage) all over again. A lightweight entry from Coppola, the film has some clever, backward-looking jokes; and the lead actress does bring intelligence and searching emotions to her role. Cage (Coppola's nephew)--who specialised in these dumb-guy roles back then (see Raising Arizona)--is in sharp, raw form. Worth a visit, but don't expect to be bowled over this time by the legendary director.--Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

• Killer's Kiss | DVD | (15/07/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  An exercise in film noir fairytale, 1955's Killer's Kiss was Stanley Kubrick's second feature film (he had the first buried forever) and shows just how powerful a filmmaker he was right out of the gate. Followers of Kubrick's career will note the appearance of themes and images that recurred (a final axe-fight in a warehouse full of disembodied mannequin parts would not be out of place in The Shining), but this is also notably unlike later Kubrick films in its use of authentic locations and its 65-minute running time. The plot is a tiny anecdote about a washed-up boxer (Jamie Smith), a dance hall dame (Irene Kane) and a slimy hood (Frank Silvera) during one crowded weekend of brutality and romance. There's a sense of a young director playing games: the boxing match (a definite influence on Raging Bull) is all low-angle close-ups and subjective shots with plenty of thump and dazzle, and the traditional Expressionist look of noir is exaggerated with many a tricky shot or doomy plot twist. The three unfamiliar leads are all excellent as small-timers struggling with big passions, and there is already a potent use of raucous source music and subtle sound design to augment the stark, haunted black and white imagery. On the DVD Killer's Kiss on disc features no extras other than a blaring trailer ("a picture as brazen as the naked lights of Broadway, as hard as the New York streets in which it was shot!"). The black and white picture is 4:3, and comes with soundtracks in English, German, Italian and Spanish; subtitles in English, German, Italian, French, Dutch and Spanish. --Kim Newman

• The Last Temptation Of Christ (Dual Format Blu-ray & DVD) | Blu Ray | (30/11/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  It isn't difficult to imagine why this 1988 retelling of the Crucifixion story was picketed so vociferously on its release in the US--this Jesus bears little resemblance to the classical Christ, who was not, upon careful review of the Gospels, ever reported to have had sex with Barbara Hershey. Heavily informed by Gnostic reinterpretations of the Passion, The Last Temptation of Christ (based rather strictly on Nikos Kazantzakis's novel of the same name) is surely worth seeing for the controversy and blasphemous content alone. But the "last temptation" of the title is nothing overtly naughty--rather, it's the seduction of the commonplace; the desire to forgo following a "calling" in exchange for domestic security. Willem Dafoe interprets Jesus as spacey, indecisive and none too charismatic (though maybe that's just Dafoe himself), but his Sermon on the Mount is radiant with visionary fire; a bit less successful is method actor Harvey Keitel, who gives the internally conflicted Judas a noticeable Brooklyn accent, and doesn't bring much imagination to a role that demands a revisionist's approach. Despite director Martin Scorsese's penchant for stupid camera tricks, much of the desert footage is simply breathtaking, even on small screen. Ultimately, Last Temptation is not much more historically illuminating than Monty Python's Life of Brian, but hey, if it's authenticity you're after, try Gibbon's. --Miles Bethany

• Sea Of Love | DVD | (29/03/2004) from £6.09   |  Saving you £13.90 (228.24%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Two detectives one from New York the other from Long Island join forces to track down a bizarre serial killer. Convinced of a beautiful suspect's innocence the New York detective starts an affair with her despite hard evidence linking her to the murders.

• White Palace | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Glenn Savan's depressing and self-loathing novel about a 27-year-old upper-class Jewish widower mired in self-pity after his beloved wife dies, and who finds love and sexual rebirth with a trailer-trash older woman, was brought to the big screen by the competent director Luis Mandoki (When a Man Loves a Woman, Message in a Bottle). But the savage irony in Savan's book has been face-lifted by screenwriters Ted Tally (The Silence of the Lambs) and Alvin Sargent (Ordinary People) into something else entirely: what passes for low-rent "slumming" in Hollywood means hiring sexy Susan Sarandon to play Nora Baker, the poor, uneducated 43-year-old waitress in a White Palace burger joint who strikes up an unlikely relationship with sad Max Baron (James Spader). Widower Max attends a bachelor party for best pal Neil (Jason Alexander) and discovers that the local White Palace has stiffed the boys a whopping six burgers. Max barges into the joint, bent on getting his money back, and meets a testy Nora, who is bemused at the young man's insolence. While driving home, Max stops abruptly at a bar for a drink. Inside, Nora is nursing a vodka and takes a shine to the tuxedo-clad, handsome, and morose younger man. He gives her a lift, she seduces him, and the rest of the movie examines how two such opposites in manners and morals can find happiness. The only common bond they have is great sex and a private tragedy. White Palace nudges at the dark journey and the smashing of illusion that was at the heart of the novel, but there is still a fairy-tale element to the film that negates the earthy essence that distinguished the book. In Mandoki's vision, White Palace is about overcoming class, family, and outside opinion to find true love. In Savan's book, Max wastes into decline while Nora ultimately thrives in the quest for truth, redemption, and self-forgiveness. She becomes his salvation only after he stops hating himself. But mainstream Hollywood shuns making "protagonists" so mad, bad, or sad, and as such, too much glitter is tossed on Spader, while Sarandon, as usual, is the only one who seems to embody and understand her character's angst. She deserved her Oscar for Nora, not the nun in Dead Man Walking. --Paula Nechak

• Sparrows Can't Sing | DVD | (12/10/2015) from £7.99   |  Saving you £10.00 (125.16%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Sparrows Can't Sing, directed by Joan Littlewood and starring Barbara Windsor (Carry on Camping) in her BAFTA nominated role as Maggie, is a 1963 kitchen sink classic filmed in the East End of London. There's panic in Stepney; from the stalls in the street to the bar of the Red Lion the word goes out: tearaway Charlie Gooding (James Booth, Zulu) is back from two years at sea, and on the way home to his old stamping ground. The trouble is that Charlie isn't up to date with the news. Bonus Features: INTERVIEW WITH PETER RANKIN (JOAN LITTLEWOOD BIOGRAPHER) LOCATIONS FEATURETTE WITH RICHARD DACRE (FILM HISTORIAN) STILLS GALLERY INTERVIEW WITH MURRAY MELVIN BFI Q&A WITH BARBARA WINDSOR & MURRAY MELVIN TRAILER

• Mystery Junction | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £6.87   |  Saving you £3.12 (45.41%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Sydney Tafler stars as a celebrated crime writer who finds life imitating art when he boards a train on which murder is a travelling companion... Also featuring Barbara Murray and soon-to-be Hollywood star Patricia Owens, Mystery Junction is a rare and inventive addition to the classic whodunnit genre. Believed to be lost for decades, it is presented here in a brand-new transfer from the original film elements in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio.Miss Owens, an avid reader of detective stories, finds herself travelling in the same railway compartment as crime writer Larry Gordon neither of them realising that amongst their fellow passengers is a prisoner under escort to trial for murder. When a rescue attempt claims a policeman's life and the passengers become snowbound at a remote railway station, it's a race against time to unmask the culprit before the murderer strikes again!SPECIAL FEATURE:Image Gallery

• Serpico (50th Anniversary Edition) | Blu Ray | (18/04/2023) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Carry On Abroad | DVD | (17/02/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  One of the last decent Carry On movies, Carry On Abroad is a 1972 venture into the world of package holidays. After this, the series descended into unfunny coarseness as opposed to camply laboured double entendre, culminating in the dreadful Carry On Emanuelle. Here, publican Sid James and dutiful mother's son turned sex maniac Charles Hawtrey are among a brace of Brits heading for the "paradise island" of Elsbels. Kenneth Williams is the out-of-his-depth tour operator, reverting to the sort of effete types he played in the 1950s, Peter Butterworth a pre-Manuel-style manager of a half-built hotel. A series of disasters ensue, with the entire gang landing up in jail following a fracas in a brothel at one point, but everyone finds romantic and sexual fulfilment in a quaint disco finale. This includes a gay character who is "dissuaded" from his homosexuality in a typical example of the thoroughly reactionary subtext that constitutes the really naughty bit of most Carry On films. Nonetheless, this throwback to an imaginary time when the lewdest innuendo of a dirty old man was greeted by young females with a flirty "Ooh, saucy!" is enjoyable on condition that you enter into its seaside-postcard spirit. June Whitfield is fine as a sexually uptight wife, Kenneth Connor a model of red-faced frustration as her wimpish husband. On the DVD: Sadly, no extra features except scene selection. The picture is a 4:3 ratio full-screen presentation. --David Stubbs

• Hellfighters (John Wayne) | DVD | (05/06/2006) from £9.87   |  Saving you £0.12 (1.22%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Paying tribute to oil field legend 'Red' Adair Wayne plays Chance Buckman a colourful Texan who tames out-of-control infernos in exotic locations around the world. Between blazes Chance carries the torch for Madelyn the wife who left him 20 years earlier because of his dangerous lifestyle and assistant Greg has his hands full at the poker table and in the bedroom with Chance's spunky daughter Tish.

• Carry On Spying | DVD | (29/01/2007) from £7.55   |  Saving you £5.44 (72.05%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Carry On favourite Barbara Windsor makes her debut in this outrageous send-up of the James Bond movies. Fearless agent Desmond Simpkins and James Bind aided and abetted by the comely Agent Honeybutt and Agent Crump battle against the evil powers of international bad guys STENCH and their three cronies.