"Actor: Bates"

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

  By the time Alfred Hitchcock's second-to-last picture came out in 1972, the censorship restrictions under which he had laboured during his long career had eased up. Now he could give full sway to his lurid fantasies, and that may explain why Frenzy is the director's most violent movie by far--outstripping even Psycho for sheer brutality. Adapted by playwright Anthony Shaffer, the story concerns a series of rape-murders committed by suave fruit-merchant Bob Rusk (Barry Foster), who gets his kicks from throttling women with a necktie. This being a Hitchcock thriller, suspicion naturally falls on the wrong man--ill-tempered publican Richard Blaney (Jon Finch). Enter Inspector Oxford from New Scotland Yard (Alex McCowan), who thrashes out the finer points of the case with his wife (Vivian Merchant), whose tireless enthusiasm for indigestible delicacies like quail with grapes supplies a classic running gag.Frenzy was the first film Hitchcock had shot entirely in his native Britain since Jamaica Inn (1939), and many contemporary critics used that fact to account for what seemed to them a glorious return to form after a string of Hollywood duds (Marnie, Torn Curtain, Topaz). Hitchcock specialists are often less wild about it, judging the detective plot mechanical and the oh-so-English tone insufferable. But at least three sequences rank among the most skin-crawling the maestro ever put on celluloid. There is an astonishing moment when the camera backs away from a room in which a murder is occurring, down the stairs, through the front door and then across the street to join the crowd milling indifferently on the pavement. There is also the killer's nerve-wracking attempt to retrieve his tiepin from a corpse stuffed into a sack of potatoes. Finally, there is one act of strangulation so prolonged and gruesome it verges on the pornographic. Was the veteran film-maker a rampant misogynist as feminist observers have frequently charged? Sit through this appalling scene if you dare and decide for yourself. --Peter Matthews

• The Unholy (2021) | DVD | (02/08/2021) from £3.88   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  The Unholy, based on James Herbert's best-selling book Shrine, follows a young hearing-impaired girl who is visited by the Virgin Mary and can suddenly hear, speak, and heal the sick. As people from near and far flock to witness her miracles, a disgraced journalist (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) hoping to revive his career visits a small New England town to investigate. As terrifying events begin to happen all around him, he starts questioning if these miracles are the works of the Virgin Mary or something much more sinister.

• Nothing But the Best | DVD | (30/06/2014) from £6.99   |  Saving you £3.00 (42.92%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Black humour and biting social satire combine in this acclaimed feature of 1963, starring Alan Bates as an ambitious young real-estate clerk who s determined to crawl his way to the top of the social pile; Denholm Elliott is the disreputable aristocrat who teaches him all he needs to know, Millicent Martin the girl he sets out to woo and win. Nothing but the Best is scripted by Oscar winner Frederic Raphael, who received a Writers Guild of Great Britain Award for his screenplay, with Nic Roeg.

• Misery | Blu Ray | (01/10/2012) from £9.75   |  Saving you £0.24 (2.46%)   |  RRP £9.99

  A heart-stopping psychological thriller (Joel Siegel), this Academy Award-Winning film is one of the best horror movies ever. Adapted from a Stephen King story, this unforgettable film will draw you into a harrowing game played between two cunning minds - one as sharp as a tack and the other as blunt as a sledgehammer. Novelist Paul Sheldon (James Caan) doesn't remember the blinding blizzard that sent his car spinning off the road. All he remembers is waking up in the home of Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) - a maniacal fan who is bent on keeping her favourite writer as her personal prisoner... for the rest of his cock-a-doodie life!

• The Caesars | DVD | (03/04/2006) from £12.98   |  Saving you £9.00 (81.89%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Made in 1968 and broadcast to tremendous critical acclaim The Caesars was one of the last great drama productions made in black and white for ITV by Granada. The Caesars is an unrivalled period drama detailing the murder sex and madness that will forever have a place in the annals of ancient history. This six-part series is available for the first time anywhere on DVD. After a century of being wrecked by dissension and ruinous civil wars the Romans were willing to p

• Cheri | DVD | (21/09/2009) from £4.97   |  Saving you £11.02 (221.73%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Michelle Pfeiffer and Rupert Friend engage in a passionate love affair in this lush period piece directed by Stephen Frears

• Last Of The Summer Wine - Series 1 And 2 | DVD | (02/09/2002) from £19.02   |  Saving you £-10.70 (N/A%)   |  RRP £8.32

  First transmitted in 1973 this release features every episode from Series One and Two of 'Last Of The Summer Wine'. Episode titles: Short Back And Palais Glide Inventor Of The 40-Foot Ferret Pate And Chips Spring Fever The New Mobile Trio Hail Smiling Morn Or Thereabouts Forked Lightning Who's That Dancing With Nora Batty Then? The Changing Face Of Rural Blamire Some Enchanted Evening A Quiet Drink Ballad For Wind Instruments And Canoe Northern Flying Circus.

• Dolores Claiborne | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £6.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (100.14%)   |  RRP £13.99

  Dark secrets, family torments and two murders swirl around the stoic, hardened figure of Dolores Claiborne (Kathy Bates), a housekeeper accused of murdering her employer of 22 years. Then there was that timely accident that took Dolores's husband (David Strathairn) during the solar eclipse of 1975. Yet with all the sombre suffering that follows Dolores like a miasma of pain, none of it compares with the heartache of a relationship she has with her grown daughter (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Although this flick is rife with horror, it is not of the supernatural kind, but rather of the torment only real people can impose on one another. The script is full of colourful language, and director Taylor Hackford successfully weaves several plot threads and psychological dilemmas throughout this engrossing tale without diminishing any of them. He not only culls intense performances from his cast, but he also brings to life the landscape around them. When Dolores Claiborne's best-kept secret is finally given up, it occurs under the surreal backdrop of a solar eclipse that is a truly sensational bit of cinematography. --Rochelle O'Gorman

• Rumpole Of The Bailey - The Entire First Series | DVD | (09/09/2002) from £5.93   |  Saving you £19.06 (321.42%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Eccentric defence lawyer Horace Rumpole (Leo McKern) is the scourge of the courtroom. However at home he is hen pecked by his wife (she who must be obeyed). This double DVD contains the entire first series of John Mortimer's popular Rumpole Of The Bailey including the first ever episode 'Rumpole and the Younger Generation'. Rumpole's initial case sees him called upon to defend the teenage son of a notorious criminal family with whom he is familiar. Rumpole knows that whilst the boy is innocent on this occasion he is destined for a life of crime...

• Bonneville | DVD | (23/03/2009) from £5.13   |  Saving you £7.86 (153.22%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Hitch a ride with three of Hollywood's most acclaimed actresses in this rollicking road movie that's full of warmth tears and humorous zingers (The New York Observer). Starring Academy Award Winners Jessica Lange and Kathy Bates and Academy Award Nominee Joan Allen Bonneville is a charming gem of a film that celebrates fun friendship and the detours of life that makes us who we are. Recently widowed Arvilla (Lange) is at a crossroads. Her stepdaughter Francine (Christine Baranski) has threatened to sell Arvilla's Idaho home unless Arvilla brings her late husband's ashes to California where they'll be interred for eternity beside his first wife. Arvilla's friends Margene (Bates) and Carol (Allen) convince Arvilla to deliver the ashes. But when Arvilla convinces them to go with her in her husband's '66 Bonneville the stage is set for an unforgettable journey filled with hitchhikers truckers breathtaking vistas Vegas jackpots and a powerful final showdown.

• Jennifer 8 | DVD | (18/03/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Written and directed by Bruce Robinson (Withnail and I), this fast-moving potboiler finds its creator getting about as far from Withnail's fine wines and London and Lake District settings as it's possible to get, and into the world of bloody homicides, narrative red herrings and emotionally damaged policemen. John Berlin (Andy Garcia) is a big-city cop and, yes, that means he drinks a lot of coffee and has a terrible personal life (in this case, signified by a wife who just can't stop cheating on him). Leaving town to visit his understanding brother-in law and fellow detective Freddy Ross (Lance Henriksen), he promptly finds himself embroiled in the hunt for a serial killer with a grisly modus operandi for murdering blind women. As you might expect, it's not long before he's bumbling his way into a number of confrontations with the hick cops around him and an affair with Helena (Uma Thurman), the blind room-mate of one of the killer's victims. Slick and pacey, Jennifer 8 throws out so many plot that it eventually winds up falling over them in its haste to get to the overblown climax. Nothing here makes a great deal of sense and yet, despite its inherent cosmic silliness, Robinson handles the suspense-and-relief routine with a flashy aplomb, and the cast do well in the face of the material's shortcomings. (John Malkovich's brief appearance is a redemptive highlight, even if you do have to wait almost 90 minutes for it). --Danny Leigh

• Fried Green Tomatoes | Blu Ray | (21/07/2014) from £7.29   |  Saving you £8.70 (119.34%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Evelyn (Kathy Bates) is a middle-aged housewife dissatisfied with her life. One day she meets an elderly lady, Mrs Threadgoode (Jessica Tandy) who tells her a story of two young women in the 1930's on a journey through life and love. The friendship of the two girls, Idgie (Mary Stuart Masterson) and Ruth (Mary Louise Parker) inspires Evelyn to improve her life and luck. A warm, touching and, at times, greatly amusing tale about the importance of friendship, starring two Oscar-winning actresses.

• Run Silent, Run Deep | DVD | (27/11/2000) from £5.68   |  Saving you £7.31 (128.70%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A movie's lasting value can often be measured by its influence in the years and decades following its original release, and on that basis Run Silent, Run Deep is certainly a classic of sorts. It remains one of the seminal World War II submarine pictures, and its intelligent script and tautly executed action are clearly echoed in such later submarine dramas as Das Boot and especially Crimson Tide, which borrows liberally from this 1958 film. In one of his best and final roles (he appeared in only four films after this), Clark Gable plays a submarine captain without a command, having been saddled with a desk job after his previous ship was destroyed due to his overzealous pursuit of the enemy in dangerous Japanese waters. He finally gets another boat--this time with a vigilant first officer (Burt Lancaster), who stands poised to assume command if Gable puts his crew in unnecessary danger. The tension and mutual respect between these two principled men is superbly written and directed (Robert Wise was just two years away from his triumph with West Side Story), and the crucial inclusion of a strong supporting cast (including Jack Warden and Don Rickles) enhances the movie's compelling authenticity. Based on a novel by former submarine commander Edward L. Beach, Run Silent, Run Deep is rousing entertainment with the added benefit of paying honourable tribute to the men who navigated through the most frightening and claustrophobic channels of the Pacific cinema. --Jeff Shannon

• The Miracle Club | Blu Ray | (18/12/2023) from £7.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Ballygar, Dublin, Ireland, 1968: close friends Lily (Maggie Smith), Eileen (Kathy Bates), and Dolly (Agnes O'Casey) win the trip of a lifetime - a pilgrimage to Lourdes. With each woman desperately in need of a personal miracle, the trip seems like an answer to all their prayers. But when they are joined by Chrissie (Laura Linney), returning to Dublin after decades in America, deep wounds from the past are re-opened and bitter truths exposed. As they confront one another and embrace their shared past, the group reckon with revelations that will change them forever. Directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan, The Miracle Club is a heartfelt story of friendship, family, and forgiveness.

• King of Hearts (1966) | Blu Ray | (16/07/2018) from £8.79   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A cult comic masterpiece from acclaimed director Philippe de Broca, King of Hearts was a flop upon initial release in France, but was a smash hit in the US, where it ended up running for five years straight. During the latter part of World War I, Private Charles Plumpick (Alan Bates; Women in Love) is chosen to go into the French town of Marville and disconnect a bomb that the German army has planted. However, Charles is chased by some Germans and finds himself holed up at the local insane asylum, where the inmates are convinced that he is the King of Hearts. Feeling obligated to help the inmates, Charles attempts to lead them out of town, but they are afraid to leave and frolic about the streets in gay costumes. Will Charles be able to deactivate the bomb in time and save his newfound friends? Featuring a score by legendary film composer Georges Delerue and also starring Geneviève Bujold (Anne of the Thousand Days, Dead Ringers), King of Hearts is presented here from a gorgeous new 4K restoration in its UK debut as part of The Masters of Cinema Series, in a special Dual Format edition. Features: Limited Edition O-Card slipcase (first print run only) Gorgeous 1080p presentation from the Cohen Media Group 4K restoration (with a progressive encode on the DVD) Original LPCM mono audio Optional English subtitles Feature length audio commentary by film critic Wade Major Geneviève Bujold on the making of King of Hearts an interview with the Academy Award nominated actress from 2017 Interview with Pierre Lhomme the cinematographer discusses working with Philippe de Broca, and the techniques used for filming King of Hearts Interview with Michelle de Broca Producer and ex-wife of director Philippe de Broca talks about working on King of Hearts Eureka! trailer for the 2018 UK theatrical release of King of Hearts A collector's booklet featuring a new essay by Philip Kemp

• American Horror Story: Hotel | DVD | (03/10/2016) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  A pair of foreign sisters check into the Hotel Cortez, while an L.A. detective investigates a brutal murder. American Horror Story Hotel features an all-star cast of Lady Gaga, Sarah Paulson, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Wes Bentley, Matt Bomer, Chloe Sevigny, Denis O'Hare, Cheyenne Jackson, Evan Peters and Finn Wittrock.

• The Entertainer (Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (26/11/2018) from £9.49   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Laurence Olivier plays Archie Rice, a mediocre music hall artist upholding a dying tradition in an English seaside town. Tony Richardson originally directed Laurence Olivier as Rice in the Royal Court's theatre production, and did so again in this, his second feature. The seedy world which Archie Rice occupies could be seen to represent the general malaise of post-war Britain, previously explored by writer John Osborne in his play Look Back in Anger, adapted for the screen by Nigel Kneale in 1959. Kneale subsequently went on to co-write The Entertainer with Osborne. Olivier is supported by a superb cast including a young Alan Bates as his son, Roger Livesey as his kindly, now retired, always more talented and popular father, and Joan Plowright as his daughter. The remarkable cast also features Daniel Massey, Shirley Anne Field, Thora Hird and Charles Gray. Olivier's portrayal of a man coming undone at the seams and revealing the emptiness inside, is a revelation. It changed the public's perception of him, introducing him to a new younger audience, and garnered him yet another Oscar® nomination. Special features: George Devine Memorial Play: The Entertainer - Sequences One and Two (1966, 6 mins, 5 mins) David Frost-produced film, directed by Peter Whitehead, capturing a stage performance in memory of the late Royal Court director, starring Laurence Olivier O Dreamland (1953, 13 mins): Lindsay Anderson's (If...., This Sporting Life) Free Cinema film shot at Margate's iconic amusement park Archive shorts from Topical Budget and Mitchell and Kenyon (1900-1929, total 15 mins): rare footage of turn-of-the century Morecambe, featuring scenes along the promenade and piers, as well as a visit to the 1929 Morecambe Carnival Lancashire Coast (1957, 15 mins): the charms of England's north-west, from Morecambe and Southport to the Pilling Marches Stills gallery Illustrated booklet with essays by Steven Hess and Vic Pratt, plus full film credits

• 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

• A Prayer For The Dying | DVD | (23/05/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Based on the best-selling novel by Jack Higgins. Weary of violence and on the run from his past Martin Fallon (Mickey Rourke) an ex-IRA assassin tries to leave the killing behind him. A mob leader coerces him into killing one last time for a promise of freedom. The priest who accidentally witnesses the slaying is forced to keep quiet when he confesses to him but the mob leader orders the assassin to murder the priest and the three lives intersect for one moment when the only commandment is... Kill or be killed.

• Eraserhead (OmU). Digital Remastered | DVD | (19/07/2018) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A