"Actor: Ben Davidson"

• Conan the Barbarian | DVD | (17/04/2019) from £8.09   |  Saving you £-2.10 (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The film that launched Arnold Schwarzenegger's international career, Conan the Barbarian is still regarded by many as his finest hour. Limited to a mere handful of lines and expertly directed to play up the Nietzschean strength of the character by John Milius, the Austrian Oak has never looked more suited to a role, his muscle flexing and sword twirling apparently effortless. The extraordinarily finely detailed production design ensures that the barren Spanish countryside perfectly suits the Hyborean-era backdrop envisioned by author Robert E Howard. Whether dressed in rags or riches, Schwarzenegger and companions Subotai (Gerry Lopez) and Valeria (Sandahl Bergman) look believably born to their surroundings. Backing their own very fine performances are brilliant supporting roles from James Earl Jones as serpentine baddie Thulsa Doom and Max Von Sydow as doomed King Osric. Plot-wise the film is simply the transformation of a wild barbarian into a worldly-wise king who, via a quest for revenge, finally learns the riddle of steel. The script is highly regarded for its dazzling set-pieces (the opening village raid, the orgy of body parts) and quotable dialogue ("They shall all drown in lakes of blood"), and it comes complete with an anti-peace movement reactionary subtext for anyone who cares to look close enough. One other element deserving mention is the extraordinary score by Basil Poledouris, which inspires the film with a sense of operatic grandeur. On the DVD: Conan the Barbarian appears as a suitably mythic special edition DVD. Sadly the magnificent score can only be heard in a mono mix, but the very fine picture is presented in 2.35:1. The extras package is phenomenal, too. Several deleted scenes have been re-edited into the film, but are available to view independently as well. There's a quick split-screen special effects feature showing how the ghostly spirits were added to Conan's resurrection. "The Conan Archives" is an 11-minute slide show of drawings, costumes and advertising. Best of all is the fantastic 53-minute "Conan Unchained" documentary interviewing every conceivable contributor who all reminisce with great fondness. It's slightly better seeing Schwarzenegger and Milius than hearing them talk in their commentary, which inevitably re-tells many of the same anecdotes in between puffs of Arnie's stogies. --Paul Tonks

• Conan The Barbarian | DVD | (18/04/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Thief. Warrior. Gladiator. King. Through the history of mankind the times that are most recorded in mythology and song are those of the great deeds and fantastic adventures. Such a time was the Hyborean Age. Such a tale is the story of 'Conan The Barbarian'. Cimmeran Conan witnesses his parents' savage murder at the hands of the raiding Vanir and their master Thulsa Doom also leader of the snake-cult of Set. Fifteen years of agony first chained to the Wheel Of Pain grinding grain and then enslaved as a pit fighter forge a magnificent body and indominitable spirit. Freed miraculously one day by his owner Conan with his companions Subotai the Mongol and Valeria the Queen of Thieves sets forth upon his quest to learn the riddle of steel which his father has prophesied will confer ultimate power; and to kill the arch-villian Thulsa Doom...

• Conan The Barbarian | Blu Ray | (11/07/2011) from £7.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (100.13%)   |  RRP £15.99

  An action packed tale of Conan the Cimmerian and his adventures across the continent of Hyboria on a quest to avenge the murder of his father and the slaughter of his village.

• Dukes Of Hazzard - Season 2 | DVD | (26/09/2005) from £24.99   |  Saving you £16.00 (64.03%)   |  RRP £40.99

  The adventures of the fast-drivin' rubber-burnin' Duke boys of Hazzard County. Welcome to Hazzard County where cousins Bo and Luke Duke (John Schneider and Tom Wopat) spend their days eluding the crooked Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke) and his dimwit Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane (James Best). Living with their uncle Jesse (Denver Pyle) and sexy cousin Daisy (Catherine Bach) Bo and Luke somehow find themselves entangled in mess after mess in this well-loved television series. Episodes

• Robot Chicken Star Wars Episode 3 | DVD | (04/07/2011) from £12.13   |  Saving you £0.86 (7.09%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Millions of years from now after Socrates Shakespeare and the Bible are long forgotten only two great works will remain: the sci-fi cinema epic Star Wars and Adult Swim's stop-motion animated cheap gag extravanganza Robot Chicken. And now for the first time they come together for the third time in this all new special. That's right all your mot beloved Star Wars characters are going back through the comedy meat grinder. Watch Darth Vader fall into a toilet while Emperor Palpatine rides the endless Death Star escalator! See Gary the Stormtrooper's speederbike test-drive come to a gruesome Ewok-splattering end! And witness the firepower of Boba Fett's fully armed and operational T-SHIRT CANNON! Plus much much more! It's Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III. Set your phasers to ''fun''! (Oh wait wrong franchise.)

• Offenbach: La Belle Helene -- Zurich/Harnoncourt | DVD | (25/09/2000) from £34.31   |  Saving you £-9.32 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Offenbach's operetta La Belle Hélene, which pokes fun at the Parisian upper class of a century and a half ago through tales of ancient Greece, requires a leap of imagination on behalf of today's audience that this production only partly succeeds in reconciling. On musical grounds we're on sure footing. Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts the chorus and orchestra of the Zurich Opera House with his customary flair for precise and taut rhythms and an appreciation of the composer's wit and the good tunes that are a-plenty. His multi-national cast headed by Vesselina Kasarova as Helen of Troy and Deon van der Walt as her lover Paris are excellent and among the smaller parts there's a lively and stylish performance from Liliana Nichiteanus as Oreste. The video direction by Hartmut Schroder and the superb sound obtained from the relatively intimate Zurich Opera House, a delightful setting for this operetta, are further assets. The production alas is unenlightening and perpetrates an over-the-top style that seems to be synonymous with Offenbach. The backdrop, a pink concave awning is hideous. The costumes by designer Jean-Charles de Castelibajac are silly: Paris is dressed in lederhosen and looks a twerp, Calchac, the high priest wears a Ku Klux Klan hat and Helen at one point looks as though she'll take to absailing. Kasarova suggests the lure of Helen in her voice but a beauty she's not. So it's left to Harnoncourt who joins the company at the curtain call with a twinkle in his eye and a nifty side step and his superb orchestra to remind us what might have been. --Adrian Edwards

• Conan The Barbarian (Special Edition) | DVD | (08/02/2006) from £6.73   |  Saving you £3.26 (32.60%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Now they will know why they are afraid of the dark. Now they learn why they fear the night. - Thulsa Doom Through the history of mankind the times that are most recorded in mythology and song are those of the great deeds and fantastic adventures. Such a time was the Hyborean Age. Such a tale is the story of Conan The Barbarian. Cimmeran Conan witnesses his parents' savage murder at the hands of the raiding Vanir and their master Thulsa Doom also leader of the snake-cult of Set. Fifteen years of agony first chained to the Wheel Of Pain grinding grain and then enslaved as a pit fighter forge a magnificent body and indominitable spirit. Freed miraculously one day by his owner Conan with his companions Subotai the Mongol and Valeria the Queen of Thieves sets forth upon his quest to learn the riddle of steel which his father has prophesied will confer ultimate power; and to kill the arch-villian Thulsa Doom.

• In Hell / Replicant / The Order | DVD | (03/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In Hell (Dir. Ringo Lam 2003): Kyle Lord (Van Damme) is arrested and convicted for the vigilante killing of his wife's murderer. Kyle must survive life in a maximum-security prison where inmates are made to battle to their death in a brutal no holds barred fight called The Shu for the warden's entertainment and profit. Kyle fights his oppressors and is quickly sent to The Shu where his unbridled rage catapults him to the victor's circle. Kyle has become one of the monsters he despises and must now battle within himself to survive... Replicant (Dir. Ringo Lam 2001): Jean-Claude Van Damme squares off against his deadliest opponent yet (himself!) when he stars as both a heinous serial killer and the replicated clone that represents the authority's best and only chance at capturing this mad killer on the loose... The Order (Dir. Sheldon Lettich 2001): Action superstar Jean-Claude Van Damme (Nowhere To Run Universal Soldier) is back in The Order a fast-paced high-octane thriller set in the Middle East. From the director of Double Impact and featuring screen legend Charlton Heston (Planet Of The Apes Any Given Sunday) Ben Cross (First Knight Chariots Of Fire) and sexy newcomer Sofia Milos The Order is an exciting adventure packed with extreme fight choreography exotic locations and non-stop action. Journey to a turbulent world under siege as reformed artifact smuggler Rudy (Van Damme) travels to Jerusalem to rescue his museum-curator father who's been kidnapped by ruthless fanatics and recover a sacred scroll believed to hold dangerous secrets of an underground sect. Framed for murder by a scheming police chief (Cross) Rudy enlists the aid of a mysterious beauty (Milos) to clear his name and wages a one-man battle to recapture the prized manuscript before the ultimate Holy War breaks out and all hell breaks loose!

• Charlie Chan in the Chinese Cat | DVD | (01/09/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  'Expert Is Merely Man Who Make Quick Decision-And Is Sometimes Right.' -Charlie Chan Number Three Son Tommy comes to the aid of a damsel in distress - by offering Charlie Chan's services - in this top-notch whodunnit fare' (Variety) starring Sidney Toler and Benson Fong. Leah manning (Joan Woodbury) has never stopped searching for her father's murderer, although the police and DA gave up a long time ago. And now, to add insult to injury, an 'expert criminologist' has written a 'novel' accus...